You're a Miscreant, Mr. tRump

You're a miscreant, Mr. tRump

You truly are quite vile,

You have the honor of a traitor and are known as ‘Don the Con’.

You're a rotten malefactor Mr. tRump, with a smarmy, sneaky smile!

You’re a predator, Mr. tRump, you’re a greedy, grasping troll

Your heart's a broken tool,

Your mind seethes with malice; you got evil in your soul, Mr. tRump,

I wouldn't call you anything but a steaming pile of stool!

You're a foul one, Mr. tRump,

You're a nasty, rabid mutt,

Your heart is full of jagged rocks, Mr. tRump,

Your soul is in a rut!

You're a foul one, Mr. tRump,

You have madness in your look,

You lack noble motives; you’re scheming all the while, Mr. tRump.

You time is ending, Mr. tRump, you’re a creepy, cranky, crook!

Let Americans Be Americans Once Again

http://www.onenationblog.com/americas-greatest-promise-e-pluribus-unum2016/1/30

Let Americans be Americans again.

Let us dream once more the dream that made us see.

Let true patriots arise and renew their claim.

In the home of the brave and the land of the free.

Let Americans recall the Framers’ dream—

Let’s build together that bountiful land we have sworn to love

Where never tyrants strive nor traitors scheme

Nor anyone need bow to those above.

O, let Americans stand for a pure land of Liberty

One marred with no false pride or gross pomposity,

Where opportunity shines bright enough for all to see,

And the air’s redolent with the scent of true Equality.

Rally the poorer White, incited, fooled and driven wild,

Rally the Black still stung and scarred from being slavery’s child.

Rally the Red from whom so much has been seized,

Rally the Yellow once into interment squeezed.

Rally the immigrants clutching fast to hope in desperate need—

Fighting bravely against the same callous, vicious plan

Of hate, fear, spite, and power crushing all who take a stand.

Rally the youth, all full of courage and hope,

Ensnared in that vast, far-reaching web

Of propaganda, plots and profiteering gain, of treacherous deed!

Of seized resources! Of grasping ploys to satisfy rapacious greed!

Of drive the men! Of steal the pay!

Of everything for one’s use and none for another’s need!

Rally the farmer, bound by depleted soil.

Rally, the worker, enthralled in corporate toil.

Rally the Black and Brown, estranged from the vaunted dream.

Rally the people, humble, hungry, of modest or meager means—

Struggling still today but fighting for their dreams.

Embattled even now—O, Patriots!

We are the ones who never got ahead of woe and fears,

The poor and struggling people battered and disregarded throughout so many years.

Yet we are the ones who bravely still dream the hallowed dream

In Olden Times where serfs then bowed to kings,

But dreamt a dream so bright, so brave, so true,

That evermore its mighty clarion rings anew

In all the stone and steel, in every channel done

To make America the land it must become.

We are children of those who sailed across the storm-tossed sea

In search of what might and ought to be—

All our forebears traveled from obscure and ominous climes,

They sailed in different ships at different times,

And arrived here from whatever strand they came

To make America and claim American as their cherished name.

Who among us now are the truly free?

The millions who lack any recourse or hope today?

The millions without food, shelter, or any say?

The millions who work for next to nothing; the millions with no pay?

Despite all the dreams we’ve dreamed

And all the songs we’ve sung

And all the soaring hopes we’ve held

And all the brave banners that we have flown and hung,

With so much lost there's almost nothing left to lose—

Of the many yet striving to be one

But the dream has never died nor will it while we rightly choose!

O, let Americans be Americans again—

The people who have as yet almost never been—

And still now must be—the ones to insist that we are all free.

The land we have is the land we make—

Through the truths we tell and the risks we take,

Through the struggles, stands, and pleas, protests, and pain,

Through anger’s roar and power’s strain,

We must learn to dream the invincible dream again.

Despite the rack, rage, and rampage of the plundering class,

Who rape and pillage through graft, stealth, and lies,

We, the People, must arise

We must recall the meaning of values once fervently cherished

We must reactivate the vision before 'we the people' have finally perished

And as Americans boldly, yet solemnly, reclaim

The promises, principles, purposes, leading the higher plain.

Where men, women, Black, Red, Brown, Yellow, and White—

All, come together to join and carry on the fight—

And as Americans finally and forevermore, indivisibly unite!

