Friday, December 22, 2017
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
There are those IMPOSSIBLE to bring to Repentance... they are already dead even though they look alive
Zombies are real and the walking dead are among us.
OK, not as in the TV show with zombies, but this is true of so many. I have friends and acquaintances who at 50-70 years of age have already died. They still have a body, can still walk, can do things, even talk, but they are just as dead as the last corpse you saw in a coffin.
OK, not as in the TV show with zombies, but this is true of so many. I have friends and acquaintances who at 50-70 years of age have already died. They still have a body, can still walk, can do things, even talk, but they are just as dead as the last corpse you saw in a coffin.
This is a composite description of a dead man walking drawn from real people I know. I'll call him Tom, (Fictional Name). He is just turning 60, had a good career, made decent money, married but his life has gone to hell (Literally). He and his wife no longer get along. They don't fight as much as they are inert to one another. It's not someone's fault in the marriage, it's hard being married to a zombie. I don't blame her, but there was a time when she could have pulled him out of the dumpster, but she chose to criticize him instead. Now, he sits most of the day in front of the TV. Most nights he goes to bed drunk. He's not violent, (Mostly). He's simply dead. A zombie. He had a few friends, but when they reach out to him in compassion .. he's dead to them.
His life has drifted into painful remembering, aimlessness, anger, resentment, unforgiveness and spiritual death. Dying for him is a positive option. The pain will end he thinks. I fear he might hasten it by suicide, ending his living death with corporeal death.
Tom used to be a believer. He attended church, he loved his wife and children, He loved Jesus. He had an attitude that said, "We can do it". Then when crisis hit he fell away. I watched it happen. I tried to intervene. Nothing anyone could say or do made any difference.
Tom used to be a believer. He attended church, he loved his wife and children, He loved Jesus. He had an attitude that said, "We can do it". Then when crisis hit he fell away. I watched it happen. I tried to intervene. Nothing anyone could say or do made any difference.
So how did he die? Some great disappointment happened. Something that soured him on modern vending machine religion. He bought into the idea that if I give my money to God, he will protect me and help me. When things didn't happen as he hoped, when the vending machine failed in his eyes .. he resented GOD. He turned away from God.
Tom doesn't REALLY have an actual backbone. When life got hard he folded up. He comes off aggressive and strong, but in truth it's all passive aggression. He is spineless and uses anger to express himself. He is unwilling to stand up for himself or the others he allegedly loves. He's a shell with nothing inside.
So he sits day and night watching TV or on the computer. Anything to get his mind off his situation. Might be old sitcoms. Old movies. Westerns. For some sports is the addiction. It's tragic. A man who had at one time great potential, destiny and the ability to make a real contribution now sits alone with a bottle in hand glassy eyed staring at a box with pictures on it.
Is there a cure? Doctors can't cure him. Drugs are no help, it's not the alcohol, it's the meaningless life he is now leading. Counseling and intervention have failed with Tom again and again. He's lost. Secular medicine and science have no answers.
There is no hope for Tom. He's already dead. A Zombie. Jesus IS his only hope. But he's disappointed in God. He's given up. He is no longer reachable. The worst is, poverty would have been a good thing for him. He needed a prodigal experience. But it won't happen. He has enough. Some Tom's I know live this life with the "help" of government or church "charity". They are antichrist in their "Mercy".
Can this tragedy be turned around? I want to believe, but no amount of intervention will bring the dead back to life without Jesus. It may mean he will have to come to grips with the situation by a visitation of the God who loves him. His heart of stone will have to be turned back to a heart of flesh.
Here's the SAD part of all this. Many of my friends on this forum know who TOM is. They recognize him by my description. If you know Tom, don't preach to him. PRAY.. there is no hope for resurrection of his dead walking corpse short of a miracle or he is about to spend eternity in a HELL he no longer believes in.
The Bible speaks about Tom:
For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. Hebrews 6:4-6
I don't have an answer, but if you know a "Tom" you might forward this to him or her, you might print this off and hand it to him. You can't wound a dead man. Call him out of his tomb.
The Bible speaks about Tom:
For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. Hebrews 6:4-6
I don't have an answer, but if you know a "Tom" you might forward this to him or her, you might print this off and hand it to him. You can't wound a dead man. Call him out of his tomb.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
How Handicapped and African American People Become Trapped
It hit me the other day. Those things we do in our country to make the playing field level for the disabled has a negative effect. Those things we do to attempt to level the playing field for Minorities has the same negative effect. Maybe it's time we STOP putting people in bondage to the blue mirror hanger.
You know the parking places near the door. The ones where those who have a Blue Sign hanging from their mirror park. If you park there, it's a big fine. There are a lot of things we do to accommodate those who are handicapped in our society. I don't resent the accommodating, but there are times when it is over the top. To be clear, my Brother John was in a wheelchair and this was necessary. On the other hand, there are ramps that are made to accommodate become barriers to the rest of us.
It all revolves around an act of congress 27 years ago, the American's with Disabilities Act. It was needed, but like a lot of good intentioned actions and laws it has led to abuses. It has become a mark of privilege to get a blue sign. I know people who sell them to others. It's illegal. People with a minor limp or discomfort petition to get one so they can park in the close by places.
Here's the part that becomes insidious, identifying yourself as handicapped in order to get special privileges has become a gaming sport. There are selfish people who use this pretend disability to get in first, get the best seats in the house, to be ahead in lines even on airplanes. Then there are the service dogs. People who have figured out how to game the system to have their puppy assigned as a service dog to have it on the airplane or in a restaurant.
These disability pretenders are actually selfish people using the system to get what they want... privilege.
Let me be clear, it's a good thing to make accommodation for the disabled. I may be old someday and need accommodation. I just don't want to go there soon.
The idea of special privilege for the disabled was not part of earlier generations. Thousands of men and women returned from wars missing limbs, eyes, carrying wounds for life and yet they did not expect society to do more than to give them a chance. And we did. Those people were not shoved aside. They tried hard to make their way in society even though actually handicapped. It made them better in many ways. If you were to call them disabled they would have been offended. My father in law from WWII was one such. He carried a war wound that caused him pain for most of his life and he limped till the day he died. Yet if I had said to him, Here let me help you, He would have hit me. He was proud and wore his difficulty as a challenge to overcome.
While I believe we need to accommodate those less able, I am convinced that these accommodations amplify and actually reinforces the disability such that they don't see the nessesity of becoming stronger. If we cut them enough slack.. they can live in comfort without the struggle.
It is said that the butterfly if helped too much in emerging from it's cocoon will die because it never struggled to develop the ability to fly.
When there is a culture of defeat and victim-hood called a handicap culture.
This parallels the Handicap Culture of Privilege that keeps the African American people trapped in bondage in the USA.
There needs to be justice and there has been injustice. Yet the efforts to create justice has created a cultural handicap for a whole race of people. It has also firmly reinforced a culture of white supremacy, white power, white pride, white superiority and white privilege. If you think or believe it was always there, it was but not to this extent. It's not just backlash, but as the African American culture becomes more and more identified as handicapped it manifests in those not so impaired or invalid to recognize they have it better than the other. The result is even if they are sympathetic, they are sent a message, we are not as good as you are.
The USA from the time of the civil rights act and thru the last 50 years has made law after law, accommodation after accommodation all in the name of trying to level the playing field, restore justice and develop equality. It has actually created a culture of people who like the handicap pretender, expect accommodation even if not actually handicapped other than their skin color. Equal opportunity, affirmative action, fair housing, laws about governmental hiring to favor the minority applicant and thousands of other efforts at righting wrongs. The net result is the wrongs being righted were mostly artificial and built of political expediency. Worse there is no sunset law. When do we stop the affirmative action program? It has created a victim mentality, a handicap of the soul. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If a person thinks themselves a victim, they are. If you don't believe you can, you won't. Many today with great ability and potential are trapped by believing the lie that they are handicapped, disabled, invalid. What a tragic situation.
I have asked many times of people who are of color when the last time in the last year THEY PERSONALLY were affected by overt racism. It's almost impossible to get a clear answer. Of course they all have stories of this or that person who did, but seldom themselves. They are living on sketchy stories and events that reinforce their mindsets.
The result is what we see today. Black lives matter, they do, but what they want is an expansion of the handicap culture. Special treatment. Black privilege.
While giving some lip service, those who have fought and won never feel handicapped in this way. They laugh at the idea of white privilege and white supremacy. I can point to all kinds of men like Michael Strayhan, Don Peebles, Kanye West, Morgan Freeman, Daymon John and thousands of men and women of color in senior management in business and industry all across the fruited plain. If you think they are feeling victimized, discriminated against or handicapped, they know better. They got there by hard work and drive. Not by hanging out a handicap mirror hanger on their resume.
What we as a nation have done is cause people to find a comfort zone of being less than they created to be. That it's OK to be mediocre if you can get away with doing less and blame injustice for your lack of achievement. We have made it easy to do less. We have destroyed a whole generation that riots, rebels in lawlessness and expects us to accept their selfish actions without question. Many of those who have difficult with cops and sometimes get shot are doing it out of a heart of black privilege.
Can we change this? Yes, but it's not going to get better as long as white privilege is propped up by a victim handicap culture that says, "YES, I'm not a good as you because I'm BLACK and suffer discrimination I can't solve." When the white man agrees.. that's considered racism. How can it be racism when he's agreeing with what they already believe. In this way the handicapped culture feeds the white supremacist.
Black people in America are unique in all cultures in the world. In Brazil there is some low level racism, but for the most part it is a color blind culture. Black folks in Brazil were brought there as slaves by the Portuguese. They have now taken their place in society. Cuba is somewhat like that. I have read all the articles that claim that is not the case.. but they fall apart under close examination.
Kenyans and Nigerians in large part believe themselves superior to Americans. In France the only racial issues revolve around Islam, not color. Before the incursion of Islam, the black Frenchman was common. Many people groups around the world consider themselves superior to the average American. Japanese, Chinese and Lebanese among them. The African American in the USA has been convinced by a parasitic political philosophy that the black man can't make it, can't get it done, can't win, can't achieve nothing other than sing, dance and play ball. That they are helpless without the government and it's masters. Worse the longer the community does what it can to keep the parasites in power, the worse it gets.
