americanbackyard

[americanbackyard]

For awhile now I have realized that trump fans just don’t give shit about anything. Are they stupid? In a way, yes, yet they work and pay bills like the rest of us. Are they selfish? Definitely and yet they volunteer time and open doors for folks and say please and thank you and donate to worthy causes. Of course there ones who do none of these regular or decent things too. So what ARE they then?

It just goes back to being assholes. They cheered draining the swamp yet have a much bigger swamp doing more damage than ever before, yet they ignore that. Their leaders are stifling their freedoms like never before in their lifetimes, helping to destroy the air and water, the atmosphere even. Their government invites violence and promotes racism. And their “leadership” is filled with proven criminals, liars, rapists, and more. And they still choose to ignore it. All the while they tote their supposed beliefs. It’s hypocrisy and blasphemy but it’s more than that. They are cold and uninterested. Apathetic, willfully neglectful, yes, but more than that, simply assholes.

They talk of those who look different or speak other languages but never reflect on themselves. They insult those down on their kick or stricken by a system that doesn’t support them, calling them weak, loafers, lazy. And yet they refuse to acknowledge their own who match their hateful descriptions. They hate the government that keeps the streets paved, the water, power, and sewers running, the money printed, the courts remaining open, etc. They speak of entitlement and yet they are the worst practitioners of it. Assholes.

We need to remember who thrbassholes are, now and forever. But we need to find ways to prevent people from becoming assholes. It starts when they are born. In the end, like everything else, it all starts with the children. We adults must be the best we can be and raise our kids to be their very best or we will all be subjected to assholes and the assholes whose asses the assholes kiss.

[americanbackyard]

Consume/Submit

Americans suffer from lazy consumerism and convenient gullibility. The Walmart/tabloid syndrome I call it. Things are put in front of us and we gladly accept them, whether they are of the highest quality or are are any good for us or not. From Amway to Alpha M to Jim Bakker’s buckets of bullshit. The packages get bigger, the distribution gets wider, the marketing more colorful and the products more saltier or sweeter, with promises either of self improvement or more likely self indulgence and satisfaction. But with this comes the same thought process (or lack thereof) to absorb ideologies and and theories created by not just marketeers but religious and political zealots with an insatiable thirst for power and money and control. They say “simple minds simple pleasures” yet Americans seem to be becoming more simple each year. And the result of this is evident in how too many vote, how they treat others, and who they choose to support. They now only give attention and power to those who will feed their lowest and easiest desires, the desire not to think too much, not to have to be a better person, or to have to unite as one. It’s just that simple. The manufacturers/distributors/marketers have won. The situation humans got themselves into in Wall-E aren’t too far fetched, as the country bleeds into fascist territory under our very noses. It stinks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf7GuuobUqI

[americanbackyard]

I know it’s selfish to think about all of the things that we will be missing out on because of the coronavirus. But think of all of the things that are being missed out on by those who died because of it and all of those people that knew and loved those people who died. And look at what else is going on around us where people are being beaten and killed and shot and maimed for not being white. And we have a political party who seems to be fine with it and a president who encourages it.  It seems selfish and childlike and trivial to complain about missing events and traditions. So here’s my list…

My year starts in August not January. After about seven or eight weeks of summer where I’d simply work and don’t have to worry about much else, August comes which is the anniversary of myself being on the radio. It’s 33 years this year and I was hoping to combine a great gig with some cool bands and an awesome club with the victory party once Trump is voted out of office. Well because of social distancing that’s just not gonna happen, neither one of them for a while. Labor Day pool party didn’t happen. The carnival at my daughters old school which I look forward to every year isn’t gonna happen. No tri-tip sandwiches, no beer garden, no Vietnamese food, no nothing. Halloween, gone. At least Thanksgiving will be at home As well as Christmas Eve and Christmas day and New Year’s eve and New Year’s day but there won’t be that hair of the dog pool party. There won’t be a Super Bowl party. Valentine’s Day will be at home. My daughter’s birthday will be nice having her home from college because both my kids are home from college whether they like it or not, and I like it a lot. In March St. Patrick’s Day, basically canceled. Easter will be OK at home and my cohost birthday and my wife’s birthday will be fine and Cinco de Mayo will Be making margaritas at home, getting drunk and passing out. My birthday and Mother’s Day and my mom’s birthday and I’ll be at home but there won’t be a memorial day party. Father’s Day at home, my son’s birthday at home, and July 4 which we just spend looking up at the sky from the front Yard anyway. Then the summer comes again.

