Without a Single Shot Fired

We in the US have always felt somewhat invincible from our adversaries’ military aggression.  Why?  Because we on the mainland are so very far, geographically, from Russia, China, Iran, Syria and everywhere else in the world that war wages – so we’ve never had to engage in on-the-ground combat. 

That’s why 9/11 was so devastating.  And why Obama unerringly hunted down the man responsible. That’s why Pearl Harbor was such a shock.  And why FDR joined the Allies in WWII.  We were attacked: Clearly and convincingly. Thousands injured and killed.  So President Obama used every resource to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.  And FDR committed every resource to winning WWII.  They did what the American people can ALL agree was the right thing to do. We fought back: Against evil; Against fascism; Against the military aggression that fueled Hitler’s invasions and occupations of Europe and North Africa, and the Japanese Emperor’s power and land grabs in the Pacific.  (FYI — We did Not fight against socialism or communism, as Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, the newest and dimmest of GOP bulbs to enter the Senate, has declared.)

Our present era is completely different altogether.  On-the-ground combat is a Third-World military tactic.  We in the US face a whole new set of enemies and a far more insidious type of aggression.  Military in nature, yes, but disguised as part of our every day infrastructure.   Attacks can be mounted through cyberspace.  Attacks can be mounted through media and social media platforms.  Attacks can be mounted through airborne diseases, aka a global pandemic, which has been politicized and weaponized to great effect.  

So the question we now face is, “Could our foreign adversaries use our own democracy, leaders and political institutions against us to cripple the US population, killing millions, while at the same time killing our economy and undermining our democracy – without firing a single shot? “ 

The short answer?  YES. Many, in a knee-jerk reaction, will decry this assessment. “This could never happen here,” they’ll bleat. But the truth is, not only could it happen.  It IS happening.  Right here. Right now.  And it’s happening because the current occupant of the White House is aiding and abetting a three-pronged attack upon our country. 

Before you dismiss what I’m saying as partisan, please hear me out.

The facts (verified by multiple intelligence agencies AND the GOP-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee) are thus:

1. The Trump Family Is Compromised by its crushing billion-dollar debt to a number of our foreign adversaries: Russia, China, Turkey — much of which comes due in January 2021.  Consequently, all foreign policy decisions Trump has made since 2017 have been shaded by the financial power these adversaries wield over him.
2. Russia Cyber-Attacked our 2016 election is just one element of the ongoing “Active Measures” post-cold-war campaign that includes:          a.  Infiltrating our media (see Russian TV network office in Kansas; see purchase of Reuters; Fox News anchors who spout continuous disinformation and Russian talking points);                                                                  b. Russian-infiltrating ownership of social media platforms (e.g., Facebook and Parler–a Russian-flunky-sourced Twitter wannabe, funded by the likes of American and Russian oligarchs, see Dave Troy’s article on  mashable.com) The purpose, not the least of which, is to push the boundaries of our communications regulations against our Free Speech rights and to create cheap mass distribution networks to influence, inflame and disinform US.                        c.  Compromising prominent GOP politicians, e.g., Trump, Graham, McConnell, McCarthy, Johnson, Paul, Nunes, Meadows, Gaetz, DeSantis, Bondi, Giuliani and others, by allegedly funneling oligarch-sourced money into their campaigns, allegedly laundering money through their states or private companies, allegedly paying them off directly, and/or allegedly compromising their “honey-trap” personal indiscretions to create leverage.  
3. Putin has unrestricted access to Trump (without any Intelligence or Congressional Oversight).  EVERY decision Trump makes, he’s been counseled by Putin, our greatest and most fervent foreign adversary, his favorite “advisor.”

What better way to attack a country than to use its news and pundit media (e.g., Fox News Carlson, Hannity, Dobbs, Ingraham, the newly fired Pirro and the insipidly vapid Fox & Friends cast), its social media platforms, its Constitutional freedoms and norms, its democratic infrastructure, its “leader” and body politic? 

It’s economical.  It’s risk-free.  Consequence-free. Bloodless (for Russia).  Above all, it’s incredibly effective.  Just look at the results.  It’s a Putin wet dream in progress. Here’s what Putin, Trump and the GOP have already accomplished, together.

