New math

With knowledge comes understanding.

        I finally figured out what’s wrong. The Trump Administration is NOT to blame! They’ve been trying to use new math to figure out the government response and that’s why everything that they’ve done is screwed up. New. Math.

0 to 80 in 60 days.
        From the President that understood the Pandemic from the very beginning and having it completely under control and zero deaths before it disappeared we have a new latest and greatest prediction. Our very-stable-genius-greatest-sir-with-tears-in-our-eyes President adjusted his circlet and came up with yet another new prediction as to the number of deaths. He shooting for somewhere past 100,000 now.
        Well, I see his hundred and raise him fifty. The rates change almost daily now. New data changes models and predictions. And as Trump foretold in 2014 opening up the country too soon will cause “mayhem” or in our case Aughem. If the death rate holds we’ll have a quarter million people dead by the end of August.

But wait!
         Well, granted there wasn’t any mayhem in 2014 nor was there chaos. That epidemic was contained by President Obama just as previous epidemics were contained. They didn’t have the benefit of Sir President Donald J. Trump at their head. They did have his advice. He told them not to open up the country. I will give you that he wasn’t worried about getting elected then.

Saving lives!
        But as it turns out we’ve been looking at this from the wrong angle. On the bright side he’s now saying that we could have lost over two million people so once again he’s doing an incredible job, the best job in history. All of history. Not just part of it. All of it. Whole world of history. We should instead be grateful that he didn’t kill more people.

        He’ll be doing even better when he starts claiming that we could have lost 3 million people. That’s not exactly true. Technically he’s saying that he has already saved millions of live. Could be a couple of million. Could be many millions. Who’s to know? He knows. The greatest President in history. He may have saved the world. He also is the President with better ratings than President Abraham Lincoln. Hands down better ratings. He is the undisputed ratings winner.

        Obviously the Trump Administration has realized that the scientists are right and more people will die because they opened things up before they were even close to being ready. So they’re going to change the messaging from how many people they’ve killed to how many people that they’ve saved instead. It’s easier to make up those numbers. Don’t take responsibility for the additional deaths they’ve caused but rather take credit for the mythical lives saved. If you’re alive he has saved you. Lucky you.

Hodge podge.
        This is what happens when the national governing body is broken. This is what happens when you break every department of government and replace competent professionals with food-licking lackeys that haven’t the slightest idea of what they’re supposed to do and whose actual job it is to break the department.
        In a pandemic a coordinated national response is crucial. Leadership is needed. Not a self-aggrandizing King granting boons to those that have his favor. Each state responding differently has proven to be a recipe for disaster that we are watching unfold in real time.
        Now the price is being paid for in additional lives lost. The majority of lives lost will be seniors and people of color but additional people of every age are being lost as well. That’s just this time around. What will the next one be like? How will the incompetents respond next time? We know how.

They’ll blame others.
        IDK, does killing tens of thousands of additional people due to inaction rise to the level of being a mass murderer or is it just manslaughter on a grand scale? At least it’s comforting to know that no one is sadder than President Trump is over this. (Yes he really said that.) That’s why he brags about being so popular and is constantly telling people what a great job he’s doing. It’s because he’s so sad.

    He’s the saddest President in history.

 

Constitutional Slaughter [GUN CONTROL]

More Guns!

        The NRA has mutated a long way from its 1871 origins to now serving as a surrogate for weapons manufacturers under the guise of protecting a second amendment that was never under attack any more than praying in school has been. They created a threat that didn’t exist and then built a base to support the agenda of militarizing a civilian population to protect us from immigrants, criminals, terrorists, crazy people, gangs, media and last but certainly not least our own government. Without fail whenever guns are in the news negatively their argument is that what is needed is more guns.

        Yes, government is in the above list. Why? Because a fear often expressed in defense of having military weapons in the hands of civilians is that we will lose our Constitutional Second Amendment rights and that our guns will be taken away! Who would do that exactly? Who would come for our weapons? Ah yes, the Government! More specifically our soldiers or federal police. The NRA and pro-police Neo-Republicans champion having arms for us to use against our own soldiers (Government) and police. This is their ultimate fear and their rallying cry. The government, a.k.a. our friends, neighbors, police, fellow citizens and family members that are serving will be coming for our guns. 

