I have been lamenting now for a few weeks about how my generation, The Baby Boomers, as well as Generation X and the Millennials have not been equal to the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, that unlike our parents and grandparents, the so called “Greatest Generation” who survived the Great Depression and World War II, we couldn’t even sit on our ass or wear a mask when it was asked of us in order to contain the pandemic. The incredible divisiveness, the hateful rhetoric and racial injustices we have seen perpetrated by Donald Trump since the day he was sworn in as President have brought our country to a place few people EVER imagined it could go. The tribal politics being displayed by both parties at a time when we need to rally together to beat this horrible disease that has already claimed over 150,000 American lives are further complicating any semblance of a return to normalcy. It would be easy enough to lay all the blame at the feet of Trump, the most incompetent and corrupt POTUS in our nation’s history. But in reality it goes back even to George W. Bush. His catastrophic rush into war in Iraq claiming that Sadam possessed WMD, a war that history will record as one of the biggest miscalculations EVER made by the United States, in particular Dr, Strangelove I, V.P. Dick Cheney started us on a path that led to the election of Barrack Obama, our nation’s first African American President and the racist backlash that followed with the election of Donald J, Trump, a former reality show host and struggling real estate developer from NYC. And here we are today, living every day as the next darkest one in our history. We are three months out from an election that our President is already calling rigged, already attempting to undermine the legitimacy of same. Yesterday he even suggested POSTPONING it!!! That’s correct. You read that correctly. Meanwhile, his cowardly sycophants in the Senate and House continue to cower in their corners too busy trying to insure their own reelections to be concerned about the tens of millions of unemployed constituents whose lifeline during the pandemic is being cut off today, namely the $600.00 unemployment benefit that was legislated as part of the original relief package; REPUBLIKAN(T)S want it slashed to $200.00 because $600.00 is too much and motivates people to remain unemployed. I wonder how many of them could survive on $2400.00/mo, much less $800.00/mo-that money wouldn’t cover their rents in D.C. for a month.
Which brings me to the point of this post. As much as I despise politicians like Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and others on the REPUBLIKAN(T) side of the aisle, as much disdain as I have for far right conspiracy pushers like Sean “INSANITY” Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or as badly as I want to see equal rights and justice for ALL Americans, not just those elite few who have put their own political and financial gain ahead of the welfare of the very constituents they are supposed to be representing in favor of garnering limitless corporate campaign contributions from special interests and corporate Amerika I would NEVER wish ill to any of them. This morning I read a post on Facebook that someone else put up that regarded the passing of Herman Cain that essentially celebrated his passing as a joyous occasion-the text was so vile that I’m amazed it’s still up!!! But hey, that’s Facebook. I responded that I completely objected to the entire tone of the post and I myself am now getting skewered by haters on this social platform. This is the America we live in today. Where HATE overcomes all else and even human life has become political fodder for both the left and the right. Where wearing a mask to stop the spread of a virus which has already killed 150,000 of our fellow citizens is deemed a political statement or a Constitutional right. Where social media like Twitter and Facebook have become the means of character assassination without retribution and have allowed the spread of hate that right wing militia groups or anarchists are peddling every day to the disenfranchised. There’s no end to the confrontation, be it on social media or in the streets of Portland or Louisville. And the media be it FAUX NEWS, One America NONSENSE Network or even the main stream media continuously feed it into our psyche to satisfy the 24/7 need to feed the machine. It’s a never ending cycle. Left or right, it does nothing but further alienate the factions who happen to subscribe to a particular political philosophy from each other and an alternate point of view. When I wrote my first post almost four years ago I included something of a mission statement that went like this: “Now that we have defined the terminology, let me turn to the real purpose of this blog The real “War on Cole” involves an entire group of people under attack, including myself, called the middle class. My purpose will be to call attention to the issues that are dividing our country and to encourage civil discourse as a means of solving the problems and getting back on the right track. I will be discussing issues such as religious freedom, abortion, environmental concerns, state and federal government, civil rights, gun control and any other “hot button” issue that demands attention, and encouraging those on the other side of the aisle to sound off as well.” Lofty ambition, very poor foresight. I would have NEVER dreamed in a million years we would end up the laughing stock of the world, Putin’s bitch or a nation being run like a police state by a madman and his henchmen…..but here we are!!! There’s only ONE solution to our problem. We as a nation MUST under ANY circumstances insure that this unhinged and unglued depot wanna be does NOT stay in office any longer than circumstances allow, be it via the election, his removal via the Twenty Fifth Amendment or another impeachment proceeding. The entire focus of our country should be the elimination of the pandemic by whatever means are necessary, including shutting down again and a NATIONAL testing strategy, as well as the elimination of Donald Trump from office. Think about where we were four years ago and where we are today. If this is your vision for America, I suggest you relocate to Moscow.
