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When will it end? Please…

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It’s been weeks since the election and I’ve repeatedly tried to think of something else.

But Trump’s Republican’s won’t let me. There is no doubt Trump is his own man and reshaped not just the republican Party but the entire democratic process, as well.

Republican are above the law. It doesn’t make any difference what Trump is charged with, it’s all political and doesn’t count. All that matters is winning elections. So what laws do count? And don’t forget a wise man once said “I could stand in the middle of 7th avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” He speaks the truth. Unless, of course he shot a Republican, and even then…

Trump’s new press secretary wants Saturday Night Live (SNL) and NBC charged with “something” for the cameo SNL gave Harris. The free publicity was against the law, the spokesman said. Wonder what The Fox/Trump News Channel thinks about a trial…

Hegseth, Fox/Trump’s latest nomination to a cabinet level post, is looking to “purge” generals from the Army. He isn’t looking for anyone who made a mistake, Hegseth is looking for generals who won’t do whatever Trump/Fox want.

Trump wants to declare a National Emergency and use the Armed Forces to deport illegal immigrants. He wants us to go to war against residents, illegal, only. Get your papers in order. Of course, white illegals may not have to worry so much…

RFK for Health and Human Services? Can even Republicans not see how bad this is for the country? The Senate Republicans are going to have do some real soul-searching.

Gaetz for the department of Justice? Actually, this one makes sense. Trump wants other criminals in his government to take the heat off Trump. Gaetz has already resigned his House of Representative post to effectively end the (Republican!) House investigation of him. It is what we legally call moot. Look it up. Definition, 2 by the way. Wonder how the 17 year old girl’s parents feel? Or voted.

In a world of intelligent Americans, Red or White, who care about this country, the law, the constitution and the lessons their kids can learn from public service, Trump should have lost the election to Commander, Biden’s Dog. Or in the primaries to Desantis. Or Haley. Or even Rama-something.

But no one cares, anymore, for anything. When you hear people talk about the loss of Democracy, this is what they mean. And it will go on for at least another 4 years. The WWE/Billionaire years.

Will we self-correct in the future? Can’t see it. Not until men become men, again. If someone shoots someone else in the middle of 7th Avenue, the shooter should go to jail. At least to trial, presumed innocent and all. And women? I wish you all the best in your future dealings with a Patriarchy built to last.

Pandoras out of the Box.

Random Stuff

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The numbers have changed but not the result. Trump is now a million or so 2024 votes over his 2020 totals, and Harris is still over 10 million short of Biden’s record haul in 2020. With still, about 30 million registered who did not vote.

A billion is 1,000 millions. Can you imagine having one million dollars? It’s a lot of dollars. Now imagine having 1,000 times 1,000,000 dollars. From Forbes “Real time Billionaires List”, I learned there were 13 billionaires in the United States in 1980. In 1990, we had 66. In 2000, Forbes counted 298. In 2010, 404. In 2020 614, and in 2024, as of September 30, 2024 there were an astounding 801 billionaires in the United States of America. (I did not get into details of how they were measured or recorded, just assumed they were measured and recorded the same way each year, and adjusted for inflation over the last 44 years.) You can digest this fact anyway you want. But I know very few millionaires.

The Daily Show is doing its best to capitalize on the opportunities offered by the Trump victory. It is a comedy show, after all, so Jon Stewart put up the electoral map of Reagan’s 1984 victory. The entire United States was red with Republican victories, except for Minnesota. With population increases, it’s inefficient to compare POPULAR vote totals, but Reagan won the Electoral College in 1984, 525 to 13. The biggest win in recent history. Walter Mondale was the Democratic nominee who lost but he had Geraldine Ferraro, a woman, as his running mate. Reagan won and was a good president but I am personally going to suggest his huge margin of victory had a little to do with misogyny.

Will a woman ever become president? No. An Artificially Intelligent (AI) candidate will probably win before a woman does. The modern American Male is not secure enough in his masculinity to let a woman lead this country.

I try to watch a little of Fox news to keep abreast of their latest grievance campaign. Fox is the snarkiest, least inhibited of all the Fake Lame Stream Legacy Media sites and watching them work so hard at being offended is often comical. It’s going to be fun to see how they navigate a Trump presidency…again. Fox wasn’t ready for the first four years, but they’ll be all wound up, this time. It will make for good viewing.

