Dwain Northey (Gen X)

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23839625-trump-indictment

So, for those of you that live under a rock, Jack Smith has handed down an indictment containing 4 counts against DJT (defendant) for his action in the January 6, 2021, attempt to subvert the 2020 Presidential Election.

Jack Smith isn’t screwing around this indictment should block Donald from ever being able to seek office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits anyone who has previously taken an oath of office (Senators, Representatives, and other public officials) from holding public office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States. Every State should disallow his name from appearing on the ballot. Unfortunately, the lemmings that are still in his camp will continue to decry ‘witch hunt’ and insist that their godking be elevated to a position of power.

Even his republican challengers for the nomination should be shouting this form the roof tops but only Chris Christy to this point has taken the orange menace to task for his crimes. Granted I would love to watch Donald fall again to attain or regain the White House but my joy in watching him spin out of control is secondary to my desire to strengthen our democracy.

I realize that if DJT isn’t the republican nominee it could be Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and he is deplorable as well. If he is the nominee, he certainly can’t run on his record as Governor. The national average inflation rate was 3%, but in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area, inflation rates reached 9%, according figures released by the Consumer Price Index this week. The Tampa-Clearwater metro area saw inflation rates of 7.3%, according to the CPI. Seriously, how can he go into a national debate and tout ‘make America Florida’ when under his charge Florida has a higher inflation rate than China and Brazil. Not to mention his fight with Disney or that he could be brought up on federal charges for human trafficking for his shipping immigrants to sanctuary cities, or banning books, I could keep going… This walking tumor should not be in the White House either.

So lets focus on the 3^rd indictment of a former President and just hope that he has lost enough of his supporters so that there wont be violence in the streets.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

As a rideshare driver and one that listens to political podcasts and news (left leaning) I invariably get some push back but sometimes can lead to an interesting conversation.

It’s true that I have never been someone that shy’s away from uncomfortable topics i.e. politics, religion… I fact I relish those back-and-forth topics as long as the other person is amenable to the conversation.

I was listening to something this morning and the topic was the strained platform of the current republican party, namely their restrictive position on abortion. Always a touchy topic and everyone has their opinion which I totally believe that everyone is entitled to have their view, but they also have to understand that others can disagree with them.

Well during this the rider said that this was a touchy topic because he was currently in the middle of that debate with his ‘girlfriend’ because she found out that she was pregnant. She does not what to continue with the pregnancy and it is still very early on, but his opinion is why does she get the final say if he doesn’t agree with it.

I asked him how long they had been together, and he said not that long… but. But always leads to something but he didn’t go any further.

So, I asked if he had plans to stay with his girlfriend and potentially support a child for the next 18+ years? All I got was silence.

Then I proposed the equity of time argument… I said realistically your part in the act took minutes, but you expect your girlfriend to invest a minimum of 40 weeks and all the health and emotional issues the come with pregnancy, that is if she doesn’t want to keep that child. I reasserted that he hadn’t affirmed that this was a situation that he was ready to support for possibly the next 18 years.

This begged the question of how his belief that abortion was wrong eclipsed the other parties when they would be the person with 100% of the responsibility of this accident growing inside their body. He really hadn’t taken that argument into perspective and when he exited that car appeared to be second guessing his position.

I propose that next time someone disagrees with your position on any controversial topic each party politely explains their position (perspective) on the subject and then see if there is some common ground or enlightenment from either side. This I feel has been lost in today’s very tribal mentality and needs to be reestablished.

I have a suggestion for our current political upheaval, ideas should be presented unvarnished with no party tag line and be judged purely on the merit of the idea presented. I have read party platforms to very ‘conservative’ people and had them completely disagree with the premise until I tell them where it came from, then invariably they tell me that I am lying. But whatever…

We used to have ideas that move us all forward but differed on the route we should take to get there, now if the idea, good or bad, comes from a position party is instantly denigrated. Take for example MTG coming out and saying that Biden is actively helping the build infrastructure, ensure access to healthcare, and creating jobs… all good things right? Not to the republicans they are wholly against all of these because President Biden is getting them done. They have lost PERSPECTIVE, the one thing that can save us.

Thanks for putting up with another rant.       

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too

Imagine all the people
Livin’ life in peace
You

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine all the people
Livin’ for today
Ah

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

Song and Lyric by John Lennon

I have loved this song since the first time I heard it but the more I read the lyrics the more profound I find the meaning.

Seriously, if there were no borders, no hate, no greed what a different world we would live in.

I know Lennon wrote this song during the ladder years of Vietnam, war and death was on everyone’s mind especially the generation that was being conscripted to fight in a war that they had no rational of why they were putting their lives on the line. We seem like we are a long way from Vietnam, but the millennial generation had their war in the middle east that was just as ridiculous and unfounded although there was no draft to force them into an unjustified war. The war in Afghanistan and Iraq lasted as long as Gen Z was alive… My son is 18year old and I am grateful that we are not currently in a state of war.

Maybe I’m a dreamer but I hope that there will be no more major conflicts on a global scale, but I don’t think Vladimir Putin has the same dream.

Unfortunately, war is in our DNA and as a species we are too arrogant to put petty differences aside and recognize that we are all on the same spinning blue marble floating through the cosmos.

To quote John Lennon…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I hope I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one…