I worked at a company in New York years ago that figured out a way to keep more employees in the plant every Friday. It was a benefit they named Free Food Friday, and it worked. Friday attendance increased, and some people who had the day off came in just for the chow but ended up doing a little work while they were there.
Food Bank Lines
Right now, America is facing some serious and staggering food statistics. According to NPR, “Even before the pandemic hit, some 13.7 million households, or 10.5% of all U.S. households, experienced food insecurity at some point during 2019, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That works out to more than 35 million Americans who were either unable to acquire enough food to meet their needs, or uncertain of where their next meal might come from, last year. The coronavirus pandemic has only worsened the problem. According to one estimate by researchers at Northwestern University, food insecurity more than doubled as a result of the economic crisis brought on by the outbreak, hitting as many as 23% of households earlier this year.”
When you have enough food and no worries about where your next meal will come from, this problem probably never crosses your mind. On the other hand, when a person can’t eat they may fall into a deep depression or do some bad things to get food. So, what can you do to help? Well, you could contribute to food a bank.
Maybe start here. That is Feeding America, which is a nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and programs that provide food and services to hungry people. For every dollar you give, the Feeding America network of food banks helps provide at least ten meals to people in need. You can click this link at their site to see the local food bank in your zip code.
As negative as this sounds, there are times I wonder if the people lined up in their cars to get a free box of food don’t actually need the help. Then it hits me. Who would sit in a car line for food if they didn’t need it? That’s much less fun than Free Food Friday.
The intense and distracting political partisan rhetoric in our government right now is drawing attention away from helping our fellow citizens during a pandemic. I don’t know about you, but I am utterly sick of the crazy conspiracy theories some of our desperate politicians are using when jockeying for power. It would be far better if they were addressing the problems of unemployment and hungry citizens. What fools these jokers are, arguing about things that don’t matter to 28 million households.
If you want to give your voice some power, click these links on my blog page to find your Senators and Representative. Send your Congresspersons a stern message. It’s time to feed America.
Thank you for your support.
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
P.J. O’Rourke is a funny and creative writer. His fabulous book titled None of My Business attempts to explain how money and the stock market work. To be honest, the book didn’t teach me anything new but it’s humorous and enlightening.
Stock market trading profoundly changed when “regular” Joes and Janes were given access to computers, powerful financial analytical software and the internet. I started dabbling back in the late 80s with the dream of making a bunch of money. After signing up with Charles Schwab, getting their software installed on my Compaq computer and connecting to their server, I was good to go. I worked the software like a video game, buying the stock of businesses I understood such as broadcast and software service companies and realized some gains along the way.
Six months in, I met with my financial guy, old what’s his name at Schwab, and had to face the substantial number of transaction fees I racked up. At that time, each trade cost me $30. My guy asked why I was trading so much and I replied, “It’s fun.”
Something happened yesterday that should make us all a bit nervous, especially those with money in the market. On the same day that Apple reported that all of their product lines were up to the tune of $100 billion in sales, a quake coming from the online chat service named Reddit rocked the investment establishment.
Reddit was founded by Alexis Ohanian, yes, the guy who married Serena Williams. He’s long been a bastion of free speech and “open” information exchange. According to CNBC, “Mr. Ohanian, who resigned from Reddit’s board in June and urged for a Black director to replace him, said the GameStop short-squeeze that was instigated in recent weeks — pushing the video-game retailer’s stock up nearly 2,000% this month alone — shows the disruptive nature of the internet.” How could a company explode that quickly in such a short period of time? Look to the actions of a group of people who, in another time and place, would probably be hackers and protesters.
Most likely weaned on the movie lizard Gordon Gekko who told us that “greed is good,” these amateur traders want to stick it to the man. The New York Times said it best, “Propelled by a mix of greed and boredom, gleefully determined to teach Wall Street a lesson, and turbocharged by an endless flow of get-rich-quick hype and ideas delivered via social media, these investors have piled into trades around several companies, pushing their stock prices to stratospheric levels.” In fact, several GameStop investors became billionaires in one day. WTF?
These scoundrels have run up the value of GameStop, a marginal company, because they have ganged together to control investing and the timeline to reap profits by selling when the stock value crests. It should be against the law.
Then, just when I think I know what I am talking about regarding the stock market, I get an opposite opinion from a friend, “I do not share your view on this, at all. The ‘whiz kids’ of Wall Street are playing the very same game of the ’established investors’ who work their subterfuge in plush corner offices using far more subtle, and perhaps undetectable, ways. The result is exactly the same for each group, wealth acquired by manipulation. The real problem is a lack of control to prevent devious strategies.”
My friend didn’t stop there. “Yes, we have the Securities and Exchange Commission, but I think they’re in bed with the stock market establishment. If that wasn’t the case, I’m sure they could implement a bulletproof mechanism to detect and prevent exploitation. I am more aligned with the whizzers, showing us all that the system is vulnerable to control by a few. Their transparent behavior is unsettling only because it brings into the light what has been happening in the dark for decades. It’s a seriously flawed, perhaps corrupt, system.” Well, that certainly does fit into my previous statement that much of the Stock Market is a giant electronic Ponzi scheme.
Are the internet and the way people use mass communication platforms for evil intentions the bigger villains in this story? These rebellious investors are raising their middle fingers at authority, marching to the opening bell while waving flags of disruption and discord. How can we guard against the insane behavior of these Wall Street “whiz kids?” Should we close the internet?
I applauded Facebook when they stopped political advertising the month before the election because it impeded misinformation getting to the public. Most voters had already made up their minds by then, and 81 million people told us they wanted a change. The economy of the United States is not the stock market, but the symbiotic relationship is apparent. People tend to spend the money they make selling stocks. When they use their gains to buy things the whole boat rises with the tide, but the harsh reality is Joe the Plumber doesn’t make more money.
The Next Day
The Securities and Exchange Commission was created after the 1920s stock market crash. It’s supposed to protect investors and the national banking system without thwarting or manipulating the natural market fluctuations. The market is a tool for the people, like the Federal Reserve adjusting interest rates and effecting institutional corrections that become necessary at times. Without knowing the accurate picture of our economy, we are at the mercy of a bunch of day traders at the bar.
