Traveling in the U.S.

 In my younger years I traveled a LOT throughout the States. Midwest, East Coast, Southern States.

Alas, I missed out on western U.S. places like California and Texas, etc.

On my travels, I met nothing but kind hearted Americans. Now, that I have traveled far less over the last 40 or so years, I keep hearing and reading about how "bad" it's gotten. I never noticed "bad" in my home State of Minnesota. Then again, the George Floyd incident happened. 

When reading the headlines, I have to wonder HAS things gone from "bad" to "worse?" HAS civil discourse become worse? Is it less safe to travel NOW, and if I was in my youth NOW and traveled throughout the States, would my experiences be different?

Some perspective:

The Best Countries to Travel Alone ranking draws from a global perceptions-based survey and ranks countries based on scores from a compilation of seven country attributes: culturally accessible, fun, friendly, pleasant climate, safe, scenic and unapproachable.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-countries-to-travel-alone

Typically, we all have our unique perspectives and experiences. I might have some issues with the listing in the link. Example: Malaysia is listed ahead of the U.S. I personally would never travel alone to Malaysia. Canada is ranked 13th, and from personal experience, traveling alone there has never been an issue. Yet Brazil is listed #7 best for traveling alone.

WE could quibble whether "best" also means "safest" but when I look at lists like the above one (and an internet source will provide you with other sources and links) and see how far the U.S. has fallen, I wonder. 

So, how about YOUR experiences? Is the U.S. more or less as safe as ever, or is it now less safe? Outside of the safety factor, would you recommend people visit the U.S. in this current political climate? OR, are there still enough decent Americans that despite what we hear and read in the media, the U.S. is still an awesome country to travel through or visit?

The rule of law is going to bite the ex-president? Nah, that won't happen

All kinds of sources are reporting that Allen Weisselberg has pled guilty to 15 counts of felony tax evasion. He has to pay back taxes and gets 5 years probation after serving maybe about another 100 days in the slammer. 

What is shocking about this is not the pathetically light sentence. What shocks are reports that claim his deal requires him to testify truthfully in the lawsuit against the ex-president’s companies. The AP reports:

A top executive at former President Donald Trump’s family business pleaded guilty Thursday to evading taxes on a free apartment and other perks, striking a deal with prosecutors that could make him a star witness against the company at a trial this fall.

Judge Juan Manuel Merchan agreed to sentence the 75-year-old executive to five months in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, although he will be eligible for release much earlier if he behaves behind bars. The judge said Weisselberg will have to pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest and complete five years of probation.

The plea bargain also requires Weisselberg to testify truthfully as a prosecution witness when the Trump Organization goes on trial in October on related charges. The company is accused of helping Weisselberg and other executives avoid income taxes by failing to report their full compensation accurately to the government. Trump himself is not charged in the case.  

If Weisselberg fails to comply with the plea terms, prosecutors said they would seek a “significant state prison sentence,” and Merchan warned that he could be subject to the maximum punishment for the top charge — grand larceny — of 15 years.  

Trump, a Republican, has decried the New York investigations as a “political witch hunt” and has said his company’s actions were standard practice in the real estate business and in no way a crime.

Since the traitor is not charged in the case, he will probably remain untouched by the law. Teflon Don, the con, expert at plausible deniability and tossing his associates under the bus. Nothing sticks to him except dollars he grifts from his flock. Don the con is probably mostly right to say that his company’s actions were standard practice in the real estate business and in no way a crime.

Nothing sticks to Don the con

RINO hunts: The end of pro-choice Republicans

The big tent has collapsed. A June 2018 New York Times op-ed article says:

Why We Are Leaving the G.O.P.

 

When the obituary for the Republican Party is written, the year 1980 will be cited as the beginning of the end. Reaganism was in full flower, but the big tent was already folding. Republican leaders endorsed a constitutional ban on abortion at the convention that summer, ending the party’s historic commitment to women’s rights and personal freedom.

“We are about to bury the rights of over 100 million American women under a heap of platitudes,” protested Mary Dent Crisp, the co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. Her colleagues assured her that the platform was nonbinding and that reproductive health services were not in danger.

But she was prescient. As pro-choice Republicans, we refuse to support a party that has rightly earned the labels anti-woman and anti-common sense. Our organization, the Republican Majority for Choice, the organization founded by Ms. Crisp in 1988, is shutting its doors. The big tent has collapsed for good.

As Republicans, we spent four decades working inside the party to produce effective policies helping women and families. Despite growing malice from an anti-choice faction, we kept our disagreements within the family. We redoubled our efforts to find common ground, rather than simply walk away.

.... The far right was more interested in conflating abortion and birth control for political purposes. It is fiscally disingenuous to deny birth control coverage and then bemoan unintended pregnancies and abortion.

Lifelong Republicans were booed out of state and local committee meetings for just raising abortion rights and family planning ideas. The nastiness escalated to personal attacks on men and women who had dedicated countless hours and dollars to the party.  

Lifelong Republicans were booed out of state and local committee meetings for just raising abortion rights and family planning ideas. The nastiness escalated to personal attacks on men and women who had dedicated countless hours and dollars to the party.

We don’t have the space to outline President Trump’s transgressions, but it is important to understand that his rise is an inevitable result of the hostility to women within the Republican culture.

We can no longer support a Republican Party that is shutting down low-cost health care clinics offering cancer screenings, basic health services and much-needed family planning services. It has become a party that wants to punish pregnant women by limiting their economic choices, that wants to reduce access to sex education programs that prevent unintended pregnancy and disease. 

For years we have debated whether to close our doors. Our founding principle had been that proponents of abortion rights should be comfortable in both major parties. But we have to face reality: There probably will not be a single pro-choice Republican member of the House after the fall election, and only two in the Senate — Ms. Collins and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

It has become taboo within the party to even say “pro-choice.” Most of our supporters gave up on the party as it moved to the extremes not just on abortion but also on other social and fiscal issues.

This Republican Party is no family of ours. And so we say goodbye.

The authors were Susan Bevan and Susan Cullman, leaders of Republican Majority for Choice

Ah, ain't that sweet. They thought that Collins and Murkowski were pro-choice. They were wrong.

RINOS (not RINO'S) are fat and lazy things, not sincere 

people who just have a different opinion 

Public opinion on the rule of law

Wall Street on Parade writes:

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans believe there is one set of laws for the rich and powerful and another set of laws for average Americans. According to a Gallup poll released on July 5, only 14 percent of Americans had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the U.S. criminal justice system. That is the lowest percentage of confidence in the criminal justice system in 28 years according to Gallup data.

The Justice Department’s credibility was dealt an irreparable blow during the Obama administration for its hands off attitude toward prosecuting crimes by Wall Street titans. The crisis of confidence deepened further during the Trump circus at the Department of Justice. Below are some of the moments that stand out in our memory as to when we, personally, lost trust in the Justice Department. 

Based on that data, 86% of Americans have some or very little confidence in the criminal justice system. That means that my lack of trust in the rule of law, especially for rich or powerful criminals is not unusual, especially for white collar criminals. 

Qs: Is it a good, neutral or bad thing that most Americans have lost trust in the the criminal justice system? Or the presidency, newspapers, TV news, big business, or congress?