Why Vladimir Putin Needs to be Stopped in Ukraine

 Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (Dictator, really), has fearlessly taken the ultimate step;  amassing troops at the Russian-Ukrainian border.  As of this writing, there are 100,000 Russian troops, but sources within the Pentagon expect this to increase to 175,000 troops by next January or February, two months from now.

With that amount of troops, even with Ukrainian soldiers armed at the border ready to meet this oncoming invasion, Ukraine won’t have a chance.

What then?

Putin denies that he is preparing to invade.  He just doesn’t want Ukraine to join NATO and have troops on the Russian border, especially in a former Soviet state.  From Putin’s point of view, this poses a threat to Russia’s security.  That does make perfect sense, but is that the real reason?  NATO has never attacked Russia.

This is making the rest of the world nervous.  Putin feels he is now invincible and can literally do anything he wants with impunity.  In a way, he can.  The other world leaders, including President Joe Biden, are afraid of him, and it is obvious.  For one thing, Putin has previously stated that he would use nuclear weapons first.

Putin is always justifying his moves by stating that Ukraine has always been a part of Russia.  The Russian civilization originated in Kiev (Kyiv) and spread out to present day Russia proper.  This is true.

It’s also true that Ukraine was once a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century.  It was eventually absorbed in the Russian Empire, where it remained until it became an independent country in 1991 during the Soviet collapse.

This is present day Ukraine, an independent country with its own identity.  As it stands, the Ukrainians have a hatred for Russia and doesn’t want anything to do with them.  They want to join NATO and become a part of the European Union.  They are Slavic, like the Russians, and their languages are similar, but they are still a separate nationality.

Russia took Crimea and backs the separatists in the Donbass region, which is another reason why there is so much resentment.

When the Russian backed Ukrainian President was ousted back in 2014, Putin invaded the Crimea and annexed it.  The people in Crimea rejoiced, because all through history, Crimea was always a part of Russia.  It was in 1956 that Nikita Khrushchev, then Soviet Premier, gave the Crimea to Ukraine as a gift at a dinner party.  It is rumored that Khrushchev was drunk when he performed this action.

From Putin’s point of view, he was taking back something that had always been a part of Russia.  It would have been better if Khrushchev never gave away the Crimea in the first place. 

In Donbass, there are Russian backed rebels that want their own independent country, with Russia as a powerful ally.  Donbass is very small, only the two Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.

It would be nice to simply let Russia annex this region to keep the peace, except actions like this don’t work.  In 1940, Neville Chamberlain, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, gave Hitler permission to annex the Sudetenland, a German region of Czechoslovakia, to appease Hitler.  Hitler got his wish, uniting the entire German population of Europe under one rule, but Hitler then wanted more and more land until World War II finally broke out.  

If we let Putin invade and annex Ukraine, he will not be satisfied.  He will aim at the Baltic states next, and will want to invade them, even with these three states, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, being in both the E.U. and NATO.  Putin will be that bold to invade, knowing that nothing will stop him.

There is no way that Putin will be appeased.  Ever!  Putin wants to revive the old Soviet Union.  After that, he will still want more land.

We cannot allow this to happen.  

We, the West, being Europe, Canada, and the United States, MUST stand up to Vladimir Putin.   NOW!

Yes, Putin has nuclear weapons and a large arsenal of tanks, planes and ships, but we must stand up to him anyway.

Biden and NATO MUST send troops to Ukraine, EVEN IF PUTIN GREATLY OBJECTS.  

EVEN IF PUTIN GETS ANGRY AND SCREAMS AND THREATENS THE WEST.

We must stand up to Putin and say to him that if he invades Ukraine, his troops will be met with military action.

Biden did have a video conference with Putin about the crisis, and Biden simply stated that he will impose harsh economic sanctions, worse than ever before, that Russia will find difficult to handle.  (Putin can always fall back on China, and he knows this.)

Putin smiled back at Putin during the conference.  He is probably laughing at Biden.

Biden has stated that unilateral military action is not on the table.  Notice that he said “unilateral.”  There’s the rub.  The U.S., unlike George W. Bush in Iraq, will not go it alone;  nor should they.

What if the U.S. should lead, with the rest of NATO following?  Countries like the Baltic states would love to join in, and we have many useful allies like Germany, Britain, France, and perhaps Israel (not a part of NATO, but reliable nonetheless).

What if we have a full international coalition coming into Ukraine and establish military bases, or better yet, align on the Ukrainian border facing Russian troops?  Which side would blink?  Will Putin think twice?  Will Putin back down?

This crisis is the ultimate test not only for Russia, but the U.S., Ukraine, and also Europe

Ukraine is a valuable ally of the U.S.  It has been said that because Ukraine is presently not in NATO, that we don’t owe them anything.

I disagree.  

Ukraine did send troops to Afghanistan to back the allied cause, and Ukraine badly want to join both NATO and the E.U., and they fiercely oppose Putin.  We owe Ukraine the chance, and the backing, to be its own country.