Be ready to shoot them when they do.

 

        Up front. I am not going to take up arms so that I can shoot at our own soldiers and police. They aren’t a threat. They aren’t coming for my guns and I choose not to live in the weird paranoid ultra-conservative neo/Nazi/Confederate/White Supremacist world where they are.

 

Save the guns!

        Whenever there is a slaughter of children there follows a national demand for action even though such deaths are a small percentage of gun deaths overall. The NRA immediately hits the streets with propaganda explaining how any laws limiting weapons are wrong and advocating fixing everything BUT weapons. Weapons are innocent bystanders! The arguments are usually kicked off with “they’re after our second amendment rights!” Followed by misdirection and deflection. Our culture of violence is blamed. Video games are blamed. Parents are blamed. Our educational system is blamed. The authorities are blamed. The kids themselves are blamed. Not enforcing the laws we have is blamed. (That last one is truly ridiculous given the NRA has worked on a national scale to eliminate laws pertaining to weapons and advocates getting weapons in the hands of as many people as possible.) They’re a large part of the reason why we have citizens walking the streets with long guns.

        One of the most effective memes that I have seen circulated had a phrase that truly encapsulates the entire argument. “Let us take a moment to honor the sacrifice of our brave schoolchildren who lay down their lives to protect our right to bear arms.” There is NO constitutional right to slaughter and/or endanger our fellow citizens. The Constitution provides for the rule of law. Regulating fire arms is a part of that law.

Body Count

        I’m not going to waste a lot of time here with statistics. Here’s what I believe is most relevant to the ongoing problem of how do we dig ourselves out of the mess that we’ve created. Between 1984 and 1994 there were 19 incidents involving 6 or more people dying resulting in 155 deaths. Military style weapons were banned from 1994 until 2004. During this time there were 12 incidents resulting in 89 deaths. In 2004 the assault weapons ban was allowed to expire. Between 2004 and 2014 there were 34 incidents resulting in 302 deaths.

        Now in the scheme of things the above number of deaths isn’t really that big a number when separated out from all the other gun deaths. Mass shootings grab our attention though and make us acutely aware of the problem that we as a nation face—the proliferation of arms. So the NRA makes dead children an irrelevant statistic in the grand scheme of how many people die annually. Well, they aren’t irrelevant. They shouldn’t be marginalized because enough of them aren’t dying yet. 

 

Hardened America

        When we have actual firefights taking place in the streets, movie theaters, night clubs, schools and churches, the NRA will have succeeded in attaining their goal of market saturation. Some might say that we’re there already. Not quite. In a firefight all sides will be throwing lead. Then when maximum carnage is taking place the NRA can declare a victory and will be the quintessential arms dealer lobbyist for having supplied all the combatants.

        Our Republic as envisioned by the NRA and Neo-Republicans will be an armed camp with a militarized civilian population, militarized police force, militarized educational system, militarized government with hardened schools, theaters and just really anyplace that provides for a concentration of people. We’ll be going through metal detectors everywhere. Those that can afford it will live in hardened homes or protected enclaves; armed guards everywhere. Corporations and the ultra-rich will be like warlords and have mini armies protecting them. What a beautiful paranoid world they envision for us to live in.

 

Gun's rights

        OR we could as a nation begin taking things in another direction and start electing people who aren’t opposed to passing legislation to commence de-militarizing the nation. It’s going to take decades to build a peaceful society but it can be done and is worth pursuing.

        We need to stop passing legislation to protect the rights of guns as if they are somehow innocent bystander victims in all of this and put people first. There’s nothing wrong with regulating inanimate objects. Realistically it’s going to take years of concentrated efforts in multiple areas to turn things around. In the meantime we’ll wait for the next body count to make the news.

 

Hunting people

        We need to elect people that believe fully automatic weapons in general aren’t necessary to our civilian population. Military styled weapons need to go. High capacity magazines need to go. Open carry needs to go. Permitted conceal carry that requires training should be encouraged. People may want AR15s to hunt but they really don’t need AR15s to hunt. If people are afraid of their government then elect people to office that aren’t fanatics. The above are just a few suggestions and not in the least nor meant to be comprehensive. As a nation we need to stop electing dithering politicians and elect those that will be serious about arms control and willing to do something.

