Where Have All The Flowers Gone? Onto The Graves Of The Innocent

Here we go again. Just when the hell is this madness going to stop? Well, as long as a person’s right to carry a military style weapon is more important than the lives of the innocent, including children, it won’t stop. It will continue to get worse and worse.

In the latest attack, an Army Reservist shot and killed at least 18 people in two different locations in Lewiston, ME. This incident is a perfect example of just how disjointed Republican arguments against gun control really are. This incident proves beyond a reasonable doubt that these Republican talking points are bogus and outright lies.

The shooter, and I won’t give him credit by naming him, proves just how useless Republican controlled states are at protecting their own citizens from these kinds of people.

Here is what we know so far. The shooter was assigned to support training with the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment in West Point, New York, when commanders became concerned about him. He was taken to the Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point for evaluation.

It has been reported that the shooter complained about “hearing voices” and reportedly wanted to “shoot up” the Army facility he was assigned. He was apparently appraised and later released.

Here is where the lies come into place. In Maine there is no Red Flag law. They have instead a Yellow Flag law. This laws says that police must seek medical evaluation of anyone believed to be a danger before trying to take their guns away. Well, this person did have a medical evaluation yet he still had his guns and no one tried to take them away.

That is not all that surprising. Remember in 2017, the very first law passed by Republicans when they took over the government was to make it legal for anyone who is not capable of taking care of themselves or their personal business to own a gun.

There is also a case before the Supreme Court that says a person who threatened several women and was under a protection order from the court, cannot have his weapons removed from him. Several ultra-conservative organizations are supporting this person even though he was arrested for his threats against women.

Republicans love to say that these mass shootings are the result of “mental problems” and not guns. Yet, time after time they pass laws that allow these people with “mental problems” to keep or even purchase guns.

This was the 36th mass shooting in our country this year. Over 200 people have been killed and thousands have been wounded in these shootings. We have seen shootings at movie theaters, concerts, bars, churches and worse schools. Yet nothing is being done to prevent these killings.

As always, Republicans say “this is not the time to talk about legislation” concerning guns because we need to grieve the dead. Then they simply refuse to talk about it later because they apparently want more and more of us to be killed going about our daily lives.

The new Speaker said that it isn’t guns “it is the human heart”. NO!!! It is guns you clown! If we continue to make gun ownership the only “absolute” right in our nation, we will continue to see our neighbors and our children become victims of mass shootings. And, it is this lazy argument that is making this all possible.

Then we have the political violent speech from several Republican officials. Like “looters should be shot and killed on sight”, trump. Or, “anyone crossing the border carrying a backpack should be shot and killed”, DeSantis. Or, “we will place barbed wire below the surface of the Rio Grande river to stop immigrants trying to cross into our country”, Abbott. Of course this barbed wire is really a death trap intended to kill immigrants and it has already.

There is more and more violent rhetoric coming out of the mouths of Republican politicians. Is it any wonder that we are seeing more and more deaths because of this speech? Take that together with super lax gun laws, and the recipe for death increases. In Maine, you do not need a license to own or carry a gun so anyone can get one whenever they want.

Our nation faces an epidemic of gun violence. Allowing everyone to have a weapon is not the answer. We need reasonable gun laws to keep us safer and allow our children to grow up without fear of being shot by someone. The Speaker says that it is “the human heart” that is the cause. Well, there are “human hearts” in the rest of the developed world yet we are the number one leader is mass shootings. No one else even comes close.

Other developed nations allow people to own guns, but they have strict laws concerning the ownership of those guns. As a result, they don’t have the huge numbers of innocent people being killed by a mass shooter. So, it IS THE GUNS that is the real problem.

Did you know that there are more guns on the streets of America than there are people? How is that even possible considering many Americans don’t own a gun? When assault weapons were banned in the 1990s, mass shootings decreased for the ten years the law was in tact. Since Republicans repealed it, the number of mass killings have soared.

As you can see, there is a direct correlation between guns and mass killings. These numbers are confirmed by FBI statistics. We must ban assault weapons mainly because it is the right thing to do but also because they have no purpose but to kill people.

There is an old anti-war song called “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”. In today’s America it is clear where they have gone. They are being placed on the graves of the hundreds upon hundreds of dead innocents who were killed by mass shooters.

NOW is the time to act and do something about these guns. Remember, no one is saying the second amendment should be repealed. All we are asking for is reasonable laws to keep weapons out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them in the first place. The vast majority, about 75 percent, want reasonable gun safety laws, including gun owners.

Republicans claim to be “pro-life” because of their opposition to abortion. You cannot be “pro-life” if you continue to allow mass killing and not doing something to stop it. Once again their lies are exposed for what they are. Mere political talking points without any meaning. All in the name of donations from gun manufacturers for their campaigns. Pathetic!

The Republican Party Has Turned Away From Our Constitution And Embraced “Authoritarianism”

Constitution

I have been recommending that the next election should result in the biggest defeat by any political party in history. That party is the Republican Party. This is not because I wish to see a one-party system, it is because the Republican Party has lost all of their values and true beliefs. They have turned away from Constitutional law and favor an authoritarian system.

This has not been a result of the former guy and his rages and lies. It has been happening for years and we have just sat back and watched and did nothing to stop it. We are now seeing the fruits of that lackadaisical behavior towards our democracy.

Although there were goofballs before, the major shift by Republicans started with the election of Barak Obama, the first black President. That election started what was called the Tea Party movement. That was the real beginning of the fall of the Republican Party into authoritarianism.

