SOCIALIST BERNIE--PLEASE GO AWAY

 

                                     BY BILL JUNEAU

                                Back in the 1950s, the United States engaged in a cold war with Russia and was often castigated by Russian President Nikita Khrushchev for its capitalism.  In the end, Khrushchev promised, "we will bury you."

                               In more of the same rhetoric,  Khrushchev predicted that "your children's children will live under communism. You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright; but, we will keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you will finally wake up and find you already have Communism."

                                He was explosive and on occasion would pound a table with his shoe as he derided America.  There were the so-called "kitchen debates" in which he would outline the remarkable accomplishments of Communism, and criticize U.S. policies.  But  then on one occasion, he turned a different shade of  "red," when Vice President Nixon told him that a time will come when Russian children will live in freedom.  

                                As the years and decades passed, America grew and prospered and cemented its place as the greatest nation on the planet.  Limping along, Russia has continued with its disapprobation of the USA, but saw the end of its iron curtain domination, while maintaining its gulags and authoritarian rule.  Currently, it is attacking its neighbor, Ukraine, but, with massive help to Ukraine from  the USA and other NATO members, its ultimate victory may never happen.      

                               When Nikki Haley was serving as U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President Trump, she expressed concerns about encroaching socialism inside the USA, and on occasion, referenced the nasty comments of Khrushchev. Perhaps, she was reminded of the threat of socialism because of the bellowing of Sen. Bernie Sanders and his drumbeat for socialism and communism, which he admired in Scandinavia and Russia.

                                  Sanders probably never knew Khrushchev who died in 1971, but there is no question that he is an admirer of Marxism, Socialism and Communism as his hope for the future for the United States.  Always a critic of Ronald Reagan, Bernie Sanders campaigned for the Socialist Workers Party in the 1980 and 1984 presidential campaigns and was investigated by the FBI for his ties to the Marxist group.

                                  In 1988, Sanders, then mayor of Burlington, Vermont,  and his new wife, Jane, honeymooned in the Soviet Union and upon return had only laudatory comments about the Communist country.  So exuberant was Sanders about his visit to Russia, that critics charged that his behavior was on the edge of full-fledged collusion.  Other  Americans questioned his patriotism and his negative stance toward capitalism, and referred to him as "Bolshevik Bernie."

Several days ago, there was news that the bombastic Vermont Senator and critic of capitalism had told friends that he is  considering making another run for President in 2024.  Sanders will turn 81 in September of this year and will be 83 in 2024. He's  pushing for a "democratic revolution."  He just will not go away. 

                         When he ran for President in 2016 and again in 2020, America got a full taste of his oratory and plans to create a no-borders socialist country with free medical care and schooling for everyone-- citizens and non-citizens, legals and illegals. Under President Biden, they are today receiving a preview of what the full package would be under Sanders. 

                          He has a distinctive style as he pushes his anti-American rhetoric.  He flaps both arms up and down as he speaks, with his white hair plastered down on his balding head. He looks and acts much like a maestro conducting a symphony orchestra.  Bring on the music, says Sanders, as he now is preparing to begin squeezing new donations from the hoi polloi who buy into his liberal nonsense about the United States, where he earns a big salary as a member of Congress, with perks, and has a net worth in the millions.     

                         Hillary Clinton called him a "doofus" when he ran against her for President, but he got even by accusing her in a debate of being a money-hungry phony in the pocket of Wall Street.  Hillary got the nomination as Democratic standard bearer in 2016, and went down in flames, and Bernie returned to his seat as an Independent U.S. Senator from Vermont.                            .  

                            Born of Jewish parents, and bar mitzvahed, Sanders was graduated with a political science degree from the University of Chicago in 1964.  At the university,  one of the most liberal colleges in the country, Sanders was an organizer of the Congress of Racial Equality  and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Student Peace Union.  He was a screaming regular at protests against the Viet Nam war and was arrested on at least one occasion  

                             When Uncle Sam sent him a draft notice, he said he was a conscientious objector and refused to wear a military uniform.  He did not seek an exemption for religious reasons since his belief in God is questionable. Instead, he pleaded that he was a pacifist who opposed all wars, regardless of who started it. He argues in his maestro style that he is fit to serve as Commander in Chief of the nation's military forces, but it is doubtful that ex-GIs and other "America First" citizens want that type in the White House.

                          Sanders wants to transform the USA into an Eden-like-paradise which will provide virtually unlimited freebies for everyone, legal and illegal.  Also, in Sanders' America, all jailed felons will be permitted to vote in elections,  even those convicted of major crimes such as the Marathon bomber of Massachusetts.               

                         The wealthy one per-cent--- millionaires and billionaires--- will be made to start paying their fair share of the taxes, explains Sanders, who dodges all concern that socialism could  eventually bankrupt and bring down America as it did to the once strong and prosperous Venezuela.   

                             Climate change, asserts Sanders, is the nation's greatest threat.  With President Biden following the Sanders script,  the push today is for a so-called "Green New Deal" which  calls for the retrofitting of every home and building in the USA with energy drawn from windmills. No more airplanes, only electric cars with 500,000 charging stations dotting the highways.   

