VOTE DEMOCRAT - Thank You John Fetterman

October 29th, 2022

My Dear America:

This week a Debate featuring Democrat John Fetterman and Republican, Mehmet Oz occurred in Pennsylvania.  Both of these individuals were running for the United States Senate from Pennsylvania.

I did not watch the Debate on Television because I was driving during the time of the debate.  I did get a chance later on to watch some snippets of the Debate on MSNBC.  While I was driving I found a Scranton Public Broadcasting Station that was carrying the debate live and although the reception was problematic I did hear much of the debate on my car radio.

I have discussed my support for John Fetterman in Previous Blog Posts and Podcast Episodes.  I have been aware of John Fetterman and his excellent reputation in Pennsylvania for a long time.   He is a man who got involved in Politics in order to improve the town of Braddock, Pennsylvania after moving there to teach GED Classes for Americorps.  

Republicans have been trying to disparage Fetterman's reputation by stating that he lived off his wealthy parents for a long time.  That may be true because Fetterman has been doing good work in Pennsylvania for a long time but unlike Oz, Fetterman was not getting rich in the process.  So if Fetterman's parents were well off enough to help him out while he was working to improve Pennsylvania Society, Good for them.  The last time I looked, parents helping out their children was not against the law.   Clearly Fetterman's parents were supportive and proud of their son's accomplishments, as well they should have been.

In what I could hear in the debate on the radio and what I saw later on TV was that Doctor Oz, who was certainly as a physician familiar enough with the fact that a man who had a stroke just a few months months before the debate should not be having a debate.  But Oz was relentlessly aggressive in pushing the Democratic Candidate to join Oz on the debate stage.  In addition, Oz was also relentlessly aggressive toward Fetterman on the debate stage.  

So it was not unexpected to see Doctor Oz (Or Mr. OZ as he was addressed by one of the debate questioners) do well on the debate stage.    Oz was a longtime fixture on daytime Television and certainly knows how to operate in front of a Television Camera.

Despite the obvious advantage that Oz had during the debate I still feel that Fetterman, despite his disadvantages in the debate format, did a good job in letting Oz have it when he got a chance to respond to the Oz onslaught.  

Also what seemed obvious to me was the fact that time after time Oz did not answer the question that was asked by the debate moderators but skillfully turned the topic around to what he was more willing to discuss on the debate stage.  

On the other hand when Fetterman was asked a question in the debate he did his best to give an honest answer to the question asked in all cases.

In other words John Fetterman showed himself to be honest and forthright and Doctor Oz turned out to be an Artful Dodger skilled in keeping his Extreme Political Opinions under wraps.

Oz screwed up once very badly, however, and in answer to a question about his views on Roe Versus Wade.  Oz stated that he wanted decisions about what happens to a woman's body to be made by a Woman, her Doctor and "Local Political Leaders".

That accidental nugget of truth was turned into a Fetterman ad very quickly.

I have been a long time supporter of John Fetterman in Pennsylvania.  I voted for him when he ran for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania and won.   I had already sent in my Mail In Ballot before the debate.  I did not hear or see anything in that debate that would have changed my mind about voting for John Fetterman.

Although Fetterman's debate performance might have been problematic there is no doubt in my mind about who I think will make a better Senator for Pennsylvania.  

John Fetterman supports codifying Roe Versus Wade into Law and Mehmet Oz is OK with a National ban on Abortion.

Although OZ might have changed his opinion recently he initially backed Donald Trump's false claims that his 2020 Election Victory was stolen from him.  That was Bullshit, plain and simple.  The only individuals actually trying to steal an election were Donald Trump and his MAGA Supporters.   

The next Elected United States Senator from Pennsylvania might be the person who holds the key to who determines whether or not Democracy Continues in the United States.  

I am thrilled to see that Joe Biden and Barack Obama are both strongly in John Fetterman's corner in this upcoming election.  Both have issued statements and may be coming to Pennsylvania to support Fetterman for Senator and Josh Shapiro for Governor.  

The race for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania is very close right now and it is extremely important that all Pennsylvania Democrats vote in this year's midterm election.

The choice in this race is very clear to me.  Doctor Oz is an opportunist who snuck across the state line into Pennsylvania from New Jersey where he really lived before this race to take advantage of the fact that Republican Senator Pat Toomey was retiring  from the Senate.  

Full Disclosure is that I was a longtime fan of the Doctor Oz Television Program.  His show topics certainly indicated to me that Doctor Oz was probably a Liberal Democrat.  

I was incredibly surprised and extremely disappointed to find out that instead of being a liberal Democrat that Doctor Oz was in fact a MAGA Republican.

In my opinion, Oz was either an actual Liberal Democrat or was pretending to be one.  In any case Oz has proved to be a complete phony like JD Vance and Kerri Lake, who changed their entire philosophy and personality in order to kiss Donald Trump's ass and gain the support of his MAGA Followers.

