It’s a Matter of Trust

The oncoming conflict was so obvious. Heck the most notorious American conman alive was the opposition. Did anyone with even half a brain really believe he was there to save America.

It’s truly laughable! We knew he was a pawn…the overwhelming majority of us. A man so repugnant that his own reflection screams back “ImPeach.” Some of us chose to turn a blind eyes for selfish reasons, others out of fear they’d be labeled an alarmist, but we knew he had the stench of caviar and old fashioned American whiskey all over him…a pawn for the rich and putinful.

Even Obama…chose to put his faith in our institutions…The dreams of his ancestors and the audacity of hope…til the end. We would have listened to him. The majority, the military, all of us had he taken a stand. Had he taken that microphone on January 20th, and passed on to the nation what the FBI had told him…how the Russians had interfered in our elections…attacked our most fundamental institution…an act of war.

We would have listened had he appointed an independent commission. Had he given them 90 days to confirm one question and one question only…had he conditioned the peaceful turnover of power on that one condition and that one condition only…

One question…ninety days.

Was Donald Trump fairly elected by and if he were to assume office would he be working for the American people.

In the interest of national security we would have listened. Ignored the rantings and protestations that would have followed. It would not have been easy, but we would have listened.

I honestly believe Obama considered it. It was his constitutional duty to protect our security interests until his very last day in office. McConnell and the GOP efforts to strip him of that power a year early notwithstanding. The fact is Obama allowed a known and imminent threat to slither into the most powerful office in the world.

Perhaps it was our fault, the majority of like minded Americans who hold the ideals of this nation so sacred. Perhaps it was our responsibility to push this great experiment in individual freedoms forward. Perhaps Obama would have fought harder had it not all been so difficult for him. From his first day on the job McConnell made clear that his number one priority was to obstruct the agenda of the most progressive candidate in our nation’s history. Think about the insanity of that!

Worse “we, the people” stood by in near silence as the GOP did just that. In February 2016 McConnell took it one step further and unilaterally declared a “3/4 Compromise” whereby duly elected African American Presidents will only get to fulfill the constitutionally enumerated duties of the Executive office for 3/4 of the term to which they were freely elected!

For some reason, still unexplained to me so I’ll just assume cowardice and corruption, this sounded like a good idea to the other Democrats in the Senate. No mass protests followed when the Senate announced they refused to even consider Garland’s nomination to the Court. What little outrage there was was quickly muffled by the outrageous headlines, tweets and sound bites being generated by the emerging candidacy of Mr. Birther himself. Impeccable timing maestro.

Who could blame Obama really if he grew disheartened, if he had enough. His loyal constituents and party backers abandoned him to stare at a clown show at the time he needed them most. So he chose to go high, as everyone else around him looked low, distracted by the shiny object, the hairy arm. Perhaps that explains why rather than put his trust in his constituents and political allies, the most respected man in the world put his faith in hope.

There’s still a chance he is right. That we avoid the worst of this.

It’s not the institutions that will save us though. As nice as it is to see the lowest branch of Congress flex it’s oversight muscle the truth is they hold absolutely no ability to hold this caravan of the corrupt to account. Try as they may I’ve seen this story enough times to realize that the legislative branch is no longer a separate and equal branch.

The same is now true of what once was our independent judiciary. As of today, our Senate has confirmed 146 Article III judges nominated by a man who remains an active target of a counterintelligence investigation, this includes 44 judges to the US Court of Appeals, 99 judges to the District Courts, and 2 Associate Justices to the Supreme Court. Nearly a quarter of the jurors who will ultimately determine the limits of Executive Privilege were hand selected by the Defendant himself. It still boggles my mind that our defenders of the constitution allowed such a blatant coup to take place.

Our system of checks and balances has failed. The constitutional crisis is here.

We all know of the historic turnover and corruption that has taken place at the highest levels of this administration. We know of at least 30 examples of high level advisors receiving security clearances despite the recommendations of our intelligence agencies. We know of the advisory ethic opinions that have been ignored and disregarded. Forget extreme vetting, there isn’t even routine vetting of these protectors of our freedom.

Our Comrade in Chief finds safety and job security in the chaos he stokes. He uses it to his advantage to distract from the caste system being legislated in the wake of his tweetstorm. Security will not be found in a far off election. We must act now and stop turning a blind eye to the damage being done today. Take to the streets in a sustained peaceful protest and make clear that we are the majority.

