Tag: Donald Trump

A Peaceful Resistance Requires Sacrifice

We are a nation of informed consent. We must not be driven by our insecurities. Fear is a powerful motivator but we were founded on the belief that all people, regardless of race, religion, gender or creed are born with certain inalienable rights.

An organization takes on the personality of its leader. For better or worse the office of the President of the United States represents our values. We cannot continue to ignore the damage this caravan of corrupt enablers and criminals is doing to our reputation and pretend it does not define us as a nation. We, the people, are responsible for those actions and behaviors we observe each day and fail to condone.

The Women’s March, March For Our Lives, the Blue Wave, Congressional hearings and Mueller indictments are nice but ineffective in the larger constitutional battle ahead. They fail to reign in the worst impulses of our Comrade in Chief. While they may be effective mechanisms of protests that raise issue awareness or promote systemic change, they also do nothing to impact he status quo.

A snake slithers through the halls of our White House. Each day he remains in office affords him the opportunity to stack the deck and produce a manufactured counternarrative. To use his past television experience to craft a set of alternative facts that will marginalize, belittle, conflate, de-legitimize and, if necessary, squash any dissent and opposition.

Americans must learn from history and even the ongoing French protests. Understand that to force change you must commit to it. If we believe our will is not being followed and the government is no longer acting for the people then we must drive that narrative in ways that are impossible to ignore. We must take to the streets daily. Refuse to accept “many sides,” “who knows,” or “anyone could have done it” as an answer.

If America is a nation in which all people, regardless of race, gender, religion or national origin are free and equal than we must demand it be led as such. If the Bill of Rights that put the great American experiment in motion and guaranteed certain inalienable rights on all mankind are our guiding principle then we must demand it be respected. Must act to defend it when we see it being trampled upon.

Tick tock

It’s easy to bury one’s head in the sand and ignore the blatant patterns and lessons of history. To dismiss comparisons with the past as hyperbolic ravings rather than examine the similarities to present day America will certainly allow you to sleep better at night. Just don’t be surprised to wake up one day to find you live in a ghost town. Lifelong friends rounded up in the dead of night when their names appeared in an immigrant database.

Look around, look around; we sit here today and bare witness;

as refugee kids are separated and locked in cages separate from other family, as open air facilities are transformed into housing facilities and like minorities are packed like sardines into them concentrated into confinement, as an entire political party and its leader refer to these minorities in dehumanizing ways and echo policy that to protect our borders and working class jobs we need to “send them back,” only those with “merit” may return after extreme vetting takes place.

as walls and artificial barriers are erected to control populations and designed not just to keep those beyond our borders from coming in but also to keep those within from leaving, as a culture war rages in our cities and suburbs and white supremacists and civil rights protestors are given equal standing in the court of public opinion, as needless massacres take place on a daily basis and ordinary citizens no longer grow anxious and unsafe going to shopping malls, places of worship, playgrounds, or schools, as sweltering record temperatures scorch our lawns and near daily natural disasters of historic proportions wreak havoc on our infrastructure, as a bullish economy is artificially supported by tax cuts, trade wars, and deficits that will bankrupt future generations and secure a permanent caste system in this country.

as deputized ICE agents terrorize communities to round up our tired, our poor, and those who look like they may have one day dared cross into our border on the chance they’d grow up to be free, as international tensions rise, arms races heat up and beacon of hope that once lit our nation’s shore is dimmed our reputation transformed from peacekeeper to pariah and laughingstock, as a bullish economy is artificially supported by tax cuts, trade wars, and deficits that will bankrupt future generations and secure a permanent caste system in this country to serve the war machine to come.

Hitler rose to power in 1933. The launch of the pogroms, the mobilization of SS and Gestapo forces, and the wide scale round ups of Jews and other minority groups into concentration camps that all didn’t begin for five more years. Kristillnacht, the night of broken glass, during which Jewish communities were terrorized by Gestapo agents took place in November 1938.

“In two days and nights, more than 1,000 synagogues were burned or otherwise damaged. Rioters ransacked and looted about 7,500 Jewish businesses, and vandalized Jewish hospitals, homes, schools, and cemeteries.” In total 91 innocents massacred, their blood left to glisten in the shards of glass that littered the street.

That hatred and vitriol was not birthed over night. It was methodical. It took years of carefully orchestrated sound bites, slogans and fear mongering rhetoric produced to stretch societal norms to where such things became commonplace. To set preconditions for the cognitive dissonance that allows for a society to coalesce and systemically ostracize a minority segment of its population. To brand, scapegoat and force them to concentrate and live in squalid conditions while one time neighbors carry on as normal. It requires a coordinated assault and manipulation of one’s senses to the point where people are no longer viewed as such. Empathy is erased from one’s psyche and replaced by the primal instinct to protect the clan, to survive.

