We have been watching the US House of Representatives struggle to elect a Speaker of the House. The Speaker has incredible power over House procedures, the movement of legislation, the appointment of Committees and Committee Chairs, and more. Nothing happens in the House without the approval of the Speaker. We know that clearly from the past reign of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat in a Democrat House majority.
The big question is whether Kevin McCarthy, who has been the minority leader and leader of the Republican Caucus, is the person to be Speaker. To become Speaker, one must garner a favorable vote from the majority of Representatives. In times past, this has been almost automatic for the winner to be the existing leader of the political party in the majority. Not now.
The majority held by the Republican Party in the new Congress is slim; only a few votes. McCarthy has managed to alienate several Representatives who now have taken a stand against him becoming Speaker. The number now is about 20 who oppose him.
Representative Warren Davidson rose for one of the Congressional votes for Speaker to nominate McCarthy. As part of his nomination speech, he read a long list of changes in Republican Caucus and House procedures and rules McCarthy had agreed to make. Davidson must have thought this to be a positive move, but it came across as an indictment of McCarthy’s inaction in the time he has been minority leader. Why haven’t changes already been made or promised without the pressure from the now opponents of him. Frankly, McCarthy cannot now be trusted.
It is time to move on. McCarthy needs to step aside. His opponents are entrenched in opposition to him. As long as they are, there will be no Speaker. Unless!!!!
It is not beyond possibility that McCarthy will begin to negotiate with Democrats for votes. Not many votes from Democrats would be needed to take McCarthy into a majority of the House vote and the Speaker office. Democrats do not have any possibility of electing one of their own as Speaker even if they stick together 100%. Democrats may conclude it better to support a Speaker that has made concessions to them, which he would have to do to get their votes. What concessions: committee appointments, agreement about specific legislation, and more. This would be a disaster for conservative Republicans and a win for Democrats.
McCarthy made the arrogant decision to physically move into the Speaker’s office before being chosen as Speaker. I think this says it all. Do we want another dictator Pelosi as Speaker of the House? I don’t think so.
Biden 2024
[This was an observation early on in the 2020 Biden presidency. Now ole Joe has announced he will be running for President again in 2024. God Help Us!]
In February 1988, Biden sustained the rupture of the cerebral (brain)aneurysm and almost died, except for the heroic efforts of his neurosurgeon. Three months later, a second aneurysm had to be clipped. After the second procedure his neurosurgeon gave him less than a 50% chance of a full recovery. With that history one would think that the media would have questioned him during his presidential campaign about whether any diagnostic studies had been done in the interim, but they did not. His health status was never seriously questioned.
On his most recent published physical exam it was noted that he has persistent atrial fibrillation. This diagnosis alone would not qualify him for standard life insurance because of a 5-fold increase for a stroke. The treatment for this condition is chronic anti coagulation, which in a feeble, unsteady 78 year old male, who falls three times while ascending the stairs of Air Force One is extremely risky. A severe fall with a head injury could result in a fatal cerebral hemorrhage.
His mental and cognitive status has obviously deteriorated as is apparent to anyone who watches him speak, despite his handlers ‘attempts to protect him as much as possible. Speaking in short sentences with frequent pauses, the need for notes to answer questions, using jumbled words without meaning short term memory lapses (forgets the name of General Austin, and two female generals he is honoring) are all definite signs of brain damage. It surprises me that his wife, (Jill) who knew his shortcomings better than anyone else, could not have talked him out of taking the most difficult job in the world.
Of interest also is the fact that since 9/11 it has been the United States Government policy to have the president and vice president travel separately, NOT ANYMORE. Kamala Harris is only a few steps behind him whether by air, land or sea. This is obviously because he may say the wrong thing, fall or have a medical emergency. He would also be the first president to have the nuclear button removed from his sole use.
So, where does this lead us? It tells me that Kamala Harris will be our President sooner rather than later. This alone sends shivers up my spine.
The Democratic party, directed of course by Barack, knew this would be the case despite the fact that she received the fewest votes of any candidate for President in the crowded Democratic primaries. Harris was second only to Bernie Sanders on the Socialist/Marxist scorecard and this resonates very well with Obama’s ideology, nurtured by the Saul Alinsky playbook.
So what can we do about this? First of all, I recommend that you PRAY FERVENTLY, because divine intervention may be necessary. Secondly, I recommend that you pay very close attention to the midterm elections next year and vote for the people who love America and our Democracy.
Leonard J. Hertko, M.D. Orland Park
Billion or Trillion
I read something recently that caught my eye. It said people really do not have a strong intuitive sense of how much bigger 1 Billion is than 1 Million. Or for that matter how much 1 Trillion is.
Let’s put this in terms of seconds. If you do the math for 1 Million seconds, then convert this number to days, it comes to about 5.5 days. Then for 1 Billion seconds, the answer is 31.7 YEARS. If we go on to 1 Trillion seconds, the answer is 3,171 YEARS!
