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I Dissent

July 14, 2024 by

I Dissent

Not respectfully. But full on and with nothing but disdain, I Dissent.

I am appalled at the levels of criminality within our highest government and justice system. I am furious at the disarray within the Democratic Party when they should be standing together, holding the line and ensuring there are no cracks to be seen. I am terrified we are losing the fight to retain our Democratic Republic, our potential, and our opportunity to march toward a better nation and a better future.

I Dissent

For over a century, this nation has marched toward a better future. We stumbled, we often failed in our progress, but we moved forward incrementally, dragging those who fought against a better world with us. We had individuals willing to march, sit, and fight for freedoms and rights guaranteed by our Constitution, though in all too many cases never granted. Each right won, and new freedom granted seemed a step toward a more perfect Union that promised a dream of equality for all.

I Dissent

With a profoundly corrupt SCOTUS and unconcerned their corruption is public knowledge; we sit on the precipice of losing everything one hundred and twenty-four years of progress gained us. In fact, we are on the very edge of losing our Democratic Republic with their latest rulings. When we add the swamp of the GOP and their unwavering loyalty to a man who is wholly unfit to be on the grounds of the White House, let alone in the Oval Office as President, the most powerful man of the free world.

If the principle foundation of our justice system is that no person is above the law, then our thoroughly corrupt SCOTUS has broken trust with the nation and cracked the foundation. With every ruling, they have opened the door to further erosion of our systems of justice and democracy. Every erasure of rights and freedoms signals their disdain for our Constitution and our progress toward a more equal nation.

I Dissent

Finally, looking across the aisle at the sniffling, hand-wringing, and disastrous upheaval in the Democratic Party because Joe Biden is OLD and may have slowed down and had a bad day. Well, yes, he did. He had a bad day and, in truth, had a terrible showing at the debate. But instead of all the chicken with your head cut off running about the yard spewing bullshit coming from within, why the hell didn’t you stand behind your President? Why, in all the burning fires, can’t the Democrats act more like the Republicans, just once? Joe Biden can’t win? Well, clearly not if all the Democrats can do is talk about how he can’t beat the 34 times convicted felon, wanna-be Dictator, sexual predator, sociopathic narcissistic, pathological liar. What the hell?

I Dissent

The political rhetoric, the calls to violence, the pure nastiness we all see and hear every single day is beyond politics as usual and has divided us as a people. Calls for Civil War and calls for secession can only lead to one thing, and we see it at Trump Rallies, on bumper stickers, and even the halls of Congress every single day, an escalation of violence. Now, a Presidential candidate has escaped an assassination attempt. Yes, I think this makes it worse; no matter how I view the man himself, I believe violence doesn’t solve any problems and, in fact, only makes him both a martyr and a hero in the eyes of his base. With his ear winged and Secret Service surrounding him, he pumped his fist in victory. Members of the audience who were interviewed said this ensured his victory in November, does it? Nevermind one person lost their life, or others were critically injured, it took a bit to acknowledge them in the race to blame the Democrats and pump up the Orange One as a Hero.

I Dissent

To all of it, I Dissent. Look below at all we have to lose and ask yourself, are you willing to stop trying? Ask yourself, are you willing to give up on progress? Are you so numb to it all that you are willing to sit it out because you don’t like either candidate, really, is that what you are going to do, to yourself, to the future? Our very existence is on the line, so ask yourself what are you going to do?

Filed Under: Politics, Presidential Election 2024 Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

What Fools We Are

March 10, 2024 by

I want to consider the United States of America a mostly intelligent nation with mostly kind and compassionate people. I want to, but these days it is difficult. I can’t watch and read the news and say, “Yes, look at all these kind, Christian, and intellectually honest people voicing their political views.”  I am unable to listen to the candidates or public servants from the other side without becoming terrified by their rhetoric and thoughtless diatribes.

In 2015, a man rode down a gold escalator and announced his candidacy for the highest office in the land; we all laughed and thought he was a joke. Donald J. Trump had been a fraud, a thief, a womanizer, an adulterer, and a witless hanger-on in New York high society for decades. He was also a known racist, a known misogynist, and a well-known friend to those with less-than-stellar character for most, if not all, of his adult life. This half-wit based his entire political strategy on two things: racism and his self-proclaimed business savvy, one a proven truth and the other a proven lie. Let’s take a quick look at the foundation of this fraud:

In 1973, the Trump organization was accused by the US Justice Department of racial discrimination, specifically against Black Americans trying to rent properties in their buildings. They settled, and as part of that settlement, they had to agree to change their policies.

In 1989 Trump called for the Death Penalty on the Central Park Five, five teenage Black and Latino youths accused of raping a young woman who were later exonerated. He took out full-page ads and gave interviews during this time.

