MY MENTAL SAFE SPACE

In these strange times we all need a safe space in our minds. I realized this morning while doing the breakfast dishes, after seeing some very disturbing images and news, that I have a safe space in my mind. I found myself laughing out loud, almost uncontrollably. What set off this moment of levity? Boaty McBoatface, of course!

In 2016, the Natural Resource Research Council of Great Britain decided to ask the public, via the internet, to name a new polar research vessel. The NRRC offered some names of polar explorers, scientists and others that would be appropriate, but left it open for proposed names. The winning name, by a huge margin, was the RSS Boaty McBoatface. The NRRC decided not to use that name, but in a nod to the humor of the public, they did use that name for a remotely-operated research submersible (an actual yellow submarine).

Maybe it is my strange sense of humor, but I find this episode of trusting the public for something that one should never trust the public to do, quite hilarious. And it seems that in some of the most dire of times, I break out in a huge smile or audible laugh when my brain brings up Boaty McBoatface. I simply think it is hilarious, and always will.

So yes, Boaty McBoatface is my safe space. Thank you, Boaty, for being a comfort to me.

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TRUMP: THIS IS SERIOUS AND URGENT

There is a madman in the White House, seriously. Donald Trump is an unhinged madman who has thrown the entire world into a very dangerous position. The past few days have been a whirlwind of very serious events, and our future is at this point very uncertain.

As I watched the news readers on MSNBC and CNN last night, and then the talking heads on those shows, I realized that they were trying to hide the fearful reality that they know; Donald Trump is off his rocker and the world is in great danger. Only the filmmaker Roger Moore, interviewed by Ali Velshi on MSNBC, had the boldness to speak the truth about our present realities. It was sobering.

In a matter of days, Donald Trump has:

• come close to shutting down the government (we will know today what happens) because Congress would not put $5 billion in the budget to built his wall. (Trump at first appeared willing to sign the authorization that did not have the $5B, but then changed his mind after all of the right-wing TV/radio nut jobs took him to task.);
• announced on Twitter that he is pulling all US troops out of Syria (this took our allies by surprise, and has left the Kurdish fighters feeling abandoned by the US, thus playing solidly into the hands of Russia and Iran, and greatly pleasing the autocratic president of Turkey);
• lost his Secretary of Defense, Gen. Jim Mattis, who resigned in protest after the Trump tweet about Syria (read his letter of resignation - it is a chilling warning to all of us);
• been implicated in crimes committed by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and watched his former National Security Advisor, Gen. Michael Flynn, get chastised by a federal judge at his sentencing hearing for committing serious crimes (the judge even asked if Flynn's actions might be considered treason);
• lost his Chief of Staff, Gen. John Kelly, and had trouble finding someone willing to take on that job;
• had his appointed interim Attorney General refuse to recuse himself from the Mueller investigation after the DOJ attorneys recommended that he recuse himself (and the next Trump AG appointee is on record as being opposed to the Mueller investigation);
• (I have to add that at the recent UN Climate Conference in Poland, the US delegation held a session promoting the benefits of coal!!)

So here is the situation we are in:

• all of the "adults in the room" (and most of them were not very good people, anyway) have left the room; 
• Trump's inner circle is now totally comprised of sycophants who promote mean, evil and un-American values, actions and lies; 
• Trump's appointed agency directors are solidly in his industry/big money camp, and are actively deconstructing government to please the big money interests;
• Trump has thoroughly alienated American allies around the world, leaving a power vacuum that Russia and China are eagerly trying to fill;
• Trump's shady cons and apparent crimes are becoming more and more visible, and the Special Counsel investigation appears to be winding up with projected release of reports within 1-2 months.

The President of the United States is under siege, and is increasingly lashing out via Twitter at everyone. He is truly unbalanced and dangerous. He will become even more unhinged once the Democrats take over the House of Representatives next month, and will try everything he can, using Executive Orders and other means, to get his way. 

This is truly a major crisis in America and the world. Donald Trump must be removed from office now; the world cannot wait until the 2020 election. 

Every American should be very concerned right now. Every one of us should call every one of our representatives in Congress and urge them to get Donald Trump out of office, under the terms of our Constitution. It can, and must, be done now; it might already be too late. 

Seriously.

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WHY ARE YOU ALL STILL ON FACEBOOK?

Does it seem that almost every week or two there is a new revelation about Facebook doing something that is not what it's users think it is doing? Well, the reason it seems like that is because it is. Today the NY Times published an article about Facebook giving big tech companies a lot of access to Facebook users' account information, including their friends.  In other words, yet another major violation of Facebook users' privacy without their permission. Worse, Facebook claims that these big tech companies are users' "friends" and therefore the permissions given to the big tech firms fit into the permissions the users gave for access by "friends." Really?