Open Letter to the Voters of Alabama

Roughly 146 years ago, on January 26, 1861, “the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled,” struck the words "Constitution of the United States” from the oath of office. They also absolved “all officers in this State … from the oath to support the Constitution of the United States.” With no appreciation of the incongruity, they also declared their intention to set up “a permanent Government upon the principles of the Constitution of the United States.”

Against all evidence and logic, “the people of the State of Alabama in Convention assembled,” seemed to believe one such principle was that citizenship pertained only to “every free white person” who had been born to a father or mother who was a citizen of Alabama. They also conferred citizenship on every person “who, by birth or naturalization, was a citizen of the United States of America, or of any slaveholding State.” People born “in a non-slaveholding State, were equivalent to people born in a foreign country. Finally, the “the people of the State of Alabama” explicitly provided that “in no case shall citizenship extend to any person who is not a free white person.”

At a campaign event earlier this year, an audience member asked Moore for his opinion on when the last time America was "great." Moore responded: "I think it was great at the time when families were united—even though we had slavery—they cared for one another…Our families were strong, our country had a direction." Moore essentially said that it’s possible to overlook America’s original sin. The time of slavery was the time of, in Moore's view, great things — at least in America’s culture, even though that culture included slavery — and that’s apparently his ideal to which the country should aspire.

It is vital to remember that during this time Black Americans had no families or even the possibility of family. Slave masters regularly tore Black families apart — and tortured Blacks — at the time. Slaves usually could not marry, because their marriages were legally considered void. This is why the practice of “jumping the broom” came to be.

So, Moore is echoing the outlook conveyed by the January 1861 Ordinance of Secession. By what twisted logic, can this flamboyant Neoconfederate be considered suited for office in the United States Senate? How can he claim to be a Constitutionalist when he had twice explicitly acted contrary to constitutional order and sympathizes with a document that “absolved “all officers in this State … from the oath to support the Constitution of the United States?”

Given that in August 2017 Moore has slammed: “America as a “focus of evil” and sympathized with Vladimir Putin in newly surfaced comments from a Guardian interview, saying of the Russian leader: “Maybe he’s more akin to me than I know,” how can he credibly contend he is patriotic? Moore is echoing Trump, who formally endorsed him. But he also repeats a deeper strain of pro-Russian sentiment in the socially conservative world. Pat Buchanan, for example, has argued that Putin is a natural ally of social conservatives in the United States due to his deep hostility toward homosexuality.

When one factors in that Moore faces credible accusations of pursuing and assaulting 14- to 18-year-old women while he was in his 30s, and sexually assaulting a 28-year-old woman, [Moore aggressively denied that accusation], how can any Alabaman of good will and genuine patriotism vote for this man? Moore and his supporters including the Pussy Grabber in-Chief have slandered his opponent. But epithets are not evidence, insults are not information, and attacks are not arguments.

    12 December 2017 will be another time that tries American souls. Will the voters of Alabama stand our country? Will they vote for America’s high, though imperfectly realized, ideals, or will they prove to be “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots?” Will they honor the pledge they repeatedly made as children of allegiance to one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all? Or will they vote for a person who thinks the last time America was great is when slavery was in full force and sees America now as a ‘focus of evil?’ Never has the patriotic and principled choice been more apparent.  America – where are you now?

These Knights

These Knights swear oaths to valor!

Their hearts know naught but honor!

Their sticks defend Las Vegas!

Their might uplifts their fans!

Their words speak only truth!

Their skill undoes their foes!

This poem is a celebration of the Las Vegas Golden Knights and their magnificent beginning!

Mystic Chords

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e9/57/bc/e957bcf23d84ecb9d9a4c2cc13622c8e.jpg

We can keep up pretenses; we can shrug; we can laugh

but we can't trick the truth just by wearing a mask.

We're going at each other with hammer and tong.

Straining, almost to breaking, what has held for so long!

But we cannot deny and must not abide

Such fanatical insistence that the right is all on one side.

Slurs and calumny we excuse as either a joke or a jibe.

And betray the truth, just to gain a win for our tribe.

We each harbor anger and lust to prove which side is right,

And we turn every discussion into a vicious and protracted fight.

We can’t call back the taunts that set brother against brother

While compatriots precipitously morph into some alien other!

Instead of modeling gratitude, we fumbled the chance

Each of us hardened our attitude of intolerance

And betrayed the quest for understanding and our nation’s dream,

Sadly, forgetting that we should all be playing for one American team!

With the differing perspective, that arises from each unique situation.

It sometimes looks as though we are a crowd, not a nation.

The divisions that incite us are hard to confront or to even explain

When we stubbornly insist the other side deserves all the blame!

