THE WALL

by Ruth A. Sheets

For nearly four years. Mr. Trump has ranted about a wall on the US southern border with Mexico.
He and his followers claim that all the ills of our nation are coming through that border and that we can fix everything if we only build a wall. 

What kind of a wall?  Well, that changes on a regular basis. 

When Mr. Trump preached to his crowds, his devoted cult, he sent up a variety of test balloons to see what kind of wall they would respond best to.  It seems he got the most cheers when he called out 30 feet, a 30-foot concrete wall!!

Beyond the rally attenders, it was not clear just who wanted the 30-foot wall.  Eventually, pollsters did ask the question.  It appears the farther you are from the southern border, the more you like the idea of a wall, and, oh yes, the whiter you are too.

The folks who want the wall most, rarely encounter outside of media, anyone who is not of their racial, religious, or ethnic group, although racial is the greatest defining factor. 

The “far from the border gang” tends to be very conservative, believing in their “small government” stances, their certainty that reverse racism (whatever that is) is the most pressing problem white people face.  Or, maybe the most pressing problem is that hordes of dark-skinned immigrants who don’t share their values/look like them are going to come and take their jobs.  It’s a toss-up, I think and nurtured by fear and hate.

How did Americans, so completely ignorant of people from different groups come to their hatred of the others.  It probably started with their family and community.  Whenever they had contact with other people, non-white people, they returned to their homes in their carefully maintained white zones where they were warned often that if a family of color moved in, the property values would fall and their homes would be worthless.  That can be pretty scary to new home owners. 

Local and Federal Government sponsored programs endorsed this idea and primarily lent to white, reliable  families.  These entities made sure the fear and hatred of the other was stoked well enough to ensure that particularly, black families would find no welcome.  Realtors only showed people of a particular color the “right home for your family,” in the correct color zone.

This has been going on for many decades, and has resulted in segregated communities of color that somehow manage to have the poorest schools, the worst cared-for streets and infrastructure, the most poverty, while neighboring white enclaves have “superior” schools, lovely clean streets, parks, etc.  The white families rarely even have to encounter children of color in schools because they just don’t attend them.  And, anyway, they couldn’t keep up.  They’re too lazy, uncaring, and well, not bright enough, you know, “I don’t mean anything by that, of course.  I’m not racist.  I respect everyone.” 

The residents of Far From The Border  claim to love small government while sucking everything they can from it.  Gotta have those farm subsidies, good internet and postal services, good roads “so we can get to our jobs,” good jobs in government contracted companies, help to keep their local hospitals open, drug programs available to those facing the opioid crisis, and on and on.  They are insulated from everything but what they want while living in their own narrow world.  They don’t see that so much of what they want is paid for by taxpayers from all over the country, even those people of color they disdain.

What makes residents of Far From The Border think a wall of any kind will stop that imagined menace? 

The fuel for their fear and hatred of what is on the other side of the southern border is perfectly directed by social media, Fox news, and current government leaders who tell them that everyone has ignored them and their problems, particularly Democrats. 

These residents are fearful of being exposed to ideas that are not already their own.  They seem to loathe change, certain they cannot face it, that they will be inadequate to its demands.  They appear to be afraid America won’t be the America of their childhood and all those people are the cause.  They truly don’t know that America has moved on, changed to adapt to new realities.

The purveyors of fear and hate work to change their patrons’ worldview and the way they feel about and treat the people they meet and interact with. 

I saw this happen with my mother who was generally a welcoming person who read the newspapers and checked out whatever was in the news.  a little over a decade after my father died, she married a man I had known for years and had seen as caring, sensible, and nice.  He had started to listen to Rush Limbaugh and had him on the radio every day, getting my mother listening too as it was always in the background.  In conversations, Mom started making disparaging remarks about black people (even though her beloved granddaughter’s father was black).  She talked against gays and transgender people (even though her oldest daughter was both).  She started commenting that women were getting too much above themselves (even though she was an enormously competent, powerful woman in her jobs). 

