(#5567) Do what it takes to pursue your happiness

      When I pursue my happiness it is not about others, it is about me. There are few things in existence that I put above all of us but one of them is my happiness. It just so happens that doing for many others is a happiness to me and that is going great. But occasionally I am left with the knowledge that me personally is the subject of my happiness and it must be addressed. It is rare for me to want to change major things in my life to support my happiness but currently I am in one of those rare occasions. I have left what was a happy life down in Sacramento for a much more happy life here in the Seattle area.
     I am an older man so changing is not only difficult given generally set ways but as well physically and emotionally with the real upheaval of property and leaving behind dear friends. Yet weighing all that, has left me with a contentment that moving forward toward a greater happiness is well worth the change. Like all things in one's life there is some remorse at leaving behind what was once agreeable to something even more agreeable. But the future has a greater prospect at making me happy beyond anything I have previously experienced. So even at an older age I find that my path is well placed here where my future is about to get a fulfillment unlike I have ever had.
     It may seem tiresome and tedious to start all over again but I look at it this way. I have insightful memories to remind me that life is short and living life to a level of experiencing happiness in greater ways is more important than regrets at not having tried. I am no expert at understanding life but I do know that pursuing happiness is a great ambition and every now and then actually finding happiness is of much more value than not. So whatever it takes to have a greater happiness cross our paths is worth more than any safe harbor or satisfying way of life that is only an acceptable happiness. My opinion anyway because I again say that life is short and living it to our best hopes is more my take on it.

(#5566) Heading back up to the Seattle area

      We are ending our trip this morning back to my old hometown of Sacramento. I had recently moved from Sacramento up to the Seattle region to begin a new life with a special lady. However, there were things back here in Sacramento that needed my attention. My previous home where I had lived the past twelve years was now in the hands of a good friend who is making a life for herself there. Yet the nuances of the older home are still in flux so me being there to help for a day with the transition proved to be very helpful. After having been gone from there for over a month now I can see the changes and what was once my comfort has now become another's.
     So that part of the trip has been successful and another part remained to be addressed. As some of you know my brother John had a couple of strokes last year and unfortunately has ended up in a hospice care facility. For those who do not know the distinction, hospice is the term for terminal patients. John may be terminal but his will is not so he keeps fighting to keep his mind and soul alive. His body is withering but not his spirit to exist. So spending both days this weekend visiting him has been both an encouragement for him and a heart warming yet saddened experience for me. John is my older brother and his friendship and care for me has been throughout my lifetime.
     My fiance and I were also able to meet with my nephew, his wife, and two of their children for a dinner out last night. We all had a good evening together as my newly intended got to meet my soon to be best man for our upcoming wedding. My nephew has been a real bright spot in my life and having him stand up for me as my best man warms my soul. All together it has been a well needed visit/ My brother John is still in decline but being able to converse a bit and spend time with him makes me feel less alone in the world. I have a new companion now in my life and getting us back up to our home there is our next step as we leave the special town of Sacramento.

(#5565) The calm before the mighty storm

      It seems to me that despite the usual noise we are getting here at home and from Ukraine, there is a quietness that belies what is coming. Here in the US the media is starting to come to terms that this coming election is not like a normal election they have gotten used to historically reporting. They are increasingly finding it difficult to keep trump in a normal mode of respect. He is less than anything respectful and they are seeing this in real time so equally comparing trump to Biden as fair when they are both so different takes some real mind bending attempts to achieve.
     I have no doubt that the powers of the press want this election to be attractive to both sides of viewership yet being less than honest will not help our democracy nor justice. As to Ukraine, the quiet there is in the transition period that is happening right now is comparative, with armaments being assembled and plans for their use being revised. The Russian death toll and equipment loss is still very high for Russia while they continue to throw their treasure and blood away for very little. Yet despite the continued losses Russia seems to be on edge waiting for the next Ukrainian maneuver that is surely about to begin.
     What I see happening in the near future is for we democrats here in the US is to bolster our coming blue wave election with the strength of honest and fair media reporting. While in Ukraine a weakening Russia being hesitant in their ability to be bold and aggressive. Ukraine will be viable soon and when that allied supply of weapons hits the battlefield expect Ukraine to back it up with a fury. The wrong in the US with trump and his acolytes and the wrong in Ukraine with putin and his maniacal disregard for life will soon be put to the test of an unforgiving mood from the US electorate at trump and his maga movement as well as the steely eyed determination of brave Ukrainians who will have the wherewithal to hand putin a most life altering humiliating defeat!

(#5564) Efficient Ukrainian counter attacks are working to keep Russia from advancing until the US aid arrives

      The idea that everything will be fine once the US aid arrives for Ukraine is false. Right now since the US aid was delayed so long the Russian forces have taken advantage of the republican obstruction of needed Ukrainian aid to overwhelm many positions that Ukraine previously held. So getting the aid as quick as possible is necessary for Ukraine to begin again to defend itself from Russia. The problem is that although the aid was finally allowed by republicans, Ukraine has barely been able to sustain itself on the battlefield. Russian quick advances due to weapons shortages on the part of Ukraine gave Russia strategic advantages it is now utilizing.
     However, there has been one silver lining in this scenario. Ukraine has been the more complex military adversary between the aggressor Russia and the defender Ukraine. Although Russia has a massive armament and personnel advantage they are not quick on their feet to analyze and reason efficient usage of their advantages. Whereas Ukraine, although a much smaller military force is quick on their feet to adapt to strategies that work to undermine the Russian advantage. Russia seems to think like an old time warrior in the throw everything at the obstacles style of fighting to secure land, unlike Ukraine who uses tactical advantages and creative weapons to defend and counter attack.
     When Russia runs their troops headlong into fire they are not worried because they know that Ukraine is going to run out of ammunition and they will still have troops left to eventually take the position. Ukraine is not like that! They don't treat their men and women like disposable beings. Instead Ukraine attacks Russia where the weapons are stockpiled or built. Taking weapons off the battlefield helps Ukraine lessen and delay the attack that Russia is desperately trying to inflict on them. By stalling and lessening attacks right now Ukraine is buying time for them to be reinforced through the US aid that will then help them to eventually defeat the Russians and put them back across to their own borders.

