Guard Dog

In California you cannot be a firefighter or EMT if you have a criminal record. But, there is such a shortage of firefighter during the wildfire season that they are recruiting prisoner trustees to help out. So... lemme see if I have this straight. While they are IN prison they can be firefighters. But when they get OUT of Prison they can't? Government in action! https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2017/11/03/prisoners-who-risk-their-lives-during-calif-wildfires-shouldnt-shut-out-profession/827215001/

Yeah I heard all about my wasted vote. They are both deep red Republicans. Finding a Republican in TN is like finding a bee in a beehive. You don't need to look hard.

I had dinner with some friends tonight. I don't normally discuss politics in social settings (you guys get the brunt of that) . But it came up tonight. I was, as you might expect, very critical of the man. Nothing all of you haven't heard from me. My friends wife got a little indignant and said "can't you think of anything positive to say about him?" I replied "Sure. Thank God it's not Hillary Clinton".

FWIW I posted that strictly for the chuckles. But the rancor towards the Green voters was a nice segue into what I wanted to say in my post # 802

If I sent a copy of this book to Donald Trump do you think he's read it? Or have someone read it to him?

The number of executive orders is not what we should be looking at. The Executive Branch does have the authority to do certain things. It's what those order DO that we need to focus on. Obama used and EO to modify a law that had been passed by Congress, signed by him, and even adjudicated on by the SCOTUS after all that. The President does not have that power. Only now, in a practical sense, they do because he did it and got away with it.

That does NOT make it right? Can't you see that. "I'm sorry American people" I didn't want to dissolve the congress and cancel elections but you keep sending up people who oppose me". Philosophically there is no difference. But I agree 100% that Congress rolled over and let him get away with it. That is on them.

One thought on the Green & Libertarian Parties. There is no doubt third parties have played the role of spoiler far more often than actually electing their candidates. Especially on the national scale. Bill Clinton would not have been President if not for Ross Perot and the 1990's would have played out very differently. Assuming of course Perot voters would have supported Bush. Al Gore would have been President in 2000 if not for Ralph Nader and the 2000's would have played out differently. Assuming of course Nader voters broke for Gore. Here is the thing, you cannot assume that will happen. The Green Party is a real political party with real supporters who have a real agenda that the believe in. That agenda is championed by no one else other than the Green Party. The Democrat Party does not align with the Green on a lot of things. Because of that they have no right to expect the Greens to vote for Democrats. Ditto for the Libertarians and Republicans. The Republican Party, while not hostile to Libertarians, are not exactly welcoming either. What Republicans want and what Libertarians want are very different things that share some occasional similarities. Libertarians are not Republicans and Republicans have no right to expect Libertarians to support them. If the two major parties want to court support from the two larger minor parties then they should try to adopt some of their platform. Just saying that the alternative is worse is not a good selling point. I have held my nose and voted for a lot of Republicans I disliked to foil Democrats I hated. I will never do that again. In 2016 I voted for Gary Johnson. Not because I believed in him or wanted him to be President but because that vote enabled the LP and that is a cause I DO believe in. I hated Hillary Clinton and had no respect at all for Donald Trump. Why should I cast my vote, one thing that is truly mine, for one of them? Because the other was worse? No, not good enough. The lesser evil is still evil. Had I been told my one vote would have decided the election between Clinton & Trump I still would have voted for Johnson. And I would have looked anyone in the eye who screamed about it and told them to go f--k themselves.

Are you seriously defending the abuse of executive orders because the Republicans in congress were opposing him? They were SUPPOSED to oppose him. Their voters sent them there to do that. You do understand that Congress is a co-equal branch of the government right? With certain responsibilities that are EXCLUSIVELY theirs? Enumerated powers? I'm certain I remember reading that somewhere. Ah, yes Article 1 of the Constitution. It does not become OK for the President to abuse his office because an election went against him. I can't believe you even suggested that was a justification. Congress is against you? Tough, Either deal with them or do better in the next election.

Reactions to last nights special election in Ohio:

That survey is hardly a sample size of actual Trump supporters. But it's a little worrisome to me that you can find that many out of a thousand random people who are OK with a tyrannical government as long as they like what they are doing.