I know many who read this will take offense, that's because the indoctrination has created a world view that cannot be easily overcome. This is a 2x4 of truth. It hurts when they are hit.
I can't help being who I am. If you are black, brown, red of yellow neither can you. What I can do is reject the selfishness that creates a demand of something special for you that reinforces the handicap culture.
You are not handicapped. You are not inferior, invalid, crippled or less than. Only those who have lied to you want you to believe it. It is cultural Munchausen Syndrome: Munchausen syndrome is a factitious disorder, a mental disorder in which a person repeatedly and deliberately acts as if he or she has a physical or mental illness when he or she is not really sick. Munchausen syndrome is considered a mental illness because it is associated with severe emotional difficulties.
Time to break free.
Monday, October 09, 2017
How Handicapped and African American People are Trapped
It hit me the other day. Those things we do in our country to make the playing field level for the disabled has a negative effect. Those things we do to attempt to level the playing field for Minorities has the same negative effect. Maybe it's time we STOP putting people in bondage to the blue mirror hanger.
You know the parking places near the door. The ones where those who have a Blue Sign hanging from their mirror park. If you park there, it's a big fine. There are a lot of things we do to accommodate those who are handicapped in our society. I don't resent the accommodating, but there are times when it is over the top. To be clear, my Brother John was in a wheelchair and this was necessary. On the other hand, there are ramps that are made to accommodate become barriers to the rest of us.
It all revolves around an act of congress 27 years ago, the American's with Disabilities Act. It was needed, but like a lot of good intentioned actions and laws it has led to abuses. It has become a mark of privilege to get a blue sign. I know people who sell them to others. It's illegal. People with a minor limp or discomfort petition to get one so they can park in the close by places.
Here's the part that becomes insidious, identifying yourself as handicapped in order to get special privileges has become a gaming sport. There are selfish people who use this pretend disability to get in first, get the best seats in the house, to be ahead in lines even on airplanes. Then there are the service dogs. People who have figured out how to game the system to have their puppy assigned as a service dog to have it on the airplane or in a restaurant.
These disability pretenders are actually selfish people using the system to get what they want... privilege.
Let me be clear, it's a good thing to make accommodation for the disabled. I may be old someday and need accommodation. I just don't want to go there soon.
The idea of special privilege for the disabled was not part of earlier generations. Thousands of men and women returned from wars missing limbs, eyes, carrying wounds for life and yet they did not expect society to do more than to give them a chance. And we did. Those people were not shoved aside. They tried hard to make their way in society even though actually handicapped. It made them better in many ways. If you were to call them disabled they would have been offended. My father in law from WWII was one such. He carried a war wound that caused him pain for most of his life and he limped till the day he died. Yet if I had said to him, Here let me help you, He would have hit me. He was proud and wore his difficulty as a challenge to overcome.
While I believe we need to accommodate those less able, I am convinced that these accommodations amplify and actually reinforces the disability such that they don't see the nessesity of becoming stronger. If we cut them enough slack.. they can live in comfort without the struggle.
It is said that the butterfly if helped too much in emerging from it's cocoon will die because it never struggled to develop the ability to fly.
When there is a culture of defeat and victim-hood called a handicap culture.
This parallels the Handicap Culture of Privilege that keeps the African American people trapped in bondage in the USA.
There needs to be justice and there has been injustice. Yet the efforts to create justice has created a cultural handicap for a whole race of people. It has also firmly reinforced a culture of white supremacy, white power, white pride, white superiority and white privilege. If you think or believe it was always there, it was but not to this extent. It's not just backlash, but as the African American culture becomes more and more identified as handicapped it manifests in those not so impaired or invalid to recognize they have it better than the other. The result is even if they are sympathetic, they are sent a message, we are not as good as you are.
The USA from the time of the civil rights act and thru the last 50 years has made law after law, accommodation after accommodation all in the name of trying to level the playing field, restore justice and develop equality. It has actually created a culture of people who like the handicap pretender, expect accommodation even if not actually handicapped other than their skin color. Equal opportunity, affirmative action, fair housing, laws about governmental hiring to favor the minority applicant and thousands of other efforts at righting wrongs. The net result is the wrongs being righted were mostly artificial and built of political expediency. Worse there is no sunset law. When do we stop the affirmative action program? It has created a victim mentality, a handicap of the soul. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If a person thinks themselves a victim, they are. If you don't believe you can, you won't. Many today with great ability and potential are trapped by believing the lie that they are handicapped, disabled, invalid. What a tragic situation.
I have asked many times of people who are of color when the last time in the last year THEY PERSONALLY were affected by overt racism. It's almost impossible to get a clear answer. Of course they all have stories of this or that person who did, but seldom themselves. They are living on sketchy stories and events that reinforce their mindsets.
The result is what we see today. Black lives matter, they do, but what they want is an expansion of the handicap culture. Special treatment. Black privilege.
While giving some lip service, those who have fought and won never feel handicapped in this way. They laugh at the idea of white privilege and white supremacy. I can point to all kinds of men like Michael Strayhan, Don Peebles, Kanye West, Morgan Freeman, Daymon John and thousands of men and women of color in senior management in business and industry all across the fruited plain. If you think they are feeling victimized, discriminated against or handicapped, they know better. They got there by hard work and drive. Not by hanging out a handicap mirror hanger on their resume.
What we as a nation have done is cause people to find a comfort zone of being less than they created to be. That it's OK to be mediocre if you can get away with doing less and blame injustice for your lack of achievement. We have made it easy to do less. We have destroyed a whole generation that riots, rebels in lawlessness and expects us to accept their selfish actions without question. Many of those who have difficult with cops and sometimes get shot are doing it out of a heart of black privilege.
Can we change this? Yes, but it's not going to get better as long as white privilege is propped up by a victim handicap culture that says, "YES, I'm not a good as you because I'm BLACK and suffer discrimination I can't solve." When the white man agrees.. that's considered racism. How can it be racism when he's agreeing with what they already believe. In this way the handicapped culture feeds the white supremacist.
Black people in America are unique in all cultures in the world. In Brazil there is some low level racism, but for the most part it is a color blind culture. Black folks in Brazil were brought there as slaves by the Portuguese. They have now taken their place in society. Cuba is somewhat like that. I have read all the articles that claim that is not the case.. but they fall apart under close examination.
Kenyans and Nigerians in large part believe themselves superior to Americans. In France the only racial issues revolve around Islam, not color. Before the incursion of Islam, the black Frenchman was common. Many people groups around the world consider themselves superior to the average American. Japanese, Chinese and Lebanese among them. The African American in the USA has been convinced by a parasitic political philosophy that the black man can't make it, can't get it done, can't win, can't achieve nothing other than sing, dance and play ball. That they are helpless without the government and it's masters. Worse the longer the community does what it can to keep the parasites in power, the worse it gets.
I know many who read this will take offense, that's because the indoctrination has created a world view that cannot be easily overcome. This is a 2x4 of truth. It hurts when they are hit.
I can't help being who I am. If you are black, brown, red of yellow neither can you. What I can do is reject the selfishness that creates a demand of something special for you that reinforces the handicap culture.
You are not handicapped. You are not inferior, invalid, crippled or less than. Only those who have lied to you want you to believe it. It is cultural Munchausen Syndrome: Munchausen syndrome is a factitious disorder, a mental disorder in which a person repeatedly and deliberately acts as if he or she has a physical or mental illness when he or she is not really sick. Munchausen syndrome is considered a mental illness because it is associated with severe emotional difficulties.
Time to break free.
Saturday, September 02, 2017
Manhood Matters in Houston
I thank God that there are still men and women who are made of the right stuff. Strong. Hardy. Willing to work. Able.
We have a generation that is exemplified by Obama's Pajama boy
Many are wimpy snowflakes and happy to be sissy boys:
YET there are real men, (and women) for whom a nation must be thankful. Texas still has some.
Can we lose wimpy and get back to MEN being MEN and not so many of this millennial generation.
We have a generation that is exemplified by Obama's Pajama boy
Many are wimpy snowflakes and happy to be sissy boys:
YET there are real men, (and women) for whom a nation must be thankful. Texas still has some.
Can we lose wimpy and get back to MEN being MEN and not so many of this millennial generation.
Friday, September 01, 2017
SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY STILL BELIEVE IN OBAMA
I ran across an article from February of this year, these writers ACTUALLY believe President Obama accomplished things. Nearly everything they talked about is failures, not successes. You can read the original article here:
http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/januaryfebruary-2017/obamas-top-50-accomplishments-revisited/
1. Passed Health Care Reform FAILURE - it didn't work
After five presidents over the course of a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. More than twenty million Americans have gained coverage since the passage of the law, which provides subsidies for Americans to buy coverage, expands Medicaid eligibility, and prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. The uninsured rate has dropped from 16 percent in 2010 to 9 percent in 2015. The law also mandates free preventive care, allows young people to stay on their parents’ policies up to age twenty-six, and imposes a ban on annual and lifetime caps on benefits.
2. Rescued the Economy DAMAGED THE ECONOMY - Gave money ONLY to unions and Democrat Groups. Useless.
Signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid the most severe downturn since the Great Depression. As of October 2016, the economy had added 15.5 million new jobs since early 2010 and set a record with seventy-three straight months of private-sector job growth. The unemployment rate, which hit a sustained peak of about 10 percent in 2009, has dropped to 4.6 percent as of November 2016.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform KILLED BANKS and MADE THINGS WORSE
Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, allows the government to take them into receivership if they pose a threat to the economy, and limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit. Dodd-Frank also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to crack down on abusive lending and financial services. By the end of fiscal year 2016, the CFPB had handled nearly one million consumer complaints and taken actions that resulted in $11.7 billion in relief for more than twenty-seven million consumers.
4. Negotiated a Deal to Block A Nuclear Iran DISASTER, they are laughing at him all the way to the bank.
Led six nations in reaching an agreement with Iran that requires the country to end its nuclear weapons program and submit to a rigorous International Atomic Energy Agency inspections regime in exchange for lifting global sanctions. The deal—which resulted from first toughening sanctions against Iran—also blocked Iran’s pathways to building a bomb, slowing down the development time for a weapon from three months to one year if Iran were to break its commitments.
5. Secured U.S. Commitment to a Global Agreement on Climate Change Which THANKFULLY Trump negated. Stupid deal
Provided key leadership to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which produced the 2015 Paris Agreement, a commitment by 197 nations to reduce global carbon emissions and limit the global rise in temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius.
