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Policing 2020

June 18, 2020 by

We are in a tailspin, one crisis piling onto another has brought us to the brink with no leadership to set a path toward a future. The hubris of our current administration is staggering, to say the very least. Top to bottom, with little space between, there are messages of distortion, distraction and just plain downright lies.  Truly, we have fallen far in just a few short years; yet perhaps not so far at all. Perhaps what we are seeing is the what has been there all along, the ugliness that we drove underground in our demand for political correctness, our need for a polite society; perhaps the election of this horrifyingly unqualified President has ripped the bandage we have been using to cover up the illness we never addressed.

The murder of George Floyd forced us to finally acknowledge there is something wrong in the Shining City on the Hill. Something deeply flawed, rotting and ugly that was undermining the American Dream of freedom, justice and prosperity for all. Laws were written with good intentions; other times, laws were wrong when passed yet remain viable and unchallenged. Sometimes, as we have today, what one President does to begin to unravel the wrongs without Congress the next undoes with the stroke of a pen, simply out of petty pique. Which brings us to where we are today with policing in America, how did we get here?

The simplest answer is watching the murder of George Floyd, all horrifying 8:46 minutes of Derek Chauvin kneeling on his throat while he died, miserably on a public street, begging first for his life, for breath and finally calling for his dead mother.

The more complex answer is 158 (one hundred fifty-eight) years the Emancipation Proclamation the first step in freeing all American slaves was signed. It would require three Constitutional Amendments (13-15) to give the African American former slaves the first steps toward civil rights and recognition as true equals under the law. Just over a century later Civil Rights activists took to the streets, leading to the greatest decade of upheaval and change, beginning with the murder of Emmit Till and ending with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Here we are today, some things have certainly changed some for the better and many if we look closely for the worse. It has been 52 (fifty-two) years since Dr. King was assassinated, I wonder what he would think of us all today? In this, I can only confront one of the issues, overly aggressive policing and what it has done to our communities, more specifically our many Black and Brown communities nationwide.

So finally to the crux of the matter policing and what can be done to stop the overly aggressive stance they take today, especially with Black men but frankly with all Black and Brown people. There are some simple answers and then some more complex answers. The most complex, you cannot change the hearts and minds of men and women with deeply ingrained bias and prejudice; you can, however, force them to act in a way that you wish by making it too personally costly to do otherwise. Over time, you will weed out those who are simply incapable of change.

My personal recommendations in no particular order:

  1. Reassemble the division of the Justice Department that reviews patterns of abuse. Bring back Consent Decrees, with federal jurisdiction and limitations on federal money to those cities where clear non-compliance is found. This applies to all, large and small, cities and state levels.
  2. Require “if you see it intervene and tell,” which effectively removes the Blue Wall. Those who do not tell are as guilty as those who abuse the power of the badge and in the future, should be treated equally harshly.
  3. Create an independent State Attorney’s Prosecution division under the jurisdiction of the State Attorney General for the investigation and charging all police misconduct.
  4. Fully remove qualified immunity from police, and all other public officials for that matter, and require all those who serve to carry individual liability insurance. Without coverage, they cannot serve on any police department in any capacity, and certainly, they cannot carry a deadly weapon.
  5. Create a national database, ensure no officer fired for dereliction, abuse, or any other misconduct can be hired by any other department. The combination of this with liability insurance would rapidly reduce the “bad apples,” and we would all begin looking at leadership closely again.
  6. Require a minimum of a two-year degree in Law Enforcement with additional Police Academy training and a 6-month apprenticeship.
  7. Fully de-militarize all police forces and stop immediately the sale of military weapons to any force.
  8. Stop immediately the use of Choke Holds and other physical restraint techniques that have proven to be deadly.
  9. Change the role and power of the Police Union, they should no longer be weighing in on controversial issues, matters of policy or protecting the “bad apples” at the cost of the public.
  10. Require Body Cameras and Dashboard Cameras be on at all times during all stops; any deviation from this is cause for dismissal.
  11. Require partner rotations every 6 months. I know this seems strange, but long-term partnerships create loyalties that are frequently dangerous to the public.
  12. Require on-going professional training of all police. Not just that they are able to shoot their pistols, but in other skills needed for them to work with the public.
  13. Require regular psychological evaluations of all members of the police, especially those who regularly work with the public. We need to accept their jobs can be hard, they can see and face traumatic situations daily. They shouldn’t be the enemy, we need to make certain they don’t become the enemy by giving them tools and helping them cope.
  14. Require their social media is open to evaluation, yes everyone has free speech, but those who serve must be willing to be observed as well.
  15. Divide and conquer, create non-policing agencies to support community needs and no longer use the police for these issues. Retrain 9-1-1 to identify and direct calls to the correct agencies. This is a longer-term goal and will require police, public and citywide cooperation as each determines what their true needs are.
  16. Re-write the 1994 Crime Bill. This requires everyone to come together and acknowledge how misguided we were, now badly this Bill hurt so many and then to take it apart piece by piece. This will require we begin thinking of Crime in new ways. It will require we begin thinking of incarceration in new ways. It will require we begin thinking of many of our mistakes and how we might finally, if not correct them, address them and move forward together.

I am certain I have missed somethings in this and I apologize for the length, I have watched and listened for days trying to come to what I thought might be the best “right” answer. We cannot “Defund” the police; we can, though, make them more effective and more community-focused. We cannot change the past, we can change the future.

Things I recommend if you are interested:

American Son (Netflix)

13th (Netflix)

Just Mercy (Netflix)

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html

Filed Under: Policy Wonk Tagged With: , , ,

The Chasm

June 9, 2020 by

As we watch, this nation sinks deeper and deeper into a pit of false narratives, confabulation and outright lies. We watch as men are murdered on the street by those sworn to ‘protect and serve.’

Ahmaud Arbery, 25 years old gunned down on the street in daylight 23 February 2020

Manuel Ellis, 33 years old restrained and beaten to death on the street by police 3 March 2020

Breonna Taylor, 26 years old shot 8 times in her bed by the police 13 March 2020

George Floyd, 46 years old choked on the street by a knee to the neck 25 May 2020

Those are the names we know in the space of 92 days; these are not the only names; these are the names we are hyper-aware of today.  George Floyd was our wick, lighting the flame of our shared outrage.

