Huh!

According to Justice Joseph Story in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, the period of four years is not long enough to risk any harm to the public safety. Although some Anti-Federalists thought that four years was sufficient time “to ruin his country”, Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist No. 71 that duration in office is “requisite to the energy of the executive authority” and that four-year term struck the proper balance, giving the President enough time “to make the community sensible of the propriety of the measures he might incline to pursue” and not “justify any alarm of public liberty” David S Forte ‘The heritage Guide to the Constitution’

Congressional Republicans proposed the constitutional amendment banning presidents from serving more than two terms in response to Roosevelt's four election victories. Histories have written that the party felt such a move was the best way to invalidate the popular Democrat's legacy.

"At the time, an amendment limiting presidents to two terms in office seemed an effective way to invalidate Roosevelt's legacy, to discredit this most progressive of presidents," wrote professors James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn in The New York Times.

The thing about the Democrats is how they want to play by the rules, rules they never agreed to in the first place, but nonetheless adhere to. Another thing about the Democrats can be summed up regarding the lack of action they take, if we look closely at Senator Cory Booker of NJ. This Senator had received generous financial backing from the Kushner family as in Jared Kushner. So Senator Booker has decided that until the Vladimir Putin actually sits in the Oval Office, he (Senator Booker) will assume any contacts his donor and puppet master Jared Kushner certainly hasn’t behaved in a treasonous manner, not committing any type of anarchy. The thing about Democrats is they too can be as lousy a politician as the Republicans, screwing the American public to promote themselves. The thing about the Democrats is just how gullible, stupid, and always chasing their tails, while their Republican counterparts take every advantage permitted. We  should be talking about limiting anything Trump, but instead, the Democrats lay down and play dead. Huh!?

We honor

If we are, on the Memorial Day,  to honor, to remember, to memorialize, the women and men who have pledged, their lives for liberty, we must then take action and remind ourselves to never forget the sacrifices made. We cannot place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, if our prior intentions have denied democracy. We can not place our hands over our hearts, observing a moment of silence, if we had previously spoken of hate, the other, inequality. We can not remove our hats, bow our heads if before that action of respect, we have discounted the values of the poor, the elderly, the individual. Or wipe a tear away from our eyes as previously we had highlighted the differences between us, ignoring what we have in common.

We are to be somber today, reflecting on life lost…but why can’t we ask ourselves the simplest of questions, looking in the mirror as we beg for an answer…are we honoring those who have died for our freedoms…have we leaned the lessons of life so many women and men have fought for…It is Memorial Day 2017, and are we the nation where anyone can succeed, all of us can breathe equality, everyone can achieve the dream…

When we wave the flag, today, reminisce about those we loved, but lost, share our place in the sun with the men and women who have demonstrated valor…can we, with the most boastful and beautiful of words actually say victory is ours…or are we just pretending that if we look the other way, ignore the politics of disruption, we can pretend everything will be alright, in spite of ourselves…For me the true essence of today, is that those who have served, have done so to make the world a better place…I wonder if we have not fulfilled that purpose. 

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend is set aside to memorialize our Troops. Lots of pictures of men and women who have sacrificed life, limb supposedly for life, liberty and the pursuit of freedoms. This weekend we have more news of a possible collusion between anyone Trump and almost anyone Republican Party leadership. This weekend we are still debating the cost of a Wall, what it means for at least 24 million people to no longer have affordable health care. This weekend the coal miners of Kentucky have discovered two things, one, clean coal is a hoax, and denial of the Food Stamp program does not only happen to the black folk living in the urban areas. This weekend, we have seen a home grown white American terrorist try to murder two Muslim women, but instead settled for the stabbing of two white men. The White House remained silent for fear that the base of supporters of the Trump Administration might take any comment as an insult. This weekend, is Memorial Day Weekend. This weekend we are to honor the men and women who have fought for democracy. This weekend we are learning more about hacking of the polling booths by the Russians in concert with the GOP. This weekend we have witnessed a GOP candidate for Congress wrestle a journalist to the ground for asking inconvenient questions.

This weekend many of us will support our past Troops and our current Troops. This weekend, many of those Troops have discovered that the Republican lead Congress, thinks they are free loaders, you know takers and not makers and many will see both their allotment for Food Stamps diminished, as well as a plan to make visiting a VA Hospital or see a VA doctor even more difficult. This weekend is to be a time for celebration of the equality the Constitution provides for the United States. This weekend saw the education secretary insist that the LGBT student is not deserving of equality, or that the kid with special needs is just too needy. This weekend the Congress will be on recess, a time to leave the shackles of DC and meet the Every Man and Every Woman, the people they are supposed to represent. This weekend will see fewer and fewer town halls, meet and greets.

This weekend we will wave the flag, but not everyone is justified in waving that flag, not if you are an immigrant, a female in need of reproductive health care, a senior who has paid into his or her social security account. Not if you are a Muslim, or Gay, or Mexican, no not this weekend. And oh yeah, this weekend is to think about the people who have fought to make America great, the first time, but this weekend, the Troops are getting the same shaft as the rest of the Americans who are deemed the enemy by Trump and his family of anarchists, and treasonists. Happy Memorial Day Weekend! 

We Know

We know Trump is a…. fill in about a million derogatory words to describe him…we know he has no idea of his real presence in the world, just his narcissistic nihilist notions of either black of white…we know he lacks any intelligence…we know he sells his soul to then highest bidder…we know that, and even one more humiliating appearance, one more disgusting, misspelled, empty Tweet will not change any of that…We know, that daughter Ivanka and husband Jared, have no business being in the West Wing…have no idea of anything more than their own business bottom lines…have no interest in anyone but themselves…we know they are nepotism at its worst, and privileged upbringing gone bad…We know that the majority of Cabinet members have lied about security questions, bank accounts, business dealings and of course anything Russia…We know ALL of that, have known most of that, and as far as I am concerned have few surprises ahead of what ever else the crimes they have committed…