Shervin Pishevar, a venture capitalist who supported Trump, says the tech sector will “do more in four years than we’ve done in the last 40 years” and American should “buckle up. It’s going to pretty exciting to see.” Note my prediction of an AI candidate in a preceding paragraph. I do know a well-educated, intelligent, adaptive citizenry should be able to handle all that change, right?

Politics…The Last Word…from me, anyway

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Since I distrust politicians, I distrust politics and view it from afar. This cycle I switched channels at every political commercial, boycotted punditry on every fake or real media site, and received accidental doses of politics by sitting to close too people in public places and articles in my peripheral vision. In short, I try not to waste too much time on crap at my age.

But time has taught me a lot about politics,…and people. Trumpism, for example, appears to be Reaganism on steroids. When you view the political arena from afar and over time, you realize life goes on at both the national level and the personal level. Trumpism will be gone in a maximum of 8 years, if not sooner, and what will take its place? A point to remember is even with control of most of the government, presidents still never get all the things they promise.

But if Trump is the new Reagan, it means America has swung back towards a new (old?) era of white insecurity. And especially white, male insecurity. Reagan won in 1980 with his “are you better off four years ago” approach appealing to a country being led out of The Great Depression of 1973 by the last, honest politician: Jimmy Carter. Reagan made Carter look like an incompetent fool. Parse that sentence and understand every word. Carter was not an incompetent fool and the recession he inherited was caused by the mostly Republican Administrations that preceded Carter: Nixon and Ford.

As America recovered in the late 70’s, Reagan criticized and whined, and touched the nerve of an electorate unaware of the reality, and they voted out Carter.

We’re at the same point, now. Biden inherited a mess from a Republican President who contemplated ingesting bleach to end The Covid Pandemic. Four years later the country is getting back on its feet and Trump (not Reagan) criticizes and whines and makes Biden look like a fool. Trump doused himself with more idiocy in a televised debate with The Biden Replacement, Harris: “They’re eating the dogs and cats.”

The American electorate has never been very logical about an election, or even voted for its own self-interest, so 2024’s results are not a surprise: men voted against a woman, woman voted for a misogynist, and lots of white males probably sat it out, unable to convince themselves a woman could lead this country.

The pundits will dissect all the activities, but the salient theme of the election was white insecurity. Embarrassed Trump supporters told me “Don’t listen to him” when Trump said something stupid. But listen to him, they did. Trump’s most powerful message was this, to the white insecurity: “I’ll fix it.” And people believed. Go figure.

Now, the feces will begin to impact the air circulator. Remember “I’ll build a wall and Mexico will pay for it.”? That incomplete wall added billions to the national debt. Reality is not just a hard pill to take for some, but for Republican voters, it is also something they easily forget. Or choose to ignore?

Time will tell, but Reagan did a decent job with his opportunity. Will Trump?

Peace, out, for politics. Back to my serene, graceful, blessed, normal trip to The End.

Wait. A word to the Evangelicals: good luck with The Second Coming and The Anointed One.

Voting Conspiracies and Numbers

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As with all presidential elections, there are lots of “stories” floating around.

From available data, subject to MINOR changes as votes are still being counted, here are some numbers:

In 2016 there were 157,596,000 registered voters. 136,787,187 voted. 20,808,813 registered voters DID NOT VOTE.

In 2020 there were 168,308,000 registered voters. 158,487.688 voted. 9,826,312 registered voters DID NOT VOTE. Factoid: the total number of votes cast in 2020 nearly equals the entire registered voter population in 2016. Conspiracy?

In 2024 there were 186,500.000 registered voters as of 9/2024 per USA FACTS. 140,980,281 voted. A staggering 45,519,719 registered voters DID NOT VOTE.

A deeper research to federal election sites will show where all 2016 and 2020 these numbers come from and keep in mind 2024 numbers are still incomplete, but close enough for this discussion.

One conspiracy story says there were 20 million extra votes in 2020, proof of fraud. Numbers prove that conspiracy is wrong.

