The GOP & Its Political Dogma Has Failed America

The GOP is a party of climate change deniers & now coronavirus deniers that will not take responsibility for its actions.

More importantly, its perverted since of capitalism that has played out over the last 40 years has placed our country at risk. Resources are hoarded by the 1% , which has left our country with substantial debt and very little safety net to adequately handle a crisis.

If its political dogma was so great then America would have a president that can champion those values that helped make us great to lead us through our current crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but he and his party have trampled on those values, which makes it more likely that we will have a deep and prolonged recession.  Adding insult to injury, I believe few within the GOP have the intellectual honesty to admit that GOP has failed drastically.  Absent that, November can not come fast enough.

Life or Death, Which Do You Embrace?

The following questions are those I sent to my two Senators, Marco Rubio and the Junior, Rick Scott.

I encourage you to copy and paste in an email to send to your elected representatives.

Dear Elected Official (in my email, I just stated their first name):

Are you not bothered that an American would seek to kill another American, such as what occurred yesterday at a STEM school in CO?

Is not that behavior the antithesis of our founding core values of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?

Are you aware that a gun is one of the most efficient weapons for an individual to wield in which to kill a living creature?

It is and as such, should we (i.e. Americans) not ensure that those who seek to own and use a gun respect our founding core values and conclusively demonstrate that they will act responsibly?

Yet, do we do that?  Do we see if people are worthy to exercise their Second Amendment right?

Anthony Scalia and four (4) other Supreme Court Justices in their DC vs. Heller ruling state, “the Second Amendment [(2A)] right is not unlimited.”  In other words, 2A has limits.

Yet, what limits do we (i.e. America) place on exercising our 2A right?

Essentially, none, am I not correct?

Why not have Universal Background Checks (UBC)?

If not then what is more important to you?

And why do you never provide me answers?  Is it asking too much?  Are you afraid to stand your ground?  I put things in writing?  Why cannot you?

Two last questions:
Which do you embrace, life or death?

If you say life (as you may point to your stance on abortion) then why not seek to protect all Americans’ lives by voting for UBC?

Think of this way when pondering my questions, guns represent death and fear.  Have a little love and desire for life.

The Gun Industry Trades In Fear; Acts As A Bully

I show below my third in a series of speeches I have made to the DCPS Board at its monthly meeting, which occurs the first Tuesday of the month. The subject remains the same: loss of our children's liberty due to fear associated with unchecked irresponsible gun ownership/use.

Good evening Board Chair, School Board Members & Dr. Greene.

I truly understand your frustration as it pertains to the lack of resources to properly maintain aging school infrastructure.

It must frustrate you even more - that with limited funds - DCPS must build higher fences and employee qualified security personnel to roam the hallways with guns - creating an environment that fosters fear, FEAR that has been proven to be psychologically damaging, especially so for developing young minds.

It frustrates me.

Your silence frustrates me. I suspect I may know why you are silent.

You may hope that the Federal Government and state governments will solve the problem so you do not have to.  Your hope is misplaced. These institutions ARE part of the problem.

Just last week our former sheriff, John Rutherford, voted against Universal Background checks.  He is more interested in protecting gun dealers (some of which allow guns to fall into the wrong hands) than protecting our unalienable rights. While the bill passed in the House it will most likely die in the Senate.

Polls show that 90% of Americans, which includes the majority of gun owners, want Universal Background Checks, yet we will not receive them.

Why?  Money.  The industry pimps out  hustles the Second Amendment (2A) for profits.  Career minded politicians are their coconspirators.

Collectively, their behavior is irresponsible and a threat to not only the second amendment, but also America’s founding core values of life liberty and pursuit of happiness.

However, I believe your silence stems more from your fear of the gun industry.  It is understandable. The gun industry acts like a bully.  It trades in fear –

1.      Fear of retribution if you challenge it and
2.      Fear of loss of life, how else does one achieve defense with a gun

This fear spreads like cancer and has now reached our schools, visibly sickening our children as exemplified by the recent active shooter training at Lake Brantley High School that left some students vomiting.

Our children want this to stop. We must show how to lead if we want them to be leaders. We must stop the bullying.

We must take the fight to the industry. Sue to recover funds re-directed from curriculum and buildings to fund costs incurred to counter the use of the industries products. Other school districts will surely join us because as I have previously mentioned, legal precedent has been established.

To quote Admiral Horatio Nelson, “The measure may be thought BOLD, but I am of the opinion the boldest are the safest.”

Only then we might receive legislation that ensures responsible gun ownership that will enable us to stand down from this threat to our unalienable rights.

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More Guns or Better Control

In a span of a week, two separate gun owners, arguably with mental health issues, each committed mass murder with the guns they legally obtained, one in Tallahassee, FL last week and one much larger in Los Angeles, CA yesterday.

