Law and Order Trump, Remindful of Jesus

I REMEMBER HOW DISAPPOINTED I WAS watching "Law and Order". Just when the detectives, the good guys, New York's finest, were starting to have some real fun roughing up the perp in the interrogation room, in walks the perp's attorney, and the fun abruptly stops. Damned constitution. What a kill joy! I was mad, we all must have been mad, across the fruited plain, from sea to shining sea. Americans like to apply the constitution selectively. The detectives are very frustrated and annoyed, every time this happens, which was most episodes. President Trump must feel the same way. Hell, most of us probably do. That must be why, when he got the chance, Trump gave every cop in America permission to rough up any perp of choice, and he had the temerity, the audacity, the cahones, to do so in from of thousands of police officers as well as the entire world. First, Trump thrills, or maybe bores forty thousand Boy Scouts by bragging about himself instead of talking about anything relevant to Boy Scouts or kids, then, he basically orders our nation's police to behave like thugs in a banana republic. Not so good, presidentially, but, give the man credit, he certainly is entertaining. The man really knows how to work an audience, or how to bore, anger, and insult one. the police like tho think of themselves as law abiding citizens and as ladies and gentlemen, so no, they were generally unhappy with Trump's blank check for thuggery. Amid his self destructive self inflicted plunge in popularity, Trump has an ace in the hole, a "trump card" (he he) if you will. The Evangelical Christian community is with him no matter what. Spearheaded by the likes of Jerry Falwell Junior and Liberty University, Trump's right wing devout Christian base remains intact, no matter how much horrible behavior their dear leader (Donald Trump) displays. It must be all about forgiving. Either that, or Trump reminds the evangelical community of Jesus Christ. What is it, exactly, about Trump which reminds evangelical Christians of Jesus Christ? Is it the billions of dollars, the women, the lying, or the opposition to rendering unto Caesar and giving unto the poor that makes Trump so compatible with basic Christian values? The hair?

Using Our Heads Right

WE ARE ALL RACISTS in the sense that we all tend to buy into the nonsense that the human species can be neatly categorized according to skin pigmentation, conveniently forgetting that every human has a unique skin pigmentation, a unique electromagnetic spectrum signature. We are all different, all seven point four billion of us. An easy way to demonstrate this to yourself is too compare your forearm to those of other people, as many other people as possible. No matter who you compare yours to, your skin color will be different, and you can see the difference clearly and quickly. You will never find an exact match of anybody else's skin color to yours, although you might come fairly close a time or two. To a certain extent, this even applied to identical twins, although the difference tends to be quite slight. Racism, the point is, is a state of mind, a fabrication, a trick of the mind, an intellectual device to simplify the world for us. and that's all well and good, until we do it to the extent wherein racism becomes a real problem, as it quite obviously long since has. Boy, howdy. The actual problem is not racism, per se. The problem is scientific, organized, categorical thinking, handed down over the centuries from Aristotle and the academy, which, for all its utility in preserving knowledge, tends to obscure reality with generalizations, in a world which consists of an infinite variety of unique forms. On the one hand, its depressing; the thought that so much nightmarish trouble has occurred in the world, especially here in our own United States, because of nothing other than a trick of the mind. And yes, all African-Americans have a different and unique skin color as well, thank you for asking. The mental tricks don't stop there. Oh no, not by a long way. Nations, and international borders are also nothing but ideals, concepts. Another tricky little illusion is that we are all separate individuals, when in fact this planet and everything on it is a single, magnificent lifeform, as is, come to think of it, the universe. Let's just call the universe "God", or the great eternal spirit of existence, and leave it at that, but whatever else we do, let's stop using mental gymnastics to manufacture misery, when we could just as well use them to create joy for us all.

Sabatoging Obamacare

WHEN SOCIAL SECURITY descended from heaven in 1935, conservative republicans wanted nothing to do with it. Socialism was taking over America. Roosevelt and those damned democrats, trying to force folks into sending their money to Washington. Nobody thought the scheme would work. Everybody assumed the same thing; that one would spend one's life working hard, paying into the system, retire, then die before having a chance to get anything out of it. Or, at best, get part of their money back, but not all of it. The government would keep some of it, people thought. You would get less than the decades worth of contributions you deserved. My grandparents felt that way. My mother was 24 in 1944, and I asked her if she voted for Roosevelt. She gave me two answers. No, and hell no. She worked most of her adult life, except for periods at home raising children, as a registered nurse, retired at sixty six, lived to ninety three and a half. She said she would have loved to have worked longer, but the administration wanted the older better paid nurses gone, and she knew when she wasn't wanted. I'm sure she realized by the end of her life that her earlier fears of being ripped off by a damned socialistic government had been unnecessary. Social security got off to a rocky start, but got repaired, and in nearly a century of service it has worked splendidly, and largely kept elderly Americans out of poverty. Only congressional pilfering from the trust fund has damaged its solvency. Medicare and Medicaid got off to very troubled beginnings in the mid nineteen sixties, but were repaired, and have worked like a charm ever since. Obamacare got off to a surprisingly smooth start, with some rough edges that still need to be worked out. You might ask why not combine Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare into a single single payer system, but, other than that, Obamacare has generally been strengthening, gaining in popularity, and will end up doing just fine, unless Trump and the republicans sabotage it in order to prove that it will implode, as they smugly claim. Trump and the republicans would nothing more than to be self fulfilling Obamacare killing prophets.

Being Conservative

ARE YOU A CONSERVATIVE? if so, do you believe that all the various investigations into Trump's connections to the Russians is much ado about nothing? Do you think its all a liberal hoax, fake news, or an orchestrated invention of the liberal mainstream media to to bring down the Trump presidency? Whatever Trump and his campaign did with the Russians simply does not matter, right? If you believe all that, nothing, in all probability, is going to change your mind. We believe what we want to believe. Doubtless you also think that Hillary Clinton should be investigated, indicted, and locked up, not necessarily in that order, for something or other, anything will do. Who knows how many emails she deleted while Secretary of State which, if they became available, would reveal her to be a traitor, so you think, who sold out America to anyone and everyone. This, notwithstanding the fact that twenty five years of constant investigations have turned up no trace of any criminal activity by Mrs. Clinton. Its there, somewhere, you are convinced, it just hasn't come to light yet, either because those investigating her haven't looked hard enough, or because Hillary and her criminal gang have thus far succeeded in hiding their criminal activities, whatever they may be. The Untied States, incredibly, has sixteen intelligence gathering agencies. By now, you would think we Americans should be the most intelligent people in the world. All sixteen agencies say that, without the slightest doubt, the Russians tried to influence and did influence the election of Trump, and electing Trump was exactly what they wanted to do. Then too, there are all those mysterious meetings between Trump's people and Russians, all those forgotten conversations, which, you are convinced are irrelevant, because they had nothing to do with anything, except, maybe adopting Russian children. If you believe all that, yes, you're a conservative.

Social Media Recycling

THE ONLY TIME I CARED about social media was from around 2000 to 2005, when AOL was king of the cyber universe and chatrooms were the only form of social media. Anybody who was anybody was on AOL, as those of you old enough to remember will recall. I joined and soon got hooked, finding myself highly entertained by the conversation in the chatrooms, and since I was a bit shy about participating heavily, I always claimed to be sitting in the corner, taking notes, preparing to write a book. The book never got written, but since then social media have expanded explosively, and so, presumably, has the number of books about it. I could still write a book about all the people I met, including the ones who came to visit me. I wonder whatever happened to them all. After about 2005 I lost interest in the social internet and haven't been back since, although I keep thinking about it.When I tried to find a chatroom after being away from them for several years, I was shocked and surprised to find that they had basically vanished, replaced by Facebook and others. I actually got a Facebook page, and a few Facebook friends, but I still haven't really figured what I want to do with it or how. Social media these days seems to be filled with anger and conflict. During the chatroom days, it was the same way, and it kept getting worse, and worse. I have long suspected that not only did Facebook replace chatrooms, but that the acrimony in chatrooms just got to be too much for most people. I really have no idea how much acrimony there is on Facebook; I'm almost afraid to find out. Beyond a certain amount, there could be another mass exodus from online social interaction, and the next generation of social media would eventually rise from the ashes of it predecessors.

Fixing The Economy, From The Ground Up

THE FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE hasn't been raised since something like two thousand and nine. That seems like a rather long time to stagnate the bottom end of the economic ladder. Above all else, this proves who owns and controls the United States of America. Quick hint; it isn't the working class. Hell, it isn't even the middle class, what there is left of it. If the working class were in charge, minimum wage would be twice what it is, which is where it should be, and why isn't it? Isn't Donald Trump the great champion of the working class, the one who knows how to save the coal industry and all those coal mining jobs, the one who can bring jobs back from overseas, and create new jobs here? Am I dreaming, or was Donald Trump elected by workers, former democrats, in a so called populist movement? Doesn't "populism" mean policies that are popular with the common working folk? What, exactly, does Trump have in common with common workers? Your first clue that Donald J. Trump is not a champion of the working class is that he has never said anything about raising the federal minimum wage, because he doesn't want to raise it. The standard republican and conservative line is that raising minimum wage will kill jobs. If so, fine. Let it. Empower the workers, the people at the very bottom , expand the consumer base, expand demand, and before you know it, all the jobs will come back. The workers cannot count on any help from our republicans in power. So why did you vote for them? By now, Hillary Clinton and a democratic congress would already have a minimum wage bill passed and signed into law. Capitalism, in theory, is supposed to produce equal outcomes, and when it doesn't, government must compensate for economic failures. This economy, with its ultra wealthy one percent and high inequality and poverty levels, will not fix itself.

