Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Special elections last night (#3316)

     There is some good news here. Last night we democrats picked up 2 of the 3 republican held seats previous to the election. All 3 seats were vacated with republicans having held them so there was no opportunity for republicans to pick up any additional seats only maintaining them. Well they could not maintain 2 of the 3. They did save their Kentucky state seat but by a margin far less large than trump won the district last November 8th 2016. So although we democrats failed to pick up the Kentucky seat we were far more competitive than the last election. A moral victory in one important way, it shows that our blue wave is still active and growing.
     In the other 2 special elections we democrats were able to wrest control of both of them from republicans. In one, the Connecticut House seat, the republicans had held that particular seat for 40 years before last night's democratic victory. Another amazing indication that the democratic blue wave is hitting in some very unlikely places, places that republicans have taken for granted for far too long. In the other race in New Hampshire, that state house seat was won by the democrat by 7 percentage points. This very same district went for trump by 12 percentage points just last November 2016. So a 19 point blue wave swing in this district toward democrats was far and away enough to move this seat to democratic control.
     So picking up 2 seats and doing much better competitively in the 3rd race is once again the evidence we needed to prove that a blue wave is coming and it is relentlessly moving toward the general election on November 6th, 2018. As we continue to see democratic pickups along the way in the nearly weekly special elections that are to follow the clarity of a backlash to trump and republicans in general is well under way. The republican party is already paying for their anti working middle poor class policies and we will not be done making them pay until they have nothing relevant left to offer. Such is the way with the dishonest and uncaring, they are surely consigned to irrelevance as the rest of us pick up their mess and turn it back into a value.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Special elections today (#3315)

     There are 3 special elections today in Kentucky, New Hampshire and Connecticut. All 3 are for state house seats so the voting will be limited to just those individual districts within each state. But just as importantly as the outcomes is the turnout. We democrats have been experiencing greater than normal turnout and we need to see that trend continue if we are to pull off the upsets we have been getting. It is a fact of life that the republican led government and trump in particular have made the vast majority of us voters angry and motivated to send a backlash blue wave at them. These special elections are the perfect storm for us to do just that. Even in the face of low odds for victory we are showing that the odds are not the only way to gauge an outcome.
     Our motivation to vote has been like nothing in the past that we democrats have had to inspire us to action. The midterm election cycle has traditionally been a a lesser than event for most of it's history but the few times it has been inflated it is because a provoking has taken place and the anger to action that came after the provoking was impressive. We have such an event occuring now as we democrats have been roused from our slumber as if we had all been personally attacked. If one would consider the events of the past year perpetrated by republicans on our working middle poor class one would say that there is a direct correlation to all of us having been attacked.
     So as we build up to the midterm election on November 6th 2018, we have an opportunity to sharpen our focus by trying to win every special election going forward. We can do this for the most part if we get our collective acts together and exercise our right and I say our duty to vote. Our turnout will determine whether we win these special elections going forward and if I had to say one way or the other I would say that our turnout will come about and we will continue to shock the political world. We democrats need to win the hearts and minds of we voters by standing up to the trumps and their republican donors and fight tooth and nail for our right to live in a democracy not a nation led by the jackals of the republican party who only see profit where people stand.

Monday, February 26, 2018

Women will never gain equality with republicans in control (#3314)

     For one thing they have never introduced legislation to make women equal to men where the sense of it is obvious. So by omission they show they don't care about women having equal rights. They also believe the christian bible that has within it the woman's subservient role. This they cling to like it is of the highest value. Although our democracy is one built on the ideal of equality, republicans have no interest in prioritizing democracy over their form of christianity. The very fact that republicans have long sought to make illegal the reproductive choices that women may choose and the fact that republican men spend countless dollars and hours justifying rape and the illogical sanctity of the act when a fetus is involved should further dispel any notion that the republican party views women as equal than men.
     Why is it that republican men feel so threatened by the idea of a woman having the same legal rights as they do? I suppose it is the fear that these women, who are not zealous power seekers and warmakers as a priority as these republican men, would stifle the power and ambition these republicans currently exercise. The competition for the free thoughts of humans would expand and that is not a strategy that republicans can manipulate. The republican party works best when it is in the dark and fewer people are allowed to compete with them. So it isn't just speculation that women never seem to fare well under republican rule it is just the facts of life.
     Well the time and circumstances of the current republican rule is precarious. Not only have they legislated against the will of most Americans but they have allowed for brutal and hateful, rhetoric and acts to initiate. Their current support for the gun industry while children are being massacred in schools proves the point. The republican party had already had and has women marching by the millions against them and now the burgeoning child movement is forming against them. There were already a legion of adults like me who have fought tooth and nail against republicans for the decades of damage they have done but now the combination of all of us is going to be a movement much like the metaphorical Tsunami wave that is going to engulf them come all the elections going forward. Then and only then when the republicans have been swept from office will women have the backing in order to correct the injury of not having equal rights with us men!

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me! (#3313)

     The republican party had a chance many decades ago to right the wrongs of nixon but they choose instead to follow the ruthless path nixon and his cronies established. I tried to give tricky dick a chance but he just kept blowing it in order to favor stealing power and lying his ass off. So it was then that I made my mind up that the republican party had turned from an alternative party that I disagreed with to a divisive party that only wanted to be in charge so that they could force us to accept their survival of the fittest anti democracy agenda. They had their one chance to bring me back into at least giving them some due consideration but they choose not to go that route. So Instead of me stubbornly trying to give them the benefit of the doubt I chose the correct path of never believing anything they said because they only had one vision for our future and it didn't include those of us in the working middle poor class.
     I didn't give them a chance to fool me twice but I have seen that they would have if I had. Not only that they would have tried to fool me a million times because their agenda to destroy our American society that promotes equality, fairness and justice has not changed. Now I sit back these many decades later and see the same old tricks being used that they used when I was growing up. They take what is the truth and distort it. They take what is the truth and trumpet it as a lie. They take the truth and in every way possible bend it to make it appear that they are only ones capable of being our leaders. Each of us has to decide how much we will take before we call bullshit on them. Mine was back when I was a teenager, when did or when will you do the same?
     What is encouraging at this particular time in our history is the galvanization of our teenagers who have had enough of republicans and their lack of action to stop the massacres that are happening in our schools, nightclubs/concerts, houses of worship and playgrounds. it is as if they have decided much like I did that the future isn't going to change unless they stop listening to republicans spin the truth of things into falsehoods and start taking control of their narrative before the republicans do. I am getting on in age since my youth so the although the fire burns deep within me to fight against the republican agenda I know that a new generation of warriors is going to be needed to fill the disinterested void that has been allowed to form since those many generations ago. I have more hope now that the time for change from republican rule is about to happen and it cannot come a second sooner!

