FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Aug 24

How the Trump Administration Has Undermined the Justice System

by bcurry

There isn’t a day that goes by without some new revelation about the Trump administration’s interference in or misuse of the justice system.  The most recent abuse to surface was revealed when a federal judge ruled that Alina Habba, a Trump appointee, had been serving as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney without legal authority for more than a month.  The judge ruled that she is not currently qualified to exercise the functions and duties of that office in an acting capacity and she has no experience in criminal law.  At the time of her acting appointment, other potential reputable veteran prosecutors were already under consideration in the office of the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.  The thing is that such moves used by the administration to keep Habba in charge of the New Jersey office after her interim tenure ran out have apparently been replicated by the Justice Department in several other U.S. attorney’s offices.  It has also be pointed out that since the legality of the appointment was being challenged, the questions had left the state’s district court system at a standstill for several weeks, delaying hearings, plea agreements, grand jury proceedings and at least one trial.

In the past few months, members of Trump’s Justice Department have repeatedly misled the courts, violated their orders and demonized judges who have ruled against them.  In the past, Justice Department lawyers long enjoyed a professional benefit when they appear in court. As a general rule, judges tend to take them at their word and assume they are telling the truth.  Now, because of the current inappropriate behaviour of Justice Department lawyers, legal experts say that the actions have resulted in serious doubts among judges about the department and those who represent it.  This doubt could ultimately have a more systemic effect and erode the healthy functioning of the courts.  In addition, this confusion and negative reaction has been further exacerbated by the fact the Trump administration has fired numerous veteran prosecutors at the department, apparently without cause and in some cases simply because they had been involved in past cases involving Trump.  As for the remaining prosecutors, their credibility and integrity is now being more frequently questioned by the courts.  A good recent example is where federal grand juries in Los Angeles have been refusing to indict many defendants whom prosecutors have sought to charge in connection with immigration protests.

Trump hypocritically had accused the Biden administration of “weaponizing” the Justice Department, when he in fact has gone even further do exactly the same thing, but in much more evident and worst ways in real terms.  The most recent example is where Edward R. Martin Jr., appointed by Trump last January as the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, was tapped by the Justice Department to investigate the New York attorney general, Letitia James.  James of course was the person who successfully prosecuted Trump in the civil fraud case against him and his business, resulting in a finding that he altered his net worth for tax and insurance benefits — a blow to his real estate mogul image.  To date, James has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing.  In May, Trump withdrew Martin’s nomination to take the U.S. Attorney job permanently when it appeared that he would not be confirmed by the Senate.  Subsequently, Martin was quickly reassigned to Justice Department headquarters, where he holds four titles, including United States pardon attorney and director of the so-called Weaponization Working Group — a task force established to seek retribution against Trump’s past perceived political enemies.  Often, referred to as the Weaponization Czar, he is expected to sidestep Justice Dept. norms to expedite investigations.  It has been reported that over the past two months, Martin has been in charge of several investigations all at once and has quietly worked with federal prosecutors in multiple jurisdictions, including the Eastern District of New York, the Eastern District of Virginia and Maryland.  Again the persons were involved in cases making them Trump’s so-called political enemies.  It is also noted that Martin has virtually no experience overseeing investigations, or in compiling a case that successfully persuades a grand jury to bring an indictment.

All in all, these are just a few recent examples of how the Trump administration has attempted to weaponize the Justice Department, and in turn the justice system as we know it.  These scurrilous attempts will consequently represent a growing decline in the public’s credibility and trust when it comes to the courts and this particular federal institution.

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Jul 8

More Than Just the Temperature, Politics Is Getting Very Hot South of the Canadian Border

by bcurry

Canadians are becoming very concerned about what is happening with respect to the upcoming American elections.  Many of us, myself included, closely watched the televised debate between President Biden and former President Trump.  Clearly this was a defining moment for both presidential candidates, and especially for 81 year old Joe Biden.  Almost immediately, one could see that something was not quite right with Biden.  Frankly, it was hard to watch and one could only feel a sense of sorrow and dread for his haltering performance.  Sorry, something is not quite right in the Whitehouse.  All kinds of excuses and denials began to emerge from his immediate family, his Vice-President and several key Democrats.  Now, the pressure is apparently on from several top Democrats to reassess Biden’s continuation of his campaign and leadership.  However, the President insists that he will continue to run and that he is capable of performing the duties of the most important leader of the Western world.