Putin is obsessed with bringing down the U.S.  Should the U.S. falter, its standing in the world will be permanently damaged, with our failure to back Ukraine being the final nail in the coffin.  The U.S will lose its standing and its position as a world power, and with countries like China threatening us, we will become a backwater country in which no other country will depend.

We cannot afford to allow this to happen.

In the meantime, Putin will be looked upon as a great, and evil power, invincible, and will be able to get what he wants without anybody stopping him.  Our present global system of no war to change borders or acquire new land will be set back for decades, and, of course, the U.S. will be powerless to change this.

Putin will be able to destroy NATO by reclaiming the Baltic states, and possibly other Eastern European countries once under Communist rule, without anybody stopping him.

Should the U.S., with or without NATO (preferable with) stand up to Putin, defending and fully freeing Ukraine to join NATO and the E.U., the world will acquire a new, revived respect for the U.S., and for President Biden in particular.  Biden will then have one more reason to be reelected, should he decide to run again.

Putin would be looked down upon, and more of the world will stand up to him, and this includes the Russian people themselves.

Ukraine has the potential to become a crossroads for commerce between Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Russia itself.  It could become prosperous as well as a permanent ally and friend of the United States, and the world would greatly benefit from an independent Ukraine, including Russia, even more than if it was an occupied region.

Of course, if Russia invades, they may have a hard time no matter what, even if the U.S. does’t back them.  Many soldiers on both sides will be killed as the Russians invade, and there will be guerrilla warfare, with many of these guerrillas coming in from all over the world to fight the Russians as they occupy the country.  NATO, being on the border, would sneak arms into the country to supply these fighters, and they would also send in troops to other countries, especially former Soviet states now in NATO.  Georgia may even end up joining NATO.  Putin will become even more unpopular in Russia, starting with the mothers of the soldiers killed.  He will also earn the contempt of the rest of the world, so Putin will have to ask himself if Ukraine is worth all that.

However, it is up to President Biden to see whether Ukraine, in its present form, will live or die.

This is the ultimate test for America on whether it will continue to keep its standing in the world, or whether it will fall.  As of the present, the world does not have much faith in the U.S. 

What will be the final result?

We must send troops to Ukraine immediately.  If possible, we need NATO and other allies to join us, like President George H.W. Bush did in Operation Desert Storm, back in 1991.

We must do this even if Putin has nuclear weapons, because he may think twice before using them.

Putin must realize that Ukraine no longer belongs to Russia, and he simply cannot walk in and take it just because he thinks he can.  

Ukraine wants to remain independent and join the rest of the world.

Vladimir Putin needs to stop living in the past!

Alastair Browne

FOUNDATION - The Apple Mini-Series

 Spoiler Alert:  This review mentions science from the series as well as plots from the book, so if you haven’t yet seen the series, but want to, skip over this essay.  You’ve been warned!

It is assumed that you have read the original Foundation Trilogy

I have seen the entire first season of the mini-series, i.e. the first 10 episodes, and now I feel, as the owner of this blog with the same name, I should reveal my take on it.  It is not what I expected, or hoped.

The series, although based on Isaac Asimov’s original novel, bears very little resemblance to the trilogy.

If you were to change the names of the main characters, and there are many, you would never even think of comparing the TV mini-series and the book.  They are two completely different stories altogether.

That said, I prefer the book.  It still has yet to be made into a movie that is faithful to the trilogy (being Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, in that order).  This isn’t it.

Let me elaborate.  The scene is set 50,000 years into the future.

The plot starts out the same.  In both the series and the book, Hari Seldon (played by Jared Harris in the movie), a mathematician, presents his thesis to the Emperor of the Galactic Empire, consisting the the entire Milky Way Galaxy.  Seldon warns that the Empire is falling, and has been for hundreds of years, but hasn’t been noticed until the present time.  Psychohistory, a concept predicting the action of huge masses of people, isn’t mentioned here.

The Empire will fall, and Trantor, the capital of the Empire, with one city covering the entire planet, will be sacked in 300 years, and there will be 30,000 years of barbarism spread all over the galaxy, before a new empire arises from the ashes.

Seldon offers a plan.  The present downfall cannot be stopped, but the period of chaos can be shortened to 1,000 years.  Seldon establishes two Foundations “at opposite ends of the galaxy,” to guide the galaxy through this chaos up to the establishment of a new empire. 

The emperor, Cleon, agrees to Seldon’s plan and sends the first batch of scientists, mathematicians, and hundreds of people of different disciplines to a planet at the far end of the galaxy called Terminus.  This is a planet out in the boondocks of the galaxy, little known with no natural resources, and this is where Seldon’s followers are to begin their project.

This is where the Apple TV Series and the original Asimov book, The Foundation Trilogy, diverge.

