An Epistle Letter to Christian Nationalist and Notorious White Supremacist Nick Fuentes.
Note: Chris Fuentes is a piece of work. He is a white Christian Nationalist White Supremacist holocaust denier who had dinner with the former president a few months ago. He recently came out with a posting calling for the execution of Non-Christians and declaring America to be a Christian Nation. In this epistle poem, I tried to change his mind and heart and hope that he will see the light and repent of his odious, vile views. I will send this to him and update this, if he responds.
The following articles provide more details on his comments.
Opinion: Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist friend of Rep. Paul Gosar and Sen. Wendy Rogers, has said vile things … again.
Dear Nick,
After reading your recent rant,
Calling for the execution of non-Christians
And making America a Christian-only country,
All I can say is that through your bigoted,
Divisive, genocidal, hateful words,
You have revealed to all
That you are not a Christian
In any sense of the word.
Your words
Show you do not
follow the teachings
Of Jesus,
not at all.
If Jesus were to come back today,
he would no doubt
Proclaim, he is not a Christian.
There are so many things wrong
With your statement.
First, it is unconstitutional
America was founded upon the principle
That there would be no national religion.
People would be free to worship or not
As they believe.
People could even
Follow
“pagan stuff,
false gods, deities, or demons. “
Second, it would be a legal nightmare
To enact such a proposal.
To execute non-Christians, you would
First have to amend the constitution
To declare that Christianity is the sole
Legal religion in the United States.
Then you would have to pass
Enabling legislation
Calling for Americans to register
Their religious affiliation
With the government.
With non-Christians being sent
To concentration camps
Like in Hitler’s Germany.
Logistically, this would be a nightmare.
35 percent of Americans are not Christians
That means you would have to round up
And execute 35 percent of Americans
0r almost 90 million people.
and that would cost billions of dollars
and require millions of men to join
the military or police to go out
and round up the Non-Christians.
and many of the non-Christians
are armed and will not go quietly
to the concentration camps.
And how would you define
Who is a Christian?
Would Mormons be considered Christians?
Or Unitarians?
Or the unification church, aka the monies?
In any event, this will
Surely be an act of genocide
And a war crime to boot.
Not to mention there is nothing
In the Bible
Or Christian tradition
That would support this horrific act
Of genocidal madness.
As a professed Christian,
you are showing that
You have no idea at all
What Christianity is supposed to be.
Christianity is supposed
to be about belonging, compassion,
empathy, love, inclusion,
promoting brotherhood, understanding
and good will towards others.
It is not supposed to be about anti-feminism, bigotry, fear,
genocide, hatred, Islamophobia, racism, violence against other people.
In short, Mr. Fuentes,
Your proposal is anti-Christian,
anti-American, anti-constitutional,
anti-Semitic, bigoted, divisive,
hateful, genocidal, Islamophobic,
and is promoting war crimes against humanity.
How dare you call yourself a Christian?
How dare you promote your murderous threats
in the name of Jesus Christ?
And it is your brand of hateful
toxic Christian nationalism
That is leading to so many people,
Particularly young people
Abandoning the Christian religion.
They are just not buying the hate.
Thank God for that.
Thank you for reading my take on your proposal
And I hope I have enlightened you
and that you change your mind
And repent of your proposal.
Finally, pick up your bible and read it!
Reflecting on
What Jesus would do
And that will guide you
To a new correct understanding
Of Christianity.
Thanks
Jake Cosmos Aller
Not a Christian – are you planning on executing me too?
“There is an occult element at the high levels of society, and specifically among the Jews, and you know, whenever I see that stuff that just makes me want to proclaim louder and more firmly and more rigidly that it is nothing other than Jesus Christ. No, no pagan staff, no false gods, no dietéis, no demons. It is Jesus Christ, and we need to start saying that name
Comment: If Jesus were to come back today, he would denounce you and proclaim that you ain’t no Christian and are following a false God. and the constitution protects the rights of people to worship even demons and false Gods if they so chose. That is what Freedom of Religion means. End Comment
“it’s the name Jesus, talk about it, say it. Pray to him, talk about the sacrifice on the cross, that’s the answer. Because so many of the people who are perpetrating the lies and the destruction of the country are evil-doers. They are people that worship false gods, they are people that practice magic or rituals or whatever, and more than anything those people need to be when we take power, they need to be given the death penalty. Straight up. And I’m far more concerned about that than I am about even non-white people or mass migration.”
“These people that are that are communing with demons and engaging in this sort of witchcraft and stuff, and these people that are suppressing the name Christ and suppressing Christianity, they must be annihilated when we take power, I’m not calling for political violence, but that cannot have any quarter in our society.”
Comment: “Not calling for political violence? Then why use the word annihilation? And call for giving them the death penalty. Ha Ha Ha. Wait, are you really calling for the death of 90 million Non-Christian Americans in the name of Jesus Christ? Are you insane? If you really believe this, you need to get some help and stay away from drugs, guns and other people. End comment
“We need to put up we need to put up a crucifix in every home, in every room in every school, and every government office to signal Christ’s reign over our country,”
“Comment: No, we do not. Until you repeal the first amendment, Americans are free to worship or not worship as they see fit, and the government can not put overly religious symbols in every school and government office”. Nor is America a Christian country. 35% of Americans are not Christians, many are not religious at all, and that is the fastest growing segment of the population. End Comment.
“: not that God needs it, but it must be outwardly expressed from the interior, that this is God’s country.This is Jesus’s country. This is not the domain of atheists devil worshipers or perfidious Jews. This is Christ’s country,” he said, adding those who are “agnostic” cannot be part of his “America first” movement. “no, you must be a Christian. And you must submit to Christianity.”
Comment: Again, until you repeal the first amendment, this is not Christ’s country, it is not God’s country. And agnostics, atheists, and devil worshipers and perfidious Jews are all Americans too and deserve the right to worship the gods of their chose or not worship as they sit fit. Finally, you are right God does not need this, nor does it need to be outwardly expressed from the interior, that is is God’s country which it is not. End Comment
Epistle poetry form
What drew me to this form is that, with the dawn of the computer age that brought with it email and texting, the letter is almost a dying art in and of itself. So, I—who have always hated to write letters—am oddly interested in writing a letter poem.
BRIEF HISTORY
This form is around twenty-one hundred years old (New Princeton, 1351). The name comes from Latin origins. “Pistola is the Latin word for the letter” (Padgett, 69).
MUST HAVES
–It must be a letter. That’s it.
COULD HAVES OR WHAT IS THE POET’S CHOICE IN ALL THIS?
–Any number of stanzas, syllables, or length.
–Any rhyme or meter.
–Use “Dear __________” as part of the poem, or not—it’s your choice. You can write it to anyone (or anything), and by anyone.
It is time for another installment of the Scumbag of the Month award. This month’s winner is George Santos who has lied about everything in true Trumpian fashion and at least for now is vowing to remain in the House of Representatives although perhaps he will become a dead man walking, as quite a few of his colleagues are shunning him and refusing to have anything to do with him. But leadership is sticking with him for now.
After taking a break
It is time for another scumbag
Of the month award
The obvious choice
Is George Santos
Who lied about everything
his background – all lies
His name, who the hell
knows his real name?
his race he is not half black
His faith, he is not Jewish
his citizenship status – did he acquire
US citizenship through marriage fraud?
Being gay – as far as we know he is not
His mother’s death – she did not die in 9-11
His grandfather’s death – he did not flee the Nazi death camps
Being the grandchild of a holocaust survivor
His HS he did not go to Horace Mann
His college – did not go to any college
Sports – was not a volleyball champion
His employment did not work on wall street
His finances – how did he come up with 700 thousand dollars
To loan his campaign? And did he use the campaign funds
To fund his lavish lifestyle?
So many questions
But what is clear is this
This is so much more than
“resume enhancement”
But in the post-Trumpian,
Post-truth world
He will not face any consequences
For his many lies
Following in the footsteps
Of his mentor
The liar in chief
The former guy
For all of these reasons
He richly deserves to be awarded
Cosmos Scumbag of the Month award
Lies in the Post-Trumpian World
We are living
In a post-truth world
A post-Trumpian world
Where lies no longer
Mean anything
It is all alternative facts
And nonstop spinaroma
Where integrity
Is a fool’s game
It is all about
Owning your enemies
And revenge
Our good righteous
American Christian tribe
Vrs their evil anti-American
demonic tribe
this is the world
in which George Santos
who lied about everything
including his name
could get elected to Congress
and not pay any penalty
for his lies
following the footsteps
of his mentor in chief
the former guy
who still faces
no consequences
for over 35,000 lies
during his presidency
whose followers
still believe he is a truth-teller
and has never lied to them
and Hershel Walker
who lied about everything
as well
almost became
a U.S. Senator
If he had won
No doubt the Republicans
Would have accepted him
As one of their own.
That is the sad reality
We are living in
In the post-truth
Post Trumpian world
Where lies are truth
And the truth is just
A liberal hoax
More House Republicans on Sunday stopped short of calling on embattled New York Rep. George Santos to resign, while two Democrats made a fresh push for more information from GOP leaders.
Republicans back home in the GOP freshman’s Long Island district, however, doubled down Sunday on calls for him to step down.
Santos is facing growing pressure to resign after he lied and misrepresented his educational, work and family history, including falsely claiming he was Jewish and the descendant of Holocaust survivors. He also faces federal and local investigations into his campaign finances. Santos has admitted to “embellishing” his resume but has maintained he is “not a criminal.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer called Santos “a bad guy” in an interview Sunday with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
“He’s not the first politician, unfortunately, to make it to Congress to lie,” the Kentucky Republican said. “But, look, George Santos was duly elected by the people. He’s going to be under strict ethics investigation, not necessarily for lying, but for his campaign finance potential violations. So I think that Santos is being examined thoroughly.”
“It’s his decision whether or not he should resign. It’s not my decision. But, certainly, I don’t approve of how he made his way to Congress,” Comer said. “Now, if he broke campaign finance laws, then he will be removed from Congress.”
GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said Sunday he would resign if he were in Santos’ position but said that was a decision for the New York Republican’s constituents.
“If it was me, I would resign. I wouldn’t be able to face my voters after having gone through that,” Bacon told “This Week” on ABC. “But this is between him and his constituents, largely. They elected him in, and he’s going to have to deal with them on that. I don’t think his reelection chances will be that promising, depending on how he handles this.”
Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican, also declined to say if Santos should resign from his Long Island seat.
“He clearly lied to his constituents, and … it’s going to be very, very difficult for him to gain the trust of his colleagues,” Stewart said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “The reality is you can’t expel a member of Congress. At the end of the day, it really is up to the voters in Nassau County. I can tell you this – if I were in that situation, I don’t know how I could continue to serve and I suppose he needs to ask that same question.”
Several House Republicans have called for Santos to resign, including five of his fellow New York Republican colleagues in the House. Leaders of the Nassau County GOP have also called for the congressman to step down.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters Thursday that Santos has “a long way to go to earn trust” and that concerns could be investigated by the House Ethics Committee, but he emphasized that the congresman is a part of the House GOP Conference. Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, of New York, who chairs the House GOP Conference, told CNN on Thursday that the process “will play itself out.”
“He’s a duly elected member of Congress. There have been members of Congress on the Democrat side who have faced investigations before,” she said.
Democrats want more information
Meanwhile, two Democrats are calling on McCarthy and Stefanik to cooperate with any House Ethics Committee investigation into Santos.
In a letter sent to the two Republican leaders and to Dan Conston, president of the Congressional Leadership Fund – the super PAC affiliated with House GOP leadership – New York Reps. Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres cite new reporting “indicating that each of you had at least some knowledge of lies used by Congressman George Santos to deceive his voters long before they became public.”
“We urge you to inform the American people about your knowledge of Mr. Santos’s web of deceit prior to the election so that the public understands whether and to what extent you were complicit in Mr. Santos’s fraud on his voters,” Goldman and Torres said in the letter.
CNN has reported that Conston expressed concerns about Santos’ background prior to the election and contacted lawmakers and donors about those concerns. Goldman and Torres cite reporting by The New York Times in their letter, which also indicated that associates of Stefanik were made aware of issues regarding Santos’ background ahead of the election.
In an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Goldman called Santos a “complete and total fraud” and pushed back on attempts by some Republicans to equate the allegations against him to ethics complaints against some Democrats.
“This is a scheme to defraud the voters of the 3rd District in New York, and this needs to be investigated intensively,” he said.
Goldman and Ritchie said last week that they were filing a formal complaint with the House Ethics Committee requesting an investigation related to Santos’s financial disclosure reports. A campaign watchdog group filed a complaint last week with the Federal Election Commission accusing Santos of concealing the source of more than $700,000 that he put into his successful 2022 bid.
CNN’s KFILE also reported that Santos had said a company later accused of running a “Ponzi scheme” was “100% legitimate” when it was accused by a potential customer of fraud in 2020, more than a year before it was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Joseph Murray, an attorney for Santos, told CNN in an email that Santos was unaware of wrongdoing at that company.
Murray also previously defended the Santos campaign’s actions, saying in a statement, “The suggestion that the Santos campaign engaged in any unlawful spending of campaign funds is irresponsible, at best.”
A no-show at party fundraiser
Nassau County Republicans were ready Sunday in case Santos showed up at a morning fundraiser on Long Island.
“Had he shown up, we were ready to greet him,” Nassau County GOP Chair Joseph Cairo said. “We would have said, ‘You’re really not welcome. You deceived us, you lied to us.’”
Over 900 people turned out for the annual “kickoff brunch” featuring a who’s-who of Nassau County Republicans, with most wanting to distance themselves from the freshman lawmaker.
“People say he should serve out his term,” Cairo said. “He didn’t get elected. The fictional character he created got elected.”
Cairo said the topic of Santos came up at times during public speeches made by various Republicans at the fundraiser but not in a supportive way.
“Virtually everyone is done with George Santos,” said Cairo. “We’ve told him he’s not welcome at our events. We don’t invite him to our meetings.”
Former New York Rep. Peter King, who represented a different Long Island seat in Congress for nearly three decades, said no one had anything positive to say about Santos.
“I made it a point to sort of mingle in the crowd beforehand. Everyone says we’ve got to get rid of this guy,” said King, a onetime chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. “He’s dangerous to the party and dangerous to the country.”
King said local Republicans would now move to ostracize Santos as much as possible.
“That’s not to punish him but to send the signal to everyone, including Washington, that he has to go,” the former congressman said. “They can’t be slow-walking it in Washington, waiting for something to happen in Washington.”
Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a freshman lawmaker from a neighboring Long Island district, said Santos won’t have support from the party if he opts to stay put and run for reelection next year.
“We’ve all called for George Santos’ resignation. If that’s not something that’s going to happen, then I think it’s clear … that we are ready to do what we need to do when it comes to the polls in two years,” he said.
“One of the things that I think is really bothering people the most is the fact that he claimed he was of the Jewish faith and that his grandparents survived the Holocaust,” D’Esposito said. “In the district that I run in, we have a very large population of Orthodox and a large Jewish population. It’s not something that we could stand for.”
Here are some of my political poems from the last couple of months. I don’t expect everyone to agree, but I welcome feedback and comments as long as it is civil. I have given up on Quora, Facebook, and Twitter where the extremists have hijacked the site drowning out civil discourse in the process.
The mid-terms were a victory for common sense as most of the MAGA extremists were defeated, and the Senate remains in Democratic hands, meaning that they can continue to act as a check on the right-wing dominated house. The red wave never materialized. Most of the extremists were defeated.
My prediction is that the Senate would remain democrat and that the house would under by the Republicans albeit with a narrow minority, largely due to gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts,,
Slime Oozing Out of a TV
Patriot Games
Watching the news
Morning Blues
Naani Morning Blues
In the Year 2022, Madness Took Over
America
Con Artists
Truth and Lies Diamante
water
America divided into tribal divisions
Arrested for feeding the homeless
Elections Bringing Back the People
Election Cinquin
Dark Money Tiger
Democracy on Trial Acrostic
Democracy Kyrielle
Democracy Minute
First and Last Dark Money
The Rot Starts at the Top
Cancel Culture Run Am
Senator Johnson Banned on YouTube for Spreading Lies Found Poem
Enough of Your Useless Prayers
Driving our Politics is Fear
No Mas Excuses, America
Ode to our Firefighter Heroes
Global Emergency
Please America Get Vaccinated
Political ghosts haunt my dreams –
Letter to Republican leaders, to be sent will update if I get any responses
Dear Republican leaders
WTF is wrong with you?
The mid-terms were all about
Rejecting extremism
And demanding that politicians
Just do their job
And get stuff done
For the American people
So, what are your plans?
Addressing climate change?
Addressing crime?
Banning assault weapons?
Protecting gay rights?
Protecting abortion rights?
Addressing extreme inequality?
Making college more affordable?
All of which are very popular
With the American public
Nope
Your number one goal
Investigate Hunter Biden’s crimes
While ignoring the nepotism
And the crimes of the Trump clan?
Yes, the Hunter Biden laptop
That somehow magically was delivered
To a Delaware repair shop
Run by a blind man
Rather than fixing the laptop
Called Ruddy G and delivered it to him
He kept it and then gave it to the FBI
Three years later
Have found zip nada nothing
The most one can say
Is there some possibility
Incriminating e-mails
But given the breakdown
In the chain of custody
And the deep fake technology
Nothing on that Laptop
Proves anything
Oh, and impeaching President Biden
For the crime of being a democrat
And threatening to shut down the government,
and threatening to default on the United States government’s sovereign debt
Unless social security, Medicare and Obama care
Is cut to the bone, throwing millions of people
especially senior citizens into poverty.
Go ahead
And make my day
For if you do all of this
And do nothing at all
To address the country’s problems
There will be a blue wave
In 2024
The voters are sick and tired
Of the Republican Chaos brand.
The rest follows:
Slime Oozing Out of a TV
I drink coffee
Every morning
Watching the news
Until my eyeballs hurt
And I can’t stand it
Anymore
Wanting to shoot the TV
To put it out of its misery
As I think about that
The old Zappa
the song comes to mind
“I am the slime
Oozing out of the TV set
Can’t look away
Don’t change the dial
Folks look at me go
I am the slime
Oozing out of the TV Set.”
Patriot Games
Supporters of US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol as tear gas fills the corridor on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. – Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. (Photo by Saul LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
The right-wing spin masters are at it again
Turning the greatest assault on American democracy
The storming of the capital on January 6
By an angry mob into a patriotic uprising
Against a communist dictatorship In the making
Fighting to restore traditional Judeo-Christian values
Led by false Christian prophets celebrating
The rise of Christian fascism in America
Calling the angry mob Patriots Is an affront
To the real patriots
Our grandparents fought world war
Against the Nazis and were the original Antifa
Fox News is now hosting Tucker’s ‘broadcast
Siding with neo-fascist autocrats
In Hungary, their newfound best friend
Who is proudly instigating a neo-fascist
Illiberal democratic state
Shades of other right-wing autocrats
That the right love to support
Even celebrating the military coup
Myanmar saying there is no reason
That could not happen here
The twice impeached former president
Siding with the enemies of democracy
Doing Putin’s bidding killing Democracy to save it.
As our democracy lies dying as we speak
The mobs are braying to take our country back.
Make America great and white again
Soon we will have the proud boys,
oath keepers, Bugaloo bois, and others
Marching in the streets under Nazi and confederate banners
Cheering their great leader as he storms back into power.
God save America
If he/she still cares?
Watching the news
while watching the news
gloom and doom gives the blues
not a good morning
soon I will blow my fuse
Just a bad morning
filled with forewarning
soon I must drink wine
ending with warnings
drinking my red wine
makes everything seem fine
looking at my lovely wife
I sit and admire what is mine
Morning Blues
Watching the morning news
Nothing but gloom and doom
Just no more rules
Gives me the blues
Naani Morning Blues
My day starts with coffee
watching the idiot box
soon it is too much to bear
it gives me the blues
In the Year 2022, Madness Took Over
I often thought back
In the Trumpian years
As an aberration
That Americans would wake up
And realize that they had been conned
That Conman Don
Was not their friend
That the republicans
If they could turn
Social security and Medicare
To the private sector
Enriching wall street
While screwing everyone else
Laughing at the fools
Who believed that they care
About them at all.
Then 2022 midterms approached
And the airwaves and internet
Were filled with the vilest conspiracy theories
So many people believed the Q nonsense
That there was a secret cabal
Of cannibals child molesting pedophiles
Drinking children’s blood in Satanic rituals
Led by shape-shifting aliens.
Believing that Donald Trump
Was anointed by God
To battle the satanic democrats
And that someday soon
storm would erupt
And all the evil ones
Will be rounded up
And Donald Trump
Would once again be president
The latest crazed theory
That there are schools
Where children are told
To do their business
In litter boxes
Because the children
Identify as cats.
And so, it goes
More madness everywhere
More madness, more drugs
And more guns everywhere
Not just in the US
But overseas too
Everywhere leaders are unhinged
Conspiracy theories run amok
Pundits pontificating
Guns proliferating
Hard to see how
This ends well.
America
America faces a choice
A choice of embracing democracy
At last a choice of standing up
Against the forces of Neo-fascism
As the election season comes to an end.
Although it is too close to tell
Americans will make the right choice
Con Artists
These days
It seems that there are
So many crafty people
Con artists everywhere
Rampant crime on the rise
Fear abounds everywhere
Upsetting our tidy plans
Leaving us so confused.
Vote Diatelle
vote
Today
what the hey
democracy
itself may be at play
will we be a plutocracy?
or even become just a theocracy?
run by an unelected bureaucracy?
or turn into a meritocracy?
or a corporatocracy?
keep fascism at bay
aristocracy
le5 us pray
we may
note
The world is faced
With a huge water shortage problem
Throughout the world
We are running out of fresh clean water
Climate change leading to massive droughts
And massive storms and massive floods
Nigeria, Pakistan, and Kentucky underwater
Mississippi water supply compromised
Everywhere we are running out of water
Yet there are solutions
Mandatory water harvesting
In the southwest replacing lawns
With desert plants
Energy-efficient watering systems
Shifting to less water-intensive agriculture
Setting up urban vertical gardening
Massive desalination plants
Using solar, wind, and tidal power
It will cost a lot
But solutions are possible
If we have the political will
To implement them.
America divided into tribal divisions
America divided into tribal divisions
Red states, Blue Cities
The mass media playing games
So many people believe
That the world is out of control
Spreading calls for civil war
Election workers fear for their life.
Guns everywhere
And the former guy who lost
Gleefully throwing gas on the fire.
Arrested for feeding the homeless
Sam Jones, a 70-year-old man
Walking down the street
In a Florida City
Thinking that too many people
Ignore the homeless.
He thought,
But what would happen
If we began to act
Towards others as we should.
Sam began a campaign
Treating homeless people
To coffee and sandwiches.
Buying them tents,
Buying them clothing,
Asking their names
Telling their stories.
The city authorities
Were not amused
They arrested him
For violating a local law
Forbidding handing out food
Water and drinks
To people on the street
Without a proper city-issued permit.
As a food vendor.
The case went to trial
They found him guilty
Sentenced to five years in prison.
For helping the homeless,
Without the proper food vendor permits,
And for contempt of court when he asked the judge,
To act according to his professed Christian principles.
Elections Bringing Back the People
The election showed the world
That the power of the people
Will eventually prevail
That sanity might slowly
Becoming back to the land
As MAGA extremists lost
Despite the former guy’s attempts
At an unlikely comeback.
Election Cinquin
Election
Powerful, Profound
Meaningful, moving, provoking
Power to the people
Decisions
Dark Money Tigerjade
Dark money
so funny
So much corruption in the USA
American political world filled with dark black dollars
Democracy is a state, according to scholars
We know how
End it now
Democracy on Trial Acrostic
Democracy on trial
Everywhere it seems
More in Europe perhaps
Only in America though
Crazy Q anon theories
Right-Wing MAGA nut cases
Although they lost in the mid-terms
Crazy conspiracies have not died out
Yet more craziness to come soon.
Democracy Kyrielle
Democracy itself at the state
People voted in the election
The mass media is filled with hate
determining what direction
It is up to America
To the people who voted
That is what it is, Erika
Determining what direction
To those who chose not to vote
Do not complain about the results
The winners of the vote should not gloat
Determining what direction
Democracy Minute
American democracy
Is it just plutocracy?
Does your vote count?
Endless recount.
Do elections even matter?
Endless chatter,
No one cares now.
Do we know how?
Do we even know what to do?
This much is true.
All must save it.
Must do your bit.
First and Last Dark Money
There is just too much dark money.
It is no longer so funny.
Our politics are so Lunny.
Democracy is at stake.
Politicians are on the take.
Does your vote even matter?
Amid pundits’ non-stop chatter.
Everyone is mad as a hatter.
No one seems to be awake.
Politicians are all on the make.
the media is filled with liars.
Our politics are endless quagmires.
Out west endless wildfires.
No one cares but smart money.
There is just too much dark money.
h3 style=”text-align: center;”>Donald Trump Runs a Full White Supremacist campaign White Supremacist
Folks,
Our opponents denounce us as racists. I say we should be proud to be white people. White people built this country. They say we stole the land from the Indians. I say the Indians were simply in the way and should have been removed because the white people needed the land. There was nothing wrong with that. White people built this country. They say slavery was wrong. I say Black people were better off as slaves because they were unable to handle freedom. I say the civil war should never have been fought. The US would have been much better off if we had split up into two nations. I say that the US was better off when white men ruled the country. Women should not be in a position of leadership. Immigration should be restricted to white people as it was during much of our history. Immigration should be restricted to white people who are Christian and speak English and should be limited. Too many immigrants. Too many non-white people. The replacement campaign is continuing and the democrats are the party of niggers, spics, chinks, gooks, Muslims, pagans, atheists, and coastal elites who hate you and hate white people and hate our movement because we are pro-white, pro-male, and pro-America! They say that we are heading to a civil war. I say bring it on. If the South were to secede and Texas leads the way, I will gladly serve as president of a new confederacy.
Regarding foreign policy, it is time to bring the troops back and station them along the southern border. We need to seal the borders to keep the minorities from flooding the country and keep out the drugs and chaos. We need to make marijuana illegal again. We should set up special drug courts where drug dealers will be tried and executed the next day.
We need to pull out of NATO. Bring our troops from Asia. Let them defend themselves. We should stop sending aid to Ukraine. Let Russia and Ukraine work it out. Russia has serious and viable security claims in Eastern Europe. Putin is the friend of the white Christian race.
Around the world white people are rising and taking back power. We need to do the same.
Gay rights should be left to states to decide. If Texas wants to ban same-gender attraction, Heyy should be allowed to do so.
Civil rights laws should be abolished. If a landlord does not want to rent to minorities, they should be allowed to do so.
Let’s stand up and proclaim
We are white and we are proud.
30 percent of the public supported his campaign. The more critics denounced it as a racist campaign, the stronger his campaign became.
Five endings – his wins and ushers in Fascism
He is indicted and sent to prison. Desantis takes over his campaign and continues the anti-minority campaign.
DeSantis wins and ushers in fascism
A national convention is called and the U.S. splits apart into ten new countries
A civil war ensues.
The democrats win big in 2024 and restore sanity.
Confronted by Racists in Oregon Nightmare
We go to Oregon and sell our property. While there we run into racists everywhere. It is very unpleasant. In Costco, several white guys confront us in the parking lot yelling racist slurs telling her to go home to China, and calling me a race traitor. I just look at them and say,
“Mighty Christian behavior. Thanks for sharing your opinion. Now leave.”
They asked me “what did you say?’
I said,
“You are a good Christian. Now leave us alone.”
“Are you mocking us?”
“Nope. Not at all. Just leave us alone.”
One guy pulls out a gun and points it at us.
I look at him and say
“really? Do you want to shoot us in broad day light? What would Jesus do?’
Angela tries to intervene, and they slap her. I call for help and security comes outside.
We decide to press charges of assault.
Someone filmed it and the video went viral. We are interviewed. I tell them that I am not a Christian, but just thought that perhaps if I appealed to their faith, they might reconsider what they were doing and unfortunately that did not work.
Something wicked this way comes
Something wicked this way comes
With the Republicans taking over the house
About to launch endless investigations about Hunter Biden,
And the “ January 6th political prisoners “
And the former president running
Back on Twitter that is imploding
And climate change running amuck
Gunmen still rampaging across the land.
Dear God Make, It All Go Away
Dear God
Watching the news unfold
The non-ending problems
Inflation, crime, climate change
The world unhinged
And our new house leaders’ response
Their number one priority
Investigate Hunter Biden
Number two
Have Margo Taylor Green lead
The investigation
of the January 6 committee
For doing their jobs
Their other priorities include
Insisting the solution to climate change
Drill more oil and coal
And stop subsiding on renewable energy
The solution to gun violence
Useless prayers and thoughts
And more guns for everyone
Insisting that the government cut
Social security and Medicaid
Or else they will let the government default
And the former president
Is running for reelection
And is now back on Twitter
Which is going bankrupt.
As the advertisers flee
And hate fills the twitter
And FB social media.
Dear God,
I say to you
If you have the power
To intervene in our lives.
Please Dear God
Make it all go away
Restore sanity and civility,
Have the former President
Get the justice he deserves
And our leaders put aside
Their games
And start solving problems
That is my prayer today.
Bugs Bunny Q
One day Bugs Bunny came to life
Went on national TV
To launch his crusade
Wearing a red MAGA hat
He endorsed the former President
Who he called his good friend
The best president ever.
He wants to quote Q
And talk about the dangerous
Dark conspiracy
Of Satan worshiping
child cannibals
Led by the evil Elmer Fudd.
American Democracy Momento
American democracy
We must choose to save it
Fill with hate
American
plutocracy
We must all do our bit
Make it great
We must all do our given part
Together find our way
Go forward
Let’s come together as a start
Keep the hate at bay
Straightforward
Having their Cake and Eat It Too Writers’ Cramp
Politicians often try
To have their cake
And eat it too
Running around
Throwing gasoline
On the political fires.
ture wars
Then acting “shocked.”
that anyone ould carry out
Acts of political violence
Based on their overheated rhetoric
Shedding copious crocodile tears
The dead don’t care, they are merely ghosts.
Democratic Constanza
Democracy is still at risk
In my American homeland,
Must do our part, and take a stand.
The election showed there is still a high risk.
Voters have to make a decision,
Just turn off the television.
Wired in our news hard disk
What will be our country’s future
Will it be with Trump, the moocher?
Like a political slipped disk
We must do our part, pick a side
And save our country’s future pride.
Just filled with political zisk
Democratic chimerica ?
Or a fascist Amerika?
The World After
The future is not yet written
The world can still be saved
But the end of humanity
Could be at hand
The world is burning up
Fires out of control
Ice caps melting
Temperatures rising
Hatred spreading
Neofascism on the right
Democracy threatened
End of the world fears
Filling the world
Yet to come
the Rot Starts at the Top
Watching the news unfold
About the massive spying operation
Targeted against Democratic opponents
Of the former guy
The old Chinese Confucian adage
Pops to mind
The rot starts at the head
Meaning rotten fish of course
But also applies
To rotten political actors
This scandal is probably
Just the tip
Of a very large rotten iceberg
Where it will lead
Is anyone’s guess
But will the former guy
Be held accountable
For this crime?
Probably not
Just add it to the list
Of all his other crimes
And wait until hell freezes over
For justice to be done
Cancel Culture Run Amuck
I am so sick
And tired
Of the so-called “Cancel Culture”
Nonsense
That has spread out
Along the right-wing media verse
Infecting the public
With their hatred and disdain
I don’t know what it all means
Something about political speech
social conservatives
Being canceled
By left-wing woke mobs
In the mainstream media
“Libtard “Coastal elites
And tech giants
Seems that they don’t like
Being held to account
For minimal standards
Of decent behavior
For example, not spreading lies
About COVID vaccinations
I mean you Senator Johnson
Banned by YouTube for a week
Or inciting a riot
I mean you
Former guy
And his minions
Used to be
That we were all
Held to account
For decent behavior
By a sense of public shame
So, we did not go there
We knew where the lines were
And respected them
But in the era
Of the former guy
All civilized restraints
Have gone out the window
I say to my republican friends
If you don’t want to be canceled
Don’t say or do disgusting things
Don’t spread hate and misinformation
Then we would not have to
Cancel your nonsense
Until then I need to shut
Off the damn media noise box
Senator Johnson Banned on YouTube for Spreading Lies Found Poem
YouTube suspended
Sen. Ron Johnson’s account
to spread medical misinformation.
The company specifically
prohibits content
that contradicts public-health guidance.
The Republican
routinely holds Senate hearings
where he promotes
baseless conspiracy theories.
“Big Tech and mainstream media
believe they are smarter
than medical doctors
who have devoted their lives to science?
and use their skills to save lives,”
“They have decided
there is only one medical viewpoint allowed
and it is the viewpoint dictated
by government agencies.”
Johnson, who promoted the “Big Lie”
that led to the assault
on the US Capitol in January,
Johnson has used his position
as a senator to promote
baseless conspiracy theories
and undermine trust in public institutions
Johnson’s “continuing assault on the truth,
often under the guise
of simply ‘asking questions
about facts,
is helping to diminish confidence
in American institutions
at a perilous moment,
when the health and economic well-being
of the nation relies heavily on
on mass vaccinations,
and when faith in democracy
is shaken by right-wing falsehoods
about voting,”
Comment: It is for that act
Those comments went too far
led YouTube
To “cancel” Senator Johnson
Now if only we can get
He to just shut up
And go away
Perhaps the voters
Will finally be moved
To cancel him for good.
Driving our Politics is Fear
What is driving our politics
More than anything else
Is the fear of the other
Fear of the enemy
Fear of the end
The American experiment
With democracy
The Day After 9-11 U.S Visa Officer’s Perspective
9-11 2021 was the classic black swan event. A low-probability event that changed almost everything. The world can be divided into a pre-9-11 world and a Post 9-11 world. 9-11 led to the Afghanistan war, which recently concluded, the Iraq war, the Syria war, the Libyan civil war, countless wars in Africa, the war on terror, the Muslim travel ban, the war on domestic dissent in so many parts of the world, all justified as a reaction against the events of that September day. Here are some of my reflections on the events of 9-11 including a prose poem about where I was that terrible day. It affected me deeply because at the time I was a US immigration officer in the State Department serving in Mumbai, (Bombay) India.
Following 9/11
Patriots Blunder
Whack
Worry Frequently
About terrorists and Muslims
Whomever, wherever they are
Reflections on 911 Where I was Prose Poem
On 9-11
When the planes struck the World Trade Center
Unleashing evil on the world
I was working
at the deputy consular chief at the US Consulate
in Mumbai
I was at a Polish national day event
chatting with the Polish Ambassador
and his charming wife.
Someone told me
I needed to check out the news,
saw the CNN news feed,
rushed back to the consulate
to prepare our response.
I put together a task force
focused on helping American citizens
in our district.
I worked almost 15-20 hours
for almost three days
before finally getting a night off.
We continued to process visas
during this time
but our priority
was to reach out to the Americans
who lived in our district
and to monitor the reactions of Indians
especially Muslims living in our district.
I tracked down my wife
who had gone into emergency action
in her position in Korea as a MI officer.
We both reflected
that if she had not taken the job in Korea
she might have died that day
as she had been working in the ops center
at the pentagon which was destroyed.
Since it was shift work
if she had been on the early morning shift
it might have been game over for her.
Reflections on 9-11
9-11
The event that launched
The war on terror
That led to Afghanistan
Led to Iraq
Led to Syria
And so many other wars
Secret and not so secret
War on dissent at home
All because of 911
A true black swan event
That almost destroyed our country
And still has ramifications
All over the world
911
A day that truly
Will live
In infamy
9-11 unleashed Evil
world lurks in the deadliest places.
Evil came to town on 911
the day that evil swept over the world
a true Black Swan event
That transformed everything
splitting the world into a pre-9-11 world
and a post 9-11 world
unleashing the War on Terror, the wars in Afghanistan, the wars in Iraq, the war in Libya, the war in Syria, the wars in Africa, the horrors of ISIS, the horrors of the Taliban resurgent, the horrors of Al Qaeda and all the rest of the Muslim terrorists, the war in the streets of any big city, the war on Muslims, the war on Christians, the war on Jews, the apartheid in Palestine, the wars on dissent at home, the Arab Spring
many things can be traced
to the impact of 9/11
one of the most unlikely events
of recent history that transformed
everything
yes there was a pre-9-11 world
hard to imagine now
and a post 9-11 worldwide police state
on steroids
lost democracy at home
and abroad
We are still coping
with the damages unleashed
by the evil plane bombers
fulfilling their mad desires
their dictates from their mad god
transforming the world
unleashing evil
in the once-innocent world.
I predict the House and Senate will remain in the hands of the Democrats in 2022 and 2024, but a lot depends on who the Republicans run, if they run right-wing darlings like Trump, or DeSantis they lose, if they run sane moderate Republican governors like Hogan, they will win.
if the Democrats nominate someone other than Biden or Harris they will probably win, if Biden runs again, a narrow victory, if Harris runs, they lose (again depending upon the Republican candidate), if Trump runs the third party, the Democrats will win. The Democratic donor class should be encouraging Trump to run the Third-party! calling his party, the Christian Patriot Party.
What Do I Know? Why listen to Me?
I am a lifelong Democrat, having grown up in Berkeley in the late 60s and 70s. I served in the Peace Corps and became a foreign service officer retiring in 2016. I live in South Korea, as I have my wife’s family living here. I hope to return to the Bay Area in another year. I grew up in a politically active family. I served as President of my high school and a student senator at college.
My father, Curtis Cosmos Aller, was the President of the Berkeley Co-Op and the Peralta community college district, served as undersecretary of Labor for Johnson , and was a professor and Dean at SF State. and ran for Congress against Ron Dellums winning 40 percent in the primary election in 1974.
I have voted for president since 1974 when I voted against Nixon. I voted for Carter twice, and for the Democrats for president in every election. But I also correctly forecast the election returns in every election since 1974.
Here are my predictions for 2022 and 2024, which I will share with the Democratic leadership and post any responses I may receive.
Comments welcomed.
2202 Predictions
2022 is shaping up to be the most consequential mid-term in recent history. The future of America and our democracy are at stake. So far if I had to bet, I would bet on the Senate being held by the Democrats, maybe even a pickup as the math favors the democrats this time around, including several open seats due to retirements in Ohio and elsewhere.
The house is more of a toss-up.
Note: I correctly saw that the red wave was an illusion, the house barely flipped sides, and the Democrats hold onto the Senate.
If the Democrats are smart, they would announce that Nancy P and the aging leadership are all retiring to open the field to a new generation of leaders.
This opens up the democratic leadership to a challenge along generational lines = as the Republicans continue to paint them as coastal elites out of touch with real Americans, which will resonate because there is an element of truth to that.
Fortunately, after the election the house leadership changed hands ushering in a new generation of leaders, long overdue in my opinion.
A lot depends on the following:
Factors Favoring the Dems
If the Democrats can paint Marjorie Taylor Green and her ilk as the face of the Republican party, they can pull off a win.
Majorie Taylor Green et al play along acting crazy.
Make them the face of the Republican Party –
The impact of the January 6h commission – clearly shows how despicable and dangerous Republicans are, and how complicit they were in plotting a coup.
Trump continues hinting he is running in 2024.
Trump endorses candidates who win the primaries and lose the general.
Trump is indicted and or is sent to prison = could cut either way = making him a martyr or turning off the average American to the MAGA crowd.
Republican in-fighting continues positive for Dems.
Much better unified messaging showing how democratic policies are helping average Americans.
The state of COVID by August - if it is over the democrats get a bump.
State of the economy by August – if inflation slows up, the jobless numbers remain good, and the democrats get a bump.
Impact of the big infrastructure bill – will people see it is working?
Democrats get unified positive for Dems.
Democratic turnout is higher than normal despite voter suppression efforts.
Gerrymandering is not as bad as expected mixed signals so far,
Biden’s approval rating is above 50 percent by September,
The war in Ukraine ended with a victory Ukraine gives a bump to Biden
Spreading of rank choice voting systems, as these systems tend to produce more politically centrist candidates, and slightly favor the Democratic party candidates.
The spread of jungle primary systems, as these systems tend to produce more politically centrist candidates, slightly favors the Democratic party candidates. California is the biggest state to embrace both of these more democratic voting systems, but the idea is spreading. Most recently, NYC adopted a rank voting system, which led to the election of Eric Adams, who was everyone’s second choice, and not the first choice for most voters. He is a moderate Democrat in a blue progressive-dominated city.
Factors Favoring the Republicans
The Republicans will make Nancy the symbol of a “coastal elite old political hack leadership out of touch with American voters and values ” which will resonate as there is a kernel of truth to that charge. In short, they will hear, and so-called “socialist left woke SF Values” the face of the Democratic party, not Biden so much or Harris.
Nancy Pelosi
Trump announces he is retiring, is imprisoned, or dies – removing the biggest obstacle to the resurgence of the Republican party.
The economy stumbles and favors Republicans.
Republicans nominate centrists moderates resisting the MAGA crusade.
Gerrymandering and voter suppression works as advertised – News out of Texas is not good, 25% of absentee ballots were rejected!
Democrats continue their fratricidal infighting – can’t get a unified message.
Republicans are successful in painting the democratic leadership as “old coastal elitist political hacks out of touch with Americans and not dealing with the nation’s problems due to being too weak internationally and domestically, and beholden to a socialist left-wing woke social warrior culture run amuck.”
The culture wars ignite the Republican base, leading to a higher turnout among the base.
Neutral factors:
Retirements = could be cut either way.
The deaths of aging leaders could go either way,
What is the Average Age of Congress?
The average age of the 117th Congress is 59 years old and the median is 60 years old. This is much higher than the median age of 38 years in the United States in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Of its 435 members, the House has 38 members born in the 1980s and one born in the 1990s, while the Senate welcomed its first millennial. But the age groups with the biggest gains, compared to the 116th Congress, were those born in the 1930s and 1960s. Members in the 80+ and 50-59 age groups saw gains, while the 30-39 age group saw the biggest losses. Members of Congress are, overall, getting older.
AGE OF THE SENATE
The average age of the Senate is 63 years. The most popular years of birth are 1952 and 1954, with seven members each.
Who are the Oldest Members of Congress?
From Alaska, all the way to
Alabama, the oldest members of the 117th Congress were all born in the early 1930s. Most of them are members of the Senate.
Specifically, the five oldest members of Congress are:
(four Republicans and one Democrat)
Don Young, age 87, is the RepublicanS. Representative for Alaska’s at-large congressional district. He has served for 25 terms since 1973 and is the current longest-serving member in Congress. (JUST PASSED AWAY AS OF March 19, 2022).
Dianne Feinstein, age 87, is a Democratic Senator from California running for re-election.
Chuck Grassley, age 87, is a Republican Senator from Iowa -running for re-election.
Richard Shelby, age 86, is a Republican Senator from Alabama running for re-election.
Jim Inhofe, age 86, is a Republican Senator from Oklahoma running for re-election.
Mitch Mc Connel 83
Dick Schumer 75
Who are the Youngest Members?
As for the youngest members of the 117th Congress, they are all part of the House of Representatives. Most were born in the 1980s except the youngest member of them all.
Here are the five youngest members of Congress:
(three Democrats, two republicans)
Madison Cawthorn, age 25, is the RepublicanS. Representative for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district. He is the first member of Congress born in the 1990s. -Note: defeated in his re-election bid.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, age 31, is the Democratic Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district
Sara Jacobs, age 31, is the democratic Representative for California’s 53rd congressional district
Ritchie Torres, age 32, is the democratic. Representative for New York’s 15th congressional district
Jake LaTurner, age 32, is the Democratic. Representative for Kansas’s 2nd congressional district
How Does Age Relate to Party?
Overall, the average age for Republicans in Congress is 58 and 60 for Democrats. Looking specifically at each party in each chamber, the averages are also very similar:
AVERAGE AGE OF THE 117TH CONGRESS LEADERSHIP
As mentioned before, Congress is getting older. When looking specifically at the leadership in each party, the averages are even higher with Democrats brushing close to 70.
bottom line: Senate to the Democrats due to the math more than anything else.
While I hope the Dems maintain the House, it is too close to call could be a two-vote margin by Democrats, or a two to three margin by the Republicans, but I don’t see a red wave coming nor do I see a blue wave coming. the gerrymandering in place slightly favors the Republicans perhaps giving them five additional seats, and demographic changes mean additional seats in red states and a loss in NY, California, and New Jersey of one seat each.
2024 is shaping up to be the most consequential election in recent history. The future of America and our democracy are at stake. So far if I had to bet, I would bet on the Democrats winning the presidency (but not Biden running again due to age and health concerns or Kamala Harris making it, and Trump not running due to age, or legal impediments, or death) on the Senate being held by the Democrats, maybe even a pickup as the math favors the Democrats this time around including several open seats due to retirements and deaths, and the House could go either way, lots depends on who wins the mid-terms, and the success of the voter suppression movement.
My advice/predictions to the Democratic leadership (I will share this with them) are the following:
Biden should retire at the end of his term but announce that he wants an open primary and not endorse any candidate until the dust settles and a clear leader emerges. The rest of the aging leadership should all retire as well, opening up political space for the next generation of leaders to organically emerge.
Kamala Harris stumbles and another candidate emerges. If the Democrats are smart, they would nominate a moderate problem-solving centrist who can win in red or purple states = the governor of Michigan fits the bill. Preferably a woman, as it is time for a woman president. The VP should be a Hispanic or perhaps Asian-American male. Again, a governor would be preferable but a Senator or big city major would be a good pick as well. I would avoid two women candidates as that might be a step too far for now.
The theme should be time for a renewed commitment to an America that works for everyone, that we are in it together and are united as Americans.
Other themes would be
Continuing rebuilding our failing physical infrastructure, including our public health systems,
Fighting climate change,
Investing in the next generation of technologies,
including robotics and AI systems,
Recommitting to the space program,
Enacting some version of the build-back better initiative,
Continuing to work on rebuilding our alliances,
Reforming our failed immigration system,
Fighting against voter suppression efforts,
Encouraging more democratic voting systems such as rank vote and jungle primaries,
And an old throwback, enacting term limits – this is a winning issue with the public and will disarm potential republican attacks
“on old, tired, political elitist coastal hacks running the Democratic party leadership.”
The Democrats should seize this issue as a sort of political jujutsu move. that would be brilliant!
Starting with the retirement of the oldest members of both parties to bring in a younger generation of leaders. if term limits are a good thing for the presidency they are a good thing for Congress to embrace and would be very popular. I’d suggest 12 years (six terms) in the house and three terms in the Senate for a total of 30 years of service with mandatory retirement at age 70.
Avoid getting sucked into the culture wars nonsense it is a waste of time, and resources and puts you on the defensive, just no upside to it at all. the less you say this the better, let them come off as unhinged and out-of-touch.
The focus should be on building on the solid accomplishments of the Biden era and looking forward with a positive, optimistic message.
I would also not get trapped into running an anti-Republican campaign. That was a losing message for Hilary, and also a bit for Biden. People need to hear a positive, powerful optimistic message but pointing out that the Republican candidate is a neo-fascist authoritarian wannabe is fine, but that cannot be the only message or the main message.
Keeping it positive, upbeat, and focused on solid accomplishments for the American people is the key. Remember, they have to want to vote for you, not just vote against them!
A winning slogan could be
“Democrats, the party that gets stuff done for the American people.”
I would also avoid getting too sucked into the progressive wish lists, and remember the adage to never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Remember that people have to want to vote for you and just against the other guy. You could run through an anti-republican slogan such as
Republicans, tools of the 1 percent, the party of fascists, insurrectionists, deficit spending and ignoring the needs of the American people. and resucrect Harry’s Truman “Do Nothing congress” worked wonders for him and would be another winning slogan.
If the Republicans are smart, Trump will retire for the good of the party and the country, under the excuse of age, health, or legal impediments. Then they should have an open primary.
Predictions for the Republican Ticket
My prediction would be De Santis wins the nomination and picks perhaps Senator Cotton as his VP. This would unite the MAGA crows and the cultural wars crowds. But also provide a solid line of attack for the Democratic nominee.
I don’t see a pathway for Ted Cruz as he has too many enemies, everyone who knows him or has worked with him hates his guts.
I also don’t see a pathway for Josh Hawley either for similar reasons. I can see Marjorie Taylor Green running but flaming out during the primary.
Finally, I don’t see a Trump-Biden rematch but if that happens, I will bet that Biden would defeat Trump.
