A PRETTY GOOD LIST OF MY 2018 READING DOWNLOADED FROM AMAZON

SUPPOSE IT HAPPENED

Prior to Dec 1991, no one would have imagined the USSR would break up into states, independent from mother Russia.

Given today's right wing political movements -- probably to go on for a few decades -- can you see something similar happening in Western Europe? Think Brexit. How about in the "United States" of America?

With +/- 30% of the people for Bernie (the left) & +/- 30% of the people for Trump (the right), my math sez that 60% of the population is unhappy which could produce another American revolution of some kind.  

Whomever is in power at the Federal level hasn't really represented us for decades. It's a self centered, self-sufficient, self perpetuating body that exists for its own sake. 

Now it's happening at the state level (Think Michigan & Wisconsin). Geremandering, the usual Florida fiasco, North Carolina's sinkhole, distrust of most institutions, etc. leave most citizens feeling pretty raw, wondering where their government has gone.

Where do Republicans go after Trump? Their party is now totally cockeyed &, will for a long time, associated with the excesses of the Trump era.

Consider the Paris riots or Chicago in 1968. What will happen on our streets in our cities when the recession or national bankruptcy is upon us? Will Trump manage to run the whole country into the ground as he did with so many of his own businesses? 

Has anyone considered the possibility of some sort of disolution of the "United States" of America?

Too far fetched you say? Think way ahead. Consider how twisted we've become just in the last two years. Do you think everything will calm down or heat up? I know where my mind is going. I'm curous about yours.

THE zigSTER ON HIS ROCKER

THIS PIECE BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES. SUCH A RELIEF TO OUR TRUMPIAN TIMES.

Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around The World from Concord Music on Vimeo.

ON RACE

Over the years, I've thought about this subject but was never able to *understand* it as much as I now do from reading this article. I tried to imagine my own reactions were I *anything* racial & couldn't conceive of how I would handle it. 

Some people say they are "color blind" to which I say "bullshit" -- unless they are actually blind. They miss the point entirely. It's not a matter of ignoring the obvious as it is that the obvious doesn't make any difference. 

Malcolm X, for whom I had a lot of respect, used to preach that "integration" was a feel-good white middle class word that was meaningless. He offered many real life examples to defend his position. Race, he said, will change only with "mongrelization" (his word) otherwise known as intermarriage. 

We are seeing that come true in the United States. The more intermarriage between races, the less race bias there is but a minority don't agree. Who's the minority now? ;-)

One way or another, most of us ARE mutts & we all know how smart & resilient mutts are.

PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING

When Donald Trump had real businesses, i.e. an airline, casinos, etc, he built & ran them with a heavy debt load.  When his luck ran out, he left his lender banks holding the bag. Consequently they forced him to sell some of his properties: the airline, the Plaza Hotel, etc. & put him on a millionaire's allowance until the debt was repaid. And then they stopped lending him money.

So Trump, Inc. morphed into something simpler: selling the Trump name for a fee. Think Trump university, Trump condos, Trump steaks, Trump ties, etc. and he expanded the Trump golf clubs, financed primarily by Russian oligarchs (whatever their motivation). This formula has been a success for the Trump family.

But Trump can't quite duplicate that as POTUS so he's doing what he knows best: running the United States just like he did his businesses, i.e. with a humongous debt load. Plus he no longer has to play with those nasty oligarchs who could blow up Trump, Inc. in a nanosecond by cashing in (ergo, his political stance on Russia).

Now Trump has a compliant congress & taxpayer dollars so guess who will be left holding the bag this time? Taxpayers will be treated just like his former banks. And, as for the stock market that only 50% of us are invested in, watch out.

If you have a 401k, adjustable loans or use credit cards, your income might go down and your interest rates might go up, house prices could fall, become harder to sell (or buy), construction, food, cars, appliances, national debt costs (interest) might become more expensive. All that put together is a formula for disaster.

And Trump's financial acumen? It will have come full circle.

FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS

Let's not lose focus.

Candidate Trump promised to scrap sanctions to protect his billionaire house of cards built & supported by Russian oligarch investment/money laundering.

The Russians succeeded infusing his staff w people representing this single issue. They intruded on our 1st Amendment to manipulate the outcome of the campaign (Hillary helped too) to further their goal.

Personal gain. That's all there is to it.

POLITICAL NAIVETE IS NO EXCUSE

Even our forefathers were naive despite their best efforts to construct checks and balances of power.

In their naivete they considered only normal behavior (norms) based on a moral compass. But today we have an abnormal president with no moral compass & the columns, on which OUR Republic stands, are crumbling before his onslaught.

Many talking heads demonstrate that same naivete, HOPING for a cure, effectively saying, rather plaintively: "Gee, that's never happened before; Congress must stand up to the dictator."

The core of this country is -- as we know -- based on an IDEA called democracy and what we see is what results when the people take their democracy for granted and stop participating.