We know, that gerrymandered districts, voter ID laws, limiting polling days and polling locations is a ploy but the Republicans to rig the democratic process…we know that the leadership of the GOP has close ties to Wall Street, Lobby Firms, the Corporations that have been called people…we know that the Republicans demand Party before Country, or as Paul Ryan has been quoted, we keep it all in the family (The Republican Party Family)…We know that Evangelical Christians that support the Republicans do so because the Republicans will always discount the LGBT community, Women Rights, Abortion and Family Planning…we know, if the Evangelicals really had their Good in mind, none of them could or would support a Political Party hell bent on starving the poor/leaving the homeless without comfort/letting the sick die/ let alone proving the fodder for democracy to become a dictatorship…We know ALL of that, have known most of that and as far as i am concerned realize that whatever Bible the Evangelicals pretend to read from will never change…

And as we know all of that, waiting for the next bombshell, the next ‘gotcha’, the next incriminating and illicit information to rise from the stench of anyone Trump, Trump is still in charge of this nation…Yep, he is still the guy in the Oval Office, and it seems if we are doing anything about, it the time we are wasting will soon come to haunt us…all of us, even those who pretend the shit of Trump doesn’t really smell, its just a made up concoction from the Left!

the devil dealt

In most stories about dealing with the Devil, we find two kinds of personalities, with whom the Devil decides to bargain. One, of course is the devious denizen of the Earth, the kind of guy or gal whose ego’s are so frail that any kind of stroking is like flint to wood, creating a spark, a light, a zest for more of a full flame of fire. Or the Devil looks for the forlorn, the person who understands about being a loser but never realizes why. This human blames others for any mistakes and hardly ever owns up to his or her responsibility for being a walking talking douchebag. The Devil, if anything is sly, the Devil itself is insecure, lacking for the moral or value of deed, but always needing to be the puppet master, the master of all, for fear that, It, the Devil may be out Deviled by someone even more sinister.

I have to applaud, Vladimir Putin and his mafioso of Russian Oligarchs, the mostly men, who understood the narcissistic ways of Trump and the insecure issues of the leadership of the Republican Party. Mr Putin studied American politics with more insight then the current crop of GOP politicians and understood that democracy can be strong, but an allegiance to the democratic way provides lots and lots of loopholes, fine print and the necessity to play fair. Democracy may be a way of governing for all the people, and that Mr Putin understood could also be democracy’s demise, especially the playing fair part of the game of democracy.

It is not that all Democrat politicians are Boy or Girl Scouts in their actions, but history has proven that a majority of the current crop of Dems still believe that rules matter, and playing by those rules a natural given, except when it is taken…which its exactly what Vladimir, his Russian mafioso, and the GOP leadership relied on…not playing by the same rules.  Every day, the American public who can read not just Breibart who watch TV, not just FOX or listen to the radio, not Limbaugh are shocked and horrified at how many lies Trump and Company have committed, have denied only to revisit and have counted on to be repeated so often that the lie will become truth. Vladimir and his cohorts took the narcissism of Trump, the deviousness of the GOP and the surprisingly naiveté of the Dems and elected a President to sit in the Oval Office and a Republican majority to govern the Congress. And somehow even as WE know this to be true, we are still debating the issue…just as Putin understood so well about the weakness of democracy!

some more hate

Let’s call it hate, because no other word seems to justify an act to deny the rights from another human being. Hate is a simple thing, acting upon hate is easy. Too often we try to intellectualize hate and begin to identify it with names ending in phobia or ism. Hate is learned and hate is hastened by people who fear themselves. Hate is enhanced by a religious leader, who believes that without hate his or her God might be found to be an empty vessel; hate feeds the need to pray, to keep the God from being insulted by the mere mortals that God had been supposed to create. Hate is human, but often times enhanced as a Godly power if you do it God’s name.

The flight attendant from United that decided on his own that a Same-Sex dad was laying his arm too closely to the boys genitalia as the boy slept, so this crew member had the Gay dad stopped and detained in front of the child. Why,  responding to that question was the ams-sex partner. “This is not something that anyone should have to worry about happening to them on a flight just because someone might not like the looks of them.” The paid to play current Secretary of Education, a Born Again Christian Woman, Betsy DeVos has decided that LGBT children no longer need protection in public schools, and thinks if states wish to do so, it will be okay by her. Betsy DeVos hates but does so because she wants the Kingdom of God to be the real Department of Education.

I am a man who happens to be Gay, who happens to be Jewish, who happens to be white, who happens to be 67, who happens to be an American. In the last 6 decades of my life, I have witnessed, the power of the most simple of words hate.  I have heard men and women describe why hate is okay, justifying it as something God intended. The current trend in the world of hate is the LGBT community…be it tossing men from roof’s in the Middle east, to torturing men in Chechnya, invading village homes in Africa to stabbing, assaulting the homosexual on the back roads of Alabama, Colorado or the the streets in Tampa…hate is alive. Wherever the hate lives, its flames of devastation are Always caused by two things, “Doing It For God”, or “Self Loathing and Self Fear”. I don’t know you and you don’t me, so why hate me, why not discover what we have in common! 

Our business

Let’s be clear in our RESOLVE, we must RESIST. There are plots, plans, schemes, and sinister origins created and carried on by men and women whose only concern is self, whose only direction is deference to the common man, and whose only intention is interruption of freedoms, equalities and denial of human and cicil rights. To look the other way, to pretend that THIS will soon disappear, to scoff at the worried, asking if they are NOT just a little too paranoid…to NOT INVOLVE yourself in RESISTING a ploy to undermine anything that deters democracy is to either enable or enjoy the destruction of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Counting how many stupid things a man can Tweet, sign as Executive Order…laughing at his inability to write or speak in uneducated and intelligent manner…reading one more article in which the headlines SCREAM this is the one that will end his career…JUST doing that and not EACH and EVERY day demanding change, insisting on justice…JUST ringing your fingers IS NOT enough.

The man sitting in the Oval Office is a fraud, a con and a puppet. His choice of leadership to administer policy to this nation is a sham. The Republican leadership, all cowering in the dark, dark corners of blackmail and paid to play politician by the Russians are a shame. Each day that goes by is one moment in our lives that might be too late to turn back. We can never respond, we really didn’t know what was going on beyond those gates, we wee just innocent villagers minding our own business.

