The truth will out (#3712)

     There is no doubt in my mind that the truth of such things like the Mueller report will come out and there is nothing on earth that will stop it. I know all about how much trump can try to keep it secret but there have been too many eyes on it already and the fact that those who wrote it know what is in it is also impossible to contain. The will of Congress has the constitutional right to see it without being redacted and that will eventually happen. Like all things that are the will of the public, this report falls into that category. We know that trumps are not going to let us see it because of the devastation it will cause them but they have no alternative to changing what is going to become inevitable about the report and it's content being known.
     Obviously we all had hoped that charges were going to be laid out when the report was completed by Mueller but that didn't happen. So the next best thing is for the report itself to become public so that the House investigative committees can begin to build their cases on the obvious collusion between the trump campaign and the Russian government. If I am not mistaken in my assumption, Mueller has handed off many different parts of his report already to prosecutors and investigators alike in order to help them with their ongoing criminal and civil cases. This is another way the Mueller report will find its way into our conscious knowing.
     But what is most telling to me is that Mueller is a very wise man and if he didn't keep a copy for himself locked away for some rainy day event then I am a bigger fool than I could have imagined. I say this because if one thing is clear about Mueller it is that he is a patriot to our democracy regardless of any political slant he has on our society. He is a patriot first. Now begins the process of mowing over the top of trumps and their gang of complicit acolytes. We the people will find a way to unearth what we need to bring the 2 year Mueller investigation to our knowing. Of that I am confident and expectant. The truth will out and trumps will find that they could not have been more wrong when they set out to undermine the greatest democracy the world has ever witnessed.

No time for idiots (#3711)

     If I am ever going to keep my cool about me then I need to stay away from people who are always trying to get over on me or the lazy who cause me to have to follow in their wake. I have enough difficulty taking care of my own problems without others ignoring and/or shirking their own problems. When I am around those who cannot logically understand that their actions require them to address the result their actions create then I get angry when it is left to me to solve or clean up. When I am around those who find it their duty in life to shirk that which they are responsible for and it is left to me to solve or clean up their mess it makes me angry.
     I don't have to be around those types of people and if I could I would wholly eliminate them from my life. Yet there are a few who I am as of yet able to leave behind because of reasons of compassion. Yet even I have a limit to what I will tolerate and if those who have my favor cannot find their way to being responsible for their lives then they too will be gone when I can reasonably arrange it. My own self being while I am still alive is more important to me than any inconvenience others may suffer because of the choices they make. I do let them know what needs doing even though it should be clear that when they cause something it is their responsibility to rectify it.
     Like I said I will not tolerate ignorance or shirking nor their excuses. It is beyond my ability to ease my tortured soul when I am not the one who is torturing it. So taking myself away from the nonsense and irresponsibility is my only solution to problems I am left with that I did not create. Like I said earlier, I have enough of my own life and the responsibilities I have taken on to keep orderly without others taking advantage of my good nature. Only good natured people who understand their own solutions to their problems and then set out to manage them are worthy of being in my company. Sorry, but I am tired of being taken advantage of. If everyone would just shoulder their own problems I wouldn't have had to type this miserable post!

Will fear defeat courage? (#3710)

     It seems that our human species is at war with what our future will be. Instead of being compassionate and curious, which forwards our courage, we are trying to become hateful and illogical of what could be, which follows fear. I am only one human being who has spent his lifetime defining his own path forward. I choose to be an enlightened citizen who cares for our species and wonders about all that is real and possible. It follows that I am of the courage camp and see our future through the lens of progress and modernity. I do not fall back on the ancient myths, mores and superstitions that have so infiltrated our current society as pacifiers.
     I am of the bold camp that cannot nor will not accept hiding my head in the sand at every creaking noise in the wind. Yet I am but one. However it has come to me over time that there are many more like me out there who have no time for fear because like me they realize that life is too short to be cowering to the unknown. We instead are the ones who raise our fists to the sky and dare what may be to stop us from living as the most marvelous species ever known. I accept the mantle of our possibilities and then want to make those possibilities even more possible, as it were. Being courageous is just a natural step into every second of my and others' lives and being afraid is childlike and unbecoming of a mature adult.
     However it seems that fear is a formidable opponent in the struggle to define our current human species. It is with a sadness that I have to recognize this and actually write about it. How fear has come to be a trait that is as acceptable as it is is unfortunate. We each have the duty to our own lives to evolve beyond where we are at any given reflective moment, yet we fail to keep our duty to ourselves because of forces greater than our own courage. External forces are not dissimilar to the wind and if the wind can change our duty to ourselves how can we ever be strong enough to fight for others when we cannot even fight for ourselves?

No more gut punches from trumps (#3709)

     I can officially say that I am immune to any more gut punched feelings when it comes to the harm trumps are causing. In fact I am wide eyed about him causing harm at every turn. No surprises to me anyway. I have endured his hate and bias to the point where it will never leave me vulnerable to being shocked. That is what being treated with what at best can be considered condescension, at worst maddening hatred. My evolution during this time has been a hardening of my soul toward any and all trumps regardless of their connection to me in my life. Period, regardless of any connection at all! To be a trump supporter is to me to be equivalent to human excrement.
     There is nothing in time and space that can justify supporting trump, therefore there can be nothing I share of value with any of them. They will do their worst to us and if we survive and are still able to vote then they will hopefully be done in little over a year and a half. In the meantime I will persevere onward in my railing against them with debate worthy arguments of logic as a weapon of facts and truths to impale the malignancy that is trump and on whole the republican party. Despite my inured state to the worst of what trumps can do, I remain optimistic that our blue wave in little more than 500 some days will be victorious in a crushing way.
     That the trumps think they may have stolen my hope, and my desire for happiness is just like them in that they have misjudged my resolve to defeat them. They have changed my internal emotions from "how can this be" to "I will never stop fighting you". I am more machine like now in how I approach them and if my "take no prisoners" persona seems harsh it is because of what they have been molding toward. They have tried to steal any and all innocence I had left from my childhood and make to conform to their hatred and intolerance to diversity. Well instead they have rallied my revolutionary heritage to defeat them at all costs regardless of consequence.

