Random Thoughts & Observations...

My thoughts this morning are with victims of abuse who are trapped in their homes with their abusers; children and victims of domestic violence alike. Check on your peeps'. Don't ignore what you hear happening next door...

My heart is concerned for hungry children. Make sure the children in your neighborhood who depended on that meal they are now not getting while in school are being fed. Share with others if you can... 

You are your Brother's/Sister's keeper. Check on him/her...

I am reflecting on a brief exchange with a former colleague on yesterday. I think it was a call for help. He is a recovering alcoholic having a really "hard time staying sober". I didn't hear him fully on yesterday but I hear him now. I will reach out to him today and everyday I think he needs me. Check on your peeps'... 

Sustaining recovery is likely a very real challenge for far too many right about now. Don't forget them...

No one is talking about depression but it is REAL as we are stuck in our homes under too many clouds of uncertainty. Folks are losing their jobs. Folks are losing or don't have healthcare. Folks are not sure which bills to pay or not to pay as they hold on to whatever money they do have, not certain from where or if their next dime will come, some with little mouths to feed. Stores, restaurants and "nonessential" retailers are closing. California has mandated forced shut in of it's 40 million  residents, other states will follow. The highways are empty making the world feel Apocalyptic... 

The virus haunts us like a ghost we cannot see. I feel like I'm living a sci-fi movie and I don't like sci-fi! 

Certainly, I never expected to live one...

What a horrible time to lack national leadership. Shame on the US for tolerating such ignorance and utter incompetence. It now goes beyond the morons who voted for or who amazingly continue to support him (I won't even mention his name). We, the American people, are responsible for our current plight. There is no one looking out for the best interest of the nation. It is our apathy or acceptance of defeat that has allowed that...

What is terribly disturbing about this is that undoubtedly this crisis is rooted in capitalistic greed and they, the greedy capitalists who already have more money than God or that they can spend in several lifetimes, are more vested in trying to figure out how to capitalize from this crisis than they are interested in fixing it. Of course they are! Bet your life on it, figuratively I hope... The shit is just that real. 

America justifies her malfeasance on any one of three "C"s; 

Capitalism, Christianity or Conservatism. Think about it...  

The rich WILL get richer. Although it is rather poetic that with the crash(ing) of the stock market, they too, have lost much of the gains they realized while looking the other way as the rest of us were exploited or got screwed. The financial ramifications of this crisis will be far more adverse and far more reaching than most of us can comprehend. Call it karma that the greedy are feeling it too but they WILL rebound. The game is theirs. They are the kingmakers. We are simply pawns being manipulated on their game board of choice. Their next move will make sure that they are going to be OK. Trust and believe it... But there are some things that not even money can buy. 

There is no where to run during this time of crisis from a nondiscriminatory virus.   

Anyway, that's my doom and gloom for this morning. Sorry, but it is what I am feeling and thinking. It is going to be damn near 80 degrees today. As I adjust to truly learning how to dance in the rain, I accept the sunshine anxiously await more...

Have a nice day folks! Check on your peeps'; the elderly, those in recovery, those otherwise vulnerable, potentially lonely or just otherwise shut in. 

The time is truly now for us to take care of one another. 

Just Do It... 

This too, Shall Pass. Believe It...

The Hoax Is On Us...

Sadly, his occupancy is not over. Still, we have to endure his presence.

More sadly is that we face a major crisis in the US with zero direction. In his quest to destroy or discredit all things Obama, he has fired key personnel smart enough to guide and protect us through this crisis and dismantled key offices designed to keep us safe, to avoid and/or to foresee this type disaster. Instead he called it a hoax designed by Democrats to bring him down. Never mind what was happening in Asia. What an incredible ass!

Because we had zero leadership and no blueprint to follow, local and state governments, schools and private employers, corporations and private organizations have been left on their own to figure out what makes sense. As a result, we have absolute chaos with folks canceling major events, detrimental for non profits needing to raise money, and closing down services until some arbitrary date. There is no consensus or rationale behind the date, just until some random date in April or a specified number of weeks chosen for no specific reason and that have no specific meaning. No one knows exactly how the dates were selected nor what is expected to happen during the time of the shut down. It's crazy...

Students are being kept at home. Colleges are cancelling the remainder of the semester and planning to continue on line. Do we have an on line system that can handle the volume of pending traffic? Employees are losing work totally or being told to work at home? For how long? How long can employers sustain paying employees to work at home? How many unemployed people can the unemployment system absorb and for how long? Job hunting? Who is going to hire in the midst of so much uncertainty? This is an absolute mess. Nothing great about it...

Ideally, we would have had leadership at the helm who would have been proactive weeks, hell months, ago and was prepared to calm and direct us in what to do next in the face of crisis. We would have been given an umbrella and had at least some guidelines to figure out the next steps and proper fit given those guidelines for our businesses and other interests. There would be a plan and we would know what was going to happen during our self imposed shut down and look forward to seeing light at the end of the tunnel. We would have some reassurance. If only we had a leader...

Instead of living the impossible dream, we are living the real life impossible nightmare. The hoax is on the American people. When do we get to wake up from trump's making America "great again"? He has failed at every business venture ever attempted so of course he is a failure at governing. Sadly, we are his victims in so many ways. This should be the final straw, the wake up call. Anyone who still supports trump or is making excuses for his failures is as much an imbecile and as disgraceful and harmful to America as is he.

Thankfully, in November We the People have the antidote... 

Get to the polls People and VOTE! 

Just VOTE!

Bernie or Bust; Hell to the "No"!

This headline, Bernie Bros warn of ‘massive exodus’ if Democrats nominate Joe Biden, is what makes Bernie Sanders unattractive as a candidate to so many Democrats. He is an unknown. He is not a Democrat and basically, he is a spoiler to the Democratic party as was donald trump to the republicans, who like Dems, at first resisted and distrusted him. Of course they did. Sadly however they have since fallen in step with his evil and hateful policies that were not a far reach for many party members. Likewise, Democrats are rightfully resisting the intrusion of Bernie Sanders. Will they too fall in line? If so, with what? Bernie is an unknown...

Unfortunately both parties allow for persons not members of the party to hold themselves out as such and run for office under their respective party banners. That is ridiculous! There should be some membership requirements (i.e. specified time registered in party) before running on a party's platform. That only makes sense. Running under the party to which one does not belong is akin to me deciding that holding myself out as member of a popular sorority to achieve some personal goal would be acceptable or tolerable to the sorority. Of course it wouldn't...

Bernie's lack of allegiance to a party under whose banner he seeks office but to which he does not belong, results in his doing little to nothing to discourage this "Bernie or Bust" allegiance from his followers. He did little to discourage it in 2016 and it looks like he is set to do little to discourage it again in 2020. Call it ego...

The above referenced article also notes that in 2016 12% of the "Bernie Bros" voted for trump. Many others stayed home in essence also voting for trump. I wonder how many then showed up the following January donning little pink hats and tons of regret.

Anyone who can vote for, threaten to vote for or who would risk another four years of him under any circumstance is of questionable character and likely a trump supporter anyway. Be Gone!

I read recently that AOC no longer supports Bernie. Again, he is an unknown. Moreover, Bernie just had a heart attack. Anyone else would have dropped out then. He didn't. Call it ego... Knowing who will be his running mate is of paramount importance NOW as opposed to later in the event he is successful in his bid, that person may very well be POTUS. Who will it be? Too many unknowns...

Check out old videos of Bernie. His posture and demeanor looks very much like the egomaniac occupying the white house when he disagrees with or is asked a question he is not willing to answer by a reporter. He would abruptly end the interview. Just like trump... Still, I am not feeling the Bern...

EXCERPT:
“We will never – NEVER boost or support Joe Biden or defend his abysmal record and terrible policy positions,” Henry Williams, executive director of The Gravel Institute, told The Post. “We will tell people, as we always have, to vote their conscience and to make decisions based on the interests of all the world’s oppressed people … I do expect a massive exodus from the Democratic Party.”

And then what? Often I have said that trump was the wrong man with some of the right message. If he were remotely fit, psychologically, academically, intuitively, temperamentally  and otherwise (because he is a certifiable moron), and wasn't such a racist hell bent on dividing and destroying the nation, some of his message would have resonated with more people. 

trump's "presidency", better referred to as an occupancy, is a missed opportunity because I do believe that Americans are looking for change. We are tired of the two party system that is bought and owned by the 1%. We the People, the remaining 99%, are UNrepresented and that was the widely held sentiment long before trump. Our Congress had a dismal approval rating even before 2016, indicative that our government was not in sync with us pre-trump and partly what made his or Bernie's entrance or appeal even possible.  And let us not forget Ross Perot. We didn't even know who he was. It did not matter. What we did know was that he was singing a song of change that we wanted so desperately to hear. And then he chose his VP... That was the end of him. Another reason it matters who is the running mate.   

We the People want our voice to be heard and respected by our government. So no matter who the successful candidate, Bernie or Joe, it is imperative that WE THE PEOPLE unite and demand of our government to first ensure that a person the likes of trump can never ascend to the white house ever again and then be bodacious enough to repair all that he has broken even if it requires a change in status quo. Certainly we must ensure that some of what Bernie proposes is implemented because again, America does want change!  

So how do we achieve change? I am for establishing a party or bolstering the Democratic party to truly be a party of We The People; a party inclusive even of the poor, white, "middle America" and angry folks on the other side. They are more disenfranchised and in need of what Bernie proposes as are most others.  They just don't know or accept it. Yet. It's coming... The Dems have done a poor job at driving that fact home to them in a way they can comprehend. We need to keep people like Elizabeth Warren, Nina Turner, Ladies of the Squad and Stacey Abrams in the forefront who CAN hear us and who WILL keep our voice loud, present and relevant. We can do this. Oh Yes We Can! 

See ya' at the polls!!!