FAFO, A Government Carol

FAFO
Sung to the tune of, 'Jingle Bells,'

14/3, 14/3, FA and we'll see;
oh what fun it is to watch;
the Republican, crime family!

Repeat as often as needed...

Addendum:
45/47 incited an insurrection;
Congressional Republicans didn't impeach and convict;
aiding and abetting insurrection;  
SCOTUS blocked CO and ME from controlling access to their 2024 Ballots;
also, aiding and abetting insurrection.

The second coming of the orange megalomaniac, if congress had done it’s job, could never have happened!

Take the reins: AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, David Hogg, etc...
I'd adopt y'all if I could!

My favorite authors: Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Alfred E. Neuman... 

Sending Insurrectionists on Their Way

There has never been a crowd more deserving of the consequences of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

Violating the trust, that taking an oath of office has bestowed, means that a public servant has decided to put personal interest above government service.

Insurrection is the highest level of violation that an oath-bound, public official can accomplish. One doesn't get arrested and prosecuted, but it does get a person removed from office and banned from ever holding public office again; a body may violate that trust so severely only once.

Trump, and other sycophants attempting to remain subservient to the orange turd, not only committed said extreme violation of public trust, they have demonstrated a willingness to repeatedly violate said trust.

Time for 45/47, and his ilk, to be given the opportunity to seek employment elsewhere.

See also: https://stephenwyman.substack.com/p/restoring-democracy 

Waiting for Unicorns...

WAKE UP!!!  

People keep waiting for the remaining Republicans to get a back bone and stand up to, object, to the most egregious actions of the criminal, president-elect.  

The Republican party has already left, with plentiful vitriol, those with sufficient intestinal fortitude to oppose the criminal organization of the oligarchs and the orange menace.  The remaining legislative and judicial Republicans are terrified of the wealthy and powerful oligarchs behind the curtain; pulling 45/47s strings.  The strings connect  45/47 to the billionaires', Citizens United money.  Were any of the remaining Republicans to deny the oligarchs and their puppet, they would get a well financed primary challenger in the next election.  45/47 was selected by the oligarchs because, in spite of numerous flaws and crimes (many convictions and indictments), he has gotten elected multiple times.

There is no one, still claiming to be a  Republican, with a functioning backbone/intestinal fortitude, sufficient to oppose the orange menace's oligarchs.

By the 1970s, refer to the criminal activity that was Watergate, the Republican party was already showing displeasure (understatement) with the direction of the USA. Voting Rights and Civil Rights from the 60s, then women's liberation and healthcare in the 70s; DEI was finally taking off.

Around the start of the 21st century a pseudo-conservative, majority on SCOTUS shackled the nation with Citizens United, and the following decades gave us Presidential immunity from the rule of law.  In the 2024 elections said SCOTUS majority expedited blocking CO and ME from applying Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to keep 45 off the states' ballots; set a precedent that might have discouraged more states from controlling access to their own ballots.

The oligarchs, aristocrat wannabes, that powered the 2016 election of the orange disgrace to the Presidency were off to the races in 2024.  See also:

https://stephenwyman.substack.com/p/catastrophic-merger  


The Constitution was amended after the Civil War; the 14th Amendment was added. Said addition documented, unequivocally, that any type of activity related to insurrection against any state and/or the United States, in it's entirety, disqualified anybody from ever holding any public/government office that required taking, and abiding by, an oath.

Were the Attorney General to discover a backbone, he might note that Congress should have declared 45 ineligible for office because he incited an insurrection. Those who would not vote to impeach or convict 45 aided and abetted that insurrection.

A majority of SCOTUS justices also aided and abetted when they wouldn't allow CO & ME to 14/3, 45 off their states' 2024 ballots.  Those same justices had also crowned 45 with immunity from criminal accountability.

AG Garland could clear the path from oligarchy back to Democracy by cleaning out the offices of said insurrectionists; make those offices available to those who can abide by oath of office, rule of law and the Constitution.

I'd love to believe that Unicorns won't have to come first.

Restoring Democracy, From Oligarchy, in the USA

"It would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights... Confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism. Free government is founded in jealousy (perhaps, “an abundance of caution,” instead), and not in confidence. It is jealousy (an abundance of caution) and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power... Our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go... In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." (Thomas Jefferson from the Draft Kentucky Resolutions, 1798)

Does the Federal AG (Attorney General) and/or state AGs have the ability to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to prevent electors from voting for the president-elect who had, demonstrably, incited insurrection in the capitol culminating on January 6th of 2021.  

If 45 had been appropriately impeached for insurrection he couldn't be president-elect now.  

Well purchased, pseudo-conservative, SCOTUS justices (who expedited rulings against CO and ME) kept 45 on those states' ballots in 2024.  How many other states would have modified their ballots, the way CO and ME did, if SCOTUS had not set the precedent; blocked the application of 14/3?  

The SCOTUS majority aided and abetted insurrection on multiple occasions, including the example above.

Time and again Republican officials in the executive, judicial and legislative branches of state and federal government have demonstrated that when abiding by oath of office, rule of law or Constitution would not result in the desired outcome, they abandoned each and every one of said regulatory restraints, repeatedly.  

The aforementioned disregard for inconvenient regulations culminated in insurrection against the United States of America...  Consequences are demanded.

Are electors obligated to vote only as the plurality/majority of the voters in their states did (for 45), as they do their Constitutionally assigned duty?  Can they vote for others (Harris/Walz) instead?