THE FRAY

When THE FRAY includes denial of cicil and human rights, the disrespect of and for the laws of the land, the the fray includes limiting the pursuit of happiness, when THE FRAY is much more than a pain in the ass but more of a without it survival is tenuous, tedious and terribly difficult…no one has the right to remain above THE FRAY. To pretend that we will get through this masquerade of madness identifying itself as the Trump Administration, to wishfully state that he is an idiot and then leave the question at that, to assume we have survived morons, idiots, egomaniacs and narcissist in the past so this is just the same…to believe any of that is just THE FRAY, is just an admittance that you have no idea what to do next.

When THE FRAY is tugging, pulling, pushing and begging to be addressed, we must respond. We are witness to an extreme danger, we are participants in lawlessness, anarchy, and selfishness, we are onlookers of evil given permission to remain alive at the cost of our own lives. No one should insist that they are above the FRAY…no one!

The rules

Trump is still in office. Why is it so easy to foil democracy yet so difficult for democracy to fight back? One more gotcha’ stating this time, Trump and his cronies have gone too far, yet he is still in office. One more crime uncovered, committed by his legion of doom, yet Trump is still in office. More official trips by the Royal Family, more business deals, signed, sealed and delivered powered by profit for the Trump Gang, the tax payers get to foot the bill while the Trump Enterprise racks in the dollars. he lies, he cheats, he lies again, yet he is still in office.

How does this era of current events end? Does Trump with the aid of his Republican Anarchists continue to defer, determined to undermine the Constitution. Will the Intellects just ring their fingers, insisting, that our democracy is greater than the tricks and treasons of anyone Trump, so just take in a deep breath and soon this will be history. Do we wait for a complete melt down of an already mentally ill man, hoping that when Trump fails we all don’t fall down with him? How does this ear of current events end? Does history really repeat itself or this time, will history just end bringing in a new era of never before?

I know that I will, fight, I will not fold, nor follow a man who is leading this nation into a nightmare where freedoms, justice and equality no longer exist. Trump is disastrous, the current crop of GOP elected goons dangerous, and his fans dumb…but no matter how much I hoot, holler and harangue HE is still in office. Not only do I wonder why good things happen to bad people…but why is it that playing by the rules does not always mean you win the game!

in the house

Jill Johnson (Carol Kane is babysitting the children of Dr. Mandrakis (Carmen Argenzio) at their home. When the children are asleep, Jill receives a telephone call from a man who asks her if she has checked the children. At first, Jill dismisses the telephone calls as a practical joke. However, as the calls become more frequent and threatening, Jill becomes frightened and decides to call the police, who promise to trace the caller if Jill keeps him on the telephone line long enough. Jill, frightened to extreme measures, arms herself as she receives one final call from the nefarious stalker. Soon after the conversation, Jill receives a call from the police, only to find out that the stalker is calling from inside the house. A light comes on at the top of the staircase, and Jill sees the stalker's shadow. In a panic, she immediately runs to the door, unhooks the chain lock only to reveal a close-up of a detective when she screams. The camera then zooms out…”When a Stranger Calls”, 1979…(WikiPedia)

I was a sophomore in college, on a double date and I am not sure who screamed first, the loudest, the longest… me, my friends or the rest of the audience, when WE all discovered the worst news a horror fan could ever imagine…the monster, the thing, the creature, the boggy man, the bad person, the evil WAS in the house…the house in which you felt safe…you know the house with the locked doors, the tightly shut windows, the porch lights on in the front, back, side…your house, your place, you home…IT was waiting for you and all the time you knew as long as you stayed put, some semblance of safety would and should surround you comforting you until the parents came home, the family arrived the police knocked on your door…how in the world could something so BAD, AWFUL, HORRIFYING inhabit the place you were certain was a place no one would invade…then it happens and you scream bloody murder…

“We’ve traced the calls and they are coming from within the house.” So it seems fiction once again has become fact. Not alternative facts, not FOX News facts, but the kind of facts that send child to anyone in love with democracy. it seems we know the STRANGER, he/she are the leadership of the Republican Party, and the house is White. We will all, one by one, become victims of the terror and horror this STRANGER has planned if we only stop pretending just how dangerous and evil he is. Too late to scream, now we must act! 

Cover Up

I was 9 and my little sister 7 years old, when we both received the permission from my parents allowing us to stay late up and watch the second feature of Chiller Theater. My younger sister and I had been watching the first movie, which started at 11:30 and were usually in bed around 1:00 BUT the second feature of Chiller Theater did not start until 1:00 and that movie would not end until 2:00am. A double Chiller Theater horror feast, not for the faint of heart, but for the true believer in everything monster. However, as brave as my sister and I might have pretended to be, the two of us also understood that many a precaution had to take place just to be sure. My father sometimes would offer us his words of advice, “just be prepared, you know monsters are more active after 1:00am.” My sister and I heard his cautionary tale and realized he must know of what he speaks since every other week he was on the night shift at the police station, and we could only imagine what kind of monsters he met patrolling the neighborhoods. So, we DID, indeed take precautions from making sure the latch to the basement door was solidly locked…the scary window in the dining room looking out at the alley way had the shades and curtains drawn, so tightly, that not even a finger tip of a monster could appear, and of course the shield of total protection, the two afghans which had been knitted by our grandmother.  Nothing said save me from the monster than a quick swipe of the afghan over our heads right before anything could creep into the living and eventually upon the sofa from which we were sitting.

Even if the second Chiller Theater movie had once upon a time been the first Chiller Theater movie, somehow if it was on the television after 1:00 it had immediately become more frightening. Common sense could back that up, because anything at 1:00 in the morning when you were 9 or 7 was strange and spooky! I remember times when my little sister and would have the afghan over our faces almost the entire length of the second Chiller Theater, so much so, that we either had to die of suffocation or let the monster grab us. Usually our breath gave out first and we had to face our fear and remove the afghans from our faces. We tried to cover up from the evil as long as we could, but realized breathing was much more freeing and smothering a lot more scarier!

I think of  watching the Double Chiller Theater and always trying to cover up pretending that the monster will not get us if we did so. But the monster was out there anyway and the only way we could be safe was to face it. The GOP is now in full cover up mode regarding Trump. Placing Party over Country, Party before the People, almost to the man and woman the Republican elected officials are denying the Democratic process and instead letting the monster known as Trump devour/divide/and destroy the government of this nation. Covering up any attempt to find the truth…covering up any fact that might matter…covering up the inappropriate, ineffectual and ignorant plans, policies and plots designed by Trump, the GOP has decided the monster will survive while all else is lost. My little sister and I were terrified of the monsters on TV, but once we removed the cover from our mouths we could breath, and knew we had beat the creature! How life should be!

