We need public trials for treason so the truth can be shown! (#3438)

     With all the disinformation being perpetrated by they right wing there is no other alternative than to have open public trials of those we know have colluded with foreign powers to hinder and undermine our democracy. There is no other learning tool for all Americans to understand than being frank with everyone regardless of the facts that come out. I have had it with all this secrecy and privilege we give to pampered officials who have wholly abused the public trust. No more can we function as an information society if we don't expose our dirty laundry as just that! When outlets for information like the fox network can rewrite facts and truths to fit their narrative of upheaval within our nation then we need to counter with public trials.
     Not only public trials but public punishments that warrant deterrence. We are not a nation that is above becoming corrupt and we should not be hiding behind an image that denies that. Our legacy with our democracy must say something more than we survived. We must not only rebuild where it has been damaged but we must further its noble cause with advancements that reveal how proper our democracy works with all of our citizens. No one else in the world will want to emulate the democracy we have now so let's change that by exposing our metaphorical sores and letting them heal through the bright light of sunshine.
     We must also punish news outlets that stray from the truth to serve an agenda that is demonstrably anti democratic. Our democracy is one to behold if we protect it with all our might. No one should be allowed to not be part of our society and voting process who has the rights of citizenship. There have to be rewards for voting as well as punishments for not voting and they must be significant. We have learned over time that our human species is adept at being lazy or uncaring unless otherwise motivated. So as we motivate ourselves in other areas of life so should we do so in the most important part of what makes us a society.

Put more pressure on us and we will respond in kind (#3437)

     The coming bluewave just got a boost from republicans. Every time they institute a policy or make a decision to further harm the majority of Americans who vote the more the likelihood that it will backfire on them come November 6th. Those who weren't already engaged to make a change in party leadership come the next election are finding themselves motivated to join the rest of us. There is only one political party that is in a constant state of doing damage to our ability to pursue our happiness and it is the republican party. Their insatiable agenda to destroy the social safety net, make life harder for the working middle poor class and their killing off of rights and values inherent within a democracy are waking up those who were not paying attention.
     Much like the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the sleeping American bear has been poked. We the people who are the American bear are now awake and on guard and swiveling our heads around to take in all the damage done and damage proposed. We know who the enemy of the American people are and they are the current republican politicians and judges who have decided that not all people are equal to begin with. Their anti-democracy viewpoint is now being seen and reported on by those of us who care to stop them from taking our country down in flames so that they can enrich themselves. Their lies, blame and denials are not working now since they are the only ones able to make and implement policy.
     The arrogance of the republican party is going to be their undoing. They think they are invincible now and are acting accordingly. But what they don't get is that although we the American public are slow to anger and give retribution, when we get to that there is going to be a pain served up to republicans they will not soon forget. So their time is coming and it isn't coming too soon. Restoring America back on track with our allies and undoing the trump/republican agenda will take some time but it will all begin this coming November and continue until we have righted the state of ship here in America. The republican party is near it's end but don't try to tell them that since they think they are just getting started.

We are mostly all still alive! (#3436)

     My worst fear after seeing that trump was going to be handed the presidency was that he would kill us all out of his greed and stupidity. Well we are not all dead yet and for that I am grateful. Seriously! I haven't felt this way since the nuclear drills back in the Kennedy presidency when we were dutifully hiding under our desks in drills for the likely nuclear event. That didn't happen but only because we stood up to Russia and forced them to back down. This case with trumps is different. We Americans are not united against a foreign enemy, we are split against a domestic one. Still, there are more of us who are not of right wing ideologies who are democratic out there so we still do have a chance to stand up to the trumps and force them to back off just like we did with the Russians in the 1960's.
     With daily evidence coming in that our nation is going to be stripped of it's decency and rights, it is no less than critical that we who would prevent the trumps from further damaging out democracy must take to action. The formula is simple, obstruct, protest and vote. There is nothing less we should be doing. Put aside all of our own personal ambitions and our minor differences within the democratic party and let's put an end to what trumps are doing. Make no mistake about this as well. The trumps know that we only have so many opportunities to unravel their hateful and destructive agenda and they are going all out to stop us from doing it. They know that they are outnumbered if our voters come out and they will take steps to remove our voters from the voting rolls.
     Yet we can stop them now if we all just stop what we are doing and focus on the most important time of our coming lives. Reenergizing our base and adding more to it with a clear and loud voice to bring democracy back to America. The trumps have enlisted their Russian cohorts to help them along into making America more like them so the task we Americans have is a tall one. The very essence of America is now in jeopardy of becoming a scurrilous one. Instead of forcing the world to improve life for all, the trumps want to take us down to the level of the worst of governments. That is how trumps see the world, we Americans not as the example of what could be but instead as just another small minded country willing to treat it's citizens as chattel.

Can decency keep us from destruction? (#3435)

     As the trumps continue to break apart our democracy will our own decency prevent us from the forceful response we need to combat the breaking? Will we sit idly by and watch because that is how civilized citizens act toward the will of their leader? Will our civility be the undoing of us if we cannot stop by any means the ongoing trump disaster? How do we reconcile being beyond enlightened when we are being herded by a neanderthal? It is like the conscientious objector who knows that killing is wrong on all levels but in order to protect life itself and the values that life demands the killing must occur. That is how we reconcile war and the brutal nature of it that is beyond civilized and enlightened.
     The hard work of standing up to the worst of our society demands that we the civilized find it within ourselves to muster a strength and conviction that supersedes our own personal wishes. Our democracy is sacred and nothing on Earth should come between us and it especially if that nothing is something and it is from within. I will not abdicate my ability to fight for what I believe in when that belief is our own priceless democracy. Countless souls of American citizens have already given their lives to protect the greatest democracy on Earth and why should I be any less than those courageous souls? I am a civilized man who wants democracy and its working principles for all of us not just for some of us.
     When the time comes for all of us to face our fears about not only our own skin but the skin of our heritage going forward it will need to be decided what to do. For many of us we have already decided what tack we will take because the time is shortly upon us if we continue to do as we are told by the conmen of the republican party. I am not advocating any violence upon anyone. What I am advocating for is the mindset needed for it when the need arises. We are not in some dream world where all is well and good. We are on a battlefield now and the fighting is rather more like little skirmishes but those skirmishes are leading to an all out thrust by the trumps to take the most precious gift we Americans have ever been given, the lifeblood and treasure of our descendants who laid down their futures in order to pick up the sword and keep our democracy alive.