        I think that it’s only appropriate to finish this with words from a survivor of a school shooting. The link below is to an essay from Emma González in Teen Vogue. Her closing words in a video presentation at the same link. “Why are we doing this? 

Because it’s about damn time someone did.”

 

 https://www.teenvogue.com/story/emma-gonzalez-parkland-gun-control-cover

In denial [Politics/Democracy]

TRIGGER WARNING!  I’m going to be using the word President in combination with Donald Trump and Obama. I will also be using the words Republican, Democrats, Hillary, Clinton, immigrants, Gypsies, liberal, sexual predator, conservative and variations of all these words. If your mind is made up either way about the current and ongoing crisis with our government please avoid reading this.

        We approach the world from our own history and perspectives. They are unique to us. I certainly have mine. Sometimes through personal enlightenment, experience or education we change our approach or ideas. Screwing up, and I mean seriously screwing up, is also a great teacher.

        And sometimes we have to rise above our personal beliefs and/or experiences.

 

        Now obviously I am going to be talking about President Trump because he is the current leader, and I use that term loosely, of our nation. (This sentence is one reason I provided a trigger warning at the very beginning.) I will only mention Hillary Clinton in passing. (Again remember the trigger warning and go to your safe place.) She’s gone. She’s outta’ here. Not going to be President. Not happening. That’s the way it is. Okay? Bernie neither.

        Watching the current train wreck of government would be easier if it was some other country and if it weren’t for the fact that we’re on the train. We have witnessed what is currently taking place in the United States in other countries. I am old enough to remember the Soviet Union coming apart practically overnight. I would not have said that was possible then but it happened.

        In the latest credible poll I read that 85% of Republicans still support President Trump. Eighty. Five. Percent. I thought to myself how in the world is this still possible after nine months of failure, corruption, chaos, pettiness and failed leadership on multiple levels. He’s a President that has both completely reversed himself on campaign promises and been incapable of delivering on his promises. At least this same 85% would have called for the impeachment of President Obama for even the smallest fraction of misdeeds that Trump has committed.

        How is this possible?

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters.” –Donald Trump

        That’s the answer. Trump provided it during the campaign. It’s as true today as it was when he said it then. From then on he never meant any of it and meant all of it. It was an easy con.

        He’s their man in the White House. Period. He’s white. He doesn’t like Mexicans, Muslims, black people, gays, immigrants, the disabled, Puerto Ricans, poor people, Democrats, Republicans, our court system, public education, the environment, etc. unless they’re working as servants at one of his resorts or hotels. He also has a good-looking white wife. (You can see naked pictures of her if you want. He helped with the photo shoot. BTW How many male world leaders have looked at those?) He likes insulting and making fun of people. He’s vulgar. Lying is as easy as breathing for him. Not only is he ignorant about world affairs he couldn’t care less, and they like that because they would just as soon stay away from the rest of the world anyway. He finds fault but doesn’t accept blame. He’s a white nationalist. He isn’t a President that is interested in the truth. Neither are his supporters. Simply put: they don’t care if the President lies.

        Now I don’t base these statements on the news. They’re based on watching actual videos of him and listening to actual audio files of him speaking. The internet is full of videos of him lying. In one of the earliest videos of his campaign he said without equivocation that he would release his tax returns. No excuses. No ifs, ands or buts. Just straight-forward look a person in the eye statement. Obviously that was a lie.

        Is Hillary Clinton in jail? Nope. But that doesn’t matter. He said that he wanted her in jail. They didn’t believe he would put her in jail anyway, just as they didn’t believe all the things that he said that he would do on the first day. It turns out he has plenty of time to golf. Plenty of time to tweet. Plenty of time to blame others. No time to govern.

        It has taken me awhile to understand that it is absolutely immaterial to the majority of his white supporters what kind of man and President he is, what he has or hasn’t accomplished. They aren’t in denial. They admire what he is. They aspire to be like him.

He is them.