PURGE AT YOUR OWN RISK

“Over six hundred people at the NIH (National Institutes of Health) are going to walk into work in the morning and be sent home without a job that afternoon.”—Secretary of Health and Human Services Nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., speaking of his intention to purge the NIH of those with whom he disagrees.

“They’re traitors!  The military’s full of woke Generals who need to be purged!”—Secretary of Defense Nominee Pete Hegseth, speaking of changes he intends to make in the U.S. Military

By 1939, the Soviet Union had assembled the most massive military machine the world had ever seen. 

The Red Army.  The enormity of its soldiers, tanks, and planes dwarfed even the powerful Nazis just to the west. 

The Soviets’ sheer size alone seemed enough to deter any outside invader.  And dictator Joseph Stalin further hedged his bets by signing a non-aggression treaty with Hitler.  Known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, it stated that the two countries would not go to war with one another for at least the next ten years.  They also agreed to remain neutral if either were attacked by third parties.

But what happened next shocked everyone.  The world’s most powerful far-right fascist and far-left communist regimes actually joined forces to invade Poland.  It fell in 36 days.  

The back-room deal was that Germany would take out western Europe, including England, and the Soviets would move into the Baltic States, Finland, and eastern Romania.  America, focused mostly on western Europe, really didn’t want a part of any of it.

For a while, the German-Soviet alliance seemed unstoppable.  The Nazis ran roughshod in the west, while Stalin tightened his control in the east.  With their advantage in land, resources, and troops, the Soviets felt they could safely bide their time.

Then came June 22, 1941, and Operation Barbarossa.  

With no warning, the Nazis attacked.  The stunned Soviets struggled to respond.  Units disintegrated and Russian soldiers were captured by the tens of thousands (most would later be starved to death on orders from Hitler).

The mighty Red Army started fleeing to the east.  Counterattacks failed, orders were confused, and through it all, the landscape was littered with destroyed equipment. 

And still the Nazis kept coming.  In less than 3 months, Kiev was surrounded and Leningrad under siege.  The advancing Germans were chewing up hundreds of square miles each day.  By the beginning of October, the Red Army had lost 750,000 soldiers, and the Nazis were within 200 miles of Moscow.  By the end of November, the distance was down to 12 miles.  German advance units were so close they could see the city with binoculars. 

Stalin ordered the Soviet government to evacuate.  The most powerful army in the world teetered on the verge of collapse.

How could this have happened?  The Soviets had superior numbers, far more tanks and planes, understood the landscape, and knew the region’s roads and geography.  Yet they were being pounded into submission by a smaller foe.

Why?  Because the Soviet military leadership was utterly incompetent. 

Say what you will about Joseph Stalin, but he was as paranoid and vengeful as he was ruthless.  Anyone who failed to display anything less than blind loyalty was eliminated.

The Russians simply called it the Great Purge.  Stalin’s “enemies within” were either executed or sent to starve in Siberia, over 2 million in all.

The military was no exception.  By the time the Nazis attacked, 90% of Russia’s Generals and nearly 80% of its Colonels had been purged.  Their replacements were a mixture of inexperience, inability, and incompetence.  But they all had one thing in common—the one thing Stalin valued most.

Blind loyalty.  To survive in Stalin’s Russia, it was the only thing that mattered.  Even General Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a brilliant strategist known as “the Red Napoleon,” was dispatched with a bullet to the back of his neck.

But the disaster wrought by the Great Purge was something the Soviets should have seen coming.  Earlier, in 1939, with inexperienced Generals at the helm, Russia had launched an invasion of Finland that ended in catastrophe.  In barely 3 months, the largely volunteer and vastly outnumbered Finns inflicted massive casualties on the Red Army, using a homegrown weapon of choice that’s remembered to this day.

A glass bottle filled with gasoline, stuffed with a burning wick.  Each time a Finn would hurl one into an oncoming Soviet tank, he’d shout, “here’s your cocktail, Mr. Molotov!”

The Russians, of course, claimed the war as a victory, but as one general (who was later purged himself) admitted, “we won just enough land to bury our dead.”

Loyalty over competence.  Don’t disagree.  Don’t question.  Don’t tell me anything I don’t want to hear.

Anyone who has ever been in a position of leadership understands that often the most important thing a subordinate can say is “I’m sorry, but I can’t agree with you, and here’s why.”

In fact, I can’t think of a single organization I’ve ever been a part of that lasted long when blind loyalty was the only thing that mattered.  I can’t think of even one that was successful when it “purged” itself of anything but yes-men.

Which brings us to today.

An angry, vengeful demander of total loyalty is about to assume the office of President of the world’s most powerful country and thus control the most massive military the world has ever seen.  He, too, speaks of revenge against “enemies from within.”  And to date, he’s been busy assembling a cast of enablers that demonstrate blind loyalty over competence.

An Attorney General whose own investigation for sex crimes he tries to hide.  A Defense Secretary who wants to perform his own “Great Purge” of American Generals.  A Health and Human Service’s Secretary who wants to purge America’s leading research agency of scientific researchers.  A Director of National Intelligence who’s an apologist for a Russian dictator.  A Director of Medicare and Medicaid who’s never cared for a Medicaid patient in his life.  A Secretary of Education whose background is in an imaginary performance art called “Professional Wrestling.”

A couple of bloated billionaires who think they can reform government. 

All have one thing in common.  Blind loyalty.

At this point, about the only Trump Loyalist that hasn’t been suggested for a high-ranking post is Marjorie Taylor Green, who thinks the government controls hurricanes.  Perhaps she’d be a perfect fit to head the National Weather Service.

Had Russia fallen in 1941, it’s hard to imagine what would have come next.  The Nazis could have easily started pushing south toward Asia and perhaps even India.  But of course, that didn’t happen.

Instead, Stalin was the beneficiary of two incredible strokes of good luck, which very likely saved him.  First, the vaunted Russian winter came early that year.  On December 1^st, with the season’s official start still 3 weeks away, the temperature dropped to 45 below. It was the most vicious European winter of the twentieth century.  The rapidly advancing Germans began to freeze.

And secondly, the Nazis’ eastern allies, the Empire of Japan, attacked the United States.  Within hours, Hitler also declared war on the U.S., and America responded in kind.  Germany’s relatively quiet western front would soon begin to dissolve.

Over the next three years, the Soviets gradually pushed the Nazis back.  Moscow survived by sending even school children to the front lines.  Volgograd residents (or Stalingrad, if you’d like) held on by eating rats—and sometimes each other.

But the price of blind loyalty came at a terrible cost.  Atrocities committed by both the Nazis and the Soviets were horrific. One out of every seven Russians died in the war—over 15% of its population.  Through it all, Stalin clung to power, all the while insisting on blind loyalty, flattery, and obedience.

But what if the Great Purge had not occurred?  What if competent leadership had been in place when Hitler attacked?  What if?

No, contemporary America is not the Soviet Union.  2024 is far removed from 1941.  And Donald Trump is not Joseph Stalin.  But we ignore the lessons of history to our own peril.

Blind loyalty to a single flattery-seeking leader will not make America great, and could do it great harm in the coming years.  Indeed, it could damage the entire world for decades to come.

It is up to the United States Senate, regardless of party loyalty and irrespective of fear of reprisal, to carefully consider each of these and other Trump nominees, and to carefully consider the impact that upcoming “purges” could mean for all of us.

Because in the end, at what point do we purge our nation of its own identity? 

STOP!  Before leaving this page, please also read the blog post Medicine and Social Justice: Raw milk, vaccines, and RFK, Jr: Some dates worth remembering by my friend and colleague Dr. Josh Freeman, for a sobering reality check on the threat to public health in America.

SELLING AMERICA’S BIRTHRIGHT FOR A BOWL OF BEANS (OR A DOZEN EGGS)

“And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Feed me, I pray, with that red pottage. . . for I am faint.’  And Jacob said, ‘Sell me this day thy birthright.’”—The Bible, King James Version, Genesis 25:30-31

If you grew up like I did, dutifully following my mother each week to a Southern Baptist church, you couldn’t help but soak up bible verses like a sponge.

Go ahead, cover your ears if you want, clamp your eyes shut.  After a while, it still creeps in by osmosis.  I once won a prize for reciting the books of the bible.  Forward and backwards.  

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. . .

Revelation, Jude, Third John, Second John, First John. . .

And so it goes. All 66 books. 

At least that’s what I was taught.  My Catholic friend next door insisted there were really 73.  But I didn’t bother to learn the other seven, because someone else claimed Catholics thought Baptists were going to hell anyway.

The stories themselves were fascinating.  Moses and the parting of the Red Sea.  Jonah and the Great Fish.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace.  They all seemed a little far-fetched, but I could at least imagine each one happening.

The only one that simply made no sense was Jacob, Esau, the bowl of beans, and the birthright.  Basically, the story goes like this.

Jacob and Esau were twins.  Because Esau technically dropped out first, he got the “birthright,” that is, he pretty much inherited everything.  Apparently, that was how things worked back then.

One day Esau came back home from hunting, hungry as all get out.  Jacob was by the fire, stirring a pot of beans.  Esau, in full stomach-growl mode, asked for some of the beans.  Jacob said fine, but first you have to give me your birthright. 