I have struggled for days on how to write this. I am not a Black American; I cannot write from that perspective as I do not have that lived experience. All I can do is write from my own deeply felt beliefs. Ultimately, what finally set the groundwork was two different perspectives, one from a younger sister and one from a long time and dear friend. Each of their comments caused me pause and thought, each of them has very different life experiences, to one I owe an apology and with the other, I continue to debate.

“I think black people suffer from Generational PTSD and I recently came to realize that I suffer from it as a Black Man living the black experience in America”

“What are you willing to give up to assure justice, equality and an end to racism?”

My immediate and visceral response to the second is ‘nothing’; it is a zero-sum game. This response infuriates my sister and all her social media activist followers. I understand their fury. Let me try to unwind this as far as I am able.

White Privilege is something new to our lexicon to describe the unearned opportunity those born to their ‘Whiteness’ enjoy. Though this has been a field of study for decades, it did not become a broadly discussed phenomenon until 2014 when Black Lives Matter begin to use it widely.

Is every interaction between a White person and a Black person going to end badly? Of course not. Does every aggressive interaction have its roots in racism? No, some are simply two people with an issue to resolve. The truth is sometimes, bad acts are only bad acts and ugly merely is ugly.

Why do we get so offended by the White Woman in the park calling the police on the Black Man watching birds or asking her to put her dog on the leash? Why do we get so offended by the White Man demanding proof of the Black Man’s residency in that building?  Why are we so offended by the White Woman demanding the Hispanic Woman speak English in the checkout line? We are offended because, after 400-years of pathological inequalities and racial bias, we only have one way to understand them. We only have one way to hear the 9-1-1 call with the description of the Black Man or the Black Woman, despite this is an accurate description, we hear Racial Bias and we also know there is decades police bias on the other end of that call.

Tamir Rice was a 12-year old boy when he was murdered in the park within two-seconds of the police arriving after a 9-1-1 call on 23-November-2014. All of the media surrounding his murder by police tried to paint Tamir as bigger than his age, thus a threat, the toy gun he was playing with somehow manipulated to appear ‘real.’ Later, the media painted his parents as violent criminals, leading to the conclusion that his murder was both their and his own fault. The truth is, the man who made the call identified him as an African American in the park, pointing a gun at random people, he also identified him as a ‘probably’ a juvenile and the weapon as ‘probably’ fake. Ultimately his murder was deemed justified by a Grand Jury, despite the cop who pulled the trigger had lied on his application having previously been found not emotionally fit for duty by another police force.

Why is Tamir’s story important?

He was a child murdered by police; we, White People, accepted his murder; we did not mourn him as we should have. We did not demand justice for this young boy, as we should have. We accepted as reasonable the murder by police of a young African American boy in the park while playing with a toy gun.  We failed, abysmally, to demand justice for so many other young Black men in the proceeding years leading up to the murder of Tamir. We, White People, did not look at these murders and ask ourselves, ‘if these were my child, would I be as passive as I am today because it is theirs?’

That acceptance, the lack of concern is the true measure of White Privilege.

We failed to listen to the weeping of the mothers and fathers of these dead children and we failed to mourn with them.

With the murder of George Floyd, we are offended, perhaps even outraged. I think we are still trying to smooth out the issue of Racism in Mr. Floyd’s murder. But finally, we are unable to ignore the truth that 400-years of systemic injustice done to our fellow man within the borders of our nation led to the murder of George Floyd.

So why do I say I am unwilling to give up anything?

I do not want to see all of us with ‘less than,’ instead, I want to see all of us with more. If there is a privilege I have that another does not have, tell me what it is I will work without rest to ensure it is no longer mine alone. If there is a wall we need to tear down, let’s do it together, systemic racism exists; the majority of us know it now; it is visible and cannot be ignored. We should not be poorer when the fight is done; we should all be richer. This is why I say I will not give up anything; I want my friends, my brothers and sisters to have what I have not less than but precisely what I have. I want there to be no light between us.

Will it be a fight?

Yes, of course. There will always be those who fear the change that will come. There will always be those who hate; it is not possible to change hearts with laws. But for me? I don’t want to give up a damn thing; I want there to be no question of equality. The truth, it is not possible to change 400-years of history; it is not possible to wipe out original sins with apologies, gifts, or money. Nothing will change history; we can though change our future.  We can demand new and better laws. We can demand investments where there has been none before. We can unwind anything that prevents a future free of systemic racism and begin the process of education inclusive of real history. We can make racism so painful to those who practice it they will slowly become a pariah in our communities, unhirable and ultimately without friends or support systems.

What can we do? We can demand justice. We can listen. We can be allies. If it is the last thing we do, let’s use our White Privilege to demand change in our systems and ensure our neighbors, friends and family enjoy the same privilege we unwittingly enjoy. What can we do today? We can speak up when we see something. We can demand our elected officials do the right thing rather than what is convenient. Ultimately, we can vote. Remove those in office at every level high and low; local, state and federal who stand in the way of change.

That is what we can do, individually and together, we are the change.

Filed Under: Op Ed Tagged With: , , , ,

Scheme of Things

April 10, 2020 by

In the grand scheme of things, nothing is right with the world today. Some of us know this, deep inside of ourselves, we know. Some of us guess it; something just doesn’t feel right. Some of us continue to believe everything will be alright, all we have to do is ignore the truth and believe in the fantasy, and the world will right itself without intervention. Those in the third group, they scare the hell out of me. They are conspiracy theorists, end-of-days evangelists, science deniers and other fringe hanger on’rs who will argue with the truth no matter how many facts are before them.

The world is tilted on its axis. White is Black with no shades of gray. Facts are Lies and not those little white lies we all tell sometimes, but boldfaced and easily fact-checked. Science is a conspiracy to lead fools astray, despite science once made this nation the greatest and most inspiring in the world. Nothing, not a single thing makes sense to those of us seeking something, anything to hang onto in a world seemingly out of control.

Our world is changing; it will affect how we exist going forward. None of us know what the change is only that it is coming. As we sit, isolated in our homes alone or with our family, we realize it will impact us, and it is at every single tier of our society. Most of us recognize finally that we have no control. We are all trying hard to wrap our arms and heads around what it all means, to our futures, our children’s future, and finally, our nation. If we are in the first two groups mentioned above, we know something is changing; nothing will be the same, we just don’t know what it means.

