I have been thinking about where we, as a nation, are, what has been happening and where we are going.  I do not like the prospects.

There are three primary supporters.  One is the people who fear change, brown people and choose Trump despite what the choice is doing to the country.  They seem to feel that at last someone is paying attention to them and they do not care about Trump’s philandering, prolific mendacity, or financial duplicity.  I suspect many think it is a joke and possibly in the long run just politics, which they didn’t understand,  as usual.

They reject, facts, logic, and reason so it is extremely frustrating to try to discuss with them the current events in a rational manner.  When the Mueller report is released they will not believe its contents.

Another is the dyed in the wool racists, neo-nazis and right-wing extremists, and their fellow travelers, who simply hate any but those they perceive as being as lily white as they think they themselves to be.  They know that they cannot win a rational discussion so they choose force and up till now semi-violence, feeling that when this all shakes out they will be the natural Obersturmführers of the future.  They are dangerous and they will align themselves with any apparent strong leader.  Reason is not likely to work and I have no idea how to bring them into a morally sensible democratic system.

I remember Hillary Clinton once complaining about a “vast right-wing conspiracy” and laughed as at the time the idea seemed the kind of far-fetched secret plan of dystopian fiction books.

Watching the way things are progressing I have passed from ridiculing her claim, through wondering about it being possible, to a point where I do think that there are people and organizations that want to destroy our government and system of political democracy.  It may not be a signed agreement between like-minded individuals in some smoky room, but it seems to me that such individuals have found one another and are working to destroy the pillars of our  government, a vibrant free press, the U.S. Senate, once considered the worlds greatest deliberative body, the U.S. Supreme Court, the election process itself, and most insidiously, the federal investigative agencies.

We also are seeing the breakup of the North Atlantic Alliance, other international agreements, and the underlying trust in America’s good word, that has kept the world from war, as well as tariffs that have destroyed international commercial agreements.

The one bastion of strength untouched is the U.S. Military, but I recall even there, there has been an effort by evangelical Christians to subvert it through its officer corps. (Google: Air Force Academy Embroiled in Religious Controversy)

Along the way, the once respected presidency has fallen into the grubby fingers of a cadre of disgraceful men surrounding a spineless congenital liar who demands loyalty to himself above the rule of law and defense of the Constitution. (Google: Eid auf den .)

Another effort has been to ridicule education, science, and general learning just as it appears that the planet’s environment might be protected somewhat by simple preventive measures.

I suspect the goal is to create a new system of royalty controlled not by dukes, princes, and kings, but the extremely wealthy who are above the law and can influence events to sustain their wealth and exponentially expand their power.

Along the way, well placed religious leaders see it as a path to impose their particular belief system on society just as the Church of the Middle Ages was able to stifle thought and personal freedom.  What is amazing is that these leaders fail to realize that what gave them their strength and freedom to exist independently of a national church is the very democratic system that they are now working to destroy.

The question confronting reasonable people is what can be done to prevent a catastrophe?

Logic and reason will not convince many of these people,  they reject fact and evidence. I am divided between hoping to live long enough to see these problems solved and fearful of seeing them develop into an unrecognizable totalitarian system.

So where should a concerned citizen go to generate a positive effect on any of these motivated groups?

As far as I can see they are entrenched and unreachable through logic and reason.  Most libertarians reject the use of force as unfair, unjust and would be an unsustainable effort in the very democracy we wish to promote and protect.  We need some long-term thinking and planning and Congressional partisanship is not acceptable.

I am frustrated by what I see happening and have been for some time.

Charlie Jensen

Copyright 2018, Charles Jensen, All Rights Reserved

Rumor has it that there has been a rush to buy up old calendars in the last two weeks. Prices seem to vary with different years, while twenty and thirty-year-old examples go for close to $100..00 a piece, even recent five and ten-year dates are quite high for something often given away free to customers.

Some enterprising fellow even includes a notebook with hints as to what to write in about where a person might have been on those nights when they were drunk out of their mind. The premium calendar set comes with a selection of different number lead pencils and different ink ballpoint pens.

Pencil manufacturers had been closing down factories since so many people these days have never used anything but a text keyboard.  In specialty shops that are springing up one vendor has been selling the old straight tip wood pens with a small inkwell.

The New York Times Sunday edition is planning a review of the best events to add to an honest Senator’s dates and point out the forty most common mistakes. “The Anachronisms That Can Ruin Your Judicial Appointment”.

Certain Ivy League Universities are expanding their creative writing courses to include courses exploring the things that should never be put on a personal calendar and how to edit events to remove ambiguity, conflicts of interest and incriminating notations.

Charlie Jensen

Copyright 2018, Charlie Jensen, All Rights Reserved

The recently concluded appointment to the USSC filling Merritt Garland’s seat is an affront to anyone who loves our Constitution and a bloody disgrace to whatever few remaining members of Congress still have a conscience.

In some ways the Democrats bear a small portion of the blame as truthfully over several years they did tinker with some of the honored rules and customs of what was once called the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body. But the wholesale slaughter of what remained may bring us to an irreconcilable situation, for many liberal members now thirst for revenge. So many Americans have chosen to chant some distorted talking points and ignored the horror that they have committed.

One current mantra that seems to be popular among the right-wingers is to suggest that there has been no evidence presented that would justify further investigation has been that there has been no evidence provided that suggests the Candidate is not qualified.

Well first off the statement of the victim is evidence.

The therapist’s notes are evidence.

The behavior of the nominee, his demeanor, his angry response to legitimate queries is evidence.

His calendars are evidence.

His evasions to avoid answering simple questions one after another show an effort to deceive the committee and apparently hide something is telling evidence.

The sworn statements of two other victim/witnesses.

The book “Wasted” written by Tom Judge is evidence.

The now about forty (that is 40 !!!) people who have come forward to testify about whatever they saw or personally witnessed is all potential evidence.

And finally, the statements of the politicos who rushed the proceedings through with ungodly fervor and their determination not to call potential witnesses or at least interview them are evidence.

The facts are there in the evidence.

But I do not expect them to bother to honestly evaluate the facts that dwell within the evidence, nor to seek out the evidence that has been concealed by disinterest.

In fact, that very disinterest is a piece of true evidence that partisans simply do not care if they promote a serial rapist, sexual abuser, liar, and binge drinker to the highest lifetime appointment under our Constitution as long as he is their own serial rapist, sexual abuser, liar, and binge drinker.

Good luck sleeping as the truth rolls out.

Copyright 2018, Charles Jensen, All Rights Reserved