Esau said, in essence, “sure, I’m hungry as hell.  What good is a birthright if your starving?  You’ve got a deal.  Give me the beans.” 

Esau wound up with a full stomach, and Jacob wound up with everything else.

As a kid, I thought this sounded crazy.  How could anybody be as stupid as Esau or as big of an asshole as Jacob?  How could this happen?

At first, I tried to rationalize.  Did Esau have some mental deficiency, like a couple of the kids I knew?  Did he just not understand?

It wasn’t until much later that the story’s power hit me (I say story, because you’re free to believe it or not, that’s your business).  I suddenly saw it playing out every day:  people throwing away the future for some immediate satisfaction.

I want this?  I’ll buy it, whether I can afford it or not.  I don’t want to do this?  Then I won’t do it, regardless of how it might affect my future.

Will this make me feel better now?  Fine.  I’ll worry about the future later.

Forget the birthright.  I’m hungry.

Which brings us to the recent election.

According to pollsters, America voted with its stomach.  Inflation had increased overall costs, and food prices were out there for everyone to see.  As one person put it, “Here’s a suggestion.  Drop by a grocery store before you vote.”

And the posterchild of all such items were eggs.  In 2022, national egg prices topped out at $4.25 a dozen (I checked at Hy-Vee today, and they’re $3.99, but that’s here in Omaha).

The price of groceries had people pissed.  And that’s how they voted.

Of course, this wasn’t the highest price we’d seen for eggs.  Adjusted for inflation, they were $4.49 in 1975, during the Nixon/Ford years, before hitting a low of $2.42 in 1992.  Looking at inflation in general, it peaked at 8% in 2022, and is now running just under 5%.  Still too high, but a far cry from the 11% of 1974, and the whopping 13.6% of 1980.

What’s wrong with casting a vote against high prices?  Nothing.  But of course, there was a lot more to it than that. 

Voting for Trump meant not only protesting higher prices, but also sticking a middle finger in the face of the current government, a female mixed-raced candidate, anyone who doesn’t think or look like you (that is, an “elite—never mind that we haven’t had a President with Trump’s sort of gilded-wealth since Roosevelt), or anyone open to any sort of immigration policy other than sealing off the country from the rest of the world.

Fine.  But all of this came at a price.  It’s not just who you vote out, it’s also who you wind up getting in return.  (At this point, let me add another paradox, since this post has a religious theme.  I’m often stunned by Christians who go on mission trips to Central America and come home talking not only of the love and kindness they saw on their journey, but the abject poverty of those they met.  They speak about sharing the love of Christ with these poor souls.  Yet if those same people showed up at the border seeking refuge and a chance for a better life, the same loving Christians scream “rapists and murderers!  Build a wall!  Keep ‘em out!”  Sounds pretty hypocritical to me, but what do I know?).

Esau was hungry, and all too willing to blow off the future by giving up his birthright for a bowl of beans.  Is that what we just did in this election?

Our recent anger over the price of eggs caused us to relinquish the leadership of our nation to a convicted felon, a man who encouraged rioters he supported (on January 6) and supported the killing of rioters he opposed (during the George Floyd protests), a former president who’d been twice impeached, who’d cozied up to dictators (“Kim and I, we fell in love”), who called veterans suckers and losers, who denied science, peddled conspiracy theories, sold himself and the nation to the highest bidder (yes, I’m talking to you, Elon Musk), who’d abused women, taken away women’s choice across much of the country, and was too cowardly and self-centered to acknowledge his electoral loss four years earlier.

A man who stood by and did nothing while a mob threatened to kill his own Vice President.  A man who was called a fascist and unworthy of the presidency by his own military leadership.

A man who told lie after lie after lie without regret, remorse, or apology, no matter who it hurt.

America, this is what you got in exchange for that dozen eggs. 

Or maybe we should ask it this way.   What did we give up?  What was our birthright?

Parse the Constitution all you want.  I’m not a constitutional scholar, and will leave that to those who are.  But I know what I was taught growing up at home, at school, and even at that Baptist Sunday School.

America’s birthright was truth.  It was justice.  It was opportunity for all, and not just the billionaires (when I was growing up, you could count all of those in the world on one hand).

It was a system of laws that was respected and envied the world over. 

Today, our economy is the world’s strongest.  But that’s about it.  Around the globe, nation after nation is turning to religious nationalism (pick any religion you want, they’re all out there), if not outright fascism.  For America, democracy seems less a glowing flame than a dying ember.

But that’s not important.  It was all about the economy, right?  All about the price of those dozen eggs.

Never mind our birthright.

Once Esau agreed to the bargain, the deal was done.  The birthright was gone, and there was no going back.

But we have another opportunity, if we’re willing to grasp it.  Another election will come, and with it a chance to reclaim that birthright.  Until then, we can only work to regain the trust America has lost.

There’s an old saying, “fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice shame on me.”

Perhaps we should consider a modification to that old adage when looking at our current situation:  put a bullet in the chamber and spin it once playing Russian Roulette, and you’re lucky.  Pull the trigger twice, and you’re downright stupid.

And for all of those waiting for prices to fall, I have bad news:  economist after economist, from liberal to conservative, are warning us about Trump’s proposed tariffs.  They foresee rising prices, shortages, and job losses.  Be careful what you wish for.

Because much as I try to be optimistic, a troubling memory keeps emerging.  In amongst the childhood recollections of a thousand hay-bales that need to be hauled in before the rain starts, the clatter of dry leaves across a gravel road, the smell of ham curing in the smokehouse, the shock of seeing all those spiders in my grandmother’s outhouse, the rush of pushing my way into the endzone against a nose-tackle that outweighed me by a hundred pounds, yes, even arguing with that Catholic kid next door, who always was and always shall be one of my dearest friends, one memory stands out.

It’s of a frightened 8-year-old sitting wide-eyed in a Missouri church on a Sunday night, listening to the dark words coming from the mouth of a Baptist preacher as he glared out at the congregation and uttered the text from Genesis 41:31.   “And the abundance in the land shall not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe.”

The coming years will be among the harshest and most difficult this nation has ever experienced.  Please do all that you can to help one another, now and in the future.  Hold true to your values.  By starting there, perhaps we can begin once again to reclaim our birthright.    

TRUMP SUPPORTERS ARE ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION

Talk to most Trump supporters, and you’ll basically get the same line.  It goes something like this.

Yes, I know he’s a jerk.  I know he’s a misogynist, a p*ssy grabber, a serial adulterer, and maybe even a pervert.  I wouldn’t let my daughter date him.  I wouldn’t even let my daughter be alone in the same room with him.

Yes, I know he’s been bankrupt a bunch of times, stiffed contractors, and knifed his best friends in the back.  He’s told lie after lie without remorse, and never taken personal responsibility for anything.

No, I wouldn’t want my son to grow up like him, and I sure wouldn’t do business with him.  But so what?  All of that’s beside the point.  There’s something that’s way more important.

At this point, the supporter will lean forward, narrow their eyes, and demand “weren’t you better off when Trump was President than you are today?”

Sorry, but that’s a pretty stupid question.  You might as well ask how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or whether you were better off in 1998 (or 1898) than today.

The world is changing rapidly, and 2024 isn’t 2020, and sure isn’t 2016.  Our risks, our economy, our whole universe, for that matter, are vastly different.

The more important question is this:  Would we be better off today if Donald Trump had been President for the past 4 years?  And what about the next four?  These are the questions Trump supporters don’t want to ask.

I wrote about this over 2 years ago.  I just recently went back and read it again.  Back then, I thought it might be an exaggeration.  But then I read Project 2025. 

Now I’m not so sure.

So would you—or the world—be better off?  Let’s think for a minute.

You can bet Ukraine would be under Russian control.  Trump never stood up to Putin before, and certainly won’t now.  Russia has been cozying up to China, and Trump isn’t about to say no.  Iran and North Korea are supplying Russia with weapons.  You really think that would stop if Trump were in office?

Post-pandemic inflation slammed the entire world, not just the United States.  It would have been no different under Trump.  No, the Build Back Better legislation likely would not have passed.  Would inflation have been lower?

Maybe.  But America’s incredible bounce-back likely wouldn’t have occurred, either.  Just this week, the respected international publication “The Economist” carried a front-page article describing America’s economic growth under Biden titled “The Envy of the World.”

Despite numerous predictions four years ago, our country did not slip into a recession.  The Federal Reserve’s interest rate balancing act indeed walked a fine line.  It successfully brought inflation down without veering us into a recession.  Unemployment held in the 3.6-4.1% range, well below the long-term average of 5.6.  Trump naysayers had asserted this was impossible.

Could the King of Bankruptcy, who claims to know more about economics than anyone else and wants to personally micromanage the Fed, have accomplished this himself?  In your dreams.

What about crime since Biden took office?  Murder is down over 10%, rape by 9%.  All categories of violent crime are down.

