I continue to be stunned and disappointed by the hypocrisy displayed by people who claim to have a religious ideology. They congregate to worship according to their religion, at least once a week. At the end of the service and when the doors fly open, they jump on their Faith Mobile and hit the Spiritual Cruise Control switch for the next week.

I write this with the understanding that the Golden Rule is the main premise of all legitimate religions. In Christian based faiths it is: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Matthew 7:12-14

If people turned off the Cruise Control of their Faith Mobile and actually took control of their paths by living their faith, THAT would mean they got the message.

I recently was caught off guard by a friend’s comments regarding immigrants. This is someone who always seems to be helping someone she knows and volunteering in the community. She had just discovered that the majority of people at the charity store and the food bank, were immigrants. She told me that she was probably going to stop donating items if that’s how they were going to be used.

I had two comments. One, who do you think needs them more? Two, how would you want to be treated if you were from another country, and you have nothing to start with? If she truly wasn’t cruising her faith past this issue, her views and treatment of immigrants would be different.

Trump and his Base, call themselves Christians. Trump is Presbyterian. If they considered that what they professed on Sunday was not a lie to God, then they would want their families turned away when the only hope was denied.  They would want to be blamed for any natural disasters that devastated them. They would want their children and grandchildren separated from them, possibly never to be returned. There are SO many examples. That old “do unto others…” core of their religions obviously didn’t get through to them.

Putin by the way is Greek Orthodox and they follow the same version that other Christian churches do. He not only has his Spiritual Cruise Control on, but it’s set at neck breaking speeds destroying anyone in his way.

This brings to mind the Prince of Saudi Arabia, or MBS, who practices Sunni Islam. The Golden Rule (GR) in Islam is: “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” Number 13 of Imam “Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths.” 

Now you can’t tell me that the Prince for a minute follows Number 13.

Xi Jinping of China is a believer in Chinese Buddhism, which is a combination of Buddhism and Taoism.  This means he gets two versions of the same rule. The GR in Buddhism is: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Udana-Varga 5:18 and in Taoism it is: “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”

Even with a double dosage of the same message, he isn’t a devout follower of his faith. Surprise.

I have researched and found a version of the Golden Rule in over 50 Religions. Zoroastrianism, which is the earliest recorded religion, had the rule: “Do not unto others whatever is injurious to yourself.”  Cleopatra, King Tut and the other Ancient Egyptians followed the rule: “Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do.” The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, 109 – 110. On the other side of the Mediterranean the Roman Pagans professed: “The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love the members of society as themselves.”

Across the Atlantic Ocean the Incas believed: “Do not to another what you would not yourself experience.” Manco Capoc, founder of the empire of Peru while farther North the Native Americans followed the words of Black Elk: “All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One.”

I could list all the examples, but you get the idea. Same message…just different words. There are different ceremonies and rituals for religions and some even have multiple Gods. Membership requirements may vary, but the common thread through all is the Golden Rule.

If everyone would turn off the Cruise Control and simply practice the one rule that all religions agree on, then the world would be a much better place…and it’s the easiest rule to follow. It all begins with recognizing that we are equal in spirit, and our responsibility is to be nice…simply put.

One exception to the Rule, if you are a masochist the Rule does not apply.

Sometimes, when I watch Sarah Huckabee Sanders tolerating WH press briefings, visions of Mary Reilly come to mind. She was the maid that fell in love with both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As with his Base, Sarah sees Dr. Jekyll when watching Donald in front of a prompter, but they also get to witness him transform into Mr. Hyde at rallies.

Other times, Squeaky Fromme comes to mind. I think we can all agree that Charles Manson was a dangerous crazy man. Yet. Miss Fromme committed her life to him and supported whatever insanity Manson spouted and atrocities he committed, no matter the cost to herself. Sarah has a dangerous crazy man of her own, and she’s doing the same thing. Only difference, Squeaky had love beads, Sarah has pearls.