Oddly, we all keep asking when things will return to ‘normal’; I think the relevant question should be, what will our new normal be? Possibly even more importantly, who will determine what the new normal will be? Maybe we should also ask, what normal is it everyone is so eager to return to because I can think of several things right off the top of my head that was not so great. Then really, we should be asking, when the doors are finally flung open, and we return to whatever ‘normal’ is, will most of us actively participate or simply be shoved aside to survive as best we are able.

With millions of jobs lost, millions out of work, incomes lost and the potential of homes lost, savings and retirement lost, we are facing a depression far worse than the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The difference, this time the wealthy will keep their wealth and everyone else will fall further behind. This time the middle-class will entirely disappear and poverty will become a sliding scale of have not. This time, it will be bad, worse and terrifying. This time, instead of a nation coming together, standing together and trying together, we will be a nation split apart by distrust, partisan politics and pure unadulterated hate in some cases. Do not get me wrong, we certainly had some of that in the first Great Depression, but we also had pride and a common foe; we didn’t have the “wholehearted” look across the table at one another and see the enemy as we do today.

What will we do when the nation returns to ‘normal’?

Will we return to work as if nothing has happened to change the landscape of our nation? Will the thousands of small businesses shuttered through this pandemic suddenly reopen, rehire and begin working as if there was no break in their business operations? Will the restaurants and neighborhood bars, the lifeblood of many communities suddenly find the working capital to start up again? The barbershop or beauty shop on the corner unlock their doors to welcome their shaggy and disheveled customers back after weeks, if not months of self-service. We pay lip service, but do we truly understand all these business models and their operations? The truth is, most do not have deep pockets, most cannot wait it out and most will not reopen. The business landscape and that of our neighborhoods will be very different when finally we can go outside again. Our cities and small towns will look more like Detroit after the fall of the Auto Industry with shuttered windows and locked doors.

What will we do? With most families teetering on the edge of destitution, one paycheck away from complete forfeiture rather than the six months recommended with no real remedy on the horizon. In the near term, some people will receive help in the form of $1,200 from the government maybe a bit more if they had dependents on their taxes last year but there are loopholes. If you are furloughed you have access to unemployment, but as with the last recession, it will never be enough to keep you and your family afloat. In very real terms best case you live in a state that pays unemployment on a sliding scale that considers dependents, the most you can expect is:

  • Alaska – $442 w/dependents
  • Connecticut – $724 w/dependents
  • Illinois – $667 w/dependents
  • Iowa – $591 w/dependents
  • Maine – $667 w/dependents
  • Massachusetts – $1,234 w/dependents
  • Michigan – $362 w/dependents
  • Ohio – $647 w/dependents
  • Pennsylvania – $580 w/dependents
  • Rhode Island – $867 w/dependents

If you are furloughed, you have no access to vacation pay. You cannot cash out your diminished 401K, but you have those paltry unemployment funds to look forward to and foreclosure-1-1your employer can honestly say you are still an employee. You, on the other hand, will have to choose between food on the table, the roof over your head and maybe something else of equal importance. Maybe you can bargain with your bank, your creditors might make a deal with you, but you will have a steep hill to climb when you finally go back to work. Ruined credit, high-interest rates and big first payments to catch up.

What will we look like as a nation when this is over and we fling the doors wide and step outside? Will our nation be kinder? Will we be gentler as a people? I wishfully keep thinking maybe, but all indications say it is only going to get worse, crueler, more hyper-partisan.

The era of expertise is finally dying under the weight of Coronavirus. The age of intelligent and thoughtful debate has seen its last breath. Though long dead as a legal rule, the Fairness Doctrine is now finally and fully taken its last gasp as a philosophical standard in reporting, no longer can we trust any source of coverage.

I have only this when a man or woman tells you who they are; believe them. Believe what comes out of their mouth as the truth. No need for clean up or analysis. We are suffering the truth of who we have elected to every office across this land. It is not just the Presidency; it is every office Federal, State and Local. If this is the nation we want, we got it. Our incompetence, disinterest and failure to participate got us to this point. We own all of it. If we want something better than this, we the people of this nation best rise up and take part in the recovery.

Normal? What the hell is normal? Do any of us genuinely want to return to where we were? In the grand scheme of things, we don’t have much time to fix what we all had a part in breaking.

Filed Under: Op Ed, Politics Tagged With: , , , , ,

Partisan Pandemic

March 29, 2020 by

Ladies and gentlemen, what we have is a partisan pandemic. Yes, indeed we have sunk Soapbox Logoso low, so far we are no longer Americans, rising together to defeat the enemy that is this terrible virus. Instead, we remain firmly in our corners, pointing fingers, blaming the other side, and even laughing as our fellow Americans sicken and die so long as it is not us but them. Our Commander in Chief feeds this partisanship, demanding the Governors’ play nice’ or he won’t assist in this time of great need, downplaying the crisis despite what we hear from those who see it first-hand.

Just the top of the list as of Friday, 27 March 2020:

tophotspots

Many of our medical professionals tell us the numbers of confirmed would be far higher if testing were readily available, but as of today, it is not. What does that say about the greatest nation in the world?

How afraid should we be?  Very afraid, in my opinion. We have a Commander in Chief who is incapable of command, unqualified to lead under the best of circumstances. In these circumstances, his ego, his narcissism, and his myopic view of the world have led us to the point we are today.  This man, who demands personal loyalty ahead of the nation, who requires praise before the truth would see tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands die to gain re-election to an office he has proven time and again he is unfit to fill. Worse, the sycophants surrounding him continue to promote his lies and feed the unwitting and willing public to believe all is well in La-La Land, even while their family and friends die around them.

Make America Great Again, sure, let’s do that. My question, by whose measurement and exactly when are we looking in history for that “Again”? I am not saying we have ever been ‘Great’ for all of our citizens; admittedly, we have not been. But every single decade detroit-segregation-1942saw us make improvements. Some were huge and established a standard for generations to strive toward. Others were small, barely felt by most, and yet they moved us forward incrementally. Of course, we also had enormous missteps, terrible acts of brutality against entire people, against classes of people; humans can sink low when fear and greed rise and take over. Even worse, when either of these base emotions was stoked by religious or national outrage, we acted in concert to exact retribution or maintain our unearned preeminence.

So now we come with our ringmaster, our television game show host whose claim to fame is the infamous words, “You’re Fired.” He stands at the podium every day claiming knowledge he doesn’t have, attacking Governors who disagree, misstating facts and giving himself high marks for his handling of a pandemic; meanwhile, Americans die, and our health systems are overburdened. Medical providers being forced to make plans for who will receive treatment and who will receive end of life comfort.

