C’mon Americans – Mid-term Elections ARE as Important as Presidential Elections — VOTE…!

TL;DR / BLUF (because this is a L-O-N-G paper, last few pages is content from another paper)

VOTE!  Get out and VOTE!

• You CAN;
• You SHOULD;
• You MUST;

get out and vote if you truly value America and the continuation of ‘better’ values. We cannot just vote in Presidential elections and THINK that is all it takes. It is NOT!!!  The mid-term races are the arenas where the least or worse candidates end up in office, in power OVER YOU because you did not think it worthwhile to go vote.

Some of the results here are:

• folks getting elected to implement school book bans for the few, affecting the majority, instead of leaving books on the shelves for the masses and the curious – books like “The Learning Tree” which opened my eyes a bit more.
• Or getting into the state senate and putting in place repressive voting measures – limiting the number of voting places; removing early ballot voting boxes; etc…

Do you want to go back in time and revisit the 1950s…?

NO. MOST of us do not. But that means EVERYONE MUST get out and vote.

Criticality of Mid-term voting

Mid-term voting can mean voting in members for any of the following:

• City Council
• School Boards
• State Legislatures
• Mayors
• Governors
• Senators
• Congresspersons

Mid-term voting is the primary way to make changes in America. Voting for those who care for all will eventually remove all of the repressive and backwards-thinking individuals from power. These individuals are the ones causing all the dire drama we face today. We spend so much time and money on trying to do the right thing but, because of these power-hungry individuals, we are not progressing as we should as a country… and as people…

We are now late in 2022 and most Americans still do not realize how critically important the mid-term elections are. These mid-term elections are what we need to progress instead of going through the back-and-forth stages of progress… EVERY two – four years.

Suppressing or Restricting voting – this leads to angry voters in those regions of the country where conservative parties hold power. The result – people do not see the value of voting at that point in a mid-term race and do not vote.

Think about it. If you vote in the mid-terms as well, goals, better goals can be achieved in the long run but it will take time to build upon success. Just because we vote for something today, it will not materialize in a 6-month period. It takes time. And it may take 2, 3 or 4 mid-terms to start seeing real, I mean REAL success and progress that everyone will see – things that are very TANGIBLE for the majority.

POWER

Then, we have so many individuals in America who only want to be in power and want to act like young, spoiled children.

• I’m taking my ball and I’m going home, so there!

Tell the rest of us that this is not the case. Go ahead, I definitely dare you to open yourself up to honesty – that is, if you have any honor and integrity remaining in ANY part of your being…

There should be NO ONE in politics who is only there for the sake of power. These individuals ruin the future for the majority of people.

• Look at what Putin is doing in Russia.  Do you believe all the Russians want Putin to take over, I’m sorry, ANNEX more of Ukraine as Putin did with Crimea? Against the Ukrainian peoples’ will or without their approval….
• Look at what Kemp did in Georgia, instead of recusing himself from his duties as Secretary of State while running for governor, he kept that position active – think about that, seriously and deeply – and you tell us if Kemp actually won that race legally…??? Kemp wanted to retain power, via any manner possible
• What about a state in America where the majority of that state’s citizens want one thing but are overruled because of the governor or state legislators wanting something else in place to satisfy the minority, whether it is Christian (note: Church and State are SUPPOSED to be separate, not like in 1910 or 1940 as examples). Here is one example, say there are gays in that state and they want equality. The minority of the state in question wants to have a gay free environment while the majority approves of gays having a voice and equality. What do you do? That minority wishes to retain power and control the outcome, that is what they do…

WHAT DO YOU DO?  If we continue to have these kinds of individuals elected to power, WE-WILL-NEVER-NEVER-NEVER get on a solid path to success for this country for the long-term.

So sure, if you want endless back-and-forth efforts of progress, vote for those individuals who want power and control the state’s outcomes for various topics.

Look at Desantis did in the Spring of 2022 with Disney World in Florida. Desantis modified Disney’s decades long charter because Disney stood up for equality (standing “in solidarity” with the LGBTQ+ ) and Desantis basically said:

“Bull shit” – there is no such thing as equality as long as I am governor (Desantis did not say that, not exactly, I am liberally paraphrasing here). This all started with Florida Senate’s passage of H.B. 1557, colloquially dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and Disney going against it.

But what Desantis did was – he took his ball and went home. Now, the surrounding county has to pay for city expenses that Disney ‘had’ been paying for out of their ‘Special Privileges’ status.

Throughout the country, we have individuals who are in power, no matter how they arrived there, and who want to retain that power – “no matter what it takes or what it costs” the rest of America and its citizens.

So, why is that? Are these individuals afraid that if they lose that power, they:

• Cannot make an honest living doing something else?
• Do not know how to do something else meaningful to them (or others)?
• Are just flat out scared that they will fail doing something else….?

Take the current Herschel Walker for Senate situation. How is it that so many people believe he is qualified and has the integrity to become a Senator?

Sure, Trump was not qualified but became President but that was due to people NOT GETTING OUT TO VOTE!!!! And that was why we had the global embarrassment of that American president.

Do we want to continue voting in a sub-par manner? Look at Senators’ Cotton and Scott following along to boost Walker’s tour. How embarrassing that must be for these two individuals to help prop up Walker?  What kind of mindset does these two Senators have? Is there any integrity?
Wait, this is a power grab, sorry about that.  It has nothing to do with qualifications, integrity or equality. Maybe one day soon (hopefully sooner) they will see the folly in propping up Walker.

But this is what we are dealing with, sad, very sad….

This is where I state the obvious – remove the electoral college and be done with loop hole for some and then, work on getting rid of gerrymandering, from ALL parties and reset districts to be fair voting communities and THEN, work on re-balancing the power structure for the number of senators and congresspersons we haver around the country.

When the number of senators and congresspersons were settled on, we were in a different era – MUCH smaller population. Now, today, we are not in a state of fair elections – Wyoming having two senators holding the same amount of power as two senators from California or New York, that is a sad joke. There should be more senators in states with larger populations. This is another problematic area that needs a course correction.

VOTING – Democracy and Equality

C’mon Americans. Really. REALLY. Are so many of you going to continue to vote ONLY with your heart and the illogical thinking of returning to the days of yesterday. Yesterday where only you had power over everyone else because of skin color…?
I really did not want to go there but this is what appears to be happening IRL (in real life as so many like to say).

We still have too many people who want a neighborhood that is only inhabited with their kind, full of privilege, free of any kind of interracial mixing, free of any homosexual tendencies, free of poor, uneducated people.

Is this really what so many of you Americans want to do, go backwards in time – losing DECADES of progress.

Because this is what happens when you do not use your brain, the logical and pragmatic part of your brain. We continue to have this see-saw effect WHERE NOTHING GETS ACCOMPLISHED!!!!

We go from progress, clean air, clean water, education improving, equality then in the mid-terms, the poor/bad choices of individuals are elected and we as a country backslide because these wrong thinking individuals want to reinstitute regulations that allow pollution of air and water, better education for some while revenue for the poorly funded school systems CONTINUE to be poorly funded and equality/diversity – THAT IS ALL THROWN OUT THE WINDOW! Here is one solid example, the last administration allowed corporations to get back to dumping toxic chemicals into rivers.

Here are a couple of links:

Trump’s EPA Is Letting Power Plants Dump Toxic Waste Into Rivers and Streams

The Trump Administration Rolled Back More Than 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List

But, you will need to do your own, ‘real’ research (outside your comfort zone and silo of conspiracy) and come to your own conclusion…

Do you want to continue allowing these types of individuals to gain and retain power so they can make money? With the result being bad air & water that will significantly affect the health of your child; spouse; parents – you…???

We have too many people in America that will gladly revert to threats and violence if they or their party does not win. It does not matter if it were a fair election, these individuals will continue to believe they were cheated out of a position of power. That the event was rigged. That Alien space rays were used to manipulate votes or that temperature regulating thermostats are rigging the votes somehow. OR that there is some kind of magnetism taking effect to alter races, enough that spoons can stick to a person’s body or face, somehow.

Why? Why are there so many people that continue to engage in silos of self-induced conspiracies. Look at Michael Flynn, former military general and Director of DIA – he completely broke and went to the far edges of a different universe.

Here are a couple of links where Flynn talked about a trail of signs leading terrorists into America:

Michael Flynn once claimed Arabic signs on southern border guide ‘radicalized Muslims’ into US

Trump’s border patrol guy calls BS on Flynn claim Arabic signs are guiding ‘radicalized Muslims’ to US  

Again, you will need to do your own, ‘real’ research and come to your own conclusion on Flynn’s state of mind…

America’s Future

Americans, if you truly want America to be a Great Country, YOU HAVE TO VOTE.

You HAVE to vote with integrity, using your brain. Just because you do not want your children exposed to gays or black or brown or yellow or red people – you cannot deprive that from the majority of children in your schools.

Because you, the minority of individuals who want to continue to live in a world of those with closed mindsets, do not want gays or race mixing or better education for all to occur – IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. At some point in the future, it is going to happen and you cannot stop progress. You will just make it take longer, causing suffering to continue for everyone, and I do mean everyone suffers as a result.

I speak, now and in the future, with and for the:

• underprivileged,
• undereducated,
• repressed / suppressed,
• gays (even if I am not) &
• women (held down, glass ceiling & being seen as the inferior sex)

I stand for equality, diversity and progress, even if I AM NOT IN POWER.

America was never truly a great country. We only had a preeminent position because America had gained power, economically, socially and militarily over others, internally and externally. That is how America rose to power from the 1700s did it not? Building this country on the backs of slaves and indentured servants to have we have today…

But we CAN become a GREAT country, not really.  Why aren’t there more Americans out there willing to use their brains and logic to see that we as a nation (and as humans) have to stop this back-and-forth garbage of “my party is better than your party”. STOP IT!!!!

