NOW

 We have a Royal Caste System in our nation, which was founded to rally against such a dire situation: “The foundations of the government of the United States are oriented around the ideas of liberty and equality as articulated in the natural rights tradition of John Locke and others.”

Yet one branch of Government has no boundaries, no restrictions, no limitations, and as such can decide its own version of morality, conscience, righteousness, callowness, and integrity, ignoring the will of the people, placing its OWN wants as a priority! The Judicial Branch, as in the US Supreme Court, all Justices with a lifetime appointment, with limited ethics checks and balances, and absolutely no one to report to, or to be reprimanded by, can and will and HAVE decided that THEY and only THEY can make the law of the land, even if they do not follow that same law.

 

Majority opinions by the People. The will of the People. The changes in societal norms, by the People, seem to place little to no priority for the 6 Republican-appointed activist Justices, who it seems, INSTEAD have willfully followed the WILL of their wealthy donors. 

 

We must demand that lifetime appointments end. We must demand that a strong WATCHDOG agency be established. We must demand accountability be immediately initiated.  We must demand that Congress begins to find its own backbones and actually MAKE LAWS, rather than readily, and easily permit the unelected Supreme Court to act as the Branch that creates laws! NOW!

Intentionally Oblivious

 Supreme Court guts affirmative action, effectively ending race-conscious admissions.

"The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote.

Added Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson: "With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. And having so detached itself from this country's actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve America's real-world problems." (NPR)

 

When candidates for the Supreme Court are prioritized NOT by their legal briefings, or actual caseloads, BUT are selected, instead, as candidates due to their political affinities and affiliations, AND supported by men and women not honed into the real hard-core knowledge of governing, but instead govern from the aspect that having enough wealth equates to having enough clout, which translates into POWER to bribe politicians. We the people become the recipients of hacks, shills, and puppets playing a political party line, not for the good of all, but the machinations and selfishness and self-serving for the few.

 

Be it 50, 40, 30, or 20 years of precedent law, a law which had changed and been challenged to represent the real-life experiences of our society and to become more inclusive and more insightful toward the current real life and more relevant toward the needs of the American citizen, these laws have grown as our future provides a more realistic photo of today. They became foundations for a way forward. BUT when justices are selected not for their merits or education regarding America now but prefer to live in an America then, we have nothing but disregard for the common citizen, but MORE laws for the DONOR CLASS, who do not live their lives in any shape or form as the rest of us. And when we have activist Jurists who seem more and more to be paid to play. The only concepts that win, become fodder for the wealthy, and estranged ideology.

 

And add to that the fact that lifetime appointees, living in an Ivory Tower, with no consequences, laws of land seem only to be made for the LAND OWNERS! 

29th day of June

 Topsy-Turvy

in utter confusion or disorder

1: in utter confusion or disorder. 2. : with the top or head downward : upside down.

 

As I wake up on this 29^th day of June, all I see, hear and read about is that President Biden’s approval ratings are way too low. A man who had brought us back from the brink of COVID, has provided BILLS for infrastructure, and inflation reduction, says the words Gay, and Trans, and fights hard for equality, who has taken us from the brink of economic collapse regarding the debt limit. A man who says climate change is real and takes action to help curb it, a man who believes that our Constitution is sacred, instead of the words in some self-chosen Bible.

 

Once again, the Media plays into the hands of the Republican propagandist, repeating lies, fabrications, and bullshit used to distract from the truth.

 

HOW.  And on this 29^th day of June, as if once before never happened, an insurrectionist, Fascist leaning, Autocrat, Criminal, and Traitor, still stands a chance of becoming President…AGAIN!

429 Days

 “It ain't over 'til it's over, no matter how over it looks.” Yogi Berra

Mr. Berra’s quote regarding a baseball game, as mundane or maudlin or miraculous, as it may sound, has, for me, taken on the truest of meanings and the most nerve-racking intentions, for me, ever since Trump, I believe, had been hacked into office. (And I believe also, with the aid and support of the Russian government.)

 

Trump was not elected to a second term. He has been accused of espionage. He has been accused of plotting and planning a coup. He has been found guilty of paying hush money. He has been accused of inciting an insurrection. AND yet, he is not only running for the office of President, once more, but he is leading by double digits within a now very enemy of the state like the Republican Party.

                                                                                                                                                 

Every day is like a YEA-BOO, kind of day for me. I hear more and more incriminating evidence against Trump, and almost as quickly I then hear about his rising poll numbers. Every day I read about the latest bombshell bit of evidence, and almost as quickly I hear about House Republicans trying to muck up any and all legal proceedings. Every day I hear more ex-Republican talking heads proclaim how evil Trump is, and almost as quickly there is a slew of current MAGA-Republicans declaring that in fact, Trump may be a disciple of Jesus!

 

We have 429 days to the 2024 election, (as I write my blog on June 27, 2023), and maybe then, some of “IT,” may be over, but what will “IT” then look like?