After an initial surge in undocumented immigration, those numbers are down, as well.  They’d likely be down further if Trump hadn’t ordered the Republican Congress to vote down a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Shut down nearly all immigration as Trump’s immigration guru Stephen Miller has advocated?  Throw in millions of unfilled jobs?  There’s your prescription for runaway inflation.

And you think prices are high now?  Wait until Trump’s tariffs kick in.

Crime.  Immigration.  Rising numbers of people with no insurance.  Sucking up to Dictators.  Stamping out dissent.  Imposing idiotic tariffs.  Taking away voting rights.  Locking up political opponents. Taking away the rights of women. Turning women who seek care into criminals. I covered all of that two years ago.

Back then I thought it sounded pretty out-there.  But plenty of other people who read it disagreed.  They thought it was all eerily possible.

So go ahead.  Have a look at it below, just as it appeared over 2 years ago.  See what you think.  I’d love to hear your comments.

And for all of you who would downplay my creativity in visualizing the future, I apologize.  Despite all of the conceivable lies I could imagine Donald Trump telling–and he’s told a lot–accusing legal Haitian immigrants of being dog and cat eaters was something that didn’t even hit my radar screen.

Sorry about that.  Happy Halloween to all of you carnivores out there.

Here’s the piece titled “An American Horror Story.” By the way, election day is November 5^th.

1 June, 2022

AN AMERICAN HORROR STORY

“Well, it couldn’t be any worse than. . .”

Whenever I hear someone use this phrase, I cringe.  In my experience, if all someone can say in defense of their statements is “well, it couldn’t be any worse than—” they really don’t have much of an argument.

And second, most of the time it actually could be worse—a lot worse.

This is true of countries as well as people.  In America, we tend to have a pretty high opinion of ourselves.  And in my lifetime, some of the dumbest things we’ve ever done have been justified on the basis of the “it couldn’t be any worse than. . .” principle. 

Today, America and the world face incredible challenges.  Some people hate Joe Biden and the ground he walks upon.  They never cease to talk about how much better things would be if Donald Trump were still in office.

When I disagree, they respond with “how could things possibly be any worse?”

With apologies to students of quantum physics, where complex formulas suggest parallel universes and realities, let’s take a moment and visit such a parallel world where Donald Trump is still in office. 

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

MAY 32, 2022

Greetings from the administration of President Donald J. Trump!  We know the people of the United States have many concerns, but rest assured these issues will soon be resolved and America will again be moving forward toward Greatness.

Since the brave patriots stormed the capitol on Patriot Day, January 6, 2021 and made sure the stolen election was overturned, President Trump has been busy moving our nation forward.  In addition to jailing senior Democratic leadership and installing Tucker Carlson as Secretary of the newly created Department of Information, he is tackling America’s challenges head on.

Let’s review them.  And remember, all of this would be so much worse if Biden had been installed as President.

UKRAINE

Thanks to President Trump, there is peace in Ukraine.  Soon after the Russian liberation of Ukraine began, our President made it clear to NATO that we stood steadfast with our friend President Putin, and would tolerate no interference.

Ukraine was quickly liberated, and their clown-President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was executed.  Next month President Trump will travel to Kyiv to congratulate President Putin as the traitorous Ukrainian government formally surrenders to the Russian Republic.

As you may know, illegal and banned news sources have been reporting lies and distortions about the treatment of captured Ukrainian soldiers, claiming they are being starved, murdered, and tortured.  These treasonous sources even claim that Russian soldiers have raped and killed Ukrainian civilians.  Rest assured, President Putin has made it clear to our State Department that nothing of this sort has occurred, and as we know, President Trump trusts President Putin completely.

As you are also aware, the United States is withdrawing from NATO.  There is no reason for this organization to even exist now that a powerful American-Russian-Hungarian partnership is in place.  However, if the rest of Europe wishes to “go it alone,” let them.

AFGHANISTAN

As you know, thanks to the brilliant decision-making of President Trump, all U.S troops were secretly withdrawn from Afghanistan between 0200 and 0500 hours last August 29, ­with no troop casualties.  This was an incredible feat.  Once again, the illegal and traitorous press has made much of the numerous massacres of American Aid workers and others who were unable to get out after our troops suddenly left without notice, but this was not our fault!  Those people should never have been there to begin with!  We cannot be responsible for everything and everyone.  Yes, they were U.S. citizens, but these things happen sometimes.  America first.  We all have the choice to stay at home.

CHINA

The U.S. Stand-Our-Ground China policy, much criticized by the rest of the world, will have a great effect.  We have shut down all trade with China, and we are sure this will bring them to their knees.  In addition, we have announced that we will soon be placing tariffs on any nation doing business with China. 

As every American knows, China is the root of all evil in this world, and must be isolated.  This may mean some temporary economic pain, but we will recover.  We are confident that the current trade relationships between China and the rest of the world will quickly disappear if we hold firm with our tariffs and embargos.  Temporary high prices will only be a reality for a short while. We are confident China will not develop trade relationships elsewhere. And no matter what you hear, this will not cause a recession!

THE ECONOMY

First, let’s talk about the good news.  Corporate profits are through the ceiling, and this is by far the most important measure of any economy.  We are quite confident that wages, which have lagged behind inflation, will soon catch up. 

Much of our temporary economic challenges are due to supply chain issues, which would be much worse if Biden were still in office.  Due to isolated shortages, inflation is currently running at 10%.  This is entirely due to China!  We are sure this will resolve quickly. Remember, inflation was nearly 18% in the early Reagan years.  We can fix this.

The price of gasoline, at $7.17 a gallon, has been a hardship for many.  This is a worldwide issue, and has nothing to do with President Trump.  In England, gas (they call it ‘petrol’ there, the sissies) is $8.00 a gallon.  Other countries are even higher.  We should be glad for what we have.

The supply chain disruptions with China have had an impact on employment, as well.  Some plants have had to close due to materials shortages.  Farmers are struggling to find markets for their crops.  Unemployment in the U.S. is currently running at 5.1%, much better than at the height of the so-called pandemic, but we still need to get it lower.  But can you imagine what it would be under Biden?  10%, at least!  

HEALTH CARE

We all know America has the greatest health care system in the world, regardless of what the treasonous press might say.  And we know that these liars are telling us that the number of Americans without health insurance has now shot up to 40 million.  Don’t believe them!

Yes, unfortunately the latest release of official Health and Human Services insurance data has been delayed for another year (or two) under the order of Secretary Dr. Scott Atlas (the same brave patriot who banned masks on President Trump’s first day in office, and declared an end to the phony ChiCom epidemic).  But we know this is just a temporary disruption while he reorganizes the Department.   In the meantime, things are fine.

More importantly, our President has allocated $100 billion to develop the Abortion Prevention and Prosecution (APAP) Force to send armed agents into states to ensure no abortions occur.  These agents will also have the authority to check pregnancy tests on any woman leaving the country (in order to ensure that they’re not travelling to receive an abortion), as well as the authority to inspect any and all mail that APAP has reason to believe contains abortion related pills or materials.

Finally, the President has forwarded the Patriot’s Right of Refusal (PRoR) Law to Congress.  This freedom-protecting bill will allow any health care provider to refuse to give medical services to anyone he or she believes might represent a threat to the stability of the country.  Yes, in some cases this might mean that Left-Wing Communist Democrats may not be able to receive care, but that is a small price to pay for our continued freedom.

And an additional comment:  the decision to end the Medicare program should not be taken as an attempt to bring harm to older Americans.  Medicare was simply an entitlement program started by Socialist Democrats that served only to make the elderly dependent on the government.  Ending it will empower older citizens to get private insurance.  Those who feel they don’t have the funds to afford this obviously didn’t save enough over the course of their lifetimes, and regrettably, must now live with those consequences.

ELECTION MONITORING AND SECURITY (EMS) FORCE

As we all know, the security of our elections is the most important single principle in a strong America.  Left-wing grousing about whether our elections are “fair” notwithstanding, the decision to establish the EMS Force has been one of the boldest and most important steps President Trump has taken.

This Force will station armed officers inside every polling place in America, with the authority to arrest any voter they might suspect of fraud. Of course, those votes won’t be registered and/or counted.  Even though last year’s Fake Voter Identification (FVI) Task Force has been unable to find concrete evidence of clear election fraud, we all know it is out there.  How else would the phony narrative that President Trump lost the last election have been created?

And in keeping with our budget-conscious approach, the EMS Force will be funded through the savings realized by closing just over half of all polling places in the country, and limiting voting times to no more than 5 hours per election.  This will result in enormous savings.  Again, bleeding heart liberals are saying this is not “fair,” but we know that a willingness to travel 20-30 miles to vote, then stand in line for 3 hours, is the least someone can do to demonstrate their true patriotism.  Anyone unwilling to do this is not a true American anyway.

IMMIGRATION

Our President has taken unprecedented heat for making the decision to stop all immigration from countries that are not predominantly white, Christian, or western European.  Such a decision, however, was in full keeping with the values at the heart of the MAGA concept.  We should be thanking him.

The unfortunate incident at the border last month when border patrol agents were forced to use automatic weapons could not have been avoided.  Due to adverse weather conditions, the agents had every reason to believe that the 68 children trying to cross the border were actually murders and rapists.  The agents were only doing their job.

