Don't Let Blue Wave Think We Will Win - VOTE

For about 6 years I ran elections in school districts across Michigan.  All those elections where for a school district millage.  The people who benefited the most, the parents of the children in school, were expected to bring the issue in on election day.  Any votes that we received from grandparents or other people that knew there was a benefit of a good education system were appreciated.

In advance of the election campaign, we would calculate how many votes we needed to win the election, based on averages from past elections.  Then, add 

10 to 20% additional votes to make sure we had enough.

Next step was to count the number of parents.  In many cases, there were enough votes in the parent head count to win the election.

Occasionally, we would lose.  Do you wonder why?  It was group think.  I learned early that we needed to make everyone think it was going to be close.  That would mean that every vote would count. 

Let me restate: Every vote from every individual in the district was needed.

Winning an election is an “If, Then” matrix statement.  We can win this election if the voters who support the cause get out and vote.  “If, Then” and only then.  To be confident about an election win will almost always be a disaster. 

The problem with being confident about an election win is wrapped in three things. 

First, there does need to be some confidence that it is possible to win.  Voters will not turn out if they think no matter their efforts, nothing will change.  So, the confidence level needs to be balanced.

Second, with a high confidence of win, a “We don’t have to fight so hard” attitude sets in.  In close elections, campaign workers, left to their own, will work hard to make up the possible short fall.  But, if there is a high confidence to win, they may take a day or two off.  Those days could be the days the worker would have reached a voter that may not have been reached.      

Third, when there is high confidence of an election win, on election day, it is not the group that fails, but the individual.  The thinking in the individual’s mind is a matter of priorities.  “I have dinner to get for the kids,” “It was a long day at work and I am tired,” or, “Oh, I forgot and don’t want to go out again to vote.”  All rationalized with a, “We are going to win anyway” thought.

Those elections that were lost, a new call for an election as soon as legally possible was supported.  In the next election, we would remind voters about the loss of the last election.  They were told that the election should have been won but not enough supporters made it to the polls. 

In all cases, the next election we kicked ass.

The 2016 election people didn’t show up to support the Democratic ticket.  We did win the vote count nationwide, no question.  But, in those precincts that were close in just a few states, Democrats didn’t show up to vote (or, when they did, they voted for Trump).  It is rumored that if just 2 more people in each precinct in the state of Michigan supported the Democrats, Michigan would not have been in Trump’s win column.

We are faced with one of the most historic elections in my lifetime.  Could be in the last century.  Under Trump, the nation is changing.  The Democrats and other people on the left are not happy, if not angry.  You would think it would be easy because people in the center and to the left of center make up most voters.  Just get them to the polls and we win.

That’s what we thought in 2016, of course we will win.  And then, at 3:00 am we found out we lost, lost big time.

Now there is talk of a Blue Wave.  This is the election that the Democrats take back the country – our country.  But, if we keep talking about the Blue Wave without conditions, we will lose again.  If we lose again, the right will wreak havoc on the America we know.  There is a chance we may not get it back. 

So be careful when you talk of a Blue Wave.  There is a Blue Wave, only and only IF WE VOTE.

Couldn't Pay Enough

It is difficult to believe that the women who have come forward to accuse Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee, of sexual assault are just actors being played out by the Democrats in a wild game of smear the nominee.

Could you pay someone enough money to go through what they are experiencing?  It would all need to be under the table so that no body knows about it.  Would it be a $1,000, or $10,000?  Would that be enough to endure all the death threats, having to move from your home and place your children in danger?

Tell me Trump supporters, is that something you would do if you thought you could get Kavanaugh through the process for just $10,000? 

No, the amount needs to be a million or two or three.  But then, you would need to hide the money so that no body knows you have it.  Because, as soon as you begin to live beyond you means, someone will take note.

And, they will be taking notes for a long time after this plays out.  They will be watched by crazies and by professionals.  Counting the money, they spend and adding it all up.  Remember, that is how the FBI put Capone in jail.  They counted the money he spent.  It all added up to more than he was declaring on his taxes.

Telling me also, isn’t the right looking into their entire lives right now?  There are people on both sides whose only job is to find dirt.  (That is what the entire Russian Election investigation is all about, Donald Trump thought he could find dirt on Hillary Clinton.)  They are not amateurs that just search the Internet till 2 in the morning.  They are gum shoes that follow the women around, poke into everyone’s life that know the women, dig into to school, work and any kind of file that there is.  If there is anything that would damage the creditability of these women, the right would have it right now.      

But, the reality is, these women and women across America are tired of the way this all goes down.  If you say anything when it happens, you must be lying.  If you bring up anywhere from a few days later to 30 years later, they say it is too late   Why didn’t you say something then?