We have to change the paradigm and grow together and make the world a better place for all – NOT FOR SOME. 

Because I guarantee you that the children of those parents that want to block equality in schools, in the workplace and in politics – I guarantee you that in time, those children of yours who grow up with blocked or hampered vision WILL see the light at some point. At that point, these now adults, will be angry at YOU, the parents for holding them back, with that perpetual slogan of “I was only trying to shield / protect you from what I believed was wrong”.

You will be seen as not even giving your children a choice of deciding what is best for their own future. Yes, some of the children will be too young. But if you block everything you deem as ‘bad’ from your children instead of actually talking to them about various topics, you doom their potential and continue the perpetual cycle that later generations HAVE TO FIGHT OVER – AGAIN!

This is like German under Hitler burning books to secure the future of pure (free of Jewish or Black blood) Germans. Or here at home when books were once banned to ‘protect’ a certain racial make up in this country – yet, here we are again, having the vocal minority along with the wrong people in power in control of school boards – BANNING BOOKS, AGAIN!!!!  Just to protect their child from growing.

But a good thing is happening in parts of the country, these children, they are having book clubs and READING and DISCUSSING these so-called banned books their parents wanted out of the school.

Does this remind of German’s past of racial superiority/racism? Hmmm….

Oh, how can I talk in this manner as I’ve done? It is because I have had multiple incidents in my own life, growing up and as a young adult.

I have always stood on the side of the little guy and against discrimination, of any kind, and even being affected by it – here are a few scenarios.

• As a high school junior, I stood on a stage and denounced the garbage/racist spewing Communist who was there – but it turned out after I gave that impromptu speech, we found out that it was only a kind of a test for us (Young Civitan officers from across America) who gathered for an annual event
• Never invited to any parties throughout high school, from black or white – I was a, how did people phrase it at the time – a mulatto/half-breed (did I become a bitter, angry person – no)
• My high school prom date canceled on me, after I won the senior class raffle of a limo/dinner – because her dad was seriously racist (did I become a bitter, angry person – again, no)
• (in ’86, Irving, TX) Overhearing me being called a ‘nigger’ as a guy was yelling at a woman in her hotel room, I was to have dinner with – this guy was seriously a covert racist because the next day, he tried to be buddy-buddy and it took everything to not break his jaw (did I become a bitter, angry person – still, no)

None of these incidents changed my mindset, if anything they all encouraged me to continue being better and championing better thought processes for all around me without preaching and setting an example, everywhere, all the time.

My optimistic mindset is in seeing the country, the world growing into a better society. Yes, I keep seeing disappointment in the way different people treat others, around the world. i.e.: the increase in Asian hate crimes – WHY??? Mexican-Americans railing against other Mexicans, think of the L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez recent racist incident – WHY????

Why are people NOT growing into better people to make this a better world? Are there that many people in America, around the world who STILL want to keep using repression, suppression and flat out discrimination against others so that THEY can be the top dog (use whatever term you wish)…???

From this point on, the content is a repeat of what I had in another paper and I am sure not many people read it, so, including it here – if you are still with me. Even if one or two folks read this paper and use their brain going forward, I will be happy.

The Past, Recurring Today

I really hate to say it but this current atmosphere just keeps taking me back to what happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You know, in 1931, where a young white female teenager screamed in the elevator because of the young black teenage male who was in the elevator.  We still, to this day, do not know what actually occurred. And then, the whites of Tulsa wanted justice, not the legal kind but the restrictive, repressive (DEADLY) justice of past decades (and centuries) where the whites took control and hung or dragged a black to their death or tarred and feathered black(s) before killing them. I decline to include the ghastlier things that were done to these unfortunate souls.

And these whites thought (and believed) that what they did was righteous and fair justice. Stop the blacks from doing anything, let alone be successful as they were in Tulsa, using their power for their justice.

Remember the horrific pictures of crowds of whites, gathered around hanging (lynched) DEAD blacks, pointing and looking up at the dead or looking back at the camera man AND SMILING AND LAUGHING at the grotesque sight. Do any of you remember those images of justice? Does it bring a tear to your eye to even think this was possible in our American heritage – it should and we can also talk about the Native Americans and what happened to them as well? IT DAMN WELL SHOULD – that is, if you have an ounce of morality in you and you truly know right from wrong…

The problem is, it was not just Tulsa, IT-IS-STILL-HAPPENING-TODAY…!!!!  Where we have large pockets of whites, who happen to be republicans, that want to control what goes in the various cities and counties and states in America.

These individuals who happen to be in power want to continue to rig the game so that ONLY they will continue to remain in power and reign over all the inferior and insignificant lower classes of people.  Yeah, you got, those of color.

• Poll taxes ring a bell to anyone? 
• Okay then, how about counting jelly beans in a jar? 
• Dang, what about the literacy tests….?

It is like these individuals in power in mostly Red states want to get us back to those days… We just have too much ongoing racism, covert racism, subconscious racism and implicit racism.  Then on top of all that, we have groups of militia, sovereign citizens and even current and former military (as a former Marine, I am completely heartbroken to keep hearing this) who buy into this atmosphere of conspiracy and illogical patriotism and again, likely racism in these groups too.

So, the point of this minor diatribe of mine is to attempt togetmore, MANY MORE Americans WAKE THE HELL UP.

MORE Americans have to WAKE UP and get out and vote!  YOU HAVE TO VOTE for individuals who are more progressive. VOTE for individuals who are open minded and want to see all Americans grow and prosper.

And to do this, to have a successful future – all open-minded Americans HAVE GOT TO VOTE. And we have to do so starting with ALL the 50 state legislatures (leaving D.C. out because it is on that path already). MORE Americans HAVE GOT TO VOTE out the conservative and backwards thinking individuals in mostly Red states, so we can all prosper and grow going forward.

We spend FAR too much time repeatedly fighting amongst ourselves over Red and Blue topics instead of subjects and areas that will benefit ALL OF US.

If you are young and are of voting age – YOU HAVE TO VOTE and not make an attempt because you believe it is not important to you. IT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU! It impacts your future. If you continue to sit on the sidelines and let these repressive and suppressive minded individuals stay in power – they will put in places that become like bedrock foundations that you may NEVER be able to overcome or overturn.

If you are an adult and you feel left out and as a result you sit on the sidelines – STOP DOING THAT!!!!  You have to get out and VOTE as well. To have a democracy that is inclusive and brings everyone into the fold – YOU HAVE TO GET OUT AND VOTE as well. This is the only path. If you allow these backwards thinking individuals who are in power and who want to stay in power by focusing only on themselves and their families – you MUST get out and vote as well. Otherwise, this country will continue to flounder and stay behind the curve ball while other countries continue to move ahead of us in education and societal norms. You MUST get out and vote to help change the directionality of this country. Otherwise, we will continue to limp along with:

• Bridges with potholes where you can see down to the river or street below the bridge
• Levees and damns that are FAR past their prime but no one is upgrading them, meanwhile – these things burst apart and flood the surrounding county area
• Broadband that flat out sucks for many in the rural areas of America and definitely is pathetic in low-income areas, just because they are low-income areas and too many individuals in power do not believe these folks who live there are worth it
• Schools that are sub-par, horrendously sub-par – c’mon, MOLD! Lead pipes and non-functioning plumbing and HVAC systems that are not nearly adequate enough to be used
• Medical facilities that need overhauling and renovating – not the facilities that have an iron grip on the country and charging exorbitant costs – I mean the ones in most communities that are barely hanging on in supporting the residents of those communities
• Etc.,
• Etc.,

AMERICANS!  You simply must get out to vote or you will continue to see this country fall apart. We have to vote in individuals who care for all and not those individuals who only care for some subset of American areas of the country as in the mid-west or some suburban parts of the country.

As noted above, we have to start replacing state legislatures across the country with forward thinkers, those who are thinking 5, 10 and 20 years down the road.

Putting in place smaller budgets or stop gap measures to do minor patch work fixes or tweaks is not good enough. We need to do more and we can do more.

Besides getting rid of these backwards thinking individuals in state legislatures, we have to vote OUT more of these governors – ones that many of us still cannot believe they won the election their elections.

• With Kemp of Georgia, we know how he won – he was the Georgia secretary of state and he refused to recuse himself from that role and was able to influence the voting process.
• DeSantis of Florida, well, he won because he had a large following of individuals who want to retain a status quo and not become more progressive.
• Abbott of Texas, completely unclear how he really won, unless it was along the same lines as DeSantis. But Abbott, he is dangerous. He had all information on toxic chemical locations removed from all state websites. This information was helpful to many in deciding where they wanted to live, or where to send their children to school or where to locate their elderly in nursing homes – without this information, well….  And for Abbot to say that people can ask the fire department or other agencies, that is a non-starter because they mostly will not give out that information.  How would you feel if you discovered a toxic chemical storage facility was located 200-300 yards from your child’s school (and think about the blast radius of an ammonia holding facility should it go up in flames)?

We all have to vote to overcome and get rid of things like ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) efforts. This entity is the one that really spring-boarded many, many republican legislative actions over the years since its founding in 1973 and grew to prominence under Newt Gingrich.

Basically – ALL forward-thinking individuals, those with an open-mind, those with the foresight to see that we MUST unify as a country to grow again. Not grow as in divisive groups within America but as ONE WHOLE entity – all Americans. All of us need to vote. And you have to use your brain to do so. If we want to continue to be the leader of the free world, of developed countries – we all must participate and vote!

Research who you vote for – as in, is the person going to help everyone or just selective segments of society. Think about who you vote for. STOP listening to conspiracy groups and individuals, this only leads you down the path of despair and danger because you start endangering yourselves and others by buying into these non-sensical and illogical plots that only belong in movies.

You HAVE TO USE YOUR OWN BRAIN!!! Read and talk to and with others who have “rational” thoughts, not siloed bubbles of fellow conspirators. Educate yourselves.