6. Eliminated Osama bin Laden HE was president as others risked life and limb to do this.. but OK
In 2011, ordered the Special Forces raid of the secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was retained.
7. Ended U.S. Combat Missions in Iraq and Afghanistan WHAT END? --- the Middle East is in flames and worse. He did nothing.
After an initial troop surge in Afghanistan, brought home 90 percent of the nearly 180,000 troops who were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan when he took office, leaving only a small contingent of forces to assist the Iraqi and Afghani militaries against insurgents and the Taliban. The withdrawal from Iraq created the vacuum that ISIS has filled. But, recently, without redeploying ground troops, the U.S. has helped the Iraqi military in reversing ISIS’s gains.
8. Turned Around the U.S. Auto Industry More like DESTROYED IT.
In 2009, injected $62 billion (on top of the $13.4 billion in loans from the George W. Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. By December 2014, the car companies had repaid $70.4 billion of the funds, and the Center for Automotive Research estimated that 2.5 million jobs were saved.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’’ This is GOOD??
Ended the 1990s-era restriction and formalized a new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
10. Supported Federal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages This is GOOD??
Decided in 2011 that the federal government would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which restricted federal marriage recognition to opposite-sex couples. In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key portions of the law as unconstitutional, allowing married same-sex couples to finally receive federal protections like Social Security and veteran benefits.
11. Reversed Bush Torture Policies NOT Progress in my opinion
Two days after taking office, signed an executive order banning the so-called “enhanced interrogation” techniques used by the CIA under President Bush and considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush administration legal opinions supporting the use of these techniques.
12. Established Rules to Limit Carbon Emissions from Power Plants DESTROYED A WHOLE INDUSTRY which thankfully President Trump is reviving.
Finalized a “Clean Power Plan” in 2015 through new EPA regulations, setting the first-ever carbon pollution standards for existing power plants. When fully implemented in 2030, the new rules will result in a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to 2005.
13. Normalized Relations with Cuba Which did NOTHING yet. Freely Visit the country? NOT
In 2014, took steps to open diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba, ending the failed Cold War policy of isolation. In March 2016, direct mail flights to Cuba resumed for the first time in fifty years. American tourists may also now freely visit the country.
14. Put Medicare on Sounder Financial Footing All a Shell Game
Slowed the growth of health care spending through cost-saving measures enacted as part of the ACA, ensuring the solvency of Medicare’s principal trust fund through 2028.
15. Protected DREAMERS from Deportation THIS ONE I AGREE WITH
Took executive action in June 2012 to protect undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children
(so-called DREAMers) from deportation and allow them to apply for work permits.
16. Established Net Neutrality Taking over the internet is progress??
Directed the Federal Communications Commission to issue a rule classifying internet service providers as a public utility and forcing them to treat all web traffic the same, regardless of source. After years of litigation, a federal court upheld the FCC’s rule, meaning providers can’t favor certain websites or block others.
17. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court Thank God he is not POTUS any longer. We need more conservatives.
Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor (the first Hispanic person and third woman to serve on the Court) in 2009 and Elena Kagan (the fourth woman) in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.
18. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards PIPE DREAM FANTASY
Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty trucks by model year 2025.
19. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Funding DISASTER this is
As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed a measure ending the decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. As a result, all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. More than half of the savings ($36 billion over ten years) is dedicated to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
20. Improved America’s Image Abroad REALLY REALLY??
With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of “soft power”) during the Bush years. Favorable opinion toward the United States rose during Obama’s first term in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent, and have stayed high ever since.
21. Left His Mark on the Federal Judiciary WHICH IS A TERRIBLE LIBERAL SCAR
Appointed more than 300 judges to federal district and appeals courts, in line with other two-term presidents, tipping the balance to majority Democrat appointed. A majority of judges on nine of the thirteen appeals courts are now Democratic appointees—compared to just one when Obama took office. Appointed a record number of female (138) and minority (120) judges to the federal bench, as well as eleven openly gay or lesbian judges.
22. Diversified the Federal Bureaucracy DEEP STATE ENEMY OF THE NATION
Appointed women and people of color to fill more than half of appointments to policy positions requiring Senate confirmation, including seventeen of thirty-one Cabinet positions.
23. Passed Fair Sentencing Act I'm OK with this.
Signed 2010 legislation that reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine possession from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1. Successfully lobbied the United States Sentencing Commission to apply those measures retroactively, which contributed to the largest decrease in the federal prison population in over thirty years.
24. Revived the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division SO WE GET FERGUSON, BALTIMORE and PEOPLE DYING ON THE STREETS OF CHICAGO
Through then Attorney General Eric Holder, announced a major overhaul of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division in 2009 to bring back federal civil rights enforcement, which had atrophied under President Bush. Among other priorities, the division stepped up its efforts against housing and employment discrimination, strengthened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, and put renewed focus on cracking down on discriminatory policing practices.
25. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection - JUST A LAND GRAB THAT NEEDS TO STOP NOW
Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which designates more than two million acres as wilderness, creates thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protects over 1,000 miles of rivers. By designating new national monuments and other measures, permanently protects over 548 million acres, more than any other president.
26. Gave the FDA the Power to Regulate Tobacco - SO WHAT
Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009. Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels. It also bans the sale of “light” cigarettes and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
27. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense - LEFT OUR MILITARY in Shambles
Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of a sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
28. Kick-started Clean Energy Investment - Still only produces 3% of electricity. A joke.
As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion in research on smart grids, energy-efficient electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels. Launched a clean energy incubator within the Argonne National Laboratory and encouraged $4 billion in commitments by foundations, institutional investors, and other private-sector stakeholders to boost their investments in clean energy technology.
29. Reduced the Threat from Nuclear Weapons - Yeah, he sure did, see North Korea and Iran for more (Sarcasm)
Initiated the biannual Nuclear Security Summit to address the global threat posed by nuclear terrorism and advance a common approach to strengthening nuclear security. As a result, weapons-usable highly enriched uranium has been removed from sixteen countries. Signed and won ratification of a 2011 treaty with Russia to limit each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400). The treaty also reestablished a monitory and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009.
30. Passed Credit Card Reforms - I'm OK with this
Signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
31. Cut Veteran Homelessness by Half REALLY?? Don't see any evidence of this.
In 2010, launched the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors, which has led to a 47 percent decline in the number of homeless veterans since 2010 and aims to end youth homelessness by 2020.
32. Enacted Government Surveillance Reform - I am OK with this.
Signed the 2015 USA Freedom Act, which bans the governmental collection of bulk data, creates a special panel to provide technical and legal advice to the court administering the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and provides greater transparency for FISA court opinions. The ACLU noted that the legislation marked the first time since 1978 that Congress has “taken steps to restrict, rather than expand, its government surveillance authority.”
33. Expanded Overtime Pay - Bad Plan, damages business reduces employment
Updated a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure overtime pay for employees making up to $47,476 a year, thereby expanding overtime protections to 4.2 million workers. The new rules were set to go into effect in December 2016, but were blocked in November by a federal judge in Texas.
34. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges - More like DESTROYED optional education. The state is ALL
Through the Department of Education, issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011, cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 25 percent of former students aren’t paying off their loans or if former students spend more than 12 percent of their average total earnings servicing student loans. In June 2016, regulators voted to shut down the nation’s largest accreditor of for-profit colleges, cutting off federal aid to hundreds of for-profits.
35. Cut the Deficit - That has nothing to do with him, that has everything to do with the American People
Reduced the federal deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016, one benefit of a strengthening economy.
36. Created the College Scorecard - WHOOPEE- meaningless
Through the Department of Education, developed a comprehensive database in 2015 that allows prospective college students to compare potential schools based on costs, graduation rates, debt, and post-college earnings.
37. Improved School Nutrition - FOOD THE KIDS CAN'T OR WON'T EAT. Stupid idea
Signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010, championed by Michelle Obama, mandating a $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional standards for school lunches. New rules double the amount of fruits and vegetables, and require only whole grains, in foods served to students.
38. Expanded the Definition of Hate Crimes - Only for white people because black people can't hate.
Signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, applying existing hate crime laws to crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, religion, or national origin.
39. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide - THEN STOP BREATHING!! This was one of the DUMBER Things he did.
Through 2009 EPA regulations, declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate
its production.
40. Strengthened Women’s Right to Fair Pay YAWN.. was always law, he was famous for passing bills that did what a pre-existing bill did.
Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if it happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.
41. Secured the Removal of Chemical Weapons from Syria - What the heck was ASSAD using to kill all those people in 2015-16?
Forced an agreement by Syrian leader Bashar Assad in 2013 to destroy the country’s stockpile of chemical weapons in accordance with the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention. In 2016, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed the destruction of thousands of tons of mustard gas and other toxic chemicals. (There is evidence, however, that Assad has recently continued to use chlorine gas against rebels and civilians in Aleppo.)
42. Protected LGBTQ Americans From Employment Discrimination - Not Progress. If you are a businessman or woman you have the right to choose your employees. Government should stay out of this.
Signed an executive order in 2014 prohibiting federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against their workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
43. Reduced Discrimination Against Former Prisoners in Federal Hiring - I'm good with this.
Signed an executive order to “ban the box” in federal hiring and contracting. Government employers can’t ask about criminal records at the beginning of the application process, giving applicants with a criminal history a fairer shot.
44. Won Major Victories Against Housing and Mortgage Discrimination - I'm good with this.
Through the Justice Department, reached a record $335 million settlement against Countrywide Financial Corporation and a $175 million settlement against Wells Fargo for their practices of charging higher interest and fees to African American and Latino borrowers prior to the financial crisis, in addition to numerous other suits pursued on behalf of borrowers. In 2015, the administration successfully argued before the Supreme Court that victims of housing discrimination suing for bias only need to show “disparate impact,” not an intent to discriminate, to win their case.
45. Expanded Broadband Coverage - This was already law. Clinton. He did nothing new.
Obtained approval from the FCC to shift $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband internet access for lower-income rural families. By 2016, 98 percent of Americans had access to fast 4G/LTE broadband.
46. Expanded Health Coverage for Children - This was actually a debacle, but explaining it here is too much. Basically Medicaid already did all this, but this was smoke and mirrors.. but OK.
Signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act in 2009, expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover an additional four million children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
47. Improved Food Safety - half good. Some is overreach in government in domestic agriculture.
Signed the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which increased the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expanded its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing the number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the safety practices of countries exporting food products to the U.S.
48. Let the Space Shuttle Die and Killed the Planned Moon Mission - and this is good??
Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, and dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for the even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build a moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, designed to investigate Mars’s potential to support life.
49. Rebuilt and Fortified the Gulf Coast post-Katrina - Taking credit for what Bush had already in process. Big Deal
Completed a $14.5 billion system in 2011 to rebuild the levees in New Orleans and protect it from a 100-year storm.
50. Avoided Scandal - This is a laugh. People that believe this don't KNOW what scandal means.
Became the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to serve two terms with no serious personal or political scandal.
http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/januaryfebruary-2017/obamas-top-50-accomplishments-revisited/
1. Passed Health Care Reform FAILURE - it didn't work
After five presidents over the course of a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. More than twenty million Americans have gained coverage since the passage of the law, which provides subsidies for Americans to buy coverage, expands Medicaid eligibility, and prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. The uninsured rate has dropped from 16 percent in 2010 to 9 percent in 2015. The law also mandates free preventive care, allows young people to stay on their parents’ policies up to age twenty-six, and imposes a ban on annual and lifetime caps on benefits.
2. Rescued the Economy DAMAGED THE ECONOMY - Gave money ONLY to unions and Democrat Groups. Useless.
Signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid the most severe downturn since the Great Depression. As of October 2016, the economy had added 15.5 million new jobs since early 2010 and set a record with seventy-three straight months of private-sector job growth. The unemployment rate, which hit a sustained peak of about 10 percent in 2009, has dropped to 4.6 percent as of November 2016.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform KILLED BANKS and MADE THINGS WORSE
Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, allows the government to take them into receivership if they pose a threat to the economy, and limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit. Dodd-Frank also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to crack down on abusive lending and financial services. By the end of fiscal year 2016, the CFPB had handled nearly one million consumer complaints and taken actions that resulted in $11.7 billion in relief for more than twenty-seven million consumers.
4. Negotiated a Deal to Block A Nuclear Iran DISASTER, they are laughing at him all the way to the bank.
Led six nations in reaching an agreement with Iran that requires the country to end its nuclear weapons program and submit to a rigorous International Atomic Energy Agency inspections regime in exchange for lifting global sanctions. The deal—which resulted from first toughening sanctions against Iran—also blocked Iran’s pathways to building a bomb, slowing down the development time for a weapon from three months to one year if Iran were to break its commitments.
5. Secured U.S. Commitment to a Global Agreement on Climate Change Which THANKFULLY Trump negated. Stupid deal
Provided key leadership to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which produced the 2015 Paris Agreement, a commitment by 197 nations to reduce global carbon emissions and limit the global rise in temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius.
6. Eliminated Osama bin Laden HE was president as others risked life and limb to do this.. but OK
In 2011, ordered the Special Forces raid of the secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was retained.
7. Ended U.S. Combat Missions in Iraq and Afghanistan WHAT END? --- the Middle East is in flames and worse. He did nothing.
After an initial troop surge in Afghanistan, brought home 90 percent of the nearly 180,000 troops who were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan when he took office, leaving only a small contingent of forces to assist the Iraqi and Afghani militaries against insurgents and the Taliban. The withdrawal from Iraq created the vacuum that ISIS has filled. But, recently, without redeploying ground troops, the U.S. has helped the Iraqi military in reversing ISIS’s gains.
8. Turned Around the U.S. Auto Industry More like DESTROYED IT.
In 2009, injected $62 billion (on top of the $13.4 billion in loans from the George W. Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. By December 2014, the car companies had repaid $70.4 billion of the funds, and the Center for Automotive Research estimated that 2.5 million jobs were saved.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’’ This is GOOD??
Ended the 1990s-era restriction and formalized a new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
10. Supported Federal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages This is GOOD??
Decided in 2011 that the federal government would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which restricted federal marriage recognition to opposite-sex couples. In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key portions of the law as unconstitutional, allowing married same-sex couples to finally receive federal protections like Social Security and veteran benefits.
11. Reversed Bush Torture Policies NOT Progress in my opinion
Two days after taking office, signed an executive order banning the so-called “enhanced interrogation” techniques used by the CIA under President Bush and considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush administration legal opinions supporting the use of these techniques.
12. Established Rules to Limit Carbon Emissions from Power Plants DESTROYED A WHOLE INDUSTRY which thankfully President Trump is reviving.
Finalized a “Clean Power Plan” in 2015 through new EPA regulations, setting the first-ever carbon pollution standards for existing power plants. When fully implemented in 2030, the new rules will result in a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to 2005.
13. Normalized Relations with Cuba Which did NOTHING yet. Freely Visit the country? NOT
In 2014, took steps to open diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba, ending the failed Cold War policy of isolation. In March 2016, direct mail flights to Cuba resumed for the first time in fifty years. American tourists may also now freely visit the country.
14. Put Medicare on Sounder Financial Footing All a Shell Game
Slowed the growth of health care spending through cost-saving measures enacted as part of the ACA, ensuring the solvency of Medicare’s principal trust fund through 2028.
15. Protected DREAMERS from Deportation THIS ONE I AGREE WITH
Took executive action in June 2012 to protect undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children
(so-called DREAMers) from deportation and allow them to apply for work permits.
16. Established Net Neutrality Taking over the internet is progress??
Directed the Federal Communications Commission to issue a rule classifying internet service providers as a public utility and forcing them to treat all web traffic the same, regardless of source. After years of litigation, a federal court upheld the FCC’s rule, meaning providers can’t favor certain websites or block others.
17. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court Thank God he is not POTUS any longer. We need more conservatives.
Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor (the first Hispanic person and third woman to serve on the Court) in 2009 and Elena Kagan (the fourth woman) in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.
18. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards PIPE DREAM FANTASY
Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty trucks by model year 2025.
19. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Funding DISASTER this is
As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed a measure ending the decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. As a result, all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. More than half of the savings ($36 billion over ten years) is dedicated to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
20. Improved America’s Image Abroad REALLY REALLY??
With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of “soft power”) during the Bush years. Favorable opinion toward the United States rose during Obama’s first term in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent, and have stayed high ever since.
21. Left His Mark on the Federal Judiciary WHICH IS A TERRIBLE LIBERAL SCAR
Appointed more than 300 judges to federal district and appeals courts, in line with other two-term presidents, tipping the balance to majority Democrat appointed. A majority of judges on nine of the thirteen appeals courts are now Democratic appointees—compared to just one when Obama took office. Appointed a record number of female (138) and minority (120) judges to the federal bench, as well as eleven openly gay or lesbian judges.
22. Diversified the Federal Bureaucracy DEEP STATE ENEMY OF THE NATION
Appointed women and people of color to fill more than half of appointments to policy positions requiring Senate confirmation, including seventeen of thirty-one Cabinet positions.
23. Passed Fair Sentencing Act I'm OK with this.
Signed 2010 legislation that reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine possession from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1. Successfully lobbied the United States Sentencing Commission to apply those measures retroactively, which contributed to the largest decrease in the federal prison population in over thirty years.
24. Revived the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division SO WE GET FERGUSON, BALTIMORE and PEOPLE DYING ON THE STREETS OF CHICAGO
Through then Attorney General Eric Holder, announced a major overhaul of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division in 2009 to bring back federal civil rights enforcement, which had atrophied under President Bush. Among other priorities, the division stepped up its efforts against housing and employment discrimination, strengthened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, and put renewed focus on cracking down on discriminatory policing practices.
25. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection - JUST A LAND GRAB THAT NEEDS TO STOP NOW
Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which designates more than two million acres as wilderness, creates thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protects over 1,000 miles of rivers. By designating new national monuments and other measures, permanently protects over 548 million acres, more than any other president.
26. Gave the FDA the Power to Regulate Tobacco - SO WHAT
Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009. Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels. It also bans the sale of “light” cigarettes and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
27. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense - LEFT OUR MILITARY in Shambles
Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of a sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
28. Kick-started Clean Energy Investment - Still only produces 3% of electricity. A joke.
As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion in research on smart grids, energy-efficient electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels. Launched a clean energy incubator within the Argonne National Laboratory and encouraged $4 billion in commitments by foundations, institutional investors, and other private-sector stakeholders to boost their investments in clean energy technology.
29. Reduced the Threat from Nuclear Weapons - Yeah, he sure did, see North Korea and Iran for more (Sarcasm)
Initiated the biannual Nuclear Security Summit to address the global threat posed by nuclear terrorism and advance a common approach to strengthening nuclear security. As a result, weapons-usable highly enriched uranium has been removed from sixteen countries. Signed and won ratification of a 2011 treaty with Russia to limit each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400). The treaty also reestablished a monitory and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009.
30. Passed Credit Card Reforms - I'm OK with this
Signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
31. Cut Veteran Homelessness by Half REALLY?? Don't see any evidence of this.
In 2010, launched the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors, which has led to a 47 percent decline in the number of homeless veterans since 2010 and aims to end youth homelessness by 2020.
32. Enacted Government Surveillance Reform - I am OK with this.
Signed the 2015 USA Freedom Act, which bans the governmental collection of bulk data, creates a special panel to provide technical and legal advice to the court administering the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and provides greater transparency for FISA court opinions. The ACLU noted that the legislation marked the first time since 1978 that Congress has “taken steps to restrict, rather than expand, its government surveillance authority.”
33. Expanded Overtime Pay - Bad Plan, damages business reduces employment
Updated a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure overtime pay for employees making up to $47,476 a year, thereby expanding overtime protections to 4.2 million workers. The new rules were set to go into effect in December 2016, but were blocked in November by a federal judge in Texas.
34. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges - More like DESTROYED optional education. The state is ALL
Through the Department of Education, issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011, cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 25 percent of former students aren’t paying off their loans or if former students spend more than 12 percent of their average total earnings servicing student loans. In June 2016, regulators voted to shut down the nation’s largest accreditor of for-profit colleges, cutting off federal aid to hundreds of for-profits.
