October 17, 2022 by gudguy1a

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.

June 3, 2021 by gudguy1a

Any Americans Out There for Democracy? Yes? Then WAKE UP & VOTE…!

TL;DR / BLUF

VOTE! Get out and VOTE! This is the only 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 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…

Here we are in 2021, where we have so many individuals in America in power but are acting 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… We have GOT to move past being Republican, Independent or Democrat and THINK about Democracy for all. Democracy for all to grow, prosper and succeed, not just certain sectors of this country.

Throughout the country, we have individuals who are in power, no matter how they arrived there, and 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….?

What is happening to so many of these Americans? And it seems to be primarily Republicans / Conservatives (yes, I said it, Republicans) who are hell bent on stamping out ANY chances whatsoever for America’s growth in future elections. These individuals appear to want to suppress any paths of progress for people of color. That seems to be the elemental effort of all the individuals in power in Red states – to put in place severely restrictive voting processes that “might” curtail voters from casting votes for others who are more progressive. Others who are more progressive and want to see this country grow and see that more Americans have an actual chance to succeed in life.

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 (lynched) 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.

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

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

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.

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.,

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.

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)?

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.

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.

That old or young; Jewish or Atheist; good looking or not so good-looking person standing next to you – might just be the future 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.

May 31, 2020 by gudguy1a

EHT BIZARRO World of Trump in America (& a bit on China & Russia too)

Heads up, this is not short… TL;DR and is meant to be read in chunks (for those wish to read some throttled and seriously restrained comments on the, alleged, deranged and imbecilic president of America)…

(Yes, the title – ‘THE‘ is reversed…)

Part I A Strange America

So. What is happening to America and to democracy around the world? What happened to leadership that is democratic (not talking about the democratic party here)? What happened to civility between individuals of American? What happened to respect and equality?

It should be pretty darn clear there is one clearly obvious nexus point for a great deal of this. All you need to do is look at who is sitting, undeservedly, in the White House… And many of us can guarantee that if the Electoral College had to do it again, they would not vote this person into the White House again (especially when the American people decidedly voted for someone else other than Trump – I believe it was Hillary Clinton, right…).

We live in Bizarro land. Yes, that is correct, we live in a world where the opposite of everything is taking place. If you have been choking on your own bile, every morning, ever since the 2016 Presidential election, there is a good reason for it – the ‘MOST’ wrong person is sitting in the White House.

As a result of who is sitting in the White House, here is a short list of what has been making you choke and gag, every day (likely all day):

Illegal insider trading taking place on the White House grounds (corruption, right?) – and no concern from the president…
We have an American ambassador Pete Hoekstra (Trump’s choice), to the Netherlands disputing his own words (this bullet is about a lack of integrity and honor). Hoekstra had stated in a 2015 conference on terrorism hosted by the right-wing David Horowitz Freedom Center – “The Islamic movement has now gotten to a point where they have put Europe into chaos. Chaos in the Netherlands, there are cars being burnt, there are politicians that are being burnt … and yes there are no-go zones in the Netherlands.” But in a later interview (Dec 2017) with the Dutch current affairs programme Nieuwsuur, Hoekstra stated that content was fake news – even though Nieuwsuur happily rolled the clip from the 2015 interview on air for Hoekstra. And no concern from the president as to how this looks for America, its people and its leaders…
Firing of Inspector Generals for no valid reason, other than they were doing their jobs to stop/prevent illegalities, fraud and other behind the scenes shenanigans – it seems, allegedly, this president has no regard for law and order and the watchdogs looking to remove current and potential corruption and illegalities…
Members of Congress and the Senate who, before this current president was voted in by the Electoral College, called the president to be by various monikers and endlessly mocked the large bodied and clownish person. But ever since this person got into the White House, these same Congressmen and Senators are kowtowing to this president, licking his boots (not literally BUT BLOODY WELL CLOSE) and allowing corruption of the law to take place (such as the emoluments clause where many believe this president is guilty of)
This current inhabitant of the White House relentlessly lambasted Obama for going golfing but look at what is taking place. This occupant of 1600 is going golfing at something like 22% of his time in office (he has reportedly been on the grounds of his golf courses or played golf elsewhere 266 times since becoming President, and that’s as of May 24, 2020), at tax payer expense and at his own country clubs (NOTE: there was no legal divestiture for his business investments/control) – remember how he famously stated in 2016 “I’m not going to have time to go play golf.”
Installing a new State Department secretary gutting the State Dept of most of the seasoned, experience, knowledgeable and respected bureaucrats – then not filling many of those positions. Do you remember that individual, that new secretary was Rex Tillerson… the oil CEO? Tillerson’s focus was not on diplomacy…
The current White House occupant plays down, disregards or ignores calamities that have struck America – remember him throwing toilet paper to people who needed it (in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria) and he believed it to be some sort of game.
What about ensconcing his unqualified children into very senior White House roles – what did they bring to the White House – or rather, what have they achieved that is worthy of talking about (no, not getting licenses in China to sell products) – many labeled these moves as nepotism but were unable to gain any traction on the violation of nepotism laws (we will need a future unbiased federal court to rule on this but that will be a long time out)
Can we talk about the 2018 elimination of the NSC directorate for global health and security and bio-defense that would have handled the CoViD-19 problem in 2020 with speed and efficiency (it was eliminated, allegedly, because it was an Obama creation)
Sheesh, this could continue on for page after page but you get the idea – we really hope so.