There is a more important point to all this other than Kavanaugh is presumed innocent until proven guilty.  The point is that the accuser is not presumed guilty before any fair investigation is conducted.

At this point, I don’t believe one will be conducted, and it certainly won’t be fair.    

In Support of Christine Blasey Ford

We have recently heard about the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, the judge that has been nominated to the Supreme Court by Donald Trump.  Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault.    

It is being asked, mind you after the year of #metoo, why is Ford coming forward now.  Is this politically motivated?  Has she made it up?

I can tell you, it is very understandable that Ford has waited this long.  I am telling you as a man who has not experienced sexual assault, but as someone that has experienced a childhood full of personal degradation from the very people that are supposed to be your biggest protectors, my parents. 

In the 50’s and early 60’s, parents were given all the room they needed to raise their children, even if that meant there were clear signs of abuse.  Some of my abuse from my parents was even witnessed by family members and teachers, yet nothing was said to me or done to stop it.  (I must add, after rereading the blog post, there was one teacher that witnessed the degradation in her classroom after school hours.  It included my father hitting me more than once.  The next day, the teacher did approach me during the school day and asked if I was okay.  I said yes because I didn’t want to make things worse.  Maybe if I just keep my head down, this will pass.)  You take that as being your fault and that this is just normal life.  Everybody must go through this.  Your expression of outrage, pain and in the long run, depression is met with indifference.     

That indifference is the secondary society abuse that you receive.  It may not be direct physical abuse but is just as damaging to the soul.  Here you have been degraded to second class citizen in the family unit and now society (and the extended family) disregard your expressions and walk away from you.  Leaving you alone to deal with the problems on your own.

When overpowered by someone else, as I was by my parents, you believe that you did something to encourage the abuse.  You believe that nobody will believe you.

In Ford’s case, she was over powered by a man in one of the most degrading ways possible.  She was not in control of her own body.  She has also been quoted as saying she was in fear of her own life. 

Ford’s statement about her treatment would have been treated as mine.  Plus, at the time and certainly to this day, her gender makes a big difference. Woman are treated differently.  Their statements about abuse and assault are treated with indifference.  You shouldn’t have been in the room.  You must have done something that encouraged him.  You must have liked the attention. 

Does all that sound familiar?  You need only reread the preceding paragraphs about my own experiences to see there are not only parallels and similarities, but they are the same thing. 

All of this means you bury it.  But, even buried, it causes many problems in your life, even if you not be aware of it.  Afterall, isn’t that the lesson you learned from the society around you when you mentioned it? 

Then something changes.  Life comes down on you.  As a person that has been nurtured correctly by your parents or who has not had to bury deep and harsh trauma, you respond well.  You address the issues that you face, solve the problems and build a happy life.

But, if you have had trouble in your life and you are thinking of yourself as a second-class person, you don’t respond well. 

For me, it was facing all the responsibilities of being on my own.  Since my parents had taught me that I was unable of sustain my own life without them, I begin to fail at some of the most fundamental issues of life.  Yes, it was all the practical ones like managing my everyday life, but more importantly, it was personal relationships and not having a feeling of at least a small measure of happiness.

It sent me into hell.  In therapy, I had to dig into every pile of shit that I had pushed to the backroom of my mind and relive them.  Yes, relive.  Because, by reliving them you are given the opportunity to draw more life affirming conclusions that enable you learn to deal with the pressures of your life. 

For Ford, she went into therapy also.  This was before Kavanaugh.  She wasn’t waiting for him to be nominated to the Supreme Court, as if she knew some day he was going to be.  She went for personal reasons.  She wanted what I wanted and what every single person in this world wants, a small slice of happiness and peace.

Ford needed to relive the experience, as horrifying as that is, and draw a different conclusion.  That new conclusion is that Kavanaugh must be held responsible for his actions.

Now, I am here to tell you, Ford will still be held to some of the same societal indifference and degradation today as she would have been 30 years ago.  I know I am.  I have even given up explaining my childhood abuse to most people today because it is way to difficult to get past the first reaction most come up with, “Oh, every child has those same experiences, get over it.” 

For Ford, it is, why are you bringing it up now?  If you don’t understand the answer to that question, then you must be held as responsible as Kavanaugh.              

Manafort Trial Witness List Provided by the Federal Government

Here is the witness list for the government for the Paul Manafort trial to begin on July 31, 2018

CASE NO. 1:18-CR-83-TSE

Trial Date: July 31, 2018

The Honorable T. S. Ellis, III

GOVERNMENT'S WITNESS LIST

The United States of America, by and through undersigned counsel, hereby submits its

list of potential witnesses.