The other unlikely prospect is that the Republicans get smart and nominate either the governor of Ohio or Maryland and run a positive upbeat campaign as
“the party that gets stuff done for the American people”
Note; Great slogan, the Democrats should use it before the Republicans use it.
while painting the Democrats as old, political hacks who are out of touch, cultural justice warrior elitists from coastal blue states. That would be a powerful campaign theme because unfortunately, there is an element of truth to it!
and they would probably win the House, Senate, and Presidency, but fortunately, for the Democrats, they are far more likely to nominate a cultural warrior nut case like DeSantis, with either Cotton as VP or the Virginian Governor as VP.
if Biden runs, a toss-up. If Kamala runs a toss-up. If the governor of Michigan or another female governor runs, Democrats probably win.
If DeSantis runs, probably Republicans will fail, but if someone like Maryland Hogan runs, the Republicans will win. If Trump wins the nomination as a Republican, Republicans will probably fail as well.
If Trump runs third party, too close to call but he would not win as a third-party candidate. If he runs, he should name his party, the Christian Patriot Party, the CPP in short.
The Senate and House would both probably go to the Democrats despite voter suppression efforts as the math and demographics favor the Democratic party.
A personal note. I am married to a Korean-American woman whom I met in Korea and thus would love to see Hogan elected and have the first Asian-American (Korean) First lady.
My bottom-line prediction
Both Biden and Trump retire due to age and health concerns, and Trump’s legal woes become two insurmountable, not to mention the donor class is turning against him.
Kamala Harris does not win the primary contests, as the Democrats selected a more centrist problem-solving figure who defeats the likely republican nominee – De Santis.
Whoever loses, concedes as we restore the tradition of a peaceful transition of power.
Senate and House go to the Democrats, but with narrow majorities.
The rest of the country continues to be split into about 25 red states and 20 blue states, a blue DC, blue PR, blue VI, purple Guam and Samoa, purple military, and 5 purple states.
To my fellow Americans
I am writing this plead,
To my fellow Americans.
I am tired of the excuses
Tired of hearing
Your lame reasons,
For not getting a vaccination.
For not masking up,
For not taking covid seriously.
I am tired of hearing about
People dying
I am tired of hearing about gun violence,
I am tired of hearing about the west burning up,
The east flooding out,
The monster storms everywhere.
The politicians doing nothing at all
To solve any of these problems
Instead of playing games,
Acting as if all of these problems
Were beyond our control,
Like the weather
Can’t do anything about it
Nothing but lies.
Yes America
I am tired.
I say again
I am tired
Of your lame excuses.
But this is something
We can all do something about it,
We can choose to get a free vaccine,
We can choose to continue to wear a mask,
We can choose to not kill someone with a gun.
We can choose to take the bus,
We can choose to drive an electric vehicle,
We can choose to love one another,
We can choose to save the world.
Or you can choose
To be a narcissistic self-centered asshole,
A real scumbag,
Following your hero,
The orange man,
Following him straight to hell.
Where do you think this will end?
It will not be a good outcome,
For any of us,
Especially for you, my friend.
You could die, your parents could die,
Your children could die.
And you have the power
To do something about.
Each of us
Has the power
To change the world.
But the change must come
From all of us.
We are all connected.
We are all God’s children
We are all each
Other’s brothers and sisters.
f none of this convinces you
Think what Jesus would tell you
I don’t need to tell you,
You know in your heart,
What needs to be done?
I conclude with this
I don’t want to hear it.
No
mas
excuses
just
do
the
right
thing
The life you save
Maybe your own.
Page Break
Ode to our Firefighter Heroes
Watching the burning of the west
From my air-conditioned apartment
Halfway across the world in Korea,
I am filled with dismay
How the country has gotten
To this dark and dangerous place.
Where the world is burning up
Climate change is out of control
Gun violence epidemic raging everywhere
No one is safe anywhere from the rampaging gunmen.
The nation’s leaders
Refuse to do anything at all
As the world burns.
COVID spreads
And more people die from guns.
Yet there are American heroes
The firefighters, the first responders
The EMTs, the park rangers,
The doctors, the nurses
Truck drivers, bus drivers
The workers of America.
These American heroes
Including prisoners
Put their lives on the line
24/7.
Working in truly hellish conditions
In temperatures above 100 degrees
Breathing in deadly smoke.
Without enough supplies
Not enough water,
Not enough of anything.
But like all true heroes
They merely suit up
And go to work,
Doing whatever they can do
To save us all
From the burning of America.
From the COVID disaster
From the gun violence
The monster storms
The collapsing buildings.
I salute them
From the bottom of my heart
They are the true heroes
In our times,
Everyone should salute them
Everyone should applaud them
Everyone should thank them
For saving our lives.
Our nation’s and world leaders
Should get their act together
Declaring a state of planetary emergency
Everyone must get together
And address the problem
Facing our world.
Global Emergency
The world is facing a worldwide crisis
Everything is falling apart
The world is burning up.
Monster storms flooding Europe
Covid spreading everywhere
Inflation rearing its ugly head
Gun violence tearing us apart.
Politics fall apart
As politicians
Play the blame game,
Spreading toxic lies
And endless venom.
The sad reality
We are all to blame,
Every last one of us shares the blame.
We have known for decades
That we could not continue
Down this path.
The solutions are obvious
We have known this for years.
It is time for the world leaders
Both government and corporate
To declare a state of worldwide emergency.
Everyone must do their part
To save the world now.
The billionaire classes
Should rise up
And demonstrate real leadership
Rather than waste time
Flying into space.
And they should donate
Their vast fortunes
To save the world.
The time for games is over
The world is dying
Even the billionaires
May die as the world burns.
We are in this together
We are human brothers and sisters
Please do your part
To save the world.
Before the problems overwhelm us
Ending our world civilization
We must move to green energy now
Everyone must get vaccinated
Get the assault weapons off the street.
Institute real gun control measures.
Yet due to our political dysfunction
Nothing meaningful
Will be done.
As the politicians dither and dither
And nothing is done.
As the world burns
Civilization slowly dies
Democracy cannot survive.
The rise of the warlords
Is inevitable
The world ends
In fire, floods
And endless violence.
So many people
Will die.
Unless we all
Do our part
To save the world/
The hour is getting late
But we have not met our fate
Despite the late date.
If we do nothing
Soon we will all become ghosts
Joining the other ghosts
Of our recent past.
Joining the fire ghosts,
the corona ghosts,
the gun ghosts
the storm ghosts
And all the other ghosts.
Their voices
crying in the wind,
no one left alive
to mourn their death.
Page Break
please America get vaccinated against COVID
It is a sad state of affairs
That so many of our fellow citizens
Just can’t be bothered
To get a free vaccine
That may save their lives
And the lives of those around them
They simply don’t care
About the rest of us.
The anti-vax crusaders
Say that no one should be forced
To get a vaccine.
Yet we force people to wear seat belts
Force people to wear helmets
Force people to drive within the speed limit
Prohibit drunk driving.
All of these are an infringement
On our freedom
To be irresponsible and careless,
Yet we have decided
It is better to have people
Wear a seat belt,
To drive within the speed limit
And not drunk drive
Because these simple measures
Save lives.
The same thing applies to wearing a mask
And getting a vaccine
A small inconvenience to an induvial
Yet may save many lives.
In the end
I can only offer this plea
Many of you are Christians,
And you know what Jesus
Would say
Just shut up
Wear a mask
and get vaccinated
It is god’s will.
Just do it for me.
Please my fellow citizens
Please get a vaccine
To protect your life
To protect my life
And do the right thing.
Thanksgiving Poems
Thanksgiving
On Thanksgiving day
I am grateful
That I am still alive
And kicking
At age 67
Still married
To my one and only wife
Thankful that I have enough money
To retire comfortably
And live until I die
Without falling into poverty
I am thankful for my friends
Far and wide
That is what
I celebrate Thanksgiving
Letter to Republicans
Biden is not a communist, so shut up with that nonsense
Dear Republicans
Lately the airwaves
Of the Fox alternative universe
Has been filled with pernicious nonsense
Uttered by all the pundits
And Republican leaders.
The pernicious nonsense
Is that Joe Biden, and the entire
Democratic Party
Has been taken over
By Marxists
Determined to turn the US
Either into Cuba, Venezuela
Communist China or North Korea.
But oddly not Russia
Who some believe now
Is our friend
Anyone alive
For the last thirty years
Knows that communism died
A long time ago
There are no communists anywhere
Even in China, no one believes
In classic communism.
And Joe Biden may be many things
But a hard-core Marxist Communist
Working to turn the US into a communist country
Is not one of them.
The only people who believe this nonsense
Are aging John Birchers
Who still screams about the communist menace
And perhaps a few aging left-wing radicals
Who still believe in Marxism.
So please just shut up
About communism
And other imaginary bogymen.
The World After
The future is not yet written
The world can still be saved
But the end of humanity
Could be at hand
The world is burning up
Fires out of control
Ice caps melting
Temperatures rising
Hatred spreading
Neofascism on the right
Democracy threatened
End of the world fears
Filling the world
Yet to come
the Rot Starts at the Top
Watching the news unfold
About the massive spying operation
Targeted against Democratic opponents
Of the former guy
The old Chinese Confucian adage
Pops to mind
The rot starts at the head
Meaning rotten fish of course
But also applies
To rotten political actors
This scandal is probably
Just the tip
Of a very large rotten iceberg
Where it will lead
Is anyone’s guess
But will the former guy
Be held accountable
For this crime?
Probably not
Just add it to the list
Of all his other crimes
And wait until hell freezes over
For justice to be done
Cancel Culture Run Amuck
I am so sick
And tired
Of the so-called “Cancel Culture”
Nonsense
That has spread out
Along the rightwing media verse
Infecting the public
With their hatred and disdain
I don’t know what it all means
Something about political speech
social conservatives
Being canceled
By left-wing woke mobs
In the mainstream media
“Libtard “Coastal elites
And tech giants
Seems that they don’t like
Being held to account
For minimal standards
Of decent behavior
For example, not spreading lies
About COVID vaccinations
I mean you Senator Johnson
Banned by YouTube for a week
Or inciting a riot
I mean you
Former guy
And his minions
Used to be
That we were all
Held to account
For decent behavior
By a sense of public shame
So, we did not go there
We knew where the lines were
And respected them
But in the era
Of the former guy
All civilized restraints
Have gone out the window
I say to my republican friends
If you don’t want to be canceled
Don’t say or do disgusting things
Don’t spread hate and misinformation
Then we would not have to
Cancel your nonsense
Until then I need to shut
Off the damn media noise box
Senator Johnson Banned on YouTube for Spreading Lies Found Poem
as a senator to promote baseless conspiracy theories
and undermine trust in public institutions
Johnson’s “continuing assault on the truth,
often under the guise of simply ‘asking questions
about facts,
is helping to diminish confidence in American institutions
at a perilous moment,
when the health and economic well-being
of the nation relies heavily on
on mass vaccinations,
and when faith in democracy
is shaken by right-wing falsehoods
about voting,”
Comment: It is for that act
Those comments went too far
led YouTube
To “cancel” Senator Johnson
Now if only we can get
He to just shut up
And go away
Perhaps the voters
Will finally be moved
To cancel him for good.
End Comment
Driving our Politics is Fear
What is driving our politics
More than anything else
Is the fear of the other
Fear of the enemy
Fear of the end
The American experiment
With democracy
9-11 Fridge Poem
Reflections on 9-11 where I was Prose Poem
Reflections on 9-11 where was I then?
Reflections on 9-11 9-11
9-11 Unleashed Evil
The Day After 9-11 U.S Visa Officer’s Perspective
9-11 Reflections
9-11 2021 was the classic black swan event. A low-probability event that changed almost everything. The world can be divided into a pre-9-11 world and a Post 9-11 world. 9-11 led to the Afghanistan war, which recently concluded, the Iraq war, the Syria war, the Libyan civil war, countless wars in Africa, the war on terror, the Muslim travel ban, the war on domestic dissent in so many parts of the world, all justified as a reaction against the events of that September day. Here are some of my reflections on the events of 9-11 including a prose poem about where I was that terrible day. It affected me deeply because at the time I was a US immigration officer in the State Department serving in Mumbai, (Bombay) India.
before finally getting a night off.
We continued to process visas
during this time
but our priority
was to reach out to the Americans
who lived in our district
and to monitor the reactions of Indians
especially Muslims living in our district.
I tracked down my wife
who had gone into emergency action
in her position in Korea as a MI officer.
We both reflected
that if she had not taken the job in Korea
she might have died that day
as she had been working in the ops center
at the pentagon which was destroyed.
Since it was shift work
if she had been on the early morning shift
it might have been game over for her.
Reflections on 9-11 9-11
9-11
The event that launched
The war on terror
That led to Afghanistan
Led to Iraq
Led to Syria
And so many other wars
Secret and not so secret
War on dissent at home
All because of 911
A true black swan event
That almost destroyed
Our country
And still has ramifications
All over the world
911
A day that truly
Will live
In infamy
9-11 unleashed Evil
world lurks in the deadliest places.
Evil came to town on 911
the day that evil swept over the world
a true Black Swan event
that transformed everything
splitting the world into a pre-9-11 world
and a post 9-11 world
unleashing the War on Terror, the wars in Afghanistan, the wars in Iraq, the war in Libya, the war in Syria, the wars in Africa, the horrors of ISIS, the horrors of the Taliban resurgent, the horrors of Al Qaeda and all the rest of the Muslim terrorists, the war in the streets of any big city, the war on Muslims, the war on Christians, the war on Jews, the apartheid in Palestine, the wars on dissent at home, the Arab Spring
so many things can be traced
to the impact of 9/11
one of the most unlikely events
of recent history
that transformed
everything
yes there was a pre-9-11 world
hard to imagine now
and a post 9-11 worldwide police state
on steroids
lost democracy at home
and abroad
we are still coping
with the damages unleashed
by the evil plane bombers
fulfilling their mad desires
their dictates from their mad god
transforming the world
unleashing evil
in the once-innocent world.
The Day After 9-11 U.S Visa Officer’s Perspective Poetic Blooming
9-11 changed everything
For the lowly visa officers
Around the world
Especially for American visa officers
Before 9-11
The emphasis was on efficiency
Issuing as many visas as possible
Refusing as few as possible
Looking the other way
At minor incidents of fraud
When in doubt
Just say yes
Terrorism was not a concern at all
No one anticipated
The horrible events of 9-11
All the hijackers
Had been issued visas
They were considered low-risk applicants
As most Saudi citizens were
Few overstayed
None wanted to work
Illegally in the U.S.
The students studied
Came back home
Saudi, the UAE, and Oman
Were about to be approved
For the visa waiver program
They met the criteria
Low refusal rates
Low overstay rates
Terrorism was not a concern
Although the CIA was blocking it
On 9-12 and afterward
Everything changed
Just say yes
Became just saying no
Fraud became a big concern
Terrorism is an overwhelming concern
Saudi, Oman, and UAE
Became overnight
Suspicious characters
Extreme vetting began
Years before Trump
Announced it
Interviewing everyone
Became the policy overnight
Biometrics were rushed to be deployed
Everyone including Kings
Must be enrolled
No exceptions
Zero tolerance of visa infractions
Became the norm
Both at State
and the new DHS
Airports became unfriendly nightmares
For foreign visitors
As did the embassies
Where visa officers
Were now free
To be mean, abrupt
Just say no
Became the motto
The officers had 2 minutes
To go through
the ever-expanding
Security checks etc
Anything at all
That took two more minutes
This led to a quit denial
Denials were seldom overcome
Even when it was obvious
That the visa
should have been an issue
The visa function almost moved
To the new neo-fascist
Department of Homeland Security
Nicknamed by its critics
As the Homeland Security Ministry
The homeland security department
Send visa security officers
Overseas to police the lax state department
Whose prior courtesy culture was mocked
The new meaning of everyone’s culture
Soon emerged
Everyone competed
To see who could be the meanest
Zero tolerance soon met zero common sense
Every applicant became a potential criminal
A potential security threat,
All Muslim applicants
Were seen as potential terrorists
All of this led
To the draconian visa policies
In the Trump era
The extreme vetting
The Muslim bans
The demonization of illegal immigrants
And legal immigration alike
The American first MAGA presidency
The chaotic unwinding of Afghanistan
The coming who lost Afghanistan debate
All of this is the culmination of years
Of the war on terror
All of this was the result of 9-11
The day that changed everything.
No Mas No More Excuses America!
I am writing this plead,
To my fellow Americans.
I am tired of the excuses
Tired of hearing
Your lame reasons,
For not getting a vaccination.
For not masking up,
For not taking covid seriously.
I am tired of hearing about
People dying
I am tired of hearing about gun violence,
I am tired of hearing about the west burning up,
The east flooding out,
The monster storms everywhere.
The politicians doing nothing at all
To solve any of these problems
Instead of playing games,
Acting as if all of these problems
Were beyond our control,
Like the weather
Can’t do anything about it,
Nothing but lies.
Yes America
I am tired.
I say again
I am tired
Of your lame excuses.
But this is something
We can all do something about it,
We can choose to get a free vaccine,
We can choose to continue to wear a mask,
We can choose to not kill someone with a gun.
We can choose to take the bus,
We can choose to drive an electric vehicle,
We can choose to love one another,
We can choose to save the world.
Or you can choose
To be a narcissistic self-centered asshole,
A real scumbag,
Following your hero,
The orange man,
Following him straight to hell.
Where do you think this will end?
It will not be a good outcome,
For any of us,
Especially for you, my friend.
You could die, your parents could die,
Your children could die.
And you have the power
To do something about.
Each of us
Has the power
To change the world.
But the change must come
From all of us.
We are all connected.
We are all God’s children
We are all each
Other’s brothers and sisters.
If none of this convinces you
Think what Jesus would tell you
I don’t need to tell you,
You know in your heart,
What needs to be done?
I conclude with this
I don’t want to hear it.
No
mas
excuses
just
do
the
right
thing
The life you save
Maybe your own.
Ode to our Firefighter Heroes
Watching the burning of the west
From my air-conditioned apartment
Halfway across the world in Korea,
I am filled with dismay
How the country has gotten
To this dark and dangerous place.
Where the world is burning up
Climate change is out of control
Gun violence epidemic raging everywhere
No one is safe anywhere from the rampaging gunmen.
The nation’s leaders
Refuse to do anything at all
As the world burns.
COVID spreads
And more people die from guns.
Yet there are American heroes
The firefighters, the first responders
The EMTs, the park rangers,
The doctors, the nurses
Truck drivers, bus drivers
The workers of America.
These American heroes
Including prisoners
Put their lives on the line
24/7.
Working in truly hellish conditions
In temperatures above 100 degrees
Breathing in deadly smoke.
Without enough supplies
Not enough water,
Not enough of anything.
But like all true heroes
They merely suit up
And go to work,
Doing whatever they can do
To save us all
From the burning of America.
From the COVID disaster
From the gun violence
The monster storms
The collapsing buildings.
I salute them
From the bottom of my heart
They are the true heroes
In our times,
Everyone should salute them
Everyone should applaud them
Everyone should thank them
For saving our lives.
Global Emergency
Our nation’s and world leaders
Should get their act together
a state of planetary emergency
Everyone must get together
And address the problem
Facing our world.
The world is facing a worldwide crisis
Everything is falling apart
The world is burning up.
Monster storms flooding Europe
Covid spreading everywhere
Inflation rearing its ugly head
Gun violence tearing us apart.
Politics fall apart
As politicians
Play the blame game,
Spreading toxic lies
And endless venom.
The sad reality
We are all to blame,
Every last one of us
shares the blame.
We have known for decades
That we could not continue
Down this path.
The solutions are obvious
We have known this for years.
It is time for the world leaders
Both government and corporate
To declare a state
of worldwide emergency.
Everyone must do their part
To save the world now.
The billionaire classes
Should rise up
And demonstrate real leadership
Rather than waste time
Flying into space.
And they should donate
Their vast fortunes
To save the world.
The time for games is over
The world is dying
Even the billionaires
May die as the world burns.
We are in this together
We are human brothers and sisters
Please do your part
To save the world.
Before the problems overwhelm us
Ending our world civilization
We must move to green energy now
Everyone must get vaccinated
Get the assault weapons off the street.
Institute real gun control measures.
Yet due to our political dysfunction
Nothing meaningful
Will be done.
As the politicians dither and dither
And nothing is done.
As the world burns
Civilization slowly dies
Democracy cannot survive.
The rise of the warlords
Is inevitable
The world ends
In fire, floods
And endless violence.
So many people
Will die.
Unless we all
Do our part
To save the world
The hour is getting late
But we have not met our fate
Despite the late date.
If we do nothing
Soon we will all
become ghosts
Joining the other ghosts
Of our recent past.
Joining the fire ghosts,
the corona ghosts,
the gun ghosts
the storm ghosts
And all the other ghosts.
Their voices
crying in the wind,
no one left alive
to mourn their death.
VAX up AMerica
please America
get vaccinated against COVID
It is a sad state of affairs
That so many of our fellow citizens
Just can’t be bothered
To get a free vaccine
That may save their lives
And the lives
of those around them
They simply don’t care
About the rest of us.
The anti-vax crusaders
Say that no one should be forced
To get a vaccine.
Yet we force people to wear seat belts
Force people to wear helmets
Force people to drive
within the speed limit
force people to get a license
to drive
Prohibit drunk driving.
All of these are an infringement
On our freedom
To be irresponsible and careless,
Yet we have decided
It is better to have people
Wear a seat belt,
To drive within the speed limit
And not drunk drive
Because these simple measures
Save lives.
The same thing applies to wearing a mask
And getting a vaccine
A small inconvenience to an indidual
Yet may save many lives.
In the end
I can only offer this plea
Many of you are Christians,
And you know what Jesus
Would say
Just shut up
Wear a mask
and get vaccinated
It is god’s will.
Just do it for me.
Please my fellow citizens
Please get a vaccine
To protect your life
To protect my life
And do the right thing.
Political ghosts haunt my dreams –
Last Night as I slept
Political ghosts of the past
Began to appear all over the TV
To offer their advice
How to handle these dark
And dangerous times
Richard Nixon
Yelled we need law and order
George Mc Govern said
We need to end endless wars
And rebuild America
John F Kennedy said
We must recover
Our American spirit
LBJ recalled the Great Society
FDR recalled the new Deal, world war 11
Saying The only thing we need to fear
Is fear itself
Truman recalled the lessons of the cold war
George Washington Recalled the visions
To form a more perfect union
Martin Luther King Recalled his dream
Lincoln advises us
“We are not enemies, but friends.
We must not be enemies, though passion may have strained,
it must not break our bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of memory will swell
when again touched, as surely they will be,
by the better angels of our nature.”
As I woke up from my dark dreams
Of the end of the American dream
I saw the dawning light
The nightmares of the political ghosts
Of the past faded into my past
And I looked up
And realized that it is up to us all
We can recover We can overcome anything
And become the America
That we were meant to be
And overcome these dark times
And consign these dark political ghosts
And let them rest in peace
As we recover the American dream
United as one nation
That is my hope and dream
That we can once again be
Can do anything Americans!
The pending elimination of APO privileges overseas for military retirees and their family members is on hold pending further review. the pressure campaign must have worked.
“We have just received word that non-SOFA retirees and widows losing their APO boxes directive has been temporarily rescinded. They are going to do more research and will decide within the next six months.
The message says, “Effective immediately: AMPS Message dated 06/09/2022, (Elimination of MPS Privilege’s Effective 24 August 22) is rescinded until further notice. MPSA will provide forthcoming guidance regarding authorized patrons within the next six months.”
This is NOT a final decision, just a stay of execution for up to six months. Everyone, whether personally affected or not, MUST keep contacting their congressional representatives and senators to get this injustice permanently overturned. If we relax now in six months non-SOFA retirees and widows may still lose their APO boxes.
Thank you to everyone who has sent messages and letters to your elected officials. Keep up the fight!
I sent the following letters to my Florida senators, the President, Vice President, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and the Director of Tricare to ask them to reverse two policies that negatively affect my life overseas as a retiree. We are about to lose access to the APO system and have been effectively kicked out of the military hospital system overseas. If you are able and concerned enough to join me in taking action, please do so. Where to send letters is listed at the end.
I will update this is I get any responses or if the policies are reversed.
Thanks for anything you can do.
Letter to Senator Rubio etc
senator Rubio
nancy jpg
biden jpg
Senator Scott
Dear Senator Rubio,
Re changes to Military APO system and Tricare for retirees
I am a long-term dedicated voter in Florida and have been a long-term supporter of you. I urgently need your help and respectfully urge you to stop and reverse two pending federal government policies that will negatively affect military retirees and their family members living overseas, which will happen on August 24, 2022. There are over a million American retirees overseas, and many of them, are registered voters in Florida like me. I will be very disappointed in you if you fail to take action to reverse these anti-military family and anti-retiree policies.
My wife retired from the US military as a major and I retired from the US foreign service and have been Florida residents voting in Florida since 2016 although we live in South Korea.
The first policy I wish to address is ending military APO privileges for retirees living overseas, and the second is Tricare requiring military retirees and family members to sign up for Medicaid part b even if they have other insurance, knowing full well that Medicare part b is useless overseas.
It is with great concern I write to you regarding the planned discontinuation of APO/FPO privileges for military retirees and widows living overseas. I have just been informed that my APO/FPO box and privileges will end on August 24, 2022. This is a devastating change that will affect every military retiree living overseas. Not only will it affect the veterans, but also their families and survivors. We have never left the US In our hearts, but it now appears the US Is about to leave us. We military veterans and widows living overseas use the APO/FPO privilege to receive not only mail, but also lifesaving medications, pension, and benefit checks, important Government correspondence, banking needs, and the ability to cast absentee ballots, just to name a few.
The alternative is the local foreign postal service or private companies such as FedEx. Most foreign postal systems are unfortunately replete with theft, loss, and misdirection of important mails and medications. Here in Korea, the local post office is inadequate and Amazon and other US firms will not ship internationally. Thus cutting off APO service means that we can’t easily shop by mail in the U.S.
The couriers are extremely expensive and at times also as ineffective as the postal systems. At no time in our history have Veteran benefits and privileges been so fragile as now.
In the past twenty years, Veterans indisputably earned and promised benefits to have been under attack ,once again as U.S. military veterans, we are being treated as second-class citizens because for various reasons we have chosen to live outside the US. We are still contributors to the economy of the country we served and remain patriots and advocates for the United States in the countries where we live. The term ex-pat does not mean any longer a patriot of the US.
Many have paid the ultimate price and have survivor spouses worldwide who also contribute. Just because we have chosen to live in quiet solitude, or because our loved ones hail from international locations, seems to be a reason to force us into the forgotten citizen group. I request you give your full attention to change and stop this injustice that is about to be perpetrated. Upon your joining the leadership of those who represent us, just like we who have served in the Armed Forces of America, you took an oath to defend and protect our laws and your fellow citizens.
I now request you honor that pledge and ask you submit legislation to prevent this drastic and extremely damaging change to a community of Americans who have served their country well. At a minimum, hold on to the execution of this action, pending a more in-depth review of the impact on veterans and their survivors worldwide.
The second issue is that Tricare is now requiring military retirees and family members to have Medicare Part B insurance if they wish to continue to use military health care facilities, even if they have alternative health care. Medicare does not require people to enroll in part B and if you have alternative insurance that is more than adequate for them.
The problem this poses for overseas retirees and their family members is that without signing up for Medicare Part B we are effectively cut off from using the military hospital system overseas. Part B is not usable overseas, so TRICARE is frankly ripping off military retirees and their family members who reside overseas.
I urge you to look into both of these issues that directly affect the lives of military retirees and family members, many of whom are residents and voters in Florida such as ourselves.
Thank you for reading our concerns and looking forward to your help in reversing these anti-retiree actions by the Federal government.
Thank You
Jake Aller, retired US foreign Service
Angela Lee, Retired US Army
FW: Update – Retirees and Widows Losing APO/FPO Mail Eligibility
Subject: Update – Retirees and Widows Losing APO/FPO Mail Eligibility
Thank you to everyone who has contacted their Senators, Congresspeople, and House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC). The more contacts that are made by concerned voters may stop military retirees and widows from losing their APO/FPO Mail Eligibility.
We are starting to hear from disgruntled retirees and widows threatening to never volunteer on the post again. We ask that you wait until the decision is final. We do a lot of good work for the garrisons in our free time saving them from having to hire people. If this does happen not volunteering would be fully warranted.
Those of you that have contacted the HVAC have probably received the message, “We recommend you reach out to the House Armed Services Committee”.
Attached is a word document provided by one of our retirees with our message in letter format and all the House Armed Services Committee’s senators and address. The PDF file has all letters formatted with their names and addresses. Just print, sign, and mail.
We just confirmed today with the IMCOM Pacific Postal Office that based on newly published DoDI 4525.09, Military Postal Service, retirees, widows, Red Cross, and others will be losing their overseas mail privileges on 24 August 2022. This was an Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and Military Postal Service Agency (MPSA) unilateral decision.
The impact this will have on the non-SOFA military retiree and widow population is enormous. Some Government mail and checks cannot be mailed to foreign addresses. TRICARE medication received in the mail will not be received. Absentee ballots cannot be mailed, and so forth.
We are asking everyone to contact their elected officials and the House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC) to voice their displeasure and concern.
– If you do not know your US address, it is the last known address you used in the US before coming to Korea.
– To contact your senators, go to https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm. In the drop-down box choose your state. Under the picture of your senator click on “Contact” and you will be taken to a fill-in-the-blank page to send a message. You will need to do this for each of your senators.
– To contact your congressperson, go to https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative. Enter your home of record zip code and click on the “envelope” link under their picture. You will be taken to a screen to enter your US address.
Follow the instructions and you will be taken to a fill-in-the-blank page to send a message.
– To contact the House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC), go to https://veterans.house.gov/contact/. Click on the “Contact Us” box and you will be taken to a fill-in-the-blank page to send a message.
Collective and individual failure to quickly contact elected officials will result in the loss of our APO/FPO privileges. Even if you are not personally affected you can write your elected officials and support your fellow veterans.
If you do not know what to write, you can cut and paste the below message:
It is with great concern I write to you regarding the planned discontinuation of APO/FPO privileges for military retirees and widows living overseas. I have just been informed that my APO/FPO box and privileges will end on August 24, 2022. This is a devastating change that will affect every military retiree living overseas. Not only will it affect the veterans, but also their families and survivors. We have never left the US In our hearts, but it now appears the US Is about to leave us. We military veterans and widows living overseas use the APO/FPO privilege to receive not only mail, but also lifesaving medications, pension, and benefit checks, important Government correspondence, banking needs, and the ability to cast absentee ballots, just to name a few. The alternative is the local foreign postal service or private companies such as FedEx. Most foreign postal systems are unfortunately replete with theft, loss, and misdirection of important mails and medications The couriers are extremely expensive and at times also as ineffective as the postal systems.
At no time in our history have Veteran benefits and privileges been so fragile as now. In the past twenty years Veterans indisputably earned and promised benefits to have been under attack., Once again as U.S military veterans, we are being treated as second-class citizens, because for various reasons we have chosen to live outside the US. We are still contributors to the economy of the country we served and remain patriots and advocates for the United States in the countries where we live. The term ex-pat does not mean any longer a patriot of the US.
Many have paid the ultimate price and have survivor spouses worldwide who also contribute. Just because we have chosen to live in quiet solitude, or because our loved ones hail from international locations, seems to be a reason to force us into the forgotten citizen group. I request you give your full attention to change and stop this injustice that is about to be perpetrated. Upon your joining the leadership of those who represent us, just like we who have served in the Armed Forces of America, you took an oath to defend and protect our laws and your fellow citizens. I now request you honor that pledge and ask you submit legislation to prevent this drastic and extremely damaging change to a community of Americans who have served their country well. At a minimum, hold on to the execution of this action, pending a more in-depth review of the impact on veterans and their survivors worldwide.
6 days agoThe change is scheduled to affect all Air/Army Post Office, or APO, and Fleet Post Office, or FPO, addresses worldwide. … Sunsetting mail privilegesfor overseas military retirees would force …
Additionally, Post-employment restrictions for all retired military officers and civilian employees who retire or separate from the service or government employment on or after Jan 1, 1991, have …
The change will not affect others with APO or FPO mail privileges on overseas military installations, including about 20,000 military retirees who have such addresses because of some other connection to the military community � having a Defense Department civilian job, or being married to an active-duty member assigned overseas, for example.
PartB is outpatient insurance that covers visits to a doctor’s office for routine checkups and minor procedures/treatments that do not require hospitalization. You never paid for PartB before …
Apr 9, 2022When you use TRICARE For Life, you don’t pay any enrollment fees, but you must pay Medicare PartB monthly premiums. Your PartB premium is based on your income. For more information visit or call Social Security at 800-772-1213 or 800-325-0778 . What you pay out of pocket for care depends on how it’s covered.
Jun 10, 2022Medicare Advantage plans provide all of your Part A and PartB services and usually Part D pharmacy coverage. You may pay a plan premium each month in addition to your Medicare PartB premium. You must get all your health care services from the Medicare Advantage plan’s network of providers. This doesn’t apply to emergency services.
Mar 4, 2022You must keep Medicare PartB to keep TRICARE. If you’re awarded disability on appeal The action you take if you don’t agree with a decision made about your benefit., you generally have a gap of six or more months between your Medicare Part A and PartB effective dates. If you have a PartB effective date of October 2009 or later, you’re …
Poetry Superhighway will publish my poem, “Thoughts on Visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum “On April 25, 2022. They had published my poem, “Never Again” in their 22nd annual Yom HaShoah edition in April 2020.
Dear Jake,
Thanks for sending work to Poetry Super Highway for us to consider for our 24th annual Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) issue.
We will be publishing your poem “Thoughts on Visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC ” in this issue, which will go online Saturday morning (Pacific) and officially published during the dates of April 25 – May 1, and then forever thereafter in our Past Poets of the Week Archive.
Congratulations and thanks very much for participating in this special annual project.
Thoughts on Visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC Never Again -published in April 2022 20th Yom HaShoah PSH special edition
Other Holocaust Poems submitted
Holocaust Remembrance in The Trump Era Holocaust Remembrance in the Biden Era
Thoughts on Visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC
holacaust-image-webp.webp April 23, 2022
San Adams
Had never been
To the Holocaust Museum,
Despite the fact
He had lived
And worked in DC for decades.
One day after he retired
He said to himself
It was long past time
To finally see the holocaust museum.
He went the week
After Charleston,
When the mob had chanted,
Jews will not replace us.
The museum affected him deeply
He had just confirmed
Through DNA
That he had at least 10 percent
Jewish ancestry
Among the 18 other nationalities
Swirling among his bloodlines.
Sam Adams was concerned
Those elements of antisemitism
We’re emerging among
The MAGA crowd.
But he dismissed
The fears that Trump
Was another Hitler
As liberal hyperbole.
It could not happen here
A new holocaust
Would never happen
But now he was not so sure.
Neo-Fascism Must Be Defeated Again
candles
In this day and age of fake news
And neo-fascism rising yet again
It is important to bear witness
To the undeniable fact
That the holocaust can never come again
That is what we must vow every day.
Never again!
The rest of the poems I submitted follow:
Holocaust Remembrance in The Trump Era
105236391_gettyimages-967655408-300×200-1.webp
While touring the Holocaust Museum
For the first time in his life,
Sam Adams
Encountered three young white MAGA boys.
Wearing Red hats and making
Sexually suggestive jokes About Jewish women
While they were touring the Holocaust.
One wondered if the Nazi guards
Were given an opportunity
To have sex with Jewish women
Before they were killed
Sam Adams was very angry
And wanted to confront the MAGA boys.
But finally decided what the hell
It probably would not
Make a difference,
They might think that he was just
An old Jewish man.
And dismiss his complaints.
The Holocaust Museum
Moved him deeply
Because he had just confirmed
Via DNA testing
That he indeed was part Jewish.
Maybe 10%.
He wondered what happened
To his Jewish Cousins
He didn’t even know he had.
And he vowed to himself.
That he would do
All he could to make sure
The world would
Never see another Holocaust.
Holocaust Remembrance in the Biden Era
anti-fascist-2541058__340.web
Sam Adams thought naively
That when Biden was elected
That the US had turned a corner.
The Trump-inspired
Anti-Semitism, discrimination,
Fear, hatred, and xenophobia.
Would gradually
Fadeaway
As a dark memory.
And that Americans
Would regain a sense of compassion,
Decency, hope, and love.
And a sense
That we are all in this together
As Americans.
Unfortunately, Sam thought
The MAGA Madness had not gone away,
Perhaps it was getting worse.
He was concerned that the recent
Anti-Asian violence could spread
Out of control.
And underlying
all that racism and xenophobia
Was anti-Semitism
Sam thought
If Trump becomes president again,
There’s a strong possibility
We could end up
with another Holocaust.
Perhaps this time targeted against
Asians, communists, blacks,
Coastal elites, democrats, Drug users,
foreigners, Hispanics, Gays,
Mexicans, Muslims, and socialists.
Of course, Jewish people
Would eventually
be rounded up.
Underlying all racism
Lies a deep vein
Of anti-Semitism.
Sam Adams felt depressed.
Realizing the Magna Madness
Was not over.
And another holocaust
Another final solution
Could emerge.
As America embraced
American Style fascism
Under a resurgent Trump
Or his successor demagogue.
For more information, please see the following links
View the full schedule. Today at the Museum Programs and Activities. View weekly schedule. Museum Exhibitions Permanent and Special Exhibitions. Admission and Tickets Instructions for getting timed passes. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW, Washington, DC 20024-2126 View Map.
https://nationaltoday.com › yom-HaShoah
Yom HaShoah -. April 27, 2022. History reminds us of not only what has passed, but it also narrates tales of sufferings and victories, and this is why we celebrate Yom HaShoah, which takes place on Nisan 27. If the 27th is adjacent to the Jewish Sabbath, the date shifts by a day. This year, it begins at sunset on April 27 and ends at sunset …
Yom HaShoah 2022 – Holocaust Memorial Day – יום השואה … https://www.hebcal.com › holidays › yom-HaShoah-2022
Yom HaShoah 2022 / יוֹם הַשּׁוֹאָה 5782 Holocaust Memorial Day ️. Yom HaShoah for Hebrew Year 5782 begins at sundown on Wednesday, 27 April 2022, and ends at nightfall on Thursday, 28 April 2022. Yom HaZikaron HaShoah ve-laG’vurah (יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה; “Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day”), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah …
Yom Hashoah 2022 – Calendar Date https://www.calendardate.com › yom_hashoah_2022.htm
Yom Hashoah for the year 2022 is celebrated/ observed on sundown of Wednesday, April 27th ending at sundown on Thursday, April 28. Yom Hashoah also called Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the lives of the Jewish people who died in the Holocaust of World War 2. This day is remembered in the Hebrew calendar on the 27th day of Nisan.
Yom Hashoah 2022: A Day to Remember | Touro University https://www.touro.edu › news–events › events › yom-HaShoah-042822.php
Zoom. The Touro College Hans Goldschmidt Institute for Human Rights and the Holocaust invites the community to our 2022 Yom Hashoah event for a day of remembrance. Survivor Maritza Shelley will share her story of what she endured in Hungary in 1944, and how she escaped to freedom with her family and eventually relocated to New York City in 1947.
Yom Hashoah 2022 ~ Justice After the Holocaust … https://www.torat-el.org › events › yom-HaShoah-2022-justice-after-the-holocaust
Thursday, April 28, 2022, 10:00 am – 11:00 am. Congregation Torat El is proud to co-sponsor the following Yom HaShoah program: Join Chhange for our annual commemoration of Yom HaShoah with featured speaker Eli Rosenbaum. Eli Rosenbaum is the longest-serving prosecutor and investigator of Nazi criminals in world history, having worked on these …
Please join us for two events on Thursday, April 28th to commemorate Yom HaShoah: 1) Resurfacing Memories of the Holocaust in Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia Thursday, April 28, 2022, beginning at 9:30 am EDT
Yom Hashoah: 2022 Holocaust Commemoration events | Jewish News http://www.jewishnewsva.org › yom-HaShoah-2022-holocaust-commemoration-events
Yom Hashoah Commemoration. Wednesday, April 27, 6:45 pm. Congregation Beth El. Masks are required. Holocaust survivor, Dr. Al Munzer, is this year’s guest speaker. Born in the Netherlands in 1941, Munzer and his two older sisters were entrusted to two different Gentile families for their protection when their parents sensed peril.
National Yom HaShoah UK Commemoration 2022. Please join us on the evening of Wednesday 27 th April as Yom HaShoah begins, for an online, live National Holocaust Commemoration event, which you will be able to watch here. You can watch last year’s National Holocaust Commemoration, along with other educational content on our YouTube channel.
History Corner – Yom HaShoah 2022 – Temple Emanuel – Rochester https://emanuelrochester.org › history-corner-Yom-hashoah-2022
History Corner – Yom HaShoah 2022. By Carl Wetzstein. In the past, I’ve written about my experiences in the Holocaust and also spoke about Righteous Gentiles, people who helped save Jews during the Holocaust. The accounts of the Righteous Gentiles were second-hand, based on books and articles that I read. This History Corner is based on …
Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Memorial Day – Israel https://www.twinkl.com › event › yom-hashoah-2022
Yom Hashoah April 27, 2022 – April 28, 2022. Homepage » Teaching Topic & Event Resource Calendar » April » Yom Hashoah. What is Yom Hashoah? Yom Hashoah is the annual day of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. It is the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day, observed by Jews worldwide.
I have been fascinated by the color of politics around the world, especially intrigued by how the color schemes flipped in the U.S. from red symbolizing the left to red symbolizing the right in recent decades. I noticed that this shift has occurred in both Japan and Korea in recent decades as well.
I explore the color of politics starting in the US, where I have lived in blue states, purple states, and red states, then looking at Korea where I currently reside since I retired in 2016, and have been coming to for decades since I first went there in 1979 in the Peace Corps, and finally look at the color of politics in other countries.
And I explore what does it mean that the color of politics scheme has flipped – In the U.S., and a few other places ? I recall growing up Red was for communism, blue for conservative, and green well has always been green. When did this occur?
The underlying data is taken from various sources, cited in the endnotes. My commentary is labeled “comment”. My data sources mostly talked about political movements by color, I re-arranged that to discuss political movements by country. Thought that was a more useful analysis.
In the U.S.
A key exception to the convention of red to mean socialism is the United States. Since about the year 2000, the mass media have associated red with the Republican Party, even though the Republican Party is a conservative party (see red states and blue states).[24] This use is possibly entrenched, as many political organizations (for example, the website RedState) now use the term. Conservative parties such as the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and the People Power Party of South Korea also adopted red as their political color in recent years.
“Since around the 2000 United States presidential election, red states and blue states have referred to states of the United States whose voters predominantly choose either the Republican Party (red) or Democratic Party (blue) presidential and senatorial candidates.[1] Since then, the use of the term has been expanded to differentiate between states being perceived as liberal and those perceived as conservative.[not verified in body] Examining patterns within states reveals that the reversal of the two parties’ geographic bases has happened at the state level, but it is more complicated locally, with urban-rural divides associated with many of the largest changes.[2]
Origins of the Color Scheme
The colors red and blue are also featured on the United States flag. Traditional political mapmakers, at least throughout the 20th century, had used blue to represent the modern-day Republicans, as well as the earlier Federalist Party. This may have been a holdover from the Civil War, during which the predominantly Republican north was considered “blue”.[5] However, at that time, a maker of widely-sold maps accompanied them with blue pencils to mark Confederate force movements, while red was for the union.[6]
Later, in the 1888 presidential election, Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison used maps that coded blue for the Republicans, the color perceived to represent the Union and “Lincoln‘s Party”, and red for the Democrats.[7] The parties themselves had no official colors, with candidates variously using either or both of the national color palette of red and blue (white being unsuitable for printed materials).
There was one historical use, associated with the boss rule, of blue for Democrats and red for Republicans: in the late 19th century and early 20th century, Texas county election boards used color-coding to help Spanish-speaking and illiterate voters identify the parties;[8] however, this system was not applied consistently in Texas and was not replicated in any other state. In 1908, The New York Times printed a special color map, using blue for Democrats and yellow for Republicans, to detail Theodore Roosevelt‘s 1904 electoral victory.[9] That same year, a color supplement included in a July issue of the Washington Post used red for Republican-leaning states, blue for Democratic-leaning states, yellow for “doubtful” states, and green for territories that had no presidential vote.[10]”
Contemporary Use
“The advent of color television in America in the late 1950s and early 1960s prompted television news reporters to rely on color-coded electoral maps, though sources conflict as to the conventions they followed. One source claims that in the elections before 2000 every state that voted for Democratic candidates but one had been coded red. It further claims that from 1976 to 2004 in an attempt to avoid favoritism in color-coding the broadcast networks standardized the convention of alternating every four years between blue and red the color used for the incumbent president‘s party.[10][13]
According to another source, in 1976, John Chancellor, the anchorman for NBC Nightly News, asked his network’s engineers to construct a large illuminated map of the United States. The map was placed in the network’s election-night news studio. If Jimmy Carter, the Democratic candidate that year, won a state, it lit up in red whereas if Gerald Ford, the incumbent Republican president, carried a state, it was in blue.[1] The feature proved to be so popular that, four years later, all three major television networks used colors to designate the states won by the presidential candidates, though not all using the same color scheme. NBC continued its color scheme (blue for Republicans) until 1996.[1] NBC newsman David Brinkley famously referred to the 1980 election map outcome showing Republican Ronald Reagan‘s 44-state landslide in blue as resembling a “suburban swimming pool”.[14]
Since the 1984 election, CBS has used the opposite scheme: blue for Democrats, red for Republicans. ABC used yellow for Republicans and blue for Democrats in 1976, then red for Republicans and blue for Democrats in 1980, 1984, and 1988. In 1980, when John Anderson ran a relatively high-profile campaign as an independent candidate, at least one network provisionally indicated that they would use yellow if he were to win a state. Similarly, at least one network would have used yellow to indicate a state won by Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, though neither of them did claim any states in any of these years.”
By 1996, color schemes were relatively mixed, as CNN, CBS, ABC, and The New York Times referred to Democratic states with the color blue and Republican ones as red, while Time and The Washington Post used the opposite scheme.[15][16][17] NBC used the color blue for the incumbent party, which is why blue represented the Democrats in 2000.
In the days following the 2000 election, whose outcome was unclear for some time after election day, major media outlets began conforming to the same color scheme because the electoral map was continually in view, and conformity made for easy and instant viewer comprehension. On election night that year, there was no coordinated effort to code Democratic states blue and Republican states red; the association gradually emerged. Partly as a result of this eventual and near-universal color-coding, the terms “red states” and “blue states” entered popular use in the weeks following the 2000 presidential election. After the results were final with the Republican George W. Bush winning, journalists stuck with the color scheme, as The Atlantic‘s December 2001 cover story by David Brooks entitled, “One Nation, Slightly Divisible”, illustrated.[18]”
Thus, red and blue became fixed in the media and many people’s minds, although the Democratic and Republican parties had not officially chosen colors.[19] Some Republicans argue the GOP should retain its historic link with blue since most center-right parties worldwide are associated with blue. On March 14, 2014, the California Republican Party officially rejected Red and adopted blue as its color. Archie Tso, The New York Times graphics editor who made the choice when the Times published its first color presidential election map in 2000, provided a nonpolitical rationale for retaining the red–Republican link, explaining that “Both ‘Republican’ and ‘red’ start with the letter ‘R.’”[20]”
In the United States, the two major political parties use national colors, i.e. red, white and blue. Historically, the only common situation in which it has been necessary to assign a single color to a party has been in the production of political maps in graphical displays of election results. In such cases, there had been no consistent association of particular parties with particular colors. Between the early 1970s and 1992, most television networks used blue to denote states carried by the Democratic Party and red to denote states carried by the Republican Party in presidential elections. A unified color scheme (blue for Democrats, red for Republicans) began to be implemented with the 1996 presidential election; in the weeks following the 2000 election, there arose the terminology of red states and blue states.
Political observers latched on to this association, which resulted from the use of red for Republican victories and blue for Democratic victories on the display map of a television network. As of November 2012, maps for presidential elections produced by the U.S. government also use blue for Democrats and red for Republicans.[78] In September 2010, the Democratic Party officially adopted an all-blue logo.[26] Around the same time, the official Republican website began using a red logo.