When Is

The word, now seems to be that WE the People, must abide by the law and let justice take its course…WE must wait for the facts, WE must find the the evidence…and as WE behave according to the law, the law gets tarnished, tattered, and tortured and of course taken for nothing more than a nuisance by Trump and his treasonous Enablers, the leadership of the Republican Party. No need to rush and try to remedy the ridicule Trump and the Republican leadership have pushed on this democracy, as we are simply reminded that our democracy will rebound and the wicked shall pay the due consequence, but if we push back too hard, we are the villains and the ONES who have diminished the democratic process. So, each day another lie, each day another sound bite telling us there is really nothing to see here, and each day, Mr Putin wins one more battle in a non nuclear third world war.

Curiously, the only Republicans who seem even a wee bit anxious regarding the inept, the anarchist and immature behavior of Trump, are the men and women who somehow have found themselves NOT in a Republican gerrymandered district; so NOW they suddenly have developed a conscience and have uttered the words shock, awe and independent investigation…The GOP leadership who have nothing to worry about because of Un-American voter restrictive legislation and Un-American gerrymandered districts are not quite bothered to solve the mystery the mayhem and mischievous and malevolent machinations of Trump. Nope, moving slower than a snail, they can’t quite believe a President would screw his own citizens…so under the leadership of both McConnell, and Ryan (both who should also have an independent investigation), everything seems to be coincidental, and of course meritless because it anything anti Trump is pure partisanship paranoia.

If a person reaches the level of weight where they are considered obese, if a person using drugs reaches the level of becoming an addict, if a person finds themselves overwhelmed with finances and becomes homeless, I often times wonder when was the tipping point, the moment where perhaps with intervention and self motivation obesity, addiction or homelessness might have been avoided, and the road to their future changed…I have to wonder with the same questionable concern, when will the Republicans realize their criminal behavior, their anti American hatred might reach a tipping point, when there is No other turning back…when their cockiness, approach thinking they can control Trump is no longer available and this nation becomes a third world oligarchy with absolute no room for the morons who placed party before country… 

USELESS EXCUSES

All of us, who are witness to the lack of Patriotic and constitutional response by the current band of Republican treasonous elected politicians sitting snuggly in Washington DC, who seem to believe that their Corporate Donors, their Lobbyist Masters, and their blackmailed GOP leadership, by Putin are owed more respect and more dutiful behavior… and remain silent, are a part of the problem…ALL of US should demand a revolution, a change in power and and be fighting as hard as we can by every judicial means to bring back Checks and Balances to the United States. Any of us who are sitting by calmly, believing that this too shall pass, will become just as guilty as the perpetrators who have decided that wealth usurps freedom and the wealthy deserve better.

However, there MUST come a time, that we realize the enemy DOES not and has not played by the same rules the Constitution proposes, and I believe we MUST be savvy enough and smart enough to change our system of playing fair and PLAY as rotten and ruinous as the Republicans decided to do, the day Mitch McConnell, told his Party that they must say NO to anything that President Obama does or might propose. Trump cares little about the democracy of this nation, we know that, Trump is a dangerous narcissistic nimrod, we know that, Trump will say and do then lie and do anything he wishes because his strength comes from the fear the Republican Party has, knowing full well they are as culpable as he in becoming anarchists.

Lets all stop pretending that if we stop Trump all will be better. It is his Enablers, from the GOP/FOX News/the sponsors of FOX News/the Media who permits alternative facts to be discussed as if they were FACTS. It is a Democrat Party who only seems to send out emails asking for $3 here, $10 there, who never seem to take action until after the common person does so. It is the intellect who insists that history will re-right this wrong, just wait. We must each and every day shout out how the Trump Administration and those who Enable him are breaking the law and trying to break our fragile democracy. If we don’t then one day in the future, all of us who have stayed quiet will be like the villagers whose homes were just outside the Concentrations Camps in Europe, stating, I had no idea why all those trains were arriving, i had no idea what was behind those electric fences, I had no idea why smoke was always pouring out of the chimneys. We will only have ourselves to blame for USELESS EXCUSES!

DOOM

I was too young to understand the feeling I had as my family and I watched Walter Cronkite, try and explain to the American public, what a US Embargo surrounding Cuba, could and would mean for the world around us. All that resonated in my brain were the words, the Russians, Atomic Bombs, and World War Three I was a bit older, not quite wise enough to exactly identify the feelings I felt, but I had this unnamed sensation when the Principal of my Elementary School interrupted my gym class announcing that President Kennedy had been assassinated, and school was being let out early. The rumor mill was rampant and as my friends and i were walking home, we heard the radios from the cars around us as well adults talking about, the Russians, that the Military was taking over. Like the Embargo this event cast a large mood over me and at the time I had no definite name for it.

Today, I was in the locker room, trying my best to zig and zag from the men my age who somehow think personal grooming and laying out the next wardrobe change on any existing bench is theirs to, paying no attention to anyone else but themselves. AND once again, CNN was blaring. Wanting nothing of the mess in the locker room nor the images about to appear on television I did all I could to just get out and breathe. The crowd of men pampering themselves was large so i was stuck, and blaring in my head aside from Holy Shit these guys are Douchebags, was a sniper of Trump standing in front of Military wives, with his NYC based wife Melania, speaking in his patronizing voice, telling the crowd how much better he treated the Vets, and how much better the Troops liked him. That was followed by breaking news, again on CNN, where Sean Spicer denied that Trump threatened James Comey, and Comey’s firing had nothing to do with the whole Russian thing. Even with the evidence of Trump admitting that the Russian investigation was motivation for the firing, and  evenTweeting a threat to Comey about tapes, those according to Spicer wee sheer nonsense.  

