NOW IS THE TIME FOR WORKERS TO SECURE LONG-TERM PROSPERITY

Employers are hiring more part-time workers than full-time workers, commonly referred to as a 'gig economy. The whole idea of a 'gig economy' is to eliminate full-time jobs and benefits in order to reduce labor costs.

Those jobs that were shipped overseas decades ago by pro-corporate Republican't policies will never return as full-time manufacturing jobs. They will only return as mechanized and automated jobs.

The reduction in work hours, benefits, wages, and manufacturing jobs, and the whole chain of associated supporting labor will mean that in order to sustain and survive families will have to work multiple jobs by multiple family members.

Self-employment and public welfare will be the only viable option for middle-class families. It will be unsustainable resulting in the destruction of the middle class.

A massive expansion of the welfare system or the establishment of a 'Basic Universal Income' will become the only viable option. This will be a hard pill to swallow for the American working family and it will be aggressively fought by the pro-corporate lobby via their Republican't sycophants who will fight both options without offering any real solution of their own. They will cry 'socialism', 'communism' and"Let's go Brandon" while they fortify themselves in their ivory towers.

Glenn DL

• Prepare for the Matrix
• Prepare for Skynet and the terminators
• Soylent Green is tasty

ent Green is tasty

YES!! It Was An Insurrection.

I don't know what you saw, but I saw:

Protestors flinging projectiles at police.

Protestors beating, shoving, and insulting police.

Protestors breaking windows and vandalizing property.

I heard threats of violence, death, and anarchy.

Protesters dragging the American flag across the floor of congress.*

Protesters wearing the flag like a blanket.*

Protesters using the flag and its staff as a weapon.*

The American flag heaped on someone's desk.*

American flags defaced with slogans, pictures, and discoloration.*

Few arrests.

Violence should always face consequences.

I never heard anyone explain any reasoning for the violent attack on our government other than those based on unproven lies and conspiracy. 

All references to the protestors' object or goal were expressed as destruction, injury, and overthrow.

To paraphrase critiques of attempts over the summer to raise awareness of rampant social injustices: "What sense does it make to vandalize their own neighborhood," substitute the word government for the word neighborhood. 

Did any of the speakers at the protest discourage violence, did they discuss how to proceed peacefully and legally? 

Where was the militarized law enforcement that was present at the June 1, 2020, Lafayette Park protest that saw peaceful protestors run over and gassed so that the President could have a photo op?

How many of those protestors (and their defenders) that stormed the Capitol were harsh critics of peaceful protestors over the summer? Where is the outrage from the so-called 'family values' law and order conservatives? They were outraged by a passive protest at football games and the disruption of traffic patterns at other peaceful protests but silent on armed attacks on the government and our constitutional principles.

The hypocrisy of the right-wing/conservative Republican'ts is never more obvious than when they express their self-serving views on patriotism and, in particular, when they claim their views on the American flag. They condemn protestors who do not follow their rigid view of the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem. Failure to stand or recite the pledge is vilified by them, but they're OK with improper display of the flag when they are doing so. They cringe and nash their teeth at any criticism of the anthem's words but don't even know the second and third verses. They condemn people who don't wave the flag and beat their chest in echoing their brand of patriotism but consider it OK to deface the flag with images, colors, and slogans that support their political views. Yet they condemn a man who chooses to kneel (a historical sign of respect) instead of stand during the anthem.

Flag desecration and proper protocols are laid out in the 4 U.S. Code § 8.Respect for the flag but it is not law; it is not enforceable by any degree other than society's level of acceptance. We are all free to accept it as protocol or reject it, but if you reject it, then what are the rules concerning 'respect' for the flag? 

That, obviously, is where the right-wing nationalist are: they feel they have the right to decide what patriotism is, what the proper respect for the flag is, what is right for the country. It is what they say it is. They are like the bully on the playground... his rules. 

The Bully in Chief 

Incited by the Bully in Chief and with the limited attitude of a mob, that is what they chose to do on January 6, 2021; takeover with no real objective other than violence, destruction, and bodily harm.

The June 1, 2020, Lafayette Park protest and the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol graphically demonstrate the divisive, illegitimate, and chaotic nature of Donald Trump's presidency and aspirations. 

