Saturday, October 28, 2017:   First Let's Stop Focusing on Trump
At this point, most experts who are willing to stick their neck out agree that Trump is one sick puppy. His malignant narcissism has and will result in untold damage to this country.

But the press and the public need to stop focusing on his sick behavior and inane tweets and start focusing on the changes that are being foisted on us by his appointed minions. We did not elect these assholes, but they are systematically dismantling every policy that was design to help and protect the American public. Whether it is the Trump appointees to the Federal Judiciary, Betsy DeVoss trying to destroy American's public education like she did in Michigan, or Scott Pruitt's pollution policies for our precious water resources and the air we breath, their actions are going to directly impact all Americans. With the help of the spineless wonders in congress, you can add a proposed tax reform that will make the rich even wealthier and more powerful and the rest us poorer, plus a health care bill that will leave tens of millions without health insurance.

By the end of this presidency, extreme right wing insanity will have infiltrated every nook and cranny of our Federal government and much of our state and local governments. The result will be a death lock on democracy. In my lifetime we have the potential to go from the greatest democracy in the world to the most powerful fascist state that has ever existed.

Push back on anyone who supports Trump or his minions. Our biggest problem is an ignorant electorate. We have vast numbers of people who vote, but have no idea on the potential impact of their vote. They are ignorant of the facts and often refuse to listen when the facts are presented. Tell them not to vote. They may not mind getting screwed by Trump and our government, but you and I do.


Thursday, October 12, 2017:   Tebowing During the National Anthem
For the life of me, I can't figure out what the big deal is about NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem. Kneeling is generally associated with reverence and submission. Various religions employ kneeling as a position of prayer. The Catholics genuflect and kneel during religious ceremonies. Muslims kneel during prayer. Those being knighted in England kneel before the monarch. Traditionally men get down on one knee as part of a marriage proposal. In many ways kneeling is similar to bowing in that it is a sign of respect as much as it is a protest as in the case of the NFL players.

So in my humble opinion, the players are simply paying their collective respect to the United States Constitution that gives them the freedom to express themselves on the grave issues facing our nation and the abject failure of the current administration to address those issues.

Don't know what "Tebowing" is. Google it.


Wednesday, October 4, 2017:   What Happened to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness?
We have reached a point where the supporters of the Second Amendment are violating our collective right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is time to change the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and if our elected representatives are too cowardly to do it, maybe we need to throw the damn fascists out of Washington and start all over.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."


Tuesday, October 3, 2017:   A Gruesome American Reality
"The worst mass shooting in American history". This is it folks. The new American reality. Get used to that phrase.

Thanks to the NRA, we have now reached a point where Americans will be dying in mass shootings on a regular basis and it won't be from immigrants or Islamic terrorists. It will be some millionaire nut case with an assault rifle.

Which brings me to another point. The NRA has done a yeoman's job of manipulating their messaging. They have managed to get the media to refer to assault rifles as long guns as if an assault rife is somehow equivalent to a hunting rifle. It is not. An assault rifle is designed for one purpose – to efficiently kill other humans. Going forward, that is how they will be used and innocent Americans will continue to be murdered in mass. The NRA will make sure of that because gun sales go up after an incident like the one in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is America's First Amendment reality. Like all the other mass shootings, we'll grieve and cry and spend hours of news coverage on the victims and the perpetrator, but nothing will change. No, I take that back. Congress is now considering legislation to make silencers more easily available and more difficult for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms to consider some types of ammunition "armor-piercing". And in Michigan, which is the epitome of legislative stupidity, Lansing is considering a bill that would eliminate the the training currently required to get a concealed weapons permit and another that would allow gun owners to carry weapons in places like schools and churches that have declared themselves gun free zones.