The question we should be asking is, do we need more guns or better control? 

Let’s explore both sides.

In reference to more guns, I do not think that is the answer because as I have previously shown conclusively, more guns have led to more deaths; please see the post entitled,  Who Are These People That Kill People? 

In reference to better control, most people believe that I refer to gun control.  I actually refer to people control because “guns do not kill people, people kill people” and those people are typically gun owners under mental duress.  However, if we do not sadly have people control we will end up with gun control, which is why I think the NRA is the threat to our Second Amendment (2A). The NRA fails to acknowledge that people are humans and humans are well human. 

Some people take responsibility for their actions, but not all.  It is those that fail to act responsibly that require laws and regulations to promote and ensure that responsibility.  These laws and regulations are a form of people control.

The first thing we should do is remove guns from those that are deemed mentally unstable or in other words, not of sound mind.  Once these people demonstrate mental stability they can have their guns back.  This is not gun control; this is people control.  Moreover and more importantly, it is F*#@ING common sense.

It Starts At The Top – The Big Top (aka the circus)

An organization’s performance is highly dependent if not solely dependent upon on the individual in charge. I came to this conclusion 25+ years ago when I was a Naval Submarine Officer while I stood by the fast attack submarine wharf at Charleston Navy Base where I was once stationed when I served our nation.

The particular wharf by which I stood could berth approximately 10 submarines if my memory serves correct.  While not all submarines were at their respective berths, I ruminated on why one had the Battle “E” (i.e. recognized as being the best), yet another had high morale problems.

These 10 or so submarines provided a unique crucible for me to reconcile my observation and come to my conclusion.  The submarines when each viewed as a stand alone entity were essentially identical. Each had the same number of sailors, give or take one or two, and each sailor went through a rigorous selection and training program before being stationed on board.  In short, one sailor could be easily exchanged with another (assuming rank and rate remained constant). So the question I asked myself if each complement of sailors was fairly consistent across all boats, why difference in performance.  It should be obvious here on this page as it was to me as I stood next by the wharf, the submarine’s performance was a direct reflection of its Commanding Officer. As previously told to me by a former CO with whom I had a chance meeting in the Pentagon while we each essentially fetched the proverbial coffee for the admirals running the show, a CO is king, king of his fiefdom.

I found that my observation has held true as life has progressed and I had the opportunity to analyze companies when I was a stock analyst. While a CEO does not have a fiefdom, she or he does wield considerable power that influences all employed. I think most would agree that my observation can be observed in how our Federal government is being run today.  The Kavanaugh nomination is a prime example.  Donald J. Trump (DJT), a documented misogynist and someone with questionable business acumen, nominated a jurist for the Supreme Court, who has demonstrated poor decision making as well.  Additionally, an easy-going southern gentleman, Lindsey Graham, has begun to rant and rave and we have David Nunes, who, too, was once easy going, jumped early on the bandwagon  to promote conspiracy theories and less than sound policies.

I recently purchased a t-shirt that has a picture of baby trump and the words, “Elect A Clown” and “Expect A Circus” similar to the one shown to the right.  I wore it about town yesterday and had fun enjoying the responses, which varied from stares by older white men to favorable comments from minorities and women.  Sadly, these responses were not unexpected.  I was even prepared for someone to verbally attacked me, but fortunately that did not happen.

In short, if you are frustrated like me, I encourage you to find a way to enjoy the circus in which we find ourselves.  More importantly, I encourage you to ask questions of yourself and those of others as a means to find common ground so we can begin to get out from under this mess (um, I mean big top).

Home Of The Brave

I recently worked in an industry in which conviction was expected. If you believed in your vision then you were obligated to stand tall and stand proud even when events ran counter to your belief. If you could not pound the table with conviction during such events, then you lost the respect of your audience – competitors, employer and customers. With that in mind, I find it interesting that the gun lobby shrinks back into the shadows following the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) on Valentines Day, a day of love and compassion. Their actions imply guilt and remorse for what occurred.

Yet, the gun lobby has worked tirelessly and insidiously for decades promoting their vision.  The Supreme Court essentially rewrote the second amendment with a ruling based on a tortured analysis of just one sentence’s structure allowing the narrow majority to infer the authors’ intent 215 years later instead of validating and reinforcing what was actually written. The Supreme Court says the Second Amendment now pertains to self-defense, which has helped crystallize the gun lobby’s vision for America.

If the gun lobby truly believes their vision for America is right then they are duty bound to pound the table with conviction that the gunman at MSD would have been literally stopped dead in his tracks if guns were allowed on campus.  Just today, Rush Limbaugh advocated for guns on campus.  I am led to believe, the gun lobby has lived for this moment so they could advocate for all to have guns, including but not limit to teachers, administrators and most importantly, students. That’s right, students.

