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President Barack Obama Wins Historic Second Term

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Barack Obama tonight won a second term as President of the United States of America in an historic re-election, the first time since the 1820 re-election of James Madison that America has returned to a second term in office three presidents in a row.

President Obama has faced a Republican Party and its illegitimate offspring, the Tea Party, together whom literally from the day he was sworn into office have plotted the demise of his presidency. And yet, it is clear history will view Barack Obama as an extraordinary leader, not because he is an African-American — although perhaps despite it, given all the racist rancor he’s faced — who has seeded more hope than conservatives care to admit, and more change than they can stand.

In fact, the James Madison presidency almost two centuries ago was termed the “Era of Good Feelings,” based on “a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.” Clearly, Mr. Obama’s opponents have publicly and privately worked to ensure no good feelings will ever be shared among the two parties, despite two wars and many national natural disasters.

Mr. Obama will be forced to work with an even angrier opposition, a Republican Party in a Congress so angered that their feigned love of Mitt Romney was so unsuccessful they no doubt will work even harder to oppose those historic decisions this President will face.

Those decisions include probable, multiple U.S. Supreme Court nominations, attempts to dismantle his historic health care legislation — now termed “Obamacare” by both sides — the impending “fiscal cliff,” an economy that has responded to a stimulus program that was insufficient from day one, slowly lowering unemployment, man-made climate change, attempts to over turn Roe v. Wade and attempts to restrict many civil rights, including those of the LGBT community and especially same-sex marriage, and the President’s DREAM actions, efforts to help some of the undocumented immigrants.

President Obama will also likely face, without his distinguished and greatly beloved Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Middle East disruptions, including the possibility of a nuclear Iran, an Israel that is becoming ever-more brazen, a growing China that has not hesitated to hack computer networks, flood the U.S. economy with below-market goods, and a great many other issues that ultimately affect homeland security.

With the probability that Speaker of the House John Boehner will retain his title, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid his, the President will need to find ways around a House that hates him, and a Senate stumped by partisan rule and a 60-vote needed majority.

Still, after a long and hard fought race against Mitt Romney, whose very first TV ad against the president was a lie, no doubt Barack Obama is looking forward to some well-deserved R&R, a quickly-approaching Thanksgiving and Christmas, and a New Year filled with opportunities to take America forward.

 

 

Image: Barack Obama in Boca Raton Florida,  October 24, 2012, by Scout Tufankjian for Obama for America

 

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News

‘Sick, Demented, or Deranged’: Trump Issues Harshest Threat Yet Over Voter ID Bill

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March 17, 2026

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As the U.S. Senate prepares to take up President Donald Trump’s SAVE Act, which critics charge is a voter suppression bill, he has issued his harshest threat yet against any lawmaker who votes against it.

The SAVE Act would require documentary proof of citizenship, typically a passport or certified birth certificate, to register to vote. Voting rights groups say it would effectively disenfranchise millions of Americans who do not have the time or funds to obtain the necessary documents. It could make voting difficult for married people who changed their names but not their voter registration records. Some estimates say more than 140 million Americans do not have a valid passport and millions do not have access to a certified copy of their birth certificates.

Trump declared on Tuesday that anyone who votes against the bill is “sick, demented, or deranged.” He threatened that any “no” vote would be the end of any endorsement he might make on their behalf going forward.

If they vote no, “each one of these points, separately, will be used against the user in his/her political campaign for office – A guaranteed loss!”

READ MORE: ‘He Was the Only One’: Trump Mocked for Declaring Iran’s Moves ‘Shocked’ Him

Calling the bill “one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress, and America itself,” Trump wrote: “NO MORE RIGGED ELECTIONS! Voter I.D., Proof of Citizenship, No Rigged Mail-In Voting (We are the only Country in the World that allows this!), No Men in Women’s Sports, No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our Children. 90% to 99% ISSUES ALL!”

Numerous nations around the world allow mail-in voting. Courts have found no evidence that the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost, was “rigged.”