Mr. Limbaugh spouted these things on his shows.  I heard it when I was visiting and would challenge her.  My sisters and I asked her to turn Rush off when we visited.  She eventually did, but I think the damage had been done.  I suspect Mom is not unique.

So, back to the wall.  The wall is a figment of Mr. Trump’s imagination fueled by people and institutions that want to preserve white America as America.  The wall will stop nothing and refugees and other immigrants will continue to come here, but this wall, whether 30 ft. concrete or “steel slats,” gives this crowd of scared white people (who would never consider a 30-ft. wall on our border with Canada) a symbol and Mr. Trump something else he can put his name on.

A BULLY’S DEAL

By Ruth A. Sheets

On this 2^nd anniversary of Mr. Trump’s inauguration, he is pushing a “deal” supposedly to end the partial shut-down of the US Government which is now a month old.  How can one tell this is a bully’s deal?  It is the kind of deal the schoolyard bully offers his victims.  The bully hits a student for no particular reason and keeps hitting.  He then offers to stop if the kid gives him money or some other “valuable” thing.

Mr. Trump has been punching the American people for the full two years he has been in office.  He ended protections for the Dreamers and for people who have temporary status, for no particular reason, just because.  He really wants a wall from his victims (lunch money).  He offers to “re-open the government, to extend” protections for the people from whom he removed protections.  He’ll also throw in some money for border security (we already have a lot of security there).  It’s a bully’s deal.  He is holding the American people hostage for a  border wall, classic bullying.

His audacity is tremendous, but not surprising.  He whines that Democrats don’t want to “deal,” but when a bully has struck as often as Mr. Trump has, there is no reason anyone should make a deal with him.  He will then note his attack’s success and use the strategy again, perhaps on something even more critical, like a war, perhaps with Iran.

Donald Trump has the intellectual maturity of an 8-year-old, and a spoiled one at that.  Republicans in Congress and in the nation in general are afraid of this out-of-control child.  They have given him the keys to the car, then let him drive.  When he crashes, they blame someone else for not getting out of his way, usually the Democrats.

Hopefully, Nancy Pelosi and congressional Democrats will step up and parent Donald effectively.  He needs to hear “no” often and be guided to do the right things for the American people.  So far, his lying has had no consequences.   His insults have gone unchallenged.  He has put people in charge of things who are just as childish and incompetent as he is while the “grown-ups” in the Senate have said, “Sure, whoever you want, Donnie.  We don’t want you to throw tantrums and do other disturbing things.”

So, here it is.  Donald Trump proudly caused the partial shutdown of our government.  HE ordered people to work for no pay.  HE refused to talk with Democrats with respect, thinking he can continue to get away with his babyish bullying.  HE is the one who promised his pathetic supporters a medieval wall which would end up, if built, costing them a whole lot of money since Mexico has no intention of paying for it, as Mr. Trump promised they would. 

Like a spoiled little kid, if Donald does not like something China is doing, for example, he’ll throw a tantrum and put a tariff on important goods.  Because, like a child, he cannot see the big picture, lots of people end up hurt.  He hates Barack Obama who occupied the White House before him, so he tried to destroy everything Mr. Obama worked for.  He is scared of people who are not white, male, and rich, so he does what he can to limit their power and presence.  He just has to say “I want that done,” and the kids he has appointed will do it, or at least try to. 

Fortunately, there are still a few adults in charge of things in our government, although not enough of them.

We need an uprising of the people who are sick of having a child in the White House, a child who thinks the rules apply to everyone but him, a child who lies with impunity, a child who listens to the people who have the biggest mouths and who say the most hateful things, a child who is pleased to hurt as many people as possible, as long as they are the right people to hurt.  Some steps were taken to curb Donald this past November, but there is still so much to do.  Little Donald and his bully friends have worked hard to keep the people they don’t like from voting, to keep women in their place, to keep immigrants out of our country, to undermine our democracy. 

We all need to be sure we are the competent adults who improve the current child-rearing practices when it comes to Donald Trump.  So, as we tell our children, you can’t make deals with bullies.  

We need to give Donald a time out as one does for children who can’t control themselves.  A 2-year time out would be just about right.

