Silence

This is a combination of an observation and a suggestion.

What I am observing, as the national election gets closer, is a marked increase in hysteria contained in the frequent e-mails and Facebook pages I see every day.  I know there are many other venues, like Twitter, Instagram, et. al., but there is a limit to how much information I can take in without suffering overload, so I’m just talking about the two.

The hysteria comes from both sides, in many forms, all of which seem to be formulated by experts in crowd psychology and weasle-wording, who I expect are also making money on their output, which gives them a fatal conflict of interest in my book.  They always want money, and they often want us to do this survey or sign this petition, which really means they want us to supply more personal data that can be packaged and sold on the open market.  More and more, they want us to line up on one side or the other of President Trump.  He is either our Savior or the Devil, depending on who you talk to, and everyone wants to know whose side we are on.

I expect this trend to grow exponentially through November.  Millions of dollars will change hands between now and then, as ads are bought, TV spots are filmed and articles are written and published.  I’m surprised there is not a stock market index following the various companies that generate all these billings.  Since the product is mostly hot air I would think the markups are quite generous for the principals.

Out of all this comes the germ of an idea:  Why not go silent on them?

I have already suggested that there are no minds left to convince, no voters who have yet to decide, and therefore nothing left about which to argue, but I don’t see much evidence that that particular seed fell on fertile ground.  But, think about this:  Nothing else matters but the vote on November 3^rd.  Like many on the Democratic side of things, I have deliberately avoided endorsing a particular candidate until the Convention rolls around, to give all of them the chance to explain their thoughts and talk about their plans for our money and society.  I know I don’t need to worry about who the Republican candidate will be, that’s all set, unless somebody dies, so I stay focused on the Dem side.

So, why not lull the other side into a sense of complacency?  On Facebook, I just block the trolls as soon as they pop up, without responding to their bs or engaging in any way.  Just shut them down.  I don’t need to listen to their shit.  There is an argument that the election will be won by whoever stimulates the most voters to get off their butts and vote, and the most effective strategy, especially on Conservative types, seems to be stoke their fears of imminent Lib takeovers and gun grabs.  So stop talking about it.  There is certainly no use arguing with an idiot.  It only drags you down to their level where they beat you with experience.

So, don’t answer any emails from strangers, don’t take any polls, just fade into the background in silence.  On November 3^rd they will find out who has been paying attention, and there is absolutely no need to say one thing until then.

Of course I will continue to ask questions and point out things that don’t make sense, and laugh at all the nonsense (while avoiding their hooks).  I will slip an occasional donation to a campaign I like, but you will never see me announcing it and suggesting you should do likewise.  It’s none of my business.  I will vote in our state primary, probably for someone who will not win, but nobody will know, because it’s none of their business.

I will continue to pay attention to what’s going on, of course.  At some point, we may all be out in the streets again.  Until then, I’ll just shut up and vote.  :-{)}

Donkeys and Elephants

The Elephants and the Donkeys both send me stuff in my email all the time, and it’s interesting in some ways to compare what they send with each other.

The Elephants sent this one today:

We have seen your strong support for Conservative values and we want to thank you by giving you an exclusive offer…

It’s an offer that’s only for the BIGGEST supporters of Trump’s agenda and Conservative majority.

We are giving you EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the Presidential Majority Platinum membership. . . And because we know how much you’ve stood with our movement, we also want to give you a FREE American flag t-shirt.

But, we can only do this exclusive bundle today…

What it boiled down to is two things:  A Presidential Majority Platinum Member card that appeared to be made from plastic, and a T-shirt with a small American Flag on the front.  When I clicked on the “order here” button I found that the minimum amount they want is $50, and the maximum is $1,000 or more, with the option to make it monthly already checked for me!  This Limited Time Offer allows me to stand with President Trump and his House Majority today!

The Donkeys, of course, make up in quantity what they fail to achieve in quality, but I will give them this:  Most of their stuff is wrapped around a particular issue or angle.  Today, for example, to just cite a few:

The Legislative Majority PAC wants between $10 and $100 to fight gerrymandering, and they feature a smiling Barack Obama on the page.