The conservative Blue Dog Coalition within the Democratic Party adopted the color blue at its founding before the 2000 election solidified the red-blue convention.
There is some historical use of blue for Democrats and red for Republicans: in the late 19th century and early 20th century, Texas county election boards used color-coding to help Spanish speakers and illiterates identify the parties,[79] but this system was not applied consistently in Texas and was not picked up on a national level. For instance, in 1888, Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison used maps that coded blue for the Republicans, the color Harrison perceived to represent the Union, and “Lincoln‘s Party” and red for the Democrats.[80]
As the other TV operations went to full color, they too added vivid maps to their election night extravaganzas. But they didn’t agree on a color scheme, so viewers switching between channels might see Ronald Reagan’s landslide turning the landscape blue on NBC and CBS but red on ABC.”
In the United States, the color blue has been associated with the liberalDemocratic Party since around the 2000 presidential election, when most of the major television networks used the same color scheme for the parties.[24][25] This makes the United States an exception to the general rule that blue represents conservative parties; the major conservative party in the United States, the Republican Party, uses red. In 2010, the party unveiled a blue official logo[26] (see red states and blue states).
Now, in America, red has become the color of conservatism. An accident of media history, the current colors are evidence of the randomness and instability of political color codes – though it’s unlikely Donald Trump will be selling blue “Make America Great Again” baseball caps any time soon.”
Purple Swing States
Purple is also unofficially used in the United States to denote a “swing state“, swing district, or county. (i.e. one contested frequently between the Republican Party, whose unofficial color is red; and the Democratic Party, whose unofficial color is blue). Purple is also used by centrists to represent a combination of beliefs belonging to the Republicans (red) and the Democrats (blue). It has also been used to reference Purple America, a term used in contrast to “blue” or “red”, noting the electoral differences nationwide are observed more on discrepancies instead of unity (see red states and blue states).
All states contain considerable amounts of both liberal and conservative voters (i.e., they are “purple”) and only appear blue or red on the electoral map because of the winner-take-all system used by most states in the Electoral College.[3][4] However, the perception of some states as “blue” and some as “red” was reinforced by a degree of partisan stability from election to election—from the 2000 election to the 2004 election, only three states changed “color” and as of 2020, fully 35 out of 50 states have voted for the same party in every presidential election since the red-blue terminology was popularized in 2000, with 10 swing states as of the 2020 election. Although many red states and blue states stay in the same categorical placement for some time, they may also switch from blue to red or from red to blue—over time, spanning many years.”
Yellow
In the United States, the color yellow was the official color of the suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[74] In the 21st century, the Libertarian Party‘s official branding colors are gold-yellow, grey, and black.[75] The gold-yellow color is prominent because of the historical association with classical liberalism and a gold-backed currency and free markets.
Green
Comment: the color green has become identified with the green party, and to some extent with the democratic party as well. Although formal green party candidates have not done that well electorally speaking, the green movement has been quite successful politically. Green has also been the color of pro-marijuana legalization movements in the U.S. and elsewhere. and the green color was also used by agrarian and populist movements in the late 19th century. End Comment
Interestingly, Japan and Korea have also adopted the US color scheme, with liberal parties adopting blue and conservative parties adopting red colors. This is quite a contrast to when I first visited Korea in the late 70’s when red “빨간 Balgan) ” was still used an an insult to describe some one who was pro-communist.
In Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) uses green as its official color, though in recent years it has changed to use red.
Korea
“As in most other places of the world, colors are a very powerful tool used in Korean politics for delivering the right messages to the people.
Red – reminds people of communism. It is also the color of labor strikes and management disputes.
Blue and green represent stability, honesty, harmony, and growth. President Myung Bak Lee often wore light blue for this very meaning along with an emphasis on economic growth.
Vivid yellow – this happens to be the most successful political color in Korea. Two former presidents (Moo-Hyun Rho and Dae-Jung Kim) chose this color to emphasize a message of hope and peace.
FIFA World Cup and its influence on the popularity of red colors in Korea
Red had many negative perceptions in the past for Koreans, especially in politics and industry. Mainly, it symbolized the communist ideology, riots, labor unions, and unrest. However, the FIFA world cup of 2002 (Korea-Japan) gave the color a whole different symbolic meaning, and it started being viewed as the color of vitality, energy, joy, and festivity. Koreans now believe that red evokes passion and excitement in people and connects them in oneness.”
Comment: Starting in 2000 or so Koreans also adopted the blue/red colors to describe domestic politics, departing from the traditional use of red for left and blue for right-wing political parties. The most recent election featured a dramatic split in Korean politics, the eastern side of the county was red and the western side was blue. The southwest was solid blue – 80 percent for the liberal party. Seoul and Incheon were purple but leading blue, and the SE the traditional homeland of conservative parties was solid red.
In South Korea, traditionally blue was used by conservative parties. In 2013, blue has adopted by the Liberal Democratic Party of Korea (previously used as green and yellow), while the conservative party change its color from blue to red.
“This unintended color-coding of American politics reversed the political associations of red and blue that exist almost everywhere else in the world.
This association has the potential to confuse foreign observers in that, as described above, red is traditionally a left-wing color (as used with the Democratic Socialists of America), while blue is typically associated with right-wing politics.[1] This is further complicated by the diversity of factions in the Democratic Party ranging from conservatives to right-libertarians to democratic socialists alongside the dominant centrist and social liberal elements of the party that outside the United States often each uses different political colors.”
“The recent (21st century) association of colors in American politics lies contrary to the long-standing conventions of political color in most other countries whereby red symbols (such as the red flag or red star) are associated with left-wing politics.[11] Indeed, as late as the 1990s, Democrats were often represented by red and Republicans by blue.[1] According to The Washington Post, journalist Tim Russert coined these terms during his televised coverage of the 2000 presidential election.[12] The 2000 election was not the first during which the news media used colored maps to depict voter preferences in the various states, but it was the first time a standard color scheme took hold. In previous elections, the color assignments or even the actual colors used were often different.”
The Choice Of Colors In This Divide May Appear Counter-Intuitive To Non-American Observers, As In Most Countries, Red Is Associated With Socialist, Communist, Or Social Democratic Parties, While Blue Is Associated With Conservative Parties. For Example, The Major Center-Right Conservative Parties In Germany, The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Italy, Spain And France All Use Blue Or Its Shades (Whether Officially Or Unofficially) Whereas The Major Socialist, Communist, Or Social Democratic Parties In Each Country Are Associated With Red.
If The U.S. Followed Such A Pattern, Blue Would Be Used For The Republicans And Red For The Democrats. However, The Current U.S. Scheme Has Become So Ingrained In The American Election System That Foreign Sources Who Cover U.S. Elections, Such As The BBC, Der Spiegel, And El Mundo Follow With The Red-Republican, Blue-Democratic Scheme For U.S. Elections.[49][5
Parties in different countries with similar ideologies sometimes use similar colors. As an example the color red symbolizes left-wing ideologies in many countries (leading to such terms as “Red Army” and “Red Scare“), while the color blue is often used for conservatism, the color yellow is most commonly associated with liberalism and right-libertarianism, and Green politics is named after the ideology’s political color.[2][3]
The political associations of a given color vary from country to country, and there are exceptions to the general trends.[2][3] For example, red has historically been associated with the monarchy or the Church, but over time gained an association with leftist politics, while the United States differs from other countries in that conservativism is associated with red and liberalism with blue.[2][3]
Politicians making public appearances will often identify themselves by wearing rosettes, flowers, or ties in the color of their political party.”
By Country/Group
Agrarian Movements (Green)
Green has sometimes also been linked to agrarian movements, such as the Populist Party, in the U.S. in the 1890s and the current-day Nordic Agrarian parties, as well as the National Party of Australia, a conservative party traditionally representing regional and agricultural interests.[37] The International Agrarian Bureau, though often known as the “Green International”, did not formally endorse the color, although its successor, called International Peasant Union, was represented by a clover.[38]
It has been used to represent the Purple governments of Belgium and the Netherlands, formed by an alliance of red social-democratic and blue liberal parties.
“In Brazil, the right-wing populist and formerly social-democratic Brazilian Labor Party uses black. Black is also the color of the far-left Popular Unity
In Australia, yellow is used to represent the right-wing, nationalist United Australia Party when it was revived in 2013. Before its dissolution in 1945 as the major conservative party, it was represented as blue.
In Canada, Orange is the official color of the social-democratic New Democratic Party. During Jack Layton‘s leadership, green was used as their accent color; The logo was a green maple leaf with orange “NDP” lettering. Currently, light blue is used as their accent color although it seldom appears and is not included in the logo (the current logo is an orange maple leaf with orange “NDP” lettering).[52]
Yellow is the customary color of Canadians, with blue and white, the other colors in the flag of the Canary Islands, also being used.
China
The assertive red flag would become still more visible in the 20th century as the
triumphal emblem of post-revolutionary Russia and Communist China, which, along with the large Red armies and the Little Red Book, fueled the Red Scare in the United States.
Comments: Pro-democracy groups have tended to adopt the blue color to represent their movement, and green represents environmental movements. End comments
In the Dominican Republic, the Dominican Liberation Party logo is a yellow five-pointed star on a purple background. It was originally a leftist party but today the party is seen gravitating towards a more centrist platform.
Environmental movements (Green)
Comment: Green has become associated with environmental movements across the world, in the US, Europe, and Asia there are active third-party environmental movements and parties, although they have had little electoral success, they have had considerable influence. End Comments
France
Le Bonnet Rouge’ (‘The Red Hat’) was the name of an anti-government French magazine in the early 20th century. Wikimedia Commons
The bonnet rouge – the soft red cap worn by the French revolutionaries – symbolized their fervor and their solidarity. It was also a defiant appropriation of the red color worn by the government’s supporters. But it would come to be solely the color of the French left, and after the revolution at the end of the 18th century, red remained their color. When the radicals briefly controlled Paris in 1848 and again in 1871, they raised their red flag over the Hôtel de Ville.
. Later it was used by the Whites who fought against the communist “Reds” in the Russian Civil War, because some of the Russian “Whites” had similar goals to the French “Whites” of a century earlier (although, it is worth noting that the Whites included many different people with many ideologies, such as monarchists, liberals, anti-communist social democrats, and others).
The yellowvests protests or yellow jackets protests ( French: Mouvement des gilets jaunes, pronounced [muvmɑ̃ de ʒilɛ ʒon]) are a series of populist grassroots weekly protests in France, at first for economic justice and later for institutional political reforms, that began in France on 17 November 2018.
“In Austria blue is heavily associated with the right-wing populistFreedom Party and with pan-Germanism. It is the Freedom Party’s official color, and its members are generally referred to as “blues” in the media and in colloquial speech.[16] The blue cornflower was a national symbol of Germany in the 19th century, often associated with Prussia. It later became a symbol for Pan-German nationalists in Austria, such as Georg Ritter von Schenirer’s Alldeutsche Vereinigung. In 1930s Austria the cornflower was also worn by members of the then illegal NSDAP, as a secret symbol and identifier.[17] After 1945, MPs of the Freedom Party wore cornflowers on their lapels at the openings of the Austrian parliament, until they switched to the more “Austrian” Edelheit in 2017.[18]”
In Germany, although the official color of the left-wing party Die Linke is red, mass media uses magenta as the party color to prevent confusion with the center-left Social Democratic Party whose party color is red.
In Israel, the color orange has become the dominant color of the right-wing, with an emphasis on the religious right. This is when, from 2004, the color became the leader of a protest against the disengagement plan, and became identified with the right-wing camp.
Saffron is traditionally associated with Hinduism, Hindutva, and the Hindu nationalist movement.[67] S*affron was chosen because, in Hinduism, the deep saffron color is associated with sacrifice, religious abstinence, the quest for light, and salvation. Saffron or “Bhagwat” is the most sacred color for the Hindus and is often worn by Sanyasis who have left their home in search of the ultimate truth.
Italy
In Italy, black is the color of fascism because it was the official color of the National Fascist Party. As a result, modern Italian parties would not use black as their political color; however, it has been customary to use black to identify the neo-fascistItalian Social Movement.[10]”
Comment: A staple of the right-wing anti-UN movement in the US has been the claim that black UN helicopters are being used in various anti-government illegal surveillance operations. End comment
Iran
In Iran, green has been used by the Iranian Green Movement, a political movement that arose after the 2009 Iranian presidential election, in which protesters demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office.
Latin America
Red is also the traditional color of liberal parties in Latin America and was the color used, for example, in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Uruguay for liberal parties.
In Europe and Latin America, red is also associated with parties of social democracy and often their allies within the labor movement, a symbol of common solidarity among leftists.
In Latin America, it is not unusual for left-wing social democratic parties to use yellow, as red was the traditional color of liberals, especially in countries with prominent red-using liberal parties like Uruguay, Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, and Costa Rica.
Ireland
In the Republic of Ireland, blue is associated with the center-right Fine Gael party, going back to the Blueshirts, a quasi-fascist uniformed group that merged into the party in 1932. “Blueshirts” is a common derogatory term for Fine Gael, and they often use blue in party materials.[20][21][22]
In Malaysia, yellow was used by Berish (The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections).
Mexico
In Mexico, orange is not linked to Christian democratic movements (the Christian democratic party Partido Action Nacional uses blue). Instead, it is linked to the center-left secular party Movimiento Ciudadano.
Netherlands
It has been used to represent the Purple governments of Belgium and the Netherlands, formed by an alliance of red social-democratic and blue liberal parties.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, the Electoral Commission rejected a proposed orange logo[53] for being likely to confuse or mislead voters by being too similar to the color used by the country’s electoral agencies.[54]
“That arrangement was consistent with the habit of many texts and reference books, which tended to use blue for Republicans in part because blue was the color of the Union in the Civil War. Blue is also typically associated with the more conservative parties in Europe and elsewhere.
“In most of Latin America, blue is used as a color of anti-feminism and, more specifically, anti-abortion. This color was used as a response to the feminist/pro-abortion green. This originated in Argentina.[27]”
Green is often associated with pro-choice movements, the color started being used in Argentina as a symbol of third-wave feminism and abortion rights, with a green scarf as a symbol.
“In Russia, black was used for monarchism and nationalist movements, such as the Black Hundreds before their defeat.[12]”
Later Whites fought against the communist “Reds” in the Russian Civil War, because some of the Russian “Whites” had similar goals to the French “Whites” of a century earlier (although, it is worth noting that the Whites included many different people with many ideologies, such as monarchists, liberals, anti-communist social democrats, and others).
Because of its use by anti-communist forces in Russia, the color white came to be associated in the 20th century with many different anti-communist and counter-revolutionary groups,[68] even those that did not support absolute monarchy (for example, the Finnish “Whites” who fought against the socialist “Reds” in the civil war following the independence of Finland). In some revolutions, red is used to represent the revolutionaries, and white is used to represent the supporters of the old order, regardless of the ideologies or goals of the two sides.
In Spain, orange is used by Citizens, a liberal party that opposes Catalan separatism. This is in contrast to the yellow used by Catalan separatism (see below).
“South Africa has adopted blue for liberal parties and red for conservative parties.
In South Africa, blue is usually associated with liberal political parties, the most popular being the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party. The color blue was also used by the United Party, from which the Progressive Party (the most senior ancestor of the Democratic Alliance) split in 1959.[23]”
In the United Kingdom, for example, the Conservative party color is blue, while the unofficial anthem of the Labor Party begins “The people’s flag is deepest red.”
Some of the established political parties use or have used different color variations in certain localities. This was common in British politics up to the 1970s. The traditional color of the Penrith and the Border Conservatives was yellow, rather than dark blue, even in the 2010 election Conservative candidates in Penrith and the neighboring constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale wore blue and yellow rosettes. In Northeast England, the Conservatives traditionally used red, Labor green, and the Liberals blue and orange. In parts of East Anglia, the Conservatives used pink and blue, whilst in Norwich, their colors were orange and purple. The Liberals and Conservatives used blue and red respectively in West Wales, while in parts of Cheshire the Liberals were red and Labor yellow. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Tories used orange in Birmingham, pink in Whitby and red in East Worcestershire, whilst the Whigs were blue in Kendal, purple in Marlborough, and orange in Wakefield.[77] The traditional color of the Warwickshire Liberals was green, rather than orange.
In the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, red is also the color of the labor movement and the Labor (spelled Labor in Australia) parties in those countries. The use of red as a symbol is referenced in the British Labor Party’s anthem, The Red Flag.[65]
In the heyday of the British Empire before 1960, maps, globes, and atlases typically used red or pink to designate the British Empire or its Commonwealth.[66] As soon as a colony became independent, it needed its distinctive color and the practice died out.
In the politics of the United Kingdom, white represents independent politicians such as Martin Bell.
Venezuela
In Venezuela blue represents the Democratic Unity Roundtable, the large multi-ideological coalition of opposition parties, probably as a counterpart to PSUV‘s red.
Other Uses Of Political Color
Black
During the golden age of piracy, the black flags of pirates such as Blackbeard and Calico Jack became popular symbols of piracy. The flags represent death and no quarter to those who did not surrender. The black flag of the jolly roger, used by Calico Jack turned into a popular and recognizable symbol of pirates, particularly of pirates of the Americas.[7][8] The skull and bones also became a hazardous symbol to display poisons such as cyanide, Zyklon B, and other toxic substances. The black flag of piracy would later influence the symbols of anarchism, such as the symbols of the Free territory and the Ronstadt rebellion. The rise of internet piracy led to the symbols of the golden age of piracy becoming widely adopted, becoming the symbols of pirate sites such as The Pirate Bay.
Brown is sometimes used to describe the opposite of green parties, that is to describe parties that care little about pollution.[29]
Buff was the color of the Whig faction in British politics from the early 18th century until the middle of the 19th century. As such, it is sometimes used to represent the current political left (in opposition to blue, which represented the Tories and then the Conservatives and political right).[30]
Grey
Grey is sometimes used by parties that represent the interests of pensioners and senior citizens, such as “The Greys” in Germany.[31]
Grey is often used to represent independent politicians. However, in the UK, white is used to represent independent politicians.[33]
The Esperanto movement makes wide use of green in its symbolism, including the language’s flag which is known as the Verdi Flago (literally Green Flag)
Fern green is occasionally used by political organizations and groups who advocate the legalization of the medicinal use of marijuana.[35]
Sea green was used as a symbol by members of the Levelers in 17th-century Britain and for this reason, it is occasionally used to represent radical liberalism.[36]
Green has sometimes also been linked to agrarian movements, such as the Populist Party, in the U.S. in the 1890s and the current-day Nordic Agrarian parties, as well as the National Party of Australia, a conservative party traditionally representing regional and agricultural interests.[37] The International Agrarian Bureau, though often known as the “Green International”, did not formally endorse the color, although its successor, called International Peasant Union, was represented by a clover.[38]
Magenta
Magenta is a color that tends to replace yellow for liberal and centrist parties and organizations in Europe.[45] It is not to be confused with the socialist or social-democratic use of the color pink.
Orange is often used to represent the mutualist current in anarchist politics, as a middle ground between pro-market currents such as anarcho-capitalism (associated with the color yellow of liberalism) and anti-capitalist currents such as anarcho-syndicalism and anarcho-communism (associated with the color red of communism and socialism).[50]
Humanism frequently uses orange for representation. It is the color of the Humanist International, as well as the humanist parties in Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, and other humanist organizations.[51]
Pink
Pink is sometimes used by social democratic parties, such as in France and Portugal. The more traditional color of social democracy is red (because social democracy is descended from the democratic socialist movement), but some countries have large social democratic parties alongside large socialist or communist parties, so it would be confusing for them all to use red.[55] In such cases, social democrats are usually the ones who give up red in favor of a different color. Pink is often chosen because it is seen as a softer, less aggressive version of red, in the same way, that social democracy is more centrist and capitalistic than socialism. This is also the origin of the colloquial term “pinko“.[dubious – discuss][citation needed]
In some European nations and the United States, pink is associated with homosexuality and the pink flag is used as a symbol in support of civil rights for LGBT people,[56] it is commonly used to represent queer anarchism. This use originates in Nazi German policy of appending pink triangles to the clothing of homosexual prisoners.
Comment: Pink or PInko was commonly used as insult in the U.S. and elsewhere to desribe communists End Comment
Purple
Although purple has some older associations with monarchism, it is the most prominent color that is not traditionally connected to any major contemporary ideology. As such, it is sometimes used to represent a mix of different ideologies or new protest movements that are critical of all previously-existing parties.
Purple is often associated with feminism and when combined with black, is often used to represent anarcha-feminism.
In Europe, purple tends to be used for movements, parties, and governments that are neither clearly right nor left.[57] The color is also used by the European federalist party Volt.
As disccused above, Purple is used to discuss political swing states and districts in the U.S.
Red
Red is often associated with the left, especially socialism and communism.[2] The oldest symbol of socialism (and by extension communism) is the Red Flag, which dates back to the French Revolution in the 18th century and the revolutions of 1848. Before this nascence, the color red was generally associated with the monarchy or the Church due to the symbolism and association of Christ‘s blood. The color red was chosen to represent the blood of the workers who died in the struggle against capitalism. All major socialist and communist alliances and organizations—including the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Internationals—used red as their official color. The association between the color red and communism is particularly strong. Communists use red much more often and more extensively than other ideologies use their respective traditional colors.
Comment: As noted above, “red’ used to represent left-wing parties in the U.S until the 1980’s when the current association of Red with conservative republican party came to be the dominant narrative in the U.S. End Comment
Historically, it was associated with support for absolute monarchy, starting with the supporters of the Bourbon dynasty of France because it was the dynasty’s color. Partly due to this association, white also came to be associated with Jacobitism, itself allied with the Bourbons. White cockades, white ladies’ gloves, and Rosa pimpinellifolia (the ‘burnet’ or ‘Stuart’ rose) symbolized support for the exiled House of Stuart. Later it was used by the Whites who fought against the communist “Reds” in the Russian Civil War, because some of the Russian “Whites” had similar goals to the French “Whites” of a century earlier (although, it is worth noting that the Whites included many different people with many ideologies, such as monarchists, liberals, anti-communist social democrats, and others).
Orange since 2004 has represented Post-Communist Democratic Revolutions in Eastern Europe such as the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine.[49] This gave the color orange a certain association with radical anti-authoritarian politics in some countries
Russia, China, and Vietnam[4] share the view that color revolutions are the “product of machinations by the United States and other Western powers” and pose a vital threat to their public and national security.[5]”
To uncover the roots of American colors, it’s important to look back in history at the British political parties and their color schemes. In the United Kingdom, blue is the color of the Conservative Party, and in fact, is the color used by many right-leaning political outfits around the world.
The History Of The Colors Of The Us Political Parties Why Democrats Are Blue and Republicans Are Redland Why Itâs the Opposite Everywhere else the history of the colors of the U.S. political parties is rich. According to the article The Color of Politics, It got started on TV, the original electronic visual, when NBC, the first all-color…
Up to 16,777,216 different colors! To map out political orientations, we use the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color wheel. The RGB color wheel is a tool commonly used by graphic designers and web developers to create unique color schemes on projects. The RGB color wheel functions by using different combinations of varying shades of red, green, and blue …
Color is more than just the reflection of light; it is a political tool used to persuade, encourage, and lead the masses to commit to decisions they may not otherwise make. In an earlier article, we examined how the Democrats and Republicans got their colors and how the politicization of blue and red comes with connotations that spur us to action.
This unintended color-coding of American politics reversed the political associations of red and blue that exist almost everywhere else in the world. In the United Kingdom, for example, the …
The color associated with the Republican Party is red, though not because the party chose it. The association between red and Republican began with the advent of color television and network news on Election Day several decades ago and has stuck with the GOP ever since. You’ve heard the terms red state, for example.
Summary
The US convention of referring to political parties by color, blue for democratic, red for conservative, green for environmental is not universal, it first came about in the late ’90s and has become standard in the U, S, it is becoming more common in other countries such as Korea and Japan, but most countries continue to use the color scheme of red for socialist/left, and blue for conservative parties.
this is a big shout out to Writers Beware – one of my favorite sites. they do a phenomenal job of alerting the writing community to literary scams. They are very responsive to inquires. I check their data base frequently and you should too.
Welcome to the new home of the Writer Beware blog!
After many years on the Blogger platform, we have finally transitioned to WordPress, which offers much greater flexibility in terms of design, control, and ease of use.
I’ve been dissatisfied with Blogger for a while now. I’m not a web developer, but I’m not helpless, either; I maintain the Writer Beware website on the SFWA site, and I built and maintain two additional websites, my own and another for an organization my husband is part of. But every time I thought about moving to a new platform, the size of the challenge just seemed too daunting. How would I transfer hundreds of posts, not to mention the thousands of comments and images that go with them? What about all the non-working inbound links the move would create? Links wouldn’t be a problem if I just started fresh on a brand-new WordPress site–but then the blog would exist on two platforms, with two different web addresses. And what about WB’s thousands of followers and subscribers?
The turning point came last summer when the only email subscription widget supported by Blogger discontinued service. If people couldn’t subscribe to the WB blog, there was just no reason to remain on Blogger. But the amount of time and research involved in moving made me want to lie down and go to sleep (you may know that Writer Beware is a volunteer effort: I do this in my off hours).
Enter the Automattic Special Projects Team, which helps noteworthy and/or interesting people and projects with development, design, hosting services, and more. In an amazing bit of synchronicity, they contacted me around the same time that my subscription service disappeared, with an offer to not only build a new WordPress website for the WB blog, but to port, all posts, comments, and subscribers to the new site and re-direct all Blogger links. In other words…to do all of the stuff I’d been dreading–and create a better and more functional site than I could have on my own.
After many months of design consults and bug fixes, this is the result. Not just a clean new look and way more administrative control for me, but a better subscription service and a much more robust search function (another peeve I had with Blogger, whose search options suck). I’m deeply grateful to the Special Projects Team for their hard work, and their support of Writer Beware.
New WebPage
The one thing I’m sad to lose is our old web address: accrispin.blogspot.com. It’s a legacy (one of many) of the late Ann Crispin, Writer Beware’s co-founder, and my dear friend. Ann started the blog in 2005, originally intending it to be her blog; but after she invited me to join her, it quickly became all Writer Beware, all the time. Looking back at those posts reminds me how much fun Ann and I had in those early days, and how profoundly her energy, fearlessness, and dedication shaped what Writer Beware has become. We’re leaving behind a URL, but Ann is still present in everything we do.
If you’ve come here from a link on social media, please have a look around our new home and tell me what you think! If you’re a subscriber, this is the first newsletter that has landed in your Inbox since last summer. I hope you’ll continue to subscribe–and for those of you who are new to Writer Beware, I hope you’ll consider signing up via the form below this post.
Don’t forget that the blog is just one component of the many-headed beast that is Writer Beware. There’s also our website, which provides a wide range of information, cautions, and resources to help writers educate and protect themselves; our Facebook page, which links to items of writerly interest and provides a forum for discussion; my Twitter feed, where I regularly post updates, warnings, and industry news; and our email address, beware@sfwa.org, where you can contact us–in confidence–with reports, complaints, and questions.
Finally, a huge THANK YOU to all the writers, agents, editors, and others who’ve shared complaints and documentation over the years and helped us build our database; to all the people who send me tips and information; to everyone who spreads the word about Writer Beware (and writing scams in general); and to our fans, followers, and subscribers. We couldn’t do it without you, and we are grateful for your support.
I predict the House and Senate will remain in the hands of the Democrats in 2022 and 2024, but a lot depends on who the Republicans run, if they run right-wing darlings like Trump, or DeSantis they lose, if they run sane moderate Republican governors like Hogan, they will win. if the Democrats nominate someone other than Biden or Harris they will probably win, if Biden runs again, a narrow victory, if Harris runs, they lose (again depending upon the Republican candidate), if Trump runs the third party, the Democrats would win. The Democratic donor class should be encouraging Trump to run the Third-party! calling his party, the Christian Patriot Party.
What Do I Know? Why Listen to Me?
I am a life-long Democrat, having grown up in Berkeley in the late 60s and 70s. I served in the Peace Corps and became a foreign service officer retiring in 2016. I live in South Korea, as I have my wife’s family living here. I hope to return to the Bay Area in another year. I grew up in a politically active family. I served as President of my high school and a student senator at college.
My father, Curtis Cosmos Aller, was the President of the Berkeley Co-Op and the Peralta community college district, served as undersecretary of Labor for Johnson, and a professor and Dean at SF State. and ran for Congress against Ron Dellums winning 40 percent in the primary election in 1974.
I have voted for president since 1974 when I voted against Nixon. I voted for Carter twice, for the Democrats for president in every election. But I also correctly forecast the election returns in every election since 1974.
Here are my predictions for 2022 and 2024, which I will share with the Democratic leadership and post any responses I may receive.
Comments welcomed.
2202 Predictions
2022 is shaping up to be the most consequential mid-term in recent history. The future of America and our democracy is at stake. So far, if I had to bet I would bet on the Senate being held by the Democrats, maybe even a pickup as the math favors the democrats this time around including several open seats due to retirements in Ohio and elsewhere.
The house is more of a tossup. If the democrats are smart, they would announce that Nancy P and the aging leadership are all retiring to open up the field to a new generation of leaders.
But so far there is no indication that they are going to do that.
This opens up the democratic leadership to a challenge along generational lines = as the Republicans continue to paint them as coastal elites out of touch with real Americans which will resonate because there is an element of truth to that.
A lot depends on the following:
Factors Favoring the Dems
If the Democrats can paint Marjorie Taylor Green and her ilk as the face of the Republican party, they can pull off a win.
Marjorie Taylor Green et al play along acting crazy.
Make them the face of the Republican Party –
Rep Boebert
Tucker Carlson
The impact of the January 6h commission – clearly shows how despicable and dangerous Republicans are, and how complicit they were in plotting a coup.
Trump continues hinting he is running in 2024.
Trump endorses candidates who win the primaries and lose the general.
Trump is indicted and or is sent to prison = could cut either way = making him a martyr or turning off the average American to the MAGA crowd.
Republican in-fighting continues positive for Dems.
Much better unified messaging showing how democratic policies are helping average Americans.
The state of COVID by August – if it is over the democrats get a bump.
State of the economy by August – if inflation slows up, the jobless numbers remain good, the democrats get a bump.
Impact of the big infrastructure bill – will people see it is working?
Democrats get unified positive for Dems.
Democratic turnout is higher than normal despite voter suppression efforts.
Gerrymandering is not as bad as expected mixed signals so far,
Biden’s approval rating is above 50 percent by September,
The war in Ukraine ends with a victory by Ukraine gives a bump to Biden
Spreading of rank choice voting systems, as these systems tend to produce more politically centrist candidates, and slightly favor the Democratic party candidates.
Spreading of jungle primary systems, as these systems tend to produce more politically centrist candidates, and slightly favor the Democratic party candidates. California is the biggest state to embrace both of these more democratic voting systems, but the idea is spreading. Most recently, NYC adopted a rank voting system, which led to the election of Eric Adams, who was everyone’s second choice, and not the first choice for most voters. He is a moderate Democrat in a blue progressive-dominated city.
Factors Favoring the Republicans
The Republicans will make Nancy the symbol of a “coastal elite old political hack leadership out of touch with American voters and values ” which will resonate as there is a kernel of truth to that charge. In short, they will her, and so-called “socialist left woke SF Values” the face of the Democratic party, not Biden so much or Harris.
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Trump announces he is retiring, is imprisoned, or dies – removing the biggest obstacle to the resurgence of the Republican party.
The economy stumbles, favors Republicans.
Republicans nominate centrists moderates resisting the MAGA crusade.
Gerrymandering and voter suppression works as advertised – News out of Texas is not good, 25% of absentee ballots were rejected!
Democrats continue their fratricidal infighting – can’t get a unified message.
Republicans are successful in painting the democratic leadership as “old coastal elitist political hacks out of touch with Americans and not dealing with the nation’s problems due to being too weak internationally and domestically, and beholden to a socialist left-wing woke social warrior culture run amuck.”
The culture wars ignite the Republican base, leading to a higher turnout among the base.
Neutral factors:
Retirements = could cut either way.
The deaths of aging leaders could go either way,
What is the Average Age of Congress?
The average age of the 117th Congress is 59 years old and the median is 60 years old. This is much higher than the median age of 38 years in the United States in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Of its 435 members, the House has 38 members born in the 1980s and one born in the 1990s, while the Senate welcomed its first millennial. But the age groups with the biggest gains, compared to the 116th Congress, were those born in the 1930s and 1960s. Members in the 80+ and 50-59 age group saw gains, while the 30-39 age group saw the biggest losses. Members of Congress are, overall, getting older.
AGE OF THE SENATE
The average age of the Senate is 63 years. The most popular years of birth are 1952 and 1954, with seven members each.
Who are the Oldest Members of Congress?
From Alaska, all the way to Alabama, the oldest members of the 117th Congress were all born in the early 1930s. Most of them are members of the Senate.
Specifically, the five oldest members of Congress are:
(four Republicans and one Democrat)
Don Young, age 87, is the Republican U.S. Representative for Alaska’s at-large congressional district. He has served for 25 terms since 1973 and is the current longest-serving member in Congress. (JUST PASSED AWAY AS OF March 19, 2022).
Dianne Feinstein, age 87, is a Democratic Senator from California running for re-election?
Chuck Grassley, age 87, is a Republican Senator from Iowa -running for re-election?
Richard Shelby, age 86, is a Republican Senator from Alabama running for re-election?
Jim Inhofe, age 86, is a Republican Senator from Oklahoma running for re-election?
Who are the Youngest Members?
As for the youngest members of the 117th Congress, they are all part of the House of Representatives. Most were born in the 1980s except the youngest member of them all.
Here are the five youngest members of Congress:
· (three Democrats, two republicans)
Madison Cawthorn, age 25, is the Republican U.S. Representative for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district. He is the first member of Congress born in the 1990s.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, age 31, is the Democratic U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district
Sara Jacobs, age 31, is the Democratic U.S. Representative for California’s 53rd congressional district
Ritchie Torres, age 32, is the Democratic U.S. Representative for New York’s 15th congressional district
Jake LaTurner, age 32, is the Democratic U.S. Representative for Kansas’s 2nd congressional district
How Does Age Relate to Party?
Overall, the average age for Republicans in Congress is 58 and 60 for Democrats. Looking specifically at each party in each chamber, the averages are also very similar: – The republicans will seize upon this number, saying that they are the younger generation as opposed to the aging older generation represented by the Democrats.
AVERAGE AGE OF THE 117TH CONGRESS LEADERSHIP
As mentioned before, Congress is getting older. When looking specifically at the leadership in each party, the averages are even higher with Democrats brushing close to 70.
bottom line: Senate to the Democrats due to the math more than anything else.
Fourteen seats held by Democrats and 21 seats held by Republicans are up for election in 2022. Republicans are defending two Senate seats in states Joe Biden (D) won in the 2020 presidential election: Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Democrats are not defending any Senate seats in states Donald Trump (R) won in 2020.
the math goes against the democrats in 2024 though.
“There are 33 U.S. Senate seats up for regular election in 2024—21 seats held by Democrats and 10 held by Republicans as of July 2020. this figure will no doubt change given the age of the Senate so there will be more open seats due to retirements and deaths. This math favors the Republicans as they have fewer seats to defend. Based on this factor alone, I’d give the 2024 Senate to the Republicans, the Presidency and perhaps the House to the Democrats.
The map below shows what seats are up for election and the current incumbent in each race.
While I hope the Dems maintain the House, it is too close to call could be a one to the two-vote margin by Democrats, or a two to three margin by the Republicans, but I don’t see a red wave coming nor do I see a blue wave coming. the gerrymandering in place slightly favors the Republicans perhaps giving them five additional seats, and demographic changes mean additional seats in red states and a loss in NY, California, and New Jersey of one seat each.
2024 is shaping up to be the most consequential election in recent history. The future of America and our democracy is at stake. So far if I had to bet, I would bet on the Democrats winning the presidency (but not Biden running again due to age and health concerns or Kamala Harris making it, and Trump not running due to age, or legal impediments or death)
the demographics of the voters favors the Democrats winning the popular vote, and probably the electoral college, the math favors the Republicans taking the Senate, and the House could go either way, lots depends on who wins the mid-terms, and whether right-wing nut cases wing the primaries and lose the general elections, and the success of the voter suppression movement.
My advice/predictions to the Democratic leadership (I will share this with them) are the following:
Biden should retire at the end of his term but announce that he wants an open primary and not endorse any candidate until the dust settles and a clear leader emerges. The rest of the aging leadership should all retire as well, opening up political space to the next generation of leaders to organically emerge.
Kamala Harris stumbles and another candidate emerges. If the Democrats are smart, they would nominate a moderate problem-solving centrist who can win in red or purple states = the governor of Michigan fits the bill. Preferably a woman, as it is time for a woman president. The VP should be a Hispanic or perhaps Asian-American male. Again, a governor would be preferable but a Senator or big city major would be a good pick as well. I would avoid two woman candidates as that might be a step too far for now.
The theme should be time for a renewed commitment to an America that works for everyone, that we are in it together and are united as Americans.
Other themes would be
Continuing rebuilding our failing physical infrastructure, including our public health systems,
Fighting climate change,
Investing in the next generation of technologies,
including robotics and AI systems,
Recommitting to the space program,
Enacting some version of the build back better initiative,
Continuing to work on rebuilding our alliances,
Reforming our failed immigration system,
Fighting against voter suppression efforts,
Encouraging more democratic voting systems such as rank vote and jungle primaries,
And an old throwback, enacting term limits – this is a winning issue with the public and will disarm potential republican attacks
“on old, tired, political elitist coastal hacks running the Democratic party leadership.”
The Democrats should seize this issue as a sort of political jujutsu move. that would be brilliant!
Starting with the retirement of the oldest members of both parties to bring in a younger generation of leaders. if term limits are a good thing for the presidency they are a good thing for Congress to embrace and would be very popular. I’d suggest 12 years (six terms) in the house and three terms in the Senate for a total of 30 years of service with mandatory retirement at age 70.
Avoid getting sucked into the culture wars nonsense it is a waste of time, resources and puts you on the defensive, just no upside to it at all. the less you say on this the better, let them come off as unhinged and out-of-touch.
The focus should be on building on the solid accomplishments of the Biden era and looking forward with a positive, optimistic message.
I would also not get trapped into running an anti-Republican campaign. That was a losing message for Hilary, and also a bit for Biden. People need to hear a positive, powerful optimistic message but pointing out that the Republican candidate is a neo-fascist authoritarian wannabe is fine, but that can not be the only message or the main message.
Keeping it positive, upbeat, and focused on solid accomplishments for the American people is the key. Remember, they have to want to vote for you, not just vote against them!
A winning slogan could be
“Democrats, the party that gets stuff done for the American people.”
I would also avoid getting too sucked into the progressive wish lists, remember the adage to never let the perfect being the enemy of the good. Remember that people have to want to vote for you and just against the other guy. You could run through an anti-republican slogan such as
Republicans, tools of the 1 percent, the party of fascists, insurrectionists, deficit spending and ignoring the needs of the American people,
If the Republicans are smart, Trump will retire for the good of the party and the country, under the excuse of age, health, or legal impediments. Then they should have an open primary.
Predictions for the Republican Ticket
My prediction would be De Santis wins the nomination and picks perhaps Senator Cotton as his VP. This would unite the MAGA crows and the cultural wars crowds. But also provide a solid line of attack for the Democratic nominee.
I don’t see a pathway for Ted Cruz as he has too many enemies, everyone who knows him or has worked with hate his guts.
I also don’t see a pathway for Josh Hawley either for similar reasons. I can see Marjorie Taylor Green running but flaming out during the primary.
Finally, I don’t see a Trump-Biden rematch but if that happens, I will bet that Biden would defeat Trump.
The other unlikely prospect is that the Republicans get smart and nominate either the governor of Ohio or Maryland and run a positive upbeat campaign as
“the party that gets stuff done for the American people”
Note; Great slogan, the Democrats should use it before the Republicans use it.
while painting the Democrats as old, political hacks who are out of touch, cultural justice warrior elitists from coastal blue states. That would be a powerful campaign theme because unfortunately, there is an element of truth to it!
and they would probably win the House, Senate, and Presidency, but fortunately, for the Democrats, they are far more likely to nominate a cultural warrior nut case like DeSantis, with either Cotton as VP or the Virginian Governor as VP.
if Biden runs, a toss-up. If Kamala runs a toss-up. If the governor of Michigan or another female governor runs, Democrats probably win.
If DeSantis runs, probably Republicans will fail, but if someone like Maryland Hogan runs, the Republicans will win. If Trump wins the nomination as a Republican, Republicans will probably fail as well.
If Trump runs third party, too close to call but he would not win as a third-party candidate. If he runs, he should name his party, the Christian Patriot Party, the CPP in short.
The Senate and House would both probably go to the Democrats despite voter suppression efforts as the math and demographics favor the Democratic party.
A personal note. I am married to a Korean-American woman whom I met in Korea and thus would love to see Hogan elected and have the first Asian-American (Korean) First lady.
My bottom line prediction
Both Biden and Trump retire due to age and health concerns.
Kamala Harris does not win the primary contests, as the Democrats selected a more centrist problem-solving figure who defeats the likely republican nominee – De Santis.
Whoever loses, concedes as we restore the tradition of a peaceful transition of power.
Senate and House go to the Democrats, but with narrow majorities.
The rest of the country continues to be split into about 25 red states and 20 blue states, a blue DC, blue PR, blue VI, purple Guam and Samoa, purple military, and 5 purple states.
Raven Cage Zine will publish some of my Ukrainian poems and stories written in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have shown considerable courage in standing up to Russian aggression.
Ukrainian Refugees Fleeing for their Lives
Putin’s Deranged Press Conference
Rep. Boebert Scumbag of the Week for her thought Crimes against Human reason Scumbag of the Week
When Russia invaded Ukraine
Make Love Not War All Poetry
Putin went to bed after drinking his favorite cocktail Nazi Vodka crush with an orange crush. In his dream, he soon saw himself riding a white horse, chollima the white horse of destiny across the world, fulfilling the destiny of heaven. He saw millions of people bow down worshiping him, following him. Loving their new lord and master. He flies over Ukraine filled with slaves harvesting grain to feed the master Russian race. Up ahead, he sees Kamala Harris walking her puppy, he shoots her and the puppy, then eats the puppy just because he is that kind of evil monster. N’s
Putin Assassinations End the Russian Imperial Dreams
When Putin invaded Ukraine
He did not foresee
That the whole world
Would rise up
Against him
Enough, no more
The Russian people said
As Putin is assassinated
Bringing an end
To his Russian Imperial Dreams.
Ukrainian Refugees Fleeing for their Lives
As the war in Ukraine continues
Millions of refugees flee
With a target on their back
They rush down
The few open corridors left
They look at their gadgets
For the latest information
Hoping to live
Another day
The refugee organization staff
Try to keep track
Of their movement
Amid the cracking
Of the bombs falling
Putin’s Deranged Press Conference
Putin holds a deranged press conference in which he outlined his plans for the future of Europe and the world; He said that Russia would rule eastern Europe and the Central Asian Stans as in the old Soviet era. But with a twist. He would proclaim himself the Czar of Russia and Xi would rule East Asia and SE Asia as the new Emperor of Asia. Teheran would rule Iran, and Afghanistan, the Saudis would rule the mid-east but would recognize Israel. Western Europe would continue as the EU, the UK would continue. The US would be given the Americas. Africa would be divided up between the great powers. The UN would be replaced with a much more focused international organization where the powers would jointly rule the world, cooperating on global issues, such as climate change and space exploration. A military conflict would come to an end. He said that he and China were willing to use nuclear weapons to enforce their new world order. He had no desire to rule Western Europe, the UK, or the Americas.
After a series of meetings, the world leaders agreed. World War 111 was avoided and the world became divided into ten worlds as it was dubbed, Australia/New Zeeland, China, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Saudi, US, South Africa with the major powers dividing up the world into their spheres of influence.
The UN continued in NYC as the central coordinating body as the powers did work out global cooperation norms including worldwide internet, worldwide business competition, common industrial standards, common currency, ten official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish) climate change and space exploration. The powers also agreed on a few human rights standards, the leaders of each region pledged to allow limited freedom of the press, limited elections for advisory assemblies, and limited equal rights for women. Homosexuality was outlawed in much of the world as was abortion. Drugs and alcohol were outlawed in the Islamic world. Each region had its view on religious freedom, tolerated in the western world, but not in the Islamic world. Immigration between regions was tightly controlled. Universal military service was required.
World War 111 was replaced by the new multi-polar world. Space exploration kicked off as the powers all set up competitions in space cities, lunar colonies, and Martian colonies.
Rep. Boebert Scumbag of the Week for her thought Crimes against Human reason Scumbag of the Week
For several years, there has been a debate over the nations of North America. In the late 70s, journalists and political scientists first floated the idea that there are ten to 12 nations of North America, not three nation-states.
The three nations of North America were three multi-state nations subdivided into distinct regional states. According to political science, there is a difference between a nation in the cultural sense and a nation in a political sense, ideally, the two should be the same as in France, or Germany perhaps. But in the United States, Canada, and Mexico there were ten to 15 distant nations in a cultural sense, three in a political sense, and 75 or so sub-national states. In other words, California is a distinct nation (perhaps five nations) as in Texas as in the mid-west, etc.
I explore this in my unpublished novel, ‘The Great Divorce.”
I have divided North America into 15 nations as follows in my unpublished novel the Great Divorce. The Christian States and their allies were Christian theocratic authoritarian governments, the west coast and east coast were secular democracies as were the rest of the nations. In the Christian States, sex outside of marriage was illegal, homosexuality, transgenderism was illegal as was abortion, pornography, drugs, alcohol, and gambling. The public schools were all run by the Church and there was a strict social morality test required for all government employees and schoolteachers. The official language was English, immigration was limited to Christians and favored European immigration. the Christian States were openly white supremacy in policy, Non-Christians, and non-whites were officially discriminated against and Muslims and other religious minorities had been deported. Atheism was also illegal. The media was strictly censored. Prison slave labor was common.
The coastal states were secular and proudly multi-cultural, group marriages were common. Drugs, sex, pornography were legal as was gambling. The California ethos predominated which maintained that women should be in charge of sexual relations and that everyone was naturally bisexual and polygamous. Group marriages were the norm.
The divisions were
New England including Canadian maritime provinces capital Boston
New York mid-Atlantic capitol New York
Quebec including Maine, Lousiana, and French Speaking Caribbean islands
Great Lakes region including Ontario capital Chicago, and Toronto
Upper mid-west including Canadian prairie states capitol Omaha allied with Christian States
Utah including Idaho/Montana and Nevada capitol Salt Lake City allied with Christian States
The South -aka the Christian States of America capitol Little Rock, combining with the upper midwestern states
The Mountain States including Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta capital Denver allied with Pacific states
The pacific northwest including Alaska, BC, Western Washington, Western Oregon, Northern California Capitol either SF or Seattle allied with Pacific states
The Southwest including northern Mexico, the capital of Los Angeles allied with Pacific states
Mexico including central America allied with Pacific states
Texas including Oklahoma Capitol Dallas allied with Christian States
Caribbean states capital Miami neutral
The Pacific islands states including Guam, Samoa, and the PI islands capital Honolulu allied with Pacific states
The native states of America capital eastern Oklahoma but consist of the major tribal areas across North America. Neutral
Each nation would consist of mini-state governments. California would be divided into eight states five Pacific Northwest and three in the Southwest. These states would be northern California, The Bay Area, the central valley, the Sierras, the Northeastern area merging with eastern Oregon. eastern Washington and Idaho forming the state of Jefferson, the desert east, Los Angeles, San Diego including TJ and Baja California.
In addition, the major cities would form their states thus NYC would be a state, Philadelphia would be a state, Washington DC would be a state called Colombia, Boston would be a State, Chicago would be a state, Miami would be a State, Texas would be five states Dallas-Ft. Worth. Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, and Oklahoma with the rest of Texas being part of the respective sub-states.
After the war, North America enters into a period of intense regional competition among the various new nations. The Christian State, Desert State and Texas were allied, the west coast, Pacific and east coast were allied, the Caribbean, Quebec, and first nations were allied, The United Nations remained in NYC, but the US pulled out of NATO. the Christian States instituted a draft and stationed troops along its borders and the West Coast, Chicago and New York did the same.
I envision this arising after a civil war between the Christian States of America and the rest of the country. Afterward, there would be the new nations emerging after a second constitutional convention.