The Presidential directive to “shoot to kill” any unauthorized crossing only makes sense.  This directive has been well publicized throughout the world, and those children who tried to illegally cross over are the only ones responsible for their fate.

PATRIOTIC EDUCATION ONLY (PEO)

If America is to move forward in the MAGA era, education must be in line with MAGA principles only!

This means that the principles of American education must be (1) teaching only America First values, (2) eradication of Critical Race Theory (CRT), (3) purging libraries of anti-American literature, (4) the elimination of any anti-MAGA sexual content, and (5) protection of students.

It is for these reasons that the President has dissolved the Department of Education, and placed all of its responsibilities under the Department of Justice, headed by Attorney General Rudy Giuliani.  He will ensure that these priorities will be protected according to the PEO Act of 2022

Our Justice Department will deploy agents to every school in America, ensuring that teachers have, first and foremost, signed the MAGA loyalty pledge, and that no mention of sexuality or critical race theory is made. 

Only math, reading, and Authentic American History (AAH) will be taught in grade school.  Because science is purely subjective, it will not be taught until the high school level.

All teachers, in order to obtain a state teaching certificate, will be required to participate in a minimum of 100 hours of firearms training.  AR-15 rifles will be required inside of every classroom in America.  This will ensure the protection of our students.

Yes, we know that the lying liberal media has made much of the accidental discharge of some of these rifles inside Texas classrooms (where mandatory rifle legislation is already in place).  And yes, 5 students unfortunately died in those accidents.  But imagine how many lives have been protected!  This is just a small price to pay for our freedoms!

The press has also implied that the PEO policy will prevent gays and lesbians from teaching.  This is absolutely untrue!  Of course, we welcome all teachers.  However, in keeping with PEO principles, any gay teacher that discusses his/her sexual orientation with students will be subject to immediate termination.

This is only fair and correct.  Real teachers know that students must be protected from any notion of sexual orientation.

Finally, rumors are circulating around the country that the Trump administration is going to shut down public schools.  This is absolutely untrue!  However, we do anticipate that by 2030, public schools will no longer be necessary, and all students will be attending private schools.

Clearly, public schools in this country have run their course.  Private schools are the way of the future.  Yes, we know that many liberals maintain that some students will be unable to afford private schools.  But this is simply a reality.  Private schools—when properly focused on PEO—will indeed make America Great Again.  The fact that some students may miss out is simply a product of our times.

We would also like to confirm that private funding has been obtained to add President Trump’s bust to Mount Rushmore.  This is only fitting, in that he is obviously the greatest President in American history.

Finally, we would urge all Americans to contact their representatives and support the 28^th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, which provides that President Donald Joseph Trump shall be eligible to be designated as President for Life.  Yes, we are aware that, once again, the liberal media has acted in horror when President Trump replaced Mike Pence with the most qualified person in America to be Vice-President, Donald Trump, Jr.  But we live in dangerous times.  An orderly transition, as well as an administration we can trust, is far more important than any whining about nepotism.

Thank you for your steadfast support of our nation!

Make America Great Again!

Keep America Great!

America first, no matter what!

Sincerely,

The White House Office of Public Information

Elon Musk, Director (and majority stockholder)

Public Service Announcement before beginning this article:  Since many readers are currently being smothered in Medicare Advantage marketing materials, I should probably say a few things about the perils of these products.  But I won’t for two reasons.  First, I already have , and second, my friend and colleague Dr. Josh Freeman has recently provided an excellent update . 

The only thing I’d add is this:  if you sign up for an Advantage Plan, and later become seriously ill and want to switch back to Traditional Medicare, there is no guarantee that you will be able to purchase a private Supplement.  The decision, of course, is yours.  But I’d think about it long and hard before I signed on that dotted line.   

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

_____________________________________________________________________

“All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the big bang theory?  All that is lies straight from the pit of Hell!”—Dr. Paul Broun, physician and former Georgia Republican Congressman, graduate of the Medical College of Georgia who also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry.  To date, there is no word on whether Broun has demanded a tuition refund for being taught these “lies” which are actually considered fundamental principles of Medicine, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.

“You’re entitled to your own opinion.  You’re not entitled to your own facts.”—Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former New York Democratic Senator.

Let me make a confession right off the bat.  Science and math weren’t my strongest subjects in school.  I was much better at history and English.  None of what I am about to say is written from the standpoint of a self-proclaimed scientific genius.

But I was able to acquire the necessary science skills to become a physician largely because of my High School science teachers, L.D. Young and T.J. Beach.  Mr. Young was also athletic, outgoing, and a championship basketball coach.  Mr. Beach, on the other hand, was short, decidedly non-athletic, and a unique blend of Midwest farmer-nerd.  He could throw a thousand hay bales as easily as he could explain the laws of thermodynamics.

He was also my uncle.

Uncle T.J. left the farm to fight in World War II, then came home and earned GI Bill-funded degrees in Agriculture and Biochemistry.  He worked in a research lab in Kansas City for a short while, then returned to run the farm when my Grandfather suffered a stroke.  He never left home again.

Several years later, our local school needed a chemistry teacher, and my uncle reluctantly agreed.  He taught until he retired 25 years later.

He was as devoted to science as he was to the soil.  He was also a devout Christian and a Truman-Democrat.  But he never let religion nor politics overrule scientific principles.

Man, would he be shocked at our country today.

For one political party, science seems to make the perfect scapegoat.  And apparently, scientists are the spawn of the Devil. 

For this party, belief trumps fact.  Faith trumps evidence.  And if facts and evidence conflict with religious dogma?  Kill the messenger and bury yourself in your religion.

If you’ve followed this Blog, you’ve already seen what I have to say about COVID denial, the denigration of educators, book banning, and especially the insane notions that the serious threats to America’s health—including pregnancy-related deaths, a declining life expectancy, worsening addiction, firearms mortality, out of control drug costs, and unaffordable health care—aren’t really problems at all.

All of these claims fly in the face of measurable evidence and outcomes.  Yet because they serve a political purpose, people still choose to believe them.

In 2009, the Pew Research Institute surveyed American scientists as to their political views.  55% identified as Democrat, 32% as Independent, and only 6% as Republican.  Given the sort of disinformation (OK, call it lies, if you’d like) that have been spread since 2009, I doubt that the Republican numbers have gotten much better.

It’s not that Science has excluded Republicans.  It’s that Republicans have excluded Science.

As I write this, the second mammoth hurricane in 2 weeks is bearing down on the Florida gulf coast.  It’s not like we haven’t seen this horror coming.

Scientists have issued warnings about the rapidly rising water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.  Models have clearly predicted more dangerous storm growth.  Both Helene and Milton exploded from Category 2 storms to Category 5 in a matter of hours.

Rational people would be looking for causes and recognizing that steps need to be taken to help mitigate disasters in the future.  But a look around.  What we’re seeing isn’t encouraging.

Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, a confirmed climate-change denier and purveyor of the “Jewish Space Laser” myth, claims hurricanes are manufactured by Democrats.

Republican Ron DeSantis has mandated that all references to climate change be removed from Florida Schools.  Will anyone hold him accountable?

Ex-President Trump has called climate change a “Chinese hoax” and tried to alter the path of a previous hurricane with a Sharpie pen.  It didn’t work.

And yes, he also pushed unproven and irresponsible treatments for COVID, too.  They didn’t work either.  Remember, he wound up in the ICU despite taking hydroxychloroquine. 

Science isn’t glamourous, and it certainly isn’t political.  Science is a process.  Science is hard work.  It involves measurement, observation, thought, and perhaps most of all, critical thinking.

What’s critical thinking?  It’s the ability to take seemingly conflicting facts and sort them out.  It’s the ability to question beliefs in light of new evidence.  Most importantly, it’s the ability to accept the possibility that a deeply held belief or opinion might, in fact, be dead wrong.

Isn’t this the way kids should be taught to think and reason in school?  Apparently not, if you’re a Texas Republican.

In 2012, the Texas Republican Party added to its Platform a statement that opposes teaching critical thinking skills, since such skills could “challenge a student’s fixed beliefs and undermine parental authority.”

Such a claim serves neither science nor faith.

Those who prioritize conspiracy theories and faith-based belief over science need to take a hard look around.  The evidence of climate change is everywhere.  More emerging viruses are coming our way fast.  Internationally, we are locked in a race with potential adversaries to develop quantum-based computing and encryption, along with artificial intelligence. 

This is the world we confront.  In many ways, it’s even more challenging than the “space race” years of the 50’s and 60’s.

We won that race because we universally supported national efforts to expand science and teach the scientific method. 

Will we win this one?

As I said earlier, my Uncle was also a man of faith, who believed in a higher power.  He was also a tireless worker, who believed government should have a role in providing a path for others who were willing to work hard, too.  Just as his government did for him with the G.I. bill.

He found nothing inconsistent with science, faith, and a supportive social structure.  We need more like him if we are to survive this politicized, conspiracy-minded world of today.

Please keep this in mind when you vote.