(#5563) Capitalism without regulation will undo democracy

      We all should know how greed is. It is an addictive influence on us. Instead of moderating like we should we splurge and splurge until we are inundated with a sense of entitlement. We think we are special, much more than anyone else because we have so much more than most all others. Greed is like an ego, supersized to the point of relegating other human beings to an inconsequential state. Greed occurs when capitalism has no safeguards to keep it from expanding beyond the structures of the society that created it. Where the obscenely wealthy look upon democracy as a curse that keeps them from all facets of control like they think their wealth demands.
     Our democracy created the parameters of capitalism so that it could be a means for the gifted and extraordinarily hard working to receive due merit. What capitalism does not do is provide a structured society with boundaries. Unless capitalism has rules governing growth and abundance, capitalism will through its obsessiveness overwhelm common sense and equality of opportunity, hallmarks of democracy, with its self serving greed. We in the democracies of the world need to make sure that our gifted and extraordinarily hard working that are rewarded with merit do not receive that merit in unlimited amounts. There are finite resources as it is so giving merit without limits is not only bad for the many who are not gifted nor extraordinarily hard working but it creates a class of people more affected by greed than by common good.
     We civilized people who see society as a contract to exist together in order to have a life that is closer to safe and secure than tumultuous and chaotic, realize that democracy is the gold standard for rules to exist by. Capitalism is an economic model within democracy, that may be structured properly to include all of us citizens within our society. So democracy may well support capitalism if capitalism is regulated enough to keep it from crating greed and undermining the values of democracy. We can do this through the proper regulation of merit. Having too much is obscene while not having enough is criminal. There is a middle ground and finding that is not as hard as a fellow human being of good intent can easily imagine.
     

(#5562) Find your courage Americans, now is our time!

      As it is now we Americans are not physically at war. Yet the time is coming regardless of how we try to avoid it. We either face it and battle as needed or we fold and let the aggressors remove us from the ideals we as a nation stand for. It is much like the bully who will come eventually to take every bit of our dignity away because we were not ready to fight him to keep our dignity. This is the duty of all peace loving individuals. It is also a fear that must be overcome. We cannot have peace unless we are strong. The bullies of the world want what isn't theirs and we must not let them have what is ours!
     The foundation for a war has been building over many decades. The bad people who would rule the world have not gone away and instead have been building toward this time in our history. They are now fighting in Ukraine and Ukraine has shown the world how to stop them. Ukraine has fought for every inch of its existence with a fervor that exemplifies courage and bravery. We Americans are not yet reduced to fighting on our own soil to preserve it from the forces of brute force and cruelty but if we are not ready for such an event the time will come when we find that a last minute scramble to save ourselves is more futile than effective.
     When we Americans focus our attention on the harm that will befall all of us then we become united and an invincible force that cannot be undone. However if we fail to resolve ourselves toward our courage, we will stay divided thus easily defeated. There is war now in Ukraine and the aggressors want not only Ukraine but all democracies to fall to them. They are like the locusts eating everything in their path. Well the pestilence that they exemplify must be trounced and only when that occurs can the rest of the world relax a bit and reorganize toward peace. Peace can only exist when we the many remain strong against those who would destroy it. We Americans must prepare to fight to preserve peace!

(#5561) Ukraine's task of recapturing lost ground while waiting for US aid

      Even today Russia advances on strongholds of Ukraine because Ukraine doesn't have the resources to defend itself properly. Although the coming aid from the US is imminent, it is still late. If this aid had been approved two months ago Ukraine would be on the offensive instead of having to retreat in too many places. This is all due to trump and his hold on the republican party. The republicans get no pass on the blame either for they were the ones cowering to trump. Even though republicans finally did the correct thing and approved the aid it is not without a grave cost to Ukraine and it's fallen brave defenders.
     I will never forget how the republican party played with lives in order to waste time and do practically nothing as a benefit toward themselves. It was all about themselves by the way as the majority of the American people were anguished by the choice of republicans to not protect our allies and democracy from the brute putin who would put the whole of the world under his boot. The cognitive dissonance it took for the republicans to languish about with a haughty nerve in stifling the aid is still unnerving to me. I have no respect for their tactics that cost thousands of Ukrainian lives due to their inability to be good stewards of democracy. The republican failure at being honorable beings is a stain on the rest of us.
     With President Biden signing the aid bill today the process to quickly get the aid to our allies begins in earnest and without delay. Every minute is crucial in the aid finding its way to the front lines and air defense systems. Russia has leveraged the trump led opposition to Ukrainian aid over the last several months almost as if trump and putin designed a strategy of complicitness. Occam's Razor would agree and although difficult to prove at this point could well be the case. Either way the aid will begin to save Ukrainian lives from further destruction at the hands of putin and that in the final analysis is what is important today. There will be a reckoning in the future of the actions of all involved in how each political party behaved and for republicans that reckoning will not be kind!

