Greetings and Happy New Year!

Since this publication takes a good deal of work and time, I welcome any donations, and I am willing to discuss ad space. I will be happy to advertise your business in the Missile. Please contact me and we’ll discuss it.

I am currently enrolling in the Pennsylvania state medical marijuana program; you can learn about it at https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/programs/Medical%20Marijuana/Pages/Medical%20Marijuana.aspx. For decades, we have been lied to about the effects of cannabis, and all research into its benefits have been repressed; racism, the long-running stain on this country, was behind the ban on marijuana, and the entire “War On Drugs.” Alcohol and tobacco, substances that can kill you, are accepted, so long as they are taxable; states with legalized recreational weed, like Colorado, have raked in millions of dollars in revenue, useful for funding schools and pairing down deficits. A more enlightened administration in Washington may have the federal government take a taste of this.

It happened, like we feared-trump has NOT been convicted by the Republican-controlled Senate. Republican senators have come out and said in effect, yes, the president (if you can call him that!) violated the law, but he should not be impeached, because it wasn’t that bad. This is from the party of Law and Order, allegedly; 

Susan Collins, Maine, epitomizes that idea: “The president of the United states should not be asking a foreign country to investigate a political rival…That was far from a perfect call. “ She said further, “I believe the President has learned from this case,” and she said she would acquit trump, saying, “the President has been impeached, that’s a pretty big lesson. I’m voting to acquit, because I do not believe the behavior alleged reaches the high bar in the Constitution for overturning an election and removing a duly elected President…I believe he will be much more cautious in the future.” https://www.cbsnews.com/video/collins-believes-trumps-alleged-behavior-is-not-impeachable/

And what lesson has he learned? That trump can go after everyone who dares stand up to him in the executive branch, removing Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman from his position at the national Security Council, and Gordon Sondland as Ambassador to the European Union. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/us/politics/alexander-vindman-gordon-sondland-fired.html

At the National Prayer Breakfast-supposedly a politics-free setting for people of faith-trump turned it into a “hooray for me” rally, attacking his opponents who “use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.” https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/06/donald-trump-lashes-out-impeachment-national-prayer-breakfast-111379 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/06/trump-uses-national-prayer-breakfast-blast-impeachment-supporters/4676811002/ This is coming from trump, who has a faithful supporter in Paula White, a notorious religious charlatan in Florida.

There we have it-trump is continuing his damage to the nation, continuing with his mishandling of the current corona virus entering this country; instead of organizing a team of public health experts, trump has placed in charge-wait for it-Mike Pence, his Vice-President, a man who wins a gold medal for sycophancy, and wo has a track record of rejecting scientific research about climate change, smoking, and anti-gay “conversion therapy.”  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-pence-coronavirus_n_5e574261c5b66622ed768d31

As Governor of Indiana, Pence faced an epidemic of HIV, along with opioids, in rural Scott County; needle-exchange programs, proven effective, would have controlled the problem, as was the opinion of doctors and local officials involved. But Pence’s solution was to “pray” on the situation. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mike-pence-coronavirus-hiv-epidemic-indiana-959227/ Pence’s sanctimonious indifference to people who he didn’t think of as “decent” people-the kind of people Jesus reached out to-made such people expendable.

Pence is notorious for denying scientific data-especially when it affects corporations what donate to candidates, and religious extremists, who have become the foot-soldiers in Republican campaigns. He once wrote, “Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill.” He once told Wolf Blitzer of CNN that “condoms are a very, very poor protection against sexually transmitted disease,” and that “”no sex” is the only real safe sex. Global warming, created by consuming fossil fuels, was a “myth” designed to “raise taxes and grow centralized governmental power.” He advocated federal funds to be directed towards gay-to-straight “conversion therapy,” which is a proven fraud. https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pence-coronavirus-science-hiv-aids-smoking-evolution-climate-change-1489458

As a nation, we deserve better than this. We must mount a strong resistance against trump and everything he stands for-racism, sexism, willful ignorance of scientific knowledge, hatred of foreigners. The Republican Party, once the nursery of great statesmen, has finally, after its longtime embrace of racial animosity as an organizing tool, deteriorated into the trump cult, and it must be voted out root and branch. The Democratic Party, instead of going along with republicans to curry their favor, must be a true people’s party, representing working and low-income people’s interests. Our voting on every election will show the political class we are out there, we matter, and we will assert our rights. In Pennsylvania, the date for submitting voter registration forms is April 13, and the date of the Pennsylvania primary is April 28.

Plus-the Census is coming up. The Census is the way the government sees where the population is, which areas of the country need funding for schools, transportation, housing, etc. I beseech you to take part in the Census; please check the website, www.census2020.gov, to see how you can take part.

Bye!