So where does that leave us?  The U.S. is Canada’s largest trading partner and closest ally without doubt.  The prospect of another presidency under Donald Trump has major implications for our relationship, especially in the domestic and international settings.  Given Trump’s campaign promises, nothing that would result has much benefit when looking at future U.S.-Canada relations.  No, this is not an exaggeration!  Right now, the Canadian government is closely examining each and every statement released by Trump.  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is seriously lagging in Canadian polls, may even use the possibility of a future Trump administration to suggest that he is most qualified to confront Trump on matters of trade and defence.  Remember that Canada had to fight tooth and nail to get the Americans to agree to Canada’s new trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico — the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA — back in 2018.  There are some experts who claim that Canada lost out in agreeing to the USMCA, especially with respect to each country’s monetary and exchange rate policies and their trade in autos.  One has to wonder if Trump will push to reopen the USMCA to the detriment of the Canadian economy?  More tariffs anyone!

Between now and the November elections, a lot of things can happen.  However, time is running out for the Democrats.  Like a significant number of American voters, most Canadians believe that President Biden should step aside.  Given his latest public appearances and debate performance, there is a lot of concern about the President’s cognitive capabilities.  Donald Trump and the Republicans will continue to harp on the President’s general health, using it to increase their polling results.  Most observers believe that President Biden’s chances of winning the election are increasingly slim.  More importantly, what will the situation mean for the Democrats in congressional and state gubernatorial elections?  All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate will be contested.  Trump may not get the popular vote, but all he needs is a simple majority (270) of the 538 electoral votes to win the election.  At this time, the odds are that he could very well achieve this.

In the still unlikely scenario in which Biden steps down as the nominee, the delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August in Chicago would suddenly be charged with picking a new nominee.  Who that nominee would be is still anyone’s guess.  There is little doubt that an intense and hot debate is going on among Democrats behind the scene.  The heat keeps mounting every day and President Biden must be feeling it right now.  To my knowledge, at no time in the history of United States has such a development occurred between the two major parties!  With all the ongoing speculation, mainstream and social media are having a field day.  When it comes to the divisive nature of this issue for the Democratic Party, no one can really comprehend where it’s going at this time.  I, like many Canadians, hope that the Party can resolve the issue prior to the Convention.  Personally, the situation makes it very difficult to support President Biden’s bid for a second term in office.  The world is watching, including our adversaries.

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Jun 24

What Millennials And Generation Z Have In Common

by bcurry

Over the last decade, a lot has been written about today’s younger generation, most notably the so-called millennials and Gen Zers.  As you are aware, millennials are between 28 and 43, and Gen Z generally refers to those ages 12 to 27.  Some observers believe that millennials had it bad financially, but Gen Z may have it even worse.  Millennials did go through two recessions, including the Great Recession of 2008.  Many struggled to get jobs, particularly following the Great Recession, when the nation’s unemployment rate hovered around 10 percent for over a year. Their wages took a massive hit, too.  On average, millennials lost about 13 percent of their earnings between 2007 and 2017.  Gen Z has gone through the recent pandemic, and came out seeing a totally different labour market, especially for recent college graduates.  Both the millennials and Gen Zers have faced tough labour market conditions, making it harder to get good paying jobs, especially among blue-collar workers.  Now, they are facing ever increasing debt loads and tough housing costs, making it difficult to purchase that important first home.  Indeed, Gen Z is the first generation where recent college grads are more likely to be unemployed than the general population.  In addition, both groups left college with significant student loan debts.

Why is this scenario important?   First of all, millennials were the largest generation group in the U.S.
in 2023, with an estimated population of 72.7 million.  Millennials recently surpassed Baby Boomers as the biggest group, and they will continue to be a major part of the population for many years.  Add in Gen Zers, who made up 61.3 million of the American population, these two groups now represent a major, if not the biggest voting block in the U.S. They will play a key role in the upcoming American elections next November, something both the Democrats and Republicans are well aware of.