Trump Attacking Transgender Service Members

ANYBODY ELSE would have at least dressed up and announced it live, in front of people, on camera. Not Donald Trump. He tweeted it, probably because by this time he has to. I know internet and social media addiction when I see it. And presidential trolling is simply unacceptable. Trump should be censored for attacking Attorney General Sessions on Twitter, among other violations. When, oh when are the powers that be at Twitter going to put a stop to Trump's nonsense? But that's another matter. We digress. Henceforth transgenders may not serve in the military, tweeted the proclamation, ruining the lives of roughly six thousand transgender military members. There is no evidence, at least so far as the military has made public, that transgenders soldiers perform any less effectively than other military personnel. They will presumably be discharged, though they did nothing wrong. According to The Prevaricator-in-Chief, this was strictly a military decision. If you believe that, Trump'll no doubt be happy to sell you some land in central Florida, or stock in one of his Atlantic City casinos which he no longer owns. So now we sit back and wait for the protest, for the uprising, for the pro transgender in the military demonstrations all across the fruited plain, correct? Various groups are said to be organizing for this even as we reread Trump's tweet, with the usual revulsion and disbelief. This time all kinds of liberal activists can be expected to show up, and maybe some of them will be wearing military fatigues and waving flags. Trump has already come out against Muslims, Mexicans, and now transgenders. Can blacks and gays be far behind?

Teaching and Celebrating Sex

SEX EDUCATION was the topic on the national Public Radio talk show "A1", a topic sure to always brighten the day and arouse responses. Of course, if its on NPR, its high quality. The discussion concerned the proper place for sex education in today's public education. Due to lack of funding and political will, sex ed has seen better days in America's schools. For the most part, it isn't taught at all, or if it is, as a small part of Physical Education, very briefly in a very technical, biological, antiseptic manner which carefully avoids all relevant issues, such as alternative forms of birth control. Preach abstinence, and it all falls into place. If only that were true. Several participants in the discussion, alleged experts, pointed out that mainstream American culture still has rather regressive attitudes about sex, making it difficult to adequately address the topic. Its hard to get past the giggles, and the embarrassment. Many Americans would prefer to avoid sex ed entirely. Our consumer capitalistic commercialized culture promotes sex endlessly as it seeks to allure and entice consumers through psychological associations in advertising, while traditional Christian culture injects a strongly prudish attitude towards sex in general. I noticed that during the entire hour of this radio program, masturbation was ever mentioned, just as it is never mentioned in sex education classes, or in American society, other than in the dirtiest, filthiest, most pornographic recesses of our schizophrenic culture. That's too bad, but masturbation, to be blunt, is the solution to most of our societal sex problems, including sexual frustration, pregnancy, rape, you name it. Masturbation shouldn't be a taboo topic; it should be celebrated and proclaimed from every pulpit in America! But don't expect it to be any time soon.

Trump, Backstabbing Putin and The Russians

TRUMP DOES NOT WANT TO sign the big bipartisan bill headed in his direction, which imposes sanctions on Russia, and requires the president to obtain congressional approval before removing any sanctions on the Russians. This aspect of it may be unconstitutional, but it shows exactly how much both parties in congress trust the president in dealing with the Russians, which is to say, not in the least. It seems obvious that the president has no choice but to sign the bill; if he vetoes it, congress has the votes to override the veto, and doing so will either prove that Trump is beholden to Putin; at least will create that appearance, or enhance it, since the appearance that Putin is Trump's master already exists. If he signs the bill, watch out. Trump is supposed to love our Russian friends, right? Would he dare back stab Putin? The Russians may be so angry that they spill the beans about their collusion with Trump in stealing the election from Hillary, if indeed there was collusion, which certainly seems to be the case, considering all the contact between Trump's campaign and shadowy Russian operatives over the past year. You Russians must find it rather humorous that your dictator appears to have complete control over the American president, like some sort of puppet. Putin wanted to get Trump into office, and he worked hare to accomplish that goal and he indeed accomplished it, and he wants to keep him there, for that very reason. Why is it that everybody associated with Trump has great difficulty remembering having had meetings and conversations with Russians? Why is it that the president wants so desperately to stop all the investigations, instead of letting them play out, and vindicating Trump and his campaign. Obviously, Trump does not want the truth revealed, whatever it turns out to be. And yes, we will find out, and probably soon.

Republicans, Self Destructing On Health Care

THE REPUBLICANS in congress have gotten themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. In a pickle, perhaps you might say. There's no way out for them. Trump demands an Obamacare repeal bill, whether or not it includes a replacement system, which it won't. If congress passes repeal without replace, its members will be surprised what an uproar it will create across America, how many Americans do want want Obamacare repealed, far more than half. If the republicans somehow suddenly, miraculously agree on a replacement, and pass it, angry protests will swell across the country, and, as more and more people lose their coverage, anger against the republicans will grow until the elections next year, in which they will be summarily discharged from office. If they pass nothing, which overwhelmingly seems to be the likely scenario, their own conservative base will be furious, including the Trump supporters, most of whom benefit from Obamacare, even though they seem to be too stupid to know it. One way or another, a significant portion of the electorate is going to be very angry at republicans. It is utterly amazing how deeply entrenched and trapped the republicans have gotten themselves in their promise to repeal Obamacare, promising to do it year after year, even while Obamacare steadily grows in popularity. On the issue of health care, Trump and the republicans, by virtue of having trapped themselves into a repeal or die trying platform, are committing political suicide, with no way out. They will own their own futility, because the American people will blame them for their own ineffectiveness, even as Obamacare flourishes and strengthens.

Time, Running Short

HARVARD PROFESSOR E.O. Wilson, a renowned biologist and climate change alarmist, wants to designate one half of the Earth's surface, land and water, as wildlife refuge and habitat. He does not, he emphasizes, wish to exclude humans from the natural half of the planet, but rather to merely limit the scope of humanity activity therein, including, presumably, limitations on the size of population centers, land use, and so forth. To read some of Dr. Wilson's thoughts on the subject is well worth the effort; he makes a convincing case. The projection now is that there will be nine billion people in the world by mid century, and eleven billion by the end of the twenty first century. Both figures are unsustainable, according to many environmental scientists. All indications are that climate change is proceeding far more rapidly than we had thought; glaciers are melting rapidly, sea level rise is accelerating, wildfires are proliferating, and severe forms of weather are becoming the norm, as all weather patterns have been disrupted. Letting nature take over might be a wise idea, here in what we are starting to call the "anthropocene" epoch, the age of humanity, the age during which the entire planet was transformed physically by the activity of a single species of life, humanity. A little less urban sprawl and some population control might be wise. That, plus a massive tree planting effort, and immediate conversion to green energy. Then too, for human habitat to focus on vertical structures rather than horizontal would free up land for natural purposes. Time, according to Dr. Wilson, is running short.

Outgrowing the Bible

I STARTED READING THE BIBLE when I was about ten years old, and immediately became suspicious. It begins beautifully: "in the beginning", but soon becomes murky. Questions multiply. Why does God speak in the third person? I had by the age of ten been brainwashed by society to believe that the Bible is the Word of God, but from the beginning I had doubts, and they grew. For God to fashion Adam from clay and to fashion Eve from Adam's rib seemed from the outset a bit fairy tale-ish. So did the entire creation account, for that matter. This sense of the Bible being rather like a fairy tale increased as I aged, turning eleven and twelve, completing grade school, moving into junior high school. I outgrew the Bible, just like I outgrew Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. I replaced it all with good, demonstrable, proven science, chemistry, evolution and cosmology, thank you very much. This raises the question: why doesn't everybody grow out of literally believing in the Bible? Everybody outgrows all the other fairy tales, why everybody doesn't replace Biblical truth with a more advanced version of reality as they gain new knowledge is worthy of conjecture. To what extent is it beneficial to dwell in fantasy? And I do mean dwell. If the Bible prevents you from accepting the obvious reality of Darwinian evolution, you have a dwelling problem. The Bible had a great advantage in becoming the most popular and most important book of all time. It was agreed upon as the official church canon by a large and powerful group of people, and distributed widely, with great intent. In essence, the bible got off to a good start due to a very effective publicity campaign promoting it as the official church doctrine. Then, over time, it morphed into the Word of God. The Emperor Constantine, an enthusiastic late convert to the Christian faith, decided the church and its canonical scripture must be organized, and so it came to be. The Bible is such a long book that few people ever read it through, but accept it as God's word nonetheless. If they actually read it, they would be horrified, shocked by all the violence, and by God's behavior, which is that of a psychotic mass murderer. Thomas Paine, in his immortal 1794 essay "The Age of Reason", marvels that anybody can accept the Bible as the word of God. In Paine's view, the book seems more like the word of a demon. It is, beyond question, the most violent book I have ever read, personally. In the great ongoing evolution of the human mind, there doubtless shall come a day when humanity dispenses with the ludicrous and unproductive notion that a book, any book, can ever be written by a god.