Both Trump and Harris (Biden) lost votes from their 2020 numbers…so far. And that should be the big story. Over 40 million registered voters did not vote. Why did they register? Or was it older voters who did not vote? Or was it aliens?

The numbers show registration efforts by both parties were successful between 2020 and 2024. But getting the new registrants to vote, not so much. Why?

It’s interesting to note Harris and Clinton got nearly the same number of votes, 8 years apart. And Trump got fewer votes in his 2024 victory than his record haul in 2020, when he lost.

Deeper research will be conducted by smarter people smarter than me but my opinion is since Harris in 2024 and Clinton in 2016 got the same number of votes, and Biden, got 13 million more in his 2020 election, there is a gender gap in the American voting system. Trump’s support was basically consistent with increased voter registration and his small 2024 loss, may be made up by late counting, making his vote totals understandable.

Numbers will never explain why over 62 million people voted for Trump not once, not twice, but probably three times. One of these days there will have to be a discussion on what may or may not disqualify a candidate from elected office. 2024 proved there is nothing, now.

Of note, Trump’s election sent the stock market soaring as corporations expect less regulation, lower taxes, and larger profits from the Trump years. For fun, google how much money billionaires made IN ONE DAY, from that market increase. Musk made the most, IN ONE DAY! Google it.

Trump won. So?

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Several of my friends posted “We are Doomed” on social websites. Are we?

First critical lesson from the election: this country will NEVER elect a woman. Females are 51 percent of the electorate and have never been in the Oval Office except to bring coffee, but the conservative female tribe is stronger than the all-female tribe. Many women voted for Trump, the obese, handsy billionaire, sexual assaulter instead of for a woman. Their choice. And many millions of men either sat it out or voted for Trump RATHER than for a “women”. Trump has now won 2 electoral college elections and one popular vote election over…women. That window is closed for good, ladies.

Second: Latino voters are just like white voters. Once they have made it, they don’t give a hoot about the fate of others. (FYI: look up definition of SONDER). How else to explain Trump’s increase in Latino voters weeks after he promised, on “day one”, to deport millions of immigrants. He’s only going to deport the millions of bad immigrants.

Hm. Maybe we are not doomed. Trump won, so we are spared the whining about a stolen election. That’s good, right? All those “election reforms” in swing states worked, yes?

Back in 2016, Donald became a surprise president and–as noted in earlier columns–he is not a stupid man. At that time, I hoped, even prayed, his victory would propel him into one of the greatest presidents, ever. Yes, I think he is capable.

It did not.

But that was because, as sharp as he is, he knew he needed an ignorant, riled up base to get a second term. As with most Republicans, his first thought was about getting re-elected and holding on to power. For fours years Donald played to that base, and he was voted out of office after an uneven, some say disastrous term in office. Time, of course, will judge.

Now, he doesn’t need that base any more. He’s done with elections, but he is not done with his legacy concern. He wants to be the best president, ever. And he can be. He is intelligent enough to know his base represents half of America, not all of it. There is a chance he will understand his last term of office, his last chance at a lasting, positive legacy, will mean something different in 2024 than it did in 2016. He is lucky to have a second chance at being a great leader. Let’s see how it goes.

To Evangelical Christians: Trump is not the Second Coming. Never was. And Harris is not the Anti-Christ. What the hell are you people doing? For once, see Jesus, read Jesus, and DWJWD. My, God.

For most Trump voters, think long and hard about your unwavering support of a billionaire president. It is so funny it’s sad, that working people worship him as a supporter of the working man. Let’s see how much money he and his family make off the second term, if he doesn’t care about his legacy. And no whining or lamenting when Trump chooses policies for the billionaires, instead of you. Let the union busting begin.

As for Law and Order? Simple. Be a billionaire, do whatever you want, and not only pardon yourself and get unwavering support from “law and order” voters, but let other billionaires in on the fun. Musk?

One last sentence about modern America, and it is NOT anyone’s fault: everything is now officially for sale and we’ll see, soon, how much democracy and the constitution are worth.

Huh. Never looked at it that way…

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In the current heightened political atmosphere, the misinformation and out right lies flying out over various media is intended to help one candidate or the other, right? A viral internet video, for example, “shows” Joe Biden not blink for over 45 minutes. The video says he’s been dead for 2 years. You weren’t going to vote for him anyway, were you.

