Okeefenokee on Steroids

So let me get something straight. Trump, during the campaign, and even now, enjoys riling up his audiences to cheer “ Lock her up!” about Hilary Clinton. Why lock her up? Because she allegedly was careless about possible security breaches in her e mails, and may have withheld certain relevant e mails from release which would constitute further evidence of the alleged cavalier manner in which she dealt with top secret information. Ok. Got that.

Fast forward to Jan 20, 2017 until now. The President’s son in law, who does not have the requisite security clearance to handle highly classified information, and never will, according to top Trump security officials, has been allowed on a daily basis to read the top secret daily briefing for his father in law, who WH aides claim, does not bother to read it for himself. Kushner, has also been caught by US Intelligence talking up his private business interests with high officials of the Chinese government, and failing to disclose those meetings. 

   He is viewed as highly susceptible to blackmail, as was the  dismissed and now criminally indicted and convicted felon, WH Security Adviser,  Gen. Mike Flynn. 

     Kushner is still there. He is still in the West Wing. Apparently he has been reduced to reading the comic sections of local newspapers, which is ok, because he doesn’t get paid a salary, and he is married to the President’s daughter, and is a “good boy”. 

Ok. Now , who should be chanting lock who up? The temerity, brazen bold faced double standard of the current occupant of the White House could not be more shamefully in display. The swamp he claimed he would drain has become the Okeefenokee on steroids. And the Republicans remain silent. 

NRA

We are not safe. We are not united. We are not indivisible, and we are not capable of forming a more perfect union.
That is the sad state of our reality in 2018. It has taken us nearly twenty years to get to this state of craven insularity. Until 2004, assault style weapons like AR 25 rifles were illegal to buy, Illegal to own, and illegal to possess. No more. The NRA and its lobbying arm has seen to it that the second amendment is unbridled, unlimited, and unchecked. We have become a nation of the people, for the munitions industry, and without defense against the crazed Gunman. It didn’t have to come to this.
Most Americans who respect the second amendment rights of their fellow citizens to keep and bear arms, do not oppose reasonable regulations, such as background checks , before obtaining a firearm. There are some people who should not be allowed within ten feet of such powerful weapons. Finding them, and restricting the otherwise unbridled right to keep and bear arms is a challenge, but it is a challenge we can meet if allowed to do so. When even the mention of restrictions on firearms raises the ire of a powerful and well financed group such as the NRA, we need to find a way to meet and overcome the opposition. The united display of pain by the victims of this latest mass casualty might be just such a key. They are not babies. They can and do speak clearly, and eloquently, and their voices are being heard. They might just make an actual difference.
We need more than voices, however. We need money. Lots of it, to mount an effective and coordinated campaign against those who would otherwise be inclined to do the bidding of the NRA. We need to make them do the bidding of the American people, and failing that, we need to roust them out of office, and replace them with fair minded and reasonable legislators who are not bought, lock , stock and literally barrel, by the sinister forces of the munitions industry and their sympathizers.
Can this be done? Yes. Will it be done? That is the question of the hour. All things are possible if we remain true to purpose. It will require lots more than thoughts and prayers. It will require focus, fortitude and funding. Now, where to send a check?