 

Until the next 429 days, we still have to deal with the fact, Trump could once again lose the Popular Vote, but win the Electoral College tally (how unfair for the premise, one person one vote. Until the next 429 days, states can still appoint Electors, but as in 2020, some states can decide they do not like the outcome. Until the next 429 days, voter restriction laws, and gerrymandered districts in various states remain in place. Trump ain’t in jail, even if Trump is in jail it seems just as easy for him to run for President and still be elected. “It ain't over 'til it's over, no matter how over it looks.” Yogi Berra

 

It is NOT Popular

 Based on the Electoral College, Presidential campaigns prioritize victories in states that will total more than 270 electoral votes, rather than trying to win the most actual direct votes nationwide. The key reason for this strategy is that in every state, except Nebraska and Maine, the candidate who wins the most votes in a state also wins all the electors from that state, regardless of the margin of victory. This winner-take-all electoral system makes it possible for one candidate to get more votes nationwide, but a different candidate to win in the Electoral College and ultimately, win the Presidency. (ADL)

Critics of the Electoral College believe that it compromises the “one person, one vote” principle and it is less democratic than a popular vote. Not only can someone win the presidency without winning the popular vote, another consequence is that it influences how and where candidates campaign. (ADL)

 

There have been five times in U.S. history when the candidate who won the Electoral College (and ultimately won the election) did not get the most popular votes. It happened in 1824, 1876, 1888 and in the last two out of five Presidential elections (in 2000 won by George W. Bush and 2016 won by Donald Trump), when the Presidential election was determined by the Electoral College, not the popular vote. (ADL)

 

TRUMP! He has no love for this nation, or this nation’s democracy. Yet, he still stands a chance to lose the popular vote once again by millions of votes, and CAN once again rise to the office of President, permitting him to finally dismantle any and all remanent of democracy remaining. Insurrection, Sedition, Espionage, Cover Ups, and Coercion, with regards to the Electoral College, they matter very little, when in fact hordes of Fascist loving, Neo Nazi, Right Wing  Billionaire Backed Politicians refuse to place PEOPLE before PARTY, and instead, place PERSONAL gain over Democracy.

 

We knew this fact, and we still know this fact. We can elect Representatives, Senators, Governors, and even Mayors by a majority vote, but somehow the most important Government job, the one to almost make or break FREEDOM/EQUALITY/CHOICE/LIBERTY, AND JUSTICE is still decided by a few and not the many!

Even When It Ain't

 About 43 million people across the South are at risk as severe weather batters the region. (CNN) Enhanced risk for severe weather Sunday for Alabama. (AL.com) Severe storms, strong winds cause widespread damage across Oklahoma. (KOKO 5) 4 dead, dozens injured after tornadoes hit Texas and Florida. (Deseret News) Severe weather expected in nation’s heartland.

Powerful thunderstorms are expected to cause problems across the midsection of the country once again. This time the worst storms are expected in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. Tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind are possible with any severe storms that develop. (FOX Weather)

 

Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Missouri, the so-called “Heartland of America,” the so-called “Bible Belt,” some of the RED STATES, whose members of Congress, will swear on their own assorted stack of Bibles, that Climate Change is a Liberal Hoax, a Progressive slight of hand, and even a voodoo trick conjured up by Joe Biden and his cabal of anti-Christian Democrats.

 

Ain’t nothing to be alarmed about, these Republicans shout, it is ANTIFA trying to fool everyone that the environment is haywire. These same shysters are also recipients of dark money from way too many Corporations whose PROFIT BASE is based upon polluting this world in which we all live. These same Evangelical or Orthodox Christian American Taliban will also invoke their MAGA-styled Jesus swearing that this is Jesus’s Nation and Earth, and as long we believe and ignore the satanic Leftists, nothing bad will happen. It is a ploy, a trick, a conspiracy, and LIBERAL PROPAGANDA.

 

Just provide thoughts and prayers for one more manmade disaster, they proclaim, and all will be well, EVEN WHEN IT AIN’T! 

This is NOT a movie

 Excessive heat in Texas to continue, millions on alert for severe storms. (ABC News) Second ‘rare’ tornado in less than a month touches down in eastern Idaho. (Idaho Statesman) For the first time in decades, 2 tropical storms are spinning in the Atlantic in June. (USA Today) 100-mph tornado confirmed in North Carolina city, National Weather Service says. (The Charlotte Observer) ‘Beyond extreme’ ocean heat wave in North Atlantic is worst in 170 years.

The exceptionally warm waters could pose a deadly threat to marine life and impact summer weather in the U.K. and Europe. (The Washington Post)

 

I had, and have always been a fan of movies and TV shows, whose plot is about some APOCALYPTIC event taking place on Earth. Be it an alien invasion, Zombies gone wild, a Tsunami 5 miles high, Earthquakes, or comets about to fall onto Earth, I have gone out of my way to watch these, be they top-notch films, or the schlockiest of B-grade presentations. When I watch these APOCALYPTIC works, a few things enter my brain. The first is PHEW, I am glad this is not real. The second is, what might I do in these fictional situations? The third is, most end with the hope of tomorrow, except for those in which the Producers have already prepared sequels, prequels, etc., (then I know that hope will have to wait for part 2, or three or God forbid, part 10.)