To move forward the dreams of our ancestors we must demand answers. Take comfort in the audacity of hope and hold those who wish to trample on our ideals to account. The spirit of the American people has been a beacon of hope and freedom throughout the world for over two centuries. Our diversity our greatest strength, the backbone of our success.

Remember, it’s as Billy Joel sings “The good old days weren’t always good. Tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.” Resist the urge to look back, trust in progress, for it is never ending and infinite #HistoryHasItsEyesOnYou #RiseUp #Resist #NeverForget

Where were they radicalized?

America has a domestic terrorism problem. We must confront that fact with the same urgency we rightfully demand of Muslim leaders. Whether we like it or not, the threat is similar. We need to take a hard look at what drives each new perpetrator to commit such heinous acts. What motivates these overwhelming number of young, white, males to have such blatant disregard for human life. We need to ask ourselves, “where were they radicalized?”

Behavior matter. This has nothing to do with politics. Look at Donald Trump’s words. Log into twitter and review his timeline of tweets. It is repulsive. You’d be ashamed of your child if that was the method they used to become class President let alone leader of the free world.

When you dehumanize people, treat them as less than human and threaten to “send them back” as if they are defective merchandise. When you use your platform to characterize people who live within our shores as “animals,” as unworthy of the basic inalienable rights bestowed upon all men, you create a culture of indifference. You birth a generation that is losing the ability to empathize. That sees targets and avatars in their crosshairs rather than sons and daughters. You create an expectation of violence and bloodshed. You spit on the vision of our founding fathers and blasphemy the words of our Declaration of Independence. The essential truths set forth therein.

When you draw false equivalents between those who protest for equality and freedom with those who represent hatred and ignorance. Who use tiki torches and strap assault rifles to their bodies to intimidate and snuff out those who seek progress. When you see the good in klansmen, neo-Nazis and white supremacists you give voice to the fringe of society. You enable their message of hate and violence. Allow those who hate for other reasons, who feel excluded, isolated and left out to rationalize their desires.

When you bow to the statues of confederate soldiers, display the hate filled flag on your pick up truck, and conflate the history of the Confederacy with that of the United States you deny the American dream. When you name call, cyberbully, race bait and shame people based on their looks you encourage our kids to do the same. To separate themselves from those they don’t like and humiliate them for it. When a pro- life agenda only includes the unborn, the living become expendable.

We reap what we sow. This is not a problem that can be prayed away. There are no alternative facts. The time for cognitive dissonance, for denial, is past. Save us the hypocrisy of lowering your flags to half mast. In fact, raise them Stars and Stripes high and proud instead. This is America! This is what we’ve come to accept as normal.

This is what we will remain until we elect leaders who understand, who as a nation we were founded to be. Who lead with the knowledge that the American identity exists. That the vast majority of us want the same things. That we share so many more values in common than we do ideas that tear us apart. That there is no “us” or”them”, “red” or “blue.”

From shore to shore America is comprised of Republicans, Democrats and Independents, young and old, Muslim, Christian, Jews, atheists and other, Irish, Italian, Asian, African, European and Native, scientists and clergy, gun enthusiasts and gun control advocates, men and women. We are the great melting pot. That diversity IS the American identity. We can’t change that anymore than a tiger can change its stripes. A list of all the great contributions immigrants and refugees have made to this country would dwarf a list of their misdeeds a million times over.

To solve school violence, immigration, terrorism, or even the opioid epidemic requires we all respect multiple views and ideas. It requires a change in Washington, DC. An understanding that we are a nation built on compromise, trust and acceptance.

Sending Out An S.O.S.

I’m not sure if it’s willful blindness, cowardice or complicitness but Americans, and more importantly our Democratic and opposition leaders need to wake up to a simple fact.

The American system of checks and balances is dead. The constitutional crisis is here.

Newsflash The GOP control the White House, the Senate and the Supreme Court!

You have zero chance of getting answers from the caravan of corrupt criminals and enablers who are already in control and occupy the three most powerful arms of the US government. Perhaps we’ve been too busy paying attention to the distractor in Chief to realize that an entire caste system has been legislated into existence.

