Problems as we look forward to January 20

Here is one the the biggest problem. Articles like this, created by ring-wing partisans, claim that even now Fox News is cutting away from people like Kaleigh McEnany as she is about to “share evidence of massive voter fraud”. Only thing is, no such evidence exists. What does exist? Massive amounts of hearsay that has been factually disproven, conjecture which has also been factually disproven, and a whole lot of flat out lies.

While I don’t really mind watching Fox News lose at the game they created, (that game being massive information for an entire populace) it’s sad that now that Fox is actually having some slight journalist integrity, but they’re no longer immune to the poison they’ve spread. Here, however, we still see people like Tucker Carlson (who apparently Fox claims isn’t news, but rather an opinion show) spreading massive disinformation, claiming things to be true without any actual proof, and further trying to dismantle our election integrity.

At what point do we need to start holding individuals responsible for blatantly trying to dismantle our elections and our constitution? At what point can we hold people like Tucker Carlson criminally liable for sedition and incitement of violence? We’ve already seen companies such as Dominion file lawsuits against right wing media for their blatant lies, so clearly there is some standing.

Thoughts?

More about third party voting…

First off, I do want to say sorry that I have not been posting too much these days. I must admit, when I first started this, it was primarily to keep my long winded thoughts off social media. Unfortunately this Trump administration has created a brand new thing to be outraged about nearly every week, and honestly I just don’t have the emotional or mental capacity to keep up with it anymore. How Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, John Oliver, etc. don’t have a brain aneurism trying to keep up with the absurdity is f**king beyond me!

Anyways, below is what I actually have to say…

To all my friends voting for Jo Jorgenson: What is it about her platform that appeals to you? Have you actually gone to her website, viewed her platform, and made an educated decision… or is your support of her merely, “bUt ShE’s NoT tRuMp oR bIdEn”?

Frankly, I look at the platform on her own campaign website and I am appalled. She basically wants to end public education and allow states to regulate female reproductive rights and the rights of LGBTQ people on their own.

Yeah, I guess it’s cool that she likes marijuana and wants to end wars, but at what cost? At the cost of my LGBTQ friend’s marriage? At the cost of my friend’s right to an abortion because a pregnancy might kill her? Woof. No thank you.

What the GOP wants…

Note:  This was typed in July, but apparently was not published.  I feel it is still relevant enough to post, despite my feelings on Biden changing recently for the worse.  With that being said, I do firmly believe that Biden has grown very out of touch with voters in recent years, and has also lost a couple of steps in the intellect department.  Perhaps it is time for him to retire and step back from the public spotlight.

To everybody sharing anti-Biden stuff, a few words:

First off, I am not the biggest fan of Biden either. Do I think Biden is a bad candidate? Absolute not. Do I think Biden would still have a successful presidency? Absolutely. Do I think there are better candidates running for the Democrat nomination? Absolutely.

What we cannot do, however, is play into the GOP’s strategy again. They knew they only way they could win with Trump as their nominee was to make the opponent look just as stupid, just as awful, and just as scandalous as their nominee. This is why, as soon as it was clear Hillary was going to be picked for the Democratic nomination, you saw giant smear campaigns against her. This made Hillary unelectable to JUST ENOUGH people to get Trump elected, despite Hillary still winning the popular vote.

Would Hillary have done a good job as POTUS? Absolutely. Do I firmly believe that the DNC shot themselves in the foot by not nominating Sanders? Absolutely.

Look at it this way, though. Currently the top runners for the Democrat nomination are Biden and Sanders. Where are we seeing the MOST hate filtering thru our social media feeds? Biden and Sanders. Remember when Beto first announced he was running and became an overnight sensation? Remember how, all of a sudden, there was a lot of anti-Beto stuff flowing through your social media? You shared it, too, didn’t you? Who do you think finds these things and shares them to begin with? Remember all the love you had for Sanders four years ago? Where did that go, now that somebody is posting some anti-Sanders stuff?

You are all playing right into the same GOP strategy you fell for last time. You are all being out smarted by the same people who think you’re stupid for believe in scientific research about climate. You are all being out smarted by the same people who think you’re too stupid to know anything about NAFTA or tariffs. Don’t let them treat you like you’re stupid anymore.

