The Nation’s Wreckage

Trump’s Shame!

Well, it’s been a while. I went dark, initially unintended and later by choice, when I spent two different periods hospitalized in late October and early November 2020. I was already at the point where I was sick and tired of the disaster of Trump and his administration. I did keep an eye on what occurred since the election, waiting for today now that President Joe Biden has replaced the, in my opinion, criminal Donald Trump.

The four years of Trump’s administration has been a train wreck unequaled by any period of U.S. history, to include the American Revolution. He and his followers no longer have a stranglehold on the nation. His Congressional Republicans have had power stripped from them, as it should be, for supporting and promoting all that Donald Trump did to America. Some of those Republicans insisted on continuing to find some way to keep Trump in office after he lost the election. Each one of them should be removed from office as they are unfit to serve. A few, like Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, need to be investigated for any criminal actions and if found, they should be arrested and tried. Even now some of Trump’s congressional lackeys remain faithful, like Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, both QAnon nuts, and continue spouting their nonsense as they worship a disgraced Trump.

Our Capitol was engulfed in a riotous insurrection by members of Trump’s band of ignorant racists and conspiracy believing fools. They were unable and unwilling to accept the election results. After being riled up and sent to the Capitol by Donald Trump, they attempted to stop our constitutional government from carrying out their lawful duties. These followers do nothing but whine about how the 74 million of them have had the election stolen from them. They demand Trump be given his rightful second term, that he “won” by a landslide. Never mind that over 80 million Americans voted for President Joe Biden. They don’t deserve to have their votes matter I guess. These “Americans” trashed the Capitol, causing the death of five people, including a Capitol Police officer. I’m thinking had the Capitol Police formed a line and opened fire things would have been different. After five or six fell to a flurry of bullets, the rest would turn and run as fast as their little legs could move in the opposite direction. Many likely peeing themselves as they ran. Luckily for them there were sympathizers among the Capitol Police who ushered them into the building and allowed them to run wild.

The real animals among Trump’s supporters, groups like the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and the generic white supremacists, have screamed loudly for their members to rise and start a civil war to remake America into their dreamed of Whites Only nation. They’ve lost access to social media for their fomenting of violence. Some, as with many other insurrectionists, have had their wake up call as the FBI arrived and arrested them for their criminal actions. Let them stand in court and be judged and to, hopefully, spend many years in prison for their attempted coup to save their twisted and mentally ill (or deranged) “leader” Donald Trump. Maybe they can request a cell next to Trump’s? Each of these groups are poster children for enacting a domestic terrorism law(s) to place them where they belong, outlawed and driven back under the rocks from which they squirmed out from under. The great majority of these lowlifes are as cowardly as Donald “Pathological Liar” Trump.

Yet, such law(s) would not be in the spirit of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. Such law(s) would empower government to decide what organizations are to be labelled terrorist organizations. Imagine another administration of a Trump-like president using the law to silence opposition groups and persons. Americans can not, and should not, trust any government with such power. So, the nation must allow these “patriot” groups to exist and to be allowed to run their mouths. Should they cross the line into criminal speech, we must let law enforcement bring them before the bar of “justice” for punishment. But, this begs the question of whether or not we can trust law enforcement to do their job, something we haven’t been able to do throughout most of 2020.

Donald Trump couldn’t even handle attending the inauguration, instead he slunk out of town on Air Force One while he was still the President. Off to his digs in Palm Beach, Florida. There he will lick his wounds and, some believe, try to control the Republican Party. He told American he’d be back during his farewell speech before boarding Air Force One for his flight to flee Washington D.C. What he may be able to accomplish to that end is anyone’s guess. Certainly, as we have seen, there are plenty of Republicans in federal and state government willing to back his idiocy. The Republican Party is dead, yet they don’t know it or believe it. Even Trump has, or is, considering whether to set up a new party to compete against the Republican Party. Now that would be good, in my humble opinion. What better way to split the conservative voting in the country? His speech to CPAC was nothing more than a repeat of all his lies he has sold those believers in his views. Maybe the Republicanj party should be declared a domestic terrorist organization?

President Joe Biden has his work cut out for him. He has two years before the mid-term election in which to get his agenda in place. As with all presidential terms, the mid-term elections could flip Congress back to opposition control. Then, it’s the usual roadblocks to getting anything done. Both parties operate this way when the President is in the other party. At least he can undo Trump’s Executive Orders. That’s a good start, but with the pandemic still raging and there being a shortage of vaccines, work must focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, not only in America, but worldwide. Many third world nations are stuck depending on the first world nations to aid them in their fight to survive. Humanity demands that every able nation aids those lesser able nations in saving their populations. We will have to wait and see what happens. Beyond the pandemic itself, President Biden must act to aid those who have suffered and are suffering. Men, women, and families have lost their income, some their homes. Many more live on the streets of the country with little hope of help by states already stretched thin and running out of money. Over 500,000 Americans have paid with their lives, how many more will Joe Biden allow to die? How will he aid and protect those who are homeless, those who are so far behind in their rents that landlords are begging for an end to the eviction moratorium (which ios on the brink of happening), those who are food insecure even if they are lucky enough to have a job, and those in the country who have lost the hope for a better life? It’s only been through citizens who have grouped together to aid those in dire straits that the much less fortunate have some chance to get to tomorrow.