Amateur investors chatting up a storm on Reddit and creating stock market waves shift our attention away from legitimate investments into new companies needing dollars to bring their great products to market. Things will calm down when the stock market imposes control over these rouge traders and suspends disruptive trading. After the market took a few minor steps, the Dow Jones went back up; nothing to see here, move along.
It’s time for Elizabeth Warren and people like her who understand how all this works to roll up their sleeves and figure it out. Maybe my friend is right. It could be those assholes on Reddit showed the man behind the curtain is not really controlling anything, but it’s too important to give the wolves more time in the henhouse. Someone has to clean up the feathers. Gee, maybe we could use them to start a pillow business.
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
Right before Trump left office, he put together a commission to study and address schools applying a more accurate history curriculum about slavery in the US. It was mostly motivated by the 1619 Project published by the New York Times. One of the first things the 46th President Joe Biden did was to sign an executive order to dissolve the 1776 commission. For you to fully understand the context of this letter, you unfortunately might have to read this report: The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1776 Commission:
I read the lengthy complaint letter to America titled The 1776 Report and want to share my feelings and thoughts about what you and your cohorts have written. I read it all with an open mind, attempting to grasp your purpose and intent. As someone who cares deeply about this country and the issues you covered, I am compelled to express my raw reactions.
Here’s my basic understanding. The United States of America is not a person who needs its large ego to be defended but rather a homeland that needs to be protected. So, I assume your first goal is protecting American citizens from misinformation and bias. That’s noble, but sadly, it’s not the overall thrust of what you have produced.
I see this warning draped in flowery language, “…unrealistic hopes and checks against pressing partisan claims or utopian agendas too hard or too far.” Are you speaking about anyone who disagrees with your version of the truth? You quickly add that America has its “share of missteps, errors, contradictions, and wrongs,” and while that is true, your statement about being governed with “consent” is highly inaccurate. Not a single slave ever gave consent for their condition and women did not agree to being prohibited from voting for 144 years. Those are facts.
I’m glad your first report was your last because your findings prove a dramatic need for truthtellers and historians to put America’s errors and wrongs into proper context. Why should you get to write your “truth” without giving voice to those who endured the deep pain of their fight for equality? You point out that one of the tenants of our founders was to have “limited government,” but that government has evolved and has now paid you to provide your version of its history. Why is that? Has the Federal Government hired you to tell us citizens how we should think?
You talk about the “more problematic” movements that “seek to reject the fundamental truths of the Declaration of Independence and seek to destroy our Constitutional order.” Which movements are these? Why didn’t you name them? Are they the same boogiemen seen by McCarthy, John Birch and the KKK, or are they the immigrants seeking asylum in this free land only to be arrested at the border and have their children taken from them? Maybe you can’t point a finger right now because you’re far too busy trying to figure out who deserves those “eternal truths” and the “priceless inheritance” you mention.
You hide behind the smoke screen of a learned scholar while denouncing higher education itself as a bastion of communism, socialism and American haters. You cast the first stone yet also claim that anyone who calls our founders hypocrites is doing “enormous damage” and having a “devasting effect on our civic unity and social fabric.” Can you even imagine a young Black man in America pointing out the words “…all men are created equal…” and then asking why his ancestors were enslaved and treated like animals? Would you say his question was damaging our social fabric? How would you answer him? If your document is the answer, then you have profoundly failed every African American.
You write that “the institution of slavery has been more the rule than the exception throughout human history,” but you started that sentence using the words “the unfortunate fact…” Does the fact that it happened pervasively somehow make the reality less than immoral? Wrapping the word “fact” around tragic historical events doesn’t make them right, it just makes them indisputably horrible.
Senator Tom Cotton and President Donald Trump were behind your whitewashing of our history and much of what you have written is simply wrong. George Washington paid hunters to track and return some of his escaped slaves. Sure, Thomas Jefferson condemned the notion of slavery but ask Sally Hemmings how much she was paid to bear his offspring. The founding fathers were intelligent but flawed human beings. More to the point, they were HYPOCRITES. Now don’t get all ruffled here. To this very day there are still many hypocrites in Washington, and that is unlikely to change in our government.
The Slave Trade
Great Britain banned slave trade in 1807 and outlawed the practice of “owning” people long before the United States did the same. Check your calendar. President Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order named The Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, long after Europe and Great Britain ended slavery. Since you are selling us on the need to understand facts, perhaps you should get yours straight.
Your explanations of the various dogmas and principals of tyrants and totalitarian governments reminds me of what J. Edgar Hoover tried to do to Martin Luther King, Jr. If one finds fault with America, then accuse them of being a communist, or worse, a Democrat. Your use of the term “Identity Politics” does not mask your clear “partisan claims or utopian agendas.” Caught you!
You advanced a lofty claim that everywhere “American troops went, they embodied in their own ranks and brought with them the principals of the Declaration, liberating peoples and restoring freedom.” What are you talking about? Did you forget about Vietnam? How about those “weapons of mass destruction” and other fabricated foes in whose name we gladly spit all over the Declaration of Independence? Have you noticed there’s not much liberation happening in Iraq?
I love America, and the strong feelings I hold for my home will not allow me to sit silent and watch your biased, politically motivated piece of misinformation being marched down Main Street masquerading as a parade of truth. Get this straight. A person who points out brutal truths can still be a patriot and a law-abiding citizen. America is getting better, but your commissioned report isn’t worth the price of the ink that printed it.
Thanks for your time.
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
Why can’t Donald Trump just go away? Over the past four years the man has trained many of us to be to be vindictive and angry, and I admit membership in that group. I have always disliked people who are more interested in assigning blame than pursuing solutions. Trump constantly created a problem, then immediately looked for a fall guy to tag with the crime. Attorney General Jeff Sessions put kids in cages at the southern US border, and Trump blamed Obama when that tragedy was discovered.
Things got out of hand when Donald Trump urged his rabid fans to march to the Capital and take back their country with strength. He was quick to say it was wrong, but his pronouncement of innocence was written by lawyers and quickly angered “Q” of QAnon, who called him a failure. House of Representatives’ Kevin McCarthy asserted there was plenty of guilt to go around, which was a non-blame-blame that injudicious people use to deflect.
Rules are needed as the Senate moves forward with another impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump. Senators must affirm that they will perform their duties honestly and with due diligence. After hearing the charges, the Senate usually deliberates in private. The Constitution requires a two-thirds supermajority in an impeachment trial, and in this case 67 Senators would be needed to convict. However, the decision of whether Trump should be convicted or acquitted is only the first step.