The rest of this review, and it is long, will be comparing the main points of the series to the book, and explain why the series doesn’t measure up to the book and how it goes completely off the track by changing the characters, the plots, and the scenery.  I will mention the actors in parenthesis next to each character’s name to make this essay look like a movie review.

The series introduces new plot lines not in the book.  They change the characters and changes the gender of two of them, Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey) and Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) both from male to female.  The intention here is good, giving women more of a role and a say in the story, and it’s a leg up from the book (written in 1950), but again, it throws the story off the track.

The writers, directors, and producers also make Emperor Cleon (Here there are three, the grandfather, Terrance Mann, the father, Lee Pace, and the child, Cassian Biton) a long line of clones, each succeeding emperor with the same name.  A sub-plot is created (not by Asimov) where the boy, the clone being primed to be emperor, rebels, finds a girl who is a gardener and very attractive and seductive (named Azura, played by Amy Tyger)  and wants to go off and live a life of his own (a la Prince Harry), but is killed in the end.

There is a female robot, named Demerzel (played by Laura Birn, who greatly resembles Gwyneth Paltrow)  patterned after Eto Demerzel in Prelude to Foundation, but, in Prelude, was really the robot hero R. Daneel Olivaw in the book, himself a character in many of Asimov’s robot novels.  Demerzal in the movie is beautiful, but has lived for thousands of years, advising “Cleons” through the ages.

In the last episode, she breaks the neck of the young boy, ending the problem of the family rebel/prince.  This is one of the biggest different of all between the TV series and the book.  First, there are no robots in the original trilogy. 

Second, and most important, Asimov, in all his robot novels, and they are connected to the Foundation Trilogy, establishes the three laws of robotics:

1. A robot may not harm a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the commands given to him by a human, excepts when it come in conflict with the first law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence, except when it comes in conflict with the first two laws.
   

Demerzal was never to kill, let alone harm, the boy Cleon, or any other human for that matter, for this violated the three laws.

That scene alone destroy all comparisons with the book.

In addition, emperors in the book were not cloned, nor were they all name Cleon.  Each emperor had his or her own, distinct, individual name and personality.

Let’s turn to Terminus.  In the book, Seldon never went to Terminus.  He stayed behind on Trantor, where he soon died of old age.  In the TV series, he does board ship where he is killed.

Terminus, in the book, is a small city, built with proper building materials shipped from elsewhere.  That isn’t mention, but is assumed by the reader.  

The city is neatly laid out, with high quality buildings:  offices, dwellings, schools, research labs, and suburbs, with the inhabitants having a high quality of life.  

The Vault is a small auditorium in a building, with in the event of a crisis, the Vault, controlled by a timer, unlocks.  In this event, all important officials involved with the plan all go inside and watch a holographic image of Hair Seldon materialize, in his wheelchair and tells of what is happening and how to deal with it, and the plot issues.  

The characters are all different as a generation passes, but are taught of their mission and at the right time, take action when necessary.  War is avoided is possible.  “Violence is the last resort of the incompetent!”

The series couldn’t have been any more different.  The planet itself is dismal, with a cold climate.  Terminus looks like a refugee camp, with crude dwellings, like primitive huts, and its inhabitants surviving hand to mouth.  You wonder how they could carry out their mission, let alone survive.

Invading armies constantly come and go.  Two opposing armies use Terminus as a battleground, with the inhabitants of Terminus stuck in the middle.

The vault is a mysterious object, shaped like a diamond, hovering over the top of a barren hill, with a force field to prevent anyone from approaching it.  Nobody knows what it is, or why it is there, until, in the last episode, the “vault” splits in two and an image of Hair Seldon comes down and preaches to the inhabitants, and invading armies, of what is to come.  Unlike the book, he can talk to individuals personally and answer their questions, as if he is alive.

So, the series goes its own separate way, with plots and space wars between planets not in the book, and not stating the motive of these warring tribes.

Characters like Salvor Hardin and Gaal Dornick are kept alive by suspended animation for 135 years.

This is the trouble with the cast.  In the book, as time progresses, old characters die out and new characters come in as time flows, like in real life.

In the movie, the old characters remain.  Perhaps this is to keep the actors themselves employed, thus extending their characters live and giving them more parts to play, as stated, not in the book.  Time progresses in the book, but in the series, it stands still.  Where does it lead?  Probably to a plot not in the book.

This is why the series is poor.  I would give it a rating of one to two stars.  Two and one half stars would be generous, but in no way does it deserve three stars.

If this series continues to Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation, they will no doubt have to phase the present actors out and replace them with new actors playing new characters.  This is because the trilogy extends to 300 years from its beginning, so there is nothing else they can do, except end the series completely of totally different from the book.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.

The series would be a good science fiction story by itself, not being based on any book or story.  However, it takes the book, a science fiction classic, dismantles it, and reassembles it in a different form, adding a few more plots, scenery, characters, special effects, to its liking.  

That is a bad idea.