If trumps take due process he also takes our democracy (#3434)

     It didn't involve me so I didn't care. Infamous last thought of countless people who found out the hard way that if we don't all protect ourselves we will all be unprotected. Our democracy gives us that and keeps the wolves like trump at bay so that our form of government survives again the ravages of those who would be king like. What is due process? "The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution each contain a due process clause. Due process deals with the administration of justice and thus the due process clause acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the government outside the sanction of law",-Wikipedia. In other words it is our legal safeguard to have our day in court.
     In other countries due process is not given and those who would be charged of a crime have no way of rebutting the charges. Due process is our ability to have a voice in any governmental accusation against us. Imagine a scenario where trump wanted to silence his critics, you don't have to imagine that in trump's case since it is already fact that he wants to silence his critics, but without due process. He could simply charge anyone of a crime and that person would have no judicial review to defend themselves from the crime whether it was true or not. So be in fear of speaking out against trump lest you be caught up in the middle of the night and hauled off to either some dark hole or worse. Because if there is no due process you are guilty just by being charged.
     So for you who still think that trump isn't all that bad and still better than Clinton it is time for you to stop being naive and look at the facts. With trump there is a real chance democracy will not exist after he is done with us and if that is the case he will try to be like his buddies, the worst dictators on the planet, and keep authoritarian power up until he is dead. Racism and misogyny are not worth the loss of our freedom and hopefully you who support trump will finally get that we are all human beings and not greater or lesser than each other based solely upon our gender or skin color.

Stupid is stupid does (#3433)

     I appreciate the movie Forrest Gump for giving us this little phrase which is exactly how I perceive trumps. There is no denying it given the full body of evidence we have gathered since he was officially appointed as President of the United States. From one stumble toward another this guy has shown that his ability to objectively rationalize through reason, analysis and conclusion is missing key parts of the equation. Specifically the reason and analysis parts. He makes a decision based upon polling or right wing advice and then forces it whether or not his republican party or the nation wants it. He alone is the "decider in chief" as he sees it and it doesn't have to make sense regardless of whether it is helpful to us.
     His rationale changes as well on many different policies given the blowback he gets from us the citizenry or his own party. Not only does his rationale change but it goes from supporting his policies to not supporting his policies given the strength of the metaphorical wind that blows back against him. In other words he truly is like the reed in the wind that is subject to the direction of the wind. His inability to see more than one or two moves ahead when declaring what is best for our nation puts us at a real disadvantage. Since most if not all of the world is further along in their vision for their policies. We truly have in my opinion the stupidest president currently on the face of the Earth in charge of the greatest democracy on Earth, well at least the greatest democracy on Earth for now debatably.
     This time of trump and the systematic control of our nation by his enabling party the republicans will go down in history as the most inept political administration and the most despicable given it's utter disdain of democratic values. When trump was first installed I gave us Americans little chance of getting past his control without all or most of us dying before he was removed. Now I feel our odds are better given we are closing in on the midterm elections where we can neuter the republican party from the ground up. There is much we can do us sane Americans who have been held hostage by this conman and his duplicitous republican party. I look forward to that November 6th day in 2018 with all the hope I can muster and am at least not as fatalistic as I was on November 8th, 2016.

The hollow pride of America, racism! (#3432)

     That trump even was elected and is still in office is a tribute to the racism that America has never corrected. The Civil War may have abolished slavery but the underlying intent of slavery never went away. Cruel people using other people as their property. We have a different form of slavery now in that workers are now becoming more beholden to their corporations and companies through other collusive practices like low wages and health benefits only achievable through acquiescing to boss/owner fealty. The trumps and their republican party willing accomplices have undercut national programs that would have lifted all out of such associations that mainly benefited the wealthy.
     So now we the people are left with only what large corporations and other associated companies are willing to offer us instead of us having the wherewithal to choose between legitimate competing ideals. This is all done because the wealthy, trumps and republicans see the American experience as not one where we are all in equal pursuit of our happiness but only one where the wealthy, trumps and republicans dictate what we should or shouldn't have as our happiness. Their master/slave ideal is now becoming more modern and in less than obvious ways. Yet it is still the concept of master/slave and an entitled feeling they get from controlling the lives of others like they are gods.
     That is is now open for all the world to see is a silver lining in that the terrible secret of the portion of cruel hating American public is secret no longer. Not all of us are haters and racist but too many of us are and with the control of the whole of the American government within the grasp of the racists denying it any longer is moot. So now not only are we who are not the hollow prideful racists fighting against the stench of hatred that has too long been embedded in the American hateful heart but the world is now on defense against them as well. With an election coming in 135 days hopefully we the true pride of America, the non racist melting pot patriots, will begin to turn around the levers of power in America back to the democratic party so the real purge in 2020 can finally relieve us from the disease of this despicable lot of Americans who have finally been exposed as the ill America never addressed.

