A Million Child March???!!!

If you’ve been watching the incredibly moving coverage of the massacre in Parkland, Florida, you probably have been struck—as I have—with the remarkable articulateness and passion of the affected high school students—and their deep understanding of the political process.

After they—as a total student body—lobby Florida Senators and Congress members for a commitment to vote for some effective gun control legislation, they should join with the other 18 schools who have suffered from gun attacks this year alone and organize a 1,000,000 student march on Washington!  What legislator could refuse to act??

And 1,000,000 children shall lead them.

C’mon, Mike, Just Turn Around!

There he was, our Vice President, sitting right in front of the sister of the North Korean dictator, at the Olympic opening ceremonies.

A simple turn of the head, a simple smile, maybe even a simple handshake might have changed the world’s diplomatic environment!

Yet, even to a man who has reached the depths of groveling to our own Don Jon Un, could not bring himself to make such a miniscule move.

A move which might have been Mike Pence’s greatest lifetime achievement: the reduction of the possibility of nuclear holocaust!

Support the Parade… if, if, if

Once again, the President comes up with a proposal that leaves everyone with jaws completely dropped: a military parade (a la Kim Jong Un).  As one Republican Senator sagely said: confidence is silent; insecurity is loud.

But let’s think this thing through.  What if…

A contingent of 10,000 Dreamers leads the parade.

Contingents of first responders, nurses and other caregivers, teachers, mechanics, welders, carpenters, truck drivers, waiters, small business people—all those who keep America going—partcipate.

Veterans who have served us all—particularly those with PTSD and others not well served by the VA—put their bodies on the line once more.

Children demanding high quality public education rally all of us.

Those denied or can’t afford health insurance remind us of our joint humanity.

The disabled show us all how really abled they are.

The “me too” women marching proudly and inspiring us.

All the set-up and cleanup activities are done by paid unemployed and homeless citizens.

What if, what if…

Shut it Down!

Congressional Democrats—including myself—have always opposed shutting down the government.  Too many people—Social Security and Veteran benefits recipients, National Park visitors, etc. etc.—depend on well-functioning government functions.  But is this the moment to shut it down?

Trump has already appointed Cabinet secretaries to basically shut down their departments.  EPA, Energy, HUD, Education, Labor are already working against the American people.  Polluters have an open shot at our air and water.  Public housing and public education is under existential threat.  Labor protections are gone.  Regulations protecting our air, water, financial systems, housing programs, and climate have been obliterated.  And the fear within our immigrant communities is palpable.

Dreamers, El Savadoreans, Haitians, Muslims, anybody from a shithole country, are credibly threatened.  And Trump has returned to the golf course.

This government is not working for us.  It’s time to shut it down!

_{ShitHoles R Us}

_{We are ALL ShitHoles!}

_{We all came from ShitHoles.  Africa.  The Caribbean.  Ireland.  Poland.  Germany.  China.  Italy.  Greece.  Russia.  Japan.  Mexico.  The Philippines.}

_{We all live in ShitHoles.  Watts.  Beverly Hills.  The Southside.  The Westside.  Brownsville.  Scarsdale.  Detroit.  Shaker Heights.  The Border.  The Beach.}

_{We all work in ShitHole jobs.  Maids.  Construction.  Farmworkers.  Accountants.  Lawyers.  Doctors.  Nurses.  Teachers.  Firefighters.  Cops.  Politicians.  Hedge Fund Managers.}

_{We all drive ShitHole cars.  F-150s.  Civics.  Camrys.  Malibus.  Volvos.  Jaguars.  Rolls-Royces.  Pick-ups.  Crossovers.}

_{We all eat in ShitHole restaurants.  Taco trucks.  Lumpia booths.  Pupusa carts.  Ruth’s Chris.  Morton’s.  Denny’s.  Applebees’s.  Dumpsters.}

_{We are ALL ShitHoles.}

The Canary in the Tax Cut Mine

Congressman Darrell Issa, southern California Republican, became the first Member of the majority party to announce his opposition to the House tax cut plan: amazingly, because it favored the wealthy over the middle class!  Talk about the canary in the (tax cut) mine!!

