I’m a Democrat. I know a lot of Democrats. I know how they think, what they want out of life for their families and how they feel about Trump and why. The best way to describe them is to tell you how I feel and while there are some differences, most Democrats feel this way:

1. I am pro-life and because I am pro-life I am also pro legal abortion. Why? It’s simple, most people in this WORLD are pro-life. It’s ridiculous to say otherwise. As a Democrat, I understand that being in favor of legal abortion actually saves lives, not only that of the fetus but also of the woman carrying the fetus. Making abortion illegal will not stop abortions and leaving it legal provides education and alternatives to young women seeking abortion and thereby has proven to reduce the number of abortions plus saves the lives of the women who might of died trying to have an illegal abortion. Legal abortion is the only way to save these lives so I really am sick of the hypocrisy and ignorance of those who say they are pro-life when they don’t really care about human life in general.
2. I am for cracking down on welfare abuse and I believe that able-bodied people should work and need to work. Surprised? You shouldn’t be, Democrats have always stood for compassion but not for outright fraud or giving funds away to those who sit around and do nothing. I am also for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other forms of help people need as they age or are disabled. I believe the Federal Government of such a rich nation can and should afford to give aid to the American people in these matters.
3. I am for the right to bear arms. I would never vote to take away that right. Surprised? You shouldn’t be, most Democrats feel the same. We do believe that we need to enforce better arms control and that we need to ban assault weapons without a special license to own or carry one.
4. I am for the separation of church and state. My 8th great grandfather, William Thorne was one of the signers of the Flushing Remonstrance, a document that was the precursor to the part of the Constitution stating the reasons behind the need for separation of Church and State. Religious beliefs are powerful, and for that reason we must not ever let one religion be forced on others. It is one of the greatest of our freedoms and we should never take it lightly.
5. I believe in science, and I believe in education. Only the educated can understand the workings of the world and their leaders. The more you know, the better off the world and all its beings will be. The more you know the less likely it is you be so gullible as to be taken in by a creature like Trump. Our nation is seriously short on good education and common sense, let’s fix that.
6. I believe that a nation like ours can afford health care for all its citizens. I believe that one of the main reasons we still don’t have it lies with the rich and powerful insurance companies who have “bought out” our current GOP in Congress so they can continue to rip off Americans with bad, useless insurance policies.
7. I believe in equality for all humans, period. I also believe in “live and let live”. I don’t judge masses of people because of their race, religion or lack thereof or sexual orientation or gender. Why? Because I am not a weak follower of hate, I am a strong, fearless human who can think for myself, I am a Democrat.
8. I believe in legal immigration. I also believe in DACA for those who can show they have followed the law and who have jobs or have been gainfully employed for most of their years here in this great country. Sending young people back to a country they have never been to is cruel and unnecessary and does not represent our values as a country.
9. I am not a fascist, or a socialist. I am not alt-left. Most Democrats are moderate and open-minded. Many of us are Christian, Jews, Muslims Buddhists or a myriad of other beliefs or no organized religion at all. We are appalled that we have a so-called leader who cares nothing for any of these things and is, in fact, intentionally destroying these things with every day that passes. Our environment, endangered species, babies in detention camps dying and/or being taken from their parents thanks to a “leader” who can’t lead, only hate on half the nation. Attacks on women’s rights, the poor, the homeless, other nations and their leaders, and his love affair with horrendous dictators should send a message to all Americans that we, as a nation, are in great danger. Democrats know this. No, we don’t deserve to be hated, we are trying to save your sorry lives and this beautiful country.