In time concentration camps beget forced labor camps beget extermination camps. Lest you think those are the same things those didn’t come about until 1942. It’s called “The Final Solution” because it followed a series of unsuccessful prior initiatives launched by Hitler…

to control the borders, apply extreme vetting and otherwise encourage German Jews to emigrate from their childhood and return to the native lands from which their kind came;

to erect new defenses that would protect ordinary Germans from the Jewish vermin and thieves who scheme to steal working class jobs and otherwise drain German resources;

to ostracize, brand, round up and concentrate Jews into camps while the legislature figured out how to solve the “Jewish crisis” and plague upon Germany.

History knows this story. We, the people, must now recognize what has become of America before we pass the tipping point. We must no longer allow this caravan of corruption that sit in the control room of the greatest nation to ever grace the map to play another round of Russian roulette with our democracy. Odds that the fatal bullet will eventually strike the heart of this nation’s democracy grow with each day our Comrade in Chief sits in office

Goodnight Saigon

I am shocked Jerry, SHOCKED! Donald Trump never deserved any praise for walking away from a bad deal when he left Hanoi. He deserves scorn and ridicule for showing up to Vietnam in the first place.

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump has achieved nothing of importance with Kim Un. In fact North Korea’s nuclear activities have only been allowed to further advance and grow without objection by the US for the past two years.

There was no indication North Korea was ever serious about denuclearization. Had The Dotard considered the consensus assessment of our intelligence agencies he would have known this to be the case long before his arrival at the summit. At a minimum he would have had American diplomats learn of North Korea’s position prior to boarding Air Force One. Seems like a basic due diligence would at least require the parties to at least agree to a definition of what “denuclearization” means, prior to putting on an international spectacle.

Instead much like he did with birthers and white nationalists, all Trump has done is legitimize another member who sits on the fringe of civilized society. In this case Kim Un, an unapologetic autocrat who starves his own people, orders the murder of his own family members and opposition members and who routinely threatens America and her Pacific allies.

In actions and words the leader of the free world has condoned all of this. Made clear that the freedom and inalienable rights of all humanity takes a back seat to the potential personal economic and political gains Trump may reap in a deal with “his friend” Kim. Once again we learn that there are good people on both sides.

More so in absolving Kim of any responsibility in the death of Otto Warmbier, an American citizen killed in North Korea custody, our so called President made clear where his loyalties lay. Putin, Crown Prince MBS, Erdogan, and now Kim Un; it seems our Dear Leader has more confidence in the words of notorious dictators and liars, known adversaries of America, than he does over America’s own leaders and intelligence officials.

This is a man who refused to believe the words of President Obama in regards to his own birthplace, but somehow now trusts the word of Kim Un. Keep in mind the former Rocket Man once publicly referred to Trump himself as “mentally deranged” and a man “unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country, and he is surely a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire, rather than a politician.”

On second thought, maybe Kim is trustworthy. Those words seems eerily prescient and a credible way to describe our current American President

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/world/asia/north-korea-rebuild-missile-tests.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

The Ineptitude of No Deal

Donald Trump does not deserve any praise from walking away from a bad deal and leaving Hanoi. He deserves scorn and ridicule for showing up to Hanoi in the first place.

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump has achieved nothing of importance with Kim Un. In fact North Korea’s nuclear activities have only been allowed to further advance and grow without objection by the US for the past two years.

There was no indication North Korea was ever serious about denuclearization. Had The Dotard considered the consensus assessment of our intelligence agencies he would have known this to be the case long before his arrival at the summit. At a minimum he would have had American diplomats learn of North Korea’s position prior to boarding Air Force One. Seems like a basic due diligence would at least require the parties to at least agree to a definition of what “denuclearization” means, prior to putting on an international spectacle.

Instead much like he did with birthers and white nationalists, all Trump has done is legitimize another member who sits on the fringe of civilized society. In this case Kim Un, an unapologetic autocrat who starves his own people, orders the murder of his own family members and opposition members and who routinely threatens America and her Pacific allies.

In actions and words the leader of the free world has condoned all of this. Made clear that the freedom and inalienable rights of all humanity takes a back seat to the potential personal economic and political gains Trump may reap in a deal with “his friend” Kim. Once again we learn that there are good people on both sides.

More so in absolving Kim of any responsibility in the death of Otto Warmbier, an American citizen killed in North Korea custody, our so called President made clear where his loyalties lay. Putin, Crown Prince MBS, Erdogan, and now Kim Un; it seems our Dear Leader has more confidence in the words of notorious dictators and liars, known adversaries of America, than he does over America’s own leaders and intelligence officials.