Can President Biden appeal to the youth vote?  Biden and the Democrats have relied heavily on their vote in the past.  However, with the current inflationary economy and difficult employment situation, I wouldn’t count on it.  Since they may not necessarily favour former President Trump, they may instead simply decide not to vote.  Such an outcome would have a major impact on both political parties.  Among women in both groups, there may be more hope for the Democrats in light of the Republican stance on abortion, particularly in Republican led states.  This has yet to be seen.

Although Trump’s popularity among young adults, aged 18 to 34, plummeted as he tried to overturn the 2020 election, Gallup’s 2023 surveys of U.S. adults indicated that his popularity has rebounded since.  Forty-two percent of young adults saw him favourably in October 2020, but that dropped to 28 percent in January 2021.  His favorability bounced back to 42 percent by December 2023, especially among young Hispanics and Blacks.  Younger voters, under the age of 30, feel worse about the economy than older cohorts.  Not surprisingly, in the latest New York Times/Sienna poll, for example, Black voters feel as bad about the economy as their white counterparts and Latino voters feel even worse.  Will his recent conviction have an impact?

What is also interesting is the fact that following the January 6, 2021 assault on the Hill, Trump’s popularity took a significant dip among younger voters.  However, the improvement in Trump’s favorability now can be partly attributed to the fading memories of January 6 and the tumultuous year that was 2020.  As in the case of the last election, social media will once again play a significant role in influencing the views of younger voters more than any other age group.  The question becomes whether younger voters will believe everything posted on social media or will also look to main stream media sources for their information?

There is little doubt that bread and butter issues will dominate the electoral scene this year more than any other issue.  How millennials and Gen Zers view the economic platforms of both political parties will more than likely determine the final outcome of the election.  With so much in common, both parties will have to take major steps to win over their votes.

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May 15

U.S. Protectionist Trade Policies Will Drag Canada Into Similar Trade Patterns

by bcurry

By signing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2018, the ability of Canada to negotiate a trade deal with China or another “non-market economy” was greatly restricted.  Current or future protectionist policies concerning trade with China or other countries will have a direct effect on Canada’s trade patterns.  Under the USMCA, the U.S. will remain Canada’s biggest trade partner (75.4% of total Canadian exports in 2023), especially in the automotive and energy sectors.  One other result has been that the U.S. bought more goods from Mexico than China in 2023 for the first time in 20 years, evidence of how much global trade patterns have shifted. The U.S. under President Trump and now under President Biden has become the most bilateral-trade-focused government in its history.  Like the U.S., Canada is also looking to conclude deals with the EU, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and India and other democracies eager to share in the benefits of bilateral trade agreements.  For example, as a result in December 2023, Korean exports to the U.S. surpassed Korean exports to China for the first time in 20 years, driven by shipments of vehicles, electric batteries and other parts.

However, in an apparent effort to protect strategic American industries, President Biden’s recent announcement regarding a sharp increase in tariffs on an array of Chinese imports — including electric vehicles, solar cells, semiconductors and advanced batteries — will have an impact on Canada as well.  Initially, the President had pledged to repeal at least some of Trump’s tariffs imposed on China.  However, the upcoming election in 2024 changed all that.  Mr. Biden’s moves, to be phased in over the next three years, now represent the latest trade-war escalation suggesting that the Democrats refuse to cede any ground to their rivals via a tough-on-China appeal to swing voters in the industrial Midwest and beyond.  Politics appears to be overriding economic considerations once again.

Multinationals operating in both the U.S. and Canada are affected by the array of tariffs imposed on Chinese imports, especially when it comes to the need for parts, pharmaceutical ingredients, or rare earth elements essential for many high-tech devices.  However, not everyone in the business community is happy with the most recent tariff increases on these imports.  The National Retail Federation in the U.S., which represents many companies that source or sell Chinese products, called on Mr. Biden to reverse course and lift tariffs.  As consumers continue to battle inflation, the Federation argues that the last thing the administration should be doing is placing additional taxes on imported products that will be paid by U.S. importers and eventually American consumers.  Although the USMCA eliminated tariffs on all Canadian-purchased goods manufactured in the U.S., if a product includes components that were made outside of the U.S. — like China, for example — then the Canadian customer very likely has to pay tariffs on those components.  The same argument can therefore be made with respect to the impact on Canadian consumers and on the inflation rates in both countries.