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You know your country is in serious trouble when the chief law enforcement official in the land, the Attorney General of the United States is himself a criminal. Since the day Trump appointed him as his new personal attorney, Barr has done everything he can to perpetuate the corruption of his boss, obstruct justice, punish the President’s opponents and reward his loyalists with backroom deals and light sentences. Starting with the Mueller report, which Barr completely misrepresented to the American people, his track record is abysmal. He has acted more like Trump’s lawyer than the Attorney General. Mueller noted in his comprehensive report that there were TEN different instances where Trump could be guilty of obstruction which needed to be further investigated, yet Barr dismissed them off hand. In addition, he perjured himself while testifying in front of Congress, a felony. As a result, Trump walked away from the entire 2016 Russian election scandal completely unscathed and further emboldened to push the limits of his power. Then came the handling of the Michael Flynn and Roger Stone cases where he directly intervened on Trump’s behalf to either reduce their sentences or have them pardoned altogether for felony crimes of which they were convicted. And, oh, BTW, both of these convictions tied back into the Russian election interference scandal, which Trump is desperately trying to sweep under the carpet at all costs. Conversely, we are now learning that Barr’s DOJ directly intervened in revoking Michael Cohen’s release to home incarceration and had him thrown into solitary confinement because he was writing a book about his dealings with Trump, a direct violation of his First Amendment rights. Only when the judge was advised of the reason for his being returned to prison did he order him released. Next up was his incredible performance in Lafayette Square with Trump, ordering his storm troopers to gas and beat peaceful protesters so his boss could have a Biblical photo op at a burned out church. He strutted through that park like Hitler marching through Paris as America watched in horror. Now we have Trump and Barr unleashing federal “police” on cities from Philadelphia to Portland in the name of “law and order”, claiming that the Democratic mayors and governors in these cities and states have lost control. Ostensibly, the Brown Shirts are being sent in under the guise of protecting federal property but in reality they are there in order to quell the ongoing demonstrations that have taken place since the George Floyd tragedy. Without exception, from the Mayors of Portland and Chicago and Philadelphia to the Governor of Oregon all have decried this blatant abuse of power and demanded that these storm troopers be removed. Trump is doing nothing more than borrowing pages from the playbook of “TRICKY” Dick Nixon in 1968, attempting to portray the Democrats as anarchists and telling America we are all doomed if Joe Biden gets elected. In a highly unusual move, a bipartisan group of more than 2,000 former DOJ employees, in a letter shared by the nonprofit watchdog group Project Democracy, have also called for him to resign, accusing him of doing the president's "personal bidding." As usually has been the case in the last three plus years, the Trump loyalists in Congress have rushed to the defense of Barr, with the following remark attributed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) who praised Barr as a "man of the highest character and unquestionable integrity." Sure he is. Just like Donald Trump!!! Bill Barr represents as big a threat to American democracy as do Donald Trump and MOSCOW Mitch McConnell. The only way to remove this blight from our political landscape will come in November when we will have the opportunity to vote these miscreants out of office. But I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised to see Trump use Barr in an attempt to either void the election results when he loses or use his storm troopers as intimidation tactics in areas where large voter turnout will hurt the Republikan(t)s. If I have learned one thing in the past three and a half years of writing about the incredible corruption and incompetence which runs rampant in Trump’s administration it is that you can NEVER underestimate his capacity for trampling on the Constitution if it perpetuates his political life. Without an Attorney General to seek equal justice under the law, the guard rails are just about gone. William (DIS)Barr is as corrupt as Donald Trump. He has sold his soul to the devil. For what?!? History will not be kind to him nor should it be. I have been writing these posts since the day Donald Trump was somehow elected our President, and have been trying to sound the alarm regarding the destruction he was wreaking upon our democracy and the inherent dangers his words and actions hold for all of us. Forgetting about all of the other abhorrent deeds, including botching the pandemic to the point of costing thousands of American lives, we are now confronted with the most serious threat yet. Our President has deployed his storm troopers into Portland WITHOUT any consent from either the Mayor or the Governor of this state, federal agents who have been recorded beating and pepper spraying a Navy veteran who was peacefully protesting their presence. They have been seen arresting multiple protesters and carting them off in unmarked vans. These scenes were reminiscent of the 1930’s when Adolph Hitler used his brown shirted thugs to crush his opposition. Now he is also threatening to deploy these storm troopers into various other cities like Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia and others that are currently experiencing continuing protests over the George Floyd murder. If this alone doesn’t scare the hell out of you, consider the fact that these cities