Yes, there are a lot of fantastic candidates roaming around the Democrat ticket. Personally I love Warren, Sanders, Klobachar, Buttigieg, Bullock, Harris, Booker, and a few others. If Biden wins the nomination, that’s fine and I can live with that. I know there is no candidate who will perfectly align with everything that I want in a POTUS, and I can live with that.

What I am NOT going to do, however, is try to tear down ANYBODY who seeks to take the White House back from Donald Trump, and put this country back on the right track both domestically and abroad.

If you truly support ANY candidate on the Democrat side, work to RAISE THEM UP, not tear the other guy down.

What if we’re wrong… [on climate change]

I’ve been hearing an awful lot lately from climate deniers trying to get a debate going on, “Well what if you’re wrong?”  I feel there is a simple answer to this question, but it’s multi-faceted.

What if all those scientists are wrong, what will happen?  I’ll tell you…

• We’ll have given everybody fresher air to breathe, due to less emissions.  Pesky (and gross) problems such as smog in our large cities, will be greatly reduced.
• We’ll have improved the oceans.  Even if you don’t give a shit about things such as massive fish and animal kill offs, we’ll have reduced this.  Even if you don’t give a shit about coral reefs, we’ll have helped sustain them.  Don’t ruin this for everybody just because you don’t care.
• We’ll have created tons of new jobs both in the USA and around the world.  Those jobs will not only be in the green energy sector, but also in manufacturing, transportation, engineering, etc.
• We’ll have worked to solve a looming economic hardship, in terms of what to do as oil and coal become harder and harder to extract from the Earth.  It’s no secret that we’re having to go through tougher means to get these things from the Earth, it’s only going to get harder.  Oil and coal are, in fact, finite resources.  By moving to greener energy sources, we’re lowering our dependence on these.  We’re also lowing our dependence on foreign imports of oil, coal, and natural gas.  In the end, we’ll be better prepared for the future, economically.
• We’ll help to lessen predatory practices in regards to natural resources (both in regards to people and land).  We won’t need to depend on people ruining their health and bodies in coal mines.  We won’t need to depend on people doing dangerous work on off shore oil rigs.  We also won’t need to sell federal land that is sacred to others in order to have more area to mine or pump.  Regardless of if you give a shit about other humans, and their livelihoods, don’t ruin it for everybody.

So yes, there are “non-climate” reasons for doing what we’re doing.  The rest of the world, however, is still convinced that climate is the biggest one.  Regardless, even if they’re wrong, we’ll still have created a better world.  So stop being an asshole.

The complete degradation of America…

This just in.  Donald Trump tweeted, “Congratulations to Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, his wonderful wife Andrea, and his entire family.  You have been through so much together.  Glad I could help!” on the morning of July 3rd, 2019.

There is a problem with this, however.  Eddie Gallagher was on trial due to him stabbing a 12 year old detainee, and then posing with the body.  You can briefly read about what his crimes are here if you’re not up to date on the story.

While I can understand that sometimes in the heat of the moment during war, perhaps irrational decisions will be made.  I can get over over.  What I cannot, however, get over is such disgusting and deliberate behavior, as displayed by Gallagher.  To take a picture, text it out to friends/family, and then BRAG about it… That’s just a new level of disgusting.

The only people who are going to applaud this move are those who’s hearts are filled with hate and rage.  Those are also the same people that make up much of Donald Trump’s base, too.  We MUST hold our soldiers accountable for their poor actions, or else we are just terrorists, too.

The Problem We’ve Created

Something to keep in mind in regards to Robert Mueller and his conference today:

Robert Mueller is a principled man of honor, something we don’t have too many of these days. He knows that his job wasn’t to make opinions. It was to investigate and present his findings. His job, in regards to the POTUS, as he sees via the constitution, isn’t to arrest the POTUS. It is up to congress to take his findings and put them through the process (what we know as impeachment) if they deem necessary. Mueller won’t flat out say, “The POTUS committed obstruction of justice and should be in jail” rather he detailed out TEN different instances of obstruction for CONGRESS to act upon.

Don’t mistake Mueller’s lack of being straight-forward as a sign of innocence. Mueller realizes his place to to stay on the sidelines and remain unbiased and without an opinion. Now we have 99% of the Republican party refusing to acknowledge what is obvious to everybody and what Mueller knows is obvious.