This lawlessness has demonstrated a very important and disappointing need to restore order by removing those (legislators, justices and a president-elect) who would not follow rules when they were inconvenient, from the offices they currently occupy, and prohibit those individuals from ever holding positions of power and responsibility, in state and/or federal bureaucracies, ever again.

The Republican party has clearly chosen to support and follow a convicted felon, who incited insurrection, into power at the extraordinary expense of the law abiding citizens of our nation.

The Constitution, especially Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, gives law enforcement agencies the authority to end this Republican, criminal, power grab.

The DOJ needs to quit making excuses, and protect Democracy, Constitution and  the rule of law from said criminal power grab!

Our nation, and the Democracies around the world, are depending on the USA to set the example...  

Do not allow  the criminal enterprise, the Republicans have chosen to become, to succeed.

The Reasons That the Last Election Did/Did Not...

First, statistically, 9 million eligible voters less than in the 2020 election bothered to vote in 2024.

Inflation isn't the problem, the minimum wage is.

The federal minimum wage is still (15 years and counting) $7.25 an hour.  That is a living wage absolutely, and I almost never use "absolutes," nowhere in these United States.

How does this travesty still exist?  Ask a Republican, if a blank stare is your idea of an answer.

United for Alice suggests that 4 in 10 US households exist (too often unsuccessfully) from paycheck to paycheck.

Economies grow when people can afford to live (buy at least the minimum of life's requirements), save (for unexpected, large, expenses), and invest (for the possibility of vacationing and/or retiring).

Too many Americans aren't able to do the things listed above.  There are many books and articles, oft based on verifiable facts, that state (reasonably unequivocally) that only Democrats are interested in solving the wage, to say not of employee benefits, issue.

The misunderstanding, and/or intentional misrepresentation, of this cost of living problem (combined with: misogyny, racism and machismo) explain how the last election cycle ended.  If the election results are allowed to stand (see also: Section 3 of the 14th Amendment) the problem could get much worse before it could possibly be made better.

 

What did not cause the results of the last election was that the the Democrats went too far to the left... If you think that, then you'll be OK with the streets in your neighborhood being allowed to revert to unmarked trails.

 

That's just the start. Electricity and wired telephones (all telephones were originally interconnected by wires) were available outside cities, because the government insisted on it. Have a look around you when your wireless Internet, cell service and mapping software fail. GPS doesn't fail because the DOD uses satellites.

See also: water, wastewater, NOAA weather services, US military, etc... All function with consistent, boring regularity because they are government regulated or provided services.

If you're looking for where innovation comes from, see: FFRDC (Federally Funded Research and Development Centers); tier 1 and 2 research (mostly public) universities.

Our daily lives are dependent on, dependable because of, what government does. The reason that you aren't aware of this is because doing their jobs, quietly, is what public servants do.

The DOJ Can Defeat the Insurrectionists... Will they?

To become a nation we first needed to win a Revolutionary War; throw off the yoke of monarchy. The cost in blood and treasure was enormous.

To continue as a single nation we needed a Civil War to re-unify the United States; defeat (bring back into the Union) the seceding, insurrectionist, slavery supporting states. The cost in blood and treasure was, again, enormous.

We face the cost of another insurrection as some try to create a white, pseudo-christian, nation. The difference, this time, is that the people behind Project 2025 selected a grifter, who had previously been elected as the 45^th President of the USA, to run again. This time the 78 year old grifter was assigned a 39 year old, Thiel's toy – JD Vance, as the Vice Presidential candidate. The architects of Project 2025 needed a younger puppet, because they want to have a successor in place if the aged grifter wins again; expires while still in office. The grifter won, again.

The thought that the US would have another actual election after Project 2025 secured the White House is extraordinarily delusional.

Our allies are terrified of the possibilities of the second grifter Presidency and will no longer cooperate (e.g., share intelligence) with the US, because we will be assumed to have at least as bad an attitude towards alliances as had been the case during the 45^th administration.

Initial indications are that the DOJ has the tools to deal with, prevent, a convicted felon, and insurrection inciting person, from assuming the office of the President. Others that might be considered for appointments/offices in the 47 administration (many of whom had participated in the insurrection against the United States of America) can be prevented from assuming offices that require one to take an oath of office. Many of the aforementioned people had taken, and broken, an oath of office (to protect and defend the Constitution) previously.

Section 3 of the 14^th (14/3) Amendment to the Constitution gives the DOJ the means to deal with those associated with insurrection, including the SCOTUS justices attempting to bypass Constitution and rule of law to immunize 45 from his crimes (including his participation in insurrection) committed while in office. Charge and try other sycophants in the administration, Republican party, with criminal allegations pending.

14/3 could also be applied to those in the US Congress who had aided and abetted in insurrection when they refused to impeach and convict a president that had, demonstrably, incited said insurrection.

The DOJ can, and should, save the nation before our current situation deteriorates into what could become a second (un)Civil War; spilling too much more blood.

I am not fool enough to believe that the white, pseudo-christian, charlatans will be defeated without any fighting; loss of life. For the sake of Democratic Republics, ours and all the others (existing and aspiring), don't let this travesty take hold; move into the White House, Congress or the Courts of these United States of America.

Act now or go down in history, if truth might ever be told again, as the ones who abdicated responsibility in the face of incredibly difficult decisions and required, ancillary action.

If your lack of intestinal fortitude increases the probability of a second (un)Civil War I will join with others to do what is required, what you made unavoidable, with a curse for you always upon my lips.

Common Sense Revisited

Oaths of office, rule of law and the US Constitution were all violated by those who participated, in one way or another, in the planning and/or execution of the Insurrection at the US Capitol on the 6^th of January, 2021.