Upon conviction in the Senate, the impeached is removed from office and may, by a separate vote, be barred from holding any future federal office. This vote requires a simple majority, or 51 Senators. If the Senate were deadlocked in a 50-50 tie, Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the tie-breaking vote and vanquish the evil prince of darkness to his political death.
Some claim that a president cannot be convicted of impeachment once they leave office, but I have a thought that hasn’t been discussed by the Congress or media. This country has laws that prohibit a person from causing insurrection. It wouldn’t be too much of a leap to charge Trump in local courts for what he inspired and commanded in the Capitol Hill riot.
The legal language of 18 U.S. Code § 2383 – Rebellion or insurrection is clear, “Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.” The word “incites” quite accurately describes Trump’s actions and, you know what, a year in prison might help him get into shape.
Another idea is calling to order a Grand Jury in D.C. to present the case, and if a charge results then arrest him. Trump no longer holds office, and he is not protected by presidential immunity. Sure, it would enrage millions of people, but no man is above the law and it’s time we start to honor that American legal declaration.
The CNN website is reporting that the Arizona Republican Party voted to publicly punish Arizona Republican Governor Doug Ducey, former Republican Senator Jeff Flake and the wife of the late John McCain, Cindy McCain, who opposed Trump’s efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. The state’s GOP also went after controversial party chairwoman Kelli Ward. It’s worth noting that Arizona turned, as they say, blue in the 2020 Presidential Election and now both State Senators are Democrats.
When Republicans in the US Congress assert that another Impeachment trial will further divide the country, perhaps they should first worry about how their own party has been divided. Trump caused that split as well as the deaths that took place January 6, 2021 on Capitol Hill. Some of these Republicans care more about being elected than the lives of American citizens.
Senator Lindsey Graham
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham gets under my skin the most. One moment he says, “Enough is enough,” and then hours later he’s on the golf course with Trump and defending him once again. You see, it’s all a game to them, like golf where one can use a “do over” or, as they call it, a “mulligan.” Think of Tiger Woods coming back from his moral transgressions and mishaps to regain ultimate redemption, winning and more money.
The Republican Party took a giant gamble on Trump and they lost. Graham and others like him are still trying to protect Trump. They will double-down on this loser and eventually pay the price. I’ll say it once again — Mitch McConnell is right. The devil must be expelled from the GOP.
For that to happen, Donald Trump must be banned from running for any federal office for life, and to achieve that, the Senate must convict Trump in his impeachment trial. You cannot ban if you do not take a stand. Should those spineless Senatorial bastards acquit him, it will be like walking out of the hospital refusing the chemo, giving the cancer more time to destroy them.
You might say that it’s easy for me to sit here and spout my political wisdom, but once again we are about to remake the same mistakes that screwed us before. When the pandemic hit, no one looked at the historical warnings embedded in the 1918-1919 Spanish flu. Trump kept referring to it as 1917.
Bull Moose Teddy
When Teddy Roosevelt came back from his vacation in Africa, he wanted to be president again. When he lost the Republican nomination in 1912 to the incumbent and former friend, President William Taft, he stormed out of the convention hall and jumped up on the back of a flatbed truck and screamed to the reporters, “I feel as strong as a bull moose!” Does such bragging sound familiar? Roosevelt proceeded to hijack and rename the Progressive Party, the “Bull Moose Party.” By creating a third party, Teddy sabotaged the Republican Party and Democrat Woodrow Wilson won the White House. It’s possible that Trump will do something similar.
Donald John Trump has already divided and destroyed. If he’s not barred from holding office and the Republicans do not nominate him in 2024, his ego will drive him to form his own “Bullhead Party,” which would guarantee the Democrats keeping power. So many politicians never learn from history; they simply repeat it. The Arizona Republican party just proved this. Attack the righteous for they tell the truth. Nice.
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
An Open Letter to my Republican Family and Friends
My Fellow Americans,
When this country first announced it would separate from Great Britain and declare its independence, the Douglas side of my family had already been in the land for more than seventy years. We were Scottish farmers who landed at the James River Settlement, and then traveled to Dover, Delaware and then on to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where we grew deep roots on our farm. Over the next hundred years, we moved west and ended up in the Western part of the state. I guess that makes us immigrants.
As much as I love to throw that timeline at the immigrants and their families who landed later, I really shouldn’t. Regardless of when they arrived, most Americans are pretty much alike. We all have our small minded faults and fabulous imaginative minds. The majority of us speak the same language, give or take the localisms, idioms and accents. All that aside, today let’s look at the great divide. It’s a story we’ve been fed for years. We even paint our maps with each state’s voting preference, calling them red states or blue states. We have a few purple states, but not a single one lacks color.
Here’s a relevant fact. In every state that is declared to be one color, on one side, there are millions of voters on the other side. There are Republicans in New York and, wait for it, Democrats in Alabama, meaning there is a difference between a party and a people. We are all Americans, but if you spend any time on social media or watch cable news you might believe every person is born with an R or D sticker on their forehead. It’s not hard to imagine every newborn American baby getting a blood transfusion which determines their political values and affiliations for life. Not true.
My parents were Republicans, and I honestly believe their political choice was tied to my father fighting in World War II under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was a Republican. My mother and father adored Eisenhower and it’s no coincidence that my first name is Dwight. Maybe I was switched at the hospital with a Democrat infant, but I never bought into the fact that my father was a union member and a truck driver but not a Democrat. I had assumed that the Democrats were labor, and the Republicans were owners. That was the first of my personal myths I was able to disprove.
Anti-War Protesters
The anti-Vietnam War movement in my young adult days was much like the Black Lives Matter movement of today. It drove a wedge between parents and their kids. The concept of “taking a side” helped rivet the armor of every person and deflected any attempt at a logical argument that might lead to consensus. Some people say it’s okay to disagree as long as you’re not being disagreeable, but that’s bullshit to me. When I dive into an argument I want to win, and that means not that you see my side but that you convert to my idea. So, there you have it, I am the problem but at least I admit it. So, how do we make things better?
