Thursday, April 1, 2021

David Attenborough’s Movie: “A Life On Our Planet”

Every human on the planet should watch David Attenborough’s movie “A Life On Our Planet”:

https://www.netflix.com/title/80216393

Why should we all watch it?
Because if you have someone in your family who is under 5 and they live to 90, at the end of their life they will eating rats… all other food sources will be depleted and gone!

Sunday, January 10, 2021

Time to Address White Supremacy

After the Civil War, despite the North's attempt to "reprogram" Southerners, they regrouped and kept White Supremacy alive leading to the coup d'etat attempt on Jan. 6th.

It is time we lop the head off this ugly part of America!

We should formally declare war on Domestic Terrorism:
The leaders of any White Supremacy or anarchist organization (e.g., Proud Boys, QAnon, Boogaloo, skin heads, Neo-Nazis, etc.) should be rounded up and put in Internment Camps (there are perhaps up to 1,000 of them around the country). The President should issue an Executive Order (like we did with International Terrorists now in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp) and take them out of society. Nothing less than our American Democracy is at stake.

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If you’re not quite ready to agree with my suggestion, just think if the attached photos had included a black lawmaker hanging from the gallery ledge with a noose around his neck. If the terrorists had made it into the House chamber before all the lawmakers had been evacuated, that could/would have happened.

  



Sunday, July 19, 2020

How Has the GOP Managed to Go Far Right With a Minority of the Voters?

The Republican Party appears to be divided between a tax-cutting old guard and a white-nationalist vanguard — and with Donald Trump’s ascendance, the upstarts seem to be winning. 

The party has raced to the fringe. Republican leaders have become singularly focused on tax cuts for corporations and the superrich, whatever the effects on American inequality, or on the people who make up the Republican “base.” When those cuts have conflicted with their traditional emphasis on fiscal restraint, they have run up huge deficits to finance them, abandoning the principle of budget balance—except as a cudgel with which to attack popular social programs, such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. They have launched an intensifying assault on environmental, consumer, labor, and financial protections. They have attempted to strip health insurance from millions of Americans. They have appointed the most consistently pro-business, anti-labor, and anti-consumer judges in modern history of the federal courts. And they have done all this despite the fact that every one of these aims has strikingly little public support, even among Republican voters.

Which raises the obvious question: How?

The book “LET THEM EAT TWEETS, How the Right Rules In An Age of Extreme Inequality” by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson (2020) answers the question.

You should read this book if:
1. You think Trump is the problem, and as soon as he’s gone, the GOP will come back to its old self.
2. You think the GOP is the problem, but if Democrats win the Presidency and both Houses of Gov’t. in Nov. 2020, the “old” GOP will be forced to reassert itself.
3. You think the only reason Trump won the 2016 election was because so many people hated Hillary Clinton.

If it convinces you you are wrong, you will have learned something.

If it doesn’t convince you you are wrong, you will be even more assured your position is correct.

Either way, YOU WIN.


Sunday, April 19, 2020

GOP Now Ideologically Bankrupt

Below is proof that the GOP is bankrupt ideologically. But it you don’t need anymore proof, just watch this YouTube video… it’s really, really funny!


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In the past few years (ever since Trump was elected), Republicans stopped being an advocate for a balanced budget and reducing the deficit, they shed the myth they were for family values when they elected Trump, and now they gave up on their last big ideological principle of giving the States more power than the Federal Gov’t.

Of course being the party of hypocrisy, as soon as there is a Democratic President, they will say they are for those things again (which they are ignoring under Trump). But now we know they don’t give a shit about anything except:

I want more for me, now… so:
1. Make my taxes very low and stop helping other Americans in need.
2. Make my taxes very low and stop all regulations for clean air and water that hurt big corporations.
3. Make my taxes very low and stop talking about giving health care to more Americans.
4. Make my taxes very low and stop talking about global warming.
5. Make my taxes very low and stop talking about the coronavirus.
6. Make my taxes very low and stop investing in the future.
7. Make my taxes very low and stop … ad infinitum.

I have no problem with conservatives being selfish and only caring about themselves; that’s their right. What I don’t like is how they hide behind the fictions they are for a balanced budget, family values and States rights. I guess they are embarrassed to admit all they care about is lower taxes and never wanting the government to spend a penny unless it benefits them personally, right now.

P.S. To Republicans who say abortion is the most important issue:
Abortions impact less than 0.2% of Americans. Clean air and water, healthcare, global warming, and ending the Covid-19 outbreak impact 100% of Americans!