Arguing Over Nothing

IN A TINY TOWN in the middle of nowhere, Homer, Alaska, a civil war of words recently erupted, seemingly out of nowhere. The quarrel was over immigration, standard American issue, and everyone took a stand. All over the country the arguments are the same,,, and if cooler, heads prevailed, there would be no controversy. We want immigration, but we want it organized, under control. That's reasonable. It makes perfect sense. The devil is in the details. So why all the arguing? The illegals already here need to either be put on the path to citizenship, or deported. The border should be protected by the military. What else is the military for? In the future, international borders may fade away, as more enlightened forms of planetary government evolve. Who knows. Homer, Alaska hasn't seen an illegal immigrant in decades. People sneaking across the Rio Grande never make it all the way up to Homer, Alaska. The townspeople are arguing entirely about abstractions, and not about anything real. Maybe they have too much time on their hands. Maybe they spend too much time watching mainstream American television. that's enough to make anyone unstable, angry, combative. The level of anger across America is palpably elevated. you can feel it, both inside yourself and emanating from other people. You wonder whether all this microwave cellphone radiation has anything to do with it. Please notice that almost anytime the American president says or tweets anything, it is an angry message. The American leader is an angry man, and supporters are angry too. And lest we omit anyone, those of us who oppose President Trump like the plague are not exactly jumping for joy. I'll remind myself to choose my battles, and not argue over or oppose minor matters. Anger never has been, and never will be a better behavioral influence than reason.

Redistributing the Wealth, Like Jesus and Bernie Sanders

I LIVE IN A VERY SMALL town in the United States, because big cities are fun to visit on special occasions, but very expensive to live in. The problem with this arrangement is that big cities are where the progressives tend to be, and I am an extreme progressive. Bernie Sanders is my favorite politician, and surely that says it all. I am surrounded by conservative Christians, which I don't like. I call them the "Jesus, Guns, and Money crowd", because besides the political-economic conservatism and the devout faith, they tend also to be staunch defenders of the second amendment, and advocates of packing heat, as long as you're a good christian. I don't like them because to my way of thinking there is absolutely nothing about the teachings of Jesus Christ which is compatible with conservative free market capitalistic economics or the national Rifle Association, or Donald J. Trump. This weird political-religious marriage in America called the "Christian right" is an obvious evil. These Jerry Falwell Junior Liberty University types praise Jesus, but hate taxes and hate passionately government redistribution of wealth. What these hypocritical people ignore is the fact that, when it comes to redistribution of wealth, Jesus Christ was hard core in favor of it. In fact, he demanded it as a precondition to entering into his heavenly kingdom. Render unto Caesar. Give unto the poor. I promised I would stop writing about my local small town senior center, of which I am a member. Too many hurt feelings. Overwhelmingly, the other members are both Christian and politically conservative, when for the sake of compatibility and morality they should be christian socialist, like Jesus. These Christian conservatives seem to have thin skin. They can dish, but they can't seem to take. But that's my complaint with the small town Christian conservative seniors. They should know better than to think the republican party, and the conservative political movement, and free market economics has the slightest commonality with the teachings of Jesus. If they all suddenly renounce Trump and the republicans, which seems highly unlikely, and endorse Bernie Sanders, which seems even more unlikely, I'll give them credit for making progress, spiritually as well as politically.

Rendering Unto Caesar

THE ONLY WAY to solve our economic problems, nationally and globally, is to redistribute the wealth, in one way or another, to some extent or other. The top one percent worldwide is wealthy disproportionate to their actual contributions to society. We must empower the impoverished masses with money. Expand the consumer base. Stimulate demand, grow the economy. Jesus had the right idea. Render unto Caesar, give unto the poor. Just ask Warren Buffet, who said "There has always been class war. My class won." This extreme concentration of wealth is detrimental to everyone, including the wealthy themselves, who suffer from the ill effects economic injustice has on humanity. And its getting worse, as cartels and combinations grow larger, soaking up more of the world's wealth. Looking at the United States between 1945 and 1980, there were high taxes on the wealthy, shared prosperity, a vibrant economy, and good economic times for most, if not all. Then came Reagan, low taxes on the wealthy, inequality, prosperous times for the wealthy, but sustained economic decline overall, particularly for the poor working class, whose income failed to increase for decades. In Denmark, capitalism does just fine, both corporations and small businesses. Taxes are high for everybody, and everybody has health care. College is free. Janitors, Lawyers, and doctors live in the same neighborhood, with roughly equal standards of living. Corporate CEOs in Denmark make much more money than entry level workers, but the difference isn't grotesque, as it is in American companies. Oh, and by the way, Denmark has the highest per capita standard of living in the world, and is therefore, in fact, the world's wealthiest nation. The United States barely cracks the top ten. Maybe Denmark would be a good role model for America. Government and business, labor and management, can work together, for the good of everybody. They need not be enemies, or be seen as enemies. Planning and cooperation are not necessarily evil, and can often work exceptionally well together.

Getting You Russians Out

YOU RUSSIANS must be laughing your noble arses off about now, just watching the American psycho drama. Don't pretend y'all don't watch it, either. Actually, the great American psycho melodrama is ongoing; it merely changes forms. And the whole world watches, constantly. That alarms me, when I remember the extremely embarrassing stuff, like the republican presidential debate last year when ten republican presidential candidates spent two hours, all of them yelling, constantly. It was like watching a motionless podium mob. You've got to love Trump, if for no other reason than his entertainment value, and how easily your kind leader, Mr. Putin, proceeds to wrap the American around his little pinky, without resistance. Then, all this American fuss about whether you Russians, through your government, messed with the American election must make you roar with laughter, considering that you all know perfectly well that you did, as you do in many places. I say "you", not meaning you the Russian people, but merely Putin and the government, which acts in your behalf only because you allow him to. Putin has us all at each other's throats, here in the U.S., arguing about you Russians, when there is really nothing to argue about. Y'lall do a great job of spying and stealing, gotta give y'all credit. I keep waiting for the great internet/street people's revolution to transform the world, Occupy Wall Street times a thousand, but, so far, I'ms till waiting. Someday soon we Americans will finally figure out how to keep you Russian out of our elections (I recommend all paper ballots, with no computers involved at all). In the meantime, while our dear charming leaders play their charming little games, we the people, the poor working stiffs of the world, need to organize, act, and create a world of reasonable economic and political systems which empower us, not oppress us. What we have now, damned near everywhere, is pure tyranny, with a few trillionaires controlling everything. Down with the oligarchial elite, power to the people, and get the Russians )govt) our of our elections!

Loving Obamacare, Necessarily

PRESIDENT TRUMP has made it, in the words of Richard Nixon, "perfectly clear". He will not own Obamacare. In the aftermath of the failed republican attempt to repeal and replace, President Trump will not be blamed for whatever happens from now on. He will merely let Obamacare fail, as, according to the conservative scenario, it ultimately must, and wait for the democrats to come crawling to him, asking for help, willing to cooperate. At least, that's what the president says he thinks is going to happen. Whether it does is another matter. At this point look for Trump to do everything in his power to destroy Obamacare by starving it of funds, and so forth. Trump wants to become a self fulfilling prophet, letting Obamacare fail, by making it fail. There are problems with this approach, obviously. First, Obamacare is not failing. In fact, according to the expert analysts, it is strengthening, after a rocky start seven years ago. Then too, with each passing day Obamacare becomes more deeply insinuated within the American economic and health care system, like Social Security, medicare, and Medicaid, each of which got off to a far rockier start, way back when, than O care. A comfortable majority of Americans indicate on surveys that the federal government should provide universal health care. The Affordable Care Act is popular, but when its called "Obamacare", which is the dame thing, it loses popularity. Americans. Go figure. Then too, many many Trump supporters are out of work coal miners, blue collar folks, folks who even now are relying heavily on those damned socialized government programs, such as the Medicaid program which Trump wants to cut in half with the stroke of a pen. Also, in the unlikely chance that Trump and the republicans are able to clandestinely kill Obamacare, they will not have the luxury of determining whether they "own" its demise. We the American people will be in charge of that. At this point Trump and the republicans have only one reasonable choice; they must work with democrats to repair Obamacare, leave it in place, support it, love it, and live with it, or risk being run out of Washington.

Refraining and Retaining (Friends)

DURING THE CAMPAIGN, a reporter asked Hillary Clinton: "a lot of people don't like you because they say you're cold, distant, arrogant, unapproachable. how does that make you feel"? Hillary swallowed, then said: "well...its hurts my feelings.....but..I'll carry on....somehow" snif snif.....Now, that's downright funny, a perfect response. the crowd roared. Anyone who hates Hillary is a zombie. For that matter, anyone who hates Donald, as I damned near do, is equally zombie-ish. The key is to have a sense of humor. Nobody has a sense of humor anymore. We are all curled up in our bubbles, self absorbed, and, my oh my, don't we take ourselves oh so seriously? And, we hold grudges.I can't count the number of grudges, primarily from friends I've had for forty years or more, whoa re currently grudging out on me. Damn, it aint my fault they all voted for Trump, and now feel foolish. And I'm starting to wish I hadn't suggested to my new age friend that the Federal Reserve system is neither secretly controlled by a small coterie of reclusive European trillionaires, nor infiltrated by highly advanced extraterrestrials. He wasn't laughing when he gave me this heads up, and maybe I shouldn't have either when I pointed out that there doesn't seem to be any evidence or indications that his assertions bear truth in temporal reality. Maybe, when my right wing friends started forwarding photoshops of Obama's face superimposed upon the body of a chimp, I shoulda laughed. obviously, they did. Or at least I should have refrained from calling them "racists", right? Live and learn.