The cancerous illusion of republicans (#3708)

     Funny how republicans think that this coming election is like all other elections in the past where subtle confusion and misdirection can go a long way in garnering a majority vote. This coming election is nothing like that! Instead watching republicans pull their dirty tricks with senate rules and fake procedural votes is to me having the opposite effect. Oh sure there are some who are already in the trump camp who are happy with the con, but the democratic and independent voter who sees the illusion are not buying it. Instead they are already feeling the pain of the trump tax cuts and republican cut social spending. As well seeing trump act s if he is innocent while hiding the truth of the Mueller report is almost comical if not so serious.
     Add in that trump is taking money from troops and trying to put it to his vanity wall which most Americans are against and his self imposed punishment on farmers in the form of his unnecessary tariffs we see the continuation of self inflicted wounds trump is heaving upon his chances to be reinstalled. Now he is going after The Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, and it's positive effects for around 21 million working middle poor class citizens, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/health/obamacare-trump-health.html. Of note trump is claiming to be the champion of health care. Talk about an illusion, more in line with delusion. Yet it is his plan to claim to be making health care better while gutting what works now with nothing to replace it.
     I also find it interesting that the rabid pack dog leader of the majority republican senate is thinking his obvious moves to deny the Green New Deal is a winning strategy when all the Green New Deal does is move us back from worsening climate change. Again, republicans don't believe that man made climate change is a reality. So no matter how you look at the republican party, their take on America is profit first, last, and always. I guess being blinded by greed keeps them from facing the dire nature of their actions but that is their cross to ignore. The rest of us majority Americans do not have to be suckers like republicans and instead we democrats can be good stewards to not only our planet but to our modernizing, creative, innovative, egalitarian, democratic society.

The republicans trying to end Obamacare (#3707)

     The stupid keep getting it wrong but hey, make it easier for our coming blue wave assholes! The republican party is still in it's all out attack on our working middle poor class and nothing gets us riled up like being kicked again and again, while trying to give the wealthy more tax cuts. The illusion that the republican party lives under is thick and cannot easily be seen through. So they keep trying to screw we the American working middle poor class like we are their servant property without a soul nor conscious. Fine then. I personally have been done trying to engage their intelligence and compassion because I have learned long ago that intelligence and compassion are rare instincts within the republican persona.
     The republican person is an endless depth of ignorance and uncaring so wasting time on them only makes me disgusted. I am for the more intelligent caring among us who don't mind making our whole society a model of care and wonder. I am one who believes that logic, common sense, and compassion are the hallmarks of our civilization. To reason, analyze, and conclude is the equation needed for most all modern things, not some disassociated concepts that have no place in reality. So my time is spent here with those who look out to the stars and see our future, not with the unintelligible who cannot escape the republican mantra of the desired brutality of the caveman.
     The latest attack going on with trying to end Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, through the courts is the never ending hatred republicans have for most all the rest of us Americans. We democrats on the other hand are trying to find the right way to cover all Americans with health care. So if and when the republican conniving party finds a way to deny 10's of millions of folks health care they will be putting a nail in their own coming coffin for us. Because nothing stirs our blue wave more than attacking the fundamental right of the many of us to actually stay alive. The blatant arrogance and condescension republicans have for the many more of us than them will be the end of them and an end that crushes the life out of their agenda as well.

The fox guarding the hen house (#3706

     The republican party controlling the administration of justice is the same thing. Since it is republicans who are breaking the law they cannot be prosecuted when they are safeguarded by republican justice officials. Unless something horribly egregious happens without any doubt to guilt the republican party will dismiss all other crimes. This is not a theory or incorrect statement. We know trump colluded to stop the investigation into himself and his cohorts with the Russians and their operatives. This isn't in debate yet the trump appointed attorney general has said that trump is exonerated. Well that is just fine and dandy for the criminals when their protectors allow them to commit crimes with impunity.
     It is my hope that the Mueller report will be released and we can know just how far the trumps were in deep with aspects of their criminality. I also hope that the states who are still prosecuting trump are in possession of the necessary evidence Mueller has unearthed. That way there can be no pardon for crimes when convictions come in at the state level. So although Mueller cannot reveal what he has unearthed the states surely can follow along the lines of their inquiry. Federal justice officials may be called in to the state investigations as witnesses to what Mueller has offered trump's hand picked attorney general.
     For the next amount of time trump has left in this his first appointed term the fire to his feet will remain. Although the federal fire has been extinguished for now the state fires still burn brightly and as such will keep the trumps on their hot footed heels. We have only about a year and a half left of this obscene caricature of a president left to tolerate and then the mightiest blue wave ever in our voting history will descend on the republican party with an angered vengeance. So although trumps may survive the criminal courts he will not survive the next election and with that his protections from the congressional and executive branches of government will disappear.

Still building the blue wave (#3705)

     My goal all along has been to defeat republicans at the ballot box and notwithstanding the Mueller report and investigations that is still my goal. Because at the ballot box we can defeat every republican on the ballot everywhere if enough of us keep working to express the differences between our parties. We democrats want all of us to succeed while republicans only want themselves and the wealthy to succeed in life. There is no pursuit of happiness for those who are not them! Yet we democrats are all about all of us in every walk of life. From politics to social issues to jobs to education to retirement and everything in between.
     What we democrats are also about is fairness and justice of which republicans only aspire to protect for no one, not even themselves. Why? Because they don't want fairness or justice, they want privilege and advantage. If republicans could do so they would strike words like fairness and justice from our language. If you haven't figured it our yet let me tell you here. The republican party does not want democracy to succeed. They want their authoritarian/theocratic bastardized government which is more in line with a despicable dictatorship than an egalitarian form of society. What republicans want to do is rule without guidelines or societal protections.
     We are not two parties who have the best of democratic principles in our mindset, no, we are one party, democrats, who have that mindset, and another party, republicans who despise such a reality. So the ballot box is where they are most vulnerable and that is where we must build our blue wave to such an intensity as to obliterate republicans everywhere on the ballot. The integrity of our democratic society is at stake and if that isn't enough to rile you to your bones that republicans would want to take that away from you then you deserve much less freedom and a much heavier yoke under republican rule!