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Rebuilding American society (#3312)

     The first thing that must happen in order to rebuild our American society is for the republican party to be voted out of majority rule. In fact they must be voted out in such a way that they are mostly irrelevant to our political discourse. Once we have that and in their place liberal progressive democrats we can then have the real debate in our nation on all policies going forward without being influenced or decided by large corporations or wealthy individuals. One person one vote is an ideal that embraces the true concept of democracy as well as one person one vote. We all have something to say that is important for all of us to hear even if it isn't what we want to hear. When we have the starting point on facts and truths then we can begin to solve the problems all of us face.
     The ridiculousness and harmful atmosphere that republicans have maintained in order to keep power from all of we the people needs to end now. Yet with republicans in control right now it won't start to happen until the next federal election on November 6th. Then we can begin to oust the republican party from any and all positions where possible. The mood of our nation demands it and in case you have forgotten the people of our nation are the reason for any and all power given to politicians, not the other way around. Politicians work for us and they are not our mouthpieces, they are the ears that hear what we want them to do. So unless they can figure that out they are less than worthless and more dangerous to our democracy and as a matter of our survival need to be removed.
     The physical rebuilding and the mental rebuilding is a hand in hand operation. Our nation needs to be rebuilt in a way that captures our imaginations as well as our continuing innovation. Like we humans, our imaginations are evolving so building a 21st century nation that is adaptable to a 22nd century that is coming will take a vision that all of us need to have input on. We can do this if we can just put our minds to it. As other nations have taken hold of the handle of world leadership during our current time of confusion, they also are moving forward into a more enlightened place. Which with us, when we are done with republican rule, can become an even greater force for the best of what our planet can be proud to exhibit.

Friday, February 23, 2018

It is the little things that tell us about the big things (#3311)

     Show me how you behave and I will know how you think. It is that simple. For some it is an honorably principled based life, with others a total disconnect and yet with others it is cold calculation but why ever the cause the effect of your behavior tells me all. Because it is the little things about the behavior that cannot be duplicated nor masked. Maybe it is my instinct or maybe it is just having been surrounded by exceptional people but I can discern when the behavior of one is in tune with who they are and when they are just putting on a show. There is a naturalness about the behavior that cannot be manipulated. The ease of being with the little inflections that always accompany an honest approach are incapable of being strategically reproduced.
     This is the fine tuning of knowing when the dazzling with brilliance or the baffling with bullshit is occurring. But with this current crop of republican politicians the simplicity of seeing the hypocrisy and the out and out lying is not a fine tuned objective, rather it is blatant and obvious for all to either ignore or finally accept. This is how the blue wave is being built; on the back of the republican lies and deceit. We democrats are not perfect but we have always been, for the most part, the party of the working middle poor class. We have not betrayed our roots of liberty, security and patriotism. It is the republican party that has done that! They have taken what may have been good at times about how they saw America and turned it into a mockery. Even more so by betraying the principles that established our great union.
     So show me how you behave and I will tell you what you think. Again it isn't hard when we have the goodness and correctness of compassion and curiosity to compare to it. Our democratic agenda seeks to establish a world where all can have a say in how they are governed. Our democratic party wants a world where the Earth is cherished as much as our children. Our democratic party wants for all humans an equality, fairness and justice that has no advantage and or privilege attached to it. Our democratic party believes that though we are all equal some have more initiative and therefore merit a bit more than those who don't; yet no one should be destitute nor impoverished as a rule. We democrats respect the idea that knowledge is not limited and therefore must constantly be upgraded and comprehensively grown. Remember, it is in the little things that we know what the big things will be.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

The republican party defends the shooters, not the victims! (#3310)

     The republican party can say all it wants about how democrats are to blame for everything under the sun but when you get right down to the heart of the matter it is republicans who are defending those who harm. Take the gun control debate for instance. The republican party wants to defend the right of the shooter to have assault weapons with little to no regulation. Even when the shooter has mental health problems. Democrats on the other hand want to stop the sale of assault weapons and regulate mental health issues as to whom can own a weapon. Do you see the clear difference here? The republican party wants the wild wild west days to return while we democrats want a society that honors responsible gun ownership while preventing irresponsible actors from having deadly weapons.
     Every time you see a republican politician offer thoughts and prayers for victims it is their way of not legislating to protect those victims and future victims from the deranged and determined mass murderers. For the life of me is it that important to protect the unstable among us so that they can take the lives of innocents just so the NRA has more clients to sell weapons too? I cannot fathom the reasoning behind the republican stance, yet there is an economical one. It is mostly republicans that the NRA donates money toward election campaigns. A sort of quid pro quo or you scratch my back I'll scratch yours arrangement. So we now know what price republicans put on the heads of children in order to maintain their political offices. It is most egregious and disgusting that the republican party treats our children as less than a handful of money.
     When the voting time comes in every special election going forward and on into the future, especially November 6th, we must make it known to republicans that there is no price we put above our children. Never should an organization that produces weapons that kill our people be allowed to dictate the terms of our lives. Not only should the NRA be relegated to the dustbin of history so should it's enablers, the republican party.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Are we done being lied to and led by fools yet? (#3309)

