When Is Enough Enough? The Answer Is Blowin' In The Wind ...

I kind of think our Characters might like this guy.

It's like: Live however you want but really ya gotta stop killing people and trying to make everyone agree with you.

How many times over the course of the life of humankind are we going to have to learn this most fundamental of lessons before it finally sinks in?

They say practice makes perfect.

We've been practicing for a lot of millennia; you'd think we'd start to figure this thing out pretty soon here.

The answer is blowin' in the wind

You're invited to click on the link above. It's an old song, but one that might help you understand where a lot of us are coming from. We don't know what it will take to get to where we want to be, or how long, but we have to keep trying.

Draining the swamp ... it's a filthy stinking job ...

As the mist begins to clear, the swamp yaws its jaws and lets loose a stench fit to choke a person. 

The kicker is that we can’t sow it with salt but have to try to reclaim it for the growing of more healthy and productive crops … we don’t want to kill it, just drain it.

Ah the swamp.

It’s got critters in it, critters with fangs and claws that are naturally going to object to their swamp being drained. 

And there are bugs, lots and lots of bugs. 

There are big critters and medium-sized critters and smaller critters. 

There are critters so little you can’t see them but they’re nonetheless deadly. 

There are snakes and creepy-crawlies. 

The swamp nurtures mosquitoes and they swarm out in hordes carrying disease and death.

Coincidence, of course ...

Gathering turns ugly

The above link is to a story about a rally that ended in tragedy ...

As I read through this account (there are many, and this one is skewed left) the thought came into my head and refused to leave. I think it was 'triggered' by references to 'outsiders' being primary instigators of violence.

The thought?

"He's back."

New Political Party

Now, I'm registered as an Independent (Unaffiliated) so I get to be disgusted by both democrats and republicans on a regular basis without feeling a bit of disloyalty or guilt about it.

Just lately I've seen that somebody thinks some people should oughta have their own political party, just for them.

I've also seen recently that somebody else thinks that some other folks should oughta have their own political party.

We've already got a whole bunch of political parties, so what are a few more, right?

It's still going to come down to having to choose between democrat and republican, for the most part, right? The others are basically just support groups for different 'causes'.

Right?

Maybe.

But maybe not.

Which 'demographic' in 2016 managed to throw their collective weight behind a candidate to win an election against all the odds?

Hmmm?

It surely wasn't the democrats who scoffed and ridiculed.

It wasn't the republicans who fought until they could fight no more.

It wasn't any of the other 'organized' parties, either.

It was the Deplorables.

Hillary Clinton will never be President of the United States of America. She may have, however, bequeathed to our nation a legacy that we might just embrace, whether she likes it or not.

She may have thought she was 'attacking' the republican party by spewing out a label, but that doesn't hold a lot of water because the republican party was as opposed to the candidate chosen by the Deplorables as she was. It didn't exactly agree, but at least it had the common sense to listen when the Deplorables refused to back down. The republicans did  not choose Donald Trump. The Deplorables did. It just so happened that he was, at the time, going through republican channels.

So.

Who might have to once again step up to the plate to get our nation out of the morass of trouble we've found ourselves in?

Not the democrats, not the republicans, not any of the 'organized' political parties (which in a bizarre way really do remind me of all the various 'organized religions' of our time).

For a time, recently, I thought about the concept of requesting a third political party - the Independent Party. Then it dawned on me that people are abandoning both left and right and an Independent Party would likely end up a battlefield for all of those disillusioned folk from both sides. NOT my idea of a good time, and NOT my idea of any kind of a winning combination, nope.

Then I realized that the 'party' I'm wishing for already exists. Neither the left nor the right would be remotely interested in it, so we're free and clear on that front; none of the 'fringe' groups want to be associated with it, so we're free and clear of them too.

See, the Deplorables wouldn't have to fight the republicans to get their candidate on the ballot. The republicans would have their own. The same goes for the democrats and everyone else.

Heh.

It's not like the Deplorables of the United States of America have anything to prove, right? They've already proven they can unite, they can vote, and they can win.

Because the colors red and blue are already taken I hereby claim WHITE as the color of the Deplorable Party. It's a whole lot more appropriate than you're thinking. White is produced only when all of the colors of the light spectrum are present. So don't start with the 'race card' because that bit of hate ain't gonna fly.

Red represents the Republicans.
Blue represents the Democrats.

What does White (the color you get when you combine all of the colors of the spectrum) represent?

Why White represents the Deplorables, of course.

We truly are the combination of every aspect of the spectrum you can imagine. We absorb into ourselves (so long as nobody hurts anybody else) what the others damn in each other.

We are the Stars on our Flag, all equal in status and all equally distributed among the Blue.

We are the White that Balances the Red.

We are a part of the Flag of the United States of America, along with the Justice of Blue and the Mercy of Red; ours is the color the others work toward achieving, for we are the color of Peace.

God Bless Us Every One.

Feeling a bit snarky ...

Apparently Hillary is developing an interest in learning how to pray.

Being not a deity myself and only too human, I've been praying 24/7 for all my life. That's because I view every breath as a prayer, you see, and have confidence that the Almighty has a pretty fair grasp on what's what in the world in which we live in. I expect the Almighty knows full well that I'm going to draw a breath of snark now and then.

