Black Lives Matter

Black Lives matter. If a simple statement of fact elicits negative reaction within you then it is time for some soul searching and self reflection.

Black lives matter. Such statement does not exist in a vacuum. It casts no judgment on other lives. Claims no superiority over other lives. It serves as a necessary reminder.

Black lives matter. It is literal and true. Black lives deserve empathy and respect. They have value and worth. They contribute to our daily existence and must not be dismissed or treated as expendable.

Black lives matter. That is not a threat to other races or colors. Their is no either/or choice here. If it raises your dander then you are the problem. If you are compelled to respond with “all lives matter” or some similar response then you are the insecure and little one. You are the whiny snowflake.

Black lives matter. Shout it from the rooftops. Chalk it on your driveways. Scream it from the streets.

Black lives matter. Black lives are flesh and blood. Black lives are courageous and brave. Black lives are patriots. Black lives are progress. Black lives are compassion. Black loves irreplaceable. Black lives are humanity.

Antifa and Proud

As protests over systemic racial injustice erupt throughout the nation our so called President tweeted that “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.”

So in the midst of an ongoing pandemic in which the majority of participants are masked it seems to warrant asking who Deranged Donald seeks to identify as a terrorist? Whose free speech and constitutional rights does he wish to suppress by executive order? Who exactly is “Antifa?”

A quick scan of his Twitter timeline and it’s clear Trump believes socialists, radical democrats, chuck and Nancy, Mitt Romney, Hispanics, blacks, immigrants, LBGTQ+, people from California, Mexicans, Never Trumpers, reporters from CNN, MSNBC, and certain members of FoxNews, members of the intelligence community, members of the deep state, Kaepernick, Bezos, Soros, journalists from the New York Times and the Washington Post, Mueller, Comey, people from Puerto Rico, women, Romney, Obama, Hillary, and Joe Biden are all “enemies of the people” and anti-Trump.

More than that, almost everyone within those groups believes Trump a fascist, or at least that he possesses fascist tendencies which they oppose. Is it crazy to think Trump believes them all to be Antifa? Do you see the slippery slope here?

It’s one thing for a talented manipulator to get into power. It’s a whole other thing to stay there. The tighter the noose around Trump’s neck the more desperate he grows and dangerous he becomes. Trump’s broad effort to designate an amorphous antifa a terrorist organization poses 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 and propaganda to deflect from whatever scandal plagues them and otherwise fear monger, scapegoat and blame shift at whatever the cost. They will continue to present alternative facts, only now without the alternatives. Lies then become truth, and perception reality.

The American Puzzle

Tune out the flash bangs and peer through the fog of tear gas and you’ll see a new America on the horizon. Change will not occur overnight. Systemic transformation takes time and patience. Progress is incremental and requires commitment and resolve. It requires proactive risk mitigation, resiliency and experimentation. The more care and meticulous planning you put into it, the quicker it occurs.

It’s like the world’s largest puzzle. The picture of a more perfect union painted on the box for all to see. The end state a foregone conclusion so long as we extend the effort. The first step is to build a framework that supports the larger picture. To align the like pieces in a shape and order that will govern and guide the upcoming transformation. A border of individual pieces comprised of all shapes, colors and sizes. In spite of the other differences each of these pieces also has one smooth side that marks its importance. That allows it too stand out from the thousand of other pieces in its midst. Enables the builders to quickly identify and link these pieces with its like neighbors.

The border now complete. Now comes the hard part. Like pieces assembled in support of the whole but the picture on that box still far from complete. Thousands of remaining pieces remain in the box. Most of which remain buried or are turned upside with no visible way to identify where they may fit in.

To make order from this chaos requires a detailed examination of each individual piece. A systematic methodology of review and assortment and a clean work space to ensure no pieces are lost along the way. A means to sort through and group like colors and shapes until the pattern of progress reveals itself. Slowly the pieces come together to reveal the future picture. As you move along frustration sets in. You feel like quitting but pull the box cover back out to remind yourself that the end result is worth it.

You get back to work. Mistakes are discovered, pieces are rearranged and even the strangest, most out of place shapes begin to fit in place. Eventually your sorted piles dwindle. The red, white and blue pieces are all that remain. They may all look the same but day after day through trial and error you plug away. As each section fills in your determination to see it through to the end grows. A beautiful picture begins to emerge before your eyes. A perfect union of shapes and colors, interconnected and dependent on each other to form the greater whole. It’s only a matter of time.

Cult of Facism

A cult of fascism now controls our Executive. One that takes no chances and scoffs at traditions and checks and balances. A President’s role is to represent all Americans, his constituency comprised of all citizens. To do otherwise is an abdication of his constitutional responsibilities.

