Author: Darlene Mitchell

The Revolution Won’t Be Live-Streamed

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The Revolution Won’t Be Live Streamed

By Trevor K. McNeil

 

I wrote a song today, I hope you like it……

The Revolution Won’t Be Live-Streamed

In this brave new world

we all have a voice/

Though not every woman

legally has a choice/

Social Media is the best invention,

though we’re still not big on intervention/

YouTube can be

a great place for learning/

How better to forget

forests are burning?/

When you’re feeling ill,

you can Netflix and chill/

Escape your fears for a while/

Like how the leader of America,

is really just a tall child/

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Oregon Team Battles Camp Fire at Paradise

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Oregon Strike Team #19 is in Paradise, California Fighting the Most Deadly Fire in California history. My friends from the North Coast make up this team of heroes. Thank you. We love you all so much, be careful, be safe. Amy Lenz my former co-worker shared these pictures. Please give to the California fire victims, both  human and animal. Team members include: Amy Lenz and Scott Welden (Knappa, Oregon), Ron Tyson and Aaron Smith (Olney, Oregon), Flint Helligso, Jeff Golightly, and Brent Saulsbury (Lewis & Clark, Oregon), and from Seaside, Oregon, Jenson Segui and David Rankin. The Oregon team joined the fight after an emergency request came from Emergency Management Services Compact (a state-to-state mutual aid system). North Coast Oregon Firefighters and equipment deployment could exceed two weeks.

Smoke from the California wildfires is being carried as far as Chicago, Illinois.

Amy Found This Survivor. A Cat Looking For A Human Friend.

Even in this dead zone Amy Found a Survivor. Hope she packs the little guy in her back pack. So Many Animals and People Have Died. Please support your volunteer fire departments around the country. They save lives.

 

EV: The Obvious Future

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EV: Electric Vehicles The Obvious Future

By D. S. Mitchell

*”Adoption of a new technology like EV’s (electric vehicles) may seem slow or look like it’s never going to happen, until it passes a threshold… and then it just takes off.” Reda Cherif for the International Monetary Fund

Slashing EPA Annual Budget by Over 30%

When Trump won the 2016 presidential election I knew the attack on the environment would move forward like a bulldozer in a butterfly garden. In Trump’s first year in office he pulled the United States out of the landmark Paris climate deal, paving the way for the continued reckless burning of fossil fuels. The Paris Climate Accord is non-binding on signers, but focuses on a global effort to hold the Earth’s temperature rise to fewer than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. The consequences of failing to limit greenhouses gases and thereby their destructive effects is a future most of us do not want to imagine.

High Jacking the Mission of the EPA

In March of 2018, Trump proposed slashing the EPA annual budget by over 30%.  Since 2017 the EPA has lost more than 700 employees, including 200 scientists. Meanwhile the disgraced and the now thank God departed, Scott Pruitt, wasted Agency money on a 24 hour security detail, expensive air travel, and sound proof booths for his office. Rather than protect the environment and work with the world to limit green house gas production this administration wants to subsidize coal, and ramp up oil exploration in previously protected wilderness areas and vulnerable off-shore sites.

EV Promises Reduced Air Pollution

Despite the bad news on so many U.S. environmental fronts there is good news in the automobile industry. Automobile manufacturer’s world-wide are committing to the EV.  They see the handwriting on the wall.  The governments of Europe, China, and India are committed to reducing air pollution. Part of that vision will be enabled by electric vehicles. The mass acceptance of the EV will consequently cut the production of fossil fuels and their consumption. Perhaps that is the reason coal, and gas producers are in such a hurry to mine and pump fuel reserves while they still have an opportunity. Because they, more than any other industry, recognizes the world is changing.

Horse and Buggy Days

There is a growing understanding that gas and diesel-powered vehicles will soon join the horse and buggy, and the dial telephone. New studies support a rapid acceleration process and a gathering  momentum of  the coming EV tsunami. Surprising as it may seem The International Monetary Fund and Georgetown University predicts that more than 90% of all passenger vehicles in the U.S., Canada, Europe and other wealthy industrialized countries will be EV by 2040. Some studies are even more bullish than the IMF projections. In fact, there are predictions that by 2030, ninety percent of all U.S. vehicles will be EV. That is a mere 12 years away.

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Whitaker: Who Will Watch The Watcher?

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Whitaker: Who Will Watch The Watcher?

Trevor K. McNeil

 

How Did This Happen?
It seems there never was an ancient Chinese proverb “may you live in interesting times.” A pity; because rarely has it applied more than now. The term “post-truth” was coined for the age of Trump but has moved quickly past “alternative facts” and “post truth” to the point of “post-irony.”