Claire McCaskill’s campaign for Senator from Missouri is freaked out that she is now tied in the polls with the Trump guy, so please send money, $5 to $50, anything!  She’ll obviously take money from me in Washington State to run in Missouri, so what does that say about who else she will take money from, and what she will promise them in return?  Sorry, Claire, you will make it or break it in your state.  Stay there and run to them.

Then Bob Casey wants money from me to run in Pennsylvania!  Same answer, Bob, stay home. 

Then the Sanders Institute (a 501 (c) 3 organization, meaning my donations are tax-deductible), wants at least $27, up to $1,000 to boost Solar power companies and take away $20 billion in subsidies for the fossil fuel companies.

Then Patty Murray chimed in, with an offer to add my name to a petition demanding that Republicans do something about Trump, to “Hold Trump Accountable”, whatever that means.  She wanted anywhere from $5 to $250 after I clicked on the “Sign My Name” button.

I won’t bore you with the rest of them, and there are many, but they follow the same pattern.  The Elephants are completely ignoring current events and fishing for money based on a clear cult of personality and an unspecified “agenda”.

The Donkeys are more apt to bear down on one specific issue, which probably gives their data scientists a bunch of analysis of how any particular issue is flying with a given chunk of the electorate so they can fine-tune the message as we get closer to election day.  Clever people, those bit-twiddlers.

They both have one obvious thing in common:  They both have their hands out, and they both are using dollars raised as a measure of the success of any campaign.  The whole thing stinks to me of manipulation, professional image-crafting and corruption.  It’s becoming clear that both political “parties” have been taken over by scammers who are using them to extract money from us, the marks.  I bet they charge by the vote.  :-{)}

This is Getting Ridiculous

Ok, I have been thinking for some time that the way we do politics in this country is all messed up, but the onslaught has gotten so frenetic these days that it’s time to call a halt.  Let me show you what we’re up against.

And it must be said that all I did to deserve this was to donate a few bucks to Bernie Sanders last presidential election, and a little bit here and there for the few local races in which I have a vote.  I try to keep my nose out of other people’s business, so I keep my political contributions confined to this state, and my own district within it.

So here is just one day’s worth of emails alone sent to me for political reasons:

It started this morning at 9:17, when Adam Smith chimed in ask for a few bucks to help him run in the 9^th district here in Washington.  I don’t have a problem with that, I’ll probably donate at some point, he does represent me, and seems to be doing a decent job.

Then Bernie Sanders himself chimed in, at 9:40 AM, with a four page diatribe about what a pivotal moment in American History we are in right now.  He said all the right things:  Medicare for All, rebuilding the middle class and economic, racial, political and environmental justice.  At least he’s consistent.  That’s why I like Bernie.  He’s always in the thick of it and walks his talk.  I can’t donate any money to him unless he runs for president again, so we’ll see what happens.  In the meantime, you tell ‘em, Bernie!

Then at 10:43, Suzan DelBene sent me an email, or somebody named Tracy on her behalf.  She said a lot of people will be looking at her numbers to judge how strong her campaign is, so that’s why I should send her some money before the end of the 1^st quarter fundraising deadline.  There’s a theme in there to which I object, that you can keep score in a political race by counting dollars, but, for the record, Suzan, you’re not in my district, so you don’t get any money from me.  Does that make sense?

At 11:02 AM, I heard from Martin Heinrich, the junior senator from New Mexico, of all places!  Tell you what, Senator Heinrich, why don’t you just listen to the people you represent in that state, and I’ll keep my nose and my money out of your pocket.  This out-of-state money seems to be at the root of the problem, and I for one would like to see it stopped.  You say if you get 575 more $27 donations before Saturday night that will put you over the top and break last quarter’s record, proving you have the momentum to win in November?  How does showing you can beg money successfully from people all over the country prove anything about your abilities as a legislator?  Is that what it takes to win a Senator seat these days?