Those of you want to vote for the likes of a Trump, Marjorie Greene or Matt Gaetz or Louie Gohmert or Jim Jordan – you are going down the rabbit hole of failure because the thought processes of these leaders do not appear logical and can be non-constructive.

You absolutely MUST use your own brain and your education to vote for individuals who WILL move the country forward, not give it an exercise of lip action only (while lining their own pockets with money from greed, while at the same time – lying to you). Please, those Americans with the tendency to stay in these filter bubbles (as author Eli Pariser) talked about – get out of your comfort zone and expand your mind. Grow with other Americans. You can only grow if you learn more. Talk to more people who are “not” like you.

As it is, we still have far too much many people in America who to return to the America of the 30s, 40s and 50s, where a, ahhh, certain race of people had the power.

Please – all Americans who want to see America grow – get out and vote.  

And, it is not just some of the Republicans, we have to remove individuals like Joe Manchin of W. Virginia who is playing at some kind of game that only he knows in preventing or slowing down growth.

Vote, not just in the Presidential elections but in ALL of the elections that crop up in your community. This is how we as a country will grow, starting with local elections, county elections and state elections – your vote matters. Vote for those men and women who see the future as prosperous for all. Vote for those people of color who are completely inclusive of everyone around. Stop thinking about age, religion, handicaps, race and gender as the sole criteria of who you would vote for.

That old or young; Jewish or Atheist; good looking or not so good-looking person standing next to you – might just be the next President of this country. You never know, you must put your personal biases aside and vote for those who want to do public service work.

The Voices of Women – Meaningless? And the Erosion of Democracy…

Apologies to the length of this writing (this is TL;DR for some) but Trump, Kavanaugh, McConnell, Flake, Collins, Hatch, Graham, Manchin and injustice is making life, well, Topsy-turvy to be polite…

Well. It appears that the voices of women mean nothing where it is most important – in sexual assaults (and in every day life to be fair). Even if an event happened 30+ years ago, the voice and statements of a woman are still important.

As of today, Saturday – Oct 6, 2018, America has voted onto the Supreme Court an individual with more divisiveness; with a more controversial background than Clarence Thomas had.

I’m a guy and what women say IS important, always!

That is, until it is proven it is not true. But, where it is ambiguous and no concrete evidence can be found, many of us will side with the woman – not just give lip service and say ‘we believe her’ as certain members of Congress have done (so the congressional members can retain their positions of power in their home state/district). What a woman says can make a difference. In many of the sexual assaults it is primarily a crime not witnessed by others and that is why the victim does not come forth and the guy gets away with it. (Sometimes, sometimes, yes indeed – there are women who also commit sexual assaults, it is just not that many.) And Trump – making an outlandish tweet that young men should be scared is ridiculous. No young men should be assaulting women in the first place (that goes for older men as well).

In America, or rather parts of America – certain Americans have decided that a man with a blemished background and temperament can be put into a position of significant influence and power. Certain Americans have placed an individual with what appears to be a highly tainted past onto the highest court, a court which now will be looked at for every decision it makes for the next 30 years with a jaundiced eye.

All because an individual who was put into the White House due to many electoral college members deciding that this person was the best choice for America in 2016. Trump.

If this Supreme Court vote turned your stomach, you had best “get your butt off the couch and go vote” in the NEXT SEVERAL voting turnouts, for the next couple of decades! The mid-terms, primaries, all of them. This will be the only way to restore some semblance of sanity to America.

Because if you do not, we, America, will be doomed and damned!  Are you one of the people looking to return to the ‘Dark Days’ of yesterday when only the males of one race had the power to lord over everyone else of a different color and all women? Do you really want to return to the days of suppression and repression…?

More and more pieces of democracy (not talking about the democratic party here, just democracy) will be chipped away as they are being done today. More “socialist” programs will be lost for years, if not decades until we can return to the path of growth and equality that we were on until Trump was put into the White House. And what I mean by socialist programs are:

• fire departments (think you don’t need this socialist program when your home catches fire)
• libraries (not everyone has high speed internet or even computers at home)
• police departments (what happens when your local police department is gone and you need law enforcement)
• schools (everyone needs to seriously consider removing Betsy D. from the dept of education…)
• hospitals
• social security (what are you going to do when you are older and have no money to rely on)
• should I go on….?

Socialist programs, today, in 2018, are meant to help everyone, not just the poor and downtrodden – the programs are meant to make the lives of everyone easier,  better and safer.

This is how Hitler grew into power. Think about that – think long and hard – do your ‘own’ thinking. Over several years, Hitler and the people around him whittled away at more and more programs until they gained power – a vise grip on EVERYTHING! (There are some who say this erosion actually started right before Hitler came into the picture – but we all know for fact, Hitler destroyed democracy in Germany.) And what was the result of that, guess! Extermination of massive numbers of the Jewish race, in multiple countries (Poland, Germany, France, Austria and more). The Holocaust was the ultimate disgrace to democracy. Things started out small in Germany and many of the Germanic race were happy and fine that Hitler was looking out for them. Hitler was going to “Make Germany Great Again!” But then when it was too late to do anything, such as removing Hitler, Himmler, Goering and others of the SS and the Nazi party – it was far, far too late.

Now, this is not saying Trump is a Nazi but – he is providing a helping hand in the destruction of the American way of life and all of its democracies. Trump has enabled the worse of the worst to come forth (recall the nighttime ‘Tiki Torch’ parade). Trump has unleashed the hounds of hell, to put it mildly, to come out of the wood-works and raise pure hell. Look at:

• early February 2017 where the House and Senate voted to repeal the so-called “stream protection rule”- Coal companies now have a freer hand in dumping mining pollutants into streams
• the white nationalist rally incident in Charlottesville, VA where Heather Heyer was killed
• Chris Collins and his insider trading on the lawn of the White House – how brazen was that?
• Many of the cabinet members Trump installed and the self-aggrandizement these individuals did while in power – sound-proof phone booth in his office (guess who that was);
• Expensive furniture, what was it, ~$31,000 for his office – you know who this was, the man qualified to run HUD because he grew up in the projects (I grew up in the projects too)…
• Zinke of the Interior Department and his sell off of federal lands
• The black protestor who was sucker-punched by a white man in the stands at a Trump rally in Fayetteville (and trump said he would pay the legal fees for the puncher)
• we could go on and on with this list…

The point is, if Americans do not come to their senses and stop this extreme political partisanship, we will continue going down the rabbit hole of more:

• hate crimes – racially & religiously motivated
• individuals like Michael Gerard Grimm, former congressman & former FBI, who threatened to throw a reporter off the balcony – a reporter who was doing his job (after his prison term for that, Grimm had the audacity to try running again for public office)
• corruption – how can people follow the law when the law makers and peace keepers are the ones causing this corruption and excess to continue – so they can feel powerful and make money in many cases for doing so
• erosion of public lands for corporate revenue – oil exploitation, so that oil companies can continue to make large pools of revenue before the clean energy wave really kicks in and fossil fuel use will be a money pit
• inequalities – women and racial – women and those of different skin colors doing the same job as men of a certain color “SHOULD BE PAID EQUALLY” for doing the same job
• anti-discrimination against new immigrants to America – and we all know this is how America started
• to name a few….

What do we need to do people? You all have to use your head and think!!!!

You have to perform research and think and talk about your actions before you do them! You cannot just listen to unqualified individuals who spout hate and conspiracy theories. You must do your own thinking, it is what makes you “you”!

So, what are you thinking? Are you thinking things in the political environment are going in the right direction?

Are you thinking Trump is making America great – when he raises tariffs, the ultimate cost is on you, the American citizen because you will be the one paying more for the products with the tariffs. 

Do you think the tax cut he instituted was wonderful? Well – continue thinking about that when your local services (any or all of them) are cut or eliminated due to your city budget does not have enough revenue – ‘because of that tax cut’.

What about clean air and clean water? Think your kids are going to be able to run around as you did years ago but now the air and water are more polluted (remember, the coal mine dumping above and the Trump administrations’ attempt to relax car emissions letting car makers off the hook…)

Use your brains. Think about the future. You cannot just think about yourself because you do not like gays or dark skinned people. You cannot say “hey, my religion is the foremost important thing in the world” when other people believe in a different religion. Do not make a mistake, as an American and a global citizen – I. DO. NOT. WANT Sharia Law anywhere near America.

Ultimately, what is being stated here is that Americans need to be better.

• Give women their voices – it is hard enough to come forward publicly as it is
• Think about unity, amongst all Americans (i.e. why do we still have Sundown towns in parts of America? Why do we still have so many skinhead/white nationalist/white supremacist groups around the country?)
  

Because America has to come together again and be a “United States” and grow stronger and be better as a country for itself. As well as in the face of rising problems with:

• Russia’s Putin doing the meddling he is doing globally and
• China doing what they are doing – attempting to force people / countries to kowtow to them; giving China hemispheric power to do what they wish, such as build man-made islands in the South China Seas and claim more of the region as belonging to them (we could discuss the Uighurs and the police state they are living under as well as the great firewall of China as well as internet and public censorship so the Chinese citizens have no voice and are unable to vote politicians out of power – these are big stories on their own…)

We are losing the luster of being a world leader because we do not have any serious diplomatic power. Who do we have that is a shining star in the world of diplomacy? Our ‘leader’ in the White House is not one who has great powers of diplomacy. He is continually causing America to devolve into a laughing stock of the world every time he utters a sentence or disseminates a tweet.

We are a country where it is now up to the states to institute clean air and clean water and equality for all. That is, those states with a forward looking mindset for the next 10 – 30 years…

 

 

Trump Fallacy & Mueller’s Tasking = Uncover Alternative Facts, Collusion and Obstruction of Justice

Very sorry in advance. This paper started out as a brief half-pager but the more thinking put into this paper regarding Mueller’s investigation and Trump himself, ummm, errrr, the paper grew a bit… The two areas are too intertwined. This is not a ‘dog whistle’ but a thought paper, one for which it is hoped that those few people who do read even a small part of it will start their own expanded thought process and create a cascading effect within their circles (filter bubbles or not).