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BONUS QUESTION:  For those who enjoy a bit of a challenge, here’s an actual question from one of my Uncle’s chemistry tests.  Feel free to take a stab at the answer in the comments below, if you’d like.  I’ll post the correct answer in the next 24 hours.  Full disclosure:  I missed it.  Maybe that’s why I’ve never forgotten it. 

And if you’re unfamiliar with “root cellars,” “Mason jars,” or “canning,” look it up.

Here’s the question:

“A FAMILY SPENDS THE FALL CANNING THEIR GARDEN VEGETABLES INTO MASON JARS.  THEY STORE THE JARS IN THEIR ROOT CELLAR.  IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WINTER, A SEVERE COLD NIGHT IS PREDICTED.  THE FAMILY IS CONCERNED THE TEMPERATURE WILL BE SO COLD THAT THE VEGETABLES WILL FREEZE AND THE GLASS JARS WILL SHATTER, DESPITE BEING UNDERGROUND.  SO THEY PLACE A LARGE SHALLOW PAN OF WATER IN THE CENTER OF THE CELLER, AND MOVE ALL OF THE JARS ONTO THE FLOOR OF THE CELLER, NEXT TO THE PAN, BUT NOT IN THE PAN.  SURE ENOUGH, THE NEXT MORNING THE WATER IN THE PAN HAS FROZEN SOLID.  DESPITE THIS, THE MASON JARS FULL OF VEGETABLES HAVE NOT FROZEN AND ARE UNDAMAGED.

EXPLAIN WHY THIS HAPPENED.”

On October 23, 2011, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez piled into his car in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and set off on a cross-country trek to Washington, D.C.  He did so with a clear purpose.

He had to kill President Barrack Obama.

Ortega-Hernandez was convinced the Obama-led government was going to implant GPS monitoring chips inside the bodies of all Americans.  This evil plot had to be stopped.  And Ortega-Hernandez was just the person to do it.

Nineteen days later, he sprayed multiple rounds from a Romanian GP WASR-10 rifle at the White House, some hitting the second-floor presidential residence, before speeding away.  It would take stunned authorities three full days to identify him, track him down, and place him under arrest.

All of this barely made a splash in the media.  No one was killed or even hurt, and in a country awash with guns, don’t these things sometimes “just happen?”

Ortega-Hernandez wasn’t alone.  Over Obama’s eight-year term, the FBI foiled at least a dozen assassination plots against the President, including one by a high-ranking member of (wait for it) the Ku Klux Klan. 

And of course, there was Francisco M. Duran, who fired 29 rounds from a Russian SKS rifle at the White House in 1994.  His plea of temporary insanity somehow didn’t sell with the jury.

Assassinations and assassination attempts have long been the staple of third-world countries.  But among developed nations, the United States has no equal.

Whether it’s an attempt to change the course of history or act out some delusional fantasy, any American with a gun, an element of advanced planning, and a little bit of luck can get close enough to take a potshot at the President.

John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln because Booth was outraged that Lincoln had the audacity to go to war to keep the United States together.  After firing his weapon into the back of the President’s head, Booth leapt from the balcony and shouted “thus always to tyrants!” before fleeing.  (Those weren’t his exact words, of course.  What he actually shouted was “Sic Semper Tyrannis!”  But it’s always more impressive when you can say it in Latin).

Over a hundred years later, John Hinkley, Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan in the chest as he stepped out of the Washington Hilton Hotel.

Hinkley‘s noble cause?  He thought it would impress the actress, Jodie Foster.

Perhaps Hinkley was only following what might be called the assassination-attempt fad of 1970’s America.  After all, within weeks of one another, two women in California had previously attempted to gun down President Gerald Ford.  Neither one could really explain why.

Which brings us to Thomas Crooks.  A quiet kid from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, Crooks had no previous interactions with law enforcement nor history of mental illness.  But he spent days searching the internet for locations of political rallies for both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, respectively.  He settled on a Trump rally in nearby Butler, Pennsylvania. 

When he was finished, one person was dead, and a President escaped with nothing more than a grazed ear.  Crooks was quickly located and killed. Law enforcement searched on-line records and interviewed friends and family.  To date, no clear motive has been found.

The Trump assassination attempt was only the latest in a long line of such efforts.  Some have been close calls.  Some have been almost comical in their stupidity.  But all have had one thing in common.  In each instance, the potential assassin was able to access a firearm about as easily as most of us can place an Amazon order.

Before anybody gets their knickers in a twist, I’m not saying guns should be banned.  I’m not saying the government should confiscate your firearms.  I’ve written about this before.

I’m talking about common sense here.  An AR-15 assault rifle is not a thirty-aught-six deer rifle.  A semi-automatic attached to a bump stock isn’t the same as a bolt action .22, regardless of what Clarence Thomas says.

A firearms approach that interprets the second amendment to mean that anybody can carry any gun anywhere at any time for any reason is a formula for disaster, regardless of what Samuel Alito thinks.

The idea that the solution to public safety is for more people to carry more guns more places is nuts, regardless of what the NRA tells you.

The notion that the best way to protect schoolchildren is for teachers to walk around carrying weapons is downright crazy.  Plenty of school shootings have occurred even when armed and fully trained security guards were present.

In case your counting, 180 school shootings have occurred in this country since 1999.  Many more have taken place at festivals, nightclubs, concerts, and even churches. 

And last week, a duly elected Kentucky Sheriff assassinated a duly elected Kentucky Judge.  The Sheriff’s beef?  They’d had an argument.

So maybe we should consider this.  What if the framers of our constitution had foreseen where our current obsession with firearms has taken us?  What if they had seen mass shootings and road rage killings?  What if they had foreseen children going to school in terror?  What would they have thought?  What would they have done?

If you ask me, they would have probably torn up the second amendment and started over again.

If you wish to own firearms, fine. As I’ve said before, I grew up with guns in rural Missouri.  But use common sense, rather than thinking you’re some kind of patriot because you can fling a gun around everywhere you go.

If you choose to own a gun, take a long hard look at Switzerland.  No, not the myth of Swiss gun ownership.  The real Swiss story.

Because unless we can return to the kinds of common-sense gun laws that existed in this country for over 200 years before the Heller decision, we will continue to kill ourselves off.

So put the President and all presidential candidates behind plexiglass, if you’d like.  Keep them hundreds of feet from rally participants.  Use body doubles, as many dictators are known to do.  Keep them locked away from the public, for that matter.  It’s not going to make any difference.

Assassination attempts will continue, and some will succeed.  It’s now as American as apple pie.

Just like mass killings of children, church members, and concert-goers.

But it’s really OK.  It’s just the price we pay for our freedoms, right?

Or is it the price we pay for our stupidity?

POSTSCRIPT:  This post was originally written earlier this month in a cabin some 9000 feet in the Colorado Rockies, just south of the Wyoming border.  There was no internet access. 

Since coming back down to Nebraska, I’ve learned of yet another foiled assignation plot. Ryan Routh appears to have travelled from either Hawaii or North Carolina to Mar-a-Lago, Florida, secured a rifle, and hung out in the woods surrounding the Trump golf course for 12 hours, hoping to get a shot at the ex-president.  He was apprehended before he could do so.

At first, I thought about rewriting this post to include this event.  But what would be the point?  Nothing has changed.  Rather, this attempt simply confirms our country’s dire situation.

When it comes to issues of mental health, Americans are no more screwed up than citizens of any other developed country.  American kids are influenced by the same movies, internet sites, music, and videos that impact kids all over the world.  Just as many Europeans think they’re Jesus, or controlled by Martians, influenced by alien brain waves, or some other delusion, as we Americans.

The difference is, we wind up killing each other way more often than they do.

Fifty years ago, no one could have imagined that, despite billions of dollars of incredibly sophisticated security technology, presidential assassination attempts would become routine in America.  But fifty years ago, no one would have believed we would see mass shootings in schools, theaters, and churches becoming so common they would hardly raise an eyebrow.

Sadly, all of these tragedies will continue until we’ve decided we’ve had enough.

At what point will this happen?  Who knows?

But in the meantime, it’s becoming more and more obvious that our national fetish for firearms is not protecting our democracy, as many wish to believe.

Rather, coupled with rising extremism, it may well be our nation’s greatest threat.

“Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years.

Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social Security.

Socialism is what they called farm price supports.

Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance.

Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.

Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.”

                                                                                –President Harry S. Truman, October 10, 1952

Let’s be honest—fear sells.  If I can convince you to be afraid of something, it’s a lot more powerful than convincing you to see the value in something.  Corporate America understands this very well.

And nowhere is this more evident than in politics.  Create a buzzword, loosely define it, make people afraid of it, then use it to smear anything the other side is doing.  It’s been going on for years.  And few fear-mongering words have carried more clout than the “S” word.

Socialism.

Full disclosure here—I’m from Missouri.  Harry Truman was a personal hero where I grew up.  He stood up for small business, farmers, and working people of all kinds.  He supported free enterprise and hard work.

But he also realized that government could help level the playing field so more people could succeed. It could create a backstop to keep the country on its feet during hard times.  And for this, the Far-Right labeled him a Socialist.

Strong public education, affordable and universally accessible health care—you could add those to the list of programs Truman supported.  In 1965, when his dream of universal health care was adopted for those 65 and older—what became known as Medicare—an 81- year-old Truman was the first to sign up.

