Trump and His Trumpeteers

Having not yet reached his first 100 days in office, this pleonastic individual has already seen fit to taking a vacation.  It's all about him, and always has been.

He rails about budget, and spending money; but only where it concerns the health and well-being of others.  He has no problem spending millions and billions upon himself and his cronies.  Tax breaks for the wealthy equal tax burdens on the poor and middle class.

His most egregious act so far, besides the "Muslim countries" ban, and the random detaining of people going about their own business, is the withdrawal of support for military families stationed abroad.

He has no compunction about this at all.  A psychiatrist from Johns Hopkins Medical Center has described this impostor of a president as a "malignant narcissist."  It means he just does not care about anyone who is not of his own income bracket or social class.

That last is the oxymoron of all oxymorons.  He has no class; never has, and never will.  Unfortunately, the turn of events that placed (not voted, but placed) him in the highest office in the land saw the state of the occupant go from first class to white trash.

In his rush to fulfill his ill-advised campaign promises, he has made several executive orders which are ignorant at best, and unconstitutional at worst, and he has alienated large segments of the population.  
This is easily seen in the mass protests happening all over, and the cowardly withdrawal of his fellow Republicans from attending their own 'town hall' meetings.  There has also been a notable exodus from the White House of those whom he sought to appoint to his cabinet.

The tables will turn; they are turning, slowly, but picking up speed.  He thinks he is the center of the universe, but he is far from it; he'd better watch out, or, like the old fashioned fun house big disk ride, he will be flung off to the side.

It's time for change within the DNC......

 OK, we tried it their way, and we were spanked, its time for a new direction within the DNC.  WE need a much more PROGRESSIVE WAY OF THINKING.   And so far, Pete Buttigieg seems to fit the bill.

The old ways, "go high when they go low", ONLY makes it all the more painful when you fall. This past election has shown this. The OLD ways do NOT work anymore. A new direction is needed.

We did not lose this past election, it was stolen, with Gerrymandering, and voter suppression.

I say that the Cheetos man-child  was NOT elected, he was installed by the elite. He lost by over 3 million votes! And the PEOPLE  know this. This is why you are seeing protest after protest and angry people showing up at Town Hall Meetings.  People are angry, they are scared, and unsure what the future holds.

Trump has done more to divide this country, than all the Terrorist groups could ever hope to.!!!

1984 Is Here!

George Orwell was correct:  he just got the year wrong!  Welcome to the United Police States of America!

The video shown below includes violations of many of our constitutional guarantees, not the least of which is freedom of movement within the state, between states, and freedom to live where one chooses.

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, (1898 - 1980) explained it well:

"The right to travel is a part of the 'liberty' of which the citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment. If that "liberty" is to be regulated, it must be pursuant to the law-making functions of the Congress. . . . . Freedom of movement across frontiers in either direction, and inside frontiers as well, was a part of our heritage. Travel abroad, like travel within the country, . . . may be as close to the heart of the individual as the choice of what he eats, or wears, or reads. Freedom of movement is basic in our scheme of values."

What is happening in too many parts of our country,  most notably in the southwest, is beyond appalling, and in clear violation of this clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Furthermore, these actions also involve violations of the Fourteenth Amendment, as they both address 'due process.'  From Wikipedia:

"Due Process Clause:

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution each contain a Due Process Clause. Due process deals with the administration of justice and thus the Due Process Clause acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the Government outside the sanction of law. The Supreme Court of the United States interprets the Clauses as providing four protections: procedural due process (in civil and criminal proceedings), substantive due process, a prohibition against vague laws, and as the vehicle for the incorporation of the Bill of Rights."

If what you see in this video does not make your blood boil, you are either dead or part of the problem.

No More Jails!

Sheriff Livingston of Contra Costa County wants a jail expansion. His (skewed) logic is that the current jail in west county is overcrowded.  Well, of course it is.  He has seen fit to rent beds to ICE for their detainees.  This is not the use for which prisons were intended.  

This idea is a multi-million dollar boondoggle, and a total waste of taxpayers' money.  Interestingly, Livingston managed to be away in D.C., hobnobbing with Drumpf's nominee for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, on the day the vote was held concerning a grant to build the facility he wants.

There are already far too many people languishing in jail for such minor offenses as to border on the ridiculous.  The people of whom I speak were incarcerated for non-violent, minor crimes.  Mandated community service work would be a better sentence, less costly, and free up beds to boot.

However, it is difficult to keep people out of jail when there is a monetary incentive for making arrests.  This miserable scenario came about due to the privatization of many prisons around the nation.  The corporation runs them for a profit!  So, if they don't fill beds, they don't get paid.  That is just plain predatory!

Instead of more jails, let's stand up and demand investment in quality education, renew such older practices as the apprenticeship programs, (on the job training), and trade schools.  Let's have community centers for youth.  Let's reopen the treatment facilities closed during the Reagan administration to offer real help to people with  mental health issues.  Putting them in jail does not help them.  We need treatment facilities (with mandatory attendance) for people who have committed crimes while on drugs or alcohol. 

Livingston's plan is short-sighted, and wrongly focused.  We don't need to rent beds to ICE.  Let them build their own facilities for detainees.  In the long term, more and better treatment programs and community services of various kinds will serve better to keep people out of jail in the first place, and at a lower cost. 

Very important call to action!  Mark down this date!  

Friday, February 17th, 2017

This is something everyone can do.  It costs zero money, and you don't even have to get out of your comfy chair.  You don't even have to get dressed, if you don't want to!

This is the "ordinary people's protest."  For those of us who cannot join marches and roadblocks, this protest is done from your own home.

On this date, is a nationwide boycott everything  protest.  The action is to shut everything down, as far as possible.    Here's how it will happen:

1. Stay home all day!
2. If there is any reasonable chance that you can call in sick to work, do so.  
3. Do not purchase anything!  (Including online shopping)

Hopefully, this will send a strong message to the right-wing extremists trying to turn our nation into a dictatorship and oligarchy.

Time For Boots on the Ground

Wow, being forced to be civil, is really not easy for me. I'm known as a hard ball player on Face Book.  When I see or hear BS, I voice my liberal opinion.  And, I show facts to back up what I am saying.

But, I can not keep quiet with what is going on with this travel ban on people for the religion they believe in. All except for the four nations he does business with. What trump, (not capitalized on purpose) is doing is beyond sickening.
This is how Hitler stared in 1933.
 One by one, trump is slowly eroding civil rights; he and his cabinet  of  the Neo-Nazi chief of staff Steve Bannon, his KKK member buddies, as well as other people so unqualified for the positions they are appointed to, is frightening.

People, it is time, it is time to put boots on the ground.  To fight the hate, to fight the bigotry, and so on.  we the people  can not allow this to continue. And we need to do it now!