 

Well, whaddaya think…?  Here we are, still, at the crossroads of historical significance with the current American president. And no, we are not using the term United States, because we are not united – there is too much divisiveness in America, too much selfishness. Coming together only during disasters and shootings is not nearly enough to say the country is united. We have to think about everyone; from the rust belt, to the mid-west – in addition to the west and east coasts, from the farms to the cities, from the poor to the rich.

We are here with Trump and his merry gang of, ???, others?  Not sure what to make of these folks and really do not want to just parse out any puerile knee-jerk name-calling.

The ‘Trump Fallacy’. Yes, there it is, the Electoral College missed the boat on “believing” they were voting in who the American people wanted as the next American president. As many people who did their own research and thinking know, the Electoral College was wrong, many of the Electoral College members just voted too soon and did not wait for more vote counting. (Or, and these are only guesses here: a) they voted on Trump out of fear of some of the more rabid Trump supporters or b) a really wild guess here, some of the Electoral College voters were paid to vote for Trump {let’s hope this really was not the case}). The American people voted for the other presidential candidate by ~2.9 million more votes. Simply put, more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than any other losing presidential candidate in American history… {Clinton’s votes = 65,844,954 / Trump’s votes = 62,979,879}

The Trump fallacy is that too many people believed Trump was their salvation. That Trump was going to restore a dying industry (coal) to its former black lung and asthma inducing glory. That Trump was going to make America the single greatest power on Earth. That Trump was going to put a chicken for every pot in America (do your research please, this is a Truman reference) while at the same time; putting in unqualified individuals in the nation’s highest offices, individuals who really had no business being placed in these positions. America was actually growing prior to Trump being selected by the Electoral College. As a result, Trump put in place individuals who wanted to take America backwards or did not know how to move America forward:

Ben Carson – HUD Secretary, installed because, as he stated, he used to live in the projects (so did this writer)

Betsy DeVos – Education Secretary, installed because she ran some Charter schools and since taking office, never visited some of the worse national school districts (ask Michigan if DeVos even contacted them) – DeVos wants to have more charter schools and leave the public schools to die off – that is the image we perceive. The problem, public schools are important and they need funding and improvements (too many teachers are buying their class supplies with their own small amount of money they earn)

Scott Pruitt – EPA, installed because he is a friend of the oil industry…? (what EPA secretary ever attempted to obtain a sound proof phone booth in their office, or bullet resistant office furniture and seats in bigger armored limousine…?) This individual also wants to continue making oil a dominate energy source when green energy (Wind, Solar, Ocean waves, etc.) is continually growing, even energy companies are buying up 10 – 20-year green energy contracts (but not making much noise about it).

Zinke – Interior, a person who claims to be a geologist but did not go the complete route a real geologist takes to gain that title of being a geologist (yes, he did take geology courses as an undergraduate but that is not all it takes)

Let’s just stop here, you get the picture. Right? RIGHT….??

But, as many people are now fully aware, not just across America, but across the planet – Trump never was qualified to sit in house of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Many people have known that since the 1990’s. Many of his base have been finding out the painful way over the past 17 months that the current president is not and never was qualified and is incapable of being qualified. Now, the remainder of his base, for whatever reason(s), they may never recognize that fact – but they may, after America goes through more harm, damage and ridicule over the next 12-24 months…

Just because someone has the loudest voice or biggest bull-horn, it does not mean that person has the right take or the best solution on anything. Listening to someone like that may just take you on a very bad bus ride… People have to learn to keep an open mind with the possibility that someone else’s opinion may be better or even right. People have to be better and learn to adapt to a changing global landscape by keeping an open mind and boosting their own intellect rather than relying on others to spoon fed what may be contrarian information (i.e. egregious or little lies).

What we appear to have in the American psyche now, more than ever, are a lot of individuals who for some reason have subconsciously (or consciously) given up their prerogative to do their own critical thinking. We have more people in America (and other countries for that matter), who seem to prefer to let other, less informed and ill-meaning people do the thinking for them.

Not really clear why so many Americans do not do their own critical thinking, AFTER they do their own research of course. So many Americans seem to relish listening to whisper campaigns, conspiracy minded talkers (many of which appear to not do their own due diligence prior to trotting out their various topics/dialogues) or flat-out liars. And to put an icing on the cake, these narrowly focused individuals spread the untruths on social media, in their own filter bubbles or other venues, therein causing a feeding frenzy using the bad information.

What happened to the thinking process of these people along the way of their life? What is wrong with dissent and conflict in a civil manner? People do not have to physically attack others who do not agree with them but some do. All you have to do is go to some colleges where speakers are attacked, by thrown objects and even physically. This harkens back to those Salem days of witch craft and hysteria arose – all because the person being accused of being a witch had a physical disorder or thought differently. It is as if the control mechanism in the brains of so many people is in a state of permanent shut down and they do not know how to turn it back on… Is America going backwards because free thought is being shut down.

— Hate speech or racial supremacy speech or bullying does not count as being healthy free speech.

The Trump fallacy has lowered the bar for ethical standards and personal integrity. Too many people around the American president are picking up the bad role model habits of this president. For example, early last year, January 2017, we had a woman go on live television and tell the American public about ‘Alternative Facts.’ By now, nearly everyone on the planet should know that alternative facts are just lies. For those that do not believe this, hint: an alternative to truth is a falsehood, or a lie. Many of us do not know of any other alternatives, so if you do know of something concrete to describe or define ‘alternative facts’, please let the rest of us in on that little-known tidbit.

Or worse still, we have public officials in congress and the senate who knowingly and unabashedly spread falsehoods because they believe it is something the president desires. And as a result, we have deepening political partisanship, worse than ever (no, not pointing a finger at just one party).

 

Now, getting to Mueller and his investigation of collusion (Russians), his team is outstandingly quiet on what they have to date. That is the way it is supposed to be. No lawyer or prosecutor in their right mind is going to give up valuable information in advance of the conclusion of their investigation or prior to the convening of a court case.

What many are not thinking of is the possibility that Mueller, in his role of special prosecutor, may have quite a bit of evidence at hand to make a significant blow to those who mistakenly believed that they could do what they want with the political system and the constitution. Think about ‘fixing by your neighborhood fixer’ and flat out ‘bribery’, basically, think about corruption. Mueller may have extraordinary data to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. Mueller ‘may’ also have an abundance of data in regards to ‘obstruction of justice’. The obstruction of data ‘may’ be aimed at those surrounding Trump, now and in the past – all those folks who have spat out and are currently spitting out lies, misleading information or other diversionary tactics, with the single goal of getting Trump out of hot water.

What is happening to ethics and integrity in the world? It seems a person’s word and bond are not as valued today in some certain circles. It seems that various people, highly educated people to boot, seem to have willingly and completely lowered the bar for their personal standard and do not mind the occasional bit of lying in the workplace or political/justice systems or even outrageous acts of corruption that we all see every week in the news in some city.

  

 

Disheartened yet? No, chew on this then. Here is something that some/many people may not talk about or even think of. There are so many Americans out there, in all levels of society and various positions of power who only think about pleasing themselves and those around them and to hell with everyone else.  This is where discrimination kicks in or continues to spread… And no, you do not have to go and do any copious and deep research on this, just look around and listen to the conversations of other people – on the train platform, in bars, at any sports venue, etc.  Especially when the talkers believe no one else is listening to them.

There are a large number of Americans who refuse to listen to other arguments and opinions, just because those arguments come from someone else. It does not matter if the other person making the argument is a highly educated expert in their field, or that other person may not have advanced degrees but is a well-known specialist. Or, it could just be a neighbor down the road. And please, do not let it be a valid argument from someone of color, or a woman, or someone from a different religion – because then, the one who refuses to listen to a different opinion digs in even more and is blinded by their personal discriminatory beliefs instead of considering that other opinion and having a dialogue.

The sad news for those kinds of thinkers is that we are all in this together, Americans cannot continue to have discrimination and keep putting in place, demarcation lines, visible or otherwise (you know, where people of one race moves out of a neighborhood because ‘certain’ kinds of other people move in…). We have to eventually “all” come together and recognize “others”. People of all colors are important. People of both genders and now, adding trans-gender folks to the mix are “all” important. Young and old alike are important to any society. The poor and the middle class are also important to any society, not just chattel to cast aside when the wealthy or the well-off are finished with them for the time being.

Enough people in America, and around the world, have been suppressed for too many centuries (yes, centuries) – we have to boot strap and bring everyone up, to improve standards in America and around the world.

 

So, work on thinking for yourselves and what is important to all of us. We cannot continue to have siloed (discriminatory) societies when we all breathe the same air and travel the same roads – doing so just makes it that much more expensive just to maintain all the various silos of – we need this or they (others) do not need that (this or that). Doing so only brings back (or keep in place) inequities that many of us want to see go away once and for all.

Let’s all think about actually draining the swamp of corrupt individuals who only want to aggrandize themselves and line their own pockets and do something real. Like vote out those who are corrupt and vote in others who want to help everyone, not just people who look like them…

If people out there choose to not think for themselves and continue listening to others who erroneously and intentionally misled them, we are all in trouble. We will continue to see this uptick in Fascist talk and actions; more talk and activity from white supremacists who believe the world (or certain portions of it) belongs only to them; more talk from nationalists/populists who only promote ideals that ‘appear’ to make their followers happy (think about Hitler).