Mr. Trump has apparently promised to go even further if he wins in November — restricting investment between the two countries and banning some Chinese products from the U.S. entirely.  Back in 2018, with President Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion (U.S.) of Chinese imports, experts noted that a full-fledged trade war between the world’s two economic superpowers would damage Canada’s economy.  At the time, the Retail Council of Canada declared that such U.S. tariffs that would raise the prices of Chinese consumer goods, such as electronics, sold in the U.S. and while prompting more Canadians to shop at home.  However, such a situation today would very likely lead to a further inflationary increase at a time of already high inflation.

Economists have long argued that trade protectionism leads to a misappropriation of global goods and inefficiencies by interfering with the normal benefits offered by free trade.  Cheaper Chinese imports to the U.S. and Canada led to many more affordable consumer goods which otherwise would not have been available in both countries, while also raising average standards of living in China.  In addition, bilateral trade agreements can be broken at any time by either party to an agreement, unaffected by normal global market considerations and swings in trade patterns.

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Mar 6

The Kingmakers: How Corporate Elites Work to Re-elect President Trump

by bcurry

Now that Donald Trump has garnered the Republican candidacy for the Presidential election next November, you can be sure that a number of the corporate elite will be lining up to support him and help fund his campaign.  After all, Trump believes that he is one of them.  Remember, that both Hitler and Mussolini garnered the support of the corporate elite respectively in Germany and Italy to help overthrow their existing democratic regimes in order to push forward their agenda and solidify their places among the wealthiest in each nation.  Both average Germans and Italians, like many Americans today, were upset with the current economic state.   Once in charge, those same elites worked with each dictator to build up the military-industrial complexes, much like what Putin has been doing and continues to do in Russia today.

Trump’s efforts to garner corporate support is already underway as witnessed by the recent reported meetings whereby he is urgently seeking a cash infusion to aid his presidential campaign.  These took place with the likes of Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, and a number of wealthy Republican donors.  Furthermore, now that Nikki Haley has withdrawn from the presidential campaign, it will be interesting to see whether the conservative billionaire Koch brothers will back Trump during his campaign.  The Koch brothers founded and fund the Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP), a libertarian conservative political policy body.  Initially, the AFP, which fuels the most powerful donor network in conservative politics, had declared itself as part of the NeverTrump effort for 2024, aiming to deny former President Donald Trump a third nomination for the White House.  Therefore, it will be interesting to see whether the Koch brothers will continue to take this position.

In addition, Nikki Haley was probably not the corporate elites’ most preferable candidate. Instead, like Musk, they would have preferred Florida Governor Ron Desantis as their candidate given his similar extreme right-wing political positions to those of Trump.  However, Desantis had a weak campaign and did not live up to the expectations of many of the corporate elite and those in the Republican Party.  The tide swung quickly in favour of Nikki Haley as a possible alternative to Trump, although unfortunately somewhat weak at the outset.

The corporate elite know that despite all the current indictments against Trump and his continuing denial of the results of the last presidential election, his hard-core MAGA base will continue to support him regardless.  Noteworthy, “The Daily Show” correspondent Jordan Klepper couldn’t recently hide his frustration with Nikki Haley supporters who fiercely condemned Trump but then, in the same interview, admitted they’ll still probably vote for the former president when he takes on President Joe Biden in November.

There appears to be too much at stake for corporate America not to support Trump.  After all he supports the fossil fuels sector, denying the impact of climate change; he believes in an “American First” policy at the expense of international trade agreements; he wants to build up America’s nuclear arsenal and speed up the military-based space race; he would never introduce new tax measures aimed at high-income earners or any new capital gains taxation; once again reduce the abilities of federal regulatory agencies such as the EPA and IRA; and he would increase further access to federal lands and waters for mineral exploration.