When I saw that earlier, I thought to myself "They really should ask themselves whether they'd want a Democrat president to have that power" because I'd imagine most would say no. Absolutely correct. The biggest error the zealots on either side make is to assume any victory is final. There is always going to be another election (hopefully). In 2008 the Democrats crushed all opposition. They had the White House, House or Representatives, and a filibuster proof super majority in the Senate. Media outlets everywhere were gleefully declaring the death of conservative politics in America. In 2010 they lost the house. In 2012 they lost the Senate. In 2016 they lost everything including most of the state offices. At the end of 2016 you could drive from Miami to Spokane Washington and not pass through any district that had a democrat in elected office. Now the Republicans are gloating. But as the Romans used to say, all glory is fleeting. There is an election in November and with all of the retirements of Republican office holders (many in protest of Trump) it is unlikely they will hold both houses oc Congress in January. When Obama was in office he was very liberal and heavy handed in his use of executive authority. Far too much. Congress really should have reined him in but chose not to. When he did these things his supporters cheered. They should have been thinking of what that kind of power in the hands of the next President they don't like would look like. What one President can get away with, another can.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-poll-43-of-republicans-want-to-give-trump-the-power-to-shut-down-media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1FFVWEQnSM

That's the one

I think you know which one I'm driving at here. Sometimes the harder you swing the more entangled you become.

James do you know what a tar baby is? Just asking.

Mother is on a roll!

For those of you depending on the government to stop the evil corporations from polluting the environment don't forget, evil corporations are campaign donors. And there are plenty of instances where the government looked the other way on health, safety, and environmental regulations when "friendly" evil corporations were involved. BP before Deepwater Horizon, US Sugar, Volkswagon in the UK come to mind. I wouldn't have to look hard to find others. If you expect a politician, any politician, to do something other than satisfy their immediate best interests you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Democrat, Republican, whatever. If you drinking lead poisoned water gets them re-elected then drink up mother f----r.

And where did I did that? You didn't. Just sayin'.

Not following that, they seem somewhat separate from each other, no ? Just a general example here. The largest and most power company in the world cannot take a single penny from me without my approval. The smallest government in my home county can take everything from me. If they take something from me at the behest of and benefit to the corporation who is the real bad guy here? Who should I be most afraid of?

Which circles back to the argument I've been making here for years. You want to protect yourself from "big Corporations" then kill the power of the government. Don't ask a wolf to protect you from the other wolves. And it isn't a monopoly. There are other options out there. Including organizing boycotts if you're so inclined. What happens to facebook if a lot of people stop using facebook? Ask MySpace.

Is this really a thing? If you gotta go, go smiling!

OK Sharp One, if you had used this example you'd have had a valid point. THIS is a threat to free speech. Notice where it's coming from? https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/survival-of-our-democracy-depends-on-banning-sites-like-infowars-democratic-senator-says Couple this with the policy paper Warner's office wrote concerning the government appointing content regulators over tech companies (I linked it on the last page) and you get a clear picture of the government taking a hand to suppress hate speech as they define it. Of course the more the government gets involved the more likely this gets a court challenge that will very likely succeed. These days the courts' attitudes towards the 1st Amend have been decidedly permissive.

Once again Sharpie, not the same thing. You have a contract with your cell phone provider and cable and internet providers. You are buying a service enforced by a contract. You do this and they do that. Remind me again how much it costs to be on facebook? Or Youtube? Or Twitter? If you get licked off twitter just go to Tumblr. Banned from Facebook? There's always Instagram, Vine, any one of dozens of other services. Or, start your own. If I had a coulple million bucks I'd invest in a new social media platform that caters entire to one group or another. Imagine a twitter, completely uncensored, for white supremacists? I could sell pop up ads to the New South White Cotton Bed Sheet Co and the Dixiecrats Rebel Flag silk screen printing factory. I could make a fortune. Obviously I'm being tongue-in-cheek here but there is a universe of difference from social media playing politics with what amounts to guests on BW they pay for and the government shutting down political speech. There have been actual nd credible threats to free speech here in the country. Recently in fact. Barack Obama using the IRS as a weapon against conservative PACs is one of the most egregious. This is another one: See the difference here? This is the government using force to curtail rights. Facebook & Twitter playing left wing politics in a sandbox that is entirely theirs is not.