The man who ducked military service with his “life-threatening” bone spurs continued insulting our selfless brave veterans yet again. Calling them suckers and losers and insulting POW Senator John McCain wasn’t disgusting enough. He had to tell the world that Medal of Freedom winners were better than Medal of Honor winners, because this latter medal is given to folks wounded and shot up with bullets or even dead, whereas the former he gave to a beautiful (rich) woman.
Donald Trump is a convicted felon and sexual assaulter, a habitual liar, a bully who uses fear and hate to enrage and divide the American body politic.
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Of course it mystifies me why so many people support this narcissistic, compassion-less sociopath who fails to understand even the basic concept of the nobility of patriot veterans willing to risk life and limb for their country. But in a sense I feel sorry for his incapacity to be a full human being: he is an incredibly laughter-less damaged selfish person whose misshapen personality stems far back from his early childhood. Trump simply can’t help being Trump.
What angers and disgusts me more are the spineless Republican “leaders,” including our Congressman Fitzpatrick, who have done nothing to reject and purge this man of low moral character from their GOP ranks. They should have known better, but whether due to fear or their desire to cling to power or sheer stupidity, they have done nothing to stop this criminal from leading our country into an abyss of fear, hate, and lies. A little over 50 years ago, when confronted with a GOP president who had committed the crimes of Watergate, GOP leaders took that long walk to the White House and convinced their crooked President to resign for the good of our country.
Yes, there have been a few principled Republican leaders like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who have tried their best to purge this dangerous man from the GOP. And I commend them. But they are greatly outnumbered and sadly, most have chosen instead to infect the GOP with a virus that could be fatal to our democracy. For that reason, I hold them even more morally culpable for the damage this sad broken old man has done to our country.
I had the distinct privilege of attending the burial ceremony with full military honors of the late Colonel Melvin J. Wells on August 2, 2024 at Arlington National Cemetery. Witnessing such a moving service on such hallowed grounds was an extremely memorable experience. When I heard on the news on August 28 that former President Trump had the audacity to conduct a political photo op at the famous cemetery – against federal rules – it made me feel sorrowful. Trump even posted a campaign video after his visit!
This incident is further evidence that Trump has no respect for the military. Although Trump never served in the military, he was critical of the late Senator John McCain when he said that he “doesn’t like people who have been captured”. Senator McCain was a decorated Vietnan War veteran who earned a Purple Heart and other accolades.
How can Trump aspire to be the Commander-in-Chief when he disrespects the military and is a convicted felon?
Americans have a big choice to make in this upcoming election. Decency and respect will not be offered by Donald Trump. If you do not want chaos in our government and another insurrection, cast a vote for Harris-Walz on Election Day!
Gail Titus, Newtown
Help for Weary Republicans
For those weary Republicans who read this paper, help is on the way! It must be exhausting to have to keep rationalizing your support for Donald Trump, when you are continually embarrassed by his antics and the judgments of juries and grand juries that he has indeed broken many laws. Even when it seemed like he could skate past the federal indictments around his conduct vis-à-vis the January 6th debacle, a second grand jury still indicted him for his actions as a candidate. And this is after removing any possible actions, like using his Justice Department, from the indictment and following the strictures imposed by his hand picked Supreme Court’s judgment on Presidential Immunity. You must hope that all this will be swept under the rug in a second Trump term, but then you would still have to defend him for another four years! Why put yourself through this? Like all those Senators who twisted themselves into knots to justify not convicting Trump of impeachment – Twice! – and now are scrambling to try to hold their party together? Those senators did not have the gumption to do what they surely knew was right, but you have the chance to be better than them. Democrats are not perfect, and they may not have all the answers, but they offer better choices than embracing the ongoing Trump nonsense. So give yourself a break, and help our Country finally turn the page on the Trump chapter of American history by voting for Harris and Walz.
Joe Sundeen, Yardley
The Donald Trump-Moms for Liberty-Heritage Foundation Project 2025 Alliance | As the Moms for Liberty national summit kicks off this week, we need more scrutinizing mainstream media coverage that's connecting the dots, writes @MassPolProfMo. https://t.co/SWmgHGN97H
— BucksCountyBeacon (@BucksCoBeacon) August 26, 2024
Corporate Greed Is Keeping Prices Up
Republicans are blaming the Biden-Harris administration for the increase in inflation and high prices for housing, food, and fuel being faced by Americans but that is just not so. It is important to recognize that the government has little control over prices and to understand who and what is really to blame.
Wall Street investors have bought hundreds of thousands of homes and rental properties. In the first quarter of 2024 the six largest corporate landlords amassed over $300 million in profits by converting single family homes to rentals and by increasing rents. These six corporations are being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for using a software product called RealPage which allows them to illegally coordinate (collude) and fix rental prices for over 16 million homes and apartments across the entire United States. The DOJ and eight states have also filed a lawsuit against RealPage.