     The republican party has shown itself and it is not what we want in our lives but are we able to send them packing? If there is any indication that we may be at that point it is the special elections that are being held across our nation over the last many months. With the increase in democrats voting and the upsets with democrats taking previously held republican seats it seems we may have finally hit that point. Elections are the true test of whether we are finally done with republicans. The general election coming up in November is the final test but in the meantime we are getting encouraging signs from the special elections, many of them held in traditionally republican strongholds.
     That previous republican voters are now either voting with democrats or not voting at all is the tell. It isn't just us democrats, independents and dissatisfied republicans that are finding the republican party incapable of leading we the people. The republican party is great at leading the wealthy but the huge amount of us who are not wealthy are being ignored. So as the discontent with republican leadership continues to mount the greater the odds are that the special elections will continue to show democratic wins over what used to be safe republican seats. The building of a wave that has been going on since just after the election of trump is now undeniable, yet republican party officials are still slow to admit it.
     Instead of acknowledging the coming blue wave election republican party officials are scrambling to offer excuses so as not to admit that their agenda is only good for the wealthy. They are caught between admitting the truth that they are stealing the future from the working middle poor class or keep finding excuses for the special election losses that blame other factors. So far they are still finding excuses which to me is fine in that their excuses are false and readily rebutted as well as them still being in denial this late into the coming spring will leave them with little room to maneuver out of the corner they have painted themselves into when the general election comes around. Either way they go from here on out is a bad path for them and for the rest of us it is the reckoning they deserve and the brighter future the rest of us have been waiting for since November 2016.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Protecting our environment (#3308)

     The Earth is our home and as such needs our care and nurture. Now I know that our human industrial revolution and unfettered capitalism has changed the dynamic from our previous logical understanding of what care and nurture mean to one where gambling our future away is now seen as necessary. However one wants to pretzel the logic, it remains a threat to our planetary habitat. Wealth acquisition has superseded intelligent design to the point of being a threat to all species on this planet. Where is the line that cannot be crossed when it comes to us committing planetary suicide? It appears with the republican party in control there will not be a line that can be readily implemented.
    So here we are as Americans giving the evidence of America now being the only nation on the planet that is now not a signatory to the Paris Peace accord. Yes, once the greatest democracy on our planet and we are now under republican rule, the only non signatory to the Paris Peace Accord. I had to type that twice just so I could grasp the alternative universe concept of it. The trumps of the republican clan now are pushing for more dirty energy to be produced over any further advancement of clean energy. There can be only one reason for this as the old wealth in America still holds the reins of dirty energy as their profit base. So it is for greed that dirty energy is being restored as the main catalyst for energy consumption.
     Logic dictates that to have any hope for our environment being restored to a species nurturing one we must cut the head of the snake off that is corrupting our survival. That means that the republican party has to be severed from our politics here in America so that we can reverse the trumps push to annihilate us later for a big payday now. We have that ability to accomplish just that given our democracy is, though downgraded, still functional enough to change the political dynamic with the coming elections in 2018 and 2020. It will take all that we have to make it so but it will be done if we remember that our planet Earth is our only home. Our only home is not for sale to the highest bidding capitalists and never should be!

Monday, February 19, 2018

The barbarians are inside the gate (#3307)

     The republican party is now in control of our government as their brutal tactics have paid off for them. They have coordinated their rise to power with the worst of our society in order to lock down power in Washington. They strong armed their way through their adversaries and lied and cheated to get their needed advantage. Now that they are in power it will take a measure of skill to remove them. I don't think becoming like republicans is the answer but getting tougher with them is absolutely required. Mobilizing our democratic party is now more essential than ever. We have seen positive steps toward that mobilization with some very surprising special election upset victories and may yet see another this March in a red district in Pennsylvania.
     That Pennsylvania race may be a bridge too far for we democrats to tear away from a solid republican voting district but as we taper our candidates to fit the needs of their individual constituents with more nuance than stubborn political identity we may have just hit upon the strategy we need to pull off upset after upset across the width and breadth of our nation. Protecting the core of our party is essential but as we get out to the fringe of our democratic identity we must be able to adapt to the needs and capabilities of our electorate. It is there for us to take if we can get past the idea that the good is the enemy of the great. There are many places in our nation where the great of a liberal/progressive identity may flourish but elsewhere the good of our identity will suffice nicely during this overhaul of republican control.
     The overview of what we are trying to do must never be lost to trying too hard to be perfect. We must take what is given to us at this time so that over time we may bring around the evolution of our democratic vision as a whole. We begin with small steps toward our goal and then keep moving forward to it. The strategy is to win the House and Senate while retaking local control of many of our state house offices. We do that by being open to a wide variety of democratic party candidates who fit the needs of their constituents.Some may be more in line with our overall democratic agenda while others may be less in line given the nature and habits of their constituents. Either way we are all trying to remake our society into one where the people who live in our nation and bother to vote are the ones whose dreams and wishes are being addressed.