At 12:29 PM, Ro Khanna wanted to thank me.  I’m not sure what for, I never sent him any money, he’s running in California.  He pointed out that the corporate PACs, with their bottomless pockets, will stop at nothing to defeat us, but we can win if we finish this fundraising period off strong.

Excuse me, Ro, but didn’t the Democrats outraise the Republicans in the last presidential race by billions of dollars, something like 50% more money, and you still lost?

You say you’re bringing progressive values to Congress and boldly fighting for a future that works for all of us, but all I see is your hand out.

Donald Trump finished off the lunch hour with a message at 1:02. All he wanted was a dollar, just one lousy dollar, so he could count me as one of his official Sustaining Members.  That’s down from the $3 he wanted to get me in the sweepstakes for the all-expenses-paid dinner with him and 50 other winners at Mar-A-Lago that never happened last fall.  Once bitten, twice shy, baby…

Then, at 1:51 PM, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee sent me one, with the latest poll results from Florida, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which apparently show that Democrats are winning in all those races, and isn’t it great!?  Furthermore, a coalition of progressive donors has stepped up to match every donation made in the next 48 hours by five to one!

So I wonder, how does this relate to overturning the Citizens United Supreme Court decision?  What did you say the names of those progressive donors are?  You say you are dedicated to winning and defending Democratic majorities all over the country, but you don’t say how many of them are old tired Democratic hacks that stab their constituents in the back every chance they get, as long as they keep building those pensions.

Things began to get weirder as the day spun on.  Next up was Ron Wyden, the senior Senator from Oregon, at 2:53, but he didn’t want anything for him, he wanted me to send money to a guy in Tennessee!  Again, it was all about the money, and it seems everyone these days on the Democratic side had Act Blue standing ready to tap my bank account, they had my information right there, just click that little blue button…  Bernie started Act Blue, but it seems to have expanded to everyone on the blue side.

Then Claire McCaskill chimed in at 3:12.  She’s the Senator from Missouri, and she informed me that it was mission critical that she get 4,181 supporters to chip in before midnight Saturday, because, “..if we fall short here, we WILL fall short on Election Day, too.”

She’s so grateful to have me on her team as she fights for Missouri in the Senate.  But I’m not, of course, I don’t even live in Missouri, so why is she bugging me for money in Washington?  Must be a form letter…

But I gotta ask one thing, Claire?  Why are you so excited when you don’t even know who your opponent is going to be yet?

I cut this off at 3:41, when some obscure entity calling themselves The Legislative Majority PAC sent me an email wanting to know if I supported Robert Mueller.  They identified me, and them as well, of course, as Champions of Democracy working to defend out country from Foreign Collusion!  They need 200 of us Champions to sign on and donate by the end of Saturday so they can send an open letter to Congress calling on them to protect the Special prosecutor, whose Russia probe is heating up, and Trump is Terrified(!) and can I donate to elect Democrats who will defend the integrity of our government from Trump’s attacks!  I’m like, “Do you guys actually read this shit before you send it out?”

So, here’s a couple of conclusions, and the questions they bring up:

All of these messages, every one of them, even the Republican one, used the same fonts, in the same red, white and blue colors, with the same heavy use of red ink to show how exciting it all was. 

So did each of the various campaigns from all over the country that sent me emails today just happen to have the same design elements in their messages, or did all of them come from just one company?

To each of these candidates with your hands out, including the Orange guy, what do you buy with all that money?  Can I see a financial report after you get your first quarter figures together?  You can send me a copy, I see you all have my email address.  I’d like to see how much money this technique that you all seem to share raised for you, who it came from, and how you spent it.  Name names, please.

How do you measure the effectiveness of a donation, if you’re a PAC, or an ad buy if you’re a campaign?