Maybe by then there could be a viable vaccine is good for decent percentage of the people. maybe racism will be approached and eliminated more as it should be and maybe the police won’t be shooting people in the back seven times or crushing someone’s neck with a knee. Maybe Trump will be in court every day or better yet in jail. I figure I’m going to miss about 16 events but I’m going to enjoy 14 others. So here’s hoping for a better 2021 and an even better 2022!

[americanbackyard]

Let’s face it, whether you live in the “first world“, “second world“, or “Third World“, they all have the same curse in common, which is what defines them in the first place. That curse is that humanity lives in a monetary society, which creates classes and divides based on values placed upon us by some authority that judges everything off of dollars or shiny rocks. It is the main reason humanity is held down and cannot progress.

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever why “The powers that be“ all over this planet could not have simply halted everything and put off the monetary system for six months while we all get a grip on the covered 19 virus. Everyone could’ve been fed, everyone would’ve had a roof over their heads, well maybe not some places where the government doesn’t give a rats ass about its people which is where Third World countries come from anyway because their “powers that be“ our only And power for themselves, humanity be damned. There is no reason why banks could not have been told to delay everything six months. But the illusion that our governments like to give is that that cannot be done and the excuse they make is that we cannot stop the economy which again is bullshit. For the sake of a few to stay busy and keep there well oiled fuck machine going the rest of us have to suffer based on the rules that we have allowed them to create.

There are great possibilities coming if we start to get rid of the “leader ship“ that we have allowed to control us, the only issue being that the controlled Go fight us on it as they do not comprehend better things ahead. This upcoming American election is perhaps the most important in six or seven decades. If the republican party is allowed for more years, United States will definitely fall in more ways than you can imagine.  

These four years have simply been a warm-up, whereas for more would be the serious real deal and we cannot allow that to happen. If it does happen it’s going to be every state for themselves and that could be a serious issue and again, living in a monetary society we are banks are in charge, you can expect the banks to close down so you can’t eat and you can expect the government and the banks to shut down your job so you can’t work. Humanity has only evolved so far and has so far to go and it won’t happen in our lifetimes but at least we can play a part in it and vote these bastards out.

[americanbackyard]

Let’s face it, whether you live in the “first world“, “second world“, or “Third World“, they all have the same curse in common, which is what defines them in the first place. That curse is that humanity lives in a monetary society, which creates classes and divides based on values placed upon us by some authority that judges everything off of dollars or shiny rocks. It is the main reason humanity is held down and cannot progress.

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever why “The powers that be“ all over this planet could not have simply halted everything and put off the monetary system for six months while we all get a grip on the covid-19 virus. Everyone could’ve been fed, everyone would’ve had a roof over their heads, well maybe not some places where the government doesn’t give a rat’s ass about its people which is where Third World countries come from anyway because their “powers that be“ are only In power for themselves, humanity be damned. There is no reason why banks could not have been told to delay everything six months. But the illusion that our governments like to give is that that cannot be done and the excuse they make is that we cannot stop the economy which again is bullshit. For the sake of a few to stay busy and keep there well oiled fuck machine going the rest of us have to suffer based on the rules that we have allowed them to create.

There are great possibilities coming if we start to get rid of the “leadership“ that we have allowed to control us, the only issue being that the controlled Wjll fight us on it as they do not comprehend better things ahead. This upcoming American election is perhaps the most important in six or seven decades. If the republican party is allowed four more years, the United States will definitely fall in more ways than you can imagine.  

These four years have simply been a warm-up, whereas four more would be the serious real deal and we cannot allow that to happen. If it does happen it’s going to be every state for themselves and that could be a serious issue and again, living in a monetary society where banks are in charge, you can expect the banks to close down so you can’t eat and you can expect the government and the banks to shut down your job so you can’t work. Humanity has only evolved so far and has so much further to go and it won’t happen in our lifetimes but at least we can play a part in it and vote these bastards out.

