Our rising blue wave... (#3681)

     I am not surprised seeing these articles lately trying to scare us by saying that trump will win in 2020. It is if by some magic trick everything has changed since the election of 2018, I am not buying it. We are still angry as hell at trump and republicans and they haven't done anything to ease our anger. Instead they have fostered even greater anger within us for their continuing attacks on our working middle poor class. So as I see some of my fellow democrats getting worked up over these articles I try to remind them that the disinformation campaign is all republicans have. They have not reached out to us to turn back from the forced policies on us and in fact the policies they have pushed forward against us are coming around to show us that we were not only correct in protesting against them but they are worse for us than what we imagined, take the wealthy tax cut law for example, https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tax-plan-consequences/.
     After yesterday's cohen congressional testimony it seems even less likely now that trump will have any real chance to gain or be once again appointed to the presidency. As the congressional investigations continue the worse case scenario for trumps and their conspirators begins to become more likely than not. So as we earnestly start into the 2020 presidential campaign our spirits have to be lifted and made to know that the era of trumps is about to close for good. I still suggest we pay little attention to those who caterwaul for trump as their shrillness is mind numbing. Instead focus on the positives we are building through already introduced legislation and future legislation coming from democrats in our new majority in the house.
      Surely there will be more articles coming forward that will somehow try to gain some legitimacy however the fact that trump and his acolytes are being outed as criminally motivated it will be a long stretch by any objective journalist to find much good for America through trumps. Our blue wave from 2018 is still riding high and no amount of ignoring it will change it's destination come 2020. The senate and the presidency will move to we democrats and the house will remain our foundation as we move further into the future. The era of republican control of our national narrative and future standing in the world is about to end and the only real noise I hear from the trumps and the republican party is their death cry!

The cohen story... (#3680)

     Today, as bone spurs trump is ironically hiding in... get this...Vietnam, his personal fixer attorney is about to testify in front of the Congress and nation on whole about the criminal activity he was instructed to participate in at the direction of trump. That trump is out of the country at this moment and sequestered away from the media tells us a lot about the timing of all of this and the depth of the damage it will do to trump. That trump will always have his followers no matter what he does, this is more about those who are not quite sold on trump and yet still vote for him. Sworn testimony still means something to most of us and that it is such a high level look into the trappings trump has himself initiated is damning.
     In less than 2 hours the testimony will begin and if the more than indirect threat that republican congressman gaetz leveled against cohen is any indication that the testimony will damage republicans, Occam's razor tells us that the testimony portends of great damage caused when the threat is so obvious. The stars are aligning for a great imbalance in the trump administration as the words of cohen will surely disrupt the toe the line attitude prevalent within the trump hierarchy. The cruel and brutish nature of how trump lies and treats those who are not him will give us the real glimpse into the hateful nature trump really wishes to expose but cannot due to political pressure from within his own cabal.
     So when cohen is done with his expose don't expect trump to turn into a shrinking flower, instead it may unleash his true nature of mental instability and trigger him into the persona he truly wants to be both privately and publicly. His republican handlers will be left flailing trying to get trump to stay within their strategy but surely trump doesn't see them as his masters he sees only himself as the master of all. This day may turn out to be nothing but a whimper but I am getting the feeling that it well be the beginning of the end of trump where there is no doubt as to the outcome. We will have to wait to hear the cohen testimony for us to know what tomorrow will be like for all of us.

trump, hiding behind the presidency (#3679)

     That trump brought a huge pile of personal lawsuits with accusations of criminal actions into his appointed presidency seems suspicious at first glance but since his placement he has been involved in even more activities that have the stench of criminal behavior. One doesn't have to wonder if when there is smoke there is most always fire when it comes to trump. He is by natural default an unscrupulous soul who takes his allowable demeaning characteristics as a sign that he is above the rule of law. Or in my summation, securely ensconced behind the shield of the presidency. Which may lead us to believe he will never leave the White House despite our democracy and its election outcomes.
     trump has found his safe harbor and it is the strategy he has been waiting all his life for. Become president, do what he wants and then never stop being president as long as he is alive. Nice gig in his mind. So if anyone doubts that trump lives on the razor sharp edge of desperation then they are fooling themselves. trump knows that once he is removed from the presidency he will become shark bait in a sea full of hungry sharks. So his guiding principle is to win at all costs. I mean all costs whether correct or illegal and everywhere in between. Because he knows that a sitting president is far less likely to have to face his criminality than one who is not in office.
     The very defining nature of our democracy is now the next test we Americans face come November 3rd, 2020. If we do not gain more ground from the last battle we won in the 2018 election then we are not going to unseat the conman who would be president for life. His very future in our society is going to be either as a want to be king or a disgraced criminal. Which will prevail? I know the momentum from the last election is still strong and our blue wave is still actionable but we have to keep the inertia of it flowing. There cannot be any letdown in our resolve. We know what trump and republicans will do to hold onto power and now it is up to us to say no to them, vote them out and then escort them from the buildings by force if necessary.

The republican propaganda waves of disinformation are hitting our news outlet shores (#3678)

     This is all republicans have, disinformation. They have no policies that are positive and attractive to we the American public. So all they have is to distort and lie about the democratic party. We should all know by now that the disinformation will not stop until right up to election eve. Remember the republican claim of endless reporting on the caravans of killers coming from Mexico? The day after the 2018 election there wasn't another word about it. Because it was their made up narrative to scare people into voting for them. If not trying to scare us they are lying to us about our candidates. So again, just ignore them at all costs and dismiss them with a chuckle and some facts that are a factual rebuttal to their claims.
     What we democrats have going for us is the preservation and improvement of our social programs, equality for women, addressing climate change, revamping campaign finance reform practices, keeping our air, water, ground, and food from being compromised. Along with improving educational opportunities, improving our relations with our foreign allies, destroying the for profit private prison system and all it's ancillary negative effects, raising the minimum wage to a living wage, balancing out the tax system to a fairer apportionment from poverty to wealth, Ending the gerrymandering of districts to favor what are most all republican politicians, while ending the archaic electoral college process that was supposed to protect us from mentally deficient souls like trump.
     We democrats know what life could be like under a democratic majority political administration and the thought of it far outweighs the petty attacks and lies coming from the now diseased and dying republican party. The republicans will have time and the wealthy's cash on their hands before the next election so their relentless attack on our democracy will not stop. So in lieu of that we must make sure we are reminded of what we will have when we all stick together and vote republicans out of office. We won't be a seamless party without arguments within but we are still on the same page as to what progress and fairness look like. Whether we can take a great stride forward or just a few steps at a time will be our mission to solve once we have put down the republican opposition to modernizing our nation along the lines of our creativity, innovation and humanity.
     