From 2011 to 2016, Trump pushed the Birther conspiracy about Barack Obama and combined this with the complete fabrication of whether then-President Obama was Christian or not.

In 1990, Fred Trump (his father) bought $3 million in Trump Castle casino chips so Donald could pay interest on his loans. This was later judged to be an illegal loan, and Donald had to pay $65,000 in fines to New Jersey.

1991, Trump Taj Mahal files for bankruptcy relief.

1992, Trump Plaza Hotel files for bankruptcy relief.

Trump forms the Trump Hotel and Casino Resorts as a publicly traded company, retaining 56% of stock. Despite reorganization, the company failed to turn a profit and filed for bankruptcy relief in 2004, 2009, and 2014.

This barely scratches the surface of Trump’s failures and scams.

Trump University. Sued by the State of New York. Settled for $25 million without admitting guilt or malfeasance.

But back to his 2015 announcement, it was full of racist rhetoric, but we should have seen it coming based on his history. We should have also believed him, but we laughed and dismissed him. His announcement was full of braggadocio, and his business acumen and success were a centerpiece. If we hadn’t been so busy laughing at the fool before us, perhaps we wouldn’t be where we are today.

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Dr. Maya Angelo

I would like to think America is better than this, but we are proving every day we are not. We have a third-rate backbencher as the Speaker of the House. Our allies are terrified we will leave them at the mercy of Russia and Putin. We have a narcissist, would-be dictator as the third-time GOP presidential candidate who would rather play politics with national security and hopes for an economic crash because it would be good for him. The GOP in Congress has made clear they are nothing more than the support arm of the Trump campaign, installing a MAGA election denier as Chair and the daughter-in-law of twice impeached ex-president as co-chair who together have already said they will funnel funds toward legal fees and ‘poll watchers’ rather than down-ballot candidates.

The halls of Congress echo with songs of praise and hallelujahs for the Orange Jesus that will lead them into the failed nation they claim is already here. The cult of White Grievance, White Nationalism, and White Evangelism is here, and it is led by a man who never once in his life cracked open a Bible, never once met a sin he didn’t want to commit, and never once met a Commandment he didn’t break.

So here we are. We have the two oldest presidential candidates running in the history of this nation. We have voters who wish it were otherwise and are thus unenthusiastic about the Democrat and looking at the Republican as if he might be a viable option. We have an uninformed, under-educated, conspiracy-believing nation full of half-witted bigots who have either forgotten or simply do not care what the first Presidency of Donald J. Trump was and are willing to drink the Kool-Aide of a media bent on destroying this nation as we know it. But let’s take a short trip down memory lane, shall we? This is what happened during the 4 years of the first Trump Administration.

  • Dropped the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and created additional tax breaks for the wealthy, more of that trickle-down theory. End result? $7 Trillion was added to the national debt.
  • Multiple trade wars started with China and other nations, resulting in tariffs trickling down to the consumer. Do you wonder why prices are still high? In part, it is because wholesalers and retailers continue to charge the same price despite no longer absorbing the tariffs.
  • The tragedy of the coronavirus was worldwide, but focusing on this nation is important because we had a President who knew how dangerous it was and didn’t just downplay the danger but politicized it.
    • More than 1 million dead Americans
    • More than one-third of small businesses closed during Covid.
    • The average unemployment rate 13%. This is misleading, though it was much higher in some industries, reaching above 20%, and in many cases, these jobs have still not recovered.
    • Schools closed, and children falling behind socially and educationally.
    • In some cities, hospitals and morgues out of capacity.
      • Refrigeration trucks used to store the dead.
      • The sick in hallways being cared for by doctors and nurses, unable to return to their homes for fear they might infect their families.
      • Experts demonized while politicians, including the President, suggested bizarre and dangerous options for cures.
      • The mental health of the entire nation was jeopardized by isolation, joblessness, homelessness, and the loss of loved ones without proper goodbyes.
      • Supply chains were disrupted, creating empty shelves of essentials, and social media showed daily fights in the aisles for toilet paper, diapers, and baby formula.
        • These are just the highlights, and yet, the cult wants to return this nation to this. Somehow, whether the man in the street or the elected official thinks this was the golden age we should be pining for.

I watched the State of the Union President Joe Biden delivered this week and was proud that he was this nation’s President. I was happy to think there was a man in the White House who cared more for this nation than he did for his own enrichment.

Is he old? Is his walk a bit slower? Does he stutter? Yes, to all of that.

Has he and his administration brought us back from the brink of disaster? Yes, to that as well.

When you consider the alternative between the two candidates, remember this; one gives a shit about this country and our standing in the world, about the people of this nation, about the Constitution and what it means, about our Democratic Republic and how we continue to grow great, about the American Dream and how we can all reach it.

