Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

The world that we live in is in the right place for us to survive and thrive. We are in the “Goldilocks” zone, as scientists call it. It is a special place and a fragile place as well. We know from observation that a little farther away from our sun and we would freeze and a little closer and we would burn to a crisp. The core of the earth is hot and parts of it seem always ready to come visit us from under the mantle. 

Nothing wrong with a little heat, it allows plants to grow and keeps us comfortable over much of the surface of the earth. Too much heat and things burn and die and provide a covering of smoke and ash that makes it harder to breathe and reduces our ability to raise the food we need to stay healthy. We are also very fortunate that we learned how to use heat to prepare our food which has provided us with larger brains giving us the capacity to be more intelligent than most of the other creatures of earth, but it does not always guarantee that we will act as if we are.

The earth does not move in a circle around the Sun; it is more of an elliptical path and our center of gravity moves as we go through this journey. If our planet had a major change in the route it takes on the journey or if for some reason it should tilt further on its axis we could be in very serious trouble. The fact that sometime in the future our Sun will no longer be there to nurture us and then we are all going to expire very quickly.

In the meantime we should be aware of how much we are causing our world to heat up and keep in mind the effects that may have on our future. For those that are sure it means nothing we will be hard pressed to change any minds. This is another argument like getting the vaccine to fight covid, some think it is needed and some feel that it does no good. Many of those that have felt that the vaccine was of no value are now pushing up the grass instead of walking on the grass, but we did cut down on the surplus population, can’t be all bad. (If you are not familiar with SARCASM you best start getting used to it).

We are all the inhabitants of this blue marble and regardless of whether you think global warming, the vaccine, or limiting who can own or carry a gun and what kind of gun is a right, or should be ignored or whatever, the common factor is that everyone feels that they are entitled. This does not always prove to be true; you may take the view that no one’s rights are any more important than mine and yet no ones are any less important than yours. In situations of this nature it is time to look to the common good and go from there. If that means you choose to always wear a mask so as not to pass on or hopefully catch an illness, wear the mask. If that means you forgo the ability to own or carry a gun everywhere you go, so be it, did you need to walk around being a threat or a target? As for global warming, be aware of those things that cause problems or make current problems worse and try not to contribute to them. In other words, “Do Unto Others as You Would Have Others Do Unto You”

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Wildfire smoke is blanketing the U.S. East Coast. It won’t be the last time

The horrifying fire in Canada are just the lasted ridiculous almost comical event that is screaming at humanity that we are fucking up the global climate. Still there are nay sayers that continue to push the narrative that MAN with our incessant burning of fossil fuels has nothing to due with the continual threat. They say that the earth constantly goes through periods of warning and cooling and there is little evidence that the burning of carbon for the past 150 years has had an insignificant impact on the planet’s climate. While it is true that historically earth has gone through periods of warming and cooling, based on scientific evidence not as rapid a change has been displayed in the historical record.

The Huronian glaciation is the oldest ice age we know about. The Earth was just over 2 billion years old, and home only to unicellular life-forms. The early stages of the Huronian, from 2.4 to 2.3 billion years ago, seem to have been particularly severe, with the entire planet frozen over in the first “snowball Earth”. New University of Melbourne research has revealed that ice ages over the last million years ended when the tilt angle of the Earth’s axis was approaching higher values. So, what has gotten the earth out of periods where glaciers covered the entire planet is just a slight change in the slant of the of the poles allowing more of our stars rays to warm the oceans.

Dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago (at the end of the Cretaceous Period), after living on Earth for about 165 million years. Surely there was some climate change during that period. I am sure there was but form my limited knowledge of dinosaurs they were primarily cold blooded so the temperature changes couldn’t have been that extreme for 165 million years for them to survive that long. The prevailing data says that the dinosaurs were knocked off their pedestal by a meteorite that’s impact clouded the sun and killing all the vegetation and presumably starting another ice age although not as dramatis as the Hurorian glaciation period.

Holy crap it took millions of years, giant animals walking the earth as well as volcanos and tectonic plate movement, but it took an intergalactic rock hitting the planet to take out the dinosaurs.