[americanbackyard]

Convenient Oppression

When states pushed to legalize pot, they did. The feds threatened all kinds of retaliation but did practically nothing and are now enjoying added tex revenues from it, which they waste freely might I add.When states chose to legalize same sex marriage, the feds whined about not recognizing that and that it was wrong cuzza some Bible verse they never read and blah blah blah but they backed off because there ain't a thing they can do about it because marriage licenses are a municipal item anyway and also bring in revenue for the cities and counties that issue them. When the coronavirus hit, the feds chose to ignore their responsibility and told the states outright that they were on their own, and here we are with some states fairing better than others but nevertheless, without federal help. Suddenly, unmarked agents, possibly deputized hate group members, are in Portland pulling a very fascist move. But I thought the feds didn't care about anyone anymore? The move is solely for themselves but I'm betting due to their own misgivings, won't spread like some fear it will. Why? Because no matter how good they appear to be at the chaos they have caused, no matter how good they appear to be at dividing the nation which was already divided to be honest, no matter how good they are at being total criminals, they aren't any good at doing the same thing twice. They are opportunists, leeches, parasites, without order but with menace. The feds at this point have refused to do their appointed job, but are also unconcerned about what that job is, and have no care how to go about it. They go from instance to instance, smashing and grabbing. If the "agents" in Portland go to Seattle, I think it will end there. The only real reason they are there in the first place besides chest beating and putting on the big fake show is because the two cities are close, and are thorns in the side to them. It's not they will gain any voters there. it 's to scare others into submission which won't work because as we. have seen, people are pissed off. They are pissed off not because they think they have been left behind by the coastal elite but because they have been screwed at every turn by the right, for decades. The Northwest surge of fake authorities will subside and has done nothing more than fuel the want for change by the people, for the people.

[americanbackyard]

No More Whoops!

Donald trump has sacked FOUR Inspector Generals in less than two months!

MICHAEL ATKINSON

United States Department of Justice – fifteen years

Nominated for Inspector General of theIntelligence Community by donald trump, November 2017

Served as Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, 5/17/18 – 5/3/20

FIRED by donald trump in retaliation for alerting Congress about the whistleblower complaint that eventually got trump impeached.

At his confirmation hearings, Atkinson indicated that he would bring order to the troubled ICIG's office, which had a reputation for dysfunction, and pledged to revive a whistleblower program that had become virtually defunct under the previous Acting Inspector General, saying that he would "encourage, operate, and enforce a program for authorized disclosures by whistleblowers within the intelligence community that validates moral courage without compromising national security and without retaliation." Restoring the whistleblower program was a major priority among members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

WHOOPS!

GLENN A. FINE

Inspector General of the United States Department of Justice – eleven years

Accepted position of Acting Inspector General of the Department of Defense, 1/14/16

Named Chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, 3/30/20

FIRED by donald trump for “unknown reasons” likely related to Fine's exceptional performance under the previous THREE administrations

WHOOPS!

CHRISTI GRIMM

Acting Inspector General of Health and Human Services took office 1/1/20

Grimm served over twenty years in HHS programs under previous THREE administrations

FIRED by donald trump on 5/1/20 for reporting on severe shortages of Covid-19 testing supplies and PPE

WHOOPS!

STEVE LINICK

State Department Inspector General, 9/30/13 – 5/1/20

FIRED by donald trump in retaliation in part for having transferred a packet of documents from Rudy Giuliani by way of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Judiciary Committee member Jamie Raskin. Additionally, In 2019, Linick produced a widely read report in which he found that Trump administration officials were retaliating against career diplomats based on politics rather than merit.

WHOOPS!!

Every time an Inspector General dares to do their job, they seem to find dirt on trump and the GOP, and are fired abruptly by trump. How is this not further obstruction of justice or at least tampering with ongoing investigations? Trump should have been removed from office after his impeachment, but was not. He should be removed from office immediately but will not be. Voters must remove him themselves but it is a guarantee that trump and the GOP will do everything they can to hinder the elections, to block voters, and the cheat the numbers to their favor.

In the meantime there is an ongoing global emergency in which the United States government could have made a drastic difference through it's previously proven leadership, but has failed internationally and especially nationally.The intense amount of obvious and unhidden corruption is unfathomable and unforgivable. Once trump is out of office, be it in 2021 or 2025, he and the GOP MUST be held accountable for these atrocities and punished to the fullest extent of the law.

NO MORE WHOOPS!

[americanbackyard]

Don’t Talk To Me

Perhaps one of the most amazingly sad truths about the herd mentality, not the one regarding immunity from disease, but herd immunity from intelligent thinking, is how gullible people are. Reality can be right in front of some folks yet they refuse to acknowledge it and turn elsewhere for more complex, yet completely out of touch versions of it. Those people online that constantly post long rants about this or that not being as bad, that the numbers are fake, that we are being lied to, or that it is someone else’s fault, write as if they have some kind of proof, some epic game changing thing that whey interestingly don’t share right away. They say that “testing indicates”, and “it has been proven”, or “it is a fact that...”, yet they offer no information to back up their claims. They can’t even comprehend why we question them about it. If you encountered me on the street as I was running toward you screaming, “RUN! IT’S GODZILLA”, and you asked me what proof I had of that, would you believe me if I said it has been exposed that the main stream media has lied about Godzilla destroying the city and that you should run too? If you then asked what physical proof I had of this, I then get angry and shake my head as if you are an idiot and I am special and you are to be pitied for your ignorance on the matter? Then as you push me about it even harder I finally reveal to you some conspiracy theorist’s website containing a half dozen ridiculously crafted and easily debunked ramblings? Would you then run? If you don’t then I will call you a sheep and yell “MAGA!”, like my peers who also think they know more than you and those “like you”.