Seriously, work on raising the bar on your personal ethics and integrity. Those two areas alone are something that would bring America back again instead of sliding down the magic rabbit-hole of lies and corruption in all areas and levels of government (and all other areas of life to boot). Seriously, again, stop condoning things that you know are wrong. i.e. there was one individual who stated “”You get a mulligan,” said Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council” in talking about the immoral behavior of Trump. Grabbing women by the “pu_ _ y” is not something one gets a mulligan over… Nor was the situation when Melania Trump had their child and Trump was galivanting around…

Would you rather have a role model with poor moral standards, who knowingly lies (i.e. in 1980 Trump agreed to turn over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art the gilded 20-by-30-foot nickel grillwork of interlocking geometric designs and a pair of 15-foot-tall Art Deco panels “depicting stylized, partly draped female nudes,” from the Bonwit Teller building he was tearing down to build Trump Tower – but then reneged on the promise and destroyed the art work), and encourages physical attacks (recall the sports arena incident where a white guy, as he was walking up the steps to leave the stadium, went out of his way to punch a black guy who had stood up to wait his turn to leave) or would you rather follow a sanitation worker (or home care assistant) with a big heart, higher ethical and integrity standards as a role model to live and grow your lives…?

Hint: some of us would rather follow the latter role model and not someone who wants to perpetuate the past where honest public officials are cast out for working on the straight and narrow rather than allowing certain illegalities go unnoticed and unpunished (remember Sally Yates who was ousted from the DoJ and Preet Bharara formerly of the Southern District of New York)…

 

Lastly, please, for many folks out there – try to stop being malleable, weak-minded and easily manipulated individuals. Do not just jump on the very first thing you see or hear, look for corroborating information to make a more informed opinion. Try to think for yourselves and for the future of America, all of the Americans, not just certain groups of people or certain colors…

We need to bring America back from the fringes of becoming a true international laughing stock, for which we are to a small degree, thanks in no small part to what has been happening over the past 17 months.

New U.S. Tax Plan: I’ll Be Spending My Retirement Paying Down The Increased National Deficit

Yes, you heard right. Someone had asked the question “Hey, what are you going to do in your retirement? “

Yes, now that American House and Senate passed the new “Tax Reform (Tax Plan)”, this unfortunately is going to be the fate of many, many Americans.

This is for the Electoral College and the people who voted for this current president, who is causing a ripple effect of greed, pigs feeding at that swamp trough (the so-called swamp draining that was to take place, yeah, that never took place – it expanded in a somewhat vicious and explosive manner). Folks, you sure picked a winner, one who is causing some real pain and angst to spread across the country, now and over the next decade… Lovely, isn’t it…

 

Here, let’s take a look at an example of another individual who believed a “wonderful new tax plan” would change the state. That individual is, the wonderful Kansas governor (just being facetious here), Brownback, as he tried to impress and win the hearts of all those wonderful Kansans. Brownback, back in 2012, started putting in place a massive tax cut scam, err, scheme to show the country that he could do that successfully and grow his state.

That did not happen. Many of the steep tax cuts put in place, ahhh, they were repealed already or are in the process of going the way of the DoDo bird (last seen sometime in the mid-17th century). After the tax cuts started hitting, you know (well, many of the logical and long-term thinkers knew) that school budgets were going to be cut. They were.

Also, city employee staffing (fire fighters, police and housing budgets) was also cut to help make up shortfalls. Here are a few more ‘fiscal policy’ victims that hit Kansas (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/zorn/ct-kansas-brownback-trickle-down-tax-fail-zorn-perspec-0621-md-20170620-column.html):

Public schools were planning to close early for lack of operating revenue. Kansas was shorting pension funds, skimping on road improvements, cutting Medicaid and slashing outlays for state universities.

Here is another quote from the article that is simply brilliant:

“It absolutely should put an end to the theory that tax cuts for the rich end up helping everybody, but you can’t kill it. It’s a vampire idea. No matter how many times it’s proven wrong, it keeps coming back.”

 

So, what is the lesson with these so called “tax cut plans” that will grow the economy?  And if you wish, ask the successors to Reagan and then even Bush (41) how they might feel about tax cuts. If the former was alive and the latter was allowed to answer.

The lesson is, which I am quite sure you already know the answer. When you cut taxes, the state and the nation take in less revenue. Then, how does the country or state make up for that shortfall – well, of course, you cut services everywhere. Cutting services makes for an excellent model of spending less money. However, when services are cut, the average citizens start getting hurt, big time.

• Needed services see reduced hours and/or reduced staff (which in turn puts an extreme workload on the remaining staff members).
• Fire in your neighborhood, hmmm, let’s see how many trucks are available since they took a hit in staffing (and if you need EMS, well…. they may be understaffed as well)
• Hospitals, doctors and nurses – well…. You might want to bring some aspirin with you because, as the tax cuts kick in, there is no mandate to have individuals have medical coverage – and when many of these who do not want medical coverage all of a sudden have an emergency, where do the go? Yes, they go to the emergency room. And what does that do, why, yes, the young man with the blue baseball cap, needed services get sucked into the emergency rooms along with the need for more funding and it has to come from somewhere. So be warned – do not get sick, there may not be enough regular medical coverage to handle the mundane, day to day medical issues (tax cut sucked up any extra cash lying around).
• Nice, serviceable roads to drive on, forgeddaboutit, they fall into disrepair – causing you to suffer car / truck damage. Be sure to up your vehicle insurance as you’re likely to have more bent wheel axles from bad roads (and yes, failing bridges).
• And do not forget about national and state parks and other areas – they may be closed or have reduced hours as immediate victims of revenue shortfalls due to this ‘grand tax plan’… You might have to re-think your vacation/week-end plans.

Then, what is the result of multiple services being cut, wait – why, yes, the older guy in the Hawaiian shirt – you hit it bang on, states start imposing cost hikes on many things in the state. And, oh yes, the young woman in the brilliant teal blouse, you are correct – the states start begging, dang, sorry, requesting the federal government for hand-outs, errr, more funding relief.

So, yes, again, so – what are you going to be doing over the next decade as this ‘grand’ tax cut plan starts biting while the national deficit continues to balloon with that purported $1.5 Trillion figure (which I am fairly certain it will swell far beyond that) is tacked on to the CURRENT national deficit.

It simply has not happened wherever and whenever tax cuts, to help corporations and the “middle/lower” class citizens, are put into law. Tax cuts end up being repealed with taxes going up again by another administration. Most corporations and wealthy individuals do what I (joe citizen) do, reinvest that money in myself (maybe in a savings or, gulp, a ‘401k’ account) for my own future. The majority of the companies who were “supposed” to be re-investing in its workforce to grow the company and those workers and by extension, the country – it just does not happen.

Do you think it is going to happen with this new, ‘grand’ tax plan? An expansion of growth across all American sectors…  Hmmm…. Think long and hard and most of all – do your own research (move away from the conspiracy theorists and hate mongers), then make that determination.

Your retirement may be in jeopardy because many states are going to be going hat in hand to the federal government for those hand-outs for the average citizens – us. And who will be looking out for you, guess who – it is going to be up to you to ensure you have enough salted away in your nest egg. That or continue working until you’re in your 70’s and 80’s…

 

What happened to strategic thinking in our government?  Where did it go? Where are all the forward thinkers? There are supposed to be adults in the American Congress, Senate and White House. Wait, I forgot, many of them were pushed out of many federal entities because they were smart and they used science-based as well as evidence-based data to drive new ideas and to disprove invalid/incorrect viewpoints. (Golly, I really hope I won’t get into any trouble for using words the HHS is attempting to ban from scientific and other professional use in HHS & CDC – Fetus, Transgender, Diversity, Vulnerable, Entitlement and the two I mentioned {that is, if this actually is a true situation…***}.)

We, Americans, cannot even put in place a decent equitable number of women and other ethnic groups of people in these institutions. This is because so many people are only thinking “right now, right here and for me only” – instead of what is ahead, down the road, 5, 10 or 20 years to be who we can truly be.

Leaders of the free world, hmmm, not sure about that anymore, it appears the best and brightest gave up and left a lot of the slower thinking, short-term thinkers and less savvy individuals in charge, those who appear to only want to line their pockets.

Our future of growth looks bleak, very bleak and it will take quite some time to recover to where we, Americans, are great again. It’s the people, all the people, not just any one party over the other – it is not Conservatives or Liberals or Libertarians or Green Party or Religious groups or Atheists or gays or transgender or old or young or women or men – it is the people who come together for common good.

What we have right now is: “Me, me, me – gimme, gimme – I don’t want to share. I don’t want diversity. I want people to be like me and that’s it.”  That is what is scary, the lack of diversity – those not willing to embrace diversity in all of its wonderful possibilities.

*** A Seven-Word Mystery at the CDC https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-19/a-seven-word-mystery-at-the-cdc

 

Electoral College and Alabama – Molesters and Sexual Harassment in Public Office

People of Alabama and Electoral College, what is occurring today is what you have wrought by disregarding common sense, dignity, respect and common courtesy.

Alabama, if the majority of people vote for this “Judge” Roy Moore, be prepared for the onslaught and backlash against the entire state of Alabama. Are you prepared for the results of what you do if Moore wins?

• People across the country will start shunning your state (that is quite possible)
  
• The Alabama state pile of revenue will slowly start to decrease as people recognize the backward thought processes of voting for a child molester “allegedly” and putting that person into one of the highest offices in America
• Americans will start deciding that Alabama is not on their vacation list
• Companies will likely start doing some deep thinking about their own brand and reputation and start deciding to sever ties with Alabama
• Etc., etc., etc. Hoping you get the picture by this point

Why in the good name of reality are Alabamians willing to vote for someone who has already proven that his thinking is not for the good of “all” people, but only for some? What is wrong with thinking of and respecting other people who are gay, different races, foreign or female (women are not inferior to men and should not be treated as chattel as if we are back in the 16th or 17th century)? There is nothing wrong with people from those categories, the problem is with the people who think ill or less of them.