Abandoning Morality For Conservatism

SEVERAL WEEKS BEFORE THE ELECTION, the infamous recording of Donald Trump bragging about being able to sexually molest women without consequences because of his celebrity status seemed to destroy all possibility of his being elected president. But not so fast. Left out of the equation was the willingness of we the American people to overlook almost anything in pursuit of political gain. No matter how many women Trump had molested, he was still preferable to Hillary Clinton. Those who voted for him were able to hold their noses, look the other way, or conveniently dismiss the damaging recording as nothing other than typical male "locker room talk", a great insult to anyone who has ever spent time in a locker room. Those who have will tell you that far more likely in locker rooms are comments like "we need to play better defense in the second half", or "we really sucked tonight". When presented with the damning proof of self proclaimed sexually predatory behavior, Trump's first words were; "I promise to become a better man." As if this transfiguration could be achieved at the drop of a hat. Donald Trump did not at all consider his indecent behavior to be only talk. He accepted responsibility for his actions, and promised to reform himself. Then came the locker room alibi, into which Trump bought, and, as they say, the rest is history. Anyone who voted for him is arguably morally reprehensible,almost certainly morally compromised. And what about the first six months of his presidency? Where is the wall on the Mexican border? Has it even begun to appear? What about that irksome nuclear weapons deal with Iran? Any sign of it being abrogated? The Paris climate change accord? It seems that the cities and states are filling in for the absent federal government. We still await the repeal of Obamacare, and our wait may be long. No campaign promises fulfilled, yet. It may be that abandoning our moral values in favor of conservative ones was, in fact, a wasted effort.

Masturbating

I DIDN'T MASTURBATE UNTIL I was thirty six years old. I don't know what I was waiting for. I have't looked back. Until then, it was wet dreams, plus the occasional lay in real time. I don't like people, so I don't date much. According to the Christian Bible, masturbation is a great sin, something to do with the "spilling of seed". This must have been guesswork, because the fact that semen is involved in pregnancy was entirely unknown in ancient times, in fact unknown until the late nineteenth century. It may be that the Biblical proscription against masturbation is the best proof that the Bible is truly the "word of God", although one might wonder why God told us that the value of pi is three, that the world is flat, and that when Christ returns, the stars will fall from the sky and smash upon the ground like shiny glass trinkets. Our culture, like the Bible, has everything wrong. We should encourage people to masturbate, instead of snickering about it and avoiding the topic. It should be taught in public schools, along with abstinence. The two go together quite well, don't you think? But here come the Christian hordes, looking down their self righteous noses at anything that makes sense, ruining everything. Population control, avoidance of disease, avoidance of sexual frustration and all the unpleasant behavior which derives therefrom, freedom from the urgent necessity of finding a mate or a one night quickie; the benefits are many. Saves money too. In the United States, the two pillars of culture are the Christian religion and the capitalist economic system, which contradict each other. Christian doctrine regards sex without marriage unacceptable, capitalism urges us to associate every consumer product with sex, and then to go out, buy our product, and enjoy the enhanced sex life which deriveth thereby. Pretty people on television, telling us to spend profligately, and live exciting sexy lives. Its enough to make us want to read the great sex and violence novel that is the Bible, with one hand.

Refusing To Fight

WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME why I say that I do not like human beings, despite being one, my answer is: "history". During the twentieth century, for instance, approximately one hundred million people died in military combat. I rest my case. Violent conflict is not an aberration.. Quite indisputably, violent conflict is a fundamental characteristic of human behavior, despite the fact that, as Aristotle said, man is a social animal. What other conclusion is possible? But, ther is hope. during world War One, the armies settled into their trenches for four years, as the German offensive was stalled, and instead of pressing an ineffective attack, decided to dig in, since they were already on enemy soil, and dare the French and their allies to drive them out. It got boring down there. Christmas arrived, and a cease fire was agreed on to give both armies a chance to collect and bury their dead. So close were the opposing trenches that as the men worked, they could easily communicate with each other. One thing led to another, and before long, the clean up became a unified project, with members of both armies assisting in the process regardless of uniform. Then, they began to share food and drink, and get together in discussion groups, to compare notes on their war experiences. it turned into a party, up and down the front line, French and Germans mingling amiably. They sang Christmas carols together. Then came time for the truce to end .The men in arms had no desire to end the truce; it was far more pleasant than getting sot at. On both sides, officers had to cajole their men to return to their trenches and resume fighting. This scenario played out often enough and along enough of the front lines that senior officers became fearful that the war might have to be called off. Thereafter, they became far more careful and reluctant about arranging truces. The men who did not fight themselves but ordered other men to, forced their subordinates to refrain from behaving peacefully. Something similar happened during the American civil war when often a shouted warning would be given the enemy that y'all need to get your heads down, because we're fixin' to start in a firin'. It may well be that in every war ever fought something similar has happened, only to be squelched and omitted from the history books. Einstein once advocated that all men of military age throughout the world refuse military service. the fact that he said this during the height of the cold war, while living in New Jersey did nothing to endear him to the American people, especially those on the right. it may well be that the problem is not so much that humans are inclined to organized violence, but that they are sheepishly inclined to obey the commands of those who hold power in their own countries, those who themselves do not engage in combat. Maybe there is hope for us after all. An although e all possess the human characteristics which lead to organized conflict on a large scale, maybe the fact that Einstein was a human being should mitigate my disdain for humanity.

Looking For Integrity Among Conservative Republicans

EIGHTY FIVE PERCENT of republicans think Trump has done a good job. This proves that either republicans are heavily biased and unwilling to offer an honest opinion, or that they are deranged. The American people as a whole give Trump about a forty percent approval rating, proving either that most Americans are not republicans, or that the American people are discerning, are good at smelling rats and Russians, or think that twitter is not an appropriate vehicle for presidential statements, even if such statements are limited to one hundred forty typing strokes. Can you imagine republican reaction if Hillary Clinton had been elected, and had done exactly what Trump has done? The lies, the juvenile tweets, the widely unpopular health care bill? Can you imagine Chelsea Clinton receiving an offer from Russian operatives to provided damaging information about Trump during the presidential campaign, responding to the offer by saying that she "loved" the idea, and then hosting a meeting during which she later lied about not only who attended, but what was discussed? Among republicans, Trump's highly objectionable if not treasonous behavior is widely considered to be a liberal hoax, a set up by the Obama administration, or an invention of the mainstream liberal media. They claim to believe this. They also claim that it is much ado about nothing, that a meeting is only a meeting, and nothing else. Conservative talk radio points out that Barack Obama, while president, hosted members of the Islamic Brotherhood at the White House, as if there is something wrong with doing that. wrong religion? Aside from the fact that Obama did nothing wrong, and one does not justify bad behavior by pointing to someone else's bad behavior, there is no evidence that Obama engaged in criminal conspiracy while hosting the group. the FBI states without hesitation or qualification that the Russians indeed interfered with the election, in order to help Trump get elected. Donald Trump Junior is discovered to have met with Russians who offer to help Trump senior by providing harmful information about Hillary Clinton. And the mainstream conservative republican community insists that the whole affair is nothing but a dirty trick, and invention of the liberal community, an attempt by democrats to get rid of Trump, using unfair tactics. Among conservative republicans, is there no shame, is there no integrity

Hoping For Trump To Change

I HAVE NOT LOST ALL HOPE in Donald Trump. He could still win me over. First, he would have to announce his decision to stop supporting the effort to repeal Obamacare, and instead, support making changes to the ACA to make it work better. Either that, or the president could announce his determination to repeal and replace Obamacare with a European style single payer health care insurance system. You never know, that could happen any day now. The president is unpredictable, and ideologically flexible; whatever's good for his businesses, he's down with it, good to go. Then, he could reverse his position regarding climate change, and the participation of the United States in the Paris climate change accord. Trump could then stand next to EPA director Pruitt, and announce plans for a project, spearheaded by the EPA, to plant one trillion new tress worldwide, within five years. Such a dramatic proposal would doubtless get us all in the mood for taking personal action, right in our own backyards. A high ranking Danish political figure recently engaged Trump in a conversation, in which the Dane said he explained to the American president how a green economy translated into economic growth, and, rumor has it, Trump listened. That's a good sign. Another important step for Trump to get into my good graces would be for him to come clean about his connection with Russian election interference operatives, to spill the beans, to wax transparent, to get it off his chest, all the crime, the corruption. He would feel so very much better afterwards. No, I won't be holding my breath. But I still have hope, vanishingly small though it may be.

Repealing Obamacare, and for Some Reason, Replacing It

THE GREAT REPUBLICAN CRUSADE to repeal and replace Obamacare, years in the making, has, it would seem, fallen flat on its face. Replace it? With what? Why do they think they need to replace Obamacare with anything? Wasn't the American healthcare system the world's best, for those who could afford it, B.O? (before Obamacare). What they are planning to replace it with somewhat resembles Obamacare, with the addition of a tax break or two for the extremely wealthy, and a sharp reduction in money for Medicaid, as well as elimination of any requirement to have health insurance. In order to avoid going home to deal with mobs of angry constituents, a vast majority of whom hate the republican plan, the republicans are determined to stay in Washington, and go down fighting, so they can say, well, at least we tried. On the healthcare issue, as on so many others, the republican-Trump agenda is completely contrary to the wishes of the American people. And yet, they carry on, seemingly oblivious to their eventual political demise. Your best bet is that Obamacare will never be repealed and replaced, but rather, improved upon, with help from the democrats. If the monstrosity (the republican bill) now in congress makes it to Trump's desk, miraculously, and he signs it, look for the streets to fill up with millions of angry, and very mainstream Americans.