were NOT singled out at random; they are all cities run by Democratic Mayors in states with Democratic Governors, Trump’s political opponents. Because his primary reelection allure, the economy, has been basically shut down due to the pandemic and because he is so far upside down in the polls vs. Joe Biden, he has decided to try a new campaign strategy. He now is telling America that Biden and the Democrats will destroy the American way of life if elected with chaos and destruction everywhere, including the suburbs as the lawlessness continues. He is already indicating he will not accept the results of the upcoming election, one that he is likely to lose by a staggering margin if current trends hold up.. In order to fire up his base and taking pages from the Richard Nixon 1968 “law and order” playbook he now decides to send in a combination of federal agents with little or no training in crowd control to try to prove a political point. Instead of calming an already incendiary situation in Portland, the presence of these storm troopers and their actions has further escalated the situation on the ground. The Mayor has publicly stated as much and has asked that they leave his city before serious trouble ensues. Just who are these storm troopers and on what authority does Trump send them into locations based on his political opposition?!? Apparently agents from Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Marshals, U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as ICE have been involved in Portland and are also being deployed into Chicago Virtually none of these federal agents has training in crowd control.. The basis upon which Trump sent them into Portland was to “protect federal property”, which is why these banana republic troopers hole up in the federal building prior to unleashing bedlam into the streets when they deploy to beat innocent protesters. In one viral video that sparked national outrage from activists and government officials, two federal officers in camouflage tactical uniforms approached and detained a man, placed him inside an unmarked van and drove away. After refusing for hours to respond to CNN's requests for comment on the incident, US Customs and Border Protection eventually released a statement identifying the officers as belonging to that agency, and indicated the man was wanted for questioning regarding a possible crime. However, a DHS official said he was later released. On Saturday night, 53-year-old Navy veteran Chris Davis was beaten by a federal agent with a baton outside the court house and sprayed with pepper spray at close range. "I was going to ask why they weren't living up to their oath of office, the Constitution," said Chris Davis. "All I wanted to do was ask them why." This incident was too much for Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who described the actions by CBP agents in Orwellian terms. "Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters," he tweeted. "These Trump/Barr tactics designed to eliminate any accountability are absolutely unacceptable in America, and must end." All of this being done in the name of “law and order” as Trump and his faithful lap dog AG William (DIS)Barr continue to trample on our Constitution day in and day out. Remember Lafayette Square a few weeks back?!? All of this fuel being thrown on the fire in a deliberate attempt to further splinter this already divided nation to his political advantage. His attempts to destroy Joe Biden via personal attacks were a miserable failure (look at the poll numbers!) so now he is attempting to paint Biden and the Democrats as those who would destroy our country, something he and his sycophants have done a pretty good job of themselves in three and a half years. These actions by our President should give every single American reason for concern…the next thing you know we’ll be seeing Russian troops being invited in to squash Trump’s political opposition. His actions are those of a dictator, which is something this unhinged individual has aspired to since the day he took the oath of office. He desperately wants to be just like his BFF’s Putin, Kim Jung UN, Xi of China, MBS and all of the other murderous despots that he so lovingly embraces. With his legitimate time in the Oval Office drawing to a close, there is literally no telling what this man is capable of. Be afraid America, be VERY afraid!!! The wolf is not just at the door, he’s ready to blow the house up!!! Now, as the coronavirus pandemic rages out of control continuing to kill thousands of Americans as Trump continues to push for his economic rebound despite mounting evidence his actions are responsible for the huge upsurge in cases and hospitalizations and deaths, we have one of his trade advisors, Peter Navarro, advising the nation to disregard our top infectious disease expert in favor of himself, claiming that “Dr. Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on,” Navarro wrote in a blistering op-ed for USA Today. In addition, Trump himself hasn’t met with his top medical advisor on the pandemic in over a month and has instructed his sycophants to continue the attacks on Dr. Fauci’s credibility via a list of talking points concerning previous statements he had made about Covid-19, a list denied by Press Secreatary Kay(LIE) McENEMY despite the fact that it was given to NBC News. Navarro goes on FAUX NEWS and brags about the latest jobless report because “ONLY” 1.5 MILLION Americans filed for unemployment last week. This jackass belongs in a zoo somewhere. If he’s a trade advisor to Trump, I believe the record speaks for itself-not ONE single accomplishment other than to completely alienate our largest trading partner in China in the failed trade war and numerous other agreements that the administration has reneged on or terminated with our allies. In short, like so many other Trump appointees, the man is a complete hack.