The right wing is drumming up violence (#3677)

     With the latest nra magazine post showing "Target Practice" with democratic politicians in the same picture and the recent roger stone pic of cross hairs in the same picture with his sentencing judge there can be little doubt that an agenda of violence and fear mongering is being utilized against those of us who keep faith with the rule of law. This tactic of suggestive assassination is now more than just an innocent "excuse me". No sorry is acceptable when the whole purpose of the dog whistle is to fill the minds of the craziest among the right wing fraternity to kill or maim. The message has been sent. Now we wait and see if the bait is bitten by the the most demented among the followers of trump.
     I cannot exaggerate my disdain and outright anger at the stone and nra episodes to commit murder. There is no doubt in my mind that the intent by both stone and the nra is to end life with their communiques. This is the nature of republican politics at the moment. They have no policy agenda that is approved by the American electorate so their attempt to hold onto power is to wipe out the competition and instill fear into those who would challenge them. This is putinesque and if anyone with half a brain like me can see it then it shouldn't be hard for anyone else to draw the same conclusion.
     Everything republicans are doing now is to take our eye off their acts currently being investigated and discussed. The more the chaos the better it is for republicans. We have to wait almost 2 years before we can do our cyclical regime change process so in the meantime the republican party will do everything in it's power to destroy the calm and peace of thoughtful deliberation and replace it with the bombastic narrative of fear and untruthful blaming. Add to that now the seeds being sowed for a call to arms for the craziest among us and the next war trump has been trying to start overseas as a distraction, many well be instigated right within our own borders. We must shut down this republican attempt at calling to arms for assassination in its infancy right now and put our boots on the necks of those who are masterminding it!

Only democratic party candidates get our vote! (#3676)

     I don't really need to say this do I? I mean come on just remember what happened 2 years ago when many of us were disillusioned by propaganda and then didn't support our democratic presidential nominee. When that happens we get lost souls like trump. If you really think about it we democrats and like minded independents far out number the republican party and their insane agenda for our future. So the only way they can defeat us is to confuse us. Well let me tell you that it worked last time and we got trump for our miserable reward. Never again I say. Whomever we democrats nominate, I don't care if it is a brick, we had better all support said brick otherwise we will end up with not only a pile of crap but a pile of crap that wants to shove itself down our throats.
     So no matter what the media promotes that attacks us democrats, ignore it unless it is an imminent threat at your doorstep. Because like last time republicans cannot win without creating fearful chaos. They are the ever shrinking minority party in our country and the only way they can win is to divide we the majority. What I do is real simple, I ignore the media unless it is objective media or slanted liberal media. Because we liberal/progressives are far more prone to telling the truth than any, and I mean any, right wing source. In fact if it is a right wing source I ignore and and wait to see what is reported in the objective mainstream media. Then and only then will I waste any time on understanding it. Otherwise it is just more propaganda that I don't and won't have any time for.
     There are too many republican created problems in the world that are now becoming exponentially problematic because of republican political agendas. There is no time for them anymore in my life so therefore I spend all my time advancing democratic causes, policies and candidates. The rest is just noise that I hope to help diminish come the next election. Think about this, we just keep our heads down and pledge to ourselves and anyone who will listen that we will only vote for democratic candidates on our ballots. Let republicans make their immature attempts to discredit all our candidates with all their dirty money. Because we are not listening nor watching them try to undermine our attempts to exterminate republicanism from our politics come November, 3rd, 2020.

The cruel republican American (#3675)

     Not only are republicans by choice cruel they are manifestly ignorant to what their effects cause. They have no forethought as a guide unless they somehow benefit personally from it. They see our planet and the life on it as an opportunity to enrich themselves. I know this sounds rather harsh and many republicans are not as extreme as I portray, however through their continuing support of the republican party they are enabling the very definition I give to them. So being a second hand accomplice in the manipulation of our existence is still the same as being the first hand culprit.
     The idea that the innocence of not knowing or the innocence of unbelief are justified excuses to their behavior is a slap in the face to those of us who fight with logic and common sense for justice. While republicans dodge their responsibilities to all of life and our planet, they continue to profit from their greedy choices. I will not allow them that dishonesty of being dodgy about their corruption while profiting at the same time. It is a con and we the American voting public are tired and worn out by it. There has to come a time when the punishment for crimes against all of humanity are paid in full with a severe just response.
     Every day I see in the news that some republican has some selfish excuse for why they attack our democracy and why they defend the destruction of the democracy that gave them the power to do better under democracy. The baffling part is that they have their leg up in society and yet do not want others to have the same. I see this in the republican party as a general and specific rule. The worst of our society in the form of damaged souls now lead the republican party and all its power structures. So for anyone to claim that they are just being loyal to their past affiliations with republicanism are missing the point. Their old republican party died 50 years ago and what they are loyal to now is the hijacked carcass of that death!