I expect in many ways we will see business as usual. The filthy rich will continue to get richer off the sweat of workers. The poor will continue their struggles for daily existence and those in the middle will be expected to pay the bill for getting the country back on it’s feet. I’d like to see changes, like the filthy rich being taxed heavily. I’d like to see corporations be taxed heavily as well. That could be done by just preventing corporations from having so many deductions that their tax bill is negligible. It is far past time these rich people and corporations pony up a fair share. Yet, I doubt the Democrats will have the spine to take on their super donors and corporations. Hell, we know they’re just conservatives under a different name.

In the end we just have to wait and see if all the wreckage is cleaned up. For the record, I didn’t vote for Biden. I’m a socialist, why would I vote for a conservative? I’d prefer, as I have said before, that the governmental system in the United States collapse and a true peoples democracy replace it so that human rights and equality are the absolute law of the land.

Until next time

Thoughts Roundup

Clearing out the clutter.

We’ve all been there, stray thoughts that tend to clutter up our mind. They must, sooner or later, be exorcised from our brain to make room to start gathering more stray thoughts. Well, “sooner or later” has arrived for me. Hopefully, some of these thoughts will be interesting to you.

Breonna Taylor: As we know, Breonna Taylor was, as far as many of us in America are concerned, was murdered in her sleep in her home on March 13, 2020. Yesterday the Kentucky Attorney General reported the decision of the Grand Jury reviewing the case. Of the three officers involved in shooting Breonna Taylor, only one was indicted. The indictment wasn’t for murdering her, it was for firing into the adjoining residence! The shooting of Ms Taylor was completely ignored. Once again, White America has justified murder by police officers.

As a result of this idiotic thinking by the Grand Jury, protests broke out in cities across America. Demands by peaceful protestors for justice for Breonna Taylor was thrown in the faces of Americans, as it should be every day. If Americans must be shown the shame they allow to be perpetrated, SO BE IT! America should not be allowed to continue the systemic racism that does exist, regardless of the opinions of Donald Trump and the Republicans in the country.

I fervently hope the protests never stop until America in remade into a nation where true equality and justice for all is the truth, not the convenient mirage Americans hide behind. I urge everyone to support Mutual Aid groups around the country helping those in need and protestors with supplies to sustain them during protests. These are volunteer groups of activists, not any government agency. They depend on the generosity of donors to their vital work.

Louisville Protest: Last night, as a reaction to the grand jury result, a protest went on in the city by protestors enraged by the decision. During the protest two Louisville PD officers were shot. A suspect was arrested by police and was “charged with wanton endangerment and assaulting a police officer,” according to an online BBC article. The alleged shooter was identified as Larynzo Johnson, a 26 year-old Black man.

We know damn well that Mr Johnson won’t be excused by an grand jury for his alleged actions. We know that when he is convicted he will suffer the full weight of the law at sentencing because he is a Black man. The racist White America will demand it. The system will use him as an example to others considering violent acts during protests. After all, they will say, the officers were just doing their job protecting the public. To me, they were doing their unstated jobs of suppressing lawful protest, using violence, and intimidating people they are also allegedly suppose to protect. The police must ensure the nation’s elite maintain the stranglehold over us.

This is how justice is meted out in America. Cops slide for their unlawful acts, while Black Americans suffer the heavy hand of the police, up to and including being murdered. Whether you want to accept it or not, systemic racism is a foundational base instituted by whites, for whites against all non-white people.

Donald Trump: How would any day be complete without thinking of Donald Trump? I’m being truthful and sarcastic at the same time. As usual Trump has continued his harangue on mail-in voting being rife with fraud (a lie). During his afternoon press conference he was asked if he would guarantee a peaceful transition of power after the election. As reported by CNN, Trump refused to guarantee the peaceful transition. Trump stated, “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens.”

Folks, Donald Trump has decided and is prepared to create a constitutional crisis after the election. He’ll begin by fighting the results in court and when he loses he’ll get his Republican Supreme Court to rule he is the lawful winner of the election. The Supreme Court will deny the will of the people, destroying any faith the people have in the “democratic” election process.We already know the national election process for selecting a president isn’t democratic because of the Electoral College. His grip on America after that will be stronger and America will really suffer. He’ll tighten his fascist regime’s control over every aspect of American society. You have now been warned, again. At least some Republicans are pushing back against his lunacy. I want to be wrong about this, but I fear I’m not.

Yesterday, Dr Stephen Hahn, FDA Commissioner, stated that vaccine approvals will be based on the science, not politics. Donald Trump responded to this statement, at his afternoon press conference, “We’re looking at that. That has to be approved by the White House, we may or may not approve it. That sounds like a political move,” according to a CBS News station. FDA rules must be approved by the White House, so Trump could have them changed.

Many, many Americans will decline to take the vaccine, as will I. No one should be put at risk for political purposes. Trump doesn’t give a tinkers damn who gets ill or dies from the side effects of or failures of a vaccine. He’s incapable of empathy and sympathy, like all sociopaths. He only cares about himself.

