The Man in the High Tower..the consequences of living in an Alternate Reality

In this issue of the Puzzle Palace I want to discuss something bizarre and highly unlikely.....NO, its not the Trump administration, however bizarre and unlikely that already is!

I want to discuss an alternative reality, a divergence from our original timeline..when it happened and how things are going there!

It all started the evening of December 11, 2000. The night before the Bush V Gore decision. There was a GEMINID Meteor Shower and a full Moon at the same time! Don't believe me? Check out the link!

NASA Geminid Meteor Shower December 11, 2000

Full Moon in Gemini on Dec 11th 2000

 My theory is as we passed through this, a shift happened in the space/time continuum  and for a split second 2 Earths were created. On the following morning the Earth all of us reading this live on was pushed into a new and disturbing timeline...and we all know what happened and continues to happen.

BUT, in the uninterrupted Earth timeline, the following morning Dec 12, 2000 the Supreme Court ruled in Favor of Gore...(as it rightly should have) and President Al Gore was sworn in on January 21st 2001.

In that timeline the 9-11 bombers were apprehended by the FBI and the Twin Towers are still standing today.

We never went to war with Iraq.....Saddam Hussein was eventually overthrown by his own people and became a Democratic Republic and a member of NATO.

After 8 years of peace and prosperity under a Gore Administration, President Hillary Clinton was elected (the Republicans still offered John Mccain and Sarah Palin...some thing never change) as our 1st female President and after a less than spectacular but quiet 4 years reign,  our current President Barack Obama(serving his 2nd term)  has managed to continue the unparalleled 19 years of peace and prosperity with a balanced budget and low 4 trillion dollar deficit.

The Stock market is over 35000 and un-employment is steady at 2.3 %. Since we never had the Supreme Court stacked with Republican cronies, the 2008 District of Columbia v Heller ruling was not struck down, (keeping the current 138 year old definition of a Militia) and the Assault Weapons ban was renewed and made permanent. Except for Columbine, (which happened in 1999) there has never been a mass shooting on the scale that we see almost weekly on our 'alternate Earth'.

They have reduced greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions to the point where the ice shelves are not melting and the sea level rise seems to be abated......

So if you have stayed with me on this journey and think this is all a fairy tale and preposterous....

Do I need to remind you who the President is today?

A Reality TV/Porn star screwing adulterer that is at best shady in his business dealings and at worst, a lying,  cheating tax evader using his new found power in the most corrosive and corrupted manner ever.

Maybe I have it all wrong, maybe he actually went back in time in a Delorean with a sports history magazine instead...thats just as likely and would've ended up with the same result....

You tell me... which is more plausible?

Hey you damn kids, GET OFF OF MY LAWN!

I heard an interesting theory the other day about why countries like China and Japan have better infrastructure like high speed rail and highways then we do....it was a real 'DUH' moment for me. 

(and it has nothing to do with a trade deficit) 

Since the early 1990's we have spent upwards of 7-8 TRILLION dollars on a perpetual state of war. To protect us from people without an Air Force or only a small regional off shore Navy by developing weapons we don't use and deploying troops overseas and building massive bases.

While they have been able to use their income to build-out their infrastructure and keep from having a deficit by not needing to maintain a war footing. They are actually causing us to go bankrupt and haven't fire a single shot.

Basically, alot of countries in the world think WE are the terrorists, and frankly I tend to agree. Somehow we think by PROJECTING power it makes us safe, when in reality we have never been invaded in modern times.

We have an ally to the North and South of us and some of the longest shoreline of any country on the planet to the East and West.

We meddle, threaten and invade other countries in an effort to PROTECT ourselves......think about this for a minute, if you never see your neighbor, and he only waves at you when you do, are you afraid of him?

Now, make him the neighbor that is constantly standing in your yard screaming at you or driving around your house all the time blowing his horn...now that guy I would quickly dislike and probably lash out against.