But to the Far-Right, all of this was Socialism.

Of course, this didn’t really start with Truman.  Even in the 1920’s, Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith was branded a Socialist by his Republican opponent, who wound up winning in a landslide.

The opponent’s name was Herbert Hoover.  If you’ve studied history, you know what came next.

The Great Depression sent shockwaves across the U.S. economy.  One out of every four working Americans couldn’t find a job.  Out of desperation, millions began to flirt with the concepts of German/Italian Fascism, or Soviet Union-style Communism.  The free market, it seemed, was doomed.

But when Franklin Roosevelt entered the White House, he was determined to stabilize the economy and get the country back on its feet.  And he knew it would take more than thoughts and prayers, austerity budgets, and tax-cuts for the wealthy.  It would require a social infrastructure that would allow for security, job growth, and opportunity.  Food on the table, a roof over your head, and hope for the future.

Roosevelt’s “New Deal” contained many of the elements listed in the Truman quote at the top of the page.  It was a godsend.  I still remember my grandparents talking about the “blessing” of electricity brought in by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), that provided something unthinkable—power even when their windmill wasn’t turning!

Workers built dams, roads, and parks.  The New Deal brought jobs.  Most of all, it brought hope.

It also brought scathing criticism.  Counting the number of times Roosevelt was derided as a Socialist, a Communist, or worse, might just blow up the average laptop.  But Roosevelt persevered.  Social Security helped keep the elderly from going broke, price supports helped farmers claw their way back from foreclosures, and a robust trade-union movement improved working conditions and wages.  

After the war, progress slowed.  When Truman tried to revive Teddy Roosevelt’s dream of universal access to health insurance, he was derided as a Socialist.  When he addressed Congress regarding his health care proposals, one Republican Congressman simply ignored him by reading the newspaper during the entire speech.

To many on the Far-Right, any government program that didn’t directly benefit big business was Socialism.  Many raged as the maximum U.S. income tax bracket went up to 90% (sorry about that Elon).  The very idea of a minimum wage was supposed to turn Washington into Moscow.  Yet during this time America enjoyed some of the most impressive overall economic growth in its history. 

Organized labor flourished.  President Dwight D. Eisenhower himself was a supporter, firmly stating: “Only a handful of reactionaries harbor the ugly thought of breaking unions and depriving working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.  I have no use for those – regardless of their political party – who hold some vain and foolish dream of spinning the clock back to days when organized labor was huddled, almost as a hapless mass.  Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.”

Take that, Elon Musk.

By the 1960’s, health care for many of the elderly was becoming unobtainable.  Families were confronted with the real issue of “do we sell the farm to pay for Grandpa’s hospital stay, or do we try to hang on to it and just let Grandpa go?”  In addition, basic health care was beyond the reach of many of America’s poor.

Enter Lyndon Johnson.  He pared down Truman’s vision of universal health care and pushed for passage of the Medicare program for those over 65.  He supported the development of state-run Medicaid programs for the poor.  All of this, of course, got him labeled a Socialist.

And let’s not forget Civil Rights.  The very idea that the big, bad federal government would have the audacity to overrule the states, and open schools and voting booths to minorities was outrageous!  It was Socialism!

Of course, it didn’t stop there.  Even after Ronald Reagan recanted his initial virulent opposition to Medicare (and used Medicare benefits himself), the program was still called Socialism by the Far-Right.  An effort by Bill Clinton to expand private insurance to cover all Americans got him labeled a Socialist.

Even Barrack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) that provided health insurance for 25 million Americans who previously had none, and didn’t increase the overall cost of health care one bit, got him labeled a Socialist.

Let’s be blunt.  None of these programs turned America into a bunch of Socialists. (Editor’s note:  Many of the same Far-Right critics swore that Clinton, Obama, and Biden would “take away your guns,” too.  That was also B.S.).

And now comes the Far-Right’s effort to smear “Komrade Kamala” as a Socialist.  Any effort to lower prices, improve services, make prescription drugs less expensive?  All Socialism!

Really?  Is this Far-Right crap ever going to change? 

No, it just keeps going.  Now, it’s not enough to mislabel something simply as Socialism.  It’s much better to add other scare words such as “Wokeism,” “Critical Race Theory,” and “Marxism.”  After all, the more they make you afraid of, the better.

But shouldn’t somebody at least ask the simple question, “what is Socialism, anyway?”  Like all misused terms, it has an actual definition.  So let’s look at the Merriam Webster Dictionary:  “Socialism–a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state.”

Owned and controlled by the state? Think about that.  When I saw a Medicare patient, was I practicing “socialized” medicine? No. If a farmer avoids bankruptcy when price supports keep him afloat when the soybean market crashes, is he practicing “socialized” farming? No. 

A worker who benefits from her right to organize is no more a Socialist than a CEO whose funds are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).  Air traffic controllers who help land you safely in a crowded airport don’t turn you into a Socialist every time you fly.

None of these things are Socialism.  Except in the minds of the Far-Right.

Think about this in the coming weeks.  You’re sure to hear cries of “Socialism!”  “Marxism!”  and “Communism!” thrown around like confetti.  You’ll likely hear that a Tim Walz-led Minnesota is the biggest Communist threat this side of Beijing.

Nonsense.  The reality is, Social Security, Medicare, and worker’s unions have not turned America into a “Socialist” society, regardless of what the Far-Right says.

It’s about time we put an end to these phony claims. 

November 5^th might just be a good place to start.

“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last/Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

—William Butler Yeats, 1865-1939, from the “The Second Coming.”

Truth be told, I was about to sit down last night to write a politically incorrect piece on what I saw as a misguided effort to improve American health care by donating a small fortune to what is already one of the wealthiest medical schools in the country, Johns Hopkins University, when I got the news.  There had been an assassination attempt on one of the candidates for the U.S. Presidency.

Can you honestly say you were surprised?

The individual targeted is irrelevant.  Frankly, I thought it would most likely be Biden first.  But it doesn’t really matter.

Within hours, extremists on both sides began spinning their own version.  The Far Right insisted this was a government set-up to silence Trump.  Where was the security?   How did the shooter get through?  Biden was behind this! (As an aside, my personal favorite was the comment by Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who blamed it on Critical Race Theory—despite the shooter being white).

On the Left it was different.  This is all fake!  Just grazed on the cheek?  And he jumps up pumping his fist?  Then T-shirts go on sale less than 12 hours later?  Give me a break.  It was all a trick to get sympathy.  The German Reichstag fire of 1933 all over again!

Believe whatever you want, but the facts are just beginning to come out.  A 20-year-old registered Republican took his father’s (wait for it—I know this will come as a shock) AR-15 and shot at the president.  Others in the crowd were hit.  At least one died. The shooter was also killed.

Really, can you say you were surprised?  The hate, fearmongering, finger-pointing, and scapegoating of this election season are without precedent.  Both parties have received horrific messages.  Election workers (whether Democrat, Republican, or Independent) have been threatened.  The messages stated the workers would be murdered, their spouses raped, and their children tortured.

Are you really surprised that someone followed through?

America has a long track record of assassination and assassination attempts.  We’re also the most violence-prone of any developed country (sorry, if you want to compare us to Venezuela, Iraq, and Zimbabwe, you’re in the apples and oranges category).  We’re number one in the world in firearms ownership.  We’re killing ourselves off daily.  You already know what I think about this stuff.  I wrote about it here: 1, 2, and 3 .

Can you actually be surprised when it just happens to be someone who’s running for President?

Are we finally going to take this stuff seriously?  It shouldn’t go unnoticed that many in Washington who are screaming the loudest about this are the same people who openly laughed and mocked when the husband of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives was attacked and nearly had his skull crushed. 

The FBI has long warned that the greatest threat to America comes not from foreign terrorists, but from Americans.  We’re now seeing that play out as predicted.

Sorry, but if you mix extreme hatred and loathing, refer to others as scum and vermin who are poisoning our nation, then drop it all into a witch’s brew of powerful firearms, this is exactly what you get.

The shooting of former President Trump was a tragedy.  But no more or less so than Sandy Hook Elementary, Stoneman Douglas High School, Uvalde Elementary, the Orlando night club, or the Emanuel AME Church shootings.  Of course, I could go on and on and on.

Shortly after the assassination attempt, 13 people, including a child, were shot in Birmingham, Alabama.  Put that in the context of a grazed cheek and ear.

Pundits will view all of this in the context of election calculus.  Will it garner sympathy?  Will it get Trump elected?  Will it be like Brazil in 2019, when Jair Bolsonaro, an anti-immigrant, anti-gay, anti-woman candidate who was behind in the polls, was critically stabbed?  He eventually wound up getting elected, much to that country’s eventual dismay.

Within hours of last night’s shooting, some Trump supporters were citing “Divine intervention” as the reason Trump escaped death.  Even Trump himself claimed God had protected him.

Really?  How about those who were killed or seriously hurt?  Didn’t God want to look out for them?

For those who would view Trump’s survival as an indication of God’s favor, remember this:  Adolf Hitler survived 6 assassination attempts.  Was God favoring him, too?

