 Votes in several House races are still being counted, but one thing is already clear. The 2022 midterm elections were a victory for the democratic process and election integrity in this country. The Democrats have retained the majority in the Senate, and the Republicans will take the leadership role in the House of Representatives by a narrow margin. Politics aside, all fair-minded Americans should be breathing a sigh of relief. There were few, if any, incidences of violence in and around polling places, and with the exception of some armed “poll watchers” in Arizona, voter intimidation was not a problem. The vast majority of candidates who lost their races graciously conceded to their opponents. A move toward normalcy? Let’s hope so. This blog is about some of my takeaways fr0m the midterm elections.  The Democrat Party Defies the Odds: Midterm elections are usually a referendum on the sitting president, but this one was a referendum on former President Donald Trump. Most of the polls and pundits got it wrong by predicting a “red wave” which would have given the Republicans a large majority in the House and possibly the Senate. With 40-year high inflation and President Biden’s approval rating hovering around 40%, Republicans stumbled badly in not performing better than they did. So how did the President manage to have the best midterms of any president in 20 years? Let’s take a look.  Abortion and Reproductive Rights: When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion, it was celebrated as a major victory by many conservative Republicans. But to many Democrats, Independents, and moderate Republicans, this was seen as an attack on personal freedoms and reproductive rights. This issue motivated many to vote in the midterms, including many young voters under the age of 45 who lean heavily Democrat. In all five states where abortion related issues were on the ballot, voters chose to protect abortion rights. But abortion wasn’t the only thing on voters’ minds. As summer turned to fall, the issue of abortion rights began to fade as inflation and economic issues took center stage.  Threats to Democracy: In a September speech, President Biden delivered a blistering attack on Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans, who he characterized as extremists and a threat to democracy. The speech was considered provocative and divisive by most Republicans, and not helpful by some within the President’s own party. But the message resonated with many Democrats and Independents, and became a major messaging point for Democrats on the campaign trail. The recent violent attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband was a brutal reminder of the dangers of extremism and toxic rhetoric.  The Trump Factor: In recent days many in the Republican Party have attributed their underperformance in the midterms to poor candidates and bad messaging. Although Donald Trump will never admit it, much of this lies squarely on his shoulders.  Poor Candidates: Several of the candidates backed by Donald Trump failed in key races across the country. The main attributes of a Trump backed candidate are, total loyalty to him, and a belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Trump’s support was critical in getting these candidates across the finish line in primary races when the base of the party vote in large numbers. But many of the Trump backed candidates lacked political experience, qualifications, and competence, which are crucial to winning a general election.  Trump handed the Senate to the Democrats by backing the following wholly unqualified candidates in races that could have been won by more qualified Republican candidates: Blake Masters in Arizona, Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, and Herschel Walker in Georgia. Herschel Walker will face the Democrat Raphael Warnock in a run-off election on December 6, 2022. The Democrats will maintain the leadership in the Senate regardless of the outcome of this race, which I think will go to the much more qualified and competent, Raphael Warnock.  Trump’s backing of fellow election denier Adam Laxalt in the Nevada Senate race failed to secure a win against the vulnerable Democrat incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto. Even Kari Lake, the MAGA Superstar and vocal election denier, couldn’t win the open governor’s seat in Arizona with the adoring support of Donald Trump.  Bad Messaging: Donald Trump is extremely popular among the base of the Republican Party where his stale message of a rigged 2020 election plays well. The Republican base votes in large numbers in primary elections, helping candidates who embrace Trump and his stolen election lie. As the midterms have shown, election denial is not a winning message during a general election. What the midterm elections have made crystal clear is that attacking the integrity of American elections is not a winning strategy. General elections are about policies, not personalities or past grievances. The winning messages for the Republicans included high inflation, crime, and problems at the border. But these were overshadowed by talk of stolen elections, conspiracy theories, and investigations to come. Fortunately for democracy, every 2020 election denier who sought to become the top election official in a critical background state lost their election. This proved once again that MAGA extremism doesn’t play well to a general audience. The Road Ahead for the Republican Party  Congress: With thirteen House races yet to be decided, it appears that sometime tomorrow the Republicans will secure the 218 seats required to win the majority in the House of Representatives. What is less clear is who will be the next Speaker of the House. Kevin McCarthy is the leading candidate to become the Republican leader in the House. But with such a slim majority he will have to fight for the speakership, which will be voted on by the full House on January 3, 2023. McCarthy will need at least 218 votes to become speaker. A tall order with such a small majority of Republican held seats. Many in the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus, which includes Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan, have already indicated that they will withhold support for McCarthy unless he concedes to their requests. Other factions within the House Republican Caucus will no doubt seize the opportunity to push forward their agendas. With at least 150 election deniers elected to fill House seats during this election cycle, whoever the next speaker is will have a difficult time keeping this crowd in check.  Donald Trump is Not Going Away: As far as Donald Trump is concerned, he is the leader of the Republican Party, and any shortfalls in the midterms were not his fault. In order to punctuate this point, in defiance of many Republican stalwarts, Donald Trump announced today his candidacy for President of the United States in 2024.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: If there was any type of red wave during the midterms it was in Florida. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis easily beat his Democrat challenger by nearly 20 points. The Republicans won supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature, and Florida picked up four additional Republican seats in the House of Representatives. DeSantis is seen as the main challenger to Donald Trump for the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination. Although DeSantis has not made his intentions known about running for president, he has certainly gotten under the skin of Donald Trump. Trump’s early announcement about his 2024 candidacy was clearly designed to blunt DeSantis’ rising star. Even before Trump announced his candidacy, he began taking swipes at DeSantis, and true to Trump’s adolescent ways, he coined a derogatory nickname for him, “Ron De-Sanctimonious”. I think that it will turn out to be a battle royal for the soul of the Republican Party, and for the sake of the party, I hope that DeSantis runs.  Team Normal or MAGA Republicans: After the disappointing midterms, the Republican Party is very much at a crossroads. Do the Republicans continue to embrace Donald Trump, or do they see the midterm defeats as a wakeup call and go in a different direction? If recent history is any guide, Trump will continue to enjoy enormous influence within his party, and he will not go away until he is rejected by Republican voters.
There are many Republican legislators and governors who would clearly like to move beyond Trump and his extremist rhetoric. Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney called the midterm results “a clear victory for Team Normal”, and a step in the right direction. Republican Senator Mitt Romney, perhaps the captain of Team Normal, urged Republicans to work with Democrats on issues critical to the American people. Romney acknowledged that it would be counterproductive to “pursue pointless investigations, messaging bills, threats and government shutdowns”. Let’s hope that Republican legislators and voters take Romney’s message to heart. The results of the 2022 midterm elections should bolster Americans’ faith in the integrity of elections and in democracy itself. It has been a good month for democracy and a bad one for political divisiveness and extremist rhetoric. Let’s hope that Team Normal can expand its ranks within the Republican Party, and that the new Congress will work for the benefit of the people, and not their party. If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American
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 Scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis has just appeared in her final movie of the “Halloween” franchise. But not to worry, there are plenty of real-life scream queens to haunt our dreams. The foremost is the far-right conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene who is masquerading as a member of Congress. Normally I wouldn’t waste my time writing about a person I don’t respect, don’t agree with, and who represents a cancer within the Republican Party. But rather than becoming marginalized for her outrageous views and shunned by her political party, Greene’s star is shining brighter than ever and her influence within the Republican Party is alarming. She represents a real danger to our democracy and she shouldn’t be ignored. Why? Because the Republicans are heavily favored to win back the majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections next month. The next Republican Speaker of the House, presumably Kevin McCarthy, will need the support of the Trump wing of the party. There is no more vocal supporter of Donald Trump and his lies about the stolen election, than Marjorie Taylor Greene.  Who is Marjorie Taylor Greene? She is a first term congresswoman from the mostly white and rural 14th congressional district in northwest Georgia. Greene is a member of the Republican Party and a very vocal supporter of former president Donald Trump. She frequently claims that Trump won the 2020 presidential election in a landslide and that the election was stolen from him. Greene arrived in Congress with no previous political experience and describes herself as a “Christian Nationalist”. What she did bring to Congress was a lot of baggage stemming from her support for far-right conspiracy theories, which she freely shared on social media. Some of her most outrageous posts supporting white supremacy, antisemitism, QAnon, and Pizzagate, to name a few, have been taken down.  Upon entering Congress Greene quickly established herself as a Democrat foil. She voted against certifying the election of Joe Biden, filed articles of impeachment against President Biden for dereliction of duty, and has antagonized several Democrat members of Congress. Barely a month into her congressional term Greene was stripped of her two committee assignments in response to her extremist statements and endorsement of political violence. Eleven Republicans as well as all Democrats in the House voted for her removal from all committee assignments. A formal censor of Greene has been referred to the House Ethics Committee.  Without any committee assignments Greene has been very busy, appearing on right-wing media outlets like Newsmax and Steve Bannon’s “War Room”. She has also become a prodigious fundraiser, bringing in more money in the past year than all but three other House Republicans. In 2021 she raised over $7.4 million, mostly from small donors. Corporations have mostly shunned Greene for her outrageous views. Greene has become a huge draw at Republican events, and she has been very active on the campaign trail. She has recently stumped for other MAGA firebrands such as Arizona Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, and J.D. Vance, the Republican candidate for the Ohio Senate seat. Greene is a regular at Trump rallies, firing up the faithful for her political hero Donald Trump.  Views Held by Marjorie Taylor Green 2020 Presidential Election: The election was stolen from Donald Trump making Joe Biden an illegitimate president. January 6th Capitol Riot: Antifa was responsible for the riot, and the FBI is to be blamed for possibly instigating the violence. She voted against awarding police officers who defended the Capitol that day the Congressional Gold Medal. Abortion: Should be outright banned and anyone providing abortion services should be tried for murder. Climate Change: Advocates eliminating any and all laws intended to address climate change. COVID-19: Opposed to mask-wearing, and was fined over $100,000 for refusing to wear a mask on the House floor during the pandemic. Greene claims that COVID-19 is not dangerous for non-obese people and those under 65. She has refused to get vaccinated, calling the vaccine ineffective at best and possibly responsible for killing people. Greene was kicked off of Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. It will be interesting to see if Elon Musk allows her back on the platform. FBI: Should be defunded for the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Gun Rights: All gun-control laws should be overturned. She has introduced legislation to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Immigration: Through the “Protect America First Act”, which she introduced in Congress last year, Greene calls for the suspension of all immigration into the United States for four years. She advocates building the border wall and naming it after Donald Trump, and cutting off federal funding to sanctuary cities. Religion: America should have a Christian government and prayer should return to public schools.  No Lone Voice in the Wilderness: Since joining Congress, Greene’s views have not moderated. If anything, they have become more extreme. Rather than being ostracized for her views, more Republicans in and out of Congress have shifted their views to be more in line with hers. It is important to remember that 139 Republican members of the House of Representatives voted to dispute the Electoral College count on January 6, 2021. Greene is a member of the Freedom Caucus, the most conservative caucus within the House Republican Conference. This group of at least 44 members of the House is a powerful far-right voting bloc. Its members are among Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters within Congress. If the Republicans regain control of the House, many within this group will gain leadership positions in the new Congress.  Kevin McCarthy’s New Best Friend: On September 23, 2022 Greene sat directly behind Kevin McCarthy as the Republican House leader announced his legislative agenda at a manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania. In recent months McCarthy has invited Greene to high-level policy meetings, such as a discussion about the National Defense Authorization Act. According to Greene, in order for McCarthy to be an effective speaker of the House and to please the base, “ he’s going to give me a lot of power and a lot of leeway. And if he doesn’t, they’re going to be unhappy about it.” McCarthy has reported to have spoken to Greene about a possible leadership position, which she neither confirms or denies. But according to Greene, “I don’t have to have a leadership position. I think I already have one, without having one.” Scary, but probably true.  What to Expect Under Republican Leadership in the House: Kevin McCarthy would probably sell his soul to the devil to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives. That is why he is aligning with Marjorie Taylor Green and the Freedom Caucus. Under Speaker McCarthy, the House will utilize its investigative authority to avenge the wrongs done to Donald Trump, investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine, and possibly go after companies that stopped donating to the Republican Party after January 6, 2021.  At the top of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s agenda will be the impeachment of President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. The Republicans will certainly disband the January 6th Committee, and minimize or reject any recommendations that the committee makes. Republicans in Congress will work to block President Biden’s agenda and attempt to pull back some of the initiatives that the President has championed. But the main focus of House Republicans will be to prevent President Biden from winning a second term.  The Republican Party had their opportunity to marginalize Marjorie Taylor Greene and bar her from the House Republican Conference. They could have endorsed and funded a 2022 primary opponent against her. But they allowed Greene to stay within the Republican tent, perhaps to appease Donald Trump, which seems to have normalized her. The Republicans’ embrace of Donald Trump’s lies and the fringe views of Marjorie Taylor Greene, has ushered in a dangerous chapter in America’s political life. Greene has turned political rhetoric into a dangerous weapon. In her opinion, Democrats are not just wrong, they are evil, and left leaning Democrats are no longer Socialists, but members of the Communist Party out to destroy our country. If Greene is given any type of leadership position in Congress, it will come back to haunt the Republican Party. But even worse, it could become a national nightmare. Greene’s style of politics will only lead to further division, hate, and violence. The attack on Speaker Pelosi’s husband Paul on Friday is the latest example of this.  Right-minded people can prevent Congress from becoming a real horror show. This means being informed, voting in the upcoming election, and holding elected officials accountable for their words and deeds. This Halloween let’s keep the scream queens in scary movies and out of positions of power.