We, America, have someone who is supposed to be a world leader, sitting in the White House. Yet, instead of being that leader this individual has instead usurped: leadership, decency, democracy, a global role model status for anyone who wants to grow and be respected and become a leader themselves. (Note: the United States is not used in this paper because we are not a united country – we are more divided than ever before.)

We have people who want to flaunt the old 2^nd Amendment, the right to bear arms. The 2^nd amendment was completely relevant for the militia at the time when the British were prevented from taking over the American colonies in the 1700’s.

Yet today, we have many contemporary individuals today who have gun stashes of upwards of 20, 30 and 50 different weapons (with thousands of rounds) and these folks are not weapons’ collectors. As a former Marine, I actually like weapons as well but I have no need to collect weapons for fear of an invasion. Although, in case our government ever turns dictatorial, arms collection here will become a different endeavor…

But. Who is going to invade America?

Has Russian been building up a secret army just off the coast of our country, but are so well camouflaged that we cannot locate or detect them?
Maybe it is the Chinese with their Communistic world view?
Or even worse, is it the poor hungry desperate immigrants without legal documentation invading America with their unseen deadly weapons?

Today, in 2020, we have a military, along with the National Guard. Neither of these entities were present back in the days of yore.

Do not get me wrong, as a former Marine, if this region I live in allowed weapons, I would buy a few as well – just not 20 – 50 of them or go storming some local state capital flaunting the weapons…

Part II Logic, Strategy and Diplomacy

If decent, logical, serious individuals “STILL” have to continue to convince the American public of the wrong doings or ill-conceived ideas and just bad thought processes of the current president and it is not sinking in – something is wrong with a large percentage of Americans.

We have a president who is, allegedly, illiterate, indecent, corrupt, discriminatory (okay – racist) and who’s IQ, also allegedly, is not in a very decent range of intelligence. Besides lacking leadership skills, this individual also severely lacks any real degree of communication and diplomacy skill sets. If he did, America would not be seen in the light it is across the globe.

This individual cannot string together a sentence that makes any sense. Well, hang on a moment. It may make sense if ‘you’ went to the same high school and college with this person and ‘you’ had the same classes with this person. We have no idea how well this individual did in school at any point.

So, you did not do so great in high school or college or grad school (wait, this person did not go beyond undergrad status) – so what? Grades reflect what one learns up to that point, with or without good teachers or a good educational system. What matters is if you continue to grow and do better after not doing so well at any level. What matters is if you continue to be better in your life.

Forbes magazine put out a story, as well as others, in Feb 28, 2019 where:

Michael Cohen testified to Congress that, under directions from Trump, he sent letters to Trump’s high schools, colleges and the College Board (creator of the SAT),threatening them with legal action and jail time if they ever released Trump’s academic records. Cohen provided a record of one such letter sent to the president of Fordham University, which Trump attended for two years before transferring to complete his undergraduate degree at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Trump’s high school has confirmed receiving an identical letter, while the University of Pennsylvania and the College Board declined to comment.