Another video says Kamala Harris is really a man. Maybe she should embrace that one so she doesn’t lose the election because of misogyny.

These types of “attack” ads and videos are currently the sole property of the Right Wing media of American Politics. The Left does white-bread videos like “Trump hates immigrants”, or “Trump is a fascist.” The worst local ad I’ve seen, for example, says a local candidate thinks “Trump is a threat to Democracy”. Lines like that are water off Don’s back.

So what is the purposes of the Right Wing attack ads, hilarious videos, and wild conspiracies? Is it really political gamesmanship?

No. Its about money. Commerce, specifically, e-commerce.

American and foreigner entrepreneur have found the greatest marketing plan, ever: Market to MAGA world. A recent study found most of the frivolous and most outrageous videos and sites are tied to e-commerce platforms, and follow up the unreasonable stories with a chance for the reader to buy “gear”. Or Bitcoin. Or donate to a Super PAC not even related to the Trump Campaign. In fact, the Trump campaign seldom knows about these sites and their stories, at least Donald doesn’t. The sites and stories don’t always come from the Right Wing, they’re simply AIMED at the Right Wing. Enterprising somethings or others, (assuming they are human), know the MAGA world loves conspiracy, anger, and all around snarky, middle-school, mean-girl behavior. More importantly, these capitalist know MAGA-ites love to buy hats, and buttons, and banners, and gold sneakers, and Bibles, and “Let’s Go Brandon” T-shirts, among other things.

What a great plan. That fat nerd in his mom’s basement grinding out conspiracy videos is now making money. Maybe enough to move out of the basement?

It helps when MAGA world distributes the marketing by posting and reposting and asking us all “You’re all sheep. How can you not see what’s happening?”

Next time you see an outrageous video or news story, especially if its re-posted, try to get back to the source and see what they’re selling, beside bullshit.

In the mean, I’ll be looking for a way to cash in on the liberal market with some fearmongering of my own, with a link to my book sales on Amazon, as soon as I raise the price, and re-title them to something politically enticing.

Politics, the Modern Version

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As an Independent who skews Liberal, the opportunity to see Conservative values and policies is often an enlightening and rewarding experience.

I’ve worded that sentence in a precise, particular way, to highlight the dumb-ass nature of current American Politics. Talk to any Conservative who will admit to any Liberal Policy being worth a crap? And vice versa? No. If you’re a modern Republican Conservative, anyone who doesn’t think like you is an idiot. Oddly, if you are a Modern Liberal, anyone who doesn’t think like you is an idiot. When did all this happen?

The Traditional Values the Right likes to claim as their own, are Values shared by every Lefty Liberal I know. And how many Liberals want to take guns away from citizens? A better question is to ask how many Liberals actually own guns. A lot.

Let’s look at it this example: Today, a Conservative offers a 10 point plan for governance. A free thinking Liberal will probably admit (NOT out loud) he supports five of the points. In The Old Days of Political Action that was called a “Starting Point”. These days its is called…I don’t know what but since the ideas are “Labeled” as Con or Lib, zealous supporters of both fire up the insult engine and the discussion is over, except for the bleacher activity where each tries to pull the other’s pants down.

This crazy stuff started before Trump, but he gets props for understanding how to capitalize on an electorate of–suddenly–idiots. Since the 80’s there have been many strident, bombastic, conservative voices who made a great living telling the usually apprehensive Conservative population anything NOT Conservative was worthless. Gingrich, Limbaugh (Yes, the one Trump gave the American Medal of Honor to), Beck, and then O’reilly, and Hannity, all painted non-conservatives as Non-Americans. I never heard the same from any loud, famous, and ultimately wealthy voices on the Left, but maybe there was, most certainly in response, at some point.

Then Grover Nordquist, the famous anti-taxer, began his campaign of making Conservatives sign a Pledge (google the Taxpayer Protection Pledge) to Lower or even end, taxes. If a Conservative didn’t sign the pledge, the non-signer was voted out of office in the next primary season. Sound familiar? Right now, in this past primary year, Republicans urged all voters to ONLY vote for Trump-loving candidates.