I would survive less than a minute as a member of the WH Press Corps. Today, when asked why the President showed little compassion regarding the victims of the Pittsburgh, she retorted that he did say it was bad, and people shouldn’t kill each other. That’s as close to a heartfelt thought as Trump can achieve, and I’m sure someone prompted him with appropriate words.

She immediately went on a tirade defending Trump’s accusations that the Press is the enemy of the people and is responsible for the killings and bomb threats occurring in our country. She then said something that twisted every sense of logic I have. Her statement that 90% of what the Press says about the President is negative, made my brain scream!

I would be standing in the press room shouting, “That’s because 90% of what Donald Trump does, IS negative!!!

If the press releases throughout History were edited by Sarah and Trump’s team, we may see headlines such as:

April 15, 1912 Mother Nature 1 – Titanic 0. Iceberg takes out luxury liner, proving once again, global warming isn’t happening fast enough, or at all.

February 14, 1929 No Love Shown at Valentine’s Day Party. Only shots were served to the North Side Gang by their hosts Capone’s boys at a private party held at a local Chicago warehouse.

January 27, 1945 Surprising Discoveries Found in Auschwitz. Unemployment in camp is non-existent as are sick and vacation days. Obesity does not exist, but free cremations services do.

August 6, 1945 New Construction Looks Promising in Near Future for Japan. The dropping of Big Boy means big business for construction companies. The money saved in demolition will be used to purchase Geiger counters for employees. (Migrant workers welcome).

November 22, 1963 Need for Armed Guards in Dallas. The assassination of President Kennedy earlier today in Dealey Plaza, highlighted again, the need for armed guards at School Book Depositories across the city.

September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Buildings Brought Down. Now that the two tallest buildings in New York are gone, Donald Trump can boast that his building at 40 Wall Street is the tallest.

Wait…he really did say that, just hours after the 911 attacks.

There’s a perspective for everything. Anyone using words are, in some way, sharing their viewpoints while trying to sway yours. When Donald actually does and says more good than he does negative, the stories will be more good than bad.

So, until that happens, Sarah, remember the old expression, “You can’t make a silk purse from a pig’s ear.” He’s going to need to earn the positive press…and he can’t….and he won’t!!! That is unless, he releases his tax forms. The headline for that will simply be, “OMG!!”

As I type this, it is being reported that there have been suspicious devices sent to the Clintons, the Obamas, Deb Wasserman -Schultz and Eric Holder. All Democrats of notoriety.

I do believe this is just a coincidence… (I’m kidding). Ironically, today is National Unity Day.

The first packages were delivered but stopped by Secret Service members. After news of their arrivals hit the airwaves, the Postal Service was on the lookout for more. That’s how they discovered Schultz’s and Holder’s parcel. I expect that there will be more.

We will now be inundated with reports that will sound just like they are from “CSI”. The explosives were “live” and there is white powder in the packages. As the search for the culprit(s) progresses, we will hear about fingerprints, hair, saliva, DNA and forensics. Heck, there may be a test that can identify you by the breath you left in the package. I look forward to the science lessons. (Hopefully, this time, the glove will fit).

Mike Pence has already gone before the cameras, to call this a despicable act. Expect to see more of him in the coming weeks.

SPECIAL ALERT: John Brennan was also sent a package via CNN. There will be more.

The appearance of Pence, so quickly after the event, indicates that they wanted the first WH voice we heard, to be a voice of reason.

I am wondering, quite apprehensively, how Trump will respond to this.

SPECIAL ALERT: At least one package was discovered at the Congressional Postal center. There will be more.

After two years of watching Donald pull explanations out of his arse, I will not be surprised by anything he says.

His first reaction will probably be acknowledgement that although he understands the motives, none of the bombs went off, and he hates losers.

Or, maybe some of the caravan (while concealing ISIS members) slipped through the borders and spent the last of their coinage to buy stamps…the bombs were made with money furnished by the Democrats. The motive would be to make people think it was him and his Base. I await the words, “It couldn’t have been us…We would have blown them up.” to come out of his mouth.