We should help, not harm (#3431)

     Someone asked, can't we all get along? Sure we can but we must stop harming each other first. Just stop! Then we can all start to get along. This isn't rocket science here, it is how we treat each other in a civilized society. We all know how to do that but too many of us are not willing to be civil and respectful. I will at minimum listen to what others have to say about issues that are important but when what they are saying is harmful then I stop them from going on further with me. I won't accept harm when help is just as easy or as hard to achieve. So although I want to get along with everyone, their ideas or beliefs often are enough to get in the way of that because of the harm they represent.
     I know otherwise really good people who are so involved in doing harm and they don't even recognize it. So it is hard for me to let them go out of my life but it is what must be done when all I have tried to open their eyes to their own harmful actions is rebutted and ignored. So those I do get along with are ones who have recognized as I have that no harm is good and only help is the solution. How we treat each other fairly is dependent upon how we think and then act, and if harming others is what they are doing then they get no get nothing but the back of me. So although the goal is to get along with everyone the practical matter is that some do not want to stop harming.
     What we accept into our lives is what we represent out to others. I will not be a party to those who are not helpful when they can be. I am not a party to those who choose to do harm because they think the harm is good. Never is harm good. Never. Even in sentencing of criminal behavior it is required to deter harm at will but that is not a good thing it is a necessary evil thing. So those who would wonder why we can't all get along look no further to how we treat each other to find your answer. Figuring out what harm and help is shouldn't be too difficult even for us Americans who are so above learning new things. Our arrogance at times hinders us but if it really matters to us then we will learn to know the difference between harm and help and then be one less human who is making it difficult for all of us to get along.

A man of shame and a man of hope (#3430)

     The republican party has their leader and he is a shameful lout. He is in the process of tormenting migrants both parents but especially children. Undear leader trump has no empathy for these folks fleeing worse conditions only to find themselves treated like livestock under the trump regime. Unlike Obama who had the honesty and decency to care about these migrants who had little to lose by coming to America where hope still existed, well at least until trump took charge, now no hope is what they are finding. In fact less than hope as their children were ripped from them and sent to who knows where and even given drugs to "calm them down from their forced separations".
     Under President Obama, migrants were at least given the respect of staying together and not treated as felonious criminals. It is a misdemeanor to enter our country illegally, not a high crime much like what the trump administration and its officials commit daily. So singling out the migrants as despicable infesting desperados is indicative of what the trumps really must feel about themselves but transference is their mantra so that is how they roll it up. With the mindless serfs over at fox news obviously blaming everyone on Earth for what the trumps are doing you can see how the shame of it all rests squarely with the republican party and trump most of all.
     Now President Obama took care to respect those coming to our nation as refugees, not so much criminals and rapists like republicans project. President Obama, an elected president, not an appointed one, also held out his hand to comfort those who were victims of nefarious deeds that led them to flight. Realizing and rationalizing that we are all human beings who make up our world and that being a decent human being is above the criteria of being a hateful one republicans have wholly embraced in their leader trump. The man of shame is trump for his vile reactions to those who are in pain and suffering while President Obama is the man of hope who reaches out his hand to lift up those who are most needing of a comfort.

We Americans are inexcusable (#3429)

     The majority of us who vote democrat are not so bad at being human but we are only about 27% of the total American population. The other 73 or so percent are what's wrong with America. About 26% of the total American population continues to support a ruthless thug like trump and other republicans no matter what they do in office to us and or to enrich themselves. It makes no difference to that percentage that always votes for republicans. But for me what I still cannot grasp is why nearly 47% of the eligible voting public doesn't even bother to vote.
     It is like they just don't care who does what to whom. That in itself is disgraceful and inhumane but right now we have a republican party that is incensed at decency and the rule of law. So for that large percentage of folks who could vote but who don't vote I have no justifiable words to use about what is wrong with them. It is inexcusable that outside of those who vote for democrats there is a larger percentage that either hate people who are not like them or just don't care to care. What does that tell us about what makes up the character of America? What are we fighting to maintain and what is worthy of that fight when most of us are unworthy of being honored?
     I hold out hope that this coming election in November that the previous nearly 47% of voters who didn't vote will actually decrease sizably and a new era of caring and not hating will come to the fore. But in about 139 days we will find out and if that is so then good on America for waking up and standing tall for the greater good. But if not and the same status quo of today continues after the November election then we all may just as well resign ourselves to the fact that we are a miserable lot of folks less worthy of what most of us think we deserve. We will have become the feckless hollow humans we seem to see in anyone but ourselves. A reckoning will come and it will be deserved if we are less than human like the current republicans and non voters.

The depth of trumps depravity (#3428)

     It isn't just that trump is a depraved soul, it is the depth of that depravity that is even more disgusting. Surely his first attempt to blackmail democrats by kidnapping children from migrants and holding them hostage so that he can gain a benefit, it is that once he was caught out with it he has since doubled down and continued to treat these children in a most disturbing way. I knew trump has always been a con man of various degrees but by this latest inhumane gambit of his, he puts his grifting actions into a whole new category, extortionist with malicious intent. He has moved from being a white collar criminal to one of a felonious demented serial nature.
     As the whole world watches his strategy to blackmail America by stealing innocence from innocent children so that he can acclaim himself successful has reached no boundary any American president, appointed or elected, has ever attempted. The vile despicable nature of his behavior toward these migrant children and their parents will forever be the shame of America and never allow us to confront the nefarious natures in the world around us lest we be rightly called hypocrites of the first order. Our moral leadership in the few remaining areas of dignity has been utterly destroyed by trumps and their incessant hatred for others.
     Now I know that trump's depravity is not just skin deep it is omnipotent throughout every molecule of his body. He cannot fool me again with how low he can go since I now see him as one of our species' most despicable life forms ever to have been evolved. His due will come in the form of Karma and the just rewards of his due will rekindle hope in me that even when our most disgusting open wounds of a human being is exposed we will find a way to heal that returns our better natures to leadership and action. Time and space are relative and what the ignorance of trump hasn't yet discovered is that his time will come and it won't be a place of honor!

