The Republican Party's Armageddon.

Forget about the Biblical Armageddon that was predicted over a thousand years ago that was to occur at a future date.  The Armageddon that will take place in the summer is sure to come at the Republican party's national convention when the party nominates former President Donald Trump to be their Presidential nominee in the 2024 election.  

When the gavel falls and Trump becomes the party's official nominee, the GOP will stoop to the lowest level possible in politics.  Never before has a party nominated a Presidential candidate whose company was convicted of Fraud, or a candidate convicted of  sexual abuse on a woman and  defaming the same woman, being indicted on numerous charges and set to go to trial soon in connection with alleged money payments to Stormy Daniels

And to top it off, the party will be nominating a former President who committed a traitorous act of trying to overturn the Presidential election of 2020 and obstruct the peaceful transfer of power to the new administration, urged his mob to attack the Capitol and intimidate the U.S. House from casting their vote in the electoral college.  This same person has attacked the constitution, America's institutions, the rule of law, the Department of Justice, the court system and individual judges along with American democracy and his lies and misinformation continue today as policy.  

Donald Trump has been toxic to American democracy and is unqualified to hold any public office ever again, especially the Presidency.  No party can justify nominating such a corrupted person to be their party's Presidential nominee, it is against everything America stands for in its 200 plus years of history.  And today, three years after leaving office, Trump is still engaged in the same lies and blames everyone else for his own corruption and even brags if re-elected, he makes a promise to be vindictive.  

When Armageddon comes at the end of the Republican National Convention, the party will have no one to blame but themselves and the embrace of Trump's toxic ideology.  Their lack of courage, character and political understanding along with an enabling media and voter base, tells the story how corrupt the party has become.  Trump and his party are a total disgrace to political governing.  

There is time for the party to change course and nominate someone other than Trump to avoid Armageddon for their party and the country.  If change does not come, the people should make it known they would support a new Independent party and let Armageddon phase out the current GOP and for good reasons.  

This commentary written by Joe Lorio  

The Democratic Party Continues To Produce For The Country and Its people.

The GOP controlled U.S. House passed a $1.2 trillion spending package on Friday which was necessary to avoid a government shutdown caused by their own failure to govern.  The final vote for passage was 286-134.  Voting for the bill were 101 Republicans while 112 Republicans voted no.  The number of Democrats who voted for the bill were 185 while 22 Democrats voted no.

Republicans who voted against the bill said the bottom line is that this is a complete and utter surrender.  GOP opponents of the bill also took issue with the GOP's leadership and remarked it was clear that the Democrats own the Speaker's gavel. 

Once again it is a SANE democratic party who provided the majority vote to pass legislation that keeps the government running to take care of the people's business.  The GOP House has wasted almost 6 months on their threat to shutdown the government to arrive to where we are today.  And to make matters worse, the GOP left town after the vote for a two week vacation and failed to address funding for Ukraine and Israel.  

The Democratic controlled Senate took up the bill early Saturday morning and passed the House's bill on a vote of 74-24 and the President signed the bill into law later on in the day.  Forty nine democratic senators voted for the bill and twenty five republican senators voted for the bill.  It is another win for the country and the people and the end to another unnecessary threat by the Republicans in congress.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio   

 

New York's Court System Brings Donald Trump To Justice and Holds Him Accountable For His Crimes.

 New York's Judiciary would not allow former President Trump to intimidate its system of justice and held him accountable for his crimes.  In three New York trials Trump's company was found guilty of committing fraud against the state and Trump was found guilty of  sexual assault against E. Jean Carroll and in another trial found guilty of defaming her.  

Trump's fraud trial was without a jury at his own request and the presiding judge decided the case.  Both trials concerning E.Jean Carroll, the verdict was decided by a jury of Trump's peers.  Before, during and after Trump's trials, Trump did his best to try and intimidate the judges, prosecutors and the system with his personal attacks but the system held firm.  The fines that were given to Trump for his actions are now in the process of playing out and time will tell how much Trump is affected financially. 