Now the anticipation (#3704)

     So the Mueller report has been handed in to the trump attorney general. I can only expect that the will to bury the report will be strong and underhanded. That Mueller surely has a copy of the report is good in that if he had to he could release it to the public and then suffer the consequences of his illegal act. Which to me would be patriotic and beyond anything positive he has ever done so far. Because like all whistleblowers the greater good must prevail. Yet we will see how it goes with the trumps hand picked lackey attorney general. But then again, William Barr may surprise us and do the right thing despite trump and his orders.
     Yet some things must be cleared up as to the sealed indictments so we the public will know more than nothing for sure. The New York State charges against trump will not be open for trump to hide and he will suffer their finding and sentencing regardless of his appointed presidential position. So although Mueller is done his report is not done with the evidence and conclusions he has drawn in it. So as the next few days unfold as to how we as a nation proceed in the face of obstruction by trump the palpable anxiety we are experiencing, is thick. I for one was surprised by the announcement that the Mueller's report was complete and handed over. I had expected it to go on for about at least another month given the sealed indictments not having been exposed.
     But regardless, the fact that Mueller's report is done is good and what happens next is going to be a dogfight between trumps and his acolytes and we the American people who want answers. This is our country and trump has no right to hide that which is proof to make him pay for his actions. No matter what, our democracy must survive and if it isn't transparent it will not last long. Surely there are some national security concerns that will likely need to be redacted but the truth of crimes are not those. So whatever else happens next there cannot be any sweeping of crimes under the rug. Our democracy demands that we be made aware of what this appointed president and his administration along with his congressional collaborators have done or the rule of law will not survive this episode.

We are the world (#3703)

     The sooner we end republicanism or they start to understand that this is our future the better off all of us will be. Because the world of all of us are not going anywhere, whereas republicans are going into irrelevancy. There will never be a time in our present or future where the idea of a white nationalist world is reality. The reality is that we the world are a melting pot and nothing about humanity and it's evolution will change that no matter how hard the racists continue to fight it. Racism is a choice and a demented concept of fear. It has no place in our societies and our cultures. We are all human beings who have uniqueness to ourselves. Even within our clans we vary tremendously both in appearance and thought.
     It is incredible to me that the variance of difference could be weaponized against ourselves when it is exactly our differences that make our human race remarkable. We are not cookie cutter images of the same shape, size, and color. We are varied in our looks which to me is moot, in our thoughts, dreams, and hopes. The expanse of our challenges and victories over them add to the design of our incredibly complex status. I am no god nor a carnival barker of what I think a god wants, instead I am a realist who is on a large rock, with life on it, floating in a vast space. The idea that anyone could make a charge of difference against another is obnoxious and belligerent. We all are at the mercy of the unknown and that is the reality of our existence, not some comfort about hiding from fear.
     I don't know how the rest of humanity sees life but I see mine as a challenge to the universe and all that it is or ever will be. Nothing on this planet scares me. Nothing about the universe scares me yet, instead it excites me to explore and discover. I am not a baby who needs coddling on any level. What I need is to know what this existence is and what is still beyond my knowledge. Think about it for a second. We are biological probes with sensors who have comprehensive memory and computing skills on board our own individual bodies. We can physically move and are not tied to any sphere given our creative imaginings and innovative skills. We are adaptable given our evolution to the environment we have to survive in. Nothing about our differences factors into any of that. Instead our differences may well be what keeps our human race functionally moving forward.

Life is hard enough without trumps (#3702)

     Life had been getting better with a democrat as president although we still had a lot of room to improve. but instead of continuing on the path of a better life the republican party and their interference in the 2016 election put that improvement on hold. Not only stopping improvement but actually making things worse. The republican party does not get that we all can help each other by making our society more fair for all who want a chance to succeed in our desire for happiness. This society of ours hasn't evolved to the point of someone like trump to come along and hijack it's best parts for his own cruelly demented form of existence.
     He could only have succeeded in stealing our dreams through us allowing it. Through our own ignorance and greed we gave him the opening he needed and he drove a truck of disaster through it. Well we now know what happened to us and the many of us are not going to have it happen again. Even though his campaign of threats and fear have been effective they have not deterred those of us who would rather stand up to a bully than to cower to one. Especially when it comes to him taking our lunch money in the form of our democracy. So as he continues to think he has gotten to a place where he sees himself untouchable we are here to remind him that he is still just a human and as such is fallible to the whirligig of his own out of control chaos.
     He should know full well as the power of force is trumps mantra. Yet his ego will not allow him to see that a reverse is an option. Hindsight has shown that those who fail to understand that truly there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to human behavior will be reckoned with. His miscalculation in thinking he is the answer to no question anyone with a heart, soul, and a mind is asking, will come to be his undoing. Meanwhile the rest of us who are not afraid of him and the worst he can do will never stop being part of the solution to the darkest days in the history of our democracy short of the Civil War. The end of trumps is coming soon and if justice is as cold a dish served trumps will get theirs a plenty.

Waiting on Mueller's next set of indictments (#3701)

     As each indictment Mueller has exposed over his investigation and prosecution, the facts have become clearer and more involved. The set of indictments filed before the last election period would indicate that in order to not affect the election, there must be some who were involved in the election who are part of the secret filings. My assumption of course but it does seem like a reasonable link. No doubt as the Mueller investigation winds down it will be chock full of individuals and charges that will be of some surprise to many of us. However some of us will not be surprised at all given the nature of trump and his character along with his previous behavior.
     The type of people who have associated with trump are indicative of his overall plan to grift through his appointed presidency. As many call it the scrapping of the bottom of the barrel to find those who would be in charge of our government is telling. That trump is looking for honest public servants is ludicrous. Instead he is installing people he knows he can manipulate. Their fealty to trump is the one behavior he desires above all others. So as the evidence of their acts along with the earlier acts of those who helped trump gain his appointed presidency was logically imperfect and open to being discovered by a hard nosed investigator like Bob Mueller.
     So these next exposed indictments are likely to hit close to home with trump and although trump may escape being named as one of the secret targets his inner circle cannot claim to be confident that they won't. Yet, it may be that it is worse than I expect here and that wouldn't surprise me given that Mueller is clever and the outlaws he is investigating are not, even trump himself may be exposed. I won't get my hopes up for a trump/pence set of indictments but I won't dismiss the possibilities either. What I will do is patiently await the delayed filings and hope that the trump/pence nightmare is coming to a close. Surprise me Bob Mueller!