I understand the hurt when your friends, family and social media makes fun of you or the person who got your vote. It’s impossible to move forward when contrasting actions of one with the reactions of others. When someone posts a terrible picture of Donald Trump on social media and makes fun of him, his supporters are bothered by it. I get that because I was annoyed beyond description seeing photoshopped pictures of Obama as a Nazi or Muslim. Graphic graffiti is everywhere, even down to racist rants scrawled on the bathroom wall of a classy restaurant.
One letter cannot heal the wounds and change the face of bigotry and hateful comments about innocent people, but let’s look at our situation. Why did so many people fall into depression when Trump didn’t win? Do they really believe that deep-state radicals stole the election from the man who said that if he didn’t win it proved the election process was rigged? 74,222,593 people voted for Trump, despite his constant cautions that the election would be fraudulent, because the voters knew it wasn’t. They had faith that the system would work. Then there were the 81,281,502 people who voted for Joe Biden because they felt that Trump seriously mishandled the COVID crisis. Sometimes when we disagree with another we preface a critical comment with the words “nothing personal,” but this election was personal. It was a matter of life or death.
You may have poured a lot of emotional currency into one man, but just like the devoted wife who finds out that her husband of many years has been unfaithful, there comes a point when an unworthy individual no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt. Millions of people doubted Donald Trump’s words and deeds about the pandemic. I genuinely believe that if the coronavirus hadn’t attacked the US, Trump would still be president.
Goodbye, 45.
As we learn more about wanting power, talking about power and whipping up members of a “base” into some deep fervor against things, we might see that Donald Trump didn’t understand who we are and neglected to emphasize the good things. When a soldier is constantly under fire in battle mode, he cannot display warmth, empathy or grace. If I tell you what I really think about Donald Trump, why must you attack me? Why do you think I am your enemy? If you really knew me, you would understand that I care about America just as much as you do, and I also have a strong altruistic side.
I’m ready to move on to what John McCain called “regular order.” That arrangement of things was violently confronted and some people lost their lives during the riot on Capitol Hill. Why? Had the radical Trump people overthrown Congress, what would they have done next? Would they have hung Mike Pence and declared Donald Trump the winner? Then what? Following the French revolution, enemies of the state had their heads sliced off at guillotines in the Paris parks. That’s a major reason why intelligent and caring people distanced themselves from the Capitol Hill melee.
This brings me to my fundamental plea. Blaming and demeaning all Republicans is wrong, but Donald Trump’s brand is so tainted that members should denounce him and focus on rebuilding their party. That would be a huge step in bringing this country back to civil intercourse. We had a president who constantly squawked about how bad it is to be a loser, but when he actually lost, no one saw the irony. Donald Trump himself caused Joe Biden’s win and he is the reason Republicans lost the majority in the Senate. It’s proven that he suppressed the vote in the Georgia runoff election by telling Georgians their election was rigged, and the voting turnout was less than that of the general election. You’re smart, you know this, yet you want to let him lead the party in the future. Why would you let the wolf back into the hen house? Who wants to be led by a loser?
I laugh at my neighbors with their Trump 2020 and Blue Lives Matter flags flapping in the wind. I am too polite to ask them, “Still with the cop killer?” but until they see the dichotomy of supporting both ideologies, they will be at war with themselves and America. In this rare moment I admit that Mitch McConnell is right. Trump incited the riot and people lost their lives because of his lies. We need to move on from Donald and allow two strong parties to act as a check and balance. If Republicans allow people like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz to fertilize the lie, the party will fracture into two factions and Democrats will win every election thereafter.
I want you to have one savior, not two. I want you to separate yourself from someone who did a bad job and caused many people to suffer. You don’t have to hate him but send that cheating husband away and let him try to earn back your trust, if he can. As for me, I just want people to stop dying unnecessarily. Unless we become united our democracy will decay. For the sake of our kids and grandkids, please open your mind to at least admitting there is more than one way to make America great again.
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
Every morning, I read a passage of dialog from the Broadway musical A Thousand Clowns. “I gotta know what day it is. I gotta know what’s the name of the game and what the rules are without anyone else telling me. You gotta own your own days and name ’em, each one of ’em, every one of ’em, or else the years go right by and none of them belong to you.”
I know that if I break a rule, I will have my day in court, and if found guilty of a crime, I will certainly do the time. With that in mind, it’s numbing and discouraging to realize that a single person in America has the power to overrule a judge or jury. The power to pardon was awarded to the United State president by our founding fathers. It was intended as a means of intercession when corruption, partisan political rancor or other such nonsense put an innocent person in jail. Things changed when President Gerald Ford gave Richard Nixon a preemptive pardon, which set an absurd precedent that a person who hasn’t even been convicted can be pardoned.
Beach Bum Bannon
Let’s examine the case of Steve Bannon, whom Donald Trump just pardoned. Bannon was an officer in the United States Navy for seven years, and after his military service he landed a plum job as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. In 1993, he became acting director of the research project Biosphere 2, which was a total failure because its hubristic, pseudo-scientific experiments never accomplished their mission.
Then, Bannon became an executive producer in Hollywood and between 1991 and 2016 he produced 18 films. Because of his early investment in Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced the phenomenally successful TV show Seinfeld, Bannon will never need to work again.
In 2007, Steve Bannon co-founded Breitbart News, the far-right website he described as “the platform for the alt-right.” In 2016, Steve joined Donald Trump’s campaign as the Chief Strategist, and then after the election he was named Senior Counselor to the President. That position latest only eight months when Trump realized that Bannon was a destructive force and dismissed him.
After Bannon left the White House, he and Trump continued to talk, and it seemed there was unity between the philosophies of the two men. In many post-White House interviews, Bannon was extremely supportive of his Frankenstein monster.
So, why does Steve Bannon need a pardon? It begins with this lead story in the in the August 20, 2020 edition of the New York Times, “Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former adviser and an architect of his 2016 general election campaign, was charged on Thursday with defrauding donors to a private fund-raising effort called ‘We Build the Wall,’ which was intended to bolster the president’s signature initiative along the Mexican border.”
Seven men In the Trump administration were charged and or convicted of felonies, including Paul Manafort, Michael T. Flynn, Michael D. Cohen and Steve Bannon. All of them except Michael Cohen were awarded pardons and will go free. Interestingly, Cohen turned on Trump publicly and reverse logic indicates if one says nice things or nothing about Trump, they’re awarded a get-out-of-jail card.