(#5560) Understanding human nature

      I find events in my life are ever changing requiring me to evaluate my environment on a nearly constant basis. Not that the foundation of my life is in play, but that some of the periphery is in need of adjustment. Our relationships and the behaviors they entail are the crux of the change. Not all of my relationships are built upon solid footings. Some are still in flux and need to be understood better before they become commonplace within my sphere of living. I am a particular man when it comes to who is in my life and who isn't allowed. I have a short life to live in the overall reality of the human timeline and as such will not waste the good I may advance on those who do not find it worthy.
     There is something more about me that is as best described as hard. I do not care to be surrounded by fools who have no purpose nor by those who have chosen to dismiss reality in favor of their own imaginations. I am my own man and therefore will proceed accordingly. Not all will like who I am but the man I am is not unworthy nor filled with ulterior motives. My tight grip on reality is in knowing that we humans are caring and curious. We strive for these two natures in the whole entirety of our living. Where we get off course is when we let our lesser instincts of ego and fear loose to satisfy themselves. I will not allow those, in my life, who are less than sincere in their efforts to make our world better through care and curiosity.
     Those who have motives beyond the honorable are quickly found out by me and are left away from me. It is how I deal with those who do not place themselves more as servants than they do as masters. Ego and fear are the playground of the undisciplined mind and although hopefully curable, I am not the one who has the antidote. I have spent far too much of my time trying to enlighten those who would not have knowledge so I have learned that I am not their savior, nor by enabling them, helpful. As I near the end of my timeline in existence I would rather be helpful to those who see the value in my help and are ready to accept it. I am always learning something new going forward and hopefully helping others do the same.

(#5559) I am never happy about war but I am determined to stop those who start them!

      For those who follow me on this blog and other pages that I write on can testify that I am all in on freedom, justice, and liberty. These are the hallmarks of democracy and as such become my honor and duty to protect and advance. Our world is still fraught with those who are small minded and cruel to the bone. When they gain power and lord over others their brand of life sufferings for those who are their victims is when something must be done to relieve them of that power. We are witnessing this scenario currently in Ukraine. Where the tyrant putin, who has a stranglehold on the Russian people, is forcing himself further on the Ukrainian people.
     This person putin has no lively soul worthy of admiration nor care. He is about harm! I am no embellisher of facts here. This person putin has so far pushed more than 460,000 of his countrymen into the grave so that he may gain land that is not his. In the history yet to be written of this time he will go down as one of the worst persons to ever wield the power to amass such numbers of lives lost to his ambitions of cruelty and brutish ego. The Ukrainian people and the Russian people have historically been more agreeable than not. But since putin has decided that he doesn't want his dictatorship of Russia to be bordered by a democratic Ukraine he has set out to destroy that general good will history between the two nations.
     One man and his boot licking comrades in the kremlin have set a course for murder, mayhem, and destruction like we have not seen since the middle of the last century. The lives lost and the damage done does not concern putin. What does concern putin is the victory he perceives he can attain at any cost. He will not care if he burns Russia down to achieve his goal. The Russian people for their part are more afraid of putin than they are courageous to stand up to him. Thus this invasion of putin's into Ukraine will continue until the end of putin or the end of Ukraine. We in the civilized world, with Ukraine, will not fold on our part so the finale of this gambit of putin's will be his fate on the line.

(#5558) The gig is up for both putin and trump!

      With yesterday's vote in the House of Representatives to approve Ukrainian and other foreign aid both putin and trump were denied their last hope of taking over the world. This for me was a turning point where putin and trump were thwarted from their last chance to turn our world upside down. What happens to both of them over the coming near future is anybody's guess but it won't be anything they will be glad to have happen. Their gambit, to me, has failed and all that is left is the mopping up of their messes. With the Ukraine aid the momentum has now swung back to Ukraine and their fighting forces are now bolstered so much so that they will have even more impetus to reclaim their land and send Russia back to their own land.
     For putin, the new aid to Ukraine will destroy his plans of taking Ukraine and marching on into Europe with sheer overwhelming force. The defense Ukraine will be able to employ shortly will keep the Russian troops at bay until the counter offensive by Ukraine may be consolidated and employed to further rush putin and his minions out of Russian held Ukrainian territory. There are other problems now for putin and his underlings and the Russian people can also see the new barriers to putin's ambitions and the cost they will have on all of them. There is no loyalty in tyranny, only revenge, so expect putin to become even more reclusive in his concern for his own safety.
     That putin will be hiding out in his fear, trump will be even more exposed to the justice of his behaviors and actions. Criminality has been a trump trademark and his desire for a world dominated by criminals is about to come to an end. When he does finally see the writing on the wall and starts to plan his escape he may find that he has waited too long and will not be able to jump the ship of his just deserves. However, either way, caught to face his sentences or on the run to his diabolical associates. He and putin will both be marked men who have nothing left to interfere in as we the rest of the world build our futures together with democracy and rights of humans as our design.

(#5557) Finally, we are about to give the aid for Ukraine!

      When Dr. King said "The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Toward Justice.” he was referring to the pace of change. It may take time but change will eventually arrive. This is the feeling I am experiencing with the Ukraine aid that has been long overdue. Not because of some obstacles outside our imaginations but because the republican party chose to play politics with life and death. The gamesmanship reserved for less lethal activities is now fair game to republicans. This is not an opinion, it is a fact. This aid should have been given our ally last December but no, leveraging life and death is/was more important to republicans than honor.
     Do not misinterpret me here. I am well happy that the arc of moral justice has arrived for Ukraine and the lift in my spirits is real. Yet the need for this aid was many months ago and since then many brave Ukrainian citizens have paid the ultimate price because of it's unnecessary delay. All the dithering and lack of concern for the high priority of protecting not only democracy but of protecting life has not forwarded anything positive. Now the lives lost and the territories lost because Ukraine could not defend and protect itself efficiently falls to the responsibility of republicans who played games while grave consequences befell Ukraine.
     Today the House will vote to supply the long promised aid to our allies who are fighting for their survival. It is a triumph of will over obstinance and we democrats may take our hard earned victory here and continue to uphold the virtues of democracy and the value of at least our word to never give up on our allies. The republican party is less so in both their word and their values but in this instance they did the correct thing and mostly aligned with democrats to keep the manifest destiny of our world toward democracy and the right of all human beings to equal and just pursuits of happiness.