If one is going to make a movie or TV series based on a book, any book, it should be faithful to the book and follow the plot lines exactly, without any additions of one’s own making.

My own take on this is that if you are a fan of Asimov’s original Foundation series, or any of his other novels for that matter, you can skip this TV series entirely.

If you have to watch it, see it on its own merit.  There is no comparison between the TV series and the book. 

Alastair Browne

Alec Baldwin and the Handling of Guns

 After the Halyna shooting, Alec Baldwin retreated to a town in Vermont.   New details from the investigation are emerging, and all in all, there will be plenty of blame to go around.

To sum it all up, a movie called RUST was being filmed.  Alec Baldwin was the star, and Halyna Hutchins was the woman behind the camera.  Mr. Baldwin was handed a gun that was supposed to be either unloaded or have blanks.  Having aimed it at the camerawoman, Baldwin pulled the trigger and “bang,” Hutchins was shot dead with a real bullet, from a real Colt 45.

Tragedy ensued, and a lot of gross negligence was uncovered.  The gun was supposed to be a prop and the bullets were suppose to be blanks.  Live ammo was not permitted the grounds, along with real guns, and nobody knew where the responsibilities lay.

It was all one big mix-up.

Who is to blame?

I hate to admit it, but Baldwin himself bears much of the blame, though not all, because of his own stupidity.  His stupidity lies in the way he handle the gun.

Yes, I’m going to say it right out, and yes, the truth hurts.

According to one attorney, checking the gun was not the assistant director’s responsibility.  Oh, yes it was!

I will cover both of these, but first, I am fully aware that this is the worst moment in Alec Baldwin’s life.  He is a world famous movie actor who accidentally shot and killed somebody, and as a result, he bears a great remorse and a very bad scar, that will stick with him for the rest of his life.

As of this writing, Baldwin is in seclusion with his wife and family, trying to sort things out in dealing with this tragedy.  No doubt, he feels very remorseful, and is probably thinking in his mind, how he could have handled the gun differently, so as not to shoot Ms. Hutchins.  A “what might have been” that will never materialize.

Baldwin knows he will have to go back and answer for his mistakes, as does the entire crew on the set.  

My heart does go out to him.  This could have happened to anyone.

Could it?  

I know that the gun has passed between hands before it reached Baldwin, but the actor was still irresponsible, careless, negligent, and foolish.  I all boils down to how one should handle a gun.

I have been taught at a very young age never to point a gun at anyone.  In the military, they extend that statement to “unless you intend to shoot that person.” 

It sank in right away.  In grade seven, a teacher that if you want to know whether a gun is loaded, you check it, meaning the compartment.  You don’t pull the trigger.

That also sank in.  Whenever someone showed me a gun and put it in my hand, I always checked the compartment or cylinder, if it’s a revolver.  In the case of a rifle, I would release the catch to see if it was unloaded, even if the owner knew it wasn’t.  I NEVER pulled the trigger.  EVER.

I also made sure the gun was pointed away from anyone before handling it.

That is the way anyone should handle guns.

The chief cause of gun deaths in the U.S. is not by murder, but by carelessness.  That is, pulling the trigger and the bullet entering into someone unfortunate enough to be in the way.  The victim is killed, and the person responsible cries out in panic, “I didn’t know the gun was loaded.”

This is an everyday occurrence, and nobody learns from this; and so it was with Alec Baldwin.

Yes, Alec Baldwin does get the blame because he should have checked the gun before aiming it at Ms. Hutchins.  First of all, he shouldn’t have pointed it at Ms. Hutchins, period.  Second, he shouldn’t have fired it at all, even if it wasn’t pointed at anything.

If Baldwin had checked the gun, he would have found the bullets, taken them out of the gun, and tragedy would have been averted.

“Well,” one can say, “it was passed from person to person, and Baldwin assumed that the gun was safe.”  

It doesn’t matter.  He should have checked it anyway.  

Do you know what happens when you “assume?”  You make an ASS out of U and ME!  

He sure did, with horrific results.

The responsibility also lies with those in line passing the gun to Mr. Baldwin.  The attorney for the assistance is wrong.  It was his responsibility to check the gun.  It’s everyone’s responsibility who passes the gun to check it.

First, somebody had to know that the gun and the bullets were real.

What about the people in line who passed the gun to Baldwin?

If the very first person in line should have checked the revolver, he or she would have found the bullets.  What should have occurred then was to turn the bullets over to an authority and simply passed the gun, with the cylinder of the revolver open, all the way down to Baldwin, where he can keep it for a prop, safe and unloaded, and NOT point it at Ms. Hutchins, even if it was unloaded.

Hindsight is 20/20.

The investigation continues.  There was live ammo not authorized to be on the set, people were in positions of authority they had no business being in, having responsibilities they did not know how to handle, and a young woman, a wife and mother, was killed senselessly on the set.

This is human stupidity at its worst, and it is an everyday occurrence.

When will we ever learn?