If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks,  President Biden would love for the COVID pandemic to be over, as we all would. But declaring the pandemic over during a television interview doesn’t make it so. This topic has become more real to me in recent days. Last week I tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from a trip to Yellowstone National Park. The President is correct to conclude that in the minds of many Americans the pandemic is over, and they have moved on. To bolster this notice, infection rates, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19 have dropped significantly over the past two months. But according to the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker, on average, over 300 Americans are dying from COVID-19 every day. This and other troubling developments may show that President Biden was a little premature in declaring the pandemic over.  Winter is Coming: The autumn and winter months bring colder weather to much of the Untied States. These are the months when children are back in school and people gather in large numbers for holiday celebrations. Cold weather leads to more indoor gatherings, a major reason for the increase in transmission of respiratory diseases such as COVID-19.  Worrisome Trends in Europe: COVID-19 infections are trending higher across Europe, and Europe tends to precede the United States by about four to six weeks. For the week ending October 9, 2022, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control reported widespread increases in all COVID-19 indicators, including infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.  Emergence of Variants: The last major variant to emerge was BA.5, a subvariant of Omicron. It peaked in July, and according to the CDC’s latest projections, BA.5 represents approximately 68% of the circulating strains of the virus in the United States. The World Health Organization is currently monitoring over 300 different variants. Of most concern are the variants XBB, BQ.1.1, and its sibling BQ.1. According to Yunlong Richard Cao, of Peking University in Beijing, these are the most antibody-evasive strains ever tested. In the lab, antibody therapies such as Evusheld, don’t work against these new variants. Infections due to BQ.1.1 in the United Kingdom and other European countries are increasing at an alarming rate. The highly transmissible BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are now spreading in the United States and are causing about 10% of new COVID-19 infections. This could be the next variant wave that hits this winter.  Low Acceptance of Boosters: Only about 40% of U.S. adults have received a booster (3rd shot) after they received their original two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. The new bivalent booster, released last month, has received a cool reception from the general public. Less than 5% of adults have gotten it. More troubling is the indication that only about one-third of adults are very likely to get the new booster, according to the latest Monmouth University Poll.  Best Defense Against COVID: Most people in the United States received their original COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. The protection offered from the original doses decline with the passage of time. These original vaccines were not developed to protect against the new variants that are now circulating in the population. Vaccines and boosters remain our best defense against serious illness and death from COVID-19. The new bivalent booster was designed to be effective against the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of the virus that causes COVID-19. Therefore, it should provide protection against the new variants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which are descendants of BA.5 According to Dr. Ashish Jha, head of the White House COVID task force, 70% of people dying from COVID-19 are age 75 and over. The vast majority of those people are either not up to date on vaccines, or are not receiving treatments such as Paxlovid when they have breakthrough infections, according to Dr. Jha. In other words, most deaths due to COVID-19 could be prevented.  Cautionary Tale: Let my recent trip to Yellowstone National Park, where I contracted COVID-19, be a cautionary tale. For the past two and a half years I had done all the right things to protect myself. I got all the required COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, wore face masks whenever I went into a store or other public place, and practiced social distancing. Eating at an indoor restaurant or attending an indoor show were out of the question. Two weeks prior to setting off for Yellowstone I received the new bivalent booster shot, and continued to mask in most indoor settings. During our visit to Yellowstone, we wore face masks in indoor settings such as visitor centers. We ate breakfast in the hotel room, and took picnic lunches when exploring the park during the day. We chose early October to visit Yellowstone to avoid the summer crowds. But this is also the time of year when nighttime temperatures fall dramatically, and many of the lodging and dining options are closed. On the few occasions that we ate indoors we found ourselves in crowded dining facilities with people from all over the United States and other regions of the world. None of the wait staff wore face masks and neither did the vast majority of diners. Despite all the precautions, I fell victim to this highly contagious virus.  I can attest to the fact that vaccines and boosters are not enough to fully protect you against COVID-19, particularly as we begin to gather indoors. Other public health measures such as masking, social distancing and handwashing, need to continue. I know that COVID fatigue is real, and the prospect of wearing face masks indoors is not popular. But I think that the percentage of the population vaccinated with the bivalent booster and the amount of indoor masking, will determine if COVID-19 hits in a wave or a whimper this winter. President Biden may have declared the COVID pandemic to be over, but the virus has other ideas. As new variants emerge and cold weather forces people indoors, this is not the time to let your guard down.   If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  Earlier this month Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had 48 migrants taken from a shelter in San Antonio, Texas and flown to the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Was this a shrewd political move or a despicable act which preyed upon the vulnerabilities of desperate migrants? Probably both. The actions of DeSantis were clearly immoral and probably criminal. There are currently several investigations and lawsuits into the actions of DeSantis which will take months, if not years, to unravel. But in the meantime, the Florida Governor has succeeded in grabbing national headlines, delighting the Republican base, and causing outrage among Democrats.  In addition to increasing his own profile, DeSantis has spotlighted how the problems at the southern border are a huge vulnerability for the Biden Administration and an energizing issue for most Republicans. For the rest of us, this episode has shined a light on important issues that Congress has failed to adequately address. Immigration policies in this country are broken, causing security issues at the border, untold misery on migrants attempting to seek asylum, and chaos for our border states. Only Congress can fix this mess.  Scope of the Current Problem: DeSantis’ political stunt succeeded in focusing our attention on the massive surge of migrants who have been apprehended crossing the U.S. southern border this year. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 2.3 million migrants have been arrested during the 2022 fiscal year, which ends on September 30. This is the most arrests in our history. The surge in migration is being fueled by people fleeing the violence and poverty in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. Over half of the migrants arrested were immediately sent back to Mexico or their country of origin. But many of those who remain apply for asylum or another humanitarian status. These people, like the Venezuelans sent to Martha’s Vineyard by DeSantis, can stay in this country pending a court hearing. It can often take several years for asylum cases to be resolved. In the meantime, the migrants are free to stay and travel within the United States. Dealing with the influx of migrants flowing through legal, as well as illegal, points along the border, has overwhelmed border communities. Texas has taken the brunt of it, but California, Arizona and New Mexico have also been impacted.  Why Doesn’t the Government Act? Immigration and border issues are multifaceted and very tough to resolve politically. The last time a piece of comprehensive immigration legislation was signed into law was during the Reagan Administration in 1986. Rather than coming together to solve the problem, the major parties use the issue as a political weapon against the other side. As a result, most of the policies currently in place have come from judicial decrees or executive orders from recent presidents. This is a patchwork approach, and not very effective. For more information on the immigration debate and a good review of executive actions taken by the past few administrations, follow this link to the Council on Foreign Relations.  Has President Biden Made the Problem Worse? In a word, probably. Joe Biden campaigned on taking a much more humane approach to the southern border than Donald Trump did. True to his word, the President took dozens of actions during his first few months in office to overturn many of Trump’s immigration policies. These included ending travel bans from many Muslim countries, halting construction of the border wall, lifting the suspension of green card processing, increasing the number of visas issued to immigrants, and speeding the reunification of migrant families. Some of Biden’s efforts to overturn Trump’s policies have been blocked by judges, and others are still undergoing judicial review. All of these actions have signaled to migrants that the United States is a kinder and gentler place now that Trump is out of office. It's hard to argue that President Biden’s immigration policies didn't encourage more immigration to the United States.  So, What is to Be Done? The surge of migrants at the southern border requires a surge of federal resources to address the crisis. The Customs and Border Protection Agency needs to be beefed up as quickly as possible, and the border states need federal dollars and personnel to deal with the influx of migrants into their states. This is a national issue, and the border states need our support to humanely deal with the suffering along the border. The federal government needs to provide the financial resources required for case officers and immigration courts to more efficiently handle the huge backlog of applicants. If the United States can find billions of dollars to help Ukraine, and rightly so, it can find the billions needed to address some of the most urgent immigration and border issues. In the short-term, President Biden will continue to manage border and immigration efforts through the executive branch. But this a patchwork approach, and any policies put into place can easily be reversed by the next administration. The real solution is for Congress to negotiate a comprehensive package of reforms which address border security, the demand for high and low-skilled workers, the legal status of the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country, and the enforcement of immigration laws.  Immigration law is complex, and it was not my intention to do a thorough examination of it here. There are many good references for those who are interested in taking a deeper dive into this topic. This site provides a good summary of the immigration laws in our country. The actions of Florida Governor DeSantis were reprehensible and some day he may pay a steep price for them. But in the meantime, his political star has risen. The one silver lining to this episode is that it has shined a light on an issue that deserves more of our attention. Border security and effectively managing immigration is one of the most important duties of the federal government, and it has failed. This should not be a political issue, but an American issue.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  It is a mystery why former President Donald Trump kept hundreds of classified documents and other government records at his Mar-a-Lago club. It is no mystery why the government wanted those documents returned. It has become clear in recent weeks from the release of previously sealed court documents, that the FBI was fully justified in retrieving those documents. Most Americans were unaware of government efforts to retrieve documents from Trump until August 8, 2022, when the FBI executed a search at Mar-a-Lago. During the search the FBI retrieved more than 100 classified records, some of which are so sensitive that few people in government have the security clearance to view them.  The FBI’s search was not a partisan attack on the former president. It was not an attempt to discredit him and his allies ahead of the mid-term elections. Trump has called the FBI’s search at Mar-a-Lago an unprovoked “raid”, and totally unnecessary because he and his attorneys had been cooperative with the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) every step of the way. Don’t believe this nonsense. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the DOJ had been attempting to retrieve Presidential records and classified government documents, unlawfully held by Trump, for well over a year. Trump’s refusal to hand over the documents prompted the DOJ to secure a subpoena to search Mar-a-Lago and retrieve the documents. A lot of what the public knows about the ongoing investigation into Trump’s mishandling of government documents comes from the publication on August 26, 2022 of the affidavit used to obtain the warrant to search Mar-a-Lago. Nearly half of this 38- page affidavit was redacted to protect sensitive information and witnesses involved in the ongoing investigation. But there is still a lot that is known that should give any fair-minded American reason for concern.  Why This Matters:
 Time-Line of On-Going Investigation: May 6, 2021: After determining that it was missing about two dozen boxes of documents from Trump’s presidency, the NARA requested their return from Trump. The effort was stonewalled by the Trump team for months. December 2021: A Trump representative informed the NARA that 12 boxes of records had been found at Mar-a-Lago and could now be retrieved. January 18, 2022: Agents from the NARA picked up 15 boxes of Presidential records from Mar-a-Lago. It would later be revealed that 14 of the boxes contained classified documents. Over 700 pages of classified documents were found, including 25 documents marked “TOP SECRET”. February 9, 2022: Based upon the fact that classified materials had been potentially mishandled and improperly stored at Mar-a-Lago, the NARA’s Office of the Inspector General referred the matter to the DOJ. Soon after, the FBI opened a criminal investigation into the matter. April 12, 2022: The NARA informed Trump of its intention to provide the documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago to the FBI. To appease Trump’s attorneys, the documents were not provided to the FBI until May 12, 2022. May 11, 2022: The DOJ issued a subpoena for additional records. June 3, 2022: In response to the subpoena, a Trump attorney handed over more documents to three FBI agents and a DOJ attorney at Mar-a-Lago. Of the 38 documents handed over, 16 were marked “SECRET”, and 17 were marked “TOP SECRET”. No explanation was given for why these documents had not been previously turned over to the NARA. The FBI agents were told that all the White House records had been stored in a single room. Trump’s attorney gave the agents a signed letter certifying that a “diligent search” had been completed and that no government documents remained. June 8, 2022: The DOJ sent a letter to Trump’s attorney requesting that “all the boxes that were moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago be preserved in that room in their current condition until further notice.” August 5, 2022: The DOJ filed an application for a search and seizure warrant for Mar-a-Lago, citing “probable cause” that additional Presidential records and records containing classified information remained in various locations at the club. Federal Judge Bruce Reinhart approved the application that day.   August 8, 2022: The FBI executed the search at Mar-a-Lago and seized 36 items of evidence, including more than 100 classified records. The evidence was found in the storage room as well as in Trump’s office. It would latter be learned that some of the documents were so sensitive that even FBI counterintelligence agents and DOJ attorneys required additional security clearances before they could review them. Trump and his allies called the search a “weaponization” of the justice system, and soon after the FBI reported a surge in threats against its agents. August 26, 2022: Upon the order of Judge Reinhart, a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago was released. The affidavit revealed the DOJ’s reasoning for requesting the search warrant. According to the affidavit there was “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found” at Mar-a-Lago, suggesting that there were efforts underway to impede the recovery of government documents. The affidavit listed three criminal laws that may have been violated as the basis for the investigation. The federal laws citied were the Espionage Act, obstruction under section 1519 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the willful retention of national security and other records that rightfully belonged to the NARA. The affidavit also revealed that the government had interviewed a significant number of civilian witnesses who had information pertaining to the movement of documents to and within Mar-a-Lago, and knowledge of Trump’s post-presidency actions.  September 5, 2022: District Judge Aileen M. Cannon announced that she will grant Trump’s request to appoint a “special master” to examine the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago. The role of the special master will be to identify any material that might be protected by attorney-client or executive privilege. This move prevents the DOJ from further review of the materials in question and using them in the ongoing investigation, until the review by the special master is complete. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence may still continue to review the material to make an assessment of the potential damage that may have resulted from the manner in which the documents were transported and stored. September 6, 2022: The Washington Post reported that some documents seized at Mar-a-Lago detailed top-secret U.S. operations and nuclear capabilities of some foreign nations. This level of intelligence is usually restricted to the President, some cabinet secretaries, and near-cabinet level positions with the highest security clearance. September 8, 2022: The DOJ threatens to file an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals if Judge Cannon doesn’t restore their access to the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago. The documents seized at Mar-a-Lago and Trump’s culpability is an ongoing story and will be played out over the months ahead. Even if a special master is not appointed, I think that the DOJ will take a cautious approach to the investigation. Trump is an incendiary character and the mid-term elections are less than 60 days away. The last thing the DOJ wants, and the country needs, is for any of its actions to influence the upcoming elections in any way. It appears as if the most sensitive documents in Trumps possession have been recovered, and there will be ample time to build a case and issue indictments if the evidence justifies it.  The FBI was fully justified in searching Mar-a-Lago and retrieving Presidential documents and classified materials stored there. Donald Trump had several months to turn these records over to the NARA, but he didn’t. This was not a partisan attack, but a legal process precipitated by his own actions. The search at Mar-a-Lago would never have taken place if he had simply followed the law and returned all of the documents that belonged to the NARA.
Even if Trump had declassified the documents, as he has claimed, they were still not legally his. This is no simple dispute over the storage of documents, as the Trump camp would like you to believe. It is criminality. If Donald Trump is a victim, he is a victim of his own ignorance and arrogance. His callous disregard for the rule of law has once again landed him in hot water, and I think this time he is going to get burned. Updated 9-16-22: On September 15, 2022 Judge Cannon appointed a former chief federal judge in New York, Raymond J. Dearie, to be the special master to review the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago. Cannon ruled that the special master should examine the documents with classified materials and give priority to them over the non-classified documents taken from Mar-a-Lago. The Judge has given the special master until November 30th of this year to complete the review, and has denied the use of the records by prosecutors until after the review. This is a good thing in my opinion. It will cool things down a bit and get us past the mid-term elections. I think that indictments will eventually result from this case, so it is important to get it right and not be perceived as in any way political. Updated 9/24/2022: On September 21, 2022 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta sided with the DOJ to prevent the special master from evaluating the roughly 100 classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. This will allow the FBI to use the documents in its ongoing criminal investigation. Trump continues to claim that he declassified the documents before they left the White House. According to Trump, he can declassify material “even by thinking about it.” That would be a frightening prospect if true. What else can a president do simply by thinking about it, issue pardons or getting into a military confrontation? The Appeals Court was not moved by the Trump team’s argument that the documents had been declassified. They couldn’t produce any evidence to back up the claim. In any case, the issue of declassifying the documents is irrelevant. As the court stated, “the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal.” Now the special master can get on with the work of reviewing all of the non-classified material taken from Mar-a-Lago to determine if any may be covered by claims of attorney-client privilege or executive privilege. The special master has until the end of November to complete his work. Updated 6/8/2023: Today the special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents that he brought to Mar-a-Lago has handed down seven indictments against the former president. Trump has been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday at 3 PM to answer to these charges. We will not know the full extent of the charges until then. But they will be related to violations of the Espionage Act, making false statements and obstruction of justice. Those opposed to Donald Trump will gloat in triumph, and those who support him will call this an outrageous witch-hunt and an illegal use of the Department of Justice to bring him down. There is nothing to celebrate here. This is not good for the country, and we need to remember that Donald Trump has the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. He deserves his day in court. Donald Trump and his allies will assert that Mike Pence and Joe Biden did the same thing by keeping classified documents in their personal possession after they left office. But the differences couldn’t be starker. When it was discovered that classified documents had been discovered in the possession of former Vice President Mike Pence and President Joe Biden, the FBI was notified and given full access to locations where any and all documents could be stored. There was no attempt to prevent the FBI from retrieving the documents. Donald Trump misled the FBI and prevented it from obtaining government documents that he had in his possession for well over a year. This forced the FBI’s hand and led to the raid on Mar-a-Lago last year. This is the first federal indictment ever brought against a former president. Stay tuned. If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American  Joe Biden is no Donald Trump when it comes to self-promotion. With his low approval ratings and fellow Democrats keeping their distance, you can be forgiven for forgetting that Joe Biden is our President. Donald Trump continues to suck all of the oxygen out of the room, on and off the campaign trail. The recovery of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago has dominated the headlines for weeks, while another major piece of legislation signed into law by the President gets pushed to the back pages. As Trump promotes far-right candidates in the upcoming mid-term elections, and the Republican Party is apoplectic about the “raid” on Mar-a-Lago, President Biden quietly pulls off another major legislative victory.  Legislative Victories:
 Time for Action: Now it is time for the President and the Democrat Party to rally around their latest legislative victory and regain the narrative from the Republicans. The Republicans see the Inflation Reduction Act as a Democrat victory and are desperate to somehow turn it against the President. It is true that calling the bill the “Inflation Reduction Act” is a little disingenuous, but there is a lot of good in this bill. Let’s take a closer look at it now.  Inflation Reduction Act of 2022: This bill should have been titled the “Healthcare, Tax and Climate Bill of 2022”, because that is really what it is. The details of this bill fill over 700 pages and the costs are projected out over ten fiscal years. The $740 billion price tag attached to this bill is confusing and really doesn’t mean much to the average American. Democrat legislators claim that the approximately $440 billion in new spending will be more than offset by new tax hikes on wealthy corporations, reduced drug prices paid by Medicare, and increased taxes recovered by the IRS. If this bill actually brings in more federal revenue than it costs, then yes, it will reduce federal spending and help to lower inflation. But I can’t find any analyst who really believes that this bill will lower inflation. The best that we can hope for is that it pays for itself, and doesn’t exacerbate inflation. Here are some of the major provisions of the bill:  New Spending on Clean Energy and Combating Climate Change: If fully enacted, these initiatives are projected to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S. by up to 40% by 2030. The programs that fall under this category will cost approximately $375 billion over ten years, and fall into four major parts.