This is a pure political move so he can get a vaccine approved before November 3rd. He wants to be able to claim all the credit for the vaccine. He wants to use this, like everything, in his campaign. Why that matters, I know not. The election, in Trump’s mind, is going to be false and he’ll try to hold power regardless. However, it will be America who suffers if science isn’t used to determine a vaccine authorization from the FDA. How many will become ill? How many will die? How many children, for which there haven’t been any trials of a vaccine on children, will suffer? How many more families will mourn?

Speaking of Trump some more, he showed up this morning at the Supreme Court to pay his respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As he stood looking towards the cabinet, he was wearing a face mask. So was Melania Trump. So, why now? I know there have been a few, very few, occasions he’s worn a mask, but it is still out of character for him. I believe he and Melania wore masks because he is not able to arrange the area to be “safe” for him. He feared the coronavirus. We’ve all seen at his rallies how he doesn’t wear a mask, as almost all of the crowd doesn’t. But, he is positioned well away from anyone while speaking at his rallies. He feels confident since he had control over the environment. So, obviously, as he also said to Bob Woodward, the coronavirus is dangerous and deadly in his mind.

One more thing on Trump and masks. Trump has said that his rallies should be called protests. That way they can legally, he believes, ignore masks and social distancing requirements, just like the protestors do. However, look at footage of several, or more, of the protests that have been happening since the George Floyd murder. In the footage, the wearing of masks or face covers are the general rule protestors follow. While, they aren’t staying safely distanced, they have masks on. Why has no reporter asked Trump about this being different, on mask wearing, at his rallies? He’d make up some lie probably, so why bother asking him.

Whew, that’s enough on Trump for today.

The US Supreme Court: Love them or hate them, they are a branch of the US Government. For now we have no choice about it. Anyway, we all know of the push by Trump and Senate Republicans to fill the chair of Justice Ginsburg. They have the votes to turn the court into 6 – 3 majority for Republicans. Yes, the Democrats in the Senate can slow down how fast it happens, but it will happen.

This spells ill for the country. A 6 – 3 majority will be able to attack and reverse many of the rights the Court placed into the legal fabric of America, like Roe v Wade for example. This concept of Mitch McConnell ramming through a new, Republican, justice to the Court has angered Democrats. Democrats are now saying that they will pack the Court in 2021, should they hold the House and flip the Senate.

Lets say Democrats try this. There are some things they must insure to get this to happen. If Trump holds the presidency, a Democratic Congress will have to have the votes to override a sure veto from Trump. The Democrats must have 2/3rd’s of the votes in each chamber of Congress to override any veto. That means some of the Republicans in each chamber would have to vote to override a veto. They wouldn’t. If Joe Biden is elected, then the Congressional Democrats have to insure the legislation would be signed by Biden. If he vetoes, back to trying to override the veto.

If the Democrats do get to pack the Court, their “victory” would be fleeting. You have to believe the Republicans will do the same when they regain power. Hell, if they all keep it up, in time the whole Country will sit on the Supreme Court (lmao). While having five ideological conservatives on the Court will be ugly, a Court packing war would ultimately be worse. The Democrats need to drop this stupid idea, like yesterday.

OK, we need a laugh. Check out this photo:

Chihuahua and a Rhino

That’s what our Chihuahua would be nutty enough to do. That poor Rhino is thinking while he runs, “What the hell is that little thing?” It just keeps making me laugh.

OK, my mind has been sufficiently uncluttered for now. We’ll do this again in the future.

Until next time

More Snake Oil?

Oleandrin as a COVID-19 Cure

Once again we have President Donald Trump supporting another “miracle” cure for COVID-19. The “cure” is an extract of oleander flowers, oleandrin. Oleandrin is known to be “a toxic cardiac glycoside found in oleander.”

What is a cardiac glycoside? It is “a class of organic compounds that increase the output force of the heart and increase its rate of contractions by acting on the cellular sodium-potassium ATPase pump. Their beneficial medical uses are as treatments for congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias; however, their relative toxicity prevents them from being widely used.“

So, we see that oleandrin contains a toxic substance that isn’t widely used, even though there are some possible benefits for cardiac conditions and cancer. So, why the sudden promotion of oleandrin by the President? I will lay out the path of this “cure” went to reach the President.

A man named Andrew Whitney is our starting point. Mr Whitney is on the board of Phoenix Biotechnology, Inc. Phoenix Biotechnology is a company that is researching cancer treatments from oleander since 2003. So, at some point, Phoenix Biotechnology came to the belief that oleandrin is beneficial to COVID-19 patients. Mr Whitney wanted to bring this “miracle” to the attention of Donald Trump. Mr Whitney got an Oval Office meeting with President Trump, after the intervention of Mike Lindell.

You may recognize Mike Lindell’s name. He is the Minnesota based manufacturer of the “My Pillow.” Mr Lindell also happens to be an ardent supporter of Donald Trump. That’s how Mr Whitney got his foot in the door of the Oval Office. Along with these two salesmen was Ben Carson, HUD Secretary, who also is a believer in oleandrin. Mr Whitney’s goal was to get President Trump to push the FDA to approve oleandrin as a COVID-19 drug.

Yet, not one of these gentlemen has any training or experience with infectious diseases. Ben Carson is well verses in his specialty, pediatric neurosurgery, but zip otherwise. Seems oleandrin comes from a dubious direction. But, that’s never stopped Donald Trump before, why should it now?