(#5556) Ukraine aid still moving forward in the House

      I cannot reiterate this enough. The importance of this aid finally getting past the House is beyond my words to describe. That the aid is moving forward toward a vote in the House tomorrow afternoon is remarkable considering how the aid was being successfully blocked by pro trump/putin forces. It seems the new republican speaker has found his courage and will not be deterred in his plan to help Ukraine despite the trump anger at him for doing so. I cannot impress upon my readers the troublesomeness of trump being pro tyrant putin and therefore anti democratic. How this worthless con man has been able to sucker in his cult is beyond my ability to comprehend.
     Regardless of the obstacles the fact the aid is being forwarded in much the same shape as the Senate version is comforting to me. I personally, as well as many others, have been waiting for this period of time to begin. Where the House under a bare majority has been controlled by republicans to thwart anything democrats want to do for our allies. It seems that gamesmanship has been extended to denying democracy to our allies in order to score some political points somehow. As I consider the tradeoff for the stalling of the aid that should have been passed into law last December, I cannot fathom a good reason. The only reason I can fathom is a bad one. Where trump is in cahoots with putin the tyrant to annex Ukraine into the Russian sphere instead of allowing it to remain a sovereign democracy.
     I cannot doubt much that my opinion is in fact the most likely truth. That trump is all about getting putin what he wants despite what it does to democracy. A debt trump owes to putin that trump knows must be paid. Yet the speaker of the House is not allowing any further delay to the aid going to Ukraine. So watch trump as this aid is finally voted on and sent back to the Senate for it's immediate vote and passage and then President Biden signing the bill into law immediately after that. What trump does will show just how much my opinion is truth or just coincidental. I will stand by my conviction that given all the rhetoric of trump in the past about how he wouldn't help Ukraine and that putin should be allowed to fold Ukraine into Russian territory, that trump is against the manifest destiny of democracy being our world political reality.

(#5555) It finally looks like the aid may be coming to Ukraine

      After all the stalling and rhetoric of nonsense coming from the republicans in the House of Representatives for the last 5 months it is clear they are about to pass basically the same bill from the Senate they had been stalling. No other reason than trump saying don't pass the Ukrainian aid can be drawn. Why would trump not want to help a democratic nation under attack? Because his buddy putin is the one doing the attacking! If you needed to know anything about trump and his disloyalty to democracy and those of us who want democracy for all the world then you have this example.
     That the House republican majority is now able to push beyond trump and his desire to destroy Ukraine and enhance his buddy the tyrant putin is a turning point. Doing what is correct for America instead of doing what is selfish for trump is now on display. The House unveiled their "bills" for perusal and for a vote on Saturday evening. The Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan aid bills will get a separate vote with all three presumed to be passed handily. Joe Biden will spend little time signing them into law and then the help Ukraine has needed for so many months will begin to arrive in Ukraine.
     All that the republican party of trump accomplished was to weaken Ukraine for a little while and allow Russia to murder more citizens of Ukraine. That is their accomplishment by standing by trump and his goal to help putin. For the American people like me it has been a devastating time filled with remorse and sadness that Ukraine and it's brave citizenry have been bandied about by those American republicans who play at democracy and in essence little deserve it themselves. Joe Biden and we democrats will never give up on helping Ukraine and by this time Sunday morning the aid package for Ukraine will finally be coming.

(#5554) Doing the correct thing should not be the last resort!

      As we again wait on the republican speaker of the House to fulfill his broken promises on aid to our foreign allies, it must be stated that his fear of losing his speakership for doing the correct thing should not be his highest priority. Doing the correct thing should be his priority and come what may should be his expectation. He has already received assurances from democrats that they will protect his speakership through the remaining months if he will only do the correct thing on allowing the aid to reach the House floor for a vote. His concern is his extra job within his normal job of being a congressman.
     What Ukraine and other foreign nations are losing are lives by the many due to his delay in deciding. He is essentially saying his second job is more important than thousands of lives. This isn't that hard to figure out. I feel no sadness for him over his personal dilemma of losing out his position as speaker when the lives of so many are daily ended because of him and his lack of empathy for the lives of others who are only trying to preserve the right of self governing. As the republican speaker in his fear allows for a tyrant like putin to increase his confidence in attacking innocent people, a precedence of cowardice begins to form.
     Such is the opinion of many of us who already know that the foreign aid is many months late now and has been the catalyst for putin to attack even more ferociously the people of Ukraine. The republican speaker should immediately allow for a floor vote of the Senate passed legislation and when handily passed, allow Joe Biden to sign it and get aid to the desperate Ukrainians. They are our allies and we promised to help them defend their democracy. How utterly absurd it is for the republican speaker to squirm and quibble when others are being buried in the ground because of his inaction over a job title that is of now, little more than defined as a lackey to trump.

(#5553) This could be the week where Ukraine aid passes out of the House

      I am still skeptical and will not lend my credulity to any of it. However, the timing seems like a possibility with the attack by Iran on Israel. The inept republicans in the House and even possibly the ridiculous criminal trump may be about to temper their anti democracy rhetoric long enough for the aid bill to find its way beyond the hold in the House by republicans. I have written about this before and have come up empty in my intuitive analysis. I had always assumed that after some gamesmanship that republicans would do the correct thing and be somewhat honorable.
     Yet I have been proven wrong! The republican party is not about being honorable they are about being greedy and selfish. They have found a consistency in their drive to control and acquire in unlimited terms. So never again will I make the mistake of supposing that republicans are for all instead of just being for themselves. That being said, there are other forces at play that are as strong or stronger than republican greed and selfishness. Their very survival is now a consideration in a world where they have to exist. So the idea that war all around them might make their greed and selfishness difficult to attain may well be the wedge needed to get them to move on the foreign aid.
     Today will be the signal if it is to be. A bill or more will need to be voted on and must be ready for that process to begin. There is no excuse not to have ready some package or package of bills relative to the aid. The republican party in the House has been stalling the aid bill already voted on in the Senate for many months and can have no reason not to be prepared to legislate. For me it has never been about legislating, it has been about the republicans doing what trump wants them to do and that would be to allow putin to take Ukraine. However the problem with that is some in the republican party are not for putin and are still fighting for Ukraine and other foreign aid desperately needed to keep democracy alive.
     