By exploiting our system’s inherent and historic racial injustice, Trump and his GOP enablers have created a population divide similar to the time of Civil War, blurring our ability to unite as AMERICANS who have everything in common, especially when faced with a foreign adversary.

By flouting basic public health and safety measures, Trump and his GOP enablers have sickened millions of Americans (many of them personally, e.g., 130 Secret Service agents and countless White House staff) and killed 250,000 Americans and counting. Far more deadly than an outright military strike. Trump, on Putin’s advice, has singlehandedly infected our military, law enforcement, medical and first-responder personnel.  Abroad, Trump has given Russia, Turkey, Syria and the Taliban carte blanche to kill and wound our military and local allies with giddy abandon. They have kneecapped our global efforts to control and defeat the pandemic.  All of which lays bare our defenses to keep the world order from the “corporate/military/political takeover” mounted by Russia and China.

By refusing to concede the election THAT THE ENTIRE WORLD KNOWS he has most definitively lost, Putin, Trump and his GOP enablers cast doubt on our free and fair elections (“The most secure elections ever held in the history of the US,” according to CISA in Trump’s own administration.) Consequently, Trump and the GOP aids and abets Putin by obstructing the peaceful and ongoing transition of power that seeks to ensure that our national security and our public health are protected.

Why?  Why would a president and GOP Senators and House members want to cripple almost every aspect of the very country they’ve sworn an oath to serve and protect?

The only conclusion is one formerly found only in fiction.  The current occupant of the White House is an agent of our foreign adversaries.  A real-life  “Manuchurian Candidate,” or in this case, more accurately, a “Siberian” candidate.  He has leapt off the book page and film screen and catapulted directly into our White House.  When I said this four years ago, some thought it was hyperbole.  As of this writing, it is more of an understatement than hyperbole. What’s more, we appear to have an entire “Siberian” party in the tattered and unrecognizable remains of the former GOP, led by a cartoon-like villain in the guise of Senate Majority Leader, and publicized by another cartoon-like villain, Rudy Ghouliani himself. Forever linked by their unsavory ties to Russian FSB operatives, Russian oligarchs and their joint fantasy of a global white supremacy.

So what, can we as Americans, to do?  Well, the good news is, we turned out the vote in historical and previously unheard of millions (over 150 million to be more precise).  Almost 80 million Americans voted for former Vice-President, President-elect Joe Biden and former CA Senator, Kamala Harris, now Vice-President elect.

The bad news is, Kentucky, inexplicably and with a 13% approval rating throughout the state, somehow returned the malevolent Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell to the Senate.  Given his ties to bad actors in both Russia and China, this makes the road forward that much more difficult. He’s shown himself to be the single largest obstruction to passing or even considering any legislation intended to assist Americans in their daily lives. His only stated goal is to create an imbalanced judiciary that will protect “white supremacy” and corporate wealth, while suppressing voting rights of all non-whites and those who vote Democratic, for a generation, if not longer.

If we’re to become free of the insidious attacks that the Russians continue to hurl at us, aided and abetted by a number of the GOP Congressional senators and representatives, (in what was formerly the Republican party, but is now more accurately described as the party of Putin), we MUST gain Democratic control of the Senate.   That means, all hands on deck for the Senatorial run-off race in Georgia in January. Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight can’t do it all on their own.  We, as a nation, should put all our efforts into electing Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to the Senate.  I repeat.  We as a nation should do EVERYTHING WE CAN to elect the Democratic candidates in Georgia to the Senate. 

McConnell and the GOP MUST be defanged in order to allow a Biden administration to put forth the remedial legislation our country so desperately needs: for COVID economic relief; for a national COVID mask mandate, funding for COVID protection measures and vaccine distribution, for national security protections; for racial justice; for climate change; for communications regulations AND most importantly, for healthcare – so that from this moment on, we never again leave ourselves vulnerable to foreign adversaries who would exploit our vulnerabilities and exacerbate our pain and suffering, using the leaders we’re supposed to follow and trust, to accomplish their attacks, without firing a single shot.