We are THAT guy.....I'm tired of being the UGLY American. You want clean air and better roads and better schools? Stop buying Planes and Submarines and Nuclear weapons for a while. Stop looking for the next Boogeyman to invade. 

I mean, these state of the art weapons are supposed to have a 50 year life cycle....like the B52 in the photo above!  Built in the 1950's and still rocking hard!

(what ever happened to walk SOFTLY and carry a big stick)

We are the worlds bully....Lets get off of the rest of the worlds lawn and let their grass grow for awhile....and fix the potholes, that would make me feel alot safer!

The curious case of the Republicans and the Gun

First off, I think thats a really cool looking gun..!

I mean, I get why some people are so infatuated with them.. They are powerful and threatening and convey a sense of protection and security in a world fraught with unknown boogeymen wearing black face masks and driving around in Toyota pickup trucks.

But is that really a problem in the USA? I would say NO!

It would seem the terrorist threat we face today are white men with guns killing school children and church goers..

Do they drive Toyota pickup trucks and wear Black clothing...Not that I can tell, but I haven't seen all of the evidence.

But, thats not the point of my Blog today. 

I'm not going to discuss the merits of Gun Control and whether or not its needed.......

I'm here to educate the 2nd amendment diehards that constantly post MEME's on FaceBook and Twitter about how the Democrats are going to take your guns away and force us to live in some fear based reality where we might need to overthrow a tyrannical government or some other such nonsense.

Let me help you overcome your anxiety....apparently the Right are the only ones that use guns..they are convinced that every Democrat wants to get rid of them..I guess a Democrat has never owned or used a gun as far as the MEME's I have seen suggest.

Here is my best argument for why you need to stop losing sleep over this issue.

A: There are over 400 million weapons of all types in private hands in the US...

B: If you understood the way Law making works in this country, with a Republican controlled Senate and White House  its never going to happen.  And if for some strange bizzaro world reason it ever did...Mr. Trump has been able to stack the Supreme Court with NRA purchased Justices....

C: Have you ever stopped to think that maybe these MEME's are being created by a 3rd party outside of the US that is trying to force division and anarchy in our country?

D; By posting them and then asking them to be shared by other like minded thinkers, you are only perpetuating the myth and hate against others that probably share alot of your feelings. Remember, with 400 million guns, there has to be at least a few Democrats in that group.

So instead of continuing to fret about this impossibility, Take your AR15/Colt45/Smith and Wesson 38 special and blow the shit out of some black pajama wearing targets sitting in Toyota Pickup trucks and relax.

Guns dont Kill people so you need to use them for something....

RIGHT? 

A Civics lesson for the Hard of Headed

CAUTION: THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE OF MY LONGER POSTS...BUT PLEASE READ IT COMPLETELY AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND MY POINT.

A Civil lesson in Civics:

Thanks to all my friends that participated in the mini forum I had on my Facebook wall last night.

Even within my tiny circle of influence we have deep divisions and rancor.

But with that aside let me just say something I hope we can all agree on:

A good parent never gives into the demands of a child throwing a tantrum! Trumps Insistence on closing the government until he gets his way cannot be allowed to happen.

It circumvents the one thing the Republicans claim they hold near and dear to their hearts...THE CONSTITUTION!

Its not about a WALL and the EFFECTIVENESS of it. Its about the way we make laws in this country. We DO NOT give into terrorists demands.........(in a way this is exactly what the President is doing)

Lets assume the Dems agree to give him $5.7 Billion so he opens up the government...what about next time and the time after that. There are 3 co-equal branches of government for a reason. (those old farts with white hair were some pretty smart cookies) One cannot be more influential than the other or we are no better off than the Communist Dictatorships we swear to deplore...

(Or Socialism...since Republicans cant seem to separate the two)

School-House Rock

And Mitch McConnell is one of the main reasons this is happening........He says the Dems are being obstructionists...yet he refuses to put a bill to a vote on the Senate floor to see if there are enough votes for it to pass because he says the President wont sign it. (didn't anyone watch School House rock?) Thats not how the system works folks! You dont hold off until you know if it will pass or be signed. You put it up for a vote and if it does you send it to the President to sign. If he vetoes it, then it comes back to the Senate and they vote to override it. If it is overridden it becomes law, if not, it doesn't.