Let me make clear, there are no peer reviewed human trial studies of the efficacy of oleandrin on COVID-19. There has been a laboratory study that has shown some evidence of inhibiting the virus, according to an article by Axios. Further, the Axios article reports that Mr Whitney has stated that there were human trials, but the study hasn’t been published yet.

I have no idea if Mr Whitney is telling the truth about human trials since he provided no evidence. Unless he’s speaking to Phoenix Biotechnology work in other areas with oleandrin. It’s just like a snake oil salesman selling a cure for just about anything, which isn’t true. But, Mike Lindell is convinced, so convinced that he invested in Phoenix Biotechnology. If that looks to you that Mike Lindell is operating on a greed level, not an altruistic level. I would agree to the possibility. They stand to clean up nicely if they can get FDA approval.

Now we have Trump considering this new drug. We will have to wait and see if he pushes the FDA to give approval. I hope not, at least until after FDA approved clinical trials have been carried out to prove the worth of the claims by Mr Whitney. The country went down this road before with hydroxychloroquine.

Until then, this is just a pitch to buy snake oil.

Until next time

Dr. Scott Atlas

Donald Trumps Coronavirus “Expert” Who Follows Orders

Dr. Scott Atlas (CNN image)

Dr. Atlas has been hired as a member of Donald Trump’s coronavirus panel. It just so happens that Dr. Atlas and the President think very much alike when it comes to COVID-19. Who is this guy?

Dr. Atlas is reported to be a Senior Fellow at the conservative think tank, the Hoover Institution, located at Stamford University. He is a member of the Working Group on Healthcare Policy. He has impressive credentials in his Hoover Institution biography. He appears to be an expert in healthcare policy.

Dr. Atlas received his MD from the University of Chicago School of Medicine. So, what’s his specialty in medicine? According to a Forbes article, “he’s board-certified in diagnostic radiology, which means he specializes in reading and interpreting imaging like X-rays, CT scans and MRIs, and he served as a professor and chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center from 1998 to 2012.“

Did you notice anything missing in his Stanford bio? Dr. Atlas has ZERO training or experience in infectious diseases. Yet, he’s quick to jump aboard the Trump Train and declare that schools should open for in person classes. He is also against the suspension of college football.

“There is such fear in the community and unfortunately it’s been propagated by people who are doing some really sloppy thinking and really sensationalistic media reporting,” Atlas said in a Business Insider interview.

He mirrors Donald Trump in opening schools and college sports. He’s telling us he’s smarter than scientists with vast experience in infectious diseases. Now if we were talking about something in the radiology field, he could be a go to guy. However, when it comes to the coronavirus, Dr. Fauci is the voice to listen to. Donald Trump doesn’t want his experts to speak out contrarily to his pronouncements and Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx refuse to follow Trump down the lies highway.

So, to get an “expert” who will agree with him, Trump finds Atlas to be his ventriloquist’s dummy. Dr. Atlas brings nothing to the coronavirus table except parroting Trump’s coronavirus beliefs. The last thing America needs is more noise from the White House.

Dr. Atlas should do the country a favor and stick to his specialty.

Are Republicans Destroying their Party?

We Can Certainly Hope They Are.

It seems like every day we find ourselves learning about the latest act of stupidity by the Republican party politicians, political wannabes, celebrities, the President, and others. It is to the point where we must consider if these conservatives are destroying their party. It’s worth looking at and deciding for ourselves. Whether it’s Trump’s lies, McConnell’s intransigence, Coronavirus minimizers and deniers, QAnon conspiracy theory believers, and general pot stirring by Republicans, there’s a little something for everybody’s daily consumption of media stories.

It would all be ridiculously funny if it wasn’t a serious view of how the Republican’s attempt to maintain their hold on Congress and the Presidency. It’s dangerous to just laugh off the things the Republicans are trying to do. Especially when it comes to Donald Trump and his wet dreams of enacting his fascist dynasty to control the country under his authoritarian dictatorship.

We all have heard Trump on his lack of concern about the coronavirus, telling the country on more than one occasion how it will just “go away” at some point. He keeps around him plenty of people who publicly support his beliefs and ignores the experts on the pandemic. He cares not at all of how many contract and die from the virus. This is simply because he is a sociopath, as well as being so egotistical that all he wants are constant words of praise reinforcing his delusions. But, there are other things he is doing as well.

Just yesterday Trump admitted that he is sabotaging the US Postal Service to screw up mail-in balloting, harming the 2020 elections. In a Vice.com article Trump is reported to have said, “They need that money in order to make the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped to have it.” His Postmaster General, who he has in his back pocket like so many other Administration members, has brought turmoil to the USPS, issuing new rules and procedures to slow down mail delivery. The Postmaster General, Louis Dejoy, has even ordered the removal of sorting machines at mail distribution centers according to a businessinsider.com story This will significantly slow down mail delivery even more, including election ballots.