This is Trump’s Great Again America.

Meanwhile, with his ego flying high, he continues to give himself the benefit of the doubt while he publically shreds Governors who dare to question his performance. He has denied aid; he has questioned their veracity; he has ordered his VP to not speak to those who do not praise him. In his own words:

trumppodium

“I think they should be appreciative. Because you know what? When they’re not appreciative to me, they’re not appreciative to the Army Corps [of Engineers], they’re not appreciative to FEMA. It’s not right.”

President Donald J. Trump, 27 March 2020 Press Briefing

On the President’s Hit List recently? Jay Inslee of Washington and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, both Democrats and both facing crises in their states. Cuomo of New York goes on and off the list depending on the day, sometimes thanking the President for his assistance and other times offending his sense of majesty and expectation of admiration. This President is quick to lash out at those who do not bend the knee. This President demands obeisance before he will do his job, not more than his job, not above and beyond the call of duty, none of that; just his damn job as President of the United States of America, Red and Blue and all the colors in between.

We are in crisis. Every single day our numbers rise, of sick and dying citizens of this land. Every single day rather than bringing us together the President tears us further dividednationapart. With only one exception, never has this nation been so divided by politics during a crisis. With only one exception, the Civil War has this nation faced a disaster of this magnitude without coming together, solving problems together and seeing each other as kindred spirits and fellow citizens. Today, we are further apart than ever with the tearing of the fabric spearheaded by the man at the top. Witness his actions of Friday when signing the most recent bi-partisan Bill to support America, not one Democrat was invited to that signing, though without them that Bill would not have been on the Resolute Desk for his signature.

The Partisan Pandemic hit the United States with force and is shredding this nation so that we will be unrecognizable if we do not stand up and stop the madness. If we, as a people don’t see ourselves for who we are and begin to take back our nation from the madman and his sycophants, we will lose ourselves forever. His ruthless pursuit of power at any cost will be the end of America, forever. When this Pandemic ends and it will, we will be something entirely different and he will be in charge without even the light reins that have held him back till now.

Is this the America you want?

 

Filed Under: Politics, Series: The Soapbox Tagged With: , , , , ,

Corona & Lymme

March 19, 2020 by

Self-Isolation.

What does that really mean? For you and I, what does self-isolation mean for those of us who actually have to manage our lives from day-to-day, what should we know.

There are a variety of different resources, so use them. The one thing we should all know is clearing the shelves of your local Walmart or Target is selfish and unnecessary. Come on people, you do not need an entire years’ worth of toilet paper, hand sanitizer or anything else for that matter. What are you going to do when the panic is over?

Did you just spend your rent / mortgage payment on your panic hoarding? You did, didn’t you? Do you feel stupid now?

I am not going to say this isn’t frightening, it is of course. More so because the information we are getting from what should be trusted resources can’t be trusted. But let’s get real with each other and ourselves. We are hurting others, we are hurting our neighbors and our community when we rush to our local big box store and clear the shelves of all perishable goods in our selfish need to hoard. Yes, I heard some idiot passed around a guideline of having a supply of food and other goods to last eight (8) weeks, but if this is true I surely cannot find it anywhere. Let me help you on this one, FEMA guidelines for disaster relief says you should have two (2) weeks of goods for your family. So, unless you plan on trekking to the woods and remaining there, you do not need every roll of toilet paper, every bottle of hand sanitizer and every package of meat available. Really, I promise you even if you are ordered to shelter in place the grocery stores will continue to deliver.

So let’s talk about something else, let’s talk about why we the ‘greatest’ nation in the world are even in this position. Why we, the United States of America are struggling. Shall we start with the infants running the nation? The refusal to accept the testing kits way back in January, for no other reason than hubris and a refusal to engage honestly and openly with international organizations, e.g. NATO, WHO, United Nations and the list goes on.

We are in this position because we elected an infantile idiot who surrounded himself with bootlickers and sycophants who will not say no to him, ever. They will tell him the truth if it runs counter to his world view. They will deliver bad news if it doesn’t align to the version of the fantastical he wants to spin for his loyal 35%.

That is what we have behind the Resolute Desk today. A man child who throws temper tantrums and has daddy issues which he turns on the nation for his personal self-gratification.

What else do we have? Greed. Self-serving and narrow in its focus. Vainglorious and arrogant in their belief of their superiority and right to exist and succeed. Yes, in this case I am talking about all of the Trump’s and their minions. While the nation falters, these high-handed pretentious know nothings continue to make deals on the lives and deaths of Americans and others. While tens of thousands lose their livelihoods, as businesses shutter, schools close and entire cities become ghost towns this Criminal Enterprise finds themselves in the position to control the supply chain for medical necessary testing and supplies; who would have thought, except we all should have known. Why else would we not have accepted help from WHO in the form of test kits, except someone was going to make money somewhere along the way.

Now, our nation is failing. We are not just experiencing a small blip in our economy but a fast rush to Depression. People are losing their savings and will lose more in the coming weeks if they can’t work. Homes will be lost. Bankruptcy will sky rocket in the private sector as both individuals and small business cannot meet their obligations. Our health coronavirus-stock-crash-560x416systems are rapidly becoming overwhelmed, hospitals cannot keep up with demand and do not have what they need to serve patients.

Why? Because despite knowing since December this was coming our government did nothing. This administration was told, they ignored the warnings. In fact when information became public, this President lied, he did what he always does he spun out fantasies and played the blame game. When it became apparent it was going to get worse, what did he do? He set up his Vice President to take the fall, not that I don’t think this is a great idea, couldn’t happen to a better toady than Pence. In the meantime, he set up his favorite all around know nothing Jared behind the scenes to run Black Ops, entirely undermining the Pence led program.

Maybe we should all look at this as an opportunity. Many of our Governors are stepping up and taking necessary actions to keep the people of their states safe. Many Mayors are stepping in and making difficult decisions to keep their cities safe. The executive decisions at the State and Local level are filling the gaps left by the complete lack of maturity at the federal level. Add to this, with only a few glaring exceptions, Congress and the Senate worked in a bipartisan manner to pass the first of the Coronavirus Relief Bills which the President actually signed.

