Donald Trump Doesn't Understand Nor Support Freedom Of Expression Unless For His Alt-Right Base

The last couple of weeks has shown that Donald Trump clearly doesn't understand the premise that freedom of expression is not exclusively applicable to his alt-right base, nor does he support it for anyone who's not from his alt-right base. If he thinks that using intimidation tactics, via Twitter, he's making a big mistake. People aren't falling for the threats. The president has done more to embolden White Supremacists and encourage their acts of violence than many of his predecessors had. This type of Nixon-esque bullying has no place in our political discourse.

Very important that NFL players STAND tomorrow, and always, for the playing of our National Anthem. Respect our Flag and our Country!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017

Donald Trump's Latest Tone-Deaf Remarks On Twitter Regarding Aid To Puerto Rico

It's not lost on anyone, including me, that Donald Trump has been a little too trigger happy when it comes to his tweets. The biggest problem is that many of them have been so tone-deaf that they're alienating the very professionals needed to help those in disaster in Puerto Rico. Going after local officials isn't helping in coordination for even the most mild of criticism.

My Administration, Governor @RicardoRossello, and many others are working together to help the people of Puerto Rico in every way...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017

......#FakeNews critics are working overtime, but we're getting great marks from the people that truly matter! #PRStrong🇵🇷

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017

Results of recovery efforts will speak much louder than complaints by San Juan Mayor. Doing everything we can to help great people of PR!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017

Again, these examples speak for themselves.

North Korea's Kim Jong-Un Is Dumber Than I Realized

North Korea has just shown its sheer level of stupidity. As it turns out, their moron leader, Kim Jong-Un, has made clear just how suicidal and apocalyptic he is. If he thinks that we won't bother to retaliate should he launch a missile at Guam, he's definitely smoking some bad weed. The same also holds true if he thinks that Russia and China will back him up, should he go on the offensive. It's like I just described in my latest video on Youtube, and on my Facebook page and Twitter feed, he's in for a nasty surprise when that happens. Russia and China have made their point of absolute neutrality should North Korea fire the first shot pretty clear.

This latest nuclear test has just gotten both the Russians and the Chinese into the stage of considering their most beneficial outcome, and that outcome looks good for neither North Korea nor Kim Jong-Un himself. There on notice that America is ready to flex its diplomatic and economic muscles with both of them, and they both know that being on good terms with America is a much better deal for them. This is primarily why both Russia and China are now beginning to think with their wallets. They both know that coughing up North Korea's Kim Regime may be a worthwhile down payment in a much more lucrative investment in America's profitable markets.

White Supremacists Come To San Francisco

Just when I thought that things couldn't get any crazier, I've been proven wrong yet again. Apparently, what was once the laughable anecdote about White supremacists coming to San Francisco and making idiots of themselves has now become a frightening reality. The National Park Service, unsurprisingly, approved a staging permit for many different elements of the White supremacy movement (Neo-Nazis, Neo-Confederates, Oath Keepers, etc.) to hold a rally in Chrissy Field. My advice to anyone and everyone coming to visit San Francisco over the weekend: stay away from Chrissy Field and the Marina District! There's no reason to engage a rally of White supremacists looking to incite violence.

If you have any further questions for me, hit me up on either Facebook and/or Twitter.

Out Of Control Threats Of Nuclear War

I can't begin to describe the ramifications at play here, with loose threats of nuclear warfare between Donald Trump & Kim Jong-Un, without turning it into a history lecture. That's the price I pay for being a history graduate from San Francisco State University. I'll try to keep this as concise as I can, but no guarantees.

Loose threats of nuclear war are terrifying beyond the imagenable, and it should serve as a major wake-up call to quicken the process of nuclear disarmament. For the people who grew up during the Cold War, this is a terrifying reminder of their childhood and adolescense. That makes their terror very justifiable.

However, one of the ways these threats have gotten so out of control is by the leadership in North Korea having absolutely no regard for human life. Even worse is the level of cockiness by Kim, who thinks that he'll be able to take on America with the aid of North Korea's de facto allies: Russia and China. This is where he is wrong on so many levels as the dynamics are much different now than with the start and end of the Korean War in 1950-3. The biggest reason is that Russia and China are not going to back North Korea up should it engage in a war of aggression against America and its regional allies.

This doesn't mean that the American side is without its own contributions. For years, America has been engaging in aggressive activity very close to North Korea's territory, both terrestrial and marine, through joint military exercises with both Japan and South Korea. Granted, these activities are primarily defensive in origin, but their execution can come across as a threat to the North. Another factor to add is the cockiness on display by Trump, who, in a way, is lettling his ego cloud his judgment in a sense. Trump is a president with no prior experience in government, which puts him at a huge learning curve. 

The BCRA's Failure To Pass Is A Welcome Reprieve

Seeing that the bill pushed by the Senate GOP failed its vote for passage is a tell-tale sign that the BCRA is dead (or on life-support). If 9 Republicans jumped ranks when the vote came up, it means that more will begin to cave as pressure from their constituents increases. 1 of the Republicans that voted against it, Dean Heller (R-NV), is up for re-election in next year's midterm and he's representing a state that voted for Hillary Clinton in last year's presidential race. This shows that popular opposition is enough to overcome big money's beckoning.

Comcast & Other Big Cable Companies Must Be Nationalized To Save Net Neutrality

For too dang long, big cable companies like Comcast and AT&T have been throwing their weight around and now they're intent on getting rid of net neutrality altogether. They've proven that they're enjoying the threat they pose to free speech on the internet that net neutrality offers, and they need to be stopped. The only way to do so is to nationalize all the big cable companies before they shut down free speech online. Contact your Senators and Representatives in Congress and tell them that you're going to remove them from office next year if they don't pass legislation nationalizing big cable. This isn't about government controlling free speech, it's the American public shutting down a threat to the 1st Amendment right of free speech.

Seeing The Left Destroy Itself

I know that I wrote about how the Right was destroying itself last year, but I think it's time to give the Left its due. The biggest problem is that the "leadership" is doing everything humanly possible to prevent anything meaningful from being enacted. This is a massive problem when the Democrats are holding America hostage just to fatten Corporate America's wallet (the GOP notwithstanding), while only pretending to care about the issues that actually matter to the electorate. At this point the Democratic National Committee has lost its mind, only carrying on (until about last week or so) Hillary Clinton's post-election media tantrum. Be it about Donald Trump's supposed connections to Russia, or how everyone who voted for someone other than Clinton as a mysogynist. That's just a couple of examples, but it paints the picture of how badly out-of-touch the "Left" (and I'm being very generous to the Democratic Party's current leadership) has become. Until there's a revolt from within, there's no way for the left to actually assert itself in America's political dialogue. Especially when we're fighting the very worst elements of the far-right.

Trump's Obsession With Bringing Back Jim Crow And Democrats' Lacklustered Noncommitted Response

It's no secret that Donald Trump has been on the move towards bringing back Jim Crow, but the Democrats' lackluster response is going to ensure that Trump succedes. Their platitudes are just simply lip-service as the DNC has had no interest of doing anything to rectify any of the underlying issues that are driving this recent push. We need to continue to show the DNC that if it wants our support, it needs to act on the issues affecting all of our lives. Otherwise it gives the current demagogues in control of the GOP their blank check to continue to use non-Whites as scapegoats for the public's problems.

It's time for them to grow a pair and start actively opposing this new push for social injustice. It's time for them to stand up and fight back. Anyone within the Democratic ranks that refuses to fight back should be primaried and removed as they're part of the problem.

James Comey's Firing & What It Shows About The Politicization Of The Justice Department

It's not exactly a secret that James Comey's job was on the line since Donald Trump entered the White House in January. No one can deny that there's a political motivation in the works, which does no service to we the people, but that's only the tip of the iceberg here. While it's a fact that in no way should we back any attempt by President Trump to politicize the Justice Department, we need to bear in mind that there's another layer of government commonly known as the unofficial "Fourth Branch" (aka the Intelligence Community/Deep State) that was looking for any excuse to get the President to fire Comey.

There are a couple of reasons behind this theory. For starters, he bungled an attempted cover-up that actually began inside The Obama White House regarding Hillary Clinton's emails. In addition, there's the investigation into possible collusion between President Trump's campaign and Russia in last year's election. The latter reason had to do with possibly exposing the propaganda/misinformation campaign meant to discredit the President from the very first day he entered office.

In terms of politicization, there's no effort to hide the Trump Administration's intent on using the Justice Department to silence many of its most vocal political opponents. That's been a common theme from day 1. How this ties to Comey is his failed effort trying to maintain the FBI's non-partisan integrity. He was set up to be the fall-guy should anything come to light regarding both Russiagate and Emailgate. Comey's refusal to let partisan politics to take precedence over the FBI's sole duty to enforce federal law is what partially led to his ousting. That may have contributed to his ouster, and is part of a long pattern that the Trump Administration has been following over the past few months. There's no question that some of the reason is a way of covering up any potentially questionable ties that many of Trump's closest advisors may have had before he entered office.

Another factor to bear in mind is that Trump has slowly been turning the Justice Department into his personal secret police force to go after anyone (especially those who are public figures) that opposes him politically. As opposition hardens, he's going to get much more violent in his response. Think of Richard Nixon's presidency when J. Edgar Hoover was the FBI Director. That's what we're going to be looking at. However, unlike under Nixon, The Democrats have been lackluster in their response to Trump's maneuvers. The disarray in the party today in 2017 is much worse than it was back in 1969.