This is a man who refused to believe the words of President Obama in regards to his own birthplace, but somehow believes we should now trust the word of Kim Un. Keep in mind the former Rocket Man once publicly referred to Trump himself as “mentally deranged” and a man “unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country, and he is surely a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire, rather than a politician.”

On second thought, maybe Kim is trustworthy. Those words seems eerily prescient and a credible way to describe our current American President

The Enemy of My Enemy

Our so called President tweeted that the New York Times is the true “ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”

So it begs the question. Who exactly are “the people” Trump refers to. A quick scan of his timeline and it’s clear his people does not include socialists, radical democrats, chuck and Nancy, independent minded republicans, Hispanics, blacks, immigrants, LBGTQ+, people from California, Jeff Flake, members of the intelligence community, people from Puerto Rico, women…

In fact, Donald Trump does not represent or speak for the overwhelming majority of this nation’s citizens. The truth is most patriotic Americans find Donald Trump, not a free press, to be the “enemy of WE, the people.”

Safe to say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. In fact a look at a few of the current stories trending in the Times and you’ll see several involve “the people” who stand with Trump and support him in both words and actions.

My personal favorite is the one about the Coast Guard lieutenant and self-described white nationalist who was arrested in Maryland last week. He was plotting to kill a long list of liberal journalists and political leaders on a scale “rarely see in this country.”

Oddly enough these are “the people” Trump refers to. The ones who often speak in his defense yet never appear on his Twitter timeline. No insinuations or childish nicknames for the racists, bigots and trolls who act in his name.

That’s no accident. It’s one thing for a talented manipulator to get into power. It’s a whole other thing to stay there. Trump knows the only way for that to happen is to reach back to his core base. To empower the fringe 20% of the far 20%. Turns out “the people” are who Hillary defined as the true “deplorables” of society.

You know “the people” who respond to Trump’s call of a national emergency and react to his dog whistles. KKK members, drunks, abusers, people who proudly fly the Confederate flag and hang rubber testicles off their tow hitch. Victims of society looking for someone to blame for whatever insecurities they harbor within.

Trump appeals to and speaks for those made in his image. Those in search of some reason, other their own inadequacy, to explain their sorry lot in life. The New York Times and a free press threaten the cognitive dissonance necessary to exert control of “the people.” It prevents the authoritarian from declaring the loudest voice in the room, is the only voice in the room.

Trump’s efforts to silence and discredit the press pose a clear and present danger to the foundation of our democracy. Without a credible counter narrative to contend with this caravan of corrupt criminals will be free to project their own shortcomings onto the most vulnerable members of our society. They will use sound bites, click bait propaganda and alternative facts to deflect from whatever scandal plagues them and otherwise fear monger, scapegoat and blame shift at whatever the cost.

The truth is Trump seeks to control the people. The tighter the noose around his neck the more desperate he grows to scream out to them. To embolden them to act; draw the swastikas, burn the mosques, shoot the churches and claim our federal lands and parks as their own. To terrorize and deride the press and the Radical Democrats. To silence the opposition through force and accept the narrative offered.

These are the proud boys who the real national emergency, Donald Trump, grows ever more dependent on. To chill the fight of moderates with fear tactics, threats and intimidation. Without them the whole ship sinks, the stool gets kicked out from under him

Where There’s Smoke

What more do our leaders need to see? Are they familiar with history or current events? It is much easier to exert power and influence when you actually hold a recognized position of power and influence.

Don’t believe that? Reach out and ask Putin, Erdogan or one of Trump’s other trusted sources how they so completely took over burgeoning democracies. Turn on the news and see how the opposition party is doing in Barcelona, Syria or even Venezuela.

I’m no scientist but I know when you see smoke billowing all around a fire is most likely to follow. Why get caught in the Reichstag fire? Why get burned while there may still be time to safely reach the fire escape? Let’s at least scan the room and see if we can safely navigate our way through.

A quick look over your shoulder and the neon “National Emergency” sign is barely visible through the dark clouds that surround it. Something is obviously afoul and undemocratic in that direction. Best to continue #forward.

Down the hallway to the right you hear screaming. The rantings of a mad king accusing a private citizen, the former head of our FBI and lifelong Republican, of “treason.”

Let’s ignore the obvious horror implicit when the leader of the free world attacks the patriotism of a private citizen via tweet. Forget that Donald Trump used to proudly donate to HRC and she to the Trump foundation yet both seem to offer pretty independent assessment of the other.