Does America have a heart left in it? (#3427)

     The trumps are going to continue to take children from migrants and not only that they are looking for ways to keep them from their parents and relatives for longer periods of time. All in the name of how trump's negotiate. Normally when a compromise between the political parties is reached both sides gain something they want beyond what they already have. But these are not normal times with republicans in control. Instead, republicans are taking from what America already has and demanding what they want in exchange to let us have back what we already had. Sound familiar? NO? Here let me explain it another way.
     Using the children, republicans take them from their parents and then demand that they receive a benefit for it in order to return the children. Does it still seem vague to you? Let me try it this way then, The republican party is being despicable and will only stop being despicable if we give them what they want. Kind of like a petulant child throwing a tantrum that unsettles everyone in public until they are given what they want. So it is that republicans will not stop separating migrant children from their families until they get their benefit. So basically kidnapping children and then demanding a ransom for their return. The republican party expects that this will be a winning strategy for them, destroying lives for profit, for the upcoming midterms.
     So in 140 days we will know if the tearing migrant families apart strategy is a winnable one for republicans. In this scenario where republicans see themselves as coming out ahead in November because of their child kidnapping policy then we will know that America has lost whatever heart we all thought it had. If that is the case then our shame as human beings will be incontrovertible and the downfall of our civilization at hand. When we reward bad behavior then we have fallen from being a noble striving species to one where we cower and covet as a rule and the end of us is assured to come from those who do not compromise on the dignity, respect and principle of democracy.

The incontinence of trumps and the slow evolution of his supporters (#3426)

     We have seen through Twitter just how unstable, ignorant and out of control trump is and the fact is that this man/child has no ability to mature as a human. He is still in childhood mentally and emotionally. His most obvious behavior are his many tantrums aimed at anything that may suggest or accuse him of harm. There is no self control here that passes for genuine leadership. The far right who helped get trump appointed to the presidency are as culpable of being an angry mob with no ability to think through the choices they make. They like that trump just does things without pussy footing around even though what trump does is cruel, thoughtless and self adolating.
     His base, who are angry, ill informed and selfish find that there is no one as close to them in their actions and thoughts than trump and no amount of reason, logic nor common sense will penetrate their god ordained trumpian image. So wasting time reasoning with them truly is equivalent to burning money. But what can occur for them to see beyond the shadows inside their illusory caves is for trump to continue to do what he is doing. He is putting pressure on his base by denying services to them that they thought would never be taken from them. He is insinuating himself in trade tariffs that hit them in their wallets. Because if anything can get through to a trump supporter it is to take services and money from them when they are unsuspecting.
     Of course trump will blame democrats for all of his failings and most of his supporters will believe him but some will not and a wedge in his support will eventually cleave the illusion. It is only a matter of time before trump hits the tipping point with his own base. They have expectations for him and what they have yet to experience like the rest of us is that trump doesn't like to be held to account. He is his own master and no one is above him especially those who were gullible enough to buy into his rhetoric and lies. The trump supporters will learn the hard lesson they refuse to learn through logic and common sense and it will hit home hard with them when they do.
     

The cruel and now usual republican party (#3425)

     If there is one thing we know for sure it is that the republican party has no soul. Instead of finding solutions to problems they punish people who have them. Instead of caring about solving the suffering of humanity republicans create it. Never in my mind did I think that a political party that once was prominent would become a cesspool of hatred and condescension. When I was a teenager I already knew that republicans were harsh and capable of playing underhanded with the American people. Given what nixon did to get elected by secretly creating a war in Vietnam where a peace was being negotiated by a democrat, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/opinion/sunday/nixons-vietnam-treachery.html.
     Given that reagan began the process of destroying the working middle class and it now is nothing more than a shadow of itself. I had thought worst of all was bush the younger and his intentional acts to create a war in Iraq was the worst thing ever in modern times but now I find that the complete ravings of trump are far more dangerous to all Americans than the 100's of thousands who died in the bush/cheney scheme. The problem with trump is that although those previous presidents were dangerous they were not as ego driven as trump. That trump would start a war that ended with nuclear weapons is of little doubt. The tiptoeing we are doing as a nation to try to keep ourselves from trump's psychopathy is real and scary.
     So as we celebrate Father's day today I have to wonder how these republicans square their lust for power and profit with their love for their offspring and parents. It seems to me that republicans may love their children and parents but it isn't a love that is genuine and real if what their agenda is is to spread chaos and suffering to others. So no amount of acting like decent human beings will fool me or all the others who have felt the life crushing policies of republicans and their supporters. When children are separated from their parents out of some strategy to make a wall appear on our southern border the republicans are showing that family to them is just a bargaining chip to be used to divide and separate us. Happy Father's day to all those who are genuine in their care for their parents and children while NOT trying to destroy their lives.

The social conscience of college sports (#3424)

I have been having this argument with myself for years. It concerns the decision of athletes of color playing for institutions in states where racism and gender inequality are rampant. I get that each athlete has particular reasons for their decision to play for a school in a state where racism is more alive than dead but there is a cost for society on whole when their decision puts the social progress of our country behind their own ambition. It is a hard thing to tell a young man or woman that they should care more about the direction of their society than they should be about their own way in life. I get that and it is one of the troubling issues in formulating a response that is decisive and correct.
     The reason for my arguing with myself is that in these states where racism is more normal than not there are academic institutions where sports are dominant and the main reason is there are players of color who excel in sports and yet choose to play for these schools. The irony here is beyond the loyalty that some local athletes strive to complete the dream of playing for their local schools but players from other regions of the nation are going there for the glamor and the prestige that these schools current success can bring them. I get that but what is the cost? These states where racism is nurtured are not brought to task like they should be to bring about change to their racist polices. Instead their schools are prioritized by their success on the sports fields and courts that transcends the real damage to many millions of lives on a daily basis. All in the name of successful sports.
     The allure of success at a high level is always attractive and for some it will always be number one for them. Yet our society continues to foster racism and sexism when we put these issues behind our own ambitions. In all walks of my life I do not tolerate inequality of opportunity even if it means I do without that which I may have. The same for people like Nathan Hale who as a 21 year old told those British Officers, that his regret was that he only had one life to give for his country. A balance for the athletes in our nation would be to reward those states and institution that behaved and practiced equality on the basis of race and gender and ignore those who choose to ignore the rights of all Americans their pursuit of happiness based upon their lack of will to be better human beings.