The Retaking of America

Today is the first day we begin in earnest to take back America.  In tribute to Kirk Douglas, we must all be Spartacus.  Only in today’s terms, we must all be Mitt Romney and Doug Jones.  Courage over capitulation.  Conscience over cowardice.  Right over wrong.  This impeached occupant of the White House has been proven, beyond all doubt, to have abused his power and obstructed Congress.  The sham trial in the Senate is not an exoneration of his guilt.  It is an affirmation of a coverup in which the GOP are criminal accomplices.  And so, from this moment forward, our efforts must be focused on continuing to speak truth to the American people.  We must break through the Fox News noise bubble that merely echoes the lies and the gaslighting spouted hourly by this regime.  We must point out, again and again, the injustice and cruelties that are the hallmarks of this regime.  And we must remind those who are fearful of “others” that we have more in common than they have with anyone serving this regime.

Public service means serving the interests of the public.  That seems self-evident, but it bears repeating.  The interests of the PUBLIC.  So far, the only beneficiaries of this regime are corporations, 46 billionaires, Kim Jong Un, Mohammed bin Salman, Erdogan, Vladmir Putin and the Trump family organization. Last time I checked, none of these recipients represent the PUBLIC interest.  The NON-BENEFICIARIES are EVERYONE ELSE.  NOT A SINGLE POLICY has improved the present or future lives, finances, education or healthcare of anyone else. Not a single policy.  With henchmen McConnell and Graham, this regime has effectively blocked EVERY SINGLE piece of legislation that would help EVERYONE ELSE in AMERICA.  With henchman faux AG Barr, he has corrupted the Department of Justice into a political hatchet organization.  With henchmen Grassley and Kennedy, his revenge tour intent upon criminalizing anyone who dares to step up as a political opponent has begun.  THIS IS NOT AMERICA.  NOTHING about this is AMERICAN.

Why does Trump want to be president? To serve the people?  To create policy that will make the world a better place?  To provide moral leadership in the US and the world? Decidedly NO. His manipulation of financial world markets benefits him and his family, monetarily.  Every time.  His foreign policy is bribery and extortion in order to financially benefit him and his family.  His deregulation of EVERY SINGLE ENVIROMENTAL protection makes CLIMATE CHANGE and the DESTRUCTION OF THE PLANET inevitable. But he and his family benefit financially.  None of this qualifies as public service.  None of this benefits Americans.  HIS ONLY INTEREST IS TO BENEFIT HIMSELF. Politically.  Financially.  Personally.  Period. He’s a symptom of a corrupted capitalism at its worst.  We, as a society, deserve democracy at its best.

What’s important to remember is, our country’s government — our country’s moral character — our country’s soul IS NOT REALITY TV.  But it is real.  It’s not entertainment, although the current occupant of the White House thinks it is, as he pays off audiences to laugh at his cruelties.  But the TRUTH is: Military families aren’t political props.  Medals of Freedom are not party favors for Klansmen. Healthcare is an AMERICAN RIGHT. Education is an AMERICAN RIGHT. Freedom of Speech is an AMERICAN RIGHT.  Voting is an AMERICAN RIGHT.  Infringing those rights is UNAMERICAN.  Violating the law is UNAMERICAN.  Trump is UNAMERICAN.

Rules of law protect us all.  And no one is above the law.  Immorality and unlawfulness leads to fascism.  We’ve seen it happen before. It’s happening now.  FASCISM IS UNAMERICAN. RUSSIA IS NOT OUR FRIEND. These two truths remain as valid as they did in 1949.  FDR understood that– as has every President since then.  The Presidency is NOT FOR SALE.  It is NOT FOR PROFIT.  It is NOT A MONARCHY.  It is NOT A CAPITALIST CORPORATION. The Framers of the Constitution fought the Revolutionary War (with no airports) to protect us from a leader who would, in cowardly fashion, wield unbridled, corrupted power for personal and financial gain.  To protect us from a leader like Donald Trump.

For a true America, we have to do what’s right.  We have to do what’s just.  Reject MAGAts.  Reject what’s left of the GOP.   Reject the impeached occupant of the White House.  I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America, for which it stands, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

It’s time to step forward, with courage, to retake America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Profiles in Courage and Cowardice

Today the US Senate voted, by majority rule, to acquit the most criminal and corrupt impeached occupant of the White House that this country has ever seen in modern times.  Cowardice, fear and corruption informed their voting, and they will be remembered and described as cowards and criminals from this day forward until the end of time.

On the other hand, those who had everything at stake, vulnerable Democrats like Doug Jones, and ONE LONE Republican voice, MITT ROMNEY, exemplify the meaning of profiles in courage.  They understand that their careers in the Senate are secondary to their obligations as humans, as US Citizens, as public servants, to display the moral character and courage that qualifies them to be in public service.