It was just a matter of time before we witnessed the “kingmakers” coming out of the woods, SuperPacs and all.  While a few corporate elites may support Biden, the majority like Elon Musk will most likely support and fund Trump.  It’s quite simple, the so-called “haves” want to keep what they have without paying their fair share.  After all, they are the kingmakers, and neither you nor anyone else can change that.  Just ask the German and Italian descendents of earlier insidious times!

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Jan 4

Strange Situation In Republican Primaries For Their Presidential Nominee

by bcurry

As a Canadian political observer, there is little doubt that the current situation south of the border involving the Republican Party (GOP) and their selection of a presidential candidate to run in the election later this year is all very strange.  You have former President Donald Trump who is currently under indictment in four different civil and criminal cases.  Despite this, the majority of GOP supporters continue to back Trump, with the polls showing that he is still leading the other GOP candidates by a substantial margin.  Trump’s primaries’ platform to date has reflected his desire for “personal retribution” against those who opposed him following his failure to get re-elected in 2020, and to implement an “autocratic” regime.

In addition, one of the indictments pertains to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a violent mob and Trump’s alleged role in the conspiracy to keep himself in power by overturning the election results.  Recently, both Maine and Colorado had decisions to throw Trump off the ballot over 14th Amendment’s ban on “insurrectionists”.  Given this unprecedented situation, Trump is expected to appeal and both cases are likely to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.  On top of which, Trump’s main GOP primary rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, have declined to attack Trump with regards to any of the indictments for fear of upsetting Trump’s GOP base and thereby loosing their potential support.

Given his apparent continuing political support among the MAGA Republicans, Trump has declined to even participate in the recent candidate debates, something unheard of in Canadian politics.  When leadership conventions are held in Canada, current party leaders or aspiring party members to lead the party are required to present their platforms in front of party members as part of the voting at the party convention.  As well, open candidate debates are held prior to the leadership convention.  In the case of Trump, the other candidates are at a disadvantage since they cannot debate him in an open forum, subsequently being left to mainly attack each other in his absence.  Trump, on the other hand, has simply continued to carry out his usual style of campaigning in public and through media coverage, openly attacking his GOP rivals in his traditional style of vicious name calling and spiteful insinuations about their character.

What is even crazier, a new poll recently taken by the Washington Post with the University of Maryland indicated that MAGA has not only stuck with Trump on the questions of January 6th, but a few who even believed that he might have done something wrong at the time have now come back to his side.  Still, they apparently aren’t many.  However, Republicans loved Trump then and they appear to continue to love him now.  Nevertheless, there is little doubt that should Trump be convicted of a criminal indictment, the majority of American voters nationally, especially independents, would choose President Biden over Trump in the next presidential election.  On the other hand, polls indicate that Republicans don’t seem to care.  They’re even starting to warm to the idea of Trump serving from a jail cell, which legal experts believe is constitutionally possible.  This result would really be bewildering to say the least!

For this reason, NBC News reported in December 2023 that Trump’s campaign believes the January 6th trial was specifically timed to take him off the campaign trail at a crucial stage. They further believe that they can outsmart the prosecutors by wrapping up the primaries early.  At this time, much is up in the air when it comes to trial dates surrounding the indictments.  Observers also correctly believe that Trump doesn’t want the particular January 6th trial to happen anytime soon.  It’s pretty much self-evident that he really doesn’t want to be convicted, despite his lawyers’ assurances about an appeal.  Obviously, they further believe that should he win the election, Trump would simply pardon himself and be done with it.

Anyone, including myself, watching this “circus” from afar is left scratching their heads.  Democracy had taken a serious beating in light of Donald Trump’s ridiculous accusations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Joe Biden.  His continuing attacks on the judicial and democratic processes in public forum, culminating in the terrible attack on the Capitol, have resulted in major blows to the state of American democracy.  His disposition for autocratic leanings is of great concern to other democracies, including that in Canada.  In the coming months, Canadians need to more closely watch the strange situation flowing from the GOP primaries.  One way or another, the results will affect us all!

