Tag Archives: Democrat

New World Order?


I keep hearing my conservative friends talk about the conspiracy that some new world order is being brought about and has secretly been in work for decades by the liberal 1%.

After listening to this, I can’t help but think – there’s your new world order taking shape … and it’s frightening 😳😬

Just something I was thinking about …

SMH – Election 2016 – Debate #1


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WOW – as expected, that was entertaining and frightening all at the same time! Just finished watching the first U.S. Presidential Debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I wasn’t surprised when Trump began to unspool pretty quickly in. Clinton was able to bring out his “best side” with little provocation. He was rude, childish, vague, defensive, argumentative, and came off about as genuine as a slimy used car salesman. I don’t think he answered one question with a clear thoughtful response, instead meandering in various other directions. Presumptive expectations were met.

I followed Twitter during the debate this time – it fascinates me that so many people see and hear the same things, but interpret them so differently . . .

Personally I thought Hillary kicked the “Don’s” ass, for the most part.

For all the people that think Trump would be a great president because he is a great businessman, consider this:

  • He stated during tonight’s debate that paying little or no taxes (when asked about the past) shows he’s smart – yes and he’s a cheat and doesn’t believe he should pay his fair share. I paid 33.4% in taxes last year for the small amount of 401K money we withdrew to keep our bills paid. [This did include a penalty for early withdrawal.] What percentage of your income did you pay?
  • Trump has filed bankruptcy six times, yet always walked away personally financially sound, never changing his lifestyle. These bankruptcies, however, destroyed many small businesses that worked for him in good faith. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. YES, I could file bankruptcy, and probably should have over two years ago, but these are my bills and I will pay them as long as I have funds to do so, regardless if it’s allowed or not. That’s how I was raised!
  • He doesn’t own the majority of the buildings that his name is on – he is paid for the use of his name. (Okay, I have to admit, that is great branding on his part.)
  • He has used money from his Trump Foundation (mostly funded by donors) to pay personal and business debts.
  • When asked tonight about being investigated for his alleged racial violations of the Fair Housing Act, he stated he settled those lawsuits admitting no guilt or fault – typically when lawsuits are settled out of court, no one admits guilt or fault, though often the payee was guilty or at fault, which is why they are paying out, often to hush people up.
  • His current global business dealings would be a definite conflict of interest, regardless of who he says is running HIS companies.

He’s definitely good at keeping his head above water – but a smart and trusted business man – I don’t think so. Conniving and slick, I have no doubt, as he’s admitted to having conducted business this way. And he may not be a politician, but he’s probably the richest candidate (if you go by appearances) that’s ever run for president. Why don’t people see that he’s one of the worst of the 1%ers?

I will say that even if I liked him, and I don’t, I would never vote for someone who refuses to release their tax returns . . . that one action tells me he has much to hide, and/or that many of his lies will be revealed.

Looking forward to the next debate – I just hope those that need to be watching are.

Were you watching tonight? What did you think?

Just something I was thinking about . . .

Yeah, I know, it’s been a while since I have blogged in any way, shape or form – hope you all have been doing well & I plan to catch up with you soon ❤

Sheep & Change – One-Liner Wednesday


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Change for the sake of change isn’t necessarily a good thing. 

My mother-in-law, who is 76, and her boyfriend are Trump supporters. When we talk about it, and I ask her why on earth she would even consider voting for him, she always says because this country has a lot of problems and change is needed, and that Hillary would be four more years like the last eight. In her opinion, nothing would change.

I’ve been unemployed for three years, and something needs to change soon – but that doesn’t mean I should kill myself, become a prostitute, or start ripping people off to elicit change. Change often needs to be thoughtful. This isn’t like taking a different route home from the grocery store.

I’ve got so much to say about change and the last eight years and other things, but for today . . . in the spirit of One-Liner Wednesday, I will keep it brief. Thanks Linda – lately I haven’t written much for various reasons, but I always think about this prompt you provide 🙂

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that our president gave an amazingly energizing, genuine, insightful, hopeful, and positive speech tonight. Unfortunately, those who needed to hear it the most probably weren’t listening.

OH – and Trump’s treasonous comment made at the news conference in Doral, Fla. More to come on that – I’d love to find a video that actually showed the faces in the audience as he made those comments. A picture of his kids slapping their foreheads at that moment that crap tumbled out of his mouth would be priceless! 🙂

More soon . . .

Just something I was thinking about . . .

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Hey Blog Buds!


Hello my Blog Buds!!