More troubling is the entire judiciary has been transformed to enforce the values of white Christian America long past the point demographics would have otherwise allowed. To interpret “we, the people” to include JP Morgan, Halliburton, Monsanto, Bain, Amway and the Koch Brothers; but not JP Hernandez, Halil el Burtun, Juan Santos, LeBain Johnson, Anyone Gay, or the Koch Sisters.

All this time we spend focused on Donald Trump. Countless hours spent reporting on his every outrageous move, sound bite, and tweet. Wake up and smell the coffee! The man himself is not the story. He’s a means to an end, a pawn, a hairy arm to distract you fools. To give you something to talk about. Why on earth do you think nobody in the GOP will hold him to account?!?!.

To date, the McConnell led Senate has confirmed 146 Article III judges nominated by a man who REMAINS an active target of a counterintelligence investigation. This includes 44 judges to the US Court of Appeals and 99 judges to the District Courts, and 2 to Associate Justices to the US Supreme Court.

The majority of these mostly white men will be the ones to determine the limits of Executive Privilege and the House Democrat investigative reach. Do you trust them to stop this bloodless coup?

Rather than face this truth Democrat leaders march on and inspire us to vote Blue in 2020. They choose to take us down the path of traditional checks and balances, blind to the fact an unconventional threat looms. They bellow that our participation in the political process is the last great hope to restore our democracy! To remove the openly corrupt leader from our nation’s highest office and restore common decency!

Meanwhile, Rome burns. This isn’t a political fight. There is no political opposition only a consolidated faction of self interested criminals who seek to control the future of the greatest nation on Earth. To think our participation in the suspect and possibly rigged electoral system which placed the inept and unpopular buffoon into office in the first place is the key to his removal, ridiculous.

Does anyone think the way to remove a corrupt authoritarian from office is to vote him out in a free and fair election that he controls? In the history of the world has a single free and fair election been lost by an incumbent authoritarian in control of that country’s executive branch, and with absolute and penultimate legislative and judicial support behind them as well?

Seeing that Deranged Donald also knows a criminal indictment awaits him upon his return to civilian life and me thinks the Democrats have a better chance of surviving a round of Russian roulette than they do of taking back the White House.

It’s time to get our heads out of our asses and steer this ship away from the iceberg. If our current captains can’t do it than perhaps we need to look beyond the control tower for some help

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

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 Pathway to Perdition

The pathway to perdition is paved in ignorance. They say there are only seven original stories in the world. If you read enough, and pay attention to life, you can actually begin to see them unfold in realtime. You grow able to predict what the author of that real life story is going to do next. Which story they seek to recreate in their own life.

Donald Trump is far from an original. In fact we’re all familiar with this story he’s writing. For many of us it’s our favorite movie, book or television show. We’ve seen it unfold countless times, albeit in differing variations.

The agents of fear and oppression rise up, usually in the form of a privileged older male pseudo populist whose good fortune depends on preserving the status quo. He uses fear and oppression as his primary tools. His speech comprised of thinly veiled dog whistles that call upon the deplorables of society to rise up. His policies implicitly condone the dirty work and agenda of those who once sat on the fringe of society.

His nationalistic rhetoric encourages them to sow discord; to intimidate others to get on board. to bully, peer pressure, threaten and blackmail similar patriots and relatives who may agree with the message but be resistant to the harsh methods. Over time they too will join the cause or face excommunication from the party. Those branded race or party traitors to be forever blacklisted and cast out.

As he consolidates power the narcissist grows. He begins to divide traditional alliances through rumor, false promises and chaos. He discredits opponents with lies, misinformation and alternative facts.

As the story progresses the emerging authoritarian begins to act more erratic. The threat of a “deep state”, and traditional checks and balances begin to weigh heavy on he who chases the crown.

As the opposition grows and coalesces, the motive of the dictatorial villain grows more transparent. The desire for ultimate power drive increasingly brutal and more brazen tactics. Dissent must be suppressed! Foreign enemies abound! A caravan of rapists and criminals approach unchecked! Now is not the time for #resistance!

Midway through the story a cataclysmic event occurs. The stuff of nightmares. A society’s worst fears realized. Freedoms must be restrained as a new threat rises. At this point resistance is futile. The takeover complete.

That’s the story Trump and his caravan of the corrupt are trying to write. The appointment of Whitaker. The war on the press and needless taunts of our closest allies. It’s clear that we’re already very close to that midway point.