The thing is that people are treating this kind of behavior as something new, when it certainly is not. We have always had know-it-alls, Cliff Clavens, tellers of tall tales, smart alecks, wiseacres, braggarts, windbags, big headed, smug, pompous, cocky, highfalutin, condescending, self-congratulatory, patronizing, shit talking pricks among us, yakkety yakking about whatnot and whatever. They may be telling us about the commie plot, about the flat earth, giving us overcomplicated directions to a location, simply because they want us to know that they know more about it all. They provide made up statistics, cite unknown articles or polls, and eventually reveal their sources to be some crackpot’s facebook page, shifty information profit pirates, disguised troll groups, or purposeful misguidance sites posing as truth revealers for those in the know. And they always do it with their chin up, with a smirk and the pride of a child who used the potty for the very first time! Yay for them! What a big boy or girl you are!

We ignored them then as we should try to ignore them now. Wasn’t that what our parents and teachers told us to do, pre-internet and pre-smart phone? We ignored them and they went away. It’s harder to do now of course because they have so many more ways of wedging their way into our lives, even if for a brief time, to shower us with their unwanted opinions based on fifth party blabber and gleefully presented to us in some wretched bombast. To me they are like someone who has been taught their entire life how to do something wrong, like playing an instrument, and although they have been presented with the right way to play said instrument many times, they refuse to accept that they are doing it incorrectly and will spitefully show you how they demand it is played and that YOU are the one who is doing it wrong, even though their performance on the saxophone sounds like a rampaging elephant with a pipe organ stuck in it’s throat. To them it is a grand concerto, but to you and every other unfortunate soul within earshot, it is a disaster of titanic proportions to the inner ear. Do not give them the attention they think they deserve. They will fade away if we do not provide them with enthusiasm or prolonged debate, or they will continue to influence others utilizing the power we have given them through our audience and engagement. Do not allow them the glory of having the last word. They believe that your failure is their triumph, even though it is quite the opposite.

[americanbackyard]

Consumer Doomer

For decades many Americans have been quite self reflexive in acknowledging their mega-consumer status. At times as a gag, an insult, an admittance, a weakness, even a strength. It is one of those issues that causes a nervous laugh, knowing some of the consequences of consumerism on those outside our consumer circle. Americans haven’t spent as much time as they should have though on the consequences within it. There is the obvious dependence on things that make life easy, or relying on things that truly are not necessary but yield slightly faster or more handsome results, or so we are told through marketing. One of the repercussions of capitalism is the outright neglect of the aftermath of itself, which includes the outright unpreparedness for catastrophe as it is based so much on instant gratification and constantly changing trends rather than being ready for unexpected change. 

Look at the anti-stay-at-home protesters and see the same topic repeatedly; “open the economy”, “I need this”, “I need that”, “ I need to go here”, “I need to go there”. Where are all the signs that say “ I need to get back to work” or “Please help my business”? It’s all ME FIRST, or ME NOW. In fact, looking around, I see people spending a tremendous amount of money in the stores, not just hoarding supplies but buying up bicycles, sports equipment, ammo, video games, electronics, smart phones, patio furniture, gardening tools, home improvement, and ordering merchandise online and ordering takeout more than ever. Where is this money coming from in a time when so many aren’t working, as is apparent by the total lack of traffic on the freeways? Are they charging it all on credit cards? I thought this country had a serious shortage of people with actual savings accounts. What is going on? And the GOP says that it’s time to reopen regardless how many people may die from Covid-19, and that is some price we should be willing to pay. And so many accept that. It’s like they are addicted to the seven deadly sins, if they can have them delivered and installed for free, interest free for a year.