[I used that term in a comment to another blogger, a fav of mine Opinionated Man and decided to keep it 🙂 ]

I just wanted to thank you again for following me – reading, commenting, and engaging! I doubled my number of Blog Buds over the summer, something I never expected to happen. I’m glad you are enjoying my random rambling thoughts, as I have many! I read as many of you as I can when I can.

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I mentioned I am participating in National Novel Writing Month. Yes, I am definitely a glutton for punishment!

This is not my first attempt at this, but I hoping this will be my first success. I am proud to say that as of the end of today, Day 3 (just finished up for the day), I am 6543 words in, though my friendly counter reminds me that I still have 43,457 to meet my challenge goal.

I voted early last Friday. Political races are nasty here, so I’ll be glad when it’s over, tired of hearing all the bullshit. Today is Election Day – I hope you go and exercise your right to vote. Though inherently we all want and need the same things, we will never all think the same, nor should we – BUT we should think ☮

Autumn Leaves – The Politics at Hand


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Sept 21 WordPress Daily Prompt: Autumn Leaves

Changing colors, dropping temperatures, pumpkin spice lattes: do these mainstays of Fall fill your heart with warmth — or with dread?

I have mentioned that politics do not dominate my landscape per say. But I have to admit, when I read this prompt, I couldn’t help but think of politics and how the mid-term elections are coming up. I have also heard that mid-term elections typically have poor turnouts, which I understand, as I myself have skipped a few over the years.

I have to tell you, I am now making it my business to know who is running and who I am voting for. We have got to start instilling some change in this country, in the way problems/issues/legislative actions are approached and then dispositioned, in the way those who WE elect into office represent us once they are elected, and in the way we are actually represented overall as a whole – a constituency.

This takes a lot of research and a lot of time, but I am dedicated to it. I can’t afford not to – none of us can! Complacency leads to neglect, which leads to contempt – I can promise you, not because I want it to, but because it does.

Regardless of how you vote, and what your ideologies are – you have to ensure you educate yourself and make your voice heard. The “Old Guard” just doesn’t have their hand on the pulse of America, and they certainly aren’t hearing us.

Just something I was thinking about . . . ☮

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What Was He Thinking??


Watching the news today – I know, it’s always an experience and often entertaining, and it has been a few days since I’ve watched any because I had to check out for awhile – and as I’m listening, the reporter starts talking about the color of President Obama’s suit at a news conference yesterday. It was tan, or what some would call taupe. Seriously, I’m not shitting you. I saw it, of course you know they had to show it, and it was a nice suit; I saw nothing wrong with it. (I haven’t seen the news conference yet, wasn’t engaged yesterday and have been busy today – but I will find it and watch it.)

Those that know me know I am not a fashion icon by any means, BUT come on people – with all the problems in the world, in our country and in our own lives – does the color of his suit really matter? Am I just an idiot for thinking it doesn’t??

Then one of my Facebook friends commented that some news reporter/commentator went on to chastise saying – after mentioning the suit debacle, of course – that President Obama stated that first he wanted to say something about some revised numbers on the economy, like real Americans cared about that after the beheading of James Foley and ISIS concerns. Then the president went on to say that we don’t have a strategy for ISIS.

Now I am a real American, and for the first time in decades, I have been unemployed for 15 months. I’m living off my retirement money and I have at least 15 years until I can retire. So I do care about the economy. That is most important to me at this moment. Having said that, what we ALL better be concerned about is that we don’t have a strategy to deal with ISIS, and if that’s not bad enough, now the whole world knows. The whole world also knows that those crazy ass Americans are in an uproar about the president’s suit color, not that their military has no plan.

Oh my goodness – as I am writing this, just heard the news reporting the color of Obama’s suit was the top trend on Twitter. That, my friends, is exactly why this country and maybe some other parts of the world are in the shape they are in. Look at the shit the “important people” – the communicators, the decision makers, the money makers/spenders, the policy makers – are focusing on. What the fuck is wrong with you people?!?

Okay – I am so not related to these people, I can tell you  . . .

I’m curious what y’all think about this, too.

Anyway just something I was thinking about it . . . and felt the need to rant about 😉

Is the Giant Panda Sleeping?


Let me start by saying that I have nothing against China or the Chinese people. What I am fixing to talk about is bigger and far more encompassing and quite frankly it’s not about the Chinese people either. It’s about governments and their desire for control and expansion. It’s about the second-largest economy in the world.  It’s about people in general not paying attention to what’s really going on around them – which is hard to do, as there is a lot of noise coming our way these days. Sometimes it’s hard to get a clear channel on anything.