What is wrong is wrong… That is not hard to see or to fathom. If someone who is supposed to be a role model states: “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.” – that is not someone you are supposed to look up to or follow. That is, unless you yourself are amongst the callous, gross, indecent minded imbecilic Cretin of the gutters. There is supposed to be something called, respect for others, no matter who they are. Wait a moment – there’s more. There is also:

decency,
equality,
honesty,
compassion,
empathy,
integrity,
ethics and
non-discrimination and
diversity

Where has all of the above disappeared to from this current administration. It is as if the mass majority of individuals the current president selects and installs into a senior office turns out to be a dishonest, greedy, corrupt individual.

Who in their right mind, in the top role position of the EPA builds a SCIF (a secure office) in their own office, when there is already an existing one, one floor away? Or has him/her chauffeured around in an armored vehicle when the position does not rate such a vehicle. Scott Pruitt wanted a ‘secure’ ‘sound-proof’ phone booth… That position does not require that kind of security.
What about taking private jet rides around the country, at tax payer expense…
What about going shopping on a federal jet, at tax payer expense (this was, allegedly, Mnuchin and his wife back in 2017 – recall Louise Linton’s extravagant and glorious exit and pose from the plane with the bags of purchased goods).
There is so much more that could go here as well and if you did not live and breathe solely in a filter bubble, then you will know that there is more. But if you isolated yourself to a safe zone of like-minded individuals, none of whom dared to grow and venture forth to look at other possibilities, at other avenues – then it is likely you only know one silo or one tunnel vision cone of information. What you believe may be completely wrong. But due to being in that filter bubble, it is difficult to convince you to expand and do better.

Part III The World

What happened to America’s global role of leadership and statesmanship? Again, a certain specific individual is what happened. America has become a laughing stock of and to the world. Our allies are alienated because of this individual. Our leadership on the world stage has eroded horridly to lower levels. It is only through the guts and leadership of certain state governors and mayors and some business leaders and numerous American citizens doing all they can to keep our head and chin up in the world.

As we can see, there are numerous leaders in other countries who want to emulate Trump and the fake news hoopla. And they have been as well as gaining incredible autocratic and dictatorial powers where the citizens of those countries (Philippines, China, Russia, Hungary, Brazil, etc.) are simply screwed and cannot seem to get out of the rut they find themselves in because those leaders have the military to back up any areas that the dictators/autocrats desire.

Look at China

There is no freedom of speech, no freedom of choice there. China forcibly removes freedom at every avenue it can, in order to “preserve the safety of people within its borders and preventing threats to a stable society” in their country from other sources. This is a complete sham and the Chinese citizens are not all aware of it – because of the Chinese leadership’s control of all media and avenues of travel.

You also have to take into consideration that the Chinese leader made himself, ahh, sorry, the Chinese National People’s Congress voted that there be no term limits on the current leader of China. How nice is that – Dictator for Life, sorry – what was meant was, President for life of a country with 1.3+ billion people. This outcome was determined as follows: Two delegates voted against the change and three abstained, out of 2,964 votes. Nice, eh…? Almost a clean sweep.

Remember the Hong Kong citizenry acting to retain its freedom in late 2019 and the Houston Rockets manager Daryl Morey tweeted an image that read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” (By the by – EVERYONE should stand with Hong Kong as they lose their right to total freedom; loss of a free press, free speech, free movement, facial recognition surveillance {even more than what we have in America} and become a more communistic country – for those that choose to stay in Hong Kong – many will find some way out of that island country over the next several years – an exodus.) Before he deleted due to comments and stress from various avenues of contention. But – NBA Commissioner Adam Silver finally came around and supports Morey’s right to free speech. Of course, in return, China was appalled and had the gall to come back with:

The Chinese-run television network said it was “strongly dissatisfied” with Silver’s remarks.
“We oppose Silver’s claim to support Morey’s right of free expression. We believe that any speech that challenges national sovereignty and social stability is not within the scope of freedom of speech,” CCTV said in its statement in Chinese, which was translated by CNBC.

In reality, how in the heck can China, a Communistic society (but they really want to be Capitalistic, don’t they…) DARE to say that free expression that challenges ‘anything’ is not within the scope of freedom of speech???!!!! Not when the Chinese government does not allow its own citizenry to any of it. China controls the media. China controls the countries internet access and continues to tweak their ‘Chinese Firewall’ in order to censor everything that travels over the air or via cables.