100 executive orders from trump so far (#3700)

     I can imagine that just about every one of trump's executive orders, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_executive_orders, will be undone by our next democratic president in 2020. We know what they are, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_executive_actions_by_Donald_Trump and the cruel intent of most of them. That they can be rescinded by our next president is a salve that will immediately begin to rectify their harm. The saving grace here is that trump wasn't able to do more damage to our society legislatively when he had both houses of Congress. So by default he went the executive order route which is only good for as long as his republican party can keep the presidency.
     Well I am here to say that the republican party has no chance of keeping the presidency in 2020 because not only has trump alienated his voters from the the 2016 election but he has effectively awoken the sleeping giant of democratic voters who are as angry and determined as ever before to end his reign of horror and theft when the voting time comes on November 3rd. 2020. The real damage is on the supreme Court and federal benches where senate leader mcconnell has been working overtime to get his ultra right wing unqualified judges into our federal judiciary. These problems can be addressed for solutions after the 2020 election when we democrats get both houses of Congress under our control and our presidency back into a mindfully balanced modern thinker. But immediately upon taking office our new democratic president can nullify everyone of trumps executive orders that has humiliated our democracy.
     No doubt there will be more executive orders coming from trump because now he doesn't have the House of Representatives as his proxy so there may not be anything legislatively done outside necessary spending bills. These last desperate months of trump being in office is our continued struggle and limiting the damage to as little as possible is our goal. So rest assured that the only real damage trump can do to us within normal protocols of governing will be checked and blocked. Even his advantage in the senate is withering in support although he still has the loyalty of his accomplices to his appointment as president. The end is coming and the worst of the damage is behind us so be of good cheer and remain even more vigilant to making sure he is one and done!
     

Another day closer to the end of the republican party (#3699)

     The republican party is all in on trump and being assholes to most of America. Apparently their polling doesn't show them paying a price for being assholes. Well their polling is wrong and when the time comes they will learn a lesson they didn't have in their souls to understand. It isn't often that a republican will even admit that they need to learn a lesson since most all of them act as if they are demigods doing necessary work. Well despite the republican illusion of reality the rest of us have had it up to our hairline with their fantasy. Reality is dictating that if we are to remain a democracy then we all have to be respected as individuals capable of choosing our own life path. Therefore common sense and logic are the foundation of our society, not distorted belief systems that harm people.
     I have been calling republicans out for decades as being anti democratic and full bore survival of the fittest acolytes. They would deny the melting pot nation that we have been since our inception and instead call us a bastion of white nationalists who are being severed from their concept of white religion. All I can and have been saying to that is nothing of the sort is happening like that, instead we here in America who love democracy are trying like all get out to protect everyone's right to whatever religion or non religion life choice they choose. Our first amendment to our national constitution protects the right to religion and the right not to accept a religion. So protecting our democracy is the avenue to take when keeping belief systems alive as a protected right and to not holding a religion at all as a protected right.
     Personally I don't have the time or place in my life for a religion and that is also protected by our first amendment. Which I will protect with force even when it gives those who do believe a religion the same protection. Because first and foremost I believe in democracy and protecting democracy from those who would deny me my right to no religion or some other religion than theirs is unacceptable ever! So we are there now with republicans who have been on a relentless march to nullify our constitution in favor of their bastardized white nationalism. I have had enough of them for decades and in the next less than 2 years we have a real chance to end the republicans as a force in our political politics.

How much longer do I have to be embarrassed by republicans? (#3698)

     I am a reasonable sort of person who can take a bit of idiocy in my life as long as it isn't a prolonged event. Yet what I am having to live under with republicans in charge of our senate, presidency and now supreme court is just too much! I understand that the will of the people must be served but that isn't what is happening here. With the appointed trump, he lost by almost 3 million total votes. Then in the senate where around 40 million people in California, (1 state) are represented by 2 democratic senators; while in Wyoming, Alaska, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, Mississippi, Arkansas, Utah, Oklahoma, Louisiana, S. Carolina, and Missouri (14) states with around 41 million people are represented by 28 republican senators, http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/.
     Then there is the Supreme Court where republicans who controlled the senate would not let President Obama fill a vacant seat with a democrat nominee for the last 10 months of his term. Now that trump has the presidency the still republican controlled senate voted in a compromised republican candidate to fill that vacant Supreme Court seat. Then a sitting Supreme Court justice retired under dubious conditions just so trump could put in a younger even more despicable republican nominee. So with that the majority on the Supreme Court is republican whereas it should have been a democratic majority Supreme Court.
     With every turn of our political maneuverings the republican theft of our democracy is exposed. From a despicable appointed republican president and a prejudicial electoral college process to the under representation of citizens with the allotment of senators to the now decaying Supreme Court with its stigma forever tarnished with the last two republican cads added. I am just one of many millions who are embarrassed by this era of republican manipulation but I am the one who is me and it is a foul distasteful reality that I know we are confronted with. The last election of 2018 was a salve to the gaping wound but in order to stitch this wound up for a proper healing the next election must convey that the era of republicanism is over and the national embarrassment has come to an end.

If you don't know why healthcare should never be for profit... (#3697)

     This world of ours is full of opportunities to be harmed. From diseases we share with each other to accidents that are part of living in a society. There are numerous ways we can be vulnerable to harm when we live in society. So society should make sure that we are not harmed much beyond that point. Which is why we need a universal health care that covers all. Our societal contract to follow rules and laws is sensible and just as sensible is the concept that we are protected from the chaos of our societal interactions. The idea that we would find a way to profit from our shared miseries is not an enlightened idea. Instead it is a barbaric one. In 1973 nixon signed into law the expansion of health care service industries into for profit entities, http://healthoverprofit.org/2017/03/19/for-profit-health-care-used-to-be-illegal/.
     Another republican who could not grasp the concept of a social contract. We many souls then began the long hard road down the path of being at the mercy of health insurance providers. So much so that now that so many are one illness or injury away from complete bankruptcy. The idea that an illness or injury would take a lifetime of hard work and trade it to some carpetbagging for profit insurance company is insane. I don't mind applying capitalism to innovation and creativity through merit but to profit off the backs of the afflicted is akin to being a grave robber. When this law that nixon signed began to show it's immoral application to our society republicans closed ranks and protected it at all costs.
     There are some paradigms within society that can never be allowed to be for profit. Such as the air we breathe of the water we drink. If we cannot regulate the systems from for profit that actually keep us alive and functioning then the social contract is a myth. I live in society for the betterment of all of us not to be treated as a property or commodity owned and operated by the powerful wealthy. If we cannot grasp the concept that society needs to protect our most important needs then the society is a failure. A new society or a changed one is the next step and although it may be hard to do it is the correct step. There are those who live among us who are not lovers of democracy. Instead they are lovers of power and wealth and nothing greater exists for them. Either they go or I, we go!