Then we have Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, trying to save his hold on his Senate seat at the same time he’s intentionally hurting Americans. He has washed his hands of any further work trying to work out a deal with Democrats to approve a new coronavirus bill. He’s leaving it up to the Trump Administration to negotiate an acceptable bill. With Americans losing the extra $600 unemployment payments, McConnell is causing Americans to be unable to keep their homes, feed their families, to obtain medical care, and just live day-to-day. As I wrote in my “Open Letter to the Filthy Rich” post, 17 – 28 million people are under threat of eviction now that the eviction moratorium has ended. McConnell has also made it clear that no new relief bill will be brought up for a vote if it does not contain language protecting businesses from being sued by employees who contract COVID-19 at work. Make no mistake, McConnell has the blood of innocents on his hands. But, lets move on to the next election issue.

Hopefully you have heard of QAnon and their conspiracy theory. I’ll just provide a small recap. From wbur.com, “QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory and loosely organized network centered around the belief that the U.S. is controlled by a cabal of child sex trafficking, Democratic elites hell-bent on bringing down President Trump. Followers believe these elites, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, have gone so far as to manufacture the coronavirus to bring Trump down. They heed cryptic online dispatches of someone named Q who’s anonymous — hence QAnon — who claims the highest government security clearance.“

It sounds extremely ridiculous doesn’t it? Well, there are a number of Republican candidates for Congress who are believers or followers of QAnon. Marjorie Taylor Green won her runoff election to be the Republican candidate in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District and is expected to win in November. She has made videos stating her support for QAnon and she has made racist statements in videos as well. While there are Republicans who have repudiated her belief and her racism, it isn’t enough. Besides her, there are 10 or more other candidates who are QAnon followers – all Republicans running for Congress this year. (Sarcasm alert) Any who win their races can go to Congress and set up the QAnon Caucus. These believers need to be ridiculed publicly for their idiotic beliefs. Not one of them is fit to be a member of Congress in my opinion.

Next, we pull from the greatest hits collection in a redux of birtherism. It’s already being proclaimed that Senator Kamala Harris is not eligible to be President or Vice President because her parents were not legal residents when Kamala was born in Oakland, California in 1964. This is evidence that many people haven’t read, or can’t comprehend, the US Constitution. There is no requirement that a candidate’s parents must be legal residents. The candidate must have been born in the United States, which Senator Harris was. If you don’t believe me, go read Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution. Hang on, I’ll help you out. Article 2, Section 1 states:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Now, facts probably won’t stand with people who want to believe a lie, especially since they elected the biggest liar in America. The political right gave no peace to Barack Obama, why should it be any different for Kamala Harris. It’s just a tactic to confuse the gullible and maintain their votes for party candidates.

It’s like the Trump’s moves in sending federal agencies into Portland, OR, to clamp down on protestors considered to be anarchists, antifa radicals (there being no antifa organization), and domestic terrorists. I wrote about Portland in my post “The Secret Police” back in July. No one can forget the nightly scenes of the brutality dished out by these federal storm troopers against the protestors, while they “protected” the federal courthouse. Republicans stood behind the actions taken by Trump. Eventually federal agencies were dispatched to other cities across America to spread more of Donald Trump’s law and order brutality.

Nothing will likely change the course the Republicans are taking on their journey to the ballot box in November. However, what Republicans aren’t considering is that even if they survive the election this year there is what occurs beyond 2020. They are making more enemies than friends with their foolishness and disregard for our society. Many people who voted for him in 2016 won’t be voting for Trump in 2020. As an article on theguardian.com reported, Kevin, a Arizona pastor and lifelong Republican voted for Trump, but now states, “I’ve seen how he has tried to divide our country and that is not something I want, nor what our country should have … This man is an absolute danger to our country.” He is not the only Republican who won’t vote for Trump again.

These beliefs and behaviors appear to be eating the Republican Party from the inside out. But, the deterioration of the Republican Party will allow America to radically change and become a nation without inequality and hatred, provided we rise to the challenge. At the minimum, it may allow the breaking of the two party stranglehold on the American government.

We have no idea of what foolishness by Republicans may be reported tomorrow. It’s clear to me how the Republican Party is pulling itself apart. Tomorrow could be the day it implodes.

Until next time,

Down, Not Out

Minimum Wage Isn’t Enough!

Capitalism is not going to work. It never has, it never will. The only winners in capitalism are the wealthy owners and shareholders filling their wallets with the profits earned by the workforce. Plus, they connive with the politicians from both parties, so they pay little to nothing in taxes.

Capitalism cares nothing for the workers beyond having them put their maximum efforts into their work so that maximum profits are earned. Unfortunately, by design, wages are kept to the absolute minimum that can be gotten away with. This leaves the society in the death grip of Capitalism.

Add into the situation the loss of jobs due to the coronavirus. Businesses have been forced to close, some permanently. In the first legislation passed to help during this pandemic, each adult received $1200.00 in a direct payment, along with $500.00 for each dependent child. Plus, every worker who lost their job would receive and additional $600.00 per week in unemployment payments over and above the unemployment pay rate. That money would be sorely needed for people to be able to for their living expenses. Also put into place by local and state authorities were moratoriums on evictions. Home foreclosures happened through law and mandates from individual States.

This was considered a lifeline to workers across America. Capitalism at it’s finest, at least in the minds of the politicians and wealthy corporation owners & stockholders. There are two issues I have with this government “aid.” First, the “benefits” expired this past Friday, July 31, 2020. No more $600.00 a week increases, throwing millions of Americans into jeopardy of being unable to sustain themselves and their families. The second issue is that had corporations been structured to reward workers, instead of enslaving them, they wouldn’t have been in such dire straits to sustain themselves and their families.