It’s always about me, Me, ME in America. And it is something that is replicated throughout the Western World and many parts beyond. What if we look at nations that don’t rely on Capitalism and consumerism? How are they faring with the pandemic? As of this writing, Congo is the poorest nation on Earth but has a low number of Covid-19 deaths with a population of 84 million. Mozambique, Uganda, and Tajikstan all have very low numbers compared to more mass-manufacture/distribution/consumer countries. It is easy to look at how the coronavirus is spread by the fact that interaction between people at close range is the largest reason, and where does this happen the most? Where a highly mobile society moves about from place to place on a daily basis constantly purchasing and returning and touching multiple items, being in close proximity to restaurant workers, retailers, barbers, beauticians, fellow members at the gym, tight office conditions, buses, subways, crowded city streets, handling over touched money and buttons and touch screens, etc. It’s buy buy buy and move move move. The poorer nations simply do not have this interaction and the numbers of infected and dead show it. I think this allows us to view the fragility of an overstocked, market driven, gimme gimme gimme lifestyle, and the consequence of forgetting, even ignoring what is truly important and the relinquishing it to a system that doesn’t give a damn about us outside of selling us something, and more of it, more often.

The number of misguided and misdirected people created by this consumer system is what has given the anti-vaxxers and anti-stay-at-homers a platform upon which they ridiculously but almost understandably rely. The system has built a monster with no way to take that monster down. That this present American administration has done so little to remedy the current situation and just as little to prevent it doesn’t hide that during the Obama administration, the GOP constantly fought against preparations for disaster, and even during the George W. Bush administration, couldn’t be bothered to continue with the president’s concerns. And no administration for over half a century has done anything to curb the consumerism in America, in fact they have only strengthened and endorsed it. This in turn produced big pharma, big insurance, big oil, yuppies, preppies, mass cocaine use, continual war, and more, while ignoring the things that should have been given priority, the safety of America, its people, and the world. John F. Kennedy told the world that as we have so much, we would come to its aid, but we no longer do that, and in a way our aid for so many years was the opposite end of the damage we also inflict. The double standard is finally showing us the dangers of our system, but it is obvious that all will not listen. Are we going to perish because of the hunger for immediate satisfaction and neglect the potential self obsolescence we blindly and even gleefully invite? The questions now are not who will survive but what will the survivors actually do?

[americanbackyard]

Giving Up

The way I see it, supporting trump is like giving up. To be more precise, to be a republican is essentially giving up. To claim that we need less government is giving up. Why? Because you have less say and your tax dollars that pay for various services ands protections (pre-trump) cannot be provided to you by private corporations at the same low price. BY going republican you are essentially giving up the rights you so dearly claim, no, EXPECT to have. From your government btw... 

To say that gays and immigrants are ruining The US is definitely giving up. Giving up on humanity basically. To refuse to accept others who make this country just as great as you because you don’t agree with who they share their affections with or where they came from is shameful. Go live in a cave then. IN the end we are ALL immigrants since humankind has only been in its present form for maybe 200,000 years, while the plants and animals around us have been here much longer and will continue to do so. How dare people deny their fellow people equal rights and space! For as much as they look down their noses at those they think lesser of, I look down my nose at THEM.

Believing that skin color gives one a higher value is absolutely giving up. It’s giving up actually BEING human. We bleed the same, and we can procreate with each other. To deny that is not just selfish, but also lazy, hateful, and throwing one’s hands up in the air by refusing to take part in the natural world, which itself is really unintelligent.

And supporting a person or regime that is dedicated to taking away the rights of those they were entrusted to protect and serve, and I mean taking away the rights of non-whites, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ people, while being completely inept about having their OWN rights removed at the same time, is giving up their rights freely, willingly allowing evil to destroy them while at the same time spitefully partaking in the drippings of that evil, thus GIVING UP.

Every time I see these trump supporters or anti-stay-at-homers protesting, I see losers who have given up on their lives. The more confederate flags and swastikas I see, the more intense the loser, and the more guns I see, only of course in open carry areas (cowards), I see people who are a total loss. Those people are PERFECT to be taken advantage of and are essential for evil to keep power. I am reminded of the words from Maurice Walsh’s book, “War and the Human Race”, as he writes of people’s infatuation and eventual consent “of aggressively perverted, homicidal but intellectually brilliant and pathologically charismatic leaders who... move into the power vacuums and take advantage of economic, sociological, and historical factors to seduce and deceive large elements of the population into following them”. Just after World War II psychoanalyst Edward Glover regarded the “spell of leadership” as “the repetition of an old emotional state of rapport between the helpless infant and its all-powerful parents.”

Perhaps the giving up is literally something that these people have done all their lives, or perhaps turned back to because it is more comfortable, even in a torturous and damaging way. regardless, we are dealing with what appears to me as a sizable mentally unstable percentage of the American population, which I fear not from their assertiveness but more of their recklessness. The more they give up the harder we all have to trudge ahead in our epic quest to simply survive. WE won’t give up!

