America - Stop Playing Risk

There used to be a board game called Risk, the Game of Global Domination. I guess it's still around in some form or another. Basically, you had some 'troops' and attacked other countries by rolling dice, and slowly sought to take control of the World. It was a silly game, fun at times.

I sometimes think America's leaders are nothing more than a bunch of over grown kids playing Risk. We try to coerce, cheat, cajole, bribe, and blackmail our way into the creation of a World that we control, and when that doesn't work we often resort to force. Do not get me wrong. I love my Country. Well, more accurately, I love what my Country used to be and what it might become again. But, we have got to stop trying to run the whole planet.

We need to look at our own Land. Any one who is remotely sane can see that we aren't doing a bang up job of running ourselves, so how in the hell can we try to run the whole Earth and what gives us the right to even try. I am pretty sure that I have not heard Russia, or China or Brazil or France asking us to please show them how to conduct their affairs. Even if another Nation, in a fit of insanity, asks us to run things for them, we should decline the offer and tell them we need to get our own act together.

Jesus advised men not to worry about removing a speck from their neighbor's eye while ignoring a plank in their own. Wiser words were never spoken. To all America's leaders and would-be leaders. Wake up. Let's attempt to straighten out our own considerable mess and stop trying to run other people's lives. Remember, we are talking about real human lives, not pieces on a game board and you are not college kids playing a silly game.

America Adrift

America currently is adrift, floundering in a sea of emotions, fear being the main one. People watch the news, which may not be a good idea, and grow frightened, nervous. They are shown a world that loathes us, where evil waits at every corner, and where their jobs are on the line every time they start their day. They are shown a world where blacks hate whites, Latinos don't get along with Anglos, and no one likes Moslems, where heterosexuals hate gays, and where Republicans and Democrats are rapidly demonizing each other. As a result, folks watch too much sports on TV, eat too much, drink too much, take too many drugs and spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about their sex lives ( just watch any sports program and  see how many adds for erectile dysfunction treatments there are). Enough.

Look, things are not good, but we are not at the beginning of the Apocalypse. I don't see the 4 Horsemen saddling and I haven't heard Gabriel sounding his trumpet. It is true that some people in some parts of the world are anti-American but, if we had any brains, we could solve that problem by keeping our noses out of their affairs. Trust me, there are still countries that are fond of American people, they just aren't happy with our government.

Many, by far the majority, of Black and White folks get along just fine. Many of my best friends have been Latin and if the media did not keep stirring things up, most Americans get on pretty well with Moslems; they have been among us for years and they are like everyone else, some good, some bad, and most in between.

I know very few people anymore who give much thought about gay people. Sure, there is some residual homophobia, but it is fading rapidly. And, from what I see, most Americans are none too fond of extreme Republicans or extreme Democrats.

We are all just people. We are all a mixture of good and bad. I know no saints and all of us sinners really aren't that bad, quirky maybe, but that keeps life interesting.

So, don't buy into doom and gloom and, at the same time, don't see the world through rose colored glasses. Just be realistic. And stop being so damn afraid. We have problems but, if we stop looking for governments to solve our problem, we can make some headway. Turn off the TV, get outside and take back the Country. Who knows, maybe that's all people need to do to cure those ED problems

America - We Are Not a Democracy

It seems that many of my fellow Americans have forgotten their history and civics lesson (do they even still teach civics in school?). We are not now, nor have we ever been a democracy. We are a representative republic. Now, I am a fanatic about using the English language properly but, this time, I am not just being picky. There is a huge difference.

In a true democracy, the eligible citizens vote on everything. In Athens, the birthplace of democracy, the citizens, in those days that meant property owners, gathered, debated and voted on all civic issues. The majority won and their will was law, at least in theory. In practice I am not sure things went that smooth but that was the idea.

In a representative republic, local citizens elect representatives who then gather, debate and vote on issues. The majority wins and their will is law, again, in theory. This is the form of government the USA has.

Why? Well, if you read the Federalist Papers and some of the extant letters of our Founding Fathers, you discover that they were scared to death of a true democracy. They, being elite, felt that the elite should govern. Their idea was that the citizens would vote for which of these elitist snobs they thought would best represent their interests. Their was never a real belief that all citizens would vote, just the land owners. Blessedly they lost control of that and before long, all Americans could vote. Well, not women or slaves or Native Americans bur at least it was a start in the right direction.