Since that election, Republican controlled states have passed laws making it harder to vote, they passed voter ID laws, they passed voting district maps that take way representation from those groups that are “different”. They have systematically stripped away civil rights from many different groups of people.

When the Affordable Care Act was passed they shouted and screamed about it. They promised to “repeal and replace” the act with their own because the “government shouldn’t get between you and your doctor”. We are now 12 years later and they still haven’t done anything except bitch about it. They made the unholy alliance with the far right radical Evangelicals over abortion. The Supreme Court which Mitch McConnell deliberately “stacked” with far right conservatives overturned Roe v. Wade.

In 2016 we saw the rise of the former guy in the party. His hole campaign was all about bitching, complaining and victimization not about policy. He said “only I can fix the country”. But, when given the chance, he failed miserably except in giving himself and other very wealthy people a massive tax cut that is making our national debt explode.

He lost in 2020 and is still trying to convince us the election was stolen. The problem is that too many Republicans in Congress are echoing that sentiment. They still refuse to acknowledge that he lost. These are the very same people that have now shut down the House of Representatives because they can’t keep a Speaker of the House or elect a new one. On a personal note, I believe this whole mess over the Speaker is just a ploy by Republicans to ensure the government shuts down next month which is what they really want.

But the problem isn’t just in Congress. It is in state houses and local governments all across the nation. We have Republican controlled states banning abortion. They are passing massive gerrymandered voting maps to “take away Democrat seats”. They are passing laws that place themselves between doctors and their patients passing those anti-transgender medical laws.

This week, Lubick, TX just passed a law that makes it “illegal for anyone traveling through the area to get to another state for the purpose of obtaining an abortion to use ‘their’ highways”. Idaho passed a law earlier that made it illegal for anyone to “drive anyone who wishes to obtain an abortion across the state”. They couldn’t pass a law making it illegal to cross the state line, so they made it illegal to “transport” an abortion seeker in the state of Idaho.

These are just two examples of the horrific laws being passed by Republican controlled states. On one hand they claim to be “pro-life” but then pass laws that reduce food stamps, WIC, Medicaid and other social safety nets needed by poor people to actually raise these children. They only care about “life” when it is in the womb. After that, they say f*ck it.

The majority of the party is supporting a man who has been indicted in four different jurisdictions on 91 felony counts of criminal behavior. They claim it is just a witch hunt. They also claim they have “mountains of evidence” of President Biden’s criminal activity. Yet, when they present it, there is no evidence and they are openly lying just to get revenge against Democrats.

In a real case of unbelievable irony, MTG claims she will bring a motion to censure Rep. Tlaib for her comments about the war in Israel. MTG claims Tlaib is supporting “terrorists” against the Jews. Yet, this is a woman who has openly and knowingly spoken at and attended white supremacist and antisemitic gatherings.

What this really is the total difference between Republican views of free speech and what the Constitution says it is. In their view, if you say anything they don’t like, you should be censured. If you incite an insurrection against the very government y0u are supposed to support, you are just using your right to free speech.

Violent rhetoric has risen horribly in the last seven years. It is not uncommon for Republicans, led by the former guy, to encourage violence against political opponents. It has become second nature to make threats against Judges, Lawyers, Jurors, the FBI, Witnesses and anyone who disagrees with Republican authoritarianism or are considered “Democrats”.

The Republican Party has thrown off any concept of democracy. They have revolted against our nation, our way of life and our Constitution. It is THEY who wish to establish a one-party system led by a dictator. Then that one party can rubber stamp everything their “dear leader” says should be passed and not really have to work.

If you take just 10 seconds of each day, you can see the authoritarian trend of the Republican Party. You can see the encouragement of violence against their opponents. You can see your civil rights being stripped away from you one state at a time and one right at a time.

The Republican Party has become America’s “Authoritarian Party” that is intent on ruling over us and not governing. They have no desire to worry about you the people or do anything to protect the rights under the Constitution. They want to be able to dictate which rights are for which people. If you are not “one of them” you don’t deserve any rights.

This authoritarian trend is not just at the federal level. You can see it all the way down to County and local levels. If this trend continues and we the people fail to stop it at the polls, then I fear for our country and our democracy. I served my country for 20 years to prevent this madness from taking hold here at home. Please join me in voting these thugs out of office next year. If we can last that long.

This Is Where Hate Brought Us

The State of Georgia announced more indictments against the former president and roughly 18 of his cohorts. These indictments are all felonies including racketeering. In all the former guy has been indicted on roughly 100 felony crimes this year.

A lot of people are happy over all of this. Some people are angry over all of this. Personally, I am of a double mindset on it. On one hand, I am happy that he may finally be held accountable for his misbehavior. On the other hand, it is troubling that we need to go to these lengths to save our democracy from a demagogue.

As all of these indictments come out, almost everyone is talking about them and what should or should not happen to trump and his cronies. What no one is talking about is just how did we get to this point in our history where we need to look into possible crimes committed by a president.

We haven’t had this problem since Watergate. And, then Richard Nixon resigned his position and left office quietly. We have had almost 250 years of democracy and we have never seen anything like this. We have never had anyone claim that he won an election he obviously lost by over 3 million votes.

So, it is appropriate to ask how the hell did we get here? Well, I believe that we got here because one of our political parties determined that in order to win elections they needed to cheat and foster hate among our people. They went out of their way to demonize the poor, the elderly, women, immigrants, young people and LGBTQ.

This turn towards hate did not start with trump. It has been going on for almost 40 years. It started slowly and then turned into a steamroller determined to ensure power, not governance. Things that were rule of law were overturned by state legislatures and a conservative supreme court. Voting rights were and still are under attack. Roe was overturned and states started passing restrictive abortion laws without any regards to the health of the woman.