GlennDL

Opinion: Political extremes hijack national symbols

POLITIFACT

*All of the items followed by the "*" are listed as disrespectful and desecration of the flag under the US Flag Code, but the so-called patriots" have little understanding of either our constitution or the flag code. The irony is that these same "patriots" probably are among those who skewered a black athlete who chose to kneel, a gesture which has never been viewed as a sign of disrespect in history, instead of standing.

Picture: By The White House from Washington, DC - President Trump Visits St. John's Episcopal Church, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90897698

FB-13 TW-

Even when the facts are in his favor he cannot bring himself to speak the truth. He proves himself to be a chronic liar every day.

(This is a rant, my rant. I have tried to be fact-based in my posts, which are reflective of my opinions. I've not attacked Trump's followers, have even on occasion defended him to some extent. But I have arrived at the point that I spoke of the morning after the 2016 election. I have to vent my anger and disgust. If you don't want to hear my opinion, the facts I present, you have always been free to ignore me. And as always, I encourage response... favorable or not. So read on or don't.)

All the present-day public fact-checking sites sprang up in response to the constant bombardment from Conservative Republicans that Obama was lying in 2009. But today those same conservative republicans embrace the deception and self-congratulation of this bloviating con man who is our current president. The rate of lies and deceit from Trump is astronomical in comparison to Obama and any other politician in the fact-checking era.

• Those same conservative republicans called Obama a tyrant for using Executive Orders but praise Trump for doing the same. He has issued 151 in less than four years and is on pace to exceed Obama's EIGHT YEAR TOTAL soon!
• Those same conservative Republicans have stood by while Trump has dismantled long-standing water protections, environment guidelines, conservation guidelines. 
• The same Republicans have surrendered their oversite responsibilities to Trump. 
• Trump and his sycophants have eroded nearly every accomplishment of Obama's administration with no regard to any principle other than revenge. Trump disrupted the offices that were responsible for rolling out pandemic response protocols. Yet, Trump still wants to blame Obama for everything that goes wrong. THREE YEARS LATER!

He hasn't done anything to make America Great Again.

• All Trump has done is to undermine every one of our National Institutions from NASA to our Intelligence Organization. Trump has lowered taxes for the most wealthy while threatening Social Security and Medicare funding with the deceptive call for cuts in payroll taxes. Payroll Tax Cut Scheme is a Severe Threat to Social Security
• For years he demanded that Obama produce a birth certificate while smearing Obama with accusations of hiding something. But four years later Trump still has not produced his Tax Returns.
• He has ridiculed, insulted, and attacked nearly every ethnicity, institution, and former employee, and conservative Republicans want to call him an uniter? Has any past president been such a divider? NO!
• He has phrased violent right-wing protesters, gun-toting protesters in America, as well as dictators and former KGB agents overseas. While vilifying an American Hero (for being a POW) and another American for kneeling in silent protest.

He came out under false pretenses.

• Right-Wing Conservative Republicans attacked the long-standing and practiced Christianity of President Obama. Yet overlook the recent and convenient come to Jesus emergence of the womanizing, golden spooned playboy Donald Trump.
• When Trumped first announced he was running as a Republican for President, most Americans and Political leaders, up until then, were only speculating about whether he was a Republican or Democrat. Most money was on the close friend of the Clintons being a Democrat. No one imagined he was suddenly going to switch from being a pro-choice non-ideologue to being a conservative.
• Initially, he was bombarded and rebuked by the Republican leadership as being the conman and opportunist he has always been. But, then, the right-wing extremist came out of the woodwork to vote for him in the primaries, causing a crisis amongst the Republican party. Then the failed primary candidates and the less extreme right-wing conservatives saw his divisive rhetoric, xenophobia, and bullying as their best option for defeating Hilary.
• Yes, the 'family values' conservatives set their principles and 'values' aside, selling their soul to defeat Hillary.

COVID-19   

Trumps inability to focus, analyze and delegate
has cost us dearly in regards to COVID-19.

South Korea had its first known case of COVID-19 on the same day as the US. Yet they got it under control a lot sooner. (see chart below/at the bottom)

Why?