Donald Trump is still the same candidate today that he was at 6 PM yesterday, no better, no worse.  Whether you vote for him or President Biden should be based on policy and track-record, not sympathy and photos. 

I have no idea what motivations the shooter had.  But I know who’s to blame.

You are.  I am.  We all are.  All of us who tolerate, accept, and abet the hatred and violence that is becoming the norm, not just in American politics, but in American society as a whole.

We all own this.  And the next time the trigger is pulled?  Who do we blame then?

“They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine—but only for people who can afford them.”—President Harry S. Truman, from a speech describing his view of the Republican Party, October 13, 1948.

I used to read the Wall Street Journal.  It’s been one of the oldest and most respected newspapers in the country (especially back in the days when people actually read newspapers).  The Journal has vigorously covered world events and featured a broad range of information.

Yes, they always had a passionately conservative bent, such as the time back in 1914 when they suggested Henry Ford was guilty of treason when he raised his workers’ wages.  But on balance, their coverage was for the most part reasonable.

Then along came Rupert Murdoch.

One of the world’s wealthiest men, Murdoch got his start publishing tabloids that often sold like hotcakes by featuring topless women.  He kept expanding his approach of sensationalism into mainstream news, with SKY news in the United Kingdom, FOX news in the U.S., and more recently, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

That’s when things began to change at the paper.  And from my perspective, and that of many others, it’s now gone completely off the rails. 

I’ve previously commented on a WSJ piece that claimed that Congress had no right to question the pharmaceutical industry about sky-high drug prices in the U.S.  But now, in an editorial that goes even further, the WSJ claims that any effort to shield one’s credit score from being pounded by medical debt is tantamount to “forgiving” that debt.

For those of you who’d like to read it and can manage to get past the firewall, here’s a link to the piece’s publication as it was reprinted in our local paper, the Omaha World Herald.  For the rest of you, here’s a quick rundown.

The Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFBP) has proposed excluding medical debt from consumer credit scores.  To me, that seems reasonable.  If you get in over your head buying a Cadillac when you can only afford a Chevy, that’s your choice, and your credit rating should reflect that.

But health care’s a different story.  Nobody “chooses” to get sick.  No one “chooses” to have surgery.

According the WSJ piece, though, somehow not including medical debt in a credit report is no different from “forgiving” debt.  This isn’t just false, it’s egregiously false.  Regardless of the credit report, you’re still stuck with the debt.

The WSJ goes even further.  It claims that if you have health insurance you are “protected” from debt.  Again, this simply is false.  Over half of all Americans who become bankrupt because of medical debt  had insurance when their medical problems began. 

Later in the piece, the WSJ claims that removing debt from credit reports will discourage people from buying insurance in the first place.  I’m not going to say this is the most asinine statement I’ve ever heard, it’s just that I’m not quite sure what else might be.

But the WSJ is just getting started. “A credit-report blemish,” they claim, “is the only tool health care providers have to encourage payment.”

Sorry, but that’s also nonsense.  Ask anyone who’s struggling to pay off medical bills and getting nonstop calls from collection agencies.

Further in the piece, the WSJ argues that medical debt is really no big deal to begin with, since “only” 15 million Americans have to deal with it, and the debt “only” averages $3,100 per person.

Maybe that’s not much to the editors of the Wall Street Journal, but for many of the patients I cared for, it was a hell of a lot of money.  Perhaps the folks at the WSJ should try living in the real world for a while.

There’s plenty more.  The WSJ tries to make the looping argument that since reducing a credit score is the same as forgiving debt, that it will therefore create more debt, that people will stop buying insurance (because they only care about their credit scores, right?), which will in turn drive up costs, which will in turn cause hospitals to charge more, which will in turn cause more uninsured.

I’ll describe this sort of thinking in two words.  Pure Fantasy.

Don’t take my word for it.  Instead, ask yourself this question.  If your child desperately needed an operation, or needed an expensive medication, would you really stop and say, “But wait, will this affect my credit score?” And then forgo the treatment?

Would you really?  Would the editors of the WSJ?  I doubt it.

So let’s get back to the real world.  Not being forced to include medical debt on your credit report is not the same as “forgiving” debt.  People don’t say, “Woopie!  Now I won’t buy insurance if my credit score’s OK!”  any more than they would say “Sorry, kid, no insulin for you this week because I don’t want to screw up my credit score.”

This brings up an interesting question.  Just who is the Wall Street Journal trying to protect with this sort of bizarre logic?  Lending institutions?  Private equity?  Who knows?  But it’s certainly not the American people.

Because as the WSJ well knows, we’re already hammered by the highest medical costs—as well as the highest levels of medical debt—in the world.

And if the Wall Street Journal doesn’t have an issue with that, then it’s clearly out of touch with reality.

Human beings have a strange relationship with rules.  Basically, we hate them.  Try to tell someone what they should do, and they’ll most likely insist on doing the opposite, even if it means jumping off a cliff.

Parents know this.  Want your kid to go to bed at 9?  Tell them they can’t go to bed at 9.  They’ll do it just to show you they can.

In the legal system, these rules are called laws.  Societies need them to function, thrive, and basically ensure that we don’t kill each other off.

But whose laws?  Some laws are Federal and passed by the U.S. Congress.  Many more exist at the state level and are enacted by individual State Legislatures.  And that’s where the rub comes in.

Many states chafe at the idea of Federal oversight.  They prefer their own laws, and want nothing to do with the (as they view it) Evil Federal Government—unless, of course, the issue is Federal Aid coming in from another state’s tax dollars.  They insist that decision-making is best done at the local level, and that State Legislatures are better attuned to local needs.  Keep the Feds out of our laws!

Yet in the next instant, these same State Legislatures and Governors who insist that the Federal Government shouldn’t mandate what the state should do, turn around and tell local cities and counties what they can and can’t do. 

Don’t tell me what to do, Washington!  But I can sure tell Blair (if we’re talking about politicians in Lincoln, Nebraska) or Weston (if we’re talking about politicians in Jefferson City, Missouri) what to do.

To say this smacks of hypocrisy would be an understatement.  In state after state, local laws regarding everything from guns to masks to books have been struck down by the same State officials who would throw a fit if Washington were to say the same thing to them.

No question, the U.S. Congress has passed some dumb laws.  Many states, however, have passed laws that are even dumber.  Here’s a quick rundown.

In Florida (of course we have to start with Florida), lab grown meat is now outlawed.  There’s no evidence it’s bad for you in any way, but that doesn’t matter.  Florida still says you can’t have it.

So much for consumer choice.

And there’s more.  This is the same state that once passed a law that would lock up any Doctor who asked parents if they kept a gun in their house.  Something about the First Amendment got that overturned.  We don’t need to go into the “don’t-say-gay” laws, “which-bathroom-you-can-use” laws, “what-you-can’t-teach” laws, and “don’t-see-drag-shows” laws.  In each instance, what an individual Florida city might want for its citizens is irrelevant.  It’s only the State that can decide.

But if you need a C-section, Florida says it’s now perfectly legal to have one performed outside of a hospital.  Sound incredible?  It seems a venture capital group in Great Britain that invests heavily in American outpatient services has more influence in Florida than doctors.  Maybe political contributions play a role.  Regardless, such an asinine law would never pass in the U.K. itself.  So much for the superiority of Florida health care.

What about other states?  Tennessee has a law on the books outlawing “chem-trails”—mind-altering gases released from jets flying over the state.

The problem is, chem-trails don’t exist.  When you see a jet with a white line trailing behind, it’s called a contrail—essentially a linear cloud trailing behind a hot engine speeding along at high-altitude.  It’s nothing new, and has nothing to do with jets.  World War II pilots could spot them trailing behind propellor driven planes, too.

What other nonexistent things could Tennessee ban?  Cell phone calls with extraterrestrials?  Dinner dates with Big Foot?

Don’t try wearing a mask on the streets of North Carolina.  It’s illegal now, health consequences be damned.

Louisiana is considering legislation that would prohibit the state’s motor pool from having more than 3% of its vehicles run by electricity.  What if an EV becomes cheaper, more efficient, and less costly to the taxpayers?  Apparently, that wouldn’t matter.

Wyoming tried to go one better.  There, the Legislature nearly passed a bill outlawing the sale of Electric Vehicles entirely.

In Texas, the Legislature thinks it should tell the state’s Universities what they can and can’t teach when it comes to race relations.  Is quantum physics next?

In Nebraska, a city used to be able to ban weapons in its public spaces.  But no more.  Only the sages in Lincoln can make such decisions.

Oh, and then there’s Iowa.  For over 100 years, Iowa refused to pass a law legalizing the sale of raw (that is, unpasteurized) milk.  The rationale was simple.  Pasteurization kills germs.  Around the world, the process has been credited with helping stamp out tuberculosis and other diseases.

But once the Centers for Disease Control (the dreaded CDC) warned of the dangers of spreading H5N1 Bird Flu in raw milk, the Iowa legislature promptly passed a law legalizing it.  After all, giving a middle finger to Washington is far more important than protecting the lives of Iowans.