He was actually a Democrat for years, supporting Hillary Clinton in 2008. That’s right. Not a misprint. His trade views have always been regarded as radical and reckless until Trump came along determined to destroy our trade relationship with China, Japan, Germany and others because he viewed them as “unfair”. His economic advisor, Larry PUDlow, is an ex FAUX NEWS reporter of even lower intellect and he too has been recklessly pushing to reopen the economy despite a pandemic that is now completely out of control across the country. And the White House, which insists on approving ANY communiqué regarding Trump or his administration be approved by the President himself, is now claiming that Navarro went “rogue” and the opinions expressed in the USA Today op-ed piece were strictly his own. Right, Kay(LIE)!!! We believe you. Even more ominous than the completely inane remarks of Navarro or the muddled ramblings of Trump at his supposed press briefing on China in the Rose Garden rally yesterday is the news that all state data and reporting regarding the cases of Covid-19 on a daily basis were no longer to be sent to the CDC but to the White House. Trump is so determined to try to convince Americans that the pandemic is under control that he is now going to the extraordinary length of censoring information on the severity of the surge which undercuts his message that “all is well” that he so desperately wants us all to believe. Information suppression has been the ultimate tool of facists and dictators throughout history. Trump has repeatedly criticized the CDC also over the last few weeks because the reporting of the surge in cases completely debunks all of his arguments for reopening the economy. And then we have the issue of schools reopening. Trump trots out his incredibly unqualified Education Secretary Betsy “CRUELLA” DeVos on the Sunday talk shows demanding that schools reopen despite the surge in cases and with absolutely no plan whatsoever to safely do so, saying it was up to the states and individual school districts DESPITE specific published CDC guidelines. Trump himself has threatened to withhold federal financial aid to those districts that fail to comply with his demand, which he actually has NO authority to make. Once again, we see his desperate attempts to convince America that everything is under control but yet two thirds of Americans are very reluctant to send there children back to school under present conditions. America is in one of our darkest hours and there is no leadership or guiding light to show us the way out of this nightmare. Instead we are completely lost in the dark with elected and appointed officials completely oblivious to the crisis at hand, who offer only lies, misinformation and now defamation of character to the one individual who from the beginning has tried to be as forthcoming as possible about the nature and severity of this debilitating virus. Did he make some mistakes along the way, like every other doctor and scientist has as we move up the learning curve of Covid-19? Of course he did, but we know he always had the welfare and safety of the American public at heart and still does despite being shut down by Trump. Contrast his behavior and credibility with that of Trump, PINOCCHIO Pence, Kudlow, Navarro, DeVos or any of the other sycophant members of his administration and “CABINET OF CLOWNS”. Case in point in the photo above-it appears Wilbur "The BOSS" Ross, the corrupt Labor Secretary who perjured himself testifying before Cogress on his financial ties to a Russian oligarch, appears to be asleep in the background like he has been since he was appointed and confirmed by the REPUBLIKAN(T) controlled Senate, yet another strike against them. I believe you’ll discover very quickly that the scientists and doctors and health care workers are a little better qualified to speak to the true nature of the pandemic we are facing than a game show host, an economics professor, wealthy heiress or a couple of FAUX NEWS rejects. As I said yesterday, don’t listen to these evil and deceitful politicians who would trade your life or that of a loved one in a split second in pursuit of the almighty dollar and self perpetuation. If you believe that they do have the interest of the nation and your welfare at heart, than you certainly haven’t been paying attention to what’s going on day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out while THOUSANDS continue to die!!! But hey, Donald Trump and his band of stooges say we just have to live with it (or die from it!). ALL to one single purpose-to get the most incompetent and corrupt President in American history reelected. We all have to band together as a nation to insure that catastrophe doesn’t happen again!!! Aside from the Covid-19 virus currently ravaging America, there is also another pandemic raging across our country. It’s a pandemic of STUPIDITY!!! Just as predicted by medical doctors and scientists, NOT former game show hosts, the rush by Donald Trump to reopen the economy for the sole purpose of political expediency and the sycophant Republikan(t) governers who blindly followed his advice has caused a dramatic spike in the outbreak over the last several weeks in states like Florida, Texas and Arizona, where the surge in cases since bars and restaurants were reopened (if they were ever closed at all) has had a devastating impact on cities like Miami, Houston and Phoenix where ICU beds are filled almost to capacity and PPE is once again becoming scarce and doctors and nurses are on the verge of being overwhelmed. Other countries around the world, especially in Europe, have managed to reopen their countries with cases having been much better under control as a result of extensive testing and contact tracing, the curve having flattened and the new cases greatly