So, when you hear some politician or some pundit on a news program droning on and on about preserving 'our democratic ideals' realize that either they are woefully ignorant and should be ignored or they are trying to con you. or both.

By the way, I don't get the fuss about the play Hamilton. Ignoring the fact that I loath hip-hop, Alexander Hamilton was, as evidenced in the Federalist Papers, an elitist pig, the worst of the lot. At least Jefferson gave some credit to those he considered his inferiors. Hamilton, blessedly didn't get his way or we might now have a monarchy.

America - Terror Strikes Again

I have sworn off politics but I still pay attention to what's going on in the world, and things are not good. Let's go step by step.

In Turkey, there was a coup attempt, maybe. Oh, something definitely happened but, things are not always what they seem. Turkey, by all accounts, was, for a long time, a nice country. It was a very progressive Moslem nation, tolerant, prosperous and a great place to visit. Well, things change and there has been growing tension in Turkey between the modernists and the Islamic extremists. In addition, Turkey is caught in the troubles of Iraq and Syria. They have been gracious in accepting huge numbers of refugees but, that causes strain on both resources and patience. In addition, they have a long running dispute with the Kurds. We, the USA, are backing and arming the Kurds in their fight against ISIS. That creates more problems for Turkey as they are sure, quite rightfully so, that the Kurds will use those weapons against them. They already have. In addition, Turkey is trying to balance their relationship with the USA with their relationship to an increasingly powerful and active Russia. I do not blame Russia in the least since the USA, as part of NATO, is putting missiles near their borders and has imposed damaging economic sanctions on them. So, maybe, and I really don't know, Turkey's leaders staged a fake coup to give them a reason to round up dangerous enemies of the state. If so, I can't fault them. Extreme events sometimes call for extreme measures. The real puzzler is the American cleric they say is behind the coup. We do have a history of subverting governments we have problems with and maybe the Turks have a good case. Again, I don't know. But, I do know, we have precious few allies left in the world and we should watch our step, lest we lose another friend.

Then, we move to Nice. I have seen vague statements on the internet describing this as, yes, a false flag operation, a scam pulled by a government to put the blame on an enemy. I do not believe this for a moment. This was a senseless slaughter of innocent lives by another of the seemingly endless parade of  monsters killing in the name of God. We are plagued with these lunatics and this is what you get when you insist on viewing God as a wrathful, vengeful being, bent on having all the world bow to his whims. This is a dementia, a projection of personal anger and jealousy and hatred  onto the world, having nothing to do with the Creator. All of this insanity is built into age old belief systems and I have no idea when it will end or how to stop it. It is a nightmare and I cannot imagine how the people of France and the rest of Europe are dealing with it.

Now, I turn my attention homeward. We have had 2 incidents of cop killings. Let me say unequivocally that this must stop. But, as always, things go deeper. First of all, there have been a goodly number of events in recent years of police over reaction ending in the death of people who did not deserve to die. If threatened, the police may and should use deadly force but, here and there, they have killed people who, while possibly guilty of a crime, were not a danger to the arresting officers. A problem? Yes. Criminal? Likely. But, not life threatening. The police must get a grip on their behavior. If it takes higher wages to get a better bunch of cops, then communities will have to raise the money. Need more police? Raise the money. It may cost a few extra tax dollars but, if you are not willing to pay, then this madness will get worse. As far as the shooters go, something smelly is afoot. In both cases, ex-soldiers came from other cities to shoot cops. They had firm plans. Did they act alone? Investigators are quietly, very quietly, saying that they don't know. If I had to  bet, I would say no, they were not alone and something big is unfolding. Who are the accomplices? I will not speculate but this is not a new phenomenon. Look up the Zebra killing of the late 1960s in San Francisco. These were never completely solved but, it seems clear that some of those active had some ties to some shadowy government operatives. Remember, this is the time of Operation Chaos (the CIA)  and COINTELPRO (the FBI). No, I am not blaming any government agency but, here and there, we have proof that a few renegade agents went way overboard and things got out of hand. Are these shooting an example of that? I have no idea but I have learned that such things do happen. Again let me say, I am not saying that this is government policy. I am saying that there are extreme elements in any organizations that run amok. Things get out of hand and tragedy results.