The LGBTQ community has been under increasing attacks. Transgenders are now the favorite target of so-called conservatives around the country. The party that says they “won’t get between a patient and their doctor” is doing exactly that. They are passing laws making certain medical procedures illegal not on any medical science, but on personal opinions about certain groups of people.

The poster child for all of this hate and bigotry is donald trump. From the day he rode down that escalator to announce his campaign for president back in 2015, the hate spewed out of his mouth time after time. And, his followers lapped it all up like some rabid dogs looking for a treat.

White supremacy raised its ugly head again because he made it “legitimate” to hate others and say whites are better than everyone else. Violent attacks against Asians, immigrants, women and LGBTQ increased dramatically during his presidency and has risen even more since he lost the election.

When he lost his reelection bid, it wasn’t because the people did not want him, it was because of some phantom “rigging” of the election. And, what everyone seems to ignore, is that the states that supposedly “rigged” the election were all controlled by Republicans. So, what he and Republicans are saying is that Republicans rigged the election against their own candidate.

The hate has not stopped since he left office, it has gotten worse. Every single right we are supposed to have under our constitution is under attack. Education is under attack. Voting rights are under attack. The right to live our lives as we deem appropriate is under attack. We are under threat from right wing fascists who want to rule over us and tell us what we can and cannot do.

These indictments are the result of a man who does not love America. Rather he hates America unless it is based on the imaginary power he believes he should be anointed with having. He is not interested in helping the average American, he is interested in destroying our great nation and making it his private domain where he can get richer off of our backs and help his rich cronies get richer by not paying their fair share of taxes.

He has placed himself above the law for personal power grabbing reasons. He has no sense of decency. He has absolutely no integrity. He has no morality. He is only interested in pretending to be god to rule over us like the old Greed Gods. In other words, he is a destroyer not a builder.

This can be proven by his supposed “defense funds” he is setting up to grift off of his followers. Just how can someone who claims to have $10 billion need help in defending himself against crimes he is accused of committing? Why would anyone with a brain keep giving him money for these phony defense funds when most of it goes directly into his own pockets? It is because the culture and the cult of hate is huge among his followers and the Republican party.

The concept of “conservativism” in the Republican party has no definition anymore. The party has morphed into a fascist party only interested in ruling. The whole idea of conservativism has been trashed by this party and made a complete joke among real conservatives. That is why so many conservatives have abandoned the party.

The new cry is “Christian Nationalism”. However it is clear there is no Christianity in anything they are proposing. The turning to hate has made a huge difference in many aspects of life. Attendance at church services has declined dramatically. Mostly because of the hate these so-called Christians propose as the “real christianity”.

The party that hailed itself as the party of business and patriotism and for equal rights for all citizens has turned itself into a party of hate, anti-rights and white supremacy. They want only white people to have rights. Except not all white people can have those rights, only those who follow their perverted doctrine of hate and bigotry.

One of the most stupid defenses of trump over the latest indictments came from that moron Lindsey Graham. He said that “this should be decided by the voters”. How rich. This is all the result of the voters deciding they no longer wanted trump as president so he and his cohorts, including Graham himself, tried to overthrow our government. The real sad part is Graham said that with a straight face.

You can love or hate all of the indictments against our former president. You can hope he gets off or goes to jail for a very long time. But, don’t forget just how we got to this point in our history. We have allowed right-wing nut jobs led by trump take over a branch of our government. They then determined they were the “rightful power” in the nation. When they got beat, they refused to acknowledge that defeat and tried to tear down our nation. They are part of the white supremacy movement that wants the old Jim Crow laws brought back an put non-whites in their “place”.

The Republicans brought all of this down on us with their desire for power and their desire for total control over our lives. They have used hate, bigotry, victimization, and vitriol in order to bring the white supremacists out from the woodwork and vote them into office.

Once they got there, they refused to leave peaceful like everyone before them and tied to overthrow our government. Now we see the real fruits of their attempts. The good news is that the system seems to be working, even if it is slow.

These indictments hopefully will keep another demagogue from trying the same things to destroy our nation. If guilty, the accused must spend a long time in prison. That is where traitors belong.

This is proof that those who refuse to learn from history is doomed to repeat it.

GOP Proves Once Again They Offer Nothing But Whines And Innuendos

As the election year approaches, we need to look at what the GOP is offering America. The answer of course is nothing except whining and innuendos without any merrit.

Last September, Republican members of the House sent a letter to the Attorney General asking that Weiss be named as a special prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case. In April, Republican Senators sent the same kind of letter to the Attorney General.

In both letters the Republicans said it was the only way to ensure the viability of the investigation and “maintain faith in our judicial system”. The Senators letter said: “Given the politicization of the DOJ under your watch and the importance of avoiding any appearance of impropriety, the undersigned request that you provide U.S. Attorney Weiss the full protections and authorities of a special counsel. This is one important action that you can take that will go a long way in restoring faith in our governmental institutions.”

Then the plea deal with Hunter Biden fell through. It wasn’t because Biden changed his mind or that Weiss changed his mind. It was because the judge didn’t like the language in the deal.

So, Biden pleaded not guilty and is facing a trial for his crimes. As a result, the Attorney General announced last week that Weiss was being upgraded to Special Counsel in the matter. Exactly what the GOP wanted him to do for quite some time.

You would think that would satisfy the GOP since they were getting what they wanted. Wrong! After getting what they wanted, they all started complaining and saying that it was actually a bad thing that they got what they wanted.