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Mar 30

No Democracy Today Can Avoid Being Tested By Political Turmoil

by bcurry

President Joe Biden recently visited Canada for what became a real love-in with his opposite Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister.  In his speech to Parliament, Biden frequently related to the close relationship to Canada, including our democratic values and institutions.  However, all is not well in both countries.  The U.S. had last year’s violent January 6th insurrection at the Capital and Canada had the truckers’ 3-week illegal occupation of streets within Ottawa’s parliamentary precinct.  Observers claim that a lot of these events are related to what is perceived by some Americans and Canadians as a lack of trust in police, the courts and government at all levels.  What’s worst, in the U.S. you had a former president who refused to accept the results of the last presidential election and today continues to espouse to his followers that the election was stolen.

This past week, President Biden delivered remarks at the second White House-led Summit for Democracy, but at a time when several democracies are under duress of some kind.  One can refer to political conditions in so-called significant democratic countries such as Israel, Mexico, India and Brazil.  Democratic setbacks have also occurred in West Africa, where there have been coups in Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years.  For example, in Nigeria, a country of 220 million people, experts say that the presidential election last February appeared suspect.  At the above noted summit, two notable members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Hungary and Turkey, were excluded in light of fact that their autocratic political systems have grown no less repressive during Mr. Biden’s tenure.

Underlying all this issue is the fact that dictatorships such as Russia and China have been trying to increase their economic and political influence in countries, particularly in Africa and South America.  Both the governments of Russia and China have been accused of having meddled in recent American and Canadian electoral processes.  Dealing effectively with these countries needs to be done in order to avoid any foreign influence in democratic processes.

In the U.S., even the fundamental right of Americans to vote is being challenged in some states where various forms of new voting restrictions or requirements have being implemented or considered, notably by Republican states.  In some cases, such restrictions will especially affect voting by minority groups, college students and marginalized persons. 

Unfortunately, much of political turmoil has been the result of extreme divisions within our societies and large amounts of misinformation and disinformation being spread through on-line social media.  Mainstream media sources, fundamentally important to supporting democratic processes, are continuously under attack.  Journalists themselves have been verbally and physically attacked by extreme politicized groups, both right and left.

Human and civil rights are in danger of being weakened in democratic countries.  Many of the important gains achieved by LGBTQ groups in the last couple of decades are increasingly coming under attack, especially by religious right-wing segments of our societies.  Organized local protests have even occurred against school boards in both countries, and appear to be gaining strength.  Elected school board representatives have increasingly come under attack when it comes to school policies protecting the rights of LGBTQ youth and education regarding sexual orientation.

Generally, trust and confidence in our democratic institutions has to be restored in order to maintain our taken-for-granted freedoms.  Civility has to return to how we conduct our affairs and the rule of law has to be strengthened.  Otherwise, we will only see more and more serious threats to democracies, either here in Canada, the U.S. or abroad.  Words and platitudes are all fine, but actions are now needed.

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Nov 9

Where Is America’s Democracy Heading?

by bcurry

Now that the mid-term elections are more or less over, there are a lot of questions about where America’s democratic processes are heading?  This is particularly true given the following issues that surfaced during the voting processes.

  • Several states instituted new restrictions on how people could vote, some moving to in-person voting as a requirement.  This particularly had a negative impact on seniors and persons with mobility disabilities.  In some cases, it also affected marginalized groups.  For example, Florida had new elections legislation affecting voting in the State, which voter advocates argued disproportionately affected Black voters — making it harder for many to vote — and created an environment of confusion and fear.
  • Various voting station monitoring processes were introduced, some of which definitely intimidated certain voters.  In a couple of instances, authorities had to remove armed monitors — reminiscent of Russian elections — from polling stations.
  • Several states had candidates, all Republican, whose platforms included the open but false belief that the 2020 Presidential election was not legitimate.  Some of these candidates were running for positions of Senator, Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State.  If elected, all could have a serious impact on how future elections are run.
  • Right-wing roadshows, such as the ReAwaken America Tour, promoted Christian nationalism before the mid-terms.  According to Samuel Perry, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma and the co-author of the book ‘The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy’, a growing number of Republicans are embracing the ideology of Christian nationalism.  Such groups advocate the fusion of American civic life with a particular kind of white, conservative Christianity, a contrary notion to the separation of church and state.
  • As Republican candidates across the country continue to amplify former President Donald Trump’s false claims of corrupted elections, officials were ready for disruptions after the polls closed.  Already declared, activists and lawyers are prepared to challenge ballots and dispute counting procedures, and losing candidates who cast doubt on the integrity of the process may file lawsuits.
  • Not long ago, the fight against disinformation focused on the major social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter. When pressed, they often removed troubling content, including misinformation and intentional disinformation about issues. Today, however, there are dozens of new platforms, including some that pride themselves on not moderating — censoring, as they put it — untrue statements in the name of free speech.