The clear smoke that something more nefarious is afoot by the leader of this caravan of the corrupt and incestuous are the claims into the legitimacy of an FBI investigation into his affairs because of doubts in McCabe’s ability to do his job independent of the influence of a family member, his wife. This should in and of itself give everyone pause for concern. Did Cabinet Member Elaine Chao feed him that zinger or is she incapable of independent judgment outside of her husband. How about Special Advisor and fellow HRC donor Kushner or Ivanka Trump. How impartial is there advice?

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump should be checked for a “Proud Product of Nepotism #PayItForward” tattoo. My bet is it’s just above the sickle and hammer tramp stamp he seductively flaunts.

As our Democratic Leaders are well aware seeing as how they were advised of it, McCabe had clear reason for concern. In fact that the Acting Head of the FBI would have the courage to open a counterintelligence investigation into a sitting President of the United States should scare the bejezus out of all Americans. First and foremost the opposition party that control’s the people’s house.

In fact since the hallway to the right sounds unsafe let’s take a gander down the opposite hall. The one that leads to the US Capital. Surely we can find safe harbor in that direction.

But wait…is that smoke you smell emanating from the House” of late term abortion, high taxes, Open Borders and Crime!”.” Perhaps you won’t remain safe at Chuck and Nancy’s, after all. From what you hear the majority of the rooms are now occupied by a socialist majority who petrify the other occupants. The house of Democrats a dysfunctional mess and radicalized eye sore. A nut house of sorts. If it drifts any further left it will most likely be designated for destruction, deemed an official health hazard and bulldozed into extinction.

There is little security to be found taking refuge in a party that is “vicious” and acts with “hatred and scorn?” A party that the only man who somehow knew he would win in 2016 has already said “cannot legitimately win!” in 2020. Smells to me like a set up to wipe the house up. Paint them as dangerous to our national security, declare emergency powers and start fresh. Best too avoid that direction.

One door remains up ahead. You can make out the noise of newsstands and cacophony of the main stream media on the other side. As you reach for the knob you practically feel the heat and withdraw. “Fake fact checkers” and the “ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.” You suddenly realize they await on the other side ready to ambush anyone who enters their embrace.

It’s time for Pelosi, Schumer and our opposition leaders to realize that all traditional exits are blocked, unsafe or too far away to be safely navigated. Survival dictates that the time to take bold action, creative and unconventional means is upon to us. Smash a window, pull down the fire escape and scream,

“Our President is the national emergency.” The smoke is everywhere. We must put on hold legislative affairs and place all focus on a presidential shutdown.

The Long Con

Another day, another bat shit crazy tweet storm. Like all bullies this administration’s plan is to marginalize, belittle, conflate, delegitimize and, when necessary, squash dissent and opposition.

Doing so allows this caravan of corrupt criminals and enablers to continue presenting alternative facts, only now without the alternatives. Lies then become truth, and perception reality.

All Americans need to carefully consider their next move. Reflect on your history. Get informed. Ask yourself; when has the leader who ruled through fear, intimidation, propaganda and slogan been on the right side of history?

I’ll spare you the research. The answer is never.

Love and inclusion has and will always trump hate in the end. Compassion and empathy win the day over oppression and ethnocentric behavior. Do not be blinded by the short term.

History is unkind to those who resist change. You can engage and choose to help make AMERICANS great again! Or you can hold on to a past that will never return and choose appeasement.

Progress only knows one direction, and it doesn’t look back. Barack Obama has over 100 million twitter followers. Hillary Clinton received 65,844,610 votes in the presidential election. Despite what Melania may say, sometimes size does matter.

Choosing to believe perception, fake emergencies and alternative facts, doesn’t change the reality. The Electoral College does not change popular opinion. We are the majority. We will not be silenced. We will not be intimidated.

It’s either appeasement or resistance.

Choose wisely. History has its eyes on you

A Call To Action

“Danger, Will Robinson,” “Beware the Ides of March,” “Perhaps extinct animals should be left extinct,” “The British are Coming,” “Beware Greeks bearing gifts,” “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US,” “Winter is Coming!”

So many famous stories, whether rooted in science fiction or history, past or present, are built on the premise of future danger. Stress a need for the protagonist to act proactively to avoid an impending catastrophe. To anticipate what the enemy will do next and take actions to prepare for, mitigate or prevent the intended outcome.

Sometimes those in power heed the warning; rally the troops, fortify supplies, prepare countermeasures. Other times they fall on deaf ears; tragedy ensues, civilizations fall, buildings crumble.

The situation America faces today is no less dire than those above. Donald Trump poses a clear and present danger to the American dream and democracy as we know it.