decreased. And then there’s us in the good ole USA. From our incompetent President on down, the entire pandemic has been botched from the very beginning. And as a result of his actions and those of other politicians, countless thousands of Americans are DEAD. And yet……. A mother in New Albany, IN hosted a “prom dance” for dozens of high school seniors last week in the midst of a spike where the was no social distancing and she proudly boasted the masks that were worn were “off by the end of the evening” and that she would take the heat because it was worth it for her daughter and friends since they missed out on their actual senior prom. Indiana has no mask requirements, and gatherings of up to 250 people are allowed. I just wonder if the parents of the other students who participated will view it the same way when the virus strikes one or more of them or a family member down! The Commissioners of Miami Garden, FL just announced their decision NOT to require the mandatory wearing of masks in an area that has now been deemed the ‘epicenter of the outbreak”, Miami and Dade County. Bars and restaurants remain open at the discretion of local jurisdictions and the Governor who once boasted his state would “never be another New York City” finds himself the victim of his own stupidity and his blindly following Trump’s political agenda instead of paying attention to the doctors and scientists. The image of him standing beside Mike PINOCCHIO Pence bragging about how well he had handled the outbreak and how the media had totally misrepresented his actions back on May 20th will haunt this incompetent buffoon the rest of his days as more and more Floridians are struck down as a result of his callous dereliction of duty!!! My sister, a devout Christian, posted the ramblings of an Evangelical who was basically claiming the entire thing was made up and overblown by the media and then asked for prayers for the upcoming election to support Trump. Support a man who breaks at least half of the Ten Commandments every single day and whose lack of empathy has resulted in countless thousands of unnecessary deaths??? But not to worry, Jesus will forgive and save them all. Instead of encouraging the medical and scientific community to work in concert with federal and state governments to mitigate the spread of this horrible virus, whose lasting effects are just now being discovered, such as stroke and organ damage beyond the severe damage to the lungs, we have a President who is trying to discredit them for once again his own political gain. Perfect evidence of the complete recklessness with which Trump has addressed the pandemic is his insistence now that all of America’s children should go back to school regardless of the raging pandemic and irrespective of the fact that neither he nor his ignoramus Education Secretary “CRUELLA” DeVos have the authority to order such an irresponsible move but also have absolutely no recommendations or guidelines or as to how to do it safely. He decides it’s perfectly OK to hold a political convention to glorify him in a state that has had 27,000 new Covid-19 cases in the last TWO DAYS?!? The Congress, especially the Senate under MOSCOW Mitch, decides to take a vacation without passing any type of legislation to offer to solve ANY of the problems created by the pandemic. Trump realizes that if things continue as they are any chance he had at getting reelected is disappearing as quickly as his standings in the polls and is now desperate to try to convince people, as he has from the beginning, “all is well”. It ain’t…just take a look around you!!! In my home state of KY, we have a Democratic Governor who has tried his best to do the right thing in dealing with Covid-19 and in general has received high marks for his efforts. But we also have a Republikan(t) Attorney General, a hand picked stooge to MOSCOW Mitch and an Always Trumper who has repeatedly tried to block the Governor’s actions by filing or backing law suits against him claiming it’s his duty to “uphold the Constitution” instead of doing his diligence as AG and releasing the results of the FOUR month old investigation into the death of Breanna Taylor. Once again we see political expediency instead of upholding the integrity of the office. We still have people who refuse to wear a mask in public, claiming it violates their “Constitutional rights”?!? Which Article of the Constitution gives them the right to KILL me or my loved ones by spreading a horrible disease?!? We still have people who think it’s no worse than the seasonal flu. 137.000 deaths later and it’s no worse than the flu??? We still have those in the far right media claiming it’s all a Democratic conspiracy to discredit Trump and win the upcoming election. The ignorance and stupidity just keeps right on day after horrible day with no apparent relief in sight. Stupid is as stupid does. As we enter our fifth month of this war, as Trump called it, we are losing it. We are getting our asses handed to us while the rest of the world wonders WTF happened to the United States??? One of the reasons we are losing the fight is because of the secondary epidemic of STUPIDITY which has afflicted millions of your fellow countrymen and to which there also seems to be no end in sight!!! I’m no longer paying ANY attention to ANYTHING Trump, McConnell, DeVos, Kudlow, Conway or McEnany have to say about this outbreak of ignorance because they are the cause of it. And the same for Limbaugh and Hannity and Tucker Carlson and all the rest of the right wing conspiracy peddling Trump fanatics who don’t care about you any more than he does. The only thing that can overcome ignorance is information and education, and Trump and his cronies are doing everything possible to distort the information and deny the education. Don’t Be STUPID!!! Be informed.