                             Sanders' top lieutenant for the transformation into a socialist paradise is Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, 32, a former New York bartender who speaks of bridges everywhere, even to Hawaii. The whole project will probably cost some $20 trillion as start up money, but then who's counting, not Sanders, not with all those  millionaires and billionaires coughing up "their fair share."                       

                           Sanders  was in the House of Representatives for 16 years until 2007 when he was elected to the Senate. As a congressman,  he was the lead sponsor of only one bill that became law--that being the renaming of a Fair Haven, Vermont post office. 

                            Maybe it is time for "Bolshevik Bernie" to retire from Congress, take his enormous pensions, and move his fancy residences to Russia and Denmark.  This would allow the United States to continue as the greatest nation in the world, sans Sanders and his anti-American rhetoric.   

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ABORTIONS: NOT IN THE CONSTITUTION

 

                                       BY BILL JUNEAU

                                                       As the law stands today in the United States,  a pregnant woman is entitled to obtain an abortion at her request, at any time and for any reason.  So permissive is the existing federal law that a woman can call for and receive an abortion and the killing of her kicking fetus as she is being wheeled into the delivery room from her hospital bed.

                                      Ending the life of the fetus in those final moments before the head leaves the womb is considered "murder" by millions, but under current federal law, late term abortions are legal and proper. 

                                      In 1973,  the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, concluded that abortions are no longer forbidden, and henceforth will be allowed with  Constitutional protection.  The Constitution is deemed to recognize  a woman's "right to choose" what happens to her own body.  

                                   Lost in the hysteria is the fact that the current debate about the existence of Roe v Wade is not really about outlawing abortion, it is more of a legalistic ruling about whether abortion should be a constitutional right or a state protected right. For right to lifers, the overthrow of the decision is unlikely to provide complete satisfaction.

                                       The Roe decision has always been divisive in the United States. One side celebrated freedom for a woman to get pregnant, and the ability to abort the developing baby at anytime, if so desired. Other millions believe that life begins at conception, and that abortion amounts to murder. In the following 49 years, 63 million abortions were performed in America, but not without public outcries and the bombing of abortion clinics. 

                                       Some states have enacted legislation setting  time, place and manner checks on the performance of abortions, but other states like Illinois, New York, California, Maine, Vermont, Virginia  and Rhode Island have ignored meaningful restrictions. The lack of restrictions allow these states to provide abortion "safe havens," for mothers wanting termination of their pregnancy without any slowing of the procedure.  

                                        The controversy and dissent over abortions has simmered for decades, occasionally boiling over as it is now, with the nine justices of the  Supreme Court revisiting the Roe v. Wade opinion which had always been the target of scholarly legal criticism.   

                                         Just days ago, the controversy erupted with a new explosion of headlines and on-air comments and chatter on  social networks after a draft opinion of the case under analysis was leaked to the media.

                                         Though not representing the final disposition of the matter, the draft shot down the Roe v. Wade decision as "egregiously wrong from the start."  The 87-page draft also contained a lengthy analysis as to why abortions have no genesis in the Constitution and it ordered that the question of abortions be addressed in the future by individual states.   

                                          The draft opinion, which apparently had been stolen by a clerk to one of the justices and given to Politico, a media company, had been written by Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative member of the court. 

                                           The contention among justices is that the draft was misappropriated  by a person or persons with access to the the guarded halls of the court and the judges' chambers.  Each of the nine Supreme Court justices have four clerks, and some secretaries, and typists.  The job of clerk to a Supreme Court justice is a coveted one and their access to draft opinions and conversations is acceptable and trusted. 

                                          Chief Justice John Roberts has ordered an investigation with directions that the person or party responsible for the theft of the draft opinion be identified and punished as appropriate.  Roberts described the purloining of the draft opinion as an "egregious betrayal of trust."  It is the first time for such a betrayal in 250 years, the chief justice said. 

                                           The 1973 opinion in Roe v. Wade was written by the late Justice Harry Blackmun, and adopted in a 7 to 2 vote. Dissenting were  Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Associate Justice Byron White.

                                            The Roe court recognized that the word "abortion" is not mentioned in the constitution, but found that it was an issue which could be addressed by a woman who possessed a "right to choose."  The "right to choose" was said to be implicit in the right of privacy which all citizens possess, and while not specifically stated, is contained in the first 10 amendments.  One legal professor has said that the court saw the privacy right as existing in the "arching penumbra" of the Bill of Rights which grants basic rights to all Americans.  

                                             In other cases which followed Roe, the rights allowing for an abortion were said to exist pursuant to the word "liberty" in the 14th amendment. In his draft, Justice Alito also analyzed and dismissed the "liberty" argument as a  reason to allow abortions under the U.S Constitution. 

                                            Reportedly, radical abortion supporters are going to the private homes of the justices on the court who they presume will endorse the draft from Justice Alito. Their conduct is grossly improper and a violation of law, and  police will be on hand to arrest participants breaking the law.  

                                             Chief Justice Roberts also has emphasized  that the draft opinion is not the opinion of the court.  The final decision and the final opinion is expected to be announced in late June or July. He said also that the commotion which has occurred will not interfere or influence the court's analysis and final opinion. 

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