Unfortunately instead of memorable rallying cries, for the most part our leaders offer deafening silence. An occasional stern warning about lines Deranged Donald dare not cross. A nice sound bite or tweet from an individual representative, but as a whole, crickets.

My fellow Americans, “winter is coming!” We are rapidly accelerating towards the point of no return. We cannot afford to sit back passively and wait for something as obvious as a Reichstag Fire to recognize a real national emergency exists.

We cannot be so naive as to place all our trust in 2020, that free and fair national elections will solve this crisis. The stakes are too high and the future too nebulous. We believed the polls in 2016 too. Only Donald Trump, a man obsessed with polls, believed his election was guaranteed despite most indicators. Only he knew his election to be a fait accompli. One so inevitable that he promised to protest the election results only in the event he lost. It makes one wonder what he knew that nobody else did.

The point is we can’t put all of our eggs in one basket. We need to be more aggressive. The best way to defeat a bully is to bring the fight to him. We need our citizens to engage in bold and direct action. National strikes, sit-ins, DAILY demonstrations and other disruptive but non-violent methods are required.

We need our leaders to take to the steps of the Capital EVERY DAY. Bullhorns in hand they should be leading the crowd. Listing all of the misdeeds being committed by this den of corruption. Publicly read pages from “The List” by Amy Siskind that painstakingly details the weekly actions taken by this caravan of corrupt criminals that pose a threat to our democratic norms.

Now that the government shutdown is averted Nancy Pelosi should be entirely focused on ensuring a Presidential shutdown. If necessary the Democratic majority should refuse to advance the people’s business until legislation is brought to the House and Senate floor protecting Mueller and his investigation.

“A storms a-coming!” “Stop playing Russian roulette with our democracy!” “BASTA!” None may have the ring of “the British are coming,” but the stakes are no less important. The resistance needs a rallying cry, a call to action. Something that will stir people to leave our comfort zones and make proactive sacrifice. To understand that the time to act is now

Root Cause Analysis

Imagine if America’s response to 9/11 didn’t include an examination of airline safety regulations. How do you expect to solve a problem if you won’t even acknowledge a root cause?

If placed in the wrong hands guns kill people. The same way cars, airplanes, bombs, poisons and narcotics do. The goal is to enact common sense rules and regulations that mitigate the chance these potential instruments of terror will wind up in the wrong hands.

This isn’t rocket science. If you can require psychological examination before a person may proceed with their constitutionally protected right to an abortion surely we can do the same before they purchase an assault rifle. Enough is enough #NeverAgain #GunReformNow

The Ability To Lead

No question men are presumed to be qualified leaders. When they interview for a position of power rarely does one question their “ability” to lead. Of course nothing is further from the truth. Some people are not to fit lead, period. Even some who excel in other areas of a team or lower levels of leadership.

In both business and politics unqualified men are thrusted into leadership positions on the basis of their subject matter experience or connections alone.

More often than not the reverse is true for women. Before being afforded a position of authority a female must prove worthy. She must tangibly demonstrate and defend that she has both the personality, commitment and acumen to succeed as a leader. This is evidenced in everything from the questions asked in interviews to the coverage of the candidate.

Although the status quo is unquestionably biased against women the solution is not to start treating the female candidates like their male counterparts. It’s to start treating the male candidates, to start reporting on their attributes as if they were a female.

Don’t get me wrong. On their own the stories of Klobuchar’s treatment of her staff do not disqualify her from a position of power. In fact good leaders are demanding. They expect to be surrounded by competence. They expect their peers to act rationally and in accordance with the facts, science and logic presented of them. They make decisions that advance the collective mission, not individual self interests or monopolistic blocs.

The truth is for years we demanded too little of our leaders. The dangerous game of Russian roulette our democracy now plays is the end result of what plagues our Republic. A profound failure of leadership. A country run aground by leaders who continually put party over people. Elected officials who fail to grasp the most fundamental principle of representative leadership. That first and foremost you serve the interests of the majority of your constituency, regardless of self or party interest.

Klobuchar has a strong and accomplished record that suggests the ability to compromise and stand on principle when necessary. There is no doubt she is fearless and can get things done. The job of President, however, is more than that.

To recover our values and the loss of worldwide credibility caused by this caravan of the corrupt will require the cooperation of a diverse set of true leaders. It will demand true diversity of thought and compromise across political, gender, race and religious spectrums.

As the Mooch says, “the fish rots from the head.” We need a leader who is relentlessly positive and unnervingly empathetic. Now more than ever we need to examine each and every candidate to ensure such is the case

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/13/amy-klobuchar-sexism-jennifer-palmieri-225026