[americanbackyard]

Your Response To No Response

Many of us are having problems with deniers. They deny there is COVID-19 problem, they deny that donald trump is the worst thing to happen to this country since George W. Bush, or Ronald Reagan, or bell bottoms and rainbow striped suspenders. Or Vietnam. Here are some REAL numbers , not to show your denier family and friends because, let’s face it, they are totally brain dead. Forget their birthdays or holidays. Write them off. It’s been a long time coming for most. This is for YOU to know, and them to well, whatever. 

They can try to justify this and that all day long but it is up to us obviously to once do the right thing, but unfortunately it will mean that we must suffer at the hands of their recklessness and selfishness, and they won’t be one bit thankful when it is over because of our compassion for all or our willingness to save them alongside ourselves even though we should just let them perish by their own hands. “Where they come from more will follow, and if they should vanish, more will appear from the darkest of cracks.” - author unknown. Okay it was me.

[americanbackyard]

Second Hand Folk

A friend mentioned how Netflix had wronged a subject in one of their programs and many people’s reactions to the victim are of suspect, ridicule, and meanness. They have no idea of the actual events and refuse to look them up to come to their own conclusion. It just goes to show that people are sheep, sad but true. They don’t even cherry pick, they simply follow like rats to the river. A family member was defending trump yesterday about the media attacking him all the time and how he is thwarted form doing more, and I reminded him that other presidents went through similar things from various sources and were still very “presidential” about it, not crying like an infant left in a soiled diaper. I tried to set him straight about stuff and he hesitantly cracked a little, like he was myna birding what he reads and has not paid attention to what is on video, and I believe that is where I caught him in that quiet moment where he realized what I am about to say,  which is what I keep seeing these people who get all their information and news second hand and never first hand. They choose their favorite mediums for information gathering instead of going to the source or watching unfold as it happens. They don’t watch it unfold live in front of them, they wait to see what Fox, Hannity, Rush, Carlson, Breitbart, Shapiro, etc., have to say about it, as watching the actual goods is an inconvenience for them and they would rather get the biased Cliff Notes version. It’s so much easier for them to digest, to accept, and then repast as if they believe it. We vote, we pay taxes, we work, we live in this country, and you would think these people would get a little more involved instead of being so lazy. Even a pandemic won’t convince them as their sources tell them it isn’t a big deal. Over 20,000 dead in less than three months is a big deal. And as they defend their trump against the accusations that he has failed us all once again, all one has to do is review how the Obama administration handled the ebola crisis to see what could have been, or to research what W wanted to create and maintain to prevent this from happening, or to even look at public record, but second hand folks never do that. It’s just too much work...

[americanbackyard]

The Blame Shame

trump’s outright racist remarks regarding China are an embarrassment to all Americans. His overbearing commitment to abusing China is immature, unprofessional, and downright infuriating. As he looks down his nose on the nation that the world has given the keys of manufacturing to, that has become a primary lender, to which our own nation owes unbelievable amounts, China keeps working with us and continues to keep things rolling. Our shit talking commander in cheap isn’t taken seriously by any government on the planet so it is easy to dismiss two things, first that trump is much of a threat in the long run which is why his arrogant and reckless diplomatic blunders don’t cause more havoc, and second that the little orange mess is the actual shot caller.

trump’s fan club are completely clueless on so many levels, be they the toothless inbreds we see wearing maga hats at the rallies or the educated ones who we don’t hear from, so ignore them from now on. What they believe doesn’t matter. Forget about the stories of coastal elites and the Dems ignoring the needs of whoever wherever and blah blah blah. Look up all the stories you can and it is clear that all of that is hindsight, to justify why a racist pig was placed in the White House against the will of voters. But let’s look at two things.

China. trump is beating his heartless chest over what he has done to China. His tariffs were irresponsible and ineffective. A total fantasy from a warped mind that only recognizes each moment in time as relevant, and will say anything to fill those moments with egotistical mayhem to satisfy his appetite for acceptance and blind praise. His racist comments and his blaming are thoroughly the words of a simpleton. Punishing the people of China is a true asshole move. Now, the Chinese government has been pretty screwed up for a very long time. It’s like they went through a self created vicious circle of mismanagement and arrogant ineffectual moves, causing massive overpopulation, then creating controversial and sometimes damaging acts to attempt to resolve that issue, with some success but creating yet more problematic issues in the future, having based it’s financial successes on the masses they once utilized. That the coronavirus is yet another illness coming out of the region is not because of the people, but perhaps because of a hundred years of their government’s failures. Failures that first and foremost have negatively affected China’s population, and many others. Yet look at our own government and its failures and atrocities worldwide. Who are we to talk? And look at the last three years of American government failure and the complete joke it is today.