SPECIAL ALERT: Maxine Waters was sent a package. There will be more.

It could have been China, but could not be Russia, North Korea nor the Crown Prince MBS. Canada, though, is not out of the question.

Now would be a good time to cast the light of suspicion on transgendered people, since they’re in the news. He could claim that they planted the bombs as one gender, and then transformed into the other as a cover. That would make sense…to him.

The act could have been done by Colin Kaepernick proving he was as un-American, and dangerous to our country as Trump has touted. I believe that Donald would have liked Colin, if he’d knelt for him.

No matter what he says, it will never be an acknowledgement that the Pandora’s box of anger that he’s opened, is the cause. But we know the truth.

He has exposed the raw nerve of hatred and people are trying to numb the pain. Instead soothing the sting, he’ll probably pour salt on it.

It will be interesting to see how he speaks about this at his next rally. If he runs out of suspects, there’s always that 400 lb. man sitting on a bed somewhere.

There will be more.

The definition of Dumbed Down is, “The act or process of making something less intellectually demanding. To lower the level of difficulty and intellectual content, in order to make it more popular.”

I admit, I used this process with my kids when explaining why they had to take the Amoxicillin the doctor had just prescribed for them. When I realized that they bought the story about tiny Ninja warriors that were camouflaged in the pink sweet liquid, assigned to fight the tiny scoundrels from Bactirium, I actually recreated the battles for them. I went on to explain that the prescribed laxative was necessary to clean up the battlefield carnage. Harmless approach, with successful results.

Not so harmless, there is a daily dumbing down of America occurring, and it’s being led by a man that needs it the most. For example, a journalist that writes honest and controversial stories is lured into a Saudi embassy in Istanbul. We see him walk in, and he is never seen again. Turkish authorities tell us that he was tortured (fingers cut off) and beheaded…and, they have proof.

Afraid that we will become angry and demand anti-Saudi sanctions and penalties, the President is dumbing it down for us, “He might be dead.” Thanks, Don…we got that! Pompeo has assured us that the Saudi government will get rid of the bad guy(s), if there are any. Phew, problem solved…let’s move on.

Back in 2016, when Trump said that maybe it was Russia who broke into the DNC, but it could have been China or a 400 lb. man, he was dumbing it down. What he was actually  saying…stop looking at Russia.

In response to an accusation that he paid no taxes, he just replied that that “made him smart”. Probably to his Base, but to the rest of us, it made him a criminal.

As his cronies started getting “pulled over” by the courts, we believed Trump when he said that Michael Cohen is just a PR person who did small legal work, sort of like a coffee boy. Of course, we also believed him when he introduced Cohen in a rally in 2016 as his personal lawyer and wistfully said, “I haven’t seen Michael in a month. It’s good to see you, Michael. I miss you, man.” Trump must REALLY like his coffee. Duh!

These days, among other issues, he’s dumbing down the caravan of immigrants from Central America. An intelligent view would be that there are atrocities happening in these countries that people are seeking safe haven from. But, as Trump explains it, it’s a conspiracy by Democrats that paid the immigrants to come to America for political reasons. In his words, “It’s going to be an election of the caravan”. No matter how down in the dumb I try to get, this is ludicrous.

His Base has been described as white rural, non-college educated men over the age of 50. Added to this, he has the support of white evangelicals who cite Bible verses that have been cherry picked to support their views. My image of them is a bunch of Archie Bunkers running about spouting support for a man who has told them exactly what they want to hear…but he dumbs it down for them, so they see it exactly how he wants them to. I wish he was capable of dumbing down the Golden Rule for them to understand…but someone will first need to dumb it down for him.

I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the upcoming midterm elections. The candidates for State Representative of Minnesota have vetted each other and have informed me about my options.

If I believe them and all their ads, I’ve got a choice between a man who wants to dismantle the health care system, give tax cuts to the rich, allow people on the Terrorist Watch list to purchase guns, and along with Trump, fill our 10,000 lakes with polluted swamp water. He is also inaccessible, and he lies

My other choice is an arrogant rich kid who has a past filled with tax fraud, turned a blind eye to sexual abuse, has a liquor legacy, denied insurance benefits to his employees and he lies.

