Judge Roy Moore Should Withdraw from Senate Race

A growing chorus of Senate Republicans including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have called on Senate candidate Roy Moore to withdraw from a special election in Alabama if allegations prove true that the former judge initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl nearly four decades ago.  “If these allegations are true, he must step aside,” McConnell said in a formal statement on behalf of all Republican senators.  I’m glad at least a few Republicans put moral decency over party success and expediency to win at all cost.  Here is more of the article.  Other Republican senators weighing in included Jeff Flake of Arizona, David Perdue of Georgia, John Thune of South Dakota, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Richard C. Shelby of Alabama and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called on Moore to step aside as well — and without couching his statement with “if true” language.  “The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying,” McCain said. “He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of.”  This is the ultra conservative judge who won a primary a couple weeks ago. 

The Senate bill differs significantly from the House version approved by the Ways and Means committee on Thursday: It would preserve some popular tax breaks, including ones for mortgage interest and medical expenses, and would maintain a bottom tax rate of 10 percent for lower earners. But it would also jettison (meaning keeping the House version) the state and local tax deduction entirely and delay the enforcement of a 20 percent corporate tax rate until 2019, which could rankle the White House and mute the economic growth projections that Republicans are counting on to blunt the cost of the tax cuts. 

I think we should change the national anthem to either “My country ‘tis of thee” or else “America the Beautiful”.  At least it contains no overtly racist lines in it.  Clearly in the Star Spangled Banner there is a racist line about hiring free slaves as hirelings to fight the Americans because Britain had probably abolished slavery by then.  President Woodrow Wilson signed the order making “The Star Spangled Banner” our national anthem.  Woodrow Wilson was a racist.  We know that now.  Clearly the lyrics are accronistic and in the other verses the wording becomes very archaic and obscure.  It’s time to move into the 21^st century.

President Trump gave what they said was a total half hour speech praising his Asian neighbors.  It’s Trump’s “Everything is coming up roses” speech.  By those standards we must have the worst living standards of all seven nations.   He didn’t just praise Japan and South Korea, but also China, Viet Nam. Singapore, Malaysia, of all places, as well as the Philipines and Indonesia.  Bangkok is the most visited city on earth, Trump says.  Trump threw in a little history about early relations between this nation and China going back over two hundred years to George Washington.  Then it was Norman Goldman.  Flynn made some sleazy deal with Turkey turning over two people Turkey regards as criminals to them for a few million dollars in payment to Flynn.  I’m really puzzled who the US and Trump are bending over backwards to be nice to Turkey.  What have they ever done for us except to complicate our campaigns in the Iraq War.  And there was more about under age molestation.  You do get tagged as a sex offender if you’re convicted of a felony with under-age girls. 

On Days of our Lives, Brady’s little phoney frame-up backfired big time when Eve had an alibi.  She and Clowie were at the opera that night and took pictures of their visit.  The police let her go.  Chad confronted Andre about whether he is the one who has been sabotaging the business.  Meanwhile Samantha had a change of heart and now wants Will’s body exhumed and got Raphael’s permission to do that.  Of course I was saying that was the logical solution to the problem two weeks ago.  That will answer all of their questions without having to go to assholes like the Di Mira’s for the answer.  But we already know the script writers aren’t going to make it that simple. 

It was right after President Obama was elected that Randy Rhodes and other liberal commentators were referring to the two thousands as "The lost decade".  But I say that basically in 2008 our problems were just beginning.  Most sane people would gladly turn the clock back ten years ago when the political race was wide open.  2007 was the last year of the renters tax rebate and economically the past nine years have been my worst, without question.  It was basically the day after Obama was nominated that Sarah Palin made it on the political scene.  This was the true beginning of the Tea Party.  There WAS no tea party ten years ago.  Just imagine that!  Bush was on the skids and his policies were unpopular even among his own people.  As such it was better to have Bush as President than Donald Trump for a whole host of reasons.  But we democrats should have chosen Hillary Clinton over Obama because she was a fighter and wouldn't have been such a conciliatory push-over with congress the way Obama was.  She would have come up with ways of fighting back.   I think the affordable care act was prematurely enacted and made democrats an easy target of the tea party from that moment on.  The cry then became, "We're not going to allow the democratic congress to pass ANYTHING.  We didn't have Donald Trump's presence on the world stage back them.  Just think how nice it would be for US to take a Vacation from Trump!  And I'm not even mentioning the whole host of areas where Republicans have gotten so much stronger.  Race relations have gone to hell and bigotry and hatred are much more fashionable now, not only against Blacks but immigrants, Moslems, and women as an entire gender.  So no, I'm very unhappy with what has happened in the past ten years.  Plus I don't think most of us would mind being ten years younger either.