Issa is one of the most conservative, aggressive, seemingly-safe Republicans in Congress.  As the previous Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, he terrorized the Democrats—especially Hillary Clinton—with investigations, subpoenas, press events, committee hearings.  And, just as an aside, he is the wealthiest Congressman in the House!

He also represents one of the seven California Republican Congressional districts which voted for Hillary in 2016.  And his San Diego/Orange Counties district almost voted him out that year.

Darrell obviously feels the wave at his back.  And he is scrambling.  There seemingly was no Republican more likely to vote for corporate tax cuts than Darrell Issa.

Clearly, Darrell feels the change in the political environment that we all hope will manifest itself in 2018.  His district has never voted for a Democrat. No Republican has ever been as arrogant.  No canary has ever chirped more loudly.

“All it takes to stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun”

It figures–the latest gun tragedy in Texas is confirmation of the “thinking” of the NRA and its political stooges: All it takes to stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun.  And it confirms the “thinking” of Donald Trump: It’s sad—and proves the primacy of the mental health issue.

Of course, we need better mental health treatment throughout our nation.  Of course, we applaud ordinary citizens for getting involved to fight crime.  But why the hell can this guy so easily get access to assault  weaponry?

He had served time in a military brig for fracturing the skull of his baby.  He had physically abused his wife.  He was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the Air Force.  Was there even a background check done?  Were these military crimes even available in the background system?  If not, why not?

How long, America, will we tolerate this?

A special thank you to MSNBC anchor, Katy Tur.  Not only was her own anguish appropriately visible, but she refused to let politicians off the hook for their cream puff responses to her questions.

And also a special thank you to Texas Senator, Ted Cruz.  His criminal hypocrisy was obvious to all.  The phony grief.  The refusal to “politicize” the tragedy—which, of course, is politicalization.  And then the NRA catechism: the good guy who stopped further carnage.

TED: there would have been no carnage without the assault rifle!

Thank you, Dr. Bandy Lee!

Dr. Bandy Lee, a Professor in Law and Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, has done our entire nation a great service by gathering2T psychiatrists and mental health experts in producing a volume on The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump. The so-called “Goldwater Rule”, propounded by the American Psychiatric Association, tells mental health professionals that they cannot “diagnose” political figures without having done a personal evaluation. But Dr. Lee and her colleagues feel that the “duty to warn” their nation trumps the Rule.

All of the contributors to this collection do stress that certain diagnoses do require personal examinations. But there is a myriad of behaviors (particularly with this President) that clearly exhibit the existence of certain conditions which, in the case of one who holds sole power over the nuclear codes, represent extreme danger to the entire world.

“Extreme present hedonism” (proven with actual quotes proving dehumanization, lying, misogyny, paranoia, racism, and self-aggrandizement), “pathological and malignant narcissism”, “the psychotic spiral”, “trust deficit”, “sociopathy”, “delusional disorder”, “Trump anxiety disorder” are all clearly explained for every American citizen-as well as why the behaviors represent a clear and present danger to all of us.

We all, as laymen, can see the madness, the impulsivity, the narcissism, the derangement of Donald Trump-but now we have truly expert opinion on both the disorders and their dangers and the ways in which we and our Representatives can deal with Him.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dr. Bandy Lee!

Not a Moron

The President is not a moron—he is dangerous.  North Korea.  Puerto Rico.  Iran.  Climate change.  Venezuela.  DACA.  Nuclear weapons.  Worker protections.  The Affordable Care Act.  Public Education.  Democratic elections.  Andonandonandon.  We cannot rely on incompetence!

And beware of the narrative that NOTHING of consequence has been accomplished in the  Administration’s first nine months.  The regulatory powers—above and beyond the nuclear power– of the Executive branch is awesome.  The environment—trashed.  Alternative energy—blocked.  Voting rights—abandoned.  Young (and old) immigrants—terrified.   Working people—endangered.  Women’s reproductive rights—threatened.  Healthcare for Medicaid recipients—eliminated.  Black lives—not mattering.  The First Amendment—teetering.

And corporate power—rising.  The 1%–eagerly awaiting massive tax cuts.  The Second Amendment—untouched.  Wall Street and the private college and the Health and Insurance industries—salivating over the possible privatization of–well everything.

Not a moron.  Not a bumbling, ineffectual, blustering Tweeter.  A destroyer of worlds.

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