In another Representative race I can vote for a woman who has a long history of lawsuits and corporate corruption, while amassing millions in ill-gotten gains. Not only that, she discriminated against blacks and bribed foreign officials. Plus, she lies.

Her opponent believes that African Americans have an entitled mentality, and they are waging a racial war by blacks on whites. His comments regarding women ranges from saying that women are driven by emotion and not reason, while lamenting about not being allowed to call women sluts. Oh, and he lies.

It appears that the bar has really been lowered regarding our requirements for public officials. And because they’re all liars, we don’t know what to believe anymore.

My solution, there should be an “Angie’s List” for Politicians. Instead of relying on candidates to be character references for each other, we’ll have them all listed in one place with their credentials. We could crowd source the candidates and get reviews from people they’ve dealt with. They would be rated by the same criteria that Angie uses for companies. They are price, quality, responsiveness, punctuality and professionalism.

Price – What’s it going to cost us if they’re elected?

Quality – What is their character really like? (Anonymous reviews are not accepted.)

Responsiveness – Do they listen to the requests and concerns of the people they represent, and act upon them effectively?

Punctuality – Have they been there for you, when they said they would be?

Professionalism – Do they present themselves and their opinions in a manner that convinces you they know what they are talking about?

If we had an option like Angie’s List available, it would eliminate the need for all of the political commercials. That would make more room for pre-Christmas Sale advertisements. Our focus can be on our daily lives and challenges, confident that we know the people making important decisions that affect us.

Unfortunately, there is no Angie’s List for politicians, so the character bashing will be front and center for the next 20+ days.  In the meantime,  there is a Deb’s  “*list” for politicians available…just ask me.

I think it is time we sit down and really look at some of the people controlling our lives. There are probably facts that could help us understand their motives and reasons for the decisions they make for us.

Take Mitch McConnell, for example, whose net worth in 2015 was $26,927,535.00. I am pretty sure he can handle the deductibles on his health insurance policy, which by the way, we are paying for.

Apparently, that wasn’t the case in the ‘40s when he was struck with polio at the age of 2. He overcame the potentially disabling disease by receiving treatment at the Warm Springs Institute in Georgia, which FDR created to treat his own battle with polio. In 1990, Mitch said that his family “almost went broke” because of costs related to his illness. It seems that Mitch either has a bad memory, or he believes that “what’s good for the goose, is good for the gander”. In this case, he’s the goose and we’re the gander.

When Mitch was medically discharged from the Army Reserve in 1967 for optic neuritis, he not only missed a vacation in Viet Nam, but he now had a pre-existing condition. Funny how 27 mill can changed your perspective. I’d like to add that Mitch is a Southern Baptist, and he’s received $1,2662,000.00 from the NRA.

Lindsey Graham is a poor boy like the rest of us. His net worth in 2015 was only $489,009.00. This might be one reason for his goal of replacing Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, whose salary is over $200,000. Not a bad income for a single guy.

When Lindsay was 21 his parents died within 15 months of each other, leaving him responsible for his 13-year-old sister, which he adopted. I wonder if he even thought about her once during the Kavanaugh hearings. Lindsey is also a Southern Baptist.

Chuck Grassley, net worth in 2015 was $3,336,536.00, and his talent for reconfiguring processes to fit his needs has brought a new meaning to the term pretzel logic. In early 2017 he sponsored legislation that expanded gun access to mentally disabled individuals because the previous ban “mistreats disabled Americans”.  A year later, on February 15, 2018, a day after the Douglas HS shootings in Florida, he claimed that the government had not done enough to prevent individuals with mental illnesses from obtaining firearms. Yikes, Chuck…which is it?? Mr. Grassley is also a Southern Baptist who has received $232,337.00 from the NRA.

