Taking a Knee is more respectful than burning a flag

We have all seen a lot of commentary on his and Trump is increasing the rhetoric.

First taking a knee is actually not really disrespectful. 

Disrespecting the Flag includes...

• Burning the Flag
• Trampling the Flag or letting it hit the dirt
• Hoisting another flag such as the Confederate flag above the US flag.
• Honoring the Confederate flag, which was a symbol of sedition and attacking the United States.
• Talking during the Pledge or Anthem.

Quietly taking a Knee?  That is honoring the flag but praying for things to get better.

Trump cares nothing for the flag or the anthem.  Remember during his inauguration how Melania had to remind him to put his hand over his heart?

He dodged the draft, sold the country to the Russians and wants to sell our national monuments to the oil companies.  The man never cared about the USA, he just wants attention and conflict.

He came down harder and more impassioned against the NFL then he did the Nazis and KKK after Charlotsville.

He chose to pick a fight to get attention rather than help the people in Puerto Rico, an actual US territory.

Hey GOP!  Next time can YOU show the country some respect by nominating a patriot for president?

Conservatives so full of hate there trying to kill each other now

This story on Rush Limbaugh is really crazy.
Once in awhile I will listen to parts of his broadcasts just to try to keep my news balance.  I never finish because he is so disgusting but at least I try to listen to the Right Wing Extremists side of things.
In this broadcast reviewed by The Young Turks we see Rush Limbaugh claim media coverage of hurricanes is a conspiracy by small business retailers and the so called Deep State. He actually encourages his listeners to ignore the news and not take shelter or stock up on emergency supplies.

Meanwhile Sheriff Grady Judd will be using emergency shelters to arrest people with outstanding warrants. Think about that a minute.
Having the police check everyones paperwork in the middle of a Cat 5 Hurricane will...

• Slow down access to safety for his local citizens.
• Put his officers at risk hauling people off to jail during the storm.
• Possibly scare some people away from safety who fear they may have a warrant.

If these people are really dangerous why not serve the warrants under normal circumstances?

This is just an easy way for him to look tough but his stupidity and reckless disregard for human life (Including public safety officials) is what really comes through here.

DNC proves yet again they have learned nothing

So this story where the DNC used barricades to block access to Nina Turner.
They still have not learned and despite the rhetoric just proved yet again that they are not changing.

We need to kick them out and get in people who will work for the people not corporate donors.

How to combat Terrorism

With the most recent bombing I was listening o the news and thinking about this issue.
Some people are blaming Radical Islamic Ideology but is that just an excuse or symptom or the real reason for these acts?
Hate speech certainly does not help, we have seen an increase in domestic terrorism, hate crimes and violence here in America.

Terrorism is very very rarely done by refugees or short term immigrants.  Most of the time it is from citizens with lower income and who feel they have suffered hardship and disenfranchisement.
The problem seems to be people who feel they have nothing to lose and looking for someone to blame.
We see this throughout history.
The Nazis blamed the Jews for a ruined economy left over from the staggering debt they had from World War 1.
The IRA blamed England.
And what about the US?
Domestic Terrorism has been credited mostly to Right Wing groups with notable exceptions being the Animal Liberation Front and Animal Rights groups.
Timothy McVeigh the bomber of the largest domestic terro act prior to 9-11 was a Gulf War vet who blamed the Federal government for Ruby Ridge and Waco  and had been bullied as a child and later in life considered the US Government to be the biggest bully of all. He was a noted KKK member and got in trouble for buying and wearing a "White Power" on base.

Looking at the history we have seen most of these people had come to the attention of authorities prior to their attack. Unfortunately the Republican party and Donald Trump (likely at the behest of Bannon) have decided to curb funding and make watching these people a lower priority.
Looking over these people we see a lot of common things about them.  The Ideology and group they claim to support changes but the circumstances remain very similar.
These are generally lower educated people, with a criminal or even violent history and feel oppressed or powerless.
That gives us our answer.

Effectively Combating  Domestic Terrorism

Empower our citizens so they have opportunities to get and keep good jobs, reduce school bullying and domestic violence and give people hope for a better future.

We also need to monitor hate groups and deny guns to those identified as mentally ill.

What we should not do is stir up hate vs. religions, ethnic groups, different genders, or differing sexuality.  I am proud of my state of Oklahoma where to my knowledge we have not succumbed to the hate crimes we see in other states against Muslims and we have a very charitable Muslim community here in OKC.  Now if we can stop the anti black hate crimes, especially in Tulsa.