The Republican Party

 “I know it’s in the Constitution, but I don’t care!  Make me!”

                -Senator Mitch McConnell 

The Republican Party has sold its soul to the Devil!   That’s all there is to it.

The Republican Party started out as a noble party under Lincoln, was against the spread of slavery, and eventually urged Congress to abolished it, even adding an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the 13th Amendment.  This is one of the greatest accomplishments even achieved by any group of people.  

Under Theodore Roosevelt, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed, breaking up large corporate monopolies that were choking the U.S. economy, not to mention American workers.  Roosevelt went on to establish the national park system, preserving the beauty of our natural wonders for future generations to enjoy.

President Eisenhower presided during the 1950s, the decade after World War II in which Americans prospered.  He also established the Interstate Highway system.

Nixon, it has been forgotten, was for the working man, establishing safety regulations, and attempted to establish a living wage and a health care system back in the 1970s.  The term “Nixon Republican”  meant the working man.  He also supported the Equal Rights Amendment, and helped to establish the Environment Protection Agency.   Congress, however, rejected many of these proposals, and then Watergate intervened.  Nixon’s greatest fault, which led to his downfall, was that he hated everybody, and acted upon that emotion.

It was Reagan who began to cut taxes for the rich, with his belief in trickle down economics, and many of the wealthy flocked to him, and the present state the U.S. is in was where this all started.

Today’s Republican Party, and I mean every U.S. Senator and Representative, is participating, or condoning, unethical behavior.  I mean cheating!  Openly cheating.  Everyone knows this, they know it, but they don’t care.  In fact, they are doing everything to advance it.  This is worse than Watergate!

How, you might ask?!  

First look at the laws they are attempting to pass, with voter suppression.  The Republican Party is attempting to make it harder for people to vote, especially people in low income areas, and minorities, that would normally vote Democratic.  They, the Republicans, are trying to eliminate early voting.  They are trying to take away the voting rights of convicted felons after they’ve been released from jail and have paid their debt to society.  (Yes, I abhor the crimes they’ve committed, and they deserve be punished, but after they do their time and paid their debt, and have their voting rights restored, they should not be taken away from them again on a whim.)  

They want to cut down the number of polling stations in cities, especially those with large minorities to discourage them from voting.   Normally in a typical polling place, lines are short, and one would wait a maximum of 15 or 20 minutes, which isn’t bad at all.  This is because normally there are many polling places in a city, serving small areas, so everyone will have easy access to polls and vote for whomever they please in a short span of time.  Now, many cities, especially those run by Republican governments, have few polling places, and depending on income and ethnicity, the fewer polling places there are, and the harder it is to access them.  

Long lines of voters result in this, having to wait long hours to vote rather than a few minutes.  This is done deliberately by the city and state governments, run by the Republican Party.  The purpose here is to discourage voters so that after waiting in line literally all day, they would give up and go home without being able to vote.  This is to the benefit of Republican candidates.  

Now Georgia has pass laws not only restricting voters, backtracking to Jim Crow, but they have also passed a law forbidding anyone to distribute food and water to anyone waiting in line to vote

They want to eliminate voting by mail.  

Then there is the case where ballots with votes are torn up and thrown away, without being counted.  This happened in Florida in 2000 during the Bush-Gore debacle, where both sides where fighting for the electoral votes to determine the outcome of the presidential election.  A little known fact is that ballots from low income areas of the state were thrown out without being counted.  If they were counted, Gore would have been president rather than Bush, and the direction the U.S. was taking would have been for the better.  No such luck.

They, the Republicans, are intent on taking away voting privileges from anyone they can who would vote against them.  

At present the Democrats in Congress are attempting to pass H.R.!, the voting rights bill.  This will give access to ALL qualified voters, removing any restrictions Republicans are trying to place on them for fear of losing elections.  The Republicans are opposed to this.  Why?

Trump tried to overturn the election of 2020, in which he lost to Joe Biden.  He pressured Georgia’s Secretary of State to subvert the election and give Trump a victory.  He failed, but he plotted his revenge on this.  More on that shortly.

When Trump declares voter fraud, Republicans believe him.

When state bills pass denying certain people their right to vote, or make it difficult for them to do so, Republicans support them.  

Their excuse to all the laws they pass is to “prevent voter fraud.”  The reality is, voter fraud is extremely rare, and the perpetrators will most likely be caught, even during these turbulent times.

This is downright cheating.  Not only that, but its unethical, immoral, wrong, dishonest, unconstitutional, and is against all freedoms and beliefs on which this country, this democracy, this republic (we are both) stands.

I have presented only a few examples, but there are many more, enough to fill volumes.  Just from all that I mentioned here, what does this tell you about the Republican Party?  What is their objective is all this?  I feel that it wants to be the single ruling party of the United States to which they can eventually take away the rights of all American citizens and give privileges to those that would support them.  They want to eventually eliminate the Constitution for which it stands.  Does this sound far-fetched?  Remember what Mitch McConnell said when he refused to hold a Senate hearing for Merritt Garland when he was nominated for a Supreme Court judge by Obama: 

 

“I know it’s in the Constitution, but I don’t care!  Make me!”