Real simple folks, just vote for the democrat everywhere! (#3674)

     The disinformation machine of the republican far right is going full blast now that it is early in the election cycle. They are coming for everyone who is a democrat because they fear that trump and his republican enablers in Congress are going to lose in 2020. Right now their messaging is generalized and scatter shot but as we close in on the actual voting period it will get more specific and sensationalized. I do myself a favor and don't watch news specifically on television or radio because it is where the worst of the lies about democrats are disseminated. I get my news from trusted sources on the Internet where the vetting out of propaganda is priority number one.
     However this is all going to play out there is a simple way of dealing with it. I ignore most all of it and just know that when the ballot shows up at my door I will vote for every democrat on it. Regardless of who is running. Yes, if they are running as a democrat they will get my vote over anyone else who has filed to run as a republican or independent. So all the disinformation in the world will do the republican party no good in my world. Now others are not so attuned to their strategy of lies so they will be effected by the advertising and there is nothing I can do about that but tell them that it is all just a bunch of lies coming from the worst political party to have ever campaigned in American politics.
     In some ways I hope our democratic party has a march every 3 months or so just so we can destroy the ongoing narratives that republicans are trying to advance. We democrats are on the correct side of our democracy and nothing republicans can do will ever change that. The republican party choose its path of treason, hatred and lies and that is what they will campaign on. On the other hand we democrats have chosen democracy and the equality of opportunity that affords. We want all to have a fighting chance at the American dream of happiness and its pursuit. We democrats respect the lives of our human race and have no time for the division of peoples based upon privilege and advantage. We earn our respect by respecting others, without a caveat to differences. It's real simple folks, ignore the republican attacks and just vote for the democrat everywhere.

If trump is denying it you can bet the allegation is true (#3673)

     Rule of thumb, or as it is better understood, follow this advice because it is as factual as can be. When trump goes into full denial mode you can go down and find someone, anyone who would bet you about trump's denial and you can be a winner. The one constant in trump's appearance on the public stage is that when he goes into denial it is because the truth is being told. He didn't have a meeting with Russians and then he did, He didn't want to build a hotel in Moscow and then we find out he did want to build a hotel in Moscow. He didn't collude with Russia in the 2016 election and well you know how that is going. Anyway, the point here is that trump denials are like a gold mine to those who know when to make a bet.
     Usually, and under normal circumstances when someone denies something it should be because it isn't true. But as trump defines denial it is a way of avoiding the truth for however long he needs to get out from under the truth in anyway he can. Lying as a form of defense is not new nor shocking. Yet when trump lies it is because he is caught and not because he is protecting some greater good. Now I know many of his cult followers believe that "if" he has to lie it is because of a greater good. But that is based upon their belief that he is humanly infallible. They don't see him as a normal person who is afflicted with many pernicious behaviors when unchecked, no, they believe he is reincarnate of some worshipped deity they must follow no matter what.
     Well the rest of us are not afflicted with the cult followers need to believe in something because they quit or never could grasp the concept of logic and common sense. So believing in something, even anything is better for them as they see it than facing reality and it's natural existence. It is worse than a form of brainwashing for them it is a purpose for life to be the servants of trump regardless of behavior or outcome. To reason, analyze and then conclude is for those losers who cannot understand the power that trump gives them. It is all encompassing and for that privilege they give trump every benefit of the doubt even up until their own demise. So trump's denials are all they need to hear in order to know "their" truth, unlike the rest of us who can bank on it always being a lie.

The collusion of the republican party with trump is wide and deep (#3672)

     There is no doubt as to the reason republicans in political office continue to defend and shield trump from investigators and charges of significance. They are in league with trump and as conspirators will do anything to deny and rebuff attempts to find the truth. Much like what republicans are doing now. However, they failed to stop the Mueller investigation before it got started and then found that they couldn't stop it after it got going without causing a constitutional crisis. Then they lost the House of Representatives and the ability to stifle investigations into their treasonous activities with the Russians.
     So now we are seeing the mechanics of how the strategy to steal the White House and congressional seats has illicitly taken place. Always follow the money to find the source of wrongdoing and that is what is happening. As most key players on the American side of the conspiracy have been interrogated and or charged the facts have revealed themselves to Mueller. Although the Russian side players have been diminished by putin and his death squads the trail still leads back to Russia. Given the ineptitude and arrogance of the trumps the uncovering of the bumbling actors has been relatively easy. Along with them realizing that they are in deep and have begun singing like songbirds to save their own skin.
     But what is most disconcerting is that fact of sitting republican politicians overtly and covertly involved to thwart the cause of justice. They cannot see that when they defend against the American public they are choosing to side with deception. It is cut and dry what they are doing and it portends to their own guilt. Why else obstruct an investigation into an offender? So not only is the appointed trump administration dirty, but so are their republican defenders. The truth will come out and those involved will see the end of their days as movers and shakers in our society. They will be lucky to get out of this failed attempt to usurp our democracy with their lives but of course they surely feel they deserve a medal instead.

Presidents day, a day of protest of the appointed one (#3671)

     This may be a federal holiday today but it isn't going to play out like one. Instead there are going to be protests all over the country of trump and his fake national emergency to get money for his wall from the military budget. It is a scam just like everything else trump does so he isn't fooling anyone with an IQ over 100. Yet there are plenty out there with an IQ under 100 who believe everything he says as a sort of bastardized biblical gospel. That his hard core base couldn't figure out that after declaring a national emergency he went and spent the weekend playing golf might be a clue that he was hustling again is proof of their inability to be intelligent.
     There is another possibility though that has little to do with intelligence and more to do with treason so that cannot be ruled out as a reason for their blind support. They may feel that no matter what trump does, regardless of a constitutional impediment, he is right no matter what. So if supporting a foreign government over our American one gets them the outcome they seek then that is what they will support. I gather from my own observation that there is a mixture of both of these scenarios playing out in the hard core base of trump, stupidity and treason. So today our opposition to trump and all that support him is on display.
     I would be out there in the streets today but I had already scheduled a dental appointment weeks back so this mid morning I will be in a dental chair listening to something similar to trump's voice, a dreaded high pitched whirring sound instead. At least that is what I am told since I do not listen to him speak under any occasion. The other presidents in our more modern era have their faults and some much more than others but none of them except nixon and bush the younger rise to the level of the incompetence and harmful psychological disarray as trump. So there will be no including him in any pause in my day to reflect on our past presidents. Instead I will be keeping my daily vigil on the Internet, assuming the dental appointment doesn't kill me lol, sharing every trump protesting event that crosses my path.