Be the change you want (#3696)

     It all starts from one person having the drive to stand up for their own principles. Take for example the then 15 year old Swedish girl Greta Thunberg. After learning the plight our world was, and still is in concerning climate change, she got tired of being caught up in nothing much happening about it and one day just stopped accepting her perceived inability to make a difference. So instead of going to school she went to the Swedish parliament building and with her homemade sign protested all day against climate change. From that meager beginning she has begun a world wide protest for young and old to join in and be part of. She is determined to be the change that she wants and makes no excuses about it. In fact she gets downright factual and conveys the sense of urgency we all should bear.
     In our own way all of us must find our voice of power to put an end to not only the human practices that threaten our very existence but to the practices that segregate us from each other. None of us is in this existence just to be moot. We all have something to offer to help make our world a better place for all who exist and those who are being born. Anything less is a life not well lived regardless of the man made successes that often enough inhibit our natural ability to be reasonably human. The guidelines of society are not the end all, instead they are a starting point from which we launch our lives. Being the change requires us to find within ourselves the justice and fairness we search for as a safe harbor for those who are maligned and disparaged.
     What we want for all of us is what we want for ourselves. A chance to prosper and grow within a society that keeps us safe from the deranged and sociopath/psychopathic. A chance to live on our planet without fear of destroying it. A chance to be part of the solution to problems and not the cause of them. A chance for all children to grow up without having to sacrifice their short childhoods from the ravages of fear and repression. A chance to grow older with dignity and respect without having to live in poverty on the streets. A chance to make something of ourselves that transcends the needs and wants of our life. A chance to say at the end of our lives "well done".

The republican party does not want fairness in society (#3695)

     Everything republicans do has an effect to denigrate or eliminate fairness in society. They are not for the melting pot paradigm our nation has historically welcomed even in the case of most all republicans. Given that, the conclusion to draw is that they have become selfish in their outlook on life here in America. As long as they have and are still getting "theirs" nothing else matters. It is a rotten soul that takes advantage of opportunities and then helps to eliminate opportunities for others. There is no excusing such behavior and no ethical defense in defending it. Yet it is what republicans do and although the evidence of their selfishness is apparent their cognitive dissonance will not allow them to face it.
     How embarrassing it is for the rest of us who are all about fairness, equality, and meritocracy. We have to deal with their lying, cheating, and conniving ways instead of maturing our society toward a greater good. I am at a loss for how to deal with these broken souls who think they are demigods so others will have to diagnose their cures for them. I just know that they are wrong and selfish by their actions to enrich themselves at the expense of others who are not able to fight for themselves. I have always seen our nation as superheroes who rush to defend those who need our help. Yet the evidence of my thinking that is minimal. I practice those values myself but my little accomplishments in those areas are infinitesimal compared to what we all could do together.
     When care for all of us outweighs us only caring for our own personal selves will we be able to stop the madness of destroying our democracy. There are too many forces trying to disintegrate that which keeps our moral, ethical, and political compass pointing toward modernity. The good within all of us is real and not just something some of us have as some special, enlightened gift. We are all in this together and no amount of delusion or denial will remedy the fact that all our lives are intertwined and  interdependent. Once we get past the paradigm of selfishness and hatred is when our world will begin to resemble that vision I have of all of us being superheroes.

Meritocracy must prevail over privilege and advantage! (#3694)

     The latest attempts by those who would use privilege and advantage through influence and resources highlights the need for our society to end all privilege and advantage now. Many feel that cheating is the only way to secure the betterment for themselves and/or their offspring because our current system is one that is easily manipulated to override merit. However, the idea that a defeatist cynicism is a defense is dishonorable. The only way to combat the privilege and advantage paradigm is through truth and determination to expose it. Never should anyone acquiesce to joining the lesser paradigm of privilege and advantage because they feel they can't beat them so they join them. All that does is make them just as guilty as those they join.
     There has to be a higher code of conduct for those of us who place democracy over all other forms of society. If other children or adults are more deserving of a place or position then so be it because we are all in this together not just in it by and for ourselves. Meritocracy allows for the best and brightest to advance and achieve as it should be if our national heritage of the melting pot is ever going to be duplicated around the globe. When did we as a society lose sight of our grandest goal of bringing democracy to every nation on the planet? Why would we veer from the most honorable of intentions to being a doormat of broken promises and disabuser to our own citizenry?
     The old paradigms of privilege and advantage need to end in every form from every opportunity. The likelihood of our nation stopping this scourge of inadvertent racism and misogyny is becoming more difficult when it should be becoming easier to expose and end. All the chest pounding rhetoric of our nations greatness has a hollow ring to it when we cannot even address our own obvious ailments that are not only belittling but are rotting to our core. Our nation has had the greatest democracy the world has ever known but we are on a downward slide from that pinnacle and if we don't cure these privilege and advantage societal ailments it won't be long before we are just dust from an old history book with no more to add to what started out as the most wonderful opportunity for our world to become what it could have been in every child's dream.

trump, giving us every reason we need to vote him out (#3693)

     To the extent that I would support an impeachment proceeding against trump, I don't see the one big issue that we can yet prove that he is guilty of high crimes. Because without something that all can say holy crap that is unacceptable he won't be convicted by the majority republican party in the senate. Without the senate voting by 2/3rds to convict, no impeachment will come about. So as things are of right now we have to wait until either Mueller or some state judiciary investigation can unearth the hypothetical "smoking gun". Even if a drawn out impeachment were to happen we would still be left with the trump butt hugging pence as our reward.
     So as time does go by and we get more information about what trump wants to do, we find that just letting him define his latest budget is a boon for us to use against him in the 2020 election. Not only does he want to give our military 100's of billions more than what they asked for but he wants to cut our social programs down to less than bare bones. I will say this right now that (although trump said he would not cut Medicare/medicaid, social security), while now also cutting other poverty addressing programs like food stamps, housing etc..., his budget is the (opposite of his words). More than a trillion dollars cut from social programs with likely more trimmed as a result of his "fixes", https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/11/18259789/trumps-2020-budget-proposal-cuts.
     Like I say, just let him keep digging his hole so that when the next election time comes next year he will have effectively destroyed the whole of the republican party and we independents, liberals, and progressives can then retake the reins of government and start reversing the trump affect while pursuing the criminal republicans who allied themselves against the very democracy of our nation. With the house firmly in democratic control the trumps will not get the budget that trump has produced because of the idiocy and harm that it would cause. So we continue to fight against the worst appointed president in our nation's history right up until November 3rd, 2020 when we not only will destroy trump at the ballot but we retake with a vigor the Congress we need to end the madness that trumps have created.