But then one of the talking heads from the panel of CNN, said something, something simple and something I have mentioned and my many friends who care about democracy have also noticed…this talking head said our government IS supposed to have a strong system of checks and balances…The Legislative Branch IS not doing their job as written in the Constitution. In this case it IS they who should be demanding an Independent Counsel…they are not. It was with those words, and some pissy eye contact with the “Take Up ALL of Space In the Locker Room men”…when the emotion I felt as a kid with the Cuban Embargo and the Assassination of JFK seemed to envelope me, almost smothering me. I felt DOOM. I now had a name for the feeling I got and now get when I believe the bad guy will win and the good guy will lose…it is called DOOM, and I am officially suffering from it!

Paranoid, very

I have indeed grown very paranoid, VERY PARANOID, since the hacking of the election by the Russians, the enabling of an unqualified narcissist to become president by the media, and the destruction of checks and balances by both Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, so I am bit worried…no A WHOLE LOT CONCERNED, that as the battle rages to remove, hopefully, all of the Trump Crime Administration from the government, we are not running out of time to save what little specks of democracy have survived.

The Russian Media sets up shop in the Oval Office, its not that Trump doesn’t have some kind of Morse Code thingie with Putin anyway, to let Putin know a whole bunch of state secrets, but imagine all of the glorious Russian techie devices that could have been hidden in Oval Office just to make sure EVERY little American secret is shared with Vlad. If the hackers were good enough to elude the Americans during the election just imagine how REALLY savvy they must be with the freedom to bug the shit out of the Oval Office. And is it just me, or are The Joints Chief of Staff ,Homeland Security, and good ole God Bless America Lindsey Graham and John McCain not a bit concerned that each minute Trump occupies the Oval Office more and more and MORE is leaked. Is it just my loathing for Trump that makes me worried or is it that the Republicans somehow think when Vlad becomes president he will give one shit about the Grand Old Party?

Back and forth, we go Trump lies, it becomes headlines, someone from the Trump Crime Syndicate double speaks and insists that trump did not mean what he said. Then Talking heads appear to debate if Trump lied or not and ll the while trump continues to lie. Senator Schumer and Representative Pelosi, make sharp accusations that this time will be the final kick to the guts and THIS TIME something will done…yet Trump is still the president, Trump still lies, Trump Talking Heads inform the media that Trump didn’t mean what he said and McConnell and Ryan permit this nation to crash and burn, as if…AS FUCKING IF…no one in the entire United States can stop any of this…I HAVE grown quite PARANOID, and I am so tired of feeling this way. What is next, and why hasn’t the cliched other shoe fallen on top of anything Trump!

241 years

241 years, a myriad of wars including a Civil War, assignations, political party’s disbanded, new ones created, thieves in the White House, fools in the Oval Office and now one man seems to wield enough power to permit this nation’s democracy to deteriorate, allow injustice to ignite, and deny all American’s to learn the truth about Trump…Mitch McConnell…has wielded his partisan self promoting, self serving wand of corruption previously but it seems on Wednesday, May 10, 2017, Mr McConnell decided that HE and only HE will and can stop any process permitting ANY of us to learn the facts that matter more than ever.

I am far from a Constitutional Scholar, and wish I had taken time in my life to understand more about a document that seems to be tossed around, like passages from a Bible, addressed as truth by some, fiction for others…an ideal by some and idea by others…meaningful by some and of course meaningless by others when the words written stray far from the actions taken. But I must imagine that our Founding Leaders MUST have taken into consideration, the condition of HUMAN KIND, and placed into the heart of the Constitution a button which would stop the implosion of democracy by the whims of men and women who one day in the future might consider themselves Demi-Gods, Royalty and Above Reproach and the Law.

I am so confused a to how one man, not even elected by the entire nation, one Senator can stop any debate on the merits of the law by a sitting President. This is NOT the first time a man sitting in the Oval Office had declared himself King, but this is the first time, the person sitting in the Oval Office has permitted a foreign country set the standards of government business and the first time the Majority Leader of the Senate has enabled an investigation of crime to stop. I seriously ask this question, and seek answers to it…is this it…are we to now acquiesce to the wishes of MCConnell who might also be blackmailed and a willing participant in Vladimir Putin’s attack on the USA? Is there really no way to create and independent counsel. Each day we wait, each moment we waste, the decay, mildew and malice grow and choke our freedoms.

Zombies

Zombie’s have changed since the days of spooky movies made in the 30’s, when it was a Haitian Voodoo Priestess who had the power to bring the dead to life with a few potions and spells (The kind of great horror movies as shown on Pittsburgh’s own Chiller Theater)…The first major Zombie iteration happened when Pittsburgher George Romero wrote “Night of the Living Dead”, and the world discovered that the undead could and would hunt you down for your brains. (No matters how intelligent or stupid you were). From the creative talents of Mr Romero, Zombie’s have thrived and become relevant cultural phenomena and are now a main stay of any good Sci-Fi flick or TV series. Zombie rules and regulations have changed with only a few constants throughout their invention; they will multiply, they are hungry, and NO matter your religion, color of skin, gender identity, nationality or sexual preference, YOU too can become a Zombie. And oh yeah, Zombies may be dead, but they will make sure you join them and become a part of the Living Dead. Anyone who has watched a horror movie, understands that if you are stupid enough to enter a dark forbidden house, you never go to the attic or journey or the basement, and you never EVER split up searching for a flashlight or a weapon. There IS one rule to survive a Zombie Holocaust, and that is, to stop a Zombie in its track, because like cockroaches, A SINGLE ZOMBIE will become a dozen in no time. If you haven’t taken precautions ahead of time you will have a ‘Yuge’, Zombie mess on your hands. And if you pretend the guy or gal eating the bowels of your best friend is just hungry, you are an idiot!

