The Many Ways We Screw Ourselves.

       Ya know, I've spent a lot of time finding fault with Trump. I still think he was a horrible choice for the White House, but now, I've come to understand the importance of Congress and the members that make up our representation in government. Its time to take a good hard look at the people who sit in the House or Senate and who decide what legislation should or should not become law.
       Its too bad they have that right. Far too many Congressional Representatives and Senators are unfit to hold office. How in the world do some of these people get elected? I realize there are different ways of thinking. And I don't agree with some, and for some unfathomable reason they don't see eye to eye with me. But lets face it, only a complete moron would vote for some of these morons. I suppose that's why some of these folks get elected.
       But some of these otherwise sane and conscientious representatives of the people of their district or state won't do the right thing. Like realistic gun legislation, like gerrymandering of legislative districts. I know those people know its wrong, but they won't vote to change things. A large part of the problem is the money, but there's also the power that goes to the majority.
       Shouldn't we strengthen our resolve against interference in our elections and governance rather than a wall. If we put more emphasis on controlling access by lobbyists, wouldn't that be a good idea? If we required legislative districts be drawn by independent committees not appointed by state legislatures, but only approved by those legislatures. And we need to get the big money out of politics. Especially if it comes from outside America.
       Some people say we shouldn't complain if other countries meddle in our politics because we certainly have done the same and worse to other countries. Well, think about it. Where we've done our meddling, those countries are still  struggling to clean up the mess we caused. We need to straighten out our own mess before we start any new troubles.

Surprise, Surprise.

        I just read an article in the National memo. Now admittedly, its a liberal news outlet, but this talks about indisputable facts. Since 9-11, 2001, 6,929 soldiers have been killed by gunfire in combat, according to the Dept. of Defense. Since 12 -14, 2012, the Sandy Hook massacre, about 7,000 children have been killed by gunfire.
       Guns didn't kill those soldiers nor did guns kill those children, people did. I get it. The thing is though, guns facilitated those people to kill. Without guns, they might have killed, but far fewer. Saving the life of a child, or a soldier by any means is a good thing.
       Think of it. Nearly 16 1/2 years of military combat compared to 7 1/4 years for children. Its more dangerous to be a child in America than a soldier in foreign combat. Now, I hate to sound like an old fuddy duddy, and I do enjoy target practice with my rifle (I can no longer hunt), but it seems to me that enough is enough.
       We have a Congress that is terrified of the NRA should they vote anything on gun safety. Okay, then its time, this year, to replace those Congressmen and Senators who fear the NRA so we can get some sensible laws passed. If Trump vetoes the legislation then we can override the veto. If that's what it comes to then we need to get Congress to begin to fear We The People by using our voting power.     
       Wouldn't the NRA be surprised. Wouldn't Congress be surprised. Wouldn't the President be surprised. What a great surprise party it would be.

What War?

       Hmm. President Trump tells us that the Iran Nuke deal is terrible. But, but the three top generals, the guys who would be charged with the job of fighting a nuclear armed Iran, that is Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Chairman of the Joint chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford and now U. S.  Central Command chief General Joseph Votel, all agree its a good deal for the U. S.
       So, who should we believe? Our President, who has no experience in international diplomacy and no military experience and no nuclear science at all or should we believe three men who actually do have experience, at least in the military, those who would have to lead the fighting. Three men with many, many years of experience?
       Well, you believe who you want, but my money is on the generals. And here's why. Trump has a lifetime of experience in real estate and bankruptcy. The generals have a lifetime of experience in fighting in wars against enemies big and small. Nuclear armed (in proxy wars) or not. And they've had to be part of negotiating disarmaments.
       I don't like the idea of combat, anywhere, against anyone, especially the thought of nuclear war. Trump says he can renegotiate. Better men than either him or I have tried. Remember this is a deal to keep Iran from getting the bomb, period., Iran's other trouble-making isn't part of it. That's something for another arrangement. It may require war against them, but if it does, you can kiss goodbye to all the oil from the middle east. Win or lose the narrow Strait of Hormuz will get shut down by sunken ships.
       On a brighter note, Kellyanne Conway took expensive private jets too. And don't forget there's still a porn star to be appointed to a steamy position in the White House. Sorry, I just had to do that.
In a district Trump took by 20 points, its beginning to look like a Democrat won the seat.

