A Forum

I would like this to be a forum for political and social thought. I would like to try to keep it civil. That can be difficult as people, myself included, usually feel strongly about these issues. I will try not to be insulting though insult is often in the eye of the beholder.

Maybe no one will ever read this but me, maybe it will just turn out to be my private journal. We'll see.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Trump's March to an American Oligarchy


 We are beginning to understand Trump's admiration for Putin as he seeks to establish a Russian type oligarchy in the United States.
  Let's start with his cabinet:
   1.  Department of Labor--a man who wishes to replace as many workers as possible with robots.  Those that remain he would deny a living wage.
   2.  Housing and Urban Development--a man who does not believe in fair housing.
   3.  The Environmental Protection Agency--a man who doesn't believe in climate change nor does he believe that the EPA has a mandate to protect the environment except in very limited circumstances.  He has sued the EPA from his position of Attorney General of Oklahoma.
   4.  Health and Human Services--a man who will not only eliminate the Affordable Care act but radically alter Medicare and Social Security.
   5.  Treasury--a man who wants to eliminate not only the regulations intended to keep banks solvent but deposit insurance as well.
   6.  Secretary of State--a man who is good buddies with Vladimir Putin.

 Then there is the troubling questionnaire Trump's transition team sent to the Department of Energy.  The questions suggest a witch hunt against those in the department who are working to limit the effects of climate change.

 We already have seen how Trump will threaten and intimidate those who criticize him.  He will make up "facts", repeat false news.  Trump likes to schmooze with the rich and the powerful and those are the people he has chosen for his cabinet.   It's not the "Bully Pulpit"  he's just a bully.

 He admires Putin's ability to manipulate his public and surround himself with wealthy oligarchs and it seems that is the way he will rule the United States.  He has put in place a team devoted to relieving the American people of all the protections they have enjoyed and replacing those protections with a system in which there are a few very rich and the rest struggle to survive.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Something Good Came From This Election

As I listened to some of my sixties folk music I wondered where the idealism of our youth had gone, the hope for a better world?  Back then our primary concern was for an end to war and for civil rights for all.  Environmental issues were in the mix, remember "Diet for a small Planet" and zero population growth? These were largely fringe issues, though, important to some, including myself, but not most.

Now war has dropped in the concern of the idealists and the environment has risen to the top, shoulder to shoulder with civil rights and our youth are again on the march.  They rallied with Bernie Sanders, they marched on the Dakota Access pipeline.  They decry the killing of black men for the crime of driving or walking while black. They support the LGBTQ community.  Some may find their activism naive but I applaud their passion.

I give Trump credit along with Bernie for stirring them up, they give me hope for the future.  

Friday, November 4, 2016

America May Be the Loser

 I fear that whichever candidate wins this election it is the American people who will be the losers.
  Should Trump win rather than making us great we will be he laughing stalk of the world.  I fear an economic collapse greater than the Bush's great recession.  Listen to his speeches, they are full of platitudes and short on specifics.  When he does try to be specific he shows himself to be lacking a true understanding of the issues and the facts.
  Should Clinton win it will be four more years of gridlock.  Republicans have promised to again block any initiatives of a democratically elected president not of their own party.  America can not function with another four years of gridlock, we can not continue to be a great nation.  Without a Democrat majority in Congress Clinton's hands would be tied.
 A Republican president and Congress will mean a windfall for the one percent.
 A Democrat president and Republican Congress will mean gridlock with no progress on needed reforms to benefit the middle class.
  Only the unlikely outcome of a Democrat president and Congress will mean  real progress for the American people!

Monday, October 31, 2016

Would You Let Trump Remove Your Apendix?