 

The headlines at the top of this blog, are just a few from this weekend, as in this weekend in 2023, as in this weekend no on film or on TV, as in this weekend IN REAL LIFE.

 

AND THEN I READ ANOTHER HEADLINE. A headline from this REAL WORLD:

Now the Biden administration is facing a critical test of its authority to enact climate policy, as Republicans in Congress attack new regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency on emissions from vehicles and power plants as overly costly and overstepping the bounds of executive authority. (Houston Chronicle)

 

WTF? Seriously, the REPUBLICANS once again are trying to place their Wealthy Puppet Master Billionaire CEOs above the welfare, the hope, and the future of anyone who is not a CEO, a CORPORATION, or a Billionaire. Kind of sort of like they have always done regarding the TOBACCO CARTELL/OIL CARTEL/and of course the MURDER CARTELL of the NRA and Gun Manufacturers. 

Isn't it about time

 Isn’t it about time, that the Democrats, stop reacting to the tantrums, and hypocrisy of the Republicans, and begin to just state out loud, the true facts about Trump, his actions, and his attempts at attacking democracy, and the US Constitution? Isn’t it about time, that the Democrats stop being on the offense and strongly become on the offense when it comes to the Republican's cultist adoration for a man, TRUMP, who has made it perfectly clear that he desires to become a Monarch, a Dictator, an Authoritarian, of the United States, removing any and all of the ideals as written in the US Constitution? Isn’t it about time, for the Democrats to call out, identify, and name, the crimes TRUUMP has committed and to name the enablers, of the GOP who have also decided that law and order are NOT a priority to govern this nation? 

PLEASE DEMOCRATS stop waiting for the next shoe to drop and START dropping your own shoes and let America and those who believe that TRUMP is somehow a disciple of Jesus and a son of George Washington UNDERSTAND, that TRUMP and his REPUBLICAN enablers only want and wish for FASCISM to become the form of governance for AMERIKA!

THEY

 THEY ARE HYPOCRITES…AND THEY KNOW THEY ARE HYPOCRITES…AND THEY KNOW THAT THEIR BIGOTS/RACISTS/HOMOPHOBES DON’T CARE THAT THEY ARE HYPOCRITES. And until the rest of us who say we are not a Racist or a Bigot or a Homophobe, demand that truth be told…THEY will continue to espouse nothing but HYPOCRICY!

THEY are the Republican politicians in the primarily Gerrymandered Red States, and Gerrymandered Red districts, who insist that PARENTS' RIGHTS are what THEY are fighting for…EXCEPT, that THEY override parents’ rights, when it comes to the LGBT and TRANS kids.

 

THEY will ban books when parents insist THEY are uncomfortable with the content. THEY will demand that history is too critical whenever a hard fact delivers the truth and bigoted parents feign uncomfortably. THEY will insist you “DON’T SAY GAY,” or present a DRAG SHOW when homophobe parents pretend to have a “hissy fit.”  BUT THEY have no problem playing Doctors/Scientists/ or Mental Health Professionals when other parents wish to decide on their kids' physical and mental health. Then, SUDDENLY the GOVERNMENT overrides the want and wishes of parents, deciding that in those instances these parents DO NOT KNOW what is best for their children.

 

WE MUST FIGHT BACK, BE LOUD, ACT UP, AND STOP THEIR HYPOCRICY based on nothing but religious hate!

UNCONSTITUIONAL

 U.S. district judge in Arkansas issued a permanent injunction against a state law that banned trans youth and their families from seeking gender-affirming medical care. U.S. District Judge James Moody of the Eastern District of Arkansas ruled the law unconstitutional Tuesday, saying it violated the rights of doctors and discriminated against transgender people. Gender-affirming medical care includes such treatments as puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The law also prohibited doctors from referring trans youth to other providers for gender-affirming care. (Washington Post)

 

UNCONSTITUTIONAL, as in the laws of a country that had been founded on the separation of church and state. UNCONSTITUTIONAL, as in the laws of a country that has tried to maintain the civil rights of its citizens, without any attempt from a religious sect to establish what is and what is not a civil right. 

 

UPHOLDING a MEDICAL decision from leading medical associations, including the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society, all recommend that transgender youth be able to access this kind of health care.

 

BUT OF COURSE, when necessary, especially from Evangelical and Orthodox Christians, the CONSTITUTION matters very little, when those politicians prefer to use their hand pick and Bible and their cheery picked chapters and verses from that same Bible to try and establish that as the ALMIGHTY LAW OF THE LAND, as in the case of Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement posted on Twitter that, in the ruling, “Judge Moody misses what is widely known: There is no scientific evidence that any child will benefit from these procedures, while the consequences are harmful and often permanent. We will appeal to the Eighth Circuit.”

