Ken Padgett

  In the past few years, the prominent use of flags by Trump fans has ranged from the “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsden flag to the Confederate Battle flag to basic Trump or MAGA banners to “Blue Lives Matter” flags. Now they have a new flag to rally around. On October 13, 2021, at a rally held for Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin that was organized by Steve Bannon, members of the crowd recited the Pledge of Allegiance to an American flag that they were told was present at the Capitol during the 1/6 insurrection.  The symbolism is obvious to any student of fascist political movements. In Germany in the 1920s and ‘30s, members of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party venerated the so-called blood flag, or blutfahne, that was said to have been carried in Hitler’s failed 1923 “beer hall putsch” in Munich and soaked with the blood of a party member who was killed in that failed coup attempt. The Blood Flag became a totemic relic for the Nazi party and Hitler used it to consecr...

  You would think that with all the turmoil in the Republican Party, they wouldn't be in any shape to take control of Congress in the next election. Think again!  Many of the voters who rejected Trump in 2020 will not reject the GOP in 2022.  The House will be gone for sure and even if somehow the Dems manage to preserve a slim majority in the Senate, the gridlock will remain. Why are the Dems going to lose? Because they have failed to communicate effectively on these issues: 1     Identity Politics 2.    BLM 3.    1619 Project 4.    Critical race theory 5.    Systemic Racism 6.    Defund the Police 7.    Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City… 8.    “Bipartisanship” failures 9.     Failure to stop Cyber attacks 10.   The Border 11.   Voter suppression 12.   Gerrymandering 13....

  Republicans love wars but they don't like to pay the full cost of supporting the troops after they come home. Since taking control of the House, Republicans have tried to cut veterans’ benefits every year. In 2012, House Republicans tried to cut benefits while privatizing healthcare. In 2013, House Republicans tried to cut food assistance for 170,000 vets and their families. Meanwhile, 8,000 veterans a year are committing suicide because of a lack of services for their physical and emotional needs. The GOP-rejected Bills: H.R. 466 – Wounded Veteran Job Security Act became H. R. 2875. This bill would have provided job security for veterans who are receiving medical treatment for injuries suffered while fighting in defense of their country. It would prohibit employers from terminating employees who miss work while receiving treatment for a service-related disability. H.R. 1168 -- Veterans Retraining Act This bill would provide for assistance to help veterans who are currently unemp...

Here's an email I received recently: Trump Explains Dumbo Care No  one can sum it up better than Trump Let me get this straight . . .  We're going to be  "gifted" with a health care plan we are  forced  to purchase  and fined  if we don't,  Which purportedly  covers at least ten  million more people, without  adding a  single new doctor, but  provides for 16,000  new IRS agents,  written by a  committee whose chairman says he doesn't  understand it,  passed  by a Congress that  didn't read  it but exempted  themselves from it,  and signed by a Dumbo President  who  smokes, with funding  administered by a treasury chief who didn't  pay his taxes,  for which we'll be  taxed  for four years before any benefits take  effect,  by a government  which has already  bankrupted Social Security and Medicare...

1. Higher taxes for poor and working people 2. Lower taxes for the rich 3. A "race to the bottom" for wages and benefits 4. Destroy public and private unions 5. Pass laws that make it easy for companies to send jobs overseas 6. Replace employer-provided health insurance with a tax deduction for individual "Health Savings Accounts" paid for by employees 7. "Free Market" healthcare with no regulation 8. Replace public education with private schools and home schooling 9. No investment in crumbling public infrastructure such as highways, bridges, and sewer systems 10. Pass laws and weaken regulations that enable companies to further pollute the environment 11. No research or investment in alternative energy sources 12. Increase "welfare for corporations" via defense spending 13. Suppress likely Democrat voters via photo ID laws, voter intimidation, and "scrubbing" voter lists 14. Divide the American people on cultural issues 15. Instill and...

Republicans took control of the House last November by taunting President Obama and the Democrats with "Where are the jobs? Republicans said their campaign was about creating jobs, but since they took office it’s clear that cutting government spending comes first, last and always -- now that they've cut taxes for the rich. How can Republicans fight for massive tax breaks for the rich and as soon as they get that immediately pivot into being reformed big spenders who now claim to be deficit hawks, and do it without looking like hypocrites? Good question, but it appears that they ARE getting away with it and, much to the dismay of many who supported him, President Obama has also bought into this nonsense.  Republicans say a smaller government eventually will spur private-sector job growth. Yeah, eventually. However in the mean time, government spending pays for research, infrastructure, education and other programs that create or protect existing public- and private-se...