To date, those who led in the aforementioned events have escaped consequences for their activity. We have removed a monarchy before and should not tolerate another authoritarian regime being established in these United States of America as the next act of those specified above.

The DOJ can, and should, apply Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment, to the Constitution, to those associated with insurrection against the USA. Criminally prosecute any whom evidence indicates were involved in related, illegal activities.

The longer consequences are avoided the more difficult the return to the rule of law, in our Democratic Republic, becomes.

 

Why Do We Have a 14th Amendment?

In the years following the Civil War the need for our Democratic Republic to have a defensive mechanism, that gives Democracy time to defend itself, became blatantly obvious.

We need not succumb to insurrection. A defensive system that is not employed is complicity; suicide.

BTW (a.k.a., addendum): 47 has a bromance with Musk because he likes wealthy sycophants, and there are none more wealthy than Musk. Also, 47 wants the office, not the work.

The 14th Amendment Question: Do We Defend Democracy, or Not?

If the DOJ does not apply Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment to all the people the evidence implicates it sends the messages: your oath of office does not matter; the law does not apply; the US Constitution means nothing.

Welcome to the Kingdom of the USA.

If the DOJ applies 14/3 appropriately the messages sent are: the executive branch has a functioning succession process; the House and Senate are fully functioning when there is a quorum in both legislative chambers; the judicial branch can function properly while vacancies are filled.

This is how the rule of law and Democracy persevere.

We remain the oldest functioning Democracy in the world.

Does, "I Have a New Job," Keep One Out of Prison?

 

No!

 

Well... How did we get here, again?

The grifter is back as 47, because he still is incredibly capable of getting away with any and everything.

I am saddened by the 2024 election results. Said results were only possible because those who broke their oath of office by participating in an insurrection against the United States of America have been, to date, spared from the consequences that others, also sworn to protect and defend the Constitution, had a duty to impose.

If 45 had been convicted in his second impeachment, for violating his oath of office and inciting an insurrection against the United States at the US Capitol, we could not be here now.

Many Congress folk also abandoned their oath of office, because they wanted the kind of authoritarian power they still believe 45/47 can get for them; no consequences were brought to bear. Those congress folk should be subject to Section 3 of the 14^th (14/3) Constitutional Amendment.

A majority of the SCOTUS justices aided and abetted the insurrection by ruling that 45, as president, is immune from the force of law and/or guidelines detailed in the US Constitution. Those justices should also be subject to 14/3.

The 45^th President, should have been impeached, convicted and 14/3 should have ended his ability to hold any government office that requires an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution.

Also, some congress folk asked 45 for a pardon towards the end of that first term in office.

Why?

Should those requests be investigated and, if warranted, be indicted and prosecuted?

Absolutely. Yes!

Link to the text of 14/3:

https://constitutionallawreporter.com/amendment-14-03/

Putin, Netanyahu, Xi, Musk, Thiel...

and their megalomaniacal ilk are still promoting an orange, and Thiel's pet, rerun.

 

 https://blueboomerhd.blogspot.com/2020/04/catastrophic-merger

 

 

The Tragical Middle-Easterly Tour

The Middle East has always been at the junction of three continents, now known as: Africa, Asia and Europe. It has, almost continuously, been a contested region, because the one who controls said cross roads can put tolls and taxes on trade and travel through the region.

Transit through the region has been, determined by archaeologists, happening since before humans evolved. Our hominid ancestors left evidence of passage and residence in and through the area. Humans followed and, as we evolved, went from leaving remnants of evidence to recording the history of said trade, transit and conflict.

Thus began records of warring amongst a variety of different groups of people as they tried to determine who would control access to the area. Documents that record millennia of wars have accumulated since. The struggle for power and profit has continued to spill the blood of those who are simply trying to live in the region. Meanwhile the violent efforts of narcissists and megalomaniacs, who fancy themselves worthy of conquest and control of the middle east, continue unabated. This turmoil started well before the discovery of oil, gas; the potential of wind and solar energy prospects.

The Tragical Middle-Easterly Tour continues today in a conflict between Israel and the groups (Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi – 3H – provocateurs) that other nations employ to kill and be killed in near constant warfare with Israel.

The fighting is made worse by the current government of Israel that is led by, accused criminal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The aforementioned government is, literally, dead (the death of many others) set against a two state, peace proposal recommended by other governments in the region and around the world.

I've proposed a different version of the two state solution, that has yet to garner the attention of anyone of consequence. It calls for the creation of a new state, in the Sinai peninsula, to be known as New Palestine (details to be found here: https://blueboomerhd.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-plan-for-peace-in-middle-east.html ).

It is my hope that at some point, in the near future, sanity and accompanying restraint will become a new norm... I holdeth not my breath.

Democrats and the Economy!

This information should be being broadcast from every Democratic bully pulpit, every where, all the time. For no good reason this information is rarely heard at all!

This post contains links to multiple resources that will communicate a version of the same thing:

One of our political parties is far better for the economy than the other... The Democrats are, by far and away, better for the economy!

I copied these links to articles and books from my blog and they are also accessible (www.blueboomerhd.blogspot.com), by click, from my campaign  website (www.wymanusa.org). More links to similar subject matter is available here:

https://blueboomerhd.blogspot.com/2024/06/vote-in-your-own-best-interest-vote-for.html

Specific books and links to check out:

Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box: How the Performance of Our Presidents Has Impacted Your Wallet (Your Wallet Does Better During a Democratic Administration), by Bob Deitrick and Lew Goldfarb, Advantage Media Group, 2012.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/mismatch-us-economy-perception-versus-reality-mcgeever-2024-06-26/   
“The gulf between America's downbeat view of the US economy, and it's general healthy well-being, could not be wider.”
“...Systematic bias in driving inaccurate perceptions about US economic performance, in the media, are (mostly) to blame.”

https://www.epi.org/publication/econ-performance-pres-admin/
“Summary: The economy performs much better during Democratic presidential administrations than during Republican ones.”