Harming America Through Higher Education

UNIVERSITIES, AS A RULE, lean left. Students and faculty have a progressive majority. The millennial generation, including those currently in college, is, according to surveys, heavily liberal in general, and not particularly religious. College students throughout American history, and indeed young people in general, tend to be idealistic and progressive. Why? Either universities attract intelligent people, and intelligent people tend to be progressive, or, universities attract ivory tower airheads who are divorced from reality, and therefore liberal. Take your pick. Maybe there is a vast left wing conspiracy to keep conservatism off college campuses in America. Hint; one of these theories is much better than the others. Because of all this academic liberalism, conservatives tend to not like America's public schools and system of higher education. All those places, for one thing, do not teach that America is entirely a shining city on a hill, without serious flaws of any sort, and that, in conservative circles, is blasphemy. In fact, fifty eight percent of republicans say they believe that higher education in America does more harm than good. Yes, you read correctly. More harm than good. If you've ever wondered if republicans tend to be crazy, there's your answer. All those university educated scientists, doctors, teachers out there, doing more harm than good. And all because on the campus of the colleges which educated these professionals, the majority ideology is liberalism. Now that's true hatred, pure and simple. The all consuming hatred on the part of America's conservatives, for America's liberals. Damn those tree hugging, climate changing, politically correct pro gay pro trans gender libs! No wonder that America is polarized.

Just Asking

IN EVERY PROFESSION, legal, medical, dental, educational, financial, construction, in all the white collar professions, there are standards of required performance, oversight, and evaluation. Or am I imagining all this? All I know is, during my decades as a teacher, there was always somebody, some administrative higher up, looking over my shoulder, evaluating my performance. Sometimes those administrative higher up evaluaters were the students themselves. Every college class I ever taught included a survey taken by the students on the last day of class concerning the student's reaction to the class, whether it was beneficial, whether the instructor taught the class effectively, etc. A strange feeling, standing there quietly while a room full of college students writes an evaluation of the class you just spent a semester teaching. I recall sometimes I left the room. When I retired, I moved my retirement savings account from my employer to my stockbroker, who recommended some investments for me. He recommended one in particular so strongly that he went in on it fifty fifty with me when I decided to go for it, even though the financial services industry prohibited him from making this investment. He did it anyway, by laundering money, which he borrowed from me. Then, the investment turned out to be a scam, and we lost all our money. Now I wonder whether my stock broker is responsible for my loss, as well as the investment broker who scammed both my stockbroker and myself.. How disastrously can white collar results be, in any profession, legal, medial, or financial, without disciplinary and remedial action being required? People who render professional public service, medical, legal, financial, etc., must not be constantly assailed with malpractice accusations, but neither should they be presumed immune to accountability. Where is the justice?

Trump, Entertaining Us, Criminally

ITS A SEXY SCENE, worthy of the movie in which it will no doubt someday appear. To play Trump's son, I recommend Leonardo Dicaprio. The scene includes Donald Trump Jr., the Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and the campaign manager, all seated, elegantly attired, in an opulent room with a gorgeous female Russian attorney, who has come to the meeting after notifying the Trump clan that she works for the Russian government, and has material very damaging to Hillary Clinton. Eagerly, Trump accepted the offer of foreign campaign assistance. And yes, any female lawyer working for the Russian government must be beautiful, able to influence American men with beauty. In the movie version, there will surely be romance between the Russian lawyer and the Trumps themselves. You'll recall that for several months the FBI, here in the real world, has assured us without the slightest hesitation that the Russians did indeed influence the election of Trump, in Trump's favor. The only question is whether the Trump campaign willingly, knowingly accepted the help, and cooperated with it. If so, Trump is in deep doo doo, as either George Bush would say. There seems to be compelling evidence of violation of campaign finance laws, regarding accepting help from foreign nations. If this sudden outburst of transparency from Donald Trump Jr. concerning his connection to the Russians isn't a smoking gun, then what is? Meanwhile, on go the various and sundry investigations, the one by the FBI, the one by congress, among others. Obviously, these people, the G men, the fibbies themselves, think there is something to investigate. It could become even more cinematic, as more details are leaked out. It could eventually get better than the best cheap spy thriller ever written.

Going To Mars, Hopefully

BACK WHEN I WAS eleven or twelve years old, in the mid nineteen sixties, I just knew that not only would we soon land on the moon, I also knew, just knew, that soon after the moon landing somebody would land on and walk on Mars. I fell in love with science fiction, and like many of my generation, was extremely interested in the Apollo space program. I had the flu on Christmas Day, 1968, I think it was, but the three astronauts orbiting the moon cheered me up. Those guys must have longed to land on the surface as it floated beneath them, but that wasn't their job. That came next, in 1969, as the world watched on fuzzy, blurry television. Certainly, I assumed, by 1990 humans would be living on Mars. I was further certain that I would someday visit and maybe even live on them both. In the nineteen sixties, the year 2017 seemed like an extremely remote, futuristic date, which would doubtless be exotic and filled with high tech scientific miracles. I don't recall anticipating the smart phone, Facebook, or the internet. But I did foresee colonies on the moon and Mars. So much for futurism. Now, I'm starting to wonder whether anybody will walk on Mars during my lifetime, and it depresses me. There is, however, hope. I think I have at least an outside chance to see it. Various tycoons, people like Elon Musk and others, are talking about a Mars mission within a decade. NASA is talking about a manned Mars mission by 2040. I'll be very old by then, but if I keep taking vitamins and go easy on the booze, who knows? The second man to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, said it best: "History will remember the inhabitants of the twentieth century as the people who went from Kitty Hawk to the moon in sixty six years, only to languish for the next thirty in low Earth orbit. At the core of the risk free society is a self-indulgent failure of nerve." Maybe so, but let's hope the people of the early twenty first century are someday remembered as the people who went to Mars. And let's hope it happens before I die.

Putin, Trapping Trump, Just For Fun

THE OUTCOME WAS OBVIOUS, and for the United States, embarrassing, humiliating. Everyone with a brain knows that the Russians, under Putin, make trouble. Lot's of it, no offense to our good Russian comrade citizens. The Russian people, a majority of the, do not like Putin, much credit to their good judgment, and will rid themselves of him soon enough, thanks to our protest plans. You name it, Putin has committed it. Election interference, aggression, all of it due to Vladimir. Trump mentioned the election interference twice, twice, Putin denied it. Putin denies everything, like any other criminal. Trump seems satisfied with the denials, like any other fool, or sissy. Then, it gets even more hilarious. Hilarious, and for America, tragic. Putin proposes a joint cyber security project, with Russia and America working together to stamp out all nefarious internet activity, Putin and Trump leading the way, and, incredibly, Trump agrees to it. Can you believe it? This is like a bank robber talking the police into accepting the bank robber's new bank security system. Is that clever manipulation or what? Or maybe abuse of a mentally disabled person. A true master, taking a fool to school, the only problem being, the fool never learned anything. Now we know, now we see, if we didn't before, exactly why the Russians wanted so badly for Donald J. Trump to be elected, so badly that they were willing to spend their hard earned money, time, and effort in accomplishing that goal, which, apparently they did. Wouldn't you, if you were they? Fortunately America, including republican congresspersons, raised hell about Trump's infantile entrapment, and Trump somehow figured it out and rescinded his pledge of cooperation with Putin. Putin is evidently perfectly free to continue helping determine the outcome of American elections. It doesn't take much for America to raise hell, and presidential incompetence will do it every time. And all it takes for an American president to embarrass his country is for the American people to elect an incompetent candidate.

Solving Problems, In Our Various Ways

A FRIEND OF MINE, an elderly lady, asked me for help. She wanted me to pray for her, she said. Can do, said I. Why not? No time, no money, no harm. I didn't ask her why, and what to pray for in particular, and she could detect my puzzlement. She explained that somebody had vandalized her house, spraying profane satanic messages and symbols all over it. Maybe a gang of devil worshippers, she said. Didn't know we had any around these parts, I mentioned. Oh yes, we certainly do, she assured me. She assumed she had been targeted by people who knew her, and hated her because of her progressive spiritual views. It seemed to me more likely that her Christian views would be more of a target, but didn't say anything. Her outlook is indeed progressive. She's into yoga, mindfulness, spirituality in general, with which she augments her Christian faith, above and beyond traditional dogmatic religion. So, who knows? Maybe a gang of ultra conservative Christians thinks her interest in yoga, health food, and meditation is somehow satanic, because it isn't biblical. You kever know. It takes all kinds. I asked her if she had called the police, which seemed sensible, in fact more sensible, practical and productive than my prayers could possibly be. She replied that she had not called the police, and didn't plan to, becuase, as she put it, "they wouldn't do anything anyway." How she knew that so certainly I do not know. I wanted to point out to her that by calling the police, and at least reporting the incident, the police could start being on the lookout for the vandal(s), and mabye build up a data base, and use it to nab them. But I didn't bother. I didn't detect any willingess on her part to be persauded. So she thinks my praying will be more effective than the authorities. Well, fine. But frankly, I am quite dubious about that. What should I preay for? The souls of the satanists? Or a fresh coat of paint for her house along with a nice fat check from the insurance company? I would be most likely, I think, to pray for her to change her mind, and call the police. Or at least get a dog, a big, protective, territorial outdoor dog. And maybe a firearm. Seems like a more tangible course of action, but, again, that's just me.