Zombie’s have invaded the Republican Party, these newest monsters love to eat democracy. They thrive on destroying freedoms, equality, fairness and justice, and grow stronger and multiple the more that is denied and less that is given. We were warned about an impending Zombie invasion, but just like in the movies, many of us said, not in my country, OR, anyone is better than that Zombie like lady running for president, OR we were well on our Zombie way of life before, so maybe this newest Zombie will be a kinder Zombie, you know a Zombie just like us! We were also told by wanna be Zombie hunters, that the Orange Zombie could not even make it to one hour after his Inauguration because the Orange Zombie had broken so many laws, he would be impeached the minute he removed his hand from the Bible (Yeah, that book, the same one apparently written by the same guy in the sky who loves him the NRA and death panels). Well, all you Zombie Genre lovin’ folks, you know and I know, that if a Zombie ain’t stopped before his first bite, a whole lot of people are gonna get infected and die, and just walk the Earth empty but always hungry, till eternity. The Zombie infestation is here, we had been warned…the more we wait, the worse its gonna get! 

monsters

There were so many important matters of American government that found firmer footing as the Senate Committee finally invited both Mr Clapper and Ms Yates to provide testimony regarding the Trump Administration and the possibility of Russian Collusion. Of course many of the GOP Senators remained vigilant that their political Party’s needs come before the good of this nation, asking rather dull and dour questions about who leaked what, as if the leaking information by an intelligence agency was a more heinous act than the White House in providing the Russians and Mr Putin classified information via the president or his advisors. There were no leaks, initiated by Me Clapper and Ms Yates, but if you listened closely to the questions and comments of the Republican Senators, you WOULD assume both Clapper and Yates were the perpetrators of treason.

I would hope that for a majority or Americans, the truth still matters. The truth is not an item which can be disconnected and reattached to look like an IKEA shelving unit, depending on who the inept carpenter might be. The truth is a solid oak tree, it looks, feels, smells the same no matter where it is planted and it remains strong unless a mighty strong axe is placed at its core; and then only then, what changes is the oak (the truth) dies. The Republican Senators tried their hardest to take an axe to the truth and if not chopping it down completely tried to dismantle it so the end result would resemble something made up, something imagined and something so far fetched that it would be unrecognizable.

But Mr Clapper and even better Ms Yates, insisted that if you want the facts, they would provide them, if you wanted fiction, they would be of no assistance. Republican male politicians fear a few things. Like Vampires in the sunlight, the male GOP politicians melt when faced with truth. Like Werewolves and that shiny silver sword, the male GOP wither and die when reminded of their own hypocritical words and those words come back to haunt them. And like the Boogey Man hiding in the closet, the male GOP politicians run for cover when the bedroom light is turned on, knowing they will all be found to be nothing more than shadows,  when a female, a woman is the one who is smarter, more truthful and more Patriotic than they will ever be. We witnessed a bunch of monsters die a quick death and the weapon used was honesty, and the hero’s Mr Clapper and Sally Yates!

american hero

Sally Yates just handed Senators Cornyn and Cruz from Texas their privileged white male genital on a Texas sized BBQ platter as both men tried their darnedest to intimidate and ignore the facts she brought to the Senate table.

Cruz, (the guy who said Jesus came to his wife bedroom and told her that Cruz was the anointed one to become president, who later ditched Cruz for Trump), pretended that he was more knowledgeable about the Constitution and all of its articles. Cruz tried his old dog and pony show parsing a paragraph form the Constitution (as he did with the Bible), pretending that his interpretation of that one piece of information is all that is necessary to deduce that whatever Cruz is assuming is correct. Sally Yates, having nine of this guys snake oil show, reminded Cruz that aside from the one article he cited, following that was another, a paragraph which actually might usurp any point of contention Cruz was trying to make. And in his final bid to shut up the intelligent person he reminded her that time was running out, only for Ms Yates to ignore his defensive behavior by having the last honest word.

Cornyn, with the outline of Trumps, rump all over his face, decided to use the I am wise tactic. He first praised, Ms Yates, actually letting people know he voted for her to serve in the Department of Justice…but then the zinger (at least he thought so), demonstrating his shock and awe (of course never at anything Trump), Cornyn was flummoxed that Ms Yates would ignore an Executive Order. But Sally Yates, keeping her cool and calm, reminded Senator Cornyn, that he alone with his associates admired her courage, during her interview that if she felt it important enough, that Ms Yates would indeed override a presidential Executive Order. (The thing however, was the president at the time was Obama and Cornyn and his GOP buddies could care less if stuff like that happened to HIM). 

Watching the GOP speak with Sally Yates, one might think she WAS the one who broke the law. Only the Democrats on the Committee seemed concerned about the treasonous activities of the Trump Administration. Sally Yates, American HERO! 

Some rules

Play by the rules, as kids we were reminded that rules were set in motion so ALL of us could be treated equally. As kids however, we never really asked the correct question, “Exactly Who Set the Rules”. We had parents and teachers and all kinds of adults insisting that we follow the rules or else…so mindlessly, many of us behaved accordingly. Of course there were a few kids brave enough to buck the system but we were told THEY were BAD kids. And indeed if they broke the rules in school they were either sent to the cloak room or worse the Principals office. If they were on the streets, the police would arrest them, and if they were at home often times they were grounded. Growing up in the 50’s in the days of black and white TV shows and movies, we also were constantly reminded of the rules. The rules were almost seen as a grid of straight lines…the best example were the blue inked mimeograph sheets of paper the teachers would hand out to all of their students. Some object had been traced on the paper, and ALL of the students were directed to color the sheet as they so desired but ALWAYS stay between the lines. And oh yeah, if it was Thanksgiving and a turkey was the picture to color, everyone knew that pink turkey was not appropriate, so don’t stray too far from the expectations. 

We all understand that the Trump Administration has not, will not, and will never play by a set of rules the American public had been duped into believing were normal for a presidential administration. Yet, as each new day arrives bringing with it, each new treasonous, illegal, unconstitutional act by the Trump Crime Family, the Trump Anarchists, the Trump Russian Oligarchs, the rest of the nation reacts with awe and angst demanding Trump and his Putin puppets play by the rules. Of course we can’t ask the GOP to play by the rules they once established when the Black Guy was in the Oval office, because they too are too deep into being blackmailed and bullied by Big Business, Corporations identified as People and of course good ole’ Vlad Putin.

Each day the Trump’s dismantle democracy and each day all we do is demand they play by the rules, as if THE RULES mean ANYTHING at all. Yet the Dems/the Public/the media act as if rules matter to Trump and his anarchists. Maybe the rules need to be broken, maybe the rest of us should start playing by the same rules as Trump and his enablers the Party of Death, the GOP. Why can THEY get away with all kinds of shit and all we get stuck with is wiping that shit from our shoes?