I get miffed and aggressive when I see someone get conned out of their hard-earned savings. I know people who have given their money to swindlers who claimed their investment would double or triple in months, but eventually learning they were the victims of a Ponzi scheme. Bannon attained large investments by using the President’s words that a wall was on the southern US border to protect against the murderous caravan that was coming to get us. Allegedly, Bannon and his co-conspirators skimmed millions off the top of those investments for themselves.
Why do I care that Steve Bannon was pardoned? It’s just my silly, middle-class mentality that people who hurt others should be punished. Even if they don’t go to jail, they should be made to pay back the money they stole and apologize to their victims. In the case of Bannon, none of that will happen now. I am even more frustrated because the broke-dick wall was erected too close to the river and parts of it washed out during a flood. Investment dollars were in the coffers and the wall failed to deliver on its promise of security. Bannon and his crew are just like those shyster aluminum siding sales guys who bilk families out of their savings.
I find the number of white-collar criminals on the Trump list of pardons interesting. It’s part of the Trump foundational philosophy that Mary L. Trump outlined so perfectly in her book about her uncle. Donald’s father Fred preached an anti-IRS, antigovernmental mantra that eventually led to his brainwashed son barking orders at his rabid followers to storm the Capitol Building.
Trump’s presidency enforced the heartfelt belief of many Americans that there are two rule books, one for the rich, entitled and connected and the other for everyone else. Here is something all those Trump-loyal Republicans need to realize; Today they must separate themselves from this man who just left the White House. They must disassociate the party from the man. As for Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, they are not Trump and would be wise to stop acting like him.
Unjust Judge Pirro
And just before I posted this, Trump remembered that he forgot one more person to pardon. This tweet was posted, “New: Trump has pardoned Al Pirro, who was convicted of tax fraud. Pirro has previously worked with Trump on real estate deals and is the ex-husband of Fox host Jeanine Pirro.” She must have called him and screamed “bloody Mary” murder when she saw that her husband’s name wasn’t on the list.
We must address the pardon power of the president for the future. The chief executive should have to stay the crime, the date range of when it was committed and why they gave the person a pardon. A simple, “I like his wife!” would do.
The seriousness of America’s situation would not be resolved with jail time for Steve Bannon, but for many of us that would be a positive indicator that justice works in America. The stench of Trump will take time to dissipate, but in the meantime, we should focus on the future. Let’s try to heal the hurt of a corrupt and useless president and let only good thoughts in. Let’s stop building the wall and joyously celebrate the reality that America survived a total fucking idiot of a president.
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
His Departure Will Make Us Stronger& Greater Again
President Donald Dumbass forgot that he needed to win an election to stay in office. He didn’t believe he would triumph in 2016, so he never bothered to write a victory speech. Then for the next four years he adlibbed and lied his way through the most important job in the world. On the eve of the 2020 election, Trump really believed he would win. In fact, he said he would lose only if the election was rigged.
This stratagem, however, did not eliminate Trump’s need to gain the greatest number of votes, and that didn’t happen despite his lies to the contrary. There is something to be said about liars in America. Consider one of the greatest con artists in the history of the United States. He was so good at what he did that we gave his name to the concept of his scheme, Ponzi.
Charles Ponzi
Charles Ponzi lived in Boston, Massachusetts in the early 1900s. The scam he developed was based on one lie that he exploited for years. He claimed he was buying US Postal stamps for a lower price in one country that had a devalued currency and then selling them here in the USA for a higher price. The people who were swindled never saw the stamps; they simply believed. Ponzi fooled them into thinking he was doing masterful work and convinced them their money would double in a short time.
Ponzi bilked people out of substantial amounts of money, their life savings in some cases, then used those investments to pay off earlier investors. Had anyone done the math they would have understood the impossibility of his high-volume stamp purchases in Europe keeping ahead of the quickly fluctuating currency rates. While he may actually have made money for a while, the scheme was not sustainable.
Ponzi eventually was charged in the US with mail fraud. He served more than twenty years in jail, until he was deported. He died in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1949. To put Mr. Ponzi’s dirty deeds in perspective, Bernie Madoff’s 2008 schemes cost his investors more than 53 times as much as Ponzi swindled from his believers.
Donald Trump either did or didn’t do many things during his term in office that must now be examined and reformed to improve and stabilize our government and the presidency. Let’s take a look.
First is the issue of transparency. In a story released over the weekend, we learned about Trump’s administration hiding information, destroying files and blocking Inspectors General from doing their jobs. American Oversight announced their document preservation initiative to ensure the Trump administration complies with federal public record laws. They’ve previously obtained more than 800,000 pages of documents from the Trump administration through public records requests and lawsuits, and they are prepared to litigate under the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Records Act to ensure that outgoing Trump administration officials do not remove or destroy documents. The fix was in from the very beginning as administration workers moved various electronic files to super secure servers to hide Trump’s activities. Assuming those electronic assets haven’t been deleted, President Biden can and should declassify them.
Secretary of the Treasury, Mnuchin
Just as I was putting the final touches on this post, this story appeared in the Washington Post, “The Trump administration bailed out prominent anti-vaccine groups during a pandemic. Five groups got more than $850,000 in PPP loans to help small businesses through the pandemic.” These recipients are the very people who are trying to convince people not to take a vaccine while the US Government is spending billions on inoculations to end a pandemic. Let’s find out how these decisions came about and revamp the process accordingly. Stephen Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, was supposed to insure this didn’t happen.
We need to take a good, long, hard look at presidential pardons. Should their absolute power be retained going forward? Debtors’ prisons never existed in America because of the way Great Britain abused them throughout their history to incarcerate innocent people. It’s now clear that we must maintain a certain level of punishment for those who have wronged society. A president should not be allowed to award a pardon to any government official found guilty of heinous or corrupt activities while in office. This will take a Constitutional amendment.
The idea that Trump could appoint a political operative to the position of head lawyer for the NSA right before he leaves office is an outrageous overreach and violates the intent of the appointment system. Can a new president fire the person in such a position? It appears that Trump’s actions are intended to handcuff President-Elect Biden as he assumes office. Why should such behavior be tolerated? The House, Senate and White House will soon be in the hands of Democrats. Hopefully, they will eliminate bad policies and executive orders and replace bad federal agents with qualified appointees so we can get our country moving in the right direction.