For years, Facebook gave some of the world’s largest technology companies more intrusive access to users’ personal data than it has disclosed, effectively exempting those business partners from its usual privacy rules, according to internal records and interviews.

It seems that a large number of people I know who are on Facebook often say to me "I wish I could leave Facebook, but I can't." Well, yes you can; I did it months ago and have really not missed it a bit. Yes, yes, I know that for many people Facebook is how you stay in touch with friends and family who you might otherwise not stay in touch with. I get it, and it's a good thing. I don't think Facebook is just evil; I do know that Facebook only makes money by selling every bit of data it can squeeze from users (and even non-users - more about that in a bit), and, it seems, by giving access to user information to other tech companies who use it to make money. If this is OK with you, then end of discussion. If it's not OK with you, well..

Facebook allowed Microsoft's Bing search engine to see the names of virtually all Facebook users' friends without consent, the records show, and gave Netflix and Spotify the ability to read Facebook users' private messages. 

And by the way, Facebook tracks you even if you don't have a Facebook account. According to my Duck-Duck-Go web browser, the three top tracking offenders on the web are Google (80%), Facebook (37%) and Twitter (19%). these companies, and a huge number of others, track web traffic from everyone. 

Facebook will crash and burn one of these days. What will you do then? I don't really have the answer, but there is one out there. I signed up on MeWe, a privacy-centric, no data collection social networking site. Yesterday the second person I know signed up on it - certainly not a flood of people leaving Facebook! I don't use MeWe because none of my friends or family are on it. The point is that there are alternatives out there waiting for us all.

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PERPS, NOT PATRIOTS

Based on a TV talking head I saw recently, it appears that some people might consider perps like lawyer Michael Cohen and General Michael Flynn to be patriots because they decided to cooperate with the investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. According to the perps and their lawyers, these guys chose to cooperate, to tell the truth, out of a loyalty to their country, out of their civil duty, out of their patriotism. 

I don't buy it; these guys are crooks and con artists. Cohen will do time; Flynn should, too.

Breaking news today sheds a bright light on the mercenary business of Mike Flynn. I don't have the energy to go into the details - just look at your news feeds - but this guy is, as they say, a real piece of work. He didn't just lie to the F.B.I., he was operating as the agent for a foreign government, Turkey, without filing the required papers with the US government to do so. His company had a $600,000 contract from the Turkish government to help them get their hands on a Turkish ex-patriot living legally in the United States, a man Turkish President Erdogan claims orchestrated the coup against him, and wants the US to extradite him to Turkey. And believe me, if he is extradited to Turkey, they will murder him the moment he steps off the plane! And Flynn was doing this while he was an advisor to Trump, and then when he was National Security Advisor. Even worse, the Trump team was informed of this by the intelligence services, and they chose to do nothing for a few weeks.

Alligators in the Swamp!

Mike Flynn, retired U.S. Army General. If you don't remember it, internet search Mike Flynn and "lock her up." He participated in, and led the crowds in the Trump rally chants of "Lock her up! Lock her up!"

Michael Cohen, according to Michael Cohen, was duped by Donald Trump, followed a man he admired and was mislead, regrets his actions,.....(excuse me while I throw up). Cohen is a well-known con man who is guilty of much more than we've seen recently. He deserves the jail time he got, and more.

I am aware, as I write this, that tomorrow a judge will sentence Mike Flynn. Mueller recommended no jail time for Mike, based on his cooperation with the Special Counsel. I understand the reasoning here, send a message to other perps that, if they cooperate, they could get a good deal from the DOJ.

But I say: "Lock him Up! Lock him Up!"

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DONALD TRUMP'S BIGGEST MISTAKE OF HIS LIFE

Poor The Donald. Now every one of his business ventures is being investigated. Even his children who are involved in these businesses are implicated. Will the law finally catch up with this family of grifters?

Donald made the biggest mistake of his life when he decided to run for president. His goal was not to be president, but to burnish his brand and make it a globally-recognized name that would promote even more shady deals. He knew that he had no chance of winning the election, so this was a sure bet.

Unfortunately for The Donald - and for the rest of the world - he accomplished the impossible, he won the election. His elevation to POTUS put everything about him under the microscope of the law, and he is now in very deep doodoo.

Had The Donald not run for president, the intensity of investigations about him and his businesses and charities would likely not be so great. Big mistake, Don; too bad for you.

The walls are tumbling down around the Trump family, and hopefully these grifters will be exposed for what they are, and penalized heavily for their crimes and cons. I only hope the world recovers quickly once they are gone.

All together now: Lock them up! Lock them up!

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“DISEASE-RIDDEN” “RAPISTS AND MURDERERS” ATTACKING OUR SOUTHERN BORDER

I've truly had more than enough of the Trump bigoted bullshit. Anyone who has been awake for the past three years knows about the “murderers and rapists,” and a few days ago he made up a myth that the immigrants at our doorstep are carriers of horrible diseases.

