The Fascists only control SOME of the levers of government - we still have hope

This past month, we have seen the murders of 2 American Citizens by Trump's Gestapo, ICE. His henchmen are labeling these killings as people wrongfully interfering with law enforcement activities in their propaganda releases.  But the public is starting to see through these lies.

Right now, we have both a worthless Congress and corrupt Supreme Court who are more than willing to make this country a fascist state. The rights given to all Americans under the first, second, and fourth amendments to our only apply for our 21st century Nazis.  For the rest of us, the Bill of Rights and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are worthless as long as the Trump is in power.   

What is happening in Minnesota can be seen as cruelty designed to intimidate the American public, something meant to trigger anticipatory obedience to authoritarian leadership.  This is exactly what happened in Germany during the 1930's.  Gradually, laws were implemented so that people wouldn't notice the erosion of their civil and human rights.  We're seeing that in the USA right now.  First, the Snowflake attacked Transgenders and their history.  (Look at what happened to the Stonewall national monument.)  Next, he started to erase the history of Blacks, Latinos, and other Minority Americans from national parks and other federally administered historic sites. And now, he's trying to erase America's "Original Sin", Slavery.  It's as if the White race could do no harm, and that everyone else was a criminal class not fit for America.

Currently, ICE is paying recruitment bonuses of up to $50,000 to new recruits.  This wouldn't be bad if they went through the full training that State Police and the FBI goes through - months of in-person training.  With ICE, it's less than 8 weeks of online training from what I remember.  How can anyone deal with potentially dangerous situations that could escalate to violence by only online training?  It's as if the design of this training is meant to encourage dangerous escalations.

Why is this happening?  The Gurdian has reported that Trump has cut funding for ICE body cameras, as well as for personnel oversight.  Elsewhere, it has been reported that Trump wants control of Minnesota's voter rolls and its public assistance rolls.  So what is really going on at another level?  As I see it, Trump will try and disqualify as many likely Democratic voting Minnesotans from voting, so that he can engineer a GOP majority in the House.  Additionally, he could be waiting for violence to break out, so that he can invoke the insurrection act and make it impossible for people to vote, also preserving the GOP majority in the House.

For the most part, we still can regain control of the House this year if we work for it.  Yes, we will have to keep our cool and stay non-violent even though Trump's Gestapo imprisons and and tries to kill us to force submission.  We need to remember the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, and how Blacks gained de jure Equal Rights, albeit not de facto Equal Rights.  In my lifetime, we've seen people like Martin Luther King Jr. change from being seen as agitators to being national heroes worth honoring.  Trump wants to erase this movement.  We must not let it happen.

How do we stop him?  Simply make sure that as many people as possible see the truth.  Even MAGA loyalists are starting to say - "we didn't sign up for this."  There are some signs that even Fox "News" is souring on Trump as he descends further and further into dementia.  We must do our damnedest to prevent him from invoking the insurrection act, while also preventing him from asserting Federal control over state elections.  Once we gain control over one part of the legislative branch, we can cause Trump a lot of grief.  But first, we have to get there. 

 

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!:

Al Franken - Giant of the Senate, and the man who should be out next president.

In an age of political correctness on the left, Al Franken was one of its victims.  I will not focus on his resignation from the Senate, nor will I focus on this man's comedic past.  Instead, I will focus on a man who won the respect of people, and is more qualified than our present president to hold that office.

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When Al Franken decided to run for the Senate, many people didn't take him seriously. Because of his previous career in comedy, they thought he'd be making fun of the Senate and its institutions. Even though many people didn't take his candidacy seriously, he won his first election by 312 votes - forcing a recount before he was seated.

During his first term, he barely cracked a joke.  When he did, it was not in public.  He was spending all of his time earning the respect of both his fellow Senators and of his fellow Minnesotans.  By the time the votes were counted in his second election, he won with 53.8% of the ballots cast.

An avowed Liberal, Franken favors a single payer health care system.  He has also addressed conflicts of interest in the issuance of financial securities, by creating an independent board to choose which ratings firm would be used to rate a given security. I could go on and on, but it would sound more like a rehash of a Wikipedia entry than a detailed list of things this man had worked on during his tenure as a Senator.

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Sadly, Al Franken was forced out of office by the puritanical wing of the Democratic party. Although he has showed remorse for his actions (unlike our president), the "Me Too" movement needed sacrificial lambs, and he was chosen.  Yet, he still has the respect of more people in the Democratic party than those who would keep him from running for office again. 

Franken's sense of humor (as a politician) can be summed up by two jokes about Ted Cruz:

1. When an average American thinks of a bad cruise, they think of Carnival.
   When a Senator thinks of a bad Cruz, they think of Ted.
2. I'm Ted Cruz's closest friend in the Senate.
   And I Hate Ted.

Years ago, Charlie Chaplin said that if he knew how evil Adolf Hitler was when he filmed The Great Dictator, he'd never have made the film.  Mel Brooks takes the opposite tack. He tries to belittle and make fun of Hitler every chance he gets.  He feels that people that evil do not deserve respect.  As for me, I wish I could have told Chaplin to make the film, as all dictators need to be taken down, and the best way to do so is with humor.  Franken is the type of person who can and will use humor as a weapon if needed. And he is the only one who could burst Trump's bubble of invincibility with a well placed gag during a debate.

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Given the man who is POTUS now, we know that Franken is good enough to be president. We know that he is smart enough to be president. And he is still well liked by the majority of Americans.  Hopefully, he will throw his hat into the ring, and be elected our 46th president in 2020.

Al Franken for President - 2020