We still have a chance to follow the true guiding light

And recommit to amity and put an end to this fratricidal fight.

So, a stark choice confronts us, and it does so clearly,

Is it proving we’re right or doing what’s right that we value most dearly?

Wholly Misogynistic!

dailyatheist.deviantart.com

Saint Albertus Magnus, a 13th-century, Dominican theologian, minced no words:

“Woman is a misbegotten man and has a faulty and defective nature in comparison to his. Therefore, she is unsure in herself. What she cannot get, she seeks to obtain through lying and diabolical deceptions. And so, to put it briefly, one must be on one’s guard with every woman, as if she were a poisonous snake and the horned devil.”

Virtually nobody knows or cares about Albertus Magnus in the 21st century, but the virulent anti-woman attitude he championed is still doing grievous damage. Those who recognize this toxic element of contemporary culture often call it slut-shaming – the act of putting down a female human for being too sexual to make her feel inferior or guilty. Too sexual could mean a whole range of things, but author Jessica Valenti’s slut definition probably says it best: “women engaged in any activity besides knitting, praying, or sitting perfectly still lest any sudden movements are deemed whorish.” 

Any people who seek to subjugate others, gain an advantage if they can make the targets feel uneasy about the fact that they exist in corporeal form. Therefore, the Holy Books of the Abrahamic religions are replete with misogyny as were the pronouncements of many founders of the Christian sects. These slurs and venomous canards have nothing to do with divine inspiration and everything to do with the subjugation of women.

Although men theoretically benefit in a twisted way from this calumny, it harms most of them as well. The basis of this seeming paradox is evident. Denying, dismissing, discounting half of humankind deprives all humans of the contributions of the discard and denigrated half. In the contrived conflict between male and female human beings, this prejudice and repression are particularly pernicious. If humankind has the “better angels” in which Lincoln placed such hopes, those better angels appear almost exclusively in female form. Saying that women are the better half of humankind is neither stereotypical nor prejudicial, it closely approximates the stone-cold truth.

While shaming and blaming serve the interests of people who want to manipulate, dominate, and exploit others, they are always malign activities. Shaming and blaming have no win-win aspects. They are ploys used by some profoundly misguided or authentically predatory people [usually men] to subjugate and victimize others [usually girls or women].

In Western culture and especially in contemporary American culture either explicit or implicit misogyny by ostentatiously devout Christians has a profoundly deleterious impact. As most know, Christianity began as a Jewish heresy and eventually took over the Roman Empire and ultimately attacked and destroyed pagan civilization. Then, it treated Europeans to the Dark and Middle Ages before losing its stranglehold sufficiently during the Renaissance to set the stage for the Enlightenment, Rationalism, Science, and partial political liberation.

In the Christian worldview, a male Supreme Being created the World and the first humans. Although this deity purportedly has omnipotence, omniscience, ubiquity, and benevolence, the behavior attributed to it does not comport with these attributes. The deity first created a male – in its image. Then, the deity created a female – from the male’s rib. The deity told the man not to eat a particular fruit but did not give any convincing explanation merely an order. If the female ever got the message is unclear, but according to the legend, the deity did not tell her. As the fable goes, the male and female lived naked in a paradise where they wanted for nothing.

A previous creation of the deity, a devil now commonly called – Satan – the adversary. Tempted and tricked the female into eating from the forbidden tree and she, in turn, induced the male to do so as well. The deity promptly went berserk and cursed the male and female and every human being who would ever exist because one of the deity’s creations fooled two of its other creatures into doing something the deity forbade.

Let us briefly review: Not one but three creations of an all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, benign deity defied its will They did so even though such a god should have known they would and should have been able to prevent them from doing so. Despite the monumental screw-up, the fables still report the deity as perfect. Thus, the deity made at least three irreparable errors at the beginning of the story and then, threw a cosmic temper tantrum when things went as an all-knowing being must have known they would go. This same deity also issued orders to the male human, but neither explained the basis for the command or ensured the male told the female human. When the adversary used the tricks, the perfect deity knew he would employ. Thus, provoking the humans into violating the command the god knew they would not keep. The allegedly supernatural entity punished the humans and all their offspring for doing something they could not assess because they had no “knowledge of right and wrong” before violating the order and could not avoid doing since the deity knew what would happen all along. How can any of the preceding be the actual story of behavior by a perfect being toward other purportedly imperfect entities?