So this gets me back to our behavior, yes that is us the citizens of this nation. We have to stop. Stop being driven by fear, by greed, by me first. We are better than this, at least we have been better than this before. So ask yourself before you grab all ten of those forty packs of double ply toilet paper, do you really need them all? What the hell for? Ask yourself, do you really need every single one of those packs of chicken wings in your neighborhood grocery? Who in Hades are you feeding, the entire neighborhood? Come on people, stop being so damned scared, so damned greedy the world is not ending, the zombie apocalypse is not here.

Maybe things will change a little, but you will not be stuck in your house forever, I promise. Maybe instead of thinking only of your own ass you could think of others and do something good with the time you have. Or maybe you could just take some time and clean up the space in your head, figure out why you are acting so damned bad, what is driving you and your neighbors and start working toward the change you keep talking about, the change you want.

Filed Under: Op Ed, Politics Tagged With: , ,

Political Purity Tests

February 15, 2020 by

Soapbox LogoWill there ever be a perfect candidate? Is it possible we will have some glowing Deity float down from the heavens on a fluffy white cloud surrounded by angels flinging gold coins and smelling of roses and whispering ‘FREE’. Someone we could all get behind, someone with no history, someone with no skeletons, someone with DNA to match this diverse nation who did not offend any of our sensibilities.

The Perfect Candidate, who we can fall all over ourselves in our rush to the polls. The Perfect Candidate who would pass all of our Purity tests. The Candidate with the most beautiful wife, two and half children, a dog and zero sins to their name.

The Perfect Candidate does not exist. There is not a human being alive today, nor will there ever be one who hasn’t collected some bumps and bruises and an imperfect track record. There will never be a candidate, especially one seeking the Presidency that will pass the unreasonable Purity Tests of the Democrats who align to their individual candidates to the detriment of all others. Let us consider the real issues and real outcomes for 2020. What do we really want?

  • Beat current occupant of White House, Donald J. Trump
  • Take back Senate2020_Election_1
  • Retain House

As an Independent Centrist who usually votes Democrat I am committed to voting a Blue ticket this year. Not just on a federal level but at the state and local level as well. I want to see the nation brought back together. I want to see us working together again as a single people, it has been too long that we have been divided. I want to see our government work. I want to see Justice began to work. I want to see our courts work. I want to see real work done for and by the people. Do I think this will happen overnight? No, of course not. What I believe is if we elect the right president and a Senate and House to back that President we can begin to make the nation whole by passing legislation and undoing a dysfunctional federal Courts filled with under qualified and unqualified judges.

I do not do Purity Tests. What I do is listen, I look at history but not just soundbites the full history. I look at everything, what a person has done and hasn’t done. What they have said and haven’t said. When they said it, what context they said it in. What have they written? Many candidates today have a written history, many have books and an on-line presence they cannot escape from either. Some of the candidates today have had decades of public presence, not just one or two, but three to five or even more. It is impossible not to build a portfolio of missteps and misjudgments during the course of a nakedkinglong life and those who wish to serve behind the Resolute Desk must be prepared to walk naked before the citizens of this land, we have no remorse and no shame in exposing our would be Presidents.

It wasn’t always this way, the Presidency of William Jefferson Clinton seems to have opened the door and now we have no shame in peering through the window of Presidents private lives, judging their personal predilections. We, as a nation seem to think it is our calling to judge whether a President is ‘Pure’ enough for us even while we ourselves would never meet this very same test. Just to bring this full circle, the party of family values and moral righteousness elected a President who is an anathema to all they stood for and yet claim he is God’s chosen.

So we stand at the abyss and stare down into the darkness and still instead of listening with open minds, we apply Purity Tests. We allow members of this broken party and non-members who have the audacity to run under the banner to tear down others in the name of their own desire to WIN. We watch idolaters and ideologues tear at others in base terms disallowing any view but their own from being heard, any question being asked, any challenge being made.

Does anyone remember 2016? I do.

Does anyone know how Donald J. Trump got elected? I do.

Don’t answer those questions with baseless bullshit about White Woman, Electoral College, Hillary won the popular vote or other nonsense. Let me give you the real answer.

Donald J. Trump is the President of the United States of America because Bernie Sanders was allowed to run on the Democratic Ticket and many of those who idolized him, followed him did one of three things:

  1. Stayed home
  2. Voted third party
  3. Voted for Trump

Why did they do this? Because they were convinced they were cheated, because Trump was the most like Bernie in his rhetoric and demeanor and because they were revengeful snots.

Purity Tests. Why they don’t work and how to overcome them.

First and foremost, participate. This means vote in the Primaries in your state and vote for the candidate that you believe best represents your interests and the interests in the nation. Vote for the candidate that you believe will put the nation back together. Vote for govote3the candidate that will best influence the down ticket. Vote for the candidate that will put our alliances back together. Vote for the candidate that will represent the largest majority of the people in America, not just a small minority but all of us, keeping in mind there is not a single candidate standing before you without something to explain, without history, without skeletons.

My question to each of the candidates isn’t ever going to be are you Pure, it is going to be how are you going to remedy the sickness in this nation. What will you do to fix what is broken. Do you acknowledge that you might have contributed, what did you learn and what are you doing today based on what you learned?

People learn, people are not the same today they were yesterday, five years ago or a decade ago. Unless a person is a complete and utter moron with the emotional and intellectual capacity of a snake, they grow. I want to know how a person has grown in knowledge, compassion and emotional empathy. I will not hold yesterday against you if today your actions show you have made true changes. If the words you say and the actions you take are in accord, I am going to take you at your word and listen with the openness you deserve from me as a citizen.

snakeTrumpPurity Tests are abhorrent and we need to stop, today. If we do not we can look forward to another four years of Donald J. Trump in the White House and this is something the nation will not survive.

Filed Under: Politics, Presidential Race 2020 Tagged With: , , ,

Last Hope, Not

January 16, 2020 by

Watching the last debate I was struck by one glaring omission, Trump, #45, #3. Nowhere in the discussion and that is what we had last night on the stage, was the name of the current occupant of the White House hammered upon. With rare exception when given the opportunity did those standing on the stage compare themselves, what they would do differently, why they would be better for the nation.

I can only ask, what are you afraid of?

Not only do they not go after the man behind the Resolute Desk, they do not go after each other. They are simply being polite, they are playing nice in most cases. Even where they have something to say, they don’t say it. Even where they have significant challenges, where they have grave differences they avoid calling each other out, except politely. Do they not understand the primaries are the training ground, it is here they learn how to do battle and we watch to determine if they have the cojones to stand up for themselves, their positions and us, the American people they claim to be fighting for.