The problem is with the people who believe they are better than people in those categories without even:

• Talking to and with those folks as equals and
  
• Granting respect and common courtesy to others

Why would anyone want to grant the authority and power to someone else who is categorically (“allegedly”) a child molester?  Is it all because the political race is between a Conservative Republican and a ‘demonic’ Liberal Democrat? Sorry, I got carried away there doing my own research listening to some of the conservative talk show hosts, the really radical ones.  This paragraph is a bald-faced hint that you, the reader should be doing your own research about ‘facts’ and then do your own thinking to come up with your own conclusions as to reality. Don’t just listen to haranguers who constantly badger and slight others “without doing their own research!”

 

But wait. I almost forgot. The Electoral College, despite all available knowledge and the undeniable number of American voters voting for the “other” party – the Electoral College voted in a premier sexual harasser for the Presidency of America… Electing the current President of America opened the floodgates for uncivilized interactions. Yes, I am talking about civility because that makes many more situations work. Civility helps in diplomatic situations instead of throwing Twitter spitballs at everyone else who disagrees with you – this is called puerile behavior (for our current President that means ‘childish’ behavior).

The current American president makes many of us ashamed and embarrassed when we face other nations around the globe. Prior to living in the White House, our current president constantly bashed President Obama for taking the vacation trips that he did because they were wasting tax payers’ hard-earned money.

Well America, guess what?  Us American citizens are spending a whole heck of a boat load of money because of the current disrespectful, blow-hard, semi-literate (sorry but that got away from me too) American president is wasting GOBS of money on vacation trips AT LOCALES that financially benefit him (Trump) because he did not divest his portfolio or create a blind trust for “everything.”

We, America, are wasting GOBS of money in going around in circles on stupid situations EVERY SINGLE TIME he opens his rather large mouth. We have to have other people apologize, if you can seriously call it apologizing when they spew circuitous language.

We, America, are going to waste even more money when we (Americans) finally remove this individual from the White House and his boatload of swamp mates (because Trump forgot, even with “his great memory”, to drain the swamp and put in place unqualified individuals that ‘he likes’). We will have to restore:

• Many lifesaving regulations, such as clean air and clean water (no more dumping – again)
• Financial regulations back to a decent level where Elizabeth Warren started having success – the CFPB (for Trump, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
• Federal Lands to preserve lands and parks AND American Natives legacies
• Labor regulations for fair or better pay and not sweatshop conditions

All of this because the current president and many of his cronies hated/despised/disliked (whatever Trump thinks) the last President, Barack Obama. Instead of being jealous of the last president’s successes, use them and build on them – how hard can that be? Is the current president the role model you really want to look up to, to emulate and even worse, have your children follow…? Where cheating and lying is the norm in his everyday life. Remember, he lied about his family being from Scandinavia when actually, they are from Germany (again, do your own research so you can believe your own results)…

 

Come on people, WAKE UP! This is about progressive change for the future. This is not about selfish thinking in the immediate moment – it is not just about you. It is about all of us. If we continue to have divisive attitudes about others, we will slowly (or rapidly) delve into another era of robber barons, an era we worked so hard in trying to get out of. Do you really want to go backwards in time where suppression and repression were the key weapons of those who want to remain in power while you scrape by with crumbs? We are supposed to be progressing and moving forward, together. But, no one can just hand you progress, you – yes, you – you will have to show a concerted effort in wanting to do your part in growing. This is growth in yourself and growth with others, together.

We cannot move forward if so many people are willing to squabble over such backward thinking. Look at Roy Moore, he apparently believes the last and best time in America’s history when we were great was when Blacks were slaves. For those who are not up to the challenge of doing your own research, here are a few links to reputable news sources (these are not Fake News sites):

http://time.com/5056590/roy-moore-america-great-slavery/

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-alabama-senate-runoff-20170921-story.html

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-12-08/roy-moore-chastises-america-praises-putin-in-newly-resurfaced-interview

Here is what Roy Moore responded with to a question at the September 17^th Florence rally:

At Moore’s [17 September 2017] Florence rally, the former judge outlined all the wrongs he sees in Washington and “spiritual wickedness in high places.” He warned of “the awful calamity of abortion and sodomy and perverse behavior and murders and shootings and road rage” as “a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins.”

In response to a question from one of the only African Americans in the audience — who asked when Moore thought America was last “great” — Moore acknowledged the nation’s history of racial divisions, but said: “I think it was great at the time when families were united — even though we had slavery — they cared for one another…. Our families were strong, our country had a direction.”

At the same event, Moore referred to Native Americans and Asian Americans as “reds and yellows[.”]

 

The reason for specifically not using the term United States is because we simply have too many people who are too divisive in America and are too bitterly against harmony and accepting people for who they are. These divisive individuals would rather force everyone to be like them instead of accepting differences.

Instead of helping each other, even with something as minor as respect for one another and the willingness to listen to one another – we are in a more overt battle with our fellow citizens.

All because of the Electoral College putting in place someone who never should have seen the inside of the White House for any reason. But now, he has access to the Nuclear football…

Part 2 – Donald Trump: Taking America Backwards & Laughing Stock…. Very Sad

Continued from Part 1 @ https://patrick642nu.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/part-1-donald-trump-taking-america-backwards-laughing-stock-very-sad/

 

Medical Care – Universal Health Care[1]

For decades, there have been individuals who wanted to put something like Universal Health Care (UHC) into play, people such as; Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt (1901-1909), FDR (1935 & 1939), Harry S. Truman in 1949 as part of the Fair Deal to our last president (Obama). You can also check Wikipedia[2] if you wish but do your own reading and thoughtful introspection.

So, what’s the big deal about UHC, our future – that is what is at stake? At stake is a future of healthier individuals, across the country. It is a future where costs will actually be lower because early care will preclude major medical disasters later and there will be no monstrous medical bills to be picked up by the families involved and tax payers due to an escalation of emergency room visits…

My thoughts on what these past presidents and current UHC (or Affordable Care) leaders thinking is that we need to cover everyone to bring down emergency room visits; to bring down the costs of catastrophic medical situations so that down the road, we Americans, will not have such significant numbers of people across the country without coverage. We would have in the future, a greatly reduced number of Americans without serious medical problems because the medical problems would have been caught very early in life and prevented. And the problems would have been prevented at a significantly fraction of the cost, instead of letting it go festering on for decades, with each year seeing more of that families (and tax payers – think emergency rooms) money going down the drain when it could have been prevented due to long-term thinkers who have been trying to get UHC instilled into the American psyche.

Just imagine more people:

• With healthy looking teeth so they can go and gain better jobs instead of being automatically assigned as a person of low income and low intellect and passed over for someone else who simply looks better
• Walking around on healthy legs or prostheses instead of a stump and a crutch(es) or obsolete decrepit wheel chair
• With the ability to see rather than being blinded due to malnutrition or bad school lunch plans and more

Do you not believe UHC would better everyone? Okay, think about an event occurring where you lose your high paying job and you were the primary bread winner with a great insurance plan. Well, your plan is gone and you suddenly find yourself in a medical catastrophic situation and it is going to be hugely expensive. What are you going to do? Bemoan the fact that you have UHC at that point.

Grow up people, stop thinking about yourselves because you have a better life – think about others out there who are not as fortunate as you.

Wouldn’t you want to see:

• Every American in this country reaping the benefits of great health care 10 years from now? {That 10 year number is only an educated guess as to we could start seeing better health care efficacy…}
• A dramatic reduction of emergency room visits 10 years from now, while at the same time – a significant reduction of tax payers paying for so many unnecessary ER visits?
• No more prohibitively expensive and labor sapping hospital visits 10 years from now because preventive UHC took care of problems before they exploded into the problems they are today?

We can do that!!!! But we have to agree to do this now, as a country. We cannot just provide UHC for the elite and better paid Americans and continue arguing and kicking this can down the road, EVERY SINGLE BLOODY YEAR as we are doing now!!!! We can change that paradigm!

 

Laughing Stock?

Back to the U.S. becoming the laughing stock country. Is that true, what do you think? Remember, do your own research and analysis; do not rely solely on news folks (TV or radio), or talk shows, or conspiracy theorists and only your inner circle – expand your horizons.

Why can’t the U.S. spend more money, evenly, on all levels of education to ratchet up the education and knowledge of American students? Why can’t the U.S. be like Canada, Great Britain and Germany[3]? Education goes a long way in making for a better citizenry… And we, the U.S., we need to do better if we want to be ‘the’ world leader – we need better education to get there. Check out a Pew article[4] for some info on where we stand.

 

What about international diplomacy? You too must think this is a laughing stock situation, right? Look at the current secretary of state, Tillerson – a person who does not grant interviews and press conferences. He wants to do mostly behind the scene affairs. Do you believe that is an open and transparent way to handle diplomacy, not sharing information with the country he represents?

Oh wait-a-minute that does not really matter. Our president and OMB person (Mick Mulvaney) want to cut the budget for State Department and USAID because we do not require or need this kind of effort around the world. Surely you believe this is laughable too… Right?

 

What about cleaner air, well, no? Apparently we not require or need this either. Our latest president and EPA head seem to believe their own knowledge on climate change and disregard what scientists who have been studying this for years. We should let companies dump waste in rivers and pollute the air, sure why not…? That is quite laughable, the president and EPA head that is, oh and include Bannon in that lot.

 

What about all the extraordinarily significant amount of time the U.S. is spending on the current president, his family, inner circle of administration officials and business cronies staying at Mar-a-Lago and at Trump Tower? Do you not believe this is laughable enough? Why yes, it is. The U.S. is spending far too much time on illicit activities, ummm – excuse me, alleged illicit activities. And we are spending far too much money on all of this as a result.

And the end result is that, most of the other hard stuff is not getting accomplished. Here are some of the things not getting done like; infrastructure (roads, bridges, dams, levees, power grid, water, etc.) across the country, all of which need attention. Then there is the tax reform; there is equality in the work place which needs more attention.