Now, let’s cruise on over to Ted. Every time I look at Sen. Cruz, I see the mask from Cyrano de Bergerac. I think the image is appropriate considering that after Trump insulted Lyin’ Ted regarding his “Kennedy assassinating father” and spilling the beans on his wife, Cruz now supports him from his behind his mask. When he removed it during the 2016 campaign, he called Trump a pathological and utterly immoral liar.

Maybe Cruz softened after Trump fulfilled one of his requests, that “Trump nominate young justices in the mold of Clarence Thomas”. He got his wish…but now he Beto watch out. Ted Cruz was worth $3,796,017.00 in 2015. He’s only received $77, 450.00 from the NRA…but he is a Southern Baptist.

At this point, I’m going to stop. There is a history for every member of Congress available if you google enough. Learn about the people that control your future and that of America. Know who you’re talking to when voicing your concerns…and definitely voice your concerns…LOUDLY.

One thing for sure, I’m going to find out what the Southern Baptist Church is teaching these people!! Whatever ever it is, it obviously affects the memory.

Another religious fact… Kavanaugh is Catholic, as are Collins, Manchin and Murkowski. Wonder how each of them are dealing with the guilt.

I just realized how my TV viewing has changed since the Circus moved to Washington. Gone are the talk shows and the game shows. Gone are the soap operas that I “followed”. Don’t know if Dr. Phil has gotten to the “You’re my baby’s daddy!” stage yet. They’ve all been replaced.

The primary channels that are now on the screen in my house are CNN & MSNBC. I do watch some of my favorites on other stations, but these two are my “go to” channels.

Today, after the Kavanaugh pre-vote, I decided that maybe it is time to return to my old friends. The beauty of watching a soap opera is that you can always catch up after the first 10 minutes. Then I had Eureka moment…we ARE watching the same type of shows, only there’s no scripts!! The director may be spinning his magic from his home at Cape Idokopas. The actors are all reality stars, some of them we selected.

If I can believe that Victor Newman has been married seven times and then calls his wife a slut, when he has slept with every other female character on the show that’s over the age of 19 and under the age of 75, then I can believe what I hear about the man in the White House. And, better than any game show winnings, a girl can make $130,000 by not sleeping with Trump.

Watching the efforts of the NRA and far Right donors have replaced The Price Is Right and Let’s Make a Deal. And Jock Ewing couldn’t have been prouder of his boys than Donny is of his.

I could go on with analogies, but you get the idea.

Just to humor myself, and possibly you, I’m going to close with a story of my impression of the state of affairs in America using soap opera and game show titles.

As the World Turns we are watching it destroyed by people that must believe there is Another World. The people in control act like they’re The Bold and the Beautiful, but it’s Truth or Consequences as we learn about taxes and schemes that are hidden in Dark Shadows.

It was good to see that Ryan’s Hope for repeal and replace was dashed, although the health care people believe that in General (,) Hospital staffs have not been compensated enough. And in the People’s Court, while Big Brother was watching, the FBI  did a very weak Match Game with facts and fiction in their attempts to get Kavanaugh to Tell the Truth. They wouldn’t even interview individuals that told them “I’ve Got a Secret“.  This has caused a real Family Feud in the Halls of Congress, and Brett appears to be a Survivor in his effort to Beat the Clock.

I understand that we all have One Life to Live, and I am watching geriatric politicians creating a Secret Storm in most of The Days of Our Lives. Some evenings, after a day of watching insanity, I pray that the other Edge of Night, the morning, will bring a renewed Love of Life.

We must hold on to our Passions and, as I Search for Tomorrow I believe that this corrupt Dynasty will be brought down. Someone will step forward and be the Guiding Light for All my Children, and generations to come.

…so are the days of our lives.

We are presently living in a country that seems more like Freedonia from Duck Soup (1933) than the Pride of the Americas. Although I found a way to include the Marx Brothers in this post, it may be the only humor I can muster.

Right now, my heart is pulsing, and a sense of desperation is creeping into my senses. The world has become surreal and completely and predictably unpredictable.