First we have the issue of a President who is willing to not only gamble YOUR lives on his reelection but it seems now that includes your CHILDREN’S too!!! It was one thing to watch the absolute horror show of Republikan(t) controlled state after state relaxing their stay at home orders prematurely to satisfy his insane drive to “reopen the economy” and now witness the consequences as cases soar around the country and to see a simple method of slowing the spread of the virus, the wearing of a face mask, turned into a political statement. But to now openly defy the advise of his own task force doctors and scientists in a mad rush to reopen schools goes WAY beyond the pale of any previous tactics in order to try to salvage his diminishing hopes of retaining the White House for another four years-he is now putting the lives of your children at risk, their teachers, school administrators and everybody at home as well. Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and so on!!! And predictably, in a state controlled by a Governor whose incredibly poor decisions have literally led to a huge spike in cases and a huge number of deaths, the Republikan(t) Education Commissioner has ordered all Florida students back to school full time in just about a month from now, marching to the absurd politically expedient demands of Donald Trump. We have all born witness to the tragic consequences of the enormous miscalculations of this administration in their failing to deal with the pandemic from its very beginning, especially of late the rush to reopen the economy prematurely against the advise of his very own CDC guidelines. Now, as they issue similar guidelines for reopening our schools, Trump tells America not to pay attention to them but listen to him instead. The attempted politicizing of government agencies such as the CDC (which thankfully has refused to revise the original guidelines despite Trump’s insistence they do so to fit his political agenda) is yet another example of this uninformed and dangerous man’s folly. Beyond this, there is absolutely no plan in place to fund or execute the numerous programs which will be necessitated by his mandate to reopen school in the next two months or less in many cases In my home town of Louisville, two-thirds of the teachers polled said they did NOT want to return to the classroom given present circumstances. The Governor is set today here in Kentucky to issue a new set of restrictions as the virus cases rise once again following his phased reopening. It is NOT going away. It is here to stay for at least the next months until a vaccine can be developed. In the meanwhile the thought of sending our children into harm’s way so the lunatic in the Oval Office can get himself reelected is completely unpalatable to me, and I hope it is to every other parent in America!!! Of course we all want to get back to our jobs, have our children in a brick and mortar school taught in person by an actual teacher and return to some semblance of the way things were four months ago (seems like a LOT longer, doesn’t it?!?). But guess what? Covid-19 doesn’t care!!! Take a look around you. In every single community across America, people are getting sick, being hospitalized and DYING from it. It is NOT the flu. It has severe long term effects which are at the present time still unknown, like organ damage and strokes. We have been asked to simply stay at home when at all possible, take precautions such as social distancing and wearing face coverings and to not congregate in large groups indoors and guess what…..wait for it…..WE HAVE FAILED MISERABLY and are now paying the price. And our President and his sycophant Republikan(t) followers are asking us to send our children into the breach without any type of plan in place to protect them??? It’s sheer madness born of political expediency, the driving force behind every bad decision Trump has made thus far. He is so desperate to get the economy up and running before Election Day he is willing to gamble your children’s and your own lives on it!!! It’s more than reprehensible; it amounts to dereliction of duty!!! Finally, on a local note, our Jefferson County, KY local schools are rated near the bottom of nearly any academic measure imaginable compared to other districts in the state and to other states as well. They are led by a total incompetent former school principal who has been in over his head since day one. The School Board is comprised of a bunch of total hacks, who have recently decided, in the midst of the economic crisis created by the pandemic to raise local property taxes by 10% or so they have more taxpayer money to piss away on their failing schools!!! Talk about tone deaf!!! Fortunately, a petition to put the proposed increase on the November ballot to let we the people decide the issue appears to have enough signatures to do just that. It is certain to be soundly rejected by the voters if it gets on the ballot that much is certain. A better question would be what are these out of touch buffoons thinking to even propose such an increase at a time like this?!? I’m so thankful I don’t have any children in the school system anymore, but I do have a grandson still in high school. Instead of talking about school days, it appears from what I am seeing we’re talking about SCHOOL DAZE!!! Do what is right for you and yours, not what is politically expedient. Nobody’s life is worth it. Not yours, not your wife’s, not your son’s or daughter’s, your Aunt’s or Uncle’s, your Grandmother’s or Grandfather’s, your cousin’s or your brother’s or sister’s!!! Be smart so your children can get smart-safely and securely. PLEASE. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota…..welcome to the CONFEDERATE STATES OF TRUMP (CST), where white entitled Republikan(t)s rule the roost and march in goose step with their heroic leader, Donald J. Trump. It should be noted that the confederate stars and bars are welcome in every one of these locations and the civil war still rages, this time against all people of color and those protesters and “radical leftists” who would destroy their precious narrative on history and tear down their time worn racism and politics of exclusion. If you don’t believe me, get in your car and drive out into the country to see for yourselves. The people who live in the trailers, the people who work at the poultry producing facilities, the rednecks who populate every county outside of the main centers of population, these are the very backbone of the CST and essentially populate Trump’s base. They are lower income, uneducated and watch FAUX NEWS every single day and believe anything that “INSANITY” Hannity or the ignorant buffoon in the White House has to say. They represent the 30%-35% of people who comprise the group who would support Trump no matter what he did, including his divisive and racially inflammatory remarks about the Black Lives Matter movement and anything associated with it.