 

Remember, that these politicians are not Medical Experts, Scientists, or Mental Health Professionals, they just PRETEND to play one as they act as Gods!

Abbott as the Hypocrite

 In a week when parts of the state are getting triple-digit temperatures and weather officials urged Texans to stay cool and hydrated, Gov. Greg Abbott gave final approval to a law that will eliminate local rules mandating water breaks for construction workers. More workers die from high temperatures in Texas than in any other state, government data shows. From 2011 to 2021, at least 42 workers in Texas died from environmental heat exposure, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers’ unions claim this data doesn’t fully reflect the magnitude of the problem because heat-related deaths are often recorded under a different primary cause of injury. (San Antonio Express-News)

 

Greg Abbott, the hypocrite, insisting he is a PRO-LIFE kind of GOP dude. He signed into law, in September 2021, to effectively ban most abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually about six weeks into a pregnancy. He signed into law, restricting transgender minors from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapies. All of these of course because he and his non-medical, non-mental health professionals, and who gives a shit about the US Constitution wanna be Fascists, pretend that all they do is to keep LIFE as a priority. But somehow, if you work construction, and are out of doors all day long in sweltering heat and humidity your life becomes less of a priority.

                                                                                                                      

HB 2127, introduced by state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, is perhaps Texas Republicans’ most aggressive attempt to curb progressive policies in the state’s largest, liberal-leaning cities. Under the new law, local governments would be unable to enact rules that go beyond what state law dictates in broad areas such as labor, agriculture, business and natural resources.

 

Greg Abbott, the hypocrite, also pretends that states rights usurp federal government rights, but somehow cities rights in his Banana Republic, have no rights of their own, especially Blue Political cities, and they must adhere to the one-sided rules of Abbott’s Nation State of Texas. Never do as I do, but do as I say, from Greg Abbott, who is trying his hardest to both out do Trump, and out do DeSantis’s roadmap to Hell!

HOW?

 Shootings on Juneteenth weekend leave at least 12 dead, more than 100 injured. The shootings follow a rise in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. Shootings with multiple people killed or wounded happened in suburban Chicago, Washington state, central Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Idaho, Southern California and Baltimore, among other places. (CBS News) 

There's something happening here

But what it is ain't exactly clear

There's a man with a gun over there

Telling me I got to beware. (For What It’s Worth/Stephen Stills)

 

But the same people who refuse to pass any laws or restrictions, to halt the mass murders, by guns, of Americans, are instead, passing laws to outlaw Trans People, Drag Queens, The Pride Flag, Women’s Reproductive Rights, and Voting Rights. These same people claim to be the MORALS POLICE, pretending that somehow they are the apostles of Jesus, and only, they, and THEY alone know the intentions of Jesus.

 

More daily death and destruction. More love for the Gun, than human life. More money was poured into the Republican coffers by the NRA and the Gun Manufactures. More ignoring the truth about Guns as the weapon of choice to kill. 

 

How is this even a thing? How far gone has this nation traveled?  Another day, more deaths. HOW!

Fight back?

 Saturday, June 17, 2023, the end of a week, the 17th day of the month of June, and the 168th day of the year 2023. Holy shit, holy cow, how the hell has so much hypocrisy, hate, fucked up, and phony bullshit happened…and we still have 197 days to go.

Drag Queens and Trans People have become public enemy number one, and the most terrifying events for children, the same children who must every day, while in the classrooms, participate in active shooter drills, or be evacuated walking past their fellow classmates and teachers lying in their own pools of blood. Bathrooms are the battleground, while mass murders in theaters, schools, malls, parks, and concerts seem to be A-okay!

Espionage, ain’t no concern for the Republicans, Law and Order, are words used only for Antifa (an imaginary group), and free speech is only free when you are using it to keep history from being learned,  not permitting anyone from saying gay, and banning books! 

Lots of talk about masculinity, as the same people pretending that men are kings and leaders, demonstrate a streak of cowardice avoiding any acknowledgment that TRUMP is a TRAITOR!

The Conservative Justices sitting on the Supreme Court, have a set of rules for themselves, above and beyond the laws they dictate to the rest of us who do not provide them with kickbacks, or special favors. Fascism has flourished, Christian Nationalism has grown, the Constitution has been cropped and cut to suit the bias of the Republicans, and the word FREEDOM has been hijacked to only define FREEDOM for those who are Racists, Bigots, Anti-Semites, Homophobes, and Xenophobes. 

When will the rest of us FIGHT BACK?