The so-called “Good Book” records the purported words of the deity who blames this entire debacle on the first and all subsequent female human beings!  “Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her, we all die.” (Eccles. 25:22) 

One must ask, how can anyone not deranged or deluded consider this the perspective of a perfect being? This assertion about women is preposterous, and if it is not, nothing ever will be. Three males, a deity, a demon, and a human screw up a situation that the omniscient, omnipotent god should have prevented from the outset and the single female human being gets the dominant share of the blame. Such vicious nonsense is patently ludicrous, and it should act as a fire bell in the night for every woman concerning the import of this misogynistic creed

Furthermore, any male deserving the designation human should object to the gross injustice done to women in this monstrously libelous fairy tale. Let us leave aside the fictitious demon and deny the bona fides of the author of all this infamy: The so-called Almighty. This self-absorbed character is the chimera behind which some devious and covetous individuals hide to begin the nasty work of making women vulnerable to their demands.

Men want to command women to do their bidding and slake their lusts. While some men also want to fuck other men and boys, back in the day, the human authors of this horribly unjust narrative wanted to have old women to do their cooking and cleaning and nubile young women to service them with their mouths, vaginas, and anuses. Think for a moment about all the rationalizations of concubines, servant girls; virginal captives seized from defeated enemies. The positive attributes extolled in the Wholly Babble regarding women are typically related to household duties and beauty. Consider the description of Job’s daughters: “Job had three daughters. God adorned them with great beauty, no women being so fair as were the daughters of Job” So daughters of prominent men in the Wholly Babble are lookers. What a stroke of luck because further on Lot and his daughters get together at the command of the deity:

www.niceartgallery.com

By an astounding coincidence, the eternal God of the Universe happens to have the same approach to women as patriarchs in the Wholly Babble! Women are either meek, subservient, dedicated homemakers or nubile wenches eager to do the horizontal mambo with dear old dad or anyone their dad or husband suggests. In this context remember Genesis 12:11-19: “Abraham travels to Egypt with his beautiful wife, Sarah. He tricks the Pharaoh into taking her as a wife by pretending that Sarah is his sister rather than his wife. Sarah, belonging to Abraham, has no choice but to go along with it. Sarah becomes the Pharaoh’s wife. These examples prove only one thing: The legends of the Abrahamic creeds are the result of human (male) culture, written by human men to serve male interests first, last, and always. Holy Misogyny is a human male invention, not a male god’s injunction. It presents rules based on the biases and schemes of human males seeking to shape a culture that favors them, some more than others, and makes a significant target of their covetousness more vulnerable prey because of the purported sanction of divine law for these male desires. 

The agreeability of the deity to male sexual desires extends beyond the Christian fables. Consider this account of Mohammed and his six-year-old, child bride, Aisha:

Narrated ‘Aisha:

Allah’s Apostle said to me, “You were shown to me twice (in my dream) before I married you. I saw an angel carrying you in a silken piece of cloth, and I said to him, ‘Uncover (her),’ and behold, it was you. I said (to myself), ‘If this is from Allah, then it must happen.’ Then you were shown to me, the angel carrying you in a silken piece of cloth, and I said (to him), ‘Uncover (her) and behold, it was you. I said (to myself), ‘If this is from Allah, then it must happen.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 87, Number 140; see also Number 139)

Narrated ‘Aisha:

that the Prophet married her when she was six years old, and he consummated* his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death). (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 64; see also Numbers 65 and 88)

[*the first marital sexual intercourse: the prophet married a girl at 6, but waited until she was nine before he deflowered her – how considerate!] Hey, Mohammed was tight with Allah!

In all the Abrahamic religions, the Lord works in lecherous, as well as mysterious, ways! Given the deity’s attitude, it is no surprise that the man described as the holiest person in Sodom behaved as shown in the illustration below.

http://adventbirmingham.org/blog/9-15/

Lot suggested the mob have a gangbang of epic dimensions with his virgin daughters. One should need no further evidence to conclude that the Wholly Misogynistic natures of the so-called Holy Books are inconsistent, to put it mildly, with equality and equity for women!

All of us have a great deal to gain and nothing of value to lose by recognizing and renouncing misogyny as the malevolent myth it is. We must reject blame and shame as manipulative ploys unsuited to benevolent interactions.  We must also acknowledge that sluts are figments of the deranged thinking misogyny induces. The insult slut is used to shame, blame, stifle, and silence women. Sluts are only real to misogynists, no matter their gender, who use language to hurt all women brave enough to disobey their dictates. Enough is enough. Let us say loudly and proudly – No more!

