(#6171) We the people need to stand up with what is left of our democratic guardrails!

      The institutions that are still not compromised are not enough to stop the strongarm of trump! We the people need to flex our might to support what is left of those public servants and institutions unwilling to acquiesce to the trump march to dedemocratizing our government. He is skillful at picking off his opponents one at a time so that a solidarity cannot form quick enough to abut his nefarious actions. Which falls to we the people, the last line of defense against a force not seen in our democratic republic in it's entire history. As like with Ukraine, a coalition of the willing to defend democracy is the charge of we the people. Enough posturing and looking away! The time is now!
     I have been saying for nearly a year that a mass general strike is needed to force his convenient bootlicking allies to reassess their positions. They are afraid of him too but if we create a larger fear within them of us then they will, like the weasels they are, turn away from him to soothe our wrath at them. But for any of this to actuate we the people need to get our shit together. Too many of us still have not got a reasonable clue as to the danger we are in. A fifty state approach to work stoppage has to be organized. Some states will be easier to persuade and some harder but with all who are willing to participate it could well help bring in those who are as of yet unaware of the true danger to our democracy.
     It isn't just a work stoppage that needs to happen but our messaging about what we are demanding must be clear and concise. I know what must happen but not the details as much so others are needed to clarify why we are not going to let our democracy fall to a deviant subversive. We must also make sure our voter registrations are intact for the midterms. When we know we are on the voter rolls then our duty is to make sure everyone of us votes. Not vote out of convenience but out of a desperation to salvage what is left of our democracy. 100% of our voters voting is a goal but we know not all will. But if we don't turnout more than 90% of our vote then we the people may shamedly find out that only 250 years of democracy is our American legacy!

(#6170) The traditions of Christmas I like but as an atheist I am tempered

      Throughout my youth the traditions of Christmas were the excitement in the tree of gifts. The smells of baking and cooking were aplenty during the month of December. The going on drives in the car to look at all those who were inventive in their Christmas light displays. It just seemed like the normal drudgery of life elevated a bit during this holiday season. Those are my memories. We were not a religious family at all so there were no teachings nor indoctrinations of Christianity involved in our home, well except for Christmas songs. We were a good family so the absence of religious doctrine wasn't even missed.
     As I am older now and each Christmas comes around to this time of year I have not changed much but as a single man with no wife or children in my life I don't go in for the tree and it's childhood meaning for me. It really is just another day for me like all days in my life. However I do enjoy the season with happiness because Christmas is about all the others who do celebrate it with some vigor and reverence. I wish all a very good holiday season regardless of belief or non belief in religion. When asked to attend some Christmas function I am pretty good at saying no. I am to begin with not as social as I was when I was much younger and still exploring the wonder of life.
     So the practice of me living each day regardless of social holiday acceptance is the default within my existing system. The hope is that at least once a year we can all see the beauty in bringing joy to someone other than ourselves. So Christmas can serve a larger purpose than someone's accounting bottom line. Like any yearly celebrated ritual the event itself is larger than the mystery of it. I choose to see Christmas through the eyes of younger me when each morning waking up I would go lay down near the tree and just stare at the lights, ornaments, and presents, Wondering at the possibilities. We who were raised with little to be hopeful about at least for me had parents who struggled mightily to do their best to give us something that at this time of year inculcated a happiness.

(#6169) Our blue wave momentum must stay righteously angry at republicans!

      I say this because some times I get so overwhelmed with what republicans are constantly doing to us that I get numb. It is like what Russia is doing in Ukraine, throwing waves of soldiers at the front line no matter how many of the Russian soldiers survive. They call it meat wave attacks because the strategy is to wear down Ukrainian defenses. Just as putin doesn't care about the lives individual soldiers trump is the same here with our citizenry. They both are ramming through as much division and destruction as possible so that they can, in putins case, add on to his trophy's, while with trump it is do break down our democracy so he can rebuild his own trump kingship.
     The only ones working actively to stop both are true democratic forces. In Ukraine the democratically elected government is fighting for their lives against the transcontinental bully Russia. With we here in America the fight is waged by we democrats and independents who value democracy over anything trump is trying to install. Over the last many decades the republican party has not been transparent about what their democracy reducing agenda was. But now it is all out in the open. Through republican maneuvers corporations are now people and can contribute to political campaigns effectively nullifying we the people. Roe v. Wade was dismantled, and Medicaid is facing life threatening cuts.
     Our blue wave momentum is alive today because of these and many more republican working middle poor class resource and rights cuts within our society. It is 11 months until the next election on the federal level and what our blue wave could do is heartening. We just need to keep the pressure on for our blue wave to succeed. That will take action, dedication, and emotion in the form of righteous anger. The fuel for this anger is our knowing that harming people is wrong when we could be helping people. We cannot become complacent and start accepting some kind of defeatist fate the republicans hope to throw around our necks. We are free human beings and must never allow those who would treat us as anything less to succeed!

(#6168) Just like in Ukraine we must fight with all our ability!