What issue do you car about the most?

Everyone has their own priorities and most of us only have the time, money and energy to fight for a few, especially after taking care of our own lives and perhaps families.
So what are your top issues? Health Care, Environment, the economy, jobs, wages, national security, civil rights, First Amendment, Gun Control? References The US Constitution
In Alphabetical order the main ones I hear people talking about....

Civil Rights

Our Founding Fathers felt this was a vital issue and put in place a lot of specific protections. Freedom of religion, speech and the press. Right now our pres is under attack and open and public derision by the government, threats have been made to them and to our right to Free Speech. Below are excerpts from the Bill of Rights.

• Article the third... Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
• Article the fourth... A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
• Article the sixth... The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
• Article the seventh... No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
• Article the tenth... Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
• Article the eleventh... The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
• Amendment XIV, Section 1 All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
• And you might want to read the Declaration of Independence.

Climate Change

The overwhelming majority of scientists agree and frankly if your old enough or just look at records you can see for yourself that the world is warming. Melting icecaps and rising sea levels will have the largest impact on coastal regions but higher temperatures supply more energy for severe storms and we have seen more suffering and destruction from those already. The Republican party has proposed to remove the EPA on Dec 2018 and President Trump has proposed to cut funding, rolled back regulations and taken down information from the EPA website as well as issuing them gag orders. He even tried to prohibit them from talking to Congress. The main justification for allowing this to continue is that it will be bad for large business and the economy as it hurts Automotive, Oil, Gas and Coal industries. You can abide by that oversimplification and choose the Environment and your kids or those industries.  However we can strive for renewable energy and simply change the nature of those industries and jobs. Transforming and innovating could make us world leaders in new technology which would boost the economy while still allowing those industries to sell to other countries.  This group has some good ideas and an actual plan on the subject.

Another item is the Paris Accords, we already are ahead of the game here so backing out just hands over the credit and leadership position to other countries.

Economy

The GDP and overall productivity of America has gone up year over year (generally in terms of actual dollars) and this chart shows actual numbers in dollars, percentage and major events.

As you can see major tax cuts, recessions and banking or S&L failures led to drops. Deregulation led to gains though caused later losses such as the banking bailout due to excessive bad loans and investments. It is my position that we need to regulate Banks and other industries to keep them from defrauding their customers and needing another big bailout. Wage increases have been shown to increase consumer spending.  Infrastructure spending will increase growth, though I think it would only be short term so I oppose that if it also increases the debt. Trickle Down Economics has proved to be a failure and I oppose that.

Education

Section 8 of the Constitution address this in part "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" so apparently they thought Science and the Liberal Arts were important to a great country. 

The Department of Education was founded in 1979 by Jimmy Carter so getting rid of it is a predictable Republican goal. Personally I think the concept is good but the execution was poor and more authority should be left to the States and local communities. A good education is important to individual liberties and the pursuit of happiness and makes for more productive workers which benefits the overall economy.  How we achieve this is a good debate. Progressives want free college tuition, and Republicans want more private and charter schools, deregulate education so schools are not held to any standards or accountability.  Recently they even talked about restricting the GI bill for veterans.  You do not have to side with either extreme, for example I feel that the Department of Education should be a watchdog and reporting agency so we can see how well the schools are actually doing and make informed choices.

Government Reform

Our Founding Fathers were very concerned about this issue.  A Free Press and states being able to convene for constitutional amendments were considered vital to keeping government honest and working for the people.  I feel this is also a part of why they wanted a well regulated militia.

• Section 9 "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."
• Article II, Section 1 "The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them."
• Article II, Section 4 "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

To me the biggest thing we can do to reform the government is get money out of politics. WolfPac is working on this, though they are opposed by Common Cause and of course politicians.

Health Care

The right to life is in the declaration of Independence and Health Care is probably the most talked about thing in politics.  President Trump even said Australia's system is better than our system. So apparently he favors universal health care or Medicare for all, which would be the only way to live up to the promises he made during the campaign.  The idea here is to take the insurance companies out of the equation and go with a single payer system.  So we see the same doctors but instead of fighting with insurance to pay we use government systems.  This would raise taxes, though that would be offset by no longer paying insurance premiums.  However some oppose it because they think insurance companies are better than the government and feel health care should be an individual thing you earn by having a good job, not a right.