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Enough with no gun regulations republicans! (#3306)

     That republicans are against common sense gun regulation when we should, by all rights, have gun bans is telling. What good is a semi-automatic weapon capable of delivering hundreds of rounds in minutes in a society that is advanced and progressive? What good is there to come of it? The old argument that the government is going to overthrow us if we all aren't armed to the teeth is also telling when we refuse to constrain government in ways that wouldn't allow for an overthrow. We are creating an excuse to keep high grade weaponry among our civilian population by creating a reason for it. This is how the republican (il)logic works. Instead we should be making our military and police services less powerful and able to overthrow a constitutionally elected government. Then we can start to diminish civilian weaponry aimed at a more militant purpose.
     It is not difficult to see that the republican mindset of children dying from right wing fanaticism armed to the teeth is starting to wear on them especially since it is their right wing fanaticism that is being fed by their right wing leaders. But wearing on them is still not enough to change their attitudes toward loving their guns more than they would love other people's children. If you want to call one of the political parties militant there is only one who is supportive and supported by the gun industry and that is the republican party. There is only one political party that is trying to institute some form of meaningful gun control and that is the democratic party. So one party, republicans, cannot stop their desire for more guns on the streets and the other party, democrats, are trying to get guns off the street. Unfortunately it is republicans who are in control of our government at this time.
     However in November of this year an opportunity to change much of who is in control of our government will be available. So building on the already dissatisfaction from the ruling republican party, we can add to it the despicable republican policy of honoring weapons more than life. The details of sensible gun legislation can be worked out as well as reduced budgeting for our more than big enough military and more militant police services. When we have sensible leadership again in our nation and when that moment hopefully comes this November, we will have a chance to force trump into signing new laws that go against the organizations that relentlessly promote gun manufacturers and the military industrial complex and give our children a better future for living past their adolescence.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

The republican party would rather half of America just die (#3305)

     It is no coincidence that republicans are against any and all social programs since it is social programs that keep those of us within, and just above poverty levels from actually giving up all hope of staying alive. This mindset of theirs of survival of the fittest is not only brutish and cruel but it is intellectually dishonest. They claim that in a democracy we all have the opportunity to advance and succeed but what they don't tell you is that they protect those who are more privileged and advantaged to succeed over those who are not privileged and advantaged. It is an illusion they are trying to sell and that they are good at selling their con is indicative of how shallow minded we Americans are.
     They, republicans, have successfully turned ourselves against ourselves by claiming that the one who is impoverished is not worthy of having a better life because they caused their own impoverishment. They have turned ourselves against ourselves by claiming that those in the shadows of our society are the real problem and not the wealthy who are taking most all the financial gains made over the last quarter century. The have turned ourselves against ourselves by saying that policies protecting women, people of color and the aged are taxing our society so they must be swept away with nothing more than nature and fate as our destiny. They offer thoughts and prayers when tragedy strikes but do nothing to help stop the same tragedies from occurring over and over again.
     The republican party would just rather that we the lower half of society were not around. Their solution for that is to make life miserable for far more than 150 million people so that they quit on life altogether. By removing food stamps, welfare and now even the social security and medicare insurance programs that we pay into we are left with little to nothing as a hope for any economical future. Most of the wealthy and the republican party are willing to sacrifice their humanity for a profit that is less of value than any generosity of spirit they might have considered. If we the mainly poor were not needed for military purposes I would venture that most of us would already be gone from life.

Friday, February 16, 2018

Make sure our like minded friends and neighbors are registered (#3304)

     I have found a couple of folks who I was able to help get registered for the vote recently and both are as fed up with republicans as I am. I live in California and in a very safe democratic district but regardless of my districts assured democratic outcome, the momentum toward the blue wave must continue to be built. We must have such numbers voting that it will be difficult even for the republican gerrymanders to withstand. If there is one time in the history of our nation that we democrats, like minded independents and frustrated moderate republicans need to vote together in masse this is that time.
     Between Russian hackers who are trying to steer our voting to republicans and republicans who are purging voting rolls and restricting actual voting hours the onus is on us to make it all moot! We do that by taking whatever time is needed now to help register eligible citizens for the vote. Then we must make sure that we all vote when the voting time comes. The trumps are out to destroy what progress we have made over the centuries and the worst of their plans are starting to take shape. If they are able to sign their corruptible legislation into law given that they control the legislative and executive branches, we will find that our vote is the last great hope to reversing this nightmare scenario that republicans are foisting upon us.
     So wherever you are in our great nation make sure to help get others registered while the registering time is still available. It is only February still but the window for registering is going to be closing soon enough that procrastinating will find us missing some key deadlines. Our blue wave must be a tsunami type force for us to do the incredible job of putting republicans out of power and stopping this agenda of attacking the weak and vulnerable as if it was a sworn duty. It is only the republicans who feel the need to put their boot on the neck of what makes America great. They come for the least of us is where we draw the line and not let them cross it. The republican party will not succeed in tearing down our great melting pot society but we must get all of ourselves to the polls and getting us all registered is the first step.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

We are all caretakers of our planet (#3303)

     As the civilized dominant species on the only planet we can survive on there is a logical and common sense duty we have to maintain our planet if only to keep ourselves alive. But there is much more than that to our duty beyond our own needs. The future generations that will be made up of our children will require this planet as well, just like we did when our foreparents kept us in their thoughts and didn't blow up our planet's atmosphere, water and food resources with nuclear weapons. But the key here is civilized. If we are not all civilized and are still in the mindset of survival of the fittest then we are less certain to survive than if we all had the enlightenment of knowledge based humanity.
     So each of us individually needs to examine her/his life to see where any lack of care toward our planet is robust and needs to be corrected. A duty is more than an just accepting the logic, it is putting that logic into tangible action that has not only a neutral effect but a positive one toward reversing any adverse effects. There are advantages to being the dominant species on our planet. We get to be the stewards of how we evolve as not only a species but as administers of our vision for the future. As we progress with our enlightenment and knowledge becomes less unknown it is critical for us to have a firm foundation of planet enriching policies from which to build from. This Earth is our base and our base needs to be superb to match the same honorable abilities we have within each of our lives.
     The future will be here before we realize it and as we pass from life our legacy to the future will be recorded regardless of how we play at trying to avoid it. So grasping our duty with both hands and proving to ourselves and to our children that we are much more than scavengers, pillaging our planet for some illusory gain. The greater good demands that we uphold our charge to be the responsible party if we are to be the leaders of our planet. Many know this already while some are not aware of our duty to our planet because they have not been exposed to the idea that with leadership comes bold organization. We still have time to correct our behaviors from adolescence mess makers to an adult duty to the greater good that will show that we as a species are capable and beyond of leading not only our planet's care but of the advancement of our universal curiosities.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