So what in the Hell are you wanna be President’s afraid of?

Stop playing. Stop being so damn nice. Got something to say, say it. Have an issue, bring it out in the open. Start defining your spaces, drawing your boundaries and showing us who you are. Boys and girls you are going up against Donald J. Trump, he will not spare you, he does not give two shits about your feelings, social standards or polite society. His bareknucklebase is rude and crude, they want to see him draw blood. They want to see a street fight, no rules just bare knuckle ugly and you laying on the ground where he can kick you again, and again, and again till you cry for mercy. That is what he and they want.

They want you, all of you to tap out and when you do, they will laugh all the way to the polls and hand him another four years.

So while you are playing nice, he is laughing. He is making up names for you. He is an Impeached President, standing in front of thousands making up lies, killing foreign government officials and telling the American People it is his right to do so. While he is doing this, you are standing on the debate stage making nice with each other pretending all is right with the world and this is just like any other day in the nation and he is just like any other POTUS.

Are you as crazy as he is and just better medicated?

I look at the aging and oh so very White debate stage, especially the top three contenders, I shake my head in dismay. Where is the fire? Where are the ideas that a nation can get behind and lift a candidate up to the Oval Office? Where is the energy necessary for leadership? Who among them can galvanize a nation into the battle of not one but three generations? Who among these geriatric fumblers can truly bring our nation together for the sweeping fervor necessary to win back the White House and Senate in 2020.

What are you thinking DNC? Picking again whose turn you think it is, giving us a choice among the least offensive? Or simply insuring #3 sweeps the Electoral College again and destroys what is left of this nation.

Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are all over seventy years old, their average on taking office would be 76. Bernie would be 79 the day he takes office, Joe would closely follow him at 78 and Elizabeth is a bit behind at 71. Whether we like it or not, aging brains are less nimble. Whether we admit it or not, cognitive thinking is affected as we age. This is not me, this is every shred of medical science we have today. This is observable facts. This is the truth, right before all of our collective eyes if we care to acknowledge it, in our own families and God help us all in our current POTUS.

So what in all the Seven Levels of Hell are we thinking when we consider the top three contenders for the next President of the United States should be someone closer to Eighty than to Fifty, or hell even Sixty.

Let us consider some other factors in this ignorance, shall we?

Bernie Sanders, health and age precludes him from a second term, hell he may not make it through his first. Given his positions and that he is only running as a Democrat because he would not make any Debate Stage as an Independent Social Democrat he may well select as a running mate someone who would be untenable to the majority of Americans which means his election is not assured and if elected his VP would not be unchallenged in a primary.

Joe Biden, age precludes him from a second term. I expect he will select an acceptable running mate, however his success during his short tenure in office may create problems for his Vice President. Again, this means the potential of a challenge at the primary.

Elizabeth Warren, age precludes a second term but I suspect she will try. Additionally, I suspect her ability to choose a running mate that will be acceptable and will balance her ‘big’ plans. I don’t believe she can beat #3 at the polls.

The rest of the candidates right now, they haven’t stepped up to the plate hard enough and the DNC isn’t pushing them to do so. If you are a Democrat you should be in there fighting with your party about this, you should be in their demanding a real primary season with a real voice. If you are an Independent, like me you are likely watching this with dismay and wondering why these are what you are being handed to consider as the next Commander in Chief. In the early days there were so many better options, so many others who could have gone toe-to-toe with #3 and carried the ball for the people of the United States.

The top three contenders, they should be sitting back and mentoring the next cohort. Giving guidance and leadership to those coming up behind them. Instead, there they are standing up front saying they are the last great hope for America.

If this is all there is, I can only say we are lost.

Retired Public Officials Waiting for a Question

Retired Public Officials Waiting for a Question

Filed Under: Politics, Presidential Race 2020 Tagged With: , , ,

Now What

January 6, 2020 by

Soapbox LogoIn a word, what a world. Okay, that is three words. It is terrifying though, don’t you think? I wonder sometimes if we will survive the next eleven months to election day and then what will happen when the results are announced? Either way, what will happen whether the current occupant of the Oval Office wins or loses, what will happen? Already the fabric of our nation is being ripped apart, everything we stand for is being tested, everything that has ever been considered good is being proven to be rotten at its center. But what will happen if #3 loses the election on November 2? What will he do between November 3 and January 21? What hell will he unleash on the United States and every nation of this world in the eighty (80) days when he has nothing to lose and his battered ego is thrown into high gear?

To ‘wag the dog‘ means to purposely divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater importance, to something else of lesser significance. … The expression comes from the saying that ‘a dog is smarter than its tail’, but if the tail were smarter, then the tail would ‘wag the dog‘.

My fellow Americans, it seems we have an entire administration focused on wagging that dog, hard. A President, who has taught them all well and with limited effort on his part has turned an entire political party into slavering sycophants at the alter of his out blown ego.  If this were not so dire, if the consequences were not so calamitous, I would watch in fascination and giddy glee. Unfortunately, for all of us #3 and his band of minions have turned up the dial and put us all in even more danger simply to satisfy his baseless ego.

To ‘wag the dog‘ means to start a war or military operation to divert negative political attention away from yourself. Based on the movie of the same name, where the President fabricates a fake war to take political pressure away from a scandal.

What now? Where do we go from here? We have three hundred and one (301) days before the next election. Between now and then, how much more harm across the world can this President and his bootlickers do, to the nation and the world? His nature will not allow him to ignore a slight, he will go all in at the slightest hint of an insult to his manhood, his intellect or his competency; none of which exist in the real world only in 700-00153871his mind. He will spend the day excitedly tweeting plans to financially ruin allies who question him, commands to blow up nations, assassinate enemy heads of state and nasty childish insults at private and public citizens who disagree with him. He has most recently noted his tweets are on par with Presidential orders and Congressional Briefings.

Where do we go, as concerned citizens? What is our out from the downward spiral this president and his cult are taking us? How do take back the soul of a nation and restore order? Some would say and I do not entirely disagree, the past three years have only exposed us for what we were all along. This president and his allies did not introduced xenophobia, racism, sexism, classism, nationalism and all the other ‘isms’ to the United States, only pulled the Band-Aid off what has always been simmering under the surface. I don’t disagree, but we were making progress. We were taking small steps. We were slowly moving toward a better day, a better world and better understanding. We were making it intolerable for the ‘isms’ to exist. We were slowly but surely eradicating the acceptance of them in our schools and public spaces. We were expanding our understanding of one another, small steps I know but they were there and it was good. Our first Black President made some of us take notice, made many of us proud of the nation we were building, together. Of trump-pence-pompeo-impeachmentcourse, he also made many terrified, thus we have this deranged imbecile sitting behind the Resolute Desk.