• There were daily briefings, written and oral, on the COVID-19 virus and the potential pandemic in the weeks leading up to the first known American case. Yet, those warnings were ignored by President Trump, who is known for not reading the briefs or attending the security meetings. (the same mistake contributed to the 9-11 attacks in 2001.)
• The Military has stated for years that the biggest threat to our country was not a nuclear attack or foreign terrorist, but biochemical. Humanmade or natural. We have had agencies and teams in place for such emergencies, despite Trump's claims, but they were dismantled or repurposed by him. His initial statement that the existing five COVID-19 cases would be down to zero in a few days was wishful thinking. That misstatement may turn out to be the most significant presidential error of our history.
• The 2001 Anthrax attacks were a lesson learned "..it was a disturbing realization that there was a new wave of challenges to American security. In early 2002, President George W. Bush announced $11 billion worth of funding to tackle bioterrorism, initiating a decade-long program to establish action plans for how major cities like New York and Boston would cope in the event of a mass attack." But little did they know that nearly 20 years later, their plans for combating such a hypothetical attack would be utilized on the other side of the globe in South Korea but not soon enough in the United States*

How South Korea Successfully Battled
COVID-19 While the U.S. Didn’t

All that was bad enough.

Even a Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day

• But when he encourages armed protesters to storm state capitals because their governor, duly elected, is of a different political party... 
• When he openly mulls the idea that states that didn't vote for him should get less aide than states that did vote for him...
• When he suggests that governors should praise him to get more federal aid... 
• When he openly suggest unproven medical methods or contradicts medical experts during a pandemic. False Comparisons Promote Apathy and Complacency
• When he lies about his inadequate reaction to the pandemic...

After all this**, he refuses to take any responsibility for his slow response by blaming everyone else. Well, for at least a moment, I have to stop trying to be nice about it... thus my rant.

Yes, this is a rant, but it's my rant. It's long overdue because I can't get past what this man is doing to our country. His philosophy that if you repeat a lie often enough, some people will start believing those lies are paying off. I have tried to produce fact-based arguments. We have seen the long-standing hypocrisy of Trump and his cronies being ignored by many. I have hoped that the religious beliefs of some would lead them to a realization. The realization that there is a fraudulent course to this man and the leadership of the Republican party.

I do not condemn his followers for believing in him, but I will condemn some for WHY they support him and what they represent. But many support him for innocent reasons. At most, I will only consider them to be misled or misinformed, but it does scare me how much and easily they will endure before they start to question what is going on.

GlennDL

*The Baltimore Bioterrorism Expert Who Inspired South Korea’s COVID-19 Response

** Reminiscent of his 'asking' a favor of a foreign leader while dangling delayed aid as an incentive to investigate a political rival.

Some States Still Putting Seniors at Risk by Failing to Issue Stay-at-Home Orders

The current patchwork of state social distancing policies continues to threaten vulnerable populations, including older Americans. States that were late or continue to avoid enacting social distancing policies are more likely to be home to populations older than the national average, according to public health experts.
The idea of risking the health of older people and those working on the front lines to boost the overall economy has been endorsed by several conservative elected officials, including Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and this week, Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (IN).
“Besides the moral issues, this idea is dangerous,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “More infections and casualties will again grind the economy to a halt.”
Americans over the age of 50 years and older account for 40% of U.S. gross domestic product despite being 35% of the population.

U.S. Postal Service Threatened by Coronavirus Pandemic

Millions of Americans, especially retirees, rely on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for daily home delivery of mail, medicines and important goods and services no matter where they live. Like many institutions, the coronavirus pandemic has hit the Postal Service hard as business activity has slowed.

The federal government has approved hundreds of billions of dollars to help individuals, small businesses and big corporations. The House of Representatives sought to include relief for the Postal Service but it was not included in any of the stimulus bills passed so far. In March, the president personally rejected Postal Service funding and his administration even suggested it would block the Congressional stimulus package if it included help for the USPS, according to the Washington Post.

The Postal Service was given a loan, but it won’t be enough. Without more funding, the Postmaster General told Congress it will run out of money in September, just before a vote by mail and absentee voting for the 2020 presidential election gets underway.
“Our Postal Service is a vital American institution that has served our nation for more than
200 years,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance. “Congress can’t let it
fail.”