People are not allowed to talk about leaders in a bad light, as other countries do.
Any word that the Chinese government deems to worthy of censorship is blocked from the internet and not allowed on any media. Here is a fairly good article on “68 Things You Cannot Say on China’s Internet” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/world/asia/china-internet-censorship.html or this other article “In China, you can’t say these words” https://share.america.gov/in-china-you-cant-say-these-words/
Take the Uighur (or Uyghur) situation in the XinJiang region. The Chinese government deems them to be dangerous and has razed many of the Uighur towns to the ground and put the people who once lived there, into camps (imagine something, kind of like a concentration camp – just not as horrific). Yet the Chinese calls them re-education camps where the Uighurs are required to shave their beards, removing that identity aspect. All movement is controlled by surveillance cameras (everywhere in Uighur inhabited areas, not just the camps) and identities. Uighurs are not even allowed to have certain tools because they could be construed as weapons. The Chinese have even gone so far as to engrave certain cutting tools with the owner’s identities on the tool AND then are required to check it out and return it like a library book (complete control of those tools) – controlled by the police.
People of China face public shaming for spitting in the streets (it can be caught on camera and put up on a large billboard – live video) – but wait, it does not end there. The citizens can be assessed points in the Chinese “Social Point System”, which started in 2014. It is about regulating individual and group behavior for activities such as: bad driving, smoking in non-smoking areas, not paying bills on time, spending too much on video games. Now, if you acquire too many points, you can be: banned from flying or catching a train; banned from luxury options (like 1^st class seats); throttling internet speeds; being banned from the best schools (including your children). Think about that kind of restriction in the western world.
China wants to own the SCS (South China Seas) instead of sharing, stating that territorial waters belongs to China and not shared amongst, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, and says, basically that
- there is no ‘freedom of navigation’ in that area to foreign military/navies
- and going as far as building man-made islands and militarizing them to support the Chinese claim, even though the Hague is on the side of the Philippines as to the waterways is not owned by China

So, for a leader of one country to put their Big Brother restrictions on citizens of another country and expect other nations to kowtow “their own” draconian methods of “lack of freedom of speech” or “lack of freedom of action” – what does that does mean, hmmm…?

How can the leader of a country with all these restrictions say they have a stable society when the society is controlled by the government and military?

The people:

do not have any true freedom
cannot congregate
cannot vote bad leaders out either (so it seems)

What do you believe, does China have a ‘stable society’ or that free speech threatens another country’s national sovereignty?

Chinese citizens will never see this paper within the borders of China because of the content of this paper.

Russian president – Putin. What can you make of this other president for life? He basically owns Russia and the people are somewhat locked into a state of hopelessness and are unable to do anything. It is somewhat hard to figure out how the people just do not create a national up-rising force Putin out, so we will not see that happen.

But how does a country’s President become a billionaire? It has been reported by several sources, one of which is the CIA that Putin has anywhere from $70 – $200 billion stashed away – yes, BILLION. Reportedly, he is at the $22 Billion mark. How does that happen, legally?

And do not get your hopes up to run against Putin because competition against him appear to have bad josh, bad luck. They die. They get poisoned. They gain criminal charges and if you have criminal charges in Russia, you cannot run for top offices, so they say. And let’s not forget the military and the underworld henchmen who just might, out of their love for Putin (yeah, right) take out the competition and it then becomes complete deniability for Putin and his party.

There is just so much more to be said about Putin, Xi, Maduro (Venezuela), János Áder (Hungary), Duterte (Philippines) and even more about Trump.

But where do we go from here? How do we do it? Well, education is one of the first steps – educating everyone and allowing everyone to vote is a second step. Ensuring EQUALITY is flat out the foundation and cornerstone of EVERYTHING from henceforth! We all have to do better, not just in America but around the globe.

At the same time, we have to prevent other countries from interfering our countries elections. We have to prevent fake news from gaining ground (yes, the real fake news where there is no basis in reality and not ‘alternate facts’ as Kellyanne Conway stated it), while at the same time barring harmful and dangerous conspiracy individuals/groups.

All we can do is – TRY.

Be better than others and lift them up in turn. Stop stepping on the backs of others just so you can put your face in the spotlight. Just do the right thing. Most of all, it takes courage – courage to stand up and be counted and help make everyone accountable. Take U, she is a child and look at what she has accomplished and it was not out of wanting to be in the spotlight, it was due to making people aware that the world has to change regarding climate change.

But, individuals like the one in the White House, he has no courage whatsoever. He does not stand up for inequality. He does not stand up with empathy for those going through disastrous changes in their lives. He for sure does not have the courage to stand up and face America’s lack of true justice.