TREE OF LIFE

 A 50-year-old truck driver with a history of spewing antisemitic hatred has been found guilty on all counts in the 2018 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that killed 11 worshipers and left seven people wounded. The verdict was expected, as Robert Bowers' attorneys admitted during trial that he was responsible for the massacre. (CBS News)

I am a native of Pittsburgh. I am Jewish. I knew, knew, very, very well, many of the victims of this HATE-inspired attack upon the Tree of Life Congregation. Although not a member of this “shul,” I have celebrated many a Bar and Bat Mitzvah, Wedding, Naming Ceremony, Shabbat, and High Holiday Services there. When I grew up in Pittsburgh, the Tree of Life Congregation was only a handful of blocks away from my house. I have stood on the corners of Wilkens Avenue and Shady Avenue, the location of the Tree of Life, watching neighborhood parades such as Memorial Day and Labor Day, waving my American Flag, proud to be an American, proud to be a Jewish American, proud to assume I was a free man in a free nation!

 

I am now at least five decades older than when I once claimed the Squirrel Hill Neighborhood as my home, and to this minute, in my heart and soul, I remain a Pittsburgher. I did not lose a family member to the madness of this Anti-Semitic attack, but I lost friends, I lost members of MY community, members of the community within the United States to this murder, inspired, I believe by the followers of Trump, Trump himself, who can only find their courage by denigrating others and finding others as a scapegoat.

 

Innocence has been the victim. Freedom has been a target. Equality has been seen as a threat. When will enough, finally be enough? I am grateful for this verdict, but when I consider the war waged by the MAGA cultist of Trump, and enabled by a majority of Republicans, I must wonder if justice will truly be served!

Flag Day 2023

 The holiday of Flag Day commemorates the date in 1777 when the United States approved the design for its first national flag, it was as a patriotic occasion for many decades, but it was President Woodrow Wilson, who made the observance official by a presidential proclamation on May 30, 1916. (constitutioncenter.org) 

Flag Day 2023. With MAGA, Trump Republicans, Spineless Republican Politicians, Wealthy Donors assisting Republicans in flaming the fires of hate and bigotry, and Immigrant families like the Murdochs who prefer profits over Patriotism, Flag Day 2023, sadly will be celebrated with any other flag but the Stars and Stripes.

 

The flags preferred by the Republicans include The Confederate Flag/The Nazi Flag/The TRUMP Flag/The Three Percenters Flag/ the 4chan “Kekistan” Flag/The Gadsden Flag, and The America First Flag. All of these Flags represent ANARCHY, FASCISM/CONSPIRACY, and HATE. None of these FLAGS represent FREEDOM/JUSTICE/EQUALITY or DEMOCRACY. 

 

Oh, yeah and there is now one FLAG in particular which of course frightens these ENEMIES OF THE STATE, and that FLAG is now being burned, that being the GAY PRIDE FLAG!

 

 

Real Enemies

 Haley ‘inclined in favor’ of Trump pardon Her remarks came after she called the former president 'reckless.' (Politico)

House Republicans are mounting an all-out campaign to attack the special counsel's investigation into former President Donald Trump and looking to use every tool at their disposal to undermine its findings — from subpoenas to the power of the purse strings. (CNN Politics)

House Republicans are mounting an all-out campaign to attack the special counsel's investigation into former President Donald Trump and looking to use every tool at their disposal to undermine its findings — from subpoenas to the power of the purse strings. (Rolling Stone)

 

STENCH, which smells like HYPORCICY. HYPORCICY, which forms as MOLD. MOLD as sinister as a deadly DISEASE. A DISEASE, which will and shall, and is intended to MURDER Democracy. All INTENTIONALLY created cheered on, and on celebrated by REPUBLICAN wanna-be PRESIDENTS, REPUBLICANS sitting in the House of Representatives, and Republican Senators.

 

War against LAW and ORDER, the CONSTITUTION, DEMOCRACY, and the Citizens of this nation.

 

With the exception of perhaps a handful, maybe a handful and a half, REPUBLICANS  have demonstrated their lack of interest in governing this nation and have DEMONSTRATED their intent to make America Fascist. As I see it, anyone who supports the vast majority of Republican politicians are enabling our once-upon-a-time democratic nation to become a heaven for FASCISM!

 

Stop pretending, please that until a majority of Republicans face the truth, that there are two sides. And oh yeah, admit you hate fair and equal, and believe in right, when all you are doing is supporting wrong!

 

 

and again

 As I write y blog today, June 12, 2023, I am filled with confusion, chaos, concern, and wonder who exactly will receive consequences, be it Trump his enablers in Congress, his cultists, or will it be you and me, the Americans who actually understand the crimes, Trump committed. 

I cannot listen to the news nor read the news, today, having consumed oh so much bad news and worry that even one more ounce of denunciation by Republicans both Federally elected and Statewide, office holders, to admit that Trump is a criminal, a criminal who has committed a crime, against all of the Citizens of this nation…all of us!

 

Once again Trump will head to court, and once again his fellow insurrectionists celebrate him as some kind of hero. Most of the Republicans, especially in the House, will pay no consequences for their Anti-American actions, because, they have been permitted to continue to remain in office from their very Gerrymandered districts. Once again, the rest of us must await and wonder about the chaos and confusion that will ensue!