They did not bend to blackmail, bribes, threats or fear of the pettiest regime that’s ever been permitted to hold office in the US.  And for that, we owe them our thanks.

As for the flock of sheep (aka GOP Senators) who chose to follow #MoscowMitch over the cliff of morality, justice and character — come November, the US electorate will show them what they think of these craven cowards who engaged in corruption, bribery and treason, at the expense of the American people; who worked only against US interests, never for them.  For all of eternity, starting with today, they will be branded, in the footnotes, as traitors to democracy, violators of the Constitution, and criminal accomplices, before they’re consigned to the dustbins of history.

 

 

The Day Democracy Died

It was the best of times.  it was the worst of times.  But today, today this is the saddest of times.  Sadder, even, than Election day 2016.  Today is the day that democracy officially died.  It’s the day the Republicans in the United States Senate revealed themselves as accomplices to the lowliest of the world’s dictatorships. Our lawmakers demonstrated for all to see that they have no moral compass.  No moral courage.  And they’re active accomplices to holding US hostage, by the most despicable and deplorable of individuals on the planet. That sounds like hyperbole.  In fact, it’s an understatement.

The refusal to call for witnesses and documents in the Senate trial to impeach and remove the current occupant of the WH illustrates the fragility of our government. We can never assume, going forward, that our leaders will act with integrity or in the public interest. Like a Third-World military regime, where power, greed, brutality and cruelty are the only priorities, the US is now nothing more than one of several global schoolyard bullies, muddied and mired in a filthy sandbox.

In the MAGAt America, whichever shall forever be known as Fascist America; rule of law, integrity, morality, justice–everything America formerly stood for, is for sale to the highest bidder. Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Pi, Edrogan, Mohammed bin Salman. Evil is encouraged.  Injustice is the brand. Destruction of the planet — the water we drink, the air we breathe and the land we inhabit is being poisoned, and so, by extension, are we.  We’ve fallen so far from grace, not even someone as honor-bound as Joe Biden, as inspirational as Elizabeth Warren, or as common-sensible as Amy Klobuchar may be able to rescue us from the slime pit abyss in which the US now finds itself.

To quote Kurt Vonnegut, “and so it goes.”

All the heroes have spoken. Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader Schumer, Chairpersons Schiff, Nadler, Engel and Waters have all done their level best to expose the criminality of the WH occupants. And THEY SUCCEEDED. Seventy-five percent of the country WANTS TO HEAR FROM WITNESSES.  Fifty-one percent of the country WANTS IMPOTUS removed.  But, just like in the countries who own our GOP lawmakers, what the people want is irrelevant. Only the brutes get to decide how our government functions.

After the shameful presence of CJ Roberts, who “presided” like a gavel-holding mechanical monkey, powered by solely on behalf of the GOP, we can, apparently, no longer rely on the Supreme Court or the even the majority of the judicial branch to do the right thing. Ever again.

So where does that leave us?

On the fast track to hell. And fascism.  And with IMPOTUS’s latest evil scheme, we’re on the road to being blown to smithereens.  Again, seems like hyperbole. But no, it’s a fact. He just announced he’s bringing back land mines. The very weapon that has been specifically demonstrated to indiscriminately and disproportionately kill innocents, children, civilians.  The very weapon that Princess Diana and the HALO organization have spent decades trying to defuse and remove all over the world to prevent the maiming and murder of innocents.  It’s the very kind of cruelty in which IMPOTUS revels.  And innocents are his favorite targets.

As one political writer so eloquently described, democracy is bleeding out in the Capitol Building.  And the GOP is not just watching, they’re stepping on its throat, choking it to death. For what? Money? Power? Fear? Cruelty?

So, here’s my last ditch effort.  To Every GOP Senator who voted against Witness and Documents in this trial, you have one last opportunity for redemption.  One possible way to staunch the flow of America’s lifeblood.

Vote to Convict and Remove, and you’ll demonstrate you’re worth as a representative of the people.  Vote to Acquit and you’ll never work in Washington, D.C. again.  Sixty-five million of US will make it our life’s goal.  That’s a promise.

