dailykos--2020-07-30--University of Akron faculty fight to defend quality education: AAUP calls for resignations

For high quality , affordable and accessible higher education , there is something dangerous going on at the University of Akron ( UA ) .
Because of reckless actions of the Board of Trustees and their attempts to undermine one of Ohio ’ s fine universities , the AAUP is calling for the resignations of the Board of Trustees and the university president .
After nearly a decade of actively incompetent administration , the trustees are trying to force a new contract – a “ last best offer ” - on the unionized faculty at UA .
Among other items @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” of 97 faculty positions to be eliminated .
Seventy ( 70 ) of them are tenured professors .
Believe it or not , that is about 20 percent of the full-time faculty .
The new contract also contains language that would make every faculty job even more precarious .
No other university has ever taken such a foolish and vicious ax to its own ability to do the only job for which it exists – to provide an education to those who want it .
This unwarranted action has dangerous repercussions .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ become evident that tenure no longer exists at UA .
That all employees , non-tenure track and tenured alike , are just “ at will ” workers .
UA ’ s ability to keep and attract great faculty will be damaged badly .
Academic freedom will be at the will of trustees who do not value educators or higher education .
If you would like to join us in the call for the resignation of the board and president , please use our Action Network link to do so .
Please help the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fbclid=IwAR23SaHA-kLat1YJDfmNCORn2cjFUIyEFi96H-0Sb8U9a7Xve-SEK-iqG5A How did this disaster happen ?
When the pandemic hit , the Akron trustees and administration decided not to let a crisis go to waste .
They opportunistically invoked a never-used portion of the contract called force majeure .
According to the contract : “ The parties recognize that catastrophic circumstances , such as force majeure , could develop which are beyond the control of the University and would render impossible or unfeasible the implementation of procedures set forth in this Article.
” The “ Article ” referred to is the retrenchment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of cutting both faculty and programs .
That process fully involves the faculty at every step to create proposals for the board .
Importantly , this strong retrenchment article requires the university to be honest about its financial condition , something it has never done .
Instead , the UA faculty and public have been fed the bleakest of budget projections to justify making these draconian cuts .
The university is definitely NOT in a situation “ beyond the control of the University ” that “ would render impossible or unfeasible ” their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In fact , the AAUP national budget experts have examined the university ’ s finances and see no such “ catastrophic ” situation in the budget .
Certainly , UA ’ s finances are complicated by enrollment problems ( although this year ’ s enrollment is better-than-anticipated ) , an irresponsible and self-imposed debt level , and a reduction in state support .
But every other university in Ohio , some of them facing similar financial problems , are dealing with the situation far more responsibly .
For example , the recent news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cut as much as initially feared has led every other university to reevaluate their plans and even rescind furloughs .
Not so at UA , where the administration has stubbornly stayed the course to bulldoze the academic mission in an attempt to bust the faculty union and render tenure meaningless .
This upside-down approach in priorities is obvious .
None of nearly a dozen vice president level positions have been eliminated .
Top administrators have taken only small , temporary pay cuts .
Athletics has cut a few million dollars from their deficit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 20 million in the hole this coming year .
But , sure , the administration says , we can eliminate nearly 100 faculty jobs and still provide the same level of academic quality .
That is clearly nonsense .
Akron ’ s enrollment problems can be traced directly to the board and the administration .
Again and again over the last 10 years , they have plunged the university into turmoil with wacky half-baked ideas just as they are doing now .
The UA faculty now have to vote on this “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration .
Some faculty may vote in favor of the contract , effectively firing their own colleagues , because they weren ’ t on the hitlist and are hoping to keep their jobs .
This , in part , is due to a video message from UA president Gary Miller , in which he essentially threatened to fire more faculty if the contract is not ratified .
It should be noted that President Miller ’ s attempt to speak directly to the faculty to influence their vote is illegal -- an unfair labor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beginning , this has been an administration that hasn ’ t played by the rules and is attempting to “ divide and conquer ” the faculty with threats and misinformation .
If the faculty vote down the contract , it will go to a neutral , third party arbitrator to decide the fate of the contract , including whether the invocation of force majeure was warranted .
The arbitrator ’ s decision will be binding .
Going this route is the only way for the faculty union to have any teeth moving forward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to avoid arbitration so badly .
In President Miller ’ s video message , he promised to exhaust the university ’ s reserves to fight the faculty in legal battles if they vote no on the contract .
This is the same reserve fund that Miller and the trustees refuse to use to maintain faculty positions and quality education for Akron ’ s students .
The way for real reform to begin at UA is for the trustees and the president to rescind these faculty layoffs and return to the bargaining table with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sustainable path forward .
Firing the very faculty that generate the revenue for the institution to solve a short-term budget problem is foolhardy , and will only exacerbate enrollment issues and the university ’ s financial hardships long-term .
If the trustees and president refuse to reverse their decision , they should resign and allow for leadership that will serve the academic mission of UA .

For high quality, affordable and accessible higher education, there is something dangerous going on at the University of Akron (UA). Because of reckless actions of the Board of Trustees and their attempts to undermine one of Ohio’s fine universities, the AAUP is calling for the resignations of the Board of Trustees and the university president.
After nearly a decade of actively incompetent administration, the trustees are trying to force a new contract – a “last best offer” - on the unionized faculty at UA. Among other items, the process includes a ”hitlist” of 97 faculty positions to be eliminated. Seventy (70) of them are tenured professors. Believe it or not, that is about 20 percent of the full-time faculty. The new contract also contains language that would make every faculty job even more precarious.
No other university has ever taken such a foolish and vicious ax to its own ability to do the only job for which it exists – to provide an education to those who want it.
This unwarranted action has dangerous repercussions. If these firings stand, it will become evident that tenure no longer exists at UA. That all employees, non-tenure track and tenured alike, are just “at will” workers. UA’s ability to keep and attract great faculty will be damaged badly. Academic freedom will be at the will of trustees who do not value educators or higher education.
If you would like to join us in the call for the resignation of the board and president, please use our Action Network link to do so. Please help the Akron faculty: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-the-university-of-akron-trustees-and-president-rescind-or-resign?fbclid=IwAR23SaHA-kLat1YJDfmNCORn2cjFUIyEFi96H-0Sb8U9a7Xve-SEK-iqG5A
How did this disaster happen? When the pandemic hit, the Akron trustees and administration decided not to let a crisis go to waste. They opportunistically invoked a never-used portion of the contract called force majeure. According to the contract: “The parties recognize that catastrophic circumstances, such as force majeure, could develop which are beyond the control of the University and would render impossible or unfeasible the implementation of procedures set forth in this Article.”
The “Article” referred to is the retrenchment article that provides for an orderly process of cutting both faculty and programs. That process fully involves the faculty at every step to create proposals for the board. Importantly, this strong retrenchment article requires the university to be honest about its financial condition, something it has never done. Instead, the UA faculty and public have been fed the bleakest of budget projections to justify making these draconian cuts.
The university is definitely NOT in a situation “beyond the control of the University” that “would render impossible or unfeasible” their ability to stick to the contract. In fact, the AAUP national budget experts have examined the university’s finances and see no such “catastrophic” situation in the budget.
Certainly, UA’s finances are complicated by enrollment problems (although this year’s enrollment is better-than-anticipated), an irresponsible and self-imposed debt level, and a reduction in state support. But every other university in Ohio, some of them facing similar financial problems, are dealing with the situation far more responsibly. For example, the recent news that state support won’t be cut as much as initially feared has led every other university to reevaluate their plans and even rescind furloughs. Not so at UA, where the administration has stubbornly stayed the course to bulldoze the academic mission in an attempt to bust the faculty union and render tenure meaningless.
This upside-down approach in priorities is obvious. None of nearly a dozen vice president level positions have been eliminated. Top administrators have taken only small, temporary pay cuts. Athletics has cut a few million dollars from their deficit but still promises to be well over $20 million in the hole this coming year. But, sure, the administration says, we can eliminate nearly 100 faculty jobs and still provide the same level of academic quality. That is clearly nonsense.
Akron’s enrollment problems can be traced directly to the board and the administration. Again and again over the last 10 years, they have plunged the university into turmoil with wacky half-baked ideas just as they are doing now.
The UA faculty now have to vote on this “last, best offer” from the administration. Some faculty may vote in favor of the contract, effectively firing their own colleagues, because they weren’t on the hitlist and are hoping to keep their jobs. This, in part, is due to a video message from UA president Gary Miller, in which he essentially threatened to fire more faculty if the contract is not ratified. It should be noted that President Miller’s attempt to speak directly to the faculty to influence their vote is illegal -- an unfair labor practice under Ohio law. From the beginning, this has been an administration that hasn’t played by the rules and is attempting to “divide and conquer” the faculty with threats and misinformation.
If the faculty vote down the contract, it will go to a neutral, third party arbitrator to decide the fate of the contract, including whether the invocation of force majeure was warranted. The arbitrator’s decision will be binding. Going this route is the only way for the faculty union to have any teeth moving forward. This is why the administration wants to avoid arbitration so badly. In President Miller’s video message, he promised to exhaust the university’s reserves to fight the faculty in legal battles if they vote no on the contract. This is the same reserve fund that Miller and the trustees refuse to use to maintain faculty positions and quality education for Akron’s students.
The way for real reform to begin at UA is for the trustees and the president to rescind these faculty layoffs and return to the bargaining table with Akron-AAUP to chart a better, more sustainable path forward. Firing the very faculty that generate the revenue for the institution to solve a short-term budget problem is foolhardy, and will only exacerbate enrollment issues and the university’s financial hardships long-term. If the trustees and president refuse to reverse their decision, they should resign and allow for leadership that will serve the academic mission of UA.
(John McNay, the author, is president of the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors and is a history professor at the University of Cincinnati)


