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WEST VIRGINIA DEATH SPIRAL

Before I get into this post a bit of my background.  I was born in Huntington West Virginia in 1952 and have lived in the state most of my entire life.  As a youth my father was an insurance salesman and my mother worked at Owens Illinois Glass Plant.  I remember that out family was close net and our neighbors watched out after each other.  It was a time of the nuclear family. A Peyton Place type of community where Sundays was time to attend church and then the strong sent of charcoal burring in the air as everyone seemed to be grilling out at the same time.  A time when families set down to dinner together at a set time and then retired to the living room to watch the Wonderful World of Disney on TV.  A typical middle working class family. Somewhere along the way things started to change. I remember Owens Illinois closing.  Then ACF "American Car and Foundry" closed.  Then the C&O shops closed.  The jobs were leaving and there was not a lot coming along to replace them

STIRRING THE POT

Now I am all about efficiency and the reduction of government waist.  But radical over the top changes is like asking a blind person to help you touch up your makeup.  Donald Trump is suggesting the combining, or even privatizing some of the executive branch offices.  First lets look at the list of executive offices. State Justice Justice Interior Agriculture Commerce Labor Defense Health and Human Services Housing and Urban Development Transportation Energy Education Veterans Affairs Homeland Security So which of these departments could you imagine being combined or privatized? Reference. The Presidential Executive Order on a Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/13/presidential-executive-order-comprehensive-plan-reorganizing-executive . 

HOW IT APPEARS

Donald Trump apparently gets his security briefings from watching TV and reading right-wing reports off the internet.  Donald Trump tweets the following on March 4th, 2017 at 6:35am.  the following. "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!" "Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW! "   "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!"  "How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"  These tweets set off a firestorm with the media and within the government.  The question that first arose was "Where are the facts that support this

BIGGER FISH TO FRY

Today one of my Facebook followers brought to my attention that West Virginia state senator Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, wants to get a resolution though the state senate in regards to the apparent epidemic of men watching porn and the related health crises this is causing.  Now here is how my mind works.  My first thought was where did this research come from?  Who knew it was an epidemic and then I thought why?  Well lets first look at her claims and they may be true, I have no personal knowledge of such things.   She says "pornography viewership ultimately damages families and children, can cause depression, psychological issues and self-esteem issues, and leads to the objectification of women and domestic violence."  She goes on to say that pornography is equal to the opioid crisis in West Virginia.  Really?  Well I would love to know where her research comes from?  There must be a lot of surveillance going on to justify such a statement.  OK, so guys in We

US AT WAR WITH MEXICO

Without a single shot being fired Donald Trump went to war with Mexico.  Now I realize no tanks or armaments have been used and we have not started deploying troops to our neighbor south of the US.  But we are at war just the same.  What is war?  Tony Benn describes it best. “All war represents a failure of diplomacy.” and Donald Trump has no prior experience in foreign relations or diplomacy.  And to make things worse he has not surrounded himself with people with experience in these areas.  So the result is a failure in diplomacy with Mexico.  He made no effort or as he would put it "Negotiate the deal" with Enrique Peña Nieto the president of Mexico.  But instead started by making the following remarks.  I am quoting here his exact words. * Donald Trump kicked off his campaign on June 16, 2015 with a speech in which he labeled immigrants from Mexico "rapists" and criminals. "When Mexico sends it people, they're not sending their best. They're

On The Job Training

On the issue of Donald Trump making the claim that President Obama wire taped his phones in Trump Tower during the election season.  When the president makes such a claim things happen.  When the president speaks he is speaking for the highest office in the land.  And he is speaking for the country. So if it is not true this could result into something very serious because Congress has started an investigation as a result of Donald Trumps tweets.  This cost resources and a lot of tax payers money.  But Donald Trump is not a seasoned politician and is now learning on the job that when he tweets or says something as president things happen.  And if it is determined that Donald Trump did make these unsubstantiated claims he has violated the trust of the office.  That would lead to his impeachment under Article 25 of the constitution.  "4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress ma

Obama Care Lite

There is a growing number of republican law makers on the hill who are saying that the repeal and replace of Obama care is looking more and more like Obama Care Lite (ACA).  But for me I think most of America is missing some critical points.  First, a part of the new affordable care act is about tax credits to help Americans afford insurance.  Here is how I think that works.  You pay higher premiums for your health insurance and when you file your taxes you get some of that back in the form of tax credits.  So is that not subsidizing the insurance industry?  And what keeps the insurance industry from simply increasing premium cost?  How does the average working class American afford to pay even more for insurance monthly and then have to wait till tax season to get some of that back?  For me that just seems hard to accomplish when most hard working families are living from pay check to pay check with little or no extra money to pay for increase insurance premiums.  And yesterday Re

WARNING - THIS IS MY SITE, MY OPINIONS, MY VIEWS, AND MY THOUGHTS

I have decided to start posting my thoughts about the state of our planet, our country and our future here on my blog.  That way they can be read by those who have an interest and skipped by those who have no interest.   Me writing about my feelings is mostly self serving and therapy.   I am a democrat.  Mainly because I believe like most democrats.  We share many of the same views.  But I also welcome self proclaimed independents and republican thoughts and views.  We may not agree but I do read the post and support your right to disagree with me. So lets just get to right into todays news.  Today the RNC "Republican" party finally released what would be considered a pre-release of there replacement to the ACA "Affordable Care Act"  Or as it is known Obama Care.  President Obama all during his administration kept telling the RNC if you have a better plan or you want to change something submit it.  But it appears they either had no plan or did not want to help giv