 

 

Truth and Consequences

Last night I listened as commentators bandied about the current occupant of the White House’s remarks about immigration, specifically, the “shithole countries” remark.  And I’m left to wonder, as I have ever since the current occupant of the WH declared his bid for the presidency, why in the world anyone is discussing him as if he, his reactions, his remarks, or his actions belonged in the world of normal discourse.  They don’t. Getting caught up in the micro specifics of what he says, does, believes, feels, doesn’t feel — is irrelevant and meaningless. It’s the same mistake the world made about Hitler when he became Chancellor.  This is not a person who is governed by humanist norms.  Whether or not he’s mentally challenged, those who surround him, e.g., a Stephen Miller, are the archetypes of evil and their only goals are to wreck havoc on a system they believe has personally, emotionally, or psychologically failed them — and make it pay for all the injustices they feel they’ve been subjected to in their personal and professional lives.

Here are the truths, which I believe should govern our daily conversations, and the consequences of these truths:

TRUTH:  The 2016 election brought us an illegitimately elected regime, meddled with and obstructed by a hostile foreign government with the assistance of the GOP, the GOP nominee and his “campaign staff,” or “senior advisers.”  We have done nothing, as a country, as a government, and as a people, to protect our electoral process for 2018.

CONSEQUENCE: When the 2018 elections take place, the GOP will be in a win-win situation.  If the Dems win, then the Russians meddled, since we didn’t stop them, and the elections should be considered illegitimate, unless we’re willing to forfeit that narrative about the 2016 election and allow the DT Presidency to stand.  If the GOP wins, then it doesn’t matter that the Russians meddled — and they’ll get to keep their positions.

TRUTH:  The current occupant of the WH has more than likely been cultivated as a Russian asset, starting from about as early as the 1970’s.  He is a failed businessman, a failed television show host, and a failed politician.  Yes, he occupies the White House.  But illegitimately so.

CONSEQUENCE: Our government has been seized without a shot fired.  His goal is to create havoc and bring the US democratic process to a halt.  The small details of which policies he supports, which policies he spouts, which policies he knows nothing about, is a micro-view of the problem.  The macro-view is, our government is in shambles.  Our domestic and international departments are barely functioning.  And we have lost all credibility with the rest of the world.  Russia’s mission accomplished, and then some.

TRUTH: DT’s money laundering operations not only served Russian financial purposes, but were a way to ensure that his loyalties would be to Russia, and his finances beholden to their largesse.  An actual sex tape (as komprimat) of him doing the sorts of things we can all easily imagine him doing to this day is irrelevant.  The proof of his betrayal to the government of the US is in his financial crimes for over three decades.

CONSEQUENCE: To date, there have been none, to him.  For us, the consequences are a daily conversation about the micro-issues, but no solution to the bigger problem.  Democracy, as we know it, no longer works, nor does it serve the majority of the people.

TRUTH:  The members of the GOP will stand by the current occupant of the WH as our government becomes a laughingstock, so long as their personal agenda of satisfying their donors and contributors continues to progress throughout the sham of Congressional approvals, and so long as outrageous judicial appointments (as the courts are the last refuge of our democracy) can be pushed through.  In addition, their own personal loyalties to and financial dependencies upon Russia have yet to surface.  But everybody has a price and/or everybody has a vice.  The truth will eventually out, but….

CONSEQUENCE: By the time we know the full extent of the GOP’s betrayal of our country, if we ever know, it will be too late. Democracy as we know it will be dismantled.  The population at large will be disillusioned and/or apathetic, and the traitors to our ideals, values and government will have won.

TRUTH: The Democrats, in their present incarnation, are unable to rally the support of the people and unite this country.  The two-party system has outlived its responsiveness to the makeup of this country.

CONSEQUENCE: Unless we figure out a way to create a parliamentary system, in which the Prime Minister is answerable, daily, to the variety of factions and concerns of the country — our democracy has less than no chance of surviving.

FINAL TRUTH: In the absence of restructuring our democracy into a parliamentary system, we must create a dialectic party — one that represents the best of what both the Dem and the GOP parties could have been, but will not be, for whatever reason.  We need a new party, an inclusive party, that takes into consideration all of the major issues facing our world, and that will present the best, possible solutions for the crises in which the current administration has taken such pleasure in embroiling us.