Transference, a trump trait (#3423)

     What is becoming obvious along with other nefarious trump traits is his strategy of accusing others who are a threat to him of the very things he is doing or has done already. He has no compunction of calling someone out for being like him when almost every time that someone has not done what he is accusing them of. Transference, in this case is a term that loosely means I blame you for what I am doing or have done. A propaganda tool used by those who would never admit to being at fault. It seems to work for trump since his base believes anything he says to a point of contradicting their own thoughts and actions. It is cult like and has recently been explained as such by those who are in the republican party.
     There is no more doubt either that trump uses his transference technique to his full advantage, not to America's advantage, but to his personal advantage. He is a narcissist of the first order. He craves attention like is it his due in life. Somehow he became warped in the head in thinking that he is special and very few are as worthy of glory as he. He admires the hell out of dictators who demand attention from their citizens and what must irk trump more than anything is that guys like putin and un have the dictatorial powers he wants for himself. He feels left out when in their presence and is motivated to create America in his image however possible and in any way short of world annihilation.
     So for those of you who listen to the words that come out of trump's mouth you are witnessing a fraud and a liar who will do anything to make himself into a god to be worshipped. He will betray any and all oaths because to him they don't matter. They are not as important as he himself. So follow him and vote for him but what you are following and voting for is the worst of what a human being can become and you are as complicit in his success as a tyrant and his demands and your willingness to praise him for it. Writing these posts are painful and exhausting to me but that I am telling the truth is a nightmare from which I hope all of us can soon awaken from.

The racist in chief (#3422)

     That trump is now our chief racist and his republican base still supports him leads to the logical conclusion that his base accepts his racism as a positive form of hatred. Otherwise they would be taking him to task for his many examples of promoting racist republican candidates over non racist republican candidates. The idea that a major public politician is racist and is acceptable to his base speaks to how rotten the core of our political body has become. America, once the melting pot of the world is now becoming the shooting gallery with non whites in the crosshairs. That the white supremacists have overtaken the republican party and is now home to them is astonishing. However to me it isn't since republicans are the ones who rarely sacrifice for country and are therefore easily swayed by stronger scarier associates.
     So here we are again bringing up the midterm elections and the changes we can make. All ballots are secret except those of angry white men who vote at home and control the votes of their wives and children. But for the vast majority of the rest of us we can vote in secret and any way we want regardless of the pressure put on us by strong arm tactics. We can always say we voted for republicans where applicable while actually voting for democrats and no one would be the wiser. Whatever it takes to break the cycle of hatred and force that has us bound up in the worst of nefarious natures, racism. I for one am still proud of our nation and it's ability to fashion a solution when we get ourselves into trouble. Not many are with me on this given our recent past history but I still hold out hope that scourges like racism will find its betterment with our electorate.
     Nothing about the world today and our place in it is normal. We have a trump person who has all the wrong ideas about what it is to be an American. His only concern is his keeping power and gaining wealth for himself and his. A carpetbagger if there ever was one has been appointed our president and for that the shame of it will linger beyond this generation. But the opportunity to reverse this shame is on the horizon. Come November 6th 2018 a new day will dawn and it will be one where we begin to put the brakes on the corruption and scandal of the republican party and all of it's hatred toward those who are not them.

The necessity of reclaiming democratic control of Congress (#3421)

     The infiltration of Russian actors into our political system is without doubt. But the republicans who benefit from it are not going to purge them from our internal process. That republicans were/are so desperate to keep what power they currently have is the reason for their looking the other way at the Russian influence. This should tell you all you need to know about how republicans view our American democracy. But if you are unclear let me sum it up for you. The republican party prefers power and wealth over democracy and their collusion with Russian operatives to thwart the will of the American people is secondary to their own greed and selfishness. I will go so far as to call them traitors when the evidence shows they lied and obstructed the truth.
     So it is with no doubt that the saving grace for our democracy will take place on November 6th, 2018, just 146 days from now. The catch phrase all year long has been a building blue wave for democrats to win the election in November and put the trump and republican leaders under a microscope so as to identify and remove the cowards who sold our democracy to a foreign hostile power. Once we get clear headed investigations through the investigative powers of Congress the quicker we can get at the truth of things and begin to heal our nation of the cowardly complicity republicans and the trumps, whom they are currently operating under.
     The bill is due for republicans and on November 6th, the bill must be paid. I have come to completely believe that American politicians from the republican party here in our great democracy are undermining our form of government. Because the proof is in the doing and republicans and trump have shown us the doing, so we must stop them from doing any more harm. That we have to put up with it for 146 more days is the pits but we have weathered it for the last 500 plus days so we can make it if all we patriots of American democracy will not only stand firm our ground but start to take ground back. We can still protest and march as rallying points to effectively show the world that trump and republicans are not who the majority of us Americans are!

We can all be heroes in our own lives (#3420)

     We don't need to be the heroes of the world or of a greater paradigm than the one we live. But we need to be the heroes of at least our lives. We have to be the example that others see and then want to emulate. The reason why is that our species needs to find its purpose beyond that of just surviving and all that selfishness that goes with it. We are not the lower animals scrambling for our place in the sun anymore. We are the giants who have slowly risen from that scrambling scenario to one where we control not only our own destiny but the destiny of the lower animals. So as we go all of life as we know it goes. There is no other higher real life being that exists in our environment than us.
     So how we choose to live our lives is our choice regardless of how we were brought up or how we were indoctrinated into any specific thought patterns. Our freedom to know is what sets us apart. We are not inhibited by an inability to attain knowledge unless we allow ourselves to be. This is where we begin to establish our trust in our own good and honorable natures. Sure we have negative impulses to satisfy wants and lusts but they are only impulses and are not ordered as who we are. We all share in the struggle to lift our better natures above the lesser worse natures we all have to battle. But in the battling we find victory and from victory we inculcate that victorious nature to a behavior within our core that is comfortable and a source of a humble pride.
      Then we live like the masters of what is right and good as a nature that is both foundational and correct for our species to exemplify. By doing like they say in several self help programs, "do the next right thing" and after a bit the succession becomes so natural that doing the next right thing is all we know how to do. Being a hero is simple in the concept of standing and acting on behalf of not only ourselves to protect what is great and good but also standing for others when they can barely crawl to protect what is better and best about themselves. All of this doing good is part of us feeling good and when we all feel good many great things can happen for all of us together.