dailykos--2020-07-30--Trump’s October Surprise:  Obama’s Vaccine

Democrats are rightfully getting nervous about the most plausible Trump October Surprise : Announcement of some emergency approval of a vaccine , followed by heartwarming pictures of the Dear Leader overseeing the first shots for a diverse group of elderly people .
A common reaction here ( DKos ) has been intense suspicion of any vaccine that might become available in a few months , with claims that it ’ s sure to be some dangerous scam .
My point here is that this understandable reaction is suicidal for individual medical choices , for the psychology of pandemic response , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is not a Trump invention .
It ’ s a rebranding of an Obama initiative to develop new vaccine platforms capable of rapid response to the viral challenges that epidemiologists knew were coming .
The vaccine work of Moderna , the first US vaccine developer to get to Phase 3 trials , was jump-started under Obama by a $ 25M 2013 DARPA grant and a 2016 BARDA grant ( > $ 8M ) .
Rumor has it ( I don ’ t have documentation ) that Obama personally asked a group of scientists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in chicken eggs , and whether they could develop something much better .
That ’ s how the mRNA vaccine work got off the ground .
There are no guarantees that the Moderna vaccine will do as well in large-scale trials as it has in preliminary tests .
Likewise there are no guarantees for the Pfizer mRNA vaccine ( developed in Germany ) , or the Oxford adenovirus vaccine , etc .
Nevertheless , it is highly likely that several of the many vaccines under development will work pretty well , and should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Good treatments will be here sooner .
Dexamethasone has just been found to be very useful in severe cases .
Remdesivir is scarce now , but production is ramping up .
Nebulized interferon , EIDD-2801 , etc .
are being tested .
Monoclonal antibodies , probably much more effective , are coming next .
Help is on the way .
Remember , currently about 5000 people a day are dying world-wide , about 1000 of them in the US .
In the US and many other countries , people are getting exhausted with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Psychologically that makes sense if the choice is simply to delay the inevitable or to start living normally now .
It makes no sense if the choice is to hang on for a few months and then get back to normal or to throw caution to the winds and risk being one of the last people to die of Covid-119 before treatments and vaccines come .
We hate Trump .
We know he ’ s a liar .
We know he shows depraved indifference to human life .
That is not sufficient @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from an Obama program .
We know people are often unrealistically optimistic , and use that to justify recklessness .
That is not a reason to promote unrealistic pessimism that also leads to recklessness .
We know that people are desperate for a technical fix , and might buy fake ones from an old snake-oil salesman .
But when there are real technical solutions , the last thing we want to do is play the part of fuddy-duddy bureaucrats in some Ayn Rand cartoon , stalling progress while the heroic Leader acts decisively @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that are coming pretty soon are likely to be extremely valuable , so to reject them for political reasons would be personally suicidal .
2.The realistic hope for effective treatments and vaccines soon is crucial for motivating people to hang on and keep being cautious now , rather than giving up .
Therefore , for immediate public health reasons spreading unwarranted pessimism is suicidal .
3.Trump will falsely claim that he , not Obama , took the key steps to make vaccines available at “ Warp Speed ” .
Therefore , quibbling and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , rather than proudly taking credit , will be politically suicidal .
I ’ ll address some points before they arise in the comments , to keep the discussion focused on the core issues .
Here ’ s what I ’ m not claiming : 1 .
That any particular vaccine is a sure bet to be safe and effective .
2 .
That it ’ s a sure bet for any vaccine at all to be sterilizing enough to give herd immunity .
3 .
That it ’ s normal for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have large investments in one of the candidate vaccines .
4 .
That our for-profit drug development system is either efficient or humane .
5 .
That our wildly expensive and cruel healthcare system is as good as the universal systems used by the rest of the developed world .
6 .
That we can trust that the Trump vaccine distribution will not be another clusterfuck .

Democrats are rightfully getting nervous about the most plausible Trump October Surprise: Announcement of some emergency approval of a vaccine, followed by heartwarming pictures of the Dear Leader overseeing the first shots for a diverse group of elderly people. A common reaction here (DKos) has been intense suspicion of any vaccine that might become available in a few months, with claims that it’s sure to be some dangerous scam. My point here is that this understandable reaction is suicidal for individual medical choices, for the psychology of pandemic response, and for politics.
Operation Warp Speed is not a Trump invention. It’s a rebranding of an Obama initiative to develop new vaccine platforms capable of rapid response to the viral challenges that epidemiologists knew were coming. The vaccine work of Moderna, the first US vaccine developer to get to Phase 3 trials, was jump-started under Obama by a $25M 2013 DARPA grant and a 2016 BARDA grant ( > $8M). Rumor has it (I don’t have documentation) that Obama personally asked a group of scientists if they were really still culturing vaccines in chicken eggs, and whether they could develop something much better. That’s how the mRNA vaccine work got off the ground.
There are no guarantees that the Moderna vaccine will do as well in large-scale trials as it has in preliminary tests. Likewise there are no guarantees for the Pfizer mRNA vaccine (developed in Germany), or the Oxford adenovirus vaccine, etc. Nevertheless, it is highly likely that several of the many vaccines under development will work pretty well, and should be distributed on an accelerated schedule. Good treatments will be here sooner. Dexamethasone has just been found to be very useful in severe cases. Remdesivir is scarce now, but production is ramping up. Nebulized interferon, EIDD-2801, etc. are being tested. Monoclonal antibodies, probably much more effective, are coming next. Help is on the way.
Remember, currently about 5000 people a day are dying world-wide, about 1000 of them in the US. In the US and many other countries, people are getting exhausted with maintaining precautions and are becoming more reckless. Psychologically that makes sense if the choice is simply to delay the inevitable or to start living normally now. It makes no sense if the choice is to hang on for a few months and then get back to normal or to throw caution to the winds and risk being one of the last people to die of Covid-119 before treatments and vaccines come.
We hate Trump. We know he’s a liar. We know he shows depraved indifference to human life. That is not sufficient reason to reject a life-saving medicine developed from an Obama program.
We know people are often unrealistically optimistic, and use that to justify recklessness. That is not a reason to promote unrealistic pessimism that also leads to recklessness.
We know that people are desperate for a technical fix, and might buy fake ones from an old snake-oil salesman. But when there are real technical solutions, the last thing we want to do is play the part of fuddy-duddy bureaucrats in some Ayn Rand cartoon, stalling progress while the heroic Leader acts decisively. That way lies defeat.
So here’s the bottom line.
1.Vaccines that are coming pretty soon are likely to be extremely valuable, so to reject them for political reasons would be personally suicidal .
2.The realistic hope for effective treatments and vaccines soon is crucial for motivating people to hang on and keep being cautious now, rather than giving up. Therefore, for immediate public health reasons spreading unwarranted pessimism is suicidal.
3.Trump will falsely claim that he, not Obama, took the key steps to make vaccines available at “Warp Speed”. Therefore, quibbling and naysaying as effective vaccines come in view, rather than proudly taking credit, will be politically suicidal.
Postscript:
I’ll address some points before they arise in the comments, to keep the discussion focused on the core issues. Here’s what I’m not claiming:
1. That any particular vaccine is a sure bet to be safe and effective.
2. That it’s a sure bet for any vaccine at all to be sterilizing enough to give herd immunity.
3. That it’s normal for the head of the vaccine task force to have large investments in one of the candidate vaccines.
4. That our for-profit drug development system is either efficient or humane.
5. That our wildly expensive and cruel healthcare system is as good as the universal systems used by the rest of the developed world.
6. That we can trust that the Trump vaccine distribution will not be another clusterfuck.


Rant No. 2

The Opinions of an American Idiot These people are being overdramatic .
Biden is light years apart from Trump on nearly , if not all , major issues of the day .
Trump is letting Americans die , ignoring science , and trying to open the economy and schools up even as it poses a severe threat to the health and well being of this nation ’ s citizens .
Biden has detailed , safe plans for the reopening of the economy and schools , fighting coronavirus , and economic relief .
Trump doesn ’ t support an increased minimum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an hour minimum wage .
Trump doesn ’ t support a public option or really any kind of government subsidized healthcare .
Biden supports a public option that will lift millions of Americans out of poverty and the burden and fear of hospital bills .
Moreover , Biden has plans for criminal justice reform while Trump continues to ignore the problem of systemic racism and threaten peaceful protestors with federal police in places like Portland—a concerning trend in terms of what it means for the future if Trump were to win a second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Biden also differ greatly .
Biden , for better or worse , has spent most of his adult life , since age 27 , in elected politics .
Trump spent the majority of his life inheriting money and participating in failed business ventures .
Trump has been married multiple times and Biden has only been married twice ; the first time , of course , his wife and daughter died in a tragic car accident before he was sworn in to his first term as a senator .
He was left with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and had another child .
In short , Biden came from a working class family and hasn ’ t been all that rich his entire life .
Trump has lived a life of opulence and extravagance and ignored responsibility .
To compare the two is a joke and shows a gross ignorance of the facts of the two men ’ s lives .
To act as if Biden is some centrist , or a secret arch-conservative , is to show a grotesque disregard for the facts and his positions on the issues .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ as if they are two sides of the same coin is even more insulting and moronic .
One has led an upstanding public life with a sincere devotion to helping people while the other has lived just the opposite .
They are not the same nor have they ever been .
A vote for Biden is a vote for progress , for big structural change and the chance for Democrats to position themselves as the dominant party in future elections .
If you don ’ t turn out to vote because you believe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you ’ re a moron .
Pure and simple .
You have not read about either nor have you considered pragmatism ; you ’ re only interested in ideological purity and the ideas that you want .
And that is sad and unfortunate .
Note : I ’ m a liberal Democrat who ardently supported Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020 so I ’ m not some ossified neo-liberal hellbent on compromise with the right .