Anyway, don't let any of this get you down. At some point, the light will shine again and the streets will be safe for us common folks. When? God knows and He hasn't told me. Hang in there. And remember the words of cartoonist R. Crumb's hippy guru Mr. Natural. "Just because you're paranoid, that doesn't mean someone's not out to get you."

American Politics and the Media

I have sworn off politics. I cannot watch another minute of those 2 idiots, Trump and Clinton, carrying on like lunatics and promising things they will never deliver. I can watch no more of experts who's opinions are worth no more than this mornings toilet paper.

I will not sit and watch another minute of mindless arguments. The last several days of news coverage has been little but angry black folks and angry cops yelling at each other. Surely, there are other things going on in the news. I am quite positive that somewhere in this vast Cosmos, something else is happeneing.

If yelling the same things over and over would do some good, I'd be all for it but, it just makes things worse. And the numbskulls running these shows just egg people on. What was once news programming is on the verge of becoming like the old Jerry Springer Show. I've been half expecting to see someone take a swing at Chris Cuomo or Wolf Blitzer. I truly belive that they ought to bring back Geraldo, at least he could handle fights.

 In the meantime, Korea is threatening, we're upping the troop levels in Afghanistan (didn't Obama promise to have them all out of there years ago?), and immigrants are still flooding Europe, and all of that gets but a brief mention between the arguments. Roller Derby has more class than our so-called News Media.

America - The Media Just Keep Picking at Scabs

We have all done it, especially when we were kids. We would get a cut or a scrape and, once it scabbed over, we would start picking at it. It looked ugly, sometimes it itched and we would just start picking at it, Generally, when we got it off, it would just scab over again, we would pick it some more, and eventually, it would heal. Every once and awhile, we would succeed in getting it infected, then the folks would carry on a bit, and sometimes, it would leave a scar.

The News Media in Country are like kids picking at a scab. We have long been scarred by racial tension. I'll not enumerate the causes and history. Most of us know at least the basics and, really, what good does it do to drag it all back up again. But, they pick and pick, until everyone is on edge, then something happens and we find that old scar ripped open. It scabs over, and they rip it open, until now it's infected. And they will keep at it again and again.

I am not saying that these tensions should be ignored but what the hell good does it do to go on and on with it, dragging out all of these experts and community leaders and sociologist and psychologists, the same ones over and over again.

Einstein said that if you keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results, you are, by definition, insane, psychotic. Yet, they trot out the experts and politicians and old film footage and, it would seem that they expect that somehow, magically, this time it will work.

It won't and really all they are doing is preying on people's fears and old prejudices in a never ending search for a bigger audience. They are vultures preying on the dead flesh of those poor souls, both police and those the police have needlessly and stupidly shot. The National Media should be ashamed of their behavior.

The only way any of this will change is if we, as individuals, can learn tolerance. We are all different and we must learn to accept this and allow each other to be different. Neither the media, nor the government, nor the churches nor the so-called experts can solve this. Only we, individual human beings can do this. It will be slow and painful, but it is the only way. Individual human beings must take responsibility for their own behaviors and stop looking for some authority to step in and fix things. I'll let you in on a secret; the folks really running things don't give a damn if we kill each other off, as long as they keep the cash rolling in. We are the ones suffering and we must fix things.

America - Dallas

I wake up this morning to headlines about snipers shooting 11 Dallas policemen at a demonstration. 5 are dead. Normally, I would wait a day or 2, think matters over, then write about it, but, today, I am just going to go with first reactions.

The odd thing is, I am not even shocked. Actually, I find myself wondering why this has not happened before. This killing, while abhorrent, has been building for a long time. I bend over backwards to give the police the benefit of the doubt when shootings occur. God knows, they have an absurdly hard job and are often required to make life and death decisions. They do not always get them right. None of us are perfect.

But, over the last year or 2, there have been a whole lot of folks killed by cops and a good number have been killed for little or no reason. Something has gone horribly wrong.

Now, there has been a response, a response other than picketing and filing law suits. It was a viscous response and while no civilized person can condone it, can anyone truly be surprised by it? I am just surprised it took this long. That is the sorry state we have sunk to.

We are a culture that worships wealth and power. Violence is always, at some level, a tool used by those wanting wealth and power. This was true when we slaughtered the Native Americans, when Lincoln let Grant send Sherman on his March to the Sea, when Carnegie hired thugs to stop Union organizers, when the National Guard shot kids at Kent State and Jackson State, and when we let the CIA run amok in Latin America, Indonesia, the Mid East and Southeast Asia.