Got it. And we just had a $1.7 TRILLION Omnibus bill passed by Congress with one of our lovely Indiana Senators, Todd Young, voting for it along with 17 other Republican Senators. To pay that back at the rate of $1 per second, it would take 5,391 YEARS.
Personally, I think Young and other RINO Republicans don’t give a damn about the common folks in the country. That’s my opinion.
Pain
As I sit to write, I am not sure what is going to come out. I just passed my 84th birthday in early December. One begins to think more about time. I have already lived longer than any male ancestor I can find. My maternal grandfather lived to age 81. He was the oldest. Ever other male ancestor died before reaching 80….. many in their late 70’s. So, time for some reflection.
Our beloved country is in one hellava mess. The President of the United States, Joseph Biden, is about as crooked as they come. His son, brother, and the whole Biden family have stolen from many, have taken bribes and graft, have snuggled up to the Communist Chinese, and have betrayed the United States. They all should be in jail or yet better: hanged.
Biden gained the Presidency via a fraudulent election. The Democrat machine was really good at cheating. It has continued in about every election since. I must say in some cases with the help of crooked Republicans and RINOs including one of our home Senators, Todd Young who just voted in favor of a 1.7 trillion Omnibus Bill in Congress. That bill hamstrings the next Congress which House is Republican controlled. In addition, nothing is funded and we continue to send billions to Ukraine while neglecting our Vets and the border.
The 2023 year is going to be a rough one. Inflation continues at unacceptable levels. It is robbing the incomes and savings of the majority of Americans. Gasoline prices are at historical highs when the USA had the opportunity to be the energy dominate leader in the world under President Trump. Biden shut it all down, so we now beg for oil from our friends and our enemies. What a crock of shit.
The border: we have already had millions of illegal aliens come in to the United States. Where they are in our country is really unknown. Biden et.al. simply put them on busses and planes to transport them all over our country; sometimes in the secrecy of night. Frankly, the companies that are doing the transporting are traitors as well: aiding and abetting illegal activity. They need to be in jail along with Biden and his fellow travelers.
I have seen much in my 84 years, but nothing like what is going on in the USA and around the world now. China is on the path to dominate all. We just hit 8 billion people on the planet on the way to 10 or more billion which level the Earth cannot support. And — believe it or not — the planet is warming with the rate of warming increasing due to human activity and now the rapid thaw of permafrost areas which release massive amounts of global warming gasses, methane. The future of the USA and even Earth does not look good without some intervention from on HIGH. We need to pray.
To My Grandchildren
You all are now young adults. I have often wondered if you have ever questioned why you have not had a Blacklidge grandfather and step-grandmother in your lives for these many years. I wonder about what you have been falsely told by those really responsible for our absence.
At some point, you may want to know the full story. You and we have missed much in these years. Marcia and I wanted very much to be a part of your lives. We want the very best for you on your paths…. always have.
Our love,
Your Grandfather Kent and Step-grandmother Marcia
A Birthday
Weeks ago, I posted two messages on Facebook about Marcia’s birthday in mid-October and I very rarely post anything. But I thought, I am not quite done.
Did any of Marcia’s four step-children or their children wish Marcia a “Happy Birthday” in any way? No… and have not. These are my biological children and their children.
My four never accepted my divorce from their mother and never accepted Marcia as “family”…. ever. This is in a family rife with divorces. Instead, they took their mother’s side and her stories; lock, stock, and barrel. They made us always feel like out at the fringe and barely tolerated. We were never regularly invited to family gatherings.
Do our grandchildren know the true facts? I seriously doubt it. The story told them, if any, likely has been we did not and do not care about them, which is patently false.
Marcia has been a very loyal follower of grandchildren as much as possible on social media, which she shares with me. She and I both deeply care about them and their lives.
Time passes….. years pass. A decade is not far away from when we were effectively exiled. Hopefully, some day our grandchildren will know the truth. We pray they will.
We all are in hard times now with likely more to follow. These are the kinds of times when families are supposed to be there for one another….. love and respect one another.
My divorce from my four’s mother was in 1979….. 43 years ago and my marriage to Marcia is now over 36 years. Think about that. The grandchildren and we have missed much. Life is short.
Adolph Biden
August 2, 2022
Adolph Biden
U.S. President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20500
Dear Adolph Biden:
The setting used by you for your speech last evening and the message you preached closely resembled something I would have expected from Adolph Hitler in the days of Nazi Germany. How dare you.
You and your crooked family and comrades are the enemies of this country. I pray to God that the MAGA/America First movement will overtake you this November. It will unless you and the Democrat machine are successful at fraud as you were in November 2020.