Also noteworthy is the statistic that President Clinton stated at this year's Democratic Convention, and James Carville repeated on Bill Maher's program: Real Time. In the years since the fall of the Soviet Union, in 1989, there have been equal years of Democratic and Republican presidential administrations... During the Democratic administrations 50 million jobs were created; Republican administration years 1 million jobs were created. These numbers can be verified at the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

Once again:

This information should be being broadcast from every Democratic bully pulpit, every where, all the time. For no good reason this information is rarely heard at all!

What is wrong with us?

Just asking,

Stephen M. Wyman

Candidate for TX House, district 20, this year.

Antitrust: The Appropriate Pursuit of the Narcissists Who Create It.

Three quick quotes:

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Those who erase history are trying to repeat it.

First line is attributed to: George Santayana;

Second line: mine own, till proven otherwise.

Unregulated capitalism is feudalism; encouraged by, and for, narcissists.

Also: mine own, till proven otherwise.

Therefore, I approve of, and encourage: Lina Khan: FTC Chair;

Jonathan Kanter: DOJ: Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division.

Antitrust enforcement in the United States was first, and appropriately, pursued and discouraged by Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy was part of the wealthy, prone to narcissism class, and he understood that his peers were largely incapable of self-control.

I applaud and support the continued the efforts of Ms. Khan and Mr. Kanter.

Accumulated Thoughts...

A grand jury should be empaneled to determine if 6 justices on the SCOTUS have supported an insurrection; should be indicted for said support.  If indicted, then Section 3 of the 14th Amendment should be imposed upon said justices.

DOJ needs to investigate any and all of the office holders (especially those who had asked 45 for a pardon) who had taken an oath required to hold their government office, and had had anything to do with anyone who participated in the insurrection of January 6th, 2021.  Indict and prosecute as needed.

The team that prepped the President for the debate did not understand the job. The debate was not about the facts on any subject.  The  debate was against a Gish galloping, pathological liar, who often can't string two coherent sentences together.  It wasn't about anything factual, like the last 3 plus years of the Biden administration.  The prep team should have been: Mehdi Hasan, Al Franken and John Fugelsang, because when agitated (45 is incredibly easy to agitate) 45 demonstrates the petulant 8 year old that he has always been.

Mehdi Hasan has explained debating in his book: Win Every Argument; The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking including a description of, "Gish galloping."  If you have ever presented in front of an important audience, and over prepared, then seized up while trying to determine what is most important, appropriate and in what order things should be presented, without the benefit of notes...  Bless your extraordinary keister.  However, if you're human as the rest of us, you might read Mr. Hasan's book.

Who is the alternative to Biden?  Who, amongst the folks saying Biden should step down, think that they can herd the cats (that are the Democratic party) behind an alternative?

The rich, orange menace supporters are aristocrat wannabes.  They need the grifter in chief to allow them to attain said powerful positions, because they can't  grift for themselves to a crowd that they can't stand to be amongst.  The wealthy aristocrat wannabes want every possible thing for themselves; know naught the meaning of enough.

Transportation's fuel consumption could be 30% of what is now; see also: FSHEV (Nissan's Note, e-power).  API's wealth and power has stymied adoption of said FSHEV (Full Series Hybrid Electric Vehicles) technology... Climate change could be far more under control than it is!

Check the records to see how many fission, nuclear power plants have been built on time and within original budget projections... To say naught of mining for, processing of and disposition of, spent, fuel rods; water usage and limited containment building lifespan...  Why would anyone pursue fission nuclear power?

Based on the SCOTUS decision about the question of Presidential immunity, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment now applies to 6 of the SCOTUS justices for participation in an insurrection against the government of the United States of America.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/mismatch-us-economy-perception-versus-reality-mcgeever-2024-06-26/   
“The gulf between America's downbeat view of the US economy, and it's general healthy well-being, could not be wider.”
“...Systematic bias in driving inaccurate perceptions about US economic performance, in the media, are (mostly) to blame.”

https://www.epi.org/publication/econ-performance-pres-admin/
“Summary: The economy performs much better during Democratic presidential administrations than during Republican ones.”

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/11/opinion/editorials/donald-trump-2024-unfit.html
The New York Times finally recognizes, publicly, that the orange menace is not fit for office (any office).

I don't care if Joe needs a recliner in the oval office; he'll still be a great President.  If Joe wants his last scheduled activity of the day to be at 8:00 pm, that's fine. Joe has one of the best home offices (office homes) available; Joe's available 24/7. If Joe feels that he is not working out he will probably step aside in favor of our VP, Kamala Harris. The next VP might be Hakeem Jeffries.  That would be the best thing we could do to the  right, wingnut (plural, expletive here).  

If anyone compares the 45 administration with Biden's first term and thinks they want a second term (complete with the Heritage Foundation's: Project 2025) of the orange turd, then you've earned the misery you helped to create in the Kingdom of America!

More to come...

Ideas for my campaign for TX House, district 20...

Stephen M. Wyman

Democratic Candidate for Texas House, District 20

(Andice, Cedar Park, Florence, Georgetown, Jarrell, Leander, Liberty Hill)

I support women’s access to and choice in all aspects of reproductive health care.

