I read the following excellent and timely opinion piece on The Chris Hedges Report/Substack.  It is only the second piece written by a third party I have ever posted in nearly forty years f writing social and political commentary … and echoes many of the warning signs for the future …

“When hypocrisy is a character trait, it also affects one’s thinking, because it consists in the negation of all the aspects of reality that one finds disagreeable, irrational or repugnant.
Octavio Paz
Amazingly, President Trump and many conservative Republicans have argued it should be solely up to parents to make decisions regarding …

“No right was deemed by the fathers of the government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government.”
Fredrick Douglas
The assassination of Charles Kirk was reprehensible … as was that of …

“Partisanship, parochialism, excessive public debt, ambitious leaders who could come to power playing off our differences, and a poorly informed public who might sacrifice their own liberties to find relief from divisive politics”
George Washington
President Trump is absolutely correct … America has been and remains an exceptional nation!
Unfortunately, the president ignores …

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not be trusted by anybody.”
Thomas Jefferson
 
Credible scientific studies have concluded the Climate, despite Republican claims it’s a hoax, is fast approaching a tipping point where global warming may be irreversible.  However, America’s unique experiment in representative democracy may also be …

“I’m afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security.”
Jim Garrison
 
We were warned:

By the architect of our Constitution, James Madison; “I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by …

“In a constitutional democracy, persons owe loyalty to the Constitution, rather than the government”
James Buchannan – Hillsdale College
 
U.S. Attorney General Pam Blondi has justified firing or demoting respected Department of Justice attorneys for failure to be a “zealously advocate” on behalf of the United States, even in situations where …

“First came for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then …

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not be trusted by anybody.”
Thomas Jefferson
 The signors of the Declaration of Independence understood the potentially lethal consequences of their actions yet opted to, “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor,” by formally severing ties …

“Notice and comment is unnecessary because I am ordering the repeal,”
President Trump’s Executive Order to unilaterally
repeal energy and environmental regulations
 
Donald Trump’s insatiable thirst for and expansive interpretation of presidential power has been the defining characteristic since his inauguration.  His issuances of daily, often legally-questionably, Executive Orders and Actions have …

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Attributed to Voltaire
 
For nearly fifty years Liberals have been justifiably accused of censoring speech with which they disagree.  It has taken the form of establishing so-called free speech zones on high school and …

“he who saves his country does not violate any law”
Donald Trump
 His wildly inaccurate remark, “I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as president,” and embracing the label of “king” epitomizes Donald Trump’s exaggerated and narcissistic ego and disrespect for the Constitution!
Trump’s election …

“Trump demands that government actors pledge loyalty to him, as opposed to the law or to the Constitution”
Rick Pildes
 
Donald Trump’s rants claiming undocumented immigrants are all recently released criminals from foreign prisons and mental institutions and “poisoning the blood” of Americans and declaring of Haitian immigrants, “They’re eating the dogs. …

“I believe I’m the best qualified to govern and I think I’m the best qualified to win, but there are other people who could beat Trump, too.”
Joe Biden
 This week’s Republican convention witnesses the coronation of Donald Trump despite having proven he is unfit to return to the presidency.
During and since …

"I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me."

Donald Trump

On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump spoke the following words, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will …

               Muzzling Speech Endangers Democracy

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country …

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Evelyn Beatrice Hall (1903) … although often attributed to Voltaire

“Anti-Woke” rhetoric has become the centerpiece of conservative politics and given license for subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, demonization of and discrimination targeting non-straight (LGBTQ) …

“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”

President Trump (July 13, 2019)

For the past 2½ years I have assumed Donald Trump’s rambling Tweets and political agenda were aimed at simply placating and revving up his base.

However, his recent tirades …

 
The NFL players taking a knee are “very disrespectful to our country.”
President Donald Trump (September 30, 2017)
 
The furor over athletes taking a knee, raising a fist or sitting during the national anthem or people burning the Flag continues unabated, with President Trump fanning the flames those believe that such actions …

“Get that son of a bitch off the field”
Donald Trump (09/22/2017)
 
Referring to NFL players who have followed Colin Kaepernick’s lead and taken a knee during the national anthem, President Trump’s recent rants demonstrate he has clearly forgotten his oath of office to, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the …

“You should protest about the views of people you disagree with over major moral issue and argue the down, but you should not try to silence them, however repugnant you find them.  That is the bitter pill free speech requires us to swallow.”
Julian Baggini
This past week, the New Jersey Motor …

“If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value the symbol
more than the freedom the flag represents.”
 
Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-New York)
In the wake of 9/11, American freedoms are falling victim to the crusades of activists from both sides of the political spectrum …

“Freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they have or the views they express or the words they speak or write.”
Justice Hugo Black
We have recently been witness to several news items which do not bode well for the preservation of our …

I was privileged to have had the opportunity to serve as a “community” member of the Courier Times Editorial Board during the several months running up to the recent November elections.   With that perspective as background, it was interesting, and sometimes amusing to read several of the published Letters to …

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
                                                Voltaire
A new McCarthyism is loose in America.  Unchecked, its impact on the fabric of our society can be more devastating than any consequences which resulted from the Wisconsin senator’s brief reign of …

“Much ado about Nothing”
Shakespeare
With serious intellectual pursuits falling by the wayside at many colleges, small cadres of self-righteous students fritter time away identifying new social problems in need of an immediate cures.  As with earlier campus protests, demonstrations and the issuance of “demands” are the principal means of drawing attention …