While our ancestors have been around for about six million years, the modern form of humans only evolved about 200,000 years ago. Civilization as we know it is only about 6,000 years old, and industrialization started in earnest only in the 1800s. The first big energy transition was from wood and charcoal to coal, beginning in the iron industry in the early 1700s. By 1900, coal was the primary industrial fuel, taking over from biomass to make up half the world’s fuel use. Growth in emissions was still relatively slow until the mid-20th century. We have been burning fossil fuels on a continual basis all thought the 3 centuries to power our homes and cities pushing tons of CO2 as well as other greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In 1950 the world emitted 6 billion tons of CO₂.  After the mid-20^th century this had almost quadrupled, reaching more than 22 billion tons. Emissions have continued to grow rapidly; we now emit over 34 billion tons each year. The present atmospheric concentration of CO ₂ is the highest for 14 million years. Concentrations of CO ₂ in the atmosphere were as high as 4,000 ppm during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago, and as low as 180 ppm during the Quaternary glaciation of the last two million years.

Even with this information there are still those that deny that mans burning of fossil fuels has nothing to do with the global climate predicament that we are facing. I know we are the cause of our own damnation. I do not say that we are killing the planet, we are killing ourselves. The dinosaurs walked the earth for 165 million years, modern humans have resided on the small blue rock for 6-10,000 years. At the rate we consume resources and kill each other our time will be a fraction of that. Future inhabitants if they are intelligent will say we were the weaker life form.   

Thanks for suffering through my depressing diatribe.  

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/08/politics/trump-indictment-truth-social-classified-documents/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-indictment-released-rcna88592

The ketchup alert at MaraLogo must be at DEFCOM 1, in less than 24 hours there have been 2 separate indictments for Teflon Don… one with 7 counts and another with 37 counts. Finally, the justice system is going to hold the Orange Menace accountable for his actions. This is great news for those of us that have seen through his blatant disregard for the office he held and summarily disgraced and we know that we are still waiting on charges from Georgia and the election interference.  

The redhat mafia is predicably going to cry, “What about Biden? What about Hilary?” and completely disregard the fact that their chosen savior is a twice impeached, convicted sexual offender and now a federally indited bag of cholesterol in an ill-fitting suit. His decries of privilege and innocence will surely rase the ire of his minions and put federal agents in mortal jeopardy and that is not anything that should be taken lightly. He has wanted a Reichstag Fire, just as Hitler orchestrated in 1933 that turned Germany against the Jewish citizens, to galvanize his minority but armed followers. The fear is that these indictments may be the flame that lights that fuse.

As elated as those of us are to finally have some modicum of justice we need to keep our heads down but in the game and keep the pressure on to see the Mango Prince of MaraLogo  get the orange jumpsuit he so deserves.

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

Self-pity is the driving factor behind all of our worst problems.

We have a daily dose, or so it seems, of someone taking their frustrations and self-pity on others by getting a gun and killing as many people as possible. These big, bad, and brave sob’s pick schools, movie theaters and churches, nursing homes and other places people gather to impress upon society and a few very unfortunate individuals just how bad they feel for themselves. 

We have segments of society that believe themselves to be better than others that target businesses and homes of people they don’t like and destroy as much as possible, leaving signs like, “Go Back to Where You Came From”. Yet another example of self-pity that leads to destructive ends.

The killers are bad, and the vandals are not much better, but the worst of the lot are the politicians that take it upon themselves to determine they are going to create laws and an environment that all must live in, under my rules. The governors of Texas and Florida come to mind with the senseless rules on education, ban or burn books. Don’t allow certain things to be discussed in schools and no control over the possession or carrying of weapons. They feel sorry for themselves because even though they are personally in a position of power they know they cannot make everyone do as they have been told. This just isn’t right because when I was a child mommy always let me have my way and now that is not happening, and I don’t like it.

One Senator is bound to stop the President’s programs at all costs. The programs may be just what is needed. It is just that we are opposing political parties and I want my opinion to be the rule everyone follows, not his. 

Everyone wants to be the best, and we hear it from all sorts of sources. The Roman Catholic faith is the one true religion. The Seahawks are the best football team, Paris is the most beautiful city in the world. All claims that may be true for some but not for all and if the fact that others do not agree with you is more than you can stand that is too bad but just like today tomorrow the sun will rise in the east, get over it.

When it comes to education, we must continue to teach history and not leave out the ugly bits. We don’t need to celebrate them, but we do need to address them as they are a part of who we are and we need to do all within our power to insure that the ugly bits are not part of our now or our future.