Now, the Excuses

After THEY held THEIR Death Care Beer Bust, following THEIR, Lets Make America Die Again vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Republicans are now providing America with the Who Can Come Up With the Best Excuse Show. There are a flurry of EXCUSES, so lets just list the top 5 reasons WHY the GOP is trying their hardest to deny THEY are EVIL…

Number 5, is called the Dog Ate My Homework Excuse: I was too stupid to read the darned Death Care Bill, but voted for it anyway. Number 4, is called My Bad Excuse: My damned staff, its their fault, they promised me no one would die in the end. Number 3 is called, And Jesus Said Excuse: Read the Bible you Heathens, along with gun ownership, Jesus also warned us that if you are sick or have had any disease linger in your life you deserve to suffer and perhaps die unless you change your ways…Number 2, is called Royalty: We deserve more than you, we trudge to Washington, we work at least three weeks out of the month for you, we suffer the indignities of the Federal Government, you should be glad all we want IS Socialized Medicine and a pension for Life.

But the Worst Excuse is saved for Last. IT is an Excuse used by dictatorial military units throughout history and most blatantly and most bluntly used to expunge any guilt or culpability during the Second World War, when the Nazi Troops uttered Excuse Number 1, I Was Just Following Orders: it is an empty apology for torture, mayhem and murder, don't blame me, how could you, my Superiors insisted…Trump/Pence/McConnell/Ryan pick any name, they all wanted to erase anything Obama, they all wanted to stroke their ego’s, they all wanted fame and fortune at the cost of 26 million Americans who will lose health care, and the millions more who will have to pay higher premiums for preexisting conditions.  Ahh, how easy it is to create Death and Dying but how difficult to accept responsibility for doing so. Please America remember these men and women and don’t excuse any of them when it comes to time to vote!

Sent in the Clowns

Isn’t it rich? Are we a pair? Me, here, at last on the ground, you in mid air.

Send in the clowns. Isn’t it bliss? Don’t you approve? One who keeps tearing 

around, one who can’t move. Where are the clowns? Send in the clowns…Don’t worry they’re here. (Stephen Sondheim)

Standing together cheering, patting each other on the back, a VICTORY, the death of a few million…a VICTORY, the angst leaving millions to wonder if the rent this month is more important than groceries, or if the pharmaceuticals should take priority, or maybe just a visit to the doctor…a VICTORY, for Jesus who was quoted as saying that if you can not afford it you don’t deserve it…another VICTORY for Jesus who was quoted as saying Pre-Existing Conditions don’t happen to people who lead a good life…a VICTORY for the Freedom Caucus, the GOP Congress members voted into office by very red gerrymandered districts who decry socialism, that is for others, as not a single member of the Freedom Caucus denounced their own continuation of Obama care perks, of course paid by the Government. A VICTORY, for Trump whose narcissism would not and could not permit, anything with the world OBAMA to be left in tack, no matter who suffers or who may die

Then boisterous boys and girls, after parading to the tune of the theme from the movie Rocky, meandered to a beer party. Raising their bottles of beer high in the sky, they giggled, they tee-he’ed, they were glamorous in all their glory finally finding YET one more way to demonstrate just how much loathing and hate they held for Americans… (I recall watching a documentary regarding the German soldiers of concentration camps, all sitting around in their beer hall, washing away with a pint or two the misery they had just imparted on their victims) The GOP laughing, as they, with insidious intent pretend that they are the Party of Family Values, when in fact they behave more like the stalker of death who roams the streets with a black hood covering and empty black hole of a face at the ready to grab your soul. The clowns have been sent in by a very Orange bloated ring master.

YOU

How are there ALWAYS two sides to a story, when in fact that story belongs to you. How is there a debate about just how many millions will or will not be denied access to affordable health care, when in fact you just don’t have the resources to pay formality care as often as you might need it. How is there ALWAYS two sides to a story, when in fact that story belongs to you. You love someone of the same sex and want to build a family, save the lives of those children who will be left in the foster care system. How can there be a debate when all you want is a family. How is there ALWAYS two sides to a story, when in fact that story is your story. You want a cup a coffee, you want to buy clothing, you want to purchase pharmaceuticals, its your life, your leisure time, your needs. How are there ALWAYS two sides to a story when you only want to seek reproductive care, you are a woman you need family planning, you want a screening.

When did health, welfare and the pursuit of happiness become a debate a he said, she said. When did you, your individual needs become a concern for someone who IS NOT you. Worry, today all of YOU, worry greatly, if the GOP and a narcissistic, insecure guy sitting in the Oval office, decide that YOU are nothing more than fodder to trample on to please there master with money…YOU are taken for granted as being too stupid to remember that YOUR individuality was meaningless…You suddenly are the enemy, whether you like it or not!

How Come and Why

I am serious, even though I understand that in the current events of our time, seriousness seems to be only for the Progressives who seem to have a list of demands anyone calling them a Democrat must adhere to. A litmus test of sorts by the Progressives, who still are positive they were correct in not voting for Hillary, who are pissed that Barack Obama got a six figure  fee for talking to the Wall Street Capitalist, and who believe that alienating anyone not like them will prove some kind of point. I am also speaking in a rhetorical kind of voice, also knowing very well that some of my following questions have simple answers, but in US politics simple seems to be quite difficult. Of course, I am eternally angry, the kind of angry that for me has actually morphed into a dysfunctional anxiety which feels like someone whipped my scrotum with a towel… I walked by a very sharp edged piece of furniture and hit my crazy bone (love that term), or was playing macho adolescent trying to impress anyone around me that I could leap over the oncoming parking meter, only to land on top of it. But I really want to understand the following, SERIOUSLY…

When I applied for any job that I sought, I did research, received a job description, spoke with people who had either worked the JCC or members. I scrutinized the requirements for my entry level positions as well as being the Executive Director. I prepared my questions, knowing that in some circumstances the expectations of this or that JCC seemed a bit off putting, so I asked if there was flexibility or not. When I was still married to my wife, and had my young kids, I had a long list of questions regarding their welfare, like neighborhoods, schools and opportunity of employment for my ex wife or volunteer openings. When I was married my wife and I discussed what could be compromised and what could not.  Simple, if the shoe fits wear it, if it is only a half inch too small or a bit too large, either squeeze your feet into the shoe or wear a sock at the front. if the shoe was not the style I wanted,I went no further and placed it back on the shelf. I had expectations, the Agency had expectations. Easy…