(Pretty Damn Simple and Fair way to run a Republic)

Thats all the Dems want to do. 

Thats fair. Thats Constitutional.

THATS HOW ITS DONE... 

So bitch all you want, but until we decide to at least play the game by the rules that exist since our inception, dont expect anything to change anytime soon.

The Return of the Gilded Age

  

Since many if not all of us were not around in this mans time, and even less of us have any interest in History, I have decided to dedicate this issue of the Puzzle Palace to a discussion of how taxing the rich is NOT detrimental to them or us.

It is a recurring theme of the wealthy to try and influence Congress to reduce the amount they pay in taxes while asking the common man and poor to pay more.

Turn of the century wealthy at a banquet to celebrate their wealth.....

The words of Teddy about this put into concise and sharp focus the reasons why they have an obligation to support the country at a higher rate than those of us on the bottom rungs.

As early as 1927 Fritz Lang's Metropolis (10 years after Teddy Roosevelt Presidency) showed us in one of the first and finest silent movies of the era  the  struggle of the working class against the Robber Barron's and Carpetbaggers of the time.

In fact, the same thing that Trump is doing to the Obama legacy is exactly what (William Howard Taft ) tried to do after Teddy left office.

One overlooked bit of history is Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican and instituted the Progressive Income Tax......Wait, What?

A Republican that was PRO tax?

Funny how the roles have reversed in the last 100 years eh?

So as we move through time, we had WWII and the growth of Corporations that would become synonymous with wealth and greed.  Suddenly the tax rate at the high end is 90%!

Now no one ever paid that and it was only on the super wealthy and large Corporations...In reality studies have shown that they were only taxed at 42%.

But what did we get for that? 

How about the National Defense Highway system?

 (INTERSTATE )  New schools.....water treatment plants.... major airports and the electric grid...to name just a few things that taxing the wealthy at the correct rate made possible.

All of the things that Make America Great!

 (Donald, are you listening) Its not about gold toilets and private jets...UGH

In the meantime, the major industries continued to grow and prosper...

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

Well, there have always been congressional lobbyists attempting to influence legislation to change taxes and laws to benefit corporations.  

Newspaper editorial cartoon from the late 1800's.

But, good men with iron will and resolve kept them at bay, knowing that what they did today would benefit generations to come, no longer roam the halls of our Congress or Senate.

 Unfortunately, those Ideals and Perseverance don't exist anymore. Gone are the Ted Kennedy's and the John McCain's of our time willing to walk up and stick a thumbs down in the air for all to see!

Which brings me to today and the inspiration for this particular blog.

Her name is Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez...

or AOC for short.

She seems to be the newest threat the Old Boy Network...This young attractive,  college educated...dancing 29 year old from NYC 14th Congressional District is about to set the government status Quo on its head!

Is she this generations Teddy Roosevelt?   Who knows, but in just the first few weeks of her on the National Scene the Republicans are going into crazy uncle mode trying to smear her reputation.

She hasn't even served on any committees yet!

This link provides a detailed explanation of the Progressive tax plan on Roosevelt and his reasoning behind it.

 Tax History of the 20th century

AOC's tax plan:

CNN/60 minutes interview of AOC

Since they are lengthy and detailed, you will have to do your own research at the links I provided...

(I can't do all of your thinking for you)

So in the end, it seems to me that after 100 years of slowly moving away from a progressive tax system that doesn't overburden the middle and lower classes, we are finally seeing a change in the Congress and the Next Generation of leaders that will be taking over from the ALL MALE ALL WHITE reign of power and to some...terror.

Maybe clean air and clean water will finally get us back on track to a fair and equitable tax system that keeps us all Happy and Healthy.

This is the beginning of how to Make America Great Again........because you all Fucked it up from before!

Trumpy Bear approves this message!