Mainstream media is good at distracting people from what’s really important and needs our attention or consideration, by providing us lots of other crap to focus on. Right now one of those focuses is North Korea, Iran and Syria, as well it should be. But, we better not lose sight of the sleeping giant panda or fire-breathing dragon – however you choose to look at it. I’d be willing to bet there is a legend somewhere that tells the story of how one became the other . . .

Most of us are aware that we , the United States, owe China an immense amount of money — in the ballpark of $1.3 trillion, if my sources are correct. The U.S. government continues to borrow from them.

The Chinese have also been buying a considerable amount of U.S. assets over the past decade, with projections in U.S. investments of $15-20 billion a year over the next decade. They appear to be focusing on acquisitions in energy, financial services, food production, real estate, and manufacturing, as well as entertainment and technology. The Chinese own One Chase Manhattan Plaza and the General Motors building, in New York – both nice commercial real estate coups for sure. They own all the AMC Theaters.

Most of these assets are owned by the Chinese government, under various state-owned entities. China needs energy to fuel their rapidly growing industrial development, and have purchased power assets in Portugal, Brazil and the Philippines. They had an unsuccessful attempt to buy the U.S. oil company Unocal in 2005.

The Chinese government also purchased private equity assets that fund GM pensions, if I understood correctly. I want to do some more research on that, & a few other things. I have so many questions. Though these are my opinions, I do try to thoroughly research topics I am interested in, verifying my info with several sources. Most of this information came from sources like Reuters, Market Watch, LA Times, USA Today, Business Week, and Forbes – encompassing a variety of agendas.

There is concern about China’s foothold in technology and possible breaches in our national security. Some analysts think that it’s in China’s best interest to stay friendly with us, as our markets thrive, so do Chinese investments. But what if their overall strategic goal is to control or even own the U.S. in some unknown manifest destiny design. They have quite an established growing assertive military presence, as well. Regardless of what might happen, I would not want to be at the mercy of a Communist country.

A month or so back I happened across CNN doing a piece on The Guardian’s Predictions for the World in 2014. Predictions shared involving China were:

  • China will eventually be the world’s largest economy.
  • Though Western brands will continue to dominate, China will own them.
  • U.S. will soon celebrate Chinese holidays.
  • Western politicians will clamor for Chinese investors.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I find all of this a little disconcerting. I am not a political person, nor do I know much about economics. I realize the world is now a global economy, but maybe the U.S. is a little too open for business? And why do we do so much business with China, in particular? The government does not allow any partnering with them involving NASA, spaceflight, or manned exploration – but then again there is considerable technology involved in those endeavors and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) come into play.

I will be writing about this again, as I have so many questions that are not answered and concerns I wish to address. I also did not want to make this post to awfully long, as I have lots more data to share. I would love to hear what you think about this, too. Is the giant panda a good business partner or a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Anyway, just something I’ve been thinking about . . .

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** I watched a most interesting program quite a few years back about China – I have been keeping an eye on this development for quite a few years now – their growth, increase in consumption, and interdependency with the United States. In all honesty, it was a bit disconcerting. This link no longer shows the ABC News/Bob Woodruff video, but you can read the accompanying story.

 

Women’s Libidos – Really?


I have been hearing and reading a lot lately about Mike Huckabee’s comments about women’s libidos and contraception. Apparently he said something to the effect that the Affordable Care Act provided free contraception to women because essentially some people think women can’t control their libidos.

As a journalist my first instinct was to go find the video and see it for myself, in complete context, but I didn’t – and I’ll tell you why. Regardless of what exactly was meant by what was said exactly and the various interpretations of this comment, my question is . . . .

WHY are we talking about women’s libidos and personal health care choices that involve their quality of life? This discourse included married women – like their husbands are going to be onboard 100 percent with their wives “limiting their libidos” to avoid pregnancy. And I have to admit – I believe the old joke 99 percent of the time – what do you call women who you use the rhythm method of contraception? The answer is mothers. Even weathermen and farmers use more than a calendar to make predictions and determine action.

Do we have these discussions about men and their “little blue pills,” or whatever they take, for their erectile dysfunction? It’s also pretty well known there are many men who take these pills who don’t need them, they just want to be able to have more sex or extended  sex – but that’s a libido discussion for another day.

Do we have women in our congress – Senate and House of Representatives, as well as in other key management positions in our government making healthcare decisions for men and their quality of life? The sexual part of their lives and identities in particular?