Now what? This is what I always come back too. We have an impeached president, who is close to kicking off another war he cannot win. We have a Senate intent upon cheating, on giving him a pass not just to pacify his ego but to smooth his and their own way into re-election. We have Russia with a free hand to interfere in our elections and our national security. We have a government with zero checks and balances. We have a media entirely undermined by the current Administration. We have a White Supremacist writing speech’s and guiding the president in his immigration policy. We have children in cages dying and no one seems to care. We have Black and Brown people dying in the street, every single day and no one seems to care. We have Synagogue’s being defaced and their members being murdered and no one seems to care. We have Black churches being defaced and their members being murdered and no one seems to care. We have Neo-Nazi’s and White MillerPutinSupremacist marching in our streets and the best we get from the POTUS is they are very fine people, no one seems to care.

We have a family of criminals, given high-level security clearances, making millions if not billions from their positions close to the president. No one questions this, no one seems to care.

Worst of all, we don’t have a viable Democrat running for office capable of exciting enough of the fence sitters to vote. So Now What?  Just what in the hell do we do now?

Filed Under: Politics, Presidential Race 2020 Tagged With: , , ,

Hero’s and Buffoons

November 26, 2019 by

We have been witness on the floor of Congress to a parade of Civil Servants both Heroes and Buffoons, some elected, some lifetime military or civil servant and some bought and paid for. I was glued to my television watching the circus of the Impeachment Inquiry of the 45th President of the United States of America, the dishonorable Donald J. Trump. There were times during these hearings I wanted to weep and others I wished I could be in the room so that at the end of the day, I could offer a word of support and encouragement to the witness. That person who did not ask to be there, who did not ask to be the center of the maelstrom that is the corruption of Donald J. Trump and his enablers, but were there to do what they believed either they must do for the greater good of this nation or frankly to save their own freedom.

Let’s be clear, truthful and honest with ourselves. None of the witnesses were their of their own volition, in fact all were there under subpoena, yet some were there because IMPEACHMENT-WITNESSES_4x3they chose and others had to be forced after much arm twisting. Some were there having already been part of a larger campaign to out the corruption and they acknowledged this in their testimony. Others had been part of the corruption, whether willing participants or hapless tools of more sophisticated players. All those who eventually testified, whether as Democratic or Republican witnesses painted a picture of this Administration that should terrify every single American, but somehow doesn’t and this is what horrifies me.

Donald J. Trump has a magic power, I have come to believe this watching his career both as a private citizen and as the 45th POTUS. His power is to find the very worst in each person and expose it. To sanction that person to act on their very worst instincts, to celebrate their ugly and lift up as both beautiful but acceptable. Time and again we black-and-white-trumphave observed this singularity, with those in his circle even his own children. Worse yet, an entire Trumpian culture has risen up around him, championed by Fox Network, who have espoused with great relish this fraud, this huckster, this carpetbagger as one who can do no wrong and is the victim of a churlish conspiracy to oust him, rather than the victimizer of America and American ideals. No matter what horror show this man creates daily they cheer him on to even worse, they excuse him and in the process they destroy the fabric of all that might once have been good, right and possible about this nation.

I cannot imagine being an active duty member of the military, a decorated officer who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and who is now a target of not just the most powerful man in the world, but of his lunatic sycophants; for doing his WilliamsVindmanjob and telling the truth. Yet, this dedicated man, who stood up and did his job multiple times, told what he heard, reported what he saw was ridiculed for wearing the uniform of the United States Army he still proudly serves by minions of the President, trying to make points and in the process destroy this patriot and his service and reputation.

It is incomprehensible to me, a thirty plus year veteran of the State Department a member of our foreign services who has served honorably under both Republican and YokancavichDemocratic presidents, with Senate confirmation in extremely hazard’s conditions would be the subject to threats and smears. That this woman would be threatened by the most powerful man in the world while testifying, under oath to a Congress Committee investigating him. Just to put this in perspective, foreign service officers aren’t carrying out their duties to get rich, these are civil servants who love their country their average earnings for foreign postings are $98k.

It is beyond my understanding an expert in all things Russia, a first person witness to the corrupt actions and acts of Rudy Giuliani and his henchmen, acting at the behest of Donald J. Trump, would be belittled and challenged in both her knowledge and HillHolmes2capabilities. They didn’t challenge what she saw, what she heard or the facts. No indeed, they challenged her competency and knowledge. They attempted to disparage her, to challenge even her patriotism. They refused to grant her even the courtesy of her hard earned title of Doctor, repeatedly calling her instead Miss or Ms.

These are just some of the antics of those seated on the Intelligence Committee by the Party of Trump, for no matter what else they might like to call themselves this is indeed what they have become. Flatters to a man who lies with every other breath he takes, who issues presidential edicts as if he were a ruler rather than an elected civil servant. A man who cozy’s up to cruel dictators and insults our allies at every opportunity. This is the man these toadies, these grovelers are determined to protect with the last breath in their body and at the expense of their own souls and the soul of the nation.

Donald J. Trump hates America and all it has stood for since its foundation. He doesn’t hate the terrible we have done in our history, in fact these parts he embraces with Trumpenthusiasm. No, Donald J. Trump hates the America that might be, the America that is entombed in the Statue of Liberty, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, in decades of progress towards a better, freer and more inclusive America. Donald J. Trump hates the America that elected, celebrated and embraced Barack Obama, he hates the America that fights back against discrimination, school shootings, inhibiting voting rights and injustice. Donald J. Trump hates the America that desegregated schools, housing, marriage and the military. Donald J. Trump hates the America that placed limits on corporations for their destruction of public lands, water and air. Donald J. Trump, simply put Hates America and hates most Americans.

What the two weeks of testimony showed us is Donald J. Trump isn’t just ignorant of the law, he believes himself above all laws and those around him will act to support him, no matter what he demands. Their buffoonery, both public and private are to support his criminality nothing more or less. No matter the request, they will rush to comply. No jimjordanmatter his personal insult, they will absorb it and excuse it just to hold on to their small piece of power a minute longer. Their fear of his tantrum falling on their head next far outweighs any moral judgement they might have once possessed. Their desire to change the face of the American courts far exceeds any love they might have once had for America, now they only love power and will follow Donald J. Trump into the swamp and beyond into Hell simply to hang on to that slimy reeking gunk that trails from him to them minute by minute.