The media and social media are filled with comments that can best be described as “Oh Pity Me”. Most have nothing to seek pity for, they just want to see if they can use a social platform to hurt, harm, or destroy someone they do not like or that just happens to be the target of the day.

Many businesses took it upon themselves to move the hub of their manufacturing out of the country. The unions expected too much, decent wages, health care benefits, retirements, and so forth. This is cutting into the profit margin for the investors, and the company executives that are all looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The more we have to pay the labor force the less our bonus will be. So, pity me, do not think of all the people that are losing their jobs, homes and futures because the only one that makes a difference is me. 

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/mrna-vaccine-melanoma-reduces-relapse-therapy-trial-shows-rcna79543

https://www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreatic-cancer-msk-clinical-researchers-are-trying-find-out

I have attached 2 articles that have medical breakthroughs in treating and possibly curing cancer. Yes, cancer the big C word that no one wants to hear their doctor tell them they have. The big question is what will the vaccine deniers say?

The first article is about individualized MRNA treatment for melanoma (skin cancer). Off the top of my head, I would guess the states that will promptly ban this treatment or at least downplay it will be the states that have the highest propensity for skin cancer… let’s all say them together…

FLORIDA

TEXAS

ARIZONA

Did you guess the same three? These are the states that squawked about the COVID vaccine, especially FLORI-DUH.

I live in one of these moronic states where some of the population still believe that an MRNA vaccine is somehow going to change their DNA. These are the same people that think rainbows flags are turning children gay.

Messenger RNA is a type of RNA that is necessary for protein production. Once cells finish making a protein, they quickly break down the mRNA. mRNA from vaccines does not enter the nucleus and does not alter DNA. I know that is a little bit of science, but I am certain that many do not know what MRNA actually is.

As far back as 1978, scientists had used fatty membrane structures called liposomes to transport mRNA into mouse and human cells to induce protein expression. The liposomes packaged and protected the mRNA and then fused with cell membranes to deliver the genetic material into cells. 1987 — NIH launched the HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks. The flexibility and rapid-response design of these networks acts as a framework for future responses to other viruses and infectious diseases, including SARS-CoV-2.

So, for all the yahoos that say that the MRNA was developed to fast and there is no way it can be safe the history claims to differ.

The anti-science community is trying to drag us back to the day of the bubonic plague when 1000s died from rats off ships and hand washing wasn’t thought to have been necessary. Is this really the world we want to go back to. The Civil war taught doctors and nurses that bacteria rapidly spread through contact and hand washing saved countless lives.

We have to recognize that the world has changed, viruses have gotten more prevalent and pervasive because of deforestation and population density, new technology is going to evolve to meet the challenge. MRNA is the latest round of medical innovation, and it is poised to save lives for those that want to embrace the technology. For those that want to stick their heads in the sand let Darwinism be your guide… evolve or move aside that left the rest of us move forward.

Thanks for letting me go on a science and medical tirade.   

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

The value that is placed on higher education, monetarily speaking, would be better understood if that money were being spent on educational resources. Most colleges and universities have very large athletic departments and a good deal of the money taken in goes to support that “resource”. Athletic scholarships are a common item on most schools’ wheel of fortune and that has always been a bit of a question for me. What attribute does one have to have to earn one of these scholarships? What is it about the person that has an average GPA but does really well on the football field that makes him such a catch for any institution of higher learning?

I am aware that a great many people cannot believe anyone would ask such a question, it is almost unthinkable. Everyone knows that football is what makes a college great, not the academic department but the athletic department. That is why coaches make more than professors and even more than the dean, it is that important.

The student that becomes a top doctor or engineer or whatever that relies on usings one’s brains to make a better world will never get his or her name into the book of alumni of the greatest because that book is reserved for the athletes. Most of the really important discoveries and inventions of our world did not come from a locker room, they came from a lab. The people that study and develop and invent are the people that should be celebrated but are often ignored. There are folks that are fountains of knowledge about who won what game or prize that cannot tell you who invented the polio vaccine or developed the system to stop and elevator from falling.

Not making it to college does not mean that you are stuck flipping burgers because there are trade schools that need students. It is helpful if you don’t mind getting dirty and doing some hard work. As odd as it may sound, we still have need of people that can build things and repair things. One of the issues with putting in solar power is that power companies think that if we lose the grid or limit it, we are going to put them out of business. If they were to get the people working for them now trained to service, the solar equipment they could offer another service and remain a viable business.