Protesting the Powerful

THE TWENTY WEALTHIEST COUNTRIES ON EARTH meet regularly to determine how to keep their wealth, cooperatively, if they can. If they can't, they'll find other means, probably war. The G20 is a billionaires club, a mutual admiration society of the exclusive, wealthy elite. They plot how to keep the teeming masses at bay. Their strategies, such as open markets lower taxes on the wealthy, invariably succeed, largely because most of the teeming masses do little other than teem and accept their master's decrees. Trump is merely the latest of America's corporate owned and controlled presidents. Trump and his Americans are simultaneously the dominant member, and the outcast. The dominant member by virtue of being largely the orchestrator of our current system of international corporate control. Outcast because Trump's complete lack of interest in protecting the environment and saving the world from climate change runs against every other nation on this planet, not to mention every sane person. Trump's protectionist nationalistic trade beliefs also run counter to the free trade beliefs of all other countries, and again, all sane people everywhere. Meanwhile, thousands of people, we the people, the workers of the world, gather outside the grand meeting hall of the billionaires club, and protest, usually chanting leftist slogans, sometimes resorting to violence, and engaging in clashes with police. As always, the protesters represent the correct position; human decency and equality, and as usual, the powers that be embody the evil viewpoint, that of greed, cut throat competition, and conflict. It is absolutely amazing that anybody could believe that people like Trump and Putin really care about anything other than their own wealth, power, and fame. Or that the world's cartels care about anything other than their own profits. May the world somebody be governed by the many, rather than the few, and may its wealth someday be distributed, if not fairly, at least sanely.

Improving Nature By Leaving Her Alone

IN GEORGE WASHINGTON'S DAY, nature was the enemy. Nature could be improved upon by conquering it, taming it, molding it to fit man's needs. (Man's needs, not women's.) Maybe, we have made progress since, at least in our understanding of nature. Then again, considering that we are still threatening to destroy the ecosystem, maybe not. In Washington's day people felt great one day and dropped dead the next from mysterious diseases, and every summer during the eighteenth century the city of Philadelphia emptied out in the summer as people fled the annual epidemic of micro organic diseases which ravaged the city of forty thousand. No wonder nature was the enemy; nature was brutal. Washington himself died, bled to death, from a perfectly curable common cold, because he insisted on bleeding, and lost several pints of blood, believe it or not. Maybe we've learned a little since. Like everyone else in early America, Washington rarely had any cold, hard cash, but unlike everyone else he owned half the state of Virginia, including the south east area, much of which is the "Dismal Swamp". It was useless as was, and George Washington thought to improve it. He thought it would be a good idea to drain the swamp, and use the land for tobacco and cotton. The plan didn't work very well; the soil was unsuited to those crops. Now over two hundred years later, we have wized up and decided to once again allow mother nature to have her way. The Dismal Swamp is being restored to its natural state. The ocean is rising up and beginning to submerge the east coast of the United States, thanks to human intervention in nature. Widespread flooding is increasing in the low lying coastal and inland areas of North and South Carolina and Virginia. Miami, Florida has routine floods, as the ocean encroaches into the sewer system. But we are starting to try to restore the natural marshes, swamps, and delta areas,and reversing our previous obsession with dam building. It might be a good idea to let nature take her course, since we don't seem able to improve her after all.

Losing, Hugely

DONALD TRUMP LOST the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, in his lingo, "hugely", by nearly three million. His hugely narcissistic ego cannot abide that fact. Astonishingly, Trump claims that all three million of Hillary's extra votes came from illegal, fraudulent voters. He's been making this claim, incredibly, repeatedly, since shortly after the election; does this man ever listen to himself, or stop to think what he's saying? (don't answer that). You can imagine how embarrassed his friends and family must be by this kind of behavior, and how frustrated they must feel at their inability to get him to simply....shut up... We of course well know by now that Donald lost the popular vote because he's crazy and because most of the American people noticed. Crazily, he has established a special election commission to study the matter, to root out fraudulent voting practices all across the fruited plain. He would have been better off to just drop it, but now he's in to deep to back out, and is sure to face further embarrassment. Talk about a witch hunt. There is absolutely nothing to investigate. Every state and county election commissioner in the country, past and present, will tell you that your chances of getting struck by lightening are greater than your chances of committing voter fraud. Those of you who might have been thinking about voting illegally, best give up the notion. It won't work. Trump's commission, trying to impress their leader by acting tough and efficient, probably embarrassed by what they are being asked to do, has requested detailed information from every state about registered voters, an unprecedented action by the federal government, very inconsistent with the republican smaller government policy. Nearly every state so far has refused to comply, asserting state's rights, government overreach, all the usual conservative arguments. Actually, it is difficult to imagine why the various states are taking this approach; all the voter information is already public property, and for the federal government to collect it seems harmless enough. Maybe the fifty nifty have figured out at last what a shady operation this administration is, and are leery of cooperating with it in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Meanwhile, all those people who suddenly entered the country or came back from the dead on election day and voted Hillary must be breathing a deep sigh of relief.

Double Standard

HALF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY believes that the very notion that Russians interfered with and aided Trump's election is patently absurd, a wild rumor, a liberal hoax. The other half of the G.O.P. believes that if the Russians did meddle, its no big deal, no harm, no foul. These are the same people whose profound concern for national security caused them to demand the arrest and incarceration of Hillary Clinton for using a personal email server while Secretary of State. Can you imagine the republicans if Hillary were president, and the FBI announced that the Russians had tried to help her get elected? Manic chants of "lock her up!" would once again echo across the fruited plain. This double standard, this lack of decency and integrity among Trump supporters in particular and conservatives in general is astonishing. But, on the other hand, what should we expect from people who knowingly voted for a self proclaimed sexual predator? And no, it is most assuredly not unfair to label the president so. Trump supporters will soon begin distancing themselves from the president, on the grounds that, well, neither candidate was acceptable, so I voted for Trump just to keep Hillary out. No, this is not an acceptable argument. The righteous right could have mounted a furious Ted Cruz movement to replace Trump the day after the release of Trump's horrible recording, the one with him bragging about getting away with sex crimes because of his fame and wealth. The moral majority could have gotten the rest of the conservative community to cooperate, because, morally, there was no other choice. Ted Cruz may be nutty and weird, but he certainly seems to embody conservative Christian values more abundantly than our president. Hillary, with never a parking ticket, and Trump, the consummate bad guy. Again, you conservatives got it backwards.

Hiding From Trump's Twitter Tweets

WHEN TRUMP ATTACKS someone on Twitter, in fact every time Trump attacks someone on Twitter (and if you haven't read the President's tweets you simply haven't lived), he is guilty of engaging in bullying and harassment, both of which are terms of service violations. By now, anyone else would have been stripped of their Twitter account, and maybe would end up in court. Maybe Trump will too. Give him time; even as we speak our president is involved in over four thousand lawsuits, incredibly, most of his own making, but many aimed at him for alleged criminal activity, ranging from sexual harassment to conflicts of interest to colluding with a foreign power, you name it. What a choice for U.S. President! The world started laughing at America the day Trump announced for the office, and it hasn't stopped since. One can hardly blame it. Come to think of it, the world started laughing at American culture long before Twitter. I stand corrected. I don't use Twitter, or any other social media, for various reasons. I don't especially like the one hundred forty spaces rule, and the whole shallow narcissistic nature of twitter. Tweeting somehow seems juvenile; the site seems intended for children and teenagers, and those who invented it are perhaps utterly amazed that not only do adults show any interest in it at all, but have totally taken it over. They're laughing all the way to the bank. The very idea of the President of these United States using Twitter as his primary means of communicating with the world, and that millions follow his mini rants, is beyond laughable. His attack tweets are pathological, and incredibly, permanently engraved into our American historical record, for future generations to study and amaze. God, how awful. It makes you want to disavow any responsibility for or participation in American culture, and all responsibility for American political leadership. Every day, you almost want to attire yourself in Groucho Marx disguise, turn on your computer, and see what one hundred and forty character craziness our chief executive spewed most recently.

Avoiding High Tech Addiction, In Vain

I DON'T HAVE A TV or a cell phone. Not that these devices aren't absolutely marvelous, or anything like that. The thing I most like about them is my freedom not to have them. And for that, I thank good old American freedom. Horrible it would be to live in some petty dictatorship in which owning a huge flat screen with five hundred channels and a smart phone were mandatory. The tech police, knocking on your door, as you cower beneath your bed. I lost interest in television when Gunsmoke went off the air. I enjoyed TV more fifty years ago, with small grainy black and white video, and three channels, take your pick, walk across the room and change channels. Our modern flat screen multi channel setup is too much for me. I'm afraid of smart phones, and their addictive design and intent. I just know that if I had one, I would end up walking off a cliff, and never know it. I have a laptop, with which I use free public WiFi for this site, some email, and a couple other sites, but that's it. Social media I eschew, for some reason. I recall wanting to look at a few Facebook pages, but in order to do that you must have your own page. So I got one, but left it blank. I never use it. Other people post stuff on my Facebook age, and that's fine with me. I just can't get interested in Facebook. The plain fact is; all of the above are designed deliberately by very smart people to be addictive. Make electronic devices inherently addictive, then make everything you can do with them, every app, addictive, and you have millions of captive customers for decades. I can assure you that people like Mark Zuckerburg and Bill Gates are perfectly well aware of this, and wholeheartedly approve of it. Generally speaking, these multi billionaire high tech moguls, as well as most people who work deep within the high tech industry at high corporate levels, don't use electronic screens much. They understand the addictive danger, and they tend to severely limit their children's screen time, and their own. Cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, fast food, electronics, all designed carefully and deviously to addict people. How absolutely marvelous, how noble of our corporate masters. Welcome to the United States of Addiction.