I have a sneaking hunch that much of the money goes to professional outfits that sit around and think up these approaches, generate the attack ads and criticism that they spread, and tabulate the results, for a percentage, or do they bill by the hour?  I have a sneaking hunch that, in many cases, it’s the same companies that do the same work for both sides.  I also suspect that those same companies employ the sales forces that convince the politicians that they have to play the game if they want to win.  It’s a game that we, the citizens, seem to lose every time.

So until I see those financial reports, you will not see any of my money, thank you.  I think you would best serve your constituents, and by extension the entire country, if you pulled your strings back within your own state borders and concentrate on taking care of the business for which they elected you.  And keep your noses and your hands out of my pockets.  :-{)}

Excuse me, Mr. Trump?

Um, excuse me, Mr. Trump?  You got a minute?

The thing is, I got another email from you today, about the immigration thing, and I’m puzzled.  I think we got our signals crossed, somehow.

The big message today was that you wanted to share the current results of your big survey you commissioned to help us tell the Senate how we felt about all the immigration hoo-rah that’s going on right now, and how you were still waiting to hear from me, and would I be sure and respond by midnight tonight (same thing you said last week, by the way).

The thing is, I already responded to that survey, a few days ago.

You said that 85% of the respondents, so far, think the Wall is important.  That wasn’t me, I think it’s a stupid idea.

You said that 91% of the respondents to that survey think it is important that we eliminate tax credits for illegal immigrants.  I guess I’m in the minority again on that one, but I did take a few seconds to look that up, and everybody says there is no such thing as tax credits for illegal immigrants, which makes me wonder if those 91% of respondents are dumb as a box of rocks, or do they even exist?  Was that, like, a trick question or something?

Then you said that 87% of those same respondents think it’s important that we end chain migration, and I’m, like, wait a minute!  Isn’t chain migration another way to say someone moves here, decides it’s a pretty cool place, then they tell their families to come on over?  Isn’t that the way your grandmother got here?  Mine was already here then, by the way, but that’s ok with me.  I wouldn’t want to lord it over you just because we were here first, just like I think anyone from anywhere who wants to become an American ought to be as welcome as your family was at the time.

But the real question is why are you sending me this latest email, where you say you still need to hear from me, when I already took it?

I must admit, though, that at the end of the survey last time, when I clicked the “submit” button, and it sent me to a donation page that asked me for at least $35, up to $2700 or more, and I clicked on the little x up in the corner instead because I wasn’t giving you one red cent nohow, I kinda had the feeling that my survey results were not going to be received without the donation.

That makes me suspect that your survey is fake, that it’s really all about those donations.  I suspect you want me to pay you money to listen to my opinions, and you’re not going to bother if I don’t.

You said at the end of your email: And I want to be able to give an exact number of how many people back each proposal. This is the Art of the Deal!

So please, take my Responsible Immigration Survey by MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.

I’ll make you a deal, ok?  I’m not gonna give you a nickel, but I will wait to hear from you just exactly how many of us responded to this survey of yours, and where you got your numbers.  I’m beginning to suspect you’re gonna pull them out of your ass, just like you did your immigration policies and the rest of your stupid, racist, misogynist ideas.  Worst.  President.  Ever.  Sad!  :-{)}

Political Courage

It takes guts…

I guess you have to admire the courage it took for those 52 Republican Senators to vote for the latest Tax Reform Bill.

In the first place, they had to know it was a con game from the start.  They also had to know that the opposition is on to them, and was going to bring the heat every chance they could from now until 2018, yet they went ahead and did it.  It’s like they have to know Trump is about to bite the big one, and they were running out of time.

It seems to be pretty much out in the open that the Koch brothers and other big donors really do get whatever they want from the Republican Party, damn the consequences.

It’s also pretty obvious, and has been pointed out as recently as this morning, by Danny Westneat in the Seattle Times, that the federal budget deficits they have created with this bill will be the excuse they will use in the future to cut Social programs like Medicare and Social Security.  What they’re trying to tell us is that we’ve gotten a little too fat sucking on the public teat, never mind where the money came from, and that things are going to have to tighten up around here.  It’s all coming together according to plan.

