Cannot believe this is where we are…

I am so disheartened and disillusioned about the state of our country at the moment. I love our country, the good ‘ol USofA. However…

I cannot ignore the damage that our current President, and with the apparent approval and cooperation of the entire Republican party, has done to this country. It’s so multi-faceted I’m not sure where to begin. Lies? Corruption? Traitorous behavior? Divisiveness? Moral ineptitude? Moral bankruptcy? Too many choices.

Never in our history has our democracy been at such risk from a wanna-be dictator, laying down the foundation to challenge the election this November. Spouting lies about how vote-by-mail is “so bad”, even though him and most of his cronies primarily vote by mail. There is no evidence that there has ever been anything fraudulent about mail-in voting but the Republican administration keeps saying this, therefore trying to legitimize claiming it’s all fraud when Trump loses come November (God willing).

Then there is the reversal of so many environmental programs and regulations. Trying to reverse course on EPA standards for fuel economy. Opening up hundreds if not thousands of square miles from federal land for oil drilling and fracking when we do not need to. Negating the clean water act, allowing unscrupulous corporations to freely dump more toxic waste into rivers, which ultimately we drink. And how is it that Flint still doesn’t have clean drinking water? That one is not tied directly to Trump but good grief…

Using the office of the President for personal gain? He and his entire family are grifting the American people. Ivanka got something akin to 18 trademarks from China after her father became President. Nothing suspicious there. Stating that there are no plans for doing business in Russia when they definitely had a Trump Tower Moscow kind of deal in the works.

There’s just too much to talk about. I’ll try to narrow it down to a specific next time. The angst is real!!!

Just my 2 cents, in a world without exact change.

Total Solar Eclipse

Well wow, for the first time in almost 40 years, a total solar eclipse will pass across the continental United States.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/visualization-of-the-august-21-2017-total-solar-eclipse

I’ll be out looking on Aug 21, 2017

 

Head Shaking…

I sit here shaking my head in disbelief, almost constantly these days.

• Global warming and/or climate change.  Denied and called a hoax by our own current administration.
• Gun control (or lack thereof).   Don’t get me wrong, I am for the nations right to bear arms (arm bears?).  However, there needs to be some restrictions and regulations.  Some states have neither where anybody can buy a gun.  The NRA’s Wayne Lapierre recently said (paraphrasing here) “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.”  I seriously think that if we all walked around armed, that there’d be a whole lot more shootings than not.  People are too irresponsible for that kind of power.
• Our Presidents refusal to acknowledge or adhere to the emolument clause.  I really think one of the main reasons he became President of these United States is to further his financial empire.
  • Foreign countries are going to want to push forward any of his projects to curr favor.
  • All his official functions, vacations, weekends are spent on his own properties.  His income from those properties are up something like 30% over this time last year.
  • He continues to refuse to release his taxes.  Obviously hiding something there.
• The number of attacks (with or without guns) that occur across the nation, and the globe.  What’s wrong with people?
• The general rudeness of people (most).  Yes, there are good people still out there, but the opposite seems to be increasing in droves.
• Congress is trying to put together a new health care bill to replace the ACA.  They won’t tell anybody what’s in it (ashamed, afraid?), and I think they are going to try to ram it through.  On one of the previous attempts they had some really basic nonsense in a bill, to repeal almost everything from the ACA with nothing to replace it or accomodate it.  They said they would “add it later”.  I call BS on that.  If they get something like that passed, then who knows what they will actually add to it later, if anything.

So many of the policies of our new WH is sending us back in time.  We have never been (as a nation) so divided.   Prejudice is on the rise again.  Tax cuts that primarily support the 1 percent are further dividing the classes.  Environmental programs are being repealed.

So I sit here, and shake my head.
Just my 2 cents.

Gonna miss him…

My boss of 15 years is retiring in a couple weeks.  This last weekend he came to visit me.  I was the final stop on the “team tour”, seeing as I am the furthest away on the Southern California coast.  He spent a week driving up and down the East Coast, and this last week out West.  A couple days in Vegas and a couple days here.