This is how we felt in Minnesota in 1998 when Jesse Ventura was elected Governor, stunned and blindsided. The local newscasters all looked like that kid from ET touching fingertips with an alien.

But, we had confidence that our “system” and Legislature would hold him in check. And they did their job, they kept him in a headlock with a release every now and then. I personally think he made our State better with many of his decisions. The ones that I didn’t agree with, our Legislature didn’t either.

Today we’re in a bizarre world regarding the national political scene. As I laughed, with what I thought was everybody, before the 2016 election, there was always the thought in the back of my head, I’ve seen this scenario before. Well Gang, “Fool me twice……”

A man who can’t put a lid on his ID has been elected President, and no one, let me repeat that, NO ONE is holding him in check. He has broken all the rules and caused legislative damage. What is concerning is that we’ve become desensitized to it. There’s no way in one post I can list all of his transgressions, both personally and politically, but it’s massive. It’s become a case of, “Ok, now what??!”

Right now, I am addressing the people that act as the GOP voices in Washington DC. Whatever alternative world, with alternative facts they live in, I want out.

Congress has become a big playground and the GOP kids aren’t playing fair. They rewrite the rules as the game goes on. And because there’s more of them than there is of us, we must play along. In the case of Kavanaugh, they want to get one of their own in the position of Playground Attendant.

They can now change rules that we believe in, destroy the playground, abuse our players, decide which kids can play, and make a mockery of logic and compassion when competing. The only person we can complain to, agrees with them.

I’m using a juvenile analogy because these players are acting childish. It is right in front of our faces what they are doing with the shoddy and limited façade called an FBI investigation.

Very seriously, the real damage is that I, for the first time, am doubting my trust in the FBI. How can they be a GOP puppet? But that’s what it looks like and that is scary. Trump has successfully made his enemy, our enemy.

The truth is, I won’t be burned again. I am preparing myself for Kavanaugh’s confirmation and how I will preserve my convictions and stand by them. I will continually remind myself…Right is still Right even if nobody is doing it, and Wrong is still Wrong even if everybody is doing it.

One more thought regarding this FBI sexual assault investigation… Hoover is probably turning over in his grave and the irony is, he might be wearing a dress.

In the wake of the Kavanaugh hearings, there are many bubbles, regarding many issues, rising to the surface.

The fact is, the Good Old (boys) Party, or GOP, and their gameplay with the rules have been exposed, and they were almost comical to watch. They seemed to feel as entitled as the man they were interviewing during the Judicial Committee hearings. As Graham and his cronies on the right side spewed their wisdom, I could hear the theme song to “Dukes of Hazzard” in my head. And then there was Ted on Cruz control.

Senator Grassley reminded me of someone whose children are trying to decide if it’s time to “take the keys away from Dad”. And the way he reconfigured the process was harder to follow than the games my 4 year old  Granddaughter makes up.

But I want to talk about the accusations directed at Brett Kavanaugh. The “Me Too” movement could not have happened at a worse time for him and many other men.

When I think back to the world when I was young, things were not that different than the world he described in his testimony. There were High School and College parties all the time. The kids that drank went to most, if not all of them…and everybody knew who they were. They were the ones that didn’t know when to stop.

In my opinion, Brett was the guy that was at every party and was falling down drunk or passed out at the end of the night. He also reminds me of a guy who was insecure of his manhood. That 5’6” guy living in a 6’ world that would come out when the “spirits” moved him.

So, do I believe he tried to force himself on Christine Ford? Absolutely, without a doubt. This has been a “right of passage” for young men forever. When I hear the term “pull a train”, I remember that it determined reputations. From that experience a person could emerge as a MAN, an observer, or a victim. The MAN told everybody, the observers told everybody, and the victim was silent and was now considered easy.

I was never present when one of these trains passed by, but while watching Dr. Ford recount her experience, something occurred to me. She wasn’t raped, but it rewrote her life…now, more than ever.