I would love to see Congress pass a resolution that says nothing Trump did while in office sets a precedent. He did so very little that was authentically worthwhile that ignoring everything would not be a big mistake. We also need to tear up those agreements and treaties he signed that are not keeping America safe.
Here’s a great story from Bloomberg News showing how we lost Trump’s Trade War with China. Read it for yourself. Trump’s maneuvers to lower the trade deficit didn’t work. The deficit was actually higher than it was in 2016. Worse yet, China’s retaliatory tariffs on our goods saddled average Americans with higher prices and damaged the profits of our farmers and manufacturers. And what about Trump’s bragging that he demanded that China buy more of our goods? Well, about half of his $172 billion goal was not realized during his term in office. Maybe it’s time for Congress to scrutinize all of Trump’s treaties and give the people a say in these issues, just like states have referendums.
We should not have to adhere to anything Trump said or did while he was in office. We need to open all the files, study his conversations and see his tax returns to know exactly how he governed. Without a full understanding of what he did, there will be no way of stopping such bad things from ever happening again. We need to understand Trump’s corrupt behavior and learn from it so we can devise proper governance guidelines for our future. Then we need to make sure Donald John Trump goes to jail.
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs: If you only read one chapter of this book, try “Take a Knee for America” and think about our never-ending conflicts between minorities and the police. I’m not asking you to take a stand but having a deep and honest conversation about why some people think the way they do would be productive. This is a book for the moment which seeks to start a conversation about peace. And if you are worried about social media, you really should check out the chapter called “Social Media Menace.”
Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.
This NBC News weekend headline hit me hard, “Off the grid, heavily armed and radicalized: He’s a law enforcement nightmare – Lonnie Coffman, a Capitol protester from the backwoods of Alabama, represents the kind of threat that keeps crime fighters ‘up at night,’ a former FBI profiler said.” Oh, great, now we have rebels amongst us thanks to Donald Trump.
Untrained Trump Insurrectionist
What does the word “confederate” mean? It’s a person one works with — an accomplice, accessory or collaborator — especially in a secret or illegal venture. The term took on special meaning by those who supported the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Those traitors brought groups of people together in an alliance of common cause to overthrow the US government. They were not successful, but 620,000 Americans died because of their desire to keep slavery.
Only five people have died so far in Trump’s indoctrination, instigation and incitement of the Capitol Hill riot a week and a half ago, but things could very well get worse. What are we to do? How do we reverse the cause and course of the millions of people who believe that the presidential election was stolen, and the Biden presidency is illegitimate?
What can happen when a lunatic decides to fire on the National Guard? In May of 1970 at Kent State University, we saw the damage militia can bring to protesters, but how can we prevent such a confrontational scene from happening? There is no one who could inspire Trump to issue a statement admitting he lost, and Biden fairly won the election. The man always acts exactly opposite of what any reasonable person should. That’s just who he is.
We can’t let this fat, worthless piece of shit ruin our nation. If Abraham Lincoln had lived longer, some of the lessons learned in the Civil War wouldn’t have been ignored and we could have averted the notion of carpetbaggers and Jim Crow laws. It’s sad that Andrew Johnson, the man who took over for Lincoln, was just another southern racist.
It’s good that Twitter and Facebook stepped up and acted responsibly. They are finally applying their rules and policies consistently. The cable news networks, including some Fox News reports, have painted a more realistic portrait of the narcissist who has been living in the White House, but he certainly won’t be there to greet the new President. He’s a pure loser,
Did you see that former military man carrying wrist ties and stalking about the Capitol during the riot? Surely his nylon wraps were intended to restrain members of Congress, but he offered this lame excuse, “Oh, I just found them on the ground and was going to give them to the police.” Yes, I’m sure he was going to do just that. His lawyer will deliver carefully written excuses to the court and a judge will have to glean the man’s true intent, but anyone with half a brain can see that he’s a liar, just like his orange idol.
Clutching Power
Let’s set aside the lies of that dipshit. We should concentrate on the Donald’s behavior and where he will direct it next. To what end does this madman think he can affect reality with his conspiracies? Donald Trump has no moral compass, and he did not learn any lessons with either of his impeachments, despite what Susan Collins of Maine thinks. The man is incapable of comprehending facts and consequences and therefore oblivious to the worthwhile lessons he might otherwise absorb.
Where do these militias set to harm our structures of government and the peace of the nation get their ideas? Well, Ronald Reagan taught that government interference is bad, and the two Bush presidents demonstrated that starting a war without a declaration was easy when citizens’ heads are filled with nationalistic fervor. After electing our first African American President, the “birthers” came along with their lies and the phrase “Take our country back.” The white supremacists then adopted the phrase, and their meaning was taking the country back from Black people. If you don’t believe me, ask them.
All the while we obsessed with those weapons of mass destruction over there we were deregulating ownership of similar weapons over here. Ask the parents of the kids killed at school in Newtown, Connecticut. Here’s a thought-provoking headline from USA Today, “America’s other epidemic killed 41,000 people this year.” Yes, this year alone firearms killed nine times more Americans that those killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars combined.
The incompetence of the Trump administration’s handling of COVID-19 contributed to over 400,000 deaths in this country, more than any other in the world. If you told me that Vladimir Putin was in total control of Trump and guiding him toward a grand sabotage of our country, I would absolutely believe you. Here’s Putin’s checklist: sew distrust of our institutions, create a vast cultural divide among our citizens, push the state into political disarray, decrease the effectiveness of our educational institutions and foment Civil War. Does any of that sound familiar?
The United States is vastly different than Turkey, with a tyrant who wants to be a sultan. When the attempted coup of January 6th failed here, our wannabe dictator was not strengthened but severely wounded instead. With more than 67% of our citizens saying they disapprove of the job Donald Trump has done, it’s clear that he is both a LOSER and a FAILURE!
Trump is utterly incapable of crafting a useful strategy. Those “loyal” judges he appointed are strict Constitutionalists. They don’t have the back of our raving, lunatic President. Why does Trump think that everyone owes him something? Well, it’s not surprising; he’s been taught that since he was a child. Read Mary L. Trump’s book.