The killing of innocent Americans by an American on American soil should be a rally cry by the gun lobby for Americans to own guns, not just adults, but all Americans. Self-defense classes should begin in kindergarten and continue through twelfth grade graduation. Why, you may ask. Surely, you have not forgotten that kindergarteners died in the Sandy Hook massacre. Surely, the gun lobby would not want anything like that to happen again and is not just a price that is paid to have the right to own a gun for self-defense (which could be accomplished by myriad of other less dangerous activities).  We must arm these young tots, adolescents and teens so they are ready for the dangers they will encounter (regardless whether the adults allowed these dangers to manifest, germinate in the first place – that’s immaterial). Shootings like those at MSD and Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech and ... are like a war zone and the students must be armed.

Weekly trips to the firing range are a must, so are target practice and unscheduled drills to simulate armed intruders.  Since schools have tight budgets and cannot add this training to the curriculum then courses such as art, music and other unnecessary electives should be dropped, but definitely not gym because we want the students physically fit. In addition to buying pencils, pens and notebooks to begin the school year, parents could buy ammo and new cool holsters that match lunch boxes and back packs.

Guns are part of America’s heritage and all should embrace it.  Understandably, there are some adults who do not (that's me if you have not figured out), but if we start the process of training and more importantly, indoctrinating the use of guns at a very young age then over time there will be greater acceptance, would you not agree?

 Just imagine, if this vision were executed ten years ago then the students at MSD would have been able to coolly duck for cover, pull out their weapon and drop the perp in seconds saving many lives. Per President Trump, “no child, no teacher, [would] ever be in danger in an American school [again]. No parent [would] ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning.” That would be awesome, would it not?!

Some of you reading this may think that this vision smacks of a third world country and you would be right.  USA has the highest gun ownership per capita in the world followed by, you guessed it – third world countries, predominately those in the Middle East.

To paraphrase Charlton Heston, let them pry the guns from our cold, dead hands – after the dust settles, of course. 

Go America! We are the home of the brave because we have to be if this vision becomes reality.

Visit to a Food Bank & Barbershop

On Friday I spent time visiting a food bank held at Tuskawilla United Methodist Church (TUMC) followed by a visit to DJ’s Barber Shop and Hair Salon. Both the church and barbershop are not in Florida’s 3^rd Congressional District (CD-3), but both serve constituents that are from the district.

Food Bank Provides Hope
The food bank was started by Bishop Ron Johnson, who has is own ministry, but due to the large need, he found a helping hand from Reverend Dwayne Craig, Senior Pastor at TUMC, to distribute the food. The Bishop made an astute observation to me that the people must really have a need if they travel far to sit for two hours to receive less than two boxes of food. I confirmed his statement by talking with some of the recipients. Some were unemployed, others underemployed. While the food was not enough to last a week, it helped to keep the food bill down, especially so when there may be several generations under one roof. Typically, the matriarch was there to receive the food, but there were a few men as well. Also, all age groups and races were present.

The last person to go through the line left a lasting impression on me. The person was a middle aged woman that was dressed slightly nicer than the rest. She had been keeping to herself in a far back corner of the room with her head down low fiddling with a small notebook. Her actions alone spoke volumes. I believe she once had a stable income, but with the recession lost the ability to make ends meet.

Like this woman, I believe all would prefer not to be there, but there may be nowhere else for them to turn; however, seeing the smiling faces upon leaving, one could tell that the food helps the recipients to worry less. As the Bishop told me, the food gives them hope when there is none. With hope, the people should one day find a way to once again support themselves and eventually help others that are in a similar need. The Bishop introduced me to two women that had made that journey and were now helping to distribute the food.

Barbershop Talk
After visiting the food bank, the Bishop introduced me to a good friend of his, DJ, at DJ’s Barbershop. I was very fortunate to be introduced to DJ because he gave me wonderful advice and additional insight into the community. Some of the things we talked about were:
1. The youth not having hope;
2. Keeping my word; and
3. Other politicians courting the community’s vote, but later turning their back after being elected.

In reference to the last point, I think as politicians try to appeal to as many different constituents as possible, some may make too many and/or lofty commitments that they end up satisfying no one. While the African-American community may have had more than it share of broken promises from politicians, I believe America as a whole has had it share of broken promises, too. Per DJ, what is different is that the African-American community places a greater emphasis on a person’s word because for a long time, the only thing of value in the African-American community was a person’s word.

While there are differences between the many cultures that make up America, I think people in general want to find common ground with each other so we can work together to help make things better. Obviously, CD-3 is more in need than other parts of the country, but it does highlight some of the challenges we face if the economy continues to remain anemic for an extended period of time.