One of the things I noticed during the Trump era was that the West Coast region and the Northeastern region had pulled together and become quite independent-minded coordinating climate change and COVID strategies after the failure of the dysfunctional federal government to launch a unified national response. In that sense, I see North America moving towards a new political framework.
For more information see the following:
The 11 nations of North America Colin Woodward and Tufts/Brian Stauffer Author and journalist Colin Woodard identified 11 distinct cultures that have historically divided the US. His nation-state map would look like this:
This map shows how the US has 11 separate ‘nations’ with entirely different cultures
Yankeedom values education and members are comfortable with government regulation.
Encompassing the entire Northeast north of New York City and spreading through Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, Yankeedom values education, intellectual achievement, communal empowerment, and citizen participation in government as a shield against tyranny. Yankees are comfortable with government regulation. Woodard notes that Yankees have a “Utopian streak.” The area was settled by radical Calvinists.
New Netherland in the New York area has a “materialistic” culture.
A highly commercial culture, New Netherland is “materialistic, with a profound tolerance for ethnic and religious diversity and an unflinching commitment to the freedom of inquiry and conscience,” according to Woodard. It is a natural ally with Yankeedom and encompasses New York City and northern New Jersey. The area was settled by the Dutch.
The Midlands, largely located in the Midwest, oppose government regulation.
Settled by English Quakers, The Midlands are a welcoming middle-class society that spawned the culture of the “American Heartland.” Political opinion is moderate, and government regulation is frowned upon. Woodard calls the ethnically diverse Midlands “America’s great swing region.” Within the Midlands are parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.
Tidewater started as a feudal society that embraced slavery.
Tidewater was built by the young English gentry in the area around the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina. Starting as a feudal society that embraced slavery, the region places a high value on respect for authority and tradition. Woodard notes that Tidewater is in decline, partly because “it has been eaten away by the expanding federal halos around DC and Norfolk.”
Greater Appalachia encompasses parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Texas.
Michael Hickey/Getty Images
Colonized by settlers from the war-ravaged borderlands of Northern Ireland, northern England, and the Scottish lowlands, Greater Appalachia is stereotyped as the land of hillbillies and rednecks. Woodard says Appalachia values personal sovereignty and individual liberty and is “intensely suspicious of lowland aristocrats and Yankee social engineers alike.” It sides with the Deep South to counter the influence of the federal government. Within Greater, Appalachia is parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Indiana, Illinois, and Texas.
Deep South adopts a rigid social structure and opposition to government regulation.
The Deep South was established by English slave lords from Barbados and was styled as a West Indies-style slave society, Woodard notes. It has a very rigid social structure and fights against government regulation that threatens individual liberty. Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina are all part of the Deep South.
El Norte has a dominant Hispanic culture.
Composed of the borderlands of the Spanish-American empire, El Norte is “a place apart” from the rest of America, according to Woodard. Hispanic culture dominates in the area, and the region values independence, self-sufficiency, and hard work above all else. Parts of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California are in El Norte.
The Left Coast, located in coastal California, is a lot like Yankeedom and Greater Appalachia.
California has permanently moved up its presidential primary from June to March.
Colonized by New Englanders and Appalachian Midwesterners, the Left Coast is a hybrid of “Yankee utopianism and Appalachian self-expression and exploration,” Woodard says, adding that it is the staunchest ally of Yankeedom. Coastal California, Oregon, and Washington are on the Left Coast.
The Far West spans states in the central US including Montana, Wyoming, and Utah.
The conservative west. Developed through large investment in industry, yet where inhabitants continue to “resent” the Eastern interests that initially controlled that investment. The Far West spans several states, including Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Nebraska, Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Oregon, and California.
New France inhabitants are comfortable with government involvement in the economy.
A percussion band performs for tourist dollars on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015. New Orleans is nearly three centuries old, mixing African-American, French, Spanish, and Caribbean traditions to create unique forms of music, food, and culture found nowhere else in America. Max Becherer/AP
A pocket of liberalism nestled in the Deep South, its people are consensus-driven, tolerant, and comfortable with government involvement in the economy. Woodard says New France is among the most liberal places in North America. New France has focused on New Orleans in Louisiana as well as the Canadian province of Quebec.
First Nation, most of whose people live in the northern part of the country, is made up of Native Americans.
Back in the ’70s, almost a hundred reporters around the country – Washington Post bureau chiefs, rovers, freelancers, and me, their desk-bound editor – were trying to get our arms around how North America worked. Not how it should work. But how it did work. State by province by region, we started drawing the fault lines on maps, and sometimes on cocktail napkins. Forget those nice, neat rectangles in the middle of the U.S. Let’s be real: The mountains of western Colorado are alien from the wheat fields of eastern Colorado. And Miami is part not of Florida, but its watery Caribbean realm. And what a terrible idea is “California.” It behaves as if it covers three warring civilizations.
Others have divided the North American continent into nine different sub-nations.
Letter sent to Nancy Pelosi calling for her to retire to save the party and the nation. I’ll let you know if she bothers to respond.
Dear Nancy, Time to Go Dear
Dear Nancy,
I am writing to you to plead with you to reconsider your decision to run for re-election. It is more important than anything else right now for the Democratic party to retain control of the House and the Senate given the insane backward policies that the Republicans in the House and the Senate would try to implement if they were to win in November. Not to mention that they would shut down the Biden administrations’ entire agenda.
I am a life-long democrat having grown up in Berkeley in the late 60s and 70s. I served in the Peace Corps and became a foreign service officer retiring in 2016. I live in South Korea as I have my wife’s family living here. I hope to return to the Bay area in another year. Incidentally, you may know about my family. My father, Curtis Cosmos Aller, was the President of the Berkeley Co-Op and the Peralta community college district and a professor and Dean at SF State.
There is a time in one’s life when one needs to retire from active work and slow down and enjoy the golden years of one’s life. There is no shame in deciding it is time to retire and let the next generation of leaders emerge. At age 83 you have done so much for the country. It is always a good idea to leave on a high note. If you retire now, you will be leaving at a high note. If you run for re-election, you might run the risk of losing the primary. The voters in SF just recalled the school board because they felt that they were simply out of touch with the average resident of San Francisco. Perhaps that should be a wake-up call for you to consider.
But if you run for re-election, the Republicans will no doubt run a campaign demonizing you and the entire democratic leadership as being, old political hacks elites out of with the American people. They will portray themselves as the next generation of leaders fighting for the American people.
As you know, the Republicans are the masters of dirty politics. They will lie, cheat and do what it takes to take back the house and Senate. Given what’s going on right now with the aftermath of the pullout from Afghanistan, the war in Ukraine, and rampant inflation, the American public is feeling that things are not going in the right direction and unfortunately they will blame the democrats.
Having most of the leadership of the party, including of course the President all in their 70s or older leads itself to this attack. I can see the attack ads already. The Republicans will no doubt push that narrative to the maximum because sadly there is some truth to it.
I hope that you don’t see this plead as a “agist’ attack on you and the democratic leadership because it is not. I am 66 myself. And to be fair, I believe all the leaders in both parties, the Supreme Court, and the President who are over 70 years of age, should all announce that they are retiring at the end of their terms to let the next generation of leaders emerge to deal with the problems of today, as our old aged leaders are lost battling yesterday’s political battles. You should set the example, and the rest will follow.
The bottom line is this: the stakes are so high that the democratic leadership must do all they can to keep the house. If you announce that you and the senior leadership are all retiring to let a new generation of leaders emerge will change the game and perhaps save the House and the Senate.
And if you do retire, please do not let your daughter run for your seat because you know nepotism?
I hope that you can consider my request and retire for the good of the party, and the nation.
From time to time, I will award a “ Cosmos Scumbag of the Week Award” and post it on my Anchor (podcast on Spotify and Radio Public) blog, Blog Loving, FB, LinkedIn, Medium, Wattpad, Writing com, Tumblr, and Twitter, and send a nice certificate to the person who demonstrated
the qualities of a Scumbag – vile despicable behavior or speech demonstrating that they are a true sociopathic scumbag.
Let me know what you think, and feel free to nominate a scumbag of your own. I’d love to post other nominees. Do let me know if you can use this material on your show. Most of them are part-found poems using the awardees’ language or media accounts to incriminate themselves, along with my snarky commentary.
I am also sending this to Jimmy Kimble, John Oliver, Trevor at the Daily Show, Bill Maher, and Seth Myers in hopes that they can use it on their shows. I will also send a copy to the award recipients. Would appreciate it if you could let me know if you find this useful or could use it. the Direct URL is
Dream Girl True Love Story
Also please check out my true love story, “Dream Girl at the following direct DL. Also published in the book, ‘Dreams and the Unexplainable” by the Chicken Soup for the Soul publishers in 2018. I met my wife in Korea after serving in the Peace Corps and teaching for the U, S Army. I first met her in a dream in high school in 1974, when I fell asleep in a boring Physics class at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California, and saw standing next to me the most beautiful woman in the universe, and she was talking to me in a strange Asian language. I fell out of my chair screaming “Who are You?” much to the amusement and laughter of my class and teacher.
I knew that I would eventually meet and marry her. Eight years later on September 7, 1982, she walked off a bus into my life, and we got married seven weeks later on October 29th, 1982. She joined the US Army as an intel officer and was for a while the first Korea born female Army officer to serve in Korea, and I believe the first Korean-born female U.S, army officer. She retired as a Major.
Please also check out the hitchhiker tales talking about my epic hitchhiking the U.S. in 1975 when I was broke, young and foolish. Also published by the Poet Magazine in their Anthology of “On the Road” in 2020. The URL is
I most recently drove across the country in 2016 to celebrate my retirement by seeing the U.S. I traveled over 10,000 miles, and 35 states in three months. And in 2019 finally visited Alaska my last of the 50 states to visit. I have also visited 55 countries. I speak Korea, Spanish, Thai and some Hindi.
I joined the State Department as a foreign service officer and served in ten countries over the next 25 years serving in Antigua, Barbados, (based in Barbados but covering seven Eastern Caribbean countries, Dominica, Grenada, St, Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Korea, Spain, Thailand, India (Mumbai) and four tours in DC. We retired to live half the year in Korea and half in the States but then, COVID hit and we have been here ever since, except for a two-week trip to D.C, last November. We hope to visit the U, S this summer for an extended period, and I hope to attend your show in the audience.
There are 18 awardees so far.
Awardees
Kentucky Factory Manager
Christmas Gun Card
Marjorie Taylor Green Found Poem Marjorie Taylor Green
Matt Gaetz Found Poem
Paul Gosar found poem
Louie Gohmert Found Poem Scumbag
Award Korean Husband Who Left His Wife at Deserted Highway Stop
Marjorie Taylor Green’s Yellow Race Comments Marjorie Taylor Green.
Ann Coulter Defense of Kim Potter
Jessie Watters Anti-Fauci Death Threats
Missouri Governor’s and Attorney general’s Anti-Mask Crusade
Missouri policeman who attempted to arrest a school bus driver for wearing a mask which he falsely claimed was now illegal to wear in public
Rep. Boebert Scumbag of the Week for her thought Crimes against Human reason
Tucker Carlson for Being a Russian Tool on Fox News
Former President Trump for Being Putin’s B…. in Ukraine
and President Putin gets the “Scumbag of the Century Award, for invading Ukraine and bombing a Jewish cemetery. while allegedly fighting Nazis and trying to overthrow the Jewish President.
Award Nominations
Kentucky Candle Manager Who Threatens to Fire Employees Who Want to Flee the Tornado That Destroyed the Factory
In the wake
Of the historic tornadoes
That destroyed so many towns
In six states,
There have been many cases
Of people stepping up
Doing the right thing
Acting like true heroes.
This, sadly, is not one
Of those stories.
Instead, it is the story
Of a factory manager
Who knowing that the tornado
Was rushing at his factory,
Told his employees
Keep working
If you leave
Fleeing for your life
You will be terminated.
The employees
Were too stunned
To do anything.
A few minutes later
The factory was destroyed
Most of the workers
And that scumbag manager
Buried under the rubble.
If the manager
Had acted like the Christian
He claimed he was,
And told his employees
To get the hell out of there
Closing for the day.
Some of them might
Have survived.
For these actions
He truly deserves
The scumbag of the week award.
the Christmas Gun Card
The second recipient
is the congressional representative,
Who felt he would send out
A friendly message
Of peace and goodwill
During the Christmas season,
He had his whole family
Standing by a Christmas tree
Carrying military assault weapons
With the caption,
“Santa, please send more ammo”.
Santa should send the family
A note
“: For your display of Christmas naughtiness,
I am donating ten thousand dollars
from your bank account,
In your name for each victim
Of gun violence this year,
200 thousand dollars
Thank you for your generous donation,”
The Republican congressional
representative from Kentucky
Did not apologize for the lame
Extremely tasteless and offensive
an attempt at a joke
Not even saying
That it was just a lame
ass attempt at a joke.
Tweeting that he had stirred up
A hornets’ nest
But it was good
To see the leftist so upset
And he would do it again
He felt he totally
owned the “libtards” communists
Saw nothing wrong with it.
Yet another Christian
Who shows his adherence
To Christian values,
By violating everything,
Christ stood for.
Not doing what Jesus
Would have done.
And did it just
Before Christmas
right after a horrific
shocking shooting
at a school.
By a kid the same age
as he kids
shown holding an assault rifle
underneath a Christmas tree.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Paul Gondor, and Rep. Louie Gohmert for their continued attempt to portray the January 6th insurrectionists as freedom-loving patriots and political prisoners of a communist, dystopian, fascist, racist anti-white socialist dictatorship.
For this week’s s Cosmos
scumbag of the week award
We have four recipients
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene,
Matt Gaetz,
Paul Gosar,
Louie Gohmert
paul gosnar
they held a bonkers
demented press conference
for that, they are all winners.
“On Tuesday,
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene,
Matt Gaetz,
Paul Gosar,
and Louie Gohmert
held a press conference
where they defended
the Jan. 6 insurrection,
promoting every conspiracy
the theory under the sun
and attacking anybody
who dares call i
into question the actions
of the people
we all saw on television,
on our computers,
and on our mobile devices
attacking the Capitol building.
Any one of the three
on the podium
during today’s press conference
could create a misinformation
swarm larger
then the rings of Saturn,
and all four together
did not disappoint their master,
Donald Trump.
“First up was Greene,
who told the world
that the Jan. 6 defendants
we’re being tortured
and persecuted
and forced to submit
to critical race theory brainwashing.”
He went on to say
Of the January 6th defendants
“They were isolated
in a separate wing of the jail
, where they are abused,
where they are ridiculed,
where they are mocked
because of their political beliefs
and because of January 6,
and because
of the color of their skin.”
All are scumbags worthy
Of this award
Rep. Matt Gaetz Found Poem Promising More Kangaroo Courts, and calling for Trump to Serve as the Speaker of the House.
Then came Gaetz to promise
kangaroo courts
and Benghazi trials
while also pretending
that Benghazi investigation
were mishandled
because they found nothing.
“We are going to take power
after this next election.
When we do,
it’s not going to be
the days of Paul Ryan,
and Trey Gowey,
and no real oversight,
and no real subpoenas.
It’s going to be the days
of Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene,
and Dr. Gosar, and myself.”
He would move to install
Trump as House Speaker “
For this and past offenses
he is awarded this week’s Cosmos Scumbag of the Week Award
Rep, Paul Gosar for his murder porn cartoons and numerous other offenses.
“Gosar is the three-sentence embodiment
of a sniveling Dickens character.”
Comment: not to mention
His violent murder porn fantasy tweets.”
And he is so bad
Even his siblings
Campaigned against him
And denounced him
On worldwide TV.
His response
Was to call his seven siblings
Jealous Marxists.
Another worthy recipient
Of the Cosmos Scumbag of the week award.
The Cosmos Scumbag of the Week Award goes to Rep. Louie Gohmert often dubbed the dumbest Member of Congress, known for his deranged, incoherent world salads, and LOSER in the Texas Republican primary race for attorney general for calling for arrest of FBI instigators of the Insurection because reasons
“Gohmert just comes
across like someone
who doesn’t know much
of anything
and therefore, might seem
a touch less dangerous.
Then it was Gohmert’s turn.
Gohmert has recently
decided to leave Congress
in the hopes of taking control
(he lost – LOSER of the Texas attorney general’s office, ”
“last month.
Gohmert’s job
was to promote the conspiracy theory
that the only people
who should be charged
with insurrection should be the FBI.
Literally—that’s his fact-free
conspiracy vomit
into the public sphere for the day.
Then Gosar came up to make
a series of statements
about the cruel conditions
of the incarcerated Jan 6 defendants
calling them human rights violations
Gosar made sure to explain
how white these defendants are.
They aren’t those “hardened criminals” people
(The ones Gosar and Greene and Gohmert
and Gaetz never speak up for),
“they’re fathers.”
Gohmert,
Has so many reasons
To be the scumbag of the week.
I am sure we will award them all many more Cosmos Scumbag of the Week awards. At the end of the year, I will pick the top ten for the Scumbag of the year award and I expect they will be finalists.
The scumbag of the week award is supposed to be international. I am awarding my first international award to the Korean Husband Who Left His Wife at A Deserted Highway Rest Stop
For this week’s scumbag of the week award, we go to South Korea where I currently reside.
the Award goes to the Korean husband who dropped his wife, kicked her out of the Taxi , at a deserted highway rest stop late at night in a wintry rain storm because of an argument. The runner up is the truck driver who ran her over and kept going, and the taxi driver who dropped her off. He went back and found the dead body.
A Korean married couple
Got into a horrific accident
While in a taxi heading home.
The man told the driver
To drop his wife
Off at a deserted highway rest stop.
In the middle of the night
During a frosty winter rainfall.
The taxi driver complied
The woman got off
They took off.
The woman
Went for a walk
Down the deserted highway.
A five-ton truck
Ran her over
And keep driving.
Hit and run driver
The taxi driver
Drove back.
Saw that she was missing
Alerted the authorities.
They found her body
By the side of the road.
And skid marks
Indicating what had happened.
The award winner is the husband
The truck driver and taxi drivers
are our runner ups For this first international
Scumbag of the week award..
Marjorie Taylor Green’s Yellow Race Comments Marjorie Taylor Green.
Marjorie Taylor Green
For all of her deeds
Pure batshit craziness
Incoherent insane word salads,
She is a recipient of
The” cosmos scumbag of the week award”.
During a conservative youth conference
“using her moment on stage
To in part call-out
The diversity of the attendees,
The “black people, brown people, white people,
And yellow people”
Only to highlight
that the event can’t possibly be racist.”
Because….
Proving again that she is a racist
Using the racist words
“Yellow People.”
Which is a 19th-century racial slur.
At least she did not use the n-word
Or talk about “redskins.”.
She went on to make deranged comments
About gender roles in the house of representatives
Noting new inclusive language guidelines
That she will refuse to follow,
Ann Coulter Racist Defense of the Aubrey Killers, Kim Potter, Chauvin, and Rittenhouse
ann coulter
Ann Coulter could be awarded
The Scumbag of the Week award,
For almost every week
She unleashes such hateful racist vitriol
Garbage upon the world.
Her latest outrage
A defense of Kim Potter
The cop that accidentally
Killed a black man
During a traffic stop.
Pulling out her gun
Instead of the tazer.
The jury found her guilty
Of negligent homicide.
Following up on her defense
of Chauvin. the murderer of George Floyd,
and the murderers of Aubrey, and Karl Rittenhouse,
She is batting 1-3 so far.
Ann took issue
With the trial,
And the media coverage.
Noting that the media
Did not blame the victim enough,
That the victim deserved
What he got.
Because he was violent
Out-of-control thug,
And the cop,
Was right
To use deadly force
To put him down.”
comment:
She fails to note
That everyone at the trial
Knew that.
The jury did not believe
That excused the cop
from the charge of manslaughter
Because everyone else
Except for Ann,
Saw it for what it was
What was obvious to all
Is that it was
A racist murder
By a white officer
in broad daylight
Of an unarmed, compliant
Subdued black man.
“It is what it is “
Quote the Donald.
Obvious to the entire world,
except for Ann Coulter – maybe she needs new glasses?
or a compassionate soul?
even though she claims she is a Christian
while violating all the core tenets
of her faith.
Jesus would be leading the BLM protests
if he were to come back today.
Just saying,
George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight
His crime attempting to pass a counterfeit 20 dollar bill
and being high in public.
His real offense was being black
and daring to complain
he could not breathe
as Chauvin strangled him to death.
I suppose Chauvan thought
he should just STF up
while he killed him.
Protesting he could not breathe
infuriated CHauvan
who saw it as defiance
by an uppity drugged up
black man
of his right to subdue him
by any means necessarily.
and besides they had a history
both worked part time
as night club security
and apparently hated each other.
and if he died
too bad he had it coming.
F black drug addict.
“The NYT and other media outlets
Justified their coverage
Of focusing on the cop’s actions
Rather than on the crimes
Of the victim.
For this flaming of racist hatred
Of blaming the victim,
Of justifying another act
Of brutal, horrific police misconduct,
Ann Coulter is the scumbag
Of the week.
Jessie Watters for Calling for the Assassination of Dr. Fauci on National TV- he has yet to apologize, be charged, or be fired!
jessie watters
Jessie Watters
A Fox News Reporter
Is this week’s scumbag
Of the week winner,
His offense?
Telling a crowd to
“ambush” Dr. Fauci
with a “kill shot”
so he “doesn’t
see it coming”
dr fauci
Dr. Fauci responded
To this piece of insanity,
Noting,
“The only thing
that I have ever done
throughout these two years
is to encourage people
to practice good public health practices:
to get vaccinated,
to be careful in public settings,
to wear a mask,”
And for that,”
You have some guy out there
saying that people
should be giving me
a kill shot
to ambush me.
I mean,
what kind of craziness
is there in society these days?”
The guy
should be fired on the spot,”
As far as I know, he is still on the air at Fox.
for this and many other vile commentaries
says two other nations
have citizens in need of saving:
Canada and the United States.
“I pray for Ukraine, and I wish them the best,”
But we also have neighbors to the north
who need freedom and need to be liberated, “
and we need that right here at home, as well.
This was the most obnoxious, vile,
the pernicious canard of the week.
A total nonsensical, non sequitur.
What does the invasion of Ukraine
By Russian forces have to do
With protests against
Mask mandates and vaccine restrictions
In the U.S. and Canada.
The two events are not even remotely
The same thing.
To her and her ilk
Mandating masks, and vaccines
Amid a still deadly pandemic
Is an infringement on their freedom
To be a self-centered a…..
putting themselves and others at risk
including possible death.
And Canada and the US
Are now living in a monstrous communist. Fascist/socialist
dystopic radical leftist woke tyranny
oppressing “normal, i, e, white Christians)
And we need to be liberated
Just like the Ukrainians.
For these crimes against human thought,
Reason, common sense, and common decency
She is the Cosmos Scumbag of the week.
Tucker Carlson For Being Putin’s Tool On Fox News
tucker carlson
Tucker Carlson daily on his show
Has shown that he is nothing more
Than Putin’s puppet
Parroting Russian State TV propaganda
Calling into question the heroism
Of the Ukrainian People
And the government
For that, he is the Cosmos Scumbag of the Week
Former President Trump for Being Putin’s B…. in Ukraine
Former President Trump
daily is his press releases
Has shown that he is nothing more,
Than Putin’s B…..
Parroting Russian State TV propaganda
Calling into question the heroism
Of the Ukrainian People
And the government.
And making the absurd argument
That Putin would never have invaded
Ukraine if he had won.
Because Putin respected him
And knew Trump would not tolerate
That one bit.
The reality of course
Is that the former President
When he was President
Was nothing but Putin’s B…,.
No doubt if Russia invaded
He would have excused it
And not rallied NATO
And the country
To resist the Russian invasion.
Might even have threatened
to pull out of NATO
and Germany
though he likes Poland
because they offer
to name the new US base
Ft. Trump.
For all of these reasons, Former President Trump
You are the recipient of the Cosmos Scumbag
Of the Week award.
President of Russia Putin Scumbag of the Century
You richly deserve this award because of your brazen, blatantly illegal, immoral invasion of your neighbor. You set off the worst military action in Europe since World War 11, targeting civilians and even bombing a Jewish cemetery while falsely claiming you are fighting Nazis and attempting to overthrow the Jewish Nazi president. This clearly shows you are the world’s greatest scumbag and deserve the Scumbag of the Century award.
Purpose: From time to time, I will award a “Scumbag of the Week Award” and post it on my blog, medium, wattpad,blogloving, writing com, FB,Tumblr, Likendlin, and tweeter and send a nice certificate to the person who demonstrated the true qualities of a Scumbag – vile despicable behavior or speech demonstrating that they are a true sociopathic scumbag.
Index
Cosmos’s Scumbag of the Week Award Scumbag Award, Kentucky Factory Manager
Cosmos’s Scumbag of the Week Award, Runner up Christmas Gun Card
Scumbag of the Week Marjorie Taylor Green Found Poem Marjorie Taylor Green
Scumbag of the Week Matt Gaetz Found Poem
Scumbag of the Week Paul Gosar found poem
Scumbag of the Week Louie Gohmert Found Poem Scumbag
Scumbag of the Week Award Korean Husband Who Left His Wife at Deserted Highway Stop
Scumbag of The Week Kentucky Candle Manager Who Threaten to Fire Employees Who Want to Flee the Tornado That Destroyed the Factory Scumbag of the Week Award
The Poems
In the wake
Of the historic tornados
That destroyed so many towns
In six states,
There have been many cases
Of people stepping up
Doing the right thing
Acting like true heroes.
This sadly is not one
Of those stories.
Instead, it is the story
Of a factory manager
Who knowing that the tornado
Was rushing at his factory,
Told his employees
Keep working
If you leave
Fleeing for your life
You will be terminated.
The employees
Were too stunned
To do anything.
A few minutes later
The factory was destroyed
Most of the workers
And that scumbag manager
Buried under the rubble.
If the manager
Had acted like the Christian
He claimed he was,
And told his employees
To get the hell out of there
Closing for the day.
Some of them might
Have survived.
For these actions
He truly deserves
The scumbag of the week award.
Scumbag of the Week Award -For the Chrismas Gun Card
The second recipient
is the congressional representative,
Who felt he would send out
A friendly message
Of peace and goodwill
During the Christmas season,
He had his whole family
Standing by a Christmas tree
Carrying military assault weapons
With the caption,
“Santa, please send more amo”.
Santa should send the family
A note
“: For your display of Christmas naughtiness,
I am donating ten thousand dollars
from your bank account,
In your name for each victim
Of gun violence this year,
200 thousand dollars
Thank you for your generous donation,”
The Republican congressional
representative from Kentucky
Did not apologize for the lame
Extremely tasteless
and offensive joke
Not even saying
That it was just a lame
An attempt at a joke.
Tweeting that he had stirred up
A hornets’ nest
But it was good
To see the leftist so upset
And he would do it again
Saw nothing wrong with it.
Yet another Christian
Who shows his adherence
To Christian values,
By violating everything,
Christ stood for.
Not doing what Jesus
Would have done.
And did it just
Before Christmas
right after a horrific
shocking shooting
at a school.
Until next time,
When we will award
Another scumbag
Of the week award.
Scumbag of the Week Marjorie Taylor Green
For this week’s s Cosmos
scumbag of the week award
we have four contestants
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene,
Matt Gaetz,
Paul Gosar,
and they are tied
and will receive the award later.
They held a bonkers
Demented press conference
For that, they are all winners
“On Tuesday,
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene,
Matt Gaetz,
Paul Gosar,
and Louie Gohmert
held a press conference
where they defended
the Jan. 6 insurrection,
promoting every conspiracy
theory under the sun
and attacking anybody
who dares call
into question the actions
of the people
we all saw on television,
on our computers,
and on our mobile devices
attacking the Capitol building.
Any one of the four
on the podium
during today’s press conference
could create a misinformation
swarm larger
then the rings of Saturn,
and all four together
did not disappoint their master,
Donald Trump.
I’m kind of one of
Those gender people,
I’m all about the male
And the female.”
To which the only sane response
To this deranged word salad
Is to say “wtf! “
“she also whined
About the “lies”
On her Wikipedia page .
And called the Jan. 6 insurrection
A “fedsurrection,”
Implying that the terrorists
Who attacked the capitol
were set up by federal agents.
Not to mention her
complete paranoia
Suggesting that
she’s being targeted
By the Jan. 6 committee
For trying to “stop”
A “communist revolution.”
Another incoherent word salad
Communist revolution?
What planet is she living in?
What alternative reality
Is she trapped in?
A communist revolution
Really Margorie?”
She went on to compare Donald Trump
To Jesus
“and then there’s talk f freedom
And loving America,
and conservative principles,
Some crazy people
In here were talking
About how much
They love this guy
Named Jesus.
And I heard
— Someone I really like
— I think I heard
that a lot of people
Here like a guy
Named Donald J. Trump.
And then I said,
‘Oh, Oh, I know exactly
What this is:
The left calls
This a white supremacist party.”
Final snarky comment,
Not only the left my dear
Calls the MAGA movement
A white supremacist movement,
To quote the Donald
“It is what it is”.
She had earlier called for deporting Asian Americans
“If I was in charge
and I had my way,
I would come down on China
so hard,”
“I would kick out every single Chinese
in this country that is loyal
to the CCP.
They would be gone.
I do not care who they are.”
“You’re gone, back to China,”
I don’t care how much money you have,
how much land you own,
how many businesses you own,
how much money you’ve donated
to colleges and universities,
I don’t care about
who your kid is,
and how many students
you’ve sent to colleges.”
There are a lot of people who think Attorney General Merrick Garland is a 98-pound weakling. In their eyes, the lack of any action against Donald Trump and others who incited the Jan. 6 insurrection suggests that Garland isn’t willing to bring justice to those responsible for that day’s horror.
A quick read of recent events shows Garland is anything but a weakling. He indicted Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress, and all indications point to him teeing up Mark Meadows as well. He’s making a concerted effort to hold states accountable for politically and racially motivated gerrymandering, and forced Derek Chauvin to take a plea deal as his only shot of getting out of prison on his feet rather than in a pine box.
If that isn’t enough for you, former FBI Counterintelligence Chief Frank Figliuzzi believes he noticed another sign. Figliuzzi believes that with an unhinged tirade against Democratic prosecutors and law enforcement, Individual 1 all but admitted that he knows he’s directly in the legal line of fire.
In case you missed this latest Trump tantrum, read it here, courtesy of Trump spokeswoman/sockpuppet Liz Harrington.
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
“All the Democrats want to do is put people in jail. They are vicious, violent, and Radical Left thugs. They are destroying people’s lives, which is the only thing they are good at. They couldn’t get out of Afghanistan without disgracing our… pic.twitter.com/eSqKpLdidW
= Response to Gray Live Matters Found Poem with snarky commentary
Comment:
Ann Coulter is one of the pundits on the right that I hate the most. Every time I read one of her vile, despicable postings my blood boils over. In her latest postings, she lauds Robert E Lee and other Confederate heroes who were merely defending their states against tyrannical overreach by the northern states totally buying into the lost cause mythology of the South. She maintains of course that slavery had nothing to do with it when objectively speaking slavery had everything to do with it. She also has a typically racist bigoted anti-immigrant, in this case, Haitian immigrant posting.
She did correctly note that Lee did the responsible thing in ending the war when it was clear that they could not continue and refused to condone a guerilla war campaign. She failed to note the Forester and others quickly formed the paramilitary KKK who did wage guerilla war against free Black people and their white supporters. To his credit, Robert E Lee wanted nothing to do with the KKK but did not really speak out forcibly against the KKK either.
She also fails to note that most of the statues that dot the South and the place names and school names lauding the Confederate leaders went up in the post-world war civil rights era. She cynically says that Black people were perfectly fine with these statues until recently when mostly white “woke” activists started making a big deal out of it. I wrote the following found poem with snarky commentary and sent it to her. I doubt she will respond if she does I will update this blog posting accordingly.
Robert E Was a Traitor
My ancestors were Presbyterian abolitionists
Who fought on the Union side, but I get ticked off
When imbeciles take a sledgehammer t
To my country’s history.
Comment
By “my country” you mean
White America, right?
End comment
Last week, with self-satisfied glee,
Savages tore down the 14-foot statue of Robert E. Lee
Designed by the French sculptor Antonin Marcie
And installed in 1890
On land deeded to the state.
Comment:
“Savages?,” “Imbeciles”, “Illiterate”
Really? Want to go there? Ann?
As usual
You love to use insulting languages
To describe your enemies,
Most of the statutes and names lauding the confederate generals
went up post-World War 11
during the civil war era to remind self-assertive Negroes,
that their noble ancestors fought a war to keep them, slaves.
End comment.
Comment:
It’s not just “Southerners”
Who revere Lee, as his Wikipedia page implies.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt called Lee
“One of our greatest American Christians
And one of our greatest American gentlemen.”
Dwight Eisenhower said Lee was
“Noble as a leader and as a man,
And unsullied as I read
the pages of our history.”
The son
— not grandson –
– of a hero of the American Revolution,
Lee graduated
Second in his class at West Point,
Then distinguished himself
In the Mexican-American War.
Lee’s reputation
Was so great
That President Lincoln
Asked him to take
command of the Union forces
Against the South.
But Lee was a Virginian
And felt compelled
To take Virginia’s side,
So, he resigned from the U.S. Army.
(For my illiterate readers
And anyone who gets his news from MSNB
That makes Lee
The opposite of a “traitor.
” A traitor is someone who pretends to be on your side,
While secretly working
With the enemy,
Not someone who loudly announces,
I quit. My friends and I are leaving.)
Comment:
Sorry to disappoint you, Anne
But General Lee and the confederates
Were rebels
Against the legitimate government
Launched a civil war
To dissolve the union.
All to ensure that they could
Continue to enslave African Americans
They were the dictionary definition
Of traitors.
Just in case you can’t read
Here is how Webster defines “Treason”
“One who betrays another’s trust Or is false to an obligation of duty, One who commits treason”
General Lee violated his sacred oath “to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic”
treason is defined as
“the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance,”
insurrection is defined as
“the act of instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government.”
They are guilty of all charges They were not patriots They were traitors Against the United States.
That is all they were They were in the words
Or Eric Trump,
“Not heroes Just zeroes “
who lost
The war.
Traitors to the nation.
End comment
Among his accomplishments,
There’s also the minor fact
That Lee saved the country.
Immediately after a bitter, bloody civil war,
Pitting brother against brother –
– four of Mary Lincoln’s five brothers fought for the Confederacy –
The landscape was littered with the dead,
Lee ensured that the South would accept defeat.
When Lee surrendered at Appomattox,
He was at the height of his powers,
Idolized throughout the South.
The president of the Confederacy,
Jefferson Davis wanted to fight on,
Telling his officers,
“I think we can whip the enemy yet,
If our people will turn out.”
But Lee, not Davis,
Held the hearts of his compatriots.
When one of Lee’s officers
Urged him to lead
a guerilla war against the North,
Lee remonstrated,
“As a Christian people,
There is now
But one course to pursue.
We must accept the situation.
These men must go home
And plant a crop,
And we must proceed
To build up our country on a new basis.”
Comment:
I grant you this General lee
Did the right thing
To end the war.
But he was not a hero
..Still a traitor in the end
He was just realistic
Knew that it was over
And the South had lost.
End Comment
He could easily have pulled a Trump
And told his supporters,
We got screwed!
Take to the hills!
They would have followed.
Hundreds of thousands
More lives would have been lost.
The country might never have recovered.
Comment:
I love the snarky comment
Dissing Trump
Whom you now hate
Good for you, Ann,
End Comment
But Lee said no, it ends now.
Thanks to Lee,
We became a functioning country again
Within about 15 years,
Instead of becoming Serbia, Afghanistan, Korea,
Vietnam, Rwanda
And on and on and on.
Comment:
I give you that
The war ended,
General Lee
Did the right thing
To take down his arms
Accept the inevitable.
And try to begin
The on-going process
Of national reconciliation
And healing,
A job that still needs to be done
All these years later.
The cold war against
Black people began immediately,
Jim Crow terrorism launched,
Against the newly free slaves.
Started in earnest
And continues in some way
To this very day.
The KKK
led by former generals.
Such as Forrester,
Started right after the war
Reached its peak
At the end of the 19th
early 20th century.
Although remnants
Continue to be active
With a resurgence
Under Obama
And especially Trump.
General Lee
To his credit
Wanted nothing to do with the KKK,
But did not try
to shut it down either.
General Lee and his traitors
Have blood on their hands
End comment.
“The vandalizing of American history
Has absolutely nothing
To do with black people or slavery.”
Comment:
Ann
You still don’t get it
the civil war had everything to with slavery!
The whole civil war
Was fought to preserve slavery
End comment.
Lots of historical figures had slaves.
Not only American heroes
Like Washington and Jefferson,
But Kamala Harris’ ancestors — according to her father.
Comment:
nice dissing Kamala Harris
And Obama
With absolutely no evidence.
Other than your slanderous accusations.
End comment
Barack Obama
Is the only president
Who might be descended
From slave traders,
A particularly repellent group,
Since Kenya
Was a major player in the slave trade.
Comment:
Of course, you have evidence
Kenya was a minor source of slaves
Most came from the west coast
Not from Kenya. Which sent
Slaves mostly to the Middle East,
And there is no evidence at all
That Obama’s family was involved.
Other than in your fevered
racist imagination.
End comment
No, the moving force
Behind this frenzied destruction of American history
Aren’t black people
Suddenly offended by monuments
That has been around for a century.
Comment:
We did not put up statues
Of Hitler or Goebbels or Tojo
Or Ho Chi Minh.
Nor for that matter
Did Germany
Recognizing that they
were traitors
And evil monsters.
Although Berkeley, my hometown
Bless its liberal heart
Briefly name a park
Ho Chi Minh Park
During the height
of the Vietnam war.
The bottom line is simply this,
Black people have put up
With white people
And their fixation
On the noble lost cause
Of the white southerners,
For far too long.
They finally had enough
General Lee was a traitor
And should be remembered
As such.
And the statues should be moved
Into museums
Military bases, schools, and roads
Should be renamed.
We all have had enough
Time to end the racist
lost cause mythology
End comment
Ann C Voodoo This
Ann Coulter says
“Brush Up on Your Voodoo! “
Bemoaning all the Haitians coming to the U.S.
Part no doubt of the great replacement theory
That is consuming the right-wing universe
“For the millions of U.S. immigrants
who wanted to immigrate to Haiti,
but couldn’t get in.
.. Guess what?
The country you’re living in is
about to become Haiti.
This will also come as good news
to the GOP’s top-dollar donors,
whose sole political thought is:
HOW DO WE WIN THE BLACK VOTE?
(Next goal: Reverse the rotation of the Earth.)
Apparently,
it’s humiliating for people who live
in 100% white neighborhoods
to belong to a party that appeals
to white people”.
the GOP has slobbered
over Colin Powell, Alan Keyes,
Condoleezza Rice, Allen West,
Michael Steele, Herman Cain,
Ben Carson, John James, Tim Scott,
Candace Owens, Herschel Walker
Comment:
nice choice of words
“slobbering”
End Comment
With hordes of Haitians pouring
across our border –
because a certain lying
conman didn’t build a wall –
Comment:
Nice dissing of the former president
end comment
Haitian President Francois “Papa Doc”
began his regime
by killing off or exiling t
he educated elite
for being too light-skinned,
then expropriated the peasants’
small parcels of farmland
, leading, like night into day,
to mass starvation.
Result: Haitian peasants adored him!
Even after a regime of mass murder
and widespread starvation, followed by
Duvalier maneuvering
his teenage son into the presidency,
the Associated Press reported in 1980
that “the Duvalier family’s support
comes from the dark-skinned peasants
Downside: insane execution squads,
malnutrition, illiteracy, and chaos.
Upside: Duvalier persecuted
light-skinned Haitians
and embraced voodoo.
Let’s just hope
they bring their Satan-worshiping voodoo!
As Haitians worldwide
descend on our country,
it’s worth mentioning
that their homeland
is often described as “90%
Catholic and 100% voodoo.”
While The New York Times
(Which hates our country and wants it destroyed)
Burbles giddily about Haitian voodoo –
“a healing-based religion,”
“An affirmation of national pride,”
“a vibrant but gentler faith,”
“Equal parts happening
and psychoanalysis”
You can read more
about these “vibrant” rituals
in the book “Hostage to the Devil:
The Possession and Exorcism of Five
Contemporary Americans.”
Or just wait for them
to show up in your neighborhood.
Comment:
nice scare mongering
.
for the record,
Voodoo is not satanism
rather is more shamanistic
communing with spirit forces.
i like your dissing the NYT
which for the record
is not out to destroy America
they do hate people like you though.
End Comment.
If you thought moving
100,000 Somalians into Minnesota
posed challenges to assimilation,
that will be a pleasant dream
compared to the multitudes of Haitians
Biden is letting into
the country right now.
Comment:
You forgot to mention
the Muslim hordes
coming from Afghaistan
and the millions of Mexicans
still pouring across the border
you are slipping my dear
I am so disappointed…
Anne
Your racist tirade
Is getting tiresome.
Just replacement theory
right-wing nonsense
So, I say this to you.
Voodoo this
Anne,
Let the Haitians
Come and contribute
Their skills
To the country.
Like all immigrants before
And all immigrants coming
In this land
Still welcoming immigrants.
and with any luck
they will put a voodo curse
on you
so we can finally
hear your shrill racist rant
no more.
I have a small request to make. I want to expand my followers on all my platforms. So if you have not signed up yet for this blog, or followed me on intraframe, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, or Bloglovin or listened to my podcast on Spotify please do so now.
One of the many issues that you will have to address now that you got the COVID relief package done is immigration reform. I have been closely following this issue since 1992 when I was confronted with a broken immigration system as a visa officer. I later served seven years as an anti-fraud officer. I realized that much of the fraud occurred because we made the legal way to immigrate almost impossible while the illegal way to immigrate became relatively simple and inexpensive and the penalties very few – and with the right lawyer 90 percent of the fraudulent visa applications would be ultimately approved. It is almost just bad luck for someone to get caught and punished for fraud.
Trump dramatically stepped up the plate on deportation, but Obama was also harsh regarding deportation. The progressive left has not come to grips with reality – the sad reality that Americans don’t want massive unrestrained immigration, but do not understand how broken the system is. The Republicans mantra seal the border first ignores the fact that the immigration system does not work.
Even if you sealed the border you would still have a sizable illegal population exploited by corporations and especially agriculture. And they do not want real immigration reform because then they would have to pay a living wage to their immigrant slave labor.
Or if there is no immigrant labor left wages for Americans would have to be raised to get them to do the work that immigrants do for sub-minimum wages and no benefits.
The solution is obvious – start over with a new law, new procedures.
Legalize the illegal, then make the system easy to enforce. Make the penalties for violations simple – deportation with a five-year ban on re-entry.
Start by acknowledging we need to improve security at the border, but the wall is a waste of time and money that will not solve the problem. We need a comprehensive 21st-century immigration policy that balances the need for continued immigration with the need to ensure that immigrants contribute to our country and enrich our country as they always have and always will. Again, throw the republicans a bone offers to ensure that E Verify is widely used by all employers and punish employers who hire illegals. I would also consider getting rid of the diversity visa program and the sibling immigration category, but grandfather people in that category giving them two years to complete the immigration process with no new applicants being accepted.
A new Simpler System
I would add more employment visas and decreased the number of family reunification visas, eliminate the country limits and the priority lists. Anyone who qualifies should be able to finish the paperwork within one year and must complete the processing with two years of initial application. Those in the queue right now would be grandfathered in.
I would prioritize English speaking skills, and education, All applicants would have to interview in English. All applicants would have to have a high school education or higher.
I would also offer to immigrate visas to all foreigners who graduate from a US university or graduate school. If they want to stay let them stay with their foreign spouse and unmarried children.
There should only two categories of immigrant visas. Employment-based, and family-based. The number of legal visas should be dramatically increased. The family-based visas should be limited to spouses and children under 18 of the principal applicant or spouses and children of US citizens and permanent residents.
As mentioned above, the sibling category should be eliminated. But those in line should be allowed to immigrate and given two years to process the paperwork. No one should have to wait for more than a year to immigrate. I would add an English language requirement. Anyone wishing to immigrate to the US must learn English before their interview. If it is a requirement for the visa people will study ESL before taking their interview and once they get to the US be much better equipped to find productive employment and become productive members of society.
Non-immigrant visas should also be simplified to short-term visitors – tourists and business travel, student visas, including exchange visitors, diplomatic visas, and employment visas. The diversity visa lottery program should be discontinued.
All immigrants and non-immigrants must provide proof of travelers’ health insurance when they apply for a visa or enter the country.
Most of the draconian extreme vetting measures that Trump imposed should be rescinded. We should increase the number of refugees and once again welcome asylum applicants. Finally, I would expand the number of visa waiver countries.
Student visa holders should be allowed to transfer to employment visa status if they graduate and are offered a job.
Improve Border Security Without the Useless Wall
trump’s wall
Re the border wall, I would shift resources to virtual patrolling. Much cheaper and more effective. Keep the wall where it is but don’t waste any more money on building it. I would also take up the republican proposal of implementing e- verify. The bottom line is we should make the legal route to immigration much less burdensome, so there will be fewer illegal immigrants. Regarding deportation, I would focus the efforts on criminal alien offenders. Others who are here illegally will find it too difficult to stay without proper status and hopefully be deterred from coming.
I would offer a route to citizenship to the Dreamers. I would offer a one-time amnesty to all illegal immigrants who would have to register with the government, provide proof of employment, and proof of English skills, have no criminal background, and pay back taxes. If they complete these requirements, they would be given green cards and after five years be allowed to apply for citizenship.
I would also eliminate the fiancée visa as it is the most fraud-ridden visa of them all. If you want to marry a foreigner you may do so either in the US or overseas and then adjust your status. You finance could visit you in the U.S as a simple tourist visa applicant, then adjust status. No reason for a separate category. If an American marries a foreign national in the U.S the foreign spouse would be given LPR status immediately absent clear evidence of marriage fraud. If a foreigner has a baby in the U.S, the parent would be given LPR status and allowed to stay. However, no woman who is more than six months pregnant would be allowed to enter the U.S. unless they are eligible for an immigrant visa.
Finally, all immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants would have to provide proof of health insurance before entering the U.S. This should also be a requirement for the E Visa approval for visa waiver countries. The visa Waiver country list should be expanded to include all EU countries, most of Latin America, (except for Central America), and SE Asian countries.
If you enact these measures, you will fix the broken immigration system and match immigration visa levels to employment demands which should be a fundamental goal of such reforms.
New Immigration and Citizenship Cabinet Level Department to Oversee the New Immigration System
Besides immigration and non-immigrant visa procedures and policies, I would set up a new cabinet-level Department of Immigration and Citizen services drawing upon the State Department, DHS CIS, ICE, and the Department of Labor.
They should set up a common immigrant processing software the would manage the entire process.
The new agency would have half of its employees serving as immigrant officers, working around the world. Immigration visa officers would serve two to four years of assignments overseas with up to one year of language training. All immigration officers would be foreign service officers and serve 50 percent of their career overseas. They would serve at least one two-year tour at a US port of entry within their first five years of service, with their first assignment overseas. Most of the immigrant visa processing would be done overseas, so most immigrant processing centers in the U.S. would close, leaving a few centers open to process adjustment of status and citizenship applications. The State Department would no longer be involved in the visa or consular services.
Immigration officers overseas would serve either as immigrant visa officers, non-immigrant visa officers, asylum /refugee officers, citizenship service officers, or anti-fraud officers. Most applicants for asylum or refugee status would be processed overseas.
All applicants for visas both immigrant and non-immigrant visas would be screened for fraud indicators before their interviews with a score of green, yellow or red returned from the screening. Green means no evidence of fraud and meets the qualifications, yellow means there are some questionable areas, which will be flagged, and red means that the case will be held for a full fraud investigation at the post. Minor irregularities would not result in any penalties, the applicants would be either issued a visa or paroled into the US as used to be the custom.
Enacting these reforms would go a long way to meet the need for sustained immigration while at the same time making immigration fairer and more rational.
