The earth is kinda round. Nazis are evil. [NAZIS]

        I am going to say that the earth is kinda round because it isn’t exactly round. It’s an oblate spheroid. Close enough though. Most people could accept someone saying that the earth is round rather than kinda round. There are people even today that think the earth is flat. I’m just going to leave that alone.

        Now I don’t need to provide my sources for my knowledge about the earth. It’s like the sun coming up in the east and setting in the west. It’s just the way it is. I had some education, read me some books, paid attention in class and life. It was a pretty normal public school education. Graduated from college too. Went on the GI bill. Anyway that’s why I can say that the earth is kinda round without citing my sources.

        Nazis are evil. Now, I really thought that would be just as straightforward a statement as saying the earth is round; that people couldn’t argue with. It seemed to me that my thinking that the “Nazis are evil” statement would kind of fall in the same category as the earth being round, the sun coming up in the east and setting in the west kinda thing.

        Then along came Charlottesville. Whoa buddy! Turns out I was wrong. Turns out there’s a group of folks that have a lot of “but what about this” arguments before committing to, you know, condemning Nazis as being evil. There’s an even more surprising number of people defending Nazis. Yes, Nazis are evil but they’re with them anyway. One of the many arguments being that they had filled out the proper paperwork. Thank heavens for that or things could have gotten really ugly.

        But they did get ugly. A young woman was run down and died. Killed by a Nazi. Not an alleged Nazi. Not Nazi sympathizer. A Nazi. Others were injured. Two police officers lost their lives. They aren’t getting as much air time but their loss is just as real. The young woman was with the side that didn’t have the proper paperwork done ahead of time. Nazis blame her.

        This whole “But you’re erasing our heritage” argument should have disappeared along with the racist slave-owning Confederate traitor monuments when the Nazi plowed his car into people. These Confederate “heroes” were responsible for killing soldiers of the United States of America. Traitors. If you’re struggling to remember your heritage go to your local library, not some Nazi conspiracy theory website or handout, and read some books. It isn’t like pamphlets are being distributed at Confederate monuments talking about how evil slavery was and how many union soldiers were killed by the traitor that the monument is dedicated to.

        Seriously, grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, Uncle Nazi aren’t taking their kids to see these monuments of traitors on their pedestals astride magnificent steeds so that they can explain the evils of slavery. The children of our nation are watching and listening. Why are there monuments to traitors and not to their victims? The answer should be obvious to civilized humans. The war against slavery was fought and the south immediately started segregation to keep former slaves impoverished and under the rule of white supremacists. Then came the fight for civil rights and more deaths at the hands of the KKK and their supporters.

        Now the Confederates have again climbed back out of their holes and into the light. They have joined forces with their compadres the Nazis and once again are pushing their vile agenda. This is the culture that people don’t want erased. A culture of subjugation.

        How about this? Try having a beautiful bronze statue made now of Jane Fonda with an antiaircraft gun installed next to a Lee statue on government property. Then both can be celebrated as a part of our heritage. I feel reasonably safe in making the prediction that there are enough Viet Nam veterans still around to show up in some pretty good numbers to protest that. (Picture C4 and automatic weapons.)

        There aren’t any more Union veterans around and World War II veterans are dwindling in numbers. We have to speak for them. They are the ones who fought and died fighting against the evils that were the Confederacy and the 3^rd Reich. We have to speak for all the victims of the Confederacy. Union veterans fought against slavery and for humanity. We have to speak for them. We have to speak for the veterans that fought the tyranny of Nazis.

        There’s a full frontal attempt at misdirection and deflection underway. An attempt to bury the message that Nazis’ (The Alt Right, White Nationalists, White supremacists, Confederates, sympathizers, supporters, apologists, et al.) ideology is evil. There are all sort of ridiculous arguments, memes and comparisons being circulated. The Nazi news sites are even putting out drivel that they’re the victims and that even during WW2 they weren’t the bad people they’re made out to be.

         The conspiracy websites are in full production. They have been for over a couple of decades. They have had a disastrous effect on knowledge. This alternate view of the history of the Confederacy and Nazis took hold. The original “fake” history. They have been way too successful in normalizing hate and altering the perception of reality.

        The meme of the Statue of Liberty hiding asking if it’s safe to come out is a funny meme. Because obviously there’s a direct comparison to the Statue of Liberty and taking down monuments of traitors. A Nazi supporting right-wing evangelist even posited that the hymn “Amazing Grace” could be removed. (The author of the hymn was a former slave ship captain that found redemption and renounced slavery. He referred to himself as a wretch.)

        During WW2 there were Nazi sympathizers in this country. There was a mass round up and internment in camps of Japanese Americans. Ever wonder why there wasn’t a similar round up of German Americans?