Waiting, waiting on Mueller (#3692)

     The sooner Mueller gives us his indictments and reports the better for our nation. This waiting for all the subplots and major charges to be announced is just wearing us out. Meanwhile the trumps continue to destroy all that which we Americans have fought and died for over many lifetimes. It seems like karma and justice have the same fate of being an ever enduring paradigm that has no time frame that is fair. The crimes that trump has committed through just common sense from many of us who are not in the midst of all the evidence can see should be clear enough to bring the hammer down on him and his sycophant children and criminal associates.
     So as each day ticks by without a peep from Mueller we the rest of us who demand that trump be held accountable are further and further from our hope. Because if trump is to be stopped before he can finish his first appointed term then it must happen soon. Otherwise I fear that he will wriggle out of his deserved fate through some defense he has devised that exists only in an extra-democratic form. A coup he may attempt in order to avoid at all costs the shame of being laid bare by the facts. He is already coalescing his power structure through his alliances overseas and in congress. I am even concerned about the judiciary that is being shoved down the throats of America while the Mueller storm is held at bay.
     I have heard all the stories about how thorough Mueller is and needs to be as his perfect record of getting convictions speaks. Yet the longer this goes the better for trumps because they have the underhanded advantage of formulating a response the closer we get to the next election. Mueller needs to get to the heart of his case and wrap it up for the world at large with Americans in particular able to understand and then grasp the depravity that the trumps have wreaked upon our nations soul. It has been over 2 years now and for all that time we did get some evidence that Mueller is closing in but the trap must be sprung if we are ever going to get to the truth of the betrayal trump and his acolytes have unleashed on not only our citizenry but on the foundation of democratic principles.

I find it disconcertingly amusing... (#3691)

     If the trolls and hackers for trump think that they can confuse we the American electorate they are the ones being tricked. The trumps have done so much harm and are continuing to do so that no matter how the trolls and hackers for trump try to spin the trump damage we are all feeling it in real time. That old saying about words being nothing compared to actions is as real as it gets. But my amusement is cautioned by the fact that there is the propaganda brigade, both from within America and outside America, that trump is employing regardless of the facts of his own actions. Although if one knows of trump they do know that he has an incurable affliction of saying one thing and then doing the opposite.
     I of course am committed to pointing out the fallacies of trump despite the fact of the many that happen even in one day. Because the end of trumps is my goal and the only way to make sure that happens is to keep after his lies as much as possible. When the rest of us are as sure that he is the worst of con men that should never have been installed as our president then the time for the more amusing aspects of his idiocy can be laughed at. Being humorous when the fact that he is hurting most of us all the time precludes as folly though when the seriousness of his attacks on us are devastating. There will come a time for a tempered prolonged smile of mirth but that will come when the trumps are gone.
     This coming blue wave is going to be even greater in its effect than the one last year come November 3rd. 2020. Simply because most every voter who voted for trump, excepting the filthy rich, has been hurt by trumps and their mission to destroy the working middle poor class. Now don't get me wrong here, there are some trump voters who he could tie up and beat on for months and they would still worship him. Nonetheless there are many more who have turned from the support of him and either angrily or ashamedly pronounce that he will not get their vote in 2020. The smothering crash of our blue wave on the heads of republicans in 2020 will be monumental when both chambers of Congress will be ours as well the presidency. Then the work begins to nullify the effect of the judiciary being overrun with the dregs of republican vermin!

No more time for republicans (#3690)

     If we are ever going to move our nation toward greater modernity then we must leave the republican party behind. For one thing they have atrophied into a hollow shell of a political party that doesn't represent the people. Instead they are an appendage of the corruptible wealthy. Second they do not see the necessity of democratic principles. Where everyone gets a shot at being the better of who they could be. I say this over and over again that privilege and advantage are the mantra of republicans and no amount of fairness or justice will equally suffice. They want their cake and to eat it too. So going forward without republicans is essential to a comprehensive egalitarian government.
     Voting them out at every public position is what is needed and although that cannot be realistic all at once given the nature of our representative government, there are still many thousands of positions they can be denied where they haven't rigged the counties and states to protect them. Yet even in their gerrymandered safe harbors there is unrest like never seen before so republicans are not immune to being cast out where previously they felt secure. I know it is because although many souls have been conservatives their entire lives they still see through the machinations of trumps and the disregard for too many in our society.
     The one beautiful aspect of our democracy is that as republicans have narrowed their policies and disengaged from many of their voters the democratic party has welcomed them and increased the parameters of our party. We have moderate democrats and liberal progressives all working together in so many ways to combat the authoritarian nature of the "my way or the highway" republican rule. Our politics within the democratic party may be expansive but the desire to keep our democracy intact is greater than our differences. The one baseline we democrats offer all our party participants is fairness, justice and equality. We may go about creating a more diverse, innovative and enlightened society through merit in different forms but we do all know that the way forward is together, not apart.

