America hit the Trifecta; How our government was overthrown without a single shot being fired.

This is the party that's calling for unity. This is the party that wants everyone to forget how they they screwed the people they took money from and screwed democracy and the Constitution in the same breath. A political party lead by people of dubious integrity and intent. A trifecta of deceit and corruption. If the Dem primary elections were not rigged, there is more than a good chance we'd have an old guy with glasses and white hair as President being Presidential. Putting into place a tax funded health care system for all Americans, giving kids an honest to God chance of making something of themselves by at LEAST providing a tax funded college education. People, even friggen Russia, "the red scourge of America", has provided their people a college education and have been doing so since before Khrushchev. (consult your history books) The point is, we probably wouldn't have some orange haired cretin, pulling off the biggest con in the planet's history if our people were better educated, better prepared for life in America. Instead, what we have, is something tantamount to the overthrow of America without a single shot being fired.

If you take anything away from the 2016 election it should be this; Our country and democracy was overthrown. Both political parties, Congress and the media, were complicit in one way or another. It wasn't done with armies or tanks. It wasn't done with fighter jets or battleships. It was done with the most powerful weapons on earth; the media, targeted propaganda and banks. Election reform and critical legislation is sorely needed to close the loopholes in our system, but this above all is most important to remember; No amount of Internet censorship or election reform, or Cyber/Homeland Security, can protect us from our own gullibility.

"Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten us into"

It is quite repugnant to lean from virtually every media outlet on the planet, that both the Republican and Democratic political parties, and possibly the most inner circles of our government, were infiltrated and/or aided, by agents of foreign governments or others acting on behalf of foreign governments. This in itself should be grounds to demand new elections be held and an independent special council called to thoroughly investigate the parties themselves and their operations. Impeachment of this President alone just won't cut it, the crisis is just that bad.

The entire administration and line of succession has been tainted. The repercussions of this devastating blow by foreign intelligence to cause chaos in an effort to topple and take control of the United States will be felt for decades because the reach of the operation was so thorough. The most deadliest weapon against America is a compromised government official or someone acting on their behalf and a bank, not a tank. The new battle field is cerebral and monetary. 

Our next steps will be crucial, and we'll need people with wisdom, honor and integrity if we are to prevail. Sadly, it's exactly the lack of those qualities that got us into this mess in the first place. For America and our democracy to survive, this really can't happen again and we must do all that is required to make sure it doesn't. Personally, I would start at the entire political vetting process. Political corruption begins at the source, the political parties and their members who run our government. From the looks of things, they can be found in any city or town in America at the intersection of obscene money, special interests and repugnance. 

Cars kill people, will you ban them too? - A cowards cop out.

OK...let's try this one on for size. I'm a legal gun owner. But when the discussion goes to; "hey cars kill people everyday. Are you going to ban them too"...I just have to roll my eyes and cringe at the stupidity. Guns are made for the specific purpose of maiming and killing. They were not made to be paper weights and they weren't made for target practice. Target practice was invented to become proficient in using a gun accurately So lets just get that out of the way.

There are nuts in this world. That's just a cold reality of life, but we can't all become stupid just because we have a Constitution and a 2nd amendment. We may not be able to stop all of them but we may be able to reduce the frequency of these types of horrific and deadly events. Common sense and critical thinking must override anyone's sense of a Constitutional right to own stock piles of guns, or silencers or armor piercing bullets. It's all getting a bit absurd. And, there is a reason the government doesn't allow people to have fully automatic machine guns unless they are federally licensed fire arms dealers or law enforcement. It's called public safety and the good of the people.

So to think making adjustments, conversions, or additions to guns to make them operate as if the were fully automatic is OK without a good reason (and it better be because our shores have been invaded and they're shooting)...Most sane people I think would agree it isn't OK...(and no...you don't get to keep them just in case)...

There is no innate right of the public to possess armament such as silencers, bazookas, armor piercing bullets, automatic weapons, military or military style weapons and devices designed for the soul purpose of killing and maiming. Again, that's what weapons were made for and it's in the public's best interests to restrict and deny if necessary access and availability to the public domain.

In my best "Jimmy Dugan" voice...There's no silencers in hunting!

There are no silencers in hunting you cowards. If you want silent hunting, try using a bow! Someone actually elected the idiots that wrote this legislation. If not, some idiots at the NRA wrote it, and gave it to the idiots who were elected. Either way, it's deadly wrong. The idea that silencers are manufactured, marketed and sold as a product to "protect the hearing of users" is absurd on it's face. There are ear plugs and other ear protection devices on the market now for that. No device, marketed as "hearing protection" or otherwise, should be allowed to be sold to the public, in which the hearing protection or a lowering of the decibel level of a fired weapon is the result of the weapon's projectile passing through a device affixed in any manner or form to the end of a weapon.

 Armor piercing bullets? You people watch too many movies. I will admit, it might be fun to have target practice on a nazi or isis vehicle...but that's about as far as it goes...start a business...buy a tank...get a federal firearms license and rent it out as a shooting gallery. Provide armor piercing bullets for realism, AND be accountable for every one of them. Because if you can not account for a single projectile, you will lose your federal firearms licence, forfeit all assets, and go to jail for not less than 20 years for the first offense. Exactly why the hell does anyone need armor piercing bullets? Because they can? Sorry, armor piercing bullets do not belong in the public domain and should be restricted to military and in certain emergency circumstances to the police. The fact that we have a Constitution with a 2nd amendment doesn't mean we must all now become stupid.

PS, I am a registered gun owner who is not a member of the NRA and I stand with other responsible gun owners against any bill this stupid. There are no special interests and there is no amount of money that makes this bill sane. To even think about bringing such a bill forward shows enfeeblement of mind and an unfitness for the office to which they were elected.

The Damaged Psyche of a Broken Nation

This tragic event in Las Vegas is deplorable and brings to the forefront of discussion the reality of America's broken psyche. Almost daily we hear of tragic events occurring around the country. Our jails are full but the echos of pure evil go unheard. No place in this nation is immune. We suffer natural disaster, murder, poverty and worse, a government that is ill equipped to address the root causes of our plight. Our vanishing humanity, our gullibility, our anger and distrust of others, reinforced daily by massive media bombardments of breaking news containing dubious information whose relevance and credibility are just as dubious.

Congress has certainly exacerbated the issue. Political divisiveness, our lack of a national, comprehensive health care system that includes a mental health component, gun control or lack thereof, the poor, the jobless, the sick, there is much blame to go around. Our republic is crumbling because the scales of humanity have tilted and evil's ability to overcome good is at it's mightiest. Our own shores have become those teaming with wretched refuse and our nation grieves between wallowing in our shame.

Corporate Tax Breaks - National Genocide

I simply can not believe we are going through this again. We've had trickle down economics since before Reagan, then we had eight years of unpaid tax breaks for the rich during Bush. They said corporations would use the tax breaks to create millions of jobs. Instead, few jobs were created, employee wages stagnated, operations were move offshore, they used their tax break win fall to pay corporate dividends and eventually, the entire economy crashed.

Bottom line? I will never again believe giving billions of dollars in tax breaks to corporations creates jobs, helps the economy, or the middle class. This country needs tax reforms, but corporate tax breaks for the reasons above isn't reform, it's national genocide.

Thought of the Day - Self Imposed Mediocracy

As long as we allow our political parties and our system of elections to put forth mediocre candidates, the outcome can only result in mediocrity. We deserve better and we cannot allow it to continue into our next elections. This goes for local, state, and federal elections as well. Mediocracy begins at the source. We can not again as a nation afford to choose unwisely and we can never again allow poor choices to be our only choices.