White House rejects bailout for U.S. Postal Service battered by coronavirus

Global Warming vs. Pollution: Can any sane person deny the reality of both?

by GlennDL

Denying global warming has gotten to be a cottage industry as prolific and profit-generating as any that preceded it.* 

As a result of the growth of this industry, it is difficult to find a 'denier' who isn't well equipped with an abundance of talking points masquerading as science. Whatever is their motivation these talking points embolden them to offer endless and often meaningless rebuttals of facts making civil debate tenuous if not impossible.

A collision of 'cherry-picked' facts and talking points will not produce a conversion of deniers, either uninformed or well-informed.

In terms of climate change, only the results of time will shock some people. One tactic is to instill doubt by avoiding the climate change argument and focusing on the antipollution argument. Argue the damage being done now by current pollution levels and past:

• With 11,000 miles of coastline, The Great Lakes are the world's largest body of fresh water on earth (one-fifth of the planet's fresh surface water supply). It has been heavily polluted since the 1960s. In 1970 Lake Erie was declared a dead lake. Progress in reversing the decline of the Great Lakes over the last 60 years has been slow, precarious, and continually threatened.
• The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is a floating collection of garbage in the Pacific that is estimated to be the size of the state of Texas.
  Another patch of garbage, discovered in 1972, has been found
  
  in the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic patch is smaller than the Pacific but still of significant size. It has been estimated with new technologies it would take 5 to 10 years to clean up the Pacific patch. Neither of these garbage patches was discovered until they reached a massive size. 
  The major source of this pollution is freshwater runoff such as the draining of the Great Lakes into the ocean, as well as run-off from other waterways and coastal cities. This runoff continues today… 50 years after the discovery of the Atlantic patch.
  Worse yet is the fact that there are bound to be more patches, smaller but growing and we are only seeing the garbage and debris that floats… what about the sub-service runoff?

There are other examples of serious pollution that rise to the level of potentially being a worldwide crisis: Killer smog in cities dating back over a hundred years, landfill shortages, fracking contamination, worldwide strip mining, deforestation, all threaten our current environment and sustainability. All have existed for decades while facing little resistance to exploitation. The solutions to these pressing problems are just as important to our current pollution problem as they are to our long term climate problem.

The idea that the world is just too big to pollute is critical to the climate deniers but the scope of unrelenting pollution on these levels dispute that claim.

Converting the deniers.

Diverting the debate from climate change to fighting pollution may be a more effective way of neutralizing the climate change-oriented talking points. By diverting the discussion from the talking points you may find a more effective way of getting your point across by addressing undeniable pollution facts that raise a sense of urgency. This approach can be effective in circumventing talking points. Not to say it works in converting every denier, or that it results in any more than stymieing the denier, but directly attacking the denier on his ground seldom works… no matter how right you are. They believe what they want to believe.

The objective in a debate is not to change the mind of someone but to persuade them to 'consider' a different possibility. That consideration can open the door to doubt.  If you fail to instill doubt in them whatever you accomplished at the moment will be reversed once they return to the environment that produced their position.

It's like trying to help someone in an abusive relationship. They know it's wrong and that they need to get out of it. But they cannot get out of the relationship until they get out of the environment and as long as they believe that things could change they will return to that relationship. They want to believe that things could change for the better but not until a seed of doubt is planted by a traumatic and eye-opening event will they truly leave that abusive relationship.

The problem with climate deniers is that there is little chance that a traumatic or eye-opening event will occur soon. Most of the effects of climate change occur slowly and over decades or centuries. Temperature changes, rising sea levels, the extinction of species, the decline in nutrients and protein in our food sources, the slow decline in some sources of drinkable water will all fail to register until we are past the point of reversal.

You can browbeat people into submission, you can out 'talking points' them, you can guilt or shame them into silence, and you can even get them to confess they're wrong, but these seldom result in changing their minds for any longer than it takes for them to get away from you, shun you, or decide to dislike you. You can even 'strawman' their sources to the point they realize the fallibility of those sources, but that will not guarantee their conversion. If you don't produce a seed of doubt they will simply continue to hold their belief below the surface.