(#5552) Ukraine aid is the hill trump will fail to survive

      The one thing that trump is determined to stop is aiding Ukraine. He has a deal with putin that if he breaks it will certainly cause putin to retribute toward trump a mighty hurt. This is why trump will not give his blessing to aiding Ukraine. The republican party will have to find a way around trump so as to get Ukraine the aid. There will likely be a vote this week to help Israel and what the outcome of that vote does to the republican party will be in large part due to whether Ukraine aid is part of it. If not then anything could happen even republicans voting against a stand alone bill just to help Israel.
     That would be the only way for the more moderate republicans in the House of Representatives to force the trump speaker of the House to offer a bill that also includes Ukraine, in order to get aid to Israel. It is an opportunity to force the Ukraine aid along despite the obstruction and threats coming from trump. The defense of Israel is a much more delicate issue with the often distorted evangelical base of the republican party. So it's heightened importance may be the push that Ukraine aid needs to get past the trumpian deal with putin to quit Ukraine and give it to putin. I don't hold out much hope for anything any more but when an opportunity shows itself I must at least root for it.
     So it seems another week of guessing how the pressures of trump may be overcome by rationality is upon us. All of this makes me long for the next election when we can eliminate the republican party from power in the last sector of our government that deals with legislative issues. Ukraine will likely need to fend off Russia without American help until the election makes for a new majority in the House. 9 months of strategy to survive instead of having the aid and literally kicking Russia out of Ukraine now. What the republican party is doing to Ukraine will forever stain the moral and ethical ground they suppose they stand on. They are not moral or ethical in their ambition to let a democracy of brave intelligent people be consumed by a treacherous and tyrannical figure like putin!

(#5551) The world burns when trump is being trump

      With the trumpian speaker of the House doing his bidding and keeping foreign aid from reaching our allies the heat is turned up on our allies and death and destruction is the result. Nothing I have seen of trump suggests that he is about putting out fires but instead creating them. If trump had his way during his 2020 insurrection our world would already be inflamed with conflicts everywhere as he is all about letting dictators and tyrants rule the world. Democracy would be under attack everywhere on our planet and no doubt we would all be armed and fighting each other for the sake of egos like trump.
     Even now that trump is not in power he holds sway over too many who do have power. His design to help putin keep Ukraine and any other land that putin desires is evident. We know putin has things on trump that force trump to do whatever the little tyrant wants. We cannot have a compromised criminal like trump anywhere near power for the sake of all of us and our ideals of self government. The attack on Ukraine, and now the attack on Israel is evidence that the aid that Joe Biden is trying to get to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan is imperative to those nations being able to defend and defeat their attackers. Taiwan has at yet to be attacked but it seems logical they will be next.
     With trump behind the scenes making republicans act like him it is inevitable that the aid that is dearly needed will not be coming during this year. The only hope now is for the discharge petition attempt to manifest itself so that a forced House vote on the existing Senate passed bill for foreign aid is allowed. I have no new news on the discharge petition but hopefully it is ready for serious advancement. The time is short for the aid to be effective and if not delivered soon will be too late for many good souls who will have died needlessly because trump is an egomaniac. Never underestimate the disease of trump to rule the world with putin even if it means putting us all at grave risk.

(#5550) Another predictable feint from the republicans in the House

      Sadly the republicans in the House are more like the boy who cried wolf than anything else. They go on recess for weeks and then when they come back they say they will address Ukrainian aid. Yet each time they do that they don't address Ukrainian aid. They put it off for some other reason known only to them. Well the rest of us see them and are calling out that they are stalling by lying to us. They have no intention of passing Ukrainian aid while they have the majority because the decrepit trump doesn't want to harm his patron putin. That trump will put his loyalty to putin over his loyalty to democracy is unquestionable. Yet his followers don't see that as a deal breaker.
     So his followers are as well anti democracy if it helps trump. Just think about that for a moment. The pied piper trump is like a cult leader who has hypnotized his followers into going off a cliff with him. He will drive our democracy to the ground if it helps him win power. He, trump, has no allegiance to our nation unless he can get something from it. This is the person who is under constant civil and criminal scrutiny for his blatant business practices, abhorrent personal behavior, and his attempted overthrow of our constitution. It is amazing to me that so many Americans are blinded by his rhetoric nor cannot admit his behavior and actions. They do not correlate the hypocrisy of his acts from his bombastic words.
     To me it isn't a failure of democracy that has brought us to this, it is a failure of decency and respect that has enveloped the minds of stubborn republican voters. If I am having a hard time convincing folks that being an upright decent human being is what we should be striving to become then what is the value of our society when it is neither fair nor equal. I always felt that we the America dream were the best of what the world could become. But it seems now that I was dreaming instead of being awake and seeing who we really are and what that really means. Ukraine will languish without the months ago promised aid and republicans are the ones who will be responsible for their likely defeat because they admire the conman trump more than they fear the loss of democracy.

(#5549) I don't just live to exist

      This blog has always been about how I see the two main instincts within human beings. For me they are naturally compassion and curiosity, or more commonly care and wonder. Yet there was always a third that I couldn't easily fit into either of those categories. That being the survival instinct. However I may be unable to interpret its placement, it is still real and vital to our species. Leaving how I should categorize it for now, I will say that it is a start but not an end. I do need to survive and that is essential to my life but it is not all that I need for my particular life.
     Surviving or in this case existing is the foundation for me but from there is where I begin to live my life. In one way when I was younger I was much more bold in how I gambled with my own life. I was fearless at times and put myself into situations beyond the safety of caution. In that regard I was less than intellectual about my survival but nonetheless there was the hubris of my youth at play. What I also have done is defy the safety of ordered thinking so that I could create outside the box of ordinary imagination. I have done so because I understood early on that we all must add to the knowledge bank we humans have been building over our entire generations of existence.
     We are not born into this existence with knowledge that is complete nor even mostly accurate. We find that life is an evolutionary process beginning with our own maturity from child to adult to old age. Everywhere around us are examples of evolved ideas, good and not so good, that have been formed into paradigms that we utilize to our benefit. As we all evolve into our futures the creative and innovative will remain constant and being able to adapt, to the better and best we continue to imagine, is the hallmark of a society of humans, not just me, that places itself above just existing.