The other, well, he sees us as a failed nation ripe for the picking.

Filed Under: Presidential Election 2024 Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Time and Again, What’s in it for us

January 31, 2024 by

Now y’all know I love politics. The push and pull of the election season is exciting, most of the time. But this year, damn, it just feels nasty, like someone has taken a bucket of slime and poured it over the entire United States. The stench of ugly is permeating everything and everywhere. It is gangrene on a national level.

Let me say this as nicely as possible before diving into the obvious horror story of the 2024 presidential election year.

I wish Joe Biden would have stuck to his original plan of being a one-term president. This isn’t about his age, though he is indeed old. Let’s all acknowledge he is 81 years old; if he wins in 2024, he will be 82 when he is sworn in and 86 when he finishes his second term. This isn’t ageism talking; this is pure reality; the Presidency is one of the most demanding jobs in the world; it requires mental agility and physical stamina. For his age, Joe is doing well; nevertheless, he is 42 years older than the average American citizen. Yes, I know his experience benefits all of us, which has been proven through this administration. However, with clear sight, his age is a detriment as much as a benefit. He will continue to age, and he will continue to slow down; this is not ageism; it is simply the reality of the human condition, and we need to acknowledge he, and we put this nation at risk by placing him back in office.

The Presidency ages everyone who has ever taken on the job, with one exception, 45; he didn’t age because he didn’t take the job seriously. The Presidency was simply another one of his cons, another way for him to add to his personal coffers both during and after his time in office. He didn’t age because he didn’t do the job the people elected him to do. The one thing we know about 45 is he is aging now; it is serious now, and the piper has come for his payment. His mental acuity is rapidly diminishing. He shows signs of being a person without a firm grasp of reality.

Let’s talk about the GOP, the Grand Old Party, the party of Law and Order, family values, small government, and all that jazz. Let’s talk about these men and women who sit in every seat of power across the land; and stir up controversy, pain, suffering, and dammit sedition. By God, how did we fall so far in such a short time? High School dropouts are walking the halls of Congress and calling themselves leaders. The highest court in the land rife with corruption and laughing as they strip millions of voting rights, body autonomy, and access to education without blinking an eye. The House is full of elected officials with only one agenda; to follow the leadership of a seditious lunatic who has publically stated he wants to see the economy fail and continued border disasters, all to ensure his election success.

We are living the new American Horror Story. A story where women are reduced back to chattel, and worse, all people who are not Heterosexual White Men (HWM) are reduced to “less than.” We are living a nightmare of raging culture wars where Mickey Mouse is an enemy of the people, Taylor Swift is a deep-state plant, and accurate history, along with any book written by or for people not (HWM), are banned from libraries across the nation.

We are living in a nightmare world where the leader of the once Grand Old Party, the party of Eisenhower and Lincoln, is a power-hungry, sexual deviant, with four (4) indictments encompassing ninety-one charges stemming from his criminal acts both while in office and after leaving office, and yet none of this seems to deter his followers one iota. His followers include both the unwashed, unschooled, and ignorant masses but also those who currently hold office in both the Senate and House and who continue to do his bidding. These sycophants who hold high office elected by the people, paid by the people to do the work of the people, and who continue to refuse to do a single thing but trail behind this lunatic would-be dictator, holding his drool cup and beg for the crumbs from his table.

What haven’t they done at the bidding of the outrageous conman who has thus far spent $50,000,000 of campaign funds on his personal legal fees?

  1. They have refused to secure the border between Mexico and the United States. Their most significant complaint is their constant whine, their biggest battle cry. But no, they say we can’t do this today because the Great Orange Jesus says no.
  2. They have refused aid to Ukraine, a nation that has fought hard to retain their own borders their own land, and preserve their democracy from the encroachment of Russia. With less than 5% of our massive defense budget, we can and must save them as we committed. But what does Mike Johnson say to this? NO, he has said with every vote he has cast prior to his elevation to the Speakership, just as the Orange Jesus has told him to do.
  3. They have refused aid to Israel. Now, personally, I am genuinely on the fence with this one; on the one side of that fence is my belief that Israel does not require our financial support, nor does it deserve our support based on their current actions. On the other side of that fence is our national commitment to come to their aid when they are attacked, and there is no mistake; October 7 was an attack by a terrorist organization. On the other hand, Benjamin Netanyahu is a Right Wing nutjob who should not be supported in his stated plan to entirely eliminate the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Frankly, I don’t believe he is any better than 45 and should be treated as a toxic leader along with all of his sycophants. This is not a condemnation of Israel but of him.

What have they done? Nothing that benefits the American People, not one single, solitary thing to now.

Ah, Election Season. We are in for a ride. Are you afraid yet? I sure in the hell am.

Filed Under: Politics, Presidential Election 2024 Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,