Rant No. 2
The Opinions of an American Idiot
Many supporters of progressive presidential candidates, like Sanders and Warren (especially Sanders), act as if a vote for Biden is the end of liberalism. Some have even gone far enough to say that Biden and Trump are more or less the same. In a post I saw on Facebook recently one person wrote, more or less, ‘There are 331 million people in America and our choices are two sex offenders and Kanye West?” Nina Turner, a former co-campaign chair for Sanders and president of Our Revolution, compared voting for Biden to eating a “bowl of shit.” Cornel West called Biden a “mediocre, milquetoast, neoliberal centrist.”
These people are being overdramatic. Biden is light years apart from Trump on nearly, if not all, major issues of the day. Trump is letting Americans die, ignoring science, and trying to open the economy and schools up even as it poses a severe threat to the health and well being of this nation’s citizens. Biden has detailed, safe plans for the reopening of the economy and schools, fighting coronavirus, and economic relief. Trump doesn’t support an increased minimum wage. Biden supports a $15 an hour minimum wage. Trump doesn’t support a public option or really any kind of government subsidized healthcare. Biden supports a public option that will lift millions of Americans out of poverty and the burden and fear of hospital bills. Moreover, Biden has plans for criminal justice reform while Trump continues to ignore the problem of systemic racism and threaten peaceful protestors with federal police in places like Portland—a concerning trend in terms of what it means for the future if Trump were to win a second term.
Outside of politics, Trump and Biden also differ greatly. Biden, for better or worse, has spent most of his adult life, since age 27, in elected politics. Trump spent the majority of his life inheriting money and participating in failed business ventures. Trump has been married multiple times and Biden has only been married twice; the first time, of course, his wife and daughter died in a tragic car accident before he was sworn in to his first term as a senator. He was left with two sons. Eventually, he remarried and had another child. In short, Biden came from a working class family and hasn’t been all that rich his entire life. Trump has lived a life of opulence and extravagance and ignored responsibility. To compare the two is a joke and shows a gross ignorance of the facts of the two men’s lives.
To act as if Biden is some centrist, or a secret arch-conservative, is to show a grotesque disregard for the facts and his positions on the issues. To compare Biden and Trump and pretend as if they are two sides of the same coin is even more insulting and moronic. One has led an upstanding public life with a sincere devotion to helping people while the other has lived just the opposite. They are not the same nor have they ever been.
A vote for Biden is a vote for progress, for big structural change and the chance for Democrats to position themselves as the dominant party in future elections. If you don’t turn out to vote because you believe that Trump and Biden are the same, you’re a moron. Pure and simple. You have not read about either nor have you considered pragmatism; you’re only interested in ideological purity and the ideas that you want. And that is sad and unfortunate.
P.S. I’m a liberal Democrat who ardently supported Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020 so I’m not some ossified neo-liberal hellbent on compromise with the right.


dailykos--2020-07-30--The Open Carry Of The Penis.

The Open Carry Of The Penis.

I call it `` The Open Carry of The Penis . ''
Sure go ahead and laugh you SOBs .
I have a legal precedent on my side , Safe Carry Protection Act also known as Georgia 's `` Gun Everywhere Law . ''
The law was enacted in July 2014 .
I 've written a bill .
Look I 'm not a lawmaker and nobody should care since Dumb Donald is not a president !
The Bill is called `` The Open Carry Of The Penis . ''
AKA `` The Penis Everywhere Law . ''
It reads as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ goes into effect 2021 allows licensed penis owners in America and visitors from other countries to bring a penis into a bar without restrictions and carry a penis into some government buildings that do n't have security measures .
It also allows school districts to decide whether they want some employees to carry a penis and religious leaders to decide whether to allow licensed penis owners to tote to their church , synagogue , or mosque .
For all you insufferable skeptics , history is also on my side .
`` The open @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around since primordial man practiced open carry .
The Egyptian God Min , the God of Fertility was the embodiment of `` The Open Carry of The Penis , '' it was carved in stone .
Egyptian God Min How about the mythological first man Adam .
His life was great without the burden of needs or thinking for himself .
He walked around with his life stick in the open , without shame .
However once he ate the fruit , Adam started to overthink things .
He became ashamed of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ body .
The consequences for Adam were harsh .
God evicted Adam and Eve from the Garden .
Cain committed the first murder by killing Abel .
All Adam had to do was forget the clothes and maintain `` The Open Carry of The penis . ''
But Adam could n't get over his shame .
Let us not forget about Moses who was crying out to liberte his staff .
Exodus 7:9 `` When Pharaoh says to you , 'Perform a miracle , ' then say to Aaron , 'Take your staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ' and it will become a snake . ''
The allegorical symbolism is obvious .
Men walking around carrying a long hard wooden staff .
This means I wish I could carry my penis openly .
The staff turns into a snake , which is evidence of an unyielding desire to have their penes frolicking openly .
Exodus 7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river .
Confront him on the bank of the Nile , and take in your hand the staff that was changed into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is now redundant that `` The Open Carry of The Penis '' is all that Moses can think about .
God is telling Moses to take your penis put in your hand and envision it like a serpent .
If Moses was a real revolutionary , he would have taken out his penis and told Pharaoh `` how do you like my circumcision . ''
Thanks to Adam and his shame Moses had to suffer .
But do n't feel bad for Moses he went on to massacre tens of thousands of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sexual liberation for men and women via the cosmic orgasms by the life energy he called orgone .
Without this cosmic orgasm , mankind will remain sexually repressed with negative sexual energy .
Reich theorized the repressed sexual energy leads to madness giving us wars , mental illness , and other diseases .
But when the energy is released the world will become a better place .
“ It is sexual energy which governs the structure of human feeling and thinking.
” ( Wilhelm Reich ) A sexual revolution is in progress , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power on earth will stop it . ''
Reich was a sexual evangelist who held that satisfactory orgasm made the difference between sickness and health . ''
He essentially called for genitals out everywhere .
In therapy sessions , his clients were generally naked .
It was the dawn of `` The Open Carry of The Penis . ''
Reich had theorized that it was the physical inability to surrender to orgasm that underlay neurosis , and eventually turned people to fascism and authoritarianism .
Reich migrated from Freud 's simple talking cure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a therapy designed to help his patients overcome the physical and respiratory blocks that prevented them from experiencing pleasure .
Finally—and most dangerously—he claimed that the orgasm was an expression of orgone , the joy-filled force of life itself .
With phone-booth-sized devices called orgone accumulators , he could harness this force to cure neurosis , disease , and even affect the weather and help crops .
Dr. Reich 's name of Wilhelm preordained him for `` The Open Carry of The Penis . ''
Wilhelm is the German form of William , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
Bill is also short for William .
Will means to wish , desire , will .
Helm means to conceal , helmet , protective cover .
Translation for Wilhelm/William and other derivatives .
`` He who has a desire to uncover his helmet . ''
If he had lived long enough Reich would have given society the benefits of `` The Open Carry of The Penis .
`` What we have instead are guns everywhere .
Causing wars , murder , and chaos .
Which law is more harmful and deadly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ open .
Or guns in the open that are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people a year .
Will , we ever see another Wilhelm Reich ?
Probably not .
But here are two prospects that truly wanted penile liberation .
But unlike Dr. Reich , their conviction was lacking .
The two contenders were also preordained by their name alone .
William Jefferson Clinton aka Bill was subconsciously begging for `` The Open Carry of The Penis . ''
He wanted his penis out inside and out of the oval @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scandal broke in 1998 , Clinton first denied practicing open carry with Monica .
Rather than emerge as a liberator for `` penis everywhere '' Willie got impeached .
He missed a personal opportunity to have his helmet atop Mt .
Rushmore .
It was just another moment in time that deferred world peace How about Anthony Weiner ?
Weiner by name alone was also ordained to free mankind of our sexual repressions .
Weiner was on the cutting edge for `` The Open Carry of The Penis . ''
He took his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of vision .
He was prepared to share his open penis via cellphone .
This was guaranteed to potentially reach thousands .
However , just like Bill , Weiner went limp and ended his movement , before the world could reap the benefits of `` the penis everywhere . ''
Wilhelm Reich coined the phrase `` sexual revolution . ''
Considering the state of the world we currently live in .
It appears another sexual revolution is needed .
I know I 'm not a doctor of clinical psychology like Dr. Reich .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Trump University .
If that 's not good enough for you ingrates , then it 's just fake news .