One last point needs emphasis. Wholly Misogynistic creeds and their secular progeny aka modesty and slut-shaming are wrong, vicious, and harmful no matter who does it. Men wrote the original fables and set up the patriarchal culture to benefit their gender, but some women, unfortunately, try to prosper in this malign culture by attacking their sisters based on sexist norms. 

Every one of us needs to recognize that sexuality is not shameful; what one wears is not a determinant of one’s character; who, when, where, why, and how one interacts sexually is solely one’s business and those of one’s willing partners. The Wholly Babble and all its derivatives are erroneous. Shame is a destructive emotion; blame is an aggressive action. Neither the feeling nor the practice is appropriate or productive. Now is the time for all good people whether female or male to come together and cherish our shared human nature, including its sexual components and capabilities.

For every man who likes, loves, and genuinely recognizes the full and equal humanity of all women, it is time to commit the following image to memory and consistently behave accordingly.

laveandrea.blogspot.com

The - "Not Your" - theme does not suggest any person should shun women or recoil from female beauty or nudity. It merely means that every human being must recognize that the only suitable responses to beauty are respect, kindness, and mutuality. By and large, women routinely make the world and the lives of others better. It is high time and past that every human worthy of the name celebrate, not denigrate, women, give them the credit they so often deserve and share the charms of sensuality and joys of sex in intimate, tender, equal, and jubilant conviviality.

America - The Inclusively Beautiful

O beautiful for glorious themes

Our history’s refrain,

Despite so many tragedies,

We strive ever to attain.

America! America!

Truth shine its light on thee,

And fill this land with helping hands

From sea to shining sea

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved,

And mercy more than life

America! America!

May Truth thy goals refine

Until all success be nobleness,

And every gain sublime

O beautiful for heroic deeds

Where stunning valor shines,

A testament to Freedom's needs,

That stirs our hearts and minds.

America! America!

Truth mend thine every flaw

Infuse thy soul with self-control,

Thy liberty with law

O beautiful for glory told

Of valiant battles fought

When Patriots from days of old

Risked all and asked for naught.

America! America!

Truth shine its light on thee,

Until selfish gain will no more stain

The banner of the free

O beautiful for Patriots’ dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine iridescent cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears

America! America!

Truth shine its light on thee,

And fill this land with helping hands

From sea to shining sea

First version, April 2012

The Illegitimate President

72,734, 751 American voters did NOT choose Donald J. Trump. He lost the popular vote by 9,749,926 votes! He neither represents nor serves the expressed will of the American electorate!

Presidential ticket	Party	Ballot access			Votes[3][246]	Percentage
		States	Electors	% of voters
Trump / Pence	Republican	50 + DC	538	100%	62,984,825	46.09%
Clinton / Kaine	Democratic	50 + DC	538	100%	65,853,516	48.18%
Johnson / Weld	Libertarian	50 + DC	538	100%	4,489,221	3.28%
Stein / Baraka	Green	44 + DC	480	89%	1,457,216	1.07%
McMullin / Finn	Independent	11	84	15%	731,788	0.54%
Castle / Bradley	Constitution	24	207	39%	203,010	0.15%

Five times in American history, the reactionary glitch of the Electoral College has thwarted the will of the electorate. Never has it done so more grievously than in 2016. Neither Donald J. Trump nor his party has any claim to be doing the business of the American people. At best, they are working the will of a distinct minority of 46.78%. 53.22% of American voters chose somebody else.

Come Together, Right Now!

This message was sent to Senators Casey and Toomey as well as Congress Member, Rothfus.

While it was great to see the display of unity at National Field last night, it would be better and more significant to see unity, civility, and constructive interaction regarding legislation and governance. 

The sorry spectacle of the AHCA – rushed through the House, and reworked in secret by thirteen male Republican Senators in the Senate – is an egregious example of disunity, incivility, and unconstructive action. It speaks so loudly of poisonous partisanship I cannot clearly hear or confidently heed the professions of unity. The recurring acrimony and ongoing secretiveness exhibited throughout 2017 thus far belie all soothing words.

Knock it off! Work honestly and effectively for the common interest. Govern responsibly and serve the people, not the plutocrats and corporations.  Remember it is “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” not government of the people, by the wealthy, for the corporations.

In the picture at the top of this page, the two co-chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Tom Reed (R-NY), called for Congress to tackle comprehensive tax reform and infrastructure investment together. 

The Problem Solvers Caucus shows that there are members of Congress ready to come together to put country over party, and govern responsibly in the common interest.