All of Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid's programs should be available to all eligible Texans, including 12-month postpartum Medicaid eligibility.

Addiction and mental health issues are, in fact, health problems and should be treated as such.

Public dollars are only for public schools.

Teachers and staff in our school systems should have professional, living wages.

Pre-K education should be available and affordable, free when needed, for all Texas children.

Kids’ meals should be available (free, as needed) at their school year-round.

Post secondary education should be affordable (free for Texans in state institutions).

The leading cause of death for children and adolescents should NOT be gun violence.

I oppose state spending for border militarization and anti-immigrant law enforcement (SB4).

I support science-based climate change mitigation, response and adaptation.

I support strategies and laws to encourage voter participation.

I oppose policies that lead to discrimination and persecution on the basis of race, ethnicity, faith, sexual orientation, gender identity.

Texas has a regressive tax system that should be brought into the real world, so that Texans can have the municipal, county and state services they deserve.

The electricity in Texas should be as simple and dependable as the flipping of a light switch.

Renewable energy sources should be encouraged.

Texas State Savings and Loans, Financial Institutions, can help make living indoors, in Texas, more affordable.

Suggested Reading: Reasons Why One Would Vote for Democrats...

Suggested reading:

On the Wealth of Nations (the Original, “Wealth of Nations,” Tome Explained and Analyzed with Wit, Wisdom and Brevity), by PJ O'Rourke, Grove Press, 2007.

Free Fall: America, Free Markets and the Sinking of the World Economy, by Joseph E. Stiglitz, W.W. Norton and Company, 2010.

Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy, by Thomas Sewell, Basic Books, 2011.

The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, by Thomas Frank, Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Co., Inc., 2008.

Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy From Trump's Revenge, by Miles Taylor, Simon and Schuster, 2024.

Capital in the 21^st Century, by Thomas Piketty, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017.

The New New Deal: the Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era, by Michael Grunwald, Simon and Schuster, 2012.

Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.

The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023.

Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most destructive Industry on Earth, by Rachel Maddow, Crown Publishing, 2019.

The History of the Standard Oil Co., Two Volumes, by Ida M. Tarbell, Cosimo Classics Publishing, 2010; originally published in 1904.

A Brief History of Doom: Two Hundred Years of (Private) Financial Crises, by Richard Vague, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019.

All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the (Private) Financial Crisis, by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, Portfolio/Penguin, 2010.

Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street From Wall Street and Wall Street From Itself, by Sheila Bair, Free Press, 2012.

How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World (Things That One Might Not Realize Are Working Till They Fail), by Deb Chachra, Riverhead Books, 2023.

Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box: How the Performance of Our Presidents Has Impacted Your Wallet (Your Wallet Does Better During a Democratic Administration), by Bob Deitrick and Lew Goldfarb, Advantage Media Group, 2012.

 

AI, and Other, "Fakes..."

Creating and publishing fictitious content (especially using AI technology) in any way, shape or form without a disclaimer identifying the use of said technology can be assumed to have been created and published with malicious intent, and should be subject to laws, courts and appropriate penalties.

Creating, and publishing, an image that bears any resemblance to an existing person(s), or write and publish text that uses the content from, or identity of, an existing individual(s) without a disclaimer identifying the work as fiction, and including notifications that consent was/wasn't attained, then the fiction can be considered to have been created and published with malicious intent; subject to appropriate force of law.

If a publication, of any sort, allows fictitious content of their own, or of others, creation to be made available for public consumption on their site, it may be assumed that said content is shared with malicious intent, and have legal consequences.

I suggest this, and any other carefully considered, regulation of the use of AI to be necessary, because computer/telecommunications technology is incredibly powerful and omnipresent in the world today. Said technology need not be intentionally malicious to be the cause of very bad consequences, but the results need be thoroughly reviewed to attain reasonable certainty, one way or the other; corrected, adjudicated, punished as needed.

Voluntary compliance with guidelines/regulation will not be sufficient.

Preventing the Return of the Grifter in Chief

In the run-up to the November elections somebody needs to cover, release a, "Cliff's Notes," style summary of the, "Project 2025," document.

Trump is a front man for ultra-conservatives and their reprehensible causes. 

 

These aren't the MAGAt mobs, they are rich, megalomaniacal, oligarch wannabes, and seriously disturbing right, wing-nut organizations like the Heritage Foundation and Moms for Liberty. They want to present agendas, and pull the strings in the next (should the worst happen) Orange Menace administration. They're really not competent at much of anything, or productive, because everything they have is procured for them by others; see also: 45^th administration, inheritance, under-compensated employees and infrastructure provided by government (e.g., Internet, roads, bridges, airports, seaports, public schools, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC), water, waste water, electricity provision and distribution, etc...). These are insecure, white people who want, only for themselves, everything they can beg, borrow or steal; know naught the meaning of enough.

Why do they need a front man; grifter?

Because they can't sell what folks don't need, want or understand to a reasonably large and gullible audience. Can't connive to the masses if you can't get their attention, because you basically can't stand to be around said masses.

Hence, the front man. A successful con artist that has amazed the authoritarian wannabes by not, yet, being held to account by the people and organizations that have eventually realized that they've been victims of the sting(s).

Bolstering the aristocrat pretenders' egos and operations are the crowds of incompetent, near do wells who want someone else to blame for their perceived lack of success in life. They are also white people easily convinced that the, “scary,” non-white folks, that comprise minority-majority, “done it.” This fear of, “different,” people drives their political and social preferences to the hard, wing-nut, right; well beyond conservative norms.