No days off with trump (#3670)

     We will have to wait for either Bob Mueller to charge and prove trump for a removable crime or wait until his first term is up to get rid of him. In the meantime trump is never ending in his assault on our democracy and our decency. It isn't like there is a lull in time with him as he is relentless in his hatred for most Americans. So although luckily we are still all alive and well into his third of four years we must never stop being vigilant to his every move. The harder we make it for him to succeed in his strategy to denigrate the working middle poor class the better we will be when he is finally gone. He will be gone there is no doubt with me.
     It may seem like he has some momentum in his quest to be a second term president but it isn't real and only his ego, imagination and those disingenuous around him tell him so. So on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 we can finally vote him out and then survive his final 78 days as a lame duck president, sans Mueller. In 625 days from today we will know the results of the 2020 election, as well as in 703 days from today, on January 20, 2021, we will have a newly sworn in president. However, until then every day that he is our appointed president he has shown that he will do everything in his power to crush our resistance to him. He is an ego driven destroyer of democracy and has ambitions to become a destroyer of Earth.
     How civilized our citizenry have become on the democratic side of politics. I know the republicans are much more capable of civil disruption on an extra legal scale since all recent mass shootings in America have come from right wing fanatics. Yet instead of vigilante justice we have to muster our will to combat the extra constitutional lengths trump is more than willing to illegally go. He has calculated that his majority republican supreme court will not follow the constitution when it comes to him and instead cower to his demands. That fight has yet to be fought but the odds of him brow beating the cowardly Supreme Court republicans to kneel before his demands is still an open question and not one that can be readily answered. Such is the nature of cowards they remain silent before they betray not only our citizenry but our beloved national constitution.

There is a war going on about climate right now! (#3669)

     Those who don't care what the future brings because they will be long gone from life are the ones who are putting up the biggest obstacle to cleaning up our planet's future. Those of us who care about what happens to the planet long after we are gone are the ones who are fighting against them. This is not a drill it is happening in real time right now! So make up your mind what is important to you. Roll your sleeves up to either fight to destroy the planet as long as you profit from it or fight to stop those greedy assholes from killing off the only planet our species can survive on. You decide what kind of human being you are because not making a choice is as much fighting for those who are destroying our planet as those who are actively trying to do so.
     The wealthy in the oil and gas industries had their chance to reconfigure their industries over to planet friendly enterprises but instead chose to keep the toxic profits they were accustomed to instead of being a better human being. So they have long ago been fighting to destroy our planet and those who are just now realizing that common sense and logic are not going to save them are being shocked into this reality. There are no governmental mechanisms in place to protect the sanity of rationalization, instead there are only greedy republican politicians who are well honed to being bribed for their allegiance to the death of our planet. You make think me being melodramatic yet I would say that the evidence is not on your side.
     We, our society, has known about the effects of climate change for many decades and yet we were not able to change our policies due to obstruction from dirty energy and it's protectors, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html. Yet not all is lost yet despite the desperation we are now all in. There are still those deniers out there trying to downplay the devastation coming due to climate change and there are still those out there who don't want to believe it despite all the facts and truths laid bare. If we do not end the republican reign of dominance in our politics we are going to lose our planet. That is a fact and if you have any fight in you for the future of our children and their children now is the time to get angry and join the fight to save our planet. You with the rest of us?

Waiting for the other shoe to drop (#3668)

     Well if anyone thought this Friday was going to be a slow day they are going to be in for a surprise. The trumps are going to declare a national emergency so that trump can build a legacy in the shape of a racist wall along our southern border. He decided to declare an emergency not because it is an actual emergency but because he had no other way of getting funds for his campaign promise that he made well over 2 years ago. Although, he did say Mexico would pay for it back then. But now as a strategy he is going to declare a state of emergency out of thin air just so he can get what most Americans don't want. It is obvious to those of us with an ounce of objectivity that this is trump throwing his final tantrum and his hail mary bomb.
     So today will show us just how badly he wants this wall and it will also show us just how strongly the majority of us are against it. I carried a placard I made at home to the Women's march this last January 19th that read, NO WALL NO WAY.  So this will be the final test of whether the conviction of that placard will prevail or if it was all for nothing. We democrats already have defenses for the coming trump declaration and are poised to enact those varied defenses when trump opens his mouth and spews out his demand. Let me say here that spending months on deciding whether to declare an emergency is eye opening in that the definition of an emergency is something of an in the moment desperation, not a long drawn out calculation to subvert the give and take of our democracy.
     When trump had both houses of Congress for 2 years he wasn't able to convince his own party to build his wall and now that he has lost one of the houses of Congress and has been told unequivocally that he cannot build his vanity wall he now sees the need to make up an emergency that doesn't exist, https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2018/06/25/there-is-no-crisis-at-the-border-and-dhs-stats-prove-it/#35a33f13112a. This wall that only trumps see as an emergency is not even the recommendation of experts who study migration at our southern border, https://www.nhregister.com/technology/businessinsider/article/THE-TRUTH-ABOUT-THE-BORDER-CRISIS-Experts-say-13523785.php. So sit back today and watch the fireworks on trumps strategy to upend our democracy but by all means don't lose sight of the looming weekend.