Anyone who genuinely cares about Democracy needs to recognize that the November Election in 2022 could spell the end of Democracy in America.  Wherever you live in the United States you need to recognize that what is in store for all of us in 2023 if the Republicans take over either the House or Senate is the end of an incredible period of Democratic Progress.

If you are someone who has called yourself a Republican but loves Democracy please recognize that your Party has turned into an Authoritarian Qanon influenced American Taliban like Organization that is no longer anything like the Republican Party of the past.

Get out while you can and please bring your vote with you.

Wherever you are - VOTE DEMOCRAT - while you still have the opportunity to vote at all in America.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

The Final Days Of The January Sixth Committee Hearings And Possibly The Final Days Of American Democracy

 Saturday October 15th, 2022

My Dear America:

Thursday was billed as The Last Hearing of The January 6th Committee but at the end of the Very Comprehensive and Disturbing Hearing the Committee voted to Subpoena Donald Trump to testify to the Committee.  Of Course Donald Trump is making statements which indicate that he is dying to testify to the Committee but we have been down this road many times before and it is doubtful, at best, that he will ever show his face before the House Committee.  

There is something sad about the end of the January Sixth Committee Hearings.  The Hearings were Substantial and Riveting to those of us who watched them.  Unfortunately the people who needed to watch these Hearings avoided them like the plague. The Hearings were clearly highly organized and there was very little in the way of showboating by the members of the Committee.  Everyone on the Committee got their chance to present different portions of the Television Presentation and they all did a good job in my opinion.

I thought Bennie Thompson did an excellent job of helming the Committee and was skillful in allowing Moderate and Truthful Republican members of the Committee, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger to shine brightly at the Hearings.  Unfortunately for Cheney and Kinzinger, though, their sterling performances on this historical House of Representatives Committee would mark the end of their careers in The House of Representatives.  Kinzinger voluntarily gave up his House seat in anticipation of the backlash he was going to be receiving from his state Republican Leaders. Although Liz Cheney had been one of the most significant vote getters that Wyoming had  seen for years, the Wyoming Republican Party (Still Obviously Trumpified) tried their best to drive Liz out of the party.  She refused to leave on her own and ran again for her House seat but she lost in a humiliating landslide defeat to a former Cheney Ally and Donald Trump Critic who had changed sides and accepted a Trump Endorsement in the Republican Primary Election for Cheney's House Seat.   

As usual, Thursday's Scheduled January Sixth Hearing was Incredibly Significant and Powerful.  It was different from previous Committee Hearings in that it featured no individuals outside of the Committee Members testifying to what they had learned about what had happened on, before and after January Sixth, 2021. They also featured some truly stunning videos of House and Senate Leaders, especially Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, shot by Nancy's Filmmaker Daughter, Alexandra, who happened to be filming at the Capitol on January Sixth of 2021.  Both Pelosi and Schumer appeared to be very angry about the invasion of the Capitol but still very much in control of themselves and unafraid as they tried their best to seek help in controlling the dangerous insurrection from the Mayor of D.C., the Governors of Maryland and Virginia, as well as the Justice Department and the Defense Department because they were getting no help at all from President Trump who was reportedly enjoying the Televised Shit Show on Fox News all afternoon. Trump resisted pleas, however, from Fox News Personalities, as well as everyone in the White House to help put an end to the violence that he had instigated and was enjoying watching.  

It was not until after 4:00 in the afternoon that Trump finally consented to make a video asking the Lynch Mob to leave the Capitol and go home. Despite the fact that Trump's Goon Squad had broken windows, trashed almost every office in the Capitol, as well as shit on the floor of the building Trump's plea for them to leave seemed effective and the Trump Mob began to leave the Capitol and allow the Capitol to be cleared of invaders.  In his plea for the rioters to leave the Capitol, however, Trump couldn't resist telling the insurrectionists how much he loved them and how "Special" they were and, of course, repeating his lie that the Election had been stolen from him.

Things did get back to normal enough by 8:00 PM so that Pence, Pelosi and Schumer, along with the House and Senate were able to complete the Certification of Joe Biden's Election to the Presidency and prepare the way for Biden's Inauguration on the 20th of January.

My wife and I looked forward to watching the Certification of the 2020 Election on January Sixth, 2021 on Television.  After five years of watching Donald Trump's Reckless, Dimwitted and Dangerous behavior every day for over four years while he was in the White House and putting up with his constant whining about having the election stolen from him since November of 2020 we were ready to sit down and enjoy what we anticipated would be some minor objections to the Certification by some Republicans but in the end would be a rather quick and easy Certification of the 2020 Election of Joe Biden to the Presidency.

It all began as expected.  The House and Senate got together and the proceedings began smoothly enough.