McConnell was the Senate Majority Leader when he said it, but now he’s the Minority Leader, and he seems to be losing more power day by day, thank God!

What does the above quote tell you about him?

The Republican Party knows that it is losing support in a big way, and they know that they will be voted out of office should events continue as they are doing, so they are making a last ditch effort to remain the majority and will stop at nothing to do so, even breaking as many laws as possible, and they are openly doing this.

There is one more issue in this subject alone:  revenge.  The New York Times published two articles on its front page (March 25, 2021), side by side, about this very issue.  In the first there was the issue of Georgia, when state officials from the secretary of state down to the county boards to stop Trump from overturning the decision of Georgia’s voters when they voted in Biden’s favor, given Georgia’s electoral votes to Biden, rather than Trump.  Now state Republicans are trying to strip all these officials of their power.    They tried the same thing in Arizona.  What these people have in mind is to permanently oust them from their position and replace them with loyal Trump Republicans, who will bend to the will of Trump and his cronies, no matter what.  Forget about ethics and what is fair and what the voters want. 

In a parallel article, the Democrats are making the effort to ban gerrymandering, mandate automatic voter registration,  and expand early and mail-in voting.  The Republicans are opposed to all of this.  Their reason is that more Democrats would be registered to vote and the Republicans would be permanently in the minority.  

They want to stop all this and will go as far as firing, and ruin the careers of any official who gets in their way, including judges.

How about if the Republicans would offer something that would really benefit the U.S. and the American people as a whole, and make them want to vote for them because they believe they would be the better choice for the American people as a whole, meaning ALL Americans?!  They will not do that.

All they care about is money and power.

This is only the tip of the iceberg!

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As of this writing, two shootings have occurred in Georgia and Colorado, resulting in the deaths of 18 people.  Both killers had assault rifles, able to shoot a massive amount of bullets at once.  Other shooting throughout the past few decades was the same story, be they at schools or other public places.  The shooter was always deranged, with an assault rifle and huge amounts of ammunition.  

In 1994, President Bill Clinton put a 10-year ban on assault rifles, to last until 2004.   In that period of time, shootings decreased a great deal.  Some did happen, such as Columbine, but in general, they decrease, and less lives were lost because of it.  When the time came up for renewal in 2004, President Bush, who is a Republican, and Congress let it pass.  Then the shootings and killings went up again.  Is this a coincidence?  I don’t think so!

Whenever a shooting, whether in a school involving young children or in a supermarket involving innocent shoppers, a bill aways comes up to ban assault rifles.  There are speeches and serious, sometimes inflammatory debates, with Republicans saying that they (assault rifles) are needed, banning them would only increase the murder rate, and would be a violation of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the right to keep and bear arms.  

First, I support the Second Amendment as much as anyone would, and having a gun can be necessary for one to protect his or her own home and their families (if you don’t discount people playing with guns, resulting in a killing due to their own stupidity), but assault rifles, machine guns, etc., are not necessary.  Hunters don’t need them to hunt deer or other meat.  Second, it has been proven that the easy acquisition of assault rifles increase mass killings, not decrease them.  They make things worse, not better.

The real reason is that the N.R.A. (National Rifle Association) is a very powerful lobby that funds Republican candidates for office, and keeps on supporting them, so the N.R.A. can determine what weapons are banned or not, and these Republicans got along.  They are simply puppets.  I have never seen Democrats being pawns of this organization.  In other words, it’s the money.  Buy a Republican politician and he or she will do anything you say.  Note:  I am aware that this equally applies to many Democrats, but with them, the problem is not yet severe.  Notice I said “yet.”  

So the Republicans refuse to help ban assault weapons, and the killings 

continue.

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Economically, there is a lot to say, but I’ll try to get the point across without saying too much.

Tax cuts for the rich are the main liability here.  First, it’s based on the beliefs of trickle down economics.  Cut taxes on industries, they will spend the windfall on more production, creating more jobs, employing more people, and increasing the revenue based on taxes from these additional employees, which will be greater than the amount of money cut.  

Nice thought, except it doesn’t work.  It never has, and it never will, yet Republican politicians keep doing this.  In reality, the money that is cut is simply stashed away in private bank accounts and the money benefits nobody.   

Many of the wealthy people who have their tax cuts simply hoard it in a bank account in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands, any tax free haven they can acquire.  This is of no benefit to the United States.

In reality, the rich do not need tax cuts at all.  The money that they have paid in taxes is never missed by them, so what is the point?  Simply to buy votes for the candidate who made these cuts in the first place.

