Yes, we have no bananas....

Random thought of the day...I have been voting since 1974. While stationed overseas I have voted by absentee ballot more than once.

Until a few years ago, I'm not sure I ever gave it a 2nd thought...as I am sure most of you would relate to.

But now, its being touted as rife with controversy.... prone to hacking and illegality.

But yet, its a proven resource used by the very people now doubting its veracity.

Sounds fishy to me.....why now?

Gore didnt worry about it and he lost an election because of a bad machine! And he quietly accepted his fate. for the good of the country and all of us. ( History has determined that was a mistake of epic proportions)

Mccain lost to Obama and never questioned the process.....

Now a guy that cheated Veterans out of money for a phony university scam, and had to repay money to his own charity that he used as a personal piggy bank, is questioning the honesty and legitimacy of the process... HONESTY, LEGITIMACY?

Re-read that last statement. What the hell does he know about honesty? He is talking about not vacating the White House if he loses......and now his AG and most of the REPUBLICAN leaders are setting up the scenario as a real possibility....

That should scare the hell out of all of you.

Republican or Democrat.

We have principles that were established over 200 years ago.

The peaceful transition of the Presidency is the bedrock or our system and the envy of the modern Democratic world!

Without it we really do have anarchy.....let that sink in.....

We will have become a Banana Republic, without the Bananas...😔

Dr. Strangelove, or how I learned to love the bomb....

George Carlin once said, My stuffs stuff, your stuffs shit...keep your shit away from my Stuff!

That pretty well sums up how most Americans feel about us vs. the rest of the world.

Or as others have put it...'our shit dont stink'.

As a natural born citizen and honorably discharged veteran, I find it disturbing when people that I know and associate with,  suddenly become these Flag Waving zealots everytime we fire off a couple of cruise missiles and kill bad guys.

I'm not saying they dont deserve it, most of them have gotten away with planning attacks and killing Americans and allies alike unabated. I'm all for taking them off the battlefield. Good riddance I say.

But, if  I push you, and you punch me and then I shoot you....which one of us is really the bad guy now?

That is pretty much how I sum up the problems in the middle east. 

Have you ever noticed how we tiptoe around China and Russia, but yet we bomb everyone else with reckless abandon all  in the name of being right or retaliation for being bombed by them?

Let's get one thing straight. It's never been about getting even..if that was the case, Bush Jr. would have invaded Saudi Arabia! They bombed the twin towers not Iraq...But everyone hated Saddam Hussein and was looking for a way to get him off the world stage....

I'm not suggesting he was a nice guy and didn't deserve his fate, but all we did was take out someone that was able to keep peace between 2 historical enemies, the Sunni and the Kurds. Once we blew that up...LITERALLY, then without that moderating force, we (as in BUSH), strengthened the splinter reform groups that lurked inside of IRAQ that he was able to quash with his hard handed control.....

ISIL originated as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, which pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and participated in the Iraqi insurgency following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by Western forces at the behest of the United States

Syria is another quagmire we never had any real reason to be involved in...and IRAN....well our history with them starts with us throwing out a (wait for it), a democratically elected President and installing the Shah of Iran! 

WHY?  for the OIL silly, thats why!

Thats right boys and girls, we are the terrorists in Iran...so once they had enough of his corruption and Mass killing of his people, they overthrew him and installed a cleric and became a religiously ran country and took over the embassy and held hostages until we elected a new President and they were released.  Don't believe me? Click on the link below.

The CIA and the Shah of IRAN

So, lets recap shall we....we created the Islamic Regime of Iran, we helped create ISIS, we are still aiding and abetting Israel to keep killing the Palestinians....(thats another history lesson for another day)...and yet every time we blow something up, we all grab our Flags and cheer while we continue to kill 'our' enemies!

No wonder we need a bigger military than anyone else in the world...it seems to be our very nature to just piss everyone off and then when they decide they have had enough, we send over a few more bombs.....

Its not about who is the President...its about who we are as a people. And it seems to me we just arent very nice people anymore ....sigh 

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! 

Making America Great Again...a year in review, actually just the last 2 weeks!

Exclusively available at the Donald J. Trump for President Store

Can you say 'Emoluments Clause'?

Don't worry, apparently the President and his family cant either.....

This 'Presidency' has been nothing more than a branding exercise since the great orange one came down the escalator in Trump Tower and changed the course of Americas history forever.

Without rehashing the last 2 years....(you can do that by reading previous issues of the Puzzle Palace)...let's concentrate on the last 2 weeks shall we.

In no particular order from the previous episode of 'TRUMP' a crime family drama......

Pelosi and Schumer visit the President and he swears on National TV that he will own the Government shutdown if he doesn't get his wall.

General Flynn pleads guilty to some strange bullshit involving influence peddling to the Turkish Government.

Michael Coehn pleads guilty to being a stupid ass Trump minion and all around money launderer. Gets ready for Prison. Decides to tell all about Trump family business.

Paul Manafort goes back to court, (already in prison) to talk about Russian influence peddling and money laundering.

The  CHUMP...er TRUMP Foundation is ordered to close and give remaining money to actual charities instead of paying for Barron's Cub Scout dues ($7) and large photos of Trump to hang at his Golf Course.($20,000.00)

Ivanka..(who the hell names their kid IVANKA?) overcharged guests for the use of the Trump DC hotel for the inaugural ball and literally is told, that if this gets audited they could be in trouble...She does it anyway. Over $100 Million is donated to hold a few dances without any (A) list entertainers. An audit is being considered.... PS. the hotel is actually owned by the government and has a clause in the contract forbidding Trump from owning it...WTF?

Trump mysteriously on a whim decides to pull out of Syria and hand it over to the Russians and the Turks...(wait, WHAT?) didnt i just mention something  about Russia and Turkey? 

The Secretary of Defense quits in protest.......

Trump says its all or nothing on his wall...$5 Billion or nothing.

Government shuts down..for the 3rd time this year, Trump blames it on the Democrats...(see above) 

OH, and I almost forgot, The stock market is in decline and will close with the worst year in the last 10 and ends up wiping out all of it gains for the year, interest rates are on the rise and GM and other Big industry corporations are closing factories and laying off 1000's of employees.

AND THIS IS JUST THE LAST 2 WEEKS!

Wake the FUCK UP PEOPLE! Please.........

At least we can say Merry Christmas again........

so there's that.