Commonsense and Reason

By Fred Bates - October 2024   MAGA (Make America Great Again) is a fool's errand - MAAA (Make America America Again) is a more realistic goal Don't get me wrong. I am in support of the goal of the MAGA movement of Donald Trump. Who could possibly be against making America a great nation again? However, trying to make America great again is a fool's errand. A more realistic goal would be to make America America again by getting back to basic norms such as border security, sound foreign policy focused on national security backed by a strong military, eliminating waste and corruption in government, protecting voting rights and election integrity, respecting the other rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution, supporting law enforcement to ensure safe communities, and having respect for our economic system that is based on capitalism. Getting back to these norms will make America America again, but this alone will not make America great again. For America to be great a...

 By Fred Bates - August 2024 Democrats' hypocrisy has no bounds when it comes to their defense of democracy Donald Trump was accused by Democrats of election interference for making a phone call to President Zelensky in July 2019, during which, Trump was accused of pressuring Zelensky to dig up dirt on his political rival, Democrat Joe Biden. At that time, Biden hadn't declared himself a candidate for president. Trump was impeached by the Democrat led House of Representatives in December 2019, even though, the constitutional requirement for impeachment of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors was not met. Undeterred by the failure of the first impeachment, Trump was impeached a second time for his actions following the 2020 presidential election. Trump made claims that the election was stolen from him because of fraud. On January 6, 2021, the day of the certification of the election of Joe Biden as President, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in protest. De...

 June 13, 2024 Polarization does not mean we have to be adversaries It keeps coming up in our national debates on almost all issues how polarized we are as a nation. I really don't understand when politicians, media personalities, and others complain how much we are polarized because we see issues differently. We are a nation of individuals with individual liberties that are protected by the Constitution. At the forefront of these liberties is the right to freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. Implicit in the right to free speech and press is the right of each person to have their own opinions. I'm troubled by politicians and people of influence that intentionally sows seeds of discord between groups of citizens with divisive rhetoric for political reasons.   Despite the efforts of those that try to deliberately keep Americans divided with inflammatory rhetoric, I am not influenced by their efforts. I make my own decisions on what side of the issues I will take. An...

June 13, 2024 The problem with voting is not voter suppression. I have not seen or heard of a single case where a person of any color that was qualified to vote was prevented from registering to vote; or a single person of any color that was already registered to vote was prevented from voting in this country. The problem that threatens democracy is not the suppression of blacks and other minorities right to vote. The bigger threat is that voters of all colors may lose interest in voting because many of our elections are contested on uneven playing fields.  Having commonsense laws in order to protect the integrity of elections not only is not voter suppression, but it makes the votes of individual citizens more meaningful and sacred. Commonsense laws requiring voters to register in a reasonable time period and to have valid identification are necessary to protect the electoral process. These requirements do not in any way impose an unreasonable burden on individuals wanting to regi...

 March 19, 2024 - by Fred Bates The presumption of innocence until proven guilty and the constitutional due process right to a fair trial should be extended to all, even undocumented immigrants.   Just as with all murders, I am saddened and outraged by the murder of Laken Riley. I don't see one murder as being worse than another murder. The victims lose their lives, the most precious thing we have. The victims' families and loved ones are devasted. When tragedies like Riley's murder, as well as, other murders are politicized and exploited by politicians and the media, I find it disturbing. It is further evidence of the deterioration of our American values system. I find it shocking that so many politicians and media personalities, mostly Republicans and conservatives, are so quick to state without equivocation that Jose Antonio Ibarra the suspect in Riley's murder, an alleged undocumented immigrant, is guilty of her murder.  Did I miss something? I am not aware that Iba...

Post #10 - February 28, 2021 In a post on January 15, 2020, I addressed the first impeachment of Donald Trump. Just as I disagree with the first impeachment, I disagree with the second impeachment of Trump. The second impeachment lacked less credibility than the first impeachment, if that's possible. Not only was the second impeachment constitutionally infirm, it defied commonsense and logic. It was just another example of how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats' hatred for Trump drove them to do something that made no sense at all. What is so shocking is that Democrats clearly went beyond what the Constitution and the founding fathers intended for impeaching a president. Impeachment is the process by which Congress can remove a sitting president from office for committing treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. It's needless to say Trump was already out of office. But that was not good enough. Democrats wanted more. So they came up with the lame notio...

  Post #10 - Saturday November 1, 2020 Trump or Biden?  The presidential election is two days away and I feel compelled to give my opinion about who I think is the better candidate based on their policies and character. When choosing a candidate in an election, I think most people look at what the candidates have done in the past and at what they say they are going to do after they get elected. Ideally, you would then make a decision based on who you think is better. When I started this blog on January 15th of this year (2020), I stated that I would address current hot button issues that have left this nation deeply polarized. I stated in my introductory post that I would address issues in an honest and objective way. The issue as to whether Trump or Biden would be better for this country is a controversial issue. This post is not meant to be a political statement or an endorsement. I respect the right of every citizen to vote for the candidate of their choice. I will not cond...