So the Republicans have to know a bunch of them are going to lose their jobs in 2018, unless they can somehow focus the attention of the electorate on something else, off to the side, or talk a bunch of people out of bothering to vote.  Look out, Hillary, we’re really gonna come after you this time, and we’re not kidding!

The problem is, when you get their backs against the wall, and it begins to start to look like it’s all going down the toilet, what will they be willing to try to put off the inevitable?

Pull out the Nazi shock troops that are training together all over the country right now and put them on some targets?  Maye some more mass shootings?

How about a nice hot war somewhere new, like Korea?  Maybe Iran, they don’t have nukes yet, we hope.  It doesn’t take much looking to see how many American and Global companies are making a killing these days on arms and armaments, and the related ammunition and parts supply chains.  Gun shops and tactical supply joints are popping up nearly as fast as breweries these days, and the big guns, the planes and ships, the submarines and rockets, those are coming off the assembly lines in precise order, with backlogs in the years.

The fat cats who run those companies make money no matter who wins or loses the war, or who gives up their child in sacrifice to that money, a process that has been going on since the Gilded Age, and today’s Rupert Murdoch is yesterday’s William Randolph Hearst. So a war could be in the offing

I guess you have to hand it to the Republicans this time, all right.  Their strategy seems to be: “Let’s stab the majority of our constituents in the back while we take their money and give it to our patrons, then cover up the mess by throwing huge piles of bullshit on it and see if we get away with it.  Even if we lose our seats, we’ll still have our pensions, of course.  We’re not touching those…”

You’d think it would take a lot of guts to bet the farm like they’ve done here, that if they could invent some high principle upon which they were willing to stake their political futures to achieve, come up with some new words to replace “taking away from the citizens benefits they have bought and paid for all their lives”, they’d be quick to trumpet that.  You’d think so, if you didn’t suspect they were merely acting on orders from above, which also explains what happened.  Either way you look at it, it boils down to two things:  We’re screwed, and they’re toast.  :-{)}

Letter to Donald Trump

January 11, 2018

Dear President Trump,

Your Team Trump folks sent me an email yesterday, and I have to admit that I’m a bit confused.

First, they asked me if I thought January 20^th, 2017 was a fantastic day, because it was the day We the People elected Donald Trump president (I didn’t, but that’s neither here nor there), and whether I would like to join the president and whichever of his children were most likely to not be in jail for dinner on January 20^th of this year.

Under that they invited me to contribute one dollar to be automatically entered to win, the prize being a chance for dinner with you, Eric and Lara at a place in Florida!

Under that, in large white letters on a red background is a button to click that says: “Contribute $1”

They said you asked that all of your loyal supporters be told about this opportunity, to join the whole family at the most beautiful spot in Florida for an evening we’ll never forget!  Then it asked me to contribute $1 right now to be automatically entered to win an exclusive trip to Florida for Dinner with the President and His Family!

Thank you, Team Trump.  Contribute 1$

Then, underneath all that, is a forwarded message from you, Mr. Trump.  It says the same thing, basically, with one small change:  before it raises the stakes by saying I get to bring a friend, and that dinner is at Florida’s “Most Exclusive” Club, and we get to pose for a picture (!), you lowered the boom on us.  The price went up to 3$.

You make it all clear when you say, “All it takes is any contribution of 3$ or more before the deadline to be automatically entered for this once-in-a-lifetime chance…”

Under that is a stack of suggested contributions, ranging from $200 down to $35, ending with “Contribute Other Amount”, which could be 3$, I guess.

Then at the bottom you add a few details.  The most exclusive club in Florida is in Palm Beach, apparently, and the deadline is 11:59 PM on January 17, 2018.  That’s cutting it mighty fine if the dinner is on the 20^th.  That only leaves me 3 days to buy a suit and get my hair done.  Are you sending Air Force One or Two to pick me up at Sea-Tac?

But no, I found the link in the email that led to the fine print, and read all of that.