One by one, those who signed both of these letters started whining about Weiss being named as the Special Prosecutor. Weiss was appointed by the trump administration to oversee this investigation and is a Republican. Still, the GOP doesn’t like him to do what they wanted him to do and be from the beginning.

The Canadian Senator from Texas, Cruz, said that Weiss is a “wildly inappropriate” person to serve as the Special Counsel. Crackpot Marsha Blackburn called Weiss a “collaborator”. Except she never said who he was supposed to be collaborating with.

The list goes on and on of Republicans who wanted Weiss to be named a “Special Prosecutor” and are now turning against him. They obviously are not in favor of whatever truth of this case is. They simply want to cry and whine and complain and make all sorts of false accusations and make wildly false innuendos. That is their whole political platform.

The biggest argument they make against Weiss is the deal he struck with Hunter Biden. They claim it was a “sweetheart deal”. However, a look at similar cases with other defendants, this is by no means a “sweetheart” deal. As a matter of fact, it is mostly routine for rich people to get such a deal over avoiding their taxes.

This is the current GOP. They offer nothing to make your lives better. They have done nothing to help you live better. Their only answer to everything about the economy is to give massive tax cuts to the rich and hopefully it will “trickle” down to you. They have been saying that for 40 years and it has never “trickled down” to you.

This Republican House has done nothing except try to hold investigation after investigation into matters they really don’t have authority to hold investigations over. Hunter Biden is a private citizen and his tax problems are a matter for the DOJ not Congress.

They want to make sure that you believe that the President was somehow involved in all of this. There has been no evidence to say that is true, but they keep saying it anyway. Not because it is true, but because they know their base loves these innuendos and they have something to whine about.

If they really believe they need to “clean up corruption” then why aren’t they investigating the $2 Billion Jared Kushner received shortly after his father-in-law left office and he gave up his “advisor” position. It is just as weird that he received that money as any argument you may have about Biden. Yet, the GOP is not interested in any corruption from anyone associated with trump.

There is an old saying that “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.” Well, the GOP got exactly what they wished for and now all they are doing is whining about it.

Ask yourself. Just how can you trust anyone who gets what they want and then complain about getting it? What does that say about their integrity? If a person has no integrity they cannot be trusted. The GOP with their whining about the Special Counsel they wanted, makes it obvious they have no integrity. Therefore they cannot be trusted.

They must be voted out of office in the upcoming 2024 elections. That is the only way the GOP can rid itself of these wacko fascists and rebuild their party into what it once was. One with integrity.

Opinion: The Rainbow In The Sky Tells Me God Supports The LGBTQ Community, Not Hate It

The sight of a rainbow has some very interesting feelings that come forward. One of those feelings is the sight of different colors combining in the sky to form one of the most beautiful sights on earth. It brings a feeling of comfort to the viewer.

This all came to me as I sat on my front porch during a rainstorm and saw a rainbow in the sky. I looked at it and wondered why so many people hate rainbows. I wondered why rainbows have become such a hot issue especially for the right wing so-called conservatives. Just how has something so beautiful become a symbol of such hate?

Yes, I know that they all tell me that since the LGBTQ community took the rainbow as a symbol of inclusiveness and love, that makes it a target. The thought of inclusiveness in our lives is something that we must all utterly be against. So, as these clowns keep attacking the LGBTQ community, they use the rainbow as a symbol of their hate towards this community.

We see Republican states passing anti-LGBTQ laws on a regular basis. They pass laws about bathroom use, about medical treatment for LGBTQ, about drag shows, about drag book readings at libraries and anything else they can think of hating.

The real problem with all of this is that it is not the majority of Americans who wish to have these anti-LGBTQ laws passed. It is not the majority of Americans who wish to ban books that even mention a LGBTQ character. No, it is the minority of extremist right wing nuts who wish to control our lives.

In Wisconsin, the school board of Waukesha voted unanimously, repeat unanimously, to fire a teacher because she taught her class to sing the song Rainbowland by Dolly Parton and Miley Cirus. Why is this song so disturbing to these so-called school board members whose responsibility is to ensure our children get a real and a good education?

Well, I guess they took great offense at some of the lyrics in the song. Like: “Living in a Rainbowland / The skies are blue and things are grand / Wouldn’t it be nice to live in paradise / Where we’re free to be exactly who we are.” I mean, I guess you would NEVER want to teach your child anything like that. How dare anyone not believe that thinking living as who we are is so terrible we can’t even imagine the consequences?

A famous frog once asked why are there so many songs about rainbows? I guess he might also be wonder why we need to fire a teacher who taught this song and then realize we must because it advocates for acceptance. After realizing all of this, the frog would gladly hop back to the swamp and never take Manhattan again.

The Republican nuts who have pressed these anti-LGBTQ laws and ban books that include anything mentioning LGBTQ characters and fire teachers who teach a song about inclusiveness and rainbows tell us that their mission is led by “god” who hates LGBTQ community.

So, the other day I sat on my front porch and looked at the beautiful rainbow during a rain shower and wondered why all the fuss. Isn’t the fact that “god” makes rainbows actually says that “god” is in favor of inclusiveness, love and peace? Doesn’t this simple act say he supports the LGBTQ community just as he supports all of his children?

I don’t know about you, but that is exactly what is says to me. No matter which “god” you believe in, the idea of this beautiful rainbow made by your “god” is proof that he does not hate LGBTQ people. Just the opposite, he loves and supports them. So, how can you hate them so much?

Opinion – Supreme Court Is Taking Is Back To “Jim Crow” America

Tomorrow is July 4th. It is known as Independence Day and we celebrate our independence from Britain. It is also supposed to be the day we celebrate our liberties and our freedoms. Yet, somehow, we don’t seem to actually have liberties or freedoms.

