Red State/Blue State

I guess my initial reaction to “Trump-mania” besides the laughter generated from late-night comics, is the phrase, “Meanwhile, back at the ranch…” Because while we are listening to the latest soliloquy from Trump or his rivals, and the pundits argue and shuffle the characters appearing in the first Fox News debate which is months away from the primaries, there are other things happening in the world.   The top 5 articles I picked are all featured in Red State/Blue State News & Politics Magazine from Flipboard. Here they are:   1.       The debate over whether the Iran Deal is comparable to the opening of China 2.       The debate over whether our US Military is spread too thin 3.       20 photos of international borders that tell a tale 4.       A map showing the areas of Drug Cartel influence in Mexico 5.    ...

There are times you may remember visiting a zoo, and you may have seen people stare in fascinated horror as they watch the poop-throwing antics of a rogue monkey. Displaying bizarre and inappropriate behavior is one reason that people are so fascinated. It’s hard to look away. Now, about Donald Trump. Why would anyone be shocked…shocked! by The Donald’s poop-throwing behavior? It’s what he does, that’s just his way. So are we going to go through 8 or 9 months of this?   Because there’s a national security crisis with Chinese hackers, ISIS threats, gun control debates, the Iran Deal, income inequality, major problems with racial inequality and immigration reform, plus the small matter of electing a new leader of the Free World. To that question, here’s a hint: It ain’t Donald Trump.   He’s not even close to being a viable candidate, but he will be a major spoiler if the National Media keep staring in fascination and horror as the monkey throws poop at the...

            How do you solve a problem like The Donald?   That must be what the GOP is singing behind closed doors as Donald Trump fever is silently whisking its way through the heart of the Democratic strongholds, where Hillary supporters are surely asking themselves, “ Could Trump possibly be a secret operative for the Democratic National Committee?”

“ He will not always say What you would have him say, But now and then he’ll do Something Wonderful .”   Lyrics from "The King and I"     There have been many times the Roberts Supreme Court has let the American People down, as in the case of  the“ Citizens United” ruling and   again when they decided against keeping key provisions intact from landmark Civil Rights protections dating back to the 1960’s. And the Supreme Court under Rehnquist and consisting of Scalia and Thomas ruled in the Bush v Gore case where they basically gave the election to a man who did not win the popular vote, nor, it turns out, the state of Florida upon which they ruled in Bush’s favor. So to say that progressives have been unhappy with the Supreme Court in the past two decades would be an understatement. But then again they do Something Wonderful . Every now and then, they get it right. Perhaps there will indeed have to be legislation passed to eve...

RS/BS Under the Radar:       This is a regular feature for my website and my online magazine. There are so many different news organizations and features that are sending out all kinds of articles and statements and some news tends to be buried. News organizations tend to follow the “bright, shiny object” more and more as we see so much coverage and attention paid to things that, in the long run, seem to hardly matter. But to be fair to our journalists and all purveyors of media content, the amount of information is so overwhelming and the apparatus to convey the news has become so unwieldy and top-heavy, instead of grass-roots and ground-up gumshoe reporting as in “the good old days”, that it’s almost impossible to root out the top stories and to sift through the data of a 24 hour news cycle. However, this is an attempt to put some things in perspective. If not but for simply a few moments, it might seem to make sense to sort out some of the cont...

  One thing that bothers me from time to time as I review the contents of the online magazine I edit, " Red State, Blue State" on Flipboard, is the number of news stories that are quite important, and yet are under reported. This article is a short list of some of the news stories that seem to go under the radar.         70 Charities have called on Corporations to end their Political Dark Money-untraceable in campaigns and PAC’s under the rules of Citizens United.         ·          Obama called out Fox News on their constant characterizations of the poor as lazy and leeches   ·          Obama has said that Global Warming is the next big security threat to our country     ·          On the Climate Change Front : Earth has recorded the warmest records for...

    Dr. Strangelove plays this month on Turner Classic. If you have ever reminisced about the Seinfeld moments in your life, you might appreciate these Seinfeldian moments in the film, Dr Strangelove, or: How I Learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.   *1) The Big Board : General Buck Turgidson is completely paranoid about the Russians being able to see “the Big Board”. Haven’t you ever thought about how childish the rules and games are that the highest in command play as they move people and entire cultures around on their imaginary chess boards?   *2) Precious Bodily Fluids : I can never think of fluoride in the same way after hearing Sterling Hayden as the deranged Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper talk seriously about how fluoridation of the water was sapping his “precious bodily fluids.”   *3) Slim Pickens is for ever immortalized as he is riding the rocket at the end of the film. It’s been reported that Pickens was not told he wa...