Russia. We keep blaming Russia for everything. Okay, trump owes a lot of money to Russians as worldwide banks refused to loan him any more money for his countless flops and failures and his second rate real estate ventures. Bad move donnie, bad move. If reality ever hits him he’s probably going to spontaneously combust. But Russia is in the same category as China and the US, with a chaotic government that has caused massive upheaval and chaos for its people and beyond. So looking at the failures of the Chinese government over time, the train wreck that is our own government, and the role of the Russian government as interlopers on the brink of constant collapse looking to drive wedges anywhere that may contribute to that collapse, it becomes clear that everything that is going on in the western world right now is the result of these three governments failing to work together for the benefit of all, the failure to work for their own populace, and the failure to have any reason to exist. They exist for themselves, not any of us, and all this chaos is the end result. We have put them in charge of the things that are supposed to help grow, only causing us to wither. We are told to trust the powers that be yet the powers that be can’t be trusted. Our designated drivers are drunk with power, and we pretend that a seat belt will save us as we drive over a cliff.

But where does that leave us? What are we to do? It is a pivotal time in history, and in our daily lives. Do we simply just accept it or do we rise up and overcome, as heroic as that sounds, or are we just on our own now, as The Earth’s temperatures increase, causing change that in the future will make what is going on right now look like a kid’s birthday party at the park? Unless humanity can together rise up in large numbers with a solid plan and solid leadership, it is mostly in vain. Not that it shouldn’t be tried but the majority of Democratic voters in America are telling us that the beliefs and determinations of Bernie Sanders are too much for them so they are willing to settle on the safer leanings of Joe Biden. So much for the solid plan and solid leader to make real change, and that predicament isn’t something limited to just the United States. Thus the vicious circle may continue. 

Perhaps we are on our own. Maybe we always have been. Throughout history there are writings of great leaders and better times just as much as horrid ones. It would be suspect if there weren’t accounts of unhappiness, inequality, or uneasiness. There is a pattern to humanity and that is that yes, we are on own one most of the time, some more than others, but nevertheless things don’t seem to change no matter how much anyone says it does, or how much they claim to be able to change it, at least for the better. With that, good will and good luck to all, now and a hundred, even a thousand years form now, if anyone is left.

[americanbackyard]

[americanbackyard]

This is what happens in a mo weary society. Panic, because no one is sure how they will be protected or saved and by who. When a price has been set on everything, including our heads, and that price can also be changed without warning, everything we know becomes threatened. We call ourselves civilized yet we hold to having different classes, we won’t unify for the good of the world, we kill each other or want to see certain people killed. It comes as no shock that the world is ill prepared for this virus, and it is no shock that the American federal leadership is using it to block what they want blocked, destroy what they want destroyed, and blamed on who they want blamed. The followers and supporters of such an ugly and twisted regime are just as bad if not worse as the followers give in to the dark side of the most primitive of human emotions, hatred, and the supporters who should know better but turn a blind eye to the fact that progress means work, sonething they selfishly and lazily refuse to do. There is a price on all of us and unfortunately that price doesn’t matter to those we have allowed to be in charge of us, who are sacrificing us as if we don’t matter, and that unfortunate position is one we have put ourselves in. Maybe not all of us, but most of us whether we want to admit it or not. That is probably how humanity will become extinct someday.

[americanbackyard]

If we go all the way back to FDR nd look at so many things that were changed for the better and created to protect and serve the people during that administration, and examine how Republican administrations since then Chipped away at all of it, and how the lack of Democratic administrations has been able to bring all of it back says a lot not just about those in power but about the rest of us..

It seems Truman didn’t change all that much from FDR but looking at the ups and downs of the Eisenhower administration, especially the Cold War, certain things were made better, certain things were made worse, but there was still growth in many ways, although some things were completely ignored which they had been for many years and would continue to be for decades, but as far as various freedoms and protections, they existed in a way that simply would slowly deteriorate over time.

JFK and LBJ kept many things intact and had many good intentions, and although certain issues were there that kept freedoms down for a good part of the population, they accepted positive change and things did actually change in a very good way. And again many protections were still in place, as the party looked to the future.