Rush Limbaugh Is Dead. Long Live Rush Limbaugh Blackout Erasure Found Poem
In recognition of the passing today one of the most malign influences of modern culture, Rush Limbaugh, I present several takes on his life and legacy from a blackout erasure found poem based on the Washington Post orbit.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 04: Radio personality Rush Limbaugh and wife Kathryn (L) attend the State of the Union address with First Lady Melania Trump in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 04, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump delivers his third State of the Union to the nation the night before the U.S. Senate is set to vote in his impeachment trial. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Longtime conservative
radio host Rush Limbaugh is dead. Long Live Rush Limbaugh Black Out Found Poems
Rush Limbaugh,
Who deployed comic bombast
And relentless bashing
Of liberals, feminists, and environmentalists
Became the nation’s
Most popular radio talk-show host
And lead the Republican Party
Into a politics of anger and obstruction,
President Trump hailed him
“He is the greatest fighter
That you will ever meet,”
Rush was a teacher, polemicist,
Media critic, and GOP strategist,
But above all else,
He was an entertainer and a salesperson.
Mr. Limbaugh mocked Democrats
And liberals, (Libtards)
Touted a traditional Midwestern,
Moralistic patriotism,
And presented himself
On the air as a biting
But jovial know-it-all
Who pontificated
“With half my brain
Tied behind my back
Just to make it fair.”
Especially during the presidencies
Of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama,
Mr. Limbaugh played a leading role
In demonizing liberals
And pushing conservative elected officials
To hard stances on issues such as Immigration,
Government spending, and denial of global warming.
But in the general election,
Mr. Limbaugh embraced Trump.
The radio host and the new president
Became dinner and golf friends,
And Mr. Limbaugh emerged as a staunch supporter
of Trump’s battles against the news media
And the Republican establishment.
He railed against Trump’s impeachments
In 2019 and 2021
And allied himself with Trump
During the pandemic era Coronavirus pandemic,
Insisting that the illness the virus causes
Was no worse than the common cold Common cold.
After Trump lost the 2020 election,
Mr. Limbaugh echoed the president’s
Baseless allegations of electoral fraud
And suggested that pro-Trump states
Consider seceding from the union.
Trump, Mr. Limbaugh said,
“Represents an uprising of the people
Of this country against Washington.
Against the establishment,
And it had been building
For a long time,
Since Perot in 1992.
Trump was just the first guy
To come along
And weaponized it.”
Like Trump, Mr. Limbaugh mastered
The art of portraying himself
As a man of the people
Who fought the elites
Even as he relished a luxe life
In which he collected
$5,000 bottles of wine,
Owned a $54 million private jet,
Outfitted the vast salon
Of his Florida mansion
In the manner of Versailles,
And socialized with top corporate
And political leaders.
Mr. Limbaugh often praised Trump
For succeeding despite never having won
Over the kind of people
Who ran large media organizations,
Wall Street firms and political parties.
Mr. Limbaugh dubbed himself
The most dangerous man in America
“
The most dangerous man in America
“His effect as an enforcer,
Keeping Republican politicians in line,
Was greater than that of a president
Or the party’s national organization,”
Or, as Mr. Limbaugh once put it,
“Things only take off
When I mention them.”
At the peak of his popularity,
Restaurants across the nation
re-christened their empty overflow space
“Rush Rooms”
And piped in the show,
Filling seats at lunchtime,
With fans who called each other
“Ditto heads”
Because they agreed with
Every pearl of Limbaugh’s wisdom.
Comment:
I first hear about Rush
When my two siblings became
‘Ditto heads” in the 1980s
And tried to convert me
I listened once to his show
And never turned him in again
End comment
“He was the Elvis of broadcast radio,”
He knew politics very well
And he was extremely successful
As a businessman,
But the thing he’ll be remembered for
Is he was a genius
At broadcasting,
At performing on the radio.”
Although critics of the show spent decades
Decrying it as offensive,
Even cruel,
His fans defended Mr. Limbaugh’s
Iinsults as funnier than slashing.
He won attention
From far beyond his radio audience
With barbs aimed at gays; Blacks; liberals; feminists,
Whom he sometimes called “feminazis”;
And environmentalists, whom he derided as “tree-huggers.”
He won gleeful “dittos” from listeners
Who believed that American culture
Had become too politically correct.
He spawned a mini-industry
of anti-Limbaugh books
and radio hosts who pronounced themselves
appalled by his comedy bits,
such as an “AIDS Update”
that presented nasty nuggets
about gay people
to the strains of Dionne Warwick’s “
I’ll Never Love This Way Again.”
For a time, he dispatched
hostile callers on his show with
“Caller abortions,”
In which he played the sound of a vacuum pump
Before hanging up on the listener.
Sat atop the New York Times bestseller list
For six months;
It spelled out his political philosophy,
At performing on the radio.”
A blend of nostalgic yearnings
For a more united and homogeneous America
Comment: a time when white men ruled the world
And minorities knew their place
As did woman
And gays were in the closet end comment
and an energetic embrace of individual rights.
“I believe in the individual,
in less government,”
he wrote,
“That God placed man in a position
Of having dominion over nature.
[and] That racial relation
Will not be enhanced,
Or prejudice eliminated
by governmental edict.”
Rush and the Rise of Trumpism
By the time Trump took office
as president in 2017,
the talk host who also called himself
“America’s Anchorman”
had been nudged off center stage.
In the end,
he was overshadowed
by Fox News Channel
and more-extreme right-wing outlets
such as Breitbart News, Infowars,
OAN, and Newsmax
which owed their existence
to Mr. Limbaugh’s pioneering
of conservative talk as an alternative
to the “drive-by media” —
his derisive term for what he saw
as a scandal-hungry,
liberal-dominated national press corps.
Mr. Limbaugh’s influence
could be heard in Trump’s denunciations of
“fake news.”
Decades before Trump entered politics,
Mr. Limbaugh gave the news media prominently
billing in his catalog of villains
College Drop Out Makes Millions
In 1972, he dropped out of Southeast Missouri State University
After one year to take a job as a Top-40 DJ in McKeesport, Pa.
“He flunked everything,”
“He just didn’t seem interested
in anything but the radio.”
He avoided the military draft
Comment: Kind of like his hero’s Trump
Trumped-up (Pun intended) bone spur deferment
End Comment
Rise of the Radio King
With his booming voice, bad-boy comedy,
and boastful persona, “Jeff Christie”
was a master of Top-40 technique.
His show was always coming at you from
the “Excellence in Broadcasting” studios
Song titles were announced
with pseudo-British pronunciations
Although Christie’s show was all about the hits
and not the politics,
he aimed his funny bits at targets
such as feminists and hippies.
One morning in 1973,
he came out of the song “
Love Can Make You Happy”
with the quip, “
Women’s liberation theme
song there for you.”
In 1984,
a station in Sacramento
offered him a talk show.
Far from leaving his DJ years behind,
Mr. Limbaugh modeled his new program a
After the basic format of Top-40 radio,
replacing the songs
with listener phone calls
but otherwise retaining
the elements of what
had long been radio’s
most alluring programming:
jingles, rock “bumpers”
(the snippets of songs
that led listeners
in and out of each segment),
teases about what was coming up
after the ads,
and constant self-promotion.
Mr. Limbaugh’s daily dicing
of California politicians,
spiced with comedy routines
and news updates
packaged with pop tunes,
was an instant hit.
As Mr. Limbaugh
became a local star,
radio was undergoing a revolution.
Satellite technology
made it possible for many stations
to air the same programs cheaply,
and federal regulators
stopped enforcing rules requiring
balance in political programming.
He had an immediate
a knack for making headlines
with his put-downs,
as when he blasted
“environmental wackos”
and declared animal rights activists
to be “a bunch of kook burgers.”
“I represent a group of people
who aren’t heard
from very much in the media,
the average normal American guy and his family,”
“I have the unique ability
to take the opposing point of view
and just nuke it,
laser it out of existence.
I am addicted to self-praise.
“People say, ‘
You believe the stuff you say?’
That’s for you to figure out.”
“I like to illustrate
Absurdity by being absurd,”
‘I simply validate’
Democrats and Republicans
Alike credited Mr. Limbaugh
With political influence
Well beyond that of any radio host
Since Walter Winchell half a century earlier.
In 1994, freshman Republicans in Congress
made him an honorary member
of their class.
Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska
who was the Republican candidate
for vice president in 2008,
used a Limbaughism
for her big applause line in speeches:
Republicans are not just the party of no,
But the party of Hell No. “
Mr. Limbaugh boasted that he gave
millions of Americans instructions
on what to believe about politics.
But at other moments,
he presented himself
as a mere mirror of public opinion.
“I don’t orchestrate,
Dictate or otherwise cause people
To ponder,”
I simply validate.”
A caller once confronted him on a TV show
Saying, “You’re a manipulator,
You’re devious
And you’re evil.”
“I’m a harmless little fuzzball,”
Mr. Limbaugh replied.
“Nobody makes you listen to me.
The show is about having fun.”
Rush Limbaugh isn’t saying
he wants the country to split
into red and blue factions
as a result of conservative fury
over the election results.
As he attempted
to make it clear Thursday,
he’s just saying that
other people are saying it.
“I know that there’s a sizable
and growing sentiment
for people who believe that’s, we’re headed to,
whether we want to get there or not,
secession,”
“Now, I didn’t advocate for it.
I never would advocate for secession
I’m simply repeating what I have heard.”
He didn’t say where
he’s heard anyone float
the notion of states seceding,
let alone spell out how
such a neo-Civil War separation
might take place.
But Limbaugh’s ambiguous flirtation
with the idea
maybe his special contribution
to conservative media’s rock-solid support
of Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.
“I think that we’re trending toward secession,
“I see more and more people asking
what in the world
do we have in common
with the people who live in, say, New York?
What is there
that makes us believe
that there is enough of us
there to even have a chance
at winning New York?
Limbaugh’s drift into radical theories
like secession
came after weeks of egging
on Trump’s claim
that the 2020 vote
was riven by fraud,
cheating him out of a second term.
On Wednesday, Limbaugh noted
that he had read recent blog posts about
“how distant and separated
and how much more separated
our culture is becoming politically
and that it can’t go on this way.”
But then he took his hand
away from the flame:
“I haven’t made up my mind.
I still haven’t given up the idea
that [conservative Americans]
are the majority
and that all we have to do
is find a way to unite and win.”
And with that final broadcast
The King of Radio
The shock jock of all time
Had his final words
Before going
On to the next world
Taking with him
The hopes and fears
Of his army of ditto heads
He will not be missed
By me
Or the reality-based community
But no doubt a future Limbaugh
Will emerge from the fetid swamps
Of the alt. Right reality
Rush is Dead. Long Live Rush
Letter to President of the University of the Pacific
Author note: I graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California in 1979. It was my third college, after flunking out of Oberlin college. it was a good fit for me as it was a student-centric small-medium sized University, mostly white in those days. Now it is about 55% white. It was expensive but I got some financial aid and worked on campus throughout my time there. I sent a letter to the President of the University via FB and Linkidlin this morning. These days there are real concerns whether universities in the U.S. will survive and many marginal universities will fail. I hope that does not happen to UOP which is the oldest University in California founded in 1854. Here then is my letter and concerns. If I get a response I will post an update.
Dear President Callahan
I am an alumnus of UOP (COP 1979, BA in Political Science and Psychology (Human Development). After graduation, I served in the Peace Corps in Korea, then taught ESL overseas for three years before going to Graduate school at the University of Washington where I obtained a MA in Korean studies, and an MPA degree in 1988. I then taught at a Korean University and the University of Maryland in Korea until 1991 when I joined the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Service officer. I served in ten countries over my 27-year career. I retired in 2016 and have been residing in Korea and Oregon since then. I have been blogging and writing fiction and poetry and have been published in over 40 journals. My blog is https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com
Recently I thought back on my college experience and thought of my time at UOP, and thinking about the future of UOP.
This last year has been very challenging for all in the higher education community and many people are speculating that there will be a shakeout of Universities and many may go under over the next few years.
To forestall that fate from happening to UOP it is essential that UOP continues to be an innovative student-centered university and that the University continues to offer new opportunities.
In reviewing the UOP academic programs, I was struck by the strength of the general education program. I have only a few suggestions to make. First, it is important to ensure that all students take US, California and world history courses, and world literature courses. I would add a world religions course, and a personal financial management course as well, but otherwise, keep the program as it is.
I would revive the old cluster colleges of the 1960-70 era. Raymond College, Callison, and Elbert Covell College, the Cluster Colleges were innovative colleges at the time. Raymond pioneered interdisciplinary studies, Callison pioneered international studies, and Colbert college pioneered programs focusing on Latin American students and offered classics in Spanish. The SIS could be renamed Callison International Studies, Raymond college could continue to pioneer interdisciplinary courses and could manage the general education program for the University, and Colbert College could be revived.
Require all Students to Study One Semester Abroad
I would require all undergraduate students regardless of major complete one semester abroad with appropriate language training before going overseas. I would let the new college of international studies coordinate the study abroad program for the entire university. The study abroad semester will take place between the second half of the sophomore year and the first semester of the senior year or could be done over a summer break
New Programs in Real Estate Management, Hospitality Management, Food Service Management, Construction Management, Arts Management and MFA program.
I would offer seven new major programs – real estate management, hospitality management, food service management ,construction management, arts management and MFA programs. All programs would require that their students take all the appropriate state-level certifications so that when they graduate, they are fully licensed as well as having the degree and both programs should require a mandatory internship. All programs would be housed in the Business College. These programs would include appropriate legal courses, (see below). The students in the Resturant management program will help manage food services on Campus, and the students in the Hospitality Management program will manage the alumnae lodge which will be converted into a hotel for visitors to the campus including of course alums. I would also reach out to the business community and seek corporate sponsorship. This would be especially appropriate for the real estate and construction management courses.
I would also expand the music management program to be an arts management program.
I would offer a MFA program in writing – that would offer both on campus, low residency and virtual options.
Embrace Virtual Learning Options
The university should offer some of their courses as video courses and should also consider contracting with Coursera to offer some of their courses as well. For the Coursera courses, a university faculty member will facilitate discussion of the course materials after the video lectures are completed.
And UOP should consider licensing some of their more innovative programs such as music management as to course courses as well. Finally students off site during internships could take a few courses via distant learning as well.
Require all students to do one internship and one community volunteer project
all students should be required to complete one internship and one community service project. the internships should be paid. the Business college should coordinate the program. the Pharmacy, Health Care, Education and Engineering programs should be exempt as they already have an internship requirement.
Offer Some Law Classes to Undergraduate Majors
I would offer some law courses to undergraduates as part of their field of study. This would include basic business law, real estate law, construction contracting law, music and arts management law, and engineering management law. These classes should be held at the law school in the evening and students would go to them via University shuttles (electric of course) leaving at 4:30 and returning at 8:30 with the courses being held twice a week from 6 pm to 8 pm.
Bring Back Football
Regarding UOP athletics, I would consider bringing back football. I would also pledge that all UOP student-athletes would graduate on time. I would work with other university leaders to work towards requiring professional sports teams to commit to only hiring students who have graduated from university (or perhaps require them to complete their studies within one year of becoming professional.) this is something that should have been done a long time ago and requires Universities to step up and demand that the professional sporting teams require college graduation before starting professional careers.
If you are complacent, UOP may not survive.
I believe that if you offer these new programs and continue to innovate, UOP will survive the coming shake-up of Universities in the United States. If you are complacent, UOP may not survive.
Thank you for your consideration. I would love to talk with your staff about any of these ideas.
Raymond College, a liberal arts and sciences college that had no letter grades and no academic departments, allowed students to earn a bachelor’s degree in only three years. Established in 1962, the curriculum was interdisciplinary, well before that became an academic buzz word. Students earned credit through teacher evaluations. Eventually, there weren’t even required courses, and students were free to shape their own course of study.
Elbert Covell College, a liberal arts and sciences college also, was unique because all courses were taught in Spanish. Half of the students were from North America and half of the students were from South and Central America. Most students chose to participate in a semester abroad in Costa Rica. Established in 1963, Covell gave University of the Pacific a head start in international recruitment, an area in which the University continues to excel.
Callison College, established in 1967, was dedicated to the study of international relations and required students in the sophomore year to spend a year abroad in Asia together with their fellow classmates. In the early years, the students went to India, and later they studied in Japan.
Raymond and Callison Colleges were closed in 1979, and the courses taught through Covell were finally transferred to other schools in 1986. However, their emphasis on global education continued in a new School of International Studies, established in 1986, the first university-based undergraduate school of international studies in California.
The learning community concept of the cluster colleges was strengthened in College of the Pacific, the liberal arts and sciences core of the University, recognized for preparing responsible citizen leaders who will contribute in lasting ways in their careers and communities.
Congratulations on your victory and for getting off to a great start. I have some advice for you going forward. Most of these proposals are things that need to be done but can wait until next year to tackle. What is more important than anything else right now of course is COVID pandemic recovery. Once the economy starts turning around and the COVID pandemic is behind us it will be time to turn to these other critical issues.
These include:
infrastructure including the new green deal,
health care reform,
reform to the Federal budget,
college education paid for through national service,
Statehood for DC, PR, VI, Guam including splitting up NY, Illinois, and California,
Rebuild our alliances
Offer a grand bargain with North Korean
Offer a grand bargain with Iran
Bring our troops home.
Immigration reform
Space exploration including setting up permanent colonies on the moon and Mars within ten years
Call for The Legalization of Marijuana, Emptying the Prisons of Drug Offenders.
Infrastructure including Call for The Green New Deal
I would gradually reduce military spending and devote resources to rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. This must include high-speed trains, and must include perhaps hyperloop technology or Maglev trains? And the next generation of airplanes as well. We must rebuild our mass transit systems. We must embrace the development of driverless vehicles. and as mention, we must beef up health care spending and assuring universal access to higher education. These must be the new national priorities. I would throw the republicans a bone offers to look at modest reductions in another government spending for example decreasing spending on NPR but not eliminating it, and a slight decrease in foreign assistance, and UN contributions, etc and other government programs could be trimmed down a bit to pay for higher priorities.
Point out time and time again China, Germany, and other countries are building the green energy resources of the future while the U.S. which invented green energy is moving back to the 19th century.
When critics say we cannot afford this, tell them we cannot afford to ruin the world for our children’s future. We cannot afford to continue burning fossil fuels. Climate change is real, and the U.S. must lead the way forward. That is what great nations do, lead the world in embracing change, in embracing the promise of the future. We can do no less.
Call to Fix Obama Care
Point out time and time again that we still have a broken down too expensive too burdensome a health care system. Point out time and time again that we have the most expensive system in the world, yet we are about 25th in terms of health care outcomes. No one in this land should fear going bankrupt if they need to get medical care. We can do this right and we must do it right.
I would acknowledge that Obama Care is not perfect and that if you had a chance to re-do it you would make it much less bureaucratic and less burdensome. But be proud of what you and Obama accomplished. Promise to fix it and make it work.
One potential fix would be to open the Federal Health Care system to anyone who needs insurance and continue to provide subsidies to keep the premiums down.
Another option would be an expansion of Medicare, so it covers about half the country.
Enact paid sick leave for all Americans.
and tie this into the pandemic and how if we had universal health care and paid sick leave people would not feel that they had to work even when sick
and contrast Trump’s inept handling of the pandemic with your handling of HINI and Ebola and how you would restore the American economy after the second great depression recedes after the pandemic fades away
call for a slight reduction of military spending and national security spending, a slight increase in taxes including corporation taxes to beef up spending on infrastructure, and health care.
When Republicans claim that we cannot afford this, challenge them. What is their alternative? Do they think it is just that we have such a broken health care system? Do they want to go back to the days when getting sick meant you would be faced with bankruptcy? Is that what they want? And why the hell cannot the rich pay a little bit more to ensure health care for and to ensure we rebuild America.
Reforming the Federal Budget
This is perhaps boring to voters but very important to the long-term stability of the country.
I would call upon Congress to change how they do budgets and shift to a two-year budgetary cycle. The first year of congress would be devoted to passing the two-year budget, the second year would be devoted to oversight and supplemental budget requests.
Coupled that shifting to a calendar year budget. Eliminate the possibility of government shutdowns by enacting automatic CR’s if budgets are not passed on time. But also require budgets to be passed on time – December 1 in the prior year. If a budget is not passed on time, keep congress in town until the budget is passed. And if for some reason the budget is not passed, dinge congressional salaries until the budget is passed.
Second commission a study to look at our tax situation and make suggestions for common-sense tax reform. Start by figuring out how much money the government spends in a given year, then reform the tax code to generate most of the revenue from taxes. Consider a national sales tax as well. Reserve borrowing for large scale infrastructure, and military spending. And consider a surcharge on income about 10 million per year, raise the top corporate tax rate a fraction. Reward corporations who hire Americans and punish those that shift jobs overseas.
I would also look at federal spending and ask that all departments identify lower priority projects with a required 5 percent reduction in federal spending per agency, except for health-related and education-related agencies which would be given a considerable bump up in spending. I would do this for five years so that in five years overall spending has been reduced by about 5 percent. Leave it up to the agencies to identify lower priority projects -that should not be micromanaged by the White House.
Revise the Re-inventing government initiatives including solicitation of ideas from both employees and the general public. Require agency heads to report on progress made in re-inventing government.
Consider reorganizing government agencies and functions. I would create a new department called the Department of Consular and Immigration affairs which would consolidate the visa function, naturalization function, citizen services into one agency.
For the defense, the department considers eliminating such things as golf courses, domestic PX and commissary stores, and another non-essential spending.
Finally, consider turning over some federal government functions to the states. For example, the states could manage the national forests and perhaps the national park service.
The conservative idea of moving federal agencies out of Washington DC has considerable merit in my opinion.
Call for Free College Education Coupled with National Service Requirements.
It is time to change the game plan in Washington DC. You need a new bold proposal that will unite the country and heal the divisions. My proposal is for you to embrace mandatory national service for three years. Everyone finishing their service would receive full funding for college, technical training, or a grant to set up their own business because after all not everyone needs to go to college, we need to encourage technical training and starting up a small business as well.
the key is that the service would be universal and all citizens and LPR’s between age 18 and 25 would serve three years – no exceptions. Most would be military, but people could serve as fine fathers. adjust police officers, adjust border patrol officers, adjust teachers, peace corps volunteers, or serve in the state/local and federal government positions, including a revival of the civilian conservation corps to put people to work in the parks and forest lands.
Call for all Americans to serve three years in public service either in the military or in the government or NGO sector and return, they will get four years of college paid for. For recent graduates, they can serve and get their college debt forgiven. To those who say we cannot afford this, say we cannot afford to continue to put our college students in crippling debt they cannot afford. And everyone, especially the rich, should shoulder the burden of national service. and point out that shifting to a mandatory national service requirement would save the Pentagon money on salaries. the cost would be modest – minimum wage, housing, medical care, and college tuition after their service. People would serve between age 18 and 25 one year of training and two years of service, with an optional second enlistment for three more years of educational benefits through Ph.D./professional degrees. Starting at age 18 until age 25 people will be randomly selected to begin service. those who are 25 will have until they turn 26 to report for service. They would have one year to report for service.
Free College/technical training or money to open a business in exchange for national service
Most people will start college, or tech training institute, then do military or other service and then return to college to finish their college. That is fine. Ensure that colleges will not only accommodate that but will also offer college credits for military and other on the job training acquired during national service. This would also cut the cost of college attendance for most people to a manageable three years instead of four to five years. And of course, ensure that people can go to technical training institutes instead of a traditional college as we need to grow the next generation of technical workers as well. and also ensure that those who wish financial assistance in setting up a small business would receive that assistance as well as we need to encourage the small business start-ups as well.
All Must Serve
And most importantly, shared national service will help restore America’s sense that this is our land, this land belongs to everyone. The rich and the poor alike. We are all in this together. We have lost sight of that. The military has become an army of paid mercenaries recruited from the lower classes. If everyone serves, there will be less temptation to send troops into harm’s way. This will be a win-win for everyone except for the student loan vultures. everyone who is a citizen or permanent resident must serve, Foreigners on student visas or other short-term visas could serve and receive a green card for their service.
Establish New Service Academies for the Diplomatic, Intelligence Services/ Space Force/NASA, and law Enforcement
I would also call for four new national service academies to be set up. One would be for diplomatic and intelligence service, the other would be for law enforcement, the third would be for the Space Force/and NASA, the last would be more technical scientific agencies of the Federal government focusing on science and technology issues. These academies like the military academies including a coast guard academy, and beefing up the maritime service academy, would take only those who finished their military basis service. this would be a great way to restore our diplomatic corps and intelligence services as well as our law enforcement personnel.
National Service Will Bring US together as one nation
I believe that this proposal could be enacted with widespread bipartisan support. It would go a long way to help heal the divisions of our country and bring us all together as a nation. I hope you will fully embrace this proposal and I look forward to discussing it with your staff.
Call to repair our alliances
Declare that our allies are our allies and our friends, and we will work with them to solve the world’s problems and restore American leadership. We will rejoin the Paris Climate Change and work to make sure it works. We will rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership. and we will figure out how to work with China and even Russia to solve problems of mutual interest such as climate change. Vow to restore partnership with Mexico and Canada and Latin America as well as India and Southeast Asia. and restore ties with Europe as well. Rebuild the UN and international organizations. and join the international criminal court. Finally, close Gitmo as an affront to the American system of justice and human rights. Israel vows to work with Palestinians and Israelis alike to restart the peace process.
Offer a New Deal to North Korea
We will continue to negotiate with the North Koreans, offering them a way towards reunification with South Korea and rejoining the world economic community. You can damn the President here with faint praise. Say that it was good that he took the initiative to break the log jam and talk to the North but due to his inexperience and his naivety he was unable to make a deal. You can finish the job.
Offer to Talk with The Iranians
Tell the Iranians we are ready to talk with them and want a new deal that would benefit them and the U.S. along the lines of what we are offering the North Koreans.
Bring the Troops Home
I would call for most U.S. troops to return to the U.S., where they will be reposted along our borders and serve as adjunct border patrol agents and first responders as part of their mandatory new national service. I I would keep a residual force in Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Europe.
Challenge the Republicans on their “you are weakening national security” BS. When the Republican scream you are weakening national security calls them out on their BS.
Ask them how repositioning troops to help deal with national security issues at home weakens national security? How does going to universal military service weaken national security? How does getting out of endless wars weaken national security? How does closing a few bases in Europe weaken national security? Or closing a golf course? Or a commissary? Point out that we already spend more on national security than any other nation on earth. How does rebuilding America’s failed infrastructure weaken national security? How does providing medical care or universal higher education which benefits the entire nation hamper national security? Challenge them to produce a better plan.
Call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Start by acknowledging we need to improve security at the border, but the wall is a waste of time and money that will not solve the problem. We need a comprehensive 21st-century immigration policy that balances the need for continued immigration with the need to ensure that immigrants contribute to our country and enrich our country as they always have and always will. Again, throw the republicans a bone offers to ensure that E Verify is widely used by all employers and punish employers who hire illegals. I would also consider getting rid of the diversity visa program and the sibling immigration category but grandfather people in that category giving them two years to complete the immigration process with no new applicants being accepted. I would also push English language skills for immigrants as one of the new requirements – they must be able to handle the immigrant visa interview in English. That is something I agree with Trump on.
Challenge the Republicans to come up with a better plan and work with you to implement it.
Call for A Return to Space Including Lunar Colonies and Martian Colonies
It is time for the U.S. to lead the world again in space exploration. Offer to lead the way in building lunar and Martian colonies with the participation of the world’s other space powers.
Call for The Legalization of Marijuana, Cocaine, Emptying the Prisons of Drug Offenders
End the endless war on drugs. Repeal marijuana prohibition, and cocaine possession. Empty the prisons of marijuana offenders. End the private prison for-profit system. End the prison pipeline that sweeps up brown and black youths and sucks them into prison for life. Reserve prisons for the most dangerous offenders, all other prisoners should be sentenced to community service, drug treatment, or other non-prison sentences. Use the money saved by closing prisons for rebuilding infrastructure.
Tax marijuana at both the state and federal levels. Use the revenues to beef up health care including drug abuse prevention programs.
Decriminalize cocaine and other drug possessions and empty the prisons of drug offenders. Future drug offenders would undergo mandatory rehabilitation paid for through insurance.
Finally, require all vehicles in the U.S. to have installed anti-DUI technology. The technology has been around for decades and would cost about $150 per vehicle. The cost is modest but the benefits in fewer deaths, and almost complete elimination of DUI prosecution would be tremendous. Why this has not been done before is beyond me.
That would save both the states and the federal government a lot of money.
Pitch ending the war on drugs as both a criminal justice initiative and as a way to raise much-needed revenue. Remember prohibition ended because due to the Great Depression, the government was desperate for money.
In short, Joe and Kamala
Go bold and ensure that we will rebuild America and once again lead the world. Be cautious and timid and risk being a one-term president.
I retired from the State Department in 2016 after serving 27-years in over ten countries. Before my FS service, I taught overseas in Korea. I hold an MPA and MA degrees from the University of Washington. My spouse, Angela Lee, retired from the U.S. Army as a major.
Kamala
I went to too a few years before you did. 1962, and 1964.
I am a pragmatic man. Always has been. A bit left of center, but I am not ideologically driven. There are two types of people in this world, ideologues, and pragmatic people.
Ideologues are certain that they are right, and you are wrong. They are also convinced that only their ideological certainty will ensure the right policies, and there can be no decisions without underlying ideological underpinnings. To them, you are on their side or on the other side, either on the side of the angels or the side of the evil corporation’s modern-day Satan to the religiously inclined left. Either you are on the side of freedom or you are on the side of the socialist communists. No compromise is possible, compromise is a dirty word. One must remain pure to one’s principles. They would rather have no loaf than accept half a loaf. They would rather torpedo the deal than accept less than a perfect deal.
To us, pragmatics we see the world as a world of gray, with no fixed moral principles and no eternal external driven law was given by God or a political party. We do not care about being ideologically pure, we just want to get shit done to benefit the greatest number of people at the least cost. We do not are as Ding once said, “whether a cat is black or white, we just care if the cat catches mice.” So, if a liberal idea works, we will take it, if a conservative idea works better, we will take it too. We will put together policies with a little of this and a little of that and compromise to get a package done. Then go back and do it again constantly testing whether we need to change direction, and not carrying if we are a bit consistent in our statements and our beliefs. The art of politics lies for us in getting the deal done. And we believe that we should never let the perfect become the enemy of the good.Joe Go Bold or Go Home, revised
This article is about the philosophical movement. For other uses, see Pragmatism (disambiguation).
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Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics—such as the nature of knowledge, language, concepts, meaning, belief, and science—are all best viewed in terms of their practical uses and successes.
Pragmatism began in the United States in the 1870s. Its origins are often attributed to the philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. In 1878, Peirce described it in his pragmatic maxim: “Consider the practical effects of the objects of your conception. Then, your conception of those effects is the whole of your conception of the object.”[1]
Contents
1 Origins
2 Core tenets
2.1 Anti-reification of concepts and theories
2.2 Naturalism and anti-Cartesianism
2.3 Reconciliation of anti-skepticism and fallibilism
2.4 Pragmatist theory of truth and epistemology
3 In other fields of philosophy
3.1 Philosophy of science
3.2 Logic
3.3 Metaphysics
3.4 Philosophy of mind
3.5 Ethics
3.6 Aesthetics
3.7 Philosophy of religion
4 Neopragmatism
5 Legacy and contemporary relevance
5.1 Effects on social sciences
5.2 Effects on public administration
5.3 Effects on feminism
6 Criticisms
7 List of pragmatists
7.1 Classical pragmatists (1850–1950)
7.2 Analytic, neo- and other pragmatists (1950–present)
7.2.1 Pragmatists in the extended sense
8 See also
9 References
10 Sources
11 Further reading
11.1 Additional bibliography
12 External links
Origins
Charles Peirce: the American polymath who first identified pragmatism
Pragmatism as a philosophical movement began in the United States around 1870.[2] Charles Sanders Peirce (and his pragmatic maxim) is given credit for its development,[3] along with later 20th century contributors, William James and John Dewey.[4] Its direction was determined by The Metaphysical Club members Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and Chauncey Wright as well as John Dewey and George Herbert Mead.
The first use in print of the name pragmatism was in 1898 by James, who credited Peirce with coining the term during the early 1870s.[5] James regarded Peirce’s “Illustrations of the Logic of Science” series (including “The Fixation of Belief” (1877), and especially “How to Make Our Ideas Clear” (1878)) as the foundation of pragmatism.[6][7] Peirce in turn wrote in 1906[8] that Nicholas St. John Green had been instrumental by emphasizing the importance of applying Alexander Bain’s definition of belief, which was “that upon which a man is prepared to act”. Peirce wrote that “from this definition, pragmatism is scarce more than a corollary; so that I am disposed to think of him as the grandfather of pragmatism”. John Shook has said, “Chauncey Wright also deserves considerable credit, for as both Peirce and James recall, it was Wright who demanded a phenomenalist and fallibilist empiricism as an alternative to rationalistic speculation.”[9]
Peirce developed the idea that inquiry depends on real doubt, not mere verbal or hyperbolic doubt,[10] and said that, in order to understand a conception in a fruitful way, “Consider the practical effects of the objects of your conception. Then, your conception of those effects is the whole of your conception of the object”,[1] which he later called the pragmatic maxim. It equates any conception of an object to the general extent of the conceivable implications for informed practice of that object’s effects. This is the heart of his pragmatism as a method of experimentational mental reflection arriving at conceptions in terms of conceivable confirmatory and disconfirmatory circumstances—a method hospitable to the generation of explanatory hypotheses, and conducive to the employment and improvement of verification. Typical of Peirce is his concern with inference to explanatory hypotheses as outside the usual foundational alternative between deductivist rationalism and inductivist empiricism, although he was a mathematical logician and a founder of statistics.
Peirce lectured and further wrote on pragmatism to make clear his own interpretation. While framing a conception’s meaning in terms of conceivable tests, Peirce emphasized that, since a conception is general, its meaning, its intellectual purport, equates to its acceptance’s implications for general practice, rather than to any definite set of real effects (or test results); a conception’s clarified meaning points toward its conceivable verifications, but the outcomes are not meanings, but individual upshots. Peirce in 1905 coined the new name pragmaticism “for the precise purpose of expressing the original definition”,[11] saying that “all went happily” with James’s and F. C. S. Schiller’s variant uses of the old name “pragmatism” and that he nonetheless coined the new name because of the old name’s growing use in “literary journals, where it gets abused”. Yet in a 1906 manuscript, he cited as causes his differences with James and Schiller.[12] and, in a 1908 publication,[13] his differences with James as well as literary author Giovanni Papini. Peirce in any case regarded his views that truth is immutable and infinity is real, as being opposed by the other pragmatists, but he remained allied with them on other issues.[13]
Pragmatism enjoyed renewed attention after Willard Van Orman Quine and Wilfrid Sellars used a revised pragmatism to criticize logical positivism in the 1960s. Inspired by the work of Quine and Sellars, a brand of pragmatism known sometimes as neopragmatism gained influence through Richard Rorty, the most influential of the late 20th century pragmatists along with Hilary Putnam and Robert Brandom. Contemporary pragmatism may be broadly divided into a strict analytic tradition and a “neo-classical” pragmatism (such as Susan Haack) that adheres to the work of Peirce, James, and Dewey.
Core tenets
A few of the various but often interrelated positions characteristic of philosophers working from a pragmatist approach include:
Epistemology (justification): a coherentist theory of justification that rejects the claim that all knowledge and justified belief rest ultimately on a foundation of noninferential knowledge or justified belief. Coherentists hold that justification is solely a function of some relationship between beliefs, none of which are privileged beliefs in the way maintained by foundationalist theories of justification.
Epistemology (truth): a deflationary or pragmatic theory of truth; the former is the epistemological claim that assertions that predicate truth of a statement do not attribute a property called truth to such a statement while the latter is the epistemological claim that assertions that predicate truth of a statement attribute the property of useful-to-believe to such a statement.
Metaphysics: a pluralist view that there is more than one sound way to conceptualize the world and its content.
Philosophy of science: an instrumentalist and scientific anti-realist view that a scientific concept or theory should be evaluated by how effectively it explains and predicts phenomena, as opposed to how accurately it describes objective reality.
Philosophy of language: an anti-representationalist view that rejects analyzing the semantic meaning of propositions, mental states, and statements in terms of a correspondence or representational relationship and instead analyzes semantic meaning in terms of notions like dispositions to action, inferential relationships, and/or functional roles (e.g. behaviorism and inferentialism). Not to be confused with pragmatics, a sub-field of linguistics with no relation to philosophical pragmatism.
Additionally, forms of empiricism, fallibilism, verificationism, and a Quinean naturalist metaphilosophy are all commonly elements of pragmatist philosophies. Many pragmatists are epistemological relativists and see this to be an important facet of their pragmatism (e.g. Joseph Margolis), but this is controversial and other pragmatists argue such relativism to be seriously misguided (e.g. Hilary Putnam, Susan Haack).
Anti-reification of concepts and theories
Dewey in The Quest for Certainty criticized what he called “the philosophical fallacy”: Philosophers often take categories (such as the mental and the physical) for granted because they don’t realize that these are nominal concepts that were invented to help solve specific problems.[14] This causes metaphysical and conceptual confusion. Various examples are the “ultimate Being” of Hegelian philosophers, the belief in a “realm of value”, the idea that logic, because it is an abstraction from concrete thought, has nothing to do with the action of concrete thinking.
David L. Hildebrand summarized the problem: “Perceptual inattention to the specific functions comprising inquiry led realists and idealists alike to formulate accounts of knowledge that project the products of extensive abstraction back onto experience.”[14]:40
Naturalism and anti-Cartesianism
From the outset, pragmatists wanted to reform philosophy and bring it more in line with the scientific method as they understood it. They argued that idealist and realist philosophy had a tendency to present human knowledge as something beyond what science could grasp. They held that these philosophies then resorted either to a phenomenology inspired by Kant or to correspondence theories of knowledge and truth.[citation needed] Pragmatists criticized the former for its a priorism, and the latter because it takes correspondence as an unanalyzable fact. Pragmatism instead tries to explain the relation between knower and known.
In 1868,[15] C.S. Peirce argued that there is no power of intuition in the sense of a cognition unconditioned by inference, and no power of introspection, intuitive or otherwise, and that awareness of an internal world is by hypothetical inference from external facts. Introspection and intuition were staple philosophical tools at least since Descartes. He argued that there is no absolutely first cognition in a cognitive process; such a process has its beginning but can always be analyzed into finer cognitive stages. That which we call introspection does not give privileged access to knowledge about the mind—the self is a concept that is derived from our interaction with the external world and not the other way around (De Waal 2005, pp. 7–10). At the same time he held persistently that pragmatism and epistemology in general could not be derived from principles of psychology understood as a special science:[16] what we do think is too different from what we should think; in his “Illustrations of the Logic of Science” series, Peirce formulated both pragmatism and principles of statistics as aspects of scientific method in general.[17] This is an important point of disagreement with most other pragmatists, who advocate a more thorough naturalism and psychologism.
Richard Rorty expanded on these and other arguments in Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature in which he criticized attempts by many philosophers of science to carve out a space for epistemology that is entirely unrelated to—and sometimes thought of as superior to—the empirical sciences. W.V. Quine, instrumental in bringing naturalized epistemology back into favor with his essay “Epistemology Naturalized” (Quine 1969), also criticized “traditional” epistemology and its “Cartesian dream” of absolute certainty. The dream, he argued, was impossible in practice as well as misguided in theory, because it separates epistemology from scientific inquiry.
Hilary Putnam asserts that the combination of antiskepticism and fallibilism is a central feature of pragmatism.
Reconciliation of anti-skepticism and fallibilism
Hilary Putnam has suggested that the reconciliation of anti-skepticism[18] and fallibilism is the central goal of American pragmatism.[citation needed] Although all human knowledge is partial, with no ability to take a “God’s-eye-view”, this does not necessitate a globalized skeptical attitude, a radical philosophical skepticism (as distinguished from that which is called scientific skepticism). Peirce insisted that (1) in reasoning, there is the presupposition, and at least the hope,[19] that truth and the real are discoverable and would be discovered, sooner or later but still inevitably, by investigation taken far enough,[1] and (2) contrary to Descartes’ famous and influential methodology in the Meditations on First Philosophy, doubt cannot be feigned or created by verbal fiat to motivate fruitful inquiry, and much less can philosophy begin in universal doubt.[20] Doubt, like belief, requires justification. Genuine doubt irritates and inhibits, in the sense that belief is that upon which one is prepared to act.[1] It arises from confrontation with some specific recalcitrant matter of fact (which Dewey called a “situation”), which unsettles our belief in some specific proposition. Inquiry is then the rationally self-controlled process of attempting to return to a settled state of belief about the matter. Note that anti-skepticism is a reaction to modern academic skepticism in the wake of Descartes. The pragmatist insistence that all knowledge is tentative is quite congenial to the older skeptical tradition.
Pragmatist theory of truth and epistemology
Main article: Pragmatic theory of truth
Pragmatism was not the first to apply evolution to theories of knowledge: Schopenhauer advocated a biological idealism as what’s useful to an organism to believe might differ wildly from what is true. Here knowledge and action are portrayed as two separate spheres with an absolute or transcendental truth above and beyond any sort of inquiry organisms used to cope with life. Pragmatism challenges this idealism by providing an “ecological” account of knowledge: inquiry is how organisms can get a grip on their environment. Real and true are functional labels in inquiry and cannot be understood outside of this context. It is not realist in a traditionally robust sense of realism (what Hilary Putnam later called metaphysical realism), but it is realist in how it acknowledges an external world which must be dealt with.[citation needed]
Many of James’ best-turned phrases—”truth’s cash value” (James 1907, p. 200) and “the true is only the expedient in our way of thinking” (James 1907, p. 222)—were taken out of context and caricatured in contemporary literature as representing the view where any idea with practical utility is true. William James wrote:
It is high time to urge the use of a little imagination in philosophy. The unwillingness of some of our critics to read any but the silliest of possible meanings into our statements is as discreditable to their imaginations as anything I know in recent philosophic history. Schiller says the truth is that which “works.” Thereupon he is treated as one who limits verification to the lowest material utilities. Dewey says truth is what gives “satisfaction”! He is treated as one who believes in calling everything true which, if it were true, would be pleasant. (James 1907, p. 90)
In reality, James asserts, the theory is a great deal more subtle. (See Dewey 1910 for a “FAQ.”)
The role of belief in representing reality is widely debated in pragmatism. Is a belief valid when it represents reality? “Copying is one (and only one) genuine mode of knowing” (James 1907, p. 91). Are beliefs dispositions which qualify as true or false depending on how helpful they prove in inquiry and in action? Is it only in the struggle of intelligent organisms with the surrounding environment that beliefs acquire meaning? Does a belief only become true when it succeeds in this struggle? In James’s pragmatism nothing practical or useful is held to be necessarily true nor is anything which helps to survive merely in the short term. For example, to believe my cheating spouse is faithful may help me feel better now, but it is certainly not useful from a more long-term perspective because it doesn’t accord with the facts (and is therefore not true).
In other fields of philosophy
While pragmatism started simply as a criterion of meaning, it quickly expanded to become a full-fledged epistemology with wide-ranging implications for the entire philosophical field. Pragmatists who work in these fields share a common inspiration, but their work is diverse and there are no received views.
Philosophy of science
In the philosophy of science, instrumentalism is the view that concepts and theories are merely useful instruments and progress in science cannot be couched in terms of concepts and theories somehow mirroring reality. Instrumentalist philosophers often define scientific progress as nothing more than an improvement in explaining and predicting phenomena. Instrumentalism does not state that truth does not matter, but rather provides a specific answer to the question of what truth and falsity mean and how they function in science.
One of C. I. Lewis’ main arguments in Mind and the World Order: Outline of a Theory of Knowledge (1929) was that science does not merely provide a copy of reality but must work with conceptual systems and that those are chosen for pragmatic reasons, that is, because they aid inquiry. Lewis’ own development of multiple modal logics is a case in point. Lewis is sometimes called a proponent of conceptual pragmatism because of this.[21]
Another development is the cooperation of logical positivism and pragmatism in the works of Charles W. Morris and Rudolf Carnap. The influence of pragmatism on these writers is mostly limited to the incorporation of the pragmatic maxim into their epistemology. Pragmatists with a broader conception of the movement do not often refer to them.
W. V. Quine’s paper “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”, published in 1951, is one of the more celebrated papers of 20th-century philosophy in the analytic tradition. The paper is an attack on two central tenets of the logical positivists’ philosophy. One is the distinction between analytic statements (tautologies and contradictions) whose truth (or falsehood) is a function of the meanings of the words in the statement (‘all bachelors are unmarried’), and synthetic statements, whose truth (or falsehood) is a function of (contingent) states of affairs. The other is reductionism, the theory that each meaningful statement gets its meaning from some logical construction of terms which refers exclusively to immediate experience. Quine’s argument brings to mind Peirce’s insistence that axioms are not a priori truths but synthetic statements.
Logic
Later in his life Schiller became famous for his attacks on logic in his textbook, Formal Logic. By then, Schiller’s pragmatism had become the nearest of any of the classical pragmatists to an ordinary language philosophy. Schiller sought to undermine the very possibility of formal logic, by showing that words only had meaning when used in context. The least famous of Schiller’s main works was the constructive sequel to his destructive book Formal Logic. In this sequel, Logic for Use, Schiller attempted to construct a new logic to replace the formal logic that he had criticized in Formal Logic. What he offers is something philosophers would recognize today as a logic covering the context of discovery and the hypothetico-deductive method.
Whereas Schiller dismissed the possibility of formal logic, most pragmatists are critical rather of its pretension to ultimate validity and see logic as one logical tool among others—or perhaps, considering the multitude of formal logics, one set of tools among others. This is the view of C. I. Lewis. C. S. Peirce developed multiple methods for doing formal logic.
Stephen Toulmin’s The Uses of Argument inspired scholars in informal logic and rhetoric studies (although it is an epistemological work).
Metaphysics
James and Dewey were empirical thinkers in the most straightforward fashion: experience is the ultimate test and experience is what needs to be explained. They were dissatisfied with ordinary empiricism because, in the tradition dating from Hume, empiricists had a tendency to think of experience as nothing more than individual sensations. To the pragmatists, this went against the spirit of empiricism: we should try to explain all that is given in experience including connections and meaning, instead of explaining them away and positing sense data as the ultimate reality. Radical empiricism, or Immediate Empiricism in Dewey’s words, wants to give a place to meaning and value instead of explaining them away as subjective additions to a world of whizzing atoms.
The “Chicago Club” including Mead, Dewey, Angell, and Moore. Pragmatism is sometimes called American pragmatism because so many of its proponents were and are Americans.
William James gives an interesting example of this philosophical shortcoming:
[A young graduate] began by saying that he had always taken for granted that when you entered a philosophic classroom you had to open relations with a universe entirely distinct from the one you left behind you in the street. The two were supposed, he said, to have so little to do with each other, that you could not possibly occupy your mind with them at the same time. The world of concrete personal experiences to which the street belongs is multitudinous beyond imagination, tangled, muddy, painful and perplexed. The world to which your philosophy-professor introduces you is simple, clean and noble. The contradictions of real life are absent from it. … In point of fact it is far less an account of this actual world than a clear addition built upon it … It is no explanation of our concrete universe (James 1907, pp. 8–9)
F. C. S. Schiller’s first book Riddles of the Sphinx was published before he became aware of the growing pragmatist movement taking place in America. In it, Schiller argues for a middle ground between materialism and absolute metaphysics. These opposites are comparable to what William James called tough-minded empiricism and tender-minded rationalism. Schiller contends on the one hand that mechanistic naturalism cannot make sense of the “higher” aspects of our world. These include free will, consciousness, purpose, universals and some would add God. On the other hand, abstract metaphysics cannot make sense of the “lower” aspects of our world (e.g. the imperfect, change, physicality). While Schiller is vague about the exact sort of middle ground he is trying to establish, he suggests that metaphysics is a tool that can aid inquiry, but that it is valuable only insofar as it does help in explanation.
In the second half of the 20th century, Stephen Toulmin argued that the need to distinguish between reality and appearance only arises within an explanatory scheme and therefore that there is no point in asking what “ultimate reality” consists of. More recently, a similar idea has been suggested by the postanalytic philosopher Daniel Dennett, who argues that anyone who wants to understand the world has to acknowledge both the “syntactical” aspects of reality (i.e., whizzing atoms) and its emergent or “semantic” properties (i.e., meaning and value).[citation needed]
Radical empiricism gives answers to questions about the limits of science, the nature of meaning and value and the workability of reductionism. These questions feature prominently in current debates about the relationship between religion and science, where it is often assumed—most pragmatists would disagree—that science degrades everything that is meaningful into “merely” physical phenomena.