The republican party cannot debate the issues (#3689)

     Have you noticed that the republican party is real good at calling people names but they cannot debate their own policies nor those policies of ours? They are incapable of arguing the premises of their disturbing conclusions of analysis because they know that they are illogical. Each time they keep coming up with the idea that we must all fight our own struggles without help because it makes us better people. Yet the many who fail to win their fight against their struggle are unmentioned or called worthless. This despite the favorable advantages and privileges many who are of their ilk receive. As if only the working middle poor class and the intellectual left are to be held to the "lifting up by one's own bootstraps" narrative.
     To me that is the break from reality and the logic required to justify their position. What I know is that we all need help except the very few who are wealthy beyond all reasonable means. If not for public education and the somewhat free limited health care I received growing up I would not be here. Nor would I suspect most everyone else who is not wealthy. This is the problem. The wealthy are too wealthy while the poor are too poor. Let me be perfectly clear here. This is our democracy and we can shape our economy in any fashion that is smart, fair and merit based if we so desire. So what republicans are doing is to keep the paradigm of a few wealthy, many of which have inherited their wealth, as greater than the sum of the rest of us.
     So to believe republicans is to hurt the vast majority of us. All of work is honorable and to keep our society as a guiding light of humanity we need to stop the protections of the wealthy that are killing the working middle poor class. The wealthy have enough already and in fact need to start contributing back into our monetary distribution to keep our society on the cutting edge of modernity. If we should have learned one thing over the last few centuries of our national existence it is that the spirit of each soul is precious and not any less than any other soul. Sure some achieve in greater comprehensions than others but for the majority of us who are not superlative in any one field we are still magnificent in our approach to shaping the honor and dignity of life and the most dear pursuit of happiness we all have to protect for each other.

America is now a laughing stock (#3688)

     Since trump was appointed president our nation has been slowly but surely sliding into a comical reality for the rest of the world. No one with any manner of educated understanding has an inkling as to how such a mentally deficient creature such as trump has attained such a prestigious position. We here in opposition to trump in America are also caught between laughing our asses off over his ineptitude while at the same time fearing the worst for our nation. This has been the most grueling existence ever in my short 63 year history on this planet. On the one hand I am flabbergasted at our American electorate who actually voted for this human monstrosity while on the other hand worried that he will do something so ignorant that our nation will pay a deathly price.
     While the world watches and is more than amused at the turn of events the 2016 election unfolded, they are similarly caught between their amusement and their fears. This is the greatest unease our world has felt in some generations and it doesn't have to do with any ongoing war like conflict. It has everything to do with how trump came to power and how he is trying to do what he can get away with to destabilize our democracy. The strategy of trump is to remain in office beyond his constitutionally recognized term. Everything he is doing is to set the stage for him to remain in office even if he experiences another losing election. The only reason he even came into power is because our antiquated electoral college was gamed in his favor.
     Speaking of which the electoral college needs to go and our democracy needs a majority vote candidate to become president. The greatest thing to happen though was the 2018 election whereas we democrats retook the house and have thus stopped trumps march toward his personal desire to become a dictator king. The mental unfitness of someone like trump appointed as president should never have occurred and going forward our democracy needs to safeguard against such a tortured soul from ever getting close to being the leader of our nation while the world laughs in our faces over it. I do not blame the world for it's poking fun at our massive election blunder in appointing trump and in the short few months left of his term our will needs to end the nightmare that trump has brought to our not so funny lives.

Democracy patriots! (#3687)

     Nothing trump does is worth taking a second off from opposing him. Nothing! He is the nightmare come real and until all of him and his vestige is gone there will never be a moment of peace for me and many like me. I have never been more ashamed of my country than I am now with our citizenry for allowing such a heinous political republican party! The inhumanity too many of our people are willing to allow so that they can practice their prejudices and biases has me angered to the edge and with that edged anger comes a determination to stop the madness that currently has us enveloped.
     The depravity of the republican party and its attempt to steal the very democracy of our nation out from under us is criminal. If we don't stop them the cost will be too high to pay with the devolution of our constitution to follow. No words can sum up my devotion to our democracy and its egalitarian principles. We are all human beings with a right to pursue our happiness within the government that we all commit to participate in. Not through force or coercion, but because we attract through the best of honorable principles. I am certain that our democracy is the best form of government ever instituted and if anyone or thing would take it they or it would have to get past me and the millions of other like minded democracy patriots.
     In 2018 we began to turn the tide of trumps at the ballot box but now we need to keep the pressure on the trumps with every brutish decision they make. Nothing is too little or small! Every step trump and his followers take to diminish our human and intellectual natural rights must be stopped no matter the inconvenience or cost. The very life blood of the generations who gave all to get us to this point are being thrown out like yesterday's garbage by republicans. They have ceded any honor they may have had previous to the last two generations in order to raise a coup on our American democracy. I will not let them in my lifetime nor will any of the millions of other democracy patriots who know that our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness within the scope of our lawful society cannot be abridged.

Either we fight together or separately (#3686)

     Society is a fight. So we have to choose who we fight and how we fight. With democracy we fight on the same side against those who would take our democracy. With those who don't like democracy they fight individually against not only democracy but everyone else as well. This is the moment of our reality. The democratic party is about the strength of togetherness, justice and fairness. Whereas the republican party has decided to lead those who would step on our democracy in favor of the wealthy and the privilege and advantage of corrupted rule. No doubt you can guess which side I am affiliated with by the tone of my description.
     I often wonder how republicans can justify their destruction of democracy when democracy afforded them all they have now. But to presuppose that republicans care about that irony is to be caught in the web of their dissonance. Likely they don't care and see democracy as a one time gift just for them and then like that presto, they take it away for anyone else. It fits their narrative of control and power which they feel they "deserve" above all others. It must be intoxicating for them to keep pushing for the concept of dominion. I cannot explain it rationally any other way but then again I am not a mental health care professional. But I do follow logic and common sense with a passion and the republican ideal of individualism without shared community structure can only lead to a power struggle that will end democracy and likely modernism if our species survives.
     The republicans look to dictatorships around the world and instead of seeing the fight to protect human rights and species enlightenment, they see a model that makes them salivate with lust. They desire the brutal control that China has over it's population. They love the ideal of state sponsored murder like the Saudis have over their population. The republican party even admires the horrendous rule of North Korea and appreciates their desire to grow their nuclear arsenal. Now not all of this is communicated in simple form and many obfuscating circumstances keeps us at bay but don't be fooled by the misdirection, the putin loving trump and his loyal republican party are working hard to become just like their buddies who remain in power through state sponsored terrorism against their own citizenry and by extension the world at large.