These are only a few of the anomalies that were witnessed during yesterday’s mid-term elections.  The continuing polarization of American politics was clearly on display.  There appears to be no real chance for compromise in Congress which will leave President Joe Biden with few legislative options during the remainder of his term in office.  It can only be expected that the same election issues will surface in the next presidential election, if not more so.

Even the U.S. Supreme Court has increasingly demonstrated in recent decisions that political ideology plays an important role, especially when judges are appointed by Republican or Democratic administrations.  Clearly, there now has surfaced a serious negative impact on the courts as neutral bodies governed by the laws of the land and the will of the peoples’ elected representatives.  So much for checks and balances related to the three branches of governance!

Other democracies are closely watching what is happening in the America and some are very concerned about the situation.  Studies have even shown that young people in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. are increasingly cynical about the ability of democracies to effectively govern, leading today’s youth away from representative government.  Some young people appear ready to abandon democracy, expressing concerns for their futures and the belief that the current system has failed them.  In the past, foreigners have looked to American democracy as a model to replicate in their countries.  Sadly, this may no longer be the case.

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Oct 28

U.S. Intention to Increase Use of Electrical Vehicles Appears to be Unrealistic

by bcurry

Not long ago, President Biden declared his administration’s proposal to have electric vehicles (EV) making up half of new cars sold in the country by 2030.  While his intentions are good, the reality is that the sources of current electricity production and transmission will most likely make this proposal unrealistic.  Experts have already argued that the aging country’s electricity grid would need to have hundreds of billions of dollars invested to upgrade the grid in order to accommodate the increased electricity demands required for EVs and other domestic electricity needs.  Today, electrical grids barely function in times of ordinary stress, and fail altogether too often for comfort, as recent widespread blackouts in California, Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere have shown.  Apparently, fast chargers can replenish an EV in as little as 20 minutes but gulp huge amounts of electricity.

At the same time, the big challenge for policymakers and the utility industry is figuring out how quickly to invest in the grid while keeping the energy affordable.  While the President’s intentions are worthy because of concerns over the impact of climate change on the environment and the need to reduce harmful greenhouse emissions, there is a real question as to whether the American public is able and willing to incur the associated costs.  If one just looks at EVs, there are a number of factors to consider.  Among these, the top three reasons consumers give for not buying EVs are the lack of charging stations, the time to charge, and the cost of the vehicles.  In addition to spending on accessible charging stations across a country as large as the U.S., there is also the need for significant additional spending on long-distance transmission lines and power generating equipment like solar and wind farms.  Given the current re-charging needs of EVs, charging stations will have to be available at most if not all existing gasoline stations, hotels and motels, apartment buildings and municipal facilities.  Who is to pay for the installation and use of such charging stations?  Plug-in electric cars accounted for just under 1% of all 146 million new light-duty vehicle sales between 2011 and 2019 in the U.S.

While climate change is an obvious greater concern among Americans in light of the deadly increase in severe weather patterns and natural disasters, is their concern enough to persuade the average person that the associated costs with converting to EVs and other electrical equipment (e.g. heating, appliances, etc.) are acceptable?  Yes, many things can happen in the next ten years.  However, having almost come out of a pandemic and its economic consequences and costs, will people be ready to seriously tackle the projected negative elements surrounding our current living standards?  The answer is probably “no” at this time.