Folks, when pushed, will sometimes push back. Not always, sometimes they will just roll over and play dead, playing possum its called. Well, if you have ever tried to pick up a possum playing dead, you know that said possum will then fight and they are very good at it. (Trust me; they have nasty little teeth and sharp little claws. Oh yeah, they carry rabies too).

I believe that we are about to enter a strange new period. A small group has no hope of winning a battle against a massive force but, they can annoy them to death. They can hit, here and there, until they destroy the will of the large force. We learned this, or should have, in Vietnam. The Soviets learned this in Afghanistan. Terrorists are using this tactic to great effect all over the World. Folks, we have a problem.

I believe that we will see acts such as last nights happen more and more as this once reasonably united society, continues to splinter. It will be ugly. Watch your back. Watch out for your family and friends and neighbors. Learn what areas to avoid and stay away. It is awful but, we are about to enter a whole new reality in what's  left of  this once great Country.

America - A Sorry Spectacle Continues

I expected yesterday's statement from the FBI director. I am fascinated by the Media reactions. True colors are being shown.

I am not a huge fan of Fox new. After all, it's fairly hard to respect a network that airs Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, but their day to day reporters do a competent job. They seemed dumbfounded by the FBIs decisions and were vociferous in their response. Guest after guest were questioned, put on the hot sea, about the decision, and those defending it were properly raked over the coals.

CNN was at the other extreme. The hosts of New Day continued the pattern set by Wolf Blitzer. Those questioning the decision were treated like disobedient school kids, almost to the point of rudeness, while supporters of the decision were given free rein to babble about Hillary's greatness and decry the opposition.

I actually listened to Trump's speech last night, something I rarely do and it was, well, bizarre. I have never heard a campaign speech quite like it. He rambled, almost growing incoherent at times, but, ultimately, he got it right with one simple sentence, "the system is rigged."

I could go on, but you get the idea. Here is what really happened, and I am curious to see how the American people respond, although I think I know that answer.

Yesterday, the American people were told by the Powers that Be, the elite running the Nation, 'Go to hell. We run things and we can do what we want. If we say Hillary can lie, compromise National security, endanger the Military and CIA agents around the world, and get away with it and become President, then that will be what happens. Like it."

Americans, if things run true to form, will be outraged, some of them, for a few days. Many will just want everyone to shut up and stop upsetting them. The rest will genuinely be angry but, well, next week is the All Star game, then the Olympics, then they have to get the kids back in school, then this then that and by then, the election will be here. Hillary will win and everyone will dutifully say, 'well. the people have spoken.'

And, you know what? They will be right. Once again, the public will take what they are given and keep quiet and they will continue doing so until America as we knew it, will be no more.

In the old movie, Easy Rider, Jack Nicholson's character has a great line. After a long, rambling stoned rap, he sighs and says, "you know, this used to be a damn good Country."

Americans - Get Ready to Duck

In the last few weeks, we've had the massacre in Orlando, the bombing in Turkey, a slaughter in Bangladesh, and now, this 4th of July morning, word has come of an attempted attack on our embassy in Saudi Arabia. Also, word has been leaked to he media that Hillary will not be indicted.

I was only half paying attention, but someone on Fox news gave the most profound statement about the FBI's Hillary probe. They said that they probably did not want to continue because it would mean opening up areas that no one wanted to look into. That is likely the truth, but, guess what. I, and I am sure many others, want them opened. But, that will not happen. The lid has been shut, just as it has been shut on the JFK assassination, Watergate, Iran-Contra, 9/11, and host of other despicable acts that so many who run this Country have committed.

Start looking at Benghazi and the email scandals, dig deep enough, and you will have to start digging into the CIA, the military, the NSA and a whole hidden set of government operations. We are being forced to allow these fools to continue with their mishandling of our lives.

Richard Nixon tried to stop the Watergate investigations when he realized E. Howard Hunt was involved, saying that it might bring up the 'whole Bay of Pigs thing.' His chief of staff Bob Haldeman was puzzled, then realized that Nixon was talking about the JFK assassination. Sure enough, the Watergate Committee restricted its investigations to certain avenues, giving others a wide berth. Start digging into State Dept. activities and who knows what is lurking.