Why should workers be exploited like this? The federal minimum wage in the United States currently stands at $7.25 per hour. The highest State mandated minimum wage is $15.00 per hour in the District of Columbia. A person working 40 hours a week will, based of the two minimum wages, earn from $15.080.00 to $31,200.00 per year. Keep in mind that this is gross income. The average tax rate for all taxpayers is 21%. So, using this rate, a person has net income of $11,913.20 to $24,648.00 yearly. These amounts do not account for other variables like health insurance or retirement plans as examples.

Looking at poverty guidelines, see the chart, for 2020 shows the poverty line by the number of people in a household:

Persons in family/household	Poverty guideline
For families/households with 1 to 5 persons.
1	$12,760
2	$17,240
3	$21,720
4	$26,200
5	$30,680

2020 U.S. Poverty Guidelines for 48 Contiguous States and D.C.

A single person can not survive on these wages, regardless of whether or not they are above the poverty line. Try it if you don’t believe me. If you have a family of four (2 parents with 2 children), one income will not allow a family to survive. Two jobs will be the only way to hope to survive, maybe. We are not taking into consideration the cost of living where the employee lives. New York City is going to be much more expensive compared to Rapid City, ND.

Yet, the corporations are making profits that run from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. The owners and shareholders are making obscene amounts of money, of the backs of their workers. In 2019 Sundar Pichai, Alphabet Inc., (owner of Google) received over $280 million. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is making billions of dollars during the COVID pandemic!

Yet, workers will struggle to survive because Capitalism requires workers at slave wages. Capitalism is a economic system keeping workers in thrall. When will the lives of workers and their families become more important than the almighty Capitalist dollar?

Capitalism needs to go, the sooner the better. That or it must be turned upside down and compensate workers by giving them a voice on the boards of corporations and pay that removes the necessity of government aid just to try to survive. In addition, workers are entitled to decent housing, quality healthcare, income regardless of whether they are off sick/injured or working their job, less work hours in a week, and a fair system providing a secure retirement, among other things.

Capitalism will never value the human lives that make the owners/shareholders wealthier, while workers struggle.

So, tell me again that workers don’t need to be an extra $600.00 a week if they are currently unemployed due to the COVID-19 coronavirus? Explain how people may end up evicted and homeless or will be even more reluctant to seek medical attention and that’s okay?

Capitalism is one of the enemies that must be defeated in order to have a better America. Those ugly wealthy must pay for their exploitation of workers.

Kill Capitalism now!

Until next time

What’s Ailing America?

It’s not just one thing

What will history say about the America of 2020? I doubt it will show the country as a shining light on the path of leadership by the supposed most powerful nation in the world. To me, it is more likely that historians will say that America was a sad failure. That seems to be all that the current government and its leadership can accomplish – failure.

At a time when there is a world pandemic striking hard at countries worldwide, a pandemic here in America that has caused over 140,000 deaths, a pandemic that caused millions to become unemployed due to the necessary shutdowns in states in order to try to mitigate the spread of the virus, a pandemic that has not stopped national outrage and protests against police brutality and systemic racism, and a pandemic with no national leadership, who do Americans turn to for help?

Political Ailments

President Donald Trump is responsible for so many dying. He has consistently undermined the steps being taken by states to contain the virus. Worse, Donald Trump feels no guilt, like every sociopath, and takes no responsibility for anything even remotely considered a negative, like coronavirus testing.

Lets be clear, President Donald J. Trump has built his administration up as being the most ineffective and inept administration in the history of America. I’ll show you why I say this.

He is a science denier when talking about climate change or the coronavirus, insisting that he knows better. As results show, quite clearly, Donald Trump doesn’t know better. Plus, I doubt he even cares.

He has shown his disregard for children of immigrants, called illegal immigrants by Trump, and locked them up in “detention centers” under horrible overcrowding and health conditions. “Detention camps” are not the words I would use to describe these facilities. They are concentration camps, defined as “a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy.” It seems this is no longer a newsworthy issue, its been overshadowed.

On May 25th of this year Minneapolis police arrested and murdered George Floyd, a Black American suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a store. Ex-officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes, eventually killing Mr Floyd.

The murder of Mr Floyd evoked nationwide protests across America over his death and the systemic racism in America. The vandalism and rioting in some of the protests has resulted in further police brutality and excessive use of force. Trump has called the protestors “thugs.” The protests have been led by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) group, with White Americans supporting BLM, rather than leading, as it should be.

President Donald Trump, “attacked the Black Lives Matter movement, calling the rallying cry a ‘symbol of hate.'” Contrast this with the fact that while Trump has condemned the extreme right at times, he panders to his base by continuing his racist statements and beliefs (on the Confederate battle flag, Confederate statues, and Confederate names of military bases as examples).

Will Donald Trump be elected to a second term? Only time will tell. But, Donald Trump isn’t wasting any time in setting up his straw man should he lose to Joe Biden. He’s back to putting out, without any supporting evidence, his claim’s that voting by mail is ripe for fraud and will rig the election.