First thing, I see you’re bringing me in on an airline of your choice, putting me up in a hotel of your choice. That’s ok, but I’m surprised you’re going to have me in Coach.  You ever fly Coach across the country?  I doubt it.

Then I see that all meals and ground transportation is up to me while I’m there.  So much for “all expenses paid”.  Then I see that this deal is going to pick 50 winners!  How exclusive is that, I ask?  Then I see that I get to pay the taxes on all this, too!  How much is that photo-op worth to the IRS?

Then I see that the Secret Service has to do a background check on all 50 winners, not to mention their friends, and get it done in 3 days, and I gotta wonder, how much is that going to cost the American Taxpayer?  Are the results of those checks going to be available under the Freedom of Information Act?  I guess not, according to the fine print in the email, I have to send an SASE with return stamp to your campaign hq in Massachusetts after February 15, 2018 to get the answer to that question.  I’m half tempted…

Then we get to the nitty gritty.  If I don’t, for any reason, pass this background check, the whole deal is off.  Beyond that, the 50 winners will be selected from a pool of eligible contributors and selected using criteria supplied by the Sponsor “…to provide for an appropriate range of views, backgrounds, and interests.” 

In other words, your people are going to cherry pick out of the pile 50 people and their guests that have passed the Secret Service background checks and, since the drawing is going to be held on January 18, and the winners notified the same day, and the dinner is in Florida (at Mar-A-Lago?) two days later, I’d say you’ve got your work cut out for you.

In fact, the more I think about it, I’d say the whole “contest” is as phony as Trump University ever was.

I’d have to say you can kiss my ass for 1$, let alone 3.  I’d say you’d  have to be a dumb-as-a box-of-rocks Redneck to fall for this one.  :-{)}

Open Borders

This latest in a series of reports on documents issued by the Government Accountability Office is about Border Patrol agent assignments in the Southwest, and it’s an eye-opener.  The link is: http://www.gao.gov/assets/690/688200.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

I read this stuff so you don’t have to, and most of it is forgotten immediately, but this one is interesting:  As of May 2017, nationwide, Border Patrol had about 1,900 fewer agents than authorized, which officials cited as a key challenge for optimal agent deployment. In recent years, attrition has exceeded hiring (an average of 904 agents compared to 523 agents) according to officials.

It goes on to note that some 42% of individuals apprehended while trying to cross the border were caught within a mile of the border itself in 2016, while in 2012 that figure was 24%.  It also notes that part of the reason for that is the kids who are sent across the border and told to surrender immediately, but it’s pretty obvious that the main reason is the lack of agents.  If you’re running the border, your chances go way up if you make it the first mile.  Anybody want to ask if the people who make money running the border pay attention to these reports?

So what the hell is going on in the ranks of the Border Patrol that damn near double the number of agents they were able to hire quit over the same period of time?  Is this why the idea of a wall is sounding good to some folks?  Is it just the Southwest division, or is this happening all over?

Personally, I think people ought to be able to go anywhere they damn well please any time they want, and that borders are a particularly vicious invention designed to keep the people of the world at each others’ throats, and not those of the ones who really run things, and make all the profit.  But I realize that the concept of Open Borders is a futility until we solve the problem of why some people are so desperate to get the hell away from where they were born at any cost.

That problem has proven to be a thorny one, indeed.  Ah, but when we do solve it, when the entire world is open to our visitation and exploration, when all the people who live there are happy and comfortable and glad to see us, just like we are glad to see them when they come to our town, wouldn’t that be wonderful indeed?  What’s it going to take to make that happen? :-{)}

Campaign Funds

My inbox is full of them these days, coming from both Democrats and Republicans, along with many other specific interest groups with whom I have indicated support in the past, not to mention others, of which I have never heard and wonder how they got my name.  Between Facebook and email, I probably get 40 a day, thanks to big data tracking and targeted messages.

They all have one thing in common:  they want money.  Frequently, they want money, and it’s an emergency!