        A common argument supported by the President along with a lot of other white people is that somehow other groups are just as much to blame. The most commonly referred to are BLM and Antifa. Black Lives Matter was formed as a response to the disparities in our justice system to people of color. Antifa are anti-fascists who believe, correctly, that people need protection from Nazis. (My dad was a part of the 6^th Armored Antifa Division back in the day.) The Anarchists are often confused with Antifa but they really aren’t the same, though they do both use violence. None of these nor any other group involved has remotely the same history, agenda and ideology as Nazis/Confederates et al.

        What can be done about the current situation? A lot of us are struggling with what is the appropriate response. Again, we fought 2 wars over these issues and now our “law” allows them to march in the streets, organize and gain converts. It is frustrating to those that care. It is even more frustrating that so many millions of Americans stand up for the “rights” of Nazis and Confederates.

         There are those that say “do nothing” and it’ll go away. It seems to me that looking the other way is how we got here. (The Nazis have been back to Charlottesville already.) The threat remains with us and whether we like it or not the White Supremacists rode in on the coattails of our current administration. Those stiff armed salutes that we were seeing at rallies were in fact stiff armed salutes from the White Supremacists. They recognized a kindred spirit and came out of their lairs to promote a Nazi/Confederate agenda. This time they rode in with the Republicans. Previously in history they rode in with the Democrats.

        How exactly do we fight back? For one thing we as a nation need to understand and come to grips with how serious a threat this is to our nation and the fundamental beliefs that we’re supposed to stand for. We need to not only acknowledge the evil of racism that exists but deal with the fact that it can’t be eliminated so the struggle against it has to be ongoing and generational.

        There’s a lot of talk about “free speech” and how we have to let the hate-mongers have their say. Let me leave you with two thoughts and a question about that. 1) Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from the consequences that may follow such speech. 2) There’s a line past which free speech becomes sedition. Would we allow ISIS sympathizers to march in our streets and protect their free speech?

Finding Jesus in Charlottesville [Charlottesville]

        I have prayed about how to address what has taken place in Charlottesville more than once now. In the most important way it is easy to address the tragedy that took taken place there.

        For days I spent hours looking at unfiltered raw video and pictures of what took place in Charlottesville that was posted by those who were there on the streets. To say the least it’s disturbing and upsetting. The least. And it’s graphic. This isn’t edited media news or video, suitable for Evening News viewing. It’s incredibly sad to see Nazi and Confederate flags (emphasis on the plural) side by side both then and now.

        Yes, the evil of Nazis and Confederates and what they stood for walks our streets once again and not just in Charlottesville. They’re proud of their actions and their beliefs. We fought wars against both of them and they were soundly defeated. They need to be defeated again.

        Nazis and Confederates weren’t allowed to parade around afterwards, hold rallies and defend their “heritage” of violence, racism, bigotry, oppression, slavery, segregation and inhumanity to mankind. This is a heritage that we definitely need to remember but never honor in any way.

        Now, the Nazis and Confederates have joined forces, along with those who promote the same agenda:  White Nationalists, White Supremacists, Alt-Right, etc. They are together. They share and defend the same ideology. They are all Nazis. They named themselves the “Alt Right” and now have made up a non-existent “Alt Left” to further divide a fractured nation. They are completely to blame. There is no other group in America that is even close to the evil they embrace and represent. I can’t think of a way to adequately describe the gulf that exists between these people and decent human beings.

        If an Islamic radical drives through a crowd of people they’re called a terrorist. White people shouldn’t get a pass because they’re white.

        Some of these terrorists thanked our President for not condemning them by name initially. (48 hours later he finally called them out by name.) He is recognized as their enabler with his words, deeds and history. The terrorists are already coming out with their truly “fake” news in justifying their actions. Like the Vichy French of WW II they have their apologists and sympathizers.

        Initially the President of the United States of America stepped forward to their defense. Unfortunately for our nation a large portion of these terrorists have used our political system to support a man who suits their needs. They are part of the base of support for our President and he’s providing them as much cover as he can under the circumstances. The terrorists are blaming the police. But the police weren’t the ones carrying Nazi and Confederate flags and giving stiff armed salutes. They thanked the President for blaming the “Alt Left” for starting it.

        If any of you on facebook find these words offensive to your beliefs I encourage you to unfriend me now. I don’t post this to start an argument or even a discourse. The time for dialogue is past. This is a time for recognition and action. We don’t need to decide again if Nazis and Confederates are bad any more than we need to decide if ISIS is bad. I don’t care to hear any of them defended. I don’t care to hear evil defended. I don’t care to hear hypocrisy defended. We have been there and done that already. Millions died. We shouldn’t have to fight these battles again but here we are. It’s soul sickening.

        Nazis and Confederates understand violence and superiority. So, yes, there will be more violence. It took violence to defeat their misery before and it appears that it will take violence to stop them again.