If you don't think for yourself someone else will (#3419)

     For all of you lazy ass people who like the illusion of being in the know without actually being in the know this blog post is for you. You know who you are. You are the ones who are always looking for the shortcut to a conclusion without actually having to logically arrive at one on you own. Because it is real work putting the premises in front of the conclusion, so you cheat and let someone else tell you their conclusion despite them having no premises either. Mostly though you just hope to hear an outcome that closely reflects your prejudices and biases and then adopt it as your own. See, shortcuts to solutions because you are either too lazy to think it out for yourself or are too proud to admit you don't know how to think out a logical conclusion of your own.
     Mostly it is laziness though. I say that because most of us think we are too busy or too important to stoop to the mundane task of thinking about non profitable equations. Stuff that doesn't immediately effect our bank accounts is of a lesser concern or no concern at all. So we let others think about how to run our democracy and trust that they have our best intentions at hand. Although that may be time efficient, it is trust misplaced. Especially with the republican party doing your thinking. they spend an inordinate amount of time telling you half truths and outright lies while they sneak around behind everyone's back trying to destroy the working middle poor class by taking away health care, social security and other necessary programs aimed at shrinking poverty.
     It isn't amazing to me that I spend most of my time fact checking claims by republicans that democrats are doing nefarious things. However when the fact checking is done it is republicans that are the ones doing the wrongs. It is real simple folks, check the claims yourself and don't rely on me. You will find the same results since the facts of truth don't change. But again, check for yourself and then get into the habit of fact checking anything that seems fishy. There is no other way to know the truth if you care to be honest. That may be the problem with many of us though, whether we care enough to be honest. In the end the will of our nation is to be defined and already knowing what we know do we keep the republicans in power to continue to destroy our working middle poor class or do we kick them out with a ferocity reserved for the worst of the human experience?

The world is no longer astonished at our scoundrel appointed leader (#3418)

     There are no more character flaws for the civilized world to discover about trump. He has displayed so many of them to the rest of the elected leaders of the world and they now know who he is and what he is incapable of. Yes, his inabilities far outweigh his abilities, of which there are very few. The rest of the world knows now that trump's America is a scourge on the modern future of our planet and they are making plans to work without us to keep the progressive agenda moving forward. We need the rest of the world to do this and the majority of us Americans are with them and against trump. There is little we can do to take trump from the leadership of our nation as a willing accomplice republican party protects the diabolical nature trump prefers.
     So it isn't just trump that must go. In a few months we will have a general election where we can remove so many of trump's enablers that his appointed presidency will shatter if he is able to survive Mueller and finish out his last term to 2020. Because it will be his last term since his abject failure as a leader is clear. But in the meantime we can do much to begin the process of regaining our allies in the rest of the world by voting for democrats to remove republicans from public office everywhere they hold a seat come this November 6th. Never before 2016 has it been so obvious to me that our democratic voters need to get out and vote. No more ignoring the reality of a failed American nation if we don't remove the worst stain on American politics since before our modern era.
     We must take a cue now from our allies in the world and ignore the ramblings of the want to be demigod trump and make our own path back to a stable and functioning democracy. That the republican party has sold it's soul to the malicious heart of trump politics can never again be rewarded. Our own personal gains that may come about through the selfishness of the trump agenda can never be measured as more than the destruction he heaps upon the working middle poor class. If we do not move beyond our own personal gains despite the destruction being done then we are doomed as a nation that has any value of honorable purpose. For those of you who could care less about anything that doesn't line your pocket then I wish upon you a fate more painful than your worst nightmare tenfold!

Physical threats from the right wing (#3417)

     I find it amusing that the right wing is threatening the rest of us if we find that trump has violated the law or the constitution. As is rightly so we liberals and many independents are a civil and peaceful seeking lot. We would rather reason and discuss those things that separate us so as to find common ground and close gaps that are more illusion than real. Yet there are times when the ideal of compromise or logical acceptance of facts is impossible and an impasse has arrived. For the most part a detente is successful in maintaining the impasse until more facts and common sense can prevail. yet in some cases the other side, much like the right wing of American politics chooses to attempt to force their will on the rest of us despite their illogical stance.
     So when these times come about I have a message for the right wing that surely they are unaware of. We liberals and many independents choose to be civil and logical because we appreciate the rule of law, our constitution and the nature of physics and science. However, should the right wing, like they are now exhibiting fail to stay within the bounds of civility and logic, they will find that we are just as rabid about protecting those paradigms as they are in trying to destroy them. Not only that but we are much more prepared to do any type of battle with them because we understand that force and bullying are precursors to chaos and chaos is not anything a civilization can operate under.
     So as the right wing tries to bully us into their illogical will they will find that we will stand up to them and bare knuckle their faces like they never dreamed could be possible. Let there be no doubt about this, we liberals and many independents are just as capable if not more of protecting civilization through brute force as the right wing is at tearing it apart. So if it is a fight they want with us we will gladly meet them in any alley or street and proceed to show them that a purpose such as protecting our democracy is far and away a greater motivation for us than their strategy to tear down the most precious and dear democracy the world has ever known. Bring it on if you dare right wing!

Democrats national message for the midterms (#3416)

     We know that just being anti trump isn't going to be enough to sway voters to come out and vote. But don't get me wrong here, it will be a significant factor. But being anti trump and anti republican will only get us so far. We need to let everyone know what we democrats stand for. Like increasing the minimum wage to a livable wage. Too often too much there are those who struggle with one two and three jobs just to keep even when the idea of getting ahead is beyond them. Working for $7.25 and hour as the national minimum wage is currently will only secure that poverty will be a way of life and not a pathway toward anything resembling a middle class status.
     Another policy we advocate for is improving health care so that more are covered with more efficient spending to that end. Advancing women's rights and improving education for our children is as well a high priority. Removing weapons that resemble military usage from our streets and restricting ownership from those whose mental instability can be measured. What I hope more than most things to be done is to remove private money from our politics. We need to elect our best most brightest folks to public office, not just those who can afford to run. In that way we get to elect our representatives based upon their ideas for our democracy and our electorate.
     Eliminating the albatross of student debt from our children and their parents would go a long way toward our nation revitalizing it's innovative and creative paradigm. Making all public college free of tuition is an investment in the real strength of our national identity, our ability to reason and conclude on our own without hindrance. There are many more economic and social values we would protect and create in order to keep our equality of opportunity and our right to be free as who we are as a person. We democrats are the party of all the people and highlighting our foundation to improve lives instead of punishing them like republicans do will only help us build that blue wave we all are counting on to end the draconian reign of the conman trump and his lackey republican enablers.