Donald Trump owes us an apology for fucking up America, but don’t hold your breath waiting for it. I need readers. The FBI and local police forces will have their hands full with those proud boys, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and antigovernmental militias who attacked Congress. Expect to see many infiltrations, investigations, arrests, charges and trials over the coming months. These goofballs are not afraid to tell the truth about at least one subject, their allegiance. According to the Washington Post, the “retired firefighter from Pennsylvania who has been charged with throwing a fire extinguisher at police officers felt he was ‘instructed’ to go to the Capitol by the president.”
Accountability
Oh, I hate to do this, but I must. There is this thing called the Nuremberg defense, sometimes referred to as “Due Obedience.” A defendant might say “I was just following orders” or, in German, “Befehl ist Befehl (“an order is an order”). A member of the military, law enforcement, a firefighting force, or the civilian population might invoke the defense under the belief they should not be considered guilty of committing any actions that were ordered by a superior officer or official. Here’s a bit of historical reality to demonstrate the defense isn’t always successful. 199 defendants were tried at Nuremberg for Nazi war crimes. Out of the 161 who were convicted, 37 were sentenced to death. So, those who gave criminal orders suffered the consequences. Let’s see how things play out for Donald John Trump.
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs: If you only read one chapter of this book, try “Take a Knee for America” and think about our never-ending conflicts between minorities and the police. I’m not asking you to take a stand but having a deep and honest conversation about why some people think the way they do would be productive. This is a book for the moment which seeks to start a conversation about peace. And if you are worried about social media, you really should check out the chapter called “Social Media Menace.”
Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.
How long will it take to heal the nation? Can we tamp the threats and fear that Donald Trump has brought to us? Many Trump loyalists in Congress, even after being attacked by insurrectionists, believe that nothing major happened and the President bears no responsibility for all of his lies and actions these past four years.
Are they trying to give Trump a pass for the damage he has done? Why are they resisting wearing masks in the Capital? Are they dashing around metal detectors to avoid being outed for caring firearms into Congress? Who are these people? We are no longer in the 18th century when disputes were decided by duels.
An Axios/IPSOS poll showed that among those Republicans who consider themselves “traditional,” 42% would like to see Donald Trump as their candidate in 2024. Trump has been impeached twice, and faces a chance of being convicted of insurrection by the Senate after Joe Biden’s inauguration. Wake up people! We must convict Donald Trump to ban him from our political blood stream forever.
Unsettling facts are emerging indicating that the attack on the Capitol Building may have been planned and organized, which is the true definition of conspiracy. The Washington Post has reported a very disturbing inference that the violence might have been an “inside job.” The Philadelphia Inquirer took it to the next level, “Weeks before a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, right-wing activist Ali Alexander told his followers that he was planning something big for Jan. 6, 2021. Alexander, who organized the “Stop the Steal” movement, said he hatched the plan — coinciding with Congress’s vote to certify the electoral college votes — alongside three GOP lawmakers: Reps. Andy Biggs, Ariz., Mo Brooks, Ala., and Paul Gosar, Ariz., all hard-line Trump supporters.”
According to the reporting, their stated goal was to “change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body, hearing our loud roar from outside.” Did their rally get out of control, or did someone give them permission to attack? I genuinely believe the protest would have been contained, had not President Trump told them to march to the Capitol and be strong, words that rabid minds translated into “Attack!”
This is not a unique idea. In May of 1604, a handful of Catholic dissidents in England — Guy Fawkes, Robert Catesby, Tom Wintour, Jack Wright and Thomas Percy — met at the Duck and Drake inn in London. Catesby proposed a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder. Afterwards, all five men purportedly swore an oath of secrecy upon a prayer book. The men were part of a movement that wanted to kidnap the king, kill him and replace him with another king who would be more open to Catholics. How did that turn out?
By the time of the conspiracy, Fawkes was calling himself Guido rather than Guy. He also used the alias John Johnson while serving as caretaker of a cellar that was located just below the House of Lords. The group’s plan was detonating large barrels of gunpowder under the House to blow it up. An anonymous letter that warned a Catholic sympathizer not to go to the State Opening of Parliament was the beginning of the end of the conspiracy. The letter’s recipient requested the authorities to investigate, and this led to discovery of the plot. To this day no one knows who wrote that letter. Here in 2021, we have sophisticated means of investigation and evidence gathering. Might this uncover a scheme of three Congressmen to overthrow the US government?
Real Enemies of the People
New Jersey Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill posted a Facebook video saying she witnessed members of Congress leading what she called “reconnaissance tours” of the Capitol the day before the deadly attack. Who are these Congress people? Do we have traitors in our midst? Can the bodies of our government ever be safe with members bringing guns into the building and not wearing masks during a pandemic? Full disclosure is needed and, might I add, a special prosecutor.
Ms. Sherrill’s story has been corroborated. Here’s a quote from the Washington Post, “[Florida Representative] Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in an interview that I do know that, yes, there were members that gave tours to individuals who participated in the riot.” Did these Congress people know about the plan?
Guy Fawkes is portrayed as a revolutionary hero today, largely due to the influence of the graphic 1980s novel “V for Vendetta” and the 2005 movie of the same name. They depicted protagonist Fawkes wearing a white face mask. Here in the United States we don’t depict John Wilkes Booth as a hero because he was an insurrectionist and assassin.
Treason, sedition and insurrection are taken seriously in our country. When found guilty, we typically execute operatives of such acts, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. Any elected official who was involved in any way with the insurrection must be removed from Congress. Those people who encouraged and supported Donald Trump’s lies and fraud should at least be censured. All those who participated in the attempted coup should incur maximum penalties. We need to clean up this mess, then work on a national plan of intervention and prevention.
American law enforcement has been extraordinarily successful dealing with organized crime over the years. I’m not saying that they always got their man, but they weeded out the mob bosses and lunatics who thought it was okay to kill those they didn’t like. No matter how much money or power a person has, they are not above the law.
Imagine an individual who ran into a packed theater and yells, “Fire!” when there was no fire. People panicked and were killed trying to get out of the building. The argument that there wasn’t a fire is irrelevant; the legal argument will be based on the intent of the person causing the panic. Did they understand that their words would lead to such a tragedy? Did they yell the warning because they had some deep-seated grievance with those in attendance? Was the scream meant to strike fear or just a stunt? Maybe the yeller wanted to demonstrate their power over others. All such possibilities must be considered as we judge whether words and actions of the 45th President of the United States caused death and destruction at the Capitol.