Philosophy of mind
Both John Dewey in Experience and Nature (1929) and half a century later Richard Rorty in his Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979) argued that much of the debate about the relation of the mind to the body results from conceptual confusions. They argue instead that there is no need to posit the mind or mindstuff as an ontological category.
Pragmatists disagree over whether philosophers ought to adopt a quietist or a naturalist stance toward the mind-body problem. The former (Rorty among them) want to do away with the problem because they believe it’s a pseudo-problem, whereas the latter believe that it is a meaningful empirical question.[citation needed]
Ethics
Main article: Pragmatic ethics
Pragmatism sees no fundamental difference between practical and theoretical reason, nor any ontological difference between facts and values. Pragmatist ethics is broadly humanist because it sees no ultimate test of morality beyond what matters for us as humans. Good values are those for which we have good reasons, viz. the good reasons approach. The pragmatist formulation pre-dates those of other philosophers who have stressed important similarities between values and facts such as Jerome Schneewind and John Searle.
William James tried to show the meaningfulness of (some kinds of) spirituality but, like other pragmatists, did not see religion as the basis of meaning or morality.
William James’ contribution to ethics, as laid out in his essay The Will to Believe has often been misunderstood as a plea for relativism or irrationality. On its own terms it argues that ethics always involves a certain degree of trust or faith and that we cannot always wait for adequate proof when making moral decisions.
Moral questions immediately present themselves as questions whose solution cannot wait for sensible proof. A moral question is a question not of what sensibly exists, but of what is good, or would be good if it did exist. … A social organism of any sort whatever, large or small, is what it is because each member proceeds to his own duty with a trust that the other members will simultaneously do theirs. Wherever a desired result is achieved by the co-operation of many independent persons, its existence as a fact is a pure consequence of the precursive faith in one another of those immediately concerned. A government, an army, a commercial system, a ship, a college, an athletic team, all exist on this condition, without which not only is nothing achieved, but nothing is even attempted. (The Will to Believe James 1896)
Of the classical pragmatists, John Dewey wrote most extensively about morality and democracy. (Edel 1993) In his classic article “Three Independent Factors in Morals” (Dewey 1930), he tried to integrate three basic philosophical perspectives on morality: the right, the virtuous and the good. He held that while all three provide meaningful ways to think about moral questions, the possibility of conflict among the three elements cannot always be easily solved. (Anderson, SEP)
Dewey also criticized the dichotomy between means and ends which he saw as responsible for the degradation of our everyday working lives and education, both conceived as merely a means to an end. He stressed the need for meaningful labor and a conception of education that viewed it not as a preparation for life but as life itself. (Dewey 2004 [1910] ch. 7; Dewey 1997 [1938], p. 47)
Dewey was opposed to other ethical philosophies of his time, notably the emotivism of Alfred Ayer. Dewey envisioned the possibility of ethics as an experimental discipline, and thought values could best be characterized not as feelings or imperatives, but as hypotheses about what actions will lead to satisfactory results or what he termed consummatory experience. An additional implication of this view is that ethics is a fallible undertaking because human beings are frequently unable to know what would satisfy them.
During the late 1900s and first decade of 2000, pragmatism was embraced by many in the field of bioethics led by the philosophers John Lachs and his student Glenn McGee, whose 1997 book The Perfect Baby: A Pragmatic Approach to Genetic Engineering (see designer baby) garnered praise from within classical American philosophy and criticism from bioethics for its development of a theory of pragmatic bioethics and its rejection of the principalism theory then in vogue in medical ethics. An anthology published by the MIT Press titled Pragmatic Bioethics included the responses of philosophers to that debate, including Micah Hester, Griffin Trotter and others many of whom developed their own theories based on the work of Dewey, Peirce, Royce and others. Lachs developed several applications of pragmatism to bioethics independent of but extending from the work of Dewey and James.
A recent pragmatist contribution to meta-ethics is Todd Lekan’s Making Morality (Lekan 2003). Lekan argues that morality is a fallible but rational practice and that it has traditionally been misconceived as based on theory or principles. Instead, he argues, theory and rules arise as tools to make practice more intelligent.
Aesthetics
John Dewey’s Art as Experience, based on the William James lectures he delivered at Harvard University, was an attempt to show the integrity of art, culture and everyday experience (IEP). Art, for Dewey, is or should be a part of everyone’s creative lives and not just the privilege of a select group of artists. He also emphasizes that the audience is more than a passive recipient. Dewey’s treatment of art was a move away from the transcendental approach to aesthetics in the wake of Immanuel Kant who emphasized the unique character of art and the disinterested nature of aesthetic appreciation. A notable contemporary pragmatist aesthetician is Joseph Margolis. He defines a work of art as “a physically embodied, culturally emergent entity”, a human “utterance” that isn’t an ontological quirk but in line with other human activity and culture in general. He emphasizes that works of art are complex and difficult to fathom, and that no determinate interpretation can be given.
Philosophy of religion
Both Dewey and James investigated the role that religion can still play in contemporary society, the former in A Common Faith and the latter in The Varieties of Religious Experience.
From a general point of view, for William James, something is true only insofar as it works. Thus, the statement, for example, that prayer is heard may work on a psychological level but (a) may not help to bring about the things you pray for (b) may be better explained by referring to its soothing effect than by claiming prayers are heard. As such, pragmatism is not antithetical to religion but it is not an apologetic for faith either. James’ metaphysical position however, leaves open the possibility that the ontological claims of religions may be true. As he observed in the end of the Varieties, his position does not amount to a denial of the existence of transcendent realities. Quite the contrary, he argued for the legitimate epistemic right to believe in such realities, since such beliefs do make a difference in an individual’s life and refer to claims that cannot be verified or falsified either on intellectual or common sensorial grounds.
Joseph Margolis in Historied Thought, Constructed World (California, 1995) makes a distinction between “existence” and “reality”. He suggests using the term “exists” only for those things which adequately exhibit Peirce’s Secondness: things which offer brute physical resistance to our movements. In this way, such things which affect us, like numbers, may be said to be “real”, although they do not “exist”. Margolis suggests that God, in such a linguistic usage, might very well be “real”, causing believers to act in such and such a way, but might not “exist”.
Neopragmatism
Main article: Neopragmatism
Neopragmatism is a broad contemporary category used for various thinkers that incorporate important insights of, and yet significantly diverge from, the classical pragmatists. This divergence may occur either in their philosophical methodology (many of them are loyal to the analytic tradition) or in conceptual formation: for example, conceptual pragmatist C. I. Lewis was very critical of Dewey; neopragmatist Richard Rorty disliked Peirce.
Important analytic pragmatists include early Richard Rorty (who was the first to develop neopragmatist philosophy in his Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979),[22] Hilary Putnam, W. V. O. Quine, and Donald Davidson. Brazilian social thinker Roberto Unger advocates for a radical pragmatism, one that “de-naturalizes” society and culture, and thus insists that we can “transform the character of our relation to social and cultural worlds we inhabit rather than just to change, little by little, the content of the arrangements and beliefs that comprise them”.[23] Late Rorty and Jürgen Habermas are closer to Continental thought.
Neopragmatist thinkers who are more loyal to classical pragmatism include Sidney Hook and Susan Haack (known for the theory of foundherentism). Many pragmatist ideas (especially those of Peirce) find a natural expression in the decision-theoretic reconstruction of epistemology pursued in the work of Isaac Levi. Nicholas Rescher advocates his version of methodological pragmatism, based on construing pragmatic efficacy not as a replacement for truths but as a means to its evidentiation.[24] Rescher is also a proponent of pragmatic idealism.
Not all pragmatists are easily characterized. With the advent of postanalytic philosophy and the diversification of Anglo-American philosophy, many philosophers were influenced by pragmatist thought without necessarily publicly committing themselves to that philosophical school. Daniel Dennett, a student of Quine’s, falls into this category, as does Stephen Toulmin, who arrived at his philosophical position via Wittgenstein, whom he calls “a pragmatist of a sophisticated kind” (foreword for Dewey 1929 in the 1988 edition, p. xiii). Another example is Mark Johnson whose embodied philosophy (Lakoff and Johnson 1999) shares its psychologism, direct realism and anti-cartesianism with pragmatism. Conceptual pragmatism is a theory of knowledge originating with the work of the philosopher and logician Clarence Irving Lewis. The epistemology of conceptual pragmatism was first formulated in the 1929 book Mind and the World Order: Outline of a Theory of Knowledge.
French pragmatism is attended with theorists such as Bruno Latour, Michel Crozier, Luc Boltanski, and Laurent Thévenot. It often is seen as opposed to structural problems connected to the French critical theory of Pierre Bourdieu. French pragmatism has more recently made inroads into American sociology as well.[25][26][27]
Philosophers John R. Shook and Tibor Solymosi said that “each new generation rediscovers and reinvents its own versions of pragmatism by applying the best available practical and scientific methods to philosophical problems of contemporary concern”.[28]
Legacy and contemporary relevance
In the 20th century, the movements of logical positivism and ordinary language philosophy have similarities with pragmatism. Like pragmatism, logical positivism provides a verification criterion of meaning that is supposed to rid us of nonsense metaphysics; however, logical positivism doesn’t stress action as pragmatism does. The pragmatists rarely used their maxim of meaning to rule out all metaphysics as nonsense. Usually, pragmatism was put forth to correct metaphysical doctrines or to construct empirically verifiable ones rather than to provide a wholesale rejection.
Ordinary language philosophy is closer to pragmatism than other philosophy of language because of its nominalist character (although Peirce’s pragmatism is not nominalist[13]) and because it takes the broader functioning of language in an environment as its focus instead of investigating abstract relations between language and world.
Pragmatism has ties to process philosophy. Much of the classical pragmatists’ work developed in dialogue with process philosophers such as Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead, who aren’t usually considered pragmatists because they differ so much on other points (Douglas Browning et al. 1998; Rescher, SEP).
Behaviorism and functionalism in psychology and sociology also have ties to pragmatism, which is not surprising considering that James and Dewey were both scholars of psychology and that Mead became a sociologist.
Pragmatism emphasizes the connection between thought and action. Applied fields like public administration,[29] political science,[30] leadership studies,[31] international relations,[32] conflict resolution,[33] and research methodology[34] have incorporated the tenets of pragmatism in their field. Often this connection is made using Dewey and Addams’s expansive notion of democracy.
Effects on social sciences
In the early 20th century, Symbolic interactionism, a major perspective within sociological social psychology, was derived from pragmatism, especially the work of George Herbert Mead and Charles Cooley, as well as that of Peirce and William James.[35]
Increasing attention is being given to pragmatist epistemology in other branches of the social sciences, which have struggled with divisive debates over the status of social scientific knowledge.[4][36]
Enthusiasts suggest that pragmatism offers an approach that is both pluralist and practical.[37]
Effects on public administration
The classical pragmatism of John Dewey, William James, and Charles Sanders Peirce has influenced research in the field of public administration. Scholars claim classical pragmatism had a profound influence on the origin of the field of public administration.[38][39] At the most basic level, public administrators are responsible for making programs “work” in a pluralistic, problems-oriented environment. Public administrators are also responsible for the day-to-day work with citizens. Dewey’s participatory democracy can be applied in this environment. Dewey and James’ notion of theory as a tool, helps administrators craft theories to resolve policy and administrative problems. Further, the birth of American public administration coincides closely with the period of greatest influence of the classical pragmatists.
Which pragmatism (classical pragmatism or neo-pragmatism) makes the most sense in public administration has been the source of debate. The debate began when Patricia M. Shields introduced Dewey’s notion of the Community of Inquiry.[40] Hugh Miller objected to one element of the community of inquiry (problematic situation, scientific attitude, participatory democracy): scientific attitude.[41] A debate that included responses from a practitioner,[42] an economist,[43] a planner,[44] other public administration scholars,[45][46] and noted philosophers[47][48] followed. Miller[49] and Shields[50][51] also responded.
In addition, applied scholarship of public administration that assesses charter schools,[52] contracting out or outsourcing,[53] financial management,[54] performance measurement,[55] urban quality of life initiatives,[56] and urban planning[57] in part draws on the ideas of classical pragmatism in the development of the conceptual framework and focus of analysis.[58][59][60]
The health sector’s administrators’ use of pragmatism has been criticized as incomplete in its pragmatism, however,[61] according to the classical pragmatists, knowledge is always shaped by human interests. The administrator’s focus on “outcomes” simply advances their own interest, and this focus on outcomes often undermines their citizen’s interests, which often are more concerned with process. On the other hand, David Brendel argues that pragmatism’s ability to bridge dualisms, focus on practical problems, include multiple perspectives, incorporate participation from interested parties (patient, family, health team), and provisional nature makes it well suited to address problems in this area.[62]
Effects on feminism
Since the mid 1990s, feminist philosophers have re-discovered classical pragmatism as a source of feminist theories. Works by Seigfried,[63] Duran,[64] Keith,[65] and Whipps[66] explore the historic and philosophic links between feminism and pragmatism. The connection between pragmatism and feminism took so long to be rediscovered because pragmatism itself was eclipsed by logical positivism during the middle decades of the twentieth century. As a result, it was lost from femininist discourse. Feminists now consider pragmatism’s greatest strength to be the very features that led to its decline. These are “persistent and early criticisms of positivist interpretations of scientific methodology; disclosure of value dimension of factual claims”; viewing aesthetics as informing everyday experience; subordinating logical analysis to political, cultural, and social issues; linking the dominant discourses with domination; “realigning theory with praxis; and resisting the turn to epistemology and instead emphasizing concrete experience”.[67]
Feminist philosophers point to Jane Addams as a founder of classical pragmatism. Mary Parker Follett was also an important feminist pragmatist concerned with organizational operation during the early decades of the 20th century.[68][69] In addition, the ideas of Dewey, Mead, and James are consistent with many feminist tenets. Jane Addams, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead developed their philosophies as all three became friends, influenced each other, and were engaged in the Hull House experience and women’s rights causes.
Criticisms
In the 1908 essay “The Thirteen Pragmatisms”, Arthur Oncken Lovejoy argued that there’s significant ambiguity in the notion of the effects of the truth of a proposition and those of belief in a proposition in order to highlight that many pragmatists had failed to recognize that distinction.[70] He identified 13 different philosophical positions that were each labeled pragmatism.
Franciscan monk Celestine Bittle presented multiple criticisms of pragmatism in his 1936 book Reality and the Mind: Epistemology.[71] He argued that, in William James’s pragmatism, truth is entirely subjective and is not the widely accepted definition of truth, which is correspondence to reality. For Bittle, defining truth as what is useful is a “perversion of language”.[71] With truth reduced essentially to what is good, it is no longer an object of the intellect. Therefore, the problem of knowledge posed by the intellect is not solved, but rather renamed. Renaming truth as a product of the will cannot help it solve the problems of the intellect, according to Bittle. Bittle cited what he saw as contradictions in pragmatism, such as using objective facts to prove that truth does not emerge from objective fact; this reveals that pragmatists do recognize truth as objective fact, and not, as they claim, what is useful. Bittle argued there are also some statements that cannot be judged on human welfare at all. Such statements (for example the assertion that “a car is passing”) are matters of “truth and error” and do not affect human welfare.[71]
British philosopher Bertrand Russell devoted a chapter each to James and Dewey in his 1945 book A History of Western Philosophy; Russell pointed out areas in which he agreed with them but also ridiculed James’s views on truth and Dewey’s views on inquiry.[72]:17[73]:120–124 Hilary Putnam later argued that Russell “presented a mere caricature” of James’s views[72]:17 and a “misreading of James”,[72]:20 while Tom Burke argued at length that Russell presented “a skewed characterization of Dewey’s point of view”.[73]:121 Elsewhere, in Russell’s book The Analysis of Mind, Russell praised James’s radical empiricism, to which Russell’s own account of neutral monism was indebted.[72]:17[74] Dewey, in The Bertrand Russell Case, defended Russell against an attempt to remove Russell from his chair at the College of the City of New York in 1940.[75]
Neopragmatism as represented by Richard Rorty has been criticized as relativistic both by other neopragmatists such as Susan Haack (Haack 1997) and by many analytic philosophers (Dennett 1998). Rorty’s early analytic work, however, differs notably from his later work which some, including Rorty, consider to be closer to literary criticism than to philosophy, and which attracts the brunt of criticism from his detractors.
Ideology
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An ideology (/ˌʌɪdɪˈɒlədʒi/) is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially as held for reasons that are not purely epistemic,[1][2] in which “practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones.”[3] Formerly applied primarily to economic, political, or religious theories and policies, in a tradition going back to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, more recent use treats the term as mainly condemnatory.[4]
The term was coined by Antoine Destutt de Tracy, a French Enlightenment aristocrat and philosopher, who conceived it in 1796 as the “science of ideas” to develop a rational system of ideas to oppose the irrational impulses of the mob. In political science, the term is used in a descriptive sense to refer to political belief systems.[4]
Contents
1 Etymology and history
2 Definitions and analysis
2.1 Marxist interpretation
2.2 Ideological state apparatuses (Althusser)
2.3 Ideology and the Commodity (Debord)
2.4 Ideology and rationality (Vietta)
2.5 Unifying agents (Hoffer)
2.6 Ronald Inglehart
3 Political ideologies
3.1 Ideocracy
4 Epistemological ideologies
5 Ideology and the social sciences
5.1 Psychological research
5.2 Semiotic theory
5.3 Sociology
6 Quotations
7 See also
8 References
8.1 Bibliography
9 External links
Etymology and history
Antoine Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836)
The term ideology originates from French idéologie, itself deriving from combining Greek: idéā (ἰδέα, ‘notion, pattern’; close to the Lockean sense of idea) and -logíā (-λογῐ́ᾱ, ‘the study of’).
The term ideology, and the system of ideas associated with it, was coined in 1796 by Antoine Destutt de Tracy while in prison pending trial during the Reign of Terror, where he read the works of Locke and Condillac.[5] Hoping to form a secure foundation for the moral and political sciences, Tracy devised the term for a “science of ideas,” basing such upon two things:
the sensations that people experience as they interact with the material world; and
the ideas that form in their minds due to those sensations.
He conceived ideology as a liberal philosophy that would defend individual liberty, property, free markets, and constitutional limits on state power. He argues that, among these aspects, ideology is the most generic term because the ‘science of ideas’ also contains the study of their expression and deduction.[6] The coup that overthrew Maximilien Robespierre allowed Tracy to pursue his work.[6] Tracy reacted to the terroristic phase of the revolution (during the Napoleonic regime) by trying to work out a rational system of ideas to oppose the irrational mob impulses that had nearly destroyed him.
Perhaps the most accessible[peacock term] source for the near-original meaning of ideology is Hippolyte Taine’s work on the Ancien Régime, Origins of Contemporary France I. He describes ideology as rather like teaching philosophy via the Socratic method, though without extending the vocabulary beyond what the general reader already possessed, and without the examples from observation that practical science would require. Taine identifies it not just with Destutt De Tracy, but also with his milieu, and includes Condillac as one of its precursors.
Napoleon Bonaparte came to view ideology as a term of abuse, which he often hurled against his liberal foes in Tracy’s Institutional. According to Karl Mannheim’s historical reconstruction of the shifts in the meaning of ideology, the modern meaning of the word was born when Napoleon used it to describe his opponents as “the ideologues.” Tracy’s major book, The Elements of Ideology, was soon translated into the major languages of Europe.
In the century following Tracy, the term ideology moved back and forth between positive and negative connotations. During this next generation, when post-Napoleonic governments adopted a reactionary stance, influenced the Italian, Spanish and Russian thinkers who had begun to describe themselves as “liberals” and who attempted to reignite revolutionary activity in the early 1820s, including the Carlist rebels in Spain; the Carbonari societies in France and Italy; and the Decembrists in Russia. Karl Marx adopted Napoleon’s negative sense of the term, using it in his writings, in which he once described Tracy as a fischblütige Bourgeoisdoktrinär (a ‘fish-blooded bourgeois doctrine’).[7]
The term has since dropped some of its pejorative sting, and has become a neutral term in the analysis of differing political opinions and views of social groups.[8] While Marx situated the term within class struggle and domination,[9][10] others believed it was a necessary part of institutional functioning and social integration.[11]
Definitions and analysis
There are many different kinds of ideologies, including political, social, epistemological, and ethical.
Recent analysis tends to posit that ideology is a ‘coherent system of ideas’ that rely on a few basic assumptions about reality that may or may not have any factual basis. Through this system, ideas become coherent, repeated patterns through the subjective ongoing choices that people make. These ideas serve as the seed around which further thought grows. Believers in ideology range from passive acceptance through fervent advocacy to true belief. According to most recent analysis, ideologies are neither necessarily right nor wrong.
Definitions, such as by Manfred Steger and Paul James emphasize both the issue of patterning and contingent claims to truth:[12]
Ideologies are patterned clusters of normatively imbued ideas and concepts, including particular representations of power relations. These conceptual maps help people navigate the complexity of their political universe and carry claims to social truth.
Studies of the concept of ideology itself (rather than specific ideologies) have been carried out under the name of systematic ideology in the works of George Walford and Harold Walsby, who attempt to explore the relationships between ideology and social systems.[example needed]
David W. Minar describes six different ways the word ideology has been used:[13]
As a collection of certain ideas with certain kinds of content, usually normative;
As the form or internal logical structure that ideas have within a set;
By the role ideas play in human-social interaction;
By the role ideas play in the structure of an organization;
As meaning, whose purpose is persuasion; and
As the locus of social interaction.
For Willard A. Mullins, an ideology should be contrasted with the related (but different) issues of utopia and historical myth. An ideology is composed of four basic characteristics:[14]
it must have power over cognition;
it must be capable of guiding one’s evaluations;
it must provide guidance towards action; and
it must be logically coherent.
Terry Eagleton outlines (more or less in no particular order) some definitions of ideology:[15]
The process of production of meanings, signs and values in social life
A body of ideas characteristic of a particular social group or class
Ideas that help legitimate a dominant political power
False ideas that help legitimate a dominant political power
Systematically distorted communication
Ideas that offer a position for a subject
Forms of thought motivated by social interests
Identity thinking
Socially necessary illusion
The conjuncture of discourse and power
The medium in which conscious social actors make sense of their world
Action-oriented sets of beliefs
The confusion of linguistic and phenomenal reality
Semiotic closure[15]:197
The indispensable medium in which individuals live out their relations to a social structure
The process that converts social life to a natural reality
German philosopher Christian Duncker called for a “critical reflection of the ideology concept.”[16] In his work, he strove to bring the concept of ideology into the foreground, as well as the closely connected concerns of epistemology and history, defining ideology in terms of a system of presentations that explicitly or implicitly claim to absolute truth.
Marxist interpretation
Karl Marx posits that a society’s dominant ideology is integral to its superstructure.
In the Marxist base and superstructure model of society, base denotes the relations of production and modes of production, and superstructure denotes the dominant ideology (i.e. religious, legal, political systems). The economic base of production determines the political superstructure of a society. Ruling class-interests determine the superstructure and the nature of the justifying ideology—actions feasible because the ruling class control the means of production. For example, in a feudal mode of production, religious ideology is the most prominent aspect of the superstructure, while in capitalist formations, ideologies such as liberalism and social democracy dominate. Hence the great importance of the ideology justifying a society; it politically confuses the alienated groups of society via false consciousness.
Some explanations have been presented. György Lukács proposes ideology as a projection of the class consciousness of the ruling class. Antonio Gramsci uses cultural hegemony to explain why the working-class have a false ideological conception of what their best interests are. Marx argued that “The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production.”[17]
The Marxist formulation of “ideology as an instrument of social reproduction” is conceptually important to the sociology of knowledge,[18] viz. Karl Mannheim, Daniel Bell, and Jürgen Habermas et al. Moreover, Mannheim has developed, and progressed, from the “total” but “special” Marxist conception of ideology to a “general” and “total” ideological conception acknowledging that all ideology (including Marxism) resulted from social life, an idea developed by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Slavoj Žižek and the earlier Frankfurt School added to the “general theory” of ideology a psychoanalytic insight that ideologies do not include only conscious, but also unconscious ideas.
Ideological state apparatuses (Althusser)
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French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser proposed that ideology is “the imagined existence (or idea) of things as it relates to the real conditions of existence” and makes use of a lacunar discourse. A number of propositions, which are never untrue, suggest a number of other propositions, which are. In this way, the essence of the lacunar discourse is what is not told (but is suggested).
For example, the statement “All are equal before the law,” which is a theoretical groundwork of current legal systems, suggests that all people may be of equal worth or have equal opportunities. This is not true, for the concept of private property and power over the means of production results in some people being able to own more (much more) than others. This power disparity contradicts the claim that all share both practical worth and future opportunity equally; for example, the rich can afford better legal representation, which practically privileges them before the law.
Althusser also proffered the concept of the ideological state apparatus to explain his theory of ideology. His first thesis was “ideology has no history”: while individual ideologies have histories, interleaved with the general class struggle of society, the general form of ideology is external to history.
For Althusser, beliefs and ideas are the products of social practices, not the reverse. His thesis that “ideas are material” is illustrated by the “scandalous advice” of Pascal toward unbelievers: “Kneel and pray, and then you will believe.” What is ultimately ideological for Althusser are not the subjective beliefs held in the conscious “minds” of human individuals, but rather discourses that produce these beliefs, the material institutions and rituals that individuals take part in without submitting it to conscious examination and so much more critical thinking.
Ideology and the Commodity (Debord)
The French Marxist theorist Guy Debord, founding member of the Situationist International, argued that when the commodity becomes the “essential category” of society, i.e. when the process of commodification has been consummated to its fullest extent, the image of society propagated by the commodity (as it describes all of life as constituted by notions and objects deriving their value only as commodities tradeable in terms of exchange value), colonizes all of life and reduces society to a mere representation, The Society of the Spectacle.[19]
Ideology and rationality (Vietta)
System-search.svg
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German cultural historian Silvio Vietta described the development and expansion of Western rationality from ancient times onward as often accompanied by and shaped by ideologies like that of the “just war,” the “true religion,” racism, nationalism, or the vision of future history as a kind of ‘heaven on earth’ in communism. He said that ideas like these became ideologies by giving hegemonic political actions an idealistic veneer and equipping their leaders with a higher and, in the “political religions” (Eric Voegelin), nearly God-like power, so that they became masters over the lives (and the deaths) of millions of people. He considered that ideologies therefore contributed to power politics irrational shields of ideas beneath which they could operate as manifestations of idealism.[20][21]
Unifying agents (Hoffer)
The American philosopher Eric Hoffer identified several elements that unify followers of a particular ideology:[22]
Hatred: “Mass movements can rise and spread without a God, but never without belief in a devil.”[22] The “ideal devil” is a foreigner.[22]:93
Imitation: “The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others…the more we mistrust our judgment and luck, the more are we ready to follow the example of others.”[22]:101–2
Persuasion: The proselytizing zeal of propagandists derives from “a passionate search for something not yet found more than a desire to bestow something we already have.”[22]:110
Coercion: Hoffer asserts that violence and fanaticism are interdependent. People forcibly converted to Islamic or communist beliefs become as fanatical as those who did the forcing. “It takes fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice.”[22]:107–8
Leadership: Without the leader, there is no movement. Often the leader must wait long in the wings until the time is ripe. He calls for sacrifices in the present, to justify his vision of a breathtaking future. The skills required include: audacity, brazenness, iron will, fanatical conviction; passionate hatred, cunning, a delight in symbols; ability to inspire blind faith in the masses; and a group of able lieutenants.[22]:112–4 Charlatanism is indispensable, and the leader often imitates both friend and foe, “a single-minded fashioning after a model.” He will not lead followers towards the “promised land,” but only “away from their unwanted selves.”[22]:116–9
Action: Original thoughts are suppressed, and unity encouraged, if the masses are kept occupied through great projects, marches, exploration and industry.[22]:120–1
Suspicion: “There is prying and spying, tense watching and a tense awareness of being watched.” This pathological mistrust goes unchallenged and encourages conformity, not dissent.[22]:124
Ronald Inglehart
Ronald Inglehart of the University of Michigan is author of the World Values Survey, which, since 1980, has mapped social attitudes in 100 countries representing 90% of global population. Results indicate that where people live is likely to closely correlate with their ideological beliefs. In much of Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, people prefer traditional beliefs and are less tolerant of liberal values. Protestant Europe, at the other extreme, adheres more to secular beliefs and liberal values. Alone among high-income countries, the United States is exceptional in its adherence to traditional beliefs, in this case Christianity.
Political ideologies
See also: List of political ideologies
In social studies, a political ideology is a certain ethical set of ideals, principles, doctrines, myths, or symbols of a social movement, institution, class, or large group that explains how society should work, offering some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. Political ideologies are concerned with many different aspects of a society, including (for example): the economy, education, health care, labor law, criminal law, the justice system, the provision of social security and social welfare, trade, the environment, minors, immigration, race, use of the military, patriotism, and established religion.
Political ideologies have two dimensions:
Goals: how society should work; and
Methods : the most appropriate ways to achieve the ideal arrangement.
There are many proposed methods for the classification of political ideologies, each of these different methods generate a specific political spectrum.[citation needed] Ideologies also identify themselves by their position on the spectrum (e.g. the left, the center or the right), though precision in this respect can often become controversial. Finally, ideologies can be distinguished from political strategies (e.g., populism) and from single issues that a party may be built around (e.g. legalization of marijuana). Philosopher Michael Oakeshott defines such ideology as “the formalized abridgment of the supposed sub-stratum of the rational truth contained in the tradition.” Moreover, Charles Blattberg offers an account that distinguishes political ideologies from political philosophies.[23]
A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends power should be used. Some parties follow a certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them. Each political ideology contains certain ideas on what it considers the best form of government (e.g., democracy, demagogy, theocracy, caliphate etc.), and the best economic system (e.g. capitalism, socialism, etc.). Sometimes the same word is used to identify both an ideology and one of its main ideas. For instance, socialism may refer to an economic system, or it may refer to an ideology that supports that economic system.
Post 1991, many commentators claim that we are living in a post-ideological age,[24] in which redemptive, all-encompassing ideologies have failed. This view is often associated[by whom?] with Francis Fukuyama’s writings on the end of history.[25] Contrastly, Nienhueser (2011) sees research (in the field of human resource management) as ongoingly “generating ideology.”[26]
Slavoj Zizek has pointed out how the very notion of post-ideology can enable the deepest, blindest form of ideology. A sort of false consciousness or false cynicism, engaged in for the purpose of lending one’s point of view the respect of being objective, pretending neutral cynicism, without truly being so. Rather than help avoiding ideology, this lapse only deepens the commitment to an existing one. Zizek calls this “a post-modernist trap.”[27] Peter Sloterdijk advanced the same idea already in 1988.[28]
Studies have shown that political ideology is somewhat genetically heritable.[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]
Ideocracy
When a political ideology becomes a dominantly pervasive component within a government, one can speak of an ideocracy.[37] Different forms of government utilize ideology in various ways, not always restricted to politics and society. Certain ideas and schools of thought become favored, or rejected, over others, depending on their compatibility with or use for the reigning social order.
As John Maynard Keynes expresses, “Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.”[38]
How do ideologies become part of government policy? In The Anatomy of Revolution, Crane Brinton said that new ideology spreads when there is discontent with an old regime.[39] Extremists such as Lenin and Robespierre will overcome more moderate revolutionaries.[40] This stage is soon followed by Thermidor, a reining back of revolutionary enthusiasm under pragmatists like Stalin and Napoleon Bonaparte, who bring “normalcy and equilibrium.”[41] Briton’s sequence (“men of ideas>fanatics>practical men of action”) is reiterated by J. William Fulbright,[42] while a similar form occurs in Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer.[43] The revolution thus becomes established as an ideocracy, though its rise is likely to be checked by a ‘political midlife crisis.’
Epistemological ideologies
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Even when the challenging of existing beliefs is encouraged, as in scientific theories, the dominant paradigm or mindset can prevent certain challenges, theories, or experiments from being advanced.
A special case of science that has inspired ideology is ecology, which studies the relationships among living things on Earth. Perceptual psychologist James J. Gibson believed that human perception of ecological relationships was the basis of self-awareness and cognition itself. Linguist George Lakoff has proposed a cognitive science of mathematics wherein even the most fundamental ideas of arithmetic would be seen as consequences or products of human perception—which is itself necessarily evolved within an ecology.
Deep ecology and the modern ecology movement (and, to a lesser degree, Green parties) appear to have adopted ecological sciences as a positive ideology.
Some accuse ecological economics of likewise turning scientific theory into political economy, although theses in that science can often be tested. The modern practice of green economics fuses both approaches and seems to be part science, part ideology.
This is far from the only theory of economics raised to ideology status. Some notable economically based ideologies include neoliberalism, monetarism, mercantilism, mixed economy, social Darwinism, communism, laissez-faire economics, and free trade. There are also current theories of safe trade and fair trade that can be seen as ideologies.
Ideology and the social sciences
Psychological research
A large amount of research in psychology is concerned with the causes, consequences and content of ideology.[44][45][46] According to system justification theory,[47] ideologies reflect (unconscious) motivational processes, as opposed to the view that political convictions always reflect independent and unbiased thinking. Jost, Ledgerwood and Hardin (2008) propose that ideologies may function as prepackaged units of interpretation that spread because of basic human motives to understand the world, avoid existential threat, and maintain valued interpersonal relationships.[47] The authors conclude that such motives may lead disproportionately to the adoption of system-justifying worldviews. Psychologists generally agree that personality traits, individual difference variables, needs, and ideological beliefs seem to have something in common.[48]
Semiotic theory
According to semiotician Bob Hodge:[49]
[Ideology] identifies a unitary object that incorporates complex sets of meanings with the social agents and processes that produced them. No other term captures this object as well as ‘ideology’. Foucault’s ‘episteme’ is too narrow and abstract, not social enough. His ‘discourse’, popular because it covers some of ideology’s terrain with less baggage, is too confined to verbal systems. ‘Worldview’ is too metaphysical, ‘propaganda’ too loaded. Despite or because of its contradictions, ‘ideology’ still plays a key role in semiotics oriented to social, political life.
Authors such as Michael Freeden have also recently incorporated a semantic analysis to the study of ideologies.
Sociology
Sociologists define ideology as “cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality.”[50] Dominant groups use these sets of cultural beliefs and practices to justify the systems of inequality that maintain their group’s social power over non-dominant groups. Ideologies use a society’s symbol system to organize social relations in a hierarchy, with some social identities being superior to other social identities, which are considered inferior. The dominant ideology in a society is passed along through the society’s major social institutions, such as the media, the family, education, and religion.[51] As societies changed throughout history, so did the ideologies that justified systems of inequality.[50]
Sociological examples of ideologies include: racism; sexism; heterosexism; ableism; and ethnocentrism.[52]
Quotations
“We do not need…to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. The need for a sense of universal responsibility affects every aspect of modern life.” — Dalai Lama.[53]
“The function of ideology is to stabilize and perpetuate dominance through masking or illusion.” — Sally Haslanger[54]
“[A]n ideology differs from a simple opinion in that it claims to possess either the key to history, or the solution for all the ‘riddles of the universe,’ or the intimate knowledge of the hidden universal laws, which are supposed to rule nature and man.” — Hannah Arendt[55]
In looking at the upcoming election, I believe that there are thirty challenges facing whoever wins the election. that of these are tremendous challenges, fundamental challenges that must be addressed. I have divided them into 15 domestic and 15 international challenges. For each challenge, I offer a few suggestions on how to deal with the challenge. Many of these challenges overlap and all will require thought, and strategic thinking to solve, and most will involve reaching out to both Republicans and international allies, we cannot solve them by one party. They require both a whole of government approach and an appeal to the entire country. But I am sure that you are up to these challenges. Shall we get to them?
15 Domestic Challenges
COVID Challenge
This is both a short-term and long-term challenge. Short-term we must ensure that the vaccine is developed and deployed and reaches most Americans as soon as possible and that most Americans get the vaccine. The vaccine must be made available and must be free with the cost fully covered by the government. You must combat anti-vaxers. Enlist celebrities in PSA announcements encouraging everyone to get a vaccine. Also, until the vaccine is fully deployed, Americans must continue to “mask up” and practice social distancing.
Once the pandemic is under control, the new President will have to work at building up our public health infrastructure to make sure we are ready for the next pandemic, knowing that there will be another one coming. We need to be better prepared as a society for handling these public health crises. This will also include beefing up public health spending, research and development and rebuilding CDC and the NIH. I would at a minimum restore the NSC position dealing with pandemics and make the COVID task force a permanent standing body.
Health Care Crisis
We must move to universal health care coverage for all. The crisis was made so much worst because so many people are afraid of going to the doctor because they could be facing financial ruin because of high medical bills. The solution is to come together with all stakeholders and embrace a plan for universal coverage which will have to include an individual mandate. Treat health insurance as we do car insurance, it only works if everyone takes part. I would embrace a few of the Republican favorite positions because they make sense–tort reform limiting malpractice claims and damages, allowing insurance companies to work across state lines, for example. I would open the federal health care insurance programs to all Americans with subsidies to make insurance premiums affordable. I would let associations offer health care to their member firms. For example, the restaurant association could offer insurance to all their restaurant members. I would merge the Obama exchanges with existing insurance companies, as many of them are not financially viable on their own.
I would expand Medicare to cover anyone over the age of 55. I would offer the open season every six months and make insurance as portable as possible. For example, as people move to a new job or location, they should be easily able to update their insurance status, which would become part of in boarding for all new hires. For illegal aliens, I would let them buy into insurance. This may be controversial but must be part of the ultimate package. Immigrants and non-immigrants must provide proof of traveler’s insurance before entry. I would ban DHS from accessing health care information on illegals. Again, the goal must be 100 percent coverage. The homeless will have to be covered somehow.
Coupled with this would implement mandatory paid sick leave. Employees should be able to stay home when they are sick or being time off to go to the hospital. For many hourly employees going to work sick is an economic necessity putting everyone else at risk. And no one should be fired because they had to miss work due to an appointment.
Finally, I would challenge the Republicans by saying that what you are proposing is something that every other country does and not having sufficient health coverage puts everyone at risk. Even the billionaire class can get sick and die if their employees do not have health coverage and come to work sick. Challenge the nation to come together and finally guarantee health care coverage for all.
Regarding the costs, be upfront, there would be some increase in costs, but everyone will benefit if everyone can afford health care. It is a price most people would be willing to pay. And point out that hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives because of inadequate health care. Saying that seriously ill people can go to the ER and face financial ruin if they get sick, is no longer an acceptable policy for the richest country in the world. And this violates our deep-seated American values derived from our faith traditions.
address gun violence as a public health emergency. enact universal background checks. ban assault weapons.
Fiscal Cliff
The U.S. is going to be facing a fiscal cliff. We can not sustain these high levels of debt forever. There are three things that the U.S. government needs to do to avoid going off this fiscal cliff:
First, the federal government must become much more efficient and wiser in how they spend money,
second, there must be new revenue coming in,
And third, the federal government should reduce non-essential spending starting at DOD but throughout the government. This problem cannot be solved by cutting government spending only nor can it be solved by simply raising taxes only. You must do both and increase the debt limit.
There are a few proposals that the Republicans have championed over the years that are worth considering.
One is restructuring federal agencies in a more logical and efficient manner. Another is to move a lot of federal agencies outside of Washington, leaving the headquarters functions in DC.
I would revise the re-inventing government programs and have each agency in charge of constantly reviewing and updating how they do they do things with the buy in of the agency workers and the public. The public should be able to log in and review how the government is re-inventing itself and offer concrete suggestions. We should appoint a panel of outside experts to all agencies with Agency heads required to respond to both the public and expert’s recommendations. The re-inventing government exercise cannot be just a gimmick but must be made into a fundamental reform that will transform how the government works. The President must embrace these efforts, and the Government must show results to the American public.
The end goal should be the government should spend less money because they are spending their money efficiently eliminating non-essential services. For example, how are golf courses on military bases around the world fundamental to the military’s core mission?
Finally, there are trillions of dollars in unspent money sitting in various accounts. These dollars need to be liquidated and spent. Re tax reform see below for my thoughts on that.
Budgetary Reforms
There is an urgent need to reform how the federal government is budgeted. I would shift to a two-year budgetary cycle, including shifting the fiscal year back to the calendar year. I would devote the first year of the congress to passing the budget for the next two years, I would devote the second year to oversight and supplemental budgets. Second congress will be mandated to pass the budget by the end of the year. In the rare event we cannot pass a budget on time, there would be an automatic CR. There should never be a government shut down again. That is just pure craziness. Reforming the budgetary process would go a long way to making the government much more efficient and effective. And will reduce the partisan bickering that is so destructive.
Tax Reform
Related to this is the need to reform our tax system with the goal that most government spending should be spend using tax dollars, we should limit borrowing to large-scale projects such as infrastructure, military weapon systems. Day-to-day spending should be done through tax revenues. The tax code should be radically simplified with most deductions eliminated. I would eep mortgage deductions, business travel deductions, perhaps state and local taxes, and add in medical and education expenses. We should eliminate everything else. The top rate should be 25 percent, but an AMT should be instituted, so that everyone pays their fair share. For most people there may be a slight increase in taxes and the super wealthy will pay their fair share. Gone are the days when millionaires get by paying almost no taxes. Same thing applies to corporate taxes. I would penalize companies for off shoring employment. The bottom line is we must increase tax revenues with the minimal economic distortions possible. And we must call upon the 1 percent to embrace the Warren Buffet principle that they should pay at least if not more in taxes as their lowest paid employees do.
When the Republicans claim that we cannot ask billionaires to pay more in taxes than challenge them–how is it just that a CEO who makes millions a year pays almost nothing in taxes? How is that just? How is that fair to the millions of other taxpayers? Tax reform that simplifies taxes, raises most of the revenue that the government needs and is much fairer will be a winning issue for the new President.
Automation–Jobs are Not Coming Back
This is a huge issue that needs to be addressed. Within a few years, self-driving cars will eliminate many jobs. AI systems will eliminate many jobs. Factories will continue to become more automated. We need a national strategy to deal with the onset of automation and AI. I would put Andrew Yang in charge of coming up with a plan and put him in charge of the Department of Labor, which must be overhauled to make it once again the Department of Labor working for the entire labor force. The bottom line, the jobs are not coming back!
Education Reforms
High school education needs to be reformed as does college. We should shift HS to something like the way the British do it. At age 16 people will graduate from high school, like the British O levels. Those who do well academically will go onto two years of college prep, like the British A level. We should do this through the community college system. Those not academically inclined would go into apprentice training programs ending with a certificate and job placement. You need to get the labor unions and corporations involved in re-inventing both high school and college, ensuring that every child graduates ready to go to work.
The future colleges will be a mix of in-person and on-line education. Many marginal colleges are going to go under. That is the reality facing us, and again we need a national plan. Appoint someone at the Department of Education to oversee the transition to both a new high school system and a new college system.
For anti-nepotism reasons, I would not offer the Department of Education to your wife, but if she wants to help by working with them on long range planning activities that would be acceptable and appropriate given her background.
Time to Embrace National Service to Pay for College
To pay for college for all who qualify, I would set up mandatory national service. All American citizens and LPR’s would serve two to three years (including training time) in service to the country. There would be no exemptions. All will have to serve two to three years. While in service they will receive minimum wage, housing, and medical care and a round-trip ticket home every year. At the end of the service obligation, they would receive educational benefits including housing subsidies to allow them to finish college. Most of their in-service training would be transferable into college credits. For most people, they would only need to spend three years going to college as opposed to four or five. Most people would do their service in the military but some will serve in an updated civilian conservation corps working in the parks and national forests, or serve as adjunct fire fighters, assistant police officers, or assist the border patrol agency or work in federal state and local offices. Those who serve a second enlistment would receive additional educational benefits to pay for graduate school.
At the end of enlistment, people would compete to become NCO’s or officers or civilian employees. Officers would go to ROTC programs or the service academy, NCO’s would go through a community college degree program and the NCO service training. Most though will complete their service then to go to college or technical training programs.
Finally, I would set up two new service academies. One would train federal law enforcement officers, the other would train diplomatic and intelligence officers. The service academies will all only take those who have completed their service obligation.
If we shift to this model everyone wins except predatory lenders. People will graduate from college debt free with significant work experience behind them. An important fringe benefit is that everyone would develop an appreciation that we are in this together as everyone will serve regardless of one’s social and financial status.
Challenge the Republicans who will say we cannot afford this. Challenge them to explain how the current system which makes college unfordable for most people and cripples’ young people with colossal debt is not sustainable. It is not and they know it and the public knows it. This is another winning ticket, I believe.
Climate change—Transition to Green Energy
This needs to be an urgent national priority. The recent fires out west and hurricanes and tornados elsewhere show how urgent a crisis this is. I would start by beefing up the Department of Energy, tasking them with coming up with the plan to transition the U.S. and the world to 100 percent renewable energy. I would set a goal of transitioning to 100 percent renewal energy by 2030. It can be done and must be done.
A small but hugely symbolic step would be to put solar and wind turbines on top of all USG facilities world-wide, starting with the WH and the Pentagon, and encourage large retailers like Walmart to follow suit. I would also embrace energy-saving technologies across the US government and throughout society. The US should at a minimum rejoin the Paris climate change initiative, and the US should become the world’s leader in combating climate change.
Re-building Crumbling Infrastructure
This is another urgent issue that would draw bipartisan support. Everyone knows that the U. S needs to spend trillions of dollars to rebuild our crumbling third world infrastructure. We should once again be the world’s leader in transportation–with high-speed trains including hyper loop and maglev trains providing state-of-the-art fast intra-city transportation, with 90 percent of intra-city travel being done on high-speed trains like in Europe and Asia. We need to build the next generation aircraft. This should become a huge profitable business opportunity for American companies. This is the one area I would say that we should pay for through borrowing.
Task the department of transportation with coming up with the plan. Focus on shovel ready projects at first. Work with the States to fund their essential improvements.
Get METRO in DC to become the nation’s best mass transit system doubling the number of lines within ten years including two new bridges over the Potomac river and extending Metro to Richmond through Ft Belvoir at least.
To those who claim we cannot afford it, challenge them by saying that we cannot afford to continue to let our infrastructure fall apart. And we can create a new export industry as we gear up to rebuild America and the world. Why should we let China lead the world in transportation infrastructure spending and development?
Solving Housing Affordability crisis. As part of our review of infrastructure, we need to address the issue of the housing affordability crisis. This will require overhauling local zoning as well as encouraging building a lot more affordable housing.
Social justice issues
This is an urgent national priority. Much of the work will have to be done at the state and local level, but the Federal government can take the lead in transitioning to a society where everyone is treated fairly by the criminal justice system. Police departments need more funding but must reform themselves. I would reverse Trump’s rescinding of racial sensitivity training.
I would also work hard at reforming the prison system. I would call upon States and the Federal government to release non-violent offenders into alternative service programs. We should reserve prisons for hard core violent offenders. I would legalize marijuana nationwide and release prisoners who are serving time for marijuana possession. I would also outlaw private prisons.
Immigration
The immigration system is broken and has been for decades. I worked for years as a visa officer and am aware of how broken the system is. I would simplify the process as follows.
There should only two categories of immigrant visas. Employment based and family based. The number of legal visas should be dramatically increased. We should eliminate the worldwide quota. The family-based visas should be limited to spouses and children under 18 of the principle applicant or spouses and children of U.S citizens and permanent residents. We should eliminate the parent and sibling category. But those in line should be allowed to immigrate and given two years to process the paperwork. No one should have to wait for more than a year to immigrate. I would add an English language requirement. Anyone wishing to immigrate to the U.S must learn English prior to their interview. If it is a requirement for the visa people will study ESL before taking their interview and once, they get to the U.S be much better equipped to find productive employment and become productive members of society.
Non-immigrant visas should also be simplified to short-term visitors–tourists and business travel, student visas including exchange visitors, diplomatic visas, and short-term employment visas. We should discontinue the diversity visa lottery program. Student visas holders should be able to transfer to employment-based visas if they wish to stay on in the U.S. after graduation.
We should rescind most of the extreme vetting measures that Trump imposed. We should increase the number of refugees and once again welcome asylum applicants. Finally, I would expand the number of visa waiver countries. And rescind the Muslim ban.
To gain some bipartisan support, I would embrace E-Verify programs and also announce that illegal aliens working illegally will still be subject to deportation but deportation would be waivable on a case-by-case basis – we don’t want to deport parents of U.S citizens for example. Deportation should be focus on violent offenders.