So my question, SERIOUSLY, so, how come Trump has not and does not have to play by the rules? And the bigger questions, how come there are no seemingly set in stone rules for becoming the President. if his wife said, no the the White House and Trump still wanted the job, why didn’t the laws of the land simply state that if your wife preferred living arrangements, then pay for Melania’s NYC escape.  If Camp David is already on the tax payers bill, insist that ONLY Camp David is your home away from or pay for your flights and entertainment yourself, to party elsewhere. And WHY, dear Founding Fathers, was it not the right of the American People, to know ahead of time the Mental and Physical Health of a Presidential candidate as well as his business and tax return information. WHY and how come…can some one tell me…or better yet…how come after this fiasco of leadership, why are all of those requirements not made into a law. Remember the the time FDR ran for office for three terms, and the Congress got worried he might become king, so a law was created to limit presidents to a consecutive two term run ONLY…We have a guy who wants to become King, and nada, nothing, zilch, zero is happening to stop him! HOW COME AND WHY!

looking the other way

If your grandparents, mom or dad, or relatives or YOU ever served in WWII, risking life and limb to conquer the poisonous virus spread by Fascism emboldened by a dictator, and his minions of anti almost anyone but themselves… if any member of your family or collection of friends placed country before self to fight the tyranny of dictators whose sole purpose in life was to restrict life, liberty and the pursuit of freedom…and you or any living relatives supported or voted for Trump and his cadre of Communist loving, White Supremacist Republican blackmailed politicians…and still to this day believe Trump can make  America great by cutting health care, clean air, education and the civil rights of any single citizen…then you ARE a hypocrite. We lost many we loved who knew that once one person raised his or hand in the air and shouted “Seig Heil”, that no one could ever experience democracy again.

If you, your relatives, friends and buddies believe that being means love they neighbor, welcoming in strangers, assisting the ill the poor, the lost and you or your bevy of friends and family supported or voted for the Republican party because Jerry Falwell Jr/Nelson Graham/Joel Osteen/Pat Robertson told you that Jesus chose anyone from the GOP as his servant…if you voted for anyone Republican because as long as they said two things, two specific things such as Homosexuality is a SIN and only Bad Women need abortions…if you felt all secure in your religious values because one after the other GOP politician explained to you how Jesus entered their homes and whispered to them run for office…if you believed they were true Christians…and are not paying attention to the laws and conditions these charlatans are proposing…such as only health people deserve health care…nutritious and free meals for kids make them weak…if you are disabled find a friend to assist you…women ask to raped…old people should be happy they lived to be that old…if you still believe that Jesus spoke to anyone from the current crop of Republicans and still support them then you are a hypocrite.. 

It is no longer just about the stupidity and selfishness of Trump…it seems to NOW be about the stupidity/ignorance and selfishness of those who once supported him and despite all of the hateful actions from Trump and the GOP still believe making America great is making America hate…still look the other way!

Walkin' in LA

Walkin' in LA Walkin' in LA, nobody walks in LA

Walkin' in LA Walkin' in LA, nobody walks in LA (Walking In LA, by Missing Persons)

I actually was walking in LA on Saturday, April 28, well, to be precise, I started out in LA, but once I walked up the hill at La Cienega Blvd, and arrived at Santa Monica Blvd, I actually found myself walking in West Hollywood. I was headed to the gym, which for me is a 20 minute journey, and on really warm windy summer like days is either business as usual or an eye opening experience. If you are traveling from the East on Santa Monica Blvd, once you arrive at the intersection at La Cienega, you have made it to the heart and soul, of grand, great and Gay WEHO. On the south side of Santa Monica at least 20 some feet high is yet another HUGE billboard not actually welcoming you to WEHO, but reminding you that you have entered a city of pretty or is it petty i am still not sure. For the past few weeks, this HUGE  billboard had a picture of Kylie Jenner’s face with the words KYLIE’S LIPS.  If you actually stood a hundred feet away from the billboard you could see those pumped, puffy perky artificial lips, so imagine the view just a few feet on the other side of the street. So, much to my astonishment, on the Saturday i was heard to the gym, i noticed, that no longer was there anything about Kylie’s Lips, but instead, there was a new improved billboard, showcasing not only Kylie’s LIPS, but now we saw Kylie’s rounded cheeks, and of course Kylie’s new and improved cleavage with just enough skin hanging out of he lacy under garment, and the words of encouragement now read KYLIE SHOPS! As has been typical in my neighborhood, tourists and sadly lots of locals have become Paparazzi like, so this new billboard of Kylie generated tons of excitement and dozens of assholes standing in my way were taking pictures of KYLIE SHOPS!

Walking in LA, as sadly is the case in most cities now a days, the pedestrian encounters many homeless people. In West Hollywood, many are just lying on the sidewalks, some trying to find shelter from the heat, and others hoping that the spot they found will keep them safe for the night. Walking in LA, as often and as regularly as I have, I have noticed some of the same homeless individuals. i try my best to provide them cash, or food, but many times no matter my resources, it is never enough. I am sad, I am disillusioned, and I am angry that a nation supposedly as grand as America no longer says “Give me you tired, your Poor.” Yesterday, on my Saturday walk to the gym. A female who has been on the streets for at least 8 months, an individual who I once tried to give some money as she was drinking out of dirty cups found in a very disgusting garbage bin…and who screamed at me to get out of her space and who do I think I am to be in her space…was also crossing the intersection of Santa Monica and La Cienega. This person carries at least four large garbage bags over her shoulders, she wears flip flops and goes about her necessary needs to stay alive. her bags must have been extra heavy or her flip flops finally wore out…she was crossing Santa Monica Blvd half through the street, now directly facing the KYLIE SHOPS sigh, when she stopped. her bags fell or her flip flops broke, but she needed to reload…as she did two cars honked their horns, a third car sped around her. Some of the people taking photos of KYLIE SHOPS were calling her an idiot, and of course laughingly taking pictures of this woman’s distress. The lady would let no one assist her, and while all the cars were honking their horns and some of the drivers calling her names, she DID regroup, and crossed the street. I walked in LA, on Saturday, April 28, and these were the things I saw.