Disarming North Korea's Nukes, And Ours Too

BOTH CHINA AND RUSSIS bleat that neither force nor more sanctions should be levered against North Korea to prevent its crazy government from trying to conquer the world, or destroy the United States, whichever, with long range intercontinental missiles and nuclear warheads. That's easy for them to say; the North Korean nukes aren't aimed at them. This begs the question: what, then? Hollow threats? Appeasement? . Foreign aid? If you Chinese and Russians think yo have some better, brilliant idea to rid North Korea of nukes, be my guest. What if the Dear Leader wants the United States to destroy North Korea, then rebuild it, like Japan and Germany after World War Two, and a few other countries since? Isn't there a very funny Broadway play/mmovie with that scenario? Ultimately, the whole world needs to get rid of nuclear weapons, not just North Korea. All nine or ten countries that currently have them, all the terrorist groups with nukes, and all the church quilting circles are going to have to cooperate in eliminating nuclear weapons from this earth. That is the white elephant in the room that everyone is ignoring. Its more than a North Korean problem. At some point, and I don't know when, but at some point in the foreseeable future the United States of America is going to have to declare its intention of becoming nuke free. Its going to have to pledge this in the form of a sacred promise, a new American value. The American government will of course have the option of imposing conditions on the rest of the world in exchange. Why must America do this? Because nothing else will work, that's why. If we think the world is a safer place by having one giant superpower controlling everything, and having nuclear bombs, you're crazy. Only a world without nuclear weapons will suffice, and it does not appear that extraterrestrials are going to appear and disarm us, no matter how much we may want them to. Its up to us, and North Korea is a good place to start, but its only the beginning.

Combing Jesus and Trump, Somehow

I DIDN'T ACTUALLY HEAR THE MAN at the senior center say "true Christians voted for Trump". I wasn't there. But I believe he said it. It sounds like something he'd say, and, I trust my source. Its worth mentioning because it takes the cake. Maybe it takes the entire bakery. If one person says or believes something like that, how many more highly dangerous, highly bizarre, toxic and lunatic beliefs might he have, and how many more people might share them? And what if people harboring such insanity actually come to power? The thought makes one tremble for one's country. Not all opinions are created equal. Evil must be actively opposed. The idea that voting for Trump was a requirement for membership in the true Christian faith is crazy, stupid, or both. And potentially dangerous, if laughable. Think of the millions of good Christians who voted for Hillary, or Ted Cruz. Donald Trump is no true Christian. In fact, he seems rather nearly the opposite of one. Unless, of course, Jesus preached a message of get rich, chase women, and conduct business like a gangster. Surely the guy equating Christian values with Trump knows better. The only plausible explanation is that he is a member of the ultraconservative Christian community. Extreme right wing, extreme Christian. They often go together in America, strangely. Why? Political conservatism and the Christian faith are both traditional, and traditional is the essence of conservatism. Jesus himself, on the other hand, was obviously a socialist, if anything. Render unto Caesar, give unto the poor. When it comes to redistributing wealth, Jesus of Nazareth is hard core, and that's Biblical. Much more of a Bernie Sanders type than a Donald J. Trump type, this Joshua Ben Joseph, aka Jesus.

Dispelling Darkness With People Power

PUTIN AND TRUMP meet face to face for the first time ever this Friday. Its long overdue. Why the delay? Maybe they're afraid of each other, or both just shy. They certainly should be afraid of each other; the rest of us are afraid of them both. Putin will feel small when shaking hands, Trump, doubtless, just dumb. Its probably too late to assemble a joint Russo-American hit squad, and get two birds with one taser and two pairs of handcuffs. Not to worry, a gang of fifty to a hundred million poor people, merely by existing, can and will accomplish the same thing. A few Russians visit this site. For that, gracias. We can organize and exert people power, online at first, then the real deal out in the world's streets. These two guys need to go, for the same reasons. Extreme narcissism, power hunger, tyranny, aggression, criminality. Isn't that enough? Two peas in a pod, Putin and Trump. If only one good Russian would spread the word to two good Russians, who would each do the same, and so on. Same in America. Same everywhere. Let's get the world's working poor people signed up online, and out into the streets, demanding equality and democracy, among other things. Sorta like Occupy Wall Street on steroids. Russian street protests, particularly in Red Square in the spring, are always sensational, far better, I am told, than those corny patriotic military power parades like they have every May Day. Americans, as we know, protest early and often, especially since the advent of Der Trumpster. Americans protest at the drop of a hat. There are hopeful signs elsewhere as well. France has avoided moving to the extreme right, preferring the safe center. In Britain, they are starting to awaken from their self inflicted right wing populist nightmare. Before you know it, Labor will be back in power in full cockney force. But Russia and the U.S. are currently strongholds of darkness, and must be cured by whatever means is necessary. That, dear reader, means protest and revolution. Like Marx said, we've only our chains to lose, and maybe a pair of very bad leaders.

Studying, Eclipsing, the Sun

IF YOU MISS the forthcoming total eclipse of the sun, don't sweat it, its just a thing. You probably won't miss it though, because wherever you are in The United States, the sun will disappear in the middle of the day, and day will turn into night for a few minutes. It will freak the heck out of you. Sp special is this event that at least one minor league ballpark is the path of the eclipse is going to have a community eclipse watch party, complete with solar glasses. Whether this is in conjunction will a baseball game in unclear. Sure would be a cool way to observe the seventh inning stretch. I shall never forget the solar eclipse of March 7, 1970. I was nearly fifteen, and had a small telescope set up with a sun screen attached to the end of the telescope, so that the image of the diminishing sun would be projected onto the screen. My amateur astronomer friend took a picture of me standing next to the 'scope with the half eaten sun clearly projected on the white screen. I wish I still had that picture. This is precisely the sort of activity in which groups of people can congregate and experience, a few minutes of nature at its most awesome, instead of some manifestation of social media trivial, or violent media content. Total solar eclipses are fairly common; there seems to be one somewhere in the world every couple of years or so. But this one is going to spread straight across the United States, making America one of the best places in the world to see it. that doesn't happen nearly as often. Its amazing to think that the 1970 eclipse that excited my 15 year old intellect was nearly half a century ago. A new telescope is being built which will be over twelve feet in diameter, and will be able to study the sun extremely close up, a few square feet of solar surface. The heat gathered against the four meter mirror will be incredible, and will require a sophisticated cooling system to cool it down. Some conservatives claim that solar activity is the cause of climate change, which it is not. Of course, conservatives have all sorts of wild explanations for climate change; fluctuations in the sun's output, the Earth is out of its orbit, etc. Anything will do, as long as it doesn't involve carbon emissions from of human origin and a need for business regulation. If the sun were the cause of climate change, our solar astronomers would have noticed it by now, would have noticed the fluctuations in the sun's output necessary to change our climate. After all, they are stupid, they have big telescopes, and they pay attention. That's the value of studying the sun, as long as you don't look at it with your naked eye.

A Declaration of Listener Independence

AMERICA IS THE LAND of the speaker, not the listener. The poor overlooked American listener is much downtrodden, and needs a declaration of independency and importance. No wonder we don't listen to each other. Its too expensive. The speaker comes first, but the listener in crucial, though much overlooked in our culture. When you give someone factual information, the information now belongs to the recipients, because you chose to give it to them, and gave it to them. It now belongs to them, like a birthday present. That means that the recipients are not obligated in any way to allow you to control what they do with it. If you ask them to limit their use of it, they can, of course, agree to. People are strange that way. They seem to all have the strange notion that they can give away information, then impose limits on how the recipient uses it. Maybe they think they are "sharing" info, or loaning it, rather than giving it, that it still belongs to them, as well as the right to controls others use of it. Anyone who believes this nonsense is quite mistaken, quite mad, or both. I can't count the number of times someone has told me something, and has later gotten quite mad at me for having shared the information with a third party. Why? No restrictions were ever asked of me, and with regard to another person's wishes, I can't read minds. every time somebody ask me if I can keep a secret, I respond by saying "why should I? You obviously can't." Tell me what you wish at your own risk. Our propensity for trying to control information we have already given away may be cultural, evolutionary, or, like most things, both. If you wish to limit my free speech, tell me up front, and I will tell you whether I am willing to do so in order to gain the vital information you so very much want to share with me, but not give me. I mean, really. How on earth can you tell somebody something, and think that the information still doesn't belong to him or her? Presumed proprietary information is rampant in America, Americans thinking they can dispense facts and control the behavior of those to whom they dispensed. What a presumption of power! How arrogant can you get? Rather, it turns out, in the land of the freely speaking. On this glorious Independence Day, let us celebrate not only freedom of speech, but also freedom of reception and utilization of freely given speech. Down with the tyranny of the arrogant speaker over the listener, go Yankees, and down with tyranny, British or otherwise.