An Open Letter to the US Department of Education

By Ruth A. Sheets

In this administration’s pursuit of overturning human rights, the Department of Education and Betsy DeVos, you know, the woman who hates public education and wants to tap the public coffers for private schools, particularly all white conservative Christian ones, has championed a set of regulations to disregard the concerns of sexual assault survivors, particularly women and LGBTQ students on school campuses.  Her support comes from the administration and Republicans and Conservatives, you know, the super holy folks.

What is every conservative/Republican so afraid of?  Do you think LGTBQ will rub off and you will catch it?  Or, what is more likely, you hate anyone who is not like you, does not look like you, does not see the world the way you do.  Since you have proclaimed yourselves "true Christians," you think you have Jesus in your pockets.  You don't.  You are just a bunch of scared mostly men who are afraid the world is passing you by and you want to grab onto women, LGBTQ persons, immigrants, and anyone you can blame for the change you fear.  How pathetic!

I’m opposed to the proposed amendment to the rules implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 published on Nov. 29, 2018 that threatens all students, including LGBTQ students.  Oh wait, you are scared of students who don't espouse your narrow beliefs too.

Coddling perpetrators would make schools more dangerous for all students, including LGBTQ students, who face high rates of sexual assault and harassment on campuses. Instead of enforcing Title IX and protecting students from assault and discrimination, your department is proposing to undermine basic protections for survivors.  Why is that?  I suspect you want to claim men just can't control themselves around rabid women or LGBTQ persons or that those people just prey on men all the time and men do nothing unsolicited to women, LGBTQ and others.  Men are the poor victims, you say. 

Shame on you.  No matter what you think, women and LGBTQ persons do not want to frame men for sexual assault.  It is a very rare woman or LGBTQ person who would put themselves through the hell of the courts to go after an "innocent" man/boy.  You know that, but, like everything else this administration does, hurting folks and taking away hard-earned rights is what you do and hope no one will stop you.  I hope you are wrong about that.  A majority of us want you all shut down and will continue to work hard to do it.

Oh yes, I almost forgot.  The appalling proposal would also allow religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students without notice. In case you are not sure what that means, it means kicking those students out.  Students deserve to know if a school intends to deny them admission or kick them out for being LGBTQ before they apply. Remember, if you can, this is America, not Pakistan,  Saudi Arabia, China, or Russia.  Schools should be transparent about their beliefs and actions, and should get no Federal, state, or local tax money if they discriminate against students because of race, gender, LGBTQ status, age, disability, or any other criteria beyond those necessary to be a successful student.

I hope you consider the lives of Americans before enacting these shameful regulations, although I doubt you will, since your cult leader, Mr. Trump has no empathy for anyone who is not white, male, and rich, and you guys, along with Ms. DeVos, follow him blindly.   

We'll see who you are most loyal to, Mr. Trump or the American people, our Constitution, and human rights. 

WHEN YOU JUST HAVE TO TELL THE TRUTH, WITH A LITTLE SNARK

By Ruth A. Sheets

Yesterday, I was going through my emails as usual and occasionally signing and commenting on petitions to various organizations and individuals.  I tried to choose petitions I felt were worthy of my attention.  I am sure the letters usually sent are far too long for the limited attention spans of current officials, so I often modify them somewhat to be more concise.  Sometimes, however, I include a commentary as I go along.  I was really motivated and sent the following. 

Dear EPA officials:

I know you guys really don't care about science, people's health, or just about anything else except money and how much you all can rake in as whatever office you hold. 

I find it extremely upsetting but not surprising that Mr. Trump is moving to sabotage our national Mercury Air Toxics Standards, which greatly limit the amount of mercury and other air toxins that oil-and-coal-fired power plants can emit into our air. He doesn't care that mercury and lead are extremely hazardous to children, damaging their brains and reducing their ability to think and learn. His children/grandchildren, he thinks, won't face this hazard because they are rich enough and such “good people” that it will never affect them.  Who cares about anyone else.  If they are rich too, they'd figure out how to avoid the problems.