Dr. Wilhelm Reich, psychoanalyst, postulated the existence of some kind of vital energy which he called ‘orgone’, a combination of the words orgasm and organism. In his opinion, people had problems because they didn’t let their energy flow freely. (Expoleringyourmind.com Wilhelm Reich and His Approach to Sexuality)
We are all familiar with the metaphor of the gun as a penis. The bigger the gun the smaller the penis. If you have multiple guns do you wish for multiple penes?
What about ammunition? Bullets are a metaphor for sperm. "He's shooting blanks." Yes, the more bullets your gun can hold means increased virility.
So far I've said nothing new. However as an unlicensed social therapist we need to reassess men with guns.
Look at the above photo of the “Michigan Liberty Militia.” It’s evident these men are in pain and suffering. They stormed the Michigan Capital building back in May.
Don’t be fooled by the corrupt media reporting the attack on the capital was because of COVID-19 lock down. No this was a cry for help, look at their big guns, ammo packs. The smallest one in the group has the biggest gun. Do you people not care?
What they really want is to liberate their penis as the group name implies. They want to legally carry their penis in hand instead of guns. I’m here to help them realize that dream.
I call it "The Open Carry of The Penis." Sure go ahead and laugh you SOBs.
I have a legal precedent on my side, Safe Carry Protection Act also known as Georgia's "Gun Everywhere Law." The law was enacted in July 2014.
I've written a bill. Look I'm not a lawmaker and nobody should care since Dumb Donald is not a president!
The Bill is called " The Open Carry Of The Penis." AKA "The Penis Everywhere Law." It reads as follows.
The new law, which goes into effect 2021 allows licensed penis owners in America and visitors from other countries to bring a penis into a bar without restrictions and carry a penis into some government buildings that don't have security measures. It also allows school districts to decide whether they want some employees to carry a penis and religious leaders to decide whether to allow licensed penis owners to tote to their church, synagogue, or mosque.
(Maybe from USA Today)
For all you insufferable skeptics, history is also on my side.
"The open carry of the penis" has been around since primordial man practiced open carry.
The Egyptian God Min, the God of Fertility was the embodiment of "The Open Carry of The Penis," it was carved in stone. Egyptian God Min
How about the mythological first man Adam. His life was great without the burden of needs or thinking for himself. He walked around with his life stick in the open, without shame.
However once he ate the fruit, Adam started to overthink things. He became ashamed of the serpent between his legs and covered his body. The consequences for Adam were harsh. God evicted Adam and Eve from the Garden. Cain committed the first murder by killing Abel.
All Adam had to do was forget the clothes and maintain "The Open Carry of The penis." But Adam couldn't get over his shame.
Let us not forget about Moses who was crying out to liberte his staff.
Exodus 7:9 "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Perform a miracle,' then say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,' and it will become a snake."
The allegorical symbolism is obvious. Men walking around carrying a long hard wooden staff. This means I wish I could carry my penis openly. The staff turns into a snake, which is evidence of an unyielding desire to have their penes frolicking openly.
Exodus 7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.
At this point, it is now redundant that "The Open Carry of The Penis" is all that Moses can think about.
God is telling Moses to take your penis put in your hand and envision it like a serpent.
If Moses was a real revolutionary, he would have taken out his penis and told Pharaoh " how do you like my circumcision."
Thanks to Adam and his shame Moses had to suffer.
But don't feel bad for Moses he went on to massacre tens of thousands of people.
Dr. Wilhelm Reich believed in sexual liberation for men and women via the cosmic orgasms by the life energy he called orgone. Without this cosmic orgasm, mankind will remain sexually repressed with negative sexual energy.
Reich theorized the repressed sexual energy leads to madness giving us wars, mental illness, and other diseases. But when the energy is released the world will become a better place.
“It is sexual energy which governs the structure of human feeling and thinking.” (Wilhelm Reich)
A sexual revolution is in progress," he declared, "and no power on earth will stop it." Reich was a sexual evangelist who held that satisfactory orgasm made the difference between sickness and health."
(Wilhelm Reich: the man who invented free love; The Guardian)
He essentially called for genitals out everywhere. In therapy sessions, his clients were generally naked. It was the dawn of "The Open Carry of The Penis."
Reich had theorized that it was the physical inability to surrender to orgasm that underlay neurosis, and eventually turned people to fascism and authoritarianism. Reich migrated from Freud's simple talking cure to what he called character analysis, a therapy designed to help his patients overcome the physical and respiratory blocks that prevented them from experiencing pleasure. Finally—and most dangerously—he claimed that the orgasm was an expression of orgone, the joy-filled force of life itself. With phone-booth-sized devices called orgone accumulators, he could harness this force to cure neurosis, disease, and even affect the weather and help crops.
(How America Interrupted Wilhelm Reich's Orgasmic Utopia; Vice.)
Dr. Reich's name of Wilhelm preordained him for " The Open Carry of The Penis."
Wilhelm is the German form of William, which can be shortened to "Willie." Bill is also short for William. Will means to wish, desire, will. Helm means to conceal, helmet, protective cover.
Translation for Wilhelm/William and other derivatives. "He who has a desire to uncover his helmet."
If he had lived long enough Reich would have given society the benefits of "The Open Carry of The Penis."What we have instead are guns everywhere. Causing wars, murder, and chaos.
Which law is more harmful and deadly? Safely carrying your penis in the open. Or guns in the open that are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people a year.
Wilhelm Reich died in prison in Nov/ 1957.
Will, we ever see another Wilhelm Reich? Probably not. But here are two prospects that truly wanted penile liberation. But unlike Dr. Reich, their conviction was lacking. The two contenders were also preordained by their name alone.
William Jefferson Clinton aka Bill was subconsciously begging for "The Open Carry of The Penis ." He wanted his penis out inside and out of the oval office.
When the Monica and Bill scandal broke in 1998, Clinton first denied practicing open carry with Monica. Rather than emerge as a liberator for "penis everywhere" Willie got impeached.
He missed a personal opportunity to have his helmet atop Mt. Rushmore. It was just another moment in time that deferred world peace
How about Anthony Weiner? Weiner by name alone was also ordained to free mankind of our sexual repressions.
Weiner was on the cutting edge for "The Open Carry of The Penis."
He took his penis digital, he was a man of vision. He was prepared to share his open penis via cellphone. This was guaranteed to potentially reach thousands.
However, just like Bill, Weiner went limp and ended his movement, before the world could reap the benefits of "the penis everywhere."
Wilhelm Reich coined the phrase "sexual revolution." Considering the state of the world we currently live in. It appears another sexual revolution is needed.
I know I'm not a doctor of clinical psychology like Dr. Reich. But I have a Ph.D. in BS from Trump University. If that's not good enough for you ingrates, then it's just fake news.
One Love.


The Dangerous Shell-game.

Ahmaud Arbery , Bothem Sean , Attatiana Jefferson , Jonathan Ferrell , Rehisha McBride , Stephen Clark , Jordan Edwards , Alton Sterling , Philando Castile , Aiyana Jones ( 7 yrs old ) Tamir Rice ( 12 years old . )
, Corey Jones , Sean Bell , Oscar Grant , Sandra Bell .
This list could be tripled in sixty seconds by a twelve year old who could spell Google and indicates indisputably that the police have become the self-elected fist of the Establishment , hired ( in their own minds at least ) to keep the lower @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not be the intention of their employers , and the current protests for George Floyd are in part a demand to make the intentions of those employers clear .
For African-American people continually punched in the face ( and murdered ) by that fist , it is only appropriate that those gloved hands be the concentration of their attention .
Being a cultural minority ( 13 % ) , seeking political change will require enlisting 38 % of other allies to amass sufficient numbers to insure change .
As Americans , our first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fellow citizens are safe and defended .
That is a base level concern , not a high bar , and should not be nearly enough .
Concern pressing me today is the alacrity with which major media and public dialogue has so narrowed the focus of argument to address only law and order reforms , at the expense of other concerns perhaps less immediate but equally lethal to my fellow citizens .
To change the way policing is described , hired and trained , and to hold police to strict standards of unbiased @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overcoming the apparently boundless white toleration of injustice .
Regarded clearly , it is only against the back-drop of anti African-American brutality and discrimination that Caucasian people are generally privileged .
While Caucasian don ’ t often die at the hands of the police , they have been no more able to protect unions and the National Labor Relations Board from being eviscerated , environmental regulations gutted leaving them vulnerable to poisons off-loaded at no cost by the manufacturing sector which does not want to bear the costs of their safe disposal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been to prevent their jobs from being shipped overseas by the very people we sent to Washington to protect us .
American workers of ALL colors receive less money to be retrained for the “ new economy ” than citizens of any other industrialized country .
Having our water , air , and soil poisoned , having no insurance and often no work , does not reek of privilege , it means only that the majority suffers growing poverty , disenfranchisement and powerlessness with many more comforts and less threats .
Until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as White and Black and Red and Brown we will remain Balkanized and ineffective .
Either we are citizens , entitled to the guarantees of the Constitution or not .
Full Stop .
African-Americans should not have to depend on the goodwill of Caucasian people to enjoy the rights and protections enshrined in the Constitution .
Full stop .
Which is to say it is the toleration of such injustice on the part of Caucasians that puts them in league with the oppressors of our fellows .
I have many African-American friends .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ I could accurately describe as ‘ black.
’ Dark coffee , coffee with milk , khaki , perhaps .
I don ’ t know any humans the color of my toilet .
My skin is not white .
It is full of olive tones from Spanish and Asiatic ancestors .
Designations white and black are political meme .
They describe power-dynamics not human beings .
If we are to ever all to be Americans in a nation we can be proud of , “ citizen ” should become , next to “ human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for full and equal participation in civil society .
All the police reform on earth , will not guarantee these rights .
The central enemy of these rights is the entrenched power and political leverage afforded to personal and corporate wealth .
No amount of law-and-order reform will end redlining , segregated and unequal school systems , the killing-zones of African-American communities which Caucasians would not tolerate for 10 minutes .
Law and order reform will not end disparity of mortages and frozen capital for minority businesses .
They will not put healthy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Changing policing will not create modern infrastructure—highways , ports , mass-transit , modern airports , universal internet—the foundation of a thriving economy .
Police reforms will not create the detox and hospital centers required to end the opiod pandemic .
They will not shelter the homeless , nor raise the life span of resident in the Cancer-belt of Mississippi , Louisiana , Texas , and Mitch McConnell ’ s Kentucky , designated the cancer capital of the United States with a cancer rate of 521 per 100,000 and the highest cancer death @ @ @ @ @ @ @ young economists , Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson wrote a readable analysis adressing this point .
Winner-Take-All Politics : How Washington Made the Rich Richer -- and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class , demonstrates the systematic proofs of how the Nation ’ s wealthiest people —the 1/10th of one percent—pay for all Federal elections in our country .
Even my beloved President Obama raised only 40 % of his campaign money from small donors .
The remaining 60 % came from people who should have been jailed in 2008 for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them paid a cent in fines , while millions of their fellow Americans had their possessions dragged out into the street by sheriffs each month .
The United States Congress , whether willingly or unwillingly , has become a wholly owned subsidiary of entrenched wealth , forced to either beg and please donors , or make Draconian choices to stay in office .
Focus groups inform them of which issues will win election , they repeat them to win enough votes to go to Congress ( and get the keys to the public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work , repaying their donors from the national treasury , usually through tax legislation invisible to the American people .
Protecting our neighbors from the threat of violence and death at the hands of police is an immediate priority , but let ’ s not let it distract us from the core dilemma that our Legislators do not work for us .
To “ get money out of politics ” as so many blithely suggest , we need a plan .
If that plan does not include Full Federal Funding of elections we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Titanic .
We the People must offer candidates equal amounts of money ( and judge their creativity and resourcefulness by how they spend it ) and ban all hard or in-kind donations from lobbyists and corporations .
Let us attract to Congress men and women who truly want to serve , and support the ones there now who do as well .
Let ’ s save them from the Draconian choices they must make with Big Capital to remain in office to do the good work that ’ s important to them .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ what the law may decree and allowing them to hide behind the Bill of Rights to foil investigators from has made disciplining them impossible .
The Supreme Court needs to revisit Citizen ’ s United , which has effectively disenfranchised our citizen by opening up unlimited flows of money in our electoral system .
It is as much in the interest of George Floyd , Ahmaud Arbery , Bothem Sean , Attatiana Jefferson and their families , as police reform .
We should stay in the streets until they do .
The Three-card @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from these universal concerns .
Police-reform is a first-step , not the self-congratulatory enthusiasm of newly awakened upper-middle-class pundits .
I urge my brothers and sister not to take their eyes off the prize : Full Citizenship , under the protections of Law and the control of the citizens .

