Day 9 and were still way behind where we should be in aid

While Trump cheers himself saying how great a job he is doing in regards to the disaster in Puerto Rico (and just left for his usual weekend off) they are suffering and dying.
These are American citizens yet he and the GOP treats them like a third world country.  Did they ask Texas or Florida how they were going to pay for aid?
We should have ha the navy and air force in their a week ago to help out.

Government Reform

Listening to the lies and dodges from government officials the past few days I am again struck by how bad things are getting.
We need real government reform.

Some Ideas

• Get money out of politics. Start with getting rid of PACs and Citizens United.  Let organizations encourage people to vote or donate as individuals but require transparency and prohibit them from donating.
• Make it a crime to lie to the public.  I am tired of hearing how its not a crime for a government official to lie to the public. Who wants an employee that lies to them? In most cases they make it a crime for the public to lie to them so why not the reverse?  Dodges and especially no comments can be allowed but not provable lies.
• More transparency in government.
• Slimmed down bills.  We need Congress to stop burying legislation in thick overly worded bills padded to make it so complicated.  Many Congressman dont read and fully understand the bills they vote on. That should be a crime.  Give it a common sense or high school test and if the average graduate cant understand t redo it.
• Every proposed bill should have a reasonable public review period. Exempt emergency legislation but the American People should be able to review and give our opinions.
• A strong and effective Ethics office that reports to US.

How about you? What changes would you like to see?

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?

GOP led by Senators Lankford, Hlls and Hatch and may have made progress on Immigration

This interview outlines the Succeed Act, it is only  part of the issue  but it sounds like good legislation to me.

• Sets up a time line towards Naturalization which helps deal with the uncertainty for them and their families and communities.
• Sets in place pretty strict requirements but ones that were mostly in DACA.  Basically it takes 15 years during which they have to be productive members of society and staying out of trouble.

Sounds good to me, though their is  lot to be done, including securing borders and dealing with the overstay visa problem.

1 week to go for the GOP to try and repeal the AHCA

The GOP has decided to make another attempt to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act using a procedure to bypass the normal repeal process.
If Congress was operating in good faith they would change the law for the better.  That they feel they have to resort to trickery and legal loopholes rather than persuade the citizens that the changes to be made are good for us. That the GOP feels they cannot win a debate or persuade a majority of the country to support it indicates a failure of leadership and the lack of desire to serve the people.

Republicans say they must do this as they promised to repeal and replace an unpopular law.
However they seem to have missed the point.  They promised they had a better plan that would lower costs for all Americans, yet all evidence points to this doing the opposite for most.
The elderly and sick will suffer first but eventually everyone gets sick and if they are lucky enough old.  Further business will suffer as more people get sick and cannot afford health care and lose time at work or fail to pay their bills and as so many before file bankruptcy because they got sick.
Also it seems likely more people will be removed from employee based insurance plans.
Ask your Senator to vote no or justify their actions to you.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game unboxing

My first video.
I picked the unboxing and it went a bit long at 49 minutes but includes a good amount of information for those knew to GURPS.

After the video I saw the GM screen which I had set aside during my first attempt at the video.  I will do a shorter video on that this weekend.

The Health Care lie

So the GOP is trying yet again to quickly push a Repeal and Replace bill.
They had 7 years to work on a bill and have been running on it as a signature issue all that time.
They have shown us they did not bother and when they took over the legislative and Executive branches they had nothing ready to go. They keep trying to pass something using deceitful and under handed methods.

• Senator Barosso (Wyoming)  when interviewed refused to answer any question on the new bill and kept pivoting to Obama Care.   If you honestly believe your thing is better than the other guy you would tout its merits rather than just deflect or attack something else. This is a bullying tactic not a rational one.
• Senator Cruz (Texas) Says there are no cuts, though there are.
• Vox interviewed 9 Senators and NONE were able to sell this as a better bill for American citizens.
• The GOP is still trying to force it through reconciliation to avoid Democratic votes.  They want to pass a partisan bill despite complaining that the AHCA was passed as a partisan bill (It wasn't, GOP members voted for it and put in amendments) and rushed through (again, a lie as AHCA went through committees and was looked at for over a year) and this new effort is again going to be rushed through without full examination

Call your local senator office and let them know your feelings.

We need and deserve a congress that works for the American people rather than the drug and insurance companies that fund their campaigns.