35. Cut the Deficit - That has nothing to do with him, that has everything to do with the American People
Reduced the federal deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016, one benefit of a strengthening economy.
36. Created the College Scorecard - WHOOPEE- meaningless
Through the Department of Education, developed a comprehensive database in 2015 that allows prospective college students to compare potential schools based on costs, graduation rates, debt, and post-college earnings.
37. Improved School Nutrition - FOOD THE KIDS CAN'T OR WON'T EAT. Stupid idea
Signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010, championed by Michelle Obama, mandating a $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional standards for school lunches. New rules double the amount of fruits and vegetables, and require only whole grains, in foods served to students.
38. Expanded the Definition of Hate Crimes - Only for white people because black people can't hate.
Signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, applying existing hate crime laws to crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, religion, or national origin.
39. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide - THEN STOP BREATHING!! This was one of the DUMBER Things he did.
Through 2009 EPA regulations, declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate
its production.
40. Strengthened Women’s Right to Fair Pay YAWN.. was always law, he was famous for passing bills that did what a pre-existing bill did.
Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if it happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.
41. Secured the Removal of Chemical Weapons from Syria - What the heck was ASSAD using to kill all those people in 2015-16?
Forced an agreement by Syrian leader Bashar Assad in 2013 to destroy the country’s stockpile of chemical weapons in accordance with the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention. In 2016, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed the destruction of thousands of tons of mustard gas and other toxic chemicals. (There is evidence, however, that Assad has recently continued to use chlorine gas against rebels and civilians in Aleppo.)
42. Protected LGBTQ Americans From Employment Discrimination - Not Progress. If you are a businessman or woman you have the right to choose your employees. Government should stay out of this.
Signed an executive order in 2014 prohibiting federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against their workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
43. Reduced Discrimination Against Former Prisoners in Federal Hiring - I'm good with this.
Signed an executive order to “ban the box” in federal hiring and contracting. Government employers can’t ask about criminal records at the beginning of the application process, giving applicants with a criminal history a fairer shot.
44. Won Major Victories Against Housing and Mortgage Discrimination - I'm good with this.
Through the Justice Department, reached a record $335 million settlement against Countrywide Financial Corporation and a $175 million settlement against Wells Fargo for their practices of charging higher interest and fees to African American and Latino borrowers prior to the financial crisis, in addition to numerous other suits pursued on behalf of borrowers. In 2015, the administration successfully argued before the Supreme Court that victims of housing discrimination suing for bias only need to show “disparate impact,” not an intent to discriminate, to win their case.
45. Expanded Broadband Coverage - This was already law. Clinton. He did nothing new.
Obtained approval from the FCC to shift $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband internet access for lower-income rural families. By 2016, 98 percent of Americans had access to fast 4G/LTE broadband.
46. Expanded Health Coverage for Children - This was actually a debacle, but explaining it here is too much. Basically Medicaid already did all this, but this was smoke and mirrors.. but OK.
Signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act in 2009, expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover an additional four million children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
47. Improved Food Safety - half good. Some is overreach in government in domestic agriculture.
Signed the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which increased the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expanded its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing the number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the safety practices of countries exporting food products to the U.S.
48. Let the Space Shuttle Die and Killed the Planned Moon Mission - and this is good??
Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, and dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for the even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build a moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, designed to investigate Mars’s potential to support life.
49. Rebuilt and Fortified the Gulf Coast post-Katrina - Taking credit for what Bush had already in process. Big Deal
Completed a $14.5 billion system in 2011 to rebuild the levees in New Orleans and protect it from a 100-year storm.
50. Avoided Scandal - This is a laugh. People that believe this don't KNOW what scandal means.
Became the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to serve two terms with no serious personal or political scandal.
Monday, August 28, 2017
Nazi Flags, Confederate Flags and a Kneeling Kaepernick are not the same
He who wants to fly the battle flag on his own time expresses a constitutional right. Ditto a Nazi flag. The former does not offend me, the latter does. I guess that's all in the eye of the beholder. I'm not enthusiastic about this exercised right. There are fools everywhere.
I was recently in Nebraska and saw a pickup with the battle flag flying. I was surprised, not offended. I know he who flew it had the right to do so, even if it wasn't wise. If that had been a Nazi flag.. I would have had concern. Still recognizing and accepting that he had the right to do so. Seems like he would have been picking a fight. Heck I might have confronted him.
Regarding Kaepernick, employees working for private organizations have certain rights.
For example, under Title VII, employees have a right to reasonable accommodations because of sincerely held religious beliefs so long as it doesn’t cause more than a de minimis hardship on the employer.
Had Kaepernick requested not to stand and claimed that it violated his sincerely held religious beliefs, the employer would have to decide whether such conduct can be accommodated, and whether it causes an undue hardship.
In this age of divisiveness, private employers are wise to remind employees that they have no protections under the First Amendment as it relates to their employment. Otherwise, disrespect and disruption can overtake your workplace.
Employees who work for private employers need to know that they are free to do and say whatever they want. However, they also need to understand that there are consequences to those decisions, so it better be worth the risk and they cannot cry First Amendment foul when they end up on the unemployment line.
See it's not that complicated. One is a right, one is not. In your famous line, False Equivalency.
I was recently in Nebraska and saw a pickup with the battle flag flying. I was surprised, not offended. I know he who flew it had the right to do so, even if it wasn't wise. If that had been a Nazi flag.. I would have had concern. Still recognizing and accepting that he had the right to do so. Seems like he would have been picking a fight. Heck I might have confronted him.
Regarding Kaepernick, employees working for private organizations have certain rights.
For example, under Title VII, employees have a right to reasonable accommodations because of sincerely held religious beliefs so long as it doesn’t cause more than a de minimis hardship on the employer.
Had Kaepernick requested not to stand and claimed that it violated his sincerely held religious beliefs, the employer would have to decide whether such conduct can be accommodated, and whether it causes an undue hardship.
In this age of divisiveness, private employers are wise to remind employees that they have no protections under the First Amendment as it relates to their employment. Otherwise, disrespect and disruption can overtake your workplace.
Employees who work for private employers need to know that they are free to do and say whatever they want. However, they also need to understand that there are consequences to those decisions, so it better be worth the risk and they cannot cry First Amendment foul when they end up on the unemployment line.
See it's not that complicated. One is a right, one is not. In your famous line, False Equivalency.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Slavery still exists in America
There are people enslaved to ideas that hold them in bondage. There are people used by Sinister forces to cause others to end up inferior. There are people allowing themselves to be held up as victims by those who would use that identification as justification for their Anarchy. Yet these slaves dutifully find the boundaries of the plantation and abuse anyone who would even think about stepping outside those boundaries. They are slaves as surely as if there were Shackles on their ankles and Empty nooses hanging in the trees. Stop this insane cycle and come to your senses.
This is NOT a race question. It is cultural.
Today there were perhaps a couple hundred thousand people gathered to see the eclipse in Nebraska. We were part of that crowd. we were about 40 miles from Lincoln and 80 miles from Omaha. Both of those towns have significant African American populations. yet among all of the people that I saw today I could count on both hands and both feet the people of color that I saw observing this celestial phenomenon. I hope someone who understands the culture better than I do can explain to me why the passivity about something like this exists. I will admit that many of the people that were there looking at this Eclipse were relatively geeky people. telescopes charts glasses seminars education were all part of the day.. could the culture just in general be uninterested in science? Color me puzzled
It is far easier to become a millionaire than to remain a millionaire.
I have known many of the former and few of the latter. Look at most football and basketball players. They can make it but not keep it. They become fertile ground for shysters. So stop praying to become a millionaire and start praying to learn how to be a millionaire for a long time. The same attitudes of skills that get you to become a millionaire will maintain you if you learn to cultivate them well.
I was grieved at a recent conference when one of the speakers was selling or giving away millionaire t-shirts. He was missing the boat. You need to learn how, not just earn. Any fool could get lucky and receive a lot of money. the lottery does it every day. Keeping it is something completely different.
Don't ask me how I know this is true
TO MY FRIENDS WHO DESPISE PRESIDENT TRUMP
(I didn't write this but I and agree in principle. It's good to see things from the other side. Time to come to an understanding)
I genuinely understand how you feel about President Trump. You despise the man. You think he is illegitimate. You think he never should have been elected in the first place. You think he is wholly unqualified and unworthy of the office he holds. You think he is a divisive figure who is completely lacking in any moral authority.
You worry about the future of the country. You wonder how we can survive four years of his incompetency. He simply does not stand for American values and fundamentally misunderstands what makes America the country that it is. You are in despair.
You believe his mere presence in the office diminishes its statute. You resent your fellow Americans for putting him in the White House. You don't consider him your president and every time he opens his mouth you can feel your blood pressure rising and the vein on your forehead throbbing.
Am I close to accurate?
How do I know you feel this way? Because IT IS THE EXACT SAME WAY I FELT ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA FOR EIGHT YEARS!
I survived those eight llloooooooonnnnngggggg years and you will survive eight years of President Trump. Suck it up buttercups.
I understand your frustrations but I don't particularly empathize with them because you put someone for whom I had the EXACT SAME FEELINGS you have about President Trump in the White House for eight years.
I genuinely understand how you feel about President Trump. You despise the man. You think he is illegitimate. You think he never should have been elected in the first place. You think he is wholly unqualified and unworthy of the office he holds. You think he is a divisive figure who is completely lacking in any moral authority.
You worry about the future of the country. You wonder how we can survive four years of his incompetency. He simply does not stand for American values and fundamentally misunderstands what makes America the country that it is. You are in despair.
You believe his mere presence in the office diminishes its statute. You resent your fellow Americans for putting him in the White House. You don't consider him your president and every time he opens his mouth you can feel your blood pressure rising and the vein on your forehead throbbing.
Am I close to accurate?
How do I know you feel this way? Because IT IS THE EXACT SAME WAY I FELT ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA FOR EIGHT YEARS!
I survived those eight llloooooooonnnnngggggg years and you will survive eight years of President Trump. Suck it up buttercups.
I understand your frustrations but I don't particularly empathize with them because you put someone for whom I had the EXACT SAME FEELINGS you have about President Trump in the White House for eight years.