   Post #9 - October 8, 2020 POLICE BRUTALITY - AN OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW YOU HAVEN'T HEARD With the recent protests in Louisville Kentucky, Portland Oregon, Los Angeles California, and other big cities around the country, police brutality is still in the headlines. The recent cases that have garnered the most headlines are the police killings of Breonna Taylor and Rashard Brooks; the deaths of George Floyd, Elijah McCain, and Daniel Prude while in police custody; and the shooting of Jacob Blake that did not result in his death. The death of any individual involving the use of force by police is a tragedy. But it is clear from the mob like mentality of many of those protesting police brutality and the support and encouragement they appear to be receiving from mostly Democratic politicians and the liberal media makes it difficult to resolve this complex problem. The issue of police brutality has been framed around the narrative that police are killing large numbers of unar...

Post #6  (April 07, 2020) This coronavirus pandemic has shown that many Americans have the ability to work together in a crisis. All over America, you see examples of ordinary Americans putting asides their differences in order to fight this common foe, COVID-19. However, many of our leaders at the federal and state level have not been able to work together with the same ease as ordinary  Americans. They have engaged in a game of blame and complain in the media that has been more than willing to give them a platform. What I am referring to is the back and forth between President Trump and many of our nation's Governors. Notable are the public feuds between the President and these Governors: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and to a lesser degree California Governor Gavin Newsom. As has been since his election, the hostility also continues between President Trump and Democrats in Congress led by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and their sy...

Post #5 (January 29, 2020) The Democrats continued push for testimony from Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton is a red herring. By now you should have heard about the claim by Bolton in his book manuscript that was leaked to the press that Trump told him the aid to Ukraine was linked to investigations into the Bidens and other Democrats. Democrats and the media are having a field day with this latest development. Here's the problem with this new information. First, it's from a leak by someone in the NSC. I find that to be disturbing. Secondly, just as I explained in my posts on Monday (1/27/20) and Sunday (1/19/20), the articles of impeachment are constitutionally infirm and new witness testimony will not give them credibility. The facts are the facts and they will never change regardless of any new testimony. The facts are that Ukraine got the aid within the time frame designated by Congress. Ukraine did not conduct any investigations into the Bidens or...

Post #4 (January 27, 2020) A little bit of commonsense and reason and a lot less hatred for Donald Trump and unbridled emotions will help you come to a sensible conclusion about this impeachment. The President is being impeached for abusing his power and obstructing Congress. The abuse of power charge by Democrats is that Trump withheld aid to the Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into Hunter and Joe Biden. The charge by Democrats is that Trump pressured President Zelensky of Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden in order to help Trump and hurt Biden during the 2020 presidential election. Democrats make the claim that Trump's pressuring of Zelensky to investigate Biden was seeking foreign interference into the 2020 election. They charge that Trump obstructed Congress by refusing to turn over documents and by refusing to allow certain current and former Trump officials to testify during the impeachment inquiry in the HOR, even though Trump is claiming executive privilege. T...

Post #3 (January 19, 2020)  With a great deal of pomp and circumstance, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi signed the Articles of Impeachment this past Wednesday (January 15, 2020) and they were delivered to the Senate by the Impeachment Managers for the House of Representatives. In my previous post, also on Wednesday, I gave my assessment of the Democrats' case against the President based on their Articles of Impeachment, Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress. I explained that the impeachment case did not meet the constitutional standard of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. I also stated that the Democrats' impeachment case was further undermined by the fact that President Trump never asked President Zelensky of Ukraine to do anything underhanded in his request for an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden during the July 25, 2019 phone call. In that phone call, Trump asked Zelensky to find out what happened with Crowdstrike, and what happened wit...

Post #2 (January 15, 2020)   It seems appropriate that the polarizing impeachment of President Trump is the first topic I address in this blog. The impeachment of President Trump by Democrats is led by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff. Nadler and Schiff have been selected as two of the impeachment managers for the House of Representatives. The Democrats have made several statements publicly, giving their reasons for initiating an impeachment inquiry into the President. Some are worthy to note: President Trump invited outside interference into the 2020 election by pressuring President Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate Democratic primary candidate Joe Biden during a phone call in July 2019; he violated the Constitution; he withheld military aid to Ukraine in a quid pro quo for an investigation into the Bidens; he betrayed his oath of office; and Trump is not above the law. Th...

Post #1 (January 15, 2020)  The purpose of this blog is to address current hot button issues in the news that have left the nation deeply polarized. The issues will be discussed based on the facts, applying commonsense and reason. I am not a member of the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. I'm not into group think. I consider myself to be a tribe of one and an independent thinker. I do not consider myself to be an intellectual heavy weight in any way. However, I do consider myself to be honest, objective and rational. My only allegiance is to the truth and what I believe is right. I am totally committed to being objective and fair in my positions. I strongly believe in freedom of speech and press; the right to say and believe whatever you want. But I am deeply troubled that many Americans will support anything that is put forth by their political parties. This blind loyalty to the Republican and Democratic parties has led to the deep polarization that has made it diffic...