I could go on and on.  In state after state, the same legislators who decry being told what do by Washington have no qualms about telling cities and localities what they can do.  Whether it’s restricting voting rights or health care, states suddenly feel empowered to go far beyond the Federal government in telling you how to run your life.

And sometimes, even when the people of the state clearly oppose a law, the Legislature still insists on cramming it down their throats.  Exhibit A is again Nebraska, where the Legislature passed a law allowing tax credits to help fund private schools, even those with clear religious biases.

The people stood up and mounted a massive petition drive to overturn it.

What did the Legislature do when it became obvious that the effort to nullify the law would succeed?  They revoked the law, and immediately passed a slightly altered version of the law that the petition drive hadn’t addressed.

So much for listening to the will of the people. 

As I asked in my last post just who are we in America?  Where are we headed?  A stronger UNITED STATES?  Or a weaker set of STATES who are (sort of) UNITED? I don’t’ know, but perhaps Texas is going to be the trendsetter.  Earlier this year, the Texas Republican party approved a Legislative platform that included Plank 203, which states: “The Texas Legislature should pass a bill in its next session requiring a referendum in the next General Election for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation. “

Could this really happen?  Déjà vu Fort Sumpter, 1861?  Who knows?  It would certainly put a smile on the face of every dictator from Budapest to Pyongyang.

But Texas might just be in for a surprise itself.  Despite all its current wealth, ego, and self-righteousness, how long would it be before the Nation of Texas realized that New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Louisianna were building walls at their borders? 

And for those just now reading this post–my apologies. I missed one other important dumb state law, that I’ll add to this post now. In 1993, Alabama banned Yoga from being taught as a part of physical education in K-12 Schools. Recently though, they had second thoughts, and decided maybe Yoga was OK after all.

But not to worry. You’re still not allowed to utter the traditional Yoga greeting “Namaste” in class. Gotta keep those kids from thinking, right?

“My biggest problem with the two major political parties is that every four years they seem to go on some kind of national scavenger hunt to see who can come up with the biggest goober to run for President.”—Dave Barry, circa 1990

It’s 1786, and America is pretty much a mess.  Just 10 years after declaring independence, and 3 years after a victory over the powerful British military, the 13 colonies-turned-states don’t seem capable of doing much of anything.  The central government is a joke.

Each of the states is primarily concerned with looking out for themselves.  Individual states can print their own money, sign treaties and trade agreements with foreign countries, and raise whatever taxes they choose.  Basically, it’s every state for themselves.

It’s likely that every other western nation is licking their chops, waiting for America to fail.

What passes for a federal government is only a quasi-legislative body modeled after a shaky Continental Congress.  There’s no President.  No judicial branch.  The government has no means to raise money, nor means to support legislation.

Not that it really matters.  Each state gets only one vote in the legislature.  And nine votes are needed to pass anything.  Not surprisingly, little moves forward.  The process makes our current-day constipated Congress look free-flowing by comparison.

All of this was set in motion when a loose set of guidelines called “The Articles of Confederation” was enacted in 1776. It called for forming a nation of sorts, with almost all power in the individual states.

America limped along for a while, but in in 1786 disaster struck.  An armed uprising in western Massachusetts threatened the state.  It was the first rebellion against the new country.  People were shocked.

There were no federal troops to restore order.  Instead, a group of wealthy businessmen paid for a private militia to put down the uprising.

George Washington and James Madison, among others, saw this as a harbinger of what might come next, and decided they’d had enough.  They concluded that, independent of any state, the federal government needed a stronger set of rules to replace the Articles of Confederation.

After much rancor, the U.S. Constitution was written and adopted.  It was not zapped down from on high.  Much arguing, gnashing of teeth, anger, and fatigue (and probably a fair amount of drinking) had to occur before the compromise document was adopted.  Parts of it are clear, and parts of it are clearly ambiguous.

But one question was always at the forefront of the wrangling—how much power should be in the hands of the federal government, and how much in the hands of the individual states?  Not surprisingly, big states with lots of power wanted to keep it, and smaller states with fewer resources were more willing to share.  70 years later, the question of state power versus federal power nearly tore the country apart.

Just like it threatens to do today.

Even the basic question of who gets to elect the President was angrily debated.  Some delegates wanted each state to have a vote, others said it should be the American people—with each person having one vote, no matter where they lived.  Count up the votes, and you’ll have your President.

No, the first group countered.  The average American doesn’t have the smarts to make such a decision.

A compromise was reached.  Instead of voting for President, the individual voters would select Electors—people they knew and trusted—to choose the next head of state.

But how many Electors should each state get?  Most felt that population should be a consideration; that is, unlike under the old Articles of Confederation where each state got one vote, the number of Electors allocated to each state would be determined by the state’s population.  This would mean states with larger populations would have more say in the government.

Then came the rub.  What counts as “the population?”  34% of those living in southern states were slaves (in Virginia and South Carolina, it was over 40%).  Even though slaves were denied the right to vote themselves, southern states still said they should be counted in the overall population, thus increasing the state’s number of Electors.

Northern states (especially Massachusetts and Vermont, which had outlawed slavery by this time) were furious. How can you use people who can’t even vote to increase your share of the electoral pie?

Once again, it was settled by compromise.  Slaves would be counted as 3/5’s of an actual person for purposes of determining electors.  No, I’m not making that up.  Southern states would thus have more electors than if slaves were not counted, but not as many as they wanted.

Any accurate portrayal of the early days of the Electoral College system in the U.S. must acknowledge that it was a triangulation of states’ rights, individual rights, and slavery. It set in motion a squirrely system that persists to this day.   

And it continues to leave us with a basic question—who should elect the President?  The people?  Or the states?

Most of the founding fathers had a low opinion of the concept of political “parties.”  They envisioned a future where individuals would run for President on their own, and there would be multiple candidates.

But in short order, that vision fell apart.  Political parties rose in power and influence, and for nearly two hundred years we’ve had only two basic parties to choose from.  Both have ruthlessly promoted their own interests, and determined their own candidates.  The American people, much to their dismay, have only two basic choices when a Presidential election occurs.

The focus of the electoral college likewise mutated.  Individual Electors became a perfunctory issue. Instead, States (with the exception of Nebraska and Maine) allocated all of their Electoral votes to whichever candidate won the vote in that state.  Win a state by a million votes, and you’ll get all of their Electoral votes.  Win a state by one vote, and you’ll get all of their Electoral votes.

The President is elected by the states, regardless of how the overall American people vote.

I first learned about this when I was in grade school.  I thought it sounded pretty dumb.

So I asked my teacher to explain it.  She really couldn’t, at least not to the satisfaction of a 6^th grader.  (Hint to all non-parents:  When kids don’t understand something a grown-up says, they’ll repeatedly ask “why?” or “how come?” until they either get a reasonable answer or the adult goes nuts).  So I persisted.

She did her best to explain, telling me about the importance of regional interests and state representation.  It still didn’t make any sense.

“But that’s not how we do student council elections,” I said.  “We just count up the votes.  We don’t let the first row count their votes, and they get one vote, and the second row counts all of theirs and gets two votes because they have more desks in the second row.  Why do we do it for President?”

My exasperated teacher hemmed and hawed for awhile and finally said, “Donnie, it doesn’t make any difference these days, because whoever wins the popular vote is going to when the Electoral vote anyway.  Winning one and not the other is all in the past.  It just doesn’t happen anymore.”

Some 40 years later, I found out how wrong she really was.

The Electoral College is just one more reason why government is becoming farther removed and further disconnected from the people it serves.  Are you a Republican who lives in Connecticut?  Sorry, you vote really won’t count.  The Democratic candidate is going to win the state and get all of the Electoral votes.  The same is true if you’re a Democrat and live in Wyoming.  The Republican will win, regardless.

For more and more people, the feeling is why bother to vote at all?  American voter turnout is one of the worst in the world.  It’s time we consider whether the Electoral College may be a part of the problem.

In every election, the focus is on “swing states,” states that could possibly go either way.  Those are the only places candidates focus their time, and the only ones that seem to matter.

And here’s yet another absurdity of the electoral system.  The vote of the “Electors” must be formally certified by the Vice-President.  In the past, this was no big deal.  But in 2020, a mob of insurrectionists, egged on by the President, descended on the Capitol and threatened to hang the Vice-President if he didn’t refuse to certify the election.  It didn’t work.

But what if it had?  What if the will of the people—as well as the will of the states—had been gutted?  Would we even have a democracy today?

When I was in grade school, I thought those things only happened in banana republics.  Is that where we are today in America?  

For the record, a state-by-state pushback against the Electoral College has emerged.  The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) consists of 17 states who’ve had enough of this nonsense.  They’ve pledged to give all of their Electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote, regardless of whether that candidate wins the state’s vote are not.  This move away from a slave-state-protecting, elitist Electoral voting process that favors states over individuals is long overdue.

Hopefully, this idea will take hold, but who knows?  In the meantime, vote.  Vote as if your life, your country, and your democracy depends on it.  Because it does.

I’ll be back next time with more thoughts on whether we are truly a unified nation, or just a collection of self-interested individual states.  In the meantime, feel free to comment.