Mr. Trump doesn't understand the word toxin).  However, you guys should understand that these elements are dangerous for everyone, but particularly for some of the most vulnerable Americans, such as pregnant women (Oh wait, men don't have to worry about that either).

These standards were broadly supported when they were first introduced, and they offer a wide range of health, economic, and environmental benefits. They prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, 5,700 hospital visits, 130,000 asthma attacks, and 540,000 sick days every single year (that is EVERY YEAR!!!!), and are estimated to deliver annual health benefits up to $90 billion, (and we thought you guys   cared only about money, when you only really cared about the money you can get for yourselves, not what our nation can save).

Your own agency found that the standards' benefits for Americans greatly outweigh compliance costs for industry, and that for every dollar spent to reduce toxic pollution from power plants, the American public sees $9 in health benefits (Oh wait, that's a different department, so who cares about that, right?  Besides, we get it that you guys are only running this department until you get caught cheating or some other illegal act and can resign with the president's "blessing.") 

Even utilities, which bear the cost of these regulations, support keeping them in place, even going as far as to express their support in a joint letter to the EPA just several months ago.  Perhaps, like your cult leader, you don't read?)

You well know this proposal is just another pro-polluter scheme aimed at propping up Big Coal at the expense of the American public. I urge you to abandon these attacks and instead stand up for public health. (I know, I'm actually laughing too.)

OK, probably not my best effort, but I am finding that for my own mental health, I have to ADD a little snark to these petitions WHICH ARE OTHERWISE EXTREMELY DRY, INFORMATIVE, BUT DRY.  And, we know how dry information touches the hearts of the EPA and other agencies.

Later last evening I just had to comment to Republicans in Congress, following the Democratic take-over of the House.  I needed this one too.

I know you guys  don't really care about the wall except that the person in the white house with the maturity of an 8-year-old school yard bully wants it.  But, you are willing to put people's lives in jeopardy to give the spoiled child what he wants.  He has no clue what any of this means, but you, who should be the parents, let the child rule the family.  Shame on you.  People who act like children need to be respected, but given appropriate limits.  One limit is that there will be no wall because a wall is wasteful, racist, environmentally unsound and just plain stupid.  That is what you should tell the child, and stand by it.  Then, overwhelmingly pass the budget without the wall in a way it will override any veto.  That would take care of it, prove you are truly patriotic Americans who care about the people and the government you are serving, and provide appropriate limits to a misbehaving spoiled bully child. 

I actually have no idea where the online petitions go after signing.  Since I know most are elaborate fund-raising activities, I suspect they are deleted into the ether once financial goals are reached.

I must admit, I use the comment sections of petitions to relieve some of my anger over the childishness of this administration and the dysfunctional parents who are not appropriately tending and guiding this out-of-control child in the White House.  They cannot blame anyone else for their poor parenting as they brought this child into the White House and keep letting him run wild over our democracy with impunity.  Naughty parents!

WHEN EDUCATION FAILS

By Ruth A. Sheets

As a teacher, I wonder what impact the planning and materials I present will have on the students with whom I work.  I try to offer them different points of view, although I do not share articles, columns, etc. that are clearly lies or conspiracy theories because I don’t want to plant those seeds. 

I know teachers work very hard to cover the materials they are required to serve up, but it seems lately, education, not just public education,  is failing our citizens. 

How is it we were unable to help 35% of our population see that a particular presidential candidate did not know enough to hold that office, that he was not a good businessman, and that the TV program he was on and so admired for was scripted, neither spontaneous nor a true showcase for his talent or lack thereof?

How is it more than 30% of our citizens believed we were being invaded on our southern border by a few thousand desperate, exhausted immigrants, mostly women and children?

How is it a significant percentage of the population approved for the Supreme Court of the United States an over-emotional, disrespectful womanizer?

How is it that many of our elected officials are ignorant of human reproduction, abortion, and related issues and make laws based on their ignorance?

How is it citizens are easily confused by a president who does not know our Constitution and ignores it on a regular basis?  Is it they don’t know it either? 

How is it people who have not visited a college campus since they graduated criticize current students as not open-minded enough when that open-mindedness only goes as far as including ultra-conservative voices?