Too many people in our country are in what is commonly known as “marginalized” groups. Those include African-Americans, women, Latinos, Native Americans, LGBTQ and many, many more. The Supreme Court just came down with rulings that in effect take us back to the days of Jim Crow laws before the passage of the Civil Rights bill.

The first was the ruling that race cannot be used to determine eligibility for admission to colleges. The court ruled that we are “a color blind nation”. I wish that were true, but anyone who lives in the universe of reality knows that is not true and will now be pushed backed even further with this ruling.

On the other hand, did you know there is something called “legacy admission”? That is a system where if your father or mother attended one of these universities you are almost guaranteed a spot if you choose to attend that university as well. Unlike affirmative action, the recipient of this “legacy admission” does not even need to meet all of the requirements to gain admission.

Under affirmative action, the student must meet all of the requirements to attend the university just like everyone else. So the idea that affirmative action “gave people access they didn’t earn” is total bullshit. However, in “legacy admission” the student does not need to meet all of the criteria to gain entrance. For example, if the school requires a 3.0 grade point average to get in, a legacy admission can get in with something like a 2.0 grade point average. So, who is really not qualified to be at the school?

The next was the ruling overturning the student loan forgiveness program President Biden implemented. Under this program, anyone making $125,000 or less per year is salary would have been able to get $10,000 student loans forgiven. If the student was also eligible for other low income programs, they could get up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness.

Republicans howled and screamed and pulled their hair out. They claimed that this was a “give a way to the wealthy”. They all screamed that “if you take out a loan, you are required to repay it all back no matter what”. But, of course, that doesn’t include them.

During the pandemic, in order to help struggling companies keep their workforce, they were given PPP loans. Under the provisions of this law, companies got money to help keep workers on the payroll and under certain circumstances, those loans could be forgiven. But, just because they could have been forgiven, there was nothing that said you couldn’t pay it back just like Republicans claim “everyone who takes out a loan is required to pay it back”.

Hmmmm! A few examples. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) took out PPP loans. He was “forgiven” $1.4 million in debt. Meaning he didn’t have to pay back the loan he took out. It should also be noted he was totally against the student loan forgiveness program and represents 489,000 people who would have been given the same “loan forgiveness” he so eagerly took for himself.

In addition to him, we have Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY). He was granted $4.4 million in loan forgiveness under the PPP law. He too argued against the student forgiveness plan. He represents 90,000 people who could have benefitted from this program but now cannot.

Finally we have the infamous loud mouth and ignoramus Rep. Marjorie Taylor Grees (R-GA). She also screamed about how bad this program was and how “everyone is required to repay their loans”. She was granted loan forgiveness of over $180,000. She represents 91,800 people who would have benefitted from this program.

As you can see, the idea that “everyone must repay their loan debts” only applies to those who need help in that matter. The rich can get their loans forgiven even if they can afford to pay them back. And, if those loans are given to members of the Republican Party, they are absolutely right in taking that forgiveness and “not pay back the loan”.

Finally, those three members of Congress who fought against student forgiveness received more money and forgiveness than the total of all of those they represent who would have been eligible for their own forgiveness. How fair is that?

Then we have the case of the web designer. Now, remember, when nominees to the Supreme Court are questioned before the Senate Judiciary and are given questions about “hypothetical” cases, they all claim they cannot say how they would rule because the case is not real.

In this case, the court ruled that a web designer could deny service to same-sex couples in Colorado 0n the grounds of her First Amendment rights. Those first amendment rights are based on religion. She doesn’t like LGBTQ people, and uses her “religious rights” to deny service to the public based on those beliefs.

But, there is a twist in this story. It has come out that the case did NOT even exist. She never designed a web site for any marriages and the man she claims wanted her to design a same-sex marriage site did not even call her. And, to make matters worse, he has been married, happily according to him, to a woman for 15 years. The court actually heard and ruled on a hypothetical case. You know, what they cannot say they would do when questioned during their confirmation hearings.

The ramifications of this ruling is not just about same-sex marriages. By declaring that someone making money with a company can deny services simply because they don’t like the people asking for those services is bogus. If you open your business to the public, the law says you cannot discriminate against anyone just because. This ruling overturns those laws.

Additionally, since conservatives are always crying about being able to discriminate on “religious beliefs” this will not end with just same-sex couples. It will creep back into all aspects of life. With this ruling, the court has opened the door back to the bad ole days of Jim Crow laws and segregation. This time it won’t be just people of color, it will just about everyone else.

In a comeback against this ruling and showing just how ridiculous it is, Michael Imperioli in a tweet said this: “I’ve decided to forbid bigots and homophobes from watching ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘The White Lotus,’ ‘Goodfellas,’ or any movie or TV show I’ve been in. Thank you Supreme Court for allowing me to discriminate and exclude those who I don’t agree with and am opposed to,” he continued, wryly. “USA! USA!”

Tomorrow is Independence Day in America. However, with the rise of the new neo-fascist ideology, we are not really celebrating “liberty and justice for all”. We are heading backwards to when it was perfectly legal to discriminate against other citizens who are different. And, this Supreme Court with its radical conservative agenda is helping make that a sad reality once again.

As a 20 year veteran, I find this march backwards both troubling and disturbing. We wore the uniform to protect our liberties and freedoms, but we were protecting those liberties and freedoms for everyone. Not just the select few.

I have always been an optimist. I have not only believed the glass was half full, I believed the pitcher was over it ready to fill it back up. But, this fascist tendency that has been embraced by the Republican Party has put even my optimism in doubt. I fear there are dark clouds on the horizon and we need to stop them now before it is too late.