Ahmaud Arbery, Bothem Sean, Attatiana Jefferson, Jonathan Ferrell, Rehisha McBride, Stephen Clark, Jordan Edwards, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Aiyana Jones (7 yrs old) Tamir Rice (12 years old.), Corey Jones, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Sandra Bell. This list could be tripled in sixty seconds by a twelve year old who could spell Google and indicates indisputably that the police have become the self-elected fist of the Establishment, hired (in their own minds at least) to keep the lower classes cowed. That may or may not be the intention of their employers, and the current protests for George Floyd are in part a demand to make the intentions of those employers clear. For African-American people continually punched in the face (and murdered) by that fist, it is only appropriate that those gloved hands be the concentration of their attention. Being a cultural minority (13%), seeking political change will require enlisting 38% of other allies to amass sufficient numbers to insure change. As Americans, our first priority should be to ensure that our fellow citizens are safe and defended. That is a base level concern, not a high bar, and should not be nearly enough.
Concern pressing me today is the alacrity with which major media and public dialogue has so narrowed the focus of argument to address only law and order reforms, at the expense of other concerns perhaps less immediate but equally lethal to my fellow citizens. To change the way policing is described, hired and trained, and to hold police to strict standards of unbiased performance; will be a step at overcoming the apparently boundless white toleration of injustice.
Regarded clearly, it is only against the back-drop of anti African-American brutality and discrimination that Caucasian people are generally privileged. While Caucasian don’t often die at the hands of the police, they have been no more able to protect unions and the National Labor Relations Board from being eviscerated, environmental regulations gutted leaving them vulnerable to poisons off-loaded at no cost by the manufacturing sector which does not want to bear the costs of their safe disposal. For all our privileges, Caucasian people have been to prevent their jobs from being shipped overseas by the very people we sent to Washington to protect us. American workers of ALL colors receive less money to be retrained for the “new economy” than citizens of any other industrialized country. Having our water, air, and soil poisoned, having no insurance and often no work, does not reek of privilege, it means only that the majority suffers growing poverty, disenfranchisement and powerlessness with many more comforts and less threats.
Until we stop thinking and designating one another as White and Black and Red and Brown we will remain Balkanized and ineffective. Either we are citizens, entitled to the guarantees of the Constitution or not. Full Stop. African-Americans should not have to depend on the goodwill of Caucasian people to enjoy the rights and protections enshrined in the Constitution. Full stop. Which is to say it is the toleration of such injustice on the part of Caucasians that puts them in league with the oppressors of our fellows.
I have many African-American friends. I don’t know one that I could accurately describe as ‘black.’ Dark coffee, coffee with milk, khaki, perhaps. I don’t know any humans the color of my toilet. My skin is not white. It is full of olive tones from Spanish and Asiatic ancestors. Designations white and black are political meme. They describe power-dynamics not human beings. If we are to ever all to be Americans in a nation we can be proud of, “citizen” should become, next to “human being”, all the designation required for full and equal participation in civil society.
All the police reform on earth, will not guarantee these rights. The central enemy of these rights is the entrenched power and political leverage afforded to personal and corporate wealth. No amount of law-and-order reform will end redlining, segregated and unequal school systems, the killing-zones of African-American communities which Caucasians would not tolerate for 10 minutes. Law and order reform will not end disparity of mortages and frozen capital for minority businesses. They will not put healthy produce in poor neighborhoods nor produce healthcare. Changing policing will not create modern infrastructure—highways, ports, mass-transit, modern airports, universal internet—the foundation of a thriving economy. Police reforms will not create the detox and hospital centers required to end the opiod pandemic. They will not shelter the homeless, nor raise the life span of resident in the Cancer-belt of Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky, designated the cancer capital of the United States with a cancer rate of 521 per 100,000 and the highest cancer death rate in the Nation.
Two brilliant young economists, Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson wrote a readable analysis adressing this point. Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class, demonstrates the systematic proofs of how the Nation’s wealthiest people —the 1/10th of one percent—pay for all Federal elections in our country. Even my beloved President Obama raised only 40% of his campaign money from small donors. The remaining 60% came from people who should have been jailed in 2008 for ruining the economy. Not one of them paid a cent in fines, while millions of their fellow Americans had their possessions dragged out into the street by sheriffs each month. The United States Congress, whether willingly or unwillingly, has become a wholly owned subsidiary of entrenched wealth, forced to either beg and please donors, or make Draconian choices to stay in office. Focus groups inform them of which issues will win election, they repeat them to win enough votes to go to Congress (and get the keys to the public treasury)and then begin their real work, repaying their donors from the national treasury, usually through tax legislation invisible to the American people.
Protecting our neighbors from the threat of violence and death at the hands of police is an immediate priority, but let’s not let it distract us from the core dilemma that our Legislators do not work for us. To “get money out of politics” as so many blithely suggest, we need a plan. If that plan does not include Full Federal Funding of elections we are just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. We the People must offer candidates equal amounts of money (and judge their creativity and resourcefulness by how they spend it) and ban all hard or in-kind donations from lobbyists and corporations. Let us attract to Congress men and women who truly want to serve, and support the ones there now who do as well. Let’s save them from the Draconian choices they must make with Big Capital to remain in office to do the good work that’s important to them.
Corporations are NOT people, no matter what the law may decree and allowing them to hide behind the Bill of Rights to foil investigators from has made disciplining them impossible. The Supreme Court needs to revisit Citizen’s United, which has effectively disenfranchised our citizen by opening up unlimited flows of money in our electoral system. It is as much in the interest of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Bothem Sean, Attatiana Jefferson and their families, as police reform. We should stay in the streets until they do.
The Three-card Monte hustlers are shifting our attention away from these universal concerns. Police-reform is a first-step, not the self-congratulatory enthusiasm of newly awakened upper-middle-class pundits. I urge my brothers and sister not to take their eyes off the prize: Full Citizenship, under the protections of Law and the control of the citizens.


Rant No. 2

The Opinions of an American Idiot Many supporters of progressive presidential candidates , like Sanders and Warren ( especially Sanders ) , act as if a vote for Biden is the end of liberalism .
Some have even gone far enough to say that Biden and Trump are more or less the same .
In a post I saw on Facebook recently one person wrote , more or less , ‘ There are 331 million people in America and our choices are two sex offenders and Kanye West ?
” Nina Turner , a former co-campaign chair for Sanders and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Biden to eating a “ bowl of shit.
” Cornel West called Biden a “ mediocre , milquetoast , neoliberal centrist.
” These people are being overdramatic .
Biden is light years apart from Trump on nearly , if not all , major issues of the day .
Trump is letting Americans die , ignoring science , and trying to open the economy and schools up even as it poses a severe threat to the health and well being of this nation ’ s citizens .
Biden has detailed , safe plans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ schools , fighting coronavirus , and economic relief .
Trump doesn ’ t support an increased minimum wage .
Biden supports a $ 15 an hour minimum wage .
Trump doesn ’ t support a public option or really any kind of government subsidized healthcare .
Biden supports a public option that will lift millions of Americans out of poverty and the burden and fear of hospital bills .
Moreover , Biden has plans for criminal justice reform while Trump continues to ignore the problem of systemic racism and threaten peaceful protestors with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trend in terms of what it means for the future if Trump were to win a second term .
Outside of politics , Trump and Biden also differ greatly .
Biden , for better or worse , has spent most of his adult life , since age 27 , in elected politics .
Trump spent the majority of his life inheriting money and participating in failed business ventures .
Trump has been married multiple times and Biden has only been married twice ; the first time , of course , his wife and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before he was sworn in to his first term as a senator .
He was left with two sons .
Eventually , he remarried and had another child .
In short , Biden came from a working class family and hasn ’ t been all that rich his entire life .
Trump has lived a life of opulence and extravagance and ignored responsibility .
To compare the two is a joke and shows a gross ignorance of the facts of the two men ’ s lives .
To act as if Biden is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is to show a grotesque disregard for the facts and his positions on the issues .
To compare Biden and Trump and pretend as if they are two sides of the same coin is even more insulting and moronic .
One has led an upstanding public life with a sincere devotion to helping people while the other has lived just the opposite .
They are not the same nor have they ever been .
A vote for Biden is a vote for progress , for big structural change and the chance for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ party in future elections .
If you don ’ t turn out to vote because you believe that Trump and Biden are the same , you ’ re a moron .
Pure and simple .
You have not read about either nor have you considered pragmatism ; you ’ re only interested in ideological purity and the ideas that you want .
And that is sad and unfortunate .
P.S .
I ’ m a liberal Democrat who ardently supported Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020 so I ’ m not some ossified @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .


dailykos--2020-08-01--The Juice Media -- must visit website

The Juice Media -- must visit website

Sent to me by a friend .
All I can say is , the Honest Government ads are a breath @ @ @ @ @ they ’ d be funnier if they weren ’ t so true .

www.thejuicemedia.com
Sent to me by a friend. All I can say is, the Honest Government ads are a breath of fresh air, though they’d be funnier if they weren’t so true.
Hakuchi


dailykos--2020-08-01--The White Walkers of Southwest Florida: Surveying the Republican policy platforms

Anyone who remembers HBO ’ s Game of Thrones remembers the White Walkers—the undead , unthinking zombies who marched mindlessly against the living , animated by the will of a single leader , the Night King .
No spoiler here—when the Night King was destroyed , so were all the White Walkers since none of them had minds of their own .
Now the White Walkers are in Southwest Florida—and nine of them are running for the Republican congressional nomination in the 19th Congressional District .
Something else that applies from Game of Thrones : the warning refrain “ winter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coming to tropical Southwest Florida too .
Rick Wilson is a veteran Republican operative who claims to be “ one of the handful of people your candidate or SuperPAC calls when it ’ s time to drop the big , nasty negative ads.
” He ’ s managed numerous campaigns at a variety of levels .
He makes no bones that he ’ ll do whatever it takes to win elections and he ’ s had plenty of victories .
He ’ s smart , dangerous and wickedly witty .
Wilson sees Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the traditional Republicanism that he served and promoted .
Why ?
Because , he writes , “ Trump ’ s Troll Party puts wild-eyed nationalist , anti-establishment ranting before the tenets of our constitutional Republic.
” He continues : “ All you have to do to stay in the good graces of this new political force is to swear Trump is always right .
All you have to do is loathe with the fire of a million suns anyone who levies the slightest criticism of Trump .
You must compromise everything you believe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is President for Life .
Kneel before Zod.
” That ’ s from Wilson ’ s book , Everything Trump Touches Dies .
It ’ s also what led Wilson to be one of the founders of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project .
As it happens , Wilson lives in Tampa .
If he wanted proof of his thesis , he need go no further down the coast than the 19th Congressional District , where the entire thrust of the Republican primary race from Cape Coral to Marco Island has been for each candidate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her protestations of loyalty , fealty and obedience to Donald Trump .
Darren Aquino is “ a real supporter of President Trump , ” Byron Donalds is “ incredibly proud to stand with President Trump , ” Casey Askar will “ always have the president ’ s back , ” Dane Eagle is “ a pro-Trump conservative , ” William Figlesthaler will “ will fully support President Trump and his America First agenda , ” Randy Henderson will be “ an ally to President Trump.
” Daniel Kowal , will “ stand with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ lend unwavering support to President Trump , ” Dan Severson wants to be “ the Wingman Donald Trump deserves.
” In addition to their personal subservience to Donald Trump , all the candidates adhere to the Trumpist gospel of closed borders , gun ownership , denial of a woman ’ s right to choose , paranoid detestation of Democrats and immigrants and hatred of RINOs ( Republicans In Name Only—i.e.
, any non-Trump Republican ) .
To go through the policy positions and propaganda of the nine Republican candidates for Congress in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ landscape so barren and arid that no idea can survive there .
They ’ re all ready to fight for Trump and the Trump agenda once they get to Congress in 2021 .
But what happens if there ’ s no President Trump in 2021 ?
Will these White Walkers just collapse in a heap like their fictional counterparts when the Night King was destroyed ?
And worse , if one of them is elected and has no leader , will he or she have any notion what to do in the US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ post , the issues the next Congress confronts are likely to be much different from what candidates are running on now—far grimmer , more unforgiving and much more real .
So where do these Republicans stand on issues that the next Congress is really likely to face that affect Southwest Florida ?
We took a tour of the candidates ’ websites where they post their most formal and detailed policy positions .
This article is based on what we found there .
Southwest Florida is facing plenty of challenges .
But let ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compelling and urgent : plague , poverty and water .
This is the winter that is coming .
By the beginning of January 2021 when the new members of Congress take their oaths of office ( assuming of course , that the United States remains a constitutional republic and not a Trumpist dictatorship ) coronavirus is likely to remain virulent and active .
A vaccine may have even been developed but as Dr. Anthony Fauci put it , “ there is no guarantee — and anyone who has been involved in vaccinations will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a safe and effective vaccine.
” Given that Dr. William Figlesthaler is the only medical doctor in the Republican field , voters might have expected him to weigh in strongly and authoritatively on the greatest healthcare crisis of our time .
Initially , he did .
On March 19 Figlesthaler announced he was suspending his campaign and opening a coronavirus hotline to concentrate on helping people cope with the then-mounting pandemic .
However , as a political novice , Figlesthaler didn ’ t realize that in political parlance , “ suspending ” a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ result , he had to unsuspend his campaign on March 27 .
( Candidates always “ suspend ” their campaigns when they are actually ending them in order to leave open the possibility of re-starting them again should circumstances permit . )
Since that time , Figlesthaler has not weighed in on the pandemic .
He has been silent on mask mandates and health closures .
He has only continued to reaffirm his loyalty to Trump , who kept dismissing or wishing away the crisis .
Also avoiding mention of COVID are Dane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other candidates , Casey Askar on his website states : “ Our nation is at war , this is a public health crisis and a national defense issue .
It ’ s important that we save lives , and that everyone does their part.
” That said , NBC2 ’ s Dave Elias reported Askar opposing a mask mandate in a July 9 interview .
Byron Donalds weighed in against Cape Coral imposing a mask mandate when the city debated the issue on July 6 .
In contrast to those candidates avoiding the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ field , Ave Maria Law School graduate Christy McLaughlin , is vehemently and actively anti-closure and anti-mask , holding online anti-closure rallies and repeatedly denouncing mask mandates .
In a particular irony , McLaughlin made a point of appearing at Cape Coral ’ s mask mandate debate on July 6 where she told Fox4 News that she opposed the mandate : “ We do have the personal responsibility and ability to make our own choices with the autonomy of our own bodies , ” she said—a choice she would deny to women when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rigidly anti-choice stance .
If a new coronavirus vaccine becomes available next year , the next scramble in Congress will be to fund its production and distribution .
From a parochial perspective , all Florida representatives will have to do what they can to ensure that the state gets its share .
Until now Trump has favored Florida and his pliant , handpicked governor by giving the state preferred access to the National Stockpile .
But if there ’ s no Trump in office next year , the representative of the 19th District @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in monitoring and pursuing the vaccine for constituents and encouraging its production through votes in Congress .
To date , the candidates ’ positions do not inspire confidence to that end .
Southwest Florida will likely remain in an economic depression next year , along with the rest of the country .
Tourism , hospitality , travel and seasonal retail are unlikely to recover quickly and if the pandemic is still raging , those sectors will remain depressed .
When it comes to the economy , the House of Representatives has passed repeated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unemployment benefits and businesses with pandemic-related losses .
Another such package is imminent .
These have all been Democratic initiatives passed with Democratic majorities , with Southwest Florida representatives varying in their approval or , in the case of Rep. Francis Rooney ( R-19-Fla. ) , being absent .
Where do the Republican candidates stand on economic support , both for the nation and Southwest Florida ?
Askar and Figlesthaler both boast of their past business successes and say they will fight for the economy in the future , although they don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s tax cuts and vows : “ I will always pursue tax policies that create greater opportunities .
Washington ’ s problem is not that it taxes too little , but that it spends too much ” —cold comfort in a time of mass unemployment and economic cratering when government spending is the only relief for many people .
In a detailed paper , however , ( more below ) he does acknowledge : “ In fact , we may never be able to fully quantify the economic devastation resulting from COVID-19.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ as mayor of Fort Myers .
Prior to the pandemic , the city had a 3.4 percent unemployment rate , 9 points lower than when he took office .
Of the all the candidates , he is the only one who has been in an elected executive position where he could directly affect employment in his jurisdiction .
But that still doesn ’ t address future unemployment and what steps he could take as a member of Congress to reduce it .
In fact , he states : “ The federal government should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jobs .
Instead , we need to continue passing President Trump ’ s America First agenda to rebuild our economy by empowering the private sector and job creators.
” One might point out that it was President Trump ’ s policies in the face of the pandemic that got America into its current economic state in the first place .
But that would be unkind .
In Southwest Florida water issues and environmental challenges long preceded this election and will long follow it .
It ’ s the one constant issue and one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of science can ’ t be wished away .
Managing water is what makes human life possible in this tropical realm and so the candidates have had a lot of time to ponder it and offer detailed responses .
All the Republican candidates are all for water purity and pledge to fight for funding to achieve it , in varying degrees of detail .
But it must be said , one candidate stands out above all the others : Casey Askar .
From a fairly dismissive and shallow position on water issues ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ article , “ The Curious Case of Casey Askar ” ) , Askar has since posted the most detailed and researched position on water issues of all the Republican candidates .
Someone in his campaign has done his or her homework .
In a paper titled “ I will not allow Southwest Florida to go out of Business , ” Askar ties water to the economic crisis , arguing that “ lobbyists and career politicians in Washington , DC are seizing on the chaos from this unprecedented global pandemic to try to undo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Florida .
Put simply – I will not allow them to put Southwest Florida out of business.
” Askar ’ s proposals are very much in the general consensus on water issues .
He calls for sending water south to the Everglades and protecting the integrity of the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual ( which is misspelled “ Manuel ” in the paper ) to prioritize the region ’ s health , economy and environment .
He pledges to fight for completion of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the storage reservoir south @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also says he ’ ll fight for “ commonsense operational change , ” like sending more water south during the dry season .
Even if written by one of Askar ’ s campaign consultants , as is usually the case , the paper shows some thought , research and originality applied to a real local issue .
One hopes that the candidate has read it .
On January 19 , 2017 , the United States was a healthy nation with a strong , if not spectacularly but steadily growing economy , relatively low @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trading relationships , declining crime , and smartly enforced borders .
It had a diverse but harmonious population with a sense of unity , confidence in its institutions and trust in its government .
In his inauguration speech the next day , Donald Trump called this “ American carnage.
” In his view , America was exactly the opposite , a place where “ the establishment protected itself , but not the citizens of our country , ” an establishment whose victories were its own and not those of the people .
America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of poverty , lost jobs , undefended borders , an education system that didn ’ t educate , crumbling infrastructure , foreign exploitation and a hollowed out economy .
In four years , Trump has turned his delusions from that day into the American reality .
As the Lincoln Project puts it : today America is poorer , sicker and weaker .
This is the present and future that the Republican congressional candidates are vehemently vowing to preserve and protect if they ’ re elected .
It ’ s the world ruled by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Walkers .
And if the living give it their votes , it will be the world for the next four years and beyond .
Winter will have come to stay .
Even in Southwest Florida .