• Trump Removes Pollution Controls on Streams and Wetlands
• Trump to Veto Bill Intended to Keep Forever Chemicals out of Groundwater
• 95 Environmental Rules Being Rolled Back Under Trump
• Interior Dept. to allow mining, drilling in Utah's national monuments
• 'Finally!': Court Orders EPA to Stop Stalling Potential Ban on Pesticide Tied to Brain Damage in Kids

1. Did President Trump Reverse an Insecticide Ban After Receiving $1 Million from Dow Chemicals?
2. World’s Largest Producer of Toxic Pesticide Chlorpyrifos Ends Its Production

*anti-vaccine myths, birthers, moon landing deniers, ancient flat earth beliefs


Rolled Back Under Trump

They're coming for your Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid... again... this time remember who it is(Republican'ts)... the same people it always is... until it is election time when they start preaching promises they will not keep.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid have never been funded for eternity. There is always a date at which it is anticipated they will run out of funds and this date is used misleadingly to paint the programs as unsustainable. It is a common argument for privatization and an excuse to cut benefits. In reality, the process is that they will be continually funded by routine adjustments and additional revenues. Trump, Romney and the republican party knows this when they promise you at election time that they won't touch these benefits, and they know this later when they try to sneak in legislation to gut these programs (like now), but most of all they know that most of us pay attention at election time but tend to stop paying attention between elections.                                                                  GlennDL

Mitt Romney’s Plan to Gut Social Security and Medicare
Through the TRUST Act Advances

The Senate Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on the TRUST Act, proposed by Sen. Mitt Romney (UT), this week. The bill is an attempt to gut earned benefits by creating a closed-door and fast-tracked process. The stated goal of this bipartisan legislation is to address the solvency problems of multiple trusts funds set to be depleted by 2035 through the creation of “rescue committees,” but the plan is dangerous for seniors, people with disabilities and others who rely on Social Security and Medicare.

The trusts impacted are Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare Hospital Insurance, and the Highway Trust Fund. Through these “rescue committees,” any fixes for these trusts that legislators agree upon is fast-tracked to a vote in the Senate. The secret process lacks transparency, which would allow for cuts to be made easily to these programs.  

“Sen. Romney’s track record on Social Security indicates his motive,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance. “In calling to raise the retirement age during the 2012 presidential campaign, he showed his true colors. He wants to cut Americans’ hard-earned benefits. He is no friend of retirees.” ce for Retired ance

The Alliance for Retired Americans

Trump Pushes Medicaid Block Grants,
Allows States to Roll Back the Affordable Care Act

The administration is intensifying its assault on Medicaid by converting some Medicaid funding into block grants. Under the proposed plan, states could request to receive fixed payments from the federal government for poor adults now covered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion. It would also allow states to limit benefits and drugs available for some beneficiaries. 

“This drastically changes the way Medicaid is funded and will result in harsh benefit cuts that will hurt vulnerable Americans,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “It is the latest cruel scheme and it shirks responsibility for ensuring that every American has access to health care.”

Currently, the federal government matches state Medicaid spending. This allows anyone who has qualified for Medicaid benefits to receive them without delay. Funding automatically increases in times of need, such as economic downturns or when health care costs increase. However, fixed cost block grants will not increase, leaving states to cut benefits or the number of people who qualify for the program. 
Despite renaming the program “Healthy Adult Opportunities,” the program erodes the federal government’s commitment to protecting low-income Americans. 
“The Administration’s plan also gives states the flexibility to cut what it spends on Medicaid or use the funding for non-health related things, including paying for other programs or financing tax cuts,” added Peters. A video of an Emergency Room doctor confronting Vice President Mike Pence over Trump's Medicaid cuts has been viewed more than a million times.

The Alliance for Retired Americans

Iowa Alliance Calls out Broken Promises on Drug Prices

On Thursday, the Iowa Lower Drug Prices Now coalition, which includes the Alliance, launched their campaign to demand comprehensive reform to lower drug prices for everyone. The coalition’s mission includes ending Big Pharma’s power to pad their profits by setting and keeping prices high.