So. Did the Liberal side sit on their asses? No. Now, any non-Liberal thought is a threat to Democracy, with the capital D, And “both-sideism” has become part of the modern political lexicon.

So here’s what is lost: a good, conservative idea during a Liberal Administration, and a good Liberal idea during a Conservative Administration. Neither will ever be considered. How about a thoughtful, intelligent, Conservative politician running for office in a Liberal Gerrymandered area? Or–again–vice versa?

I may have an idea how this crap started, but I’ve no idea how to end this. Anyone else?

All I can say for sure is America is NOT the land of responsible adults, anymore, and I suspect we all need to look in a mirror of our own, not our news silos.

As a humorous aside, Trump is not even a Conservative. Ask Grover.

Caveat: because of space, everything is over-simplified. Do your own research, especially into the Contract with America, 1994.

Another Old Age Benefit: Jackson Browne

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Here is a great benefit–and even a reason–for getting older: art.

Specifically, music. At a young age, I was exposed (in a good way) to Jackson Browne’s (JB) “Saturate Before Using” album. (Side bar to readers: you can substitute any artist or singer who entered your life at the years between 13 and 25.)

The music became the soundtrack of a youth well-meant, but misspent. There were young people this age who knew exactly what they wanted to be when they left this age, and they became lawyers, doctors, politicians, and other educated professional. But most of us were dreamers, malcontents, hopers, losers, and rebels. (Not without “cause”, since there were lots of those in the 60s and 70s.)

“Saturate Before Using” and all the following albums from this magnificent songwriter (again: substitute your own) were works seemingly tracking my life. Titles tell it better: “Waiting For Everyman”, “Rock Me On The Water”, “These Days”, “After the Deluge”, “Late For The Sky”, and those were just the 70’s. In later decades: “I’m Alive”, “Sleep’s Dark and Silent Gate”, and “The Pretender”.

Through the years his songs have been on vinyl LP albums with full liner notes and photos as well as 8-track, cassette, CD, MP3 and now digital mediums making his music available everywhere, anytime. You don’t need your room and a record player, anymore. The progress of the music delivery, alone, is cause to celebrate being old enough to enjoy. And don’t get me started on ear buds delivering a wall of perfect sound far out performing even the biggest speakers we packed in our small apartments. Downside, I don’t irritate the neighbors, now. Boston’s 1976 hit “More Than A Feeling” was much more than a feeling to people accidentally listening within the 1 mile radius of our stereo. Hey, they got the music for free, why did they complain?

But the real benefit of getting old is…drum roll…the music and musicians get older, too! I ponder how much better I am at my advanced age, but it’s positively amazing the how much better old music and old performers are*. If they’re still alive. Better, yet, you can see it and hear it. A favorite song written by JB, “These Days”, can now, not only be heard in its original 1960’s form, but the many ways JB has performed it over the last 60 years! I’ve spent an hour listening to decades of one song. And each time my ear buds hear something different, and evoke a certain time in my life. An added bonus: as with most songwriters, (again, sub in your favorite) other performers made their versions. (Eg,: “My Opening Farewell”, from the early seventies JB, remixed and posted on you tube by Bonnie Raitt in 2008.) Listen and you’ll feel lucky to be old and alive. (Important note: most of the music is on youtube. For free.)

If you do take the time to track your favorite artist, keep some tissues handy. And don’t fret about how much your favorite no longer looks like how you remember them. Jackson kind of looks like me, now.

Enjoy the life you lived, the life your favorite artist lived, and then relive it all again. What a world.

Hm. How do movie actors feel when THEY get old and can watch themselves as young performers? Imagine seeing yourself at 19, 29, 39, 49, and later…got to stop…

*Not a preposition, in this case, Strunk and White aficionados. Also, I don’t care if it is.

Contentment…again…

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There was a debate this past week. A big, momentous, ballyhooed debate.

“Balleyooed”. Say it three times really fast and it will make as much sense as both candidates did in the debate. There is probably a drinking game where you take a shot after every “talking point” (TP) a candidate uses. Their faces scrunch up in reply to questions, searching for an opening for the TP(Toilet Paper?).

Question from moderator: “Is the sky blue?”

First Candidate: “It will be in my administration, as we ban all dark clouds due to our climate and environmental initiatives, including banning all methane activity and inventing cars that run on rhetoric.”