I reckon from Hillary's perspective, learning how to pray might make sense to her. She could probably start a fairly large prayer group, from what I understand.

Be that as it may be, I freely admit that I find the whole thing a mite ... odd ... all things considered.

Interested Independent Watches, Listens, Waits For Democrats

If the democrats had even half an ounce of common sense they would sit down and shut up and mind their own business for eight years while the republicans mind their own business, which is tending to healing the wounds of the United States of America.

Once we have regained a healthy nation we will be in a much better position to be generous to others. All we can do is the best we can do with what we have to work with at any given time. If we can’t afford to be generous, we can’t afford it. At least let us get back onto our feet before you pull the rug out from under us again, for pete’s sake.

I know that sounds kind of harsh.

Standing in the middle can be entertaining at times. It can also cause a Quaker to cuss. 

Out loud.

I swear.

Sometimes.

Out loud and everything.

That’s the literal interpretation of ‘I swear’.

Actually, it’s a figure of speech that’s an expression of frustration and disgust.

On the entertaining side of things, I’ve been watching and waiting to see what the democrats are going to come up with for a platform. As a middle-stander, I generally have to choose between left and right so it behooves me to keep an eye and an ear on both. A couple of weeks ago I caught a bit of a glimmer but thought to myself, ‘Self, this has got to be a joke. Everything that guy just spouted comes straight from the Trump administration.’ 

And so I waited and watched some more. Jobs, they’re saying. We’ve got a million more jobs now than we did six months ago, and it’s not the democrats who are doing that. Money, they’re saying. The stock market is going strong and steady, on the rise in the past months and it’s not the democrats who are doing that. Justice for all, they’re saying. The hammer of Justice is about to fall hard on some who apparently thought they were exempt and it’s not the democrats who are making that happen.

Yada yada.

So you tell me: if you were in my shoes, standing in the middle, watching and listening, what would you think about what you’re seeing and hearing?

On the one side there are people actively doing stuff every which way from Tuesday while people on the other side deride them for what they’re doing. Then the other side’s folks start yapping about how they’re gonna do this that and the other thing – and it’s all the same stuff the first side’s people are already in the middle of doing (you know, the ones that are being derided).

Me, I’m going, ‘Well if you were going to do all that stuff, how come you didn’t when you had the chance? You really think I’m going to fall for a line of baloney like that? Come up with something of your own for crying’ out loud. All you’re spouting, that I’ve heard so far, is pretty much plagiarism. You think just because it’s working for the republicans you can just take what they’re doing, claim it, and people are going to believe it was all your brilliant idea? Gedouddaheah.’

I’m still waiting, watching and listening.

IF the democrats can come up with a ‘uniquely their own’ viable party platform, that would be a good thing. I think the problem for them might be proving their case, but I look forward to finding out what’s on their agenda in a real sense as opposed to the rhetorical sense.

Getting a bit fed up with rhetoric, to be honest. A little less talk and a lot more action would be nice, and I’m not talking about action in terms of demonstrations, protests, and riots. There are democratic ‘strongholds’ in the United States. When those places, without the intervention of republicans and/or their resources, prove themselves to be ‘better’ in terms of fiscal responsibility, personal safety, environmental concerns, international security, employment opportunities, educational excellence, family and community involvement, etc. I might take a closer look at whatever platform has produced all of the above. At the moment, I’m not seeing anything of the sort, so there’s the challenge – to take what is and turn it into what the democrats say they’re going to create.

They can turn their minds to that while they’re sitting down and shutting up about what the republicans are doing.

And yes, I’m serious.

I would dearly love to have California and Illinois, for example, get what they want – which seems to be having the republicans bow out of their lives – and watch while they, without ‘outside interference’, do what they say they can do. It hasn’t gone too well for them just lately, but that’s doubtless the fault of the republicans. So … I say let them have at it. They’ve got almost eight years; that ought to be plenty of time to get their agenda implemented.

Oh yeah.

Well, as soon as they can come up with a party platform of their own, they can get started. I’m thinking they’d best hurry up on that.

Because in the next eight years the USA is going to find her footing again. As her strength returns her ability to be generous will return too, and it will be the republicans who do that. Because there is apparently NO support from democrats, it’s going to be almighty clear who’s doing what and who isn’t.

Just sayin’.

If the democrats want to be viewed as credible in any way, any way at all, they’d best get off their howling hinders and figure out how to prove themselves in an observable, quantifiable fashion. Rhetoric isn’t going to cut it any more. They have to actually do something positive and constructive, and it had better be outstanding because the republicans are setting that bar pretty darned high.

Watching, listening, and waiting for the next almost eight years ought to be an enlightening experience. 

Sanctuary Cities Losing Funding?

http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/261-sanctuary-cities-lose-funding

And it's a long list indeed.

Relative to the budgets of a lot of these places, the numbers might not seem huge, but it's kind of the principle of the thing.

My guess is that it might be a wake up call to the voters in those areas.

They'll probably hit 'snooze'.

What I don't understand is what the objection is. The only people ICE wants are already criminals for cryin' out loud. You'd think folks would be happy to cooperate in getting criminals out of their communities.

Ach.

What do I know?

I know that's an almighty long list.

Fact.

Get your reading glasses out.

note: the above is not the only site that's got this list - it's just the first one that popped up for me