There’s another version of this story though. The one written about the protagonist. A story of hope, freedom and perseverance. How love saves the day. A last minute miracle. A heroic act that thwarts catastrophy and exposes the naked emperor, unmasks the fraud.

In that story truth, justice and the “American” way win out. “We, the people,” can still write that story. Look around, look around. The resistance is real. We are the majority. We simply need that hero to step forward to lead us

Either way; the good news is the story always ends the same way. Love, empathy, sacrifice and acceptance win the day. A new hope emerges in the blooms of renewed unity and tolerance. The villain is denounced and rejected. Grows to be nothing more than a cautionary tale in history’s annals.

I’ve read this book a thousand times. Societies advance, grow more civil and tolerant.

The question is not if freedom wins. It’s how long and at what cost it will take for her to do so. Progress knows but one direction #Forward

The Emperor Has No Clothes

My voice feels trapped in a time loop. It’s the same old storylines. Each day a callback to a prior episode with nothing original. A shoutout to the die hard fans who have been following along since day one. A carefully baited Easter egg of sorts for the MSM to grab ahold of and to remind the loyalists that despite what else they may hear, he’s with them. Each piece of “breaking news” scripted to serve up the propaganda driven counter narrative. To cue up a personal wink and nod to those wannabe believers and fuel the cognitive dissonance that allows one to follow a golden calf;

Did you hear the latest dog whistle and overt racist and/or misogynistic policy adopted by this administration? Proof he understands the white man can no longer get a fair shake in this country. It’s not racism, it’s reality. Affirmative action and political correctness have no place in democracy and is a tool of facists. That’s why the deep state is trying to bring him down. It’s just like MLK and Gandhi!?! We mustn’t believe the left’s conspiracy theories and or the witchhunt led by 13 angry Democrats. He’s one of us and will never let us down!

Look at his courage as he speaks truth to power and pulls us out of horrible deals and treaties that Obama the Muslim negotiated. Ignore the hippie’s tears that needlessly mourn the demise of regulations meant to end capitalism. Who cares if he alienates essential allies and disrupts the world order in the process. America first you socialist bastards!

Marvel at his strength and resolve to defend America against foreign enemies even in the face of domestic pressure. We are either a nation of law and order or a nation of anarchy. There is no in-between or alternatives. What must be done must be done; empathy has no place in survival. Throw the alien children down a well! Secure our borders! Build the wall!

His methods may be unsettling at times but you have to admit he is dogged in his defense of traditional values and the Christian agenda. The Lord works in mysterious ways but it is now clear our Dear President is his vessel. Next year in Jerusalem! Look what he’s done for our courts already. Stacked them with religious zealots who will restore biblical order. He may be a Russian agent but I can’t wait to see who he selects for the next Supreme Court Justice. One thing for sure is he will overturn generations of judicial activism and restore our nation’s Christian values. Peace on earth for all the white Christian Anglo-Saxons, just the way God intended!

Fake news has you believe that Trump is unprepared or lacks tact but look how magnanimous he truly is. What can be more diplomatic than the trust and handshake he exchanged with Rocketman? The media may try to distract you with details but how can any objective individual deny that he achieved what his predecessors could not. What most elites thought unachievable; peace with North Korea. An opportunity for peace with Russsia. Award the man the Noble Prize now, scream the masses!

Meanwhile the behind the scenes drama, the outtakes, candids, and ad libs conclusively prove the messenger is a fraud. Leaves any sane minded individual no doubt that without a script, a fixer and skilled producer the deal maker is nothing more than an empty suit with a spray tan. A puppet to the corporate suits and foreign investors who prop him up. It explains why so much of the unaired footage that unmasks the villains true remains on the cutting room floor, unreported.

It’s a tried and true reality show formula. Chaos drives ratings; the fog of war exists. Storylines dependent on manufactured drama and carefully selected narrative keeps the audience talking and tuning in while simultaneously distracting them from the producer’s ulterior motives. Prevents the audience from focusing on the otherwise obvious results that lay ahead as the “season” reaches a dramatic conclusion complete with a shocking reveal.

Spoiler alert: Emerging tyrants are not defeated in the ballot boxes or cause du jour movements.

This isn’t some reality show we’re living. History tells us what comes next, what future episodes may hold in store. We understand the relationship between cause and effect. What happens when leaders say certain things to erode traditional norms. What ensues when they openly attack and celebrate the defeat of political enemies and question the independence of the judiciary. We’ve seen what happens when you deputize a civilian force to maintain the peace and enforce the borders, encourage them to shoot first and beg forgiveness later.