Imagine the frustration for this man to do all this work and basically have the entire Republican party ignore it and try to twist it into something it isn’t. Graham, Barr, McConnell and Trump realize the American populace is too lazy to actually read the read the report, and they’ve sowed enough discord that even if the media read the report WORD FOR WORD, half the population wouldn’t listen and/or believe it.

This is the world we’ve created.

I guess we’re talking about guns again…

After seeing some stupid crap on FB, I just want to say:

If we banned all assault rifles (and no, I’m not going to argue semantics with you, as to what you/others consider “assault rifles” or not) just like every other westernized nation, I don’t care if you think that infringes upon “your rights”. Frankly, I don’t think your rights to carry weapons of war outweigh the rights of school children who are dying every few weeks. I don’t think your rights to carry weapons of war outweigh the rights of movie and concert goers who want to live. I don’t thing your rights to carry weapons outweighs the common sense that we need to have about guns in this country.

There are more guns, per capita, here than any other westernized country, and it’s not even a close race. When the 2nd amendment was written, even the best marksman could maybe get 2 shots off in one minute. Weapons of war have evolved, our laws need to evolve, too.

We used to not have traffic laws, because transportation was stupid slow. Can you imagine if we took the same approach we take with guns towards transportation? “HEY! We got along just fine the last 150 years without these stupid laws! We don’t need new laws now!”

250 years ago you couldn’t shoot 60 people in one minute. 250 years ago you couldn’t travel from New York to Charleston by land in less than a day. We’ve updated just about every single law to keep up with technology, but we still lag behind GREATLY when it comes to our gun laws.

The constitution isn’t a sacred piece of paper that cannot be changed. Our constitution used to say that a black person was worth less than a white person. Our constitution used to say women couldn’t hold any authority. We’ve UPDATED those, too.

Sitting and doing nothing about a problem isn’t going to fix anything.

Some thoughts on recent current events

It’s been a big week and I’m going to try to keep what I have to say pretty short and concise on three large topics.  The Noor verdict, the proposed Minnesota gas tax, and the AG Barr senate testimony.

On Noor:
So officer Noor was found guilty of murder this week.  This is unfortunately good news for all the wrong reasons.  We’ve had police officer after police officer gun down unarmed black men in this nation, with or without a crime, and they all get off the hook with what should be murder.  All of a sudden, however, a Somali-American officer shoots a pretty white woman and BOOM!  Murder.

Not once did I hear anything from the NRA supporting him.  Not once did I hear anybody who ever #alllivesmatter support him.  Not. A. Single. One.  What’s the difference?  Well, it’s obvious, he’s not white.

The positive that can come from this?  Hopefully this case can be used and applied to other cases where police use extremely excessive force and kill unarmed human beings.  We shall see what the future holds, post Noor.

On the gas taxes in Minnesota:
I’ve been hearing a lot of people (both Democrats and Republicans) come out against the gas tax proposal.  I’ve got news for you, however.  One way or another tax money will pay for infrastructure.  What the gas tax ultimately does, however, is a number of things.

First off, it collects more money from those who use roads the most.  If you use roads more, you are responsible for more wear and tear on those roads.  This also ensure that some business that maybe aren’t based in Minnesota are paying for some of the road repairs, as opposed to that falling solely on Minnesotans.

That leads me to my 2nd point, it ensure that some businesses can pay their fair share in taxes that repair the roads.  How many times do we hear about businesses paying $0 in taxes due to various tax incentives they receive, and loopholes they exploit?  This ensure that some of the revenue to pay for the roads actually comes from businesses, as opposed to the regular folks of Minnesota.

The 3rd point goes back into my opening statement on the matter.  Roads are in disrepair.  Bridges are in disrepair.  In some way or another the money needs to be taken via some form of a state tax.  You can either be taxed directly from a paycheck, taxed from a sales tax, or the more direct method, taxing those who are actually using the road more.  Regardless, by the end of the year tax money will come from tax payers that will go towards the roads.  This just ensures that the money is being taken from more than just the regular Joe and Jane.

On AG William Barr’s testimony:
So after listening to most of today’s hearing live, and then re-listening to some of the biggest points a few things are glaringly clear.