I suspect it is we the teachers who are failing our children.  When we require only specific answers to complex questions, or just don’t ask complex questions at all, we encourage ignorance.

We claim we expect students to think critically, but when their critical thinking leads them in directions we don’t like, we use our red pencils and teacher voices to shut them down.

OK, this lack of careful thinking cannot be fully placed at our feet.  Administrators choose curricula that avoid challenge, designed to get kids through the standardized tests.

Parents are often overworked and don’t have time to check to see what kind of thinking their children are doing.  They count on the schools to take care of that, right?

State governments have cut education funds, some hoping to drive public education into the hands of private companies who can then control what children are taught, what to think.

A Secretary of Education who has no experience with education was not only nominated by someone ignorant of education but approved by Senators who should have known better and cared more about our children. 

It breaks my heart when supporters or Mr. Trump are interviewed and they can’t even speak rationally about why they support him.  They claim they want to “make America great again,” but beyond keeping immigrants out and improving the economy in some undisclosed manner, they can’t give any kind of meaningful answer.  It’s embarrassing to listen to them.  Where were their teachers?   Where is their critical thinking?   

How can we teachers do better?  What is getting in the way of our giving students the tools they truly need to live as good citizens in a democracy?  We need to have a lot of conversations about this if our democracy is to survive. 

We need to teach about advertising, propaganda, and the many tools used to get us to dismiss our critical thinking.  We need to set our own egos aside so we can hear student questions and comments that might challenge our own thinking.  Then, we must challenge theirs right back. 

For example, we need to give children choices and teach them how to determine which would be best for them at a given time.  We need to teach history, not as dates and events to be memorized, but as people like themselves making decisions, good and bad, considering the factors the men, women, and children of the past took into account as they chose their actions. 

So, fellow teachers, citizens, we have a lot of work to do.  We can’t take the chance of losing another generation to inadequate thinking and thought thieves.

HONESTY?

By Ruth A. Sheets

I was catching up on my reading this week when I came upon an article from washingtonpost.com.  The title, "Trump Could Be the  Most Honest President in Modern History" by Marc A. Thiessen.   It was dated October 11, 2018.  As I read the title, I anticipated a humorous article sarcastically mocking Mr. Trump's inability to distinguish truth from lies.

Alas, that is not what I found.  The writer claims that because Mr. Trump has kept some of his campaign promises, perhaps more than predecessors (although that is really debatable), he is somehow honest.

Wow!  Where do I begin with this one?  Since when is keeping promises the mark of honesty?

What are the promises?  
- Move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. - Yeah he did this one, but at what cost?
- bring back some jobs (Trump said MANY jobs) - We're still waiting!
- Middle class tax cuts (minimal at best since most of the breaks - 83% - go to the top 1%.  Mr. Trump claimed this was the greatest tax cut, ever.  (well, not even close, but for a while, the stock market was glad to have so many corporations buying back their stock and driving up prices.)
- Nominate mega conservative Supreme Court justices - yes, he did nominate Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, then whined when Kavanaugh didn't go through like a slip on a banana peel.  How honest is it to claim this man who lied to Congress was worthy of sitting on our highest Court?  We didn't get the truth about why Justice Kennedy retired either.  Hmmm!
- Mr. Trump told African-Americans they had nothing to lose by voting for him.  The African-American unemployment rate is reported to be at its lowest level ever.  So what if African-Americans and other people of color are losing voting rights all over Red America and police violence against them continues!  Mr. Trump thinks he took care of them, kept his promise.   Uh huh!
- The Donald promised to cancel clean air and water regulations.  In the Washingtonpost.com column, this is seen as honesty even though Mr. Trump was not honest about whom he was really making those promises to and to whom he was actually lying.  Clearly certain favored corporations benefit, while everyone else, including our general health suffers.
- Trump promised to withdraw from any international agreement made under President Obama (or any other Democrat) even if the American people didn't want that.  He lied to sell this to his supporters, saying we can go it on our own as a nation without allies and all that.  A lie, of course, but he kept his promise and is trying to continue the practice. 
- Mr. Trump and his Congressional allies (he likes that kind of allies) said they would give all the militarized groups more money and they did.  They forgot to tell the truth to the people about the fact that the military would use the money for things like building more weapons and helping out in wars that most Americans don't want. 