Racism is a character defect (#3667)

     Your character comes into question when you choose to be racist. Yes, racism is a choice or default position when you are too ignorant to understand your own dislikes. Blaming the color of one's skin for failings whether real or imagined is illogical and anti-intelligent. Fear of some culture you have little information about isn't bad, but in the next step the fear must be replaced with knowledge. Otherwise the breeding grounds for a lack of understanding in most cases turns into a hatred that reflects racism. I know I had my own experiences with different cultures but I found a way to assimilate because I looked for similarities instead of differences. I embraced the idea that we all are of one race, the human race, and anything less than that gold standard was a waste of an opportunity to grow as an individual.
     My fear was replaced by being respectful and open to listening to whatever it took to build a bond. I didn't project my own values on others but I held to my values like an anchor. What came of my assimilation with other cultures is a broader intellectual perspective that has only increased my wisdom and ability to comprehend. So what was at first a fear became a necessity for my own evolutionary path. Many were not like me. They chose instead to segregate and build walls around their lives and activities so that they didn't have to face their initial fear. I understand what fear can do but I also know that life never stops presenting us with challenges like fear to overcome. They quit on themselves in order to escape their fear instead of challenging their fear and finding a way past it.
     So those who hold to racism as a condition of their lives are still stuck way back when they first felt their fear. That is a long time ago to live with a character defect that defines who they are now instead of whom they could have been. A wasted life in a sense that a challenge was shirked and a disorder replaced it. I know what racism can do to some people whom I know and it is not a welcoming or pleasant experience. They act like they are deserving of their racist attitude but all they do is show me that they were a coward when they could have been courageous. Blaming the race of someone for the moral failings all we humans exhibit is certainly not seeing the bigger picture. I know the struggles I lived to overcome and that others are not trying to overcome theirs is what this scourge of racism is all about.

trump's stolen immigrant children (#3666)

     This is all on trump. He stole these immigrant children from their parents when all the parents wanted was a chance at life without the fear of imminent death. Instead what they got from trump was their children taken from them and then in too many cases lost or given away for adoption to Americans, https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2018/1009/Separated-from-parents-some-migrant-children-are-adopted-by-Americans. When seen in the light of the overall effect of the trump taking of children, this reeks of trump trafficking in children. His zero tolerance policy has allowed him the vehicle by which to snatch these children from their parents and then conveniently lose them in the system with no way of reuniting them with their parents because it would be difficult to do, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/report-trump-admin-does-not-plan-to-reunite-families-separated-before-zero-tolerance_us_5c55c3c4e4b087104753e468.
     trump has also said that he had stopped the process of zero tolerance in response to the taking of immigrant children from their parents but we now know that was a lie, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/27/donald-trump-zero-tolerance-policy-border-migrants-families-separated-immigration/2132426002/. If connecting the dots on this shows that trump is dealing in the trafficking of children then that is what it is. I am sick and tired of some media types who continue to describe this as circumstantial when the facts lay bare the act of criminality regardless of deflecting explanations. The ethical immorality of stealing children from families and then giving them away for whatever return is abominable and in my mind an act worthy of the harshest form of punishment known to humankind.
     This era of trump is the most disgusting and dangerous time for our nation and short of a revolution will be hard to endure for it's remainder. We Americans are not trump like nor are we ambivalent to what he is doing. We are restricted by our constitution as to what our legal responses can be and unlike the dictators that trump loves to embrace, we don't have extra legal options to choose from to end the era of trump. All we can do for now is do our best to prove that trump has no right doing his child theft from the lofty chair of our nations presidency. However there will come a time when trump will answer for his crimes and that is what gives us all hope to continue despite his stench riddled actions of the now.

Beto rivaled trump (#3665)

     Beto O'Rourke having a counter protest against trump in El Paso yesterday exemplifies not only the majority of us who are against the wall but that a sitting appointed president couldn't outperform a private citizen in terms of supporters for their dueling rallies. In fact the consensus is that Beto had a larger gathering than trump. However the numbers are parsed in who supports whom, the fact that there is even question is a telling sign that trump is playing with less than a full deck of cards if he thinks he is popular with his wall demand. The delusion of trump continues however evidenced by his inability to understand that funding for his vanity wall is a no go.
     All of this is a precursor to the 2020 elections where we democrats have already fielded nearly 10 viable candidates for president while the trumps and their republican acolytes are working hard to deny any other republican from running a primary challenge against trump. The difference in how each political party operates is crystal clear in that we democrats are all about inclusion and the republican party is all about exclusion. It isn't just politics where this is evident. As the trumps court the right wing fanatics of misogyny and racism while enacting laws that whet their appetites to support trumps while denying social services and constitutional protections for those who choose to be who and what they are that isn't in line with the republican agenda.
     The knee jerk republican party is now wholly owned by trump and his democratic societal extermination policies. That Beto was able to show that the trump carnival barking attraction was neither an indicator of momentum toward his wall's approval but that the opposite is actually true. So thanks Beto for making the time to lead a counter protest that was more in line with the majority of America than letting the trumps have a clear field to once again distort the reality of the moment. The more we show that trump is a windbag full of excremental effluvium the more we secure our own future toward democratic ideals and away from the authoritarian nature of the narcissistic trump.

trump is lazy and a liar (#3664)

     With his purported, I don't subscribe so I get it second hand, tweets this morning claiming he is neither lazy nor a liar, we can automatically presume he is both. Because if there is one thing we know about trump is his first act whenever called out for something is to deny it then later when it is proven he is in fact guilty of lying he lies again. The lazy part is simple. the leaked schedule of his business at doing nothing has been exposed so what does he do? He denies it. trump is as predictable as the sun rising in the east. He will never admit to making a mistake nor to being less than the most perfect human who has ever existed. We can count on these things as if they are absolute.
     I would go a step further and expect him to say that he either isn't stupid or the opposite, the smartest man who ever lived in his next tweet but I haven't heard anyone say that he has done so...yet. But it would be right in line with his hollow character. You really have to admire our democracy even though trump is trying like all hell to destroy it that he is still breathing air on top of the dirt. We as a nation don't go for that overthrow paradigm when an appointed leader shows that he is less human than many animals. Instead we work the laws of our constitution to protect ourselves from him. It may not be easy on the majority of us but we know that our system of government is still stronger than those who would rip it to shreds.
     So another week is coming with the man/child bully in charge of what had been a greater democracy before his arrival. We will see what disruptions trump will cause and what response we have to them just like all the weeks past that he has stirred his decayed formula for lessening our society. We now have the House of Representatives to rebut his previously unobstructed path of ruination so instead of fearing his wrath on us we now have a barricade and an attack mechanism that will begin to turn the fight back at trump and his enablers. Most of whom reside in the republican party and the ranks of the wealthy. The end of trumps, his minions and his puppet masters is now a reasonable expectation and although it will be tough it is certainly not outside our ability to achieve.