(#3302) The Democratic upset happened in Florida

     Yesterday I was hopefully optimistic. Today I am happily contented. What a difference a day makes in my life. The ongoing assault by the trumps on our democracy is always in the background but the coming blue wave election continues to show itself as sustaining. We are not becoming worn down by all the ruthlessness on a never ending stream coming from this brutal republican administration, rather we are growing in our resistance to obstructing and denouncing it. I am much more heartened by this victory last night by over 7 percentage points by our democratic candidate in a Florida state district trump won by 5 points last November 8, 2016.
     It is appropriate that today is Valentine's day because my heart is filled with joy. I know that every day going forward is going to be a hard fought battle to control the narrative of how our blue wave will undo the nefarious workings of the last year plus, but today is a day to feel the love of what is coming after our wave lands on November 6th, 2018. The trumps will again be consigned to an insignificant position of incoherence and we will as a nation grow from this horrendous mistake and rejoin the civilized world as an intellectual and compassionate partner. The era of trumps was once again pronounced to be waning with this small race in Florida whose significance is much larger than it's practical outcome.
     There are many more special elections dotting the calendar from now on up to the midterms and each and everyone of them is like the only fight we have to save our lives. Their significance is profound in that we democrats now have the advantage in momentum like I have never seen in my lifetime. If we continue along these lines of victory not only will the Congress change hands as to majorities but the 48 state houses in play will dramatically shift away from republican domination. This is so important since the next census in 2020 will change once again the boundaries for how our different state maps are drawn as to their individual districts. 2020 will be the key but a great head start in 2018 will help to push our nation back on a democratic footing that will affect how we govern our society for the next decade and beyond.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Big chance for an upset today in Florida state house race (#3301)

     Margaret Good is the democratic challenger in a district previously held by a republican. She seems to have the momentum to make an upset and if indications are to be reasonable then she has fifty fifty chance of succeeding. It will come down to turnout and that is something we democrats can accomplish now since we are riled up to make a change from republican rule. This race won't change the balance of power in the state house of Florida between democrats and republicans but it will serve notice that no republican incumbent has a safe seat even given the advantage of gerrymandered districts.
     To me that is why this race is so important. It will not only extend the force behind the coming democratic blue wave election but it will also be a bellwether moment for the crucial swing state of Florida. Every one of these special elections are important but some are just a tad bit more because of the psychological lift they give to those in districts that have lately been traditional in their vote going to republicans. The optimism attached to victorites like what this race could bring today is exponential. It furthers the narrative that the trump agenda is one of hate and condescension while reminding voters of what we could have had if not for the alleged duplicitous nature of the presidential election of 2016.
     My whole day today will be focused on the turnout for this little special election in Florida since it has so much to offer we democrats should this lady candidate pull off this victory in a republican district. As we wind down the days toward the 2018 midterm general election these harbingers of things to come in the form of special elections are the best signifiers of our battle to stop the trump agenda while raising our hopes for a Congress much more in touch with us the electorate. The energy we democrats are full of now is the key to winning and I can feel the energy coming from Florida today as we hope our turnout proves to us, and the world, once again that enough is enough. Not only with racism and misogyny but with politicians who only favor the wealthy while disregarding the working middle poor class!

Monday, February 12, 2018

Another day forward is another day behind us (#3300)

     I don't even think in terms of getting old. I think in terms of getting our sanity back at the national and local political levels. How much damage will be done by the time we can enjoy the blue wave after November 6th? I hope we are limiting the damage every day going forward by being relentless in our opposition to what trumps can do. I know we need to pass some bills to keep our nation moving even though those bills are painful reminders that republicans are in control and are adding insult to injury with their insane agenda. But the day will come when they no longer control the agenda because for the first time in a long time we democrats are controlling the narrative. That's because the republican agenda is an offense to most all civilized citizens.
     We will be electing a whole new House and 1/3 of the Senate, as well as leadership positions in 48 states. There is much that can change the power of trumps after the election and we democrats are the force behind the wave that will make that happen. In 267 days the torture of living under the trumps will begin to change. There will be no automatic passing of legislation that has no democratic input. In fact the legislation proposed will be by democrats and then trump will have to decide if he wants to cause more harm to our nation. If he does then we can override his idiocy with the help of some moderate republicans. Yes, there are still some republicans who haven't completely sold their souls to the trumps and will help to pass legislation that is crucial to our democracy.
     In 267 days the nightmare, that began on November 8th 2016, will begin to fade and new awakening to a daydream that has life and happiness to it will start to begin. There will be much work to do to reverse the abhorrent policies that trumps have enacted but that is easily done since most all of them were by executive order and as we have seen executive order requires no legislation to reverse. Of course trump will have to be gone from our presidency but that may happen soon enough through another route outside of impeachment. The Mueller investigation is proceeding with an air of professionalism that will leave no stone unturned in it's quest to find the truth and legally punish those who created or benefitted from any and all illegal maneuvers.
    