The American president does even have the backbone and courage to stand up and fight, internationally and collaboratively on CoViD-19 instead of finger-pointing. What individual in their right mind cuts out the World Health Organization and throttles the CDC…?

And not least, where is the courage to stand up against Police injustice in America, specifically against Brown, Yellow and Black people of this country…

But he does have an affinity, allegedly, for reneging on promises, greed and alleged corruption (*Ask the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York back back in 1979-1980 about Trump’s promise to give them the Bonwit Teller’s sculpture.)

We have to ensure respect, diversity, non-discrimination and equality are the bedrock of this country – maybe then we will actually be a United States.

*Bonwit Teller and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bonwit Teller closed its flagship store in 1979 and sold the property for $15 million to a Long Island real estate developer. Despite his plans to demolish the old Bonwit Teller building, the buyer promised to preserve the Deco grillwork and bas reliefs at the request of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The buyer was none other than Donald Trump. In 1980, Trump demolished Warren & Westmore’s elegant Art Deco emporium to make way for his $100 million Trump Tower. In what became a sadly typical turn of events, Trump cut corners everywhere he could and bullied those who stood in his way. To pour the foundations, Trump enlisted S&A Concrete, a known mob front for Paul Castellano and “Fat Tony” Salerno. He paid 200 illegal Polish immigrants as little as $4 an hour to work 12-hour days, 7 days a week. The so-called “Polish Brigade” worked without benefits, hard hats, and sometimes even homes – during the 1980 transit strike, many were forced to sleep at the construction site. Then there were the lawsuits. He sued the city for a tax abatement on the property. He sued one contractor for “total incompetence” and threatened to sue a labor lawyer for $100 million.

The reasoning:

John Baron, a spokesman for the Trump Organization—who, the New York Daily News discovered, turned out to be Donald Trump himself in disguise—told the Times that “the merit of these stones was not great enough to justify the effort to save them.” He said it would have cost $32,000 to remove the sculptures and cited appraisals by three independent appraisers that found them to be “without artistic merit” and worth less than $9,000. Their removal, he said, would also have delayed demolition work by at least a week and a half. (Trump, as himself, later estimated the cost of preserving the panels at $500,000.)

October 13, 2019 by gudguy1a

If You Have to Cheat to Win – You Have Already Lost

Okay, what can we talk about here that folks do not already know but should know…

Right off the bat, to be frank – if you have to cheat to win, it means YOU have no moral compass in your thinking and that cheating is the only way to win and get ahead.

If you have to cheat to get ahead, it means you have no work ethic or sense of integrity to do things the hard and smart way to move up in the world. If you have to step on someone else’s back by lying, cheating and/or stealing – it means you are not the person meant for that job. Because for bloody sure, you are NOT the leader others will want to follow knowingly and willingly.

If you believe you are a successful winner by discriminating in your hiring choices as to gender or looks, it means you also have bad ethics and lack any sense of real integrity. Those people you discriminate against could be some of the best people you will ever have had the opportunity to grow your business and circles of friends and other partnerships.

If you discriminate because of race, you are definitely cheating and are not fit to be a successful member of society and are not meant for any kind of leadership roles.

If you believe you have to cheat, it means you are not willing to do the hard work others are willing to do (AND HAVE DONE) to become successful and respected. Because if you cheat to win, for example, by gaining entry to colleges due to bribes for yourself or your children – you are not an honest member of society.

If you have to cheat by using means of suppression and repression, it is a clear sign of your ignorance, lack of human empathy and low moral standards.

Look at the political leadership of S. Carolina:

closing down voting locations to make it difficult for certain groups of people to vote
trying to instantiate even stricter voter identification laws
trying to undertake illegal state legislature voting by one party while the other party is out of sight because the party who was not there was tricked into believing that there was no voting going to take place

Look at the Russian government, where if you are a serious contender against Putin and have a massive following – Putin somehow comes up with a way for that competition to be pushed aside.

Competition somehow:

comes under law enforcement scrutiny for ‘tax evasion’ and is jailed and now branded with a criminal conviction, which means that person is no longer able to run for office – a criminal record by way of sleazy shenanigans or
is poisoned and hospitalized or
is killed by mysterious perps or
is banned from having large public gatherings for their party or
and yes, we could go on here as well…

and when you have the police and military under your thumb, it was/is fairly easy for Putin to always be the winner – by cheating. Having special groups of ‘alleged’ jack-boot thugs who have no ‘affiliations with the ruling party‘ helps as well.