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Lost Respect for Republicans

I’ve had Republican friends my entire adult life. We disagree about the country we want America to be, but there were usually areas of overlap. As a moderate liberal, I even agreed with the need to keep the national deficit as low as possible even it meant reducing some entitlement programs (ironically the GOP is now the culprit for a ballooning national deficit and don’t seem to mind at all). But in any event, I always respected their right to their opinion. 

Unfortunately, Trump has facilitated many of the dormant desires of conservatives to come to light. Mocking global warming and now using the EPA to roll back regulations that keep our air and water clean are just a few. It’s clear it’s more important to the GOP to allow a few corporations and real estate developers make more money than keep our planet safe for humans. 

Some of my Republican friends may not want the EPA regulations on clean air and water to be rolled back, but if they vote for Republican candidates, they are choosing to allow those policies. They have become my enemy in a war of what America is to become. I want an America that treats the planet and its people with respect, and doesn’t let greedy businesses take priority.

I cannot respect anyone who puts profit before health and compassion for others.

Thursday, December 27, 2018

My Heroes

Well ‘heroes’ might be the wrong word…
these are people I greatly respect for their accomplishments.


People who helped explain the world around us:

Carlo Rovelli (b1956 - )
Books: “Seven Brief Lessons on Physics”, etc.

Einstein (b1879 - d1955)

James Maxwell (b1831 - d1879)

Michael Faraday (b1791 - d1867)

Lucretius (b99 - d55 BCE)
Wrote the poem “On The Nature Of Things” that stirred the beginning of the Renaissance when rediscovered in 16th Century

Epicurus (b341 - d270 BCE)
Created Epicureanism: Living a good life believing in science rather than gods

Democritus (b460 - d370 BCE)
First person to postulate the existence of the atom


People who corrected the misconceptions many of us had:

Jared Diamond (b1937 - )
Books: “Guns, Germs and Steel” and “Collapse”

Richard Elliott Friedman (b1946 - )
Book: “Who Wrote the Bible?”

Jorgen Randers (b 1945 - )
Book: “2052 - A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years"


People who helped level the playing field between the rulers and those they want to rule:

M.L. King, Jr. (b1929 - d1968)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (b1933 - )


People who helped us face the severe racial inequities in America:

Ijeoma Oluo (b~1980)
Book: "Mediocre, The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America"


People who did things I wish I had done:

Neal and Linda Goldstein (b~1947)
Sold their house and traveled around the world smelling the roses from 2015-2020


People we thought were good, but were not:

William Cody (Buffalo Bill) (b1846 - d1917)
Killed thousands of buffalos for sport, and killed and scalped native Americans to gain notoriety.
See Ch. 1 in this book:


People brave enough to publicly question what most people believe:

Richard Dawkins (b1941 - )

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Daniel C. Dennett (b1942 - )

Christopher Hitchens (b1949 - d2011)

"Your religion, you may believe, came into existence when its fundamental truth was revealed by God to somebody, who then passed it along to others. It flourishes today because you and the others of your faith know that it is the truth, and God has blessed you and encouraged you to keep the faith. 
But why do all the other religions exist? If those people are just wrong, why don't their creeds crumble?"


Thursday, December 6, 2018

GOP in WI, MI and NC Show Their True Colors

The GOP loved democracy when people voted for them, but when the people vote for Democrats, Republicans become UnAmerican.

GOP in Wisconsin think they know better than the people:

GOP in NC blatantly steal mail-in ballots:
Note: The GOP candidate in NC (Mark Harris), who supported the stealing of mail-in ballots, is a pastor. What hypocrisy!

Want more… how about the GOP in Michigan:


Make no mistake, this is not a case of “well, both parties do it”...
In 2010, 2014 and 2016 when DEMs lost elections big time, there were never any allegations they tried to subvert the will of the people and vote for petty power grabs during lame duck sessions. And the DEMs have never tried to restrict voting in GOP leaning districts. There is a disease among the GOP causing them to believe the will of the people, and even the Constitution, is not to be respected. I’m quite sure the Trump impact has been the catalyst to most of this, but the virus has been lurking beneath the surface for a long time.

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Are We Headed for an American Civil War II?

Leading up to the Civil War, Southerners were doing such onerous things to people, they became the enemy. Southerners believed only white people were worthy, and the majority of Americans, who disagreed with them, went to war to stop their unAmerican actions. 

The North won and ended the unAmerican practices of the South. But did the North eradicate the sickness… or just subdue it? Would anyone be surprised that the majority of Trump supporters wish the South had won the Civil War?

Today Trump supporters believe only white people who think the way they do are worthy. If you are gay, you are evil. If you are not white and Christian, you are not really an American. And all scientists are part of a liberal conspiracy to lie about things that are not supported by the Bible. These beliefs by Trump supporters are resulting in laws that are unAmerican… they have become the enemy.