WHEN OTHERS LACK COMMON SENSE
WE WILL NEVER FIND COMMON GROUND, COMMONALITY WITHOUT COMMON CULTURE AND COMMON VALUES. ERGO, WHAT YOU THINK IS COMMON SENSE IS NONSENSE TO THOSE WHO DON’T SHARE YOUR CULTURAL VALUES. THEY ACTUALLY BELIEVE IT'S "REASONABLE"
I have been thinking about the radical mess we see around the nation right now. People rioting, tearing down monuments, burning buildings, killing cops, protesting and all sorts of lawlessness. It seems like a breakdown of common sense.
Recently I asked a question about observed cultural differences and some people lost their minds. They seem to thing that simply asking what seems uncommon to me is somehow wrong.
I have come to the conclusion that if we don’t have commonality we won’t see common sense in other people. What other folks think is important to them is completely unimportant to me. And vice versa. We lack common ground so we can’t come to common ground. We can’t create COMMUNITY. Common Unity is the extracted word.
So when I say, “Show some common sense” people who don’t share the common values and common culture I manifest won’t grasp what I am saying. There is common courtesy. You don’t do many of the things we see today in cultures outside of the one I embrace. It is kind to be courteous; it is unkind to try to be nice, accommodating and fawning to try to maintain superficial commonality.
This is why the idea that we should accept radical cultures like the radical Muslims in our country and think we have anything in common with people who think genital mutilation, beheading and hatred for our nation that is rampant among many is insane. We have nothing in common with this kind of culture. Sure of course there are nice people who are Muslim.. but they have embraces a culture that is more like. I have no acceptance of Radical right wing cultures who are neo Nazis or KKK. They lack common sense. Yet many accept and even embrace an insane culture from the left that uses race as a keystone to impose control. Our national culture is in trouble.
IF you are OK with what is happening, if you are OK with people accepting violence on the street, if you are OK with violent protests against ideas, if you are OK with cultural collapse as we see in our nation, if you are OK with tearing apart the fabric of our national historical foundation, if you are OK with the hate from the far left in our nation, we won’t come to a common understanding.
One of us is lacking common sense, at least as I see it. If you believe the cultural commonality you so piously defend is common sense.. It’s not, from where I sit.
I have been thinking about the radical mess we see around the nation right now. People rioting, tearing down monuments, burning buildings, killing cops, protesting and all sorts of lawlessness. It seems like a breakdown of common sense.
Recently I asked a question about observed cultural differences and some people lost their minds. They seem to thing that simply asking what seems uncommon to me is somehow wrong.
I have come to the conclusion that if we don’t have commonality we won’t see common sense in other people. What other folks think is important to them is completely unimportant to me. And vice versa. We lack common ground so we can’t come to common ground. We can’t create COMMUNITY. Common Unity is the extracted word.
So when I say, “Show some common sense” people who don’t share the common values and common culture I manifest won’t grasp what I am saying. There is common courtesy. You don’t do many of the things we see today in cultures outside of the one I embrace. It is kind to be courteous; it is unkind to try to be nice, accommodating and fawning to try to maintain superficial commonality.
This is why the idea that we should accept radical cultures like the radical Muslims in our country and think we have anything in common with people who think genital mutilation, beheading and hatred for our nation that is rampant among many is insane. We have nothing in common with this kind of culture. Sure of course there are nice people who are Muslim.. but they have embraces a culture that is more like. I have no acceptance of Radical right wing cultures who are neo Nazis or KKK. They lack common sense. Yet many accept and even embrace an insane culture from the left that uses race as a keystone to impose control. Our national culture is in trouble.
IF you are OK with what is happening, if you are OK with people accepting violence on the street, if you are OK with violent protests against ideas, if you are OK with cultural collapse as we see in our nation, if you are OK with tearing apart the fabric of our national historical foundation, if you are OK with the hate from the far left in our nation, we won’t come to a common understanding.
One of us is lacking common sense, at least as I see it. If you believe the cultural commonality you so piously defend is common sense.. It’s not, from where I sit.
Sunday, August 06, 2017
You are Supposed to be the HEAD and not the TAIL - Choose Better
Labels
on people are a way to try to bully others into silence. I'm not going
to play. I am accused by some of being a white Supremacist. I am
white. That doesn't make me a supremacist. It's because of what I know
to be true that makes me a Supremacist. To put it clearly, there are
things that I believe that are superior to, better and a full rank
above others.
You
may just be one too. This is not a comprehensive list, it is however a
list of those things I KNOW without a doubt people who believe as I do
are superior to those who do not. We in that way are Supremacists.
It's not about skin color. You might be a Black Supremacist if you
believe these things, a White, brown, red or yellow Supremacist. The
opposite of Supreme according to a thesaurus is surrender, submit,
yield, mismanage and subservience. You can decide you would rather be
that if you like. It's God's will for us to be the Head and NOT the
tail. I strive to remain a supremacist in my values and beliefs.
I am a Supremacist Because I believe these things:
I am a supremacist when it comes to values and culture: I believe that Western Values and Western Culture is Supremely better than any other. All cultures outside those core western moral values are inferior. Western culture is supreme because it roots in God's law. That moral compass defines what is right and wrong and when you stray from that you become inferior.
I am a supremacist when it comes to economics: I believe that Capitalism in it's purest form is supreme over any other system of economics. It's not perfect but there is nothing on the face of the earth that holds a candle to pure capitalism when practiced. The USA today is not that.. but was. It can be again.
I am a supremacist when it comes to world religions: I believe that there is only one Supreme Being, his Name is Yahweh.. and He is ever-present among us.. we know him as JESUS. He is the fullness of the Godhead, Father and Holy Ghost are all part of the trinity. All other belief systems are inferior.
I am a supremacist when it comes to the USA: I believe that USA is an idea supreme over any other nation on the earth. No one is dying to get into Angola for opportunity. They die every day trying to come here. It's not the country, it's the idea of America.
I am a supremacist when it comes to political philosophy: I believe that Conservatism with a libertarian bent as a political philosophy is far superior to anything resembling liberalism. The Republican party has little representation of this brand of conservatism and the Democrat party has almost none. I believe that a well armed and well informed electorate is essential to our freedom. I see the negative inferior example of it in Venezuela. Tyranny results when an inferior political philosophy is in power.
I am a supremacist when it comes to marriage and family: I believe the supreme plan is for men and women to be fruitful and populate the earth in marriage. All same sex, homosexual pride, trans something, bi something and whatever else you can think of is inferior to marriage and family. I hate divorce.. I know it happens, but marriage is sacred. This is a place where we struggle but having a moral compass unstained and unmoved by popular opinion and supreme court pronouncements is essential.
I am a supremacist when it comes to Mercy and Provision for the poor: I believe in the concept as taught in the Word of God of generosity giving into the storehouse so that there be food enough is God's plan. Many church groups do not practice this. All other methods of trying to administer charity and in particular government by stealing money thru taxes is inferior. Charity and mercy must be the role of the Body of Christ on earth. This goes for all mercy including welfare, health care, housing and employment. Everyone deserves a chance but no one deserves a free ride. If you will not work, neither will you eat. Take care of the widows and orphans (This includes single mothers). Welfare worked best when it was conducted in Christian Charity and not by any bureaucracy. The state is far inferior.
I am a supremacist when it comes to Christian Theology: I understand there are many expressions of Christianity and even some who call themselves Christian but aren't. They are not equal. Some are superior to others. Those that are are supreme and therefore embracing one of those makes me a supremacist. If I didn't think what I believe to be supreme, I would change my view. It's not a democracy, popular opinion doesn't reign. In the end we all must wrestle with issues and arrive where God brings us. There are superior and inferior destinations. Choose better.
I am a supremacist when it comes to life: This is not just about abortion, but about euthanasia, wanton killing in the streets and abuse in any form of others. Today to be solidly in favor of life and against any taking of it in any form is considered an aberration. The "life is supremely sacred" position is superior and any compromise is inferior. ALL life is sacred, before birth and to the natural end. Believing that makes me a supremacist.
I am a supremacist when it comes to racism. ALL racism, all racial oppression, all racial discrimination and abuse is wrong. There must never be any form of racism from any group anywhere ever. I do not believe there is any justification for racism. I tolerate no form of racism. I am a supremacist in this area. I believe you should be too. I am better than those black, white, red, yellow and brown who use race as a tool to divide people along color lines. I am better than the Social justice warriors who use race as an excuse for death and destruction in response to police brutality. These social justice warriors are racists. I despise what happened to Erik Grant, Tamir Rice and Walter Scott. There are bad episodes, like the pajama clad Australian woman shot dead in the alley in Minneapolis. No one is rioting, burning reeking death and destruction over such a stupid action by a black cop against a white woman. It's a superior response from a superior culture. The other response is inferior. What we saw in Ferguson, Baltimore and South Carolina is inferior. When I call it thus.. it's called racist. It's not. All racism is wrong and when racists use riot and destruction to support their cause that is the ultimate racism inflamed by the true racists in our country.
Some values are better than others. Some cultures are better than others. Some religions are better than others. In our upside down world if you embrace, support and believe them you are called extreme. They say if you believe them it makes you a supremacist.
Be one. Choose to be the head and not the tail. Choose this day who you will serve. It is the will of God concerning you.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Multitasking is an illusion that causes people to fail
Attention Span of Modern Humans is Less Than a Goldfish’s
In 2000 an average person could concentrate on a task without becoming distracted for 12 seconds. In 2015, it was down to 8.25 seconds – just under that of a goldfish.
This is a big problem and the medical community is increasingly alarmed by modern-day lack of concentration. The average worker loses 2 hours of productivity daily due to distractions and lack of focused work. This issue costs the U.S. 588 billion dollars a year!
What’s going on, why can’t we focus?
Brain Power is Determined by Behaviors & Boredom
Did you ever think that you behavior might affect your ability to concentrate?
Contrary to a widely held belief, multitasking is counterproductive. Scientific research now says monotasking (doing one thing at a time) is the best approach at work and home.
Multitasking means you are jumping from task to task, this is counterproductive because you're training your brain to have a shorter and less efficient attention span!
By changing your behavior and taking 10 or 15 minutes of focused time to do just one thing you will begin to notice a big improvement in your ability to stay focused. By doing this you may be able to finish one task, and that’s great. Then, move on and complete another. You will start to feel accomplished and productive.
