Tag Archives: conservative

Idiot of the Week #3 – Ann Coulter

Posted on by under Idiot of the Week, Political commentary, Social commentary

Idiot of the Week medal

I mentioned a week or so ago that people were tumbling into my lap, vying for the highly-prized Idiot of the Week award.  There are so many on my list now that I debate over which deserves the award the most, but as I write this tonight (Saturday night … yes, this is how I spend my Saturday nights, folks), this particular person seems to be shrieking the loudest, yelling “PICK ME PICK ME PICK ME!” says she.  So without further ado, allow me to introduce Ms. Ann Coulter!

 

coulter-6Ann Hart Coulter is an American conservative social and political commentator, writer, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She has written eleven books, some of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List.  Her first book, High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton (1998) called for the impeachment of then President Bill Clinton. Her fourth book, How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter (2004), sums up her opinion of liberals in two sentences: “Want to make liberals angry? Defend the United States.”  Other books include:

  • Godless: The Church of Liberalism (2006)
  • If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans (2007)
  • Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America (2009)
  • Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America (2011)
  • Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama (2012)
  • Never Trust a Liberal Over 3 — Especially a Republican (2013)
  • Adios, America: The Left’s Plan to Turn Our Country Into a Third World Hellhole (2015)

Do you get the feeling she does not like liberal thinkers or Democrats?  It is a good thing I am not as thin-skinned as Donnie Trump, else my feelings might be hurt and I might have to go hit her, huh? Coulter’s next book is set to release next month, titled In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! 

When possible, I like to let the idiots speak (babble)  for themselves, so I give you, Ms. Ann Coulter:

  • “If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.”  Is she related to Phyllis Schlafly?
  • “The backbone of the Democratic Party is a typical fat, implacable welfare recipient.” Hey, wait a minute now … I am neither fat nor a welfare recipient!
  • “People like you caused us to lose that war.” (speaking to a disabled veteran about the Vietnam War)
  • “I’m more of a man than any liberal.”
  • “Most public schools are, at best, nothing but expensive babysitting arrangements, helpfully keeping hoodlums off the street during daylight hours. At worst, they are criminal training labs, where teachers sexually abuse the children between drinking binges and acts of grand larceny.”
  • “I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote.”  Wait, didn’t we try that once?  And didn’t we decide it was highly discriminatory, and thus we banned it?
  • “Canada used to be one of our most loyal friends, and vice versa. I mean, Canada sent troops to Vietnam.”  Do some fact checking, Ms. Coulter – Canada did not send troops to Vietnam!
  • “I have to say I’m all for public flogging. One type of criminal that a public humiliation might work particularly well with are the juvenile delinquents, a lot of whom consider it a badge of honor to be sent to juvenile detention. And it might not be such a cool thing in the ‘hood’ to be flogged publicly.”
  • aargh“I think [women] should be armed but should not vote … women have no capacity to understand how money is earned. They have a lot of ideas on how to spend it … it’s always more money on education, more money on child care, more money on day care.”
  • “There are a lot of bad Republicans; there are no good Democrats.”
  • “I might be in favor of national healthcare if it required all Democrats to get their heads examined.”
  • “She ought to be in prison for wearing a hijab.”
  • “I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am.”  You mean there is somebody stupider than you?

khizr-khanWhich brings us to the one that dropped her in my lap and caused me to award the Idiot of the Week honour to her today.  A gentleman by the name of Khizr Khan, the father of Muslim U.S. war hero who died in combat in Iraq, Captain Humayun Khan, spoke at the Democratic National Convention last week.  Coulter wasted no time before tweeting: “You know what this convention really needed? An angry Muslim with a thick accent like Fareed Zacaria.”  Presumably it was intended as a slur against both Mr. Khan and Fareed Zakaria, whose name she couldn’t even manage to spell correctly. Mr. Zakaria is an esteemed Indian-American journalist for The