 

I am weary, I am frustrated, and I am worried. Tuesday, June 13, 2023, is yet another day from which democracy may survive or begin a very slow death!

Compromise, huh!

 GREENSBORO, N.C. — Republican delegates in North Carolina voted Saturday at their annual convention to censure Thom Tillis, the state’s senior U.S. senator, for backing LGBTQ+ rights, immigration and gun violence policies.

As Sen. Tillis has gained influence in Congress for his willingness to work across the aisle, his record of supporting some key policies has raised concerns among some state Republicans that the senator has strayed from conservative values. (Politico)

 

Let us, the ones who try so hard to try and find any common ground, UNDERSTAND, that this current crop of Fascist loving, Christian National leaning, Bigots, Racists/Anti-Law and Order, Cultists identifying as Republicans have no INTEREST, INTENT, or INTENTION of ever wanting, seeking, or garnering COMPROMISE.  And while we are at it, let us, the us who still think democracy is the foundation of this nation, finally realize that remaining passive, remaining on the defense, remaining too Pollyanna-ish, thinking that sensible heads will triumph within the Authoritarian loving, Anti-Constitution treasonists, hypocritical, saving their own asses ONLY, Republican politicians will ever place country above their personal ambitions. MEH, maybe a handful of GOP politicians will step forward but way too little.

 

Senator Thom  Tillis IS NOT A BASTION of decency, but he at least had tried to think beyond his own needs, and as the article states, WAY TOO CLEARLY, he has been punished for reaching out and realizing that maybe all Americans are equal. 

 

To vote Republican, as I see it, is to say uncategorical, that you hate Democracy, hate the Constitution, and actually hate anyone who isn’t you!

they had it coming

 They had it comin' (they had it comin')

They had it comin' (they had it comin')

They had it comin' all along (they took a flower in its prime)

I didn't do it (and then they used it)

But if I'd done it

How could you tell me that I was wrong? (Cell Block Tango/Fred Ebb)

 

The pretext behind the movie (Chicago/Cell Block Tango), is that with enough money and the right connections, you can get away with murder, literally.

 

Now, when I listen to this song, I cannot help but think about the current events, concerning TRUMP. As I see it he has committed crimes against the United States, perhaps even an attempted murder against the Democracy of the United  States, and like the women singing the Cell Block Tango, he tempts us with the fact that he didn’t do it, except if you were there, you would have done it to, and his ever-favorite harangue of “How could you tell me that I was wrong?”

 

Here we are, those of us who actually understand right from wrong, innocence from guilt, good from evil, and democracy from fascism, knowing that the same monster, TRUMP, who has provided his middle finger to the Constitution, is playing US, and insisting the DOJ is weaponized against him. (Remember Slick Willie Barr’s DOJ, and how Slick Willie, completely ignored the rule of law and weaponized his DOJ for his Lord and Master Trump.

 

I am afraid, actually scared because, as it seems, it seems way too many people (more than one, as I see it) seem to have no concerns about how TRUMP has shoved the Military, the FBI, the CIA, and the regular American citizen under the bus. I am frightened because, way too many people, still want TRUMP to become President again. HELP! No seriously HELP! 

 

 

 

 

No, not ONCE more

 TRUMP. Yep, yet another day, and all we hear or read about is TRUMP.

One more indictment for TRUMP, and yet if you listen to most to many of the Republicans, it is anyone but TRUMP who is the guilty party. The Speaker of the House, (remind yourself he is the third in line to become the President), is using his “kick me I am with stupid,” rhetoric, claiming that the Biden DOJ is WEAPONIZING, its powers. Of course, when “Slick” Willie Barr, was the head honcho for TRUMP’S DOJ and did INDEED WEAPONIZE the DOJ, not a single word was heard about that.

 

Again, with most to many of the GOP, all we hear is how TRUMP is being victimized. Few, if any, words from these TRAITORS, regarding Conspiracy Charges, Lying, and Deceit, Corruption, from TRUMP, because to do so might jeopardize their own political futures. So for the majority of Republicans, it is better to “fuck over” this nation than hurt their own political ambitions! How a cult is established, how a false idol is created, how insurrection and treason become justified!

 

And I must wonder has NO ONE from the Dems, or the Biden Administration learned anything from the past behavior of TRUMP and his anti-American spawns from the Republican Party; as in fighting back, as in being on the offense rather than the defense? The longer TRUMP and his minions control the narrative, the more DISINFORMATION becomes the truth. Remember, “Benghazi, Benghazi,”  remember “but her emails?” Fiction became fact and the silence of a factual response was not only deafening but deadly!

FIGHTING BACK

 Pride as resistance: LGBTQ+ people struggle against right-wing war on their legal rights.