Misery equals republicanism (#3685)

     The republican party is about pain and misery for most others since that is the product from their demented privilege and advantage practices. Now privilege and advantage are the staples of how republicans operate and as long as you are not only a believer in their cult and pass the many stringent biased tests they apply, you too can be a racist, greedy asshole with little to no regard for our planet or our fellow time travelers both human and non human. But of course they don't narrate themselves this way. Instead they call themselves the true patriots of America and the only ones who should inherit the American dream.
     Their zeal and lust for power over all is not to be questioned given their many policies and public statements that not only conjure up cruel and brutish thuggery but portend that they are "chosen". As they continue to display their symptoms of grandeur they further isolate themselves and thus make them even more rabid. There will come a time when their disease will spill over into our rights as free individuals much like it has already spilled over into our democracy. When that occurs the solutions will be limited and not likely to be civil. Yet before we get to that point there are measures we can take to stop their madness before it gets to our doorsteps.
    We can vote them out of office and not give them the opportunity to spread their vile interpretation of survival of the fittest with their built in self protections. I am not here to convince anyone what is correct about how life should be respected or how life can be made better by our choice as humans to do so. I am here to tell you that if you do not solve the problem of republican rule now you will not have the same simple choices to do so when they have fully integrated their rules for life into our society. The tipping point is now here and in the next election we will see what life will be like as to the difference we can make. Make your own choice as to how we as human beings embrace the fallacy of diseased power or the truth of why we care about how we all live in society.

Tax cuts for the wealthy, not social programs, are the economic problem (#3684)

     The same old discredited trickle down economic argument by republicans is killing our society. They will not stop trying to help the obnoxiously wealthy gain even more wealth at the expense of our democracy. It is frustrating for me that too many are not schooled in basic economics and how our democracy has to distribute wealth on a much more fair scale. If we let all the wealthy take most of the money then we will lose our democracy to authoritarianism and dictatorship. It is that simple an equation to understand, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2018/jan/21/this-is-how-democracies-die.
     So when the republicans passed their tax cuts for the wealthy and it hurt our incoming revenues they immediately began to blame our social programs for the disparity in incoming revenues. Instead of the logical fact of the tax cuts reducing revenues. They switched the narrative halfway through the debate. But I won't let them tell me the lies of their agenda. I as well as millions upon millions of others know that giving revenues to the rich is what is stifling our economic purse, not the meager social programs that are here to bolster democratic values. This is simple in some respects and it must be shouted from the rooftops that the republican party is making our social programs work harder than they should but nonetheless these social programs stabilize our society and give real life opportunities where all too often privilege and advantage are roadblocks.
     If our nation does not heed the call for saving our democracy we will lose it and republicans will not care one bit. They will then purge our society of all who would dare have a thought outside the republican programmed status for living in America. We will have a dictator like trump and a government that is all about a survival of the fittest environment. The hunger games but for real. this isn't some conspiracy I have under an aluminum foil hat, it is the likely outcome of a republican controlled America. The only way to end this nightmare of a possible looming reality is for those of us who are patriots to democracy working our tails off to help in any possible way to change the narrative from republican talking points to one of an anger at their usurping of our Constitutional guarantees.
     

A non believers manifestation of prayer (#3683)

     You can never ever be too old to learn something about yourself, at least I can't be. I usually do some early morning grocery shopping because it is always nice having the store to myself pretty much and it gets my home supply stocking chore done early. Anyway, I am walking back to my truck with my groceries and I pass a younger man who is wheeling a cart with discarded recyclables. He asks me if I have any spare change so that he can eventually get to the light rail and go home. Now I am one who is always trying to do good for others and when asked to I surmise the situation and then react. This fellow looked genuine to me and I said to him that I had fifteen cents change I just got from the cashier in my pocket. He said great if I could spare it. I said how about a dollar instead?
     He didn't even hesitate and said thank you. So I took out my wallet and gave him a five dollar bill. He looked at it and then said can I pray for you? I said no thanks as it was already raining hard in the middle of the parking lot. We went on our way and I thought about what he said on the drive home. I am not religious or a belief system person but I wanted to say something about that to him but didn't have the words right then. Plus I didn't want to have a debate about whether a god exists or not in a rainstorm. But thinking about what my response should have been I realized that I was living my prayer. I do good things for people who otherwise wouldn't have a good moment in that time frame.
     My acts of kindness and help are my prayer and if I do have a belief system it is that I want to do no harm while doing as much good as I can. I am not dissing those who fervently believe that thoughts and prayers are important, I just believe and know that actions, not words are the better form for it. So as I got home I decided that this posting would be about this little event in the rain pelting grocery store parking lot and how it affected me as the giver of something to someone who had less than me. Because it tells me that although I am not bound to any belief system my life is ruled by some of the values that are shared with beliefs. The goodness within me doesn't have to be from a god, it can be from where I know it emanates, from the innocence I was born with and still have within me.

The republican party is a wreck! (#3682)

     There are less and less of those who claim to be republicans who are not the ones who will never listen to reason, facts, evidence, common sense unless somehow they can make it fit into their narrative. I know someone who cannot stop supporting trump because he cast his die for the republicans a long time ago and would never live it down to admit he was and still is wrong. A stubbornness to never admit a wrong is strong juju medicine for the right wing republicans. They have no inner sense of balance in their lives so it is fox "news" 24 /7 for them. If there was some way to shut down fox "news" I have no doubt that the intelligence quotient of our nation would immediately begin to rise.
     Much of what keeps loyal republicans together is their common hatred for non white people. They have some idea stuck in their craws about the white race and it's highest hierarchy comparatively with all other people of color. It is a simply crude paradigm they base their lives on that has no fact based in reality. Yet because of their fear of those who are not the same color they make life miserable and unfair wherever they go. I try to think about how they see trump as their savior and cannot fathom the depths of their cowardice. How anyone could mistake the grifting conman carnival barker as a deity is absurd, absurd absurd. Yet for millions of faithful republican voters this is their false reality.
     The final tally come the 2020 election will tell us just who is left in the republican party as a voter and I suspect it won't be anywhere near the approximately 62 million voters from the 2016 election who voted for trump. That is a lot of folks who were willing to follow the pied piper right off the cliff yet as they keep getting closer to that cliff we see much wavering on their part to blindly step into the empty abyss. They are less sure of the conman although not quite unsure enough to stop voting for him in still too large of numbers. But those numbers are coming down and for that our nation will save itself from the self destruction that trump and republicans have for our working middle poor class and the democracy that sustains our modern enlightened civilization.