FUTURE CONSEQUENCE: Someday, a TRUE REPUBLIC candidate, who creates a platform with humanity, empathy, compassion and understanding for ALL US citizens, and for ALL individuals in need, regardless of their place in the world, will ultimately be the leader of the free world in its truest sense. I don’t know if Oprah is the person to do this, but given her speech at the Golden Globes, well, a girl can dream, can’t she?

 

 

 

The Story of Now: A Non-Fictional Tale

There once was an angry, greedy wolf who lived in the woods.
Angry Wolf was always hungry, and always wanted more than any of the other wolves in the forest. The other wolves didn’t care for the angry wolf, and they often ignored him or left him out of their hunting trips.
“I’ll show those other wolves,” he promised himself.”
Angry Wolf loped far from the forest until he came to a fenced in, mostly grassy meadow, with a few sparse patches, filled with millions of sheep.
“Why should those sheep roam freely in the meadow while I have to scavenge for food in the forest every day?” the wolf said to himself.
So the wolf snuck under the fence (for as we all know, fences and walls are not enough to keep anyone in or out).
He picked off one of the outlying sheep and greedily gobbled her up before the other sheep saw and turned on him.
To his great surprise, the sheep were so busy chewing on their patches of grass and jostling for thicker patches that they hardly noticed him at all.
So the wolf grew bolder and ate two sheep the next day, three the day after that, and so on. Until his body swelled and his fur turned an interesting and unnatural color.
Still the sheep didn’t seem to notice.
So the greedy wolf who was never satisfied, no matter how many sheep he ate, decided he wanted to be The Supreme Ruler Of Sheep, so that not only could he eat them, but they would have to do his bidding as well. In fact, he was hoping that the sheep would kill each other so he wouldn’t have to work so hard, then he could eat and sleep all the live-long day.
One day the wolf stood up on his hind legs, wobbling under the weight of his bloated sheep-filled belly, and announced to the sheep,
“I want you to vote for me to be your Supreme Ruler,” he bleated in a voice that resembled the sheep he’d eaten.
The sheep stopped munching on and jostling each other over their patchy blades of grass.
“If you vote for me, I will grow more grass for you to fatten yourselves on,” the wolf bleated.
“Yay!” cheered a few of the sheep, and more sheep joined in.
“If you vote for me, I will build a fence so that no other wolves like me can get in and none of you can get out,” the wolf bleated, this time more loudly.
“Yay!” cheered even more of the sheep.
“If you vote for me, I promise to eat you and your children, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually I will eat each and every one of you!” he barked even more loudly (There was no need to sound like a sheep any longer. For the sheep didn’t seem to care that he was a wolf.)
“Hip hip hooray!” the sheep bleated as one. “He may eat us one day. Not today, not tomorrow, but someday! Hurray”
And the wolf smiled to himself as he licked his chops. For now he would be the richest, most powerful and best fed wolf in the history of the forest and no wolf would ever be more powerful than he.

Remember When…?

Remember when….

We had a President who respected science and didn’t deny…
Who tried to make the world a better, cleaner place?

Remember when…

We had a President who respected life…
Who tried to make the whole world a fairer, safer space?

Remember when…

We had a President who respected truth…
Who tried to fill the world with educated faith?

Remember when…

We had a President who respected laws…
Who promoted love and kindness, instead of greed and hate?

Remember when…

We had a President who promised “yes, we can” govern with empathy, equality and with liberty and justice for all?

Remember when…

We had a President?
With every passing day, I find it harder to recall.

“Those Were the Dayssssss”

All in the Family was one of the most successful SITCOMS ever, and Archie Bunker its beloved bigoted curmudgeon. Everyone knows someone like Archie. He could be your dad, your uncle, your big brother, your boyfriend, your husband, your son, your father’s best friend.  The list goes on.

There’s always at least one Archie-type in your social circle: bullheaded and bullying, opinionated, hardworking, and SICK AND TIRED of being criticized by the “Meatheads” and ‘losers’ of the world: The liberals who preach kindness, fairness, opportunities and justice for all. You know, like in a democracy.

We grew up listening to his opinions. feeling and hearing his wrath when things didn’t go his way.  Who needs education?  Hard work in a factory’s all you need to make your home your castle.