Donald J. Trump hates America, he hates the majority of Americans. There is no mistaking this, by his every action from the day he announced is intent to run for office to today he has proven himself. That the truth has been laid before America, Congress and the Senate through the testimony of American Heroes and there is no outrage is proof of the magic power of Donald J. Trump, he elevates the very worst in human nature and brings out the very worst in those who need only a single push to willingly dive head first into the abyss with him.

Filed Under: High Crimes & Misdemeanors, Op Ed, Politics Tagged With: , ,

Divided We Fall

November 16, 2019 by

If the words have a familiar ring, they should they are from the famous speech given by Abraham Lincoln in 1858. While the issue at the time was slavery and the entry of Kansas to the United States as a Slave State, the corollaries between today’s vast divides are not I think very different.

The Divided States of America (DSA) no longer united by shared goals, shared values or even a sense of common humanity it seems. No longer united by the shared tragedy of September 11, for even this has divided us in misery by its outcomes. We are a house divided where once though we might have differences in our politics and religions we came together for the common good, we are now so riven by ideology even families are torn apart by their differences.

Our true history is lost as both sides of the argument dance upon the shifting sands of time and rewrite the books as if they have won the war. It has always been the way, the victor of the war writes the history of the battles and the history of the world before time, shouldn’t we ask the question though; isn’t it past time for us to stop rewriting history and start learning from history instead. It is only my opinion of course; nevertheless, my answer to this would always be yes. It is well past time for this nation to take a step back from chest pounding and nationalistic patriotism and start hard introspective look at who and what we truly are, to ourselves and others.

Consider the horrifying state of America, the divisive nature of our political theater and their determination to be the moral standard bearers of the nation and its three hundred million plus people. They cozy up to religion and the countless so-called faith-based leaders, many who are all too often standing on the stage and spewing a rhetoric not of love, peace and kindness but of hate, divisiveness and self-centered enrichment. These ministers of God, no matter which God they call on lift up man rather than spirit and presume to speak for a truth that is not written anywhere but a ledger of numbers showing their increasing wealth while those who need their ministry and charity most send their last dollar in prayerful hope of a miracle.

Study the media of today, their ability to permeate every aspect of our lives, repeating, enhancing and even creating ‘news’ for our consumption. The most insidious ingredient for the mind of the battle for the Divided States of America is the media Talking Head Pundit, though this name assumes expertise of some nature it is rarely the reality. Instead we our inundated with vitriol aimed at whichever side of the house is perceived as the enemy by that media group, rich in standard bearers for the ‘News’ of the day, the truth is buried while the tidbits supporting the spin are blasted into homes through every media source available becoming truth for those who seemingly absorb this spun up ‘News’ through their pores.

I hold all politicians equally responsible for the state of the nation, every last one of them going back to Reagan in 1987 and his veto of Congress’ attempt to codify the FCC Fairness Doctrine, leading to a decade later Clinton signing the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Between these two, this nation went from fifty (50) media corporations with a requirement to cover equally both sides of issues, e.g. give equal time, to what we have today:

This is not to say that all Politician’s are terrible people, though it is hard to find one that I would leave alone in my home for 5 minutes without counting the silver when I returned. At every level, we are met with divisive language from those who would lead a nation. At every level, we are introduced to new reasons to fear that which might be different or new, by those charted to bring us together in peace. Words and language that even four years ago was considered unfit for public use, now is not only accepted but demanded of those who would be President and even those who lead from the pulpits. Hypocrisy runs rampant through the halls of our nation’s capital, followed closely by obstruction, obfuscation, bribery, intimidation and a host of other criminal activities all of which it seems today we must accept as normal, even cheer on as if the offices of our elected officials are nothing more than running reality shows put on for our amusement.

What are we come to?

Can it be we are on the precipice of a new order? One that will see a nation divided by more than any of the obvious lines of demarcation for us to seek correction for through finding common ground and fighting a shrinking minority; those of race, gender, sexual orientation and even the economics of poverty. Could we be looking over the abyss into a choice of moving forward into a future that includes social, technological and human advancement or instead reverting to a past that includes abysmal poverty for many, racial and gender oppression and a nation defined by its religious zealotry, superstition and ignorance? Have we stepped off the edge already and are even now falling from the heights of our once dreamed greatness into second or even third-nation status? Is this the future our children will be left with? Have we stepped aside and allowed a minority of our populace define our future?

Those of us who have fought the false lines of demarcation our entire adult lives, we see clearly this ugly strain of hate marking the nation and we recognize it as something old and ugly raising up to devour us. But we see these markers indelibly inscribing themselves across not just the expected party and population but within our own as well. Suddenly, many of see our own loyalty to justice, to fairness, to breaking the walls that separate us questioned because we don’t agree with radicalism. We are subject to purity tests, we are rejected by those we once had common ground because we might be two old, to white and privileged or to something else, including to centrist not Left enough. We have gone from a nation that values inclusion to one that seeks exclusion even at the lowest level, within our communities.

If we continue on this precarious path soon we will be a nation without empathy or compassion from any side of the aisle. A nation led by sociopaths using the tools of fear and hate as a means of controlling an already downtrodden citizenry. The lessons of history will be lost in the morass of tangled lies, religious and political chicanery and corporate manipulation of our political systems for personal gain. Already we have seen much of this in the past three years. We have watched an entire political party bow under the weight of a lunatic, give way to fear of a minority voting block and the rhetoric of a media storms of constant hate towards groups of people, American Citizens or not who pose a threat to their comfort and hold on power. Make no mistake though, the other side fed this hate on a daily basis by never accepting the outcome of an election, by their constant and unrelenting refusal to accept a loss.

But what is to be done? Abraham Lincoln didn’t come to his famous speech without inspiration; in fact, his inspiration was taken directly from Biblical thought.

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom, divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?” Matthew 12:25-26, Holy Bible New International

The only question that remains, are we a people that can set aside ideology and parties long enough to pick what is right and save our nation? Or are we going to allow, once again the media to select our candidate to do battle against what will only bring our nation to its knees.

Filed Under: Op Ed, Politics
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