Right, wing-nuts didn't just happen yesterday, during the Obama administration or even during the (un)Civil War years. There have been hard right, wing-nut, self-loathing, misogynistic, self-centered, or otherwise damaged people, and their regressive causes, around forever.

The current generation of self-centered, authoritarian wannabes lacked a leader to put them into position behind the curtain, pretense to a wizard in a retrograde society. They latched onto a grifter who had successfully promoted himself, via multiple methods (oft prone to being illegal), into the appearance of wealth and power without being held to account; yet.

Trump is old, but he's still a useful idiot for Putin, Qpublicans and the wealthy aristocrats in waiting. Folks using titles like: federalist, textualist and originalist... Organizations with names like: Moms for Liberty, Heritage and Family Foundations need his grifting prowess. None of these efforts yielded a leader capable of the kind of successful, enormous scale, grift like the one who became the 45^th President of these United States of America.

If there is a second, Orange Menace term we will see the, “Project 2025,” text become reality... Orwell's, “1984,” made real.

This needs to become common knowledge so that the aforementioned horror story doesn't become reality.

Campaign Speech: TX House_20 in 2024

Good Afternoon. Good to see y'all.

Many of us here today were alive, if kinda young, when expanded voting and civil rights were encoded into law in the mid-1960s, same for when Roe v. Wade became legal precedent in the early 70s.

We gained a certain level of satisfaction and went on with our lives. Surely these things will not change.

Here we are, now... All those things have, in fact, changed, because too many of us didn't show up at the polls to make sure those things would not be changed.

There were, and still are, folks who stewed in resentment about those issues, and more, who have come out from under the rocks, where they'd festered for decades, when an African, American man was elected President of these United States; twice.

Time to restore, and stand with, an America that works for all Americans.

I'm campaigning for TX. House, district 20, this year. Population growth has shrunk the district down to western Williamson county.

I'm running against an incumbent who votes to send public money to private schools...

Public education for all is the key to success, for all.

Doesn't seem to know anything about Climate Change.

We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children. We must strive to leave everything better than we found it, for ourselves and all who will follow.

Shows no knowledge of the crisis created around women's health care issues. The attack on a woman's, maternal, health care is dangerous, fatally so for some.

A woman's ability to control all aspects of her own health care is an essential right.

Doesn't demonstrate knowledge about international borders, and throws 100s of millions, to billions, of Texas taxpayer's money at the work that the Constitution assigns to the federal government.

Legislation to improve the situation at the border was hashed out in a bi-partisan, US Senate committee, then trashed, because Republicans want to run on problems at the US border with Mexico. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) was rebuked by the Republican party of OK for his work on said committee...

The audacity!

No good deed goes unpunished.

Arizona's SB1070 in 2010... TX's SB4 in 2024...

This is what happens when insecure, white people, who know naught about, “love thy neighbor,” are reacting to something called minority/majority. I find legislation like this to be idiotic, embarrassing and wrong; needs to be repealed.

“I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.”

Save America! Register to vote, check your registration and vote for Democrats for every office, in every election!

Democracy is in our hands!

If you don't believe that, you need to peruse the Heritage Foundation's, Project 2025...

Orwell's , 1984, realized.

The DOJ's Late Stage Evidence Drop...

The DOJ recently released 10s of thousands of pages of evidence related to the criminal charges facing the 45^th President, and some of his associates...

Why now?

Let's speculate...

Is it because some of the evidence was acquired via intelligence sources whose identities, means and methods need protection?

Did that information need be reacquired/verified, because intelligence agencies don't necessarily follow court approved rules for the collection of intelligence that has proven to be valuable as evidence?

Did the evidence need be sheltered from the personnel that the 45^th President seeded some federal agencies and offices with; folks whose loyalties were more to said 45^th President than to their oath of office?

At this stage of the prosecution of the many indictments against the 45^th President, and his associates, a bombshell, of the aforementioned nature, would be seriously appreciated.

TikTok's Shared Security Risks

TikTok uses, “cookies,” as well as other means and methods, to collect data about each and every user of their application (a.k.a., app)... So does every app in the computer/Internet universe. The data collected is for sale, internally or externally, to generate revenue/money/profits. Selling user data is very profitable; ask your tech mega-millionaires and billionaires.

Make, “cookies,” illegal, and make protecting any user data collected a legal obligation... Make selling user data, without specific user consent, illegal. Make vendors charge for their product or service up front, and payment data becomes another information cache that vendors are legally obligated to protect.

If vendors aren't able to protect user data that is criminal negligence, at best. Ignorance of illegal data access is not a defense against criminal charges; ignorance of the law has never been a defense. Getting “hacked,” is criminal negligence. Large, successful hacks are felonies for hackers and hacked.

If information is perceived as valuable it will be sought by criminal means if it is not legally available. Therefore, collecting and retaining user information requires vendors take appropriate protective measures, and are criminally culpable if said measures are insufficient.

Protecting collected data against unwarranted access is a universal obligation for any, and all, who collect and, no matter the time frame, store data.

Creating Multi-Purpose, Regenerative Villages

Try building a solar farm(s) tall enough that shaded villages may be built beneath them... 

Use solar energy to pump sea, or polluted water to the top of a tower of filters; 

Let gravity cause the water to pass through filters, and spiral turbines; 

Take nearly potable water to an electrolysis vat; 

Capture hydrogen for fuel cell generated electricity; 

Capture oxygen for waste water treatment; 

Electrolysis leaves micro and nano plastics at the bottom of the vat; etc...

Just a few suggestions.