We need to vote Republicans who embrace this ideology out of office in droves from national level right down to the local level. If not, we are certainly going to “enjoy the bad ole days” when “good ole boys” could openly hate and attack anyone different.

It appears that today’s Republicans and conservatives have embraced the scream of George Wallace the governor of Alabama when he stood on the steps of the capitol of Alabama in the 1960s and shouted “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”.

Sorry, that is not what I served to protect. I served to eliminate that ideology and make our country free for everyone with full and equal rights. Too bad Republicans no longer believe that to be the real America. They prefer the fascist style where they dictated who is a “real citizen” and who is a “second class citizen”. If that is what we are to become, then shame on us for letting it happen.

I would love to wish everyone a happy 4th of July holiday. But…..

The Right Wing Makes It Hard To Eat Pretzels Anymore

I just don’t get it. Every time a damning audio or video tape emerges with the former president admitting that he broke the law in the classified documents case, Republicans and right wing media twist themselves into pretzels in order to “defend” the criminal.

CNN released an audio of a tape where the former guy actually admitting that he had classified documents in his possession after he left the White House. In the tape, he is heard saying: “See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

This tape is two minutes long and trump is talking to people working on Gen. Milley’s memoir. During the meeting, he tried to prove that he was not the one who wanted to invade Iran to stay in power, but it was Milley who wanted to go to war.

He said: “He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t it amazing? I have a big pile of papers. This thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this ― this is off the record, but ― they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.”

“All sorts of stuff, pages long. Let’s see here. Isn’t that amazing. This totally wins my case, you know, except that it is like highly confidential, secret, this is secret information. See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

To anyone with a functioning brain, this shows that the former guy did in fact steal classified information and knew it was classified and was willing to show it to someone without access to classified information. In plain language, he admitted the indictment against him is correct and he is guilty at least on one count.

But, that can’t be what the right wants you to believe. Sean Hannity tried to explain things in a way that makes trump look good. Last night on his show, he twisted himself into another pretzel trying to defend the indefensible.

He went out of his way to come up with a ridiculous defense. He said: “That does not confirm for me whether or not specifically this document was declassified or not. Was that actually the real document, or was it a story he was telling?”

I guess according to the right wing, if trump admits to committing a crime, he really isn’t admitting it because “we don’t know if it is a real document” or not. According to Hannity, if you believe in the proper storage and handling of classified material, you are a moron because if trump does the opposite it is because “we don’t know if the document is real”.

The real fact here is that this is not the first time we have heard the criminal admit he broke the law and maintained classified material after leaving office. The real fact is the best prosecution witness for the prosecution in this case is trump himself. This clown just can’t keep his mouth shut and wants to brag to everyone about how important he is.

In essence, this latest audio is akin to a third grader giving a talk in class in a show and tell session. He just can’t help himself from trying to show his importance by breaking the law and the bragging about it. Have we ever had a more immature person sit in the White House before trump? I doubt it since we have survived to this point.

This has gotten so bad, I can no longer eat pretzels. Every time I look at pretzels, I see the faces of many MAGA supporters including Sean Hannity. Somehow eating pretzels makes me think it could be cannibalism. It is difficult to figure out if the pretzel before me is “real” or a right wing nut trying to defend trump.

Oh well, pretzels aren’t all that healthy anyway.

Charlie Sykes Was Correct – The Right Has Totally Lost Its Mind

A few years ago, Charlie Sykes, a conservative radio host in Wisconsin wrote this book titled “How The Right Lost Its Mind”. He was right with everything he wrote in his book. Today, we are witnessing just how far gone the right wing in our country really is. Ever since the indictments against their dear leader came down last week, right wing pundits and Republicans have been tying themselves in knots trying to defend the indefensible.

We know that the only “defense” trump has is to call everyone involved in the investigation names and slurs. He has no defense and he knows it. So, in his usual “how dare you even think about holding ME accountable” attitude he rants and cries over his hot milk.

The arguments being used to defend him are just as outrageous and the stupidity behind them. Gym Jordan says the “president can handle and store classified material anyway he wants”. He said that if trump wanted to store classified material in a bathroom or on the stage of his ballroom, “he can do that because he can do whatever he wants”. Well, isn’t that the definition of an autocrat and dictator?

Now this shows just how stupid Gym Jordan is about classified material and the proper handling of and storage of it, he is lying openly just to try to defend his dear leader, or both. In either case, how can anyone so uneducated about classified information be the chairman of the Judicial Committee in the House? How can we trust this clown with knowing any information that is rated as classified.

He even tried to argue that the tape with trump claiming to show unauthorized people a document and saying that it was classified “secret” that he really didn’t mean that because he claimed to have declassified everything he took from the White House. When asked if there was any proof about him declassifying everything, all he said was “he said he did and I believe him”.

As someone who worked with such material let me say that is all total bullshit. No one, and I mean no one can handle, store or disseminate classified material anyway they want. There are laws on the proper handling of such documents and Gym Jordan and trump both know this.

In 2016 during the campaign trump ranted several times about how he was going to make it harder for anyone to mishandle classified material. He even said he would make sure “no one was above the law”. Then in 2018, he actually signed a law that made handling classified material more tight. And, in fact, some of the indictments in his case come directly from the law HE SIGND!

Then of course we always hear Republicans say stupid things over everything. In an interview over the weekend, Lindsey Graham proved that the Republicans do actually live in a fantasy world and have, as Kelly Ann Conway once said, “alternative facts”. When he was pressed on this issue and refusing to answer the question put forth, he replied that “I am trying to give you the Republican view”. How can there be a “Republican” or for that matter a “Democrat” point of view when the indictment clearly shows evidence that the crimes were committed?