1. Ali, Hesham

2. Ayliff, Philip

3. Brennan, James

4. Day, John

5. DeLuca, Douglas

6. Devine, Tad

7. Duggan, Donna

8. Evenson, Darin

9. Gates, Richard

10. Holland, Wayne

11. Jacobson, Stephen

12. James, Melinda

13. Katzman, Maximillian

14. Kirimca, Irfan

15. Laporta, Cindy

16. LaPorte, Kevin

17. Liss, Paula

18. Magionos, Morgan

19. Maxwell, Joel

20. Metzler, Amanda

21. Miceli, Peggy

22. Michael, Renee

23. Mikuska, Matthew

24. O’Brien, Conor

25. Opsut, Daniel

26. Rabin, Daniel

27. Raico, Dennis

28. Regolizio, Michael

29. Rodriguez, Taryn

30. Seferian, Gary

31. Sullivan, Stacey

32. Trusko, Alex

33. Wall, Ronald

34. Washkuhn, Heather

35. Welch, Michael

Forget Personalities, Focus on Issues

Trump's poll numbers since January
as compiled by fivethiryeight.com (2)

It has come time when we must turn away from banging away at President Donald Trump’s moral and human shortcomings.

All the short comings are well documented for everyone to examine.  Those that support Trump have the same access as those that do not.  Every lie, every indiscretion, every personal failure, all his business catastrophes – all are part of the social, political and cultural library.

And yet, he maintains his support.  Trump himself even said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” (1)

This may be the one time he told the truth.

If attacks on his character is not turning a single vote away, then it has come time to take another course.  That course is on the issues.  

This doesn't mean that those that have deep personal difference with the way he conducts himself should just stop.  Indeed, as some examples, the way he has mocked the disabled, war heroes and statements that bring his gender bias to the forefront should be kept in the public eye.  These are statements of his position on the issues.    

You see, I have felt a long time that we are in danger of becoming a captive of personality.  Many of us, find commonality with others in a personality.  Many friends of mine were, and still are, strong supporters of President Barack Obama.  Some of us hung on his every action, watching for a clear message that would guide us to a deeper understanding of our culture and in what direction it was headed.  Others, like myself, felt comfortable with his leadership to the point that I paid less attention to his actions because I was sure that he would act in a way that was like the way I would, or would bring us to the same place in the future.

If nothing more, we found our commonality in our love, respect and devotion to the personality of Obama.  We banded together to support his tenure.

But now, many of the same people are bound to another personality, but not for the same reason.  This new group rose out of the Obama years.  But, this time, it is bound by our disdain for the personality of President Donald Trump.  It is as if we were shown an honorable example of leadership that were could rally around, then, in what seemed like some mysterious occurrence that no one expected we passed through a worm hole to find an opposing universe of dishonorable leadership.

Once we were bound by love, now we are bound by hate.

It is that hate that will kill us.  Hate is what will defeat us both personally and at the polls.  Hate is the type of motivation that propelled Trump to the Oval Office.  The hate, that we feel in ourselves right now, is what motivated the Trump supporter during the last presidential election, and, still does.

If we focus on our hate and Trump’s personal failures, the more likely the voters that supported Trump will, like Einstein’s repelling force, repel them farther from the middle ground and move them farther right.

Forget Trump.  Forget Obama.  (Did I just write, forget Obama?  Yes, bear with me before you reject everything that I have said – if indeed you made it this far.) For the love of our community and human kind, drop any attachment you have to personality, in the past, here in the present and in the future.  Personalities, whether for good or evil – are not what we should be focused on.

Let us be bound by problems that need to be solved and their solutions.  While we focus on personalities, we blind ourselves to solutions.  What if, and it is even frightening to ask the question, Trump has a good idea to solve a problem?  Because it came from Trump are we to reject and resist?  When Obama was president, did we just go along with everything he did because, well, because he was Obama?  I certainly didn’t.

There is a big schism between the left and the right.  Most solutions that the left develops is often reject out of hand by the right.  But, it happens the other way around as well.  The left regularly rejects the right’s solutions to even some of the most benign problems that the world faces.  Why would we reject something before even considering it?  You may of course know the answer.  Because it must have evil intent because it came from the other side.

Many times, the left and the right also shift their positions.  As often as not, there can be a complete turnaround in just 1 or 2 election cycles.  Most of the time, that’s because a personality (note, a personality) everyone rallies around has demanded a change in a party platform instead of an actual mia culpa (3) by the party.

By focusing on the issues, people can see how issues affect them.  Then, solutions can be developed from the grass roots level instead of at the personality level.  People will then decide for themselves what will be best for them, and it must be with the good of the community also in mind.