The Paradise Progressive Analysis and commentary July 30, 2020 9 Minutes
July 30, 2020 by David Silverberg
Anyone who remembers HBO’s Game of Thrones remembers the White Walkers—the undead, unthinking zombies who marched mindlessly against the living, animated by the will of a single leader, the Night King.
No spoiler here—when the Night King was destroyed, so were all the White Walkers since none of them had minds of their own.
Now the White Walkers are in Southwest Florida—and nine of them are running for the Republican congressional nomination in the 19th Congressional District.
Something else that applies from Game of Thrones: the warning refrain “winter is coming.” Well, winter is coming to tropical Southwest Florida too.
Kneeling before Zod
Rick Wilson is a veteran Republican operative who claims to be “one of the handful of people your candidate or SuperPAC calls when it’s time to drop the big, nasty negative ads.” He’s managed numerous campaigns at a variety of levels. He makes no bones that he’ll do whatever it takes to win elections and he’s had plenty of victories. He’s smart, dangerous and wickedly witty.
He also loathes Donald Trump.
Wilson sees Trump’s cult as something different from the traditional Republicanism that he served and promoted.
Why? Because, he writes, “Trump’s Troll Party puts wild-eyed nationalist, anti-establishment ranting before the tenets of our constitutional Republic.” He continues: “All you have to do to stay in the good graces of this new political force is to swear Trump is always right. All you have to do is loathe with the fire of a million suns anyone who levies the slightest criticism of Trump. You must compromise everything you believe to praise and placate him. He is President for Life. Kneel before Zod.”
That’s from Wilson’s book, Everything Trump Touches Dies. It’s also what led Wilson to be one of the founders of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project.
As it happens, Wilson lives in Tampa. If he wanted proof of his thesis, he need go no further down the coast than the 19th Congressional District, where the entire thrust of the Republican primary race from Cape Coral to Marco Island has been for each candidate to outdo the other in his or her protestations of loyalty, fealty and obedience to Donald Trump.
Darren Aquino is “a real supporter of President Trump,” Byron Donalds is “incredibly proud to stand with President Trump,” Casey Askar will “always have the president’s back,” Dane Eagle is “a pro-Trump conservative,” William Figlesthaler will “will fully support President Trump and his America First agenda,” Randy Henderson will be “an ally to President Trump.” Daniel Kowal, will “stand with President Trump,” Christy McLaughlin will “lend unwavering support to President Trump,” Dan Severson wants to be “the Wingman Donald Trump deserves.”
In addition to their personal subservience to Donald Trump, all the candidates adhere to the Trumpist gospel of closed borders, gun ownership, denial of a woman’s right to choose, paranoid detestation of Democrats and immigrants and hatred of RINOs (Republicans In Name Only—i.e., any non-Trump Republican).
To go through the policy positions and propaganda of the nine Republican candidates for Congress in Southwest Florida is to tour an intellectual landscape so barren and arid that no idea can survive there.
They’re all ready to fight for Trump and the Trump agenda once they get to Congress in 2021.
But what happens if there’s no President Trump in 2021?
Will these White Walkers just collapse in a heap like their fictional counterparts when the Night King was destroyed? And worse, if one of them is elected and has no leader, will he or she have any notion what to do in the US Congress?
As noted in a previous post, the issues the next Congress confronts are likely to be much different from what candidates are running on now—far grimmer, more unforgiving and much more real.
So where do these Republicans stand on issues that the next Congress is really likely to face that affect Southwest Florida? We took a tour of the candidates’ websites where they post their most formal and detailed policy positions. This article is based on what we found there.
Southwest Florida is facing plenty of challenges. But let’s concentrate on three of the most compelling and urgent: plague, poverty and water.
This is the winter that is coming.
Plague
By the beginning of January 2021 when the new members of Congress take their oaths of office (assuming of course, that the United States remains a constitutional republic and not a Trumpist dictatorship) coronavirus is likely to remain virulent and active. A vaccine may have even been developed but as Dr. Anthony Fauci put it, “there is no guarantee — and anyone who has been involved in vaccinations will tell you — we’ll have a safe and effective vaccine.”
Given that Dr. William Figlesthaler is the only medical doctor in the Republican field, voters might have expected him to weigh in strongly and authoritatively on the greatest healthcare crisis of our time.
Initially, he did. On March 19 Figlesthaler announced he was suspending his campaign and opening a coronavirus hotline to concentrate on helping people cope with the then-mounting pandemic.
However, as a political novice, Figlesthaler didn’t realize that in political parlance, “suspending” a campaign means abandoning it. As a result, he had to unsuspend his campaign on March 27. (Candidates always “suspend” their campaigns when they are actually ending them in order to leave open the possibility of re-starting them again should circumstances permit.)
Since that time, Figlesthaler has not weighed in on the pandemic. He has been silent on mask mandates and health closures. He has only continued to reaffirm his loyalty to Trump, who kept dismissing or wishing away the crisis.
Also avoiding mention of COVID are Dane Eagle and Randy Henderson.
Of the other candidates, Casey Askar on his website states: “Our nation is at war, this is a public health crisis and a national defense issue. It’s important that we save lives, and that everyone does their part.” That said, NBC2’s Dave Elias reported Askar opposing a mask mandate in a July 9 interview.
Byron Donalds weighed in against Cape Coral imposing a mask mandate when the city debated the issue on July 6.
In contrast to those candidates avoiding the issue, the youngest candidate in the field, Ave Maria Law School graduate Christy McLaughlin, is vehemently and actively anti-closure and anti-mask, holding online anti-closure rallies and repeatedly denouncing mask mandates.
In a particular irony, McLaughlin made a point of appearing at Cape Coral’s mask mandate debate on July 6 where she told Fox4 News that she opposed the mandate: “We do have the personal responsibility and ability to make our own choices with the autonomy of our own bodies,” she said—a choice she would deny to women when it comes to abortion, given her rigidly anti-choice stance.
If a new coronavirus vaccine becomes available next year, the next scramble in Congress will be to fund its production and distribution. From a parochial perspective, all Florida representatives will have to do what they can to ensure that the state gets its share. Until now Trump has favored Florida and his pliant, handpicked governor by giving the state preferred access to the National Stockpile. But if there’s no Trump in office next year, the representative of the 19th District will have to be vigilant and active in monitoring and pursuing the vaccine for constituents and encouraging its production through votes in Congress.
To date, the candidates’ positions do not inspire confidence to that end.
Poverty
Southwest Florida will likely remain in an economic depression next year, along with the rest of the country. Tourism, hospitality, travel and seasonal retail are unlikely to recover quickly and if the pandemic is still raging, those sectors will remain depressed.
When it comes to the economy, the House of Representatives has passed repeated economic stimulus packages to help people with unemployment benefits and businesses with pandemic-related losses. Another such package is imminent. These have all been Democratic initiatives passed with Democratic majorities, with Southwest Florida representatives varying in their approval or, in the case of Rep. Francis Rooney (R-19-Fla.), being absent.
Where do the Republican candidates stand on economic support, both for the nation and Southwest Florida?
Askar and Figlesthaler both boast of their past business successes and say they will fight for the economy in the future, although they don’t give specifics. Askar praises Trump’s tax cuts and vows: “I will always pursue tax policies that create greater opportunities. Washington’s problem is not that it taxes too little, but that it spends too much”—cold comfort in a time of mass unemployment and economic cratering when government spending is the only relief for many people. In a detailed paper, however, (more below) he does acknowledge: “In fact, we may never be able to fully quantify the economic devastation resulting from COVID-19.”
Randy Henderson touts his economic successes as mayor of Fort Myers. Prior to the pandemic, the city had a 3.4 percent unemployment rate, 9 points lower than when he took office. Of the all the candidates, he is the only one who has been in an elected executive position where he could directly affect employment in his jurisdiction.
But that still doesn’t address future unemployment and what steps he could take as a member of Congress to reduce it. In fact, he states: “The federal government should never be in the business of creating jobs. Instead, we need to continue passing President Trump’s America First agenda to rebuild our economy by empowering the private sector and job creators.”
One might point out that it was President Trump’s policies in the face of the pandemic that got America into its current economic state in the first place. But that would be unkind.
Water
In Southwest Florida water issues and environmental challenges long preceded this election and will long follow it. It’s the one constant issue and one where physical realities and the iron laws of science can’t be wished away. Managing water is what makes human life possible in this tropical realm and so the candidates have had a lot of time to ponder it and offer detailed responses.
All the Republican candidates are all for water purity and pledge to fight for funding to achieve it, in varying degrees of detail. But it must be said, one candidate stands out above all the others: Casey Askar.
From a fairly dismissive and shallow position on water issues (as pointed out in the May 15 article, “The Curious Case of Casey Askar”), Askar has since posted the most detailed and researched position on water issues of all the Republican candidates. Someone in his campaign has done his or her homework.
In a paper titled “I will not allow Southwest Florida to go out of Business,” Askar ties water to the economic crisis, arguing that “lobbyists and career politicians in Washington, DC are seizing on the chaos from this unprecedented global pandemic to try to undo huge advancements for water quality in Southwest Florida. Put simply – I will not allow them to put Southwest Florida out of business.”
Askar’s proposals are very much in the general consensus on water issues. He calls for sending water south to the Everglades and protecting the integrity of the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (which is misspelled “Manuel” in the paper) to prioritize the region’s health, economy and environment. He pledges to fight for completion of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the storage reservoir south of the Everglades Agricultural Area. He also says he’ll fight for “commonsense operational change,” like sending more water south during the dry season.
Even if written by one of Askar’s campaign consultants, as is usually the case, the paper shows some thought, research and originality applied to a real local issue.
One hopes that the candidate has read it.
Winter arrives
On January 19, 2017, the United States was a healthy nation with a strong, if not spectacularly but steadily growing economy, relatively low unemployment, longstanding international alliances, robust trading relationships, declining crime, and smartly enforced borders. It had a diverse but harmonious population with a sense of unity, confidence in its institutions and trust in its government.
In his inauguration speech the next day, Donald Trump called this “American carnage.” In his view, America was exactly the opposite, a place where “the establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country,” an establishment whose victories were its own and not those of the people. America, he said, was a place of poverty, lost jobs, undefended borders, an education system that didn’t educate, crumbling infrastructure, foreign exploitation and a hollowed out economy.
In four years, Trump has turned his delusions from that day into the American reality. As the Lincoln Project puts it: today America is poorer, sicker and weaker.
This is the present and future that the Republican congressional candidates are vehemently vowing to preserve and protect if they’re elected.
It’s the world ruled by the Night King and his unthinking White Walkers.
And if the living give it their votes, it will be the world for the next four years and beyond.
Winter will have come to stay. Even in Southwest Florida.
Liberty lives in light
© 2020 by David Silverberg