The campaign held a news conference at the State Capitol in Des Moines on the same day that President Trump visited the state, serving as a reminder to voters of his many broken promises to curb skyrocketing drug costs and price gouging. Iowa Alliance members, state legislators, health care professionals, impacted Iowans and labor representatives participated in the event

“30% of Iowans reported that they had stopped taking medication as prescribed due to cost in 2017. The situation has only gotten worse since then,” said Iowa Alliance president Mike McCarthy. “Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world and we seniors bear the biggest burden.”

“While the president and Senator Joni Ernst (IA) say they care about this issue, neither has taken real action,” added Jan Corderman, Recording Secretary of the Iowa Alliance. “Trump used to say that Medicare should negotiate prices, but he threatened to veto H.R. 3, a strong drug price negotiation bill passed by the House of Representatives, within hours of its passage in December.”

The Alliance for Retired Americans

see also:

• Mitt Romney pushes new plan to fix Social Security. Critics say it isn’t a solution.
• ‘Block grants’ no more: Trump's Medicaid overhaul has new name, same goals.
• The Problems with Block-Granting Entitlement Programs.
• "It's Their Lifeline": Video of ER Doctor Confronting Mike Pence Over Trump Medicaid Cuts Viewed 1 Million+ Times.

The New RepubliCAN'T Party:

This picture was taken by Cleveland.com reporter Jeremy Pelzer at a Trump rally at the Olentangy Orange High School in Ohio 4 August 2018:

I've contended many times that the Republican Party, primarily its leadership and fringe element, have morphed into the very extremism they routinly condemn Democrats and independents of. Their new extremism has moved them so far to the right that now more than ever they are unrecognizable as the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, Nixon or Reagan. Four Republicans that couldn't even win a Republican primary in this environment.

(reposted from 2018)

I have removed the previous headline, slogan, rhetorical question, and stated conclusions associated with this photograph because I don't want there to be a distraction from the raw picture or a conclusion drawn from the picture that would be twisted and spun to excuse this.

I do not want anyone to try and excuse it by pointing out that these guys aren't who they represent, that they are plants, that they are being satirical, sarcastic, or paid to wear these shirts. I don't want to hear an excuse that they don't mean what many of us think they mean.

What I want to know is:

Do you think they exercise critical thinking? Did they consider all the ramifications of their chosen statement? Are there any positive possibilities or realizations that can come from their statement.

Is their statement patriotic? Are they being respectful of the troops under fire in Syria from Russian and Russian backed forces? How does their patriotism compare to Colin Kaepernick reverently taking a knee during the National Anthem in silent, constitutionally protected free speech?

Should those who will be associated with them object? Is it a value statement? Or are they just trying to be funny? IS IT funny? Or are they just two bozo's that everyone should ignore?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

see also:  

Why Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Goldwater, Reagan and Jesus Christ Couldn't Be Elected In A Republican't Primary:

Let’s Do Something!!!

It is time we call-out those that through tactics, legislation and inaction protect the weapons and people that make mass shootings more possible. The NRA, high capacity magazines, legal modifications, and assault-style weapons are the perpetrators and tools of the domestic terrorist, but the enabler is the Republican party and their current leader President Trump.

It is time that we do not accept the ‘the thoughts and prayers’ of these enablers as sincere. It is time that we see past their “time to mourn” stalling tactics… the mourners are screaming for action. Their claims of violent games and film, broken families, mental illness as a cause have been made but not acted on… they have only been made to distract us from the tools of a mass shooting. We are capable of dealing with the underlining social problems, but their inaction exposes their true concerns, that the social problems are merely a decoy from dealing with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their well funded NRA lobbyist

We have let the NRA backed Republicans shame us into putting off action until the appropriate time, the appropriate time has come and gone… again and again with no action because they are in the position to stall and pontificate their way to inaction.

Their inaction, hypocrisy, excuses, fear-mongering, and tolerance for right-wing extremists and racist is dividing and destroying this nation's core principle.

It has to stop!!!

Their stand against “Gun Free Zones” is purely self-serving:

Their time for Thoughts and Prayers is very short, and self serving:

Their claims of cause are often disproven, vague, and eventually unaddressed:

Finally, some Republicans have had enough of the charade:

Sensible changes can be made without taking guns away from those who are law abiding and responsible.