Life is Theater
“Post irony” is a descriptor used to refer to a type of comedy in which the line between the performer and their character is intentionally blurred. I can think of no better way to describe Trump’s America. It is also a way to explain what happened in the aftermath of the most electrifying Midterm election in American history.

Error Upon Error
King Trump finally made good on his long simmering threat to fire AG Jeff Sessions. True to form Trump managed to create more problems for himself and his administration by his new appointee choice. “Now how could that happen?” you ask, with a barely concealed smile. “By appointing a successor illegally,” I say, minus the smile.

Intent to Obstruct
This is not how it is supposed to work. By law and established norms Rod Rosenstein should have been next in line for the appointment. Numerous legal pundits are claiming Trump acted “unconstitutionally” by appointing Mathew Whitaker to succeed Sessions at the Justice Department, even if only “temporarily.” Whitaker had been Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff. He had never been confirmed by the Senate for such a primary job.

Please Repeat
What’s his Name Again? Matthew Whitaker, Matthew Whitaker, Matthew Whitaker, keep repeating it, like the license plate on the fleeing car after a hit and run, so you don’t forget it.

Out of the Shadows
Most of Trump’s appointees have been famous or infamous, in one way or another. Initially, Matthew Whitaker appeared to be a nobody, who came out of nowhere. Some suggested the “mafia enforcer” listings of central casting. To me; more an “over-buffed” steroid abuser.

Past Behavior
Looking at Trump’s recent track record, Whitaker’s relative obscurity could well have been an intentional move, particularly after a rolling round of scandals and brew-ha-ha surrounding Trump associates and appointees. Such strategic thinking was quickly dispelled as Whitaker’s life has come under intense scrutiny.

Hiding in Plain Sight
Not 24 hours had passed before the NY Times published an Op Ed by George Conway III (well-known DC attorney and Kellyanne Conway’s hubby) and Neal Katyal (former Solicitor General and esteemed constitutional law expert). The Times piece questioned the constitutionality of Whitaker’s appointment. The state of Maryland later asked a Federal judge to invalidate the appointment and install Rosenstein “acting” AG.

Just Give Us a Couple Minutes
By the time the Conway-Katyal Op Ed hit the streets the skeletons in Whitaker’s closet had started rattling and clattering ominously. The elevation of Mathew Whitaker to replace the fired Sessions has brought new and intense scrutiny to his writings, his speeches, his tweets, and comments made by him as a cable news commentator.

World Patent Marketing
Whitaker’s involvement with World Patent Marketing may lead to criminal charges. *In May 2018 World Patent Marketing was ordered by a federal court in Florida to pay a settlement of more than $25 million to defrauded clients and shutter their operations. There are continuing investigations into the actions of multiple board members.

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Mass Shootings, A Terrorism Problem

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Mass Shootings, A Terrorism Problem

By James Moore

A Borderline Distraction Won’t Help 

I live a few short miles away from where the Borderline mass shooting took place. Some people say it hurts more when it happens so close to home. I guess that depends who you are. For me, every mass shooting hits home.  Sandy Hook was gut wrenching.  Columbine devastating. But then so have all the others which consists of a list so long the names are becoming a blur. This is what happens when our leaders brainwash the ignorant into thinking we are under a terrorist attack from horrible things like caravans that must be stopped by building a wall. No border wall would have stopped the carnage in Thousand Oaks or any of our other mass shootings because the killers were all made in America.

Facts Are Pointless  

In the two decades since Columbine, the mass shootings have not stopped. We have all seen the statistics.  If you are of reasonable mind, they do  more than concern you; they make you demand we see changes made to decrease their likelihood in the future. If you aren’t, you think the Second Amendment  the most sacred words ever written and believe the only way to stop gun violence is by arming more good guys. 

Another Gun For A Good Guy

Our most recent mass shooter was a good guy. A decorated ex-marine who came home unable to cope with what he saw in battle. It’s safe to say if an NRA controlled congress can find the funds to build a border wall, they can find the funds to protect the likes of the innocent who were gunned down at the Borderline. Ah, but the GOP is not about compassion nearly as much as they are about fear and solving any problem with a show of force. No wonder mass shootings keep increasing. Our top down leadership is one that says if 300,000,000 guns are not enough to curb gun deaths, then we need to arm more people.

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Unemployment Numbers Won’t Help In 2020

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Unemployment Numbers Won’t Help In 2020

by James Moore

Not Done Yet

The 2018 Midterms are over.  Thank God!  Take a deep breath because the race for the White House starts right about now.  For Trump, this could spell trouble. For the first time in a long while the unemployment numbers were not a factor in the 2018 Midterms and may not be a factor in the 2020 national election.