When Trump boasts of record approval ratings within the Republican party people must peel back the curtain to dissect what that means. Charles Manson, Jim Jones, David Koresh and many others enjoyed near universal approval among their followers too. Such does not make them mainstream leaders or representative of a majority. In fact it’s easy to have a high approval rating when your denominator keeps shrinking. When only likeminded members are permitted membership.

Today’s Republican Party no longer consists of patriotic or principled Americans. They abandoned that sinking ship along with the dismissals of Boehner, Kelly, Tillerson, Mattis and Will. Those that remain have no central ideology such as fiscal conservatism. No foreign policy doctrine exists that guides their acts abroad.

On the other hand we have Democratic leaders that continue to point to traditional means as the path to victory. They refuse to act with the proactive urgency necessary to afford transparency but instead point is to the ballot box. They stare blindly ahead and refuse to sacrifice or “go low” even as their opposition chops off their legs.

Tradition and precedent have no place in our current environment. A bloodless coup has occurred in which the enemy has taken control of our most sacred institutions. This is not about political ideology or race. This caravan of corruption does not represent a political methodology or follow a philosophical party platform. They are a cult who advocate for nothing more than God, guns, and money. Anything that stands in the way of those goals is fair game in the “art of the deal.”

Cult of Facism

Who is ANTIFA

As protests over systemic racial injustice erupt throughout the nation our so called President tweeted that “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.” Since this declaration has nothing to do with preventing the death of George Floyd or the countless victims of police brutality and racial injustice that preceded him it begs the question who exactly are “Antifa?”

The term itself translates to anti-fascists and to my knowledge there is no formal membership or way to enroll in the “organization.” They can’t be tracked by political allegiance or party rolls. Often self professed believers would be seen at protests to express anger over systemic oppression and in particular global economic inequality. Short of the masks they wore and their unique message there was little way to differentiate them from other protestors.

A quick scan of his Twitter timeline and it’s clear Trump believes socialists, radical democrats, chuck and Nancy, Mitt Romney, Hispanics, blacks, immigrants, LBGTQ+, people from California, Mexicans, Never Trumpers, reporters from CNN, MSNBC, and certain members of FoxNews, members of the intelligence community, members of the deep state, Bezos, Soros, journalists from the New York Times and the Washington Post, Mueller, Comey, people from Puerto Rico, women, Obama, Hillary, and Joe Biden are all “enemies of the people” and anti-Trump.

Two Americas

The time for cognitive dissonance, for denial, is past. It turns out Barack Obama was wrong. We are two Americas. It is true we are not separated by red and blue states. The contrast is far greater than that. Less superficial, more divisive and permanent. We are two hands. Two ambidextrous fists that keep slamming into each other unable to recognize that we are attached to the same body. One tattooed with the word “hate” across its knuckles and the other “love.”

We have denied the obvious for far too long. Handicapped ourselves by alternating which hand was tied behind our back for long stretches of our history. It is time to make a choice. To amputate an appendage and choose our country’s identity once and for all. To advance the dreams of our fathers requires we now pick a dominant side.

This is not a choice that can be prayed away. There are no alternative facts. One hand reflects the audacity of hope and dreams of our ancestors. It appends to those outraged by the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and the countless other lives lost. Clenches in silent protest of those who kneel in defiance of the institutionalized racism that caused them. Points in condemnation of the prejudice rendered by Lady Justice that renders their deaths hollow.

It is the fist we used to smash through the bonds of slavery and defeat the grasp of Nazi facism. The hand extended by FDR, Susan B, MLK, Margaret, JFK, Ruth Bader and Barack as they took on world leaders and espoused the virtues of American exceptionalism. The fist we raise in pride for our immigrant heritage and in our standing as the beacon for hope and liberty to the world’s oppressed.

The other hand is no less powerful or prevalent in our nation’s history. It is the hand that draws false equivalents between those who protest for equality and freedom with those who represent hatred and ignorance. The one we use to point at and dehumanize people. The hand extended by those who kneel at the heels of Confederate statues and on the necks of our most vulnerable minorities. The one that cracks the whip and pulls refugees from our borders. That locks the cages on immigrant children as if they are less than human. As if they are “animals,” unworthy of the basic inalienable rights bestowed upon all men.

It is the fist that holds the tiki torches, burns crosses, and straps nooses and assault rifles to their bodies to intimidate. The one that targets our sons and daughters in their crosshairs and pulls the trigger as if they are of no more value than an avatar. The hand extended by Jackson, Lee, Cheney, McCarthy, Anton and Trump as they alienated world leaders and espoused the virtues of “America first.” The fist we raise in acknowledgement of white power and to build the walls that defend our borders.