First off, William Barr admitted that he didn’t read the entire report/examine the evidence.  William Barr was not acting as the Attorney General, rather than as the personal counsel for Donald J. Trump.  This is not his job, however.  William Barr intentionally mislead the American public before and after Robert Mueller wrote him a letter expressing his disappointment in Barr’s actions.

Secondly, how anybody can continue to say there was zero obstruction on the part of Donald J. Trump is madness.  Unless you keep your head firmly planted in the sand or in your ass it is obvious that Trump, on multiple occasions, tried to end a legal investigation of him/his campaign.  Just because he was too stupid to know the laws and many of his underlings deliberately disobeyed his direct orders does not clear Trump of wrong doing.  If a hit-man was hired to murder somebody and failed, that does not mean the person who hired the hit-man is innocent.  How is this concept so hard to understand?

Lastly, Barr himself even admitted that Russia played a great role in undermining our democracy.  While I sat and listened to Republican members finger-banging Barr, acting like the real crimes were committed by Hillary Clinton and/or the Democrats, Barr was still stating that Russia successfully hacked our elections.  How are these GOP members doing their job to protect America?  Just because the Russians hacked in your favor does not make it acceptable.  It is now a known fact that the Trump campaign willingly took information and help from a hostile foreign power.  It is now a known fact that the Trump campaign willingly took a meeting with a hostile foreign power to obtain information on their opponent.  If a hostile foreign power contacts your campaign to provide information, your next phone call should be to the f**king FBI to report that shit.  What the honest f**k?  Are you really going to allow this shit because “hey, my guy won!”  Have we devolved this much as a society where we’ll try to win by any means necessary?!  That is the most anti-American stance I’ve seen in my lifetime.  Shame on anybody who supports it!

So there you have it.  You get a three-fer.  I was tempted to do this as three different posts, but I’ve been completely amped up all day long.  Also just watched Endgame, and needless to say, it hit me hard in the feels.

Goodnight.

My thoughts on Ilhan Omar

The state of Israel and the Jewish faith are two separate things. Just like the State of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic faith are two separate things.

You can be against the U.S. selling weapons to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc. and not be anti-Semitic or anti-Islamic. You can be against the U.S. giving money to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc. and not be anti-Islamic or anti-Semitic.

I love, cherish, and respect all of my Jewish and Muslim friends. I love, cherish, and respect all of my Christian friends. I love, cherish and respect all of my heathen friends. I also know the difference between a State and a Nation. Honestly, a quick Google search of “state vs nation” can help you realize the difference, too.

My [incomplete] thoughts on the wall…

I recently saw a video that outlines some of the side-effects of the border wall.  I decided to share it and outline some of my thoughts. The link is provided below.  Apparently me trying to give the link screws with the formatting, cutting off half my post forcing me to re-write it.

First off, this border wall would NOT be directly on the border. Much of that border is a river. I’m not sure if you pro-wall people know anything about rivers, flooding, erosion, or engineering… but you don’t just put a wall right next to a river. (for those of you who say you’ve seen walls never to rivers before, think about the specific purpose of those walls compared to this wall).

Think about all the land that will have to be seized by the federal government to actually place this wall on. Much of that land is owned by regular people such as you and I. There have already been smaller walls put up causing many issues for farmers who no longer have accessibility to half their farm land. Now we expand that issue to a scale as large as the border.

Think about all the wildlife and their natural migratory patterns that will be disrupted. Sure, I imagine if you’re pro-wall you also don’t give a shit about the environment, but just because you don’t doesn’t mean you have to ruin it for everybody. Don’t be that kid who doesn’t get picked for kickball who tosses the ball over the fence.

The last thing I want you to think about is what a goddamn eye-sore such a wall would be, especially compared to the beauty that it will be blocking. Think of the constant vandalism that will occur on both sides of the wall. Think of the constant repairs that will have to be made to both sides of the wall. Think of how trashy this will look. Again, if you’re pro-wall this won’t directly affect you. Also, if you’re pro-wall there is also a good chance you truly don’t care about the feelings of your fellow human beings. You just want what you feel is yours.

So I leave you with this.  I intentionally didn’t get into how the wall will be a largely ineffective waste of time and money, as most people who are here illegally came here first via legal methods.  I also did a search of my blog to realize I’ve never written a detailed post outlining this, so perhaps I should.

Stay tuned.