Sunday, February 11, 2018

The stupid of the republican party is being exposed (#3299)

     If there is one silver lining in all this madness with republicans in control it is that finally the idiocy of their understandings and the cruelty of their policies are being exposed for all to see. There is no more subterfuge about which political party is at fault for harming the vast majority of American citizens who make up the working middle poor class. I include the dreamers as citizens since they should by all fair, ethical and moral rights be citizens by now. The republican party has tried to cut the minimum wage, keep women as less than citizens as men, ostracize people of color, gender and make life more difficult for the elderly and turn our children, from education and innovative creativeness, back into pawns for the wealth creating machinery that the rich only enjoy.
     This is why it is finally going to happen. Which is a democratic wave come the next election. The process by which the republicans have employed to pass their democracy killing legislation is another brutish example of how republicans will stop at nothing to enrich their mega donors while insuring their own futures with these same donors. We the American electorate have seen enough to know that the republican rule of our nation cannot continue past the constitutional remedy of election that is coming this November. That end may only come about by we democrats coming out to vote for every democrat on the ballot.
     No more is there a logical choice between the two parties. There is only one choice now and that is to vote democratic right down the line so that we can purge our political system of the republican ideology of "rich first and we don't care after that". Let us make sure that all of those that we encounter in the circles that we live in are registered to vote and help them when you can if they aren't. It is important that we crush this neanderthal republican party and give it no hope to recover from this theft of our treasury and blood while treating us with the condescension that they so cavalierly entertain in their puny little minds. The reckoning is coming as the days count down to the election in November and the more we need to put pressure on them to feel the impending agony of defeat they have coming and so "richly" deserve!

Saturday, February 10, 2018

The democratic wave is being built by republican policies (#3298)

     It never ends with republicans. They are like a spoiled child who will not learn the discipline necessary to become mature. They pretend like hell that they are disciplined but then when they get power we see that the pretend is there greatest tool of illusion. By illusion I mean lie! The republican party wants the smallest possible federal government possible while having the largest possible military. It isn't a states right issue with them either because we have seen them use the states rights argument and then stop states from using their rights. So what is it all about besides destroying our social programs at the federal level?
     With republicans in control it is about them shaping our lives to fit their narrative. Not one of equality nor just fairness, but one in which the survival of the fittest gets to make all the rules as they see fit whenever they can maximize their advantage. They have no care for the working middle poor class because we are just the necessary anonymous drones needed to make the life of the wealthy more beautiful. The republican focus in one in which they are the masters of the universe and all others shall bend their knee and bow their head to them with unrelenting accolade. Instead of being like democrats who see all of us as the caretakers of the universe with a vision toward a more perfect society for all of us.
     There are not two major political parties trying to protect democracy, there is only one, we democrats. The republican party has shown that democracy is antithetical to their profit for the wealthy above common sense vision. Everything that republicans do is aimed at creating more wealth for those who already have most of the wealth. It doesn't matter to republicans that the quality of life and the pursuit of happiness by the working middle poor class is less a dream now than ever. They cannot abide the idea of a society that improves itself on whole, only in part through dog eat dog polices to keep a separation from the wealthy, so that their world playground is not disturbed by the what they see us as, the filthy unwashed masses.

Friday, February 9, 2018

Racism is a mental disorder (#3297)

     There is nothing good that comes from allowing oneself to be a racist. Yes, allowing oneself is how one becomes racist. It is a choice! We are not born racist we are taught to be racist or we let our fears and/or our jealousies overrule our respect for others who are not us. The simple and plain fact is that we are all human beings. Yes, we are all the same species of Homo sapiens, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens. That we have a different "look" to us is our proof of diversity within our species. We are not all cookie cutter prototypes we are an evolved species with different attributes acquired through different environmental and geographical factors. This is fact and there may not be any dispute to the truth of fact.
     So allowing oneself to be racist is a choice to differentiate between the variety within our species is a failing on the part of those who do. Because nothing good can come of being racist. Nothing! So why are there so many racists among us and what does that tell us about how we are educated to distinguish fact from fiction? It is obvious that to inculcate racism is illogical and therefore must have some other nefarious purpose. Yet others do not see themselves as racist even though their words and acts tell a different story. A story of not so much of a nefarious strategy but of a misconception about race that is encultured through a variety of ways including through belief systems. Allowing fiction to rule over fact is a common occurrence as well.
     Yet all the reasons for being racist are still wrong and do not help our society along when the consequences of racism are ongoing, insufferable and deadly. All of us must have the responsibility of our choices and by that we are culpable when we allow racism to exist. There is anger out there in the world for past acts and there is anger in the world for current acts but for the future there is no excuse for being racist unless that is the goal. If that is the goal then own it and then explain to the rest of us how the illogic of hating our species is a good thing when we all know it is not! Go ahead and tell me and anyone else who is listening why anyone would think that they are better than anyone else when we are all of the same species. Go ahead, I am waiting to hear your reasoning...

Thursday, February 8, 2018

When being stupid gets in the way of doing right (#3296)

     I just had an encounter with a person who is tired of others trying to right a wrong because she felt that no one cared for a long time and so we shouldn't care now. I suppose frustration has something to do with it but still, trying to highlight a problem and then being pissed on for trying to highlight a problem is the problem I reference. I don't care that others may not have taken this problem on like this woman was pointedly angry about. That I was at least showing that it is a problem gives her no reason to attack me for pointing out there is a problem. It is like her argument for no one caring in the past is more important than someone caring now. Again, I get that she may have been frustrated but to attack like she did without seeing that advancing the problem for discussion is what is needed, not her telling us that we need to stop talking about it because no one cared in the past.
     I just have to call that stupid. If I were passionate about something in particular I would take every opportunity to increase the discussion about it not stomp the discussion out. We all have our problems personally in life but that does not give us the license to be rude and childish. Throwing a tantrum over a lack of care when that lack care is being exposed is enough of a head scratcher without the condescending attitude about why others may care to solve the problem. I suppose the whole exchange made me angry that we liberals are sometimes as absurd as the intentionally cruel conservatives. Just because a problem has not be addressed over time does not make it any less a problem.
     I think about how women fought for their right to vote for generations and how the slaves fought for their right to be free for centuries. Nothing worth having will come immediately because there are so many conservatives in power that they keep the wrong in place so that they can continue to enjoy their advantages and privileges at the expense of others. Their survival of the fittest doctrine is hard to overcome but we keep trying just like the problem this woman who was trying to stop a conversation about even though she wants a solution. We cannot get so defeated in our thinking that we stop trying to solve problems. Just because it is insane that we have to fix simple things but cannot because republicans won't let us does not give us the right to turn on each other like what just happened to me.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