Job Growth

I think everyone wants to see strong job growth, the trouble is people cant agree on how to make it happen. Republicans say that giving larger tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations will work. Progressives are for raising the minimum wage and improving education. Democrats want more infrastructure spending.  I lean towards the Progressive side.  History shows raising the minimum wage promotes consumer spending and businesses sell more stuff. History also shows the tax breaks just lead to more stock buy back, dividends and executive pay raises not new jobs. Infrastructure spending does create new jobs but there short  term. What we really need are new jobs and new industries.  Automation is decreasing jobs in many industries and it will only get worse over time. Eventually all the mining and manufacturing jobs will just be machine operators and a lot less of them.  Senator Sanders is the only politician I have ever heard even talking about that issue but if you work in those fields you have seen it happen and increasing.  We need to invest in new industries or else all of America will suffer.

National Security

We need a strong military.  However most of our spending is not on people but expensive systems and even more expensive maintenance programs. We outspend more than any other country by a significant amount.  Do we really need to spend so much? Cut $200 billion from the budget and we still outspend China by $226 billion, almost double what they spend!  Russia comes in at a 'mere' $44.6 billion.  Imagine how wonderful things would be if we spent that money on America! We could invest in Clean Energy  to insure our energy independence and not worry about the Middle East, Medicare for all, and invest in new infrastructure and technology.  We would be safer, more popular with tourist income (new jobs), live better lives (Cheaper energy and health care, better infrastructure) and who knows what kinds of benefits we would see with new technology.  Remember no other country can take over America, especially if we keep our own guns and a strong navy and Air Force to defend our shores and foreign interests.  NATO was founded in part because of our desire to prevent another world war and if one did happen it would happen in other countries not ours. Our Military industries already sell to foreign countries so they wont suffer unduly and they are positioned for moving into many of the higher tech industries.

Pollution

No one really wants polluted air and water so why is this even an issue?

The answer of course is that some business think it would hurt their bottom line.  It certainly does cost more to not pollute, though many companies are actually for reducing pollution and improving fuel economy.

Taxes

Republicans want to cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, Democrats want them to pay more.
If you feel that wealthy people should pay lower taxes than middle class fine.  If you feel that corporations should be taxed less ok as well.  Just be clear on the results and expectations and dont fall for the lies.  Trickle Down Economics have been proven to fail so lowering these taxes will not improve job growth.

How to keep your Politician accountable

It is important to remember your politicians are supposed to represent you the voter. It can be hard to tell when a politician is voting if they are voting for you or some lobbyist who paid for their election campaign or gave them other financial incentives.

This is vital to empower the voter and some of these sites are really easy and quick to read. IF Americans get in the habit of checking on their politicians they will find things get better.  This works for you Left or Right, just check up on your politician after a vote your interested in and odds are whomever gave them money will have had an influence on it.

Here are ways to help and empower you the voter.

• Political Party Time A calendar of upcoming campaign fundraisers.  Nice site for tracking who is buying your politician.
• Campaign Money You can check by zip code to see who is funding your politicians.
• Follow The Money this is an example of my Senator Jim Lankford.  Use this site to see who donates to your person.
• Maplight Another site to check on funding.
• Open Secrets Donation tracking combined with news.

Finding your Representative or Senator

• Federal Representaive (House)
• Federal Senators Contact page
• Ballot O Pedia Find ALL your politicains!  Requires full street address but includes Federal, State and local officials.
• Town Halls to see any upcoming town halls

How did they Vote?

Below are some very easy to use sites that let you track important information about your legislatures

• Vote Spoter App
• GovTrack Voting records that can be emailed to you. Also very easy to use website.

Vote Smart A decent way to see various positions, especially as seen by various third party agencies. Also good at seeing policy statements by politician.

• Ballot Pedia Provides more of an overview rather than specific details. However there is a lot of data here.
• Congress.gov

Net Neutrality is a Free Speech issue

This article by CNN on the latest activity regarding Net neutrality lacks details but I recommend calling your legislature and letting them know how you feel.
The basic idea is that your internet provider can decide what you see on the internet based on how much they pay them.  So larger companies can afford to pay more for better access and smaller independent business or individuals will not pay as much so those sites will be harder to reach.

If we had a large choice (say 5 or more) home internet providers this might be acceptable, however most Americans have 1 or 2 provider choices so its pretty much a monopoly.  This is why President Obama tried to treat home internet providers as utilities like our water and power.  The current congress however prefers to treat them as regular service  providers, more like cell phones so feel they should have little or no regulation.