This tax money goes to our police force, fire departments, municipal systems, schools, roads, everything that services our societies.  Tax cuts mean that these necessities will be cut and society will have a lot less of this, which can be detrimental to our society;  i.e. less tax money for the police means less policemen leading to an increase in crime.  Take it from there.  Yes, a lot of tax money is wasted on useless projects and grants, but these are never cut from the budget, nor will they be because local politician support these so they can receive more votes.

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As for the environment, National Parks have been set up in the early 20th century by none other than President Theodore Roosevelt (a Republican) to preserve our natural heritage for future generations to enjoy.

Nonetheless, today’s Republicans are passing laws for companies to mine these parks, cut down old growth forests, pump oil, all of which will destroy the environment of these parks and nature preserves, and kill a lot of endangered species.  The Republicans don’t care.  A long as it makes money for them, these companies can destroy the environment.

And that is exactly what these Republicans are doing.  They are destroying the United States in any which way they can, and they don’t care.  I have given a few examples, but a lot more can be added.  Under President Clinton, we had a budget surplus, and we were well on our way to paying the national debt.  When Bush came into office, he cut taxes, the surplus was gone, and the debt increased, and we are in worse shape than ever.  

This is what I mean.  The Republicans are destroy our economy, our environment, destroying the rights that women and minorities have fought for these past few decades, and ignoring the Constitution of the United States.  They are passing laws denying certain citizens the right to vote just so they can become the majority permanently, because they know that if everyone voted, they would remain a minority.  They will now openly lie, cheat, and steal to obtain power, and it has been shown that they are becoming a tyrannical force, threatening the very existence of the United States.

To sum it up, the Republican Party is not an asset, but a liability and a serious threat to the American people as a whole and if they are allowed to continue as they do, the United States will be destroyed, as a country, as a position in the world, and the American people will discover what it is like to live in a third rate country with no money, with a tyrannical ruler.  No, I am not exaggerating.  I mean this literally.  If the Republican Party continues to exist, America will be destroyed, along with all our freedoms, wealth, privileges, and our standing in the world.

The Republicans now in charge know this, but they don’t care, as long as they have their wealth and power.

Remember what Mitch McConnell said:  “I know it’s in the Constitution, but I don’t care.  Make me!”

Does this sound far-fetched?  Let’s list this, one by one.

1. They are opening lying and cheating in our elections, and will stop at nothing either to win, or to overturn the elections in their favor.

2.  They do not care about gun control, or how many innocent men, women or children are killed in massacres by crazy people.  They are being funded by the N.R.A., and will do anything they ask.

3.  They do not care about the environment.  They are destroying the environment, mining and logging sensitive parts of the world, including our national parks, just to make money for big companies, who will continue to fund their party, and themselves.

4.  They do not care about people’s rights.

5.  They do not care about the economy.  As long as they have money in their own coffers, which they have obtained illegally, and it increases, they will have no regard for anyone else.

6.  They do not care about rebuilding our infrastructure, which has greatly deteriorated and needs to be rebuilt, badly.

7.  They do not care about education, or providing new opportunities for the young and less fortunate.  

8.  They do not care about jobs and the unemployment rate, although they claim that they do, and some of them believe it.

9.  They do not care about the U.S. Constitution.  If it were up to Mitch McConnell and his cronies, the Constitution would be abolished.

10.  They do not care about the American people.  They do not care that America is declining, just as long as they have and can keep their wealth.  Basically, they want to destroy, or abolish, everything that made America great in the first place.  i.e.  It was immigration, with their hard work and talents that propelled America to be a world power, and the Republicans now want to abolish it.  Yes, we have a problem of illegal immigration, but it can be fixed to everyone's benefit, but they don't want to do this.  This is one such example.

11.  They do not care about morals and what is right.

12.  They do not care about anything, or anyone, but themselves.

On January 6, 2021, the U.S. Capitol was attacked by thugs, incited by outgoing President Donald Trump.  After the insurrection, which failed, the Republicans did absolutely nothing.  They refused to indict Trump and exonerated him, giving him the full right to run for office again and his privileges restored, all of which should have been taken away from him.  I think the main reason here is that the Republican Senators voted to pardon him was because they did not have the guts to prosecute him, fearing retaliation.  

What does this say about the Republican Senate?  They are MORAL COWARDS!  Nothing more!

So there you have it.  The Republican Party, once a noble party under Abraham Lincoln when it was first established, has deteriorated into a self-serving party with no regard for others, no regard for human life, and no regard for the freedom and well being of the United States.

We, as Americans, can’t have that!

We can no longer afford it!  The Republican Party must go!  Permanently!  And it must be replaced by a party that’s a lot more decent and far-seeing.  A party, a common-sense party, that will put the interests of the American people first, that will stand up for what they truly believe in, even if it is unpopular at the times, and will put country before party, and is willing to see eye-to-eye with other parties as they do their business in Congress.  Above all, they must be willing to work with anybody and everybody, regardless to party affiliation after the election is over.  Once the election is over, it’s over.  The winners have their seats.  Now let’s get down to business and run this country right!