Creating Affordable Indoor Living

When the last of Glass-Steagall (G-S) was repealed not only was Wall Street allowed to mix risky, any damn thing they can create and sell, with less risky investments, read: mortgages, they also were able to eliminate the boring, read: affordable, Savings and Loan (S&L) financial institutions. This allowed Wall Street to access, read: dominate, the biggest financial transactions most folks will ever make: home mortgages.

To get living indoors back to where most people can afford it will require a return of, something similar to, G-S, S&L and Postal (state) Banking.

My 23 year old house has gained, in price, over 100% of the cost to build it. We can't cash in on that value, because we (wife and I) would still need to purchase or rent another, overvalued, place to live.

My son, an engineer, and his wife, a registered nurse, can't buy a home in California, because they can't afford it! So, they pay ludicrously high rent; more than twice the monthly mortgage payment I pay in Texas.

The aforementioned is ridiculous, and can only be fixed by progressive Democrats restoring regulation to mortgage lending; reduced home prices and mortgage payments will force down apartment rents to prevent all the tenants from leaving.

That's why I am running for state House of Representatives in Texas and supporting Democrats running for office nation wide.

A Plan for Peace in the Middle East

The government of Israel is on the path to becoming a significant part of the problem in the current crises in the Middle East.

The terrorist actions of Hamas on October 7^th, 2023 required a response from Israel, and it has happened; is becoming, more and more, a part of the problem. A precisely targeted response in Gaza would have been appropriate in the eyes of many observers, but the serious overreaction by Israel has caused apprehension from some who had initially supported Israel's military activity.

If the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can't, can't be bothered to, demonstrate significant restraint might the Knesset try again to use a vote of no confidence to rein in said government?

The excuse of, ”during a war,” has been used in the first, failed effort at a vote of no confidence in the Knesset. The excuse is hard to believe since the war is, currently, mostly Israeli military activity. The war could be paused, and the IDF assume a defensive posture, while the Israelis fix the problem of a government perceived as cruel, perhaps criminal, in it's extreme response to the recent provocation.

If not, could the IDF use the opportunity to declare that it can not follow illegal orders. Criminal allegations, of genocide (by Israel), have been filed by South Africa in the International Court of Justice. Most of the citizens of Gaza, whose only fault was that they live in a place that Hamas has been allowed to occupy, bear the brunt of the IDF's assault. Hamas had started as the elected government of Gaza, and has stayed in power; refused to leave.

Next option to be considered might be an international intervention initiated by the United Nations. The assumption, that some have made, is that the USA could just order a cease fire, and the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would readily capitulate, is just wrong.

Perhaps there might be a two state solution, with a proposed New Palestine in the Sinai.

There is a map, that is accessible via Wikipedia, that depicts Sinai peacekeeping zones A, B, C & D. The Sinai Peninsula security zones delineate Egypt, Israel and Multinational Force and Observers' (MFO) zone of operations; Article 2 of Annex I of the Peace Treaty that called for the Sinai Peninsula to be divided into zones.

Zone A would remain Egyptian territory; Zones B & C would become New Palestine; Zone D would become the DMZ twixt Israel and New Palestine. MFO, and other international security forces, would remain.

Egypt would keep the Suez Canal; Israel will actually be from the river to the sea; New Palestine would be from the (Med) Sea to the Gulf (of Aqaba).

Palestinian residents would move there, if they will, voluntarily from Gaza and the West Bank. The new territory would have the potential for significant economic prosperity; would, potentially, be approved of by the surrounding nations in the region.

Given the long historic/prehistoric tendency to violence in the Middle East the whole plan would require international insistence to succeed.

Something must change, and this is a proposal to consider.

Also, consider:

Build solar panels/farms tall enough that shaded villages may be built beneath them;

Build windmill farms and battery complexes where circumstances allow;

Use solar energy to pump sea, or polluted, water to the top of a tower of filters;

Let gravity cause the water to pass through the filters, creating potable water;

Add spiral turbines to use gravity to generate more electricity;

Take the potable water to an electrolysis vat;

Capture hydrogen for fuel cell generated electricity;

Capture oxygen for waste water treatment;

Electrolysis leaves micro and nano plastics at the bottom of the vat;

etc...

Something to ponder.

Will SCOTUS Enable Democracy's End?

The orange menace knew that he'd lost the presidential election in November of 2020, and knew that leaving the office of the President would create an opportunity for civil and, potentially, criminal allegations against him to proceed. A life long ability to avoid being held to account could end.

So, the last few months of the 45th administration was spent attempting to find any means to avoid the inevitable exit of the orange menace from the White House.

“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” 45 tweeted on Dec. 19, 2020. Just one of several of his tweets promoting the day. “Be there, will be wild!” An open invitation to insurrection for 45's loyal MAGAt supporters on the day that a joint session of congress would certify the results of the recent presidential election.

On January 6^th, 2021 the exiting president spoke to the crowd gathered near the capital and invited the crowd to walk to the Capital while insisting that law enforcement and Secret Service agents remove the magnetometers that detect and stop those carrying guns from approaching the Capital.

These, and quite a few other means, were attempted to overturn the election, upheld against every challenge in the courts and certified in the US Congress, of a new president.

It has been proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the activities before, during and after the elections of November 2020 were an attempted insurrection. That the 45^th president encouraged and participated in said insurrection is clear. Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution is also absolutely clear in it's intent that such activity shall prohibit any who have taken, and broken, an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution from any office where said sworn oath will be required again.

It is not clear that the current SCOTUS justices understand this rather straight forward concept that would allow states to ban insurrectionists from the ballot for elected office in their state's elections.