That got me thinking, how much money have they taken in, say, for the 2016 election cycle?  I found a website that produced a scary number, at https://www.opensecrets.org/parties/  Check it out.  I’ll give you a preview:  The Democrats raised a total of $2,045,690,893 in all their respective committees.  The Republicans raised $1,621,175,431 over the same time period.  Yeah, that’s in billions of dollars.  And that’s only the two main parties, and does not include all the so-called Independent Super-PACs and anyone else who felt like they needed to throw money at the problem.

I checked those totals out against other sites, like the Washington Post, and found similar results.  The Democrats, who have long railed against the Citizens United decision and how it allowed “big money” to take over out political discourse, are shown to be liars and con artists, since they raised more than the Republicans did, although from a larger number of people in smaller individual donations.  It becomes obvious that the Democratic-led campaign to reverse the Citizens United decision is a smoke screen to hide the fact that they are worse offenders than the Republicans, and a strategic attempt to limit the Republican access to funds, while leaving them even more in the lead.  What did Elridge Cleaver say about “if you’re not part of the solution”?

Ok, next question:  Where did they spend the money?

Here, for example is a report from NBC on how much out-of-state money was spent in Georgia this year in the 6^th District Congressional Race:  http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/out-state-interests-spent-26-2-million-georgia-special-election-n774366

That’s 26.2 million dollars, mostly from out-of state (all but $100,000 came from outside Georgia).  In the article, it mentions specifically that the money was spent on TV advertising, online ads, text messages.  Beyond that, you have to really dig to find out any useful information.  The first link gives expenditure totals, but does not show who got the money.

As for the big numbers, and the names of the companies who get that money, and what they do to earn it, that information has been swallowed by a black hole.  Feel free to dig as deep as you like, and see if you come up with any more results than I did.

I’ll give you a couple of leads:  Google “campaign services”, and see what comes up.

My contention is that both major political parties in this country have fallen under the influence of professionals:  Fund Raisers, Lawyers, Advisors, Analysts, Researchers, Printers, PR types, Mud-slingers and overseers of all kinds.  The one thing they all have in common is that they are making a good living off the turmoil and the bullshit, and the more it continues the more they have a personal stake in keeping the ball rolling.  It has become an ongoing industry that starts working on the next campaigns right after the end of the last ones.

There is no evidence that any of these professional types give one withered rat’s ass about the best public policy for the American People.  They don’t work for us, even if our donations are paying their wages.  And the so-called representatives, with few exceptions, are more interested in staying in power than they are in doing the right thing for us, which helps explain why nothing seems to get ever actually done in those halls of power.

It would not surprise me to find out that in many cases, the professional companies are working for both sides at the same time.

Information like this is what is causing me to reject making donations to any campaign that does not apply to the locality in which I live.  It boils down to one slogan:

No Out-Of-State Contributions should be allowed for any statewide race!

Not only is it an affront to the residents of any given state, who are tasked with the decision of who shall represent them, and are the only ones allowed to vote, when a bunch of out-of-state interests are allowed to flood them with bullshit to support one side or the other, but it also has had an extremely negative effect on our Congress, where House members and Senators must spend incredible amounts of time raising funds for their next campaign, rather than doing the business that we elected them to do.

How do we fix this?  Start with your own pocketbook.  Feel free to donate money to the national campaign of your choice, be it Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, or the Daughters of the Confederacy.  As far as political campaigns go, it seems legitimate to donate directly to the Presidential Candidate of your choice.  Keep your money out of the neighboring states, and even the legislative districts within your own state.  No matter how much you think that so-and-so in the next district over is a wart on the ass of progress, and needs to be ousted, it’s really none of your business.  It’s for the voters of that district to decide, and they don’t need you shouting in their ear on their way to the voting booth, or paying someone else to do it for you.  And not one nickel to the national parties, unless they can promise and prove that money we donate will only be spent in our local races.