So, what is Donald Trump’s goal? Simply put, Trump is setting the stage to deny his loss to Joe Biden and illegally attempt to hold on to power. Now, if all the government officials live up to their oath to the US Constitution, Donald Trump will be forcibly removed from the White House. Joe Biden would be President and life will go on in America. Or will it?

We’ll back up just a touch to the ongoing protests in America. George Floyd’s murder was the straw that broke the camel’s back, resulting in the wide spread protests led by BLM. Black people (and other people of color) are tired of the lack of equality and are fighting for a new America. There is violence occurring at these protests not only from protestors, but from police as well.

The ongoing protests by the “thugs,” as they are labelled by Donald Trump, have brought Trump to the point where he announced that he would send in federal agencies to quell the ongoing rioting and protests. He kept his word, sending in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies to Portland, OR. The U.S. Marshal’s Special Operations Group and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Border Patrol Tactical Unit in Portland are wearing military style camouflage uniforms that have no agency identifiers or name tags visible. All that can be seen are patches on their tactical vests of the word “Police.” These federal agents have been recorded driving up in unmarked minivans, jumping out and taking individuals into custody without stating the person is under arrest. The “suspect” is handcuffed and hustled over to the minivan and driven away from the scene of their kidnapping.

Some of those snatched off the streets, Gestapo style, have been charged with offenses and some have not. Those not charged were eventually released. This behavior by federal agents is as unconstitutional as you can get. So, one shouldn’t overlook these incidents. This is one reason why the founders of the US wrote the Second Amendment! Please don’t think this is an isolated series of incidents. Donald Trump has ordered 150 agents of DHS’ Homeland Security Investigations agents to Chicago in the near future.

Hopefully everyone knows what doing this is called? I can tell you it isn’t democracy in any form. It’s fascism. A person could surmise that this is Trump’s way of testing to see what he can get away with should he lose the election this November. Will America sit still, or will there be hell to pay.

These intrusions into American cities by federal agents won’t silence the protests. If anything, they will act as gasoline and ignite more violence and rioting. Donald Trump has made a tactical error it would seem. There is more that will open your eyes wider.

Those protestors are strong groups of primarily Millennials and Gen Zers. Their support for Black Lives Matter is clear. They will not bow down any longer to the repressive governments run by the Republicans or the Democrats. They know that the two parties of different sides of the same coin. Both have the same end goal, but have different paths to get there. These young people, of the extreme far left, see the Democrat Party as being centrist, at best, but generally right of center and not representing them and their goals. In fact, calling them socialist or communist would gain their immediate agreement. Is this truly a bad thing?

I’ve had the opportunity to speak with a Gen Z ardent activist of the extreme left political faction. This individual shall remain anonymous for their own protection. I’ll call this person “Activist Z.” Activist Z explained the ideals and goals of the movement itself.

When we observe the current political landscape of both the right and left, we see the same old battle going on. While the ideas of how to move America along may see incremental change to our way of life, it’s not good enough according to Activist Z. Bringing on those changes at a faster rate is also too slow.

Societal Ailments

When Activist Z and the others in the movement look at what America should be, they start with societal fairness, known as equality. To their belief system, whatever is needed to sustain a healthy life for all comes with certain basics. Those basics being housing for all, healthcare for all, equal education in the K-12 schooling system, food and water to comfortably sustain life, and no overblown government or capitalist organization.

Homelessness

Now, I’ll be taking these one issue at a time, starting with housing for all. In the richest nation on Earth (so we are told) there are over 560,000 people who experience homelessness every night. Over 200,000 of the homeless spend each night unsheltered (living outdoors in places not meant for human habitation). Now, don’t just see numbers, see them. These are people, human beings and they have no place to call home, like the rest of us do. Activist Z states that this would not be the case in their views. But, it’s not just the homeless. We must look to the to those living in substandard housing. Substandard housing is defined as “any condition which exists to an extent that it endangers the life, limb, property, safety or welfare of the occupants or general public.” There are about six million homes in America that are substandard. So think hard and visualize people living in those homes.

Still with me? Yes, okay. Now, according to 247wallst.com there are over 17 million vacant homes in America in 2018. Remember those 560,000 plus homeless? They could fill those homes over 30 times. Those six million substandard homes? They could be replaced 2.83 times from the vacant homes.

Activist Z shows that we have more than enough decent homes to house all of the population of America. No one should be living on the streets or in substandard housing. I have to say Activist Z has a point.

Healthcare

Now we know, without any argument, that every person in the country can be provided healthcare. No insurance necessary either. The only reason there is not healthcare for all is politics. There were 30.4 million people with no health insurance in 2018, with millions more with inadequate health insurance. If there was a national healthcare system (including dental and vision care), without any reduction of the level of services provided, then couldn’t we expect Americans to be healthier overall? We won’t know until we tried, though I don’t hesitate to say that with the current government (Democratic or Republican) it won’t get implemented equally for all Americans.

Food Security

Every member of any society should never have to suffer food insecurity, but it happens every day all around the world. With the coronavirus ravaging America there are more than 54 million people facing food insecurity, a total that includes 18 million children.