(#5548) The Democratic party is the party of faith and hope

      I spend a lot of time trying to describe the failed fallen republican party and not enough time giving an alternative to those troubled republican voters. Let us list a couple of ways the democratic party helps the working middle poor class in our nation. We democrats are champions of social security and health care. No other political party in the history of our nation has done more for our citizenry than the democratic party. For seniors and the infirmed the difference between having resources and care and having none is stark. Imagine being older and having to work out the last of your days doing the work that is expected from strong healthy younger folks?
     Imagine having to live with disabilities sustained over a lifetime of labor up until your dying day? Without social security and medicare the imagining would be real, not a dream. We democrats fight for equality like no other political party in the history of our nation. We are not able to achieve full equality because the republican party does not work to make equality between human beings a right. We democrats have secured many advantages for the downtrodden but the ways to go is still long and arduous. We democrats have the faith that humanity is still a virtue and that hope for the better and best we can be as humans is still viable.
     We democrats are strong and vigilant in our determination that all human beings deserve a life in this existence that has as many possibilities in it that justice, equity, and fairness may allow. We do not see the world through a lens of cant's and wont's but through a lens of shoulds and can's. We democrats want humanity, science, and logic to guide our decisions about how we exist in this vast Universe of possibilities. We want to treat each other fairly and with respect. We are all humans, thus our compassion should reflect that. Logic and science dictates that treating each other like we would want to be treated is the best guide for how we should be behaving. We democrats are optimists about life with the faith and hope to achieve great things through policies that enhance life not undermine it.

(#5547) The republican party is synonymous with tyranny

      The world is begging republicans to help Ukraine stave of putin and his tyranny but republicans are not listening. It is the same old usual for republicans to dismiss equality and justice so that they can attain power and wealth. It really is that simple. The putin's of the world will not stop invading other nations as long as the greatest democracy on Earth, America, refuses to stop them. In our American form of government, 3 branches control the destiny of our nation. What is particularly unnerving is that in the one branch of our government, the legislative, which is bicameral, the Senate where democrats have a majority and the House, where republicans have a razor thin majority, and as such can hold up any aid we the rest of the majority of our nation want to allocate to Ukraine.
     So as democracy in Ukraine is being overwhelmed by the bully tyrant putin, republicans are ignoring the urgency of the moment by fiddling around and doing nothing to help. The republican de facto leader the criminal trump is against helping democracy in Ukraine because he has a financial relationship with putin's Russia. So his forcefulness to block aid to Ukraine which would hurt Russia is making getting aid voted on in the House nearly impossible. Meanwhile Russia is taking full advantage of the aid not being delivered by attacking Ukraine with full force everywhere they can to break the Ukrainian will. I am so ashamed at being an American with such a political party as republicanism in our government.
     For all those who keep the republican party in power the shame you have on your soul will never be cleansed once you finally wake up to the fact you helped cause the mass murder of Ukrainian patriots not unlike our own during our struggle for independence here in America for the sake of putin and the criminal trump. To be on the side of republicanism is to be on the side of tyranny. How have republican voters fallen so low and despicable as this without a full understanding of their arrogant thinking? I am a simple man who has his own faults in life but I would never vote to betray the honor and nobleness of democracy and the blood and treasure our foreparents spent to attain it!

(#5546) Why can't republican voters see the problem with republicanism?

      When you consider the voting to expand rights and privileges to citizens in red states it makes you wonder why those same voting citizens in those states keep supporting republican candidates. The expansion of rights and privileges are not coming from the republican party they are coming from the democratic base in those red states. So why is it that the citizens who support those democratic ballot initiatives keep voting against the democratic candidates that support those popular policies? It is a question that needs to be answered as soon as possible with the next major election slated for this November.
     Confusion about who supports what may be the problem and likely is in some cases but what else is at play? Is it a deep down hard hatred of democratic policies that current republican voters find offensive? That could be as well some of the answer. Or is it a loyalty to the republican party that has deep roots and despite the incongruence between what they want and what they cherish has left them still automatically voting for republican politicians? That as well would be likely. It just seems to me that the complexity of trying to understand what is the better and best of us shouldn't be a conflict. We should all vote for our candidates based upon what they will do for us and our nation. Not to indiscriminately punish or over past hatred.
     The current republican party is counting on their base voters not to see that they are working to end democracy and instead install an autocracy where a strongman will lead without having to run for any future election. A king if you will. The republican party has reduced itself to only wanting to ease the tax burden for the wealthy and stimulate policies that harm our environment. Those who are wealthy may see the benefit of their wallets getting even bigger but the rest of us are paying for it by having less resources to share amongst ourselves. There are many reasons not to vote for republicans and many reasons to vote for democrats. When we all get on this same page is when the magic of America can begin to reflect to all of life on this planet that America is the bastion of all that is good and great about our existence.

