My Thoughts On The Kennedy Center Honors

Man, the Kennedy Center Honors this year were spectacular. 5 new honorees inducted: George Lucas, Seiji Ozawa, Cicely Tyson, Carole King and Rita Moreno. The way that each honoree was inducted was just amazing.

Israel Choosing War Over Peace

I read an article in the Washington Post detailing the need to bring about greater scrutiny of Israeli charities operating here in America. Many of these charities are using their donated dollars to build more settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. By doing this, these charities are helping the Likud Government completely flout international law and are also helping to undercut the official US position on the settlements.

It's becoming clear that the Prime Minister of Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, has chosen war instead of making a sustainable peace with the Palestinians. To see this happening now is beyond infuriating. And it's not only Bibi, or these charities. Even members of our own Congress are repeatedly voting away our ability to conduct our own independent foreign policy. They've sworn an oath to protect and defend our Constitution and that's in addition to our sovereignty, but don't even bother telling that to the Republican Congress as they'll just simply ignore it.

The only way to force a change in Israel's behavior is for the American Jewish Community to start flexing its muscles. It's time for American Jews to start calling out Israel's lack of interest in peace and engaging in the BDS movement. It also means starting to promise law-makers of all levels that they won't get our vote unless they support the BDS movement. That means we need to get organizing and not let groups like AIPAC and the World Jewish Congress throw around the pathetic talking-point of speaking for all of us. We're not monolithic when it comes to Israel.

We American Jews have a responsibility for reining in our homeland when it's flown off the rails. It's time we started doing so, and let's take that conviction with us to the ballot box next November.

George Lopez Is Feeling The Bern

I was happy to have seen that George Lopez officially endorsed Bernie Sanders for President. Besides having mentioned his support for Bernie on Twitter, he made the case very clear that Donald Trump was bad news if elected President of the United States.

WATCHA I Am #feelingthebern. Today I'm proud to officially endorse @BernieSanders for President. Go to https://t.co/ggJ9UnBcPs #Chingon

— George Lopez (@georgelopez) December 11, 2015

That was George's tweet of endorsement and support. All I can say is let's get the ball rolling to get the Bern into The White House in November 2016.

Donald Trump And The Disabled

It was a shameful day to hear Donald Trump making hateful commentary about a New York Times reporter who happened to have disabilities. As someone who has disabilities, I take very strong exception to Trump's comments.

I'm autistic (a developmental disorder/disability), and that won't change as long as I'm living. Life for me can be difficult at times, and overwhelming at others, but it's not 100% impossible. For me, I get overwhelmed from too much stimulation or from trying to overly control a lot of the disorder's symptoms. The worst for me is auditory over-stimulation, as it's difficult for me to process auditory information, especially at high speeds.

For me to have seen Trump's offensive commentary was a realization of how badly people with disabilities are stigmatized. It makes me also realize just how strongly he may push for the repeal of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which would make life for people like myself much more difficult.

Republicans and Racism

It's always mystified me why the GOP absolutely insists that running on a platform of overt racism is a winning strategy, but at the same time it leads to a much bigger and scarier question of how has this strategy become so successful. I'm really beginning to think that racism and White Supremacy will return to The White House in 2017, through the vote that comes up next November. The man who will be there to lead it, Donald Trump. What I do know is that too many Americans will fall for his, "Make America Great Again" schtick, and that if he has a chance to enact it, it will wreak havoc on us all.

I understand that engaging in overt racism is a classic campaign tactic to distract the populace from really tackling the issues that face us, but again, it's horrifying to think how this could ever become a successful winning strategy. And it's not just Trump, there's plenty of others who've jumped on the GOP's overtly racist bandwagon. Ted Cruz is a shining example, by using code to blame all blacks for the anti-abortion extremism here in America (classic).

It's time for The Democrats to get their heads out of the sand and actively campaign on relieving the ongoing efforts by the Republicans to restore Jim Crow and White Supremacy back as the supreme law of America.

Terrorism in Colorado Springs

The shooting at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs is a classic case of terrorism that seems to get the very minimum of analytical coverage in the media. So far there has been little analysis of the link between the growing violence by anti-abortion extremists and the lack of meaningful gun control. I haven't been seeing that kind of discussion, nor have I heard anything in terms of reducing the number of violent attacks. This is getting to the point of absurdity, and to the point of infuriatingly demeaning people for events that they have no control over.

I stand with Planned Parenthood through this time of crisis, and there needs to be a strong message sent that no one can coerce and terrorize us into believing their views. This should be a shining example of why we need to do more to end the threat of anti-abortion terrorism.

Terror In France & The Threat Posed By ISIS

I mourn the loss of life in Paris from the deadly terrorist attacks, and think that it's really time to dismantle ISIS' influence in the Middle East. I expect that the French will find whomever ordered this attack and make targeted strikes at them, but I don't think that will be the end of the ongoing threat ISIS poses.

In order to deal with the threat known as ISIS, you need to attack the roots of its terrorism at their source. ISIS thrives on Sunni discontent and disenfranchisement from being under Shi'ite rule, but that's not the only factor. Other factors include one of the driest decades in the Middle East (the 2000s) and a gross mismanagement of natural resources (as was the case with the Assad regime in Syria), and regional ambitions of other state actors in the area (particularly Saudi Arabia who seeks to impose its interpretation of Islam on the region and eventually the world). The latter factor is possibly the most prominent, as Saudi Arabia and Iran are rivals for influencing the direction of Islam and the Middle East as a whole. However, it should be noted that it falls on everyone, but especially the Middle Eastern nations to start creating political and economic opportunities for their people. This also means that everyone needs to get together to close the power vacuum opened up by the Syrian Civil War through a political settlement.

How this relates to France comes as follows. France was a colonial power in the Middle East from 1919-46, colonizing both Syria and Lebanon. Many Arabs had openly opposed this arrangement after they were promised independence by joining the Allied Powers against the disintegrating Ottoman Empire, and in time, Saudi Arabia would come to openly oppose the arrangement as well.

Even after the period of colonial rule in the Middle East, France was still a major player. First in the form of its alliance with Israel, and then as a major arms supplier to the various Arab states. Additionally, France had opened up economic relations in other fields with the various Arab states. A commonly accepted epithet at the time was that if someone was an Islamist, they wouldn't attack France. The reason was often that France often opposed American/British-led military efforts in the region and was the only NATO member not part of the overall command structure. That changed when Nicolas Sarkozy became President in 2007, when he requested French re-entrance into NATO's command structure and a softer policy toward the Americans. This in turn led to a full revamping of French foreign relations in the Middle East, especially where France became more critical of some of its Arab partners. These actions have made France a target, especially now with its Islamic population attempting to gain their rights and citizenship.

The threat posed by ISIS on France and the world at-large comes from its desire to establish a global caliphate and bring the world back to the Middle Ages. To be very clear, their view of Islam (they're primarily Wahabists, an ultra-orthodox sect of Sunni Islam) and the need to wage jihad in order to achieve their caliphate is not the view of most Muslims. They are a cancer to the faith by calling for the deaths of people labled as apostates (primarily Shi'ites) or non-believers. In addition to their previously stated ambitions, they're also seeking to obtain all material necessary to construct a nuclear device of their own or to buy them outright. Having this happen would be the ultimate disaster, as they're planning to smuggle 1 to set off here in America. The fact still remains that while we should mourn the loss of life in Paris, we should be vigilant about keeping a close eye on ISIS and disrupt any and all attempts to do us harm as well.