I know who you are if you still think Trump is a good guy.  You are:

1. Afraid of change
2. Afraid of people who are not white or are different than you.
3. Have a poor education, maybe through high school, maybe no.
4. You lack curiosity.
5. You lack personal motivation and may be on Government assistance.
6. Deep down you are ashamed of who and what you are.
7. You lack critical thinking skills and probably don’t even know it.
8. You are religious, most probably Christian even though you probably have to idea what Jesus stood for…only whatever your local pastor tells you.
9. You are superstitious.
10. You think Trump ‘tells it like it is” because you really have no idea what’s going on.
11. You use the word fascist to describe Democrats even though you probably have no idea what that word means.
12. You are gullible and easily fooled.
13. You listen to what your friends say and never try to find out of it’s true because you are too intellectually lazy.
14. Most likely you drink or smoke or use some sort of mind-numbing drug.
15. Your lack of self-esteem makes you resent others around you who are successful.
16. You think educated people are elitist.
17. You think science is a sham because you are not capable of or interested in understanding it.
18. Your lack of self-esteem is bolstered by gathering in a group of similar people and acting out your lack of confidence through hating on others.
19. You have no moral base, no integrity.
20. Anything and everything Trump says or does you will do because of all of the above.
21. Guns make you feel powerful because you have no other power.

I pity you. I am sad for you, you are deplorable. I know I can’t change you but, to me, you are not a patriot or a true American. We are so much more than you.

Common Sense Def: good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.

Common sense should tell people that coffee is a hot drink, and that when spilling it, one should expect it to be hot.

Common sense should tell people that when mainstream media all over the world is saying the same thing about a situation or leader, it’s probably true.

Common Sense should tell people that there is no such thing as “alternate truth”.

Common Sense should tell people that when a story on the internet isn’t backed up by national and international media it’s not true and shouldn’t be spread without careful fact-checking. If you can’t do that, common sense should say don’t spread it, it even if you agree with it or want to agree with it.

Common sense should tell people that eating fatty foods makes you fat.

Common sense should tell people that when a “leader” undermines the Constitution, incites mayhem, discord and hate within his own country and either through incompetence or direct actions causes the death of hundreds of his own citizens something is terribly wrong.

Common sense should tell people that a person who praises his enemies and alienates his allies is up to no good.

Common sense should tell people that it’s not a good thing when a leader separates families and especially children from parents to punish them for asking for asylum.

Common sense should tell people that if you don’t want to get wet in the rain, wear a raincoat.

Common sense should tell people that a person with an amoral history of shady business dealings and mistreatment of women and minorities might not be a good choice for president.

Common sense should tell people that after three of their cigarette-smoking friends have died of cancer, it’s probably not a good idea to smoke.

Common sense should tell people that when someone tells lie after lie to you…they are probably lying to everyone.

Common sense should tell people that just because someone is a “celebrity” that doesn’t make them a good person or qualify them for a world leader.

Common sense should tell people that just because someone makes a film and calls it a “documentary” that doesn’t mean the contents have been “documented” or are even true.

Common sense should tell people that even if a friend said they “heard” this or that doesn’t mean it’s a fact.

Common sense should tell people that when a leader fills national posts with people who’s beliefs and goals are diametrically opposite to the values of the posts they are given that’s a huge red flag.

Common sense should tell people that if they put their hand on a hot stove they will get burned.

Common sense should tell people that memes and quotes on the internet are not necessarily true.

Common sense should tell people that promises are only good after they have been fulfilled.

Common sense should tell people that if they down 8 shots of 100 proof whiskey they aren’t going to feel very well the next day…if there is a next day.

Common sense should tell people that this country is not on the way to “great” in the last 24 months, it’s a mess.

Common sense should tell people to always keep a close factual eye on matters of importance to your life.

Common sense should tell people that when a leader attacks and fails to defend an entire population in his own country or anyone who is not of the same sex and race as he, really bad things will happen.

Common sense should tell people that when a country starts to collapse put your votes where they can do the most good to save it.

Let’s start using common sense, Vote…and vote BLUE this November.