Look at Xi JinPing, he is now President for life now that he has abolished the legal term limit – how much of a cheat is that – when you can make your own rules. Oh sure, the Communist Party overwhelmingly voted for that term limit removal – ‘how would you vote if you had a gun to your head?’ (Yes, it is figurative but could be literal in some parts of China…)

If you willingly need to cheat to win, it means your moral compass is badly broken. And it is deviously corrupt if you have a lack of empathy with no feelings of guilt or any qualms whatsoever knowing that what you did was ‘illegitimately‘ wrong in gaining a role, position or whatever by blocking others who deserved it more than you. Should we place Brian Kemp in that category in how he ran his election by refusing to recuse himself (step aside) from his ‘current’ Secretary of State role while running for Governor…?? As GA Sec. of State, he had control of the election process and because of that, Stacey Abrams had no real shot at winning…

If you have to cheat to win, it means you are not the type of person that others want to be around (they should not if they are honest with themselves). It means you are not willing to put in the blood, sweat and tears that MANY others put in to grow and be a better person.

Cheating to win by:

doping up for a competition is not the trait of a winner
bribing others to look the other so you can be successful is ALSO not the trait of a winner
offering to forgive or purge any illegal transgressions once you win some position, again, is ALSO not the trait of a winner

Tendered possible solutions…

Be:

all-inclusive, invite people of different backgrounds (cultural, educational & economic)
collaborative, invite people from different life levels (political, financial footing, age groups, etc.)
open-minded in taking in what others have to say because for sure, ‘you’ do not know everything or even most of everything (this is for the majority of Americans and citizens of other countries) – others may/will have a different take on things and could very well spark an unconsidered resolution or success for some activity or action that you, by yourself, may not have thought of
smart – street smart, common sense smart, educationally smart – all great attributes to have, especially in complementary fashion, having all three
a listener – a good to great listener takes in what others say, no matter if the other is a young fresh college graduate or a retired senior citizen who never went to college – no matter if the other is of the opposite sex or a different race (sorry, cannot help it – have to be all-inclusive to others at all times)

October 6, 2018 by gudguy1a

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…

December 23, 2013 by gudguy1a

Sense & Sensibilities…? Shame!

Originally posted Oct 4, 2013 at & moved from: http://patrick642.wordpress.com/
Change. Improve. Innovate. Be better.
~ Pressing issues, from cyber security, to strategy, to innovation, to improvements (self, others, organizations)

Sense and Sensibilities Today was the day I had lined up to write about malware but with this current shutdown situation going on, I had to write about that instead – especially in light of the fact that it also affects me too.

I will not be calling out names, it is not my nature. I will not be calling out specific parties. Anyone who objectively watches, listens and reads more than one narrowly focused news outlet (TV, radio, websites & newsprint) will know what is going on. I say ‘objectively’ because too many people are not being objective about this shutdown and using emotion and religion instead. In light of this shutdown, what I really want to do is rant and use profanity so profuse that it will make the hand on the back of your hands burn off but that is not me.

Look, if you are not using your head and thinking through the daily and weekly political machinations for yourself but instead relying on one talk show personality, or radio personality or one politician who ‘may’ be distorting the truth – Shame on you. Go out and work your brain cells and verify some of that content for yourself – use that brain that nature gave you.

Gerrymandering / Re-districting We have to put a stop to gerrymandering; it just goes on getting worse and worse over time. Both political parties have got to stop that madness. I happened to be listening to the Rachel Maddow show one night this week and they were discussing the possibilities of having a professional non-partisan group work on the re-districting process, removing the bias that grows more and more over time. I like that idea, would it work? Could people in this country get behind this idea so we can have representation of all the people in that district rather than some of them?