Instead a personality, more times then not, will decide what will keep them in power.

1       https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/24/donald-trump-says-he-could-shoot-somebody-and-still-not-lose-voters

2          https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/

3          Mia Culpa

All Families Need to be Reunited

Many children of immigrants stopped at the border have been reunited with their families.  This is 24 hours after the court ordered deadline to reunite the families.  The Department of Homeland Security has failed to meet the deadline for all families.

It would seem to me that when they planned to take children away from their parents they would have also asked, “What happens when they need to be returned?  What happens when we deport the parents, shouldn’t the kids also go with them?”

But, according to an article on ABC on line:

[Asked if deported parents would see their kids again, officials from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Health and Human Services told reporters they are under "no obligation to bring people who have no lawful status in this country back into this country for reunification."] (1)

Department of Homeland Security feels no obligation to reunite the children with their parents.  If the parents were being deported, they should have found the children of those parents and deported all of them together.

Now, Homeland Security thinks that they have no obligation to reunite them. (I know I keep repeating it, but it needs to be repeated:  No obligation to reunite.)

In any policing action, and this is a policing action, once the accused is arrested or detained, the arresting agency takes responsibility for the safety, health and wellbeing of the detained.  In this case, both the parents and the children are being detained.  The rules of arrest should apply to both the parents and the children.

[It doesn’t matter whether you are a police officer transporting a prisoner from a street arrest scene, a police officer picking up a prisoner for court, a police officer transporting a sick inmate, a detective taking a prisoner out of lock up to a remote site for an interview, or an airport police officer holding a person for transport, you are now responsible for that prisoner’s “care and wellbeing.”] (2)

What, I ask, could be more important to the wellbeing of an individual then their children when detained?  And, it follows, what could be more important to the children who are separated from their families then the wellbeing of being reunified with their families?

The excuse of having no obligation is a cop out.

What is to happen to these children?  Are they to languish in detention forever?  Will they be placed in a home with a family that wants to adopt them?

Family adoptions by care givers in the United States, so says the Supreme Court by not reviewing a case of family reunification, is okay. (3) (How can an Immigrant Mother Loose Her Child in Court?) 

This is kidnapping.  (Kid, being the operative word here, and not in jest).

This is also cultural conversion because the Department of Homeland Security thinks the children staying in the United States and being sent, in some cases, to a Christian organization, to watch over them is better then their home country, home culture and their parents. (4)

Here is what needs to change:

• If families are separated from their children, for any reason, the detaining agency must make plans to reunite the families.  This is to be applied no matter what happens to the parents.

• Separation at the borders must stop.  While there is an executive order that says that families are not to be separated, I believe it is still happening and needs to stop.

• ICE needs to be reorganized, not abolished.

• The legal concept that you have no (or limited) rights at the border, as a citizen, as a legal resident, an immigrant, tourist or any other label, needs to be changed.  While ICE does have the responsibility to render an opinion on the status of the individual, they are merely police.  They are not to be the final judgement of an individual’s right to enter the country.  Only a federal court can make that judgement.

The current administration is overreaching its authority on border security.  Since ICE and the Department of Homeland security can stop, question and arrest anyone within 100 miles of the United States border, this overreaching is providing an authoritarian control over millions of peoples lives and breaking families up.

(1) https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/feds-won-t-say-if-they-will-reunite-kids-deported-n890886

(2) https://www.policeone.com/suspect-transport/articles/1362257--In-your-care-and-custody-When-police-officers-become-corrections-officers/

(3) https://getpocket.com/a/read/2235743716

(4) https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/06/michigan_impacted_by_trump_adm.html

How Can an Immigrant Mother Loose Her Child in Court?

I can provide hundreds of links to the Republican Party that states they are the party of families.  We all know the mantra of the party.


So, how is it possible that immigration, the courts and the adopted parents can allow a five year old child to be kept away from his mother?


What you say?  Read this link.

From the article, "A Missouri judge ruled the boy should stay with the Missouri couple, Melinda and Seth Moser, who took him into their home five years ago while his mother was in federal custody, where she attempted in vain to oppose the adoption proceedings."

Full disclosure here, I am an adopted child.  I was forcible taken from my mother at birth and given to another family.  The reason for the removal of my mother's parental rights were all lies provided by people that didn't want my mother to raise me.  (Yes, I have documents about the case.  I now know who my mother was and she was not as they said she was.)

In this woman's case, because she did not have proper representation at hearings, she lost her rights.

Shame on immigration for not keeping families together.

Shame on the courts for allowing such a thing to happen.

Shame on the adopted family for not supporting keeping families together.

Shame on you President Trump for allowing this to happen.