Unlike the federal court system, New York took Trump's crimes seriously, understood how he tried to manipulate the system and destroy the legal process, acted timely so justice would be served.  And coming up next in New York will be Trump's trial with Stormy Daniels next month.  

In the mean time, Trump is waiting to go to trial on the federal level whose trials has been delayed because of Trump's delaying tactics that the federal courts have allowed to take place.  The federal courts have succumbed to Trump's intimidation and attacks and the Supreme Court has agreed to take up Trump's notion of "total immunity" for his actions which the Court of Appeals have already ruled against twice.  The Supreme Court's decision will push back Trump's trial date for several months.  It should be noted that Trump is the only President to ever claim a President has "total immunity."  New York upheld its laws and acted timely.  The federal courts have failed to act timely.

Those convictions of Trump make him a convicted criminal according to Websters Dictionary.  And because of that, Trump is totally not qualified to be a Presidential nominee or ever be President again.  And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe  Lorio    

The GOP Controlled U.S. House, With Speaker of The House Louisiana's Mike Johnson Still Represents The Republican Do Nothing Party.

 Johnson and his anti-Democracy GOP'ers in the U.S. House are still taking the country to the brink, threatening a last minute government shutdown.  It has been going on for months and splinters the normal process to pass a budget that requires intelligent thought.  The budget process needs the minds and thoughts of SANE adults and not the CULT mind of the GOP.

The democratic controlled U.S. Senate passed a bill with GOP support that provides the funds for Ukraine and Israel that President Biden asked for.  The "do nothing" republican controlled U.S. House said the bill was dead after Trump rejected the bill and gave orders not to support it.  There is no question that there were enough GOP votes in the House that would join the democrats in the House to pass it. To make things worse Trump took the position of Putin and said he did not care if Russia prevailed in Ukraine.

On another note, the U.S. Senate controlled by the democratic party was ready to pass an immigration reform legislation bill with enough GOP support to send to the House for a vote.  But Trump ordered his CULT party to reject the bill and therefore there was no bill.  And once again in just a short month the "do nothing" party did nothing that they thought would help the Biden administration.  Comprehensive reform immigration legislation has to be done by congress because it is only congress who have the authority to provide the funds to implement the cost of the legislation.  Executive Actions will not solve the problem.

In the past 11 years only two administrations have offered immigration reform legislation.  Both the democratic administrations of President's Barrack Obama and Joe Biden.  President Obama in 2013 when the democratic controlled Senate passed the bill by a vote of 68-32.  Fourteen GOP Senators joined the vote and voted yes with the democrats.  However, the GOP controlled U.S. House refused to take the bill up and let it die without even a vote or debate.  And now in 2024 President Biden's administration and the democratic controlled senate had enough votes to pass immigration reform legislation until Trump stepped in and ordered his CULT party to reject the legislation and not take it up.  Trump and his party had a great chance to introduce immigration reform legislation when his party controlled both houses of congress the first two years in office and failed to do so.

Nothing has changed for the GOP since President Truman said long ago that the GOP was the "do nothing" party.  The only thing they did was add to their resume that they have become a CULT party following a CULT leader, one corrupted to the core and a convicted one.  They also now lean on the anti-Democratic edge and favor dictators over the democratic process.  And Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is right in the middle of it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio   

The U.S. Economy, Job Creation and The Unemployment Rate for February 2024.

 The U.S. Labor Department reported the economy added 275,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate came in at 3.9%, it was 3.7% in January.  It was the 37th straight month of positive job growth and the unemployment rate has now been in the 3% range for the past 25 straight months, the longest string in that range since the 1950's.  Some of the pundits noted that the jobs report demonstrated the resilience of the job market but failed to understand that the resilience of the job market has been steady for the past 37 months and still counting.