Consider that the world’s food production is sufficient to feed 10 billion people. Why then do we have so many people in America facing food insecurity? From the same article linked to in this paragraph, globally 30% to 40% of our food production is wasted every year. There should be no hunger in America, or the rest of the world for that matter.

But, when we review the topic we find that over 13.6 million children receive free breakfast and lunch meals at school. Now, no one wants to see any child go hungry, at least I hope they don’t. That’s helps children receive nutritious meals every day, however there are still children in schools that have yet to participate in the federally subsidized breakfast and lunch program. Plus, millions of children and adults don’t get three meals a day. Many parents (and other adults) don’t have enough of a paycheck to cover all their living needs, so they all go without.

Can you imagine sending your children to bed without supper because there’s no money left to buy enough food? I can’t and luckily never had to. When you wrap your head around the food insecurity issue, you can see why food security is a right, not a privilege. Every man, woman, and child should have enough nutritious food to feed themselves every single day.

Education

We all know that it is important to have children receive an education. In 2019, 58.6 million children attended elementary and secondary schools. But, do all these children receive equal education opportunity in America? Sadly, they do not. When looking at why this inequality is we see that resources is not the problem, it’s how the resources are distributed, that was reported in an article from American University in Washington D.C. in 2018. Okay, so we need to demand the inequality gap be closed, something our elected local, state, and federal leaders have failed to do in decade after decade.

If we don’t fairly educate our children in elementary and secondary school education, we then handicap them for their future, either in college or the workforce. The high school graduation rate in 2016 was 84.1%, leaving the rest as dropouts or late graduation for whatever reason.

For all the graduates of high school there are many paths they can decide to follow, such as college, vocational-technical training, and internships in many fields of endeavor. Those who enrolled in college for the Fall Semester of 2019 stood at about 18.2 million students for all 2 year and 4 year colleges and universities. Now, we have to work out a path choice for all the high school dropouts.

High school dropouts have difficulty obtaining high skilled employment. So, we find them flipping hamburgers at a fast food joint, or working in a field focused on manual labor, such as landscaping. It’s no hard to learn how to mow grass, edge lawns, and trim bushes. Most people can be taught these skills fairly fast, but the level of pay won’t come close to what college graduates make.

How do I know this? It’s because I dropped out of high school and worked menial jobs with poor pay. You look for a way out, but without a high school diploma you’re pretty much limited to a low wage “career.”

The education system needs to be set to offer an equal quality education, to include four years of college or university education. Plus, it should be free. Education beyond a four year degree can be paid for by the well educated student, using their learned skills to enter the workforce if necessary to pay for the advanced educational degree. The system must work with struggling students in high schools to get these children to not drop out of school.

What’s Left to Do

I tell you that is a great deal left to do. I’ve barely scratched the surface. There are all types of issues that will have to be worked out in the America envisioned by Activist Z and the other far left radicals (those socialist or communists that haunt our sleep). They are ready to tear down and rebuild a new America where equality will truly exist in their thinking. So much to do, but there is a part of Generation Z ready to change the nation.

Conclusion

The United States of America has stood for 244 years. Look at the mess we made. The system was rigged from the start and year after year generations of Americans have left it better off when the torch is passed to the next generation.

The political landscape in 2020 looks dismal. We have a President, along with his cabal, pretty much doing anything he wants. Laws, morals, and ethics mean nothing to Donald Trump. He’s just interested in pleasing his personal whims and having his ego stroked by his cult of followers.

There have been peaceful revolutions that changed the structure of a nation, take the old Soviet Union’s collapse as an example. Yet, history teaches us that violence and force are needed to change a nation, like the French Revolution and our own Revolution. A change in the national structure of American may end up breaking up America in to multiple nations. If the change can be done peacefully, or if it takes violent overthrow, the extreme left of Gen Z are willing to use either method. We already have 244 years of failure, so maybe Gen Z has ideas that we should accept and try.

There is no guarantee of a tomorrow in life, guarantee of a tomorrow in a nation that you knew yesterday.

I asked in the title, What’s Ailing America? I can tell you what’s ailing America, America is ailing America and her people.

Until next time

Coronavirus and Conspiracy Theories

What does the coronavirus and conspiracy theories have in common? They both start with the letter ‘C’.

The number of U.S. confirmed coronavirus cases is, at the time of this writing, 1,562,714. The number of deaths from the coronavirus stands at 93,863. Keep those numbers in mind.

The Big Picture:

Okay, maybe that is the easy answer. There are no commonalities between the conservative conspiracy beliefs and the deadliest pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu. Yet, here in America there is a fair many people who believe one or more conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. It would be a totally laughing matter if it weren’t for the fact that there are prominent personalities in government (President Trump and Rush Limbaugh) and the media (Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and others at Fox News) who buy into this horse manure in one form or another.

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It’s a different place

America today doesn’t seem to be a nation that makes much sense to the rest of the world, let alone Americans. Hell, let alone me especially!

There is a definitive change in our society, pandemic aside for the moment. It is debatable whether this change is good or bad. I guess it will really depend where you stand and look at it.

I stand in the middle, looking outward at the many angles of life that drive the existence of our country. In many cases I do not like what I am seeing, primarily because of the political situation America is currently confronted with. That situation is our President, Donald Trump, and all the ugliness he has brought forth to, as he sees it, rule the United States.

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