Across the country, LGBTQ+ people are struggling against a wave of legislation aimed at restricting their rights. They are also fighting back. (LA Times)

 

June has been designated as PRIDE Month. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June, to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was considered to be a turning point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. (The Advocate)

 

It took me a whole hell of a long time to recognize, that I could be proud, along with the many other attributes in my life, that I had been proud of. And was having been born Gay. It also took courage from within to actually shout out loud that I am a Gay man and to share that part of my life with the world.

 

I was raised as a Jewish individual and learned early on in my life, that being a Jewish Individual, oftentimes, I would have to shout out loudly and rail against the misconceptions, lies, disinformation, Antisemitism, and hate from insecure people always in need of a scapegoat or a villain to help make themselves feel BIG and BETTER. It was easier for me to fight the Antisemitism battles back then because I had been a part of a community visible and viable.  My entire professional career had me working in a variety of Jewish Communities as an advocate, a spokesperson, and a Communal Leader. I was Jewish and luckily had visible role models as my mentors.

 

Coming out Gay was not as easy for me, because too many of the heroes back in the day, had been silenced, shunned, and had to hide in shadows. But just as luckily I discovered the many LGBT individuals who denied the attempt of persecution and became LOUD, Fought Back, and Acted UP. So as I read the headlines from the LA TIMES, I herald the guts, the grit, and the empowerment of fighting back by the LGBTQ+ community and their allies, because we sadly have all learned that SILENCE DOES EQUAL DEATH!

Far from free

 Calling Florida a "refuge of sanity," Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday people can't stop moving to the state because of its track record as a "citadel of freedom." (Business Insider) 

“Refuge of sanity.” As in permitting one parent to decide which books should be banned, even as they had never EVER read those books. As in using Private Jets, at the expense of the Tax Payer, to kidnap Immigrants from Florida, lying to them, and shuffling them off to a northern state or city. As in fighting with the states, the largest private employer, because they decided that saying Gay was okay. And along the way, hurting the potential for expansion as in spending cash in the state, and of course MORE employment.

 

"Citadel of freedom." As in making it illegal for parents to decide the best medical and psychological treatments for their kids who are Trans. As in playing Obstetrician with women’s reproductive body parts, demanding that as non-medical laymen, somehow THEY are the final word, on a woman’s choice. As in eliminating as many ways as possible for all Floridians to cast their votes. As in limiting Drag Shows, Drag Performances, and Drag Show Audiences.

 

NOPE, RONNIE DESATIN you are nothing but a Carnival Barker, selling tickets to the FASCIST STATE OF FLORIDA, which becomes less, and less free, with each and every passing day, you claim the authority as a DICTATOR!

 

 

 

JUST copy cats

 Be it DeSantis/Haley/Scott/Pence/Christie/Hutchinson or any other Republican politician running for the office of President from within the Republican Party until any one of them says that Black Lives Matter/Trans Kids are human beings/the GLBQ community are equal, Women own their reproductive female parts/Immigrants are people/this Nation was not founded as a Christian nation/Voting is a Right for EVERY AMERICAN/banning books is bull shit…all of them might as be identified as DONALD TRUMP! 

Bull Shit remains Bull Shit while being tossed around by any and all GOP potential presidential GOP candidates until ANY or ALL of them disavow HATE/BIGORTY/MISOGYNY/ANTI-SEMISTISM/XENOPHOBIA/HOMOPHOBIA/ISLAMAPHOBIA and decry the rise of CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM and WHITE NATIONALISM. Just saying some of those HATEFUL phobias are WRONG, and not DECLARING that all of them are ANTI-AMERICAN, just makes you like DONALD TRUMP!

 

And all of them must INSIST that the whole REPUBLICAN, PR crusade called ANTI-WOKE is nothing more than an excuse to ignore the real issues of America, which deal with the matters of HEALTH/NUTRITION/EDUCATION/POVERTY/ECONOMICS/EDUCATION/HOMELESSNESS/QUALITY OF EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN’S LIVES/FAIRNESS/EQUALITY and the great divide between rich and poor.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      

As I see it, you either make a statement that we all matter, or you are actually a copycat version of DONALD TRUMP.

THUS

 Since most states (48 plus Washington, D.C.) award all of their electoral votes to the person who wins the statewide popular vote, it’s mathematically possible to win more electoral votes while still losing the popular vote. For example, if one candidate wins by large percentages in a handful of very populous states, for example, they’ll probably win the popular vote. But if their opponent wins a bunch of smaller states by tight margins, he or she could still win the Electoral College. That’s basically what happened in 2016. (History.com) 

THUS we were stuck with, George W. Bush (2000) and Donald Trump (2016). Both men did not receive the majority of the popular vote, so, in reality, as I view it, both men represented a minority opinion of Americans. YET, because of the Electoral College. (The system calls for the creation, every four years, of a temporary group of electors, equal to the total number of representatives in Congress. Technically, it is these electors, and not the American people, who vote for the president. In modern elections, the first candidate to get 270 of the 538 total electoral votes wins the White House. (History.com)

 

SWING STATE: a state of the U.S. in which the Democratic and Republican candidates both have a good chance of winning and that is considered key to the outcome of a presidential election. (Dictionary.com)

 

THUS one more example of how yours or my vote, living anywhere but within the boundaries of a Swing State, matter less, and becomes a bit more meaningless. The Electoral College became part of the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, when delegates assembled to devise something to replace the Articles of Confederation. (History.com)

 

As I view it, a law from 1787, the Electoral College, has outlived it relevancy, just has the 2^nd Amendment. Muskets are not the same as Assault Weapons. Popular votes actually account for everyone who has voted, versus, how people voted in their states. Looming large on the 2024 horizon is, once more a chance for a loser, Trump, to become the winner!  