We did the dinner thing on Friday, and Saturday we went to the Santa Anita Park to partake of some horse racing.  Wow that was a good time.  I’ve never been, and my boss gave me some pointers on how to read the forums and how to bet (he’s an old pro).  Overall I lost money (not much, maybe $30?).  I won a couple, lost a couple, but had a good time.  We’d make our bets, and just before the race we’d leave the lounge and go trackside to cheer on our horses.  The adrenaline sure was rushing when we won though.  First race was by a nose.  So close they had to review the footage and only by the head bob of the horse did we win.

After horse racing we came back to our place where I grilled some rib-eye steaks, and some tuna steaks, some veggie’s, some corn.  Personally I think I got the steaks just a bit too “medium”.  Should have been more medium-rare, but they were delish!

Anyway, he went back home yesterday.  He has been a really good boss, and I’m gonna miss him.  Good thing is, another of our team is taking over for him, and he’s pretty great too.

Just my 2 cents.

Trump’s Tax Cut

Since President Trump has announced that he plans on eliminating the Affordable Care Act tax provisions that allowed lower income families to finally be able to afford health care, I’ve been wondering how he plans to make up the over $440 billion dollars in tax cuts that will primarily be for the wealthiest people.

Now I think I’ve figured it out.

1. He’s putting an arms package together to sell something akin to $340 billion dollars worth of weapons to the Middle East.
2. Recently he announced he wants to privatize the Air Traffic Control system.  That $10 billion estimated annual cost would be wiped out.
3. Many other programs and projects he wants to cut funding for.  Arts, Schools, etc..
4. That and I will bet you all $1 that he still wants to try to privatize social security at some point too.

But that’s just my 2 cents.

Trump and climate change.

Once again The Don has shown his ignorance concerning climate change by threatening to pull out of the Paris Agreement, citing it would impact the economy too greatly.

I call BS.  During the campaign he said he would back out of the Paris Agreement, and I believe it is for no other reason than he’s in the pocket of big oil and coal.

 

How irresponsible is it, with something akin to 98% of scientists supporting the idea of climate change, to keep burying his head in the sand and deny that we humans continue to have an impact on the global ecosphere.

Hell, the industries of solar and wind power have generated large amounts of jobs nationwide.  Investing in that direction would improve the economy, and the world as a whole.  That’s a win/win.

That’s just my 2 cents.

 

Paris Agreement

Misplaced angst.

Even though the Trumps are not my favorite (ok, I despise “The Don”), I have to say that people need to give Ivanka a small break concerning the “champagne popsicle” tweet.

All of our holidays have become so commercialized that it’s pretty standard for various companies to announce sales and ideas for Memorial Day.  (i.e. FFL_of_America), so coming down so hard on Ivanka for her champagne popsicle is a bit hypocritical.

License to have babies.

I have to pass a test and get a license to drive a car.
I have to have a license to fish, hunt, own a gun and a myriad of other things.

Why can’t we implement a system where people have to obtain a license to have children?  To ensure that they are mentally capable of being responsible for bringing up a child.

I’m sure I’ll catch some flak for this (if anyone reads it that is) but it just seems to me that there is an abundance of people out there that just should not be allowed to have children.  People that are too stupid to figure out what is right or wrong (like leaving a child in a hot car to die).

Common courtesy.

Does it seem to anyone else that common courtesy is missing from people nowadays?
While driving, shopping, doing just about anything it seems that everyone is all “me me me”. Getting cut off, people texting/chatting while driving, running you over with shopping carts or just plain being rude. It seems to be the “norm” now for how to behave.
I tend to be the opposite (although I have my days when I’ve just had enough) and try to be courteous whenever possible. Letting someone else go first, yielding the right of way, and the always required “please” and “thank you” (those are missing a LOT).
Now I completely understand there are times when people are busy, in a genuine hurry, distracted, angry or upset or whatever and will have their moments when all the niceties are tossed out the window.
However, for those that aren’t in such an angry/distracted or generally crappy mood, take a moment and say “Thank You”, or “Please” or for the love of all that is holy just smile when someone does something for you. That will go a LONG way towards evening the playing field.

Wendell