The U.S. economy, job creation and the low unemployment numbers have been constant over time despite the 11 interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve which was to slow the economy, raise the unemployment rate and reduce wage demands.  It was an unnecessary intervention of the old school of economic thought to address inflation.  It did not work because the real cause of inflation was the business community's failure to TIMELY bring the nations "supply chain" up to date to handle the consumers spending demands.  The business community knew that the COVID legislation passed was to put money in the consumers pocket to spend on goods because consumer spending is 70% of the economy.  So, the business community knew the consumer would be spending.  They did not care because all the economic reports tells us the business community did well during COVID.

The sad part is that the Federal Reserve can still bring the economy down if they keep on the same misguided path.  It is time the Feds start reducing interest rates.  The business community has to step up also making sure the supply chain can continue to handle customers demand TIMELY without raising prices and creating a new line of inflation.  Their financial reports show they have the capabilities to do so.

The President's policies guided the nation out of COVID and the Trump economic recession that lost 2.7 million jobs.  The economy is  stable and so is lower unemployment.  Inflation is at 3% and falling over all.  The nations GDP has done well under the President's administration so far and better than it did under the Trump administration.  Now it is time for the Feds. and the business community to step up and do  their part for the nation and it's people.  There are no excuses.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio   

President Joe Biden's State of The Union Message To America.

For the past three years the media has filled the news cycle with Donald Trump's re-election toxic rhetoric and the negative voices personal attacks against President Biden.  The media joined the negative voices and also complained that the President was not available for public comment and even suggested that his people were keeping him away from news conferences.   

What the President was doing those three years was what he was elected to do, govern and take care of the country and the people's business.  It was not a time to start his reelection campaign or get caught up in the toxic rhetoric and havoc of Trump or his party's do nothing attitude nor the media's enabling stories that kept pushing Trump's lies and misinformation.  So, with eight months until the November elections, the President thought it was time to act and boy did he ever act.

Thursday in his address to the nation and the people the President made a powerful speech concerning what his administration has accomplished and what more he plans to do if re-elected.  He also laid out how America's democracy was under attack by the former administration, how he opposed those attacks and how he would continue to do so.  The speech was hard hitting and covered the issues facing the country and how to respond.

Eight months before the November elections, the President picked the right time and forum to kick off his re-election campaign.  Donald Trump, his cult party and the negative voices will continue to be toxic and the media will continue to enable them.  In other words, for them, the next eight months will be like the last three years.  The Biden campaign will be the SANE campaign and continue to talk about the issues that face America and the policies that will address the issues.  And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

 

Donald Trump, A Convicted Criminal Wins The Republican Presidential Nomination.

 Donald Trump's supporters on  so called "super Tuesday" traveled the lowest road possible and clinched the Republican Presidential nomination for Donald Trump over his opponent Nikkie Haley who suspended her campaign after the votes came in.  Now the GOP and their supporters have a Presidential nominee whose company has been convicted of fraud and Trump himself convicted of sexually attacking E.Jean Carroll who sued him successfully before a jury of his peers, not once but twice.  And Trump still faces multiple additional felony accounts and trials to be set at a later date.  New York's trial against Trump for alleged payments to Stormy Daniels is set to start March 25.

Trump's supporters have allowed themselves to believe that criminal Trump represents the best America can do to represent them as President of the United States, the greatest country in the world.  They, along with the media have also allowed themselves to push Trump's lies and misinformation about a stolen 2020 election and other toxic lies that divide the country.  Trump and his supporters believe the oath of office the President swears to, to uphold the constitution and the rule of law do not apply to their ideology, especially when President Trump tried to over turn the 2020 Presidential election and obstructed the peaceful transfer of power to the Biden administration.

American leadership and democracy has stood the test of time for over 249 years because we are a country and people who believe in the constitution and the rule of law and we do not elect criminals as President and Commander in Chief to destroy the process that has made the U.S. the greatest country in the world.  Donald Trump had four years to prove his worth as an American President who took the same oath of office our forebearers took over 200 years ago and failed the test to protect the democratic process and the rule of law.  To Trump, the oath was only words. 

It was reported in the  New Orleans Advocate of 3/7 that six of the seven Louisiana GOP delegations in the U.S. congress endorsed Trump for the nomination.  Louisiana's U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy had no comment but he had said long ago he would support the Republican nominee.  In other words, he does endorse Trump's nomination.  