      It is coming up on 4 years in February of fighting in Ukraine. What Ukraine has shown is that no matter the odds against them nor fear they are not to be denied their courage. The onslaught by putin that has cost Russia nearing 1.2 million Russian lives attacking Ukraine is overwhelming in scope but not in mindset. Ukraine just keeps on ending Russians who would turn Ukraine into a Russian servant state. What Ukraine has achieved to this point is absolutely incredible. Not only in their resistance to invasion but in their creativity to fight in ways Russia is not expecting. Ukraine has shown the world that the will of its people is greater than any dominance on paper!
     We here in America are experiencing something less grave than what Ukraine is experiencing although potentially it is equivalent in outcome. We here in America are under attack by the current administration. The programs and policies we have adopted over the years to help even out our society are being wiped out. Not only that many of us are being rounded up under the guise of immigration directives. It is almost like the current administration wants to water down dissent against them in any way they can. However what they are finding is that the anger they are installing into our society is backfiring against them. Not only are they rousing the democratic base, but they are alienating the independent base, and many within the republican party.
     We have seen the trend of independents swing back to democrats in the last many special elections in overwhelming numbers not just by trickling amounts. It doesn't matter which area of the country either. Independents have seen that their trust was violated by this administration and are not prone to continue to support them. The rest of us are still fighting with what we can muster for the next 37 months and are feeling the weight of it. Yet that weight we feel now will only grow exponentially if we do not persevere. If we do not keep fighting! As Ukraine is surviving heading into the fifth year of defending their country we Americans are nearing completing our first year and must look to the valor of Ukraine to see we cannot give up no matter how bad the odds are against us!

(#6167) The older we get the harder it is to fight all the time

      I am sitting here with my head in my hands and my eyes closed. Not only do I have busy activities at my home but I also work part time. At 70 years of age I know what it is I am feeling. It is a tiredness that extends beyond just the usual needed sleep. It is a weariness in my soul that has dampened my spirit. Like I have always done, I push past it and keep moving forward, yet it is still holding me back. I always think about older folks who are a lot more vibrant than I who are well into the 80's. Yet it isn't so much a physical tiredness but a mental one. I have so much expectation for myself and those around me that the constant frustration of going backwards too often is slowly diverting my best foot forward.
     Many of us have spent most of our lives fighting for what makes our existence better and at some point we had hoped to settle into our later years with some comfort and ease. But that is not the case for me anyway. I don't enjoy what I should because there is so much still wrong out in front of me. Yet I am no spring chicken any more. I don't have the vigor to battle for what is just with the same hubris. I do still wage effort at solutions but not with the unlimited emotive power of being on the correct side of honor and principle. I truly feel the difference in how I am now and how I was 50 years ago. Where now I had hoped the youth of the world would be picking up the slack of our battle we see disappointment more so than accomplishment.
     The youth are trying but their lack of understanding history and the what will be will be attitude of too many of their parents have contributed to not only a stop to progressive evolvement of our society but a backsliding toward scenarios we have already fought and defeated. So not only am I tired from the battle physically but I am also tired mentally by the inability of we the people to aspire to live noble lives. We allow ourselves to be deceived to the point of losing everything to that deception and then not finding the courage to break from it even when we see the light and it is still easily possible. That is what breaks me down the most, the loss of integrity too many of us are too eager to embrace!

(#6166) Everything I do is purposeful!

      I used to think as a teenager that I was insignificant with no real validation for my life. I had some tragedy befall me when I was younger but those were close to me but indirect and not directly associated with my own experience. Sure my father dying when I was 6 was a bit traumatic but we hadn't known each other very well since he was separated and divorced from my mother for a couple years before his death. No, I was unsettled in my soul about my purpose in life since I could not really relate to all the passion around me in others. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized that my purpose was just me being in this existence, like it is with everyone else. I didn't need some great miracle to justify who I am, I just needed to live with the knowledge that I mattered just like all of us matter.
     That insecurity about myself was probably my worst enemy. It held me back when the future was anywhere I wanted to live within it. When you feel less than it breaks your confidence and spirit. But soon I learned that no one was given a purpose in life. We are to understand that we are the purpose and then immerse ourselves within it. That is where I am living today with the total confidence that it is where I belong. No more do I doubt my thoughts and actions because I have tailored them to fit my principles of being better and even sometimes best. I think what I live because it is the truth within me. There is no intentional harm to myself or others in any of my thoughts. Now I may be angry with some and wish them ill but that is because they are intentionally harming others.
     Aside from the wrong doers on our planet, the rest of us, and it, is magnificent. The beauty in our existence on a planet nestled within a Universe that is so vast, cold, and unlivable is almost a dream come true. How fortunate I am to exist in this paradigm where the opportunities are so boundless, is beyond priceless. We are all part of the most incredible existence known to anything and anyone ever. That is a fact no one can dispute with evidence. Each one of us is simply by being here an amazing entity. What I am doing with my amazing entity is purposefully putting my better and best out there of me as offerings to everyone else. It is my honor to share this planet with all who like me want the best for all of us because we have been given the best known to any history ever!