A final point, I would reverse the various zero tolerance policies, and let immigration officers at the border allow those with minor immigration or visa infractions to enter.
Ending the War on Drugs and Drug Abuse
I would convene a national task force to look at how we can combat the scourge of drug abuse nation-wide. I would increase spending on drug abuse prevention programs nation-wide. I would revamp the war on drugs to become focused on the dangerous drugs out there and legalize marijuana as mentioned above.
Healing the nation’s wounds
This is an urgent national priority. I would offer a presidential pardon to Donald Trump, and his immediate family members and allow them to retire to Florida. I know that this would not play well with the Democratic base out for vengeance but would be an important step towards healing the national wounds caused by the most divisive President we ever had.
I would also meet early on and often with the Republicans in congress and in that State House. Your message should be we need to come together and solve our nation’s problems. I will listen, and if your ideas are useful, I would consider implementing them. As I mentioned earlier, some Republican proposals particularly in health care have some merit.
You should not act like Trump did–denouncing everything your predecessor did. There were some things that Trump and the Republicans did that are worthy of continuing. And to accomplish your goals, reach across the aisle and put the country’s needs ahead of the party’s needs and your personal needs. I know that you can do this and I hope you will continue to show your willingness to work across the partisan divide for the good of the country, the American people and the world.
Space Exploration Race to the Moon and Mars Bonus issue
A final challenge. We need to return to space in a big way and think big. At a minimum, we need to set up a lunar base and send humans to Mars with the goal of having both lunar and Martian colonies functioning within ten years. And more long term we need to have colonies around the moons of Jupiter.
International issues
Rise of China
The biggest challenge will the rise of China as a rival superpower and how to combat Chinese influence and maintain US lead in the world. I would meet Xi in China and invite him to the U.S. Tell him we stand ready to work together where we can, but we will not let China take advantage of us.
Russia
The other big international issue is how to deal with Russia and its malign influence in the world. I would meet Putin in Russia and invite him to the U.S. Tell him we stand ready to work together where we can, but we will not let Russia take advantage of us.
Iran
Iran will continue to be a challenge. I would offer talks with the Iranians with the goal of recognition, and reestablishment of relations with Iran. This is something that the Iranian people desire and deserve. I would go back to the agreement and renegotiation with the Iranians. How to get to that is the problem.
North Korea
North Korea will continue to be a tremendous challenge. I would continue to meet with the North Korean. I would offer sanctions relief in return for North Korean opening and disclosing its nuclear weapons programs. Ending nuclear weapons in North Korea may not be possible. The best we can hope for is a freeze. Long term we should offer to normalize relations and establish trading relations with the North. I would also offer USAID and Peace Corps help as part of the package. I would invite Kim to visit the U.S. provided sufficient progress has been made and I would go to Pyongyang for a trilateral summit. Revising the six-party talks is also a good idea, I think.
Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Israel
The Saudis are not our friend or our ally. But they do not have to be our enemy either. We need to work with them on regional security issues but need to be wary of their long-term intentions. Re Israel, we should recognize that the UAE-Israel peace treaty is a step forward and should encourage the other countries to recognize Israel. And we need to continue to insist that a two-state solution is the only lasting solution to peace in the region. I would suggest that Israel consider a land swap giving the Palestinian state a land bridge linking Gaza to the West Bank to create a viable Palestinian state. Israel will have to give up some of its territorial land grab in the West Bank.
Venezuela
Venezuela will remain the biggest challenge in the western Hemisphere. We must encourage a transition to a democratic successor state.
Brazil and Latin America
Brazil remains a challenge. We must work to reverse the slide towards authoritarianism, and we must work with them to preserve the Amazon for the benefit of the entire planet.
Another area of concern- China’s entry into Latin America. We ensure that Latin America remains friendly to the U.S. and not fall under Chinese influence through neglect.
We need to continue to work with moderate governments in the region to check on the development of authoritarian governments of both left and right in the region.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan remains an immense problem. There is no simple solution. Keeping troops there forever is not however an option. We should welcome and encourage the ongoing peace talks and help in rebuilding Afghanistan, including sending back the Peace Corps once the situation stabilizes.
India-Pakistan
How to remain friendly with both India and Pakistan is a huge issue. The two countries must downplay tensions. The U.S has a lot of potential influence in India. I would offer to return the Peace Corps to India and to Pakistan and Bangladesh once the Peace Corps can resume operations post COVID.
Rebuilding Alliances
One of the biggest and most important challenges facing the new president is the urgent need to rebuild alliances across the world that have suffered from Trump “Go It Alone, America First” foreign policy and his insulting treatment of our allies. I would revise the annual summit of the Americas by hosting the first one in the U.S then committing to an annual summit every year. And why not an annual African Summit, an Asia Pacific summit, and a European summit? The President should represent the U.S in these annual summits.
Rebuild the State Department
I would rebuild the State Department, make sure that our embassies are fully staffed and that the State Department resumes its role as the chief foreign policy department in the U.S. government. As a retired FS officer, I have been most dismayed by the hollowing out of an institution that I served proudly in for almost 27 years.
Rebuild the Peace Corps and USAID, Promote Democratic Values Again
I would rebuild the Peace Corps once the COVID crisis allows for them to return to service. As an ex-Peace Corps volunteer, I know that the Peace Corps can make an enormous difference in human lives around the world. I would expand service to India, Pakistan, China and elsewhere as conditions warrant.
I would also rebuild USAID.
I would also restore democracy promotion as one of our core international values. One radical idea I would advocate is having our annual human rights reporting include a chapter on the U.S.–written by independent organizations or the UN. When I did human rights reporting, foreign governments would usually dismiss our reporting as self-serving and hypocritical. Having our human rights record included in the annual report would go a long way to restore human rights as a core value for the U.S. State Department and government, and show to the world that we are committed to upholding democratic values everywhere including at home.
Climate Change
This is both an internal domestic issue and an international issue. Internationally the president should announce that the US will take the lead in transitioning the world to a new green energy future. Rejoin the Paris accords and lead the world again.
Terrorism
This will continue to be an issue. There is also a domestic component–the rise of right-wing antigovernmental militias in the U.S. with international ties to extremist groups around the world. Be prepared for bioterrorism, and chemical weapons as well as rogue nukes.
Arctic Ocean Issues
The Arctic ocean will emerge as a challenge as the global ice melts, opening the Artic to both transportation and resource exploitation. The key is to ensure that it remains open to all nations especially the U.S. and that we do not through neglect let Russia dominate the Arctic ocean space.
Africa
Africa is a continent with tremendous opportunity. We should work with Africa on a whole range of issues. I would visit Africa early on, revise the annual Africa leaders’ summit, and increase USAID to Africa. Africa is the future in many respects, and we should embrace moderate African states as allies in building a more prosperous and democratic world.
Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on these challenges.
I am a retired US foreign service officer living in South Korea. I grew up in Berkeley, California, where I went to Thousand Oaks Elementary school a few years before Kamala went there.
Jake Cosmos Aller
Retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer
Seoul (Incheon) South Korea
Bonus: How to Deal with Trump’s Tweets
I have a few words of advice for the campaign. First how to deal with Donald Trump’s tweets. First, ignore them. Second mock them. Third challenge them when needed. Here’s how it would work in practice. Donald Tweets something that is obnoxious, a lie or insulting. Tweet back,
“there he goes again. Tweeting nonsense when he should be doing his job as President” or “there he goes again, revealing yet again that he does not know what he is doing” or “Mark Twain once said, if you want people to think you are an idiot, open your mouth (or in this case) tweet and remove all doubt.” That is all you have to do.
Re the debate, don’t take the bait don’t spend your time constantly fact checking. Stick to your points but fact check a few points here and there and again mock him, belittle him and reveal to the world how much of an idiot he truly is.
Bonus 2: How to Address the Hunter Biden Story
Go out front and address this before Donald Trump unleashes the mud onslaught which is coming…
Hold a press conference. Have Hunter there. Have Hunter apologize for the controversy he caused by being naïve and not knowing how others would try to take advantage of him and his family’s status. Apologize for being an idiot.
Then address the country. Man up and apologize for the appearance of a conflict of interest. State that Hunter will not be working in my administration because I do not believe in nepotism, which is illegal, inappropriate and wrong. I challenge my opponent to join me in making this pledge, our relatives will not be working in the government when I am president. Then fire Javed, and Ivanka and Donald and Eric and Laura. And finally, Hunter Biden is not running for President. I am. Donald Trump will you fire Javed, and Ivanka?
That should stop the Hunter Biden onslaught. Hilary could have stopped the email nonsense if she had simply said, I am sorry. What I did with the emails was stupid and I have learned my lesson. A little humility and an apology of misdeeds goes a long way in this world. That’s my final word of advice for you.
these are some of my corona virus poems written earlier in the year and revised accordingly. Please see More Corona virus for the latest corona virus collection. And remember to stay safe!!!!!
the Virus from Hell is amused
End of the World
Every Day I Turn on the News *
Irony Meters Blow Gaskets
Chaos *
Corona Virus Fears Tanka
My Phobias Overwhelm Me
Fear Fills the Air
More Trouble Every Day
Trouble Every Day Frank Zappa
The Torture Never Stops – Frank Zappa
by pass the alarms spreading across the land
corona cinqku
Taking a Walk in the Corona Era
A lone man stands in an empty parking lot
empty parking lot
It is a hell of a world we live in ain’t it?
Pause for a moment amidst the media madness
I feel as if the whole world needs to be cancelled
The Virus King Cried *
Bring out your dead
the Virus Came From Hell
The Delivery System of the Virus is Round
the corona virus is testing us all
The call goes out
the four horse men ready to ride
nature spirits revolt agains humanity
Last Human on Island
corona virus Haiku
hell
Bring Out Your Dead
death comes knocking
be afraid afraid
The Virus Came From Hell
Hope Springs Eternal in our Winter of our Discontent
the Virus King Has Arrived
Kimchi Blues
Humor keeps us sane
Peacock Speaks
Iguana Talks to humanity
To all the friends I am about to loose
corona fears
quarantine blues
I Wish for Peace During this time of crisis
Ten million stories in the Naked City
The Mist from Hell Descends on the land
Conversation with the Gods About Corona Virus
Under the canopy of the pine trees we lay –
corona fears
to those I have lost
We live in an Orwellian world
새영 지마 saeyeong jima plays out in life
corona virus tanka
The best meal of my life
corona virus haiku
White Flower spring Time Haiku
Woman releases balloons of hope
life interrupted by corona
Saudade for friends I have lost
The end of the world news depresses me
the Virus from Hell is amused
corona virus
the Virus from Hell is amused
laughing at the world’s panicked reaction
as it marches through the world unabated
infecting everyone in its wake
as the world awaits its fate
the virus smiles he ain’t no fake
he is the real deal
he is death itself
he is the end of the world
the grim reaper is smiling
god is silent as usual
the world’s leaders
dither and dater
as the economy craters
everyone hoping that God
will save them
the virus does not care
insults and orders do not work
the virus simply does its virus thing
infecting everyone it encounters
and thousands will die
equal opportunity offender
killing the rich and the poor alike
but more poor people
just so many more poor people
than the few billionaires
the virus smile
his work is done
and mankind is doomed
so be it the virus thinks
that is the way of the world
and the virus is the new king
of the world
End of the World
corona virus
end of world
the fears world-wide
soon find us dead
bring out the dead
will the dead die
death lies here there
there goes here
as death here comes
soon here death comes
every day I turn on the news
nothing but news about the virus
the virus from hell
the world is filled with fear
and my anxiety levels rise
every time I turn on the news
oh my god I say
we are all going to die
and I am so afraid
afraid of everyone
afraid of everything
dreading the latest news
and nothing relieves my fear
I watch the world
loosing its collective mind
wondering how much more of this
can we all take
I scream out
Dear God save us all
god is silent as usual
and so I realized
we are doomed
perhaps it is the end times
perhaps not
I turn off the TV
try to stay calm
hoping the madness
will not overwhelm us all
Irony Meters Blow Gaskets
donald trump
the Irony meter gasket
is blown again and again
with every statement
of our chaos president
and his endless surrogates
promoting the latest Presidential
on spot guidance by our great leader
that must be true
because our dear leader
says it is so
The President accuses his democratic rival
of being senile and needs to be in home
and will be run by his radical left allies
and the right wing media
echoes the presidential absurd comments
refusing to acknowledge
that the president himself
is rapidly fading into dementia
and his radical right cronies
are looting the government
driving out expertise
even in the midst of pandemic
Oh yeah the irony meters
are blowing gaskets
every single day
Chaos
trump clown in chief
the world descends into chaos
as our world leaders
led by the chaos president
are overwhelmed
by the smallest
enemy of all
a simple virus
straight out of hell
blows through the crumbling
third world public health infrastructure
living proof of the decline of America
and no one is prepared
and panic ensures
with every Presidential tweet
as people don’t believe
a word he says
conspiracy rumors spread
everyone believes their own reality
as the world spins out of control
the chaos king is in his element
convince that only he knows
the deal
and everyone else
is iust a bit player
in the reality show
that he presides over
and so the rest of us
hunker down
just hoping for the best
as the panic and
chaos spreads faster
than the virus
are we doomed
can we survive
will God save us?
he is silent as always
Corona Virus Fears Tanka
cover 19
Corona virus
lurking fears all around me
we all will die
the TV screaming nonstop
Must be afraid be afraid
My Phobias Overwhelm Me
covid 19 spread
lately I have become scared
of everything
the news scares me, the corona virus scares me, the presidential race scares me, fears of gun men in the street, terrorism, fears of getting sick, fears of dogs, fears of other people, fear of loosing money, fears of becoming demented old man, lost in his nightmares on the street just another invisible homeless bum in the end of his life
all these phobias overwhelm me
time to walk away from my fears
and realize
it will be alright
everything will be alright
As long as I have you
by my side
Well I’m about to get sick
From watchin’ my TV
Been checkin’ out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it’s gonna change, my friends
Is anybody’s guess
So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ’em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
Wednesday I watched the riot…
I seen the cops out on the street
Watched ’em throwin’ rocks and stuff
And chokin’ in the heat
Listened to reports
About the whisky passin’ ’round
Seen the smoke & fire
And the market burnin’ down
Watched while everybody
On his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash
And slash and bust…
Flies all green and buzzin’
In this dungeon of despair
Prisoners grumblin
Piss they clothes
Scratch their matted hair
A tiny light from a window-hole
Hundred yards away
That all they ever get to know
‘Bout the regular life in the day
‘Bout the regular life in the day
Slime and rot and rats and snuck
Vomit on the floor
Fifty ugly soldier men
Holdin’ spears by the iron door
Stinks so bad, stones are chokin’
Weepin’ greenish drops
In the den where
The giant fire puffer works
And the torture never stops
The torture never stops, torture
The torture never stops
The torture never stops
Flies all green and buzzin’
In this dungeon of despair
An evil prince eats a steamin’ pig
In a tumbers right near there
In the chambers right near there
He eats de snouts an trotters first!…
by pass the alarms spreading across the land
to bypass the alarms spreading across the land
the circuit breakers are breaking down
as the alarms go on and on
with the end of the world
the end days approaching
spreading the alarm far and wide
corona cinqku
corona virus
corona
it came from hell
we must be all prepared
meet God
Taking a Walk in the Corona Era
peace forest
every day I go for a walk
in the spring time woods
near my house
braving the weather
and the dreaded corona virus
wearing masks and gloves
keeping a distance
from anyone we encounter
that is life it seems
in the era of the corona virus
when will it end
no one knows
until then
I will brave the viral threat
and confront my fears
and walk in the park
with the love of my life
my bride my wife
by my side
in these challenging times
that is all we can do
A lone man stands in an empty parking lot
empty parking lot
A lone man stands in an empty parking lot
contemplating the new normal
social distancing run amuck
as fears of the corona super plague
plague the land
driving everyone inside
sheltering in place
afraid to go out
afraid of the deadly c virus
It is a hell of a world we live in ain’t it?
two friends on a bench
It is a hell of a world we live in ain’t it?
said the old man to me
sitting on a bench
in the park in the woods
as we both sought shelter
from the spreading chaos
the pandemic swirling around us
Yes I said
standing up
to enforce the proper distance
between us
don’t want to give the virus a chance
to spread between us
he smiled and said
relax I already went through it
I am fine and you will too
Pause for a moment amidst the media madness
Pause for a moment amidst the media madness
All around us fears and chaos
Unlike the end of the world approaching us
Sadness overcomes us dooming us to our fate
Every we go nothing but death awaits
I feel as if the whole world needs to be cancelled
I feel as if the whole world
needs to be canceled
due to rough times ahead
due to the corona madness
and the thread of pure craziness
that it inspires in us all
The Virus King Cried
virus king cried
the virus king smiled
as the politicians lied
saying that the end was near
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king sneered
as people panicked
and partied on the beach
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king laughed
as the markets crashed
millions became unemployed
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king roared
as the world slid into chaos
people turning on one another
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king smirked
knowing that there was nothing
that they could do to stop
his army from infecting millions
and killing thousands
the virus King begin to realize
that soon there would be no one left
no one for his army to infect
as everyone was dying
the virus King yelled
remaining defiant
as civilization collapsed
billions were infected
millions died
the Virus King at last cried
when he saw that he was defeated
as one by one
people began to recover
and his reign of terror came to an end
Bring out your dead
grimm reaper
the call bring out your dead
spreads around the world
as millions die
all over the world
the virus has spread
mutated and killed
all over the world
bring out your dead
the mournful cries
echoing in the wind
of the dying cities
mass starvation
as no is working
in the fields
as more people die
and the world spins
around the sun
with the politicians lying
and the dead still dying
as civilization dies
and humanity flee
into the wilderness
chased by the killer virus
straight down to hell
the Virus Came From Hell
coronavirus
the virus came from hell
straight out of a mad lab
born and raised in China
the virus spread from Dinah
all over to carolina
it spread from the lab
the mad virus of Hell
was mad as hell at humans
who it blamed for everything
seeing itself as cleansing everything
killing the world and everything
revenge against humans
perhaps virus came from God
more likely came from Satan
part of natures’ revenge
all designed to avenge
the damage to Stonehenge
virus came from Satan
The Delivery System of the Virus is Round
cover 19 spread
the delivery system of the virus is round
very simple system
the virus spreads around
and all must pay the price
death and destruction
the corona virus is testing us all
the corona virus is testing us all
is it a plague
sent by God
if we have faith
will we recover
or it is beyond our control
the end of the world
does god hear our prayers
does god even exist
the virus from hell
spreads around the world
and test our faith
will god save us all
I have no answer
but perhaps if god exists
we will recover
from this plague
from hell
The call goes out
the call goes out
stay at home
to beat the dreaded c virus
will we live
or all die?
the four horse men ready to ride
four horsemen
the end of the world is upon us
as god unleashes the corona virus
which is spreading across the land
the four horse men are ready
to begin their grim journey
announcing the end of the world
the white horse comes first
offering peace and hope
in the midst of death
and despair
the red horse rides second
ushering in war
throughout the world
as nations turn on each other
and civil war looms
the Black Horse is ready
unleashing famine
on a starving world
as people stay at home
and food rots in the field
no one is able
to work any more
as the virus kills more
and more
the pale horse rides last
bringing death
in his wake
death all around us
as the virus kills us all
and civilization ends
the four horse men
have done their job
the virus finishes its reign of terror
and the few survivors
beging to recover
end of the world
came and went
and they are still alive
thanks to God
who remains silent
as always
nature spirits revolt agains humanity
all around the world
nature’s spirits
are on the move
the world is changing
as the nature’s spirits
rise up
in revolt against humanity
is this the end time
is nature on revolt
against humanity
is this the end for us all
will the virus kill us all
will nature rise up
and kill us all?
Last Human on Island
in the deep blue sea
nothing there
but death and destruction
virus all around
pandemic plague
Apocalyptic views
end of times
death of civilization
corona virus Haiku
corona virus
corona virus
staying home
waiting for death
Afraid everything
the virus came from hell
the virus came from hell
staying home waiting for death
Afraid everything
Bring Out Your Dead
bring out your dead cries
break out all over the world
we are waiting death
death comes knocking
death comes knocking
on our doorsteps tonight
will God hear prayers
be afraid afraid
be afraid afraid
Must be afraid every one
Death is at our door
The Virus Came From Hell
the virus came from Hell
ravaging the entire world
all waiting for death
Wednesday April 1 Hope Springs Eternal in our Winter of our Discontent writer’s digest prompt Posted
corona virus
Hope springs eternal in the winter of our discontent
On the daily news that fills us with dread
Perfect storm of hatred, fear and despair
Everywhere we go nonstop fear broadcasted
Despair fills my heart as I turn on the news
Everywhere we are in the midst of the pandemic
Simply put death is at hand
Planning for the future yet waiting for death
At worst we will all die not today but soon
In the long term we are all dead
Remembering the dead all around us
yet I end this poem with a word of hope
hoping for the best
while preparing for the worst
all I can do to stay sane
as I await my fate
on this dismal date
April 1 is indeed
April Fool’s date
is that our fate
this endless dance with death?
and to end with a sign of hope
I know that if I have you by my side
I will survive I will survive
until the end of time itself
takes us to the other side
based on writer’s digest daily April poetry month challenge to write a poem about hope
the Virus King Has Arrived
poetry soup version is the Virus King has arrived = as poetry soup did not like the word “Hell”
corona
the virus from hell has arrived
catching the world unprepared
it erupted out of China
then began its terrifying reign
wiping out thousands of people
destroying jobs and economies
killing people left and right
it seemed like something
out of our worst nightmares
but at least it was not
the dreaded zombie flu
perhaps that is next’s fall’s nightmare
as the virus from hell
prepares for a fresh assault
to finish us all off
I got the kimchi blues
every day since I first ate it
back in the day
long before i went to Korea
ended up staying on in Korea
after i retired from decade
in the Foreign Service
and ten years studying
and living in Korea
before I joined
the Foreign Service
When I first ate kimchi
I was hooked
sort of a spicier version
of German sauerkraut
which i loved on my top dog
from Berkeley high school days
then off to korea
in the peace corps
where I ate kimchi
every day for every meal
and eventually I woke up
dreaming of kimchi and rice
instead of pancakes and eggs
then I knew
that I had finally adjusted
and was becoming half Korean
and now I am a hopeless kimchi addict
need to have my spicy kimchi
which is so good for you
perhaps even defeating the dreaded corona virus?
who knows but I will be eating Kimchi
until my day is done
Friday April 3
Humor keeps us sane
Pensively prompt – unpublished
corona virus
it is a piece of what we need to do
to prevent us from getting
the dreaded corona virus
coming up your nose
Peacock Speaks
peakcock speaks
as the virus spreads
around the world
the peacock in the zoo
speaks up
talking on behalf
of their fellow species
he called upon humans
to free them from their zoo prisons
and let them be free
before it was too late
and humanity met their fate
becoming a ghost in the wind
creative talents unleashed prompt
Iguana Talks to humanity
iguana will miss human friends
the wise old Iguana
woke from its nightmares
of the end of the world
as humanity faded away
the iguana was scared
but afraid of the future
and he would miss
his human friends
creative talents unleashed prompt
writing.com prompt daily dew april poems
To all the friends I am about to loose
over the years
I have known so many people
and now when the virus
is spreading out around the world
I will soon be hearing
that this person has died
and that person has died
I will outlive many of my friends
from around the world
part of getting old
something that I fear
one day perhaps
people will hear
that jake has died
and they will say
that they barely knew me
and wished that they had
taken the time
to become my friend
Just as I think
about all the friends
i am about to loose
to this killer virus
running amuck
writing.com prompt daily dew April poems
corona fears
covid 19 virus
corona
the word fills us with dread
spreading around the world today
will we all survive this
corona
Saturday April 4
quarantine blues
quarantine
Quarantine such an ugly word
Unlike any other
All at home
Regardless of desires
No where to go
That is the worst part of it
In fact enforced staying at home
Not too bad
Especially if I have you by my side
Blues come over me
Looking out the window
Unable to go out
Everyone everybody afraid
Sums up my fearful fears
poetry soup contest
I Wish for Peace During this time of crisis
I wish for peace and happiness
during this time of despair
pandemic fears all around us
death stalking us daily
I wish for health
amid the carnage
all around me
I wish for leadership
from our President
from our governors
and our congress
and most importantly
I wish that I will survive
with my love at my side
experiencing love
in the time of corona
Ten million stories in the Naked City
there are a million stories
every day in the naked city
millions of people
stripped naked
to the bone
staring down the dead
the dead staring back
in this time
of pandemic
the dead stare out at us
mocking us
as they leave the earth
naked as when they arrived
All poetry contest – write a naked poem
The Mist from Hell Descends on the land
the mist settles down on the land
the mist covers us all
the scent of death
the grim reaper
rides behind the miss
infecting those around him
the mark of death
as the mist covers the land
the end of the world
comes with the mist from hell
Conversation with the Gods About Corona Virus
jehova
Rev. Jake ’s on-line sermon on the Corona Virus
I am reverend Jake and I have a message from God
Last night I had a vision from God
it was his message to the world
about this pandemic we are facing
I found myself in a large room
Jehovah, God, was sitting in the middle
surrounded by the other Gods
they were all there
Jesus on his right
Allah on his left
Buddha behind him
Ganesh, Shiva, Kali
Mohammed, Joseph Smith and other prophets
Gabriel and other angels abound
St Peter in front of his as his Chief of Staff
Zeus, Jupiter, Minerva and ancient
other gods all around him
God spoke up
He said
I have a message for you
to give to your people
all of your people
no matter what religion
or no religion at all
it is all one after all
first the corona virus
is a natural phenomenon
we have no control
over forces of nature
and we did not send
it to you
to punish you
for homosexuality
or anything else at all
Second obey the health directives
stay at home
do your services on line
it is okay with us
we are fine with that
the blood of Jesus
will not save you
If you are in a crowded place
like church or a mosque service
the virus will spread
and catch you in the end
Prayers alone will not save you
but please keep praying
we do listen to your prayers
but we can only do so much
So please don’t allow the virus
to spread
because of your ignorance
and fear
realize that in the end
the virus will do its thing
and you will survive
and we
all the gods here
love you humans
and wish you well
so stay at home
practice self-distancing
It is God’s will
all will survive
Under the canopy of the pine trees we lay –
pine trees jpeg
under the canopy of the pine trees we lay
along the world peace forest
in Korea
walking the forest
in the spring time
fearing the corona virus
and everyone around us
watch the snowing cherry trees
and the wind whispering
the voices of ghosts
those newly dead
and we lay down
under the canopy of the pine trees
waiting for our turn
to face the grim reaper
in this dismal day
in April
truly the cruelest month
of them all
from the poem ‘Under the canopy of pine trees
poetry soup contest
corona fears
corona
corona
the word fills us with dread
spreading around the world today
will we all survive this
corona
to those I have lost
with the corona virus upon us
I am bracing to hear the news
that so and so has died
I reflect back
on all the people in my life
that I have already lost
part of being older
is that you lose people
close to you along the way
I lost my father due to cancer in 1985
and my sister due to a freak illness in 2007
and my mother due to Alzheimer’s in 2005
and my father-in-law as well in 2007
Demel Tucker
high school debate teammate
dead of HIV in 1995
Julian Bartley and his son
one of my favorite bosses
died in a terrorist bombing
in Nairobi in 1998
Jon Weber college roommate
dead due to prostate cancer
in 2000
Paul Simon friend from the visa line
dropped dead of a heart attack
in 2004
Ted Halstead
one of my best bosses
died of heart attack
in 2007
Chris Richard one of my former bosses
dropped dead of a heart attack
shortly before we were due
to have lunch in 2014
and so many others
I have lost
along the way
and soon there will be
so many more
as I get old
in the corona era
writing.com daily dew drop prompt to write an elegy poem
We live in an Orwellian world
1984 images
we are living
in an Orwellian 1984 world
and have been for decades
we are assaulted daily
by alternative realties
promoted by various politicians
designed to shut down
all rational thought
true Orwellian thought control
and now with the corona virus
massive surveillance
has become the norm
and when the crisis is over
the surveillance will continue
on one excuse after another
forever as Orwell’s nightmare
big brother ruling us all
comes true
based on the fear that the massive increase in social surveillance being deployed against the Corona virus will after the crisis is over continue forever under one excuse or another as the Orwellian big brother dictatorships around the world become permanent
saeyeong jima plays out in life
The Korean Proverb
saeyeong jima
recently came to life in my life
The meaning of the proverb
Is that you can never know whether something
will be good or bad
and that unexpectedly
what appears to be bad fortune
turns out to be a good fortune
The proverb played
out recently in my life
about lunar New Year’s Day
we were preparing to go to Thailand
from two weeks from our home
in South Korea
and then at the end of February
we would go to DC
My wife blew out her lumber desk
and we were forced to cancel our trips
This occurred
just as the coronavirus
was taking off around the world
and if we had gone
we may have been stuck either in Thailand
or we may have been stuck in the United States
and traveling
in the mist of a corona outbreak
would probably mean
that we would have been exposed
to the virus
instead we were forced to stay home
and self quarantine ourselves
and therefore
we escaped being exposed to the coronavirus
and we feel much safer
here in Korea where the outbreak is contained
rather than in DC
where it is still spreading everywhere
so in a sense her misfortune
throwing out her disk
which resulted in us staying at home
and avoiding the coronavirus
is the true meaning
of the Korean Chinese expression
saeyeong jima
writers digest prompt write a lucky/unlucky poem
corona virus tanka
corona virus
it is spreading all over
the world dying
I walk down the path of life
Along with love of my wife
The best meal of my life
korean feast jpg
the best meals of my life
has always been what my wife
cooks up for me every night
she is a genius in the kitchen
always making something great
from the simplest ingredients
Because she came down with celiac disease
she could only eat
what she prepared from scratch
and so she was forced
to give up all processed foods
and in the process she became
the greatest cook
in the universe
I wait with baited breath
to taste the great food
that she creates for me
on lunar new years
she threw out her lumbar disk
and we were forced to stay home
just as the corona pandemic
swept across the world
if we had traveled
we would have contracted
the dreaded corona virus
and we were forced
to stay at home
and she took advantage
of staying at home
to try new dishes
every single day
I recall the Korean proverb
saeyeong jima
as her misfortune
turned into fortune
and once again
she saved me life
I am the luckiest man in life
the best fed man of all I know
due to the cooking skills of my wife
Writing.com daily dew drop prompt write a food poem
corona virus haiku
corona virus
brings death and our destruction
destroying our life
White Flower spring Time Haiku
white flowers in spring haiku
now in the springtime
white flowers blooming in the park
corona death waits
Woman releases balloons of hope
ballons for peace
A young woman
walks in a park
on a sunny spring day
carrying 25 red balloons
each red balloon
contains the name of those
that recently died
in the corona virus pandemic
she is releasing the balloons
hoping they would
rise to heaven
with a request for God
to hear her prayers
End this pandemic
End the death and destruction
release us from the corona pandemic
the woman releases the balloons
and slowly walks back to her house
to prepare to attend yet another funeral
as the pandemic swirls all around her
creative talents unleashed prompt
life interrupted by corona
covid19
we live in a strange world
life interrupted by corona
the virus spread throughout the world
disrupting everything
putting life on hold
as more people
hunkered down
waiting for the virus
to pass over us
like in biblical times
the virus
will test us all
and then
we will all
go back
to life interrupted
writing.com Daily Dew Drop interruption
Saudade for friends I have lost
as I get older
I lose more people
every year
more people I knew
have died moving on
and I mourn their lost friendship
wished I had been
a better friend for them
and knew them better
and with the corona virus
spreading around the world
I will lose so many more
in the coming year
as the virus spreads
its malignancy far and wide
I lost my father due to cancer in 1985
and my sister
due to a freak illness in 2007
and my mother
due to Alzheimer’s in 2005
and my father-in-law as well in 2007
Demel Tucker
high school debate teammate
dead of HIV in 1995
Julian Bartley and his son
died in a terrorist bombing
in Nairobi in 1998
Jon Weber college roommate
dead due to prostate cancer
in 2000
Paul Simon friend from the visa line
dropped dead of a heart attack
in 2004
Ted Halstead
one of my best bosses
died of heart attack in 2007
Judy Fine
My Co-Ho partner in crime
died in 2006
Chris Richard
one of my former bosses
from my days in Bangkok
dropped dead of a heart attack
shortly before we were due
to have lunch in 2014
and so many others
I have lost
along the way
and soon there will be
so many more
as I get old in the corona era
writing.com saudade poem
The end of the world news depresses me
trump jpg
the end of the world news
depresses me
makes me want to shout and scream
STFU leave me alone
to deal with my grief
amid the death and destruction
watching CNNMSNBCFOXBBC media nonstop
filled with essential dread
the end of the world is upon us
from the screaming news media
spreading forth across the land
fake news screams the president
all is alright he proclaims
no one believes his 16,000 lies
and so it goes
we are drowning with information
coming at us so fast and furious
When will it end my friend
is anyone’s guess
in the long run we are dead
National poetry Month Day Seven poem inspired by the news
God Did not Send the Corona Virus as a Punishment Black Out Poem
Robert_Jeffress
original text
During a press briefing today to address the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump was asked about certain Christian pastors who plan to defy state lockdown orders and hold Easter church services this Sunday.
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree … that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is, distancing,” Trump said, adding that the pastors want to “get back to church so badly.”
Trump then referred to a notorious pastor who sits on his religious advisory council.
“I’m going to be watching Pastor Robert Jeffress, who’s been a great guy,” Trump said. “He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Jeffress is known for his litany of statements demonizing the LGBT community, abortion, and secular people. One of his most reviled comments came in 2015 when he said the 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,” Jeffress said during a speech at Liberty University. “‘Well, I just don’t understand why God wouldn’t protect our nation and he would allow these radical Muslims in 2001 to kill 3,000 of our citizens and why God doesn’t protect us. Surely, God doesn’t use pagans to bring judgment upon his own people, does he?’”
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree … that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is, distancing,” Trump said, adding that the pastors want to “get back to church so badly.”
Black out text
the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump
hold Easter church services this Sunday.
“I’ve had talks with the pastors, get back to church so badly.”
“He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
he 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,” ‘Well, I just don’t understand why God wouldn’t protect our nation and he would allow these radical Muslims in 2001 to kill 3,000 of our citizens and why God doesn’t protect us. Surely, God doesn’t use pagans to bring judgment upon his own people, does he?’”
Poem
Corona Pandemic is Not’s God’s Punishment
Amid the coronavirus pandemic,
President Trump
Attended virtual Easter church services
I’ve had talks with the pastors,
We need to get back
to church so badly.”
Rev Jeffries is a great guy
I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Rev Jeffries said
The 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment
on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,”
‘Well, I just don’t understand
why God wouldn’t protect our nation
and he would allow these
radical Muslims in 2001
to kill 3,000 of our citizens
and why God doesn’t protect us
Surely, God doesn’t use pagans
to bring judgment
upon his own people,
does he?’”
I am sad to report
Rev Jeffries
I spoke to God
This morning
He confirmed
He did not cause 9-11
To bring judgement
On the US
For abortion
He went on to say
The corona virus
Is beyond his control
And he is not sending it
To punish the US
Or the world
His final words
Please tell Rev Jeffries
To simply STFU
-wearing a mask should not be a political statement
more corona poems posted on the day the death rate hit 105,000 Americans
Here are some of my recent Corona poems. Many have been posted earlier and some have been published, many were posted on All Poetry, Poetry Soup and elsewhere. These poems are sometimes very political and perhaps in your face a bit but I am outraged at how badly the US and other countries have handled the Corona pandemic and dismayed to see that it is still being seen as a partisan political issue. This is particularly true of the fake controversy over wearing a mask. There can be no controversy – wearing masks save lives and is a very small infringement on individual rights so I just don’t understand that reluctance of some people to wear masks in public. Hence my outrage. Some of these poems were posted earlier, a few have been published and a few are newly written. Enjoy and the offer still stands for guest Covid Poems as I may write an update in a few months.
Wearing a Mask is not a political statement
To the owner of Liberty Bar and Grill
Corona Virus Stalks Me
Mad Mask Fears
Hope Springs Eternal in Our Year of Discontent
Wearing a Mask is not a political statement
Ode to Nurses
Plane, Train or Automobile – none of us can escape our fate
Conqueor Worm Corona Sonnet
Cosmic Debris Corona Sonnet
God Deals with Corona
Voice Message to God
General Corona Leads His Troops into Battle
Total Success
General Corona is Happy
Watching as the Entire World Falls Apart
Corona Virus Paranoia
End of the World
Conversation with the Gods About Corona Virus
We Live in an Orwellian World
Woman Releases Balloons of Hope
Life Interrupted by Corona
The End of the World News Depresses Me
God Did Not Send the Virus to Punish America Found Poem
The Virus from Hell is Amused
Every Day I Turn on the News *
Irony Meters Blows a Gasket
Chaos
My Phobias Overwhelms Me
Fear Fills the Air
Is This the Best We Can Get
More Trouble Every Day
Taking a Walk in the Corona Woods
Lone Man in Empty Parking Lot
Virus King Cried *
Bring Out Your Dead
The Corona Virus is Testing Us All
Last Human on Island
Part Two Short Poems
Corona virus Haiflu
Virus came from Hell Haiflu
Bring Out Your Dead Haiflu
Death Comes Knocking Haiflu
Be Afraid, Afraid Haiflu
Virus Came from Hell Haiflu
Corona Virus Tanka
Calls Goes Out Haiflu
Corona virus haiflu
End of the World Haiflu
Walking in the Woods Haiflu
To Wear or Not Wear Haiflu
Watching the News Haiflu
corona Cinqku
Part One Longer Poems
Watching the News while 100,000 Americans Lie Dead
On the day
when the death toil
reached over 100,000 people
I turned on the news
the president remained silent
As the deaths continue to increase
Watching the news
the president and his minions
continuously lying
about his great job
his great success
As the deaths continue to increase
blaming everything
on everyone else
China, Obama, the democrats, liberals
Fake science, university researchers
the media simply for asking inconvenient questions
As the deaths continue to increase
attacking people for wearing masks
making wearing a mask
a political question
– real men don’t wear masks
As the deaths continue to increase
Self -proclaiming a transition to greatness
and still 35% of Americans
applaud this broken down
man who is our leader
As the deaths continue to increase
god help us all, if there is a God
perhaps he has abandoned us
in our hour of need, and left us
with the President who yearns to king
As the deaths continue to increase
our President will eventually
no longer be our President
and perhaps we will
be a greater country
once this nightmare is over
As the deaths continue to increase
Wearing a Mask is not a political statement
masked woman
to my friends in America
to those who think
that somehow the corona virus
only infects other people
that it is all a liberal hoax
overblown nothing more than a bad flu
and nothing to do with me
demanding that we all go
back to work right now
but refuse to wear a mask
that wearing a mask
is an infringement on your freedom
and a sign of weakness
and a political statement
that you are against the President
and a democrat
and a democrat
what is wrong with you?
have you lost your humanity?
A mask is not a political statement
a mask means you care
about other people’s life
and your own as well
will millions have to die
so you can have a Big Mac?
and a beer
whenever you damn please
and no one can tell you
please wear a mask
have you lost all reason?
Have you lost all reason?
is it all now
about owning the dems
and the damn liberates
is there any thing left
in your cold greedy heart?
and you still proclaim
that you are Christian
as you violate all the Christian principles
what would Jesus do
what does the bible say
we should do
in the midst of this pandemic
is it the Christian thing to do
is it the Christian thing to do
to let millions of people die
did not Christ talk about love
compassion and mercy
would not Jesus wear a mask
to protect himself and others
from this ravaging disease
that does not care who you are
who you voted for
which church you go to
and Jesus and God are not there
watching all of us
as the virus spreads
it will affect you
sooner or later
sooner or later
and when it does
perhaps if you had worn
a mask
you might have prevented
a few more people
from joining the 100,000 already dead
a few more people
including your grandfather, grandmother
friend, relative, co-workers might be alive
if you were not such a self-centered person
and I appeal to you my friend
to grow up, become a member
of the human race again
I understand that you are banning
wearing of masks inside your bar
because somehow wearing a mask
offends you and your Christian values
and makes a political statement
that the person wearing a mask
is a libtard or a Democrat
or anti-Trump
and those kinds are not welcomed
in your bar and grill
therefore you are putting your staff
your friends and your family at risk
of catching and spreading
the corona virus
the corona virus
You say that you don’t care
if people get the corona virus
it is nothing but a cold or flue
but the thing about it
the deadly thing about the virus
the virus does not care about you
or your political views
and if you or your friends catch it
some of them will get sick and die
and it would all be because of your actions
and wearing a mask is not
a political statement
wearing a mask does not show weakness
wearing a mask does not show weakness
and does not mean that the wearer
is a political enemy
I would respect you more
If you posted a sign
no liberals, democrats
non-whites, gays and anti-trumpers
allowed but that would be illegal
so you take it out on mask wearers
you are so following the Christian faith
what would Jesus say to you
I wonder?
Just shut up already
Put on the damn mask no doubt
Corona Virus Stalks Me
the dreaded corona virus
led by the demented general Corona
seems to be stalking me
everywhere I go
images of the dead
come to life
accusing me of something
as they fade in and out of view
ghostly images fill my fogged up glasses
as I walk down the street
hidden deep inside my masks
and I fear everyone
which is of course part
of the corona virus’s evil’s plan
to drive us all mad sending us to hell
News is Still Grim
watching the daily news
the constant doom and gloom
makes me want to cry
and hide away
waiting
waiting
waiting
for the end of the news
and a return to normal
but that seems
like a distant dream
perhaps it is our fate
perhaps it will be over
perhaps it will never
be over
and the news drones
on
and
on
on
and
on
overwhelming
me
with
cosmic
dread
as hundreds of thousands people
lie dead
Mad Mask Fears
I don’t understand
this fear of wearing a mask
somehow making you weak
that wearing a mask
is a political statement
“Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself with a forest dark
for the straightforward pathway had been lost”
THE THOUGHT COMES TO MIND
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE
ALL
LOST
THEIR
MINDS
content tracing Dante Inferno Canto one Line 1 to 3
Hope Springs Eternal in our Year of our Discontent
corona virus
Every day I watch
The daily news
That fills us with dread
Perfect storm of hatred,
fear and despair
Everywhere we go
nonstop fear broadcasted
Despair fills my heart as I turn on the news
Everywhere we are in the midst of the pandemic
Simply put death is at hand
Planning for the future yet waiting for death
At worst we will all die not today but soon
In the long term we are all dead
Remembering the dead all around us
yet I end this poem with a word of hope
hoping for the best
while preparing for the worst
all I can do to stay sane
as I await my fate
on this dismal date
April 1 is indeed
April Fool’s date
is that our fate
this endless dance with death?
and to end with a sign of hope
I know that if I have you by my side
I will survive I will survive
until the end of time itself
takes us to the other side
Ode for Nurses
In honor of national nursing day
I offer this simple poem
thanks to all the nurses
who work so hard
24/7
to keep us all alive
and healthy
you are the real heroes
of America
and deserve so much more
that you get
thank you
for all you do
Plane, Train or Automobile – none of us can escape our fate
in these dark and dire times
we find ourselves living
we often fear that the times
are infected with death
and so we are afraid
deathly afraid
that if we take a plane
we will find General Corona
among the passengers
and we afraid
deadly afraid
that the subways
are incubators
of death and destruction
the virus spreads
fear and death
in its wake
many of us
retreating to our homes
and venturing out
in our cars
only to find
death is stalking us
as traffic piles up
traffic accidents
still killing more people
that the dreaded General Corona
the grim reaper smiles
his work is done
Satan thanks General. Corona
for a job well done
the Conqueror Worm Corona Sonnet
Lo, t’s a galla night
within the lonesome later years
when around the world
the dreaded corona virus showed its might
spending fear to those in their later years
that it might take them in the night
that before the sun came up
their time on earth would end up
DEATH IS COMING
TO US ALL
WE
WAIT
LATE
FATE
# content tracing: the Conqueror Worm By Edgar Allan Poe
I received a mysterious email package
followed by a phone call offering me a magical mask
a mask that they claim would prevent me
from the dreaded General Corona
hey there
who you jiving with that cosmic debris
a mask that they did not want me
me to know about
TOP SECRET CODE 2 LEVEL STUFF
MUST ACT NOW
SEND MONEY ASAP
BUY
IT
NOW
# content tracing- “Cosmic Debris by Frank Zappa”
with apologies to Frank Zappa
Corona Consumes Me Corona Sonnet 3
I am consumed by the corona virus
and I am slowly being taken over
as the virus infects my mind
taking me over turning me
into a wild raving zombie man
Let there be light
will I become the first
ZOMBIE APOLYCAPASE LOOMS
WILL WE ALL DIE
CORONA
KILLS
ME
content tracing – Let there be light from Bible and the entire Zombie Apocalypse genre where the Zombie flu started usually in China as a flu and then morphs into the zombie disease
God Deals with Corona
god is having a crisis meeting
on the corona virus situation
on planet 679542099199
otherwise known as planet earth
in a minor corner
of the milky way
the deranged inhabitants
of the planet
somehow thought that GOD
created them in his image
and that they are his children
all of them
and that he listens to his prayers
god was so tired of dealing with humans
the most ornery stubborn stupid creatures
of all the millions of sentient beings
he had to deal with them
more than any one else
God created the world
but then let nature take its course
and sometimes things worked out
and sometimes they did not
and God just did not have the time
to deal with every little detail
of life on millions of planets
across the vast universe
His arch enemy Satan
banished to Hell’s prison
was always causing trouble
everywhere in the universe
and Satan also loved the mad
creatures on planet earth
what was god to do
he did not know
as he saw the death rates
increase and grim reaper’s
armies go to work
his courts will be filled
billions stuck in limbo
for centuries
just did not have enough
staff to do the work
God signed off the conference
and sighed again
thinking about the mad creatures
on the planet earth
hoping that they would pull it together
but knowing that he might have to intervene
and went back to his other business
enough of humans for one day
General Corona Leads His Troops Into Battle, crown of sonnets
General Corona leads his forces across the world
riding on a black horse
from out of the Apocalypse
ride the four horsemen
which are let loose upon the world
He leads his forces across the world
into battle as the leader of his evil forces
The enemy of humanity
General Corona he does not care
nor does his virus minions care
about your nationality he does not care
about your politics he does not care
or your wealth or who you are
the corona general sees humanity
the corona general sees humanity
as nothing but hosts for his virus army
chanting death to humanity
until his evil army sweeps throughout the world
throughout the world
and millions must die
it is the will of the general
all must die
and it is the end of the world
or perhaps the beginning of a new world
filled with hope and love through out the world
humanity comes alive throughout the world
fighting back against the virus army
peace, love and compassion defeats the army
and general corona will finally himself die
Voice Message for God
dialing 202-346-5666 Beep
You have reached GOD
Press 1 for English, Press 2 for Spanish
leave a message or prayer
and maybe an angel will call you
will get back to you Beep
Hey GOD someone sent me your number
and well I hope I’ve reached your number
I don’t know where to start that’s the point
GOD I am scared of you
all the time is my point
I am so afraid, so scared
of the dreaded General Corona
and his invisible army is my point
and his invisible army is my point
forcing me to stay at home
and I am sacred
that you anointed the wrong man
to be our leader, that makes me sacred
not to second guess you man
your will be done and all of that man
but GOD, can’t you do better job my man
of anointing our leaders to serve under GOD
of all the people in the U.S. dear God
this is the best you can do?, man?