It’s no surprise that a great many of these states are currently dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic that is out of control once again as a direct result of their failed leadership and subservience to a President who doesn’t have a clue, a strategy or a tinker’s damn about their problems other than securing their vote in the upcoming election. States like Florida, where Desantis refuses to close down his state and beaches even as cases reach and all time high, a state where the Education Commissioner just mandated that all schools will reopen in August regardless of the spike in cases-decisions which have already cost thousands of lives. Another example would be Texas, where Abbott did essentially the same thing and his state is now overwhelmed with cases and running desperately short of ICU beds. Or Arizona, where the Republikan(t) Governor stood by while Trump swooped in and infected hundreds of people at his political rally, who refused to shut down bars and restaurants until it was far too late. The list is endless-the Governor of South Dakota just last week before the Trump rally at Mt Rushmore (what an absolute disgrace-to desecrate that place with his hate and vitriol was indeed sickening) saying social distancing was not required and masks were optional as thousands stood and cheered shoulder to shoulder. Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia are also experiencing their highest reporting of Covid-19 infections since the pandemic began. And it can all be traced back to the purely political economic calculation Trump made months ago that his reelection was far more important than the lives of the 131,000 Americans who have now perished as a result of his callousness and indifference. In light of this catastrophe, in light of literally 12% of Americans still being out of work as a result of the abject failure to control the pandemic, what is our fearless President focusing on you ask? He’s busy tweeting asking Bubba Wallace to apologize because someone found what appeared to be a noose hanging in his stall in Alabama prior to a race and he began a movement within NASCAR to end racial injustices and ban the stars and bars. Trump then falsely claimed the move hurt their TV ratings, another indication of where his priorities lie. And of course he takes the position of condemning the move to rename military bases named for Confederate generals who essentially betrayed their country as well as the movements to tear down the statues and monuments that continue to honor these traitors and slave owners who tried to tear our country apart, much like Trump himself is trying to do. It’s a strategy that will never prevail. As an alternative, I’d like to suggest that he duplicate his absurd historical narrative and secede from the United States Of America to form the Confederate States of Trump (CST) as described above. In that country he could drive out anybody of color, deport any amount of immigrants he chose, appoint himself as monarch, put up monuments to Putin, Stalin, Hitler and those other wonderful individuals from history that he admires so much and continue to enrich himself, his family and his billionaire buddies to his hearts content while the Republikan(t) faithful stand silently by and do nothing. Corruption would be allowed to run rampant (much like in the current administration) with the underlying principle being unadulterated greed. It would be like paradise for him. He and his confederates could suppress as many votes as they wanted to, gerrymander as much of the map as they saw fit. It would be all so GLORIOUS!!! He could completely isolate from the rest of the country and have only FAUX NEWS or One America Nonsense Network as his only sources of information, while banning the circulations unfavorable to him like the New York Times or Washington Post. There would be absolutely no restrictions on the number of blatant lies or misinformation he or his cronies tossed out (kind of like now, too!!!). The rest of the country would be left to try to put itself back together again after four years of unbelievable chaos and disarray. It will be a long and slow process, assuming we make it through this pandemic and the next few months of this jackass and his “CABINET OF CLOWNS” running amuck. Just a thought, America. But maybe not as far removed as you think…after all, we elected a game show host President, didn’t we??? I hope everybody had an enjoyable if restrained Independence Day holiday. My daughter and son in law from Atlanta came to visit with us after spending basically two weeks in self quarantine to insure our safety as cases in Georgia continue to spike once again due to the failure of leadership from the Republikan(t) Governor (sound familiar???). My son in law is currently awaiting citizenship documentation as he emigrates from his home country of India, and we also had the opportunity to speak with his parents via the internet who reside there. It’s astounding how differently our respective cultures have dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic. More on that a bit later.