Take a look at the rampant, vitriolic, unvarnished display of outright racism being displayed across this once great nation. This is worse than when the last president was in office. And remember, that last president did not spew nonsense and idiotic content such as “knock ‘em out,” or “grab ‘em by the p_ _ _ y” or even using 7^th grade language for that matter – sometimes, just sometimes, using ‘plain spoken language’ can mean talking down to someone and insult that person’s intelligence….

What is going on? What is happening to this once great country? Why are so many people willing to condone this current president? Why condone someone who continues to willingly lie to the country, to the world – on multiple topics? And many people were (and are still) willing to continue listening to and believe in this individual even though what this current president promised will never happen again (think coal and massive manual manufacturing)…

More people in this country need to start thinking of each other, no matter their race, religion, age, gender, sexual preferences or what part of the country they live in. We are all here together, right now.  Look at each other, deeply look at each other and consider the travels and hardship they may have endured to get to where they are now (of course I’m talking about honest, hard work and legal efforts). And remember that no matter whom you see in front of you, or whether they live 2,500 miles away, that other person may be smarter than you and have better cognitive skills than you. These are people who are walking around right now – with or without:

• a college degree (that other person who ‘looks’ unintelligent may hold several degrees including a doctorate for all that you are aware)
• a family trust fund
• the best looks
• the best smile or
• the best speech abilities / speaking mannerisms.

So take note, that other person just may be a better person than you – rich or poor though they may be…

 

[1] “A Brief History: Universal Health Care Efforts in the US,” 1999, www.pnhp.org/facts/a-brief-history-universal-health-care-efforts-in-the-us

[2] “History of health care reform in the U.S.,” retrieved June 3, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_health_care_reform_in_the_United_States

[3] “Best Countries for Education,” March 7, 2017, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-education

[4] “U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peers in many other countries,” February 15, 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/

Part 1 – Donald Trump: Taking America Backwards & Laughing Stock…. Very Sad

Part 2 continues @ https://patrick642nu.wordpress.com/2017/06/12/part-2-donald-trump-taking-america-backwards-laughing-stock-very-sad/

 

To Be An American

Let’s be clear up front here. If you wish to live in America and/or become an American, you have to follow the laws, rules and regulations in place to ensure we are all adhering to a basic foundation of governance. (Meaning = you’re not doing anything illegal or trying to take advantage of the system.)

It does not matter if you are a green card immigrant living in New Jersey or Dearborn, MI. It does not matter if you are a Militia member in Montana or Utah. It does not matter if you are a Sovereign Citizen. Nor does it matter if you are a citizen in Houston.

What matters to all of us is – we all must follow the rules. No one can live in this country and dictate their own set of rules such as:

• “Well, we have been letting our cattle graze public lands without paying access fees, why should we start or continue to do so, it is public land.” Or,
• “We are not going to pay taxes to the government – we have our own currency and we have our own laws.” Or,
• “We have a right to bear arms, as they did in the early days of this country when there was no adequate military or police force to protect us.” Or,
• “We come to America to live, to live in a country of freedom and democracy but oh, by the way, we are going to continue following our own religious laws (i.e. ‘Sharia’ and ‘Honor Killings’) and we will not work too hard on assimilating into the American culture. By the way, we want you to respect our religious tenets and cultural laws.” Or,
• “Our town, yes, we are a Sundown town and we only want our kind, our race here, so, if you’re not our race and here after dark, you might want to think twice about staying the night.”

This cannot be the way of America. WE have to become the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and in doing so, we must come together. We are supposed to be a progressive country, not devolving into olden days, days of cowboys and Indians when people of any color as well as women were treated as second class citizens. Think about Native Americans, Chinese who were forced into doing manual labor on the railroads and elsewhere and yes, even malicious treatment of Jews and Poles and other immigrants who came to America.

Think about the course of history surrounding women denied equality (and we are still not there yet on this point).

When anyone moves to America to become a citizen and pledges allegiance to America, you are bound to accept and follow the American way of life and its culture. This is not to supplant the culture, customs and traditions you bring with you but in addition. One cannot move to a new country and impose your homeland’s laws, views and aspects onto those citizens of your newly adopted country. If one does not wish to accept the new country’s laws, views, culture, traditions and all the rest, well, maybe you should return to your own country.

 

Reverse mode – U.S.A.?

What is going on? Are we, the American people, really going to permit this evolution of “going backwards” to continue to pick up steam?

First, remember, this current U.S. administration was not elected by the American people.  The Electoral College, via whatever machination they employed, selected this current president, even though the overall number of votes was not for him.

Second, this paper is not aimed at any party in particular. It does not matter if you are liberal, conservative, independent, green party or libertarian, we are all in the same boat, floundering because of who was put in the White House.

Thirdly, this president has made the claim that he does not want foreign leaders and countries laughing at the U.S. Well, it is a tad late for that. We have become, well, on the straight and narrow in becoming the laughing stock of the world. Our fortunes are falling, from world leader to falling in line with Syria and Nicaragua (climate change).

 

What are you Watching & Listening to…?

Another significant thing to keep in mind, something I always ensure that everyone understands;

• “No, you do not have to believe me.”

The reason I say that particular phrase is because I want you, and everyone else, to do some of your own research. Reach out to different news outlets – “do not stay in your own comfort zone, listening to the same individuals or groups of individuals.” This is because it is a dooming cycle to remain in; you only hear the same content from the same people and you start becoming brain washed by listening to the same regurgitated content from the same types of sources. Do not take the following in a spate of anger but it is like being raised from birth in the church (any religion, pick one – from Catholicism to Wahhabism). All you hear is religion until you start acquiring more areas of knowledge and start doing your own concentrated thinking and determine your own line of reasoning as to what is what – B.C./A.D. or B.C.E/C.E.  

Watch and listen to other men and women on different news channels, network and cable; listen to different radio stations on FM, AM and satellite; watch or listen to news in local, national and foreign (to see how the American news comes across) news outlets; read different newspaper sources. The point is, listen to and watch different sources, do not get trapped in listening to only the folks around you or only your favorite news person – you simply must, absolutely must expand your horizon.

Then, do your own reasoning and thinking to make your own conclusions. You cannot just listen to someone, no matter how rich or famous (or how loud) they are, the onus is on you to make your own generalizations. You have to look down the road into the future to see what the possible consequences of your present decisions will engender. This is where the scenarios of; “if I make this choice, then this will happen” come into play. For non-computer folks, this is a primary programming aspect, the “if – then” statement.

You must remember, even if you believe you are the center of the universe, you have to consider what your decisions mean for jeopardizing the future of others. You must instill a better substitute to staring at your belly button; it is solely your fault in focusing in only on one source of news, such as Tweets that come out at 4am.

 

Leadership – Knowledge or Ulterior Motives…?

Here, let’s take a look at some of the individuals the current U.S. president wanted in office. Individuals that supposedly want to help the current president ‘make america great again.’

Scott Pruitt, here is a man that sued, or at least attempted to, the EPA multiple times as a businessman. Since taking over as the EPA Administrator, he has had the EPA web site scrubbed of all real scientific evidence relating to climate change or global warming. Does that sound like something a reasonably sound person of any decent level of intellect would do?

Betsy DeVos, a woman who wishes to bring charter schools to all states. This is a woman who made the unintelligent statement on HBCUs[1]. “DeVos said HBCUs “are living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater quality”. “HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice,” the statement said.”

HBCUs were somewhat the only choices Blacks had to go to…

DeVos wants to help break down the national common core. This is a point that many people continue to contest, they believe it is too difficult and unachievable and that each state should have their own standard of education. Here is the problem. If the states maintained their own standards, we are going to go in reverse, again. Some states will have better standards of education while others will have very poor standards. Humor me, just imagine, if you are a parent and you were relocating for better opportunities – would you:

1. Go to a state that has poor standards and are near the bottom of the nation – i.e. these could be states in the mid-west and south or
2. States like California or New York with better standards where your children will have a much more guaranteed chance for success

Mull that over and see if you still want a willy-nilly set of mish-mash standards across the country,  or a common, tougher, standard…. If you move from a state with poor standards to a state with excellent standards, your children will suffer the educational cost of catching up, meaning they may be placed in remedial classes… Education is not necessarily meant to be easy, such as all 2nd graders getting a trophy for 1st place.

Tom Price, here is another person with less than excellent standards. He wants to be a key player in getting rid of Planned Parenthood, an entity that is instrumental in many families around the country, an entity that is not solely aimed at abortions. Do we want our country to return to unplanned pregnancies and back alley abortions of the 70s?  This is a person who made dubious gains in money in the stock market from insider trading, sorry, making money on various investments due to congressional bills he sponsored and voted on.

Mick Mulvaney, I do not know what to say here. Is this a real person and is he really qualified to head up the OMB? Look at what he is proposing in making budget cuts for the Affordable Care Act, he wants to cut out big chunks and state that it really will not affect those who are covered.

Ben Carson, – okay, this is a real winner. He himself said that he was qualified to head up HUD because he lived in the projects at one time. Hmmm, not sure how to take that statement? Good? Bad? What?

Steve Bannon, do we want Bannon to stay in the administration now that nearly everyone in the country knows what Breitbart is about and Bannon’s mindset while he was running the company (and likely still running that “news” outlet)? This is a mindset that is not fit for the majority of Americans.

I could go on with many, many more of trumps’ selections he put in place for our administration but I just do not have the time or patience right now…

 

Divisive Country, Yes! United, No!

We started seeing an uptick in negative relationships across the board when our last president (good old Barack) was elected. This was most likely because he is not white, which was/is a huge problem for many people across the 50 states (and we may have this issue when {not if} a women is elected). I did not include ‘united’ because we are not a truly united states.

