Category: Culture

NRA Assault

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NRA Assault 

D. S. Mitchell

NRA Strategy

In an article for The Hill, Tim Devaney highlighted a change of strategy by the NRA. For the last 8 years the NRA has been kept on the defensive by the Obama Administration. With the installation of the Trump Administration it is full-bore ahead, shaping policy and writing bills favoring the NRA and its activist activities.

I Like The Second Amendment

I believe the 2nd Amendment is sacred.  It’s the best defense the citizenry has against a President that wants to overstay his welcome. We have seen it in the banana republics, where the generalissimo hangs on after an election. About 36,000 people died from gun violence last year. I do not feel it makes sense for the Congress to roll back regulations on guns. The NRA has engaged in heavy lobbying efforts (that means money, vacations, gifts etc). The mentally disabled should not have access to guns. The Republican House  reversed a Obama Administration regulation inside Social Security to restrict gun ownership.  There are similar regulations in VA rules, and it is expected that the House will also rescind those.

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Really Dumb Sport Quotes

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Really Dumb Sport Quotes

D. S. Mitchell

“Layed Back Tuesday”

It’s another play-day at Calamity Politics. No surprise, says the reader. I am officially declaring, ‘Layed Back Tuesday’. It’s great sometimes, being the boss, even if it’s only me, and Rocky. Rocky, my stalwart partner in crime is a blue and white Budgie. I have been trying to teach him to say, “Hello, Mama,” but to no avail.  Thinking about political theory, political science, political reality, political bullshit, is about as frustrating as trying to teach the bird to talk. So I have decided there will be no political discussion, today. There will be no analysis, there will be no relevant comment, other than what a few athletes have had to say over the years about some weird shit. So, here goes. . .

Just for laughs.

Mike Tyson:  Responding to a question about his retirement plans:  “Fade into Bolivian, I guess.”

Joe Theismann: “The term genius is inapplicable to anyone in this game.  A genius is Norman Einstein.”

Pedro Guerrero:  About his relationship with the press, “Sometimes they write what I say, not what I mean.”

Chuck Nevitt:  On why he appeared nervous:  “My sister is having a baby, and I don’t know if I’m going to be an aunt or an uncle.”

Yogi Berra:  “It gets late early out here.”

George Foreman:  “There’s more to boxing than hitting.  There’s not getting hit, for instance.”

George Roberts:  “I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first.”

Tug McGraw:  “Always root for the winner.  That way you won’t be disappointed.”

Don King:  He (Chavez) speaks English, Spanish, and he’s bilingual.”

Dizzy Dean:  The doctor X-rayed my head and found nothing.

Bill Cowher:  On whether the Steelers bent NFL regulations: “We’re not attempting to circumcise the rules.”

David Thompson: “Ball handling and dribbling are my strongest weaknesses.”

Dizzy Dean: after a 1-0 game, “The game was closer than the score indicated.”

Michael Jordan: “I never lost a game, I just ran out of time.”

Thanks again,

Rod L. Evans, Ph.D. taken from his book, Tyrannosaurus Lex.

The Trump War Against People Of Color

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War Against People Of Color

By D. S. Mitchell

“White is something, just like black is something.  Everybody born on this earth is something, and nobody, no matter what color, is better than anybody else.”  Mildred DeLois Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976)

Rhetoric Galore

The ‘Muslim ban’, ‘the wall’, ‘make America great again,” have receptive listeners. Such rhetoric is part of Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller’s war against people of color.  If it was just about terrorists we would look north. The Canadian border however is no concern because to Trump because it separates two predominately white countries.  If it were really about illegal immigration there are other issues besides our southern border. Why hasn’t the president called for a sweep to pick up of all the Irish visitors who have  over stayed their visas?  Statistics show that most of the illegal immigrants are here after over staying legally obtained visas. These visa abusers flew into the country, they didn’t walk across our southern desert.

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The Perils of Indifference

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The Perils of Indifference

By D. Mitchell

Elie Wiesel, teacher, writer, philosopher and Auschwitz death camp survivor, said in a speech before the US Congress in 1999, “indifference can be tempting-more than that, seductive.  It is much easier to look away from victims.  It is after all, awkward and troublesome to be involved in another person’s pain and despair.”

Furthermore, “to be indifferent to that suffering makes the human being, inhuman.  Indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor-never the victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten.  The political prisoner, the starving children, the homeless refugees-not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory.  And in denying their humanity, we betray our own.  Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.  Where I came from, society was composed of three simple categories: the killers, the victims, and the bystanders.”

Today’s “bystanders,” want to look away from the victims, to look anywhere but in the direction of the suffering.

“I’m a good person,” President Trump said last week during a news conference.   A man with a heart, he tells us.  Why then Mr. President do you ignore the plight of the Syrian refugees?   The plight of these children is horrific.  We have all seen television clips of bloodied, crying and even dead Syrian children.  I have seen their pain.  I have heard their pleas.

Preisent Trump, are you listening, are you seeing, or are you just another bystander?

We are the wealthiest country on earth and home of the most generous people on earth and our basic instinct is to help, not turn away.  The American people want to help the world absorb the displaced refugees of Syria.

Give hope to those 1200 refugees currently housed by Australia.  Come on President Trump, don’t continue to look away, show your heart, show that “goodness” you were bragging about.

Join the Resistance

Dar

What Was the Value of Your 2016 Vote?

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The Value Of Your 2016 Vote

D. S. Mitchell

On High Heat

My head just keeps spinning. In case no one has noticed the political discussion in the United States has become so heated between opposing factions that I am hearing of divorces and office fights over the 2016 election results. Really? So, just for fun, I played with some numbers and I thought I might light a political fire under my readers. It’s seat of the pants mathematics but, it seems that more than one person is operating by the seat of their pants. American politics at its most outrageous.

Upside Down

How much was your vote worth in 2016. You probably already figured out, not much; if you voted, for Hillary Clinton. Hillary WON the popular vote by 2,865,075.  Everyone knows that, right? Trump WON the Electoral College with 304 electoral votes.  That’s old news, right? Looking behind those numbers we discover that:  112,155 votes, cast in three states (Michigan 13,104, Wisconsin 27,257, and Pennsylvania 71,794) turned my world, and maybe yours, upside down.

Electoral College Math

WHEN IS 112,155 EQUAL TO 2,865,075?They are equal if you are using Electoral College math.  Every single one of those 112,155 “rust belt” votes, equaled 25.55 votes, cast elsewhere.   In other words, 1 vote in Pennsylvania is equal to 25.55 votes in Oregon.  In my opinion, absolute insanity.

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