I was deeply troubled by the images I saw over the weekend-our President mugging in front of Mt Rushmore was enough to turn my stomach, and his speech there and the following day from the White House were abject lessons in racism and divisiveness at its very worst. He’s more concerned about upholding the racist legacy of the confederacy, tweeting as much by belittling Bubba Wallace and NASCAR over banning the stars and bars from their racing venues and calling the protesters who hauled down statues which honor the leaders of the rebellion against the United States “terrorists” and comparing them to Nazi Germany and communists as well as Osama Bin laden than he is about the fact that now over 130,000 Americans have DIED from Corona virus while he continues his alternative narrative that all is well. Then there are the images of the partying crowds from around the country like the one above from FL, mostly younger whites, few if any wearing masks or social distancing, especially in states like FL and AZ and TX where the pandemic is out of control and ICU’s are filling up fast. Trump then further claimed that 99% of Covid-19 cases were “harmless” while people were dying all around him. His own ignorant son, Don Jr. had his girlfriend test positive for the virus (what goes around comes around!) as his administration tries to put the pandemic in the rear view mirror in order to secure his reelection. It’s quite honestly a living nightmare for the entire country!!! We continue to hear the messaging “we’re all in this together, be it at the local or state level (certainly NOT hearing it from the administration!!!), that somehow Americans will pull together in our greatest hour of need like our parents and grandparents did during the Great Depression and WW II, gaining the label “The Greatest Generation”. It is proving to be a pipe dream. It doesn’t appear we Americans are capable of even sitting on our couches at home for a few months while a deadly pandemic rages without scores of our fellow citizens decrying the pandemic as “a hoax”, refusing to wear masks instead believing they are protecting their “rights” or making a political statement and the younger generation disregarding anybody’s interests but their own. We have witnessed Republikan(t) governor in red state after red state follow Trump’s insistence on reopening the economy despite the dire warnings of doctors and scientists that it was too soon and now we are seeing the results of these horrific decisions which were based purely on the basis of political expediency. Beaches, bars and restaurants reopen to mobs of Millennials and Gen X’ers face to face, cheek to cheek having a grand old time and then wonder why the number of Covid-19 cases among this age group (20-40) is rising faster than any other group!!! The “Greatest Generation” ain’t these guys, trust me!!! I compare the incredible indifference and tribal behavior of a number of my fellow citizens to what is transpiring in India as communicated to me by my son in law’s father who lives in southern India. He communicated the following to me via e mail just last week when I informed him things here were once again out of control as far as the pandemic is concerned, and I am quoting directly. “So far this area Covid-19 has been fairly contained. I would say it is not because of governance so much, but a reasonably disciplined society here as the majority of them are industrial work force. Industries here are taking extreme precautions to avoid the spread. Though requirements imposed by most industries invades in to your private life to an extent, people have understood that is required to retain their job”. So there you have it in a nutshell, and the difference in that attitude as opposed to the “me first, everybody else second” attitude a significant portion of our fellow citizens have demonstrated is like day and night. Don’t forget India has a population roughly FIVE times that of the United States. So the next time you hear the shop worn phrase “we’re all in this together” I simply request that you stop and consider if we really are…from where I sit, we’re anything but!!! And it all starts at the top, America. Instead of a leader who puts the safety and welfare of the American public first, we have a man who dwells in an alternative reality, refusing to accept the facts or the advice of his own doctors and scientists. His ONLY incentive for doing ANYTHING is his own reelection. And we're on our way to 200,000 of your fellow citizens being dead by the fall because of him and his pathetic sycophants. "Make America Great Again"??? How about "The SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN"??? Or "MAKE AMERICA HATE AGAIN"??? As one writer succinctly put it in a tweet this weekend "we're in trouble". You better believe it!!! |
About Mike ColeBorn in Hamilton, OH but a proud Kentuckian since age two. One brother and three sisters. Suburban, Catholic middle-class upbringing. Attended Jefferson Community College and Pasadena Community College. Proud father of four and grandfather to seven, and most of all, a concerned American citizen! Are you??? Categories |