Butthurt republicans can't breathe with trump in the room (#3415)

     The war going on in the republican party is about ego. What republicans did by getting trump appointed as president is backfiring on them in ways they had not thought about. They didn't realize just how deranged with ego that trump was and is. So when trump is in the room there is no room for anyone else to breathe since he requires all the oxygen. So what we have is people who are otherwise prone to being egomaniacs in the republican party being shut down by their puppet. This is the war between the delusionally great and powerful trumps and the delusionally great and powerful ones who made him so. It will be interesting to watch this play out since if trump is fighting his own party, he has less time to figure out ways to destroy American democracy and blame the working middle poor class for it.
     I for one hadn't thought about this either. I assumed like most rational people that once appointed as president, trump would fall in line behind the agenda of the treacherous ones who backed him. But that is not the case. Instead, trump is devising his own agenda based upon his ego and it telling him he is an anointed one. So those who are beneath him, his own backers included should bow down to him, just like he demands of us liberals and independents. This is not going well for him because his backers are just like him in the ego department and their ego will not allow them to bow to anyone, especially one who they installed to be their whipping boy.
     For the rest of us though, this is a silver lining that we needed to get us through the summer and into the fall election season. There will be much fallout over the battle for ego control and neither trump nor his initial backers are of the type to back down. So as the republican party continues to undermine it's own power we liberals and independents need to form an alliance that not only agrees that republicans have nothing for us but that we need to vote this coming election in such a fashion that republicans are bushwhacked and beaten into irrelevance. While republicans are fighting each other the rest of us can get our national and state governments back into a form that serves all Americans and not just the egomaniacs.

Obstacles in California removed from derailing the blue wave (#3414)

     Last night here in my home state of California, the path appears to be cleared for a democrat to be in every race for a congressional district seat. The worry was with so many democrats running in districts that were republican last time that a single democrat would not be able to make the top two vote getters in the primary. Our California primaries allow for all parties to run in a single primary. We don't have primaries for democrats and primaries for republicans. We have one primary and may the best two candidates win, regardless of party affiliation. So when there are numerous democratic candidates running in a district previously held by a republican it wouldn't be hard to think of a very real scenario where only two republicans get the most votes by percentage.
     Well that didn't happen but just barely didn't happen. So a relief this morning is felt by all of us democrats who worried over this for the past several months. We did lose a democratic state senator to recall in a republican district because he voted for our last gas tax and that was unfortunate but we admire his stance to vote for Californians instead of voting for the wealthy's pocketbook. In the future his honorable nature will be rewarded. All in all though there were 4 races that were a concern of being locked out for democrats but to all our relief here and across the nation the 4 were not and all 4 of them will have a democratic challenger for voters to appraise.
     What could have been a deterrent for our coming blue has now been eliminated. There are 7 congressional seats that are an even bet or better for democrats here to flip from republican to democrat and that is still the case. Those 7, if flipped, would go a long way toward making sure that we democrats end up in the majority in the House and a real clear rebut to trump and his democracy busting agenda. There is still much work to be done and the focus on getting our vote out is still priority number one but at least the path toward our future is cleared of any obstacles before we start on it. A happy day today and a better chance tomorrow for our democratic futures.

Good will triumphs over no will (#3413)

     46.9% of our American electorate did not bother to vote in the 2016 presidential election, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a8265143/almost-half-eligible-voters-did-not-vote-election-2016/. For whatever reasons one doesn't vote there are ten reasons why they should. First and foremost is to protect the right to vote. I know many held the belief that voting for the lesser of two evils was a waste of time. Well those who thought like that were hoodwinked into believing a lie. In no way shape or form was Clinton an evil of the nature of what trump is. Yet our large, always looking for a shortcut population, fell for the lies of people they choose to blindly trust instead of verify.
     Then there are the rabid believers who watch fox news like it is a staple of life. I shake my head at that one because they truly are sheep like. I learn my own facts about subjects, right or wrong, I let the facts dictate the truth. I don't abdicate my own reasoning, again as a shortcut, so that I can appear to know what I think is the truth because it fits what I want to believe. I let the chips fall where they may given the truth of things, not my hope for the truth. Yet too many of us rely on fox news as if it was a daily blood transfusion. How did we become a nation of people who hate rather than try to understand? Why did we choose to create problems instead of solving them with dignity and respect?
     What I mostly see is the will to have no will about what really matters in life, our emotions tied to our well being. Many choose not to care about anything that doesn't affect them directly. The old selfish saw of "only me and who cares about you". Well that may be a symptom we are now living with but there is a cure for it and the cure is to practice and perform good will. Good will goes an extra effort to try to make things right instead of making or letting them become worse. Good will is patient and truthful when the sacrifice of the one benefits the many. Or even when the sacrifice of the many benefits the one. As my many years on this planet have taught me, good will is nurtured within those who know what it feels like to have been beaten down by the takers and then lifted up by the givers with compassion and respect. I love the feeling good will brings and no other feeling is quite like it.