Unemployment Lie 

The current unemployment numbers as released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a low 3.7 percent unemployment rate.  Trump has used this low rate to blow his own horn.  He also claims he has turned the economy around.  It’s a lie.  Keep in mind, the jobless rate has fallen at a consistent clip since January of 2010. Trump knows he inherited an economic turnaround of sorts, but it has always been a modest one at best.  The fact is, full-time jobs just are not what they use to be.  Depending on the definition one uses, there is a serious under-employment problem plaguing the nation.

Under-Employed vs. Unemployed 

There was a time when low unemployment meant most of the working class were working at jobs that paid a livable wage.  Today, many of the new jobs created are nothing more than low paying service jobs that need few skills. American wages still lag where they were before the crash of 2008. Complicate that with the increase cost of health care, the out sourcing of labor overseas, large tax cuts for the 1% without any expectation of them creating real jobs, and the result is millions of Americans do not earn enough money to live on. More workers today are forced to work a second and even a third job, just to pay their bills.  The result is that Americans are working more, have less money to spend, and no time to enjoy what they do make.

Real Numbers 45 Doesn’t Want Us to Know

In 2012, unemployment was at 8.1 percent.  However, when people who were working multiple jobs or who had stopped looking all together were factored in, the under-employment rate rose to 14.7%. * Last year, that rate was down to 12.5% even though unemployment was down to around 4%. ** In 2012, the total number of under-employed Americans was 23.1 million and as recently as 2016, the Chicago Tribune reported nearly half of U.S. workers considered themselves under-employed.

A Third of College Graduates Are Under-Employed

While half of the nation being under employed may seem a bit high, the New York Federal Reserve Bank put under employment for all college graduated American between the ages of 22 and 65 at 33 percent. That figure jumps to 44% for college grads between the ages of 22 and 27 as recently as October of this year.

The Military Industrial Complex 

The truth is, most of the jobs he is creating are in the military industry. Why?  I believe, it is because he wants to create a situation that allows him to go to war; so that our next election will be a referendum for him as a war-time president and against all those unpatriotic Democrats. After all, his wall won’t be built, racism will not be stamped, or in his case stomped, out, and the economy will be lack luster. Low unemployment numbers will not satisfy voters when their full-time jobs are not enough to pay the bills in 2020.

Education Deserves Blame Too 

As a retired teacher, I can tell you our public schools have played a huge role in adding to our under-employment problems.  Despite low unemployment numbers, millions of trades jobs sit unfilled. Schools have sold college as the only answer to a successful life.  This brainwashing of our kids has led to serious problems. Let me repeat, college is not the only or best road to a successful work life.  It is all lies. There are many fine trade jobs that our citizens could be trained for. It’s time we admit that college is not the end-all for every American.

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2018 Midterms A Democratic Blow Out

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2018 Midterms A Democratic Blow Out

Trevor K. McNeil

 

No pressure. The clamor before the election was that the 2018 Midterm elections could be the most important Midterm vote in history. A lot of hype, that may end up being spot on. This, like most things these days, was all the president’s fault. Trump being correct, shocking I know, when he characterized the elections as, effectively, a referendum on him and his administration. He kept telling us that, over and over.

Accepting the challenge. We as a people accepted that challenge, registered a record number of new voters and fielded a strong team of candidates nationwide . We were ready and willing to tell Trump exactly what we think of him and his cabinet of swamp creatures. We were ready for, in fact anxious for, a return to divided government. The ballot box our chosen platform, the 2018 Midterms the first election in which we could flex our muscles.

Taking back the House. The 2018 Midterms elections have given the Democrats control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 2010. Stacking the house against Trump is now the best, legal, way to limit his powers. The people of the country made it clear that is what they expect. And the messy process of hobbling his actions has begun.

Big turn outs across the nation. The 2018 Midterm election turnout is estimated at 113,000,000. That would mean 48% of eligible voters participated. Staggering numbers for a Midterm election, nearly 85,000,000 more than in the 2014 Midterm. People tend to  vote because they are mad. Like I said Trump wanted it to be all about him and that’s exactly what happened.

You can breath again. To call the 2018 Midterms a “roller-coaster” ride is an understatement. Kind of like saying Benedict Arnold had slightly confused loyalties. We will likely be getting results every day for the next couple days, to possibly weeks. California final results may not be available for at least a month.

The courts are the end litigator. Lawsuits have begun in most of the contested states. Why would anyone, Rick Scott and Brian Kemp to mention two Republicans who are determined to sue their way to office want to stop counting ballots. Why would we vote, if they only intend to count some of the votes? Totally absurd. Nelson vs Scott in Florida, Sinema vs McSally in Arizona, Gillum vs DeSantis  in Florida and finally the most riveting, Abrams vs Kemp in Georgia. All nail biters. Some already moving to recount.

A blue dribble vs a blue wave. There is the bad news that the Republicans have held the senate. As 2018 Midterm vote count dribbles in to the history books we have gone from thinking the Republicans would see a big gain of up to 6 seats in the Senate; but now, nearly a week post Midterms, it looks like nothing more than an overall one seat Republican gain..

Gender and diversity the takeaways. The brightest news of the 2018 Midterm election is that a total of 100 women were elected, more than any other election in U.S. history. Notably, the first Native American openly gay woman, Sharice Davids, has been elected to Congress. This upcoming congress will be the most gender, ethnically and racially diverse group in Congressional history. Way to go voters. It is about time that our elected leaders are a reflection of what our society looks like, not a reflection of a dying power center; that of old, mostly, white men.

It takes awhile to get there. The 2018 Midterm election also saw the election of Jared Polis an openly LGBTQ person to represent Colorado in the House of Representatives. Finally making good on the path bravely carved out by Harvey Milk. Harvey Milk who was the first openly LGBTQ person to be elected to public office in 1970’s San Francisco, and he was killed for his efforts.

Percentages can be deceiving. The best news, of course, is that the Democrats took the House, and not by a small amount. The percentages might look close but percentage points count for a lot in elections, each one representing thousands of individual votes. What began looking like a mediocre “trickle” has over the last couple days ballooned into a possible gain of 38-40 seats. In addition to the House successes, the Democrats flipped multiple governor mansions and a staggering number of state legislatures. A mandate many would call it.

A big headache. The Democrats now with great 2018 Midterm success have the power to give the Trump administration a mind bending migraine. The power of the subpoena should make Trump and associates nervous. The American people have thrown up their hands and said, loudly no matter how dirty it gets, they are telling the Dems to clean up the Trump/GOP mess.

Sharpening pencils and registering voters. The 2018 Midterms are only the beginning. Many of the Resistors and the Indivisible folks are sharpening their pencils and are ready to continue their registration drive right up until the 2020 elections. The Senate and the Executive Branch are the targets of the Democrats next flip. If Trump thinks this is going to be a small bump in his presidency, I think he better buckle the proverbial seat belt because it looks like things are gonna get rough.

Looking ahead. We should, of course, celebrate this major victory. Hopefully the Dems can hobble the roaring beast of Trumpism. But, now we stumble into two months of lame duck politics. Matthew Whitaker’s appointment as temporary Attorney General of the United States is just a warning shot by Trump. What he does over the next couple months in this pre-Dem time is open to speculation. He could shoot that guy on Fifth Avenue by the time the new House is seated and what will they do about it?

Some unfortunate facts.Trump is still the president (damn and blast it). The great 2018 Midterm Democratic wins in the state houses around the country will help protect the 2020 election against voter suppression and gerrymandering. But this record-setting election is only the first step in a long journey to the next election. Two years are a long time in politics.  From now until 2020 we need to keep the pressure on this rogue and reckless president.

Sgt. Ron Helus Dies In Mass Shooting

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Sgt. Ron Helus Confronted Mass Shooter In Thousand Oaks and Died Saving Multiple Lives

Sgt Ron Helus Saved Lives When He Engaged Mass Shooter At Thousand Oak’s Bar

No place is safe. Thousand Oaks, California is one of the safest cities in America. Yet even here mass shootings have become the feared and the expected. There were hundreds of people crowded in to the Borderline Bar for a ‘college night’ party when a gunman burst in tossing smoke grenades and firing dozens of rounds.

First on the scene. Sgt. Helus was one of the first police officers on the scene and without back up or hesitation he charged the front door. Many survivors believe it was Helus’ quick action to engage the shooter that saved lives.

Duty before safety. Sgt Ron Helus was a 29 year veteran of the Ventura County (California) Sheriff’s office. Ron is survived by a wife and son. Sgt Helus had planned on retiring next year, but instead will be buried this week. Mass shootings have occurred 307 times in the last 311 days. It is time to bring sanity to gun control in America.

Rest in peace Sgt. Ron Helus. You are much loved.

Trump Racism Is Bad For America-Part I

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Part I:Trump Racism Is Bad For America-

 

By Trevor K. McNeil

Trump racism, antisemitic attacks, and political threats: *”The die hath been cast” my friends and the writing is on the wall. In twenty-foot high blood dripping letters. Donald Trump is a racist; or, *”at least all the racists think he is”. Donald John Trump, Defiler of Democracy and Desecrator of Innocents has well and truly gone too far. With a wink and nod, accidentally on purpose, Trump inspired the worst instance of mail bombing since the Unabomber.  Trump has made shifting lies, heated rhetoric and vicious attacks on his rivals a winning strategy for small base election victory.

Words matter: Clearly Trump has moved the thermostat of racial hatred to high. The endless attacks on his political rivals, people of color, and immigrants ignite his narrow support base. His reckless inflammatory comments, his race baiting, his name calling have made him an idol of the alt-right. What is becoming ever more clear is Trump’s racism.

A bomber’s agenda: Let’s be very clear the names on the bomber’s hit list were taken right off the Trump rally hate list. Mind you, four of the people on the bomber’s hit list were two former U.S. presidents and their wives! This is the worst attack on a political party in American history. Investigators revealed that the bomber’s list included over 100 people. One hundred people, from the “Other” side. As far as we know the bomber mailed only 14 pipe bombs.

The common theme is hate: A white gunman known for posting disturbing  online threats against blacks was seen attempting to break into a black church in Jeffersontown, Kentucky. Failing at the church break-in the he headed to the local Kroger grocery store where he approached two black customers and shot them point blank in the head. He was arrested near-by after the event without resistance. Authorities have charged him with multiple hate crimes.

Ak-15 the weapon of choice: On Saturday, Oct. 27th, 2018 the worst attack on Jewish citizens in U.S. history occurred. A radical voice of extreme right messaging walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue and massacred eleven Jews while they prayed. The gunman, using an AK-15 seriously wounded six more, three of the wounded included responding police officers. Prosecutors have charged the suspect with multiple hate crimes.

More inappropriate response: Inconceivably, several self described vigilante groups have formed in response to a caravan of immigrants from Central America reportedly headed north toward the U.S. southern border. The migrant caravan is at least a 1,000 miles away, and consists mostly of women and children. The right wing propaganda machine is fueling fear and anger among American citizens. The vigilantes vow to shoot the immigrants “if need be.” My question is, will we soon be witnessing a massacre of asylum seekers at our southern border? My God, I pray not.

Dark history: After the end of the Civil War a period of Reconstruction was begun in the south. Resistance to the northern oversight quickly formed. Southern activists formed paramilitary groups of White supremacists to thwart forced Reconstruction. Military groups lynched blacks and burned their homes. Disenfranchising and terrorizing the black population was the central goal of the white supremacy groups of the period. Of those 19th century hate groups the Ku Klux Klan was the most infamous. After the cementing of Jim Crow laws the original Klan disbanded, their goals achieved.

A rebirth:  New leaders revived the Klan in the 20th century for a new cause. The revival was  a defensive reaction to the massive wave of immigrants arriving in America. The “new” Klan refused to limit its hate. The new version of the Ku Klux Klan expanded their targeted hate campaign beyond the Blacks to include immigrants, most particularly the Jews, the Mexicans, the Catholics, the Asians, the Irish, and the Poles. In effect, anyone not white and native-born.

Tell tale surge:  There has been a palpable uptick in terms of hate groups since the ascension of Trump and Trump racism. The Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan claim to be the fastest growing hate group in America, proclaiming their membership numbers have gone up by thousands since Trump was elected, particularly in predominantly African-American cities such as St. Louis and Baltimore.

Change is in the air:  Attitudes are changing and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. In August 2018 there was a White Power group rally in the small rural Pennsylvania town of Ulysses. The town was proudly awash with Nazi flags and swastikas one year after Charlottesville, Va where a group of “very fine” white supremacists rallied, terrorized the town and left one counter-protester dead.

White supremacists groups surge in membership:   Quite simply Trump racism is setting the tone. The election of Donald Trump has emboldened hate groups in the United States. The Traditional Worker’s Party, formed after the 2016 presidential election reports large numbers of new recruits.

Trump racism shows itself: Trump racism is right there in his rhetoric. His near constant use of “they” and “them” is classic moral dissociation. He might as well say, “us” and “them”.  Is Trump a member of the KKK, or the Nazi’s? Not demonstrably. Evidence indicates Trump Sr, had ties to the KKK.  Although there is not direct evidence of such an affiliation for Donald Trump it doesn’t mean it is not true. David Duke, Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan fully embraces Trump and Trump does not criticize the Grand Wizard, because they are all “fine people.”

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