Trump has repeatedly stated that if the SAVE Act is signed into law, Republicans will never lose another race in the next 50 years.

According to Politico, the SAVE Act “is likely doomed thanks to bipartisan opposition and the GOP conference’s desire to protect the filibuster.”

But a Trump Super PAC is sitting on a $300 million war chest, which could be deployed to primary Republicans who oppose the president’s top agenda item.

READ MORE: Kristi Noem at Center of Push for DOJ Perjury Probe: Report

 

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‘He Was the Only One’: Trump Mocked for Declaring Iran’s Moves ‘Shocked’ Him

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March 16, 2026

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President Donald Trump is facing criticism and mockery after admitting he was “shocked” that Iran fought back against Operation Epic Fury.

“Trump just admitted publicly that his administration underestimated the Iranian response to his attack,” The Washington Post’s Josh Rogin reported.

During a meeting of the board governing the Kennedy Center, Trump said, “look what happened. In the last two weeks, they weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Those missiles were set to go after them. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”

Focusing on Trump’s “shocked” remark, some critics blasted the president, once again, for what many have previously said is a Commander-in-Chief who was unprepared to go to war against Iran.

The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser called Trump’s comments a “Remarkable admission.”

READ MORE: ‘Lazy and Unstrategic’: GOP Senator Slams ‘Republican on Republican Violence’

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Justin Amash declared, “We are governed by complete morons.”

Podcaster Clint Russell noted, “Just FYI, this is the EXACT reason our generals have consistently advised against a war with Iran. Even Charlie Kirk had laid this all out on his show a couple years ago. Iran was no threat to America but they were fully capable of destroying the global economy by striking oil facilities and transit throughout the region.”

Robert Manning, a Distinguished Fellow in Global Foresight at the nonpartisan Stimson Center, wrote: “If so, he was the only one surprised. Strategic planners have war games this for 40 years. Hard to believe JCS [Joint Chiefs of Staff] didn’t advise Trump this was likely.”

“I’m pretty confident every war plan US has ever done in last 30 years gaming out this conflict was based on expectation that Iran could in fact [and] would in fact do this,” noted The Nation’s Jeet Heer.

“Every institution built to prevent exactly this outcome existed, was bypassed, and we are now watching the president express shock at conclusions that were already written in the classified assessments he didn’t read,” observed Christine Villaverde, the chairwoman of Anchoring Democracy.

READ MORE: Kristi Noem at Center of Push for DOJ Perjury Probe: Report

 

Image via Reuters 

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‘Lazy and Unstrategic’: GOP Senator Slams ‘Republican on Republican Violence’

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March 16, 2026

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A prominent Republican senator is denouncing his own party while lamenting the lack of an official presidential endorsement in the highly contentious Texas Republican Senate runoff election.

Agreeing that it is a mistake for President Donald Trump to withhold his endorsement of either Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton or U.S. Senator John Cornyn, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) warned, “I think the more time we spend millions of dollars with Republican-on-Republican violence, Democrats are in the marketing department, loving the idea of a competitive runoff.”

“I get tired of Republicans being lazy and unstrategic,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju, appearing to suggest there are other ways for one of the candidates to pull ahead.

“People on my side of the aisle, and people at the far right of the political spectrum, are trying to swing for the fences, and they’re not gonna succeed,” he warned.

READ MORE: Kristi Noem at Center of Push for DOJ Perjury Probe: Report

A runoff election between Cornyn and Paxton will take place on May 26, and the president has yet to endorse either contender.

Reports suggest a Cornyn endorsement is more likely, although Paxton has been a reliable MAGA supporter. Trump has even suggested that whichever candidate does not get his backing should quit the race entirely, clearing the way for the presumptive nominee to battle the Democratic nominee, James Talarico.

“The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, on March 4, “cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW! We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively!”

He vowed to make his endorsement “soon,” but has yet to do so.

Each passing day gives Talarico more time to campaign and build his war chest as the two GOP contenders spend their time and money battling each other.

READ MORE: Gas Prices Near $4 in These Five States

 

Image via Reuters

 

 

 

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