Then we get the old “whataboutism” that they love to roll out. “What about Clinton”? “What about Biden”? Well, what about them? This indictment shows evidence of crimes being committed by trump. There has been no evidence that the others have committed any crimes. Oh, we hear all about the “mountains of evidence against Biden and his family” but we don’t ever see any of it. And, their “investigation” is sooooo good, their main “informer” had totally disappeared. Probably because he never existed.

The Clinton matter was investigated and investigated and investigated and no one found any willful misconduct, including the myriad of investigations by the Republican controlled House of Representatives over two years! I am sick of hearing “whataboutism”. If you have proof someone else broke the law bring it out. Otherwise, if you are questioned about this indictment, answer the questions without “whataboutism”.

Instead of looking at the facts, and even allowing the case to play out in court, we continually hear stupid talking points from people who clearly know nothing about National Security. We hear about how a president can “do whatever he wants” when that is clearly a lie. They know it is a lie, but they figure if they keep telling it their base will believe it totally.

We keep hearing about “whataboutism”. Well what about when trump said “no one is above the law”? Now that he is the one indicted are we supposed to ignore that as a simple rant without meaning unless that meaning is that no Democrat is above the law but Republicans are?

The crimes outlined in the indictment have a direct bearing on our National Security and National Defense. These aren’t some minor documents. They included very serious and very classified material dealing with our military and our national defense. By mishandling, storing and “showing” some it to people without proper clearances is a crime and he must be punished for those crimes if they are proven in court.

We can go down a long list of things that prove the right has lost its mind. But this case and the Republican response to it proves that Republicans cannot be trusted with our nation’s secrets. They always claimed to be the “patriotic party who will defend our nation”. But they are showing they have given up that title and don’t give a shit about national security if it means their dear leader must face the music.

Yes Martha, the right and the Republican Party have completely lost their minds and their is no argument to say otherwise.

The Push For Power By The GOP On Full Display In Georgia

What is going on in Georgia right now with the GOP is a reason we cannot be apathetic to politics during non-voting years. The “rules” that each party come up with during these non-voting years have a direct result on what happens when we do go to the polls.

Legislatures take these years to pass voting restriction laws because the majority of people don’t pay attention. Things like in Ohio where someone wants an initiative on the 2024 ballot supporting abortion. The GOP is terrified it would pass, so they have decided to change the rules. It takes a simple majority to get an initiative on the Ohio ballot. But, since abortion bans are hurting the GOP and they are terrified that the people will rebel against them, the GOP led legislature wants to make the threshold to get on the ballot at 60 percent.

Missouri is another state trying to deter voter initiatives from reaching the ballot. And, of course other GOP controlled states are trying to do the same thing. But, in Georgia, the party is actually trying to usurp the primary season. Instead of allowing people to run for office after they win the primary, the GOP wants to be able to veto their primary wins.

The GOP is now looking at a measure where the approximately 1,500 delegates in the Georgia Republican party would be able to “veto” any candidate from representing the party in the general elections even if they win the primary. This proposal is being made by the far right-wing of the party in Georgia.

They claim it is intended to make sure that the rich cannot “buy seats”. They also they don’t wany any “traitors” to represent their party. By “traitors” they mean any Republican who does not toe the far right’s extreme policies.

If this were to become the rules in Georgia, then a Republican who wins a primary could be “vetoed” from running as a Republican if the delegates decide they don’t like the person. But, the right-wing has not fully considered that all of this could backfire on them completely.

If the establishment Republicans have control of the 1,500 delegation and someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene should win her primary, the delegation could veto her from running as a Republican in the general election. How would that be for a complete turnaround.

Now think about this. What the GOP far right-wing is proposing is that if they don’t like who you vote for and that person wins the primary, they would have the power to take away your choice by not allowing that person to run as a Republican. The state party would not support the candidate and may even run someone against that candidate. In other words, your vote does not count if it goes against the far right-wing of the party. Of course, if the establishment Republicans take power, then the far right would face a similar problem.

All of this, is of course, nothing but a power grab by the far right. They believe that if you are not an extremist or a MAGA candidate, they have the right to stop you from running as a Republican. They always claim Democrats are trying to “cancel” everyone and everything, yet this rule proposal proves the only party interested in “canceling” anything is the Republican party.

If this rule gets passed, what will be next? Will they then try to get the legislature to pass legislation where they could “veto” a general election’s results? If the Republican legislature in Georgia don’t like the results of an election, are they going to give themselves the power to veto that election and pick who they want not who the people want?

It is a very dangerous slippery slope they are getting on in Georgia. This rule basically overrules the voter’s choice. If they can do it for their own party, what makes anyone think they wouldn’t try to do the same in General elections if they don’t like the winner.

To be fair, it looks like this rule will not pass the delegation. Even people who supported the original rule change are now skeptical. They are starting to realize that it could blow up in their faces and make the far right wing ineffective because the establishment Republicans could veto the right’s candidates.

As you can see, the main theme of the Republicans today is power. Nothing else matters. There is no consideration for the Constitution, the people, or the rule of law. All that matters is that Republicans, specifically the right wing radicals, gain power of the party and over our lives.

I said it before and I will say it again. The Republican Party as we have known it for decades is dead. They allowed the extremists from the right to take over their party because they were too afraid to stand up for what is right. Now, the county faces the consequences of their cowardice. And, the so-called moderates in the party are willing to let this fiasco to go on and on all in the name of gaining more power.