Second candidate: “Never again should this administration be allowed to leave our borders open, and put the lives of innocent dogs and cats at risk.”

There is a good chance someone reading this might think those were actual answers. They are not. But our political system (here he goes, again) is not built to get the best possible candidate. Stupid people from one party make sure their stupidest candidate is selected. Then the other party outdoes them with a stupider candidate. Then the nation votes. After that, excellent, un-selected candidates from both parties work tirelessly in the Senate and House to clean up the mess. Actually, it never gets cleaned up, just swept under the rug of the future. (Research Immigration, a subject never fully addressed since our founding.)

The cynic in me has to admit the candidates might not be stupid. They simply understand the game: get people to vote for me. It doesn’t take a genius to see the winner of a popularity contest (Prom King or Queen?) is not going to solve the world’s problems. But just once it would be nice to hear a candidate say: “I don’t know, but we’ll work on it”, which is really what they mean with every answer.

Over the years I’ve beaten this subject to death but the statement needs repeating: it is the VOTER’S fault. We need to DEMAND better so we can’t complain too much when the crown is placed on the other parties candidate

Does it really need to be said?

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The LR (locker Room) boys were at it again, this past week. (Side note: if anybody reading this is from one of the two locker rooms I frequent, think before you get upset.) The arguments for and against whatever was being discussed (and the offered solutions) all percolated around a central theme: NIMBY, with a touch of GMGA.

NIMBY is “Not In My Back Yard”, and from past essays, GMGA is “Got Mine Go Away”, the process where once someone escapes poverty, or homelessness, or drug addiction, or has an abortion, the same person does little to help anyone else do the same, and even (See: Mark Robinson, 2024 candidate for NC Governor and Justice Thomas) wants to prevent anyone in the same position from getting the same help. Also known as “Ladder Pullers.

Every solution by our group was centered on removing the topical issue from our neighbor hoods, or from our minds. For example, homeless were collected and “removed” to some other locale. Criminals were put in jail for long stretches of time, assuming the time was long enough to rehabilitate them. There was another more vigilantistic (sic) solution, but it was offered more with frustration than actual intent.

Immigration is a perfect example of small, local conversations lacking the power to reach anything but a small, local solution. In a “Tales of Wells Fargo” western starring Dale Robertson, Wells Fargo Agent, he was dispatched to El Paso, Texas, to investigate gun-running by Mexican Bandits illegally crossing the Texas-Mexican border. Crates supposed to be full of shovels for Mexican farmers were really full of standard issue US Army carbines. That’s a TV show from 1957, dealing with southern border problems in 1870’s. THE 1870’s, capitalized for emphasis.

Crime in NY City? Especially post-Giuliani? Watch the 2002 Oscar Winning Movie, “The Gangs of New York” and wonder how much safer or unsafer (sic) NY City is today, compared to 1860. And in the 1960s when the FBI cracked down on NYC organized Crime families, the families moved upstate where the FBI captured many Family Members running through hay fields in Appalachin, NY.

Homelessness, and the poor, are not new to the American Problem Pile, either. But can you solve a national problem by busing the homeless from one state to another?

Health care. There are people who move from state to state to find affordable, decent health care. As a Financial Planner, I saw several foreign born clients leave America entirely, and move back to their original European countries for the free Long Term Care help, something NOT offered in America’s capitalistic Healthcare system. Boy, wait until the United State’s Long Term Care Crisis hits…

These issues need strong, central, deliberative and fair government to reach comprehensive, effective, and lasting solutions. The problems can only be solved from the top down, with the unicornish (sic) “everyone” participating. Even then…

As recently as 2013, The Gang Of Eight (a bi-partisan group of four Republican and 4 Democrat senators) designed a comprehensive bill to fix immigration. It passed the Senate with vote of 68-32 (54 D’s and 14 Rs voted yes) and was killed in a Republican House Committee, never even coming up for vote. Why?

No current politician, or Political Party, NONE, have the will to solve America’s problems. And if the politicians don’t care, why should we?

And what about world-wide problems like pollution and climate change? Can me and my locker room buddies solve those, too?

Yes, but the first step? STOP being Democrat or Republican. Now.