But shortly after the Certification had begun MSNBC began to show what was happening outside the Capitol.  Trump had finished his speech and told the crowd at the Ellipse to walk down to the Capitol.

"I'll be there with you," he told the crowd, apparently intending to accompany them but luckily for everyone involved, the Secret Service did not drive him down to the Capitol.

If they did most certainly what was already an out of control situation would have been turned into a bloodbath of epic proportions.

As my wife and I watched what happened in D.C. on MSNBC It was obviously a terrible situation.  We could se that it was bad but until the January Sixth Committee presented their testimony over 10 separate Televised Sessions featuring videotaped testimony of mainly Republicans we really had no idea how bad it really was.

January Sixth of 2020 was a Dark Stain on American History.  That's for sure.  But we now know thanks to the January Sixth Committee just how much worse it could have been.  Trump and his Acolytes such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers were seriously ready to kill people.  Certainly Mike Pence was a target and so were Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.  These Trump Supporters may have seemed like fools but they were fools with guns and ammunition and although some of them may be going to jail there were thousands of others gathered in D.C. on January Sixth who are still on the loose and are still Armed and Dangerous. Some of them are running for office in 2022, like Doug Mastroiano, who is running for Governor in Pennsylvania.

Thanks to the January Sixth Committee we also know that contrary to what we have been told previously, The FBI and The Secret Service were warned ahead of time about what was planned and due to individuals in both of those agencies sympathetic to Trump and his followers, nothing was done to prevent the Capitol Invasion and some members of those agencies were thought to be participants in the Capitol Riot on January Sixth.

I would certainly be overjoyed if politics had improved in our country since January Sixth of 2021.  I am not overjoyed, however.  I am instead deeply concerned about the fact that Election Denial has become almost a Republican Party Principle for not only MAGA Republicans but for Many Mainstream Republicans, as well.   

In fact, these days seem to me like some of the darkest days ever for the Democratic Party in America.  Republicans have completely lost their minds and some of them are even starting to back Fox News Host, Tucker Carlson, in his Unhinged and Treasonous backing of Russia against Ukraine.  Russia had no right to invade Ukraine.  Carlson knows that.  Everybody knows that.

All over the U.S. Election deniers are possibly set to win elections and set the stage for them to do in 2024 what they were not able to pull off in 2020, which is to throw the next Presidential Election to Donald Trump or one of his fellow Republican "Conservatives".  Jesus, what is Conservative about what these Republicans have done and continue to do. 

To be honest, our only hope at this point is for Democrats to rise up and vote for Democratic Candidates in such large numbers that those people seeking to destroy our Democracy are defeated not in a war with guns but in a war of votes.  

Lets hope that happens.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

Florida Dreams, Memories And Nightmares

 Tuesday, October 11th, 2022

My Dear America:

It has been difficult to watch CNN and MSNBC recently and see the Nightmare Devastation that has taken place in what has normally been one of America's most beautiful states, The Magnificent State of Florida.  Like many Americans I have had times in my life that I dreamed of visiting Florida and at times even Living in Florida.

My first recognition of where Florida was and what Florida was happened a very long time ago when I was in Grade School and my Teacher, who was acquainted with a Teacher in Fort Myers Florida, helped to set up a situation whereby students in my Elementary School in Scranton, Pennsylvania became Pen Pals with students in a Fort Myers, Florida Grade school.  

I did send a couple of rather bland letters to a girl in Fort Myers and got a couple of bland letters back from my young lady Pen Pal.  I remember thinking when I got a picture of the young lady enclosed in one of her letters that she (Unfortunately I don't remember her name) was pretty and I had visions of one day traveling to Florida to meet her.  Sadly, that never happened and although we wrote to each other for awhile, at some point the letters stopped and we lost contact.

I remember back when I was about 10 or 11 actually traveling to Miami, Florida with my family.  We drove all the way from Pennsylvania to Florida and back again in a car that was not very reliable and gave my Dad problems a couple of times on the way to the Sunshine state and on the road back home.  On those occasions that our car broke down my mother was quick to roll up the car windows even though it was hot as hell in the summertime in those southern states because she didn't want my sister and I to be exposed to the Extremely Salty Language that my Dad always used on those occasions when dealing with our car breaking down.  Normally my dad almost never cursed in front of his kids but on the road to and from Florida when the car stopped the old man became like Lenny Bruce, except not funny like Lenny Bruce, just pissed off.

Despite our car problems we did finally make it to Miami and someone was passing out flyers on the street to passing cars advertising some unbelievably low discount rates for rooms at the Fontainebleau Hotel. When we finally arrived at the Hotel, I couldn't believe my eyes,  The place was fabulous.  It was located right on the beach and it had a pool, as well.  We moved in and heard my Dad say over and over during the time we were there:

"Man, This is Livin.  This is really Livin."