Just today, a spokesman for the coal miners said that, in the next few weeks, as policies continue, 1000s of miners will be out of work. College costs are now prohibitive, unless you take out a loan that will leave you financially crippled for decades. Obama is touting his absurd idea that strengthening the economies of other lands will create jobs in ours. Well, maybe, but you best keep practicing these words: 'want fries with that?'

The big boys, the guys running the mega corporations, are pushing forward with robotics, thus making human beings near obsolete.

And, the rest of the World is past simmering and beginning to boil as the plans of the elite, the 1% who control damn near all the wealth continue to squeeze every damn dime they can out of the rest of us. They are insane.

We are being lead by madmen, obsessed with power. Will they win? Short term? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how long they can keep from fighting each other, and that is why ultimately, they will lose. Power does not share and they will eventually fight each other over who is the alpha male ( sorry ladies, if you have some power now, it is just an illusion they have given you to keep you quiet and out of the way. Theirs is an all male club). The question that concerns the rest of us is, what will be left when they finally kill each other off? Will any of us till be standing?

I have no answers to those questions. My crystal ball is cracked and my Tarot deck is missing a few cards. All I can do is warn you. Get ready to duck because soon, sooner than many of us realized, the crap is going to hit the fan.

As Marvin Gaye sang, "Makes me want to holler, they way the do my life." (Inner City Blues)

The Campaign Revisited - Idiocy Runs Amok

I have laid off the elections for a while, hoping, foolishly, that our 2 buffoons might get things together. Well, that's not going to happen, so here goes.

The Donald is still being sued for  a lot of money and still hasn't made a coherent explanation for the obviously stupid Trump U. Was this criminal? I don't know. I'm not a lawyer, but why would he even run such a slipshod operation. Why would a man worth that much money create an entity and not give the folks who bought into it a decent deal. Is he just incapable of turning down a chance at a quick buck even when he has 9 billion of them?

In the last few weeks, he has insulted a Federal judge and again insulted Mexicans. He is still fighting with fellow Republicans more than with Democrats and he seems to have trouble raising money for the campaign. He is back to calling for the right to torture prisoners and, yes, he is still planning on building that wall. It's a shame because he has made some darn good economic recommendations, but, at some point, you would think he would learn to keep his foot out of his mouth. Yet, through all of his lunacy, he shines like a beacon of sanity and innocence compared to Hillary.

Every time I see her, a line of the 3 witches in Macbeth comes to mind, "by the twitching of my thumb, something wicked this way comes." The Benghazi Report came out this week. Is there anything criminal in it? Legal scholars say no but, the committee says that they have not gotten to the bottom of the whole mess yet. At the very least, this makes her and the whole White House look grossly incompetent and inhumanly uncaring. Hillary basically says, Let's move on, Nothing going on there except more of that "vast right wing conspiracy" she babbled about when Bill was in office. Okay, let's move on. We quickly come to the email issue and some big problems.

She said she has released everything and yet again, more emails have been found. Then, in a fit of lunacy, Slick Willie was seen chatting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was supposed to be the one deciding whether to bring charges against her. Now, even though he was disbarred, Willie was a lawyer. He knows better, unless he has started having 'senior moments,' and Lynch should have run screaming in the other direction when he wanted to chat. Now, she has had to remove herself from the whole matter and Hillary's potential prosecution will be up to the FBI and Federal prosecutors. Will she be indicted? Who knows, but things look grim for her future.

Or they should, but, I don't know. She still has high numbers in the polls. I cannot believe that she can stand there, as she did the other day and say, I want to earn your trust, after all that his happened. Yet, she does, and. evidently, a lot of folks are buying her crap.

Speaking of those polls, how can she have a 12 point lead one day and a 1 point lead the next. Of course, all the polls said that Britain would vote to stay in the EU so, just maybe, we should dispense with this mind numbing parade of polls. It is interesting to note however, that when polls include independent candidates, Trump and Clinton are tied and neither comes close to getting a majority vote.

Ah well, just 4 more months of this idiocy, then we have the Holidays. Best enjoy them this year folks, enjoy them all you can, because I don't see a whole lot of celebrating happening for a few years after the winner takes office. Will it be Hillary and her continued policies, you know hers and Bill's and W's and Barack's? You know the ones that have made us a bad joke internationally while destroying the middle class. Or will we have The Donald, the megalomaniacal, demagogue who will be so loathed by Congress that we will accomplish nothing for the 4 long, long years he holds office? Stay tuned for further developments. This ought to be a hoot.