You have no idea how angry Americans are at you and your ilk. You have no idea how angry Americans are at the FBI/DOJ raid of Mar-A-Largo….. and the lying claims made by you and Garland early on while Wray vacationed in the Adirondacks. The stench from the rot of Washington DC grows.
The last straw was the speech you made. In short, it was a rally cry for the MAGA/America First movement of which you are clearly terrified. It is coming.
Sincerely,
Kent H Blacklidge Ph.D.
Bye-Bye Liz
8-20-2022
Rep. Liz Cheney
416 Cannon HOB
Washington DC 20515
Dear Ms. Cheney:
As a lifelong Republican now 83 years old, I am delighted to be able to say to you, “Bye-Bye”.
You, your father, George Bush I & II were really traitors to our country. Oh, I have to add John McCain.
I hope you have a pleasant retirement in Wyoming where they have no use for you. The results of the primary should make that crystal clear.
Sincerely,
Kent H Blacklidge
November 2022 – Open Letter to SOS Indiana
8-20-2022
Secretary Holli Sullivan
Office of the Indiana Secretary of State
200 W Washington St
Room 201
Indianapolis IN 46204
Secretary Sullivan:
I write concerning the election to be held this November. Although Indiana is a strongly Republican state, I am convinced that significant fraud occurred in the 2020 election. It does not appear in Indiana that fraud was to the level results were affected, but I have not looked at all the down ballot races. My concern is that I think Indiana will continue to use electronic machines in the coming election that are vulnerable to fraud.
I believe it to be in the best interest of honest elections to take lessons from the past. Indiana did not have extended periods of early voting. It allowed absentee voting in real need cases. It required voters to vote in their home precinct. It required actual written signatures on poll books. It required voter identification. And the results were tabulated at the precinct level; then forwarded to central county offices.
The reason I know this is I was in management of The Kokomo Tribune for over 20 years. When Election Day came, the newsroom of the newspaper became “Election Central”. Candidates from both parties would gather in the newsroom to await results. Representatives of other media like local radio stations were set up in the newsroom. At the precinct level, two copies of results were generated. One copy was brought by courier to the newspaper office and the other taken to the Clerk’s office for totaling.
There were NO electronic machines used. The voting was either done on paper ballots or with mechanical machines. There was no chance fraud could be introduced. The elections were honest.
Fraud came with electronic machines. Signatures on little electronic signature pads are a joke. The transmission of results over the Internet is ripe for fraud. And even allowing voters to vote anywhere over even weeks is ripe for fraud. And for sure, mail in ballots are the worst.
I realize the General Assembly took some action to tighten elections, but until we return to paper ballots, voter id, home precinct voting, election one day voting except in genuine need cases for absentee ballots, signature verification, and precinct tally of votes; I believe we are asking for continuing fraud. It must stop.
The problem is nationwide.
Thanks for listening.
Sincerely,
Kent H Blacklidge Ph.D.
FBI Storm Troops
What could the Biden administration do now to anger MAGA/America First folks? Let’s see… while ole Joe and family are vacationing in South Carolina and FBI Director Christopher Wray is vacationing in the New York Adirondack mountains, have Biden et.al. send 30 armed FBI agents to former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago home to raid it! Oh, and they better do that when Trump and his family are away. Good idea! Then have Attorney General Merrick Garland at first deny he knew anything about it. That ought to stir things up. It did.
And the FBI agent to direct this raid should be the same agent that fabricated the plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer in Michigan. That didn’t go so well. Two of the four charged were acquitted by one jury and the other two had a hung jury. The Biden government has not given up on the latter two. They will be tried again and maybe again and again.
But before any raid of Mar-A-Lago was possible, the FBI had to get permission from a judge. They found one. One who has a blatant record of Trump hatred and one who helped Jeffrey Epstein folks, US Magistrate Bruce Reinhart.
So, in the dark early morning hours some 30 heavily armed FBI agents crashed into the Trump Florida home. The broke the lock on the room where sensitive and valuable documents were kept under lock and key as directed by the Presidential archive folks. They broke into the personal safe of Donald Trump only to find nothing.
They were not done. They riffled through Melania Trump’s closet clothes and through her personal dresser including her underwear drawer hoping to find secret “classified” documents.
In the end, the FBI troopers took multiple boxes of who knows what from the property. This apparently included Executive privilege documents and documents involving attorney/client privilege. The seizure of both being illegal. The claim is the FBI wanted all sorts of classified and secret documents. The big problem for the FBI and ole Joe is that Trump took from the White House only documents there when he was President and that he had already declassified. As President, he had the absolute authority to classify or declassify any or all documents.
So, we will see how this plays out. For sure AJ Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray need to hit the pavement. They and all who were involved in this raid have violated their oath of office and the Constitution itself. This raid was unprecedented in U.S. history. They all must go…. The sooner, the better.