Imagine how elections would go if there were no money to run attack ads, or spew fake news all over Facebook.  Imagine all the sycophants and toadies standing at the exits to the parking lots all over D.C. and our State Capitols bearing signs that say:  “Will bullshit for food”.  :-{)}

Two plus Two equals What?

So it looks like this is how it works:  A few days ago, President-elect Trump tweeted that the contract with Boeing to build the next two Air Force One planes was, “...too expensive, 4 billion dollars!  Cancel It!”  Boeing’s stock took a nose dive, and publicists and politicians all over the globe got in front of microphones and bleated endlessly, with some agitation, that it was not true!  Boeing has only been working on a lousy $150 million project to talk about it.  They don’t have the specs yet to even start asking how much, so somebody pulled that number out of their ass.

Despite that, given the level of response to that single tweet, and the wide-spread nature of the response from all directions, would it surprise you to see on the front page of one of the scandal sheets on display at the checkout stands of our local grocer (all but the “family friendly” ones, anyway) a headline that shouted, “Trump Cancels $4 Billion Air Force One Project!

My first thought was, “Are you kidding?  Do you not know that all of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Fox News, CNN, and all the rest of the chatterverse has been debunking that story within the hour?”  Then I realized; they don’t care.  Their audience doesn’t read anything they don’t already know, and don’t care to start now, thank you very much.

My second thought was, “Who exactly do we have in this country capable of designing, building and flying what will probably be the second most complicated flying machine this side of the Space Shuttle.  I mean, besides Boeing.  Nobody, right?  So you really are full of doo-doo to even suggest it, right?  So, who are you trying to fool?”  The answer is:  the same people who elected him.

I supported President Obama, and to this day believe he did as good as he possibly could given the level of attack that started the day after his first election from all sides.  He ran a clean ship, and got the trains running on time, at some level.  All the bullshit they threw at him was based on lies, the new currency of politics in America.  At the time, most profoundly expressed on the night of his inauguration, the spirit that flooded the airwaves felt like a sign that a change was gonna be here.  It gave me hope.  Still does.

But it occurs to me: Now, the shoe is on the other foot.  The pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme.  However, the process is the same, just for a different group.

Obama gathered the poor, the dispossessed, the young, college educated ones, some of the working class and built an organization on their efforts, Organizing for America.  Trump made those people the enemy and built his winning coalition on the backs of the scandal sheet readers, the Fox News quoters, the haters and the fringers on the opposite side from the radical left.

Obama got his money from the lawyers, and the rich liberals.  Trump got his from the capitalists, and the rich conservatives.  And here’s the thing:  Just like Obama in 2008, Trump in 2016 has given his followers hope!

You can see them everywhere, the Trump folks.  “I’m with Her” is a message that has disappeared from the bumpers of America, but Trump rides everyone’s ass these days.  They walk with a form of victory strut, the one we did when Obama won, he was our man, and we grinned from ear to ear.  Now it’s them, and we look away.

But in the back of our minds, we are thinking:  He promised a whole bunch of things to a whole bunch of people, and now he’s gotta come through for them, and he’s got four years to do it.  He’s gotta build a wall, then deport a bunch of nonwhite people.  Then he’s gotta start my mine back up, or my logging crew, or my auto plant job.  He’s gotta slap China around, even though they buy so many of our T-bills that if they quit buying them we’d see the full faith and credit of the United States of America go up in smoke faster than you can say leveraged buyout.  He’s gotta slap the Russians around, even though he personally owes them millions, we hear.

And all the time, we’re going to be riding his ass like a loan shark on payday.  All those liberals and progressives are still here (you saw the vote totals), and we’re not having any of this, thank you very much.

The difference is, we’re going to fight back with the truth.  We’re not going to pass on fake news, that’s their thing.  We’re going to ignore his wife, as long as she stops plagiarizing, and his kids, who will hopefully sit down and shut up for the next four years.  We’re going to talk policy, and facts; we’re going to insist on reasonability, and cooperation, and building community, and shining a light on things going on around us.  When they go low, we’re going to go high, just like Ms Obama said.

What else can we do?  :-{)}