There is not equal representation out there for women when it comes to government mandated decisions regarding women’s reproductive rights and lives because women make up a  small percentage of those who hold office. This is a problem, and I think we need to start thinking about that in our future voting decisions – as well as the fact there are many young ambitious intelligent thoughtful women who could run for these offices now and in the future.

Notice I have not mentioned party-lines – not interested in that. I am interested in women who understand the ramifications, situations and specific concerns of being  a woman being responsible for, or at least involved in, making decisions or at least having a majority say in legislation passed that affects women.

And one other point . . . this is 2014. Have we not learned that sex is an essential emotional, psychological, physiological and personal part of being a human – whether you are male or female? Again, why would this or any political discussion involve the word libido at all?

Just something I was thing about . . .

The Democrats I Know


I am absolutely fascinated and surprised at just how much I have learned about my friends and acquaintances via their Facebook (FB) posts. Like many people, my FB friends consist of family, current good friends, friends I don’t see often, and friends from high school and college. I was a teenager in the late seventies and grew up in a pretty progressive area. Partying was prevalent – smoking pot, drinking, and many other drugs were involved. From what I can tell the majority of us grew up just fine and are productive members of society, some having done some pretty cool things. We were all what we considered hippies back then; sex, drugs, and rock and roll was our mantra – being the pre-herpes, pre-AIDs, pre-crack, pre-meth days. Well fast forward 30 years, and I am generally shocked at how many of my friends are raging Republicans. Today one of my FB friends, someone I spent a lot of time with growing up as we lived in the same small neighborhood for a while, as well as went through school together, shared a post stating the top 10 reasons people vote Democrat. This post listed things like:

  • Democrats believe they are too irresponsible to own a gun and that the police can protect them well enough.  
  • Democrats believe in marrying anyone they want, and can now marry their German shepherds.
  • Democrats aren’t concerned about millions of babies being aborted, but want to keep all death row inmates alive and comfy.

Though more reasons were listed, I stopped there, probably because many of these same people that are now Republicans either had abortions or had a girlfriend that had one. I know this because that kind of thing was kept from what we called “the People” aka our parents, but it usually got around with your good friends and your clique. Come on, everybody gossiped. I don’t know why that thought popped in my head, but it did. Maybe because I can’t help but wonder about so many things, though I know people change as they get older, more mature and more experienced.

Though I am an Independent, I have voted for many Democrats. I have voted for many Independents, Libertarian and Green party members, and some Republicans, too. Though I believe in God, and believe marriage is between a man and woman, I also have no problems with my gay friends or family members wanting to be married, civil union, whatever you call it. There’s the problem – half the time it’s a matter of semantics. But that’s another story for another time. Having said that, I do not believe in people marrying their dogs, nor do my Democratic friends.

I believe in the right to own a gun, and I have had a few. I do not have a problem with background checks, and have been through them not only to buy a gun, but to get a few jobs. They have been registering guns for years, so it’s not like this is exactly new. I would not be honest though if I did not tell you that I do have issues with the government having so much information about us, and worry that this could become problematic someday. Many of my friends who are Democrats are gun owners and believe in this right. I also have a few Republican friends that are totally anti-gun.

Getting back to the abortion issue, typically no one is pro-abortion. They are pro-choice. Meaning they do not think middle-aged men in suits should make healthcare and life-changing decisions for women, particularly women they do not know. The thought of any woman feeling so desperate (for  whatever reason) as to end a pregnancy, and then having to do it in unhealthy, unsanitary conditions, possibly destroying any chances they have for future children is unacceptable to some. Quite frankly, that is unacceptable to me. I had so many girlfriends who had abortions in the late 1970s and 1980s, some more than one. I can just imagine how many of them would have had different outcomes if their options had been different. Many of them would have sought out that procedure regardless, and would’ve ended up in some back alley-like hellhole. Many of them might not have the beautiful children and grandchildren they have now. Would that have been a righteous punishment for a mistake made as a young person finding their way in the world? I am not saying abortion is the right solution to an unwanted pregnancy, but what I am saying is that is a decision that the woman facing that dilemma should be able to make by herself with her healthcare professional. Many of my Democrat friends are pro-life opponents. I also have some pro-choice friends who are Republicans.

Last but not least, I do not think anyone I know believes that all death row inmates should be kept alive and comfy, regardless of their political opinion – but they do want to make sure the person on death row is actually guilty.

I just wanted to shed some light on how some of the Democrats and Republicans I know think about these particular subjects. I have much more I would like to address, but this is enough for today.

Just something I was thinking about . . .