 

a dangerous game

 ‘A dangerous game of chicken’. The law largely leaves Biden’s economic agenda untouched, with the exception of a limited rollback of some IRS funds and the end of a payment pause on federal student loans that was expected to expire anyway. It imposes new work requirements for the beneficiaries of some federal aid, including childless adults who receive food stamps. Yet it actually increases spending in the program — and is expected to cover more people — while sparing Medicaid, in contrast with the original GOP bill. (Washington Post)

The edge of our American seats, ALL of us, Rich/Poor, GOP/Dem/ Young/Old, etc., etc., etc.!

 

The Congress did play the game of chicken, those who supposedly are sent to Washington to represent the average American, huffed and puffed and way too many wanted to actually blow the house down. Every fucking year, it is the same game of bull shit, pretending that a debt limit is nothing to worry about, but not worrying about it can actually cause MUCH MORE WORRY AND CONSEQUENCE. Tag you are it, no, tag you are it, NO, actually all of us become IT.

 

One more question, asking, “How is this nonsense even a thing?” We spend to buy things, and then we do not want to pay for them. We act as if the future will never arrive, and when it is looming on the horizon, we act surprised that it has arrived so soon.

 

Uh-huh, a compromise had been reached, avoiding more damage, but the damage done before the compromise had been worrisome, and could have, NO, SHOULD HAVE been avoided! And now we are told to BE HAPPY!

YES,

 US Congress averts historic default, approves debt-limit suspension. Biden praised Congress' timely action. "This bipartisan agreement is a big win for our economy and the American people," Biden was directly involved in negotiations on the bill with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. (Reuters)

 

Yes, a compromise had to be made. Yes, once again the DC Politicians waited last minute, placing fear in the hearts of the citizens of the United States. And yes, cuts were made. BUT President Biden was able to preserve a whole hell of a lot of necessary items for, yes anyone not a billionaire or in the 2% of the population!

 

The U.S. added 339,000 jobs in May. It's a stunningly strong number. The job growth for March and April were also stronger than previously reported. The April jobs data was revised up by 41,000 to 294,000 jobs, while the March numbers were revised up by 52,000.

The strong jobs numbers indicate the U.S. jobs engine continues to chug along, with substantial growth in business services, health care and hospitality. (npr)

 

Yes, way too many are unemployed or underemployed. Yes, all wages have not met fair equity for way too many people. Yes, there is more to be done. BUT Joe Biden has managed to assist in job growth with his policies and perseverance.

 

Migrant border crossings hits lowest point since Biden took office despite surge fears (NBC News)

 

Yes, Immigration is an issue that remains a priority. Yes, immigration must be addressed with a short-term and long-term policies and practice. Yes, Immigration is a matter of human rights. BUT at least President Biden is attempting to keep the human factor a real factor in how this nation treats Immigrants.

 

Add all of this plus Joie Biden’s empathy, concern, civility and interest into preserving Women’s Reproductive Rights/Trans People’s Right’s/LGBQ Rights/The Rights of People of Color…and please explain to me, why anyone with any intelligence, a heart, a mind, and respect for life, would vote for anyone of the Republicans already to run for President, or thinking about doing so!

 

 

Not Emails, Nor Age

 The GOP Propaganda machine is always working in overdrive and working to fill the American citizens with flawed information, incorrect information, and a whole bunch of Right-Wing lies. 

The GOP used this DISINFORMATION tactic during the 2016 Presidential Campaign when all we heard was the phrase, “BUT HER EMAILS!” Not only did the Republicans convince the Right-Wing Media that somehow Hillary had committed some kind of crime, but this infection of pure FICTION made it into the so-called Main Stream Media also, and they gladly participated in this folly.

 

Now the new version of “BUT HER EMAILS!” sounds like “BUT HIS AGE!” Somehow Joe Biden’s age has become a talking point, a talking point repeated and repeated by way too many so-called Main Stream Media News Outlets. Has the Media not learned any lessons?

 

By insisting that Joe Biden is too old to be President, every other Progressive/Democracy Oriented/Human Rights/Civil Rights/ Constitutional Rights/Women’s Rights/Voting Rights/Medicare/Medicaid/ACA/Trans Rights has been easily ignored. 

 

President Biden has pursued a doctrine of and by the average citizen. Stop assisting the GOP in their continuous slander and lies!