(#6165) My tolerance for republicans is long gone!

      Anyone still voting for republicans know what they are and cannot hide behind "I didn't know that". Which is why I don't even bother to debate semantics with them I just call them out for their diseased minds. I have a lifetime of knowledge built upon what is good and great about our human species and to waste it on the perverted illogical is a disservice to not only me but to those who would be better served debating or presenting valid arguments. In other words, to use a biblical reference, I don't waste pearls on swine. If you are still voting for republicans then it is a given that you are as mentally deranged as their leadership.
     Even those who oppose some of the policy and demands of this current administration but still vote in lockstep with their maga colleagues are shunned by me. Those republicans who pretend to be on the fence are even worse in that they are liars with a cowering personality. In these blog posts I try to tamper down my language and attitude when describing the worst of what humanity has allowed to fester. Yet in my heart and mind just know there is a fire that is burning immeasurably. So when I say my tolerance is long gone what I am really saying is that it doesn't exist in this world where true freedom of speech is being attacked.
     The head of the snake is still writhing around creating havoc and chaos with no immediate limit to its expiration. Yet every morning upon waking I have a hope that mortality will have its way. That is the truest knowing of how I feel about this current political reality. I know I am not alone by any stretch of the imagination. Nearly everyone on this planet is hoping for such a fate as I. There is only one cost I can withhold from those who are despised and that is me. It isn't much but it is all I have. There are no exceptions either. Friends, family, and acquaintances are not spared my absence. No one is totally locked away from me forever but a reversal of current idiocy is required along with remorse and with some time for proof!

(#6164) Every month with trump is an arduous strength sapping experience

      I know I am not the only one living in this torturous moment. The best I can do is to avoid and ignore him directly as his sight and voice grates at my soul. I get what he is doing from his after affects instead of being diseased by his live act. Not even in the holidays does he take any time off from his agenda to unsettle and upset not only we Americans but everyone else not putin. His perpetual movement toward alienating we Americans from each other and our allies in the world is nonstop as he never seems to sleep except when he is in meetings. I suspect the cadaverous thing is doing drugs in fairly consistent amounts so that he can avoid sleep as like it is the plague to him.
     But that is not good for us because his mind is also slipping into a consciousness that is too many times beyond the bounds of normalcy. What must seem like a great odea to him in the dead of night becomes a maze of illogic when put to the light of day. But that doesn't deter him because he really doesn't take to the proposition that logic is fact based. He is still crying about the 2020 election he lost as if it was his and was stolen from him. No such thing occurred but again facts be damned in his mind. He cannot see how Kamala Harris is an example of taking defeat even though she may have a better argument for an election being stolen from her.
     We are now more than halfway through December of his first year and it feels like it has been 4 years at least since he began his crusade of tipping at wind mills. He has lost the thread of human advancement because his focus is only on himself and his perceived enemies. So far both his terms have been setbacks to human destiny if we think we are an amazing species. He takes that thought from us and instead gives us the "you are lucky to be my servant". This morning I am feeling the weight of his damage to all of us and it is heavy. However, after a rest of a few minutes I will step back into the morass of his idiocy and carry on with obstructing and denying his imagining of being invincible.

(#6163) Our blue wave is still riding high!

   The average of about a 13 point higher vote total than 2024 and earlier is holding to form. The Democrat, 60.4% in 2024 in the senate 37th district of Kentucky race won by about 12 points less than the Democrat, 72.6% last night in a special election. These are red states lately still showing a move to Democrats. What is keen is the margin keeps steady at about 13% overall. These shifting voters who were more likely to vote for trump are now less likely to vote for trump. Which is a bonanza for Democrats and we the people because Democrats are the only ones fighting to keep human individual rights as part of the law of the land. The republican party is finally being seen as the one who will not protect the working middle poor class, and is as now apparent, Democracy itself.
     The message has always been from Democrats that the working middle poor class need more attention than the wealthy. As evidence since 2010 no republican has voted on a final bill to pass into law increasing the minimum wage at the federal level. A couple over the years voted yes on procedural votes but in the end when the bills came up for an up or down vote every republican since 2010 has voted no. For me there is no better proof of abandoning the working middle poor class than never voting for a minimum wage increase from $7.25 an hour, for the last 15 years in a row. Truth be told the republican party would almost unanimously just keep the federal minimum wage as it is or only increase it minimally.
     Think about that. Workers are stuck in low paying jobs while major corporations are reaping in enormous profits. I don't know where all of you align on this but keeping workers in low paid jobs so a few can have massive profit is not anything I would support. I am for fair wages that keep up with costs. Not having workers standing in line for food or other necessary items. It is my hope that we Democrats continue to force the issues of the day along with historical data showing the real agenda of republican politics beyond their constant dishonest propaganda. I keep watching these special elections as a duty to see if our blue wave is maintaining its momentum.

(#6162) We who know the truth of even one subject must shepherd it relentlessly!