It is time our citizenry choose a hand. The choice appears obvious to me. Love will always trump hate in the end.

Empathy Lost

My heart aches for George Floyd and the minority community in this country. Empathy is not supposed to a political trait, but a human one. Yet here we stand in the year 2020 and it is clear that the greatest difference between progressives and conservative lay not in policy but in the ability to empathize with all humanity.

In brief progressives lead and respond to crisis and events with a “what if that was my child” approach while our conservative minded brethren respond to each crisis with a “that would never be my child” mindset. It has evolved to the point where such philosophy extends beyond the individual and is now institutionalized. Our police, judicial system, military, education and economic institutions have all been hardwired to discriminate first. They withhold trust from those most in need of a helping hand. They require the victims of society prove their worthiness first before they extend the compassion and freedoms that all members of humanity are inherently entitled to enjoy.

This is not the America our founders envisioned. The prejudices of their day were real and borne of ignorance and hate. It also fueled the experiment in self governance and social justice they set in motion 250 years ago. By now it was meant to evolve to erase the sins of our ancestors and create a land where all men and women were afforded equal opportunity regardless of skin color, gender or national origin.

Of course some progress has been made in this area but that one national party still exists that fans the fuel of hate is inexcusable. That they fan the flames of hate with false equivalents, stereotypes and outright lies a stain on our Republic. How can our Black men and women trust a society that so clearly does not trust them? That turns a blind eye to the institutionalized ignorance and prejudice that they are forced to endure? How do we move forward when our leaders refuse to face reality? As they knowingly fail to confront and drain the swamp of these small minded men and women who seek nothing more than an extension of the status quo in which the white Christian male reigns supreme?

As a nation we are only as strong as our weakest link. It is shameful but we truly have become a country of deplorables.

Competent Incompetence

Trump’s response to the corona pandemic is not incompetent. Incompetence implies failed effort. It suggests an attempt by this administration to fulfill its constitutional responsibility to faithfully defend and protect the health and security of all our citizens against threats both foreign and domestic. The word does not apply to our current situation.

Trump and his caravan of corrupt criminal enablers made no effort, incompetent or otherwise, to faithfully protect all American people from this pandemic. Rather they quite competently treat the threat as an opportunity to tighten their grip on power and further their own agendas. Whether furtherance of the permanent oligarchy being erected under our noses, the elimination of voices of dissent or the assurance of the paper tiger king’s reelection all their efforts and sound bites speak to these goals.

Trump’s actions are premeditated. They are meant to suppress voter turnout through fear, disease or otherwise. Far from incompetent what you see is designed to eradicate political enemies and voter turnout through suppression and fear. Make no mistake. These acts may be described as unpresidential or as a dereliction of constitutional responsibility but they are not the result of inability.

To dismiss poor behavior or sloppy work product as mere incompetence is the easy way out. It prevents a deeper analysis of motive and ill intent and suggests that by simply replacing the person we will improve the result. No larger lessons learned or systemic change need result when the cause of failure is mere incompetence. The quicker we as a nation realize what ails our nation goes beyond mere incompetence the sooner we may be able to heal from this cancerous mass.

The Soul of our Nation

It’s time to take the gloves off. This is not a political fight, it’s a moral one. Traditional political messaging has no place in the fight ahead. Biden and his surrogates must present a clear and aggressive message. They must weaponize fear and no longer worry about who they alienate in doing so. If ever there was a you’re either with us, or you’re against us moment it’s now.

Let’s start by calling a spade a spade. Those who serve and support this administration are a vast minority of our citizenry. They are not members of a traditional political party, but more akin to a cult. The entirety of their agenda boils down to God, guns and a consolidation of money and power; a preservation of the status quo long past demographics will otherwise allow. The latest tantrum by their golden calf in which he threatens to implement regulations that would shutdown social media just the latest abandonment of traditional GOP values.

If this is truly a “fight for the soul of our nation” as Biden claims fight it as such. Do not be afraid to ostracize those who disagree. Donald Trump has betrayed his oath of office. He has failed in his responsibility to protect and defend the health and safety of all people within our majestic shores. He is most likely a traitor to this nation and those who support him are not patriots but accomplices in his mission to end the hopes and dreams of our founding fathers.

There is all sorts of evidence to support this view that Democrats should take to the airwaves daily to present. From his first days in offfice when he allowed Flynn, a known national security threat, to remain as the head of the NSA for 19 days without restriction, to his attacks on a free press and free speech, to his failure to prepare for a predictable pandemic, to his focus on Wall Street this administration has proven time and again that they serve the interests of the few. Every debate should be filled with incendiary language that supports these claims. Transpose these events with the values America was founded upon.