In short, Mr. Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail, many of which he later denied making.  After a while,. the fact checkers gave up trying to keep track of which were "promises" and which were just rhetoric to keep his blood-thirsty supporters rallied enough to go vote and to keep Democrats and Independents from believing their vote would matter.

So, if honesty is based on whether you keep promises, Mr. Trump is probably up there in the ratings.  If honesty is telling the truth, Mr. Trump rates at the bottom.  I cannot remember reading about any president who lied more regularly about everything, even the promises.  Mr. Trump reshapes campaign promises as he goes along, hoping people like Mr. Thiessen will see them as achievements and laud him for it. 

Let's face it.  Mr. Trump is not honest either about the reasons for his promises nor about the success of his promises kept.  His first big lie, he won the popular vote.  The second, he would "drain the swamp."  The lies continue at an appalling pace, day after day at his ego-boosting rallies and from the Oval Office.  He regularly shows disrespect for our nation, our democracy, our people, our media, our allies.    

He's like a cult leader that no one but his followers understand. They can't explain why they like him.  They make excuses for his lies and deceit, and they fall back on slogans and their perceived wrongs, their perceived invisibility to everyone else.  Mr. Trump knows he need not be honest with them because they don't care about honesty, just the power they think he wields on their behalf.  He doesn't.  His power is just for himself.  He can't even be honest about that. 

The GOP's End To Democracy

by muon

The word “coup” is defined as a seizure of power from the government, usually sudden and violent, usually having to do with military activity. But there’s another kind of subtle political coup that’s oh so much more diabolical because it happens slowly.

The government of the United States, as set down in our Constitution, is supposed to be a government of, by, and for the people. It’s a democracy in which its citizens ought to have the ultimate power by the use of their vote. And it was constructed with three branches ~ executive, legislative, and judiciary ~ which are supposed to remain independent of each other, so that no one man nor one group would be able to seize absolute power and destroy our democracy.

The Republican Party has been trying to do just that ~ stage a political coup at the Federal level of the government, and through non-democratic means. In order to maintain a majority in Congress, the GOP has developed gerrymandering and voter suppression to an art form. Because of Citizen’s United, they’ve been able to shift power from ordinary citizens to corporations and the very wealthy. Power has even been given to foreign interests who seek to fund candidates and influence elections.

In the past 2 years, the line between executive branch and the Republicans in the legislative branch has completely disappeared. Most GOP congressmen support Trump without question, giving him the confidence to act like a dictator, while they turn a deaf ear to the vast majority of voters. Laws these days aren’t legislated, but come down from the White House as executive orders, or as Trump probably thinks of them, empirical edicts.

Still, we used to be able to rely most of the time on the Supreme Court to be the fair and impartial conscience of the country (albeit, not always ~ Dred Scott, for instance). Now, beginning with the Merrick Garland fiasco, the GOP has repeatedly ignored procedures set down centuries before, in order to manipulate the judiciary to their own will instead of the will of the people.  The Kavanaugh nomination is only the latest symptom. Legal minds and institutions from all over the country say Kavanaugh doesn’t have the temperament for the Supreme Court. Even former Justice Stevens believes Kavanaugh shouldn’t be appointed. Yet, the GOP is plowing forward, ignoring prudence and precedence from the beginning. Nothing about this confirmation process has had anything to do with true democracy. It’s all about illegal seizure of power from the voters of the United States.

This is why the 2018 general election is so important. Voters on both sides of the political divide need to take their power back from congressmen who’ve been in office so long, they think somehow that it’s their birthright. We need to remove people from office who have no respect for the separation of the three branches of government, who think our government is about their own power and wealth.

Only one political party is seeking to merge the 3 branches of government into one. The Republicans are staging a coup, pure and simple. You need to vote this November before that right is taken from you as well.