      Some know more truths than others and those people are truly gifted, but most of us are able to at least know the truth of at least one subject. As such we are the unappointed leaders of promoting that truth to anyone who will listen. It is our purpose at this current time of living. We have a duty to let all know that truth is real and not some alternative way of expressing. There are so many around us who are clueless about not only local, regional, and national politics but world politics as well. It isn't easy to have a conversation with folks about some current event and then listen to their opinion without them being aware of how it all came to become.
     I don't suffer fools lightly and I have to bite my tongue metaphorically when they act like they know more than they do. I will however give some of them an opportunity to listen to me if they are willing. Then I begin on how whatever event had progressed. I don't mind doing so if I am not wasting time on them which is why most are ignored by me. Too many think that no matter what facts are laid out in front of them they immediately go into a cognitive dissonance behavior which tells me all I need to know about them. But the few that will respond with logic back at me then the joy of learning begins.
     I am not perfect by any means but I do know what truths I know. I am doing my part to help educate people objectively who are earnest in knowing what is going on around them instead of just accepting someone telling them what is what with bias, prejudice, and ulterior motive. All of us are capable of making good decisions if we know all the facts concerning the subject. This is why I support democracy. You never know who is going to be the next brilliant mind to appear in our civilization of human beings so giving everyone a chance to show themselves is the perfect opportunity to find out. Staying within the facts and truths of things is the process. So we each have a duty to that.

(#6161) An administration that harms more than helps is corrupt!

     This is what history teaches us. Those who don't care to learn history are either the problem or helping the problem causers. Either way they are the problem. I hear so much of the bots and paid propagandists talk about how things were terrible and democrats were the blame because they were in power and didn't solve everything. The problem with that thinking is that there is no context to why things are the way they are. We democrats spend an awful lot of time trying to make things better but in the structure of our government the minority party can stop democrat attempts to fix injustices.
     So when these same minority party becomes the majority they crow about how bad the democrats were and the many don't understand the history of why democrats weren't able to succeed. It is an endless cycle of republicans thwarting democrats in trying to fix things for the better. Then republicans get back into power and create even more chaos and blame it on democrats for previous imperfect results. I have been watching this political carousel for more than 50 years and it never changes. Why does it never change? Because we the American electorate do not think we need to understand our history. Being abused and suffering is what we deserve in practicality by thinking we don't need to know our history, but in logic, thinking we don't need to know our history is a fallacy!
     I must be in a denial bubble because I keep thinking that the American electorate will suddenly see reality with some historical background. Silly me! Yet I am not one to give up in my hope that the republican party will finally expose their grift on our American society. They are not clever nor wise. They really are simpletons in their strategy because they think we are even less than simpletons. If all of us would just take the time to define what objectivity actually means and then apply that definition to what is happening around us then the knowing of what is reality can begin. This isn't that hard because I just let the answer out in the previous two paragraphs but ok, doubt me, and find out for yourself.

(#6160) Why I fight for democracy

      I know who and what I am. The who is really simple I just react without hesitation to circumstances and that is who I am. Mind you I have honed my responses over time to be civil and understandable. When I was young I was much more rough around the edges but basically the same as I am now just a bit more acceptably refined. The what I am was evolved. I, like all human beings didn't understand what this existence was until I spent some time in it and observed and questioned. I was like a fresh canvas with no mark on it. As time went by I realized that what was best in life was feeling happy and causing that happiness to spread around me.
     But like most all human beings I was sidetracked with selfishness and greed because I was young and impatient. I lost myself for a time and then had to find myself again. The one thing though is that I never changed I just got lost in my own too often discouraged mind. That was the bridge time of my life when I knew what I wanted out of life, then got confused, then got it back. I like being happy as a default characteristic. I feel good when I am happy and others around me find my cheerfulness even more than tolerable. This is how I live and for all of us to know what being happy is a lot more of the time, we need a political system that counts us as valuable.
     That is what democracy does, it counts us all as valuable. We get to share in the best of human rights while also having the ability to enjoy a panorama of opportunities. We are not saddled with tunnel vision drudgery when our democracy is vibrant. Instead we are filled with hope at a better future without fetters and binders. Nothing about democracy scares me. What does not only scare me but makes me angry is a loss of democracy. The values of equality, fairness, freedom, and justice to name some very important values make up what democracy defends. Our shared living experiences in our "all tents" society that we build together is the epitome of how happiness expands. You know when I am happy because I cannot hide the smile on my face. It is who and what I am.

(#6159) Our American melting pot!