 Healthcare Spending:
The Republicans have backed themselves into a corner by being on the side of the pharmaceutical industry and against lower prescription drug prices for seniors. It is hypocritical to say that you are the party of lower government spending, but refuse to allow the Medicare program to lower its costs through negotiations.  Additional IRS Funding: The bill will invest $80 billion over ten years to begin to rebuild the Internal Revenue Service after years of underfunding. If you have ever filed a paper tax return or tried to get an IRS representative on the phone, you understand just how dysfunctional the IRS has become. I have written extensively on this topic in my blog “The IRS Needs Our Love, Not Our Hate”. A significant portion of the new funding will help upgrade phone and computer systems, and ease the administrative logjams now plaguing the IRS. The IRS will also be replacing existing agents who are retiring in droves, and adding new agents to its ranks. I see this is as a positive development. There are hundreds of billions of tax dollars that go uncollected each year due to severe staff shortages. It takes a lot of staff resources to audit and investigate large corporations, complex entities, and cash-based businesses. Don’t fall for the Republican scare tactics flooding the air waves and social media about an army of IRS agents getting ready to breakdown your door. The new funding will focus on tax cheats that have the potential to return large sums of money to the Treasury. If you are an honest taxpayer and earn less than $400,000 a year, your chances of hearing from the IRS are remote. The Republicans are running scared because of the popularity of many of the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. They are trying to paint IRS agents as jackbooted thugs, at the beck and call of an out-of- control Biden administration.  15% Minimum Corporate Income Tax: The new minimum tax will apply to a limited number of large publicly held corporations with over a $1 billion in annual profits. There are a lot of ways for companies to manipulate profits, and therefore, what they report to the IRS for tax purposes. To get around this problem, the 15% minimum tax will apply to the book income, or what the company reports to its shareholders. This provision of the bill is expected to bring in approximately $258 billion in new revenue over ten years.  1% Excise Tax on Stock Buybacks: This new corporate tax will apply to the value of a company’s own shares of stock that it repurchases (buybacks). Stock buybacks are often used by publicly held companies to increase the stock price of the remaining shares. This provision of the bill is expected to bring in approximately $74 billion over ten years.  The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has a lot of good provisions, and will be paying dividends for years to come. One of them will probably not be reducing inflation. But with luck, most of the new spending provisions will be offset by new corporate taxes, higher IRS collections, and lower Medicare spending. The new law will empower the Medicare agency like never before, and demonstrates that the government has the power to do something about exorbitant health care costs. While Donald Trump’s legal troubles mount, and he paints himself as the victim of a partisan witch hunt, Joe Biden has achieved real legislative victories which will benefit current and future Americans. It’s time for Joe Biden to become “cheerleader-in-chief” for his legislative victories. Along with his fellow Democrats, he needs to take to the airwaves and campaign trail to tout his accomplishments.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  Donald Trump’s rein of terror on the Republican Party continues unabated. Of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over his involvement in the January 6th Capitol riot, only two have survived to go on to the general election in November. Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming is his latest victim. The fact that Liz Cheney lost her seat in the House of Representatives to a Trump-backed candidate is no surprise to anyone. Cheney is one of Trump’s most outspoken critics in the Republican Party, and is the vice-chair of the Congressional subcommittee investigating January 6th. Denying the results of the 2020 presidential election and downplaying the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, are the only political ideologies that matter in the Trump Party. I want to thank Liz Cheney, for being an American first and a Republican second. She sacrificed her House seat by standing up for truth, democracy, and the Constitution. That took courage, a rare commodity in politics today. She has shown that a “principled politician” is not an oxymoron. Liz Cheney demonstrated that patriotism does not mean blind obedience to a political party or a political leader. Rather, it is taking a firm stand against a political onslaught in defense of the rule of law and the principles that this country was founded on. I hope that she continues to stand proud while others in her party call her disloyal, unpatriotic, or un-American. What is un-American is being punished for speaking truth to power, questioning authority, and standing on your principles.  Liz Cheney is down, but not out. This week she announced the creation of a new political action committee, “The Great Task”. According to a Cheney spokesperson, the committee will “educate the American people about the ongoing threat to our Republic, and to mobilize a unified effort to oppose any Donald Trump campaign for President”. Cheney has said that she is considering a run for president in 2024, and this would be the platform to launch her presidential run. Whatever she chooses to do, I am confident that she will continue to lead with integrity and courage.
This country needs more politicians like Liz Cheney. For the sake of the Republican Party, and indeed the country, I hope that she continues to be politically engaged, if for no other reason, to help dispel the falsehoods emanating from the Republican Party. Someday the Republican Party will wake up from its self-induced dystopian nightmare and find Donald Trump nowhere to be seen. But Liz Cheney will still be standing. If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American  The largest proportion of American voters identify themselves as independents. These are the voters who do not formally align themselves with a political party, and are also called non-affiliated voters. I fall into this category. According to a 2021 Gallup poll approximately 29% of voters identified as Democrats, 27% as Republicans, and 43% as independents. There are dozens of local, state, and national political parties other than the two majors. The biggest of the “third-parties” are the Libertarian Party, Green Party, and American Independent Party. Most of the third-parties are too narrow in scope to attract enough independent voters to make much of a difference. A newly formed political party called “Forward” is out to change all that. Let’s take a look at this new party and at other ways independent voters may have more influence in the political process.  Forward (FWD): Last month three political organizations announced that they have merged to create a new entity called “Forward”. Forward plans to officially launch as a new political party on September 24, 2022. It will be co-chaired by former Democrat candidate for President Andrew Yang and former Republican Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman. According to a recent press release, Forward “will be a political home for the majority of Americans who want to move past the era of divisiveness and do-nothing politicians so that our government starts working again”. There tag line is “Not Left. Not Right. Forward”. Forward proposes to reject the divisiveness of the far right and far left and pursue common ground ideas the majority of Americans can support.  This all signs well and good, and a third major political party built on compromise and centrist ideas would be a good thing for America. But third-parties don’t have a great track record in this country. The Democrat and Republican Parties are a duopoly and have become the de facto gate keepers to the political process in the United States.  Third-Party Angst: Most voters choose a candidate from one of the two major political parties rather than “wasting” their vote on a third-party or independent candidate. The current system discourages third-party candidates for fear of the “spoiler effect”. This occurs when the third-party candidate pulls a significant number of votes from a major party candidate, impacting the outcome of the election. Ross Perot received enough of the Republican and independent votes to assure Bill Clinton’s victory over George H.W. Bush in the 1992 Presidential election. Al Gore would have probably beaten George W. Bush in 2000 if not for the votes that went to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.
Fear of the spoiler effect helps to entrench the two major parties and keeps minor parties and independent candidates from gaining much traction. The result is that voters often have the choice of picking between the lesser of two evils. To get around this problem, Forward is pushing “Ranked-Choice Voting” and “Open Primaries” as part of its platform. I have written about both of these in a previous blog, but the concepts are worth repeating here.  Open Primaries: In an open or nonpartisan primary, everyone who wants to run for a given office can enter the same primary election regardless of their party affiliation. In a true open primary, all candidates would be listed on the same ballot and the election would be open to all voters, regardless of political affiliation. But this is not the case in most states because political parties often “close” their primaries to those not registered with their party. Therefore, many independent voters are either prohibited from voting in party primary elections or face restrictions. Open primaries give all constituents a voice in the election and it moderates the process by forcing politicians to appeal to independents as well as to their base. Closed primaries have the perverse effect of producing elected officials more accountable to their party than their constituents. You can find more information on this important topic at “Open Primaries”, an organization advocating for open primaries. After all, no American should be required to join a political party to exercise their right to vote.  Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV): An election system in which a voter can rank candidates in order of preference. Here’s how it works:
 Is it time for another major political party in this country? I think it is. Whether that major new party is Forward or something else, I think it would be good for democracy. I wish Forward well, and I hope that they succeed. Even if they don’t, I will continue to support RCV and open-primaries. These are nonpartisan approaches that give voters more choice and will help to make our elections more democratic.
If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: [email protected]. Thanks, Armchair American  Approximately one-third of Americans, including 70% of Republicans, believe that Joe Biden won the presidency due to voter fraud. I didn’t vote for Donald Trump, so I have little credibility telling someone who did what to think. But a group of Republican staffers and officials with staunch conservative credentials has just published the report “Lost, Not Stolen: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election”, https://lostnotstolen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Lost-Not-Stolen-The-Conservative-Case-that-Trump-Lost-and-Biden-Won-the-2020-Presidential-Election-July-2022.pdf.  The authors of the report examined every claim of fraud and misconduct claimed by former President Donald Trump and his advocates. They examined the 64 legal challenges alleging 187 counts of voter fraud, irregularities and procedural deficiencies in the battle ground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. According to the report, the Trump team failed to provide substantive evidence to win any of the legal challenges. The report also concluded that the post-election audits and reviews in each state failed to show any irregularities or fraud that would overturn the election results. There was no evidence of fraud in the 2020 Presidential election on the magnitude necessary to shift the result of the election in any state, let alone the entire nation. The report concluded that “there was no fraud that changed the outcome in even a single precinct. It is wrong, and bad for our country, for people to propagate baseless claims that President Biden’s election was not legitimate.”  Why is this report important? For the same reason that the January 6 committee investigations are important. To get at the truth. If the American people don’t believe that our elections are free and fair, we will lose our democracy. I am under no illusions that the “Lost, Not Stolen” report or the January 6 committee investigations will change the minds of many Trump loyalists. This would take an unequivocal repudiation of Trump by the Republican Party, and perhaps abandonment by the right-wing media which propped him up. I don’t think that the Republican Party has the moral courage to take on Donald Trump, but some of his right-wing media friends are beginning to turn on him.  In recent days, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post wrote an editorial calling Donald Trump “unworthy to be the country’s chief executive again.” The conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal has also turned harshly critical of Donald Trump, calling his actions on January 6, 2021 an utter failure, and a violation of his oath of office. Now if Fox News, another Rupert Murdoch property, were to sour on Trump, I think that his political future would be over. For the Republican Party to remain viable, it needs to move beyond Donald Trump. It discredits the party when a majority of its members lack faith in the 2020 election results based on unsubstantiated claims of a stolen election. It also undermines democracy and the Constitution, which the Republicans claim to be defenders of. To restore its credibility, the Republican Party needs more Liz Cheneys and fewer Jim Jordans.  As Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels was claimed to have said, “If you tell a big enough lie and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  Congressional leaders are patting themselves on the back for passing a bipartisan bill on new gun regulations. But even before the President signed the bill into law, the Supreme Court overruled a New York law which will make it easier for Americans to own and carry a gun in public. The Republicans view the epidemic of gun violence as a mental illness problem, not as a gun problem. The Democrats’ hopes for meaningful gun reform have been vanquished for the foreseeable future by the Supreme Court’s rigid interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. Let’s take a look at recent developments.
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act: (https://www.murphy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/bipartisan_safer_communities_act_one_pager.pdf) This bill was signed into law by President Biden on June 25, 2022. Here are the highlights of the new law:
The compromise bill (it is actually more of a capitulation) is seen as a victory by the Democrats who have been working for decades on gun safety legislation. I see the new law as another failure of the Congress to enact meaningful gun reforms. It is little more than a tiny band-aid on a gaping wound that won’t be healed until the 2nd Amendment is repealed or replaced.  Supreme Court Strikes Down New York Gun Law: On June 23, 2022 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf. The Court’s decision overrules a New York law that required adults seeking a permit to carry a concealed weapon in public to demonstrate a need to do so. The Court ruled that the 2nd Amendment provides a broad right of the individual to arm themselves in public, and New York (or any other state) cannot place restrictions on that right. According to the Court’s majority opinion, written by Clarence Thomas, the 2nd Amendment protects “an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.” He went on to write that “The government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulations.” This decision has ramifications throughout the country, and will bring legal challenges to any current or future gun control measures enacted by the states. The direction of the Supreme Court on gun regulations is now clear. The 2nd Amendment right of the individual to own and bear arms is chiseled in stone, and states have limited authority to restrict that right.  America’s Gun Problem: As much as the Republican Party would like you to believe, the mental health system cannot stop mass shootings in America. Only a small fraction of mass shootings are conducted by people with mental illness. It is very difficult to determine who will commit gun violence, and to focus too much on mental health is a mistake. There are volumes of good research on gun violence conducted by the Rand Corporation, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and many others, if you care to look. David Brooks wrote an interesting article recently, titled “Why Mass Shooters Do the Evil They Do”. I found it very interesting, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/07/opinion/mass-shooters-motive.html.  The only thing that connects all perpetrators of gun violence is access to guns, and America is awash in them. All of the guns used in the high-profile mass shootings this summer were purchased legally. The mental health system cannot solve this problem. If the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” is the best that Congress can deliver, we might as well add “gun violence” to the other certainties of American life, “death and taxes”. Don’t let your member of Congress use this new law as an excuse to rest on their laurels. Americans deserve to be safe when they go to school, walk down the street, shop at a grocery store, or attend a 4th of July parade.