When I was in High School, many weekend nights were spent at the drive-in movie during the summer. People rarely watched the movie in its entirety. They were moving from car to car and visiting, watching part of the movie or making out.

One night (can’t remember the year) I was at the drive-in. Couldn’t tell you who I went with or even what the movie was. What I DO remember is that a guy from Fulda, whose name I remember but won’t write, was there in a car with two of his friends. He was a couple of years older, really cute and I had a crush on him.

When he asked me to sit in the car with him, I was thrilled. It didn’t take long before he was all over me trying to make out. I can remember the color of the interior (burgundy) and the smell (cigarettes, beer and English Leather cologne) the heads of the two guys in the front seat and their eyes in the rearview mirror. Most of all I remember thinking that I was with a sexual octopus and I needed to get away.

Right at that moment, a friend of my older brother was knocking on the car window. He told me to get out of the car, which I did as fast as I could. I remember thinking that I was glad he came before the windows were completely steamed up. From there, I couldn’t tell you what I did after that, or even how I got home. Just for the record, I hadn’t been drinking.

The point I’m trying to make is that when something like this happens, you do have sharp images of reality tattooed in your brain,  while others are blurry or gone. And when Trump makes a joke of this, it show how ignorant he is. He can’t remember what he said the day before!

I wrote in an earlier blog post, that I didn’t have a “Me Too” story…but I guess I do. And, I am willing to wager that as women recall encounters in their lives, they will be saying, “By golly, ME too!”.  It just always seemed that we were not to be surprised by this “rite of passage” and if you weren’t actually raped, it should be expected behavior.  The responsibility of how far the “passage” went, fell on the shoulders of the female.

Well, times have changed. The horizon of accountability is getting broader. When the good old boys wouldn’t even ask their own questions, I wondered how many were realizing that the “Me Too” movement would be staring them in the eyes, and could soon say to them…and YOU Too.

Alright, I confess, I’ve used the “N” word…more than once.

I remember where I was, and who I was with. It was 1975, I was in my apartment in South Minneapolis along with a group of friends who had just seen “Blazing Saddles”. We were imbibing and recalling the many hilarious scenes and lines we had just witnessed. It did not change the respect I have for another group…not even the Methodists.

I also believe I’m in the first generation in which Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo caught a Tiger.

Is anyone actually surprised that Donald Trump has used the “N” word? This topic should not be consuming the time and attention it is getting. He’s a bigot, it’s a part of their daily vernacular. Get over it and stop acting so shocked.

Instead of focusing on the errors of his past (leave that to Mueller) we should be vigilant at watching his present.

The repercussions of his Tariffs alone will be deeply felt, across so many industries. It is projected that the result will be that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and wages will both decrease by 6% and will lower employment by the equivalent of 43,293 fewer full time jobs. Now there’s a step in the wrong direction…and he’s just getting started.

He’s cut emissions regulations, as well as those for food/drugs and National Parks…to name only a few of the hundreds of regulations and deregulations that he’s imposed. Don’t even get me started on the bank deregulations that have changed in favor of that 1% we’ve all heard of! This was happening while we were all concerned about his past sex life.

His behavior increasingly fits the definition of a dictator.

Dictators foster Cults of Personality, a form of hero worship in which the masses are fed propaganda declaring their leader to be flawless. Can you say, “The Base”?

Freedom of speech and the Free Press are the archrivals to a Dictator. Hmmm, didn’t Trump just bash Omarosa and revoke Brennan’s WH security clearance? All this while telling the members of his cult, the News Media is the enemy and the purveyors of false news. What is astounding is that we’ve come to just expect this from him. He hasn’t, nor will he change. He’s changed us…and I personally do not like the change.

Just today it has been reported that he wants to privatize the army for the Afghanistan war. Yep, turning everything into a money-making business.  War to me is death and devastation, not dollars and cents.

Let’s quit focusing on any little “National Enquirer” stories surrounding Trump and stop the aspiring Dictator. The title Vlad Jr might look good to him, but it’s time for us to say to Donny…hit the trail.