Another way to get an education is to join the military, which only about 1% of our population does. This will require a willingness to put yourself in harm’s way and to be a part of a different way of life. The educational opportunities are there if you wish to take advantage of it and many people have attained master’s degrees and some even PHD’s.

The difference between being in a suit and tie or a coverall job is illustrated very well by a British Comedy called “Are You Being Served”. The plot takes place in a department store and most of the characters are sales staff that have a pecking order of when they are able to wait on a customer and as a result how much they make. The one character is the maintenance man, and he is a union employee. It does not matter to him how many or if any customers come in the store as he gets paid and very well it seems like his pocket is always full. The sales people not so much the leads do okay, but the others are always short.

Getting back to the college education issue, we need to find a way to make it possible for those that desire to follow that path to do so without putting them in debt for the rest of their lives. We need to find a way for people to have treatment for illnesses without causing bankruptcy as well. Other countries accomplish these things and still seem to prosper so the question has to be Why Can’t We?

On a political level we need to start electing people that will do “the right thing even when no one is looking” instead of the self-serving money-grubbing lot that we have been getting for quite some time. Our national educational status has been going downhill for long enough. We need to put quality education back on the agenda for this nation along with school safety and if that means gun control, so be it. At present we are the only nation that has live shooter exercises in our public schools, aren’t we proud?

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I am so tired of the trolls from my generation and before crying in their beer about a small measure of student loan debt relief. The winy baby’s cry, “I paid off my student loans” or “you should take out loans if you can’t pay it back”. This is the biggest line of BS I have ever heard because I am willing to bet many of them have filed bankruptcy or never went to college and even if they did in the 80s and 90s a student that didn’t have wealthy parents could work and make enough to pay rent and still go to school. I have a college bound kid right now and I am here to tell you that ship has sailed.

In the 1989-90 academic year, tuition at the average public 4-year institution was $1,780 a year. The national average rent was under $500 a month for a 2-bedroom apartment. The tuition currently average cost of attendance for a student living on campus at a public 4-year in-state institution is $25,707 per year or $102,828 over 4 years. Out-of-state students pay $44,014 per year or $176,056 over 4 years. Private, nonprofit university students pay $54,501 per year or $218,004 over 4 years. The cost of rent for a 700sqft apartment ranges from $1300 to $2500 a month. These are unsustainable at the wage of the normal college age person being for $7.35hr to $13.00hr.

So, if we continue to tell our kids to go to college you can get so, you can have a career that will pay enough to survive and potentially raise a family, but they are saddled with $100,000 in student loan debt that seems insurmountable for many. The other option for many is to take a fast-food job or retail that only pays poverty wages and not be burdened with college debt. Oh yeah then when they complain about not getting paid enough the righteous will tell them that they have entry level jobs, and they should get their degree if they want to get a better job. Seem like a no-win scenario.

Let’s talk about the predatory leading practices of banks lending money for student loans. The rate for student loans is from 5% to 15% and I am sure you can guess the rate for a student that comes from lower income earning families. I can buy a car for under 5% and also take out a mortgage for the same rate but my son is looking at student loans at 13%. Currently if I took out a car loan or a mortgage and the world took a shit on me, I could file bankruptcy and walk away… yes, my credit would be screwed for a few years but no harm no foul. The current law will not let you include student loans into a bankruptcy. I said that to someone, and their rebuttal was if you file the bank can take the car or the house, but they can’t strip the knowledge from your brain. I was horrified by that, and they said I suppose if the bank can rescind the person’s degree and ban them from ever using the knowledge, they learned in college then maybe the law could change. WTF, that is the most loathsome shit I have ever heard.

Bidens student loan relief is $10,000. My son is looking at school that is $20k a year that’s $80k for a 4-year degree which semi-reasonable in today’s market, that degree at an annual interest rate of 13% is $9,500 a year in interest alone. The $10,000 student debt relief is one year of interest, the bank isn’t losing a penny in fact they are still making money because that $80,000 loan will in all likelihood take 15-20 years to pay off.  

In 1990 you could have graduated with less than $8000 in student loan debt, that isn’t even possible for a 2-year community college degree today.

