Category: Personalities

Basement Hideaway?

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Basement Hideaway

By D. S. Mitchell

Here at Calamity Politics I try to be proactive. In that sense of proactivism, I wrote the following letter to Mitch McConnell on the subject of health care:

3/2/2017

Dear Senator McConnell,

If you have a new health care plan, let us see it.  It’s our lives, our health care, that is on the line, not yours.  You by reports, have great health care. If it is a respectable bill, show it.  If it is a worthy replacement of for the Affordable Care Act, bring it out into the light.  Don’t hide in a darkened room in the Senate basement.  Show your work.  Let’s talk.

Sincerely,
D. S. Mitchell
www.calamitypolitics.com

Let’s see if I get an answer. I have my doubts, that I will receive a response from the leader of the Senate. He prides himself in being the “grim reaper”. Unfortunately, on health care that is a sad and sickening title. I am ready to talk. Lets stop all the political bantering and have a real discussion. I don’t want to hear McConnell’s typical rhetoric. I want to hear real discussion, real bi-partisan discussion. Health care is a right. Everyone deserves to be healthy. Health care should not be tied to the size of your wallet or the quality of your employer’s health care plan. Let’s fix this broken system. Let’s move toward Medicare for all.

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SESSIONS RECUSES OVER KREMLIN-GATE FIRESTORM

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Sessions Recuses Over Kremlin-Gate 

D. S. Mitchell

A Progressive Agenda

I am admittedly a Liberal-Progressive. Calamity News and Politics is a known progressive political blog. Calamity has a serious agenda. My agenda is to put Democrats and Independents in office at all levels of American government. I am working to make that a reality in 2018. And, maybe, that is why I find the Republican trash that keeps blowing up in my face, really irritating. Such as: Paul Ryan had the guts to say, “the Dems have their hair on fire for no reason.”  Ted Cruz says, “It’s a nothing burger.”  “Keep moving.  Nothing to see here,” advises a grinning Mitch McConnell.

A Thing Of Interest

It seems many high-profile Republicans just can’t figure out why the people of the United States are interested in finding out the facts.  It has come out that  Attorney General Jeff Sessions, despite sworn testimony, had at least two meetings with the Russian Ambassador while he was acting as a surrogate for the Trump campaign. That information is big news, only to those outside the Republican party.

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Trump’s Tuesday Speech

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Trump’s Tuesday Speech

D. S. Mitchell

I gave myself a couple days to digest what the ‘teleprompter’ president said in his speech to the joint Congressional Session on Tuesday.

The most as a political observer that I can say in his favor is that, Trump did lower the volume, he dropped some of his inflammatory rhetoric, and whoopee, he mostly stuck to his prepared speech.   It is obvious, the bar has been set so low by this huckster, that him sticking to a topic, evokes cheers.  How quickly we abandon quality for showmanship.

Nothing has changed.  Trump and his buddies intend to break all the toys, and then have Daddy buy new ones.  I guess that’s what a school yard of billionaires does for fun.  Steve Bannon clarified his “deconstruction” of the government plan last week, to a wildly cheering C-PAC crowd.  Trump this week, has just refined the presentation, and legitimized it, by a speech before Congress.

Here’s what’s coming.  The White House crew, and the Republican ideologues in the House and Senate will break the backs of all the government departments, ravage health care, destroy Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

I don’t know about you, but it takes my breath away.  Simply put, these spoiled billionaires don’t care, or understand, that millions of people’s lives are affected by their every action, and the action of these government departments. I know a lot of folks that depend on the services of the government and it saddens me to imagine the potential results of their actions.

I believe, a great individual is a person that can easily imagine himself in the other person’s shoes.  That’s the foundation of empathy.

Come on, guys.  Put on the other guys shoes, if he’s got any, and wear them for a day, or a week, or a month. There was a remarkable book written by John Griffin, Black Like Me which was published in 1961 that recounted his trip across the deep south, after he had his skin tone darkened, so he could effectively pass as a black man. His vivid memory of the white man’s “hate stare,” was painful. I truly believe, if each of us lived another man’s life, if even for a short time, we would quickly find compassion and respect.

Watch Calamity Politics for the latest political news and discussion.

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Dar

Trump Writes Last Chapter of ‘1984’

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Trump Writes Last Chapter Of ‘1984’

D. S. Mitchell

If you have failed to notice, Calamity Politics is a Progressive-Liberal political blog and Michael Moore is my favorite ragamuffin film maker activist. Recently, Moore was on Hardball, doing a segment with Chris Mathews, where he sarcastically described a new last chapter of ‘1984’ being written by Donald Trump.

In this new imagined chapter, apparently, Donald Trump convinces the populace, that up is down, and down is up.

I laughed, but I knew that doublespeak was now part of the accepted political rhetoric. Love you Michael. If as a reader you want to do something to help the resistance, check out Michael Moore’s website. He offers several suggestions to help you make your voice heard, and lists scheduled events that might tickle your need to RESIST and PERSIST.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Bannon Blocks Out the Light at C-PAC 2017

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Bannon Blocks Out The Light At C-Pac 2017

By D. S. Mitchell

Steve Bannon is that dark shadow behind President Trump. We, here in the blogosphere, probably will never know the depth of Bannon’s impact on the President’s policy development, but he is a noted white supremacist, a chaos creator, a “de-constructor,” and former owner of Breitbart, the right wing conspiracy theory rag.

Calamity Politics has been watching Mr. Bannon. Bannon is big on the political news scene right now. However, there isn’t anything I’ve seen yet, that has in anyway, convinced me this man should even be allowed close to the seat of power. I don’t want this guy influencing ANYTHING related to the United States government.

Government is about stability. People depend on stability. People depend on government service. My analysis of Bannon from a purely political stand point, is get rid of this guys ASAP. Bannon will do everything within his power to push Trump to the farthest corner of the right political hemisphere and will argue for de-funding departments, cutting services, building walls, and instituting Muslim bans. Furthermore, I believe in the current political environment in the United States anyone could successfully argue that Bannon will agitate any situation he is involved in.

This week’s annual C-PAC meet has been a head shaker.

It is obviously time for these folks to rethink their name.  Looking at the  speakers list and the political direction they are advocating, its obvious that conservatism is dead in the Trump Party.  They should plan a funeral and bury that tattered old conservative label.  Truthfully, I’ve never seen a bigger collection of mega-spenders in my life.  Throw out the budget, throw out taxes, throw out regulations!  Let the robber barons ride again!

Mr. Bannon, eulogized the current world order. Bannon proclaimed it was going to be a “daily fight” with the press, identified as the “opposition.”  His rhetoric brought cheers and foot stomping from a friendly crowd.  With the crowd hanging on every word, he dazzled them with a series of big words. The most striking to my ears, was when he said,  “deconstruct the administrative state.”  “Administrative state?”  The “administrative state?”  Wow, that’s scary.  How did we let such a thing happen? What are we going to do?

No, worries, Bannon cajoles the C-PAC attendees, “Trump is maniacal.”  That of course drew a huge round of applause.  Strange, very, very, strange.

I’m still chewing on Steve Bannon’s “deconstruct the administrative state.”   Wait a minute.  Is he advocating deconstruction of the government?  Well, hell yeah, that’s what we ought to do!  Deconstruct the government.

Holy shit!  How far do they intend to “deconstruct”?  Until we are another, Mogadishu?  The biggest outlaw bully winning every round? Sounds scary as hell, to me.

I object, and I will continue to object.  One of the reasons we have the exceptional life we have in the United States, is because of government.  We need the stability that government provides.  Get real folks, we should be embracing government.

Government IS NOT a dirty word.   Government is our roads, government is our schools, government is our postal service, government is our fire fighters, government is our policemen.   We need to protect these benefits of a civilized society.  We need to build, not deconstruct.

Join the Resistance

Dar

Yoda Speaks To Steve Bannon

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Yoda Speaks To Steve Bannon

By D. S. Mitchell

 

It’s been a long time since I took my young son, and stood in a very long line to see the first “Star Wars” movie, in 1977.  After, seeing it, I had to admit the movie did a good job of promoting solid basic values. I never thought, writing a political blog, would bring me back to that great movie series that has kept entertaining, educating and captivating young people for 4 decades.

There’s a lot going on in U.S. politics and today rather than do a political analysis of the current events cycle I am going to let Yoda speak quietly to Steve Bannon and let his wisdom be my political comment of the day.

You know, that weird-looking guy you see schlumping around in the background at Trump functions?  The one that looks like he slept in the subway.  You know who I mean?  The guy that’s the real president of the United States.  Anyway, President Bannon, told the NY Times that he likens himself to the “dark force of Star Wars”.  In fact, “all my friends call me Darth.   Darkness is good.  Dick Cheney.  Darth Vader.  Satan.  That’s power.”

Yoda, warns Bannon is wrong, very, very wrong. The legendary Jedi Master, from the movie series is very wise and extremely powerful.  He is small but stronger than most due to his intense connection to the Force. He trained Jedi Knight for over 800 years, and unlocked the path to immortality.

His message to Steve Bannon is, “No, no, no.  Quicker, easier, more seductive, but not stronger.  Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.”

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Merkley Method Sets a Fire

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Merkley Method Sets A Fire

By D. S. Mitchell

Paradise

Another day in paradise, truly. When you are fortunate enough to live on the Oregon coast you have reached Valhalla. Thank God, there’s only a few of us here. Many advantages for a writer. Quiet, incredible beauty and very little political discussion in my little corner of the United States.

Lifetime Of Writing

The foundation of Calamity News and Politics/Calamity Politics began the evening of November 8, 2016. I have been a writer since childhood. I have been writing the great American novel for the last decade. So, writing a blog, seemed a natural response to this devastating event.  November 8, 2016 as everyone knows was the night misogynist and white supremacist Donald Trump won the presidential election. I have never had such a visceral reaction to a U.S. presidential election in my life.

Physically sick

I became physically sick watching the returns flow in. Devastating to any progressive person. Truly, not just the progressive but, most citizens of the United States. If you are on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, ACA, need VA services, if you are a person of color, if you want clean drink water to drink, or want clean air to breath, President Trump’s extreme right-wing agenda will most likely have a negative effect on your daily life, and the quality of that life.

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Russian Flags Over the White House

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Russian Flags Over The White House

By D. S. Mitchell

A Fitful Sleep

I went to bed and fell asleep with the TV on.  Something that I have done a lot of recently. I slept fitfully while the station played.  Dream and nightmare merged as I flopped to and fro. Visions of red, white, and blue, twisted weirdly on a brisk breeze over the White House.  But in my confused sleep, I knew something was wrong.  Something was very wrong.

OMG

In my sleep, I couldn’t make sense of it.  What the fuck?  Why does the flag look so strange?  Where are the stars?  OMG.  The stripes aren’t the stripes of My flag, and My country.  The flag flying over this White House, is the tri-stripe red, white, and blue of Russia.

Joe and Mika

My eyes flew open.  Joe and Mika were talking with the usual crowd at the “Morning Joe” conference table about the General Mike Flynn resignation.  I shook my head. The rest of the Morning Joe story centered on Trump Campaign officials having been in “continuous” contact with Russian officials throughout the 2016 Presidential campaign. No wonder I’m having nightmares.

A Smoldering Fire

I know there is a lot of political wrangling going on in the Congress. Democrats smell a Russian fire smoldering behind the doors of the White House, but there is denial.  The Trump Administration continues to deny Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Republicans, current in control of House, Senate and the Executive Branch are in the middle of an election high and refuse to see the Russian fire.

Smoke Screen

It looks as if the Democrats and the voters are the only way to make our Republican brothers and sisters see the danger for what damage such a potential blaze could do. The main stream press, CNN and MSNBC  and the on-line news sources are screaming bloody murder, but the GOP have blinders and ear plugs in place. Every one outside the Republican sphere is calling 911  but are getting no answer. Right now the Republicans are drunk with power and can’t see the fire for the smoke.

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8 Donald Trump Mind Benders

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8 Donald Trump Mind Benders

By D. S. Mitchell

Face Slamming

For me, staying on track, with so many political news stories slamming me in the face, seemingly every minute, is a bit hard. My primary intention with Calamity News and Politics/Calamity Politics, is to be a voice for the progressive political agenda. I believe everything is political, so you will see articles on health care, housing, homelessness, suicide, struggling families, criminal ‘injustice’, and the overall inequality of our existing system. I hope to do that through sensible reporting, comment, opinion and conversation.

Objectivity?

Although, my agenda is progressive, I want to stay as objective as the facts allow me to be. I attempt to use a minimum of two sources for each story. I know my personality, so I expect I am likely to drop a commentary bomb somewhere in almost every post. However, my goal is to give you news. When writing an Editorial, however, I am more likely to go on a screaming tirade.

Outbursts

I will do my best to restrain those outbursts when posting my regular posts.  If you want to watch me eviscerate the powerful, look for posts labeled Editorial.  If I deviate from that set goal, I give my readers permission to remind me of my shortcomings. My central goal is to empower the powerless, encourage the weak and motivate the involvement of the many. When you read Calamity News and Politics it is the same as reading Calamity Politics, you just got to the site using a different URL. I am on Twitter, but find I do not have the energy it requires to be as visible as I would like.  I hate Facebook. Because of that bias I am there only by social media arm twisting. Lastly, you can find CP posts on Pinterest.

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