(#5545) The republican calculus is that death of the innocent is irrelevant to them

      I have come to terms with my assessment that the people who are devout republicans do not care for the safety and welfare of those who are vulnerable to their decisions. The examples within the scope of my lifetime are numerous beginning with the republican sabotage of the peace treaty in 1968 between the US and Vietnam to the present denial of aid by republicans to the Ukrainian effort to defend themselves and democracy from the tyrant putin. If a policy is about lifting people out of desperation, poverty, and hunger then the republican party is about not helping and instead making it harder to actuate  solutions.
     The most recent example of withholding life saving aid to Ukraine in it's struggle to survive the onslaught of the murderous putin, is most excruciating. Many brave Ukrainians are dying today because the aid that was promised them months ago has been held up in the republican controlled House of Representatives because the de facto leader of the republican party, the disgraced trump, doesn't want the aid to go to Ukraine. The reasoning is that he, trump, owes putin favors and one of them is allowing putin to take Ukraine. The disgust I feel about the disgraced trump is beyond normal. Yet he has a hold over those in the House of Representatives that has yet to be broken. I cannot see a near future resolution of releasing the aid when stalling is the norm from the House by republicans.
     So while the defenders of democracy are dying for the inaction of republicans the rest of us are left with not much to do to help the innocent that will pay the ultimate price for the callousness of republican politicians. It has been my wish since I was a new voting young man that no more votes would go to the republican party. They have served notice the length of my lifetime that they are not about helping all in our democracy. Instead they are about ruling with an iron fist toward those who are not able to make themselves independently wealthy. Regardless of by hook or crook. The only real tangible thing republicans want to protect is power and wealth.
     

(#5544) trump working behind the scenes to destroy Ukrainian democracy

      The republican party has become the playground of trump and his anti democratic policies. The reasoning is obvious. He wants to be the leader of America without elections to displace him. What is so startling is that too many Americans would like to see him succeed. We are mostly talking about white christian nationalists. They don't think that anyone who hasn't sworn allegiance to their God could possibly be worthy of being equal with them therefore should not be allowed to vote. They have taken their particular belief system and turned it upside down in order to justify inequality due to their perceived superiority.
     How they are able to do this in the face of traditional religious upbringings begs the following questions. When servitude is taught how is it that mastery over others is the result? Where greed in the form of "name it and claim it" is the virtue, while sacrifice and benevolence is the evil? Where welcoming strangers, which is taught in the Christian bible, is under trump the exception, and denying strangers, the rule? How is it that the cherry picked lessons of God are only attended to when they align with personal preferences? Why is greed and selfishness acceptable when the many more are forced to do without? These are all examples of the changing of the way too many people now see as godliness under the examples of religion under trump.
     For those who do not ascribe to these inverted effects of bad interpretation of religious teachings, and those who have their own principles of morality and ethics outside the ethos of religion, what trump is doing is horrendous. Mocking the traditional God of the Bible with his own brand of religious tomfoolery. For a man who never steps a foot inside a church it sure seems his flock is devoid of the hypocrisy. Those republican politicians who follow trump and parrot his demands, the dire state of Ukrainian aid is and will be difficult to become real when the whole idea of not sending it is the agenda. That trump wants putin to defeat the democracy Ukraine is dying to preserve is the last straw for the many of us who will never stop blocking his path to any more power.

(#5543) It's never to late for this old dog to learn a new trick

      I have been stuck in my ways for decades because I didn't have someone else to consider how my personal habits could affect them. Well now I do and I am learning that despite the comfort of my past habits I am in need of learning new ones. Not only for her but for myself. It is totally different to have someone see my behavior and tell me about it then to accept my behavior from myself as within the bounds of normalcy and keep moving on. There is nuance that I had not consider at times and from there is where I am learning. It seems appropriate anyway because none of us has arrived in a perfect state of being.
     Much like time and space, I have to be able to evolve to the ever changing dynamic of innovation, logic, and creativity. As new paradigms form and now for me a new relationship, the acceptable of the past is now unacceptable in many ways in the present and near future. Some of my considerations that formed previous conclusions are now not the basis for any equitable equation of reason. I have new considerations that are beyond what exists in my own head and soul. I am a man of science and logic so accepting truths even when they go against the grain of my previous safe and secure thoughts is my duty and as such force me to delve into the facts and reconstitute evaluations for proceeding.
     Such is this mystery of life. Just when we think we are somewhere in a safe harbor, a change arises and moves us out into the beginnings of reconfiguring. So my destiny is to keep changing with my existence and make sure that my changes are beneficial to not only myself but to my new companion in life. I think of it this way. I had to get to the point I am now at through the tempests and calm in my life so moving forward is just leaving the plateau I had occupied for a time so that my new adventure will take me along to another plateau of learning, where I am sure I will be needed to move from again in some little time in no doubt my estimation of knowing myself.

(#5542) Doing the best we can do

      It doesn't matter what we do in life, doing it to the best of our ability does matter. On this planet and its current environment there are limits to what can be imagined. However, what we do within the limits we can imagine give us a purpose that keeps us on the edge of our senses and uplifts our motivation to beyond to where the unknown becomes possible to be known. In other words, when we put ourselves to task as best we can within our known existence is where we find the portal to the unknown. Our minds are like a vault waiting to be triggered by the correct combination. When we are in a strong harmony with ourselves through being the best of who we are is when we become in tune with beyond our knowing.
     Consider the unknown as a vibration we have yet to feel. Chaos and turmoil are not conducive to receiving the new vibrations that are awaiting us. Our Universe is our classroom and being attentive and in harmony, free from doubt and closed mindedness, is our structure for advancing. When I am the most open to learn is when I have put all my effort into not only knowing the present but in focusing my attention as best as possible toward the new I am learning or doing. I cannot imagine a magnificent future without mastering the present and past. All the things in life that are available to be discerned can help us to perceive even beyond what has already been thought. We are all unique and as such must now rely on ways to enhance our uniqueness.
     For me the best way to enhance my knowing is to be the best of who I am as much as possible. I am no robot so there are times when I fail to be my best but not because of intentional acts. If I am to be the amazing human being I am capable of being then doing my best as much as possible is my goal in life. For not only will I achieve some satisfaction for trying hard to do my best but it may well lead me to understanding the previously unknown that I hadn't even imagined yet. My mind is best suited to creating and innovating when it is stimulated to not only think rationally but to put action to a high standard of doing. Doing my best in all things will only allow me to become my best in the things I have yet to know and learn.

(#5541) The blue wave is coming...