“…all of us have to send a clarion call and behave with the values of tolerance and diversity that should be the hallmark of our democracy. We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people. Such language isn’t new – it’s been at the root of most human tragedy throughout history, here in America and around the world. It is at the root of slavery and Jim Crow, the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. It has no place in our politics and our public life. And it’s time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much – clearly and unequivocally.”  
---Barack Obama

Political Fanaticism:

Trump Shutdown v.2019: Day 28

Trump's Shutdown Is a Savage Assault on the Working Class
Five Facts on Current Border Security
Original Facebook Post

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Trump Shutdown v.2019: Day 26

Remember the Berlin Wall? The Iron Curtain?

Remember when we were ideologically opposed to the symbolism of the 'Iron Curtain' because it was so contrary to our concept of a proud and free nation? Remember when Reagan said "...tear down that wall", in regards to the Berlin Wall.

In December,2018 Congress had passed a bi-partisan deal when Trump declared he would shutdown the government and Republican’ts pulled the deal over the border wall. Trump and Republicants have called for a shutdown repeatedly for various reasons over the years. He said he would “own this shutdown” and was proud to do it. The same people who called Obama tyrannical for bypassing Congress are applauding the latest of many Trump tantrums: ie., the threat to bypass Congress.

And so ends the latest lesson in Republican logic (hypocrisy).

Trump Shutdown v.2019: Day 24

We have shutdown the government because of a manufactured emergency. The demand is that we fund a solution that is going to take years to design and about 15 years to build. So even if approved it would accomplish nothing for a decade? Even the so called ‘funding fix’, the ‘new NAFTA’ hasn’t even been ratified by Congress… you know the gimmick to make Mexico pay for the wall, which has no real provision for raising revenue, wasn’t passed by the ‘do nothing Republican’t Congress’!
Bi-partisan agreement on immigration reform has been put forward numerous times only to be held up by Republican’t leadership and the President.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/11/us/politics/trump-border-crisis-reality.html?fbclid=IwAR1aPY-7ozpo6HAn-0Mj9v3awpmQ5IO1NZjt2A6-jO0jAw8MJyVL__wM5TY

Remember when we were ideologically opposed to the symbolism of the 'Iron Curtain' because it was so contrary to our concept of a proud and free nation? Remember when Reagan said "...tear down that wall", in regards to the Berlin Wall. Remember "...Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Today some prefer walls and closed borders. Why must we always argue over the extreme positions on every issue as opposed to finding the solutions that always reside somewhere in between?

Here’s how just throwing money at the problem without any real plan usually works:

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/11/675923576/customs-border-and-protection-paid-a-firm-13-6-million-to-hire-recruits-it-hired?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR0is9G-K1WdI1X2FsqZJydZY2HWCE83YOZCvN3Ie-Yf9k68v9RGIr1gKPE

Trumps Shutdown v.2019

by GlennDL

Last year about this time we were engaged in shutdown rhetoric also. At that time I was equally critical of both sides (see:click here), but this year I see little defensible about the Presidents position. Again his constant flip-flopping, hyperbolic inaccuracies, and back tracking has exasperated any sense of purpose or plan he might have ever harbored.

Republican'ts are showing their usual hypocrisy: in 2013 when they shut down the government (after previous, repeated threats) over Obamacare (the law of the land) and its perceived threat to the deficit, after that they now totally ignore the still growing deficit with corporate giveaways and deficit growing spending.

His sense of carrying out ‘the peoples mandate’ is so contrary to his stance against President Obama’s people mandate on healthcare. Obama’s popular and electoral vote victory validated his key election promise on healthcare more so than Trumps’ electoral college victory, yet Trump like so many Republicant’s have repeatedly and continually sought to overturn that popular peoples mandate even as it grows in popularity.

Russia vs. Bengazi

by Glenn Littrell

Sometimes it is very disheartening to see how some peoples thought processes work. How we process information and make judgments, and form opinion reveals how we use and apply critical thought and how we apply critical thought usually shows whether or not we are hypocritical or consistent in how we make judgments, form opinions, lead our lives, raise our children, etc.

Do we have consistent moral codes, creeds, and behaviors? Do we form opinions based on thought out and tested methods? Do we practice or espouse rules of life to our children that stand up in all situations and make consistent sense across the board in real life? Are our rules for life well thought out and consistent rules that are tempered with compassion and foresight.