Kindness?  “That’s for hen-pecked sissies.  Toughen up,” he’d say.                              Fairness?  “I’ll give you fairness,” he’d say, raising a threatening fist. Because fair was whatever he said it was.                                                                                                           Opportunities?  Justice?  “Crap! What about my opportunities. What about justice for me?”

And so we grew up believing that it was better to be like our particular Archie-figure; it would be safer to act like him, talk like him, agree with him, and easier to believe what he believed than it was to disagree with or challenge him — because he was the powerful one.  His was the voice of AUTHORITY. He was the winner.  And we wanted to be winners, too. He was the decision maker — and this way, we didn’t have to make any decisions on our own, we could just follow his.  So much easier….

On the other hand, no one gave a second thought to being like an “Edith” figure.  It didn’t matter that she was long suffering, smarter and kinder; she worked harder and she actually made life easier for others at her own expense. It was essential to Archie’s self image to quash her voice at every opportunity — because HE was the BOSS.  Or was he?  The sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t made him even angrier, nastier and more hate mongering… does this ring any bells?

All in the Family was a comedy wrapped in a hard and bitter truth — that a large percentage of this country’s voters really believes the words to its theme song,  “Those Were the Dayssss” (excerpted below) written by Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton.

“…And you knew who you were then,                                                                                                    Girls were girls and men were men.                                                                                                     Mister we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again…                                                                                           Didn’t need no welfare state. Everybody pulled his weight…                                                    Fifty dollars paid the rent, Freaks were in a circus tent…                                                            Hair was short and skirts were long…I don’t know just what went wrong.                         Those were the days.”

That pretty much sums it up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the Election Was a Football Game…

 

Rules of Conduct.  

Unnecessary Roughness.

What happens to a football player who intentionally clocks or harms an opponent? He takes a foul. Maybe gets fined. Perhaps the refs even throw him out of the game or suspend him. And the media covers every misstep with relish.

In 2016, what happens to a candidate who intentionally harms, or incites others to harm his opponent? Nothing. No fouls. No media coverage. No fines. And he is definitely not thrown out of the game. In fact, he gains more support. Curious….

Behavior Unbecoming…  

What happens to a football player if he assaults, rapes, or commits an act of violence, takes drugs, or participates in any illegal actions off the field?  He gets fined. He gets suspended. He gets tried and sent to jail.

In 2016, what happens to a candidate who does any of the above? Nothing. No consequences. No media coverage. Again, he gains more support. Curious still….

Cheating.

What happens to a football player who allegedly manipulates footballs, or a coach who appears to have received leaked copies of his opponent’s strategies and play communications, all to create a competitive edge? HUGE MEDIA COVERAGE, censure, fines, suspensions, and more fines.

In 2016, what happens when a candidate lies, steals, commits fraud, colludes with foreign governments to influence and manipulate a NATIONAL ELECTION, incites voter fraud and voter suppression, and has made clear his intentions to use the office of President for personal financial gain for himself, his families, and his cronies? NOTHING. No I take that back, he gains even MORE support. And not just from the population at large, but from the federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI. Curiouser and curiouser…

By all means, let’s hold our football players to a higher standard than the ones we have for Presidential nominees. This is football we’re talking about. And it’s the Super Bowl that’s at stake! More importantly, there will be football whether we live in a free democracy or a totalitarian dictatorship, and we want our football players to tow the proper line and exercise good sportsmanship. After all, they’re role models for our kids.  But that’s not required from the GOP candidate.

The only thing at stake is our democracy and global stability, so no big deal. Right?

An Open Letter to All Republicans

In case you have forgotten, please let me remind you re the definition of sedition and treason. 

“Treason is disloyalty or treachery to one’s country or its government…any attempt to overthrow the government or impair the well-being of a state to which one owes allegiance; the crime of giving aid or comfort to the enemies of one’s government. 

Sedition is any act, writing, speech, etc., directed unlawfully against state authority, the government, or constitution, or calculated to bring it into contempt or to incite others to hostility, ill will or disaffection.” 

Just to be clear…
Colluding with a foreign government to influence an election, inciting violence and military uprisings, AND/OR refusing to accept the results of an election and concede AND/OR refusing to confirm the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice nominated by a sitting President means impeachment and jail time for those who willfully act against the best interests of the country and defy our Constitution. 

Please keep these definitions in mind and behave accordingly. Because we, the American people, surely will. You will be held accountable for your actions in the days ahead.