It’s hard to find the words to express how I feel today. There are no words left to say that haven’t been said and no names left to describe Trump. For the past two years we have, as Americans, allowed this man to rape our country because a group of mindless fanatics think a TV celebrity can do no wrong. Then Russia, a country that has always been the enemy and completely untrustworthy interfered in our elections, (no longer up for debate), and influenced the mindless “Trump Groupies” against a woman imminently qualified to be president. We allowed this woman’s name to be dragged through the mud of conspiracy theories while a corrupt, greedy, self-entitled, witless, racist man was given a godlike pass to do anything he wanted to us. We watched while he destroyed protections for animals and the environment, hated on anyone not white, turned his groupies against the rest of us, caused hundreds of innocent people to be killed and did his best to demean women and take away their rights. He made a mockery of organized religions while pretending to be pious. We did nothing as he slowly attacked anyone who was “different” and began the process of cleaning out our armed forces of those people. He punished people seeking asylum by tearing their children away from them. He banned people from the middle east but only those he didn’t have “business” with. He insulted our closest allies and now…he has praised the most violent dictators in the world, Kim and Putin. Yesterday he went even further and actually stood next to Putin and insulted/assaulted the integrity of his own country while siding with the enemy. Enough. Trump and his entire administration are complicit in his actions. If we cannot stand up to this insanity we deserve what we get. Please contact your state representatives and congress TODAY. There is nothing more important than this, nothing. We have the power to change this travesty, let’s Make America Smart Again!

Last night Trump pretty much stayed on script but even so, his speech was full of fear mongering and false promises.  We must ask ourselves, is it worth it? Do we want wealth at the expense of:

1. Clean air.
2. Health coverage.
3. Help for the disabled.
4. Protection of our cherished lands.
5. More babies born we can’t feed or care for.
6. More women without protections against rape or pregnancy.
7. Reduction or removal of Social Security and Medicare.
8. Freedom of Press.
9. Freedom of Speech.
10. Attempts to change the very constitution this country thrives on.
11. Freedom of Religion and from religion.
12. Basic human rights for everyone.
13. Higher taxes for the middle class and poor.
14. International relations.
15. Science.

The truth is we can have both. We can have a booming economy and all of the above but the Trump administration isn’t interested in that because underneath all the promises lies a beast called greed and its last name is power. Believe it. Resist it. Persist.

Almost a year ago I fell down the rabbit hole and my world since has gotten “crazier and crazier”.  The GOP, once the bastion of the more conservative decent American, became a hell-hole of blatant lies, gutter-level morality and violent hate.  This Trump-led viral chaos spread rapidly through America and pitted Americans against each other at a time when we should have been standing together against the black hole that is the current White House and its inhabitants.  Driven by hate and fear, Americans have become the very pawns Trump needed to succeed.  Make no mistake, this was his plan, to divide and conquer…and he did.  He preached that bad was good, truth was lies and if he didn’t get his way, he bullied his way with words and deeds and bills designed to hurt this nation and those who fought back.  He attacked women, the environment and immigrants which are the very sustenance of this nation. He attacked Democrats, many of which who, in truth, are more middle-of-the-road politically than “liberals”. He tore at the fabric of what we knew as common decency and scattered it to the winds.  Still, even in the face of all of this, I have to believe that we know the difference, we know when we are being lied to, we know right from wrong and we know that at our very base we love this country. Now, almost a year later, our task is to take back our country and put it into the hands of people who care about each other, who love our freedoms and believe that when the dust settles we are all, in fact, just Americans.

The first step is to realize that our differences are much smaller than what brings us together. The majority of Americans do not want to regress back in time. We want to move forward.  The issues that divide us are not insurmountable, we just have to pay attention and start to care about the nation as a whole. We need to address the frustrations and fears of rural America.  We have to seek to understand other points of view and we need to educate ourselves and learn to not spew hate at each other. I know that last one is hard when people attack truth with outrageous conspiracy theories and venomous hate but we must answer with information, not name-calling. I am as guilty as anyone of attacking back. I was so outraged at fellow Americans, many of whom I felt were decent people, who voted this monster into the White House that I fought back with words and anger. I’m still angry every day when I see the damage he is doing. Now though, I recognize that it’s time to come together and be Americans first. We have to get back to common decency. We have to listen to our hearts, not politics or politicians or the internet. No man is an island.  When I say that Trump and his cabinet are very, very bad people, I say that as an American and as someone who knows right from wrong. Let’s solve this problem together, as Americans, before it’s too late.

Yes!  Who will be the ultimate survivor?   As we wade through the swamp that is our new government, transverse the jungle of fake news (real fake news that is, not the fake fake news which is the truth… are you confused yet?), feel the heat-wave of hate, bigotry and insanity that grips our nation and watch in dismay the potential desecration of our forests and the primitive rejection of science over distorted theology; who will be voted off?  We are mired in a daily onslaught of gormless, contradictory trash,  banal rejection of civil behavior over the crass and a bare-butt rejection of anything decent.  Education has become the “enemy” trying to cannibalize our minds and we are in fear of being dragged into someone’s cave to be enslaved, raped or murdered merely for “the game”.

So, how are we faring so far?  Frankly, many of us are smoking the pipe of denial, while others cower in their caves.  Everyone has a different reaction but who will survive?  How will we survive?  Will we be forced into a mindless civil war? Will we be complacent animals penned up in a cage of our own making or will we prevail through dogged determination and the desire to reach deep inside our primitive roots and attack? Will we defend our country, our children and the world?  I hope so.

The game is very simple, everyone takes an “action”, EVERYONE.  We all perform our action every day.  We do it consistently and we make no excuses. Do you love your country and freedoms enough to do that?  Here are some suggestions:

1. Call Congress daily https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/

2. Speak out in your community. Who cares what others think?  This is important.

3. When an injustice is done, protest it.

4. When a discriminatory law is passed, refute it.

5. Get the “Countable” App and USE it.

6.  Call, write or email your state representatives.

Complacency is the biggest enemy in this game.  You will not survive. Your children will not survive. Resist.

My guess, is that due to the title of this blog, you think I am going to talk about religion. You would be wrong. I am going to talk about how enough people in this country voted for and continue to believe that an inherently evil man can help them.  It says something vile about the state of this country that a TV celebrity can convince so many people so easily that he is somehow the one to follow in spite of his obvious shortcomings.  How they could blindly vote for a man who has never endured hardship, never wanted for anything, has been taught to hate and bully others, who files  bankruptcy as a means of getting out of paying the very people who voted for him, hates on minorities, women ( don’t you have sisters and daughters?) and anyone “different” and refuses to care about anything except himself and his immediate family.  This is our PRESIDENT people! Add to that his inability to change and an infantile, bully mentality and we “have a problem”.

We have become a nation obsessed with media and unfortunately much of that media is geared toward the uneducated. Why? Because, as Trump as said himself “I love the uneducated.”  The poorly educated are more susceptible to believing everything they read.  They can be more easily manipulated. They love to gossip. Rich and powerful people depend on this mind-set to stay rich.  Why do you think he continues to campaign telling lie after lie to his base?

At his last rally he continued to tell numerous blatant lies and his base soaked it up. They, in turn will continue those lies. They will continue the violence against anyone not white, male and straight. He knows this, he DEPENDS on this.  He knows he must keep his uneducated base on his side. Why do you think Trump has surrounded himself with billionaires in his cabinet?  Because they are people who understand and agree with him. They are arrogant, feel themselves superior and will do anything to stay that way. They exist on POWER, it’s their fuel.  They will lie knowing that their uneducated fan base will support anything they say, and then they will steal from that base without qualm because they frankly despise the very people who voted for them. In fact, the only people they are threatened by and fear are those who don’t fall for their lies. People like me and millions of other Americans who know better.  Be us.

BE US.  Be proactive, be smart, be informed, be on top of daily events. Be responsible for your future and the future of your children. Don’t cave, don’t ignore, don’t stop resisting this president and cabinet. Don’t believe what you read without verification. Don’t repeat headlines without actually reading the article.  Be us. Stop being led, lead. Be us.

Last Fall, America was hijacked. We can argue endlessly about whether the election was fair or not but the fact remains that it was a very close election, the Electoral College notwithstanding. In an age of a wildly turbulent internet which has increasingly become the go-to source for information, masses of our citizens fell prey to an endless variety of misinformation. Misinformation we now know, at least in part, was put there and/or inflamed by a foreign enemy.  Dictators like Putin know how to manipulate the masses.  They understand that the sad truth is that the average person will not only fall prey to misinformation, but will lap it up like a thirsty dog if that information satisfies their personal biases and belief system. Dictators have contempt for the average person and love the uneducated.  Putin was betting on the ignorance, gullibility and mental laziness of the average American citizen.  He was right…and wrong.  He was right in that many, many Americans are mentally lazy and gullible, he was wrong in underestimating how many of us are not.  In spite of his efforts, without the Electoral College, Trump would have lost.  But Trump didn’t lose and this country was hijacked by fanatics.  I don’t use the word “fanatic” lightly.  Isis are fanatics, but at least Isis is not pretending to be something else.  Right now, our fanatical hijackers are pretending to care about our freedoms and Constitution while they systematically dismantle our government.  Make no mistake about that.  In every cabinet post, Trump has put foxes in charge of the hen house.  He wishes to dismantle secular education. He is taking away our environmental protections because he values money over people. He wants women’s rights gone; make no mistake about it. He pretends to be a Christian so he can create a new form of militant fanatical Christianity. He actively tries to cast doubt on legitimate news sources while supporting any source that favors him.  These are the moves of a budding dictator.  He deliberately incites hate in his “base” to keep them focused against the “evil” liberals. He lies to them over and over and they lap it up and pass it around as fact. Why do you think he still holds rallies in red states?  Hitler did that too.  Trump himself has said how much he admires people like Putin and North Korea’s Kim jong un.  He sees himself in the same light. Hopefully, his willful ignorance and hubris will be his downfall. He doesn’t have the brains or education to rise to the level of his perceived “heros”.   Add to that his penchant for lying and the blatant inconsistencies in his behavior and his days are numbered. In the meantime though, we have been hijacked and the majority of us know it. So where do we go from here?  What have we learned? How do we recover our nation?

To me, some of what we need to do will take more time than we have right now. Education for instance, we need a country of educated people, but that won’t help us right now.  We need to make higher education important in rural states not something to be dismissed or considered “elitist”. We need to pay more attention to the needs and mind-set of rural states. We need to bring jobs to rural states, not old jobs, new ones. That too, will take time.  We need to have better heroes, not sports stars and celebrities. We need to once again admire integrity over steroid-induced strength and truth over our false concepts of beauty. We need to stop demonizing groups of people and go after the one’s that deserve short thrift. Short term, we must remove Trump from office and quickly.  We must then systematically remove each and every one of his cabinet appointments.  If we can get rid of Pence and Ryan in the process, even better.  The country is leaning in that direction now, but getting rid of Trump isn’t enough; we also need to undo the damage he has imposed upon us.

We can’t bring back Hillary, doing so would cause outright civil war.  So how do we get our country back? Maybe we hold a short election with new candidates?  Maybe we impeach Trump and live with whoever ends up top?  I don’t know, but we need to do something soon. We need to get our country back.  It’s been hijacked.

Don’t tell me you can’t handle what’s going on in this country right now. Don’t tell me it’s just too much or that you are emotionally spent, or that you don’t have time to pay attention, or that you are depressed. I don’t care. I don’t care that you are frightened or sad or overwhelmed. I don’t care about your fragile emotional state or that you would rather post about your favorite celebrity or sports team.  Suck it up and deal.  It’s your responsibility to pay attention. It’s your DUTY as an American and as a human being to pay attention to every single minute DETAIL of what’s going on. If you don’t, you are as much to blame for what happens to this Earth and its future as the monsters in the White House are.  In fact, you are more to blame because only in numbers can the masses overcome those in power.  Only in numbers of people who PAY ATTENTION can we ensure that those in power work for us and not themselves.  It doesn’t matter whether you are a liberal or a conservative, Democrat or Republican. Your race, gender, sexual orientation has no bearing on this.  Stand up, take your share of the OWNERSHIP for what is happening, read reliable news sources, don’t spread political or religious gossip, be in the know, empower yourself, stand up for what is right, be a good example for your children.  Everyday, I see people around me ignoring world events, remaining deliberately ignorant, telling me they are depressed. I don’t care, I don’t FREAKIN’ care how depressed you are. Suck it up. It’s your future, but more importantly, it’s the future of your children.  I don’t even have children but I care. What’s your excuse?