I have no patience for republican talking points (#3663)

     The republican party does not nor are they interested in representing the working middle poor class so it is my stance to dismiss them before they can even spew their bullshit and hypocrisy. I just have no time for any of it. My life is short enough without having to subject myself to those who purposely and even inadvertently, as a condition of their illogic, lie with an agenda. Most of us know what is good and correct so when republicans try to spin crap into gold it is not worth the hearing of their fairytale. I don't ever listen to any republican speak because they never say anything that is progressive or of a solution to our common problems so why waste my time with nonsense.
     I know some of you actually do care to listen to them so you can stay abreast of their scheming however it is my contention that they are always scheming so it doesn't really matter to me which scheme they are trying to employ. I know that I have to keep telling everyone that they are not honest souls so regardless of their advocacy it is always tied to their agenda of being against the working middle poor class. My fragile mind, lol, cannot take the illogical and underhanded noise they spew because I am better at keeping my mind out of the gutter and into perceiving a better future. Selective hearing is my mantra when it comes to the noise republicans are fruitlessly attempting to make into music.
     By keeping my focus on the advances we liberal/progressives are working to promote I can solidify my understandings in defending egalitarianism for all. We liberal/progressives believe in merit after we all get to start the same without privileges and advantages. Merit should be rewarded when creativity, innovation and hard work perform in ways that demand to be rewarded but not rewarded so much that the rest of us suffer to pay it. Just like there should be no poverty, their should be no super wealthy. A better economic balance in our society would cure so many of the troubles we are currently experiencing. When the wealthy and their republican advocates finally figure that out is unsure but we the working middle poor class in the meantime must make sure that republicans at least become a moot political party.

So tired today (#3662)

     I always start my day out real early in the morning so by the time it is 8 in the morning I am pretty much exhausted if I have a morning like today. Busy taking care of all the chores away from the house like getting supplies and repair material for the house and tools. It is strange to others that I am ready for a nap when they are just beginning to awake and get into their day. It seems that my sleep is getting less and less time while my awakening is longer and longer. I have to put a stop to it and after this morning I will be hitting the sleep much earlier that what I have been doing. I am older now and my body doesn't react like I want it to from past experiences so making sure I don't overextend myself is a new paradigm I have to adhere to.
     Yet right now I am barely able to stay awake thus this post about the most trivial of things. But I do these posts for me anyway so at least I am not boring myself but more like having a conversation with myself that I will make public. lol. Anyway I have no great desire to rant or rave about trumps and their never ending disrespect to our citizenry and our institutions of our democratic government. Be it enough that I will get back at them soon enough but the eyelids are heavy and the muscles what is left of them are aching. However my fingers seem to be taking on a life of their own on this keyboard as I race through the words that are on this page.
     Tired is good though it means I am getting things done. Stocked the food pantry, loaded up on yard gas and got supplies from the hardware store that will keep me busy on projects around the house. I even got new shoelaces that my fairly new kittens had chewed up. :) Have a great day everyone and just ignore this post as it is nothing much of anything that is worth spending our precious time on today. :)

Support for trumps is waning (#3661)

     We are finally seeing the downfall begin for trump. Most of us who have been against him since the beginning of his run for president knew he was a carnival barker looking to grift the next dupe. Well although most of us were aware of this his followers were not so inclined to believe their eyes and ears. They held onto him as some sort of savior of not only their jobs and white heritage but of their definition of morality that they put their blind faith into because the "christian" religion is easier to believe than facts. But now we see the effects of trump's tax cuts and how they are not immune to giving up their traditionally profitable tax returns for the sake of the wealthy getting more of their money. This is akin to a betrayal for them and they are now realizing that they may well have been taken in by the chief grifter.
     It is hard feeling sorry for them at all because they were warned by not only the majority of Americans, scholars and economics experts but by the facts if they had chosen to do just a little bit of fact checking. Be that as it may however, they are now awakening to the betrayal and are none to happy about it, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10218562729402496&set=a.1086604728374&type=3&theater.  The rest of us have been preparing as best we could for this tax season because we didn't want to get caught off guard like these trump supporters. But their pain is just rewards for them because every decision we make has a cause and effect quotient and their effect is allowing them to awaken to the huckster trump.
     So not only are the trump supporters who are being charged higher taxes upset with him but those who thought he would get his demand for the wall by shutting down the government are sorely disappointed. The State of the Union speech of trump which was loaded with rhetoric without a plan seemed to have assuaged some of his supporters but even that is waning as time is showing that his speech was nothing much more than whining and complaining. The only way forward for trump is to keep up his attacks on democratic institutions that are investigating him and to threaten all of us who would question his ego driven authority. How much more his supporters can take of this will be played out in the next many months but I am of the opinion he is well on the way down the slippery slope to irrelevance he created all for himself.