Election in Kentucky

Events this past election day seem somewhat off from what pre-election polls had originally predicted. Now this isn't to say that polls can't be off, as sometimes people say 1 thing and then do something else that's entirely different (aka the Bradley Effect). Sometimes pollsters do end up making some errors.

Now as for the case with Kentucky's gubernatorial race, that seemed off by several factors. This video from Thom Hartmann on YouTube should explain a little bit. Thom, by interviewing TheBRADBLOG's Brad Friedman, makes the point that there were some irregularities in the vote and noted that only about 30% of the electorate actually turned out. Watch the video and draw your own conclusions.

At the same time, there should be a call on the Kentucky Secretary of State, Allison Lundergan Grimes, to order an inquiry or at least a recheck of the vote to make sure it's accurate.

Add to that new proof, according to TheBRADBLOG, via Crooks and Liars, there were several anomalies that happened in the down ticket voting, where the Democrats running in those races got more votes than Jack Conway. A note to make, there's always the possibility of voters splitting their tickets, but I'm not sure that was the case. In addition, here's a video where Thom Hartmann explains everything. As Thom notes very succinctly, there may have been some tampering with the voting machines by public officials (or as he put it, "Election Insiders"), and that had that happened, it would not be for the first time. He also mentioned an electoral phenomenon known as "Red Shift," which happened in about 6 or 8 States in 2000. It's where the Republicans won the vote for the top of the ticket, while Democrats won everything else on the down ballot. Now some of this could have been honest-to-God split-ticket voting, which is not a rare occurance in American politics, but there were many instances of previous tampering with voting machines. The tampering could have been from pre-programming to vote a certain way or hacking into them, which has been successfully done.

There's a possible stench of election fraud, but it seems unlikely to see anything done about it. It's time to stand up to the GOP and Corporate America's ongoing campaign to steal our nation's elections. Additionally, it's time to start putting pressure on TheDemocrats to start making an issue of this. We need to do everything we can to start the ball rolling to repeal the God-awful Supreme Court ruling known as Citizens United and to take our elections back.

Bernie Sanders & The Right To Vote

Watching Bernie Sanders speak to Rachel Maddow at the First in the South Presidential Forums only confirmed one thing about the GOP and their vote suppression activities. They have no courage to face the voters due to their bankrupt ideas and rush to return to our racist past, and instead attempt to make the electorate as small as possible so that they can impose their ideology on all of us. Bernie's right to call their activities out into the open and to call them cowards about losing their seats. Watch the video in its entirety and it'll be easy to see why we need Bernie as our next President.

Rejection of Keystone XL

I have to say that I'm very pleased with Barack Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline project as it would have been a disasterous deal for the rest of us. Besides possibly placing more hydrocarbons into the atmosphere and the damage caused to the environment, it would have also dealt us with very severe economic damage by shooting gas prices into the unaffordable range (think of the days of $4, or in some cases $5, per gallon of gasoline). Just think of the health risks involved and it's fairly easy to see why the project was a bad deal for us.

Not to mention, there would be little to no impact on the unemployment rate (try 35,000 jobs max) and the benefits would only go to 1 company, Koch Industries. This is while the risk of failure is passed on to the rest of us in the form of our tax dollars. This is absurd!

While this is a victory for us in the moment, I have a huge hunch that we're not done with project yet. For the company that's trying to build the pipeline can simply re-apply to do so, and it will be almost certainly granted should the GOP take The White House in 2016. This is why we need TheDemocrats in there.

Losing Rabin's Legacy

From reading about a rally that took place in Tel Aviv on Ynetnews commemorating former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, it was very heartening to read about former US President Bill Clinton's participation. What's especially heartening to understand is that in Clinton's words, Rabin refused to dehumanize the people he had to negotiate with in line with the Oslo Accords, and how because of this refusal, it would end up costing him his life.

The other piece of the equation is that Rabin was not afraid to take risks in the name of garnering peace with the Palestinians. Clinton's words were a subtle reminder to the Israeli people that the greatest opportunity for living in peace was slipping away from them by the cowardly actions of the Netanyahu government (I've written extensively on Benjamin Netanyahu's actions in various posts on my blog). By not pursuing any dialogue for peace, it opens the doors for extremists to make calls for violence on both sides.

It was good to hear that Clinton's words were echoed by both current US President Barack Obama and current Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. For Israel to walk away from the talks and blame both the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs for all past grievances, that would put a bitter stain on Rabin's legacy. A legacy that would establish peace for Israel.

Current General Election Match-Up Pollings For 2016 (200th Post)

I've been glancing at the 2016 general election poll match-ups between TheDemocrats and the GOP on 270towin.com, and let me say it's not looking good for the Democrats. Take the Republicans' front runners Donald Trump and Ben Carson and match them up against the Democrats' front runners Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The nationwide polls show Trump leading Hillary by 2 points, while Carson is running neck-and-neck with both Bernie and Hillary. While there's no data on the match up between Bernie and Trump, it's very worrying.

My biggest worry is that if Hillary gets the nomination, she'll end up losing the general election in November 2016. This will leave permanent ramifications that the Democrats will not be able to undo. This is not to slam Hillary for running, as I think it helps to expose a lot of the extremism of the Republican base and the party itself. It's more that I think if she gets the nomination, she'll have an uphill struggle in winning a number of crucial states like Iowa and Ohio. That's in addition to holding onto a number of Blue States like Connecticut and Michigan if pitted against Carson, who has some ability to pull into the Democratic base for votes, and she can't really campaign against him effectively without being called a racist. Basically, that's the biggest worry for me, is that if Hillary's nominated, the election is pretty much lost.

Prospects are not much brighter for Bernie Sanders, the polls show him as almost not registering on people's radar.

Republicans' Benghazi Committee May Have Killed Their Chances For The White House In 2016

After watching Hillary Clinton take on the GOP's taxpayer-funded smear campaign (aka the Benghazi Committee), it's made me realize how the Republicans may have just killed their chances for a presidential comeback in 2016. There's no doubt in my mind that even though Hillary's the worst possible choice for TheDemocrats in terms of dealing with the obvious corruption and crony capitalism taking place under our noses, having the Republicans actually force her out during the primaries is more or less a huge advantage for their worst nightmare, Bernie Sanders. I've posted how on Facebook, and I'll share that post here:

From watching the #BenghaziCommittee hearings on C-SPAN, I think that Representative Elijah E. Cummings put it best by...
Posted by Jgsf1987 on Thursday, October 22, 2015

Then again it could strengthen Hillary's hand, but my thinking in this case is that it'll give Bernie the boost he needs to secure the nomination.

My reason for not wanting Hillary to win can be found here. One of the biggest turn-offs also about Hillary is that she's not likely to go after Wall Street (Based on published data from OpenSecretsDC of the Center for Responsive Politics, Hillary's primary big-donors are banks and investment companies). Additionally, she's getting campaign funding from private prison companies such as Corrections Corporation of America. That story from Daily Kos will explain everything. It makes me concerned that she's going to continue the old tough on crime through harsher sentences routine, but saying she's for lighter sentences to appease liberals and progressives. The truth is we need to end the private corrections industry altogether.

That's my reason for backing Bernie, he's beholden to noone. Speaking of which, when he got a $2,700 donation from Martin Shkreli (the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals), he then donated it to a health clinic in Washignton, D.C. By saying no thanks to Shkreli, this is why Bernie's going to be the Republicans' worst nightmare.

Tell President Obama To Issue An Executive Order Mandating Federal Contractors Disclose Their Political Activities

The link for the petition is here: http://signforgood.com/contractors?sp_ref=156333265.270.16277.o.1.2

Joe Biden's Decision

In a lot of ways it was easy to tell that the Vice President wasn't going to run for President. One of the earliest signs was when he was on the Late Show, saying he & his family were just drained having seen Beau Biden die of cancer. No question it's sad to hear that he chose not to run, but it's no surprise either.

New Flare-Up In Mideast

The Russian military campaign against ISIS, while important to note, is not my biggest concern in the Mideast. There's a much bigger concern, another Intifada by both Israeli and Palestinian extremists.

Both Prime Minister Binyamin (Benjamin) Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas need to do whatever they can to rein in this latest round of extremism displayed on both sides, but it's important to note that President Abbas has little influence on Palestinian extremists. Many Palestinians have become drawn to the extremists due in part to the collapse of the peace talks. They're disillusioned by being stymied and humiliated at the peace talks, and by Israeli announcements of further settlement construction. 

On the other hand, Prime Minister Netanyahu really needs to show he means business by cracking down on Israeli extremists, extolling them on the fact that there can be no one-state solution. He can also put out the order to remove all settlements so that the peace talks can resume. The problem is that this will not happen if Prime Minister Netanyahu remains in office. He's shown time and again that he's not interested in peace.

If another intifada does spring up, it will be the Israeli side that caused it by attempting to hijack the talks and railroad the Palestinians into submission. It's a failed strategy with deadly consequences.

Jim Crow's Last Stand And How To Stand Against It

It should come as no surprise that the final generations that lived under Jim Crow will try to resurrect it yet again. It's important to remember the sheer determination it took to rid us of that ugly stain from our society, and how many people lost their lives to see that happen.

As more time passes on, the more desparate and aggressive the defenders of White Supremacy become. Never forget that the racism that brought about Jim Crow is also taught in some form or another to the Milennials. Luckily, though, we as Milennials have the opportunity to learn from the past and take its lessons for how to assert more strongly that Jim Crow and racism (overt and covert) will no longer be the determiners of our day-to-day life.

Thoughts on the Democratic Debate

It seems as though there's been a few splits on who won the Democratic presidential debate. While many in the mainstream media will proclaim that Hillary Clinton won, a lot of polls and straw polls showed that Bernie Sanders was the winner. For both of them, it was a very good showing, and for the others (Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, Martin O'Malley) it was a very poor one.

What holds true is that we need a go big and go bold approach to tackling our country's problems, especially when it seems that the Republicans have no ideas that can feasibly do so. Their policy prescriptions have not changed for 3 decades, and it seems that they're now tripling down on their failed ideas instead of adopting new ones.

I'd have to say that out of all the people who've put forth ideas, the one whose ideas are the most in line with our current state of affairs is actually Bernie. More than anything, what he's calling for is what we need to get our middle class back to its former status, and he's got the track record to show that he's willing to take on the powerful interests who don't want to see that happen. I'm a little concerned about Hillary's willingness to take on Corporate America, as she's become reliant on them for campaign donations. Think about the fact that some campaign contributors are big banks like JPMorganChase and Blackstone. This is not a comforting fact, as it makes it look like she's not going to push for a re-instatement of Glass-Steagall Act (Banking Act of 1933). If she does, however, it won't have the same teeth that it did between 1933 and 1981.

How the Bern and/or the Donald will shake up Establishment Politics, and my plans on voting if Hillary becomes the Democratic nominee.

From what I understand about the CNN hosted debate for the GOP, Donald Trump really painted himself into a corner that he's not going to be able to get out of. One of his cute comments was on people with autism, which for me hits a little close to home. In some ways I'm not surprised to hear this coming out of him, as he's been making comments that have offended a lot of people, but this is only strengthening my resolve to make sure he isn't the next President of the United States. But even then, I wasn't planning on voting Republican anyway. I would only plug my nose and vote for the Republicans if Hillary Clinton got the nomination, only because she's even less likely to get anything done and the fact that we really need someone from outside the beltway in the Presidency.

Out of all the people who've proven that they get the struggles of the American public, it's Bernie Sanders. He understands that there needs to be radical change and he's not afraid to stick his neck out to do it. In addition, he's got the ability to recruit people from all over the political spectrum.

Now if both the Bern and the Donald got their respective parties' nominations, I think the stark contrast between the Republicans and TheDemocrats will appear very clearly. The Republican Party has become the tool of the ultra-wealthy to distract the American electorate from the real issues they face, and as an outlet for White Supremacy.

If anything, Donald Trump has been an embodiment of the disatisfaction with establishment politics as usual for the Republicans. The same can be said for Bernie Sanders for the Democrats. If anything, people on both sides of the aisle and all walks of life agree on 1 thing, we need radical change. Establishment politics and economics are clearly not working for the rest of us. From what I understand, Trump's plan will only add to the overall debt hiking it to levels not seen since the Reagan Administration, while Sanders' plan is completely paid for and has specifics of what he plans to do about making sure the wealthiest individuals and corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

The Bern And The Donald

First off, let me say that Bernie Sanders has successfully overtaken Hillary Clinton as the front runner for TheDemocrats' presidential nomination race. This isn't a major surprise as Bernie's gaining steam on Hillary for quite some time and with the ongoing saga of Servergate, it was a matter of when not if. If anything, Bernie's been refusing to go negative and that's been somewhat refreshing for many of the rank-and-file in the Democratic Party, and also for some it's more core elements as well. First off, Hillary's losing major support from organized labor, especially the AFL-CIO. My guess is that its endorsement will end up going to Bernie.

The fact that Bernie's campaign has been gaining steam has a lot of the Democratic Party's leadership very worried. They were hoping to get these other declared candidates out of the race before the nomination process starts. They feel that Hillary is their best option to retain The White House. I'm seeing this as an almost mirrored replay of 2008. This is why they're really getting scared as they've been largely disappointing the base with many center-right decisions as they've been trying to close the distance between the Democratic party and the GOP. I just don't see Hillary effecting change with any great ability and I think she'll just carry on the same trend that's been going on in the Democratic Party ever since Bill was president back in the 1990s and early 2000s. The fact remains that we need radical action and I think Bernie's the only candidate who will be able to do it. He's got some really creative ideas to help move this country forward and to level the playing field.

As for the Republicans, Donald Trump has been really gaining more and more momentum. This has the effect of possibly marginalizing the Republicans as a regional rather than national party, or it could potentialy catapult the Donald into the presidency and cause a boatload of havoc. By havoc, I'm talking about the return of White supremacy on steroids. 

He's been spouting positions that many of the racial harmony redeemers have been waiting to hear. Meaning that he's more than happy to take us back to the 1830s, with Blacks being shoved into the position of forced servitude (aka slavery), along with trying to take us back to the 1920s in terms of economic policy with a few caveats (he is for taxing the hell out of the wealthy, which is one plus). Moreover, I recently saw some video on The Young Turks' channel on YouTube that described his disdain for racial minorities and his real hatred of Blacks in this country.  As you'll see in the video, he really doesn't think of them as being high-end and that their place is to be out of sight. Nice!

Here's a real contrast between the front runners. One is a guy who actively fought for Blacks and other minorities to have the same rights as Whites (Bernie) and another who is content on letting leaving them behind because they're less deserving (Donald). Your decision next year, but really keep this contrast in mind.

The Need To Fully Fund The Disability Mandates In California

One of the things I've found out about in terms of difficulties facing people with disabilities is that the programs meant to help us are chronically underfunded. We're bascially being told that we're on our own. This is completely absurd, as those places should be helping us instead of turning us away to protect their limited resources. However, it comes down to their lack of funding. I'd like to take the time in this post to make people aware of this issue.

This is especially true with regional centers around the state of California, as they're very badly underfunded. The reason behind this is the state legislature not being able to raise enough revenue to cover these mandates through taxes, and because of the state Republican party in California. The main problem I have with the CA GOP is very simple, they don't bother to invest in anything and insist on giving our tax dollars to the very wealthiest individuals and corporations here in the State of California. How much sense does that make?

We need to overturn the odious law known as Prop 13, it's making it so that people with disabilities can't get the services they need. And we need to call upon Jerry Brown to get the state legislature to pass some measures to raise more revenue. 

Violence in Roanoke

Anything to allow a shooting like the one outside of Roanoke, VA is a signal that we need to do something to stem the rising tide of gun violence. It's nuts to think that we should allow this type of activity to continue with almost no limitations. Where and when does it end? What is our continued rationale behind solving our disputes through loaded firearms? It just doesn't make any sense. I have to say that both Barack Obama and Terry McAuliffe  are right to be saying we need drastic action. This is reaching the point of becoming a public health crisis.

Hillary and the Democratic Nomination for President

From watching TheDemocrats' presidential nomination race, I can say with some degree of certainty that Hillary Clinton's email server controversey has basically killed her chances to grab the nomination, especially among rank & file Democrats. I've highlighted this in my last Youtube video, and it's becoming more and more apparent that she may not win. She's in a bad place now politically. As I mentioned in my video, I'm aware that Hillary was trying to be as honest and transparent as possible, given that her emails were being picked apart by the State Dept and the CIA.

She came out on ABC News earlier today apologizing for her lapse in judgment in using a private server, especially when it became known that 2 emails had classified information pertaining to North Korea (or one may have, I'll have to look at the article on ABC News' website) and its illegal nuclear weapons program. While Hillary's right in saying that what she did previously was not technically illegal, but she is consciencious of the fact that it would have been smarter to just use the State Dept.'s server for official emails rather than a private one. That and she realized she should of used a second mobile device given to her specifically by the State Department itself. She would've spared herself the massive headache she's finding herself in today.

If that wasn't enough of a headache, an article on The Hill mentioned that she's losing support among labor unions as well. That's a major blow to Hillary's campaign and it shows how cautious some factions in the base have become in backing her up. In fact the union mentioned in the article, the AFL-CIO, has become a moving target for her, and it's becoming apparent in how infuriated labor has become with Hillary, especially after waiting until the last minute to take a stance on the issue of the Trans-Pacific Partnership's Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) or Fast-Track Bill's eventual passing in Congress. Hillary's flip-flopping while they were campaigning heavily against the TPA Bill was seen by them as a means of throwing them under the bust. So that's a couple of factors working against her during the campaign.

If there's anything you want me to know, drop me some comments below and/or hit me up on any of these sites:

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The Case For Opening Primary Season To The Entire Electorate

Just to be clear on something, there's a lot of panic goin on in the Democratic and Republican Establishments about both Bernie Sanders & Donald Trump. I read an article on Right Wing News on how Trump could basically kill the GOP's chances for claiming back the Presidency in 2016 if he's either the party nominee and/or runs a third-party campaign. It also makes the point of saying that the public needs to quit funding these primary elections/caucuses and debates with their tax-dollars. This is interesting since it points out that these debates only bring out about 9% of the electorate out, and that both the Democratic and Republican Parties operate as private clubs. Right Wing News cited an article and video from Ben Swann that actually gives some credence to calling for the end of public financing of the primaries (both elections and debates), for the low turnouts they produce. While I don't entirely agree with the fact that there should be no public financing at all, I do however see their frustration with the low turnout and how it can be a waste of money if the point is to drive out both TheDemocrats & the Republicans' base supporters. Here's where I have some agreement, & I think we should open the process to the entire electorate during primary season. By expanding the electorate we can get a better idea as to the will of the people. The author of the RWN article, Terressa Monroe-Hamilton is right in saying that 9% is not a representative sample.

The Case For Updating Parts Of The Affordable Care Act

I think from how the Affordable Care Act was set up, we're still seeing problems in its operation. Billing patients is only one part of it, but it's a major one, especially on the side of premiums and claims. What I'm saying is that the law is particularly weak in overseeing companies like the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association are paying claims after collecting premiums, and not just pocketing premiums. This is a massive flaw within the system, and one that will get worse overtime. This was one of my many misgivings about the law having little teeth; designing the program around the insurance companies that have a history of scamming premium-payers. The insurance companies would not be liable for their own misdeeds since they are now de facto organs of the 50 states and the Fed itself.

Even now, the ACA does nothing to really help mitigate the monopolies of the health-insurance companies and their corrosive effect on prices, only subsidizing the monopolistic effects. I know of the greater goals that the ACA pushes forth for us, but as I said earlier it needs some major tweeking in order to work.

Why It's Important To Listen To President Obama On The Recent Deal With Iran

Take this opportunity to listen to Barack Obama's explanation of the recent deal with Iran. Besides the deal being historic, it was the best opportunity we had to really place comprehensive limits on Iran's nuclear program to ensure that it would never come close to building a nuclear bomb. The GOP, together with the Prime Minister of Israel and AIPAC, will continue to lie about several key aspects of the deal, ranging from we need to go to war to ensure Iran has no nuclear weapon to this deal doesn't go far enough by not disallowing Iran to have the program in the first place. Both of these assertions are wrong on their merits, and on a political level as well. Iran was looking for a means of curbing the need to import oil despite having the world's 4th largest reserves, and by attempting to obtain a nuclear program, it was a means of freeing up many of its reserves for export. The White House has placed a graphic on its website outlining the key elements of the deal and what's at stake if this deal was never reached at the outset. It makes more sense to simply give the President the thumbs up to implement it as soon as possible following the 60 day review.

I also want to point out that Benjamin Netanyahu made an appearance on Face the Nation this morning and parroted the same talking points that the House Republicans and Senate GOP have done all week. It's important to note that he's colluding with them in their treasonous acts so that the President has no ability to implement this. Go ahead and watch his commentary, guaranteed what he's telling you is utter bullsh*t. It's better to let yourself hear what both Secretaries John Kerry (Foreign Secretary/Secretary of State) and Ernst Moniz (Energy Secretary) have to say, as they were at the negotiating table with Iran, so they have the specifics of what's at stake. Bibi was never at the negotiating table nor were the Congressional Republicans. They're looking to distort anything and everything that has to do with this deal. Whatever fear-mongering and war-mongering they do, don't buy into it. Our national interest is not to prosecute a war with Iran. The fact is that Iran has more to lose from this deal than we do.

I mentioned this on my YouTube channel (subscribe) in a video, in addition to my blog, and I'll say my bottom line about the deal here.

Here's what I need you folks to do:

1. Get on your phones and call your representatives and senators, telling them to approve this deal. Our national security is at stake with this.
2. If you can't call, email them.
3. Hit them up on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.).
4. Lastly, do the same steps above for the President to let him know you're behind him with implementing this deal.

The bottom line is that we need to make clear that we want this and we're not going to allow the Republicans to scare the living crap out of us, scaring us into a war we don't need.

Lastly, hit me up with comments here on my blog, or on my Youtube channel. Also hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. 

Iran Deal And How It Plays Into The Republicans' Lusting For The White House In 2016

It's incredible for me to think that whenever the GOP talks about the prospects of it taking The White House in 2016 (your's truly will be working his ass off to make sure that they don't), that one of their first orders of business would be to tear up the Iran Deal, that is before repealing Obamacare. For what? These people are delusional unless their intention is to start a new war in the Middle East, in which case that should be enough of a reason not to elect a Republican President next year, but knowing the political winds, that's all but a done deal.

Speaking of all Republicans running for President, the one I'd say has the most recognition and is the preferred candidate of the establishment is none other than Jeb Bush, although the base is clearly with Donald Trump as of right now. Then again that's no surprise, Trump is selling White supremacy, which is a real hit with the bigoted portion of the base. In fact even his wealth flaunting is not hurting him, which means that at this point the mainstay of the committed Republican base is either uninformed, or so incredibly dumbed-down that they don't really pay much attention to that because of the race-baiting Trump sells. I can see where this is going, and it's not a pretty picture.

Going back to Iran, this is where it gets exceedingly dangerous. By ripping up the Iran Deal, that's the fastest path to war. This is entirely what the chickenhawks of the GOP want, a new war to give them boners (I remember writing on that topic a few times: here, here, here and here). I'll never understand this war-lust or governing-by-crisis, as it does nothing to help anyone. In fact, it makes them out to be bullies, by constantly scaring the hell out of everyone.

It's not even a decade ago that these tactics caused them to lose control of Congress. Think about it, for the first 5 years after 9/11, the Republicans continued scaring us with bullsh*t terror alerts and doing so around the time of elections. This was no accident. The response was the expected one, people voted in Republicans to Congress to push through the Bush Administration's illegal mass-surveillance program's funding. To bring that back online would be the dream of the Neo-cons, as they would like nothing better than to spy on everyone uninhibited and scare everyone into accepting that. I got one word for that: bullsh*t!

It's their lusting for war that's making their statements to rip the Iran deal up in its entirety. Besides being exceedingly stupid, it's also exceedingly dangerous. Even though Iran has no confirmed nuclear weapons, it will have a stronger incentive to build them to deter us from attacking much more heavily if the GOP has its way, along with the Prime Minister of Israel. The lack of a deal will also encourage an arms race in the region, besides between Israel and Iran, also the gulf Arab states (with the exceptions of Iraq and Syria) and Iran. Specifically, we need to watch Saudi Arabia, who has threatened to get the bomb to blast Iran to the stoneage. 

Why I'm For Bernie Sanders

The more I hear Bernie Sanders talk about the need for further radical change in America, the more I like what I'm hearing. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

In this video, Bernie is clearly conveying the point that unless we band together to tell both Charles Koch and David Koch that our government and nation is not for sale, we'll continue to see the destruction of this nation we call home from within. Unemployment is still unacceptably high, and even with Barack Obama's signature legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), we're still seeing too many people going without healthcare due to lack of insurance or having insurance with premiums and deductibles that are too high for them to afford/pay down. He's also right in saying that we ought to quit dragging our feet and join the rest of the world in ensuring healthcare is a right for everyone, not just a privilege for those who can afford it.

Bernie's also spot on in saying that we need a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and for a disclosure law that forces people like the Koch brothers to actually place their faces on messages they approve of. He's also correct in saying that the middle class is disappearing thanks to economic and social policies enacted over the last 40 years. Think of education, as one clear example, there's a pitch among leading GOP Senators and Representatives, as well as Governors and Legislators, to push for more of our tax dollars going to private schools, both secular and religious, in the form of vouchers instead of simply funding public schools. Like Bernie, I think this is absurd. Just like trying to give megachurches and other religious institutions our tax dollars to do their charity work. Look, the government doesn't need to create more middlemen and create a church-state collusion, but don't bother arguing that fact to the Republicans as they'll simply cast you off as an idiot by saying whole-heartedly that church-state collusion is in the constitution and that this was what the founding fathers intended to happen (yeah, whatever).

To say these points are radical is beyond absurd, as Claire McCaskill certainly did on msnbc. This isn't to say that Claire doesn't agree with Bernie's message, as she acknowledges that it's the clearly the right one, but I also can understand her worry given that Bernie may seem too liberal to some parts of the country. Bernie's the absolute underdog and is gaining on The Democrats' front-runner, Hillary Clinton, but I think Claire and some supporters of Hillary miss his very real point within the campaign: He's not trying to win! Bernie's more aware of the fact that he's possibly not going to get the nomination, but I think his point in running is to make people aware of what's really happening, and that we need to really fight to keep our rights, especially from the people who would love to take them from us and/or deny us them altogether. He cites the Civil Rights Movment, the Women's Rights Movement, the LGBT Rights Movement, and the Disability Rights Movement as a way to demonstrate how we can effect change by uniting together to demand and to force it. More than anything, Bernie's running in the race to start a national conversation, and by all means, that's a good way to do so, especially to help guide Hillary to champion policies that she'd like to see as national priorities if she's elected as President.

I look at what he's saying also through an historical context, and by more counts than not, he's right! By all counts I'm aware that it may be a wasted vote in the primary next June, but I could care less. Since based on the polls Hillary's practically got this locked up provided she doesn't screw up royally, or get too dragged down by Republicans in Congress on the hunt for new conspiracies to waste our tax dollars investigating. The good thing about Bernie in this instance is, other than his potential lack of political support among Democrats thus far, has far fewer skeletons in his closet, and he's not very widely known in most national circles. Not to the extent that Hillary is, after all she is married to the nation's 42nd President, Bill Clinton.

Tale Of A Pissed Off Blue Shield Of California Customer

I can think of nothing more aggrivating than having my health insurance pulled out from under me. Let me say this, Blue Shield of California has a terrible problem with lining policies up, particularly policy numbers and the payments for them. If someone's paying them to provide them with basic coverage for their medical expenses, it should be a common knowledge that they should be able to keep track of those payments and not denying people coverage because of a clerical on their end. That was experience I had, and I can tell you, this is completely unacceptable. I can't think of any reason why a company like Blue Shield can't line up 2 pieces of paper, but apparently they can't for the life of them. I'll be happy when Open Enrollment comes up in November, as that's the first chance I'll get to switch carriers to Blue Cross of California. i'm not saying that Blue Cross is any better than Blue Shield, but it should end this nightmare that I've been having with them since last year.

Confederate Flag's New Destiny Post-Charleston

I have to say that I'm very heartened to hear about South Carolina's decision to get the Confederate Battle Flag flying at its statehouse removed for good. That flag belongs in a museum, so people can learn about what kind of divisions it helped to sow for so many years. If the state and other states in the South want to make a region-wide heritage and history museum with it on display, fine. I won't argue that its a symbol of American history, but it's a symbol for all the wrong reasons. First off, it was the flag of Southern treason during the Civil War, when the South fought to retain the right to retain humans as property (African Americans). Following that 4-year debacle, which the South came out very poorly, for the next 150 years or so, it was a symbol of hate and a symbol of subjugation of both the Blacks and their White allies, and also of poor Whites, by more prominent Whites through the Ku Klux Klan and other organizations.

I understand that many in the South see the Confederate flag as part of their heritage, but they need to quit displaying it, as it's got other symbolizations as mentioned above. As I said above as well, it's good to see that South Carolina, along with Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas, is beginning to wake up to the fact that there's more than Southern heritage in that flag and that there's an equally long history of it being associated with White supremacy. In Mississippi's case, there's a movement to craft a new state flag that doesn't resemble the Confederate Stars and Bars. Somehow, Dylan Roof's shooting spree at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church really drove open the effects of racial hate that the Confederate flag long symbolized, and now the nation is seeing the post-shooting evolution taking place across the region. I'm not sure if it'll lead to anything in terms of gun-control, but I do think that it will definitely make the National Rifle Association's position of loose-gun laws at all costs that much harder to defend.

Update:

There's movement in South Carolina's state legislature to finally get rid of the Confederate flag flying above the statehouse in Charleston. There's a bill on its way through the state legislature and should be on nikkihaley's desk by December, at least that's the hope. The reality is, it's going to be a loud and contentious debate in that state. These are the words of Nikki herself in the call to remove the flag from the statehouse and possibly place it in a museum. I'll agree to digress with her on letting people continue to fly the flag, but then again, if it's on their homes or private property, there's not a lot we can do as it's private not government speech. I'm aware of this reality and so I'll concede the point, albeit reluctantly, that she's right in one sense. I just hope that people will begin to educate themselves on how the Confederate flag has become a divisive symbol in many respects, and a symbol of racial terrorism and of White supremacy.

I think Cenk Uygur, from The Young Turks, makes the point very clear that there's some coded language in the overall message that the flag must be lowered and be displayed elsewhere. But all in all, it's very heartening to see what's happening in South Carolina after the disgusting display of overt White supremacy and anti-Black racism in Charleston on Monday, June 15, 2015.

Mass Shooting In South Carolina & The Ugly Return Of White Supremacy

I can't express my sadness at hearing about how 9 African Americans were murdered in cold blood and at their place of worship in Charleston, South Carolina. Who does this? Then again, it's only the mind of a bigoted individual. 

Luckily, the terrorist behind this dastardly act has been arrested and is in police custody. Now by piecing together what he did in Charleston is making the case very clear that what happened was a hate crime. The individual was shown in a jacket with the flags of Apartheid South Africa and White supremacist Rhodesia. I'm aware those 2 patches in the perp's possession is no crime in itself, but it does explain his ideology when firing his gun in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

Emanuel AME Church has seen its fair share of White supremacist violence, going all the way back to the Antebellum era of South Carolina's history. It was a safe-haven for Blacks both in slavery and after its abolition in 1865. It was a continual target even during the lead-up to the Civil Rights Era after Reconstruction ended in 1877. 

It was a place to congregate and worship, a pillar of the community. The church was originally founded in 1822, at a time when places of worship for African Americans were illegal in South Carolina. It was a place that Blacks could get away from Whites. This didn't mean that they were always safe from the wrath of Whites lusting for blood, the reason usually being just because, or to make an example of what could happen if there was a slave revolt.

Because of the Church's long history, it's not much of a shock that it was targetted again in 2015. Still, it's enough to wake us all up to the fact that we're going to have to hold the uncomfortable discussion of race relations and how each racial group experiences them. It should be a learning experience for us all.

The more I learn about the perpetrator of this ghastly act, the more I see the ugly return of White supremacy and how it's not ever going to disappear. Its ties to both our nation's gun culture and its law enforcing is apparent to the point of wanting to throw our hands in the air in utter frustration.

In no way can we allow White supremacy to take hold in this grand nation of ours. The only outcome will be that of a race war, which is exactly what these racists want. 

For many who see the Black community as inherently inferior and subhuman to this day are proving that even though the last shots Civil War shots were fired 150 years ago, the war has never ended. If anything, the war has found a new home to fight in, our political discourse via the Media. One of the biggest arenas I see this happening in is in Congress. Specifically among Congressional Republicans.

Congressional Republicans have shown themselves to be willing tools for organization pushing for these kind of terrorist acts. That organization is the NRA, who's been cowing everyone in Congress, and this has brought a number of Democrats under their control. 

Let's be clear on 1 thing here, some of these extreme voices in the NRA are also tied to White supremacy.

The region with the loosest gun laws is the South, and the reason is obvious. With a strong belief in White supremacy in parts of the region, many Whites take it on to themselves to hunt and exterminate Blacks before they come to rape and plunder White women or other poor scared White folks. This thought pattern is total bullsh*t, but it's how many people think. Add that to loose gun laws, and there you have it. It's open "n****r" season.

Saying that if Blacks don't mind their place as second-class citizens, they'll be a target is no empty threat. Just like Blacks saying they'll arm themselves in defense is not an empty one either. However, this is not the exchange to follow. The one to keep tabs on is on why Whites have the sole right to exact revenge on minorities and why they can be exterminated at any time. That's the exhange to follow as it's the common denominator to puck up on when recognizing White supremacy's self-expression and the vestage of White privilege.

The violent expression of White supremacy is a direct by-product of this nation's gun culture. That's what happened in Charleston, and that's why we need gun control.

Admission For Bringing Back Jim Crow

I have to say I've been expecting this, some right-wing blow-hard calling for the return of Jim Crow's voting regulations. As the article from Addicting Info makes clear, this is entirely expected for the right to say. My only question is, what took you boneheads so dang long? I have to admit, even I'm amazed that the circular firing squad that the GOP's base has turned into has really taken this much time to really let the most overt demand for racial discrimination out and through vote disenfranchisement. In fact in my last post, I said something about it, how there seems to be a massive push by the right to bring back Jim Crow in some aspects. This just proves my point in its entirety.

Current Vote Suppression and Falling of Race Relations

It's weird; by listening to people like Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter, I'm almost taken back to the time of the Nadir of American Race Relations, given the number dog-whistle political attacks and physical attacks on people who aren't White. However, what really gets me is the number of expression of White supremacy and display of support for Social Darwinism's style of Eugenics. This is a testament to the fact that what we're seeing by the advancement of vote suppression on a scale not seen since the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era (basically the enactment of the extreme ends of the Jim Crow Laws). Think about it, how many more stories do we need to hear about how Blacks (or anyone else as the "Other") are inferior and they deserve to be exterminated from being a pestulant infestation? Here's what we hear from outlets like Fox News and Newsmax, as well as others.

I've been finding that the number of hate-based attacks and threats of violence have gone up since Barack Obama took office in 2009, but his assuming the presidency is not the cause of the recent uptick. It's a testament to the Southern Strategy employed by the Republicans to prevent Blacks from really exercising any real political power, and now they're making sure that no such uptick happens again. 

NSA Reform - What The USA Freedom Act Means

Upon hearing that the Senate GOP and Senate Democrats passed the USA Freedom Act, I'm kinda mixed about it. Yeah, in some cases it does something to curb some of the most egregious abuses by the National Security Administration, but doesn't really go far enough to ensure that domestic spying doesn't happen on the same magnitude again. For the most part it did allow the Patriot Act to finally expire in some sense, thus ending part of the insidious legacy that the Bush Administration left behind. I still give Edward Snowden a ton of credit for having the balls to speak out on these abuses back in 2013 and he does deserve the title of patriot, not traitor. Hearing about the disclosures back then made me understand that we were heading back to the days of J. Edgar Hoover (the first director of the FBI) where he along with other intelligence agency heads directed their subordinates to spy on the American people. If anyone can remember Frank Church (the powerful Democratic Senator from Idaho [1957-81]), he warned of the consequences of an all-powerful intelligence apparatus that had the tendency to run amok if left without vigorous oversight. Snowden reminds me of him, and of those who leaked the Pentagon papers back in 1971.

The USA Freedom Act is a symbolic law in the sense that it proved Snowden right.

Stupid Season Returns

For a lot of reasons beyond my comprehension, it seems like "stupid season" is back again. By stupid season, I'm talking about the run-up to the GOP's presidential primaries, of which are guaranteed to be quite colorful and in some cases heavy on the stupid factor (the second one is 100% guaranteed).

I can't quite tell yet if he's running or not, but Rick Santorum has certainly done some good work in making himself look like a complete dumbass as you'll see in this video. As you can clearly see, not only is he making some insanely racist commentary, he's also flat-out got his facts wrong and he ought to rethink how immigrants are stealing jobs here. Xenophobia doesn't cut it, Rick. You ought to open a history book sometime, brother, and you'll see that embracing xenophobia actually hurts the economy more than it helps. You'd think the Gilded Age would have let that lesson be known, but apparently you missed that lesson in high school or lecture in college. (Video credit to Right Wing Watch) You can find the original article about this here and why Rick's completely being a moron who's off-target here.

Anyway, remind me why I'm here correcting the mind of a simpleton, again. Not worth the wasted paragraph, but truth be told, there's not much else you can do, when stupid season fires up. Such is the way with Republicans, it's always a race to the bottom. Somehow, they pride themselves in getting F's on everything that requires a modicum of intelligence and/or knowledge of what the heck they're doing (don't count on them having that ability).

At least in Rick's case, he's harmless, albeit dishonest, but harmless as he's not likely to get the nomination in 2016, just like he failed to do so in 2008 and 2012. I've got in mind people who are actually more dangerous than he is. Take Ted Cruz for example, this guy is a nuclear apocalypse waiting to happen, and that's just on foreign policy. On domestic policy, this guy wants to take away all of our rights and silence us to the point that we dare not have any independent thinking. This guy is an absolute lunatic and he's the most dangerous from the fact that he's the leader of the last government shutdown (October 2013). Ted's been engaging in several conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama and on the Democrats destroying the country, along with the Democratic base. The fact is that if Ted's president, or any of the other extremists are president, expect a massive uptick in the harassment of Democratic voters. I'm talking African Americans, Young Americans, Spanish-speaking Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, Women, etc. Of these groups, African Americans would bear the worst of any Republican administration's wrath.

Why I Distrust Netanyahu

I'll admit to the whole world and even to my readers (you folks are awesome enough to inspire me to continue on), I don't trust Benjamin Netanyahu to provide any sense of security for the Jewish people. All this huffing and chest-thumping is only emboldening Israel's enemies. It's also inviting a Third Intafada from the extreme elements among the Palestinians, who are gaining more credibility as Mahmoud Abbas continues to look weak at the negotiating table.

I want people to understand that I could immediately recognize that Bibi was trouble when Likud was able to win a mandate to govern back in 2009, especially knowing how much he was against any form of Palestinian statehood. Over the past 6 years, my instincts were right. Bibi's on an apocalyptic drive that could trigger WWIII. Perhaps, he should take a lesson from history, the persecuted should never become the persecutors.

Let me put it in a more plain way, let the words “Never again” be universal.   

New Single From Katie Cole

Hey all, I got wind that Katie Cole's got a new single out, and from the bit that I've listened to, it's powerful. Props to Katie for putting this out as it sends the message of you're not alone when you feel like you're trapped within yourself. Watch the music vid and tell Katie what you think of her new hit on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace or Google+. Just let her know that I told you to hit her up if she asks any questions.

Netanyahu's Shock For Israel

Seeing how Benjamin Netanyahu has successfully placed together a far-right government in Israel, it's a sobering reminder that the Israeli electorate has been duped. They don't know it yet, but they've just put in power the most heavily war-mongering governing coalition that is deadset on committing an act of genocide of nearly biblical proportions. I do remember writing on this a few times on here. Although, it doesn't do much to really solve the ongoing crisis that Netanyahu and his criminal cohorts hope to manufacture. Seeing as their lobbied poison pills failed in Congress, it's not really a massive shock for me to hear Moshe Yaalon making a boastful promise for genocide through the use of nukes on Iran and on full-scale bombing of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in areas of heavy population density.

To call me an anti-Semite for accusing the Israeli state and government of genocide is ludicrous for this reason:  I'm Jewish. I personally find it absurd to equate criticizing Israel with anti-Semitism, as it's a simpleton's tactic to stifle anything meaningful. By meaningful, I'm talking actually calling out war crimes when they happen, whomever they affect. 

My thing here is that I don't trust Netanyahu on multitude of reasons. The biggest 1 by far is that he's an advocate of war on Palestinian civilians, many of whom have nothing to do with Hamas or many of the other militant groups in the area. The fact is that those same groups do nothing to help the cause for Palestinian statehood.

By viewing the ongoing conflict as needing a military solution is exceedingly boneheaded. This is no military conflict, it's a humanitarian crisis, for crying out loud. This can only be abated through a political solution, via an accord.

Under Netanyahu's governance, I've only seen Israel rip up the accords it's entered into over the last 2 decades. For what? I'm not sure I'll ever know.

What I do know is this: it's any wonder that Barack Obama wants nothing to do with Netanyahu at this point.

Republicans' Economic Mismanagement & How It's A Massive Con

To say that the GOP has a stronger record of job creation is the biggest joke of a lie ever told. I know, joke of a lie is an oxymoron, but just leave that aside, as it's clear the biggest joke ever known to man-kind is the GOP itself; demanding inhuman capabilities that only cause the economy to crash. Clearly the Democrats have a stronger economic record that leads to job creation, but we'll leave that to the side for the moment.

The Republicans can't get their economic mojo together as they don't spend money on areas that actually create jobs nor do they give a tax-code that incentivizes bigger commercial enterprises to actually sustain it. Think about it, whenever they talk about the "American people" getting their taxes back, they mean the wealthiest .02%, not the other 99.98% of us. Pretty much it's an economy to benefit the very wealthiest among us, not the average mom-and-pop shops. But how do they get away with it? Dog-whistle politics, which they call culture wars, to distract the majority of the electorate from their own dismal record, and the demonization of government.

Actually, let's take a step back here. This mismanagement is actually intentional and it's actually thievery. Even though this is 1 of my posts from 2013, it makes sense today as it shows the give-aways the Republicans hand to big business in the form of our tax-dollars. These con-artists are trying to hand everything over to big business so that we have nothing left to live off of. 

Mandatory Voting & Some Potential Issues

I'll start off by saying that Mandatory Voting is not a bad idea in itself, but the implementation of it may be more problematic than President Obama originally anticipated. The reason is summed up in 3 simple letters: G-O-P. I know, what the heck does the GOP have to do with this? It's actually very simple, but be warned, it's also exceedingly infuriating. More on the infuriating part later.

The reason I say that mandatory voting may be a good idea is that it'll help to increase our widely known abysmally low turn-outs when it comes to elections. By getting more voters to the polls would mean more accurate results, instead of partially accurate results as we saw in 2014. It could also mean that by having people participate it will mean that their voices will be heard through the ballot box.

However, there's a more sinister side to this and here's where the GOP comes in. The fact is that, the since the Republicans' base is primarily in the South, it's a sure enough way to engage in a racially-motivated law-enforcement. What's infuriating about this part is that the way the GOP will apply the law across the South is to specifically target Blacks, especially those who are excluded due to felony convictions, but also those who don't fit the proper racial description of what it means to be a "Real American". By "Real Americans", you know they mean Whites. The other infuriating problem with this kind of law is that it will give them a new excuse to continue with mass incarceration, especially since Southern Republicans will use these laws to place even more Blacks in prison, thus continuing the same discriminatory public policies that have existed since the turn of the 20th Century.

The Reason For Body Cameras

After seeing and hearing about the riots in Baltimore on the news, I'm becoming more convinced that body cameras on cops is a good idea. Now this isn't to say that all cops are racist, as most aren't and aren't selective about how they enforce the law. For the unfortunate few that are, this will weed them out, as they're the ones that give law enforcement a bad name. 

Koch Brother's Troubles

For all my rants on here about how the Koch Brothers are the biggest source of mass suffering here in America, well here's something solid to back that up. The post enclosed is what I wrote on Daily Kos (you can subscribe to me here) after seeing an article on PoliticusUSA documenting that Greenpeace USA discovered malfeasance on the part of the Koch Brothers as per a FOIA request and made a request to the IRS to investigate, via this letter, whether the Charles G. Koch Foundation violated IRS regulations specifically banning political lobbying and campaigning for specific political candidates. This is what the Koch Brothers are notorious for doing when it comes to the GOP;s candidates for public office.

Anyway, the IRS has told Greenpeace that if they turn over more documentation they'll start to investigate. This is a good thing, for all of us. It's not just from an environmental stand-point, it's also from a political stand-point as well. Not because it will crush the Republicans and help the Democrats, it will allow our political culture to remain intact without creating an oligarchy. We've had this happen thrice in our nation's history. The first 2 are called the Gilded Age and the Roaring 20s, the last being the lost decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s) due to Reganomics (supply-side economics). If this proves anything, it proves that conservatism is a big lie when fully revealed and is only meant to help those at the very top of the income bracket or can be used as a means to launch a campaign of violent hate (i.e., culture wars).

Now in terms of keeping our political culture intact, it will diminish any more attempts by the Kochs, via the American Legislative Exchange Council, to introduce more vote-suppression schemes into law and other attempts to bring more John Birch Society-type laws that are meant to ignite further "Culture Wars", in addition to more attempts to legislate hate and other means of controlling people referred to as the "Other" (i.e., racial minorities, specifically African Americans, who the Right holds its largest hatred towards).

Hopefully at the conclusion of the IRS' investigation the Justice Department will launch a criminal investigation into the activities of both Charles and David Koch.

Suicide Barriers on BART

Okay, let me start by saying that I really don't wish to continually broach this subject, but I need everyone's help to make the BART board of directors make suicide barriers inside every station a top priority. Just this year, an engineer for the system informed me, there's been a total of 6 suicides so far. These tragic events impact everyone, especially when the BART system gets shut down to clean up the mess left behind.

While we should be heartened that BART is doing something about this problem, we need to keep up the pressure. This problem is only going to get worse down the road, especially when the suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge is complete.

So please, go to +BARTable's page on +Google+, or on Facebook or Twitter, and make tell them to make this a priority. ASAP.

Additionally, hit me up on either Facebook, Twitter, Myspace or Google+ if you'd like to pool ideas to get this going as fast as possible.

New Star Wars Episode

Turns out that on +Facebook there's buzz about a new +Star Wars episode called The Force Awakens, which opens in Theaters on Friday, December 18, 2015. This is post-+Return of the Jedi, and the only sad part is that George Lucas isn't directing it (he said he's done with making Star Wars Films), but at least he's guiding its production. Still, it sucks though, since he's made it a franchise and very lucrative one. Enclosed is a teaser clip from the Star Wars channel on +YouTube. 

Hillary's In & GOP is screwed

It seems as if the +GOP has yet to find someone credible to take back +The White House these days once +Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017. Then again, credible seems to be a rather high standard when it comes to the Republican Party, because of how low our standards have become regarding them governing us. I think George W. Bush said it best as, "I am the master of low expectations," when it came to regarding the Republicans' ability to do anything other than legislate hate and theft.

But then again, they're a reflection of us in how we're so badly divided in terms of politics and public policy. It's all thanks to the Southern strategy implemented by Richard 'Tricky Dick' Nixon to exploit the growing divisions within the Democratic party following the start of the breakup of the New Deal Coalition. This is why we're starting to see the far-right expose itself

They're bankrupt of new ideas, other than parroting the lie that trickle-down economics is the best thing to happen to us and we'll eventually see the fruits of our labor that have enriched the wealthiest .2% of Americans, and that the homosexuals, transgendered, blacks, latinos, etc., basically anyone who isn't White Christian is to blame for every problem facing America today.

The only thing the Republicans are succeeding in doing these days is showing how they're making themselves politically irrelevant in high-turnout Presidential elections and only making themselves politcallly releveant in low-turnout midterm elections. Not a winning national strategy. Especially not one against Hillary Clinton. Based on polls for now, she'd blow any Republican out of the water with the sole exception of Jeb Bush, at least in a non-rigged election. I'm absolutely expecting that in 2016, the Republicans will not only try to rig the election, but will do so to make sure that their standard-bearer +Ted Cruz wins in a 538-0 landslide, or something close enough to that. Of course, that's wishful thinking on anyone's part. But I'm still under no illusion that the Republicans will do anything to steal elections through various means of fraud and vote suppression just to continue giving their corporate benefactors our hard-earned tax dollars.