Thanksgiving 2023 Part 4

 

 

Conclusion (for Thanksgiving 2023)

The 2023 elections could be a prelude to the 2024 elections. During the 2023 election, Democrats had many victories in Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, etc. In my state of Virginia, Democrats have now projected control of the state House and the state Senate. That is very historic. Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia wanted a 15-week abortion ban. There are rumors that he might run for President in 2024 or 2028. Ohio voters decided to have a constitutionally protected right to abortion with the passage of a ballot measure. In Kentucky, the Democratic governor Andy Beshear defeated his Republican challenger Daniel Cameron (who was a state attorney general with ties to former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell). President Biden is struggling in the polls because a certain number of Americans are ageist, support MAGA cult views, are closet racists, many Democrats have done a bad job in showing their messages to the people, desire a bourgeois fake society where rights are restricted (except for a select few), and incumbents in general struggle in re-election campaigns historically. 2024 is a long way to go, so we shall see what the future holds. Democrat Gabe Amo became the first black person to represent Rhode Island in the state in Congress. In Philadelphia, former councilmember Cherelle Parker became the first woman to be the city's mayor. She will be the city's fourth black mayor and the 100th in Philadelphia's history. In Virginia, Michael Feggans won a victory in Virginia Beach for the state House defeating Republican Karen Greenhalgh. Joshua Cole defeated Republican Lee Peters in the state House election too.

There is many political news in the world. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has decided to not run for re-election. Joe Manchin is not just a far-right person. He has been involved with Sinema and the GOP to put 5 million children back into poverty by blocking the extension of the expanded Child Tax Credit (the Child Tax Credit has been proven to enrich the lives of millions of Americans for years). Manchin proved that moderation in the face of injustice is no virtue. Manchin also opposed Build Back Better, denying millions of Americans help. Nikki Haley admitted that the GOP candidates want to go after Social Security and Medicare. In less than 10 days, the government will shut down again if nothing is done. The agreement to end the shutdown is done now. Tim Scott falsely said that cutting taxes alone will increase revenue. The Bush and Trump tax cuts together have cost an estimated $10 trillion since they were enacted.

The third Republican debate in Miami is finally over. There were a lot of bizarre events during the debate too. One thing is that is true that Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy crossed the line multiple times. Vivek criticized Nikki Haley over the Tik Tok issue (which is fair game), but he went over the line by talking crazy about Haley's daughter involving her liking Tik Tok. Her daughter has nothing to do with this debate, and Haley's daughter shouldn't be invoked in that discussion about Tik Tok and censorship. Haley defended her daughter and called Vivek scum. The debate focused heavily on foreign policy because of the events in Ukraine and in the Middle East. The candidates supported Israel and opposed Hamas, Iran, and China. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley wanted consensus on the issue. South Carolina's U.S. Senator Tim Scott wants a 15-week federal abortion ban. Ron DeSantis said that Trump is a different person now than in 2016, and Haley said that Republicans shouldn't chase past glories. Chris Christie continued to criticize Trump as an incumbent leader and not worthy to run for President in 2023. 

On foreign policy, all Republican candidates are hawkish and support the far-right extremist Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. They were divided on the issue of Ukraine. Vivek Ramaswamy is overt in criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky. He accused Zelensky of harboring Nazism and anti-democratic ideas. This isn't true as only a minority of Ukrainian far right-wing extremists support Nazis. Zelensky rejects Nazism as he is Jewish. DeSantis and Scott want a stricter situation involving border issues. Ramaswamy wanted to come out desperately for broke. He attacked the media, Haley, the debate moderators, the Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, and DeSantis's boots. Vivek (who made a sexist remark about Haley wearing 3-inch heels) claims not to be a neo-con as most Republican candidates are. This debate represented what most of the Republicans advance which are cutting Social Security, banning TikTok (in violation of the First Amendment), shooting certain people at the border, striking Iran, and other retrograde views.

Now, 14 more aid trucks enter Rafah Crossing into Gaza. Gaza has a humanitarian crisis where Palestinians need food, water, electricity, and shelter. 1700 children have been killed in the last 2 weeks. Half of the population of Gazans are children. The airstrikes have continued constantly in the region. The United Nations said that fuel will be gone in Gaza by next week. That means that hospitals will lose power to generate energy to save lives. Water is not safe, and Gaza has a total infrastructure collapse. These events cause trauma in the region. The reality is that immediate solutions must exist to save lives. We are not silent about Hamas being a terrorist group too. Many people (even some claiming to be on the left) saying anti-Semitic nonsense like some in a rally in Syndey, Australia in a protest saying "gas" the Jewish people (which is wrong and offensive). Calling out ant-Semitism and anti-Palestinian hatred is about being real to the situation at hand. This silence on the crisis in the Middle East isn't just found in America but worldwide where some want to embrace political correctness. No, we will not be politically correct on this issue. We will embrace truth and justice. The truth is that Israeli hostages should be freed completely ASAP and Palestinians should have freedom from occupation. 

The far-right libertarian Javier Milei won the Argentina Presidential election. He has been praised by Trump and other far-right leaders. Milei wants to exterminate inflation. He has been a TV personality for years. He had more votes than his center-left finance minister Sergio Massa. Milei wants to abolish the central bank and dollarize the economy. 40 percent of Argentina's 45 million citizens live in poverty. Far-right extremist Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro has promoted his campaign. Elon Musk praised him too. Mile questioned the crimes of the dictatorship from 1976 to the 1980's when 30,000 people were killed by the military regime. Many Argentinians voted against their self-interests by allying with Javier Milei. Argentina has a long history of racism against black people and Native Americans. After World War II, many Nazis took refuge in Argentina. There are still progressive voices in Buenos Aires and in other places of Argentina who will resist the far-right movement from Milei indeed.

Some terrible news is that the 8th Circuit Court upheld a lower court ruling that private individuals can't bring lawsuits under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This ruling means that the Voting Rights Act can be null and void because it will prevent anyone (except the Justice Department) from suing criminals who violate the law of the Voting Rights Act. The court wants groups and citizens to not sue people who violate federal voting rights laws except the federal government. This ruling is unjust and evil. This ruling is much more than the banning of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (which was terrible too). The Moore v. U.S. is an important case. If the Supreme Court strikes down the repatriation tax, massive corporations will get billions of dollars in tax giveaways.  Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito together have stock in companies that get over $30 billion in tax breaks.

By Timothy