Integrity has a price (#3660)

     There can be no pride in oneself if there is no action to maintain one's integrity. It may be easy at times to follow through where integrity is concerned but what about the times when it is hard? How do we measure up to our own personal standards when the going gets rough or is too painful in some other way? The difference is always found when we calm ourselves and think about what is important. Balancing the scales of our principles with the scales of hardship can sometimes be difficult when the idea of doing the correct thing causes an adverse effect in it's doing. However, I have found that shirking a responsibility that needs to be followed through is much worse a psychological harm than any physical harm that would replace it.
     I know enough about logic to understand that trying to forget as a solution to absolving myself of not doing or keeping my own principles doesn't work. Always the better course is to own up to whatever it is and then put all effort into rectifying the outcome. If I am not the better man in my own mind then the failure I project is far worse for me than any immediate undeserved salve. I have my hopes and dreams along with my plans for making life around me simpler and I cannot dismiss any such instance in the name of convenience or expediency. I own my actions and my word is my bond, so any thought to diluting my integrity out of some fear or moral failure is unquestionably not to be borne.
     My integrity means little to anyone else but to me it is all I have that strengthens my resolve and gives me courage and strength to exemplify who I am and want to be. Gone are the days of cowering and hiding out. There is no honor in living a life unworthy of one's own principles. I often equate integrity with having a noble spirit that can be counted upon to be strong and unwavering. Even in my own little impoverished world I am only the King of it if I can live up to my own perception of integrity. So once again I am faced with a decision that has the roots of it squarely in my doing. I will do what is correct and live with the cost of my decision regardless of how much strain and stress I receive for my efforts.

House Intelligence Committee gets started today (#3659)

     What a lot of us have been waiting for is our new majority democratic house intelligence committee starting its work. For the last 8 years to say that there was much of any intelligence on the republican majority house intelligence committee would have been being generous. They shamed our nation with their incoherent attacks on democratic politicians and candidates without much of a whisper of a crime. The intent of the intel committee under republicans was to use it as a weapon to disparage anyone who would call republicans out for their treasonous, cruel and hateful actions. Well the worm has turned now and all that deception and sweeping under the rug dishonesty by republicans will now get a hearing in the light of day.
     This truly is the beginning of our democracy taking back it's place as the highest priority in the America. No more sacrifices in the name of capitalism. Capitalism is a subset of democracy, not the other way around! Economics has to work for all of our citizens not just those who can buy the privilege and advantage of opportunity. With democracy now being the focal point of our investigations the corruption of republicans will be easy to spot. For they cared not a whit about the effect their deeds had on the majority of hard working Americans and instead sought only to gain wealth in increasing numbers for their donors and conspirators. The task next for our new committee is to bring in those who have already made the grave mistake of lying to the previous committee and then make them confess their perjury.
     Along with subpoena power the Intel committee will also be able to compel those previous lying committee witnesses to offer up their accomplices. With the Mueller investigation working in concert with the Intel committee in their information gathering duties the clarity of all the trump and republican duplicity will come to light. So today is the day when the wheels start to move on the committee vehicle heading toward the end of trumps and his republican acolytes. A beautiful day today is and the future is looking brighter now from when our country was hijacked through the most dishonest of policies from republicans. My heart is happier now than it has been over the last several years. November 8th 2018 was the beginning of this process and now today we get started with the real gritty work to come.

Eliminating poverty will cure most our societal ills (#3658)

     I know what happiness is. For me, most of my life it had been fleeting. A decent wage for hard work. Everyday coming home from work dog tired sweaty and dirty I still had the problem of how to make my life outside work actually work. How could I get the money I needed to pay for the rent, no hope of ownership until much later in life a wonderful opportunity materialized, utilities, transportation, food etc... The reason was because for 10's of millions of souls like me we work(ed) in the trades, manufacturing and retail of our American economy. With these occupations there is little wage growth, not even keeping up with inflation, so harder we must work just to stay even with what the cost of necessary living things are as they continually rise in price.
     It is tough going to work out of fear that all would be lost if our job went away. It is unthinkable that the powers that be find the tool of fear as their solution to keeping a devoted job pool. Instead of attracting workers because of their willingness to share, in some part at least, the profits with all whom help create those profits, they actually try to not only keep all the profits for themselves but to keep our wages low so that the worker pool has no choice but to accept their low wages. The idea that capitalism is greater to them than the democracy that allows it is insanely greedy. Which is why I found it difficult to experience happiness. No matter how hard I tried to be a great example of teamwork, they were still playing at selfishness.
     So thinking about how my life played out it is clear to me that low wages were the root cause of my lack of a much more healthy life. If you notice I didn't include health care, vision and dental in my daily worries of things I needed but struggled to pay for it is because health care, dental and vision were luxuries in my mind. That is how terribly basic my life was for me. The idea of getting married and having children was also not even considered since I could barely keep myself going let alone take on the admirable duties of husband and father with the incumbent costs that are associated with nurturing a family unit. Better I stay single in my struggle for happiness and accept my lot in life, which I can easily lay at the feet on the altar of the greedy wealthy in our once shining example of democratic values nation.

Federal Minimum Wage is still $7.25 an hour (#3657)

     There are even republicans out there calling for the lowering of the federal minimum wage, they think it is too high. As if $7.25 an hour is theft from their pockets. Can you feel their condescension burrowing into your brain when in their presence? As if you should be grateful just for the privilege of having a job with them. 10 years now the minimum wage has been at $7.25 an hour, https://www.thebalancecareers.com/2018-19-federal-state-minimum-wage-rates-2061043?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons, and there is zero hope of raising it with republicans controlling too much of our national government. Now the States have begun raising their minimum wages to reflect a little more fairness but that is only for those in those states.
     Think about that for a moment. There has been a 19.51% rate of inflation over the last 10 years, https://www.statbureau.org/en/united-states/inflation,. So everything costs approximately 20% more than it did in 2009, but republicans don't care. They obviously think that having much less buying power over that time for our most vulnerable workers is agreeable while any kind of raise in the minimum wage would be an unjustifiable affront to the bottom line of their wealthy donors, whom now enjoy the greatest gap in income inequality our nation has ever seen, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/19/income-inequality-continues-to-grow-in-the-united-states.html. We are only talking about a couple of million workers whose wages are at or below the minimum wage. Yet there are many more millions who are not much above the current minimum wage who would see a rise in their pay per hour if the federal minimum wage were raised.
     We can thank every republican who has held office over the last 10 years for doing absolutely nothing to increase wages for our most vulnerable class of worker. Do not be fooled by their argument that minimum wage jobs are filled by teenagers just starting out. Only 12% of minimum wage workers are under 20 years of age. The average age for all minimum wage workers is 35 years old and 27% of them have children, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/10/upshot/minimum-wage.html. 2018 was a good start toward electing democrats over republicans and the job isn't finished yet until we can remove all republicans everywhere so that issues like minimum wages are addressed and corrected to give a living wage for hard working Americans.