  Governing is a profession, like medicine, dentistry, law, carpentry, plumbing and even business.  Each has its own unique set of skills and they are not interchangeable.  We certainly wouldn't want a novice to do surgery on us and we wouldn't want a builder to build our house just because he lives in one but knows nothing about how it was put together.
  Why, then, do some think that it is a good idea to have a novice run the greatest nation in the world?  A man who by all accounts is not even a very good business man.  Multiple bankruptcies does not give me much confidence in his abilities.  Multiple lawsuits against him in which he plays tricks, deletes emails and looses documents does not give me confidence in his honesty.
  Too be honest, Clinton was not my first choice for president.  She does, with out a doubt possess the skills needed for governing.  Any questions one might have as to her honesty are also true in spades where Trump is concerned. 
  We are not electing our new bff, we are choosing the person with the necessary skills to govern this great country and that person is Hillery Clinton.


Monday, October 17, 2016

Does It Matter?

  It has come to the point that it does not matter if Trump's accusers are telling the truth.  Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to minimize their experience of these women, if true (and I do believe them) it is an horrific experience and not to be taken lightly.
  A bigger issue has arisen,  and we have these women to thank.  They have stripped the facade from Trump and exposed the monster underneath.
  This is a man who is willing to incite insurrection, puts the very constitution at risk and stirred up the worst in his supporters.  The things that many of his supporters are saying are truly deplorable and rather than trying to damp down this rhetoric he feeds the flames.
  Donald Trump is inciting sedition and maybe treason, in any other nation he would be in jail but this is The United States of America and we have a right to say what we want, up to a point.  We do not have a right to sedition and were he not running for president he would probably be in jail.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Are Trump Voters Deplorable?

  Are Trump Voters Deplorable?  I don't know about most but I will tell you about one encounter I had.
   I was walking up the street to my home.  As I approached a neighbor's house which had a Trump yard sign a  woman who was unknown to me charged at me cheering for Trump.  That was a bit like running at a bull waving a red flag.  I know, I should have ignored her, kept on walking but I couldn't help myself and said what I thought of Trump.  We exchanged our views and as she walked away she said to my neighbor "she should be euthanized".  I think that counts as deplorable.
 

Friday, October 14, 2016

It is not ok!

  When I was in my late teens I took the bus to college. In those days I wore skirts to school. A man came and sat next to me, he ran his hands up my thigh. I was confused, I didn't know what to do. Eventually I got up and moved as far away as I could.
  I can't even bare to write about what happened in a movie theater when I was 8 or 9.
  Yes, I believe these women and yes, I understand why they didn't say anything. They were embarrassed and feared no one would believe them.
  To men who say this behavior is no big deal, just boys being boys, I tell you it is a big deal and IT IS NOT OK!
  To those women who are willing to shrug it off I ask, have you been so sheltered that it has never happened to you?  If it has and you are willing to ignore it then I think you may need to seek help, you may be in denial.
  To those who say "Clinton did it" I will say, Clinton never bragged about it, Trump has.  Whether either man is guilty has never been determined in a court of law, it is their word against that of the accusers.  What we do know is that on many occasions Trump has admitted to assaulting women and thinks it is ok.
  IT IS NOT OK! 

Monday, September 19, 2016

Let's See His Birth Certificate!

How do we know little trumpy wasn't born in his mother's home town in Scotland.  After all, it is far more likely that a women would return to her place of origin to give birth than it is for an American woman to go the third world country of her huband.

Let's see that birth certificate, trumpy, than we can all spend years suggesting it is a forgery.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Trump as the Wizard of Oz

"Don't look at the man behind the curtain, look over there!"

Remember that line from the Wizard of Oz, when Toto pulled down the curtain revealing the Wizard as a fraud?  That's what little trumpy reminds me of.  He doesn't want us to look at his faults, he wants us to look at Hillary instead.

In truth, everything he says about Clinton is true of trumpy in spades!  What we know of his business dealings are all bad, bankruptcies, lawsuits, shady characters as partners.  He doesn't reveal his taxes which might shed light of his business practices.  He inflates the significance of minor transgressions on the part of Clinton in hopes that no one will pay attention to his major transgressions.