There are no surprises here. No logical reason why the majority of the media, the public and opposition party reacts to each new storyline like a stand alone episode. There is an obvious and consistent thread that runs through every act Donald Trump has taken since the pilot episode that began with his trip down that escalator arrival. An obvious framework and narrative that explains the inaction of the party loyalists and traditionalists who would otherwise gag on the idea they would find themselves aligned with the likes of an irascible immoral scoundrel like Donald Trump.

The only way to expose the naked emperor is public transparency. The masses must seize control of the narrative. Ignore the noise around them; the slogans, rumors and innuendos generated by the powers that be. The ones that tell you to ignore your eyes and experience and focus instead on the latest controversy served up for your viewing pleasure.

It is time we all insist that everyone acknowledge the basic truth before the next episode may be aired or script approved. The leader of the free world is under an active and credible investigation as to whether he was elected by and/or is working for the American people.

Let that sink in. How dare we be so reckless with our essential freedoms and democratic institutions. The public, the media and our leaders must analyze every tweet, press conference, Executive Order, proposed legislation, judicial nominee, Cabinet appointee and public appearance through that context before they allow his complicit enablers to frame the narrative and advance his agenda.

Is That A Singaporean Squirrel?

It seems such a simple concept. To defeat the narcissist you must starve it of the attention it so desperately seeks. To render it powerless you must seize the narrative; dictate the storyline du jour and control the water cooler talk. You must deprive its id of the glory that powers it, dictate the headlines, tweets and news scrolls so that the storylines no longer focus on the individual but on the crime itself. In other words to slay the cult of personality you must render the personality irrelevant, a mute.

Since the birth of the Birther, for the most part, our media has taken the opposite approach. They have breathed life into Donald Trump’s narrative and given even the most far fetched of his conspiracy theories credibility. Regardless of network, publication or political bias, our mainstream media has allowed the former reality show producer, the man and his minions who made a fortune scripting a fake reality and selling it to the masses as a “reality show,” to dictate the narrative. They have ceded their independence for ratings. Rather than focus on the big story they chase, dissect and report on the squirrels, red herrings and obvious decoys in nauseating detail; always ready to openly debate the legitimacy of each as if there is no obvious line between reality and perception.

Such is the case once again with the upcoming summit with North Korea. Rather than sound the alarm and inform the public of the iceberg that sits directly in front of our current course, our captains shift gears and speed towards the Nobel Peace Prize that floats like a buoy in the distant waters.

Rather than question and debate the wisdom of allowing a man whose very loyalty to this nation is under active FBI investigation to represent us in sensitive international negotiations, we focus on whether the summit is on or off, the drama of will he or won’t he give Kim Un the final rose. Spoiler Alert, he always was going to. The finale was written months in advance. The drama created only to keep you tuned in and talking.

Rather than ask “What is he hiding?” and investigate why the leader of the free world promotes baseless conspiracy theory meant to discredit and delay the independent investigation of his campaign, we focus on the theory themselves. Give credence to the bogus claims with endless reports on the allegations and near silence on the only question that matters “why?” Why would the leader of the free world purposefully fight independent efforts at transparency?

Rather than wonder and begin each scroll with “Whose side is he on?” our editors take it as a foregone conclusion that Trump has America’s best interests in mind. As we enter sudden and unprecedented negotiations with a ruthless dictator who to date has never acted with the free world’s best interest in mind we ignore that this very question is the subject of an open FBI investigation. We ignore the possibility that our primary diplomat may be compromised by a foreign hostile. Treat it as coincidence that Trump continually ignores decades of precedence to routinely humiliate and alienate our allies often to the benefit of former hostiles.

Rather than the big picture we blur efforts at informed consent by taking each new story as an independent development. Fail to tie together threads that would note a pattern of behavior to suggest that the man who’s primary responsibility is to uphold the laws of the constitution and protect the safety and national security of a nation does anything but. That from his first days in office he allowed a foreign agent to lead the National Security Agency and left him there unencumbered an additional 19 days after learning he had lied about his connections to Russia and may in fact be compromised. That throughout his term he has obstructed every effort to investigate Putin’s efforts to influence our election, resisted bipartisan efforts to place sanctions on Russia and embraced foreign policy that have direct economic benefits on the very oligarchs who were so interested in seeing Trump elected. That he hints at pardons for those whose very actions suggest treason, while baselessly vilifying those who ably and faithfully protected our nation for 17 years from enemy attack.