OR,

Do we pick our morality from a hodgepodge of situations? Are our rules for life, justice, and behavior varied by the whim of what pleases us at the moment, serves our emotional feeling, or our own pleasure? Are our rules for life based on situational ethics that falter or grow with our emotional and personal whim or fancy?

Concerning the issue of Russian meddling post on Facebook:

I would like to hope your question is rhetorical or that you're just trying to stir the pot.

If you truly believe that the meddling is no big deal because it didn't actually change the outcome of the election then I suppose that you feel drunk driving is only a problem when it results in injury? (No harm, no foul)

If you believe the outcome of the election was inevitable, that he would have won anyway, then I suppose you feel the rule of law only applies when it is applied to support your opinion or change the outcome in your favor? (The end justifies the means)

If you believe that 'everybody does it' makes it right I suppose things like date rape, theft, drugs, perjury, etc., are OK if they're common, or perceived to be common events? (If your friends jumped off a cliff would you?)

So your moral code, sense of right and wrong, the lessons you teach your children through words or deeds are:

• No harm, no foul.
• The end justifies the means.
• If your friends jumped off a cliff, it alright if you do.

Now you continue your use of 'situational ethics' when you choose to ignore the fact that it was your saintly Trump who raised the issue of election meddling (until he won) and threatened criminal action and investigation before the election. A master of loose and inconsistent ethics.

The irony of calling for the stop of the investigation, not a conclusion, because it has drawn on for 'so long':

• After we endured 4 years and 10 investigations over Benghazi with what results?
• Before that, the Republican'ts spent 40 million over 4 years to prove a man would lie about having an affair. (Bill Clinton).

I don't recall one of the people now calling for an end to the current investigation registering the same complaint before 2016.

NOTE: Since Nixon the Republicans have controlled the Presidency a year and a half longer than the Democrats, yet the Republicans constantly complain about the Democrats ruining America as if they were never in power to change or fix things. Whether you consider the Republicans blameless or not you should to consider that:

• The Republicans have succeeded in little by their own account.
• If it doesn’t concern defense contracts or tax cuts for the wealthy there are few Republican accomplishments in regard to successful legislation.

As an independent bleeding-moderate I tend to vote left-of-center on most issues not by party, but by issues as I’ve never belonged to either party. It is my observation that Democrats tend to campaign for things… change and progress, and Republicans tend to campaign against things, only citing their policy’s and not their accomplishments, which are few.

Government Shutdown: Plenty of blame to go around… and around, and around…

Let's be clear: a government shutdown occurs because of a failure to compromise, negotiate in good faith, and to lead, or in the case of controlling the branches of government (Supreme Court, the House, the Senate, the Presidency) the inability reach a consensus.

The Democrats are wrong to tie DACA to this Continuing Resolution(CR). The CR is a win for everyone on CHIPS, by tying DACA to this CR they are allowing the optics of the argument to be about children and the troops vs. DACA. On the other hand if they passed the CR and moved on the optics would be about DACA vs. The Wall… a more solid position for them. Win-able, but once again the Democrats fail to properly brand their position.

The Republican'ts are showing their usual hypocrisy: in 2013 when they shut down the government (after previous, repeated threats) over Obamacare (the law of the land) and its perceived threat to the deficit, after that they now totally ignore the still growing deficit with corporate giveaways and deficit growing spending.

The President has continually contradicted his own position and aggravated the situation by flip-flopping continuously. Stirring the pot by saying one thing publicly and then reversing and contradicting himself the next moment. Having to re-explain his often stated and emphatic position time and time again. Constantly ‘blowing things up” No leadership, so sad.

Yes, there is plenty of blame to go around. In every shutdown that has caused servicemen to not be paid on time the troops get played as a bargaining chip. Both sides have caused shutdowns and playing the 'shoe -on-the-other-foot' blame game to an advantage, neither party or no president has pushed for legislation or policy that would deal with the temporary loss of pay problem.

It isn't that the troops are denied payment, work and sent home. The problem, is even though they continue to work the people who cut the checks are furloughed, thus their checks are late.

See also