The majority of Americans do not believe these stupid things (as shown by the vote count of the 2016 election). If this majority cannot defeat the enemy by electing a huge majority of American-value representatives, then I fear Civil War II is on the horizon. Americans cannot allow the enemy to usurp America and twist it into another autocratic country. If necessary, we must, and will, fight. 

Trump supporters are generally delusional. Among their delusions is the thought the Second Amendment will save them if it comes to a fight. But the truth is that the Second Amendment works for all Americans. And there are more of us than them.

We are at a point where the country hopefully will elect a President in 2020, or 2024 or perhaps even as late as 2028 who has the will of Abraham Lincoln. Who sees the enemy for the evil they are and will fight to defeat them. And this time, we must eradicate them so our great great grandchildren will not have to fight an American Civil War III.

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Conservatives Create and Believe the Fake News

MOST CONSERVATIVES BELIEVE THE FAKE NEWS THEY ARE FED 24/7.

This is the perfect example of what conservative news is doing to conservatives… brainwashing them. And most conservatives love it.

There was an “incident” in 2016 with a 5 year old girl in Idaho where 3 boys, 7, 10 and 14 were involved. Keep in mind - 3 BOYS.

Conservative media jumped on the story turning it into an anti-refugee sensation claiming:
“Syrian refugees gang-raped a girl at knifepoint.”

The problem is that the story isn't true. Exasperated after being overwhelmed by right-wing nuts making lurid accusations, the prosecutor in Twin Falls County came forward to explain the case. “There were no Syrians involved, there was no knife involved, there was no gang-rape," Grant Loebs told the press. In fact, while there are Syrian immigrants living in the area, exactly zero of them got there through the Syrian refugee program. The incident was blamed on people who literally do not exist.

CONSERVATIVES ARE FED GARBAGE LIKE THIS EVERY DAY… AND I THINK MOST OF THEM EAT IT UP BLINDLY AND GLADLY!

Read entire article about incident:
https://www.salon.com/2016/06/22/no_syrian_refugees_didnt_rape_a_child_in_idaho_right_wing_urban_legend_shows_how_ugly_anti_refugee_movement_has_become/

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Divide and Be Happy in America

I have a prescription for how to make both conservatives & liberals happy in America.
(well at least not fighting each other).

I suspect the impact of doing what I suggest would be:


SHORT TERM
LONG TERM
CONSERVATIVES
Will love it
???
LIBERALS
Mixed feelings
Will love it


I propose the Federal Gov’t. dictate only one thing:
Each State may pass whatever laws they want.

So Red States may:
  • Use the bible as a science text in elementary thru high school
  • Ban any medical research they want
  • Repeal every regulation (financial, environmental, etc.)
  • Reduce government expenditures on infrastructure, universities, etc.
  • Make abortion illegal (make contraception illegal if they want)
  • Remove healthcare funding
  • Ban illegal residents

I believe over the ensuing 10 years the impact would be the best medical, scientific, educational, financial, etc. professionals who currently live in Red States will move to Blue States. There is plenty of room and they would all be welcomed. Red State populations would shrink leaving only the older generation.

One group who would suffer initially are the poorer among us who currently live in Red States. However, they will gradually move to Blue States, and again there is plenty of room and they would all be welcomed too. They will help support the Blue States economies by doing the blue collar, service and agricultural jobs that need to get done.

The outcome in a generation will be two classes of people in America:
1.     Blue State residents will be the best educated, healthiest, wealthiest and happiest Americans.
2.     Red State residents will be less educated, have poorer healthcare, face a declining economy, and for once be correct when they think of themselves as a victim. They will be the victim of their own selfishness.

Note: A Red State may apply to become a Blue State by stop being assholes…
and eliminate every Red State law in the bullet list above.

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Dear Blue States…

We include California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Delaware and all the Northeast.
  • Red States get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
  • Blue States get stem cell research and the best beaches.
  • Blue States get Intel, Apple and Microsoft. Red States get WorldCom.
  • Blue States get Harvard.
  • Red States get Ole' Miss.
  • Blue States get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.
  • Red States get Alabama.
  • Blue States get two-thirds of the tax revenue.
  • Red States get to make the red states pay their fair share.
  • Since Blue States aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition’s, Blue States get a bunch of happy families. 
  • Red States get a bunch of single moms.

Blue States will have firm control of 80% of the country’s fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of the high-tech industry, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

The Red States will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans and their projected health care costs, 92% of all US mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

Blue States get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

38% of those in the Red States believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we’re discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% think that Saddam was involved in 9/11, and 61% of the crazy bastards believe they are people with higher morals then we lefties.

Blue States are taking the good pot too. Red States can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico… IF THEY CAN GET IT OVER THE WALL!