Food prices are high, partially because of increased production and transportation costs, but more so due to a lack of significant competition. Currently four meat packing companies control 85% of beef, 70% of pork, and 54% of chicken production in the country. Similar to the housing industry, these corporations use a program called Agri Stats to automatically coordinate their price increases and are currently facing anti-trust charges by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Additionally, three companies dominate 70% of US grocery sales. The FTC is fighting to block the merger of Albertsons and Kroeger, the two largest supermarket chains in the country. Over the past year Albertsons’ profit margin tripled, meaning that their price increases have greatly exceeded their operating costs. The proposed merger would result in one overly large corporation with little or no incentive to reduce prices. Kroeger is also being investigated by the FTC and the Senate for using facial recognition software from Microsoft to collect personal data on customers which could allow them to determine how large of price hikes shoppers are willing to tolerate.
Finally, the petroleum industry is costing American families an estimated $2,000 more per year in excessive fuel costs. In 2022 the five largest oil companies recorded over $200 billion in profits, double their 2021 profits. At the same time, rather than cut prices these companies have paid out over $100 billion in stock buybacks and shareholder dividends. As with the housing and food industries, the FTC has found evidence that the CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources attempted to conspire with OPEC to keep oil production low and further boost industry profits. It is estimated that this illegal crude oil price fixing caused over one quarter of the past increase in inflation.
The rate of inflation has actually come down but major corporations have not seen fit to reduce prices because that would also diminish their profits. Through the DOJ and FTC, the Biden-Harris administration is working to rein in this excessive profiteering and provide significant relief for American consumers.
David B. Kyle, New Columbia
No Limits to Trump’s Insults and Lies
It’s tempting to tune out the rhetoric in the presidential campaign, but we must see how low Donald Trump is taking us.
We’re accustomed to his outrageous comments. A “bloodbath” if he doesn’t win. Praise for dictators. “Very fine people on both sides.” Disparaging veterans. Calling Kamala Harris “real garbage” and “a _itch.” Dehumanizing immigrants.
And the lies – 30,573 during his presidency; more than 30 in his debate with President Biden.
The insults and lies keep coming – increasing in abusiveness and vulgarity.
Trump recently called civilian medals “much better” than military awards, leading The Veterans of Foreign Wars to label the comments “asinine” and “crass,” questioning Trump’s qualifications to be commander-in-chief.
In continuing assaults on Kamala Harris, Trump claimed that he’s “entitled to” attack his opponents. Parents don’t tolerate such rudeness. Why condone it in someone vying to be President?
In a rambling hate-filled post, Trump falsely accused Harris of fabricating an image of a rally crowd. His lie was quickly exposed with photographic evidence and statements from attendees.
At Trump’s recent 64-minute “press conference,” NPR counted 162 misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies, concluding, “It’s a stunning number for anyone…even more problematic for a person running to lead the free world.”
Increasingly desperate, Trump posted AI-generated pictures preposterously claiming that Taylor Swift endorsed him—easily debunked and subjecting him to more lawsuits.
Trump isn’t wooing voters by proposing meaningful policies. He’s demonstrating his cruelty, his unfitness for office, and his utter disrespect for Americans.
Patty Satalia, State College
Interview: @kkdumez on Evangelical Support for Trump and Project 2025’s Christian Nationalist and Authoritarian Designs for the Nation https://t.co/kQk0m28WxE
— Radical Reports (@RadicalReports) August 21, 2024
Undoing Democracy
If Donald Trump becomes President again, the United States will be unrecognizable to our Founding Fathers.
Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s plan for a second Trump presidency, will dismantle our government and undermine democracy. Trump denies knowing anything about it, but it was largely written by former Trump administration officials and is supported by his running mate. Crucially, Trump’s statements align with its principles.
Project 2025 advocates a “unitary executive.” The entire federal bureaucracy, including independent agencies, will be controlled by Trump—undermining America’s founding principle of “separation of powers,” with checks and balances across three equal branches of government.
· Tens of thousands of government employees will be fired, replaced with pre-vetted Trump loyalists swearing allegiance to him, not the Constitution.
· The DOJ and FBI will be dismantled, with Trump empowered to persecute his opponents.
· The Department of Education will be abolished.
· The Department of Health and Human Services will establish “a biblically based…definition of marriage and family.”
· Climate protections will be gutted. The fossil fuel industry will be prioritized.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights will be meaningless.
· Protections for LBGTQ+ Americans, legal immigrants, and peaceful protestors will be stripped away.
· Reproductive rights will be abolished: the abortion pill mifepristone will be illegal, and a 150-year-old law will be revived to prevent mailing contraceptives.
Christian Nationalism underlies it all, rejecting our founding principle of “separation of church and state.” This is NOT the government Americans fought and died to protect.
Reject Trump before it’s too late.
Linda Barton, State College
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