This may go beyond a federal insurrection. It could also be a deep state conspiracy inspired by President Trump, facilitated by some members of Congress and executed by a vicious mob of militant supporters who were brainwashed into action. Should a trial find that he was responsible, Donald John Trump must be held accountable with a conviction and punishment.
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs: If you only read one chapter of this book, try “Take a Knee for America” and think about our never-ending conflicts between minorities and the police. I’m not asking you to take a stand but having a deep and honest conversation about why some people think the way they do would be productive. This is a book for the moment which seeks to start a conversation about peace. And if you are worried about social media, you really should check out the chapter called “Social Media Menace.”
Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.
Why are things so bad? Well, anyone with half a brain will tell you that Donald Trump is the reason. I watched with intense interest as various Republicans spoke at Trump’s second impeachment hearing. Each of them admitted that what happened at the Capitol was bad and shouldn’t have happened. Some maintained that Trump should be held accountable for his language, but impeaching him would divide the nation. Oh, really?
Let me see if I understand. Someone inciting a riot and causing insurrection against the Congress of the United States, which also caused death, is a minor crime? What is this accountability you speak of my fellow Americans? Did you take the time to read the Constitution? Impeachment is the only way to hold a president accountable for high crimes and misdemeanors. You represent your voters, not some party boss or a broke-dick president.
President 2017 – 2021
I once had an exceptionally good lawyer counsel me about language I placed in an employment agreement. It would have given me the power to extract a pound of flesh had my worker violated certain rules. He asked me, “Would you want that rule used against yourself in the future?” The light bulb above my head flickered to life, “Gee, I never thought about it that way.” If Congressional members made a law that every president and vice president must disclose their tax returns 90 days before an election, it could affect them one day. That’s why we don’t have it. The members often serve themselves more than their constituents.
If reasonable people, even those with deep conservative pedigrees like Wyoming’s Liz Cheney and Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, believe that Trump betrayed the oath of his office by urging a mob to march to the Capitol and wreak havoc, then what is driving the other Republicans to stand with Trump?
The purge is coming, because when something bad happens in America we all get sober and react quickly. Look at what happened after 9-11. Laws were passed, rewritten or ignored to get the bad guys. While that was successful, what was the cost? According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in October 2007, the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost taxpayers more than $2.4 trillion. Some experts believe that more than 507,000 people were killed in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Let’s never forget that the umbrella name of that operation was Operation Enduring Freedom, and it was a total failure.
Operation Accountability isn’t going too well either. When discussion turns to the insurrection, Republicans quickly jump to the Black Lives Matter movement with its public protests and police brutality. Okay, the looters and shooters in those incidents are just as guilty as the marauders who invaded Washington, D.C. last week, but why compare two tragic events that are vastly different? False equivalencies are a preposterous way to debate any subject. Yeah, it’s terrible that the Romans killed Jesus Christ, but think about what his followers did to the rule of law. Donald Trump presents a “clear and present danger” to the Republic.
Had the January 6th attack been led by a foreign entity, Congress would have voted that very day to begin moving toward a solution. So, what resolution do we have for last week’s travesty? We’ve made a good start by finding and arresting the insurrectionists. Now, if only we knew where the leader of this STOP THE STEAL movement was hiding out we could prevent these radical, right-wing lunatics from doing more harm. There are those who say that impeaching, removing and arresting Donald Trump would make things worse. Great, let’s make it worse! Let’s flush the cockroaches and rats from the woodwork so we can see their faces.
Co-Conspirator U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik
Think of it this way. Remember back in school when a classmate acted out and the teacher asked who did it? All the other classmates became complicit by remaining silent. Then the teacher imposed a draconian punishment on the entire class, hoping the guilty kid would admit to being guilty. The purge is now underway in America, but too many self-serving assholes won’t stand up against Trump.
How might the purge unfold over time? First, more effective gun control laws will be enacted. Next, our own government will use the NSA to spy on all of us and use the Patriot Act to take away a little more of our freedom and due process. Every American should be mightily pissed off at these insurrectionists and work to cure the disease, not the symptom. Those Senators and Representatives who backed the ridiculous STOP THE STEAL campaign should be impeached. Now. They are modern day counterparts of Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr and must be held accountable for their fraud and its result.
Ohio’s Representative Jim Jordan stood in the Capital and bragged about how great Donald Trump has been for America. He failed to mention the 382,000 people who died from COVID because of the failed policies and actions of the 45th President. He failed to mention the unrest in this country during the last eleven months that was mostly ignored by Trump. He is but one of the pitchmen for an immoral criminal who lied his way to the top of the Grand Old Party. A list of those elected officials who have been complicit apologists and deniers will be published.
This rotten fat man must be removed from office. Those who decide to “let it be” in a futile attempt to “heal the nation” will not please moderate Republicans and will certainly push the other side further away. Justice isn’t served by promoting a lie, seating a commission, or saying it’s too late to do something about what happened. Americans need action to see resolution, understand the facts and feel safe. Our immediate needs are total transparency and a purge of those who have pushed frauds, forgeries and fabrications. If our government is to move forward with a respect of freedom, we must hold this President accountable for his actions. Failing that, what will happen next time?
My heart is true. Donald John Trump should be charged, arrested, tried and convicted, earning the punishment the letter of the law stipulates: “Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office.” Trump has been impeached for a second time. Hold the trial… now!
Book for the Recovery – Build Back Better!
How to Hire Great People: Tips, Tricks and Templates for Success
Great companies hire great people. This short, easy-to-read book will help you recruit, review and refocus your new workers into the style and culture of your company. Motivating people to do great work will manage turnover and keeping good workers at your company will maintain your success. Employee inspiration makes a positive difference in our competitive world. HOW TO HIRE GREAT PEOPLE covers everything, including testing, training, tricks and tips. Follow this guide and you’ll assemble strong teams with smart workers, and you’ll learn some time-tested techniques about how to keep them.
Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs: If you only read one chapter of this book, try “Take a Knee for America” and think about our never-ending conflicts between minorities and the police. I’m not asking you to take a stand but having a deep and honest conversation about why some people think the way they do would be productive. This is a book for the moment which seeks to start a conversation about peace. And if you are worried about social media, you really should check out the chapter called “Social Media Menace.”
Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.