I would call it the Progressive Party, but don’t be certain on the name.  If you have a better name, I would like to hear it.

Anyway,  at present, we must permanently get rid of the Republican Party and all of its amoral and immoral ways it wishes to govern this country.  We need to form a new party.

We deserve better!  

-Alastair Browne

On Trump's Defeat

 Note:  This essay was written before the attack on the U.S. Capital on January 6, 2021.  However, this does not outdate this essay, rather, it proves that it's right.  Every point in this essay still applies.  People fear that Trump will run for office again in four years, but with all the charges he is facing in New York State and Georgia, that remains to be seen.  (Translation, I seriously doubt it.)

To all Foundationers:

      Donald Trump has lost his bid for re-election, and it couldn’t have come soon enough.  It is a well-deserved defeat, and the salvation of the United States. 

     I have stated from the very beginning that the purpose of this page is to communicate new ideas to get the U.S. moving again, and to preserve its place in the world as a superpower, but a good one, one that the rest of the world can look up to and respect.

      The page is also meant to point out faults that are bringing this country down, and how they can be corrected.

      These past four years is when this page was needed the most.

      On the election of Donald Trump as president, I knew this country would be in for some rough times, but how rough even went beyond my imagination.  We have had an ignorant, immature, narcissistic, and above all, dangerous leader who alienated the entire world, included our own country, deserted our allies, Kurdistan being the prime example, and cozied up to our enemies:  Russia, China, and North Korea.  I am familiar with the phrase “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,” but here, I feel that Trump has turned traitor towards the free world all together.

     He has also wrecked the economy by lowering taxes for the wealthy, so they can fill their coffers and ally with Trump, at the expense of the middle and working classes.

    Trump, and the entire Republican Party, today stands for nothing except the acquisition of wealth and power.  No more.  They do not care about the American people, they do not care about the Constitution, and they do not care whether America lives or dies, just as long as they have their piece of the pie.

    Trump has caused riots, divided this country, turned his back on refugees, promoted racism, and the list goes on.  I have posted the reasons on this page, so you can go back and refer to them.  Each post gives you one more reason why Trump should never be re-elected and serve another four years.

     Why does Trump receive so many votes?  Why was he so popular?  A magnetic personality, telling the masses what they want to hear, even if they are outright lies.

     This page was inspired by Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy, and if you have read it, refer back to Foundation and Empire, where Hari Seldon’s plan for a new empire goes astray because of the rise of a powerful new leader, known as The Mule.  This “Mule” is able to use his mind, his brain waves to win over his enemies to his side and serve him, and from here, he was able to build up a new empire threatening the Foundation’s plan.  Foundation itself is drawn into it, but eventually, with help from the mysterious Second Foundation, the Mule is eventually defeated (not overthrown, defeated).  I’ll let you read the trilogy.

     And that’s just how it was with Trump.  Although not as intelligent, and having the manners of morals of a spoiled child, Trump, like the Mule, was able to woo a lot of followers even from the camps of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.  Eventually, Trump was defeated by Biden.

     And that’s good.  In the trilogy, the Foundation went through a series of crisis that they had to overcome long before the Mule, but here, we went directly to the Mule/Trump.  But there is no need to fear his return.  He may stick around after he leaves office, may start “Trump TV,” with some watchers, but contrary to what many fear, Trump isn’t going to last.  First, he is a defeated candidate, and they all fade, even the good ones.  Second, Trump is four hundred million dollars in debt, and his creditors will come around demanding payback.  Trump is not rich!  He just lives like a rich man.  Third, Trump will be the target of many investigations, and he is liable to serve jail time.  Fourth, the people will tire of hearing him say the same old speeches and soon walk away.

      Trump has had his day.  He will fade, even if you don’t know that yet.

      The damage is great.  Trump almost destroyed our country, and we still have Mitch McConnell, and he will have to be dealt with.  How, I don’t know.  We also have to keep electing Democrats to both the House and the Senate.  Note, this page originally was not affiliated with any political party, but after what the Republicans are doing, and continue to do, we cannot support them.  All they want is money and power, they do not care about the U.S. Constitution, and Mitch McConnell has admitted this.

     This past election have shown what the American people can do when their backs are to the wall.  They came out in droves and not only stood up for what they believed in, but casts votes in spite of the fear of voter suppression.  This was the highest voter turnout in all U.S. history, even with the obstacles such as the pandemic and voter suppression.  Nothing was able to stop them, and this is why I still have hope in the American people after all.  We are going through a rough time, but we’ve had rough times before, and we have always prevailed.  This time is no exception, and we will prevail when hard times come again, and they will.

     FOUNDATION would like to congratulate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on winning the Presidential election, and wish them a prosperous and successful four years.  Both of them have shown that they have the potential to achieve this success, even in the face of their enemies.  Good luck to them.  We will back you all the way.