      Nothing the republican party is trying to accomplish will come to fruition. They want to destabilize our democracy through trump and his acolytes. The idea is to keep power in republican hands for many decades to come. The problem for republicans is that the voters are not being considered in their calculus. The republican party is a minority party in the fact of it having fewer members than required for a majority. The reason they are not a dominating force is because they offer little to nothing to the American people to attract their votes. The republicans want power but not for getting things done for the American people.
     Instead republicans want power in order to change the dynamics of our democracy and its rule by the people to one where a figurehead like trump would have authority over all of us at his whim. Not through consensus, with checks and balances, but through ego and self indulgence. There are too many in our nation who are not comfortable with everyone having a say in our government and that is the problem democracy faces from the maga crowd and trump enthusiasts. They don't admit to being racist but their actions speak louder than their silence or words of denial. This coming election will be all about whether we keep our democracy or not.
     What I do know though is that the firebrand of ignorance surrounding the trump and maga movement is dwindling. There are no large protests or rallies for the disgraced one term appointed ex president. Our current president, democrat Joe Biden, is pretty much on a roll coming into this election. The democratic party is gaining steam at the right moment and is building towards an epic showdown with the chaotic confounded republican party. With each party going in opposite directions the likelihood of a democratic wave election is growing more probable with each passing day. There is nothing for republicans to build on going forward which is the opposite of what democrats have already done and are still accomplishing.

(#5540) 24 hours later my optimism is waning

      The attention should always be in the details. As the maga johnson says he wants to pass Ukrainian aid he is actually working to dismantle democracy as a price for it. President Biden is all about the details and is shutting down the maga attempts to harm the American people. Yesterday I had hoped that what was left of the good in the republican House would find a way to work with democrats to do the correct thing and allow a vote in Ukrainian aid that was not full of poison pills for our democracy. However I should have been less hopeful because it is nothing but the same with republicans. They demand harm in order to pass some good.
     What has happened over the last several months is that President Biden and democrats have been searching for ways to supplement the potential loss of US aid to Ukraine. There have been some interesting avenues for other countries to form initiatives that help Ukraine in their desperate need for the aid that didn't come from the US due to republicans playing at blackmailing democrats instead of helping defeat putin. The longer the aid is held up by republicans the more other methods of aid will find its way to Ukraine. As this continues to happen the leverage republicans thought they had over democrats will lessen and then they will be left with the stench of working to defeat democracy and help tyranny as their reward for their failed blackmailing attempt of democrats.
     The election in November will be the republicans defeat as it stands now and add in the possible denial of aid to Ukraine the notion that republicans will have any success in the election continues to dwindle in scope. Ukraine is a mighty nation that will find a way to thwart the overt putin and the by omission American republicans who are nevertheless working together to destroy Ukrainian culture and sovereignty. The disgust the many of us here in America have for republicans is continuing to expand and will not soon be forgotten in the years to come. My hope that some good will come from this latest attempt to pass Ukrainian aid is not dead but it is on life support. I had hoped yesterday would bring about a new beginning at least on bipartisanship toward helping Ukraine keep her democracy but alas I am now less certain than before I had renewed hope.

(#5539) Ukrainian aid may finally be on the way past republican obstruction

      I am cautiously optimistic that the few republicans in the House who are firmly in the camp of protecting democracy will get this done. What shape or form it will take to get legislation to the floor of the House for a vote is still up in the air but it seems that a likely compromise will occur between democrats and republicans. The Senate passed bill will not likely be the legislation that gets to the House floor for a vote so more procedures will have to be hurdled but the aid itself being passed and signed by President Biden is ultimately coming.
     There is much I could say here about the delay in this crucial aid for Ukraine but I have said it many times before and don't want to dwell on the fact of republicans and their intransigence. Suffice it to say that the aid although nearly 4 months in arrears will finally be coming if I feel the drift of how negotiations are going between the two parties and the chaos in the republican party. Protecting democracy should be all of our duty to affirm and why too many republicans are less than patriotic to democracy is a baffling question. We democrats stand united in protecting democracy everywhere it is possible.
     I know I have been optimistic in the past about this aid being delivered through republican obstruction but this time it seems the necessary republicans for the aid to succeed are doing what it takes to make that happen. The consequences for Ukraine are dire and although the aid is quite late it will help bolster not only Ukraine's defenses but will provide a morale boost to Ukraine that will be transferred over to the battlefields. All Ukrainians have asked for is aid while they provide the manpower and initiative to go into the trenches and dig out the pestilent russians who have invaded their lands. I hope I have this correct and the aid is truly delivered over the next several months. Ukraine deserves our help and for the courageous and able people of Ukraine I wish them all the best they need to defend and protect democracy.

(#5538) Reshaping my new life not unlike Ukraine reshaping theirs after russian invasion

      It is common for me to want to write about more than one subject and most often I have to choose which is the most prominent in my priority assessment. What is rarer is when I have two subjects that are different but also the same. Sure Ukraine and I are two different entities but we are both going through some changes that demand our attention. First off Ukraine is by far the more important subject and will get the most coverage here in this post but my life change is important to me and mine and although not as critical as Ukraine is still critical to me.
     I am assimilating my tapered down life into another's and it is a process of adding, subtracting, and combining. Much like with Ukraine. They are in the process of reevaluating all their previous administrative purposes and looking to downsize and reconfigure while remaining efficient in the delivery of their necessary societal goals. All democracies are faced with dilemmas as to what they can and can't do for their societies but when also under attack by a ruthless dictator the job becomes even more heightened and an imperative to bring to a realization.
     My life is flowing steadily along while Ukraine is having to mix and match at lightning speed to keep up with the ever changing dynamics of their current reality. What makes life for Ukrainians even more difficult is the lack of aid that was promised to them by the USA. Social concerns are less important when all your resources are furthered into protecting your right to exist on our planet. The aid will when it does hopefully come from us keep Ukraine in a protected and advancing mode while also allowing them to improve their society for their citizenry. May we both, Ukraine and I, have a happy transition into a better and best future as quickly in the present as possible.