The Republic Party, the Republicans in Congress and those who support Trump at the voting booth are willing to take the lowest road and return a criminal to the highest office in the land.  A sad situation since they know he would, if elected, continue his assault on democracy, the constitution, the rule of law, the courts, his oath of office and the morals of America and its people.  

The only real choice for America is to return President Biden to office in November 2024.  That will continue the stability of the federal government and the sanity in the White House that has prevailed for the past three years in spite of the negative voices and toxic rhetoric of lies, misinformation and division.  

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Clancy DuBos's Commentary and "PolitiDose" Commentary Are On The Same Page.

 Columnist Clancy DuBos's commentary in the New Orleans Advocate of 3/5 titled, "New concealed-carry laws won't make state any safer" and "PolitiDose commentary dated 3/1 titled, "The State of Louisiana: An Invitation for Gun Violence" were on the same page concerning Senate Bill 1 which allows 18 years olds to carry concealed firearms without permits.  Both commentaries recognize the elementary fact that more guns on the streets in Louisiana means more violence and deaths.

Mr. DuBos in his commentary and to his credit never mentioned the concealed-carry laws as "tough on crime" like the GOP love to throw around and which some in the media enable as fact.  The record of gun violence and deaths can be backed up with stats that states with the weakest gun laws are the ones with the most gun violence and deaths per capita.  

As an experienced journalist, Clancy DuBos understands the issues and the negative outcomes that will take place with the new concealed-carry law that goes into effect on July 4.  His words of wisdom should be taken seriously. 

This commentary was written by Joe Lorio

The State of Louisiana: An Invitation For Gun Violence.

 The passage of Governor Jeff Landry's crime package by the Louisiana Legislators was reported in two articles in the Advocate of 2/29 and 3/1.  The paper used the GOP's BS phrase, "tough-on-crime" to describe the package.  The phrase is familiar and the media embraces the BS even though the GOP has a terrible record on crime prevention.

Part of the package will allow 18 year old and older to carry concealed firearms without a permit.  In other words, more guns on the streets of Louisiana.  That is a prescription for more gun violence because we know from stats, states with the weakest gun laws have more gun violence deaths than those states with strict gun laws.  And those stats come from FBI reports, The gun violence archive's report and Statista reports who keep gun violence records.

We are also aware of the facts that the New Orleans Police Dept., worked with the federal government to remove guns from the streets of New Orleans were successful in removing hundreds of guns and that help contribute to  lower the murder rate the past 4 months and as of this date it is still working.  If the media would check the facts they would know the GOP's "tough-on-crime phrase they love to ape is just one big lie.

The two most recent years for gun violence deaths per capita 100,000, the ten states with the most deaths were:

In 2022, eight of the ten worse states were governed by Republicans.  #1 was Alaska (R),  #2 was Miss. (R),  #3 was Wyoming (R),  #4 was New Mexico  (D),  #5  was Alabama (R)  #6 was La. (D),  #7 was Missouri (R),  #8 was So. Carolina (R),  #9 was Arkansas (R),  #10  was Montana (R).

In 2023 eight of the ten worse states were governed by Republicans also:  #1 was Miss. (R),  #2 was Louisiana (D)  #3 was New Mexico (D),  #4 was Alabama (R), #5 was Wyoming (R),  #6  was Alaska (R),  #7  was Montana (R),  #8 was Arkansas (R),  #9 was Missouri (R),  #10 was Tennessee (R).  

Keep in mind the media loves to enable the GOP when they talk about crime in democratic California and New York.  Well, year in and year out, Florida and Texas, two GOP controlled states have more gun violence deaths per capita than California and New York.  Evidently the media is ignorant about the weak gun laws created in Florida and Texas and the more strict gun laws created in California and New York.  

If any one in Louisiana thinks the weak concealed carry gun laws without a permit that puts more guns on the street meets the tough-on-crime standard you can be sure they are GOP ditto heads.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio