A Happier New Year

It's the end of the year 2017 and what a year it's been. During the last two weeks much has taken place that will cement a future of more of the same for those disenfranchised enough to have voted for Donald Trump and the Republicans. To be fair, the working class men and women that represent the populist Trump movement are not entirely responsible for the reward, or lack thereof, they will reap. After all, there were not enough of them for Trump to win the popular vote. No, the Republican tax bill passed last week is a gift to the Donald and the rich GOP white men that authored it on behalf of their even richer donors. It was the one percent constituents, not the working class, that got a big return on their investment in the for-sale public servants they purchased. 

Those that voted Trump should take note that the tax legislation has nothing to do with guns, abortion, immigration, or any of the other hot button issues that Trump populists speak of when talking about their man. The bill doesn't bring coal jobs back or raise wages. It doesn't improve education or public infrastructure. Instead, Trump's single legislative accomplishment lines the pockets of the rich, strips healthcare from the poor, and expands the divide between the haves and have nots to a size not seen before in American history.

Those realities will go unnoticed by the average Trump supporter and that blindness is the only fact that matters when it comes to the public discourse. Given all that's happened in 2017, it's clear that once a Trump supporter, always a Trump supporter. This constituency has made a conscious choice to deny fact and ignore reason. They have woven a low information fairy tale where distrust is king and reality has no place. There will be no happy ending to this grim (not Grimm) fairy tale yet there is no reasoning with pro-Trump protagonists over the why.

So, as 2017 comes to a close, Trump is still the president and the GOP is still unchallenged as it divides and loots the country. What's next? It's a question that I've spent time wrestling with for weeks. It would be very easy to cut and run. From a personal perspective, the tax bill won't hurt me nor will the healthcare mandate repeal.  While I'm certainly not the one percent, I'm comfortable enough that even if this bill costs me more I won't feel the pain. It would be easy to sit back and say, "I told you so" once the inevitable pain does hit working class Trumpers.

However, 2017 has been all about incivility and as easy as the I told you so defense would be it does not represent the kind of person any of us should aspire to become. It mirrors the vindictive, reprehensible behavior of the president and the worst of his supporters. In 2018, there is still hope. There is hope that a majority of Americans believe we are better than Donald Trump. There is hope that the large percentage of eligible voters that sat out in 2016 will choose differently in 2018. We may not be able to change Trumpers' minds but we also don't need to debase ourselves to affect a change away from the ugliness they've embraced.

I hope the promise of 2018 does not wind up being my own fairy tale. I simply don't know what the future will bring but wish us all a happier new year.

America Censored

This list of atrocities committed by the Trump administration is nearly as long as the list of excuses the low information voters that continue to support him use in pathetic attempts to justify the unjustifiable. Those excuses are often laced with the word "freedom", at times purporting Trump's defense against some mythical deep state conspiracy. Turns out, Trump himself may be leading something of a deep state conspiracy to censor the dissemination of scientific information to the American public.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the Center for Disease Control was prohibited from using the following seven words in preparation of materials for the FY19 budget: vulnerable, entitlement, diversity, transgender, fetus, evidence-based and science-based. It's easy to draw lines from those words to issues that Trump has taken a position against but unfathomable that in America words tied to those issues be banned.

Since the initial report, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, said the reported decree on banned words was a complete mischaracterization of discussions regarding the budget formulation process. CDC director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald tweeted Sunday there are no banned words from the agency's vocabulary.

Mischaracterization or not, even the suggestion the administration is attempting to use ambiguous language to advance a political agenda is concerning. The implications of such a move jumps to  terrifying when the target is a non-political agency charged with securing public health. Ambiguity has no place when it comes to addressing threats to the public health. Delivering anything short of specific, evidence-based information puts lives at risk.

The Trump administration has a demonstrated history blatant of censoring facts that do not support its policies. The words climate change and global warming have been disappearing from government websites since January. This simple censorship exercise has been executed with the aplomb of Trump's boss Vladimir Putin across no fewer than four federal agencies.

Censorship by the American government is not American. Trump's willingness to use censorship to advance his agenda is further demonstration of an authoritarian style that continues to divide the country at every turn. Censorship or ambiguous language does not change the truth, it merely masks the inevitable discovery of the facts.

That discovery will come for Donald Trump. It may be delivered soon by Robert Mueller or it may be delivered years from now by future historians. Either way, the lies Trump passes off as alternative facts will not stand the test of time.

Accountability Lost

This past week saw two Democratic lawmakers announce they will leave congress after allegations of sexual harassment. Last week also saw President Donald Trump go all in on accused sex offender and pedophile Roy Moore's candidacy to join congress as the junior Senator from Alabama.

Just another week in what has become the most disappointing exercise in democracy in history. The fact that a sexual predator sits in the oval office using the power of the presidency to advocate for the election of another sexual predator is astonishing. Even more astonishing are the closed minded voters in Alabama that have ignored the facts, formed baseless opinions, and, when confronted, utter hypocritical religion laced statements justifying their support of a man who has violated women and children. 

The Democrats, albeit rudderless since the 2016 election, have taken the appropriate steps to sanction the offenders in their ranks. Both Congressman John Conyers and Senator Al Franken have done great things during their respective years of service, the former reaching icon status in the civil rights movement. Their transgressions do not take away the good they've done in public service but the inappropriate behavior of which both men have been accused require their storied congressional careers to come to an end. Without accountability there is lawlessness.

Accountability is not in the Republican vocabulary. The GOP leadership, sans the idiot Trump, is a shrewdly calculating bunch lacking both conscience and character. It's very possible Mitch McConnell has no intention of seating Roy Moore in the Senate should he win Tuesday's election. McConnell may well send Moore packing on the grounds of conduct unbecoming but such drama will be only for show. The true GOP intent is to make sure Democrat Doug Jones does not win even if the cost of attaining that goal requires condoning a pedophile for now. It's all about the end game for Republicans. If Moore wins, the Senate can reject him and rely on the Republican governor of Alabama to appoint a marginally less offensive Republican white male to fill the seat. Win/win for McConnell. Lose/lose for the country.

The wanton disregard the GOP has for the foundational tenants of American democracy is sickening. The justifications provided to excuse reprehensible behavior are abhorrent and the message such behavior sends to generations to come is that greed, ideology, and political victory reign supreme above character, accountability, and democracy.

There is a place in America for those that believe in conservatism. Yet those conservatives that identify themselves as members of today's Republican party or supporters of Donald Trump are anything but American. They are characterless, complicit, ideologues split between the rich leaders that are driven by greed and the disenfranchised angry masses looking to blame others for their woe. It's a toxic circle where the increasing wealth of the former is directly proportional to declining prosperity of the latter.

The masses would be advised to look inward and upward. You are accountable for your woe as evidenced by the human garbage you've abandoned all moral compass to follow.

A Handmaid's Tale

Last night, I saw the future and it was terrifying. It was an America where the Constitution had been suspended after a terrorist attack, where the name of God had been used to justify the unjustifiable, where women where subjugated, reproductive rights nonexistent, homosexuality punishable by death, and the powerful procreated in a bizarre ritual where a husband would impregnate a surrogate who was being held in his wife's lap.

Literally, the first thing that came to mind was this is the ideal image of America under a President Pence. It was crafted perfectly, right down to the detail of not being alone in a room with a woman other than your wife. Yet the story laid out in the Hulu production of A Handmaid's Tale well precedes Mike Pence and the President he is eagerly waiting to replace. The Margaret Atwood novel of the same name on which the series is based was written more than 30 years - and that's the scary part. 

First published in 1985 during the Reagan revolution and the birth the modern conservative movement, A Handmaid's Tale demonstrates there were clear signs of what the country could look like if that movement continued unbridled and unchecked. Is America one terrorist attack away from suspending the Constitution and starting on the road to dystopia? In a world where Kim Jong Un continues to test ballistic missiles capable of being zeroed in on the United States and the President continues to become more unhinged on Twitter every day, the scenario is potentially closer than we may want to admit.

Let's also not forget the groundwork the GOP has meticulously laid to justify the unjustifiable. At every turn they have sought to marginalize the LGBT community through discriminatory legislation from the various versions of "bathroom bills" to banning same sex marriage. Women continue to see their right to make decisions about their bodies chipped away by the predominantly white male GOP majority. The evangelical right is fine defending a man like Roy Moore because he stands against abortion despite being a sexual predator on the hunt for children slightly older than a fetus.

The GOP also just put the finishing touches on the setup to pry open the class divide in America to its largest proportion ever by approving the HR 1 tax reform bill just last night. This bill is single purposed. Reward Republican donors that put GOP legislators in office. It was payment for services rendered and has very clear winners and losers. The winners: rich people. The losers: everyone else. 

So what is the possible outcome? Those low and middle class Americans that were angry enough to elect Trump in the first place will retreat further into anger and despair.  The disenfranchised ranks will seek a new charlatan, even more extreme than Trump, to lead the way back to an idealized vision of the past that truly never existed. What they may wind up with will not be the Leave It To Beaver version of the American dream but Margaret Atwood's version of the American nightmare.

The Religion of Voting

"I'm torn between voting for a pedophile and voting for a person who believes in abortion." That's  the take from Mountain Brook, Alabama resident Ellen Tipton on the state's upcoming special election. Tipton and other Alabamans voters gets to pick between conservative Republican Roy Moore, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault, and Democrat Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney, who has been accused of having integrity and a sense of duty by former Vice-President Joe Biden.

Alabama's economy ranks 44th in the nation. It's educational system is 3rd worst, and the state's infrastructure was given a "C-" by the American Society of Civil Engineers. What's unlikely from looking at those numbers is that voting largely on the anti-abortion platform as implied by Tipton is the smart play toward improve anything. However, the evangelical Christian vote in Alabama may do just that and send a man that has allegedly violated women as young as fourteen to Washington as their Senator. What could be more Christian? What could be less American?

Moore has never shied away from ignoring the law to promote his own Christian beliefs. He was twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for ethics violations centered around his enforcement of the bible as the rule of law rather than the Constitution. With thinking like that, Moore has more in common with those that seized power in the Iranian revolution than those we expect to execute jurisprudence in the United States.

Jesus isn't registered to vote in Alabama or anywhere else. It would be better for everyone if others didn't attempt to vote in his name. Jesus was poor, disenfranchised from the system (Rome), and likely bore a resemblance closer to that of Osama bin-Laden than the fair skinned white guy DaVinci and other Renaissance artists portrayed. He also didn't speak English. All of that would have made it hard for him to even register to vote in states like Alabama with restrictive, GOP supported, voter-ID laws.

It's uncertain what Alabamans will do on December 12th. Moore remains defiant in the face of overwhelming calls for his withdrawal. Astonishingly, polls have the candidates within five percentage points of each other. 

It seems asking to keep religion out of the election isn't going to work so maybe leaning into it really is the way to go. God gave mankind freewill. That means the right to make personal choices. Doug Jones supports that fundamental belief. Therefore, the choice voters get is between a person that believes in the the God given right of freewill or a pedophile. Which one is going to stand up when judgement day comes? Pretty sure standing next to Roy Moore that day isn't going to go well. Seems like an easy pick Alabama.

A Year Later

I began writing Read Reid a year ago. It was the week after the 2016 election and America had just hired a failed casino owner and reality TV host to be the 45th President of the United States. I needed a day to day coping strategy that didn't involve bourbon; writing seemed like better therapy.

The year that has elapsed since has been difficult. That was not unexpected but Trumpism has significantly exceeded my lack of expectation. The incivility, partisanship, and ugliness on display in the political arena has stained the fabric that weaves us together. Social media is a cesspool, families have lost the ability to rationally talk to each other about differences. Compromise and empathy have become four letter words. Public discourse starts out loud, turns visceral quickly, and usually panders to the lowest common denominator.

Donald Trump isn't the cause of everything that has turned America sour. The ugly unleashed since last November didn't grow overnight. However, the Trump presidency is a testament to America's failures. The Trump presidency would not exist if America invested in education, infrastructure, and broadening the middle class. The Trump presidency would not exist if the aura of public service wasn't so toxic that qualified individuals run the other direction. The Trump presidency would not exist if Americans congregated into communities that celebrated diversity, equity and inclusion instead of congregating into fundamentalist enclaves celebrating a traditionless set of "traditional values" that most only selectively practice.

But the Trump presidency does exist and the country appears to be vomiting after a year of swallowing its own bile. Two mass shootings resulting in 83 deaths in just over a month, widespread sexual harassment/assault admissions by powerful men, charges in the special prosecutor case against former Trump campaign officials, continued fall out over the racism in Charlottesville, the hurricane in Puerto Rico, and immigration reform are all spewing out at once. Trump isn't directly responsible for everything bad that has happened on his watch but America hurts and Trump has demonstrated no ability to heal.

There have been some glimmers of hope. This year's November elections swung the pendulum a little bit back to the middle with Democratic gubernatorial victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and mayoral victories several major cities. Change will take more than a few Democratic wins. It will take a Democratic commitment to speak to the issues that allowed the Trump presidency to exist. That is a difficult task for a party that still doesn't have a message beyond "anything but Trump."

Yes, it's been a difficult year. More may follow and I don't have a quick fix solution. The best strategy I have is to try and maintain civility in the delivery of my message for change. Not everyone agrees with my point of view and those differences have distanced some friends and family. I welcome any fact based conversation that might bridge that distance. In the end, we still may agree to disagree but we will have done so comparing apples to apples and not Fox News to CNN.

Thus concludes blog entry 46; coming up next...

The Toxic President

In an even worse sequel to of one of Donald Trump's most putrid campaign episodes, the President has again tangled with another Gold Star family. This time, the feud is over the appropriateness of remarks Trump made during a condolence call to a grieving widow. 

None of us where there. None of us can say for sure we know what was said. The only opinion that matters is that of Myeshia Johnson who either heard what she thought she heard or processed whatever Trump said differently than he intended. Grief can certainly cloud the processing of events in anyone so sensitivity to her situation should have been paramount when the President chose his words. Even if he said all the right things, the fact she somehow felt different is not beyond the possible. Trump could have taken the high road and apologized for at least leaving her with an unintended impression even if he stood by his words. He could have acknowledge her grief, the difficulty of the situation, and moved on without appearing patronizing or insincere.

However, Trump is not a man that apologies about anything. He is incapable of admitting error, demonstrating humility, or showing empathy. So this President instead chose to engage in a public war of words with a grieving widow dragging what should be the most private of moments further into the public arena. As if that wasn't mistake enough, surrogates from both side became involved escalating the rhetoric to a new level of ugly. 

Florida congress woman Frederica Wilson who reportedly heard the call defended Johnson's account. The President responded by shoving his Chief of Staff, John Kelly, into the line of fire. Kelly, himself a Gold Star father and retired general, somehow found a way to both defend Trump and level partisan political accusations against the congresswoman that were almost immediately proven false via video evidence. That opened the door for Wilson to fire back raising the issue of race as a motivator for the administration's response.

All of this could have been avoided had the President chose to be the bigger person. Instead, the President chose to be toxic.

Trump's lack of moral character means his natural instincts are driven by the worst of human emotion running unchecked. Narcism, ego, entitlement, a sense of infallibility, and greed are evident in nearly every action he takes. It is a toxic combination that is poisoning the country. Trump's toxicity also brings out the worst in those around and those that support him.

One of the most troubling examples of the latter came during the Wilson/Kelly back and forth, as if that situation wasn't troubling enough on its own. After Kelly leveled accusations against Wilson that reporters suspected to be false, White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders said it was inappropriate to question a four star general.

Not in this country, Sarah. It's an imperative.

The beyond reproach claim is a diversionary tactic the administration has trotted out before. Senior White House policy adviser Stephen Miller asserted the President's policy beyond question when attempting to defend the original Trump travel ban. The policy, actions, and character of the administration are so indefensible the only option open to them is to try and shutdown all dialog.

Kelly's baseless attack is sad irony to Trump's recent tweet war with the NFL around patriotism. At a time when his boss has spent significant time bashing players over their genuine protest during the national anthem, the former general used false accusations to discredit a woman attempting to defend the widow of an American war hero. There is little honor or patriotism in that.

Aborhent behavior is the norm for this Presidency. The idea the GOP is the party of traditional values is laughable. Few values anyone would consider desirable are based in lies, racism, sexual harassment, greed, narcissism, and intolerance. Yet those toxic behaviors are what Trump and his supporters put on display everyday.

No Good, Plenty Bad, All Ugly

If taking a knee before an NFL game is disrespectful to America, it's a protest that pales by comparison to disrespect that President Donald Trump and his so called conservative "values" supporters give the Constitution and human decency every day.

Trump wakes up each morning and figuratively defecates on Twitter. This week he's challenged the First Amendment's protection of freedom of the press. He's lied to America about healthcare saying he's decreasing costs when every in reality he's sabotaging insurance exchanges. He also took a shot a the idea of sanctuary cities as many continue to oppose his race/religion based immigration policies.

In addition to the Twitter lowlights, former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon stood before the Value Voters Summit of social conservatives and literally outlined Trump's executive order as sabotage designed to "blow up" the health-care law and insurance marketplaces. These so called "values voters" purport to have christian beliefs as their foundation. Yet, can anyone really imagine putting Bannon's words against a what would Jesus do test? It's complete hypocrisy. These "value voters" don't stand for any value other than themselves - something they have in common with Trump.

Speaking of hypocrisy, the Harvey Weinstein scandal dominated headlines this week. Of course the headlines it made with conservatives didn't have much to do with a meaningful conversation around ending sexual harassment. Fox News, itself a former safe house for monsters like Weinstein, focused on the fact Weinstein financially supported democrats rather than the damage he's done to his victims. Trump didn't call for Fox News to be de-licensed like NBC (fact check: networks do not have broadcast licenses, their affiliates do) but he did say he wasn't surprised about Weinstein when asked about the story by CNN. During that exchange the reporter asked how Weinstein's behavior differed from how Trump characterized his own on the Access Hollywood tape. Trump brushed off the tape and stuck to the story that his remarks were just "locker room" talk.

So to recap, conservatives are ok ignoring the victims of sexual harassment in favor of trying to make their opponents look bad. Trump apparently knew Weinstein well enough to not be surprised by his actions, yet said nothing, and apparently that's ok. Trump is again let off scot free by "value voters" when it comes to his own behavior of sexual harassing women.

Every day Trump unloads nothing but ugliness. His lies, baseless accusations, flat out wrong facts, and malicious intent drop on Twitter and from the White House like never ending diarrhea. Trump supporters embrace him even tighter clinging to a indefensible line of defense. The opposition tries to fight back with fact checks and reason but Trump has turned the forum into such a cesspool that civility is near lost on both sides.

The current President of the United States is a malevolent moron but he also may be the product of our own decades of political behavior. We've done little to put value on education, improve the lives of the poor and middle class, and have been a country at war abroad for most of the last twenty years. Those things wear on people. They wear on decency. They breed distrust and foster ignorance. Right and left have looked by each other so long that there is nothing that remains recognizable. The incivility, hypocrisy, and lack of decency personified by Trump may mean we are generations lost when it comes to being able to bridge the divide.

Perhaps subsequent generations will do better but with the current example being set, today's children don't stand a chance at actually making america great again.

The President May Be A Moron

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson didn't deny an NBC News report this week that he characterized President Donald Trump as a moron. Actually, follow up reports clarified that Tillerson may have actually referred to Trump as a "fucking moron" but either way the sentiment is pretty clear. Tillerson is now on a death watch as the top US diplomat and many question whether he can or should survive in the post. If Tillerson were to go now he would join a number of original Trump cabinet members that lost the President's confidence and would have served approximately 24 Scaramuccis (one Scaramucci being an 11 day standard unit of measurement for longevity of Trump appointees).

Whether or not Tillerson called Trump a moron will likely never be confirmed by the Secretary himself but NBC stands by it's reporting that the remark took place. It's also possible that Tillerson misclassified the President if he was truly evaluating him based on the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scale where the term moron, now deprecated, was used to classify low mental acuity along with two other closely associated terms:

• Morons - Those with IQs between 51 and 70 (adequate learning skills to complete menial tasks and to communicate)
• Imbeciles - Those with IQs between 26 and 50 (unable to progress past a mental age of approximately six)
• Idiots - those with IQs between 0 and 25 (poor motor skills, extremely limited communication, and little response to stimulus)

Clearly, Trump is not an idiot, after all, he successfully navigates the golf course and plays tennis which indicates non impaired motor skills. He does, however, use a cart which forces the Secret Service to do same. That crutch has cost the taxpayers $137,000 so far this year.

Whether Trump has passed the mental age of six is debatable after his Access Hollywood remarks. The tape of that fiasco received an encore showing this week by a women's advocacy group on the National Mall.  Trump has completed a primary education track beyond that of a six year old so that  leaves Tillerson's assessment of moron as the potential correct classification.

In fairness, Tillerson is not a doctor but he is likely a good candidate to evaluate Trump's management and leadership abilities. As CEO of Exxon, Tillerson successfully ran one of the largest companies in the world. Trump has run his own companies into bankruptcy six times.

Tillerson's opinion not withstanding, the President's own words can be measured by anyone against a simple test: Would a moron say this:

"This is an island surrounded by water. Big water. Ocean water.",  Trump speaking about hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico, Sep 29, 2017.

"[he] sold his company for a tremendous amount of money. And he went out and bought a big yacht, and he had a very interesting life. I won't go on any more than that because you're Boy Scouts, so I'm not going to tell you what he did." Trump speaking at the Boy Scout Jamboree, July 24, 2017.

"We should also just cancel the elections and just give it to Trump." Trump, speaking at a rally in the Toledo Ohio, October 27, 2016

"40 Wall Street, in fact, was the second tallest building in business district Manhattan. And now it is the tallest." Donald Trump, bragging about his building following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in an interview with WWOR/UPN 9 News in New York (Sept. 11, 2001).

"Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!" Twitter, Sep 23, 2017.

"Just remember, the birther movement was started by Hillary Clinton in 2008. She was all in!" Twitter, Sep 22, 2015.

"If you look at his wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say, she probably — maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say, you tell me." Trump speaking with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos about the Gold Star parents of Humayun Khan, an Army captain, died in a car bombing in 2004 in Iraq, July 30, 2016.

The list of statements is near endless. They range from baseless to inappropriate at numerous levels. The searchable Twitter archive of Trump tweets can provide numerous additional examples if necessary.

Labeling Trump as moron isn't the point of chasing Tillerson's remarks. Anyone that's said the things that Trump has said and anyone that has demonstrated the lack of depth Trump has demonstrated on issues of race, international relations, and domestic policy is not fit for the job. Trump does not possess the temperament or the intellect to execute the job at a level worthy of the office or the country.

Here is one last quote to consider that came earlier this week when Trump ominously suggested, while standing with military leaders, that this could be "the calm before the storm."

From the mouth of a moron...with keys to a nuclear arsenal.

#racist #unfit #impeach #sad

Friday was a big night for racism, intolerance and sheer stupidity. President Donald Trump showed up in Alabama ostensively to support senatorial candidate Luther Strange but managed to fire up the assembled crowd around nearly everything but the Alabama Senate contest.

The Trump highlight reel included floating the concept that NFL owners, 100% of whom are white, should fire any player, 66% of whom are black, that takes a knee during the national anthem. It was a not so veiled reference to the protest around racial inequality started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick who Trump didn't mention by name. Instead the presidential dotard referred to any player expressing their 1st amendment right as a "son of a bitch." In contrast to his characterization of Nazis exercising their same rights as "very fine people", the statements pretty well define this President's stance on race. To put it in terms he can understand, #racist #unfit #sad

Trump then continued on a rant lamenting penalties for excessive hits in football and advocated for a harder hitting game. Trump was oblivious to the mounting evidence of the game's impact (pun intended) on brain disease, and specifically, this week's report that former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez suffered from severe C.T.E. (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) at the time of his death at age twenty seven. #sad

Demonstrating further obliviousness, Trump warned that North Korea could explode a "massive weapon" over the Pacific Ocean, resulting in "tremendous, tremendous calamity where the plume goes." Then he told everyone not to worry about that but offered no plan as to how he would diffuse the escalating situation or prevent Kim Jong-un from detonating such a device. Since Friday, Trump continued to tweet insults toward North Korea's leader recklessly provoking a situation that has nuclear consequences. #unfit

Also since Friday, Trump has pursued his war of words with the NFL sending out a series of tweets attacking players and owners supportive of the right to protest during the anthem. It's an embarrassing exchange of rhetoric that puts the man with a sworn oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution on the side of curtailing the the very rights that document guarantees. A violation of the Presidential oath is grounds for removal from office. #unfit #impeach

Trump's ire unleashed on Twitter and at his showboating rallies (some which cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars) is not only set against the backdrop of a potential North Korean nuclear confrontation but also a humanitarian tragedy unfolding in the wake of hurricane Maria on the island of Puerto Rico. U.S. citizens are at risk of death on the island territory as Puerto Rico remains without power and is running low on food and water. Trump's last tweet directed toward those in jeopardy was four days ago. The administration did approve a disaster declaration earlier this week but the President is noticeably absent from expressing support or concern for Puerto Rico's predominantly hispanic population. #racist #sad

The expectation of the 2016 election was that the United States chose it's new leader. Agree or disagree with the partisan politics of the chosen candidate, competent leadership during the President's tenure is a bi-partisan expectation. Donald Trump is not competent. He is a President, ill equipped to lead, uncomfortable with acting Presidential, and incapable of empathy or inclusion. He is merely a C-list celebrity occupying the White House, a man at home in front of a pandering crowd of deplorables, delivering grandiose, inflammatory, and mostly false statements to make himself look "big" in their eyes. # unfit # impeach #sad

Trump has failed to show the mettle of a leader with any challenge his presidency has faced from racial unrest to natural disasters. Nothing to date has been able to draw his attention away from the trivial.  A mushroom cloud is too high a price to pay.  #racist #unfit #impeach #sad

Race, Public Trust, and Hannity's Angels

It seems impossible to skip addressing this week's faux outrage from the conservatives over the latest private citizen to call President Trump a white supremacist.  Yes, ESPN's Jemele Hill is a public figure but she's a sports TV personality. She's has no responsibility to an electorate, purview over public safety, and did not make the statement as part of a journalistic expose. She made the comments on Twitter, the same platform where other TV personalities have also assailed the President as racist - like this TV reality host did:

Obama's '07 speech which @DailyCaller just released not only shows that Obama is a racist but also how the press always covers for him.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2012

Conservative backlash over the comment was an exercise in surreal humor.  Fox's Sean Hannity had a  this diverse panel on to discuss the issue:

White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Hill's comments a "fireable offense" during Wednesday's press briefing. That's rich when measured against the Mooch Scale Of Statements It Takes To Get Fired from the Trump administration itself.

Questioning whether or not Hill exercised good judgement considering her public persona is fair game. Facts matter and so do words. Checking the former and being selective about the latter are important. For instance, this blog entry was going to originally be entitled Michigan Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Thanks Bigot for Endorsement. Yet, there were some facts to check around the following post before that story could move forward:

Thank you @realDonaldTrump for your strong support. Working together, Michigan will start winning again with more jobs, growth & paychecks. https://t.co/c2XdyVZi6C

— A.G. Bill Schuette (@SchuetteOnDuty) September 17, 2017

There is certainly some "very fine" evidence to support Hill's opinion about Trump. That said, organizations like ESPN are entitled to set rules around employee public conduct particularly when that conduct can negatively impact the organization or impugn the ability for the employee to effectively do their job. Hill's comments are not going devastate the public confidence in her reporting on week 3 in the NFL but it's understandable ESPN likely doesn't want to get involved in politics. In a perfect world, it probably shouldn't.

However, the world today is far from perfect and there are certainly social media comments that can undermine public confidence in a way Hill's did not. Take those of Ohio firefighter Tyler Roysdon who, on Facebook, lamented he'd rather save the life of a single dog in a fire over that of that of a million black people.

The difference between Hill's comments and those of Roysdon are clear. The former is an expression of opinion citing behavior in another that is discriminatory. The latter is an expression of intent to do harm to others based on opinion rooted in discrimination. Given Roysdon is charged with upholding public safety that truly is a fireable offense. Both Hill and Roysdon are equally protected in their right to state an opinion. Neither are protected from the consequences of their words.

ESPN and Hill will come to terms on the matter as employer to employee. Whether or not those terms are perceived fair by Hannity's Angels or the public at large is also a matter of opinion but since watching ESPN isn't mandatory there are options for expressing sentiment on any given outcome.

With Roysdon there are no options. This deplorable has violated the public trust and lost the right to make a living off that trust. He's stated race as a basis he may use to choose who to save from a burning building. Any decision short of permanently removing his cancer from the Franklin Township Ohio Fire Department endangers the public.

There can be no difference of opinion on that one.

Science Fiction

Hurricane Irma is moving across Florida leaving a path of destruction in its wake. The storm may have lost some of its punch after making landfall but Irma is still very dangerous and the safety of first responders and residents in harms way remains paramount.

Despite the seriousness of the storm it seems that even hurricanes can spark political folly these days. While Irma was still out in the Atlantic the massive size of the storm prompted speculation around how climate change has impacted hurricanes formation. The scientific answer is: yes, climate change does make for wetter and more powerful storms. The political answer is: now isn't the time to talk about climate change. At least that is the position of US Environmental Protection Agency Secretary, Scott Pruitt. During an interview with CNN, Pruitt stated exactly that, adding that asking the question was insensitive to the people of Florida.

If there's one thing Scott Pruitt knows about that's insensitivity. He's not been shy about hiding the fact he wants to make it easier on polluters. Since he was elected Oklahoma's attorney general in 2010, Pruitt has been insensitive to people everywhere through litigation designed to undermine regulation that protect air and water across the country.

For Pruitt and, more broadly, the Trump administration, the time to talk about the impact of climate change is never. Pruitt has denied climate change and Trump famously tweeted it was a hoax. The reality is that now is exactly the time to hear from climate scientists since now is the time we are dealing with the impact and aftermath of the storm.

Science should dictate how we spend the billions of dollars necessary for rebuilding and future proofing against the next Irma or Harvey. Yet science isn't a priority for Trump or the Republicans. In fact, the GOP is downright hostile to science, knowledge, and learning. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 58% of self-identified Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe that colleges and universities have a negative effect on "the way things are going in the country."

That is a stunning indictment of science and education and a snapshot of the devolution of conservatism in America. Conservatives used to favor established institutions and gradual change. Those institutions used to include universities and the value they provide in educating the next generation of CEO's, doctors, lawyers, scientists, and engineers. Today conservatives favor closed mindedness and infer the inflammatory rhetoric of pundits and entertainers to be true.

Alternative facts are fiction. Climate change is real. Until science can find a cure for stupid, the low information conservative base that supports Trump and the Republicans will continue to embrace the science fiction they are fed. Not even a hurricane (or three) may be strong enough to change their minds.

American Horror Story

Today we live in an America capable of tremendous acts of humanity and terrible acts of cruelty. Over the last week we've seen Americans helping one and other in sometimes heroic and sometimes simple ways. From dramatic boat rescues to passing out blankets at shelters, these acts of humanity may well give the American horror story that is the hurricane Harvey aftermath a less than tragic ending.

At the same time, amidst these selfless acts of humanity lives a fear. Swayed by the government crackdown on illegal immigrants, some undocumented persons in the hurricane Harvey flood zone chose to leave themselves in harms way versus trust they would not be imprisoned and deported by seeking help. The depth of this fear prompted Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner to say, "If someone comes and they require help and then for some reason [someone] tries to deport them, I will represent them myself."

It's unimaginable that inside the United States borders there exists an atmosphere where people refuse to seek help during a natural disaster of epic scale out of fear of the state. Even the idea sounds like the storyline from a Robert Ludlum book written 40 years ago and set behind the Iron Curtain. Yet, this story is non-fiction and is the present day result of President Trump's divisive policy on immigration.

As the flood waters in Houston recede, Trump's ugly politics around race and immigration has begun to seep back onto the national stage. Trump has bookended the storm with acts of cruelty metaphorically as damaging to America as Harvey was physically. Hours before the storm hit, Trump issued a presidential pardon to former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a man he called a patriot. The list of atrocities for which Arpaio is responsible would likely make him a war criminal anywhere outside the United States. Hardly a patriot.

Now, post Harvey, Trump is likely to end the Obama era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program that shields children of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Ending the so called "Dreamers" program has serious economic consequences that could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. On a human scale, the damage doesn't have a price tag. Many Dreamers came here as small children. The United States is the only country they've ever known. Now that country wants to take away their livelihood and deport them to completely foreign land.

The cruelty embodied in Trump immigration policies is near unimaginable. Ending DACA solves nothing. The move is punitive and is about as effective as the ridiculous idea of a border wall in addressing illegal immigration. It's little more than a nod to Trump's base of very fine people that seem to support a misguided, unattainable, and undesirable quest to bleach America white.

It is a true American horror story.

All In The Family

Family and politics rarely make a good combination but social media offers the opportunity to mix the two sometimes deliberately and sometimes inadvertently. 

In the wake of Charlottesville, I saw a Facebook post from two of my own that made me wonder, if the gap is so big between us, how can we hope to engage with people we don't have a deep affection for to try and mend the divide that separates us? Disagreements between family typically become personal quickly due to the emotional ties. Maybe it is easier with strangers but then again, without the emotional ties, people are easier to dismiss.

Social media has certainly made it easier to find and align with like minded people. It can bring together people with shared interest and experience from points near and far.  That's good but it's also bad in that it self sorts out diversity. The video shared in the post referenced above features a woman sharing a perspective on race based on what she says is her own experience. 

Looking through the comments, those that like the video lack both racial diversity or difference in insight on why it resonates with them. That in of itself should be a flag for anyone that hit the "like" button. Any take on racism that only a bunch of white people like does nothing to advance the conversation around racism. In fact, race isn't even the point of this video, the message is to promote the mainstream media as purveyors of fake news. It actually shoves aside, devaluing, the conversation around racism to make that claim about the media. No wonder a bunch of conservative white people like it, mainstream media bashing is an issue they really care about.

Sure, there are some that will miss that seemingly blunt overtone and infer a black woman said they are not racists. That's too is not absolution.

When things matter - and fighting racism matters - we need to question, validate, and hold each other accountable. Those that "liked" this video didn't do that. The host opens with some selective facts about race violence, then throws out a number about active hate group members that is not based in fact, and finally delivers her intended message that racism is a fabrication of the media.

I could fact check the farcical argument and take apart this video sentence by sentence but that isn't the point. It's unlikely by doing so I'm going to convince anyone that liked the video the message it contained is wrong. What I'm asking for is those that liked this video to be open to doing that work themselves. I'm asking them to willingly challenge their beliefs, validate them with fact, see if they stand up, and hold themselves accountable. I am not asking they do something I'm unwilling to do.

Agreeing with an opinion doesn't make that opinion fact. Disagreeing with a news story doesn't make that story fake news. Somewhere on Facebook, Twitter, and family rooms around the country those truths have become lost. Let's find them as a first step in bridging the divide.

What is Wrong with White People?

One of the saddest parts of American history is that racism is as old as the Constitution. Actively, the white supremacist movement embodied by the Ku Klux Klan has existed for more than a century. It's an ugly side of American culture damaging to the spirit of the country. Many assume it operates on the fringe. That's simply not true for anyone that is a target of the hate the movement dispenses. Yesterday, that hate became visible to all, thriving, not on the fringe, but on American streets. Most worrisome, this hate is feeding off the mainstream through complicit politicians and angry white voters. 

Charlottesville is a tragedy and the white supremacist movement is domestic terrorism. Thirty two year old Heather Heyer was murdered standing up to hate. Two police officers died in a helicopter crash while en route the scene and dozens were injured in protests sparked over the city's desire to remove a statue of a racist. Robert E. Lee, the man depicted in the statue, may have been a lot of things, including a brilliant general, but fundamentally he was a racist. 

Some have declared the statue's removal an attempt to erase parts of history. Lee should not be erased from history but his legacy is fighting to preserve an institution condoning ownership of human beings. While there is some poetic justice in Lee's likeness being covered in pigeon droppings it's unimaginable a statue of the general is appropriate outside a museum surrounded by appropriate historical context. The monument in Emancipation Park was erected decades after the civil war, without context, arguably in an attempt to resurrect symbols of the confederacy.

Despite a terrorist attack taking place in an American city yesterday, President Donald Trump demonstrated shocking indifference to the tragedy in Virginia. He has yet to condemn white supremacy by name saying, "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides." 

On many sides? No sir, there was hatred, bigotry, and violence on one side. And that side has been on the wrong side of history for over 100 years. That side murdered Heather Heyer. That side also endorsed you, Mr. President, as the agent of change for hate.  

Former KKK leader David Duke said the following, "This represents a turning point for the people of this country. We are determined to take our country back, we're going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump, and that's what we believed in, that's why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he's going to take our country back and that's what we gotta do."

Despite that statement, the President cannot bring himself to condemn white supremacy. It's a pattern. Trump would not condemn Duke or the KKK during the campaign despite being pressed on national television. That doesn't leave a lot of room for conclusions other than Trump is complicit with racism, if not an out right racist. Yet Trump continues to enjoy support from a largely white, GOP base.

This brings us to a fundamental question. What is wrong with white people? In what world do they think they are oppressed? Why are they so angry? White people make up the majority of American government. In fact, they make up seventy eight percent of the U.S. House and ninety percent of the Senate. The overwhelming majority of state legislatures are also white.

The answer is they've voted for the wrong white people. They keep returning people to government that consistently act against their own interests. Maybe white people should try non-white people in government at all levels. Then things might change. Those who have been truly oppressed might use that experience to empathetically focus on the real issues dividing the classes.

But in the here and now it's time to draw the line. We must fight hate and racism inside and outside the White House. The white supremacists have exercised their first amendment rights. They say they stand with Trump. They will be accountable for their words and face the legal consequences of their actions. Those of us that stand against them must stand against Trump for his complicity. 

There is no more room to support Trump and also claim not to support bigotry and hate. Trump himself left you no choice. There are no "many sides" to this one. There are two. Right and and wrong. Trump supporters, you need to choose, not pick and choose when the stakes are so high. Stick with Trump, or not, but stop lying about your true beliefs if you stand with a man that cannot condemn hate.

This Week's Episode

It seems like there must have been an episode of The Office that paralleled the last two weeks in the White House.  If there isn't, that's too bad as this kind of dramedy would play great on a sitcom. Press Secretary Sean Spicer, mad about his new boss, quit in a huff. That new boss, the Mooch (perfect douchebag character name), drunk dialed Ryan Lizza, a reporter for The New Yorker, and unloaded an f-bomb laced assessment of his peers in the White House. Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus "resigned" after that phone call in apparent confirmation of Anthony Scaramucci's take on his effectiveness and was left sitting alone on the tarmac after following his dismissal. To wrap things up, Trump took a few more pot shots at his own Attorney General. Cut to commercial and it's a hilarious episode so far. Of course, it's way less funny since this episode takes place in the real White House where a real, more malevolent version of Michael Scott sits maniacally tweeting within reach of the nuclear football.

The disarray in the administration was the subplot to the main storyline this week which was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's attempt to cheat the American public out of healthcare. Fortunately, those efforts failed in the eleventh hour when the pure evil being peddled in the so called skinny repeal bill was cut down by three of the Republican's own who simply could not pallate legislative murder.

Arizona Senator John McCain received praise for the "courage" of his no vote. McCain has much to atone for over the last twenty years, most notably inflicting Sarah Palin on the world, but McCain deserves respect for his vote, one of two actions in recent memory on which he's earned it (the other is here). Courage, however, is a word that best applies to Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, the other two Republicans that broke ranks with evil. Collins had the courage to stand against the ACHA from the get go. She wasn't moved by threats or pork barrel bribes. Murkowski's courage to vote no could prove more costly for the Senator and her constituents. Trump has already made it known he may punish Murkowski and the residents of her home state of Alaska for the vote by pulling federal support of energy related projects. In typical misogynistic fashion, Trump has yet to level such threats against McCain.

The angry man baby President will likely do anything in his power to exact a toll for the Trumpcare failure and turn a blind eye to the collateral damage. The low brow mouth, breathing level at which Trump operates doesn't allow him to understand compromise or consider opposing points of view. Retaliation is the strategy he uses to get his way. Trump is driven by a binary definition of win/lose. This drive is so misguided it manifests itself at all levels of his life. Trump is so petty that he has to have one more scoop of ice cream than those around him in order to chalk up a win. Deliberately collapsing the insurance exchanges in an effort to sabotage Obamacare is a decision no different, and no less important to him, than a scoop of ice cream.

After a loss, Trump typically retreats to his comfort zone where he seeks adoration in front of a friendly crowd. Friday was no different when he appeared in front of a gathering of law enforcement officers on Long Island. Trump swaggered around like a frat boy senior holding court over the underclassmen. During his remarks he encouraged police not to worry about injuring suspects during arrests. The fact any President would make these remarks is astonishing, let alone at a time when police shootings of suspects and bystanders is at a critical level.

Trump is a disgrace and a deplorable by any measure. Sadly, the fight against the economic disparity and the intolerance he embraces will continue. The healthcare outcome was either a bright spot or bullet dodged depending on one's optimism but the moment will be short lived as Donald Trump stumbles into the next episode of his sad metaphorical sitcom. Unfortunately, we cannot change the channel and have to wait three more years for the show to be cancelled.

Trump Loyalty Is A One Way Street

Loyalty is a big deal to Donald Trump. He has often spoke of the importance he places on loyalty over the years with comments from a 1992 interview with Charlie Rose sounding very much like something he could have tweeted today.  Former FBI Director James Comey's decision not to pledge loyalty to the President during a private dinner in January is largely seen as the moment Trump began thinking about cutting him loose. Yet for all the President's talk, loyalty is a one way street with Donald Trump; his subordinates are finding that out first hand and it's only a matter of time before those that voted for him will too.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions learned that lesson the hard way this past week when the President publicly disparaged him during an interview with the New York Times. Trump indicated he never would have selected Sessions for the job had he known the former Alabama Senator would have recused himself from the investigation of Trump campaign ties to Russia. Sessions will likely find little sympathy over this public rebuke given he's shattered his own credibility with contradictory statements about his involvement in the situation before Congress.  That said, Trump's remarks signaled to anyone watching Sessions status is little more than lame duck.

Speaking of lame ducks, Sean Spicer resigned this past week as White House Press Secretary after Trump announced Anthony Scaramucci to be the administration's new Communications Director. Spicer checked all remnants of personal credibility at the door the day of the inauguration and stalwartly defended even Trump's most indefensible moves at all turns since. Spicer had even taken over day to day Communications Director duties when Mike Dubke resigned in May. Yet for all that loyalty, Spicer was passed over and is now out.

Make no mistake. The only person Donald Trump is loyal to is Donald Trump. Thus, the enduring support Trump voters show for the President is sadly misguided. They seem oblivious to the fact they themselves will someday be abandoned by the narcissist in chief.

Even Trump supporters must wonder about a guy that's publicly throwing the people who work for him under the bus. But then again, they've certainly turned a blind eye to far worse things the President has said and done, yet, this one somehow seems more relatable to the average person.

Perhaps not, but it still shouldn't come as a surprise to Trump supporters when the door hits them in the ass.

Healthcare Game Day

It's nearly game day for Trumpcare vs Obamacare. Fifty, mostly white, male, and rich, Senators will take to the chamber floor and vote on what the future of healthcare will be like for the rest of us. Bear in mind, the rest of us largely enjoy a lifestyle with economic realities vastly different from those of the privileged members of the Senate. Also bear in mind that there isn't a single poll showing majority support for the the AHCA; some show the bill the least popular of any in the last three decades. None the less, the GOP majority in the Senate is pushing forward with any and all tactics necessary to line up the votes necessary to strip healthcare from 22 million Americans and deliver their promised tax cut to the rich.

Credit Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell for bowling sized cojones when it comes to driving this legislation forward regardless of the negative impact to the people that voted to put Trump and a Republican congress in office. It might be hard to come up with an example of elected officials giving the middle finger to such a vast constituency since the Confederate Congress existed. Although current Republican rhetoric on class, race and gender from the President on down would play well in 1860 Atlanta but that's a different story.

It's unfathomable the country is having a conversation about taking healthcare away from its own people but Republicans are now trying to reap what they've sown after pushing eight years of fake news about Obamacare. During the entire Obama presidency, Republicans rallied against Obamacare as a menace that strips people of money, freedoms and, most famously, creates death panels. Their baseless partisan rhetoric took on a life of its own comically (and sadly) confusing some GOP supporters to publicly decry Obamacare while at the same time expressing support for the Affordable Care Act.

Fortunately, many were eventually able to see past the lies and now some GOP congressional members seem genuinely taken aback their constituents figured out the truth. Those representatives are now stuck in a position where they may need to vote against the populous in order to satisfy their rich donors expecting a tax cut as part of the AHCA deal. To close the deal, McConnell and company are wheeling and dealing special interest amendments that make the bill vastly worse than it started which is no small feat.

The most inhumane add-on to the ACHA is the Cruz amendment named after Texas Republican and anti-Robin Hood supervillan Ted Cruz. He's managed to concoct a take from the poor and give to the rich scenario where individuals can hand over their cash to insurance companies for junk insurance plans. It's a GOP idealogical (and pathological) masterpiece. When people on those plans get sick and realize their coverage is worthless, they cannot switch to a full coverage plan for six months, assuming they live that long.

The ACHA is now so bad Senators have exempted themselves from having to live by the draconian rules they've setup for everyone else. The law mandates that members of Congress have access to essential health benefits which is exactly what Obamacare mandates for everyone else today.

For his part, the President has contributed nothing but noise. Donald Trump has demonstrated zero knowledge of the details around either Obamacare or the bill nicknamed after him that is designated to replace it. He is merely a buffoon with a bullhorn squandering an opportunity to actually set a cornerstone that would make America great.

Cue the announcer, "Yes folks, it's game day: Obamacare vs Trumpcare. This game is very much do or die for the home team - your home. And now taking the field on your behalf, the Republican Party."

A Tale of Two Videos

The 4th of July was vacation for me and only the second week that I've not written original content since the 2016 election. However, I was struck by a tale of two videos at the conclusion of the G20 summit and was compelled to note the contrast.

The President celebrated the end of the G20 by releasing a video montage of his adventures in Hamburg to the tune of Make America Great Again. The video doesn't really have a clear message other than Trump vanity and is either the worst entry ever for an MTV Music Video Award or a Dear Leader-esq propaganda video produced by Kim Jong-un's production company:

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/NVDVRrWLs4

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017

In contrast, another video went viral this week with a sobering reminder of exactly how "great" America is perceived by the rest of the world under a Trump presidency:

Trump backers will ultimately dismiss the assessment with insults and name calling yet it will not change the perception in the eyes of the world.

To quote Donald Trump - Sad.

The Choices We Make

It's hard to believe that the most incredible statement out of Washington this week didn't come in the torrent of offensive and misogynistic tweets fired off by the Embarrassment in Chief. While Donald Trump was busy further demeaning the Office of the President in a flame war over something trivial, the Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, put forth an incredible assertion around the most important legislative debate in the country.

When asked about the estimated 22 million people who would become uninsured under the AHCA Senate bill, Ryan told Fox News the following, "What they're basically saying at the Congressional Budget Office is, if you're not going to force people to buy Obamacare, if you're not going to force people to buy something they don't want, then they won't buy it. So it's not that people are getting pushed off a plan. It's that people will choose not to buy something they don't like or want."

At face value Ryan is saying that there's no forced takeaway of healthcare under the AHCA, rather people will choose not to have coverage without the Obamacare mandate. There is likely some truth to that statement as there's certainly a percentage of stupid in the country that will choose not buy health insurance even if it is within their means. However, it's unfathomable to assert that the majority of the 22 million potentially impacted by the AHCA would choose not to buy insurance if it were affordable. The reality is that many would "choose" not to buy healthcare because the AHCA pushes premiums out of the range of affordability much in the same way a poor single mom may "choose" to skip a meal for her kids because the family cannot afford it. That's hardly a choice, and therein lies the lie Speaker Ryan is peddling.

In reality the AHCA force millions to make the "choice" between health insurance and food, rent, and other necessities. That point alone clearly doesn't trouble GOP lawmakers who cannot take their eye off the ball when it comes to tax cuts for the wealthy which is the other impact the AHCA is designed to deliver. GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson's tax bill will drop by $40 million alone if the AHCA becomes law.

The economic impact of the AHCA is even bigger than just the toll on individuals. Let's look at the state of Texas which is no stranger to giving the middle finger to common sense. Under Obamacare, healthcare enrollment did increase thanks to the individual mandate, however, Texas "chose" not to expand Medicaid leaving many in the insurance gap, one of the problems areas that needs to be addressed with the current Affordable Care Act, if congress and the GOP in particular were actually serious about improving coverage. Furthermore, private hospitals in wealthy Texas counties "chose" not to take patients that were uninsured leaving people no alternative but to swamp emergency rooms of public hospitals in urban areas such as Parkland Memorial which has seen a 72% increase of out of county poor patients over the last five years. Parkland lost $6 million last year alone and the out of county patient increase has cost $27.4 million since 2012. The burden is unsustainable and threatens the entire community should a resource like Parkland fail.

The "choice" Republicans are offering on healthcare is no choice at all. The intent of their healthcare fix is strictly to fix what they believe to be unnecessary spend on people that don't matter - aka the poor - and put that money back into their own pockets where they believe it rightfully belongs - the rich. The working middle class that will also be hurt along the way are apparently acceptable casualties toward this end.

The real choice in the healthcare debate isn't one where the American people choose between buying coverage or not. The choice is whether GOP leaders act to deliver affordable healthcare to all Americans or act to deliver a tax cut to the top one percent.

Paul Ryan knows that. Hopefully, enough of his constituents do too.

Trump Addicts

In January of 2016, then presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested he was so popular that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any voters. A normal reaction to that statement might sound like, "You'd have to be on crack to believe that." Yet, Trump went on to win the election and his supporters show no more signs of backing away from him today than they did eighteen months ago regardless of what he says or does.

Supporters of Donald Trump are a lot like substance abusers. Trump addicts are high on the moment but oblivious to the cost the destructive President will exact once the party is over. Trump addicts feed off his bravado, soak up his tweets, and parrot back his sound bites despite the predilection for those clips to lack support of fact or to be outright lies.

The New York Times has put together a comprehensive list of falsehoods and outright lies the President has told since his inauguration. This is a must read. It's a staggering collection of damning evidence painting the picture of an untrustworthy, unreliable, unlikeable, and miserable excuse of a human being. No one in their right mind would befriend an individual with such a record of habitual lying let alone hire them into a position of responsibility. Yet, astonishingly, the man documented by the Times is President of the United States and enjoys the support of millions.

Most Trump addicts will simply say the Times article is fake news. When faced with facts they don't like, "fake news" is the label the President has conditioned Trump addicts to apply without the effort or bother of doing actual fact checking. Due diligence takes time and is hard work, much harder than having another drink at the Trump bar.

To Trump addicts, the party to "Make America Great Again" is in full swing. This party is an expensive habit and Trump addicts are spending all their cash and exercising the typical destructive judgement demonstrated by substance dependent individuals. That judgement is now facing a test in the battle over healthcare where Trump addicts are facing a true drink and drive moment.

The Senate is likely to vote within the week on the ACHA or Obamacare replacement bill. The legislation, crafted in secret, calls for drastic reductions in federal healthcare spending that threatens to leave millions of Americans uninsured.

If Trump addicts stand behind their President on this one, it will cost the lives of some of them just as surely as if they crossed the center line. And to complete the metaphor, rest assured they will be responsible for the deaths of the non-Trump addicts in the oncoming car that die with them.

The first step in fighting addiction is to recognize there is a problem. Trump addicts haven't yet done that but the Trump resistance keeps fighting them anyway. Sometimes it's better just to step out of the way than continue to battle those determined to maintain a self-destructive course. Democrats, independents and those that make up the Trump resistance must find a way to stop enabling the addicts and instead help themselves.

The disappointments for the Trump resistance will keep mounting until such change happens. From the Osloff loss to the Paris Climate Agreement the Trump resistance must brace for more. The only way to turn the tide is with new leadership and a new message. That message must be about their agenda and not about resisting Trump's.

Altering course has proven difficult for the Democrats in particular. Elder statesman Bernie Sanders seeded a change but he is not the future. Ohio congressman Tim Ryan is a potential start. He did have the wherewithal to challenge the status quo and Nancy Pelosi as Democratic Minority Leader earlier this year. A new generation of intelligent people that don't carry the perception of elitism can make a difference.

Delivering a message that resonates with the fundamental reasons Trump addicts turned to the President in the first place is the best way to start everyone on the road to rehab.

Names and Faces

Names and faces humanize nearly every event. A random act of senseless violence makes nearly everyone take stock of how precious life is and serves as a reminder that many choices we make have real human outcomes.

The shooting at a congressional baseball practice this week that left House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three other people wounded has again, temporarily, put a human face on partisan politics. Congressional staffer Zachary Barth, Tyson Foods' Director of Government Relations Matt Mika, and Capitol Police Officer Crystal Griner are the names that go with the faces of the others wounded. Capitol Police Officer David Bailey suffered a non-ballistic ankle injury during the attack and he and Griner are credited with saving the lives of those targeted via quick return of fire against the shooter.

Thankfully, none of the victims lost their lives though Scalise and Mika suffered serious injuries and face a long road to recovery. Best wishes to them and their families along that road.

The motive for the attack is not yet fully understood, but the shooter reportedly expressed strident anti-Republican views on social media and had a list of several Republican representatives in his pocket, according to officials briefed on the FBI investigation.

The shooting has made many realize, if for a moment, the need for civility, reason, and empathy in our public discourse. Partisanship has become toxic and political rhetoric has moved to a confrontational extreme. The us versus them mentality our the nation divided has removed individuals from the equation. Political decisions are ideology driven to the point where the individuals impacted by them are lost in a sea of nameless, faceless masses.

The congressional shooting reminds us that political service should not be a risk to life and limb. Yet we too often overlook the fact that political decisions can impact life and death.

The Senate is currently working on its own version of the House passed AHCA bill in near secret. It's a partisan play led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell more worthy of the Soviet Politburo than the most deliberative body of the U.S. democracy.  It's also a bold faced attempt to ram though legislation based on ideology rather than thinking about the actual life and death impact on individuals that have names and faces.

Senator McConnell, look at the reaction to the events of this week and re-think what you're doing.

The Senate does the people's work and the people have a right to see that work in the light of day. Republicans are entitled to propose legislative choices but they are not entitled to escape scrutiny. Real people may be hurt or even die if this bill is bad. Those people have the right to see the bill and you, Senator McConnell and your colleagues, do not have the right to look past their names and faces when crafting it.

The step back from bitter partisanship many experienced this week will likely be fleeting. Before it vanishes entirely, it would be rewarding if some good could come from it so the step forward into the business as usual mentality isn't quite so big.

Senator McConnell, the ball is in your court.

The Constitution is Pretty Good at Defending Itself

In a number cities around the nation yesterday, coordinated groups took to the streets to protest sharia law as a threat to the Constitution and the country. The rallies were organized by ACT for America, which claims Islamic law is incompatible with Western democracy. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, calls ACT for America the largest anti-Muslim group in the country. Many of the protests were met by counter protests that were, in some cases, even larger. Clashes ensued and so goes another Saturday afternoon in divided America.