Teenager Drinking BeerOne of these two activities is illegal. Which do you think poses the biggest threat to your family? If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  Summer is here, the kids are out of school, and our attention turns to fun in the sun and family vacations. This is the time of the year when the weighty issues of the day are put aside in favor of leisure pursuits. But this summer seems different. The country is in a funk. So, what is going on? COVID numbers are rising again, the war in Ukraine rages on, the stock market is in bear territory, the January 6th subcommittee reminds us daily how fragile our democracy is, and the Supreme Court has just delivered consequential decisions on abortion, gun rights, and the separation of church and state. But the real culprit behind all the unease is inflation!  Inflation-2022 Style: It seems as if the prices on everything have gone through the roof this year. Price increases in grocery stores and at the gas pump have been particularly painful. The annual inflation rate, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, increased to 8.6% in May, https://www.bls.gov/cpi/. This is the highest rate since December of 1981. Food prices have increased overall by 10.1%, and even higher for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs. Overall energy costs have surged at an annual rate of 30.3%, mostly due to gasoline prices which have climbed 48.7%. Inflation has significantly outpaced the wage gains of recent years, putting a real dent in household budgets. The inflationary period we are in, more than anything else, is on the minds of most Americans.
Econ 101: Economists have sophisticated inflation models which take into account various supply and demand components, employment data, and the money supply. In simple terms, prices generally rise when consumers and businesses demand more goods and services than companies are able, or willing to supply. Normally when demand increases, the supply quickly ramps up to meet the demand, thereby dampening the upward pressure on prices. But these are not normal times, and the economic models can’t explain how inflation shot up from around 2% before the pandemic to 8.6% in May.  How Did We Get Here: In a nutshell, today’s inflation is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government’s response to it, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Let’s look at each of these three issues separately.  COVID-19 Pandemic: In the winter and spring of 2020 the world began to shut down, and international borders were closed to travelers and commerce. In the United States, stay-at-home orders were put into place, schools closed, and many “non-essential” businesses were shut down. As a result, millions of people lost their jobs and many small businesses were closed.
Government’s Response to Pandemic: In March of 2020 the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to keep the economy from slowing. That same month President Trump signed into law the $2 trillion CARES Act. Among other things this bill provided payments to all Americans, expanded unemployment benefits, and provided direct payments to state and local governments. In March of 2021, President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. This bill essentially doubled down on the CARES Act, providing additional stimulus to the U.S. economy. In all, the Federal Government enacted six major bills, pumping more than $5 trillion dollars into the economy during the pandemic https://ballotpedia.org/Overview_of_federal_spending_during_the_coronavirus_(COVID-19)_pandemic. There is still nearly $1 trillion not yet spent. There is no question that all of the government stimulus in response to the pandemic, particularly the American Rescue Plan coming the heels of the $3 trillion spent during the Trump administration, increased inflation. All of the money pumped into the U.S. economy artificially increased demand for goods and services of all types. This in turn increased the demand for workers, at a time when child care and COVID concerns kept many from reentering the workforce. The tight labor market increased wages, adding to inflationary pressures in all sectors of the economy. In a recently published paper, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco estimates that the COVID spending bills in the U.S. raised inflation by about 3 percentage points by the end of 2021, https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2022/march/why-is-us-inflation-higher-than-in-other-countries/. The paper goes on to state that other developed countries are not experiencing the same level of inflation as the United States because they pumped significantly less money into their economies during the pandemic. Time will tell which was the better approach. But in the short-term Americans are suffering.  Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Russia is a major supplier of oil, gas, and metals. Along with Ukraine, it is also a major exporter of wheat and corn. The Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year disrupted the production and distribution of these key commodities. These supply disruptions, along with sanctions placed on Russian energy, have pushed energy and other commodity prices higher. The war has also made the shipment of grains from Black Sea ports next to impossible, so more expensive alternatives, including trucks and trains, are being used for transport. It is difficult to say just how much the war in Ukraine has impacted inflation rates in the United States. But there is no doubt that the war is constraining the supply of oil, thus keeping the price of oil and transportation fuels high in the United States. In addition to feeling the pain at the gas pump, consumers are hurt because higher transportation costs have pushed prices higher for food and other essential goods. What Can the Government do About Inflation? Taming inflation requires either reducing demand to meet supply or boosting supply to catch up to demand. This will occur naturally over an extended period of time. But this is an election year and Americans vote on pocket book issues. There are no greater pocket book issues today than grocery and gas prices. The Federal Reserve has already moved to moderate inflation, and the Biden Administration is under tremendous pressure to do something.  Federal Reserve Policy: The Federal Reserve has a mandate to maintain price stability and to keep the inflation rate at about 2%. Its main tool to lower inflation is by increasing interest rates. Higher interest rates lead to increased mortgage rates, as well as other consumer and business borrowing costs. Higher borrowing costs generally lead to lower demand, particularly for large ticket items such as autos and houses. Overtime the lower demand will allow prices to come down and stabilize. Last week the Federal reserve increased interest rates by 0.75 percentage points, the largest incremental increase since 1994. This had the impact of pushing the 30-year mortgage rate to about 6%, compared to 3% a year earlier. Credit card and other consumer debt has become more expensive, which should lead to lower consumer spending. This of course is a balancing act. If the Federal Reserve is too aggressive in raising interest rates, the economy could go into recession. But if interest rates remain stubbornly high, consumer purchasing power will continue to erode.  Biden Administration: There is no magic bullet or policy prescription for the Biden Administration to lower the rate of inflation. The administration could decrease excess demand by moderating its spending. It could also decrease demand by increasing taxes on individuals and corporations. Since cutting spending and increasing taxes aren’t politically popular, his best approach would be to help increase of the supply of goods constrained by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
 As long as prices remain high in the grocery stores and gas stations, we will all be singing the summertime blues. Gas prices will come down naturally when the summer driving season ends and demand for gas drops. The Biden Administration has the power to curve its spending and remove unused federal money from the economy to help lower demand. But it will rely on the Federal Reserve to do most of the heavy lifting. The Fed has pledged to keep increasing interest rates until it breaks the back of inflation. Let’s just hope that it doesn’t break the back of the economy.
If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American  New Ventura County SealLast November I wrote about the Ventura County Board of Supervisors' subcommittee tasked with redesigning its county seal (cancel-culture-in-california-father-junipero-serra-the-latest-target.html). The current seal included an image of the Mission San Buenaventura and its controversial founder, Father Junípero Serra. A faction within the community favored the removal of these images since, in their view, they represent symbols of oppression of the native peoples. On May 24th the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a new county seal which did not include the images of Father Serra or the local mission, https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2022/05/25/new-ventura-county-seal-features-channel-island-no-mission/9857829002/ Interestingly, the new seal doesn’t depict images of the original inhabitants to the area or any other images on the previous seal. The removal of the controversial images seemed to have been a foregone conclusion from the start. There was no clear consensus within the subcommittee or among the public about the county seal’s redesign. The new county seal shows an image of the Channel Islands along the coast of Ventura County. It appears that the County Board of Supervisors took the easy way out and adopted a new seal which wouldn’t offend anyone. This won’t end the controversy surrounding Father Junípero Serra or the Spanish Mission system in Ventura County. They are important features of California history and should not be erased. We need to own our history, for better or worse, learn from it, and bring in the perspectives of all those impacted by it.  Old Ventura County SealIf you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  For the past several weeks I have been traveling and taking care of family business on the East Coast. During that time, I didn’t read any newspapers, watch TV news, or scour the internet. But during my self-imposed news blackout I couldn’t avoid the sickening stench of gun violence which has brought our country to its knees. The recent mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, Tulsa, Philadelphia, and Chattanooga have shaken the country to the core. But these recent gun deaths represent only a tiny fraction of the nearly 19,000 that have already occurred this year in the United States. The numbers are staggering. Since the beginning of 2019, over 147,000 people have been killed in this country by guns, https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/. Contrast that number to the combined total of U.S. combat deaths in the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars of 86,698. There have been several times more civilian deaths in the United States by guns than the total civilian casualty rate in Ukraine since the Russian invasion. Ukraine is an active war zone, but the United States is at “peace”. The laws in the United States allow the carnage wrought from guns, and make our streets more dangerous, not safer. The shooters in Buffalo and Uvalde obtained their military style assault weapons legally. The twisted interpretation of the 2nd Amendment and the religious fervor in which gun rights are defended, have brought the country to this sorry state of affairs. I have written extensively on the 2nd Amendment and other gun related issues in my four-part blog series, “Guns in America”. I will not repeat myself here. You can follow this link if you are interested in revisiting the series, https://armchairamerican.com/blog/guns-in-america-part-4-common-sense-gun-reforms.  Arming the “good guys” is a juvenile and pathetic response by some on the right. Here is a list of some of the reforms that I advocate for:
Will the politicians finally find the courage to enact meaningful gun control legislation? I’m not optimistic. If the national sickness of gun violence isn’t curtailed (it will never be stopped completely), it will continue to weaken the moral fabric of our country. We can’t let that happen. The worse thing that we as citizens can do is to become numb to gun violence. We need to let our politicians at the state and federal levels know that enough is enough, and it is time to end the national nightmare of gun violence.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American
The 2021 tax filing season is coming to a close. So, it’s a good time to reflect on the most hated, but perhaps the most necessary federal agency, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). I am a volunteer income tax preparer for the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program, and prepare dozens of tax returns each year for seniors and low-income families. I witness first hand the frustrations people have dealing with the IRS, and the complexities and anxieties of complying with the U.S. tax code. The IRS deserves some of the credit for its negative image. It has been used as a political weapon by unscrupulous lawmakers, and incompetence has prevented it from becoming an efficient, well-run 21st century organization. But Congress deserves much of the credit for the IRS’s failings, through increased mandates and years of underfunding.  Role of the IRS: The IRS is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury and is responsible for helping taxpayers understand and meet their tax obligations. Congress writes the tax laws, but it is up to the IRS to interpret, enact, and enforce these laws with integrity and fairness. This is not an easy lift, even in the best of times. The pandemic, staff shortages, and years of underfunding have made the work of the IRS even more difficult.  What the IRS Gets Right: The IRS is a giant collection agency. It collects over 95% of all revenue coming into the Federal Treasury, nearly $4 trillion per year. In 2020 the IRS spent just 35 cents for each $100 it collected; not a bad return on investment (https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/the-agency-its-mission-and-statutory-authority). The IRS is also very good at sending out tens of millions of refund checks each year. In 2020 and 2021, during the worst pandemic in over one hundred years, the IRS managed to send out hundreds of millions of stimulus payments to most Americans, while still performing its other obligations. But the pandemic placed other strains on the IRS. It was required to send out Advanced Child Tax Credits to millions of families and administer more than a dozen other COVID-relief programs. This has compounded the massive backlog at the IRS.  The IRS is Drowning in Paper: According to the National Taxpayer Advocate, Erin Collins, “Paper is the IRS’s Kryptonite, and the IRS is buried in it”. More than 90% of taxpayers file their taxes electronically. This represents a huge success for the IRS, but much more work needs to be done. Last year the IRS received more than 17 million paper returns from individuals, over 4 million amended returns in paper form, and millions more paper returns filed by businesses. Everyone of these paper returns must be keyed into a computer by an IRS employee. According to the National Taxpayer Advocate, last year there were transcription errors on about 22% of these returns. The end of the 2021 tax filing season is fast approaching and the IRS is still working on a backlog of nearly 15 million paper returns from 2020. This makes for a lot of unhappy taxpayers who have been waiting for more than a year for their tax refunds.  What Congress Needs to Do to Help the IRS:
 What the IRS Can Do to Help Itself:
 What Taxpayers Can Do to Help Themselves and the IRS:
The U.S. Government expects so much from the IRS but doesn’t give it the tools to function as an efficient 21st century organization. The Government heavily leaned on the IRS to implement many of its COVID relief programs while still performing its primary tasks. All this was done as COVID restrictions and funding shortfalls crippled IRS staffing levels. I have only scratched the surface of the challenges facing the IRS. The agency is dealing with millions of cases of tax refund fraud due to ID theft, it generates and responds to millions of pieces of correspondence each year, and participates in many outreach and educational programs.  No one wants an intrusive, burdensome IRS meddling into their financial lives. But for better or for worse, we need the IRS, and we need it to be run efficiently and administer the tax code fairly. We even need the IRS to step up enforcement, perform many more tax audits, and close the huge “tax gap” that goes uncollected each year. Yes folks, it’s time to show the IRS a little love, and remind our representatives in Congress that we expect them to do the same.
