Red State/Blue State

Dear Sweet Kelllyanne Conway: A moment of your time, m'dear, before you begin snarking all the way to Capitol Hill. Your statement: "How about the fact that nobody liked your candidate? Or that people didn't connect with her? Or that you should have tried harder to get WHITE working class voters? Well…Facts are sometimes hard to face, aren't they?      Fact: Donald Trump lost the Popular Vote…badly.  According to the latest numbers, Hillary will be the only candidate who has lost by the margin equalling ten winning Presidential Candidates without taking office.        Fact: People didn't connect with Trump-according to your definition. Exit Polls showed that even those who DID vote for him didn't think he was qualified to be Commander in Chief.       Fact: Democratic Candidates try to reach ALL working class people-NOT just the WHITE working class voters. Seig Heil! Why did you make a point to specify WHITE w...

At some point, we started to realize that he wasn't so funny anymore. But Donald Trump does remain a source of amusement to late-night comics and the internet writ large. Some of the tweets are so over the top they're funny. Some of the lies are so blatant, you can't take them too seriously. Bernie Sanders had a different take on the Trump tweets. He warned of the underlying messages embedded in them. The tweet about "millions voting illegally" could really be warning of even more voter suppression in store for us in the next four years. And it also could be a warning for immigrants and minorities of what's in store… That's why it's not really funny anymore. The nonsensical tweet about Boeing is now a serious threat to a major American corporation because Trump didn't like the fact that they spoke out against his threat to get into a huge trade war with China. He still provides fodder for comedians as we roll into the countdown for the...

Here's the "short list" of all of Trump's incoming land mines as he hurtles towards his date with Destiny at the Inauguration. List of Donald Trump Landmines 1) Conflicts of Interest- His Business Interests are global 2) Billionaire (& Military) Cabinet appointments 3) Trump's Foreign Affair Shortfalls: The Knowledge Gaps 4) Trump's Mind-set: Bigotry, Racism, Misogyny- Remember how much "the blacks" loved him? 5) Race-baiting  Divisive Language : His Pettiness & Ego 6) The Conspiracy Theories -the weird beliefs-beginning with Birtherism. 7) His Temperament & Tweets & Trade wars -just the Tweets & Marketing that could turn on him 8) Immigration! -Building the Wall 9) Obamacare Repeal- what do you do with 20 million people +? Democratic Strongholds: Hillary's Laundry List of just some of the initiatives that were promoted by her in her speeches and on her website. These should be the bedrock ...

If someone waking from a deep freeze just saw that tape where Trump was bragging off the record about the way he treated women, grabbing them by the crotch because they "let you do it", it would seem that so many red flags are raised that they would immediately conclude it as disqualifying for any candidate for higher office. It goes without saying that women are not objects, or something lesser to be grabbed and treated as toys or groped simply because someone believes themselves immune from the rules of polite society, an ethical code of conduct or common human decency. It was obvious that Trump couldn't handle even the small amount of power that is bestowed on a Hollywood TV Reality star. Why would anyone think that this person could handle the immense power and pressure that the highest office in the land entails? That does say something about the voters. Voters didn't vote simply for change, they voted for the strong man who didn't just fall to the top...

In school, there was a class called P.A.D. It stood for Problems in American Democracy,   and this was supposed to be a newer version of the old Civics classes given to high school students. There are several problems to be sure in our 21st century version of democracy. One major problem is the media. The problem lies with the role of the media in elections and also in the role of the free press in questioning our leaders and elected officials. With history as a guide, we see the problems that arose in the lead-up to the Iraq war. History has been repeating itself with this 2016 election. If you recall the excitement after 9/11, when the media couldn't hide their delight in becoming"embeds" in the military invasion of Iraq, this was problematic at the time. I remember watching the BBC to get some type of rational coverage and perhaps some questioning over why we were invading this country. But if the networks see a ratings boom, they don't question the whys or ...

The following is a list of Pro's & Con's from a moderate leaning Democrat who didn't vote for Trump. The purpose of this blog is to be able to state opinions that are contrary to the norm. Even within the Democratic Party base and platform, there's plenty to criticize. And friends on the Right also concede that their party leaders have not been honest or scrupulously geared towards doing what is right for the American People at all times. Their own petty party interests have too often intervened on both sides of the aisle. And now we have been gifted with a President Donald Trump. It's not a scenario I would have envisioned to solve the many massive problems that we face in our American Democracy. But there it is. We are saddled with Trump for four years. Here's a short list of the Pro's & Con's from the viewpoint of the loyal opposition: The Pro's Some of Trump's Policies are ones that Dems agree with- Infrastructure...

This is looking more like a hostile takeover of the government than anything else at this stage. And with Trump's total disregard for the press, for protocol or for "PC" behavior, this is going to be treated as a takeover of the Government process. And to many, that would be a good thing. There's always a double-edged sword to anything that is radical or considered a disrupter or agent of change. In this case, we have the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Trump. The Good: He's not a traditional conservative. His daughter is a registered Democrat. These things may bode will for possible bi-partisan cooperation that hasn't' been seen in a long time in Washington. Trump wants to do a massive Infrastructure spending bill  that should help promote growth and stimulate the economy to create jobs. Obama had requested this and was shot down by GOP Lawmakers who didn't want to give him any win that would help his legacy, even if it meant screwing the Ameri...