Another behavioral concern is being plugged into different devices simultaneously. Laptops, computers, applications, and cell phones are constantly monitoring the information & social highways. With the bombardment of notifications, pop-ups and ads that fight for your attention it’s no wonder you are in a mental fog. Try turning your devices to mute, schedule a time to check them if you need to, for example, every 30 minutes, or hour depending on your situation.
Boredom is another culprit to lack of focus and concentration. Chronically bored people aren’t engaged with life. Their ability to focus, concentrate, and be productive is diminished to a detrimental level causing problems on the job, at home and in relationships.
Taking control of your boredom can be done by changing your mindset about what’s boring you.
If you find yourself constantly watching cat videos at work and not engaged in your job, ask yourself, “If I could change anything about my job, what would it be?” Or, “The tasks I find the most mundane, how can I make them more fun, or easier?”
Be creative, focus on others when possible. Search for avenues to make the job environment more exciting and stimulating.
A splendid example of this is reflected in the caring and creative acts of a janitor working in a cancer ward. He noticed how stressed the nursing staff was so he started using colored trash liners, unusual colors, and no two trash cans looked alike. This tickled the nurses and he told each of them to raise the liner and look inside. At the bottom of the trash can was a sticky note with a clue to finding a hidden treasure on the unit. So, he started a scavenger hunt for the nurses once a week. This simple act brought excitement, fun and a much-needed distraction.
Struggling with Mental Hiccups - Maybe Your Body Needs Attention
Can’t find your keys again?
Do you struggle to just get dressed and out the door in the morning?
Fatigue is concentration’s worst enemy. If you have an ongoing problem with getting quality sleep you will experience routine and pervasive concentration problems.
Stress is a big killer of our ability to focus. The longer your to-do list is, the more stress you will feel. Stress causes major problems with focus and concentration.
Do a personal inventory; are you constantly multitasking? How can you reduce the amount of stimuli from technology? Are there areas of your life that you’re completely bored with? How can you reduce fatigue and stress? Making simple changes in these areas is a powerful start to positive change.
The results you will enjoy from these small steps will make monumental differences in the quality of your life.
And, your life will thank you for it!
Wednesday, July 05, 2017
What the meltdown in Illinois might look like. And why any Illinois public employee who supports the fake budget deal being voted on now is going to pay the biggest price of all.
I have a message for those who believe things can't get worse.. YES THEY CAN!!
I’m gonna fire up the Delorean to 88 MPH and go back to the future to Illinois 2019. Here’s what I saw:
There was a fake budget made up of tax increases and borrowing. The borrowing was so expensive and few came to lend money that the state was virtually bankrupted. By the end of 2017 schools closed. Private education picked up the slack as people scrambled but money stopped. Lottery winnings were never paid. Mass layoffs began accelerated by the fact that people no longer were being paid. Essential services like police and fire were cut and cut and cut. What was truly essential was discovered. It was less than we knew. Nothing was repaid, the machine broke down.
Public buildings (State) lost heat and air conditioning. Utilities would no longer could wait for payment. All road construction and repair ceased. Detours were the only way around. Soon that became impossible. Streetlights went dark at night. Traffic signals if they broken were not repaired. 4 Way Stop was the new norm everywhere.
Hospitals and nursing homes began to close or cut. Only the most essential services were provided. Unless you had money, you got no care. Federal money came for a few things like the veterans administration. The policing done in the city of Chicago was mostly done by military some even federal. The posse comitatus law was set aside in the emergency.
Public employee unions fighting to retain pensions for teachers and other employees settled on a bond in lieu. Since there was no more money to pay pensions, they accepted bonds that paid high interest but were only redeemable when the state was able to pay. Many tried to factor these thru J G Wentworth and such found that the confidence in the state to pay made these bonds almost worthless.
There were masses of lawsuits against every form of government, yet without avail. No matter the award, there was no money to pay. All awards due people from the past were left unpaid.
Meanwhile the exit from the state accelerated so rapidly that cities and counties found empty houses without buyers via tax lien. Squatters and vandalism began to spread throughout. No police and no fire fighters to stem the tide. Vigilantism increased but without a system for prosecution and with sympathies for the offended, it was ignored.
There were riots, but against who? Marches, bullhorns, demands…. All on empty ears with empty pockets. People began begging. There was compassion but it soon became apparent that the real enemy was greed.
With the increase in violence, the corruption that follows in these vacuums, the gangsterism that expands, the lawlessness, regular people fled. There were places that would receive them. But it was grapes of wrath kind of fleeing.
Attempts to collect taxes from the population failed. Even sales taxes failed as the barter system expanded. There was virtually no money to do anything. No money to even pay the interest on the junk bonds the state was able to find.
Electricity stayed on for those who could pay. In small government offices there was power enough for basic services. Gas as well. Garbage pickup all went private as the cities no longer had money to pay to provide services. It piled up in front of places like government offices when they were not paid.
People’s lives went on but without any capacity to depend on anything from the government. No Medicaid, no state welfare. It all closed down.
The Thompson Center a showpiece in downtown Chicago was abandoned for lack of repair and the inability to pay for heat and air conditioning.
The streets of Chicago and several other towns and cities in the state with those most dependant upon government largess in the past became worse war zones than they had been.
Basic licensing stopped. Car licensing and drivers License dispersal became a thing of the past. People were no longer willing to pay for a tag at $100 each when there was almost no chance of being caught.
As it hit the bottom of the barrel, a strongman mobster rose up and promised to fix everything. It was an empty promise. There was no hope. By the fall of 2019 President Trump and the all republican congress authorized complete bankruptcy for the state. It was the first time but it set a pattern. The bond holders (read that public employee pensioners) were left in the cold. So were those foolish enough to buy the junk bonds. All lottery payments were canceled. Bankruptcies on a personal basis skyrocketed for those who thought working for the state was a gravy train. All state public officials were fired at once. They could reapply for the job they had, but at less money and at zero benefits. Many didn’t. They self selected out. Public Service was becoming public service.
All income taxes were eliminated since they were uncollectable. Sales tax stayed in force. A fuel tax was added. Property taxes were cut by ¾ in order to commence collecting them once again. People had stopped paying them. All corporate taxes were eliminated.
The wasteland that Illinois had become was coming back to life.. slowly. There was no more state government. No legislators, not a governor. A few administrative offices, but very few. It was administered by the federal government as a bankruptcy trustee. It wasn’t desired but it was necessary. Those cities like Chicago that were unsustainable (as Detroit was) also came under federal oversight.
I drove 88 MPH once more and found this:
In 2024 as the state was to improve there were statewide elections once more. Voter ID and Registration were become far more stringent. With the need to restore the state to solvency and begin the process of wooing back those who took their businesses and left the state back home, drastic measures were required.
All public unions including teachers unions were outlawed until 2034. After that as a right to work state (Which Illinois became) and with education by voucher only, no pubic education except a level of reform school for those deemed uneducable, and most public services now privatized, the state began the slow crawl back. Working for the state truly became public service once again. All representative and senatorial offices were paid only a tiny stipend.
Someday maybe I can fire up the DeLorean and go further forward.
I’m gonna fire up the Delorean to 88 MPH and go back to the future to Illinois 2019. Here’s what I saw:
There was a fake budget made up of tax increases and borrowing. The borrowing was so expensive and few came to lend money that the state was virtually bankrupted. By the end of 2017 schools closed. Private education picked up the slack as people scrambled but money stopped. Lottery winnings were never paid. Mass layoffs began accelerated by the fact that people no longer were being paid. Essential services like police and fire were cut and cut and cut. What was truly essential was discovered. It was less than we knew. Nothing was repaid, the machine broke down.
Public buildings (State) lost heat and air conditioning. Utilities would no longer could wait for payment. All road construction and repair ceased. Detours were the only way around. Soon that became impossible. Streetlights went dark at night. Traffic signals if they broken were not repaired. 4 Way Stop was the new norm everywhere.
Hospitals and nursing homes began to close or cut. Only the most essential services were provided. Unless you had money, you got no care. Federal money came for a few things like the veterans administration. The policing done in the city of Chicago was mostly done by military some even federal. The posse comitatus law was set aside in the emergency.
Public employee unions fighting to retain pensions for teachers and other employees settled on a bond in lieu. Since there was no more money to pay pensions, they accepted bonds that paid high interest but were only redeemable when the state was able to pay. Many tried to factor these thru J G Wentworth and such found that the confidence in the state to pay made these bonds almost worthless.
There were masses of lawsuits against every form of government, yet without avail. No matter the award, there was no money to pay. All awards due people from the past were left unpaid.
Meanwhile the exit from the state accelerated so rapidly that cities and counties found empty houses without buyers via tax lien. Squatters and vandalism began to spread throughout. No police and no fire fighters to stem the tide. Vigilantism increased but without a system for prosecution and with sympathies for the offended, it was ignored.
There were riots, but against who? Marches, bullhorns, demands…. All on empty ears with empty pockets. People began begging. There was compassion but it soon became apparent that the real enemy was greed.
With the increase in violence, the corruption that follows in these vacuums, the gangsterism that expands, the lawlessness, regular people fled. There were places that would receive them. But it was grapes of wrath kind of fleeing.
Attempts to collect taxes from the population failed. Even sales taxes failed as the barter system expanded. There was virtually no money to do anything. No money to even pay the interest on the junk bonds the state was able to find.
Electricity stayed on for those who could pay. In small government offices there was power enough for basic services. Gas as well. Garbage pickup all went private as the cities no longer had money to pay to provide services. It piled up in front of places like government offices when they were not paid.
People’s lives went on but without any capacity to depend on anything from the government. No Medicaid, no state welfare. It all closed down.
The Thompson Center a showpiece in downtown Chicago was abandoned for lack of repair and the inability to pay for heat and air conditioning.
The streets of Chicago and several other towns and cities in the state with those most dependant upon government largess in the past became worse war zones than they had been.
Basic licensing stopped. Car licensing and drivers License dispersal became a thing of the past. People were no longer willing to pay for a tag at $100 each when there was almost no chance of being caught.