Gerrymandered And Not Happy.

       Did you ever notice how politics can get pretty nasty? In fact, you can eliminate the "can get" in the first sentence and you'd be even more correct. Just say politics are nasty. I've been thinking about gerrymandering. Ya know what that is? Its when one party holds a commanding lead in the state legislature. Of any state. Any party. It helps if the governor belongs to the same party. That way, they can "gerrymander" all of the legislative districts so that the ruling party will continue to rule.
       Of course they can't usually arrange it so that every district is theirs, but they can throw all of the other party's voters in a very few districts and they can hold a commanding lead in all the rest of the districts. That way, even if the other party has more registered voters, the ruling party will still have a winning majority in the state.
       Of course some of the districts in a gerrymandered state seem to wander around quite a bit, but that's in order to get more of their voters in more districts and way more of the other party's voters in just a few districts. I know what you're gonna say, that you would need a professional guide to find your way around. It sort of reminds me of cheating. Well, maybe not "sort of", it just is cheating. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a law to stop them for doing it. Unless the Supreme Court decides they can't. Of course there's always the U. S. Congress. Congress could pass a law to stop gerrymandering, but, hey, we're talking about the COTUS (Congress of the United States), they couldn't pass a good hat.
       Now living in a state that gerrymanders its districts isn't so bad if you happen to belong to the winning party. If you belong to the also ran party, well good luck getting your road paved. Its just that there may not be enough money in the budget for a road in that district. Another word for all this would be cronyism. Or maybe corruption, even better.

What? Me Worry?

       Ya know what the problem is? Its that nothing is imminent. Take global warming for an example. A large group of people think its not a problem. That's because its not right in their face. Their drinking water isn't boiling as it comes out of the tap. We still experience winter in the north. I mean, how bad could it be? Most people aren't adversely affected right this minute.
       Or take North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. He hasn't sent a nuclear missile to land in Omaha, so why worry. We can send, oops, I mean we can allow our President to meet with him somewhere, maybe in North Korea. What would be the loss? Mr. President could agree to anything that Kim wants. That's because he'll change his mind next week. That's when we'll need to be concerned.
       And if global warming was gonna cause all the ice in the world to melt, including in your ice cube trays next week, that would be a time to get worried about global warming. And that's when we'd demand Congress to fix it, post haste. We'd ask the president, but he's busy with North Korea, where both leaders would be sunbathing on a beach, in March, in North Korea.
       People just don't seem to be worried enough to do something while there's time to do something about problems that are not happening as we speak. Gun violence is another example. Its mental health and too many military style firearms loaded with bullets. If we took away the bullets or the guns or treat those with mental illnesses toward gun violence, it might help. The problem is, we don't see it happening near us. So why worry?

Dear Mr. La Pierre.

        A letter to Wayne LA Pierre. For some reason, Mr. La Pierre, you folks seem to think that the Second Amendment is sacrosanct, that nobody can modify it in even the slightest way. But even though they are part of the Bill of Rights, they are amendments to the constitution. And remember that Amendments can be nullified if necessary. Remember that the 18th Amendment, prohibition, was repealed by the 21st Amendment eliminating prohibition.
       And even without eliminating the 2nd, there certainly is the right of the citizenry to limit the types and sizes of firearms. Its not inconceivable that semi-automatic-firearms, partly because of their ease of conversion to fully automatic, and partly because of their capacity to hold high capacity clips, would be reasonably outlawed.
       After all, they are intended for and used by military infantry personal. There is no reasonable civilian use for such weapons. Now Wayne, settle down. If people really want to carry and fire such weapons, let them join the Army or Marines. Of course, you and I might not meet the requirements of the military as pertains to age and physical conditioning. For us its just too late.
       Americans reject the idea that its okay for so called "real Americans" to go shopping with an AR15 slung over their shoulder in order to scare people. That's not being Real American. That's being an adult sized infant. If they really need to have some weapon slung over their shoulder, tie a baseball bat over the shoulder. That would make them look scary enough.