      We are all immigrants here in the United States, excepting indigenous Americans. If your ancestry doesn't date back before the late 1400's then you and your ancestors are immigrants. So when I see the privileged white folks who are backers of outlaw ice agents I begin a slow boil toward anger. They choose to think of themselves as advantaged who have impunity from reality. Their arrogance along with their prejudice is enough to enrage my inner peace. I contain my rage but it does manifest itself in other ways outside violence. I channel that rage into any and all determined opportunities to confront their mental deficiencies with argument and dismissal from my sphere.
     Reality is that most all of us come from somewhere else to reside in America. We have no claim to being strictly American more than anyone else. Even those of us born on these shores are no more special than those who seek to come to America to live where their dreams and aspirations may come true. Of course we need some kind of immigration indoctrination but not wholesale removal of those who have historically worked and traveled our nation from before its inception. We may still have a system that recognizes the benefit of all that come here while also recognizing any harm that may also exist. Always remembering that the melting pot ideal is crucial to peace and prosperity.
     What we have now with the current political administration is one where bias and prejudice outweigh equality. Where the fear of skin color shades their mindset. I will call the white pride group out for existing to eliminate those who are not white. Fear based upon race is childish and shows an immaturity risen from closed minds and hearts. We all are human and for me that is what America represents. The best human traits in any one of us. That is America, not this subset of corruptible minds and hearts. I feel lately that the era of this anti melting pot regime is breaking apart as the rest of us not in that subset are getting a horrified real up and close look at their agenda of fear based hatred.

(#6158) With the republican intentional stoppage of Covid era affordability subsidies red states are now in play

      Imagine if you will states like Florida and Texas voting for more democrats than republicans. By far these two states are the foundation of the republican party. There are troubling trends for Florida as it has had several special elections that are consistently showing third party voters are overwhelmingly voting for the democratic party. What his shows is that despite republicans having about a (41%) voter registration total, about 59% are either democrat (31%), and other party (28%). As other party voters in Florida have suddenly turned their backs on republicans, the advantage goes to democrats if voters are enthused to turn out. That will be the key if turnout is high in Florida, as seems the case it may, a very unwelcome surprise awaits the republican party.
     I include Texas in this scenario because unlike Florida, Texas has a higher democratic total in voter registration than republicans with about (47%) to republicans (38%) with (15%) for the unaffiliated parties. Given these numbers one would think that democrats should be winning elections in Texas but that hasn't been the case. Since Texas doesn't register party voters directly these numbers may be off considering other factors are indirectly accumulated. Yet the potential for even a worse voter registration number than 48% for democrats, the chances the democrats gain the vast majority of the other party votes is real and possible given national trends.
     There are more red states in the same predicament for republicans other than Florida and Texas. The trend toward the democratic party is fueled with anger at the republican party for not being accountable to the working middle poor class. Nor are national republicans accountable to businesses that are adversely effected by the trump tariffs. While national republicans cater to the wealthy they are absent in catering to anything for the rest of American society, while also harming the working middle poor class. This anger at republicans has been showing up in the special elections leading up to the midterms next November 3rd. Not only as a huge gain in votes for democrats with other parties but with also an enthusiasm fueled by anger to make no doubt turnout won't be light!

(#6157) His energy is waning along with his popularity

      The trend downward for him is steadily advancing. Not at a break neck speed but accelerating enough to be noticed. For one thing his mind is foggy too much of the time as he cannot keep the thread of his words on track. The deviation in his discussions/rants are at best non sequiturs. His mind is a case study into the abstract. His free associations always come back to his anger at someone or some thing. His mind has a problem with being precise and his defense when challenged on specifics is that others are stupid. He is a grown man but his mind is an undeveloped morass of immaturity. What he does pass off as intelligence is his passion for deception. Fooling people seems to be his lucky ace up his sleeve.
     As to his physical energy that is as carefully guarded as his own malicious secrets. He does not share well anything of his personal maladies. However as a public figure he is available enough to be seen by many and what we see is a Frankenstein's monster caricature that is being patched together. How long those unspecified patches will keep him upright remains to be seen. But have no doubt he is looking at all the medical possibilities out there despite his obstruction for medical needs for others. He has always been and will always continue to be a "do as I say not as I do" selfish insolent.
     As to his popularity, like his mind and his body, that is definitely on the wane. He got what he wanted and that was to be elected. However he managed it by hook or crook will eventually be uncovered but he has achieved his goal. Now a lot of those who he hoodwinked into supporting him are finding out that they are expendable. Nothing about the trust they put into him is valued. Those who voted for him are staring down the wrong end of the barrel just like the rest of us. He doesn't hold to honor and human kinship because he doesn't have it within him to hold those things dear. He laughs at those who trust him while making it clear that he knows what we need better than any one of us. His mind, his body, and his poll numbers are diminishing along with what little time he can scramble and scurry around to save.