Evil content, divisive content started pouring out. Militias grew in numbers, even the KKK {a.k.a. 88} started growing again and who truly wants to deal with something like the KKK in this point in our history. Now, look at all the evil hearted content that used to be dying down (or so we thought) and/or covert. The current president seemed to have opened the flood gates for racial hatred, ignorance and flat out bigotry to flow. We have much more public evilness on display in all areas of our lives now. People (white) walking up to parked cars, if the driver appears to be Muslim, and creating a scene full of diatribes. People (white) in grocery stores telling (or yelling and cursing) Muslim appearing people to get out of the U.S. and go home because there is no Muslim in the White House anymore… Recall the recent bus scene where two men were stabbed to death and another wounded because they were trying to step in and stop a guy who was clearly (allegedly) out of his mind in verbally accosting two Muslim young women.

We are back to blatant racism and it is no longer covert, it much more overt. The expansion of public racism, we can safely presume, right, sprang from the election campaign of Donald Trump. Take that infamous rally where Trump stated, “knock him out” where a person (a white guy) sucker punched a black guy in the stands – and Trump stated later for all to hear that he would cover any legal charges (yeah, right).

Trump’s outrageous manner of speech, his “plain spoken” talk and ill-mannered  behavior (remember grabbing women by their ‘p _ _ _ _ _ s’ – never, NEVER forget that one) allowed many other ill-mannered, poorly behaved, ignorant individuals around the country to come forth to talk and act as if that style of behavior was acceptable. It is not! Racism continues to roar its ugly head as it ratchets up in the public, overt hemisphere around the country. This is partly to blame on the current president in the white house and a sizeable number of individuals surrounding him.

 

State of Affairs…?

Well, our government wants to relax fuel and emission standards for auto manufacturers instead of being stricter in what vehicles pump into the air (I used to run in L.A. and got sicker and sicker every winter due to smog – I bought a Nordic Track runner instead of running outside and within a year I was healthy again). And gaining better mileage is what everyone who drives a car or truck wants but no, our government believes this is too arduous of a manufacturing goal and hurts profits. Let me help you digest that a bit – profits over health, think about it.

Allowing the dumping of waste into rivers – in what universe is this okay? Who desires possibly toxic waste to seep into ground water tables and spread laterally? Do you want some factories waste content in your water system – remember, when storms cause waste water facilities to overflow, that contaminated water is likely going to end up in a neighborhood near you – if not directly in yours…

Relaxation of emission standards for factories, this is the direction our government to help businesses in also. Let them pump out less clean waste into the atmosphere. Is this lunacy to anyone besides me?

Climate change, possible move to more coal usage and pollution – recall that there is no clean coal solution yet. And no, you cannot continue to blame countries like China. China is shutting down coal plants and stopping production of more coal plants (China is in its 3^rd year in a row of reduced coal consumption). Between 2015 when China was still going full bore on coal, the rise of pollution throughout the country has given the country pause to move away from coal to cleaner energy alternatives. Remember, do some research on your own.

 

We, America, by this point in time in history should have stamped out a massive chunk (yes, good word to use here) of racism and excised it from our ‘progressive’ path forward. But, we did not. Many people still believe that only one color matters and anyone else of a different tint or hue does not belong in America. Too bad these individuals have not gone out and had a DNA test done to see what their racial/genetic makeup is composed of. Take a look at a white cop[2] in Hastings, MI who did so and discovered he has Black blood in his genetic makeup (yes, he started being on the racist end of multiple comments and situations). Ancestry.com said he was 18% black. Hastings is 97 percent white… So, take a wild guess at how many KKK or Militia members have a genetic makeup much less than that Hitlerish (88) goal of being 100% pure, of any race. And you might be right… Unfortunately, it will be a long time before we discover that kind of info. But, we are too far on the path of evolution for that many people to be 100% pure blood.

Coming together ‘only’ for holidays like Memorial Day, the 4^th of July or in times of disaster should be shameful for everyone. The time to come together is all year long, every single day. We should have everyone’s back and to be there for them when a hurricane comes their way; or when a plumbing flood snafu occurs at home; or when a neighbors’ kid is bullied because that bullied kid is gay or autistic – these everyday events are when everyone must come together, not just on some event like Rolling Thunder crossing over Memorial Bridge.

Does the above not cause a glimmer or spark of outage in your brain cells in realizing (for those of you out there who are truly thinking this through) that we are becoming a laughing stock in the world? It is not due to the American citizenry, or rather, not the majority of Americans, but to the current leadership in place…

 

Enough for now, I will add more to this fall from grace saga where America is becoming a laughing stock due to our current president…

 

 

[1] Historically Black Colleges And Universities

[2] “White Michigan Cop Files Racism Lawsuit After Ancestry.Com Revealed He’s Part Black,” May 10, 2017, http://www.newsweek.com/white-cop-sues-michigan-city-racism-after-ancestrycom-revealed-hes-part-black-607004

Be Aware Electoral College, in 2016, You Chose the Unpopular Choice

Be aware Electoral College, you made a conscious decision of voting for an unpopular choice to become this country’s next President. Now we, the people will have to live with it unless you change your votes.

You decided to select someone who explicitly said whatever he believed would win him votes. Facts Don’t Matter appeared to be the mantra of this individual who won your 2016 Electoral College vote.

The Republican choice for President knew that most of what he said was complete nonsense and a great deal of fiction. A vast amount of what he stated was not based in fact but emanated from bald faced nonsense from Twitter and from un-vetted/untrue Fake News stories.

To be clear, yes, the Democratic Presidential choice also made some untrue statements in regards to a certain email server. And yes, on the Clinton Foundation – before you (Electoral College) or anyone else explodes, do a bit more research and check out the foreign money aspects. Do not just believe claims from a single source (or two), do your own deeper research. Do more. Do more than just reading blog posts or Facebook postings or Twitter tweets, do something more substantial.

You are smart people, do better due diligence.

Most of you in the Electoral College should already know that the Republican Presidential choice came from a background of having no experience in:

• Political affairs / Governance
• Military (unless you wish to count his time as a youth spent in a military institution making him an expert in all things military)
• Statesmanship / Diplomacy (do business dealings count towards diplomacy)

The individual you selected as the next President disregards nepotism standards. Yes, there are no explicit laws on this count for the President and Vice-President but do you want someone in that office who blatantly disregards nepotism.

Your choice is also ignoring (at least to this point) any rules towards putting his businesses into a blind trust – and that also means, outside of the family.

 

Your Electoral College Presidential choice is selecting individuals for cabinet postings that come from rather odd backgrounds. The following is not a complete list, but look at the  dearth of women and the disappointing racial makeup of the members:

• Labor Secretary – an individual who wants to eliminate overtime and sick leave and a very vocal critic of minimum wages (which will significantly help the lower class members become better members of society as their economic lives improve) – this individual wants to do away with a large chunk of government regulation in the workplace
• State Department – an individual that ran Exxon as a separate entity who chose to disregard current and longtime laws of companies having to work with the White House when dealing with other countries for foreign business dealings
• Education – an individual that wants to somewhat destroy the progress made on public education for Vouchers and Charter Schools that do not embrace all children from all walks of life (when you choose who goes to a Charter School – i.e. restricting how many children with learning problems or from a background of poverty, of course, your Charter School success rate goes up)
• Energy Department – an individual who wanted to eliminate the entire department and has no background in this area (look at previous heads who have deep backgrounds and expertise)
• Attorney General – an individual who does not believe that Sentencing Reform is the right thing (primarily and most likely that the majority of folks affected by this are of a different race and economic status) – this individual also does not believe in Voting Rights and Civil Rights and would like to see most of the laws in these two areas rolled back (or eliminated)
• HUD – an individual who claims his experience in this area boils down to “well, I grew up in the projects” (so far, this is the only Black on Trump’s list)
• Treasury – an individual who basically kicked people out of homes in order to make money for the company during the 2008 housing crisis (the U.S. government bailed out his bank, IndyMacBank, in 2008) as well as other underhanded activities (I would have to do more digging on this one but you must do your own digging because you would not believe me anyway – but check out the Suffolk County judges’ statements on Mnuchin’s practices at that renamed OneWest Bank)
• EPA – an individual who wants to eliminate regulations, such as the Clean Power Plan… what about bringing back ‘more’ fossil fuels to the U.S. – recall Black Lung disease, any of you…?

This list could go on for all the picks (Bannon, Priebus, Price {HHS}, etc.) but, well, you should do your own deeper research… Does this selection grouping have any semblance to “Draining the Swamp” or is this actually draining the swamp only to replace the draining with a replenishment of the same type individuals…?

 

So Electoral College, you voted for an individual to become the next U.S. President who in turn is selecting individuals who will cause long term irreparable harm to this country. And for which will take a decade or more to recover from if your choice becomes the next President and he gets all the cabinet choices he desires.

Some of those choices are looking at doing away with regulations that have killed thousands of people in the past. Do any of you recall the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire which killed 145 (mostly women and children) due to the lack of regulations (chained and blocked fire escape doors and no effective firefighting tools – no safety and child labor laws). What about factory safety? What about general safety and health laws (OSHA anyone – is this entity on the chopping blocks)? Do you want to see sweat shops return to this country?

Do you Electoral College want to see ‘more’ dirty air, more harmful pollution because that is what you are going to get if you allow someone like your Presidential choice take office as that administration does away with ‘expensive and business stifling’ regulations. What about the Paris Agreement, do you want to see the U.S. pull out of an international agreement where the entire planet can possibly see cleaner air in our lifetime?

What is a human life worth when a company can make money for its board and executive staff…? Is that the new standard we Americans have to live by now?

 

So Electoral College, you voted for an individual who repeatedly stated he was going to clean up Washington by going anti-establishment. Well, look at his posse he is putting in place – individuals from Goldman Sachs, Generals and other non-experienced individuals to run the country.

   What do you think about your choice now…? Is this person who stated on tape “I just grab them by the P_ _ _ y” the person you wish to be a role model for your children or the public face to present to the world?

Will you, Electoral College members, be able to sleep at night, especially when at some point over the next several years, your family may be affected by the choice you made in 2016…