We will need major technological breakthroughs to make EVs much more reliable, energy efficient and cheaper before the average person could seriously consider the switch to EVs from combustion-engine cars.  In addition, the current electricity grids will have to be seriously upgraded in the next few years.  We must be ready to incur the associated costs with such major infrastructure upgrades.  Overall, the country’s 20th-century point-to-point grid, delivering energy over long distances, will have to become adequate enough to serve this century’s needs.  Hopefully, future electricity needs will be increasingly provided by green technology, such as that provided by hydro power, solar energy, wind power, and even nuclear power.  None of these sources alone can provide enough electricity to meet the needs of American communities and to replace the current use of fossil fuels, including natural gas.  In conclusion, plug-in cars are the future, but realistically the current grid isn’t ready.

Cimate Change Joe Biden US

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Oct 11

Iraq: The Other Somewhat Forgotten American Combat Mission

by bcurry

With all the news today concentrating on what is happening in Afghanistan during and after the withdrawal of American and Allied troops, it is little wonder that the media has somewhat forgotten about the U.S. continued involvement in Iraq.  By January 2021, the U.S. had reduced its presence to 2,500 troops in Iraq.  However, as of March 2021, 11 U.S. soldiers had died in Iraq in 2020.  Iraq is still a very unsafe place to operate, particularly because of Iran’s influence.  Among countries where terrorist attacks are frequent, the number of terrorist attacks in 2019 in Iraq ranked fourth behind Afghanistan, Syria and India.  Of course, in previous years, many of the terrorist attacks were carried out by the followers of the Islamic State.  In April 2021, the U.S. Central Command stated that there were no plans for a total withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, citing continued threats posed by the Islamic State insurgency and Iran-backed militias.  However, in July 2021, President Biden announced that he would end the U.S. combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year, although the U.S. will continue to train and advise the Iraqi military.

Earlier this month, Iraqis voted in parliamentary elections meant to herald sweeping change to a dysfunctional political system that has dragged the country through almost two decades of deprivation.  Unfortunately, Iraqi politics is still dominated by the three sectarian groups, the majority Shiite population, the Sunnis and the Kurds in the northern region of Iraq.  Critics believe that the U.S. shares some responsibility for the failure of governance in Iraq.  After the 2003 invasion by coalition forces and with the country in the grip of a bloody sectarian civil war, the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council established a system of sectarian apportionment, which continues to this day.  This quota system divides cabinet roles and ministries and their resources between the ethno-sectarian parties.  The results of the current election will likely once again be followed by months of negotiations between the main players.  Meanwhile, Iran’s influence in Iraq’s government grows, and Tehran continues to strengthen the power of Shiite Iraqi militias it backs.

According to political analysts, the current parties in power — many backed by militias involved in attacks that killed some 600 demonstrators — appear once more to be poised to dominate.  Sweeping anti-government protests had forced out Adil Abdul-Mahdi, then the allegedly incompetent prime minister, in May 2020.  While this led officials to push the vote up by a year, Iraq’s system of dividing up government ministries among political parties along ethnic and sectarian lines will remain unchanged.  Almost every major political faction has been implicated in corruption, a major factor in Iraq’s poor public services.  Electricity in many provinces is provided only for two hours at a time.  In the sweltering summers, there is no clean water.  And millions of university graduates are without jobs.  Unfortunately, given the current state of Iraq’s economy and political divisions, many young Iraqis say they don’t see much if any future for themselves in their country.

By October 2018, beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ensuing occupation, insurgencies and civil war, 4,550 American service members and 3,793 military contractors had died.  Although estimating war-related Iraqi deaths pose many challenges, we know that the number of violent civilian deaths has been in the hundreds of thousands and the amount of property damages due to the war, insurgencies and subsequent terrorist attacks — especially by the Islamic State — has cost Iraqis and Americans hundreds of millions of dollars.  Up until the end of 2020, it is estimated that the Iraq War has cost the U.S. nearly 2 trillion in current U.S. dollars, much of it to pay military contractors.  In the end, one has to seriously ask whether Congress or the American people got value for their investment in Iraq, in light of the tragic loss of American lives or the hundreds of millions of dollars paid out?

Iraq Today Joe Biden US

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