(#6156) When we lose our freedom of speech we lose all other human rights

      I keep saying that a massive work strike is needed to change the direction of our society and that still holds true this moment. Our freedoms are being whittled down and soon the freedom to speak will become a violation. We cannot own ourselves if we are not able to express ourselves. The current powers that be will keep pressuring us to stop giving our opinions on what we know and instead tell us what we must think in order to be part of life. You can figure out what the punishments will be for not cooperating with their demands. We will not be able to hold back our speech because we are not a species built to be enslaved. Therefore the many of us will be treated with cruelty and brutality with no limits.
     The clock is ticking down on our rights as a whole because we cannot find a way to end the nightmare of our oppressors. It seems that the lunatics are in control and we who are the civilized ones are not able to rise up to defeat the menace in the several ways of ending the reign. There must be a tipping point that is reached where species survival hits unbearable life. How this happened to us is not so much the priority of the moment but putting a stop to those who would turn us back into property is the priority. We first must recognize that the loss of our human rights is actually happening. Too many are oblivious to it because they are disengaged from reality and instead choose to live exclusively in their fantasies.
     Being oppressed is not freedom nor is it correct. It seems that knowing this, the powers that be want to reduce populations in order to reconfigure our society to match their agenda of control and subservience. If we don't find our will to protect ourselves from the danger then living in a controlled environment with no individuality, no tolerance, nor diversity, is our due. That may seem enticing given the hardship and grave nature of opposing the threat but it isn't. It is only temporary and worse fates await once the powers that be strip away the last vestiges of resistance. The clock is ticking down and there is little time left to decide how we want ourselves and our children to fare in this existence!

(#6155) Toning down our rhetoric as speech is being examined for punishment

      There will come a time for speech that is important and needs to be delivered but in the meantime we must be cautious as to how we express ourselves. None of us want to be wasted in our cause for democracy so being creative with our speech will need to be required. I am feeling the threats given from current elected and unelected leaders who are willing to ignore our constitutional protection of free speech. It would be wise of us then to keep some things to ourselves or deliver the thoughts and opinions in a less radical tone with a more complex delivery. Finding ways to express ourselves that doesn't make it obvious what we wish to advocate is a new paradigm in which we all need to either learn or invent.
     I say this as a warning because the majority of six on the not so supreme court will let slide the first amendment to our constitution in order to placate the current administration. Thus leaving we the people bare of legal protections. It is up to us to not create such waves that are done with reckless abandon. We still need to advocate for principles of democracy such as justice, fairness, equality, liberty, and freedom to name a few. But with a modicum of restraint that focuses on those principles. Finessing our arguments to be effective while also keeping our cool. If and when the time comes for us to express our heat, then unleash with a fury.
     The beauty of intelligence is that it can be a force all its own. A way to be heard without being obvious. Our knowledge of a situation need not be expressed in the simplest form. It can be nuanced, with irony and rhetoric as methods to make points without being crystal clear for others who would use it to harm us. I think of it like being in a maze where we must not let anyone we don't want to know, know where we are; while letting everyone know where we are that need and have to know. A bit of a paradigm or puzzle if you will. But puzzles are attractive to me so there is that anyway. We overall should become more stealthy and protective of our speech because the brutes are coming for it.

(#6154) Long live resistance fighters!

      There are different types of resistance fighters than what we were taught in school during World War II. Those who were silently fighting within occupied territories while blending in keeping their heads down. That type of resistant fighting is still going on in the world where dictators and tyrants still rule. But another type of resistant fighting is in the open. Where freedom of speech is still available but under duress. Much like what we have here in America under the trumps. Their is no dictator or tyrant ruling our nation as of yet but the processes are being formed to allow that to happen. Institutions that were dependent upon democratic principles are being disbanded and replaced with the thought and voice of trump.
     Yet many of us, in fact the clear majority of us, do not want a tyrant nor dictator taking away our liberties and freedoms as is our human right to exist as. However, dictators and tyrants don't care about human rights, they only care about their desires and pleasures. Regardless of the rest of us. So knowing that makes us consider our options. Do we allow ourselves to be controlled and manipulated? Or do we resist! I say resist. I was born under a democracy and I will fight with all I have to maintain and improve our democracy. I am no one to bend his knee when called out to specifically do so. I would rather suffer whatever fate I have in store for me than to capitulate.
     But that is just me. I will however avoid attention when I am more useful as a tool of resistance in a concerted effort to end an era of ruthlessness. Somewhat keeping my head down but burning like a ferocious fire in my purpose for living to end the reign of a would be demigod! The role of the resistance fighter in today's timeline requires us to be thinking out ahead 3 or 4 moves in order to accomplish the most prioritized tasks. Yesterday I talked about employing flattery as a last resort strategy. That is but one method of remaining under the radar when necessary. But other methods are to stay silent when that is a critically grave option and also speaking out when that is not as threatening than being silent. Then there are times like with Nathan Hale and nothing is left to do but to say the truth of how we love our democracy even after our death!

(#6153) Flattery as a survival strategy

      It makes sense that flattering a narcissist would pay dividends. I think his allies already knew this and got his favor that way. Now we who are frustrated with him but cannot turn that frustration into anything positive must change our tactics a bit. He is prone to being manipulated when he is given credit for policies that he otherwise is likely to dismiss. His first instinct is to be adored and when he is not then he lashes out at those who contradict him. We the people need to understand that praising him in order to get what we need is a real opportunity to save some of our democracy before he is twisted by others to a different objective.
     You see from recent foreign leaders their strategy to make friends with him instead of provoking his ire. It works for them because they understand that pretending to admire him gets them more of what they need than hating him for his despicable behavior. We the people may need to advance along those lines in order to preserve some enlightenment in our society. He won't be around for too many more years given his unstable health and mental degeneration. So in the meantime we can eat some crow and placate him when possible. I know it sounds like an acquiescence to lower our standards to his level but pain and suffering eliminated from others is our goal, not our pride.
     Nothing inside me will ever change about who he is and what he has done but as long as he is still untouchable we have to adjust our methods if we want to survive. Flattery is the trigger to get him to follow suggestions. We must use all the weapons in our arsenal even if it means denigrating our pride for the sake of a greater good. It sickens me to have to present this alternative but my sickened soul is not greater than one human being harmed if I don't at least try. If eating crow saves one life then eating crow it is. I have given lots of thought as to how to oppose him in ways that work and nothing other than a massive work strike seems likely to change anything. So giving him false adulation is unfortunately what must come next.