As it hit the bottom of the barrel, a strongman mobster rose up and promised to fix everything. It was an empty promise. There was no hope. By the fall of 2019 President Trump and the all republican congress authorized complete bankruptcy for the state. It was the first time but it set a pattern. The bond holders (read that public employee pensioners) were left in the cold. So were those foolish enough to buy the junk bonds. All lottery payments were canceled. Bankruptcies on a personal basis skyrocketed for those who thought working for the state was a gravy train. All state public officials were fired at once. They could reapply for the job they had, but at less money and at zero benefits. Many didn’t. They self selected out. Public Service was becoming public service.
All income taxes were eliminated since they were uncollectable. Sales tax stayed in force. A fuel tax was added. Property taxes were cut by ¾ in order to commence collecting them once again. People had stopped paying them. All corporate taxes were eliminated.
The wasteland that Illinois had become was coming back to life.. slowly. There was no more state government. No legislators, not a governor. A few administrative offices, but very few. It was administered by the federal government as a bankruptcy trustee. It wasn’t desired but it was necessary. Those cities like Chicago that were unsustainable (as Detroit was) also came under federal oversight.
I drove 88 MPH once more and found this:
In 2024 as the state was to improve there were statewide elections once more. Voter ID and Registration were become far more stringent. With the need to restore the state to solvency and begin the process of wooing back those who took their businesses and left the state back home, drastic measures were required.
All public unions including teachers unions were outlawed until 2034. After that as a right to work state (Which Illinois became) and with education by voucher only, no pubic education except a level of reform school for those deemed uneducable, and most public services now privatized, the state began the slow crawl back. Working for the state truly became public service once again. All representative and senatorial offices were paid only a tiny stipend.
Someday maybe I can fire up the DeLorean and go further forward.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Ways I keep my Spirits up.. and fight off depression
It might shock you to know that even very positive people go thru Ups Downs, slumps and frumps now and again. I have to work at staying on course. It’s not easy but there are some things I do. Here are a few. I offer them because I know that I am not alone.
1. Get face to face with someone. Get off Facebook. It’s a drug and doesn’t help.
2. Avoid the JOY SUCKERS. Find and cultivate those who lift you up. Sadly many wives and or Husbands can be the worst Joy Suckers. Keep your boundaries up.
3. Do things socially even if you don’t feel like it.. act as if
4. Find someone to help out, not with money, with time and energy. There is more joy in giving, find it.
5. Go for a long walk or long drive alone. A 3 hour vacation. You need self time too. Sit by a body of water.
6. Get some sun in your eyes. You need sunshine to survive and SADS is real
7. Find an oldies station that plays music that was the soundtrack of your life. Remember the good times.
8. Take on a project you can complete, and then do it. Anything. A sense of I’m DONE.
9. Do something (even exercise) that exhausts you. Endorphins are a wonderful thing.
10. Get enough sleep. If you wake frequently, do a sleep test for Apnea.
11. Stay off drugs, booze and excess sweets.
12. B-12 and Fish Oil are two I use to help me stay steady. I get the ones coated so I don’t have reflux of the skunk.
DON’T LET ANYONE SHOULD ON YOU including YOU
‘Shoulds’ and ‘should-nots’ – Holding yourself to a strict list of what you should and shouldn’t do, and beating yourself up if you don’t live up to your rules. “You Should” is a depression driver.. if others do it to you, make them stop.
WATCH OUT FOR STINKING THINKING
All-or-nothing thinking – Looking at things in black-or-white categories, with no middle ground (“If I fall short of perfection, I’m a total failure.”)
Overgeneralization – Generalizing from a single negative experience, expecting it to hold true forever (“I can’t do anything right.”)
The mental filter – Ignoring positive events and focusing on the negative. Noticing the one thing that went wrong, rather than all the things that went right.
Diminishing the positive – Coming up with reasons why positive events don’t count
Jumping to conclusions – Making negative interpretations without actual evidence. You act like a mind reader (“He must think I’m pathetic”) or a fortune teller (“I’ll be stuck in this job forever.”)
Emotional reasoning – Believing that the way you feel reflects reality (“I feel like such a loser. I really am no good!”)
Labeling – Labeling yourself based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings (“I’m a failure; an idiot; a loser.”)
1. Get face to face with someone. Get off Facebook. It’s a drug and doesn’t help.
2. Avoid the JOY SUCKERS. Find and cultivate those who lift you up. Sadly many wives and or Husbands can be the worst Joy Suckers. Keep your boundaries up.
3. Do things socially even if you don’t feel like it.. act as if
4. Find someone to help out, not with money, with time and energy. There is more joy in giving, find it.
5. Go for a long walk or long drive alone. A 3 hour vacation. You need self time too. Sit by a body of water.
6. Get some sun in your eyes. You need sunshine to survive and SADS is real
7. Find an oldies station that plays music that was the soundtrack of your life. Remember the good times.
8. Take on a project you can complete, and then do it. Anything. A sense of I’m DONE.
9. Do something (even exercise) that exhausts you. Endorphins are a wonderful thing.
10. Get enough sleep. If you wake frequently, do a sleep test for Apnea.
11. Stay off drugs, booze and excess sweets.
12. B-12 and Fish Oil are two I use to help me stay steady. I get the ones coated so I don’t have reflux of the skunk.
DON’T LET ANYONE SHOULD ON YOU including YOU
‘Shoulds’ and ‘should-nots’ – Holding yourself to a strict list of what you should and shouldn’t do, and beating yourself up if you don’t live up to your rules. “You Should” is a depression driver.. if others do it to you, make them stop.
WATCH OUT FOR STINKING THINKING
All-or-nothing thinking – Looking at things in black-or-white categories, with no middle ground (“If I fall short of perfection, I’m a total failure.”)
Overgeneralization – Generalizing from a single negative experience, expecting it to hold true forever (“I can’t do anything right.”)
The mental filter – Ignoring positive events and focusing on the negative. Noticing the one thing that went wrong, rather than all the things that went right.
Diminishing the positive – Coming up with reasons why positive events don’t count
Jumping to conclusions – Making negative interpretations without actual evidence. You act like a mind reader (“He must think I’m pathetic”) or a fortune teller (“I’ll be stuck in this job forever.”)
Emotional reasoning – Believing that the way you feel reflects reality (“I feel like such a loser. I really am no good!”)
Labeling – Labeling yourself based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings (“I’m a failure; an idiot; a loser.”)
Sunday, March 26, 2017
FOR DONALD TRUMP
Since the failed vote potential on Friday here's what has happened and what it means:
Democrats celebrated and called Trump names (Pelosi). Reality is beginning to set in. No matter how they try to hang it on Trump.. this mess is still their mess... Obamacare. He was Hitler last week, now he's a loser idiot. Can't have it both ways.. but they'll try.
Republicans and conservatives have declared war on each other. This isn't good but it is essential. I'm not republican, I'm conservative and believe no bill is better than a bad bill. We have a three party system in this country. The coalition known as republican at least has people of conviction and courage in it. The democrats are a joke.
Democrats celebrated and called Trump names (Pelosi). Reality is beginning to set in. No matter how they try to hang it on Trump.. this mess is still their mess... Obamacare. He was Hitler last week, now he's a loser idiot. Can't have it both ways.. but they'll try.
Republicans and conservatives have declared war on each other. This isn't good but it is essential. I'm not republican, I'm conservative and believe no bill is better than a bad bill. We have a three party system in this country. The coalition known as republican at least has people of conviction and courage in it. The democrats are a joke.
Trump has to find
where they put his rear end they handed to him. This might turn out for
good (ever a Romans 8-28 believer). Not just humility but knowing that
your friends aren't always your friends.
Lots of tisk tisk tisk media will have advice for Trump. IGNORE THEM. They are only interested in neutering you sir.
Democrats have lost their way. They are being led by the most insane among us. They have no center, no core, no focus. They ALL voted for the mess known as Obamacare.. they are sheep. Ignore them, they have once again marginalized themselves. Move ahead.
Time to get the train going. Get the cars lined up and get it moving. TAX REFORM NOW, IF we are going to do some infrastructure rebuilding let's go, Lets get about restoring constitutional rights like second amendment with universal conceal carry nationally, lets turn back the attacks on free speech that have caused this country to live in fear of offending someone.
There is much to do. Obamacare is going to have to die. Let the hotshots that came up with this mess come to the table.
The wall? OK.. something something something but get moving on the other big priorities we have on the table. A corporate tax rate of 12% will bring huge amounts of cash back into the economy.
Remember Mr Trump, most of those you trusted to do right by you didn't and won't. Start preparing that nice going away party for Former Speaker Ryan. Let's see Dave Brat from VA in that post. He's right up your alley and would be a great Speaker.
TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT THIS.
Lots of tisk tisk tisk media will have advice for Trump. IGNORE THEM. They are only interested in neutering you sir.
Democrats have lost their way. They are being led by the most insane among us. They have no center, no core, no focus. They ALL voted for the mess known as Obamacare.. they are sheep. Ignore them, they have once again marginalized themselves. Move ahead.
Time to get the train going. Get the cars lined up and get it moving. TAX REFORM NOW, IF we are going to do some infrastructure rebuilding let's go, Lets get about restoring constitutional rights like second amendment with universal conceal carry nationally, lets turn back the attacks on free speech that have caused this country to live in fear of offending someone.
There is much to do. Obamacare is going to have to die. Let the hotshots that came up with this mess come to the table.
The wall? OK.. something something something but get moving on the other big priorities we have on the table. A corporate tax rate of 12% will bring huge amounts of cash back into the economy.
Remember Mr Trump, most of those you trusted to do right by you didn't and won't. Start preparing that nice going away party for Former Speaker Ryan. Let's see Dave Brat from VA in that post. He's right up your alley and would be a great Speaker.
TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT THIS.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Inside the Trumpcare meltdown - Axios
- Bannon's point was: This is the
Republican platform. You're the conservative wing of the Republican
Party. But people in the room were put off by the dictatorial mindset. - One of the members replied:
"You know, the last time someone ordered me to something, I was 18
years old. And it was my daddy. And I didn't listen to him, either." - Started on the wrong foot:
Repeal-and-replace was always snakebit. Ryan had begun the process
before Trump's inauguration. "He boxed us in," said one person close to
the fight. "We didn't have any choice." - Was always wobbly: Trump
relied too long on assurances from Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and
HHS Secretary Tom Price that they had the process in hand. And "Ryan was
telling him it was fine, and they'd bring it together at the end."
Instead, the bottom fell out.
Inside the Trumpcare meltdown - Axios
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