If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American  Donald Trump believes that if he was still President the war in Ukraine would be much different, and may not have occurred at all. He is certainly entitled to his opinion. Trump’s interactions with Ukraine while he was in office, and his relations to Vladimir Putin tell a different story. Trump has not been shy about expressing his opinions since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. So, it is not difficult to conjecture about the war in Ukraine under a Trump Administration. Donald Trump’s views on the end of the Afghanistan war, his interactions with Ukrainian President Zelensky, his lack of support for NATO, and his relationship to Putin, tell a very different story than what is actually unfolding.  Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Donald Trump and Republican leaders have been crowing in recent weeks that President Biden's “abrupt” end to the Afghanistan War showed American weakness and emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine. There is no evidence of this, and is ludicrous coming from Donald Trump. The truth is, the Trump Administration signed an agreement with the Taliban on February 29, 2020 for the complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by May 2021. This agreement achieved no meaningful commitments from the Taliban, and essentially cut out the U.S. supported Afghanistan Government in Kabul. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump was patting himself on the back for this agreement. In one Twitter post he stated “I started the process, all the troops are coming home, they (Biden) couldn’t stop the process”. On an April 18, 2021 post to his website, Trump stated “Getting out of Afghanistan is a wonderful and positive thing to do. I planned to withdraw on May 1”. He went further by criticizing President Biden for waiting until September 11, 2021 to withdraw the troops from Afghanistan. Putin has been planning to invade Ukraine and bring it under his orbit for many years. He showed his hand with the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Later that same year, Russian-backed separatists seized the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine by force. Even though the American withdrawal from Afghanistan was a botched affair, it had nothing to do with Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. Ostensibly Trump would have executed the withdrawal from Afghanistan with precision, leaving no doubt about the military might of the United States, and giving pause to every world leader who opposed that might.  Donald Trump’s Relationship to Ukraine: Donald Trump’s relationship to Ukraine during his Presidency can best be described as scandalous. Trump attempted to get the government of Ukraine to open an investigation into the activities of candidate Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. During a phone call in 2019 to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump threatened to withhold nearly $400 million in Congressionally authorized military aid if he didn’t do Trump this favor. Trump also promised President Zelensky the honor of a White House visit if other favors were delivered. These quid pro quos damaged the prestige of the White House, and did little to solidify U.S-Ukraine relations. This appalling episode made President Zelensky look foolish, made Ukraine look like a tool of the West, and led to the first impeachment of Donald Trump. It is hard to believe that if Donald Trump was still President he would be Ukraine’s champion. Afterall, what would be in it for him?  Donald Trump’s Relationship to Vladimir Putin: As Russian tanks and troops amassed on the borders of Ukraine, Donald Trump called Putin a genius, very smart, and savvy. Once the invasion began, Trump called the Biden Administration weak, and member states of NATO “not so smart”. But in recent days, as the world turned against Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, Trump has done an about-face. Now “the Russian attack on Ukraine is appalling. It is an outrage, and an atrocity that should never have been allowed to occur”. The billion-dollar question is whether a President Trump would support, or at least turn a blind eye to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Let’s take a look at Trump’s words and deeds while in office, as a guidepost. Russia invaded and then annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. This led to international condemnation and sanctions on Russia. It also led to the expulsion of Russia from the Group of Eight (G8), an inter-governmental political forum which includes France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. During a G7 meeting in 2018, Trump called for Russia to be reinstated, and questioned leaders as to why they sided with Ukraine over Russia. Afterall, Trump told the other leaders, “Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world”.  At a summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in the summer of 2018, Trump sided with Russia against his own U.S. intelligence agencies. At the summit, Trump disavowed the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies which had concluded that Russia had indeed interfered in the 2016 elections. Trump stated during a press conference that he believed Putin, who had told him that Russia had not meddled in the U.S. elections. Does this sound like a leader who would back Ukraine over Russia?  The NATO Alliance: The member states of NATO have come together swiftly and decisively to aid Ukraine against Russian aggression. We haven’t witnessed this much unity in NATO since the attacks on 9/11. The Swedes and Fins are considering joining NATO. Even Germany has been shaken from its pacifist stance to dramatically increase military spending and supply Ukraine with defensive weapons and supplies. Of course, Donald Trump takes credit for all of this. He stated on February 28 “There would be no NATO if I didn’t act strongly and swiftly”. But according to recent reports in The Washington Post and The New York Times, Trump told his senior administration officials on several occasions that he wanted to withdraw from the NATO alliance. In 2020 Trump ordered the withdrawal of about a third of U.S. troops stationed in Germany. If Trump had won the 2020 election it is possible that he would have followed through on his threats to withdraw from NATO. That would have severely weakened and undermined the alliance and played right into the hands of Vladimir Putin. According to Retired Admiral James G. Stavrids, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, an American withdrawal from NATO would be “a geopolitical mistake of epic proportion”. What Trump doesn’t realize, is that his threats to withdraw from NATO undermined the alliance and actually emboldened Putin. What would Ukraine’s fate be if not for NATO? It would end up being annexed by Russia, and Russia would be on its way to recreating the U.S.S.R. President Biden has taken the lead on sanctioning Russia, providing military aid to Ukraine, and uniting the NATO alliance.  Donald Trump is using revisionism and twisted logic to paint himself as a friend to Ukraine and foe to Vladimir Putin. Just as with Vladimir Putin’s tortured justifications for invading Ukraine, the American people and the world will not be fooled. You can draw your own conclusions about the fate of Ukraine, and indeed the fate of the world, if Donald Trump was still President. But I for one am glad that Joe Biden is our President during this time of international conflict. The world would not be a safer place if one more leader of questionable emotional stability, had access to nuclear weapons.   If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  On February 25, 2022 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin unleashed the largest military operation in Europe since World War II. Putin’s unprovoked invasion of the sovereign country of Ukraine shows what lengths he will go to in an attempt to rectify grievances, both real and imagined. Attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine show his disdain for human life. The shelling of nuclear installations demonstrates Putin’s disregard for the norms of a civilized nation, not to mention his indifference to unleashing toxic materials into the environment. The arrest of thousands of his fellow citizens who oppose him, and the suppression of the free press and social media within Russia, show his distrust and disdain for his own citizens. Putin’s initiation of an illegal war in the face of worldwide condemnation, shows his indifference to the international community. Putin will stop at nothing to achieve his aims, as demonstrated by his threat to use nuclear weapons against those who oppose him. For the sake of Ukraine, peace in Europe, and respect for democratic principles around the world, Putin must be stopped.  What Does Putin Hope to Gain: Putin has admitted to Western leaders that he will stop at nothing to achieve his goals in Ukraine, and the West should believe him. So, what are his goals? Simply put, to prevent Ukraine from ever joining any Western alliance which opposes Russia. Putin will not stop until he has overthrown Ukraine’s government headed by democratically elected President Volodymyr Zelensky, and replaced it with a puppet regime. Ultimately Putin hopes to annex the entire country of Ukraine, as he did with the Crimea in 2014, which is now part of Russia.  What Motivated Putin to Invade Ukraine: No one knows for sure what motivated Putin to invade his peaceful neighbor, which poses no threat to Russia. By all accounts, Putin has become isolated and paranoid in recent years, and this has only been compounded by the COVID pandemic. Putin claims that Russia’s invasion was to free Ukraine from oppression and “cleansed of the Nazis”, and to bring to justice “those who committed numerous bloody crimes against civilians”. This is nonsensical of course. You would think that the former KBG agent could come with something better than that. Many observers point to three major motivations behind Putin’s military assault on Ukraine: grievances stemming from the collapse of the Soviet Union, unchecked expansion by NATO resulting in security concerns, and protection of Russia’s energy markets (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/magazine/russia-united-states-world-politics.html).  Grievances: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Putin has watched Russia’s prestige and influence dwindle on the global stage. Putin described the collapse of the Soviet Union as “the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”. To Putin, the two world wars and the Holocaust were lesser events. Russia expected to be treated as an equal partner in world affairs with the United States, with the right to retain influence over countries in the former Soviet Bloc. But with Russia in chaos, this was not to be.  Security Issues: Putin claims that the United States reneged on its pledge not to expand NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) to countries bordering Russia. This pledge was never made (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/why-nato-and-ukraine-are-a-flash-point-with-russia-30-after-the-end-of-the-cold-war). Russia has no right to dictate NATO’s membership. According to its chapter, NATO membership is open to “any other European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area” (https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm). Since the end of the cold war, fourteen former Soviet Bloc countries have joined NATO, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which have borders with Russia. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but the two entities did enter into a Comprehensive Assistance Package in 2016 (https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2016_09/20160920_160920-compreh-ass-package-ukra.pdf). NATO has made overtures to both Georgia and Ukraine, which is a line in the sand for Putin. President Zelensky of Ukraine has stated his intentions to join NATO as well as the European Union. This sealed his fate in the mind of Putin.