To those people in certain congressional districts around the country, you need to think about more than yourself. You are likely in a district full of citizens that are overwhelmingly just like you but lacking any real diversity. There are many, many other people out there around the country from many different walks of life. These other people may not be like you in: == Race (we had an Indian-American woman win Miss America, so what, be happy for her), == Education (not everyone can go to college due to other issues in their lives, like caring for a seriously sick family member), == Affluence (not everyone is born into a family that had a head start in life decades ago (I’m not talking about rich)), == Political persuasion, == Religious or no religious beliefs (religion should not be playing any part in government) or even == Health (people who do not grow up in well to do families, have health problems that are not taken care of years ago) Because some people may hold a very narrow view on life, those people cannot and should not inflict that narrow view on others and try to force others to be like them. You simply cannot do that, life is not supposed to work that way – you cannot suppress and deny others as it was done centuries ago (think ‘Christian Crusades’) or even as recent as the 20th century (think ‘women’s rights,’ slavery (Chinese and Blacks). You have to consider others as well as yourself in how we live in today’s society and move forward in the 21st century. Other people may not have had the chance to obtain better education in order to get that better job and earn a better living. And when monies are taken away from some school district to finance another ‘better’ school district, you are in effect suppressing those others.

Politics So, when people in the various pockets of America think and act narrowly on things in life and transplant that to politics, those people vote for someone who also thinks narrowly. This starts moving to extremes over time, we see that today. People should be thinking long term in how we can make the country better for all American citizens, not just in those close-minded pockets of the United States. We can do better than that.

We should be looking at mechanisms that can help all of us in the long run, even if it does mean spending more money first. For example, take this Affordable Care Act (Obamacare or Kynect or Covered California or whatever it is called in your state) – this will start reducing costs immediately for reduced emergency room visits that many without insurance use for their standard health care. That is, due to not having insurance, they let medical problems become worse until they can no longer stand it and need some kind of treatment. In the meantime, in some form or fashion, the rest of us pay for those emergency room visits…

Politicians & Talking heads We seem to have quite a few politicians and talking heads who are saying that this shutdown is a good thing. Do not take my word for it; watch the repeated videos and news clippings yourself. These individuals, in talking about the shutdown are saying some of the following: == It is only a minor inconvenience == This is only a pin prick == People will see how much government we can get along without == Etc. Now, if you are paying attention to what is going on around the country, you, yourself, will know this is not a pin prick or minor inconvenience. Our embassies and consulates overseas will have to function sub-optimally if their current funds run out. Medical research is now drastically reduced. I know someone who is supposed to get married on the National Capital Mall this weekend but will now not be able to because of the shutdown. Etc., Etc., Etc. And if those people who are affected by the shutdown cannot receive pay checks due to their furlough, then the ripple effect starts and it will affect many more people around the country. These people caught up in that ripple effect will likely be someone you know – “IF” not you specifically.

To those politicians who are obstinate, close-minded and chose to force situations on people – SHAME on you.

Conclusion We can absolutely do better than what is going on with this shutdown. We are supposed to be world leaders but it seems like we are harking back to Newt Gingrich when he was supposedly snubbed by the President at the time and as a result, Gingrich (as Speaker of the House) shutdown the government in 1995. Take a look at the Daily News front page from back then of the image portraying Gingrich in a caricature of him wearing a diaper throwing a tantrum. (Jan 2012 article link with that caricature: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/01/newt-gingrich-crybaby-the-famous-daily-news-cover-explained) We need people in politics who will listen to their constituents, the well-meaning, level-headed constituents in their districts and bring those thoughts and ideas to congress. We need people in politics who are above board and honest in the message they bring back to their districts and informing their constituents of what is reality. These politicians must convey the message that their constituents cannot have everything only the way they want it.

There has to be compromise. We cannot force things on people, things like forcing: == A woman to undergo a trans-vaginal probe or == People who have voted for 50-60 years or more to get voter i.d.s to prove their identity == People to only marry the opposite sex (or become a freak show for marrying a same-sex partner)

We can do better than that. We have to. Didn’t we get women the right to vote (the hard way)? Didn’t we get blacks the right to vote (painfully)? Didn’t mixed race marriage come to pass? Didn’t we end segregation (well, this is still a work in progress due to the large number of bigots in the country)?Come on folks; let’s not allow the extreme people of the country hijack the rest of us. We should have compromise, level-headedness and better reasoning in politics. For that matter, we should have it around the globe. No one can have whatever they want, whenever they want it (that goes for the rich or the politically powerful as well).

December 23, 2013 by gudguy1a

Fairness… Equality… Respect…

Originally posted Aug 1, 2013 at & moved from: http://patrick642.wordpress.com/
Change. Improve. Innovate. Be better.
~ Pressing issues, from cyber security, to strategy, to innovation, to improvements (self, others, organizations)

This piece is long, it was meant to be long due to this grouping of topics being so deeply and greatly fundamental to me.