(#6152) For Ukraine to survive it is most likely that something has to give in America

      The trumps have finally found their footing and are now showing the world that they don't abide by past treaties or laws. Their lack of honor on these two subjects allow them to arrogantly brush aside anything not of their agenda. Meanwhile Ukraine, who has for the last nearly 4 years fought its heart out trying to defend not only democracy but the freedom of individuals to have human rights. The United States had pledged to protect Ukraine when Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal. Now the trumps are reneging on that protection. Instead the trumps are aligning with the aggressor Russia to help fold parts of Ukraine into Russia.
     The EU and partners, plus NATO are left to defend Ukraine without direct support from the most powerful nation on Earth, America. Russia is a huge nation with a lot of resources and would as shown use them willingly. Without America as an ally to confront Russia, Russia will become emboldened. Russia has always desired to control not only Europe but Asia as well as Russia resides within each continent. With the trumps sitting America on the sidelines Russia has its best opportunity to take that which it has deemed its property. Without a change of strategy from the trumps to move back into defending Ukraine and Europe by extension, expect Russia to take full advantage of our non participation.
     With trumps penchant to please putin more than anyone else on Earth it seems unlikely that trumps will change strategy and go all in on defending Ukraine. So what must give for America to change the leadership of America? The facts are that trump does control all of Congress and the Supreme Court. So no act of law or procedure can change his positioning. Some other circumstance that influences such that makes him reconsider his alliance to putin. I see nothing on the horizon but that is just my limited viewpoint. Will we the people rise up and force trump to accept our demands he protect Ukraine and democracy or face outright revolt? That option remains to be seen!

(#6151) A lot of our young Americans are too afraid to die

      I get that. You are just starting out in life and cannot see the wisdom in dying before you start living as your own human being. Yet some very notorious people are taking advantage of that extreme caution from the young and changing their future before they even start to living it fully. The future belongs to our young folks, not us who are beyond the age of unlimited energy and enthusiasm. The innocence of the young is still fresh in their minds and their advocacy for justice and fairness is unparalleled. The beauty of our young is that they still see simple solutions to our most egregious realities.
     They don't try to nuance the obvious into something far less and more difficult to administer. Instead they see what the rest of us need as a foundation and live to bring that about. Therein lies the problem for those who are older, selfish, and greedy. They have power now and do not want to relinquish it to those who they think are beneath them. These older cynics and greedy selfish are the problem, not our youth. So what do the greedy selfish older people do? They scare and intimidate the young with grave consequences when they need to shut down the youth from their natural ascension. That fear of being dead instead of alive seems to work well for them.
     But I always come back to our own amazingly true American hero Nathan Hale. He, at the age of 21, was a revolutionary war spy against Britain and was caught and hung. However he left us all with his last words of regretting that he only had one life to give for his country. Sure Nathan was scared because he was human. Yet he found his courage and his purpose despite his fear. Our young folks today are going to need to find their purpose and courage over the coming present and future days if they are to be a factor in preserving our democracy. For them more than me and those of my age, the future is for the young to lead but I will do all I can to support them and help in any way I can.

(#6150) We need a national work stoppage day!

      We the democratic party have some momentum on our side. But to keep it we must ratchet up the pressure on the republican party. The best way to do that is to stop working for at minimum one day. Whatever the excuse given we must find a way to align all of us to a beginning and then follow through. I know even with only my necessary part time job I will participate. Because some things are greater than our current economic struggles. Saving our democracy is one of those greater things. The only pressure republicans and their wealthy donors understand is money. If we start to deprive them of money they will understand our ability to effect them directly.
     Trying to appeal to their conscience is worthless. They publicly act contrite and sympathetic but then go back behind closed doors and laugh at us. The depth of their lack of care is bottomless, unless it hits them in the pocketbook. Then they start to fear for their own ability to withstand our coordinated stoppages. I get that a work stoppage is a major headache for many of us and some will be harmed by it but the greater harm is letting the republican party and their wealthy donors continue to unsettle and destroy our democratic institutions and rights. We have reached that tipping point where our own well being is not a choice anymore. We are now at the point where the worst of what our American society can become is now more likely than not.
     Which is why we absolutely need to ramp up our voices and utility. If we don't we will soon wish we had because the rights and freedoms we still have today will be quickly removed with no recourse to their reversal. I am not embellishing here. Just look around you with all the threats from trump and the defiance of court orders. He is clearly moving into a new stage with his ice goons to quell free speech and due process. If we don't object to his strategy to bully all of us he will be even more encouraged to take from us our democracy and install himself and others who lick his boots as a never ending line of tyrannical leaders with no more democratic values to save all of us.