Protecting Russia’s Energy Sector: Oil and gas account for 60% of Russia’s export revenue and about 40% of its total budget expenditures. Europe is a huge natural gas market for Russia, and an inability to access this market threatens its economic security. Russia relies on a pipeline through Belarus and another through Ukraine to reach European markets. If Ukraine aligns with the West through the EU (European Union) or NATO, this threatens Russian’s pipelines and its economic stability. Petro dollars keep Putin in power, and he has calculated that the West would not threaten the flow of Russian oil and gas for fear of hurting their own economies. So far Putin’s calculation has proven correct.  Actions the West Should Take: Ukraine is one of the most impoverished countries in Europe. Despite the heroism and resolve of its people, Ukraine has no chance of repelling the military might of Russia and the resolve of Vladimir Putin. NATO won’t send combat troops into Ukraine or enforce a no-fly zone over its airspace for fear of escalating the war beyond the borders of Ukraine. No one knows for sure what will motivate Putin to end the war in Ukraine peacefully. But there are some things that the West can do to hurt Putin and Russia, and hopefully bring the conflict to an end. Here are some of them: 
 Consequences of Inaction: If the West does not act swiftly and decisively in defense of Ukraine, there will be long term consequences to the peace and security of the world. If Putin’s illegal actions against Ukraine go unpunished, he will be emboldened. This could lead to military actions against other former Soviet Bloc countries to prevent them from aligning with the West. It could also threaten the security of NATO members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania which sit on Russia’s border. Putin sees the global erosion of democracy as a way to bolster and legitimize his own authoritarian moves. If Putin is allowed to succeed in Ukraine it will embolden autocrats in Belarus, Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua, North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Vladimir Putin won’t just leave Ukraine with his tail between his legs. The war will be a prolonged and bloody affair. These are early days and if Putin has his back against the wall, the West has to be prepared for the worst. Should Ukraine be the sacrificial lamb for peace in Europe? No! This would only embolden Putin and other autocrats. It would also create a “false peace”, and the world would devolve into another “cold war”. We can’t let Putin pull the world into darkness. Russia needs to become part of the peaceful community of nations, and not hide behind the iron curtain of old.  The world can only hope that the crippling economic sanctions can cause enough civil unrest in Russia, and make enough oligarchs rethink their relationship to Putin, to remove him from office, or at the very least to get him to withdraw from Ukraine.  Let us all stand with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for showing the world grace under fire, and what true leadership looks like. Let us also stand with the Ukrainian people who have demonstrated to the world true courage and the real meaning of patriotism.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  On February 4, 2022 the Republican National Committee (RNC) passed a resolution to formally censure Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for daring to stand up to Donald Trump. The RNC is opposed to the Democrat-led Congressional committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riot. Cheney and Kinzinger are members of the committee, which explains their fall from grace within the Republican Party.  It is no surprise that the Republicans censured Cheney and Kinzinger. What is surprising is the wording used in the censor resolution. According to the resolution, “Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” The characterization of the January 6th Capitol riot as “legitimate political discourse” has caused a firestorm, and rightly so. Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has condemned this characterization by stating that what happened on January 6th, “was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent a peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next.” I don’t often say this, but I agree with Mitch McConnell.  Political protest is protected by the U.S. Constitution, and many people in Washington D.C. on January 6th were acting within their rights. But some of the protestors engaged in organized acts of violence and destruction of government property in an effort to prevent the certification of a free and fair election. It was an affront to our democracy and should never be considered a legitimate form of political protest. There are millions of people in our country that side with the RNC’s position and feel that the Democrats have blown the events of January 6th all out of proportion for political gain. To that I say, please watch the following documentary film put together by the New York Times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWJVMoe7OY0.  “Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol” culminated from a six-month Times investigation. The film makers synchronized and mapped out thousands of videos and police radio communications from the January 6th Capitol riot, providing the most complete picture to date of what happened and why. I found the documentary to be powerful, disturbing, and at times difficult to watch. It certainly didn’t leave me ambivalent. I challenge anyone who watches this film to characterize the events depicted as “legitimate political discourse”. The Republican Party doesn’t seem interested in getting to the truth surrounding the events of January 6th. Otherwise, they would be supporting the work of the January 6th committee in Congress. I for one am anxious to read the final report on the committee’s findings. Any American who truly cares about the future of our democracy should be as well.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American  By now most of you have heard that the Biden Administration is making one billion rapid at-home COVID tests available to the American public. This is in response to criticism that the government is not doing enough to combat the pandemic, particularly in the area of testing. There have been widespread shortages of at-home COVID tests and episodes of price gouging, so this seems to be a step in the right direction. How do you get the free test kits, and what should you know about their use?  How to Order Free At-Home COVID Tests: The Federal Government’s new website to process orders is up and running. Each household is entitled to four free at-home rapid COVID tests. The site is easy to use. It took me less than five minutes to order my free tests. Simply log on to https://www.covidtests.gov/, and input your name and shipping address. The U.S. Postal Service will process and ship the tests to your home within 1-2 weeks. If you don’t have internet access you may order your free COVID tests at (800) 232-0233. The website is not able to handle orders from multiple households living at the same address, so there have been a few glitches. For those situations you may call the Postal Service help desk at (800) 275-8777, or file a service request at https://emailus.usps.com/s/the-postal-store-inquiry.  The initial rollout of free at-home COVID tests is limited to four tests per household in order to promote broad access to the limited supply. But there are other ways to receive additional COVID tests at little or no cost to you. The test kits are available at some community health centers, rural clinics, and some federal testing sites.  Private Health Insurers Mandated to Cover At-Home COVID Tests: As of January 15th private health insurers are required to fully reimburse for up to eight at-home rapid COVID tests per person, each month. The insurer will not be able to apply co-payments or deductibles, and there is no requirement for a doctor’s order or a clinical assessment. The government is incentivizing insurers to work with pharmacies and other outlets to provide the at-home COVID tests with no out-of-pocket costs to the consumer. For specifics on reimbursements and no-cost programs, reach out to your health insurance provider.  Which At-Home COVID Test Will I Receive: There are thirteen at-home rapid antigen tests approved for use by the FDA to detect COVID. Only an approved antigen rapid test kit will be made available through the free program, but you do not have the ability to request a particular brand. Here are the currently approved at-home COVID antigen tests:
These tests are fairly easy to use and results are available in 15-20 minutes. Antigen tests detect the presence of a specific viral antigen, which implies current viral infection. The test requires you to swab each nostril for a specified period of time. The swab is then inserted into a buffer solution which then comes into contact with a test strip containing antibodies. A colored line appears on the test strip if it detects the antigen, indicating a positive test for the virus.  Sensitivity of Rapid Antigen Tests: Based upon ongoing research studies, the FDA updated its testing guidance in December to indicate that the rapid antigen tests for COVID have reduced sensitivity to the Omicron variant. The PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test remains the gold standard for the detection of all variants of the coronavirus. PCR tests are run in labs using sophisticated equipment, and the results may take several days to receive. Due to this delay, PCR is not a good screening tool for COVID. During a PCR test the genetic material from the virus is copied billions of times. This amplification allows even tiny amounts of genetic material from the virus to be detected. Therefore, it can detect the presence of the coronavirus even before the onset of symptoms, but also long after your symptoms subside and you are no longer contagious. For rapid antigen tests to be positive, there needs to be a high viral load. The viral load in most COVID patients is usually too low for the antigen test to detect until after the onset of symptoms, sometimes several days after. With the Omicron variant, people seem to be coming down with symptoms earlier in the infection, before viral loads are large enough to be detected by a rapid antigen test. This doesn’t mean that these tests don’t work, but it does mean that when and how the tests are used can impact results. If you test positive on a rapid antigen test, there is a high probability that you have COVID. But if you test negative, you may still have COVID. The two most recently approved rapid antigen tests show higher sensitivity to the detection of the Omicron variant than previous tests. These are the “Clinitest Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Self Test” by Siemens-Healthineers, and the “Standard Q COVID-19 Ag Home Test”, by SD Biosensor.  When to Use At-Home Rapid Antigen Tests: These tests are most accurate when you are symptomatic for COVID. The CDC recommends using an at-home test if you have a fever, cough, sore throat, respiratory symptoms, muscle aches, or lose of taste or smell, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/testing/self-testing.html#anchor_1638718975230. Rapid COVID tests are also recommended for use five days after a potential COVID exposure, and as part of test-to-stay protocols in schools and workplaces. For best results I would wait 2-3 days after the onset of symptoms before testing with a rapid antigen test. A positive test result indicates that you likely have a current infection, and you should isolate and inform close contacts. A negative test result indicates that you may not be infected and may be at low risk of spreading disease to others, though it does not rule out an infection. If you plan to visit a vulnerable person in the near future, such as your grandmother, plan ahead. Minimize your social contacts for about a week and take a minimum of two tests prior to your visit. The final test should be within 24 hours of your visit. If you are symptomatic and get a negative test, repeat the test after 24-48 hours. This type of serial testing is often required for an accurate result, but it becomes problematic when you have a limited supply of tests available. Never rely on a single negative test, particularly if you have symptoms. It is best to self-isolate and have a PCR test performed, or assume that you are positive and take the necessary precautions.  Other Considerations:
 The government is discouraging the use of cloth face-masks. The CDC has updated its face-mask guidance to emphasize the better protection offered by N95 and KN95 masks. The Biden Administration is making available 400 million N95 masks free of charge to the American public. The free masks will be made available through select pharmacies and community health centers. You can find a list of locations offering the free masks at this link.  The lack of adequate testing has hindered the United States’ response to the pandemic since day one. Most experts acknowledge that testing is an important step in mitigating virus spread. It appears as if the Biden Administration has finally determined that vaccines alone will not end this pandemic. The programs to provide free test kits and face masks to the American public are steps in the right direction. Now it’s time for every American to avail themselves of these tools and do their part to bring this pandemic to an end.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  Once again, a major piece of legislation comes to a grinding halt in the United States Senate. Even though the Democrats control both Houses of Congress and the White House, they have been blocked by the Republicans from passing voting rights legislation. How can the minority party in the Senate hold so much power? Simply put, the Senate filibuster rule. What is the senate filibuster rule, and is it time to reform or eliminate it altogether? In order to answer these questions let’s take a look at the history of the filibuster and give it some perspective. What is the Senate Filibuster: Originally senators had the right to unlimited debate on the Senate floor and could prevent a vote on a bill by running out the clock with prolonged speeches. Under the current rules of the Senate, it takes 60 votes to end debate and move most bills to a vote. Without the 60 votes needed to end debate and move to a vote (a process called “cloture”), the filibuster rule essentially blocks the bill from proceeding.  History of the Filibuster: The filibuster is not found in the Constitution and became possible with an inadvertent change to the Senate rules in 1806. Under the original Senate rules, cutting off debate required a motion that passed with a simple majority. The rule was dropped at the suggestion of Vice President Aaron Burr since it was seldom used and apparently not needed, https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/what-is-the-senate-filibuster-and-what-would-it-take-to-eliminate-it/. This rule change had the unintended consequence of giving senators the right to unlimited debate without any formal way to end it. Seldom used prior to the Civil War, senators learned that they could prevent a vote on a bill that they opposed by tying up the Senate floor with endless speeches. The “talking filibuster” was born. In 1917 the Senate passed Rule 22, the first cloture rule. This rule allowed debate to end and a vote taken on a pending bill with a two-thirds majority vote by the senators present in the chamber. In 1975 the Senate reduced the number of votes needed to end debate to three-fifths of the senators present. When the Senate is at full strength, 60 votes are required to end debate and put the measure up for vote (invoking cloture).  Silent Filibuster: On occasion, senators still take to the Senate floor and give protracted speeches in the style of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”. But this is rarely used anymore to prevent a bill from moving forward. It takes 60 senators to invoke cloture and move a bill forward. Therefore, as few as 41 senators can derail any piece of legislation by opposing a cloture motion. In practice, anytime 41 or more senators simply threaten to filibuster a piece of legislation, the Senate majority leader will not bring it up for consideration. In theory, any or all of these senators could filibuster on the Senate floor indefinitely, with no mechanism to end the debate. It would be a waste of time for the Senate to consider a piece of legislation that doesn’t have the 60 votes needed.  Exceptions to the Filibuster Rule:
 Reasons to Keep the Filibuster Rule: The Senate is often touted as a “deliberative body” and the “consensus-building” chamber of Congress. The very nature of the filibuster rule requires a consensus of 60 or more senators for any major legislation to be passed. Since it is rare for any political party to have a supermajority, the majority party must reach across the aisle and win the support of some members of the minority. This protects the rights of the minority party which may otherwise have no voice in the legislative process. The crafting of legislation is better served through bipartisanship and the give and take of negotiations in the building of a coalition around a piece of legislation. If the traditions of the Senate were practiced, and the political parties were actually interested in building a consensus, then the filibuster rule as it stands would be fine.  Reasons to End or Modify the Filibuster Rule:
Proposed Changes to the Filibuster Rule: The Constitution gives each chamber of Congress the right to write its own rules. So, any change to the filibuster must come from the Senate. The process of changing the rules of the Senate is complicated, and not all rules are treated the same. Some can be changed by a simple majority and others require a two-thirds majority vote, https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R42929.pdf. Here are some of the proposed changes to the filibuster that various politicians and think tanks are considering:
 If I had my way, I would eliminate the filibuster rule altogether and restore the original Senate rules regarding the motion to end floor debates with a simple majority, the way it was prior to 1806. Short of this, I would eliminate the silent filibuster and make senators stand on the Senate floor and defend their opposition to the pending bill.