The Toxic GOP – Part Five – Fiscal Irresponsibility

With the default looming, we need to look at the total irresponsibility of Republican fiscal policies. What we are witnessing today with the default on the horizon is really nothing new for Republicans. And, they are apparently willing to totally blow up our economy and the economy of the entire world with their hissy fit.

As you will remember, when Kevin McCarthy sold his soul to the MAGA idiots in order to get his gavel as Speaker of the House, the one thing we heard over and over was they were going to bring back “regular order” to the House. This default problem proves they have no idea what “regular order” is or are very willing to disregard their “valued” regular order to get their way.

In the fiscal world, “regular order” is for the President to present a budget. Congress then presents their budget. The two sides sit down and negotiate over the two budgets and compromise on what will be the budget. That is “regular order” for budgets. Spending cuts are made during these budget negotiations, not over whether or not the country will default on our debt and blow up our economy.

The fact is numbers are numbers. The fact is that one fourth of the total debt of our nation was produced under the last administration. That is one quarter of the total debt created since 1790! In fairness, about half of that debt was caused by the pandemic. But, the other half, or maybe even more, was the result of the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Over $2 trillion in new debt was caused by those tax cuts by reducing revenue the government gets.

According to Republican fiscal policy, if you cut revenue to the government, somehow you decrease the debt. As we talked about earlier, that is impossible. However, that has been the center piece of Republican fiscal policies for decades.

Republicans say that the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Act caused more debt. Yet, they have helped reduce unemployment and increased revenue to the government. According to government records, 2022 produced the most revenue to the government in history. The reason is simple. More people working and more people getting bigger paychecks increases revenue through more taxes being collected. Increase in revenue will do more to reduce the debt than reducing revenue will ever do.

Republicans are complaining that the southern border is “open”. Yet the bill they passed to increase the debt limit includes cuts to Border Patrol agents. How is reducing the number of Border Patrol agents going to “tighten” the border. And, it includes $4 billion to “build the wall”. But, if trump finished the wall as he declared in New Hampshire, isn’t spending that $4 billion on a wall that is not necessary wasteful spending?

They claim to be all about law enforcement. Yet this same bill will cut at least 11,000 agents from the FBI. How is cutting agents from our national police force going to help reduce crime? These are just two items in their bill that will hurt the economy, not help it.

If we do default on our debt, the consequences will be so huge that we will see everything we have worked for over the last 200 years wiped out. People will lose their IRAs and 401Ks when the stock market crashes due to the default. It is estimated that at least 1 million people will lose their jobs in just the first quarter after the default. That also means at least 1 million people will lose the health insurance since that is tied to their jobs.

Tens of millions of Americans could lose their primary source of income because the government may not be able to pay Social Security. Millions of retired veterans will lose their pensions. Tens of millions of people will lose their Medicare and Medicaid and Veterans health insurance.

Those are just some of the consequences predicted if we default on our debt. That does not include the damage to the global economy. It also means that it will take anywhere from 10 to 20 years before we recover from this man-made disaster Republicans are trying to cause.

The question is why are Republicans trying to do all of this? Well, their history proves that their fiscal policies are totally irresponsible. They have no idea how bills are paid or how revenue is collected. They are more interested in favoring the very wealthy and corporations instead of actually being fiscally responsible.

At least half of the Fortune 500 companies in our country pay absolutely zero dollars in taxes on their profits. The loopholes Republicans allow to exist in our tax laws and the “creative accounting” practices means these huge corporations don’t pay any taxes. Yet they benefit from the infrastructure they don’t pay to help maintain.

I remember when the average person could deduct interest on all of their debt instead of just their house. That was stripped, yet, corporations were allowed to continue to “amortize” capital expenses meaning they didn’t pay taxes on their expenditures. Wouldn’t you like to be able to “amortize” the cost of your necessary car so you can get to work? No, say Republicans that is not “capital expenses”.

Under Ronald Reagan Republicans gave tax cuts to the wealthy on the promise that the savings to them would “trickle down” to the rest of us. It didn’t trickle down to us and there was a large recession in both terms of his administration. Then we had a bigger recession under George H.W. Bush which is what really caused his loss to Bill Clinton. Under the Clinton administration, we actually had a balanced budget and even a surplus. Then came along George W. Bush.

Under his administration Republicans stripped protections for the economy placed into law after the Great Depression. The undeclared wars that Bush waged on the credit card wiped out the balanced budget and increased the debt. Then he also passed another tax cut for the wealthy which reduced revenue when we needed it to fight these wars increasing the deficit and debt big time.

The result of all of these irresponsible actions by Republicans caused the great recession of 2008. It took us over two years before we began to see a recovery after that recession. When it hit, the unemployment rate rose to over 10 percent. If Republicans allow us to default next month, the results will be even bigger than 2008 and probably worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s.

History has proven time and time again that Republican economic and fiscal policies fail time after time. They are totally irresponsible in these matters. These so-called negotiations over whether or not we default is nothing more than McCarthy and his MAGA idiots throwing a tantrum. Their lies about “regular order” are on full display. Their irresponsible fiscal policies are open for everyone to see.

Just more reasons these clowns need to be voted out of office up and down the ticket in 2024. We can no longer tolerate total fiscal irresponsibility from them because we cannot afford to go through this circus every year.

If there is a default the only people to blame will be Republicans. That is the truth of things. They raised the debt ceiling three times under the last administration WITHOUT conditions. What is so different today other than a Democrat is in the White House? I mean, how can any political party believe that defaulting and causing millions to lose their job is a good for the country? Totally irresponsible!