There are a few really good things that occurred during the Nixon administration but in the shadows there was just the opposite. People still argue about it all and looking at some of those good things that Nixon actually did do, half of those things are gone now because of administrations in his own party years later. We can sort of Skip over Ford and Carter and go directly to Reagan to get a good view of the deterioration By the Republicans and the lack of rejuvenation by the Democrats.

So many people at the time and so many people now still treat Reagan is some kind of strange God which many of us know is absolutely not the case, considering some of the incredibly callous and stupid things that administration did and how sneaky and destrutive they were and uncaring to say the least. The direction that Jimmy Carter‘s administration would’ve liked to have gone and was annihilated by Reagan and we did not know it at the time or at least a lot of us didn’t, but the administration would be setting us up to lose a lot more than we ever could’ve dreamed. What is upsetting about that is that the HW Bush administration did nothing about that.

A lot of people really held Bill Clinton high on a pedestal for a long time although some started to find out more and more about him and now he’s considered a corporate centrist Democrat and a lot of people are disillusioned by it but a lot of good things did happen but not enough to completely counterbalance what happened during the Reagan years although again many people weren’t very well informed about it yet as the Internet was not fully blown and we didn’t have smart phones to get information about everything every second of the day like we do now. And for all the good that happened during the Clinton administration, there were things taken away during the previous 12 years they would never come back, and that was the beginning of a pattern that we’ve seen all these years later.

The amount of freedoms and protections that were lost during the George W. Bush ministration are absolutely horrendous. The people in charge, also horrendous. America got screwed on a daily basis and the war machine was simply frightening.

Switch to Obama and although there were some things that were regained, it was nowhere near everything, there was no reversal, and the war machine would continue. For the second time in recent history the Republicans had dismantled or destroyed things that are good for the people and good for the country and the Democrats could not go back and fix it, only bits and pieces, and that’s what we are supposed to settle for?

Now look at the Trump administration. What a joke. What a horrible, hard to believe joke. They are annihilating everything piece by piece that has occurred that is good by any administration in the past 50 years. And Mitch McConnell who’s been there since 85 is the one who especially at the beginning of the Obama administration proclaimed that they are not going to work with anyone about anything. That is your Republican party, the One that takes away and never gives back.

I voted for Bernie Sanders because as some people apparently, even Democrats, think that he’s too far left, which is an absolutely stupid thing to say, I believe his high hopes for improvements could possibly negotiate some of the things back that we are missing. I fear any other Democratic president in the future will not fight for those things and once again we will only get bits and pieces back, crumbs really. Unless we try to put people in charge who will really truly fight for us, things will continue to slowly deteriorate for us, and our children, and well beyond that.

Do we really have to just settle again for table scraps?  When will there be nothing left?

[americanbackyard]

The Big Test

Trump supporters are a real interesting bunch. Some appear smart, some appear stupid. Most have jobs that they show up to and perform successfully. Depending on wealth or education, trump supporters might have slightly different reasons for their support for the man. The thing they all have in common though is their support of a racist, womanizing, financial loser. A loser they support as commander in chief. This does not bode well for their integrity. It shows their true colors all too well. But hey, let's stop pretending we didn't know any of that. We did. We “tolerate” them. We are told that tolerance is a good thing, and in most cases it is. Unfortunately when we tolerate hate, it means that we ignore it's existence as it builds right in front of us. Our response is usually after that hate has risen up and created a certain amount of chaos, as damage is done for decades to come, creating more instances of chaos and negativity that infect us all in so many ways. Some it gives a green light to create more mayhem. Others it causes to hide under bigger rocks.

What do we do as the ones who are mature enough to know foulness when we see it? How do we convince the willfully blind to see? I'm not sure if we can at this point. I search for an answer and have none. All I have concluded at this point is that we are still animals and act like it. We ravage The Earth. We do what we want when we want to do it. We eat everything in site no matter if it is bad or endangered. We poison ourselves with glee. And we want to destroy our enemies. NOW. The only real difference between us and the creatures below us is our ability to create. We CAN create a better world. We CAN create a place for everyone. But we also CAN'T. We as a whole have not evolved enough yet to accept this thinking. So the powers that be, the ones we often support blindly, tend to take, and destroy, and hoard that which would make us all better in every way imaginable. The idea of universal progress isn't attractive to those who vie for power, while the rest of us are so easily distracted by shiny things or man made addictive chaotic inventions.

The 2020 elections are a prime test to see how American humanity will go, which will set a pattern or worse, force a movement on the Western World and beyond. And as climate change is now in full swing on a likely irreversible shift for the next century or three, we are probably witnessing a most pivotal time for the human race. No doubt about it, this is the BIG TEST.