Will we ever get to a point of more equitable fairness, in our lifetimes, for anything? Will we ever see respect accorded to each other, on a massive basis, as we go through our daily lives? What about equality, do you believe we will see that truly happen in our lifetimes?

Oh and when I say lifetime, I don’t mean in the next four or five years, I mean in the next 10 – 20 or even 30 years. Because at the rate we’re moving along, it appears these things will not be easily gained in a more equitable timeframe, will it…? Women and their right to vote (Suffragette movement) – how long ago was this? Blacks got the right to vote (emancipation / civil rights act / voting rights act) – how long ago did all these take place? After decades of fighting for and winning the right to do anything, it should mean things become easier, not more difficult. And it for sure does not mean we go backwards as we witness what is occurring in N. Carolina (the new massively restrictive voting rights issues taking place – check out The Rachel Maddow Show site (http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/) for more info, or better yet, check out the NAACP site (http://www.naacp.org) as they are squarely in the middle of it).

I was raised in the north and the south so I have a pretty good perspective of how things are for both sides of the track. I went to black grade schools (in the south & the north); then in junior high, I went to a black school but also attended a Jewish junior high (over two years) as part of an exchange program (that is before Nixon cancelled the program, for whatever reason, maybe budgetary) and then to a predominantly white high school, in the south.

All my life, and I do mean from the very earliest years (don’t ask me how I knew what I did but I did) I had high expectations of things becoming better, much better for everyone to live together – not just in America but around the world. We would all become better citizens of the planet. Effusive? Schmaltzy? Maudlin? To you maybe it is. But, it is my effusiveness and I believe it is worthy. I could never understand the hatred, on both sides, until later in life. I could not fathom why people cannot just learn to be better around each other, until later in life. Maybe I was naïve for years but it was my dream and still is, to see more harmony amongst more people – especially as the world becomes ever smaller and resources (jobs, water, etc.) start to become more difficult to obtain. Are we going to revert to an even more selfish society as jobs dry up? As clean water dries up? Are we going to see more squabbling, in our own country, as the air becomes more polluted and deadlier from all the pollutants clogging the atmosphere (name it – methane, CO2, and on and on…).

Yep, call me maudlin for wanting a better society for all to live in. One where you actually can walk down the street without hearing car doors lock. One where you see people talking to each other as they pass each other on the streets, instead of having their heads buried in their cell phones or smartphones.

Yep, call me schmaltzy for wanting to see the day when one does not patronize or cast aspersions or judge others by the color of the others’ skin or by the: a) Way others talk, b) Partner one is with, c) Gender of the partner they are with, d) Religion others believe in – or do not believe in, e) Job they hold, even if they are a sanitation worker, a mail clerk or a mom.

Yep, call me effusive for my dream, for my promised land – not in any biblical scene but one rooted in the physical, tangible world. My promised land is one where all people, men, women, boys and girls, of all races, of all religions or no religion, of all shapes and sizes, of any sexual preference can freely live their lives. One where they can: — Go to school without fear of having acid thrown in their faces or being shot. — Drive a car without having a male relative present. — Walk in public and have a good time without fear of discrimination or be shot for it. — Work and earn a good living and work their way up the company ladder and earn the same pay as all others in the company, regardless of gender.

If we continue to have persecution, suppression and discrimination – now, in the 21st century, did, we as a people, not learn anything over the past 148 years (slavery)? Or for that matter, over the last several thousand years (Christian crusade and religious tyranny / regional & global war – domination by suppression and genocide). Why does it take disasters and calamities to bring us closer together? Why can’t we be closer every day, everywhere? Are people afraid of others doing better than they are? If so, people have to work on being/doing better themselves, to move ahead. Because ultimately, it will mean some sacrifice to become better – many of us have done so.

We should not be looking at and judging others by the color of their skin (and cast that unfair aspersion on an entire race) or what gender they are! 2013 and we still have discrimination against others, for no real reason, other than to suppress and dominate the other.

We SHOULD be looking at the integrity and character of others and judging them on who they are.

But most of all, I continue to wonder who the next Martin Luther King, or Rosa Parks, or Mahatma Ghandi or even an Abraham Lincoln will be. Who will be the one to step into those kinds of shoes…?

Society – Change. Innovate. Improve. Be better.

~ Topics ranging from: Strategy, Intelligence, Diplomacy, Leadership, Equality, Innovation to Improvements (self, others, organizations)

suppression