dailykos--2020-08-01--I Love My BFF, BUT I Can't Support Trump

For over the last few months , my best friend has been desperately trying to convince me to vote for President Donald Trump in this year ’ s highly-contested presidential election against former Vice President Joe Biden .
Instead of spending our time discussing the latest news on our favorite musicians , or sharing gossip about the friends we know , our conversations quickly begin and end with her strong support for Trump , and why he is ( in her humble opinion ) , the best man to continue to lead our nation .
Although I love my best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can never bring myself to support a president who is obsessed with stoking racial and cultural wars , as well as , mishandling a pandemic that has claimed the lives of over 150,000 Americans and infected over four million .
Before he threw his hat into the presidential ring , I admired Donald Trump .
I was an avid viewer of The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice .
I thought he was a brilliant businessman , who can help aspiring entrepreneurs succeed in the economic industry .
Fast forward to 2015 .
After riding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he launched his presidential bid on a baseless and racist lie about then-President Barack Obama of not being a natural-born citizen .
Also , his racist and vile comments throughout the 2016 presidential election about Latinos , African-Americans , Muslims , and women made me nauseous .
After he supposedly “ won ” the election against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , the last four years of his presidency has been a “ Nightmare On Elm Street , ” and often I wonder if it is Trump or Freddy Krueger running the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ erratic and neurotic actions up to this moment are endangering our democracy .
He is UNFIT to lead this country .
Instead of creating and proposing a plan to end the Covid-19 pandemic , he is ignoring critical information from doctors and scientists , encouraging Americans to not wear masks , inject themselves with disinfectant , and distracting the focus on defeating the “ invisible enemy ” with his divisive rhetoric against “ Black Lives Matter , ” and blaming China for his failure in handling the crisis .
He is the worst @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best friend thinks he is one of the greatest men that ever lived since Elvis Presley .
She is always quick to highlight how Trump has done so much for our nation ; including his strong stance against abortion and his overwhelming support of religious freedom .
As a Christian , I strongly support religious freedom , as well as , opposed to abortion .
However , his behavior and actions during the last four years are purely evil and a mockery to my faith .
How can someone call himself a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes is a lie fueled with hatred ?
The Bible clearly instructs us not to tell lies , and reject satan who is “ The Father of Lies.
” Satan is using Trump to kill , steal , and destroy American lives through the mishandling of the pandemic and racial tensions .
Of course , my best friend believes that my opinions are influenced by the “ leftist media ” who are out to destroy Trump , but those are MY views !
To be fair , I ’ ve done my research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have an open mind about both candidates .
I pay close attention to everything that is developing in the world .
I hear and watch what both candidates are doing and saying .
My best friend thinks I ’ m “ misguided ” by “ the left ” and wants me to abandon my honest assessment of Trump .
She wants me to believe his racist rhetoric and childish behavior is nothing more than the media misunderstanding his “ personality.
” She wants me to blindly believe that Trump is “ not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an “ amazing ” job handling the pandemic .
As I stated before , I love her like a sister , but I can ’ t support a candidate who has morphed himself into a real-life horror figure and is “ slashing ” whatever is left of our democracy .
Sorry friend , but I ’ m supporting the only sane candidate who displays Christian values : Joe Biden .

For over the last few months, my best friend has been desperately trying to convince me to vote for President Donald Trump in this year’s highly-contested presidential election against former Vice President Joe Biden.
Instead of spending our time discussing the latest news on our favorite musicians, or sharing gossip about the friends we know, our conversations quickly begin and end with her strong support for Trump, and why he is (in her humble opinion), the best man to continue to lead our nation.
Although I love my best friend like a true sister, I can never bring myself to support a president who is obsessed with stoking racial and cultural wars, as well as, mishandling a pandemic that has claimed the lives of over 150,000 Americans and infected over four million.
Before he threw his hat into the presidential ring, I admired Donald Trump. I was an avid viewer of The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice. I thought he was a brilliant businessman, who can help aspiring entrepreneurs succeed in the economic industry.
Fast forward to 2015. After riding down the escalator of Trump Tower, he launched his presidential bid on a baseless and racist lie about then-President Barack Obama of not being a natural-born citizen. Also, his racist and vile comments throughout the 2016 presidential election about Latinos, African-Americans, Muslims, and women made me nauseous.
After he supposedly “won” the election against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the last four years of his presidency has been a “Nightmare On Elm Street,” and often I wonder if it is Trump or Freddy Krueger running the country. In other words, his erratic and neurotic actions up to this moment are endangering our democracy. He is UNFIT to lead this country. Instead of creating and proposing a plan to end the Covid-19 pandemic, he is ignoring critical information from doctors and scientists, encouraging Americans to not wear masks, inject themselves with disinfectant, and distracting the focus on defeating the “invisible enemy” with his divisive rhetoric against “Black Lives Matter,” and blaming China for his failure in handling the crisis. He is the worst president of our lifetime, and my best friend thinks he is one of the greatest men that ever lived since Elvis Presley. She is always quick to highlight how Trump has done so much for our nation; including his strong stance against abortion and his overwhelming support of religious freedom. As a Christian, I strongly support religious freedom, as well as, opposed to abortion. However, his behavior and actions during the last four years are purely evil and a mockery to my faith. How can someone call himself a “Christian” if every statement that he makes is a lie fueled with hatred? The Bible clearly instructs us not to tell lies, and reject satan who is “The Father of Lies.” Satan is using Trump to kill, steal, and destroy American lives through the mishandling of the pandemic and racial tensions. Of course, my best friend believes that my opinions are influenced by the “leftist media” who are out to destroy Trump, but those are MY views! To be fair, I’ve done my research on Trump and Biden. I TRIED to have an open mind about both candidates. I pay close attention to everything that is developing in the world. I hear and watch what both candidates are doing and saying. My best friend thinks I’m “misguided” by “the left” and wants me to abandon my honest assessment of Trump. She wants me to believe his racist rhetoric and childish behavior is nothing more than the media misunderstanding his “personality.” She wants me to blindly believe that Trump is “not” a racist and he is doing an “amazing” job handling the pandemic. As I stated before, I love her like a sister, but I can’t support a candidate who has morphed himself into a real-life horror figure and is “slashing” whatever is left of our democracy.
Sorry friend, but I’m supporting the only sane candidate who displays Christian values: Joe Biden.