This is a prime example of the ridiculousness of education cost. The average cost of going to school to become a Medical Assistant is between $15-$20K and it is an 18-to-24-month program and the average income for an MA after $20,000 and 2 years of education is $19.00 an hour. So that person now making $19hr has $20k in student loan debt at probably greater than 12% and almost certainly has a car payment and insurance and rent. This lucky person is bringing home around $650 a week that equates to $2600 a month… WOW that’s great but let’s not forget that rent could be upwards of $2000 a month not including utilities and food, car payment, insurance. Cell phone and god forbid they are a single parent.

So, stop telling Millennials and Gen Z to suck it up because you paid off your student loan debt for 30 years ago. We have made the system that is nearly impossible for many to attain the meager existence that we were able to pull off, I don’t know about you, but my hope was always for my son to do better than I have.

Thanks again for reading my rant, feel free to comment.

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

The question of the moment is where is the AGAIN in the MAGA logo? So let us consider who is defining greatness.

In the current world we have Russia that is attempting to subvert a neighbor into being a satellite state as it once was in the past. This will show the world that Russia is once again on the rise and becoming the great empire it used to be. The Taliban are running around in their corner of the world and forcing their religious beliefs down everyone’s throat to assert that their way of life is the greatest, at least for those that rule.

So back to our situation and the definition should become clearer as we look at the who is behind the effort. It is focused on one person, but it is the desire of a great many individuals. 

The claim that I am so great that I could kill someone in Times Square and get away with it, or when you are rich and famous if you want to kiss a woman or touch her where you please that is okay, they actually look forward to it, are the kind of remarks that lead to the path of rule some seek. 

Let us turn back the hands of time. We are a part of the new nation of the USA and our common attributes are that we are, 1 male, 2 white, 3 rich, and 4 have control over everything. So, to make things great again we must by whatever means regain as many or all of these attributes. So, we pack the Supreme Court with likeminded people that have no problem making decisions based on the wishes of our likeminded supporters rather than on the wishes of the majority. We put in place individuals that will destroy our postal systems so that voting by mail is no longer possible. We have taken one religion and put it ahead of all others and will no doubt declare it to be the faith of the nation and disregard the Constitution on that issue as well. At some point if we can get enough power in the Congress, both houses, and have the Supreme Court on our side we may take away the voting rights of all listed as minorities. Going a step further back in time, if we can create an economic situation dire enough, we may be able to literally put people back in bondage to pay off their debt.

So, when was America great? By MAGA standards when rich white men ran the country and no one else had any rights. Women were property just like all other people that had different colored skin. When Manifest Destiny was the order of the day. Rip the riches from the earth, destroy whatever got in your way of finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, slaughter the animals that might hinder your building of empire and enslave or kill all that opposed you along the way. 

Is this a possible future? When you have state governments that are trying to rewrite history by destroying or banning books and suppressing ideas they personally do not approve of, then yes, we are headed down the road to a utopia for some and a living hell for others.

All of this comes down to a few controlling everything and no one else being able to do anything about it. Poor and ineffective governments have been taken out, the killing of the Czar of Russia, for instance, and his family. 

Our nation is divided into states and many states are managed very well, others not so much. We have organizations and companies that have been given status as people and are allowed to force that corporate ideal onto the masses. Would our children be put through Live Shooter Drills in school if we did not have an organization such as the NRA with its political agenda and power? 

We are reminded that ownership of anything comes with responsibility and yet it does not seem to apply to guns. Cars, homes, pets and all manner of things come with a yearly renewal of license and the paying of taxes, yet this does not apply to guns. Driving requires that you retest every so often to prove you are still capable of driving, that requirement does not apply to guns and yet the basic reason for the retest is, so you do not use the vehicle in an unsafe manner and kill someone. 

So many other things that we have a minority of people trying to run the world are things that are individual choices. Let’s put the individual back in the driving seat when it comes to personal things and limit the number of mass requirements when possible. If getting a shot is all it takes to protect you and everyone around you there should be no question, but having an operation of any kind should be between you and your doctor. The state’s involvement or control of things should be kept to those things that are for the benefit of all. Your choice of faith is like your choice of breakfast food, it should be up to you without having some entity that feels they know best telling you what to do.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I have been struggling with the phrase Make America Great Again. Trump, although he would like you to believe it, was not the first to start this nationalistic movement it was Ronald R Reagan in his campaign for the White House against Jimmy Carter. Even then when I was 12-13 years old, I didn’t understand the Again part of the phrase. Being born in the late 60’s I had always been told that America was the Greatest country so the cry for making it great again was perplexing.