To be clear, the divide isn't necessarily between Republicans and Democrats or conservatives and liberals. In this case, the divide seems to be between the incurably stupid and everyone else. Most of the sharia protesters did invoke President Trump's name somewhere in their signage which could point to the GOP having a disproportionate share of the incurably stupid within their ranks but the sheer absurdity of the protesters argument and the blatant Islamaphobia it promotes transcends even the low bar set by today's GOP.

Time magazine captured a quote summing up the anti sharia protest message from Seattle participant Aaron Bassford, 29. "I'm not going to tell them they can come here and take away my Second Amendment right. We need unity in this country under no ideology and no banner except the Constitution of the United States of America."

The "them" Mr. Bassford refers to are Muslims - all Muslims. He then jumps right to the threat sharia poses to the second amendment of the Constitution presumably because sharia can be interpreted to mandate non-Muslims cannot carry swords or other weapons used in the 7th century, the time to which the roots of sharia can be traced.

Mr. Bassford and his comrades inexplicably miss the point that the second amendment is under no threat from sharia law because the first, fourth, fifth, seventh, ninth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, ninetieth, and twenty fourth all have stipulations protecting against everything, fact or fiction, the protesters assert regarding sharia. The only amendment to the Constitution that bears any resemblance to giving a foothold to sharia law in America is the eighteenth. Of course, that amendment which enacted prohibition was promptly repealed by the twenty first in 1933.

Odds are few of the protesters have ever studied the Constitution, let alone read it, and thus have no idea about what they speak. Through their ignorant message, the protesters apply the threat posed by radical Islamists universally to all Muslims. Aside from being wildly untrue, the assertion certainly does not advance the cause of unity to which Mr. Bassford also spoke. American Muslims are not only entitled to participate in a conversation around battling radical extremism, their perspective is welcome in the conversation as Americans and patriots.

Yesterday's protests fall squarely under the protection the first amendment provides. However, through its strength of word, the Constitution is pretty good at defending itself and certainly didn't need any assistance from the incurably stupid that assembled in claim of its defense yesterday. Measured against the strength of the word in that 230 year old document and its twenty seven amendments the protestors message of intolerance and hate becomes clearly visible. And it's a message that looks pitiful next to the core foundation of American freedom.

Trump and Terror

The United Kingdom is mourning the loss of seven people killed in what appears to be an act of terror last night in London. The attack began when a van veered off the road and barreled into pedestrians on busy London Bridge. Three men fled the van with large knives and attacked people at bars and restaurants in nearby Borough Market. Police shot and killed the three attackers within eight minutes. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims and the citizens of our closest ally.

So far there has been no claim of responsibility, however, President Donald Trump took to Twitter right away to call on the courts to reinstate his Muslim travel ban.

Wait! What?

Yes, the President's very first reaction, prior to offering condolences or support to the British people, was to talk about his travel ban. Trump did follow up with a tweeted platitude of support but then went on with his fear mongering in a series of additional tweets.

Fear is a natural reaction to any act of terror. It is the intended reaction the perpetrators of terror are trying to solicit. Decisions based on fear usually are not well thought out. They lack the objectivity necessary to see a wide range of outcomes and consequences. The President, backed by the full resources of the United States government, has big picture intelligence available to him and all the tools necessary to make decisions based on facts not fear.  Instead, Trump played right into the hand of fear launching again into the need for his ban on Muslims coming to the U.S.  The travel ban isn't a solution to terror. At best it's a temporary band aid that unfairly singles out a specific group of people and is disproportionate to the actual threat.

The ban is easy though. It can be simply understood by the low information voters that propelled the low information President into office. It also resonates with the natural reaction of fear that many people have after event like last night's London attack.

By definition terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion. The President is certainly whipping up fear as a motivator for the country to accept the Muslim travel ban. How is what Trump is doing different from terrorism? He's not laying down long term strategy; the travel ban is "temporary" in his own words. He's not offering tangible assurances to help law enforcement or local communities to remain vigilant against threats the size and scope of the London attack. In fact, he's articulated no other investment in national anti-terror efforts beyond fear mongering against Muslims.

Trump is peddling a form of terrorism. He's using fear to drive forward an ideology not a solution. He needs to stop. He needs to be serious, thoughtful and comprehensive in an approach toward building an effective strategy. Unfortunately, serious and thoughtful are not qualities the President possesses. Thus, he will be derelict in his duty. Rest assured that when he fails, the first tweet to follow will lay blame elsewhere.

Beating terror is harder than spreading it. Trump's got the spreading fear part down. If only we had a President that knew how to win.

Fact, Fiction, and Crackpots

The easiest conclusion to draw from the news this week is that Republicans are terrible, terrible people. President Trump wrapped up his first trip abroad during which he perpetuated the caricature of the ugly American. In Washington, the Trump administration budget was released and it reads like the story of Robin Hood with the premise reversed. In Montana, Republicans elected an ape to congress who is good with his fists and not so good with critical thinking. And in a nice reminder of GOP intolerance, the White House released a photo of the G7 spouses and failed to acknowledge First Gentleman of Luxembourg Gauthier Destenay who is gay.

While any of those stories warrant scrutiny there were other items in the news this week beyond the Trump national disgrace. One begs the following question:

When did it become universally acceptable that parenting choices should not be questioned?

Actually, hold that thought for a moment. Instead, lets start with a few facts. So far in 2017, six children have died nationwide after being left in a hot vehicle. During the 2016 the pace at which children were accidentally killed by guns in the home was one per day. Then there are the non-stop individual stories of parental stupidity from letting kids guzzle non-stop soft drinks into obesity to the famous "affluenza" case of Ethan Couch.

Raising children doesn't require a license or come with a manual. Some people are simply better at it than others much the same way that not everyone can play major league baseball. The idea that simply because a person is capable of procreating he or she is therefore capable of making acceptable parenting decisions is ridiculous. There is a blurry line between parental rights and the common good. This line is uncomfortable to talk about. Most parents recoil at the thought of interference with their child rearing. It's perfectly understandable and probably a good sign they are vested in the arrangement. None the less, government must sometimes step in to protect children from suffering through parental stupidity.

Republicans have again found themselves on the familiar side of stupid in trying to further define this blurry line.  GOP lawmakers introduced a pair of bills in the Michigan legislature aimed at eliminating rules that require parents to get vaccination education if they don't want to get their children immunized. The fact that anti-vax is a thing to begin with is incredible but given the country pays little more than lip service to providing quality education it's not surprising that overwhelming scientific evidence is thrown out the window at the expense of baseless beliefs or religious zealotry.

Understanding science can be hard. Making things up is easy. The chronically stupid follow the path of least resistance with the GOP leading the way on the anti-vax front.

During hearings before the House Education Reform committee, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Chief Medical Executive, Dr. Eden Wells, was interrupted by the Republican chair of the committee 30 seconds into her explanation of why the current rules are necessary. Had she been allowed to finish she likely would have cited the fact that data from 2015 showed that Michigan ranked 43rd lowest in the nation for immunizations covering kids from 19 to 35 months. That's not good for public health or for children.

Rep. Jeffrey Noble, R-Plymouth, one of the sponsors lamented the bills are about parental rights, "which have been taking a beating in recent years." Any perceived beating of parental rights pales in comparison to the actual beatings children endure at the hands of unfit parents. A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds and Republican lawmakers are not lining up with legislation to stop that. More importantly, this Republican hack completely ignored his duty to protect the public health. By siding with parents that willingly choose to put their kids at risk, he ignored the consequences that decision has on others. There is no excuse for gambling with the public health by sanctioning attendance of potential "Typhoid Mary" kids in classrooms and on playgrounds across the state.

In fairness, the anti-vax movement is bi-partisan and not all Republicans are supporters. Fortunately, it became apparent during the Michigan hearings the bills didn't have the votes to get out of committee. Four sane Republicans and all the Democrats on the committee indicated their opposition. Yet the episode is illustrative of how willing some lawmakers are to put ideology ahead of the common good.

The entire debacle is another example of how American society is willing to give credence to people that simply say they believe in something in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. They offer no imperial research to support their position and lack any topical expertise in making the initial claim. People are free to believe whatever they want but are compelled to use logic and fact when it comes to drafting the letter of law. Legislating fiction into law is unacceptable as is the practice of accepting crackpots as mainstream.