If SCOTUS does not allow states the ability to control access to the ballots, in their states, they will forever be known as the enablers of the next insurrection.

Regulating AI

A state legislator, Scott Wiener, in California has recently proposed legislation to force companies working with AI to test code/software before releasing any product to market.  This is apropos because the business of business is profit and there is often a tendency to rush product/services to market to increase potential profits; consequences be damned.

I suggest the following as an addition to said legislation; any AI related regulation:

Creating and publishing fictitious content using AI technology in any way, shape or form without a disclaimer identifying the use of said technology can be assumed to have been created and published with malicious intent;

Creating, and publishing, an image  that bears any resemblance to an existing person(s), or write and publish text that uses the content from, or identity of, an existing individual(s) without a disclaimer identifying the work as fiction, and including notifications that consent was/wasn't attained, then the fiction can be considered to have been created and published with malicious intent;

If a publication, of any sort, allows fictitious content of their own, or of others, creation to be made available for public consumption on their site, it may be assumed that said content is shared with malicious intent.


I suggest this, and any other carefully considered, regulation of the use of AI to be necessary, because computer/telecommunications technology is incredibly powerful and omnipresent in the world today.  Said technology need not be intentionally malicious to be the cause of very bad consequences, but the results need be thoroughly reviewed to attain reasonable certainty, one way or the other; corrected, as needed.  It would be better if said adverse results were discovered, by sufficient testing, and averted before software/product is released out into the world.

The federal government would be the best place for said legislation to occur, but they've been hampered, intentionally (by a Republican majority in Congress in 1995), when the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) was defunded; effectively eliminated.

No legislative official can be expected to be fluent in everything that legislation must address, so investigative agencies (reporting to any legislative body) are essential.  The Republican legislators knew that when they destroyed the OTA.

The Government Accounting Office has created the Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA) to do what the OTA had done.  STAA has recently, in 2024, published informative documents related to AI (GAO-24-106246 and GAO-24-107237).  

Sufficient understanding and regulation of technology, including AI, is both possible and essential.

Why Vote for Democrats?

First and foremost, that is voting in your own best interests (see also, the book: Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box).

Furthermore, let Republicans tell you:

Senator James Lankford (R-OK) was censured by the OK Republican Party for his role in bipartisan border policy negotiations. Republicans had been demanding changes in (Mexican) border policy for years, and Senator Lankford sat on a committee that has just negotiated a bill that gives the Republicans almost everything that they had asked for, and was punished for presenting these favorable results during the Biden (Democratic) administration; in an election year.

The horror!

Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) requested, while speaking on the House floor, that any of his fellow Republicans, “give me one thing (that we've accomplished), one, that I can go campaign on, and say we did.”

Nobody could; nobody did.

Meanwhile, back in Texas: Republicans are planning to defy a Supreme Court ruling against activity that Gov. Abbott ordered, and multiple state agencies did, on the (Mexican) border.

The previous President recently was adjudicated to owe over $83 million dollars to E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after being convicted of her rape. That same former president still has 91 felony indictments against him.

This is the Republican party, in it's own words and deeds.

If this isn't enough reason to vote for Democrats, try this on for size: the Infrastructure Act; the Inflation Reduction Act; the Chips Act, etc... These bills were all passed into law during the first two years of the Biden administration. Monopoly and Anti-Trust Action by the FTC and DOJ continue to make progress during this administration.

The economy has experienced record growth and unemployment is at historic lows during this, Biden, administration.

Your vote matters.

How can you tell?

In states with Republican majorities in the legislature, and Republican Governors, they are doing everything they can get away with to reduce voting rights.

Register. Vote. Communicate with your elected officials.

 

The Big Myth Thrives...

 To the detriment of the vast majority of us all.

The book: The Big Myth; How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway

...Details the enormous falsehood of, “The Market,” as the center of the economy, and society.

Check out (Internet search): Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) to begin to shred the, “Big Myth.”

Also, check out the books:

On the Wealth of Nations by P.J. O'Rourke. This book provides insight into what Adam Smith actually wrote about things like, “the invisible hand,” without becoming a door-stopper tome.

A Brief History of Doom: Two Hundred Years of Financial Crises by Richard Vague. Details how private, not government, debt is a leading factor, every time, in creating financial crises.

Republicans (too oft aided by, “neo-liberal,” Democrats) are funded by megalomaniacal billionaires (folks who kept billions of $ for themselves while 10s of thousands of employees did/do the work) that fancy themselves as an American aristocracy... Hope to set the USA on a course that returns us to a time before the 1860s.

In the mid-twentieth century the United States made significant progress on: civil and voting rights, women's health care and the aforementioned FFRDCs. Self-satisfied with that progress Americans went on with their lives, and forgot (paid no attention to) the fact that, from beneath their rocks, regressive, insecure, white people still festered.

In the early 21^st century the election of Barrack Obama, an African American (black) man, to two terms as President of these United States brought the worst of humanity (labeled, correctly, by Hillary Clinton as, “deplorables”) out from under their stones.

Under the guise of 'Federalists' and 'Originalists' the wealthy primed the courts, via their Republican sycophants in Congress (aided by the 43rd and 45^th administration), to dilute both voting and civil rights, then strip women of control of their own health care.

Fear of immigrants was stoked with the deplorable base while the means to solve the problem were impeded by the very Republicans in Congress who complained loudly, while campaigning on and about that very issue.

In order to preserve, and perhaps even advance, our Democracy and economy we all must register and vote for Democrats, while communicating satisfaction, or a lack thereof, with all our leaders; avail ourselves of every opportunity to act.