In recent days President Biden indicated that he would support a change to the filibuster rule in order to get his voting rights legislation pasted. But Democrat Senator Krysten Sinema threw a wet blanket over that idea when she proclaimed in a floor speech that she would not support any changes to the filibuster rule. Democrat Senator Joe Manchin also reiterated his position that he would not support a “carve-out” to exempt voting rights legislation from the filibuster rule. Both Senators Manchin and Sinema support voting rights legislation, but without their support for a change to the filibuster rule, it cannot survive in the face of complete Republican opposition. Another victory for the minority party, and renewed calls to do something about the Senate filibuster rule.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com.
Thanks, Armchair American  The year 2021 started off with so much promise. COVID vaccines had just become available and Joe Biden was about to become President. But the optimism of the new year was shattered for me on January 6th with the Capitol riot. This led to another impeachment of Donald Trump, ongoing Congressional investigations, and a widening of the partisan divide. Even with the occasional rays of sunlight shining through the fog of COVID, the dark clouds were never far away. But the year wasn’t all bad, and if you were smart enough to tune out the news and social media banter, you may be in a pretty good place right now. Job prospects have rarely looked better, the economy is doing well, despite the spike in inflation, and many of us are spending more time outdoors and with family and friends. It is actually raining in much of California as I write this, and the record Sierra snowpack for December brings much needed drought relief. The good news often gets overshadowed by the bad. My New Year’s resolution is to focus more on the good and turn down the volume on all the negativity and bad news. The change-over from one year to the next is a time of renewal, and gives us hope that things will be better in the future. It is also a time for reflection of the year just past and for the prospects that a new year may bring. This blog is about some of the biggest stories of 2021 and my reflections upon them.  COVID and Vaccines: The COVID pandemic continued to dominate headlines and our lives throughout 2021. All Americans ages 16 and above became eligible to receive a COVID vaccine starting on April 19, 2021.That was the month that I got vaccinated and was happy to drive 120 miles and stand in line for two hours to receive my first shot. Children ages 12-15 became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine in May. This brought a lot of optimism and it seemed as if the country was emerging from darkness into the light. But the virus had other ideas with the emergence of the Delta variant, which became the predominate variant in the U.S. by the end of June. The Delta variant caused more infections and spread faster than previous variants. The vaccines proved less effective at preventing infection from the new variant, but they remained highly effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths. In late October the FDA authorized the use of the Pfizer vaccine in children ages 5-11.  All of the approved COVID vaccines lose effectiveness over time. Booster doses are required as immunity diminishes. In October the FDA authorized the use of booster doses for all adults, six months following the 2nd shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, and two months following the J+J vaccine. At the start of 2022, Pfizer booster shots were authorized for children ages 12-15, and the waiting period changed from six months to five for all recipients. It is now clear that a full vaccine regimen includes the initial shots plus the booster. The CDC should begin using the term “full vaccination” to mean the initial shots plus the booster, and eliminate the word “booster” altogether. It is confusing, and gives the impression that the booster shot is optional and not part of the full vaccine regimen.  The Omicron variant was first detected in the U.S. on December 1st, and by the end of the month was the dominant variant. It arrived just in time to disrupt holiday plans here and around the world. It appears to spread at a rate 2-3 times faster than Delta and has resulted in a surge in hospitalizations. The final week of December saw an average daily infection rate of nearly 400,000. The actual total is probably much higher, since many people with breakthrough cases don’t seek medical attention. There is a silver lining here. According to studies from South Africa and Britain, the Omicron variant appears milder and is far less likely to result in hospitalization than any other variant. Research suggests that Omicron is less damaging to the lungs than Delta, and is mainly limited to the nose, throat, and windpipe, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/02/new-studies-reinforce-belief-that-omicron-is-less-likely-to-damage-lungs.  We should never forget that COVID vaccines have been a huge success. According to the CDC, unvaccinated people are ten times as likely to become hospitalized and ten times as likely to die from COVID as vaccinated people. Even though the cases of breakthrough infections have increased due to the highly infectious Omicron variant, the vast majority of people getting seriously ill and dying from COVID are the unvaccinated. To date, approximately 63% of the U.S. population is vaccinated, but only about 30% of the vaccinated adults have received a booster shot. There are millions of Americans who have not been vaccinated, and billions are yet to be vaccinated around the world. This leaves a lot of hosts for new COVID variants to emerge. For this pandemic to end, more people need to get vaccinated, and wearing appropriate face masks in public should become routine.  Capitol Riot: The work of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol is far from over. The committee is likely to release an interim report by the summer and a final report sometime this fall. I hope that the thoroughness of the investigation and the timing of the final report’s release is not influenced by the mid-term elections. Meanwhile, Federal prosecutors are busy conducting investigations of individuals who may have been criminally involved in the January 6th riot. To date, more than 725 people have been charged with various crimes pertaining to their activities in the Capitol on that day. Earlier this month a new law was passed which grants the Capitol Police Chief the power to unilaterally request emergency backup from the National Guard and federal law enforcement agencies. This legislation will allow the Capitol Police to react more swiftly to emergencies. It shouldn’t have taken such a massive breach in our Capitol’s security for a bill of this type to be enacted. I guess it takes a crisis for anything to get through Congress on a bipartisan basis.  President Biden’s Legislative Agenda: President Biden’s triumphs were overshadowed by his failure to pass his massive “Build Back Better” social agenda by the end of the year. His job approval ratings ran as high as 55% near the start of his presidency, but have sunk to the low 40s by the end of the year. In March, the President signed into law the $1.9 Trillion “American Rescue Plan”. This was a big victory for the President. It provided much needed funding to fight the COVID pandemic, and it provided economic stimulus to states, counties, cities and families.  The other major legislative victory for the President was the passage of the $1.2 Trillion “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” in November. This important piece of legislation was passed on a bipartisan basis, which is no small achievement. But the Democrats were not content to end the spending spree there, and the progressive wing of the party pushed the President to move forward with his multi-trillion dollar “Build Back Better” social spending plan. This backfired on the President when a few moderate Democrats in the Senate pushed back due to the price tag. The plan is not dead, but it will be scaled back and will consume a lot of energy as the politicos turn their attention to the mid-term elections.  I think that the President overplayed his hand with “Build Back Better”. As several others have remarked, nobody elected Joe Biden to be FDR, they elected him to be moderate and stop the chaos. The Democrats have very slim margins in the House and the Senate. There is no mandate to get big progressive bills through Congress. Joe Biden should have known better.
Economy: The economy came roaring back in 2021 due to pent up demand and trillions of dollars from stimulus programs. But as everyone has experienced, inflation has reared its ugly head. Consumer prices rose by 5.7% in November from a year earlier. Anyone who has purchased gasoline, groceries, and household goods in recent months has felt the pinch. Housing prices, automobiles and electronics have also seen significant price increases over the past year. Initially the economists thought the inflation would be transitory due to COVID related supply chain disruptions. But with low unemployment rates fueling wage increases, inflation is not going to be so easy to tame. The Federal Reserve is poised to step in and end its bond purchasing program, and begin to increase interest rates in the new year.  End of the Afghanistan War: The U.S. completed its evacuation of all U.S. military troops from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021, marking the end of the twenty-year war. Any good that resulted from the war was overshadowed by the collapse of the U.S. backed government and the rapid disintegration of the Afghan military, which allowed the Taliban to regain control of Afghanistan. Today Afghanistan is facing an economic and humanitarian crisis. Billions of dollars of the country’s assets are frozen in the U.S, and most international aid has stopped. Despite pledges to the contrary, the Taliban has reverted to its repressive policies of the past. Severe restrictions have been placed on women, and many democratic institutions have been dismantled. The U.S. military’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan and the rapid takeover by the Taliban will be used against the Democrats in the midterm elections and beyond. I still believe that it was the right decision for the U.S. to exit Afghanistan. But President Biden’s much heralded foreign policy expertise and his knowledge of the situation, came up woefully short.  Mike Pence is the Unsung Hero of the Year: Yes, Mike Pence, the former vice president! Mike Pence was Donald Trump’s last hope against the certification of the 2020 Presidential election. All of the dozens of legal challenges to the outcome of the election filed on behalf of Trump, failed in court or were tossed out. Trump had been convinced, falsely, by his lawyers and consultants that the vice president had the constitutional authority to prevent the certification of the electoral votes due to potential voter fraud. Pence could decertify those votes he disagreed with and send them back to the states. Friendly state legislatures would then send back to Congress a new slate of electors in favor of Donald Trump, giving him the electoral victory. Mike Pence was under tremendous pressure by the President and his lawyers and consultants, to enact the plan to decertify the election. For his part, Mike Pence consulted Congressional colleagues, constitutional experts, and a former vice president on the matter. Pence was rightly convinced that he had no constitutional authority to do anything other than to count the electoral votes already certified by the individual states. Critics of Mike Pence said that he was just doing his job. Sure, but if Pence had gone along with the President and failed to do his job, this country would have been thrown into a constitutional crisis which would have caused irreparable harm to our democracy. Mike Pence also paid a big personal price for defying President Trump. He damaged his standing with the Republican base, and his prospects for the White House have vanished.  Donald Trump could not have hoped for a more loyal vice president than Mike Pence, and what does he get as a reward? He is thrown under the bus by Donald Trump who turns him into the villain of the Republican Party. This episode shows the true character of Donald Trump. He demands loyalty from others, but he gives none in return. Contrast this to the character of Mike Pence who refused to be evacuated from the Capitol on January 6th as Trump loyalists stormed the building shouting “Hang Mike Pence”. Mike Pence did not leave the Capitol until Joe Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 Presidential election. That was an historic moment for our country, and if not for Mike Pence this country would never be the same.  The Most Important Story You Might Have Missed: The Associated Press conducted an exhaustive review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump, https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-arizona-donald-trump-voter-registration-tucson-c64bba90b8c074bf8bdfd2c751b6b0f2. The review took place over several months, involving over 300 local election offices in the key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Of the 25.5 million ballots cast for president in these states, less than 475 proved to be fraudulent. Even if all 475 of these votes were removed from Joe Biden’s tally, it would have had zero impact on the outcome of the election. Every one of those fraudulent votes was cast by an individual acting alone. There was no collusion to rig the election and no wide-spread voter fraud. Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” is just that; a big lie.  There were a lot of big stories that I didn’t comment on, such as voting rights, abortion, and Joe Manchin’s clash with the President. But these stories will be with us in the new year, and there will be plenty of time to comment on them as they continue to develop. Most of the big news out of 2021 didn’t have much in the “feel good” department. Many of us have COVID fatigue, so it’s easy to overlook the good that occurred. The pandemic will end, and most of us will get through it unscathed, although not unchanged. If nothing else, we will learn to appreciate what is truly important: family, friends and good health.
If you enjoy reading this type of commentary please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American |
AuthorThe Armchair American. 
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