        So, where is Jesus in all this? Was Jesus with the driver of the car that drove into human beings? Was Jesus with the injured? Is he in the pulpits? Is he, like the evangelists tell us, with the President, because God grants all authority? (Many of those telling us that we should get behind our President weren’t telling us to get behind the President when his last name was Obama, and he was black.)

        Is Jesus with the President while he’s making one hateful tweet after another? Is Jesus with his campaign ad attacking Democrats, media and anyone that disagrees with him?  Is Jesus just more fake news to him? Does Jesus want us to believe that ALL the major news outlets, with the exception of a couple of Fox news programs, of this nation and the tens of thousands of working class Americans along with ALL the rest of the world news outlets are in a conspiracy against President Trump? Does Jesus want us to believe all the charlatans who say we should break up families and build walls along our borders? Does Jesus want us to deny those seeking refuge? Does he support the gross agenda of Nazis, Confederates and all the aforementioned sympathizers? Does Jesus support the trolls of the internet?

        Where is Jesus in all of this?

        Jesus is with believers and we have free will. This mess is ours. He is to provide comfort and strength in this ongoing storm.

        How do we find Jesus in Charlottesville? We recognize evil. We call it out. We look in our own hearts and decide whether or not we’re going to practice our beliefs. Jesus is already there. He is with the broken, grief stricken and He is sad.

I see dead people [Affordable Care Act]

        What gets lost too often in all the rhetoric about health care is that if tens of millions of people lose their health insurance tens of thousands of people will die from preventable deaths. I’m going to write that in a separate line.

        Tens of thousands of people will die from preventable deaths.

        Plain and simple: the Affordable Care Act (ACA) saved lives, tens of thousands of lives. People who could obtained health insurance and started getting basic needs taken care of along with treatment. Cancers and heart disease were caught in early more treatable stages along with a host of other treatable illnesses. People with preexisting conditions could and did get treatment. In my family the ACA saved a family member’s life TWICE.

        Think that’s too big or too small a number? Then how many people, men, women and children do you think will die with the repeal of the ACA?

        The questions we should be asking are:

• Why there are only 3 or 4 Republicans in the Senate who (partially) oppose taking away health insurance from those who can’t afford it otherwise? (Senator McCain is only objecting that proper procedures weren’t followed in condemning people to death.)
• Why are the majority of Republican leadership okay with condemning thousands of people to die?          
• Why are evangelical “Christians” okay with condemning tens of thousands of believers and non-believers to die? (Keep in mind that this is the same group that champions the right of the unborn to life. [Just not so much after they’re born.]) 
• Why so many people are already fixated on the number that I’m using as to how many people will die?
• Why was the House of Representatives able to pass legislation condemning people to certain death so easily?
• Why after all these years don’t Republicans have a viable plan to fix health care with a plan that doesn’t sentence so many people to death?
• Why does Republican leadership want to replace a bill that needs fixing with another bill that they acknowledge needs fixing rather than fixing the bill that already exists?
• Is it more abhorrent for a terrorist to kill or injure hundreds than for elected officials in suits to kill tens of thousands by making healthcare insurance unattainable?
• Is it easier to cause the deaths of tens of thousands of people when their names aren’t yet known?

        Wanting to live seems to be a fundamental desire for most people. For various reasons too many people who have health care insurance want to deny it to those who don’t have it. That would be the poor and people who just don’t have enough money to purchase health insurance. So the poor and less fortunate die. Some of the more fortunate are sad that that happens. I can’t really in good conscience say that “all” of the more fortunate are sad, because they aren’t. I’ve heard too many people say that’s good enough for them, that’s the way it is, tough.

        Too many of the Republican leadership and Party were unhappy with millions of people being able to obtain health insurance because of the actions of a Democratic Black President.

        They have fought against health care for the less fortunate every step of the way and along with the help of evangelicals, white supremacists, Russians and unfortunately a majority of voting white people who elected a clueless man that said he would fix it with something better. They (and he) didn’t have anything better. They only had proposals that made it look like they were doing something but in reality were taking it away. They are slowly strangling the ACA through non-support as well.

        This can be fixed. It may not sound as patriotic as taking a knee or saluting but health care can be provided to millions more Americans at a reasonable cost. Congress and the current administration will have to put petty divisions behind them and people first. Our elected officials can first stop trying to kill the ACA (For those that still might not know it, Obamacare is the Republican nickname for the Affordable Care Act) and then immediately start fixing it in ways that are positive for the American people and bring more people under the umbrella of being covered. They may have to make enemies of wealthy health care CEOs and pharmaceutical executives but they will survive – along with the tens of thousands of lives that will be saved.

         As a society we are justifiably outraged when hundreds die or are injured. We should be just as outraged when tens of thousands of innocent people are sentenced to die preventable deaths through inaction. We should be outraged at those responsible.