He says Clinton is secretive.  Clinton?  We know all about Clinton and most of it is good.  We know what she stands for, she stands for the little guy, the children.  She has a track record going back years.  Trumpy is late to the party, he has no track record in public policy and he changes his stance from week to week.  We have no idea what we would get with him as president.  We do know that he admires autocrats and himself.  We know that he loves money, his own, and wants more of it.  That seems like a very dangerous combination to me.

Do we really want a con artist, a fraudster as leader of our great nation.  I hope not, what would it say about the United States were we to elect him?  What would it do to our standing in the world?  Make America great?  No, it would make a laughing stock out of this great nation.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

It's a Woman Thing.

I know, little trumpy will use Hillary's pneumonia as another excuse to say she is not "tough enough"  to be president.  It is a common prejudice of men to call women the weaker sex.  Weaker?

 Ok, maybe women don't have the muscles that men do but what they do have is endurance.  They have to.  They spend nine months carrying another person around inside their bodies and another 12 to 24 months carrying that person around on their hips, back or front.  In many parts of the world women travel miles to get water and wood which they haul home on backs or heads for their families.

When a woman is sick most don't have the luxury of staying in bed.  Women routinely get out of a sick bed to feed their families and do household chores.  They pop a few aspirin or Tylenol tablets so that they can get the kids to school, shop for groceries and run other necessary errands.

In many households women work eight hours at paying jobs (usually earning less than a man).  When they get home they then make dinner, do laundry, clean house and care for the kids.  Too often the big, tough man is sitting in front of the tube.

Perhaps that is why Hillary kept going, saying nothing, it's just what women do.  It's a woman thing.

Before you guys get your knickers in a twist, I know, many men get up and go to work when they are under the weather, but would trumpy?  I doubt it.

Saturday, September 10, 2016

trump--Ventriloquist's Dummy?

I've been watching little trumpy give some speeches lately.  I find it interesting that the man who used to ridicule others now uses written speeches to look presidential.  Who writes these speaches?  These speaches sure don't sound like trumpy. 

When there is no teleprompter available he runs his finger down the page so as not to lose his place, rather like we did in elementary school  when first learning how to read.  Is he afraid if he diverges from the text give by his handlers that they will get angry with him and scold him?  We know that trumpy doesn't like criticism, it brings out the worst in him.

So I wonder, if trumpy is elected which would we get, the ventriloquist's dummy parroting the thoughts of others or the real dummy?

Thursday, August 25, 2016

The Clinton Foundation Controversy

Trumpy keeps railing against Hillery and the Clinton Foundation.  I've been reading everything I can find and I don't understand the problem.  As far as I can tell, the Clintons receive no financial gain from it, it is a charity.  Do trumpy and his minions think that no one in government should talk to anyone who donates to the American Red Cross, The National Park Foundation, The Wounded Warrior Project or any of the many charities to which the wealthy donate. 

I don't believe I ever heard any criticism of Bob Dole when his wife was president of the American Red Cross but then we didn't have folks combing through e-mails trying to dig up dirt on the Doles. 
Trumpy seems to be reaching pretty far to substantiate his  claim of "Crooked Hillery" the fact is there is really nothing there.  Hillery and Bill haven't been sued for non-payment of debts nor have they declared bankruptcy leaving others holding the bag for there mismanagement as trumpy has done.  No, if trumpy wants to find a crook he can just look in the mirror.

If you want to know what the Clinton Foundation does you can learn more from this NPR story.


Friday, July 29, 2016

trump in an Alternate Universe

I'm not sure what universe trump lives in but it sure isn't the one I live in.  Little that he says has any resemblance to the real world, the one most of us know.  Even trump's supporters, if they really think about it, put aside there fear and prejudice would have to admit that his view of the world is hopelessly warped.

He seems to think that the United States of America is a weak, failed state.  The rest of the world knows that we are strong and look to us to defend them.  True, trump's friend Putan would like to weaken us, take over as number one and if trump were to win he might have a chance for little trumpy is hopelessly out classed in world affairs by even the weakest foreign leader.