Rather than question what it is we seek we blindly accept that a peace deal with North Korea is good for the world. Fail to note the lessons of history; anything is negotiable, the question is at what price. Is the goal truly a denuclearized peninsula? In return for such a promise we will legitimize Kim Un’s standing on the world stage. The so called beacon of hope and freedom prepared to condone the actions of a man who purposefully starves his people, executes political rivals, and oversees a strict caste system where only the few will reap the benefits of the economic boon promised to flow in from the relaxing of our crippling sanctions.

It makes me wonder if we as a nation have suffered collective amnesia? Do we really not recall that North Korea was denuclearized prior to Trump’s election? That the consensus among the world’s intelligence community was that they were still years away from development of nuclear capabilities. That pressure was needed to get them to halt their nuclear program AND cease proliferation of ballistic missiles that pose a clear and direct threat to our allies in the region; to force him to cease his brutal human rights violations. Suddenly one of the founding residents of the “axis of evil” is okay by us so long as they give up their nukes?

Call me a contrarian but until we stop allowing Trump to dictate the narrative and framework we should not celebrate or applaud Trump’s sudden decision to meet with him. We should not wonder whether it will be a success. We should question why it wouldn’t be. What are we demanding that would advance our interests and not those of nations who heretofore never had our best interests in mind? Why shouldn’t we fear the new world order it portends. One where the actions and values of Putin, Kim Un, and Duerte are celebrated while those of Macron, Trudeau and Merkel mocked.

Nostradamus I’m not but this summit should scare the bejeesus out of us all precisely because its outcome has never been in doubt. Rather than question just how nuclear capable they even are given the prior intelligence reports and more recent acknowledgement that their test site collapsed and is unusable Trump will be celebrated as a man of peace. A master negotiator whose bold attitude hastened some sort of historic deal that will remain undefined and nameless. The results of the art of the deal where nobody even bothers to ask if the artist even knows how to draw

Iceberg Ahead!

As a nation we stand on the decks of the Titanic. Aware the ship has hit a giant iceberg. That it is taking in water at a pace that will lead to inevitable disaster. That time is not on our side and survival will require immediate action. Yet as I scan the throngs of people who share in my circumstance, in search of direction, a voice of hope, a leader. To my surprise I find none.

Instead our so called leaders, the very crew who steered us into this mess, reassure the masses that this is all a part of the normal growing pains you may expect with any maiden voyage. That the Titanic is not your typical ship so the lessons of the past do not apply to the present. It was designed by the brightest minds to be indestructible. There is nothing to see here. Look at the economy! It’s a standing room only crowd and the decor is to die for. Drown out the doomsayers and enjoy the band they instruct unironically. The cognitive dissonance is strong.

Our leaders need to learn from the lessons of America’s past. Need to understand the importance of taking proactive action. That this nation was founded and preserved due to the proactive nature of the American spirit. So many of our heroes, Washington, Hamilton, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, and Truman all grew to be revered for their foresight and courage. Heck even our Comrade in Chief’s hero, Andrew Jackson, understood how essential it is to take steps to mitigate an impending catastrophe, rather than wait to respond until it came to you.

Whether paralyzed by fear or blissfully ignorant of the danger I know not. What I know is that it’s not enough to sit silently as the smoke thickens and billows overhead. To keep dancing obliviously as new flames seemingly erupt in every direction. To simply stare in disbelief as the deck chairs begin to sway, confident that help will arrive shortly.

Until we confirm that the so called President of the United States and leader of the free world, was hired by and is working for the American people we cannot continue to advance his agenda. We cannot give deference to his nominees or judicial appointees. We cannot allow every Executive Order and unilateral decision to withdraw from international treaties to go unchallenged. Each baiting tweet to be left uncensured and as if official position of the United States citizenry.

“We, the people,” cannot sit back and watch as the 1% are ushered into the life boats right under our noses. We must demand action. To put our faith in the belief that the crew in charge won’t really allow the ship to sink ignores recent history. We must insist they act today to protect us all. Regardless of party, race, class or creed we are all passengers on this ship. At this point to do nothing is beyond appeasement; it’s assisted suicide. #Resist