Health insurers and big pharma, enemies of the people (#3656)

     To know how powerful the health industry for profit part of health care just look at the politicians they have under their control. Much like the nra, they seem to have so much power that few will veer from their talking points. Mainly that a Medicare for all or a Universal health care paradigm cannot be achieved. Despite all evidence to the contrary by the way. More than half the civilized world has some form of universal health care. Yet the beholden politicians to the for profit health industry would sell their souls to make the rest of us believe that it is impossible to have what less powerful nations on Earth have had for decades.
     The line I heard from michael bloomberg that we as a nation couldn't afford it and it would bankrupt us is hilarious yet not one bit funny, http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/no-medicare-for-all-is-not-expensive. The depth of the deception that will be deployed by the lackeys of for profit health care will be astounding. We will even see some democrats use the same wrong arguments in their attempt to shoe horn themselves into a more central position on health care. Which is exactly the wrong thing to do on this subject. For one thing it isn't a neutral policy choice. the vast amount of people who could and will be harmed by us not implementing some sort of medicare for all program cannot be understated.
     Every republican office holder is against any health care program that doesn't have a for profit quotient to it. So no republican will vote for medicare for all because they don't value human life as much as they value the bottom line. Which is the foundation of many of their other wrong ideas. They keep confusing capitalism with democracy when they should be honoring democracy at the expense of capitalism. So they are useless on this crucially important issue. Which is just another reason why I yell from the top of my lungs that no republican should ever hold office again. They are not democracy loving souls, they only love the privileges and advantages that grow their wealth. So what we must all do is ignore the idiots who would be kings when they tell us that down is up, that water is dry and that medicare for all is unachievable.

The party of death for most are republicans (#3655)

     The republican party has always been an evil party of men and some women who thought and continue to think that they are better than others based upon nothing of value. They are those who belittle others without ever having walked in their shoes. Sometimes I wonder about their genetics. How is it possible given the parameters of life that these people think themselves a greater value than someone they know nothing about? They think without giving a counterweight to their own advantages in life or the privileges they were afforded. They expect that most everyone has had the same luxuries that they have had and wonder why they didn't do better by them.
     It is like they were taught to be condescending without ever taking the time to evaluate their perspective with proofs. They take the easy road of convenient belief over science and nature. It is a weakening of spirit that they reinforce through bullying and cruelty. The republican party has become synonymous with the pampered and the cowardly. How any correct minded soul could find solace in piling on hurt to people without first finding answers to the hurt people were already feeling is baffling to me. But like republicans who cannot dazzle with brilliance, they instead baffle with bullshit. Life is not that hard to figure out. Some 26 people own more resources that 3.8 billion souls, https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/20/business/oxfam-billionaires-davos/index.html. The income inequality gap is perfect to highlight that the wealthy don't care about our species as much as they care about their own wallets and purses.
     Granted, there are some democrats among the super wealthy but unlike the republican ones they are not trying to make things even worse for the rest of us. They accept that there is a problem and that some form of income redistribution must occur but sadly they are not the ones who are leading on this as they should. Wealth is like a disease in that it makes a wealthy soul immune to the trappings of personal poverty. There is nothing coming from republicans that would build a just and fair world order and in fact republicans are the ones who are destabilizing areas of our world in order to increase their wealth. The only thing the rest of us can do is to remove republicans from political office and then vote to change the dynamics of economics in order to stop the madness of the growing inequality gap. Only then can the party of a fair and just life, we democrats, begin to lift up all Americans and the world at large to a proper society of humans to advance interaction and development.

The blue wave is still riding high (#3654)

     Let us not become so blinded by our squabbles and disagreements within the democratic party that we lose focus on the big picture. Surely the small pictures all around us are just as important like all details should be but even when we are not happily wedded to different perspectives we are still fighting a greater evil. So if one set of rules goes against my wishes I will not take my vote from democrats and give it to republicans. Much like not liking a penalty on the sports field of play does not make me want to join the other team. If anything it makes me work and fight harder the next time I get a chance to change those specific rules. Take the 19th amendment for instance. Women fought for decades to get the right to vote but didn't throw in the towel and quit on this democratic policy just because it didn't happen the first or second time they tried.
     We have to be bigger than our fine tunings to our party. I want the most fair and open party that could be possible and it seems that some of our people are not wholly on board with that. But regardless we are still moving forward and progress in many areas is being made. Much like the failure of the Electoral College to prevent trump from being appointed president, the time for it's change is now clear. However it will take some time to get rid of this ancient paternal manipulation. What I am trying to say here is that the main goal outside all of our posturing is to end the reign of trumps and republicans before they get us into such a mess that we cannot save ourselves from them. So no squabbling on minor issues as if they were the only issue when the real threat is still the major one of republican rule.
     If we learned anything from the last 2 years and in this last election it is that we democrats are now aware and taking notice of the corruption and dishonesty the republican party has and is heaping upon us the working middle poor class. So as we filter through our own particulars as to how we define our policies and implement them we must never lose sight of the blue wave that got us here. We are a huge political party and the effort to make it perfect is a time consuming one that will not happen in concert with my timing or the timing of anyone else. We will get there and be better for it but not if we quit on the effort before realizing the greater success.