I mean you picked perhaps the one man
in the world who could be the anti-chris, God
Seriously GOD what is wrong with you? man
Seriously, GOD, what is wrong with you? man
was this all sort of a cosmic joke?
well it ain’t funny any more ain’t no joke
Please GOD make it all go away, man
Please GOD for the love of GOD
and all that is holly and good, man
just make it all go away, GOD
and anoint someone else, man
a real leader for a change, GOD
and let him lead us to the promised land
this I pray in Jesus’s name, my man
and if I don’t make it, GOD
We have a lot to talk about GOD
See you on the other side, my man
Isolation Blues
During these trying times
we huddle at home
afraid to go out
afraid of the dreaded
General Corona that is out
and his evil secret armies
keeping us all at home
terrified of becoming a victim
a corona virus statistic
what a way to go out
no way do I want to end my life
to out out that way
so we will endure this day
these isolation blues
General Corona is coming for us all
I saw the best minds of my generation
destroyed by madness
consumed by the greed
all around us
the dreaded corona virus spreads
its death and destruction
all over the world
no one can escape
THE FATE OF THE WORLD
IS INDEED AT STAKE
NONE OF US CAN
ESCAPE
OUR
FATE
content tracing “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg
total Success
The President’s Son-in-law declares
that the government’s response
to the corona virus
has been a total success
as the government
step up to the plate
to fight the virus from hell
I have to wonder
on what planet
does the words
105,000 deaths in three months
and another great depression
becomes total success?
from our dear leader
and his hapless son-in-law
General Corona is Happy
General Corona
is happy
his mission is a great success
as his armies of virus bots
spread throughout the world
spreading chaos and destruction
as all bow down
to his invisible armies
none can escape their fate
on that date
that he unleashed his armies
upon the world
all humans must die
his armies scream out
Watching as the Entire World Falls Apart
watching as the entire world falls apart
consumed by fears of the end of the world
things continue to fall apart around us
humanity turns to silent gods
who turn a deaf ear to our suffering madness
as the virus from hell spreads out all around
fearful people desperately running here
fearful people desperately running there
praying to the silent gods above us all
to rescue them from this hellish nightmare fate
that seems to becoming our fate this late date
and as we all die a million deaths just our fate
Corona Virus Paranoia
fears of the virus
fear of the coming pandemic
paranoia in the air
fear of the other
fear of the coming super bug
the end of the world
all wrapped up
in a simple weaponized virus
End of the world fears
tossed and turned
could not get to sleep
fearful of everything
fears consume me
as the nightmare news played
on in the background
screaming the latest
paranoid conspiracy
end of the world
nightmares becoming real
is the zombie “Apocalypse near
is it time for us to all
to run
for the proverbial hills?
Conversation with the Gods About Corona Virus
jehova
Rev. Jake ’s on-line sermon on the Corona Virus
I am reverend Jake and I have a message from God
Last night I had a vision from God
it was his message to the world
about this pandemic we are facing
I found myself in a large room
Jehovah, God, was sitting in the middle
surrounded by the other Gods
they were all there
Jesus on his right
Allah on his left
Buddha behind him
Ganesh, Shiva, Kali
Mohammed, Joseph Smith and other prophets
Gabriel and other angels abound
St Peter in front of his as his Chief of Staff
Zeus, Jupiter, Minerva and ancient
other gods all around him
God spoke up
He said
I have a message for you
to give to your people
all of your people
no matter what religion
or no religion at all
it is all one after all
first the corona virus
is a natural phenomenon
we have no control
over forces of nature
and we did not send
it to you
to punish you
for homosexuality
or anything else at all
Second obey the health directives
stay at home
do your services on line
it is okay with us
we are fine with that
the blood of Jesus
will not save you
If you are in a crowded place
like church or a mosque service
the virus will spread
and catch you in the end
Prayers alone will not save you
but please keep praying
we do listen to your prayers
but we can only do so much
So please don’t allow the virus
to spread
because of your ignorance
and fear
realize that in the end
the virus will do its thing
and you will survive
and we
all the gods here
love you humans
and wish you well
so stay at home
practice self-distancing
It is God’s will
all will survive
We Live in an Orwellian world
1984 images
we are living
in an Orwellian 1984 world
and have been for decades
we are assaulted daily
by alternative realties
promoted by various politicians
designed to shut down
all rational thought
true Orwellian thought control
and now with the corona virus
massive surveillance
has become the norm
and when the crisis is over
the surveillance will continue
on one excuse after another
forever as Orwell’s nightmare
big brother ruling us all
comes true
based on the fear that the massive increase in social surveillance being deployed against the Corona virus will after the crisis is over continue forever under one excuse or another as the Orwellian big brother dictatorships around the world become permanent
Woman releases balloons of hope
balloons for peace
A young woman
walks in a park
on a sunny spring day
carrying 25 red balloons
each red balloon
contains the name of those
that recently died
in the corona virus pandemic
she is releasing the balloons
hoping they would
rise to heaven
with a request for God
to hear her prayers
End this pandemic
End the death and destruction
release us from the corona pandemic
the woman releases the balloons
and slowly walks back to her house
to prepare to attend yet another funeral
as the pandemic swirls all around her
creative talents unleashed prompt
life interrupted by corona
covid19
we live in a strange world
life interrupted by corona
the virus spread throughout the world
disrupting everything
putting life on hold
as more people
hunkered down
waiting for the virus
to pass over us
like in biblical times
the virus
will test us all
and then
we will all
go back
to life interrupted
The end of the world news depresses me
trump jpg
the end of the world news
depresses me
makes me want to shout and scream
Shut up, leave me alone
to deal with my grief
amid the death and destruction
watching CNNMSNBCFOXBBC media nonstop
filled with essential dread
the end of the world is upon us
from the screaming news media
spreading forth across the land
fake news screams the president
all is alright he proclaims
no one believes his 16,000 lies
and so it goes
we are drowning with information
coming at us so fast and furious
When will it end my friend
is anyone’s guess
in the long run we are dead
God Did not Send the Corona Virus as a Punishment Black Out Poem
Robert_Jeffress
Corona Pandemic is Not’s God’s Punishment
Amid the coronavirus pandemic,
President Trump
Attended virtual Easter church services
I’ve had talks with the pastors,
We need to get back
to church so badly.”
Rev Jeffries is a great guy
I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”
Rev Jeffries said
The 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment
on America for abortion.
“People ask me all the time,”
‘Well, I just don’t understand
why God wouldn’t protect our nation
and he would allow these
radical Muslims in 2001
to kill 3,000 of our citizens
and why God doesn’t protect us
Surely, God doesn’t use pagans
to bring judgment
upon his own people,
does he?’”
I am sad to report
Rev Jeffries
I spoke to God
This morning
He confirmed
He did not cause 9-11
To bring judgement
On the US
For abortion
He went on to say
The corona virus
Is beyond his control
And he is not sending it
To punish the US
Or the world
His final words
Please tell Rev Jeffries
To simply shut up
the Virus from Hell is amused
corona virus
the Virus from Hell is amused
laughing at the world’s panicked reaction
as it marches through the world unabated
infecting everyone in its wake
as the world awaits its fate
the virus smiles he ain’t no fake
he is the real deal
he is death itself
he is the end of the world
the grim reaper is smiling
god is silent as usual
the world’s leaders
dither and dater
as the economy craters
everyone hoping that God
will save them
the virus does not care
insults and orders do not work
the virus simply does its virus thing
infecting everyone it encounters
and thousands will die
equal opportunity offender
killing the rich and the poor alike
but more poor people
just so many more poor people
than the few billionaires
the virus smile
his work is done
and mankind is doomed
so be it the virus thinks
that is the way of the world
and the virus is the new king
of the world
every day I turn on the news
nothing but news about the virus
the virus from hell
the world is filled with fear
and my anxiety levels rise
every time I turn on the news
oh my god I say
we are all going to die
and I am so afraid
afraid of everyone
afraid of everything
dreading the latest news
and nothing relieves my fear
I watch the world
loosing its collective mind
wondering how much more of this
can we all take
I scream out
Dear God save us all
god is silent as usual
and so I realized
we are doomed
perhaps it is the end times
perhaps not
I turn off the TV
try to stay calm
hoping the madness
will not overwhelm us all
Irony Meters Blow Gaskets
donald trump
the Irony meter gasket
is blown again and again
with every statement
of our chaos president
and his endless surrogates
promoting the latest Presidential
on spot guidance by our great leader
that must be true
because our dear leader
says it is so
The President accuses his democratic rival
of being senile and needs to be in home
and will be run by his radical left allies
and the right wing media
echoes the presidential absurd comments
refusing to acknowledge
that the president himself
is rapidly fading into dementia
and his radical right cronies
are looting the government
driving out expertise
even in the midst of pandemic
Oh yeah the irony meters
are blowing gaskets
every single day
Chaos
trump clown in chief
the world descends into chaos
as our world leaders
led by the chaos president
are overwhelmed
by the smallest
enemy of all
a simple virus
straight out of hell
blows through the crumbling
third world public health infrastructure
living proof of the decline of America
and no one is prepared
and panic ensures
with every Presidential tweet
as people don’t believe
a word he says
conspiracy rumors spread
everyone believes their own reality
as the world spins out of control
the chaos king is in his element
convince that only he knows
the deal
and everyone else
is iust a bit player
in the reality show
that he presides over
and so the rest of us
hunker down
just hoping for the best
as the panic and
chaos spreads faster
than the virus
are we doomed
can we survive
will God save us?
he is silent as always
My Phobias Overwhelm Me
covid 19 spread
lately I have become scared
of everything
the news scares me, the corona virus scares me, the presidential race scares me, fears of gun men in the street, terrorism, fears of getting sick, fears of dogs, fears of other people, fear of loosing money, fears of becoming demented old man, lost in his nightmares on the street just another invisible homeless bum in the end of his life
all these phobias overwhelm me
time to walk away from my fears
and realize
it will be alright
everything will be alright
As long as I have you
by my side
Fear Fills the Air
cnn logo
watching the news
CNNMSNBCFOXBBCKOREANNEWSJAPANESENEWSBLOOMBERABCCBSNBCGOOGLEAPPLEREUTERSAPIRUSSIANTVCHINESTVFRENCHTV
blather on and on
the world is ending
pandemic is coming
we are going to die
and the fear grows
and the restrictions grow
travel comes to stop
the economy comes to a stop
everyone is so afraid
our leaders fret
say that everything is fine
as the world enters
the second great depression
and we are faced
with the reality
all over the world
idiots in high places
the masters of the universe
are in charge
the internet spreads
the wildest rumors
must be true
I read it on the internet
the truth is lost
in the shuffle
no one believes anyone
everything thinks
that they know
it is all a conspiracy
the thought comes to mind
we are all so ’S….
end of the world
is upon us
is this the best we can get?
trump
watching the news
one wonders
how in this great country
of ours
335 million people
among the most educated
richest people in the world
we can end up
with such idiots in high places
running out country?
these idiots in charge
no disrespect intended
both political parties
all corporations
and our institutions
except maybe the military
has been infected
by this virus
of epic incompetence
greed and indifference
to the general good
who loudly constantly proclaim
that they are Christians
while violating
all of Christ’s teachings
Jesus if he came back
would scream out
I am not Christian
it is all about me
and mine
and you can go
to hell
if you dare to disagree
and so we tweet and titter
and watch the news
reading the latest rumors
and I wonder
if there is a god
or if there is a devil
and are we overwhelmed
by the dismal news
why can’t we have better
leaders
better people
in our leaders
around the world
has god abandoned us
are we in hell
or did god ever exist
except in our fevered imagination
will god save us all
or will the world
just go around the sun
indifferent to our pleas?
no answer
must watch the news
consumed by the need
to see the latest news
and so it goes
and I wake up
the sun is up
and the nightmares
fade away
until I watch the news
and the madness consumes
us all again and again
as the corona virus
marches on and on
consuming us all
as the world falls apart
these must be the end times
I hope I will be raptured away
even if I am not a Christian
More Trouble Every Day
The Old Zappa song plays
on in my head
every time I turn on the news
and see more trouble every day
no one can delay
the trouble coming every day
Frank Zappa died too soon
before the horrors of the Trump era
and the corona end of the world plague
that he would have foreseen
if he had lived on
he was truly a prophet
crying in the wildness
while making money
as an over night sensation
as he saw the slime
oozing out of the TV sets
we will do what we are told
for the rights to us have been sold
And Jesus too
has been sold
to the highest bidder
nothing but a business deal
in America
the land of the constant deal
and so I turn off the TV
and realize that
the torture never ends
the torture never ends
Taking a Walk in the Corona Era
peace forest
every day I go for a walk
in the spring time woods
near my house
braving the weather
and the dreaded corona virus
wearing masks and gloves
keeping a distance
from anyone we encounter
that is life it seems
in the era of the corona virus
when will it end
no one knows
until then
I will brave the viral threat
and confront my fears
and walk in the park
with the love of my life
my bride my wife
by my side
in these challenging times
that is all we can do
A lone man stands in an empty parking lot
empty parking lot
A lone man stands in an empty parking lot
contemplating the new normal
social distancing run amuck
as fears of the corona super plague
plague the land
driving everyone inside
sheltering in place
afraid to go out
afraid of the deadly c virus
The Virus King Cried
virus king cried
published in Muse McAalster Journal
the virus king smiled
as the politicians lied
saying that the end was near
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king sneered
as people panicked
and partied on the beach
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king laughed
as the markets crashed
millions became unemployed
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king roared
as the world slid into chaos
people turning on one another
the virus king infected thousands more
and killed hundreds of people
the virus king smirked
knowing that there was nothing
that they could do to stop
his army from infecting millions
and killing thousands
the virus King begin to realize
that soon there would be no one left
no one for his army to infect
as everyone was dying
the virus King yelled
remaining defiant
as civilization collapsed
billions were infected
millions died
the Virus King at last cried
when he saw that he was defeated
as one by one
people began to recover
and his reign of terror came to an end
Bring out your dead
grimm reaper
the call bring out your dead
spreads around the world
as millions die
all over the world
the virus has spread
mutated and killed
all over the world
bring out your dead
the mournful cries
echoing in the wind
of the dying cities
mass starvation
as no is working
in the fields
as more people die
and the world spins
around the sun
with the politicians lying
and the dead still dying
as civilization dies
and humanity flee
into the wilderness
chased by the killer virus
straight down to hell
the corona virus is testing us all
the corona virus is testing us all
is it a plague
sent by God
if we have faith
will we recover
or it is beyond our control
the end of the world
does god hear our prayers
does god even exist
the virus from hell
spreads around the world
and test our faith
will god save us all
I have no answer
but perhaps if god exists
we will recover
from this plague
from hell
the four horse men ready to ride
four horsemen
the end of the world is upon us
as god unleashes the corona virus
which is spreading across the land
the four horse men are ready
to begin their grim journey
announcing the end of the world
the white horse comes first
offering peace and hope
in the midst of death
and despair
the red horse rides second
ushering in war
throughout the world
as nations turn on each other
and civil war looms
the Black Horse is ready
unleashing famine
on a starving world
as people stay at home
and food rots in the field
no one is able
to work any more
as the virus kills more
and more
the pale horse rides last
bringing death
in his wake
death all around us
as the virus kills us all
and civilization ends
the four horse men
have done their job
the virus finishes its reign of terror
and the few survivors
beging to recover
end of the world
came and went
and they are still alive
thanks to God
who remains silent
as always
Last Human on Island
in the deep blue sea
nothing there
but death and destruction
virus all around
pandemic plague
Apocalyptic views
end of times
death of civilization
Part Two Haiku, Haifu and CoVid Ku Poems
corona virus Haiku
corona virus
corona virus
staying home
waiting for death
Afraid everything
the virus came from hell
the virus came from hell
staying home waiting for death
Afraid everything
Bring Out Your Dead
bring out your dead cries
break out all over the world
we are waiting death
death comes knocking
death comes knocking
on our doorsteps tonight
will God hear prayers
be afraid, afraid
be afraid afraid
Must be afraid every one
Death is at our door
The Virus Came From Hell
the virus came from Hell
ravaging the entire world
all waiting for death
Corona Virus Fears Tanka
cover 19
Corona virus
lurking fears all around me
we all will die
the TV screaming nonstop
Must be afraid
The call goes out
the call goes out
stay at home
to beat the dreaded c virus
will we live
or all die?
five Haiflu/covid ku poems
corona virus
corona virus
spreading across the land
death waiting for us
end of the world
corona virus
it seems to be coming soon
end of the world
Walking in the woods
walking in the woods
amid corona virus
waiting for my death
To Wear or Not Wear a Mask
to wear or not wear
a mask is it just political
makes a statement
Watching the news
watching the news
crying at the growing deaths
politicians lying
Corona Cingku
virus
came from hell
to wipe us out
everyone must prepare
meet God
The Christian Right has collectively freaked out over the Corona virus pandemic. There seems to be several themes
The Corona virus is a hoax or a conspiracy or overblown by the media to embarrass and weaken the President.
The Corona virus response by the President has been perfect, no one could have predicted the virus, and the President is working extremely hard to combat the virus. The media and democrats are playing politics with the virus.
The virus is a plague sent by God to punish America for its transgressions against god especially its tolerance of homosexuality, casual sex, abortion and pornography.
If you accept God as your savior you will be saved from the virus. If not, the virus could kill you.
China could escape the virus if Chinese leaders accepted Jesus Christ today.
Here is a google search link to some of the comments made by right wing pastors and Christian leaders. Right Wing Watch and Media matters have the best coverage of the Right Wing’s reaction to the Corona virus and of course there is Fox News for those who can stomach it. I frankly can not.
To this day, American black Christians attend church at a higher rate than any … The marches and sit-ins of the civil rights movement were often … a shaking of one’s fist at the wind, but as testimony to the greater hope of the …
Perry Stone, coronavirus, christian, pastor, covid-19. Perry Stone. A conservative pastor in Tennessee is telling his supporters that marriage …
Note: typical of the claim that corona virus was unleashed by God to punish us for accepting same sex marriage. Of course he does not answer the question why were the Chinese punished first? They don’t have same sex marriage? are the Europeans being punished for the same sin since they had same sex marriage before we did ? And why did God take three years to punish the U.S.? inquiring minds want to know. I might send him a email. if so I will update this posting….end note
Note: of course they would approve of his disastrous handling of the crisis. Although to give him due credit in the last week he has stepped up to the plate and is trying to deal with the crisis. end Note
About 7 in 10 white evangelical Christians approve of the way Trump is handling issues related to the coronavirus outbreak, including 52% who …
Note: I get it now. God sent the virus to China because they are not Christians and then he sent it to us and Europe because we tolerate gays. That explains it. If the Chinese accept Jesus now the virus will disappear and if we get rid of gays the virus will also disappear. That’s the way God rolls apparently. End Note
– Right–wing pastor blames coronavirus on ‘LGBT sin’, because … Andrew, who is pastor of the California-based USA Christian Church, has …
And Christians form just one of the U.S. religious communities that are struggling … In a dramatic move to slow the spread of the coronavirus in one of the most … With five Republican senators in self-quarantine, Democrats are …
One Christian blogger has speculated her God will ‘use the virus for good’. … soap and water as the key measure to avoid spreading the coronavirus. … Meanwhile right–wingpastor EW Jackson told listeners of his radio show …
Ethnos360, an evangelical Christian missionary group, is embarking on a controversial new project, just as the coronavirus begins spreading widely in Brazil. … Instead, the document gave native peoples the right to be indigenous forever. …
Right–Wing Pastor: God Sent Us Coronavirus Because of Homosexuality … of the coronavirus, as Pastor Steven Andrew of the USA Christian …
Macron looks to the left as Coronavirus poses dire challenges for French society. Photo: Liewig Christian/ABACA/ABACA/PA Images … travel bans, and restricting exports—a seeming vindication of right–wing populists.
Here’s a look at some of the ways that religions are adapting to the threat of coronavirus. Christianity.
Note: In Korea the corona virus spread through a secretive cult that worshiped with believers sitting on the floor very close together and bowing down in prayer and singing loudly. the church was a petri dish for the virus. Similar issues are arriving in Muslim nations. Good that responsible churches and Mosques are changing how they conduct services end note.
Trump’s racism isn’t ancillary to his inept response to the coronavirus … then a false accusation that the “major left–wing news media” has embraced “Chinese … False Idol — Why the Christian Right Worships Donald Trump.
Note: one of the most disturbing aspects of Trump’s conduct re the corona virus. It is just a matter of time before some nut case decides to start shooting Chinese because of the Chinese Flu that he blames for loosing his job or because he caught the Chinese flu. End of Note
Trump and His Religious-Right Allies Continue To Send …
– As Right Wing Watch has reported, some religious-right leaders have said that … services and said Christians should be holding mass gatherings to … slow the spread of the coronavirus, Trump continued to conduct business …
A guide to right–wing media reactions and conspiracy theories surrounding coronavirus … The strain of novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 is a respiratory … Some extreme reactions from right–wing conservative Christians.
Note: best source of information on this topic in my opinion.
The Atlantic Politics Daily: An Alternate Coronavirus Reality … to describe the disease caused by the new coronavirus, some leading right–wing … Today’s newsletter was written by Christian Paz, a Politics fellow, and edited by …
An Analysis by Christian Stöcker … Coronavirus in Italy: Reports from the Frontlines of COVID-19 Accounts Recorded by Frank Hornig, … The former operator of 8chan, a platform where various right–wing extremists and mass …
Note: more on the role of religious cults in the spread of the corona virus. 65% of the 8500 cases are linked to this one church and another 120 to another cult. End Note
us in Korea … He said many Korean Christians have an “evangelical mindset” and their … his fervent conservatism and criticism of the left–leaning national government, …
Mar 13, 2020 – In Italy right now, as the entire country is quarantined and the number of people infected with the coronavirus grows rapidly, hospitals …
Aug 30, 2019 – The “Christian right” is the backbone of the Republican Party. Christians of all stripes — from Catholics to Protestants and evangelicals …
Jan 28, 2020 – A right–wing evangelical pastor has claimed the coronavirus is God’s ‘death … Christian Pastor Rick Wiles, who is the creator of the TruNews …
Not everyone is taking a scientific approach to coronavirus research. … Christianblogger Lori Alexander, for example, argued in a Facebook post that there’s some … Right WingWatch (@RightWingWatch) March 12, 2020.
7 hours ago – The left-back has found himself out of favour in west London, with … Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic is urging …
Feb 28, 2020 – Rick Wiles says that if China will just turn to Jesus, the coronavirus crisis will end. … Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 25, 2020 … With Rick Wiles catering to Trump’s audience — White Christians and Christian …
Feb 26, 2020 – Early missteps on coronavirus, lack of a consistent message make the … Robert Redfield was a well-known AIDS researcher and favorite of Christian … Schuchat and Messonnier, who’s become a target for right–wing talk …
Oct 10, 2019 – “I love him so much I can hardly explain it,” said right–wing pastor and Trump adviser James Robison. Many echo Robison; 80 percent of white …
Robert Redfield has long allied himself with conservative politicians and their pet … people leading the nation’s response to the deadly coronavirus. … outside of the military, aligning himself with a conservative Christian group …
Mar 6, 2020 – Andrew, based in Northern California, calls himself leader of the American Christian Denomination, which “is made up of Christians of all …
Dec 24, 2019 – Driving The Right Wing. While conservative evangelicalism tends to focus on sin, repentance, and salvation, the Christian Left identify Christ’s …
political left after the White House released a … president praying with the coronavirus task force in his West Wing office. … Williams’ response drew the ire of some Christians, including …
Mar 3, 2020 – The Coronavirus is threatening to become an epidemic in the United States, so how should Christians and the church respond? Todd Wagner gives … But God has called us to face troubles and threats with courage, leaning our weight on him. Throughout history … Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved.
6 days ago – Andy Biggs, an Arizona Republican, voted against the coronavirus … Monday on a radio program produced by the conservative Christian group …
5 days ago – Religious leaders from Israel to Iran say the deadly coronavirus outbreak … Right–wing Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu said in a YouTube video on … an event believed by Christians and Jews to bring about the coming of the Messiah.
Millions of people are in quarantine, … This isn’t the way most people, even Christians, see God. … Even the left–wing populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who would like to overthrow …
for Trump ‘opened up the doors’ … Mountain International Church the coronavirus pandemic will end sooner than … Watch the video clip below, courtesy of Right Wing Watch: …
Mar 13, 2020 – Right–wing Christians are the bedrock of his support base. His evangelical vice president, Mike Pence, the person Trump has put in charge of …
Right–wing Christianity more dangerous to America than Islamic extremism, says scholar … Concern grows for Holy Land as coronavirus leads to lockdown …
Mar 12, 2020 – From the Black Death to coronavirus: what we haven’t learned from history … appeared to be dying in fewer numbers than their Christian neighbours. … to exaggerate mortality rates with one right–wing commentator claiming a …
Apr 11, 2019 – While white evangelical Christians make up the single largest religious bloc in the Republican Party (and have for decades), the biggest single …
Note: another perspective – not right wing christian but left wing Christian
Apr 17, 2019 – The presidential candidate’s calling out of the Christian right’s moral … home the hypocrisy of church-going conservative white Christians, …
Mar 2, 2020 – His brand of conservative Christianity casts doubt on science in the name of faith. That’s why people are concerned about him. #coronavirus.
sent by God to purge the world of sin … Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 28, 2020 … When Katrina hit, the group Columbia Christians for Life explained the disaster in …
Right–wing pastor E.W. Jackson told listeners of his radio show that the “homovirus” has infected America. Jackson was the Republican nominee for lieutenant …
Jan 31, 2020 – Rick Wiles says the coronavirus is a plague sent by God to purge the world of sin … Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 28, 2020 … When Katrina hit, the group Columbia Christians for Life explained the disaster in …
Right–wing pastor E.W. Jackson told listeners of his radio show that the “homovirus” has infected America. Jackson was the Republican nominee for lieutenant …
Mar 15, 2020 – Televangelist claims he healed viewers of coronavirus through their TV … Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 12, 2020. Most Read. Church in mourning as four members of Christian family succumb to coronavirus …
Jan 7, 2020 – The magazine Christianity Today—which bore the imprimatur of its founder, … But some left–leaning evangelicals long ago grew tired of being …
Vatican makes clear: general absolution allowed during coronavirus contagion … liberals who have questioned the sincerity, as well as the sanity, of conservative Christians. … Rightwingconspiracies swirling around coronavirus cost lives.
Nov 11, 2019 – I, Tim Stanley – a right–wing Christian and member of the National Trust – am calling for a war on Christmas. We need to boycott it to save it.
Jan 14, 2020 – When Mark Galli, the conservative evangelical editor of Christianity Today, … church and the extreme right–wing faction of the Republican Party.
coronavirus through their televisions last night. … Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 12, 2020 … Faithwire, CBN News, Spiked, The Federalist and Christian Headlines.
Mar 14, 2020 – The coronavirus outbreak has brought forth many conspiracy theories from right–wingers, many of which are Christian pastors. This time it’s …
the rosary to an empty … isn’t a risk that discussion of the Church’s response to the coronavirus can’t be … monk Enzio Bianchi declared, “A Christian does not suspend the liturgy!” … Conservative Italian journalist Camillo Langone issued a scathing verdict …
… writer at The Atlantic, on right–wing media’s coronavirus misinformation campaign. … Dirty MoneyBill Frisell — Lost, NightCalifone — Burned by the Christians …
4 days ago – One professor expressed concern that “right wing sites” could expose … forced to deliver their course lectures online amid the coronavirus outbreak, … Texas ChristianUniversity Associate Professor of Political Science Emily …
Mar 10, 2020 – One theory, that suspicion of science is linked to the conservative political ideology of many Christians, is contradicted by the fact that the …
Feb 6, 2020 – [1] Everyone excluding, not surprisingly, the right–wing Israeli government and Zionist Christians in the US[2]. Palestinians and their seventy …
Feb 28, 2020 – How can Christians make sense of the coronavirus, which has infected and … Now, the biblical fact is Mark 4:41: “Even the wind and the sea obey [Jesus]. … Since he always does what is wise and right and just and good, …
Jun 18, 2019 – “It represents a new form of Christianity that could reshape the global … rightkinds of Christians in the right kind of public sectors of American …
Jul 26, 2019 – LIKE many others who seek social redemption in the ideas of the left, my socialism was formed by my Catholic faith. This was accelerated by …
Jan 29, 2020 – Coronavirus ‘plague sent by God to punish China and parents who make kids … Christian pastor and founder of TruNews Rick Wiles made the odd … Shared by Right WingWatch, the astonishing clip sees the pastor make a …
Jan 29, 2020 – Rick Wiles, the right–wing Christian broadcaster who made headlines … called the coronavirus a plague sent by God to purge the world of sin …
This is my third and final commentary on social issues. The first one looked at fetal funerals and argued that such polices are degrading, harmful and cruel and violate the core principles of Christianity. The second article looked at the right wing marriage myths and opposition to same sex marriage and group marriages. This essay looks at Transgendered bathroom bans and argues that these bans are a solution to a non-existent problem and are profoundly cruel, degrading and rooted in prejudice and not based on scientific understanding. Nor do they have any biblical justification as they violate all the basic principles of Christianity.
Finally this is personal to me as I have had a number of transgendered friends over the years and I know how they feel about these types of degrading, discriminating and cruel policies.
No scientific of Biblical Justification exists for these bans
“Critics of bills which exclude transgender individuals from restrooms which conform to their gender identity argue that they do not make public restrooms any safer for cisgender (non-transgender) people, and that they make public restrooms less safe for both transgender people and gender non-conforming cisgender people.[2][3][4] Additionally, critics claim there have been no cases of a transgender person attacking a cisgender person in a public restroom,[2][5] although there has been at least one isolated incident of voyeurism in a fitting room.[6] By comparison, a much larger percentage of transgender people have been verbally, physically, and sexually harassed or attacked by cisgender people in public facilities.[7] For these reasons the controversy over transgender bathroom access has been labeled a moral panic[8] and compared to the antisemitic blood libel.[9]
Proponents say such legislation is necessary to maintain privacy, protect what they claim to be an innate sense of modesty held by most cisgender people, prevent voyeurism, assault, molestation, and rape,[10] and retain psychological comfort.[11][12]”
As usual the Christian right comes up with these proposals which are not based on science, but is based on their interpretation of fundamentalist Christian doctrine. These policies are cruel, degrading and inhumane and violates the core fundamental principles of the Christian faith which calls for compassion for others. Furthermore there is absolutely no mention in the Bible about trans gendered individuals and what to do about them and there is nothing in the bible that talks about bathroom and who has access to them.
there are a few references here and there – I checked on it- men who dressed as woman and woman who dressed as men were condemned as committing sins, but nothing at all about transgenderism itself and there is no reference to bathroom use at all.
This was simply not an issue when the Bible was written and it’s not been an issue until the Christian right decided to make it a huge issue a few years ago in America. It is not an issue anywhere else in the world either.
These policies are based on the assumption that gender is assigned at birth by God and that policies to change gender later on in life are an attempt by evil medical science to play God with peoples lives. How God decides these things is never explained. God if he exists must be extremely busy intervening in the intimate details of billions of people.
Christian conservatives are all about getting the government out of our lives but if it involves sex then they demand that government intervene in the most intimate aspects of our lives to enforce their version of Christianity all in the name of religious freedom and promoting traditional values.
the assumption that gender is fixed, immutable and assigned by God at birth is simply put wrong and absurd on its face. The science is very clear gender is as much a social construct as it is a biological construct and a certain percentage of people will feel that they are in the wrong gender. Gender reassignment procedures do work and afterwards it may be very difficult to determine visually whether the person is the same gender as reflected in their birth documents.
Requiring people who look like the appropriate gender to use a bathroom to use the bathroom appropriate to the opposite gender because of the birth certificate would result in very male looking people going into the women’s room bathroom and very female looking individual going into the male’s bathroom.
Second how are you enforce this misguided policy? Would you require people to show their birth certificates to get into a bathroom? Would you make it a criminal offense to use the wrong bathroom and have police waste their time identifying people who were using the wrong bathroom ?Would you allow people to self-report the alleged crime of using the wrong bathroom ? All these policies do is to stigmatize people who are transgendered.
A simple solution would be to make all bathrooms all gendered and have people use a key to get in and use it or have them do their business behind close doors and the come out to wash up sharing the bathroom with the other gender.
Furthermore the policy assumes that transgendered individuals are a threat to other people particularly young people. Somehow the idea is that a transgendered male would be in a female’s bathroom and will be trying to pick up or harassed young women or vice versa. There is almost no evidence whatsoever that transgender and individuals pose a threat to other people. None.
To sum up the opposition to transgender people using public bathrooms is a disgrace. Tt’s not based on science, it is not based on Christian principles and in fact it violates the fundamental Christian principles of mercy and compassion and taking care of others. Those promoting these cruel degrading inhumane anti-Christian policies should reflect upon their actions and do what Jesus would’ve done.
I am sure that if Jesus were around today he would not be advocating trans gendered people being banned from public restrooms. And short those advocating banning transgender people from using the restroom corresponding to the gender of their choice should just simply STFU and leave us alone.
I am writing to you to offer you my advice for winning the nomination and the Presidency. This is an update to my earlier advice which I hope you have seen. I have a few additional thoughts to add first.
You have done three things right in the last few weeks.
Pledge to Run a Civil Campaign and Challenge Trump to make the same committment
One you called Donald Trump up and had a civil conversation with him about the Corona Virus, gave him advice and listened to him as well. This one act shows what a leader is and can do. Bravo on the initiative.
I would follow up with a pledge to not go negative and ask that Trump commits as well to a civil tone throughout the campaign. If he fails to do that, well you at least tried and again showed what a mature leader is in contrast to the immaturity of Trump.
Two you talked nice about Bernie and his ideas. You need his support and Elizabeth Warren’s support.
Pick VP and Senior Cabinet nominees Now
Third you pledged to nominate a woman as your VP. I’d announce your pick now – as a way to generate momentum and energy.
I would also nominate Elizabeth Warren as your pick for Secretary of Labor, Bernie Sanders as either EPA or Energy, and Mayor Pete as your incoming Secretary of Defense. For Secretary of State (my old agency) I’d nominate Susan Rice.
I’d nominate them all along with your VP pick sooner rather than later.
Call for Virtual Convention and Mail in General Election
I’d call for a Virtual convention – August may still be a bit dicey to have a massive convention.
Re the fall election I’d call upon all States to offer mail in ballots as well as extended voting to reduce the crowds on election day itself. Accept the fact that results will likely be delayed by a week or so but so be it.
Corona Virus Response
Continue to highlight how you coped with the pandemics while you were in the WH. Continue to focus on how Trump blew it initially and is still not on top of the situation. Continue to call out his constant lies and misstatements. But, and this is key, continue to offer concrete suggestions as how to do it better, and praise Trump for all the hard work he is doing and that he is finally taking it seriously.
Reforming the Federal Budget
This is perhaps boring to voters but very important to the long term stability of the country.
I would call upon Congress to change how they do budgets and shift to a two year budgetary cycle. The first year of congress would be devoted to passing the two year budget, the second year would be devoted to oversight and supplemental budget requests.
Coupled that shifting to a calendar year budget. Eliminate the possibility of government shutdowns by enacting automatic CR’s if budgets are not passed on time. But also require budgets to be passed on time – December 1 in the prior year. If a budget is not passed on time, keep congress in town until the budget is passed. And if for some reason the budget is not passed, dinge congressional salaries until the budget is passed.
Second commission a study to look at our tax situation and make suggestions for common sense tax reform. Start by figuring out how much money the government spends in a given year, the reform the tax code to generate most of the revenue from taxes. Consider a national sales tax as well. Reserve borrowing for large scale infrastructure, and military spending. And consider a surcharge on income about 25 million per year.
I would also look at federal spending and ask that all departments identify lower priority projects with a required 5% reduction in federal spending per agencies except for health related and education related agencies which would be given a considerable bump up in spending. I would do this for three years so that in three years overall spending has been reduced by about 10 percent. Leave it up to the agencies to identify lower priority projects that should not be micromanaged by the White House.
For the defense department consider eliminating such things as golf courses, domestic PX and commissary stores and other non-essential spending.
Finally consider turning over some federal government functions to the states. For example the states could manage the national forests and perhaps the national park service.
The conservative idea of moving federal agencies out of Washington DC has considerable merit in my opinion.
The rest of my earlier suggestions follow with a few updates
I retired from the U.S. State Department in 2016 after 27 years of service. I grew up in Berkeley went to college at the University of the Pacific and graduated from the University of Washington (MA Korean Studies, MPA). I also served in the Peace Corps in Korea. I have been to 49 out of 50 states (minus Alaska) and 45 countries.
My advice, in a nutshell, is to make this a campaign about the future and your vision of the future. Paint your opponent Donald Trump as yesterday’s candidate, and mock him, calling on Grandpa Trump to retire to Florida and play golf. Depict him as senile, out of touch, corrupt and focused on returning America to the 19th Century. And call for progressive bold new ideas for the future of America. Be optimistic, be full of hope and good will. Freely steal from Bernie and Elizabeth’s proposals and adopt her detailed plans – after talking with her of course. Call for reform not revolution and stress competence vrs incompetence and chaos.
Avoid Hillary’s Mistakes
Hillary’s biggest mistake was in my view making it all about how bad Donald Trump is, and not giving the voters a real sense of where she wanted to take the country. and making it seemed that she thought she was entitled and it was her time. that is a big turnoff in politics.
She also took it for granted and did not compete everywhere. You have to out hustle Trump and go everywhere – hold virtual town halls everywhere until the Corona virus threat fades away.
You have to earn the trust of the voters and can’t be seen as thinking you are entitled to the presidency because you have done your dues so to speak. That is the kiss of electoral suicide – look at Mitch Romney and Hillary Clinton – both lost because they thought that it was there time and they were entitled to the presidency, the voters simply thought otherwise and showed them the door.
And in an age where the voters were ready for a big change to the status quo, being the establishment candidate was the kiss of death. Not to mention she refused to compete everywhere. And allowed Donald Trump to paint her as “crooked Hillary” and as too much part of the establishment which the public rightly destructed so much. She could have picked Bernie Sanders as her running mate, and perhaps defeated Donald Trump. In the end she won where it did not matter and did not compete where she should have competed.
So, in this upcoming election you have to tell the voters why you are so much better for them and the country than Donald Trump. It will not be enough to run against the Donald. People have to want to vote for you. Your experience counts for a lot but it is not enough. Your age is the same as Donald’s so that is a wash.
How to Beat Trump
trump
there is one thing you must do right now which is to own your son’s alleged conflict of interest.
Here’s how I would shut up the 24/7 Hunter Biden nonsense.
First man up and apologize for your son’s alleged conflict of interest. Say that he did nothing wrong but perhaps he should have avoided working overseas to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Pledge that your family will not have any role in your administration other than your wife’s first lady duties. Say that a real man apologizes for his mistakes and the mistakes of people around him. Contrast that with Con Man Don – your name for Donald Trump – inability to ever admit that he made a mistake because he is such a stable genius.
re the charge that you are senile demand that Donald Trump and you both get a full mental health assessment at the same time. That should shut him up.
talk constantly about Donald Trump being the most corrupt president in US history and that he is guilty or gross nepotism.
Finally ignore his tweets. When he tweets something obnoxious dismiss it with the phrase ”
There he Goes Again”.
then talk about your bold yet pragmatic agenda over and over again.
GO BOLD OR BE RETIRED
The times cries out for bold progressive challenges and for fresh thinking. You have two strikes against you. First, your age and your experience. Can’t do anything about either but you can run as a can do moderate progressive who knows how to get things done. Then resist the temptation to campaign against Donald.
Make people want to vote for you as they share your vision of the possible future. and stop talking about Obama and the status quo – people don’t want to go back to the status quo that frankly was not working for many people. You can’t be the establishment’s candidate and win.
Here are my suggested policy proposals.
GO BOLD OR GO HOME!!!!
I would put forth a series of comprehensive bold future-oriented policies and reiterate them every chance you get. You could call them Joe’s Plan for the Future of America, or Joe’s Contract with the American People, something along those lines. Maybe
“Let’s Boldly Go into the Future,” and rename your campaign as “Joe for the American People” use one of your great assets your reputation for being an every day Joe. Your name is great for this messaging.
But be big, bold, brassy, optimistic and challenge your opponents to produce a better plan or shut up and work with you to solve the nation’s problems.
Call for Free College Education Coupled with National Service Requirements.
It is time to change the game plan in Washington DC. You need a new bold proposal that will unite the country and heel the divisions. My proposal is for you to embrace mandatory national service for three years. Everyone finishing their service would receive full funding for college, technical training or a grant to set up their own business because after all not everyone needs to go to college, we need to encourage technical training and starting up small business as well.
the key is that the service would be universal and all citizens and LPR’s between age 18 and 25 would serve three years – no exceptions. Most would be military, but people could serve as fine fathers. adjust police officers, adjust border patrol officers, adjust teachers, peace corps volunteers or serve in state/local and federal government positions.
Call for all Americans to serve three years in public service either in the military or in the government or NGO sector and in return, they will get four years of college paid for. For recent graduates , they can serve and get their college debt forgiven. To those who say we can’t afford this, say we can’t afford to continue to put our college students in crippling debt they cannot afford. And everyone, especially the rich, should shoulder the burden of national service. and point out that shifting to a mandatory national service requirement would save the Pentagon money on salaries. the cost would be modest – minimum wage, housing, medical care and college tuition after their service. People would serve between age 18 and 25 one year of training and two years of service, with an optional second enlistment for three more years of educational benefits through PHD/professional degrees. Starting at age 18 until age 25 people will be randomly selected to begin service. those who are 25 will have until they turn 26 to report for service. They would have one year to report for service.
Free College/technical training or money to open a business in exchange for national service
Most people will start college, or tech training institute, then do military or other service, and then return to college to finish their college. That is fine. Ensure that colleges will not only accommodate that but will also offer college credits for military and other on the job training acquired during national service. This would also cut the cost of college attendance for most people to a manageable three years instead of four to five years. And of course, ensure that people can go to technical training institutes instead of a traditional college as we really need to grow the next generation of technical workers as well. and also ensure that those who wish financial assistance in setting up a small business would receive that assistance as well as we need to encourage the small business start ups as well.
All Must Serve
And most importantly, shared national service will help restore America’s sense that this is our land, this land belongs to everyone. The rich and the poor alike. We are all in this together. We have lost sight of that. The military has become an army of paid mercenaries recruited from the lower classes. If everyone serves, there will be less temptation to send troops into harms way. This will be a win- win for everyone except for the student loan vultures. everyone who is a citizen or permanent resident must serve, foreigners on student visas or other short term visas could serve and receive a green card for their service.
Establish New Service Academies for the Diplomatic, Intelligence Services/ Space Force/NASA, and law Enforcement
I would also call for four new national service academies to be set up. One would be for diplomatic and intelligence service, the other would be for law enforcement, the third would be for the Space Force/and NASA, the last would be more technical scientific agencies of the Federal government focusing on science and technology issues. These academies like the military academies including a coast guard academy, and beefing up the maritime service academy, would take only those who finished their military basis service. this would be a great way to restore our diplomatic corps and intelligence services as well as our law enforcement person.
National Service Will Bring US together as one nation
I believe that this proposal could be enacted with wide spread bipartisan support. It would go a long way to help heal the divisions of our country and bring us all together as a nation. I hope you will fully embrace this proposal and I look forward to discussion it with yours staff.
Call for The Green New Deal
Point out time and time again China, Germany, and other countries are building the green energy resources of the future while the U.S. which invented green energy is moving back to the 19th century.
When critics say we can’t afford this, tell them we can’t afford to ruin the world for our children’s future. We can’t afford to continue burning fossil fuels. Climate change is real and the U.S. must lead the way forward. That is what great nations do, lead the world in embracing change, in embracing the promise of the future. We can do no less.
Call to Fix Obama Care
Point out time and time again that we still have a broken down too expensive too burdensome a health care system. Point out time and time again that we have the most expensive system in the world yet we are about 25th in terms of health care outcomes. No one in this land should fear going bankrupt if they need to get medical care. We can do this right and we must do it right.
I would acknowledge that Obama Care is not prefect and that if you had a chance to re-do it you would make it much less bureaucratic and less burdensome. But be proud of what you and Obama accomplished. Promise to fix it and make it work.
One potential fix would be to open the Federal Health Care system to anyone who needs insurance and continue to provide subsidies to keep the premiums down.
Another option would be an expansion of Medicare so it covers about half the country.
When Republicans proclaim that they will repeal Obamacare and replace it with something, call them on their bullshit. Demand to know the plan now or tell them to shut up and work with you to fix Obamacare.
and tie this into the pandemic and how if we had universal health care and paid sick leave people would not feel that they had to work even when sick
and contrast Trump’s inept handling of the pandemic with your handling of HINI and Ebola and how you would restore the American economy after the second great depression recedes after the pandemic fades away
call for a slight reduction of military spending and national security spending to beef up health care spending and universal education access.
Call to repair our alliances
Declare that our allies are our allies and our friends and we will work with them to solve the world’s problems and restore American leadership. We will rejoin the Paris Climate Change and work to make sure it works. We will rejoin the Trans Pacific Partnership. and we will figure out how to work with China and even Russia to solve problems of mutual interest such as climate change. Vow to restore partnership with Mexico and Canada and Latin America as well as India and Southeast Asia. and restore ties with Europe as well. Rebuild the UN and international organizations. and join the international criminal court. Finally close Gitmo as an affront to the American system of justice and human rights. Re Israel vow to work with Palestinians and Israelis alike to restart the peace process.
Offer a New Deal to North Korea
We will continue to negotiate with the North Koreans, offering them a way towards reunification with South Korea and rejoining the world economic community. You can damn the President here with faint praise. Say that it was good that he took the initiative to break the log jam and talk to the North but due to his inexperience and his naivety he was unable to make a deal. You can finish the job.
Offer to Talk with The Iranians
Tell the Iranians we are ready to talk with them and want a new deal that would benefit them and the U.S. along the lines of what we are offering the North Koreans.
Bring the Troops Home
I would call for most U.S. troops to return to the U.S., where they will be reposted along our borders and serve as adjunct border patrol agents and first responders as part of their mandatory new national service.
Rebuild America
I would gradually reduce military spending and devote resources to rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. This must include high-speed trains, and must include perhaps hyperloop technology or Maglev trains? And the next generation of airplanes as well. We must rebuild our mass transit systems. We must embrace the development of driverless vehicles. and as mention we must beef up health care spending and assuring universal access to higher education. These must be the new national priorities. I would throw the republicans a bone offer to look at modest reductions in other government spending for example decreasing spending on NPR but not eliminating it, and a slight decrease in foreign assistance, and UN contributions etc and other government programs could be trimmed down a bit to pay for higher priorities.
Challenge the Republicans on their “you are weakening national security” BS. When the Republican scream you are weakening national security call them out on their BS.
Ask them how repositioning troops to help deal with national security issues at home weakens national security? How does going to universal military service weaken national security? How does getting out of endless wars weaken national security? How does closing a few bases in Europe weaken national security? Or closing a golf course? Or a commissary? Point out that we already spend more on national security than any other nation on earth. How does rebuilding America’s failed infrastructure weaken national security? How does providing medical care or universal higher education which benefits the entire nation hamper national security? Challenge them to produce a better plan.
Call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Start by acknowledging we need to improve security at the border but the wall is a waste of time and money that will not solve the problem. We need a comprehensive 21st century immigration policy that balances the need for continued immigration with the need to ensure that immigrants contribute to our country and enrich our country as they always have and always will. Again throw the republicans a bone offer to ensure that E Verify is widely used by all employers and punish employers who hire illegals. I would also consider getting rid of the diversity visa program and the sibling immigration category but grand father people in that category giving them two years to complete the immigration process with no new applicants being accepted. I would also push English language skills for immigrants as one of the new requirements – they must be able to handle the immigrant visa interview in English. That is something I agree with Trump on.
Challenge the Republicans to come up a better plan and work with you to implement it.
Call for A Return to Space Including Lunar Colonies and Martian Colonies
It is time for the U.S. to lead the world again in space exploration. Offer to lead the way in building lunar and Martian colonies with the participation of the world’s other space powers.
Call for The Legalization of Marijuana, Emptying the Prisons of Marijuana Offenders
End the endless war on drugs. Repeal marijuana prohibition. Empty the prisons of marijuana offenders. End the private prison for profit system. End the prison pipeline that sweeps up brown and black youths and sucks them into prison for life. Reserve prisons for the most dangerous offenders, all other prisoners should be sentenced to community service, drug treatment or other non-prison sentences. Use the money saved by closing prisons for rebuilding infrastructure.
Gun Control
I like your gun control proposals. It is a step forward. Continue to push for universal background checks.
Fully Support LGBT rights
Fully Support the religious freedom of all Americans including non-believers
Call for a Return to traditional American civil norms that Trump has so badly damaged
For VP Pick a Hispanic woman preferably a governor.
But Kamala Harris or Amy K would be okay. Kamala has one thing going for her in my opinion she went to my elementary school Thousand Oaks but 8 years after I went there
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar speaks during a meet and greet with local residents, Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
I think that you get my point by now. Be bold, inventive, optimistic, full of hope and energy and you will prevail.
dh
Make people share your bold vision.
Be cautious, small-minded, narrowly focused, and all about how bad the Donald is, you will lose.
donald trump
trump clown in chief
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covid 19 spread
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