Trump And The Right Wing, Hatin' On the Media

THE AMERICAN NEWS MEDIA has become the whipping post of Donald Trump and, generally, the conservative community. What a perfect way to distract the public's attention away from Trump's disastrous presidency, and from the crushing failure of conservative policies! Find an enemy, and this enemy might as well be the messenger, and hammer so hard nobody can hear anything else. The complaint by Trump is that the media doesn't give him a fair shake, and the complaint by conservatives seems to be that the media are just plain way too liberal. Either that, or just plain not nearly conservative enough. Both complaints are utterly fatuous at best, blatantly dishonest at worst. Trump's war against the media is hilarious, on so very many levels. First, more than anyone, he uses the media, social media, to attack the media. Then too, Trump has spent his entire life seeking media attention. Throughout his entire adult life he has chased after media attention, to make himself famous, which he evidently assumes will help his bottom line. He's right. It does. It seems to have worked splendidly, and for his savvy use of the media, he must be given credit, if not admiration. This has been going on for well over forty years. There is really no reason why I should have ever heard of Donald J. Trump until he began his campaign for president, and yet, I have been quite familiar with him for forty years, primarily through tabloids. Trump has not run away from tabloid yellow journalism, he has run towards it, always seeking the most possible attention for, in particular, his sensational business accomplishments, his glitzy lifestyle, and marriages to glamorous women. Trump himself promoted all this, for decades. What he calls "fake news" is actually accurate reporting of his bizarre behavior. Did he expect to spend eight blissful years as president basking in unmitigated media adulation? A picture of him stepping out of a limo and onto a red carpet, hot babe on arm, has always been fine with the Donald. To report to the American people that the FBI is investigating his conduct in office is horrible, hateful, unfair and fake, in the world according to Trump. Problem is, the FBI investigation is a true fact, and that's the part Trump hates, as all narcissists love admiration but can't tolerate factual criticism. God, what a sissy. The news media in America are corporate, profit seeking entities. The media are neither pro liberal nor pro conservative; they are pro profit, and will say anything we want to hear to make more money. Profit. Its

the American way, right? For this, the media seek to sensationalize, in order to attract attention. It (the media) first finds out what the American people want, and then gives it to them, for a price. That's why, for example, there is so much violent and sexual content on television. Its what we the American people want, and it makes money for the media companies. We have a choice whether to pay attention to it, and we choose to pay attention. Seems to me it all works out just fine in the end.

Moving On From Girl Guilt

HAVING DEALT WITH CAT GUILT, BLOOD GUILT, AND MONEY GUILT in previous articles (see below), all of which were cited as examples of misplaced nonsense, let us now turn to girl guilt. I confirmed my lingering suspicion, that she was a meth addict, to my satisfaction late on the night she was moving into my house. Yes, I panicked. For months I had suspected but not confirmed it and had wanted to pretend it wasn't true, but when she and her toothless friends spent three straight days moving furniture without getting any sleep, I knew my hopes were in vain. So, I calmly, matter of factly started suggesting to her that she might not be happy living in my house, what with its small size and all, even though all her stuff was already moved in. We had a few words about her lifestyle, during which I indicated that I'm not much of a night person, and since she seemed to be, then, um, well... she started to get the hint, and it was she who made the final decision not to move in with me - I made sure of that. I simply couldn't stand the thought of being responsible for making the decision to turn her out homeless. I talked up what I thought was the highly dubious nature of the idea, and she took the hint, and found another place to live. Had she become homeless, she and her teenage daughter, I would have felt plum awful. But I felt guilty anyway, and, in a vague way, still do. But, my god, why???? What did I do, other than give someone inappropriate a place to live? If only I had been able to confirm her drug addiction earlier, but these meth heads, they all hide their habit from the outside world religiously, and keep it inside their meth gang, and they all think they're geniuses while on that stuff, so to them no matter what crazy excuses they make for crazy behavior, like going without sleep for days at a time, and liking it, it makes perfect sense to them. I need to accept the fact that indeed it never would have worked out, would have been a disaster sooner or later, get over it, and move on. Can do.

Carrying Guns In College

BACK INTHE GREAT STATE of Arkansas, which, as we previously noted, is demonstrably a bit benighted, a a gunman shot the joint up at a rap concert during a dispute, wounding dozens. And just think, in this state this fall it will be legal to carry a concealed weapon on college campuses, because an extreme right wing state legislature rammed this insanity down the throats of we the people. Won't that be fun? Let the games begin! The great American shooting match. According to my father, my venerable grandfather once said "put a gun in a man's hand, the first thing he wants to do is use it." makes sense to me. You're sitting at the LSU - Arkansas football game, when a bad call totally changes the game, and sets you off like a rocket. hell, I might pull my piece and shoot everybody on the LSU sideline. No, I don't need to be carrying a gun anywhere, anytime, and I'm one of the "good" people. how many shootings will there be across the state the first semester? If I'm a professor, I'm going to be very careful about assigning grades, and careful to pay close attention to the class in class. Seldom if ever does a mass murder get stopped by a good private citizens carrying a concealed weapon. Maybe now such incidents will increase, with heroes coming out of the woodwork to stop crime before it starts. Somehow, you doubt it. What you fear is the current state of the American mind; angry, fearful, narcissistic. I don't want to set foot on a college campus where people are free to carry concealed weapons. I'd be paranoid, afraid somebody might be in a bad mood, and desperate. Human beings do not like to be stared at. Glance at a stranger, and, if you're smart and understand social etiquette, look away quickly. We all tend to do that, but not always. Look a little linger, and you get a cold hard stare in return. If you smile, you might get a smile in return. If you stare at a stranger for ten seconds, you're risking confrontation; you might get in fistfight. We humans don't like to be hunted. Staring is hunting. That's who we are. During the twentieth century, over one hundred million people died in military combat. Long before we were hunters, we were the hunted. During the nineteenth century three hundred thousand people were killed by tigers in India, according to their English overlords. So you can see, we have a long way to go before we learn to get along. We're not likely to learn how to get along with each other much better anytime soon. Well, we can try. We can try to override our hard wired violent nature with our hard wired peaceful, loving, cooperative nature. But can we do it by carrying guns?

Saving A Robin, By Whatever God

IN A NUTSHELL, Hallelujah! True story here. Looked out my window with a can of beer in my hand. Saw a big fat robin sitting on my driveway moving its head back and forth, and nothing else. My heart sank. It looked hurt to me, unable to fly, doomed to die, to be eaten by my cat, if nothing else. Should I go try to save it? How? With a cardboard box, a bowl of water, and some dead bugs? Watch it wither away and die? Seems doubtful that a vet, or anything else, could help. Maybe just put it out of its misery in a god forsaken dumpster and forget about it. I walked away from the window, beer in hand. When I summoned the courage to return five minutes later, no change. More depression and cold beer. I was frozen with inaction, the desire not to be there. When will my cat find the bird, strike, and kill? I had to do something! I just couldn't. Five minutes later it was walking off the driveway and into the grass, seemingly energetically, without a care in the world. I didn't stay at the window long enough this time to see whether it flew away - I didn't want to jinx it. I stood there praying that it would. My next five minute check it was gone, not a feather left. It had to've flown away. I have seldom been so happy. To me, it was a miracle, because anytime I have ever seen a bird on the ground, sitting and doing nothing on concrete, it was hurt, and it died. As I finished my first beer and reached for a second one, I decided that somehow divine providence was involved, and gave thanks to God. Why not? after all, I had prayed. And to me, it matters not which god. Mine will do, either the vastly superior spirit and old eternal genius of Einstein, or the supremely logical, scientific deist deity of Jefferson. Hell, for that matter, the crazy Judeo-Christian god of my crazy right wing Christian friends will suffice, you know the one, the one who killed fifty thousand innocent people because somebody else took a peek inside an ornate box. Hallelujah!

Removing Jefferson From Texas

IN TEXAS, another of the Benighted States of America (B.S. of A.), it will soon no longer be possible to learn about Thomas Jefferson in public school history books. All mention of our third president has been removed from textbooks, after the censorious fashion of Stalinist Russia, ancient Egypt, and communist China. Stalin and the Chinese did not want their people to know anything about the prosperity generated by American free market capitalism, among other things, the ancient Egyptians omitted any mention of Moses and the Exodus, probably because it never happened, and the Texans don't want us to know about Thomas Jefferson. Why? Why, because Thomas Jefferson was not an evangelical Christian. Jefferson variously called himself a "primitive Christian", meaning that he admired the teachings of Joshua Ben Joseph, whom we mistakenly call "Jesus", but rejected all supernatural Biblical events, including the resurrection. Jefferson was a man who was, in his words, "a sect unto myself, as far as I know". Jefferson, while president, took a razor blade to the Bible, and cut out everything he thought worthwhile, and threw away all the gratuitous violence and nonsense perpetrated by the Judeo-christian deity. He then reassembled the cream of the crop into what he called the Life and Morals Of Jesus of Nazareth", which we know today as "The Jefferson bible". A copy can be found in any good university library, or can be ordered from Smithsonian magazine. While slitting pages with the razor blade, he was asked what in the world he thought he was doing. The president replied: "I am extracting diamonds from a pile of dung". Yes, our third president and author of the Declaration of Independence did indeed call the Bible a pile of dung. But if you live in and attend school in Texas, you'll never know anything about it.