History Lesson

It's time to deal with the immigration question. So let's start with a bit of history that I assume most Americans don't know (I'm not an expert, but have done some reading).

The territory that those horrible immigrants from south of the border are trying to "invade" used to be part of Mexico until 1848. It's complicated, but here is a quick timeline:

• 1521 - Spanish explorer Cortėz conquered the Aztecs, enslaved most of the indigenous people, and European diseases killed about 24 million indigenous people between 1521 and 1605
• 1523 - Catholic missionaries arrived and converted millions of people
• 1821 - Mexico gained independence from Spain
• 1822 - Itúrbide declared himself Emperor of Mexico
• 1823 - Santa Ana overthrew Itúrbide and established the Mexico Republic
• 1836 - Santa Ana defeated the Texans at the Alamo (remember the Alamo?) thus squelching the Texan's bid for independence; the Texans had declared the Republic of Texas
• 1845 - U.S. annexed the Republic of Texas, which Mexico had not recognized as independent from Mexico
• 1846-48 - the Mexican-American War. U.S. President Polk, under his policy of Manifest Destiny (the United States should expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean), provoked the Mexican government by sending troop to a disputed area (both countries claimed it), and after Mexican troops won a few battles with the American troops, Polk asked for and received a Declaration of War from Congress
• 1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - U.S. victory in the Mexican-American War resulted in the U.S. claiming all the Mexican territory shown in the map, above.  The treaty guaranteed a number of rights to Mexican citizens who lived in and/or owned property in the territory ceded to the U.S.; the treaty agreements have often been broken or ignored. 

Every Central and South American country has a complicated history of conquest and colonization by Europeans. With the exception of people descended from the many groups of indigenous people who lived in the Western Hemisphere before the Europeans "discovered" it, we are all immigrants. The United States of America is a country occupying land stolen from other people; how dare we now label people as "illegals" and "aliens" and "undesirables" who simply want to immigrate here like the rest of us did? 

And for a quick look at immigration to the USA, here is a good image:

The Present Reality

And now here we are in Trumpworld. The immigration laws in the USA are complicated and outdated, and include many biases. The problems we see today did not start with the election of Trump; however, the problems are being dealt with in much more draconian ways than under previous administrations. We now assume people are guilty of something just for showing up at the border. We now abduct children from their parents and put them in detention camps, many of which are cruel and brutal places for anyone, let alone for children. We detain adults and children for many months, sometimes years, while the wheels of the immigration process grind ever-so-slowly. We deport people without a fair hearing. We provide no legal counsel to people, including children, who are brought before an immigration judge under a system that immigration lawyers describe as extremely complex and unfair. We have deported parents while keeping their kidnapped kids, and even adopted out the kids without the knowledge of the parents. We do all of this, the United States of America, America the Brutalfull! 

My Immigration Policies

If I were Ruler of America, here are what my policies would contain (and note that I am searching for a comprehensive plan to "fix" US immigration policy, so far without any success):

• Foreign Policy. We need to address the core issues that are driving people north to our southern border, including poverty and crime. Instead of threatening to halt all foreign aid to countries like El Salvador and Guatemala as Trump has, I would instruct my Department of State to work diligently with Central and South American governments, individually and within the framework of the Organization of American States and the United Nations, to identify and implement key measures to improve economies, reduce poverty, fight and reduce crime, especially related to drugs, improve food, medical and educational programs, and other measures. Yes, the wealthy United States should be a leader in these efforts. 
• Immigration Law. Fix our immigration laws so they are modernized to reflect the realities of the 21st Century. Ensure that the immigration process is humane, compassionate, efficient, effective, and fair. 
• Immigration Policy. First and foremost, recognize and proclaim that America is a nation of immigrants, that immigration to the United States is a good thing, that we welcome and honor immigrants and will always give them a chance to become Americans if they meet certain universal criteria. Reconstruct our immigration and security services to serve the people who ask for asylum or apply for entry in ways that are kind and just. Guarantee that immigration and asylum applicants will be processed quickly and treated fairly. Never separate children from their parents, except under the most dire circumstances. 

I understand that our immigration system is overwhelmed along our southern border. No one, not even Democrats as accused by the Trumpsters, thinks we should have an open border and anyone can simply walk in. I heard on the news today, for example, that an average of 170 unaccompanied minors cross the border or show up at border crossings every day. These children are placed in detention camps, mostly operated by private corporations under contract to the US government (and, btw, they have been exempted from being vetted, so all kinds of people - good and evil - work in them). This is not sustainable, and it is certainly not good for the children who end up in this system. The first step is to rescue these children. The longer-term step is to fix our immigration system. 

My grandparents were immigrants who escaped poverty and bigotry in eastern Europe to find a better life in America. As the grandchild of immigrants, I welcome immigrants to our country.

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