(#6149) The republicans in Tennessee are still having trouble seeing the problem

      The unmasking of trump is pretty clear to a lot of folks but apparently not enough republicans to move forward. With all the truths and facts of trumps actual words and actions the republican party is still clinging to him. I know he has a connection with them that is strong but after so many harms he has created you would think that his popularity with them would dramatically wane. It has waned a little bit as the results in yesterdays election showed but the problem is with only waning a bit is that he is still confident in his ability to harm without recourse. That trump will undoubtedly create more harms, maybe next time there is an opportunity republicans will tell him no.
     What is encouraging is that every county in the heavily gerrymandered seventh congressional district in Tennessee shifted toward the democratic candidate from the previous election. Not enough to swing the election to her but with that swing a warning sign was revealed. The race last night should not have been that close given historical voting patterns in that district. Yet it was much closer than republicans had wanted. The shift is because some voters in that district are not satisfied with the direction and actions of trump that he is currently pursuing. At least that is something to draw on when the next special election occurs next year. If anything it shows that the trump republican party is on the decline and democrats have a golden opportunity to benefit.
     As I see it and given trumps penchant for seeing any victory as an affirmation of his agenda things will only get worse for republican voters. They thought that trump would protect them and what they are finding is that trump doesn't care about them. Eventually they will get a clearer focus on the truth of things as their pocketbooks continue to shrink. Elections have mainly always been about the economy and as our current economy implodes in on itself the inevitable is just around the corner. I expect then that the republican voter will realize that they have been hoodwinked and make the appropriate adjustments going forward.
     

(#6148) What's up with Wall Street after no release of economic data??

      I am no economic master but I do know that the economic data released by our government in previous months was a factor in how Wall Street and its investors planned their present and future economic maneuverings. So why no peep out of Wall Street when trump decided not to release economic data last month? I follow news enough to know I haven't seen any reaction by anyone from Wall Street made widely public? Is the fealty to trump so deep that even disruptions in normal societal understandings is acceptable and to be taken in silence? If this hiding of economic data had been done under Obama or Biden there is no way that silence would have been the response.
     If I had money in stocks and bonds I would be removing said money in no time. There seems to be some kind of fix that is dirty and underhanded no matter how pretzeled the explanation for it. It is like hiring a guide who is blind and deaf. But that is just me. Surely most are still satisfied with Wall Street because in the past it has made them profit. Likely may well still make them profit but to me it is a sign that not all is well behind the veil of command Wall Street had previous to trump. I don't know how long it will be before we see economic data on our national jobs, gross domestic product, inflation, consumer spending, and retail sales among the cancelled.
     How does Wall street evaluate the market when the government figures they have relied upon for more than a century are now not available? Why still the silence from Wall Street? The longer Wall Street stays silent the more I suspect them of collusion with trumps. It is as if the trumps may be sharing the governmental economic data with some, for a price mind you, and not others. Like I said I would remove any money if I had any from Wall Street's trust. Like all things that matter to us, control over who we are and what we own is and always will be paramount with me. But again, that is just me. I wouldn't trust anyone who is not protecting my trust and it seems like Wall Street is not protecting all its investors trust by being silent about the non release of economic data!

(#6147) When I was young I would read the obituary pages

      Sitting here thinking about why I did that brings to mind that these folks who died lived lives and often their short story was described. They mattered to someone and acknowledging that was their way of saying goodbye. For me it was learning how these folks lived and what they did with their time. Surely it wasn't a full account nor even as much as they would have liked but it did give me perspective on how to live my life. Morbid as it may seem I needed to read those obits as a way to not only give the deceased a chance to influence me but to give them the dignity of me knowing at least something about them.
     Most were good people but every now and then a bad person would die and the obituary would gloss over their digressions. I understand that with those who were notorious because the obituary is usually a closure mechanism for those left behind. For me it was less about their lives and more about what harm they caused while alive. It is now that I am thinking about this and the reason is that some in our world need to be not in it. They are not respectful civilized human beings. They leave a trail of harm behind them and are still harming going forward. For those who are like that an obituary would be useless as a closure mechanism. It would only be a confirmation that a dishonorable person has gone and if anything a relief at their passing.
     I am sad to have to admit that I feel this way because all of life should be at minimum precious. But in life there are those who have caused such harm that any preciousness left long ago and only the end of them remains as a marker in time. We know who a few of these are in our modern age, They have gone out of their way to harm when no reason but their own mental disorder is their desire. For those in our world, I am again waiting to see their obituaries. Not to read them but to see that they are not living in our existence any longer. There should never be people in our existence who choose to harm when helping is the alternative. For those who love harm more than helping I hope to see them soon in the obit column.