We will not forget the trump enablers! (#3295)

     Like the mythical Santa Claus we liberal progressives will not forget who enabled and normalized the trumps and their republican conspirators once we regain power in Congress this year. From trump to pence to ryan to mcconnell, the list of traitors to our democracy will not go unpunished. If Mueller has not already indicted trump by then well we can expect a democratic led Congress to impeach the executive branch, both trump and pence for their high crimes and misdemeanors. Which would then elevate the Majority leader in the House to the presidency. A democratic takeover of government before 2020 will save us from much more damage from the little dictator trump.
     My disrespect for all things republican is abundantly clear in how I dishonor them with no capital letters for their names since their names will go down in infamy as the scourge that wanted to hijack our democracy. Their debased actions and behaviors will forever be linked with the worst of what racism and income inequality has produced. I am ashamed of my nation for somehow allowing the trumps and despicable republicans this kind of total control of our government. But a remedy is coming once again highlighted by the democratic wins in special elections where the republicans once held insurmountable leads. The blue wave election is coming and on November 6th, 2018 it will arrive on our shores with such a force that the grubby republican party will be washed away like the garbage they have become.
     Those who enabled the trumps and republicans will not be forgotten either. There is no taking back what is out there in public so the best thing these selfish greedy creatures can do is to leave our nation before we find them and put them in chains. The un American nature of this gang of republican brutes is deserving of much worse. Traitors need to be given their punishment and in a civilized society that punishment must at least reflect an equivalence to the harm that they have perpetrated in the name of their lying, cheating and stealing of the values that all Americans deserve. We will not forget those who showed us their worst natures and then attempted to hoist them upon us like they were normal and acceptable.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

The uprising of we the poor (#3294)

     We may be poor but we can still vote. It seems as if this message is getting across to those of us who are frustrated at the lack of opportunity and the inherent bias of advantage and privilege built into our economic system. It isn't just us poor either, it is the whole of the working middle poor class. We have seen the failure of republican leadership to address the need for closing the widening income inequality gap so we are now poised to take control of our nation from the republican party. After these next midterms in November, we are more than likely still stuck with trump if he survives the Mueller investigation but at least trump will be neutered by a new burgeoning democratic majority in Congress. We will also see new democratic leadership at the state level where change for the better can then begin to foster alongside the federal efforts.
     For those who had not previously voted in the past it is time to change that and register to vote. It is becoming very clear that if we don't vote we have no chance at all of making our American society reflect the will of the people and not of the wealthy. We the backbone of American society are the ones who want the best of what our nation can do to improve society because our political system is our only avenue. The wealthy will always have their money to buy them the things they need to have a safe and modern life but we the poor and the working middle class are without such an option. I don't begrudge the wealthy of their wealth when it is earned meritoriously but I do begrudge them when they are trying to make life miserable for those who have no such opportunity as they do.
     We are all just human beings in this society trying to find a way to exist and for all that some of the wealthy do to try to make it easier for everyone there are the vast majority of the wealthy who are allowing their straw men in the form of republican politicians to make life hard and brutish for us instead. That is unacceptable within a healthy robust democracy and will not be tolerated if we wish to continue with our democracy. So an uprising of we the poor will happen and with the working middle poor class together we will bring an end to the era of republican rule to make those of us who are not wealthy only subservient to those who are wealthy. Equality is not to be allowed in republican land!
     

Monday, February 5, 2018

Our human natures are compassion and curiosity (#3293)

     So why are we often less than that? Because when we are denied our rightful expressions of compassion and curiosity other more nefarious natures take root. So the absence of compassion and curiosity is how brutish and cruel natures flourish. Since we have a choice as to how we express ourselves it is on us to make the right choices. Yet we are human and there are many out there who would take from us our innocence and leave us tormented, empty and angry. I have seen this within myself when the unfairness of life has come down on me. Yet I don't have to be a victim to the whirligig of life, I can control that which is mine to control.
     Which means that I don't have to be left to the mercy of those who would be uncaring to their own true natures of compassion and curiosity. I surround myself with those who are caring enough to live in their compassion and curiosity as a rule. No one is perfect and mistakes will be made for the length of my life yet nothing is unforgivable when it is not from and intentional harmful strategy. This is the life we should all live yet our society has naturally bred those who get caught up in the worst of what a human can be and as long as we continue to ignore the problems inherent within our society, such as the survival of the fittest philosophy, we will continue to reap the sorrow of the absence of our true natures.
     If you are looking for the answer to how to live stop right here and again read my first two paragraphs. Life really is as simple as being kind and wondering about everything. Nothing else matters as to happiness and the ongoing quest of our questions as to "why". I care and I wonder, this is who I am and my human nature requires nothing more from me to be fulfilled and purposeful. Now all that is left is living and being an example of our species' true nature of compassion and curiosity. Now that I have drilled this into you hopefully you will consider how simple and intelligent it is. The mystery of life is still to be figured out but how we live is right here for us to embrace.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

My anger is as strong as my sorrow is deep (#3292)

     It is a privilege being me in one sense, I am of the full gamut of emotion. What stirs my anger is people who treat other people without respect or courtesy. I can barely keep my civilized composure when I am around bullies or ignorant selfish ones. It is a good anger in that it defines my steely nature to fight and defend the best of what we humans should be. I will not tolerate the childish nor the psychopathic who would put themselves above others without being put there through logic and humility. Oftentimes my anger is motivated by the natural unfairness of life when it takes and it gives without design and scale. I am the epitome of a force so strong that my body can barely contain it.
    Yet there is another side of me that is as personally charged as my anger and joy and that is my sorrow and the depth to which it permeates every cell of my body. The ache of heartbreak is like the universe's imploding black holes. Sucking all of life out of me and leaving me with a void that has only brokenness as a remnant. I suppose like my love, my sorrow is also so full of depth that they are necessarily the two sides of the same coin. When the sorrow time comes I am numb to what is going on around me to the extent that nothing else really matters. Yet my love for others brings me back in time to continue with my life beyond the void I must eventually process and compartmentalize. Whether anger or sorrow, both are overcome within me by time and the knowledge that I must go on.
     I am not claiming to have the patent on feeling the deepest or longest but I am one of those who do. It is who I am and I embrace it because the truth of things are more important than the illusion of other things. If being a real person is a crime then sentence me because I am guilty. It is bad enough that life has it's own system for meting out reward and punishment. I don't know why we are here in existence but I will take what is real and be part of that while accepting that part of what makes up the truth and depth of my life.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