He seems to think that our nation is so dangerous we are all afraid to leave our homes.  While it is true that some communities do have a problem with crime those are often minority communities, communities in which trump has little interest.  Now, I am an old lady, I don't live in gated community but I do live in a senior community.  Sure, we do have the occasional break in, things stolen from unlocked cars but am I afraid to go out alone after dark to take a walk?  No!  That's another thing little trumpy doesn't understand, Americans are not a paranoid, fearful people.  There has always been crime and there always will be but we do not live in fear.

He thinks that our President isn't interested in protecting us from terrorism.  Strange, it seems that it was the Obama administration that tracked down and killed Bin Laden,  it has been the Obama administration that has been systematically tracking down and killing terrorist leaders for years.

I know that the economy is not what we would like, that many people can't find full time work or work commensurate with their experience and education.  Does anyone really think that trumpy would change that?  He's the firer not a hirer.  When Obama became president the children of many of my friends were unemployed, now the have jobs.   I see "now hiring" signs in local stores and read that places like Starbucks and Walmart are raising wages.

I think that living in his Ivory Tower little trumpy has little knowledge of the world the rest of us live in but he is the master of manipulation.  This old lady has no intention of being manipulated (well, maybe buy my grandson, but he's special).

  

Thursday, July 28, 2016

I'm Rubber, You're Glue

When I hear trump's vitriol spewing against Hilary Clinton I think of the old school yard saying "You're rubber, I'm glue, everything you say against me bounces of me and sticks to you"
It is trump who has left a trail of lies and crooked dealings through out his career.  It is trump who has been accused of defrauding the students of trump University.  It is trump who declared corporate bankruptcy and left contractors holding the bag.  It is lying trump, crooked trump, deceitful trump who has been nominated by the Republicans.  Small minded trump deserves no caps in his name, he is a small man who would bring down the United States of America to his level if he were to be elected.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Mixing Business and Politics

With Trump's comments about the fall of the British Pound being good for business at his Golf Course in Scotland, one has to wonder why he wants to be president.  Does he really want to help Americans or does he want to help the bottom line of Trump Industries?  I want a president who's primary interest is in doing what is best for America and her people.  I don't want a president who is cynically looking at the presidency as a good business move.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

American Terrorism

The sad truth is that most acts of terrorism in the United States have been committed by by people of Western European Christian background, and it is nothing new.

The acts of abolitionist John Brown can easily be called terrorism but they pale in comparison to the lynchings of African Americans in the 18th and 19th century.

The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963.

The bombing of  the Alfred P Murrah Federal Office building in 1995 which killed 168 people, many of them small children.

The Charleston Church shooting a year ago.

Let's not forget the many terrorist acts committed against abortion providers

This is only a small sample of what people who call themselves "Christians" do to others. 

Trump and others on the right seem to think that all we have to do to protect ourselves is to get rid of the Muslims, the Hispanics (all evil doers according to Trump) and everyone else who isn't a Western European Christian.  Wrong!  People of all religions and ethnicity do evil things and Americans ow Western European heritage are up at the top of the list.

Most Muslims are good, hardworking people.  Just like Christians, some of them have psychological problems that cause them to do terrible things.  Let's not punish a whole group for the sins of a few or else we would all have to accept guilt.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Shall a Clown Lead us?

Can a clown make America great?  Perhaps it would make a circus out of a great nation.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

A Bankrupt America in our Future?

Trump insists that his business acumen can save America.  I wonder, is that the same business acumen that sent four of his companies into bankruptcy? Rather than saving America I fear that Trump would make matters worse.  Check out his record here on Politifact

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Tradgedy into Political Hay

Trump must be getting dizzy as he tries to spin a national tragedy to his political advantage.  It is disgraceful how he is behaving, what he is saying.  Muslims I have met have been quiet, respectful and even shy.  Some, as do some Christians, use there faith to justify violent actions that have their genesis in their own mental health issues.

Check out this CNN story to read how Trump spins tragedy to his own advantage