Now as an adult and having a firmer grasp on the real history of our country I frequently ask the question of the MAGA faithful, Ok When? That very simple question is regularly met with blank looks and disdain for me being presumptuous to even ask such a preposterous question.

Trump has banged his drum and heralded from cost to cost that only he can make America great again, but still no one has indicated the specific point in which America was great.

I know it is a very simple inquiry…When was the moment that everything in our nearly 250-year history has been great and great for all?

The founder had a lofty vision of a country that was for the people and by the people. The second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence signed in 1776 starts: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. The Constitution enacted in 1789 starts “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” It isn’t until the 1886 when the 14^th Amendment was ratified that all U.S. citizens when, under the law considered equal. Up until that point slavery an everyday occurrence owning another person was just the way it was.

So, was the period between 1776 and 1886 when America was great? But remember from 1860 to 1865 we had a Civil War so that couldn’t have been when we were Great. Then Reconstruction after the Civil War 1865 to 1877 was kind of a Shit Show.

Well, that blows a century that I assume we can agree that America wasn’t Great.

After the end of Reconstruction, racial segregation laws were enacted. These laws became popularly known as Jim Crow laws. They remained in force from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 until 1965. The laws mandated racial segregation as policy in all public facilities in the southern states. So even though we enacted a law that said all were equal we really didn’t mean it.

In the same period industry started and vast fortunes were made by a few while the multitude suffered. This was also when some tire to stand up and start unions that would fight for the rights of workers. Hard times but better, there was still little equality. Black where recognized as citizens but hardly had any power to exercise that right and women, women were still considered property of their fathers or husband.

So was it this period when America was great before suffrage before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote, a right known as women’s suffrage, and was ratified on August 18, 1920, ending almost a century of protest. Was that the historical time we were Great?

We came together as a Nation During WWI and the roaring 20’s seemed like a pretty good time that was until the fun dried up that the country went into the Great Depression after the 1929 stock market crash. That sucked for us as a country. FDR was elected in 1932 and inaugurated in 1933 and his leadership pulled us back from the brink. A lot of good things happened to help the common citizen, there was still segregation, but thing looked better.

Just when things looked better here the world was still dealing with the economic collapse and the rise of Hitler and Mussolini… but we had an isolationist policy, and we were not going to get suckered into another world war. We all know how that turned out, we helped for years without getting involved but then on Dec. 7^th, 1941, we were attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor, Japan declared war on the United States and 2 days later Germany did the same. No more isolation, we were in the thick of it. Well, the United Nations won that war, at great cost, but we won. Let not forget that Asian American citizens were rounded up and put in internment camps during WWII.

So, was that when we were Great?

Soldiers came back and everything was supposed to be smooth sailing. It was for some but not for other the same ugly monster of segregation was still alive and well. Black & Brown solders that had fought in WWII were summarily disenfranchised by the country they fought to defend, when white soldiers could get loans and by houses with mortgages backed by the U.S. government when Black and Brown soldiers that had made the same sacrifices were excluded for the same programs.

That shit continued until Civil Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. It was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. There was still Red Lining so not everything was fixed.

Looks like we are running out of space on the timeline to define was America was great…

There was Nixon, that was a shit show although he did start the EPA. Carter tried to do some good but was stymied along the way. Reagan who started the whole Make America Great campaign really had no reference to point to as far as a great period to harken back to. Then he fucked it up with the whole Iran Contra debacle. Bush Sr. was no prize just continued to dig a financial pit for the country. Clinton had the 90’s which brought a lot of prosperity, and he actually balanced the budget. Then along came Baby Bush and 9-11 and the beginning of a 20-year war in the middle east. More than the war in Iraq and Afghanistan I was to blame Bush Jr for letting the assault weapons ban expire the President Clinton had signed in 1994. Obama tried and did a pretty good job of getting us back on track, we still had a war in the middle east we didn’t need to be in, but he did get the country the ACA, Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, because of the NRA and the expiration of the Assault Weapons ban mass shooting became a thing in the United States and school shootings became a nightmarish reality.

So now we are caught up to Donald’s reign… someone need to tell me what period in our tumultuous 250 years we were great.

Our goal has to be better than we were yesterday and definitely better than we were when we started.

The Declaration of Independence started by declaring that all men were created equal… lets live up to that!

Thanks again for suffering through my rant.