America burns while trump tweets (#3291)

     There it is, Nero has an admirer. Well we know history, those of us who actually read and understand it so we won't be caught out unaware like the Romans. We can insulate ourselves enough and temper trump's fire with our own backburn at him. How can such a man think like he does and have a conscience? Well he can't so that tells me trump is not in possession of a conscience. Which makes some sense right? He is a self absorbed person who has somewhat narcissistic tendencies. I wouldn't call trump a psychopath or sociopath if I am being fair, which in this post I seem be, but I cannot rule either of them out as a fact.
     What he does have in common with Nero is that he is mindless about what is happening around him that he himself is making come true. He thinks he is saving us from metaphorically burning by throwing gas on us. He has all the tools and conveniences to alter the reality he has created but he is so deep into his recklessness that he cannot fathom a way out of it, like Nero who picked up his fiddle and played while Rome burned. What will trump do if he ever pushes that button he so wants to push? Will he take to his phone or computer and start to tweet about how he is going to make some other people pay for some slight to him? Well the other people will surely retaliate and who will be the focus of their wrath? We the American people like the people of Rome who were caught between the demented like actions of what trump would like to do.
     Like I say we have some safeguards that will keep us from the hellscape trump seems okay to bring. Even if revolution is what is needed then we had better be prepared to drop everything we are doing in order to make a change that may be the only hope left for our nation and the survival of our democracy. Many will not let go of their privileges and advantages so trump may eventually succeed in destroying what once was the greatest nation on Earth. We are now the most heavily armed one and in many ways still better a society than many on Earth but we are going the wrong way with our evolution to a more perfect society and for the majority of us it is not acceptable to burn down progress in order to embrace trump and his tweets admiring a more selfish and brutal society.

Friday, February 2, 2018

As the White House turns... (#3290)

     Yes, it reminds me of a soap opera. If someone isn't lying cheating and stealing on a constant basis then I got this all wrong. But as the evidence shows, I don't have this all wrong. Each and every nominee and hire by this administration is suspect of some nefarious doing. I am at a total loss how the trumps can keep finding people who reside at the bottom of the barrel. But they do and we as a nation are worse off for it. What it also does is keep this administration ignorant. The combined brain trust in the White House is paltry and quite frankly an embarrassment to our civilized society. So what new blemish will trumps stain our democratic identity with today because each and every day of his administration has brought something low we have fallen to as a nation.
     Yet as the days continue to tick off the calendar heading toward November the likelihood that the democratic blue wave will wash out the stench of republican majorities in the House and even the Senate. So while the trumps are busy jackhammering our democracy we are getting ready to shore up what damage they have done this fall. With the trumps under investigation for criminal offenses and possibly high treasons, we can stay tuned to more of the attempts by trumps to stall and/or end the investigations coming at them. Their options for doing so are limited and may even cause their own republican party to finally say enough is enough and cut their losses. For republicans it has always been a strategy to keep trump in long enough to get their cruel and brutish policies passed while holding their noses at the rot of what is the trumps.
     The nefarious intrigue and the bald faced actions of this White House is enough to wet the appetite of any demented daytime soap opera fan. Who is cheating on who with whose wife or husband? Who is stealing from whom? Who is lying about all things that aren't directly bent kneed to trump? This White House is a circus of illusion and not so magic tricks. Which makes for a plot worthy of a soap opera crossed with a failed mafia movie and with a fair amount of skullduggery of foreign influence. If this wasn't real it would have made for a long running series of how gullible we could be in America if we were stupid enough to believe it. Well guess what? We are stupid enough because this soap opera in the White House is real and unfortunately will not be cancelled soon enough.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Will our constitution survive? (#3289)

     It will take the conscience of America to protect our constitution since the republican party, which controls the levers of power, are seemingly okay with trump trashing our constitution. As long as the republican party may continue to control power they are willing to give lawlessness, even treason, a pass if the president is a republican. That is how thirsty they are for the chance to take equality, fairness and justice away from those of us citizens they find unworthy by their reckoning. So our reckoning back at them should it come down to it will be to hit the streets en masse and shut down our society in a way that is unmistakable as to our motive to pull the traitors out of power and give them nothing short of the hardest lesson they could imagine.
     If our court systems and what is left of our democracy defenders are unable to withstand the trump and republican complicity then the streets are where we all need to be storming the houses that contain the traitors and bringing them to justice in ways that would be unthinkable in a modern civilized society. I am rooting for the rule of law to protect our democracy but if that is circumvented through deceit and manipulation then we the people need to take our nation away from the greedy carpetbaggers who at a minimum only want all of what we have. The great patriots of democracy that have stood up to tyranny and traitors of the past demand the same from us now to protect the one gift they were able to pass down to all of us, that being our democracy.
     The time is coming to a head as to who will prevail in the struggle to steal our nation or heal it. The republican party has shown itself as the enemy of enlightenment, modernization and the rule of law as well as their enablers who fund republicans to take from us to give to them. The purge of our society of those who would destroy it for their own gain is coming if not through law and order then through the might of right. The choice will be on the remaining republicans who are not all in on the trump agenda of pocketing our treasury while usurping our power. We will know soon enough and in the meantime this coming November will tell us much more if we survive to that long sought month.