The constant awkward fumblings of trump are not excusable! (#3412)

     Those that surround trump are his voice when it comes to his ineptitude. So is their complicity in his crimes. In both intentional and unintentional means the crowd around trump are keeping our democracy from protecting itself. It is bad enough that the ego maniac trump has no sense of moral and ethical duty to our constitution but his closest allies are as bad if not worse. They protect their new found moment in the limelight like it is their destiny and if not more so their way to profit from the disaster we know as trump. The dregs of what it is to be human are now in control and it is disgusting that it has come about.
     We Americans are fortunate though to have the means of government outside the ramblings and incoherence of trump and his sycophants to fall back on but they are still precarious around the want-to-be-dictator trump. That trump sees himself above the law and able to do anything, including murder without consequence is the jist of my point here. No longer do we Americans have a leader who is supposed to be leading the citizens of our nation, we have instead a narcissistic faux demigod who is not satisfied with earning respect, honor and dignity. Instead he demands it and if it isn't given his abilities in being a petty backstabber often comes out.
     So no quarter can be given to the fool who is our president through appointment and any and all who would apologize for him and are doing themselves and others a disservice. There is no place in our national leadership for con men and demented thinkers yet that is what we have today and in 155 days hopefully we won't have nearly as many of them. Let me be perfectly clear, this whole nightmare of an election from 2016 was made possible by the republican party. The republican party that now holds majorities in Congress, the Supreme Court and holds the Presidency. If we do not make them pay this coming November 6th for their transgressions against democracy, the rule of law and common decency then we deserve them!

The dictator trump (#3411)

     He never saw himself as the leader of the free democratic world. Instead he saw a chance to make himself king and all he does is aimed at doing just that. That trump thinks he can get away with it demonstrates just how fragile republican politics are. Since the republicans control the majority in the Congress and now the Supreme court it is upon them to stop trump. But from what we have seen there is little resistance to trump and his glorified thronely ambitions. Of course there are a few who are standing up to him from the republican party but they are being drowned out by his rabid supporters. It is because they know that without trump and his ability to lie steal and cheat with colluding there would not be much power for them.
     So they have thrown there support to trump and his democracy crushing agenda. Well in 156 days we the American electorate get a say in how much power republicans can continue have. When the blue wave election comes it should be sufficient to change majorities in both the houses of Congress. While it can do little to nothing about the Supreme Court it can stop the republicans from seating unqualified candidates to federal judgeships. But in 156 days we democrats, independents and fair minded republicans of which there are fewer and fewer by the day must turn out and vote every where in our nation on November 6th. It will be then that the steps of trump toward a dictatorship like his hero putin can be fully stopped.
     We will likely have to put up with trump for the following 2 years after the elections in November but with a democratic Congress we can make sure that trump is held to account for all his numerous violations of his oath to our constitution. He must be held accountable otherwise his dirty dealings will go as a reward and further encourage future dishonorable intentions. It sickens me that an American who has had the benefit of our democracy throughout his life would now want to take it from the rest of us and enrich himself both financially and in an egomaniacal way. The desperation that his republican conspirators are exhibiting must also be checked and their intentional choice to enable trump must also be put to the test of criminal law. The little can't be dictator trump is a stain on our American democracy that will be felt for by our citizenry for centuries.

We liberals are an indomitable spirit (#3410)

     Try as they might, republicans will never be able to put we the American people under their yoke of hatred and condescension. What republicans have been doing for the last forty plus years is to slowly cook us unaware metaphorical frogs in the growing heat within the cauldron. Well, unlike frogs we humans feel the heat and will not let republicans get to boiling us to death. We may take a bit to get started in our defense because for one thing we find it hard that the republican party would collude to destroy our democracy from within and as well we are so busy with our lives we often don't notice when we are being deliberately hoodwinked.
     Well we are noticing now and as well we are finding out to our incredulity that the republican party is being complicit in a coup against American democracy. We are no longer in the stage of stunned disbelief, we are now in the stage where we rustle up our sleeves and ball our fists. The anger that is permeating our society is as real as the dirt on the ground. It is real and it is coming to find those republicans who would take what our foreparents gave us through sacrifice and love and it will bring a heavy hand down on their heads. There will be little quarter given to those who find their wallets of a greater value than our democracy.
     I will not entertain here what is going to happen once we liberals unleash our indomitable spirit toward fairness and justice but suffice it to say that when the time comes make sure that you are on the working middle poor class side of it. Because the price for the republican attempts to undermine our democracy will be swift and merciless. There is no other way to treat the criminal intent of human behavior than to make an example of it when it comes to this greed and hatred. The end of it must be our goal and for there to be any who gets away with it to survive the coming purge would be a detriment to all of us. We must celebrate those who live up to the great standards of our democracy and a reckoning to those who don't of an unequivocal proportion who would and are stealing from the legacy of opportunity for all, fairness and justice.

I still feel like a teenager even though I am old (#3409)

     I have been a single man my whole life and although there were a couple of marriage possibilities along the way I never did tie the knot. So girlfriends have come and gone and there were periods of drought on that subject for me as well but one thing that has stayed constant since my youth, a need and a want to embrace a woman with desire if she kindles my soul. When I was a young teenager and making out was all that was on my mind, I felt the same passion then as I do now when I see a woman whose soul aligns with mine. Not just attraction for the sake of attraction but the kind of invisible bonding that only occurs when there is no preconceived notion beyond the simple stirring of a host of intangibles.
     I used to be like most all males who looked solely at outside beauty as the marker for attraction. But I have grown from my base adolescent desires to a more complex deternininer of attraction. The woman has to be as real, honest, curious and compassionate as I. The intellectual and emotional factors are as important as any physical appearance. So when I do meet a woman who aligns with my soul I find that I want to be just like that teenager I was and make out with her with a passion as strong as my earlier teenage fumblings. It is a wonderful feeling to know that life within me is constant in some areas despite the aging process.
     Now let me explain one thing first. I am 62 but even though that is reality, I don't really think of myself as old although I am looking like it ever more with the passage of time. There are times when I feel like a child and despite my current age it is real within me. So for me to have the stirrings of being attracted to a woman like a teenager is confirmation that although I am more mature, I am still young at heart and haven't lost my desire to share moments of intimacy when those moments present themselves. I like this and although it wasn't easy to write about this I think I got my message through without making it creepy or disingenuous.