He was right too.  It really was Living it up in this incredibly beautiful hotel.

There were two things that stick out in my mind about the Fontainebleau Hotel.

After we had moved into our room I had walked down the hall to get some ice when I heard a familiar tune. When we traveled to Miami it was in the early fifties and I had spent a good deal of time in my life listening to the radio.  We didn't have a television and almost no one that we knew had one.  My favorite radio program was "The Lone Ranger".  While I was on my mission to get ice I heard the theme song (The William Tell overture)  from the Lone Ranger coming out of a room with an open door.  I found myself walking over to the door and looking into the room.  There was no one in the room but I could see something incredible.  On what I would come to find out was a Television Screen I could see for the first time My Favorite Hero, "The Lone Ranger" on a White Horse riding across the screen.  I couldn't believe it.  It was too much.  I walked into the room and proceeded to watch "The Lone Ranger" on Television for the First Time and The Best Time in my life.  Just around the end of the program I heard one of my parents calling out for me in the hall and I raced out to find both of my parents looking for me and obviously freaked out that I never made it back to the room with the ice.  They forgave me pretty quickly though when they found out what had happened and later on we watched some television together as a family in this room where the TV was available to hotel guests.  

The other thing I remember about the Fontainebleau was when we all came down to the pool and went swimming.  My sister, who was about five or six at the time could swim a little but was not yet the great swimmer that she would become in the future.  She had a little plastic tube that looked like a fish that she enjoyed swimming with.  There was an opening in the back of the little tube which made it easy for her to wrap around her.  She and I were in the water swimming around when she slipped out of the tube and began to sink.  I saw what happened and grabbed her quickly and after that incident I kept a close eye on her.

Later in their life my parents became Florida Snowbirds.  After visiting in Florida with a family that they had met on a trip to Ireland they bought a trailer near Fort Pierce and traveled to Florida every Winter leaving PA in October or November and returning in the Spring for several years.  I remember one year when my father was so sick that we were afraid he was going to die and worried that he wouldn't survive the trip to Florida that year.  He wanted to travel to Florida, though even though he looked awful when he left for the Sunshine state.  When he left I was afraid that this might be the last time I saw him.  My Dad, who was in his eighties at the time of this trip came back from Florida the next Spring looking and feeling like a million bucks.  It was obviously one more Florida Miracle.  

I visited Disney World on Two occasions.  Once with my two older children and once with my two youngest.  We all had good times at Disney World.  It is probably impossible to have a bad time at Disney world.  When I took my two oldest kids to Disney World we also visited Daytona Beach and ended up in the water with a shark just weeks after having seen "Jaws." The three of us were way out in the water when I looked back towards shore and realized that no one else was in the water except us.  A Lifeguard was jumping up and down on his lifeguard stand pointing in the direction of the shark.  I grabbed my kids and we got the hell out of the water very quickly.

When I was at Disney World with my younger kids one of my daughters had been invited to dance with her dance class at one of the Disney Stages.  At one point I got separated from my wife and kids but we got together later.  When we were scheduled to leave Disney World the bus pulled out without us and luckily we found a kindhearted young lady who worked at Disney World who got us to the airport in time because Dance Teacher "Miss Sharon" could have cared less that we might have been stranded in Disney World.  Suffice it to say that there were no more dance classes with "Miss Sharon"

My wife and I before we had our kids visited Florida one year when my wife's parents and my parents were living in different areas of Florida at the same time.  We flew into Fort Lauderdale and visited with my In Laws in a Condo by the Beach.  We also drove up to Fort Pierce where my Parents were staying.  We had a great time with our parents and since it was January we flew out of PA in an ice storm and although we had perfect weather every day we were in Florida we returned from Florida to find a snow storm in PA.  It made us very appreciative of having a weeks worth of beautiful weather interrupting our terrible Pennsylvania weather.

Several years ago my wife and I found out about "The Villages" in Florida and thought seriously about moving there.  There were several reasons that we didn't move to the villages but when I ended up seeing an alligator running across a golf course at the Villages on You Tube that was the end of that dream for me. 

I have a soft spot in my heart for Florida and I treasure my memories and dreams of Florida but after watching what has happened during Hurricane Season nearly every year I have come to terms with the fact that while Pennsylvania may have its problems it is, overall, a beautiful state with many wonderful people and in the end I am happy to be here and look forward to many more years of happiness in my home state.

I live in hope that my fellow Pennsylvanians will reject The Nazi and the Carpetbagger who are running for Governor and Senator in November of 2022.  I really don't want to live in a state in which our Governor is more extreme than Florida Governor DeSantis.  I also don't want to live in a state where an Ex President who wants to be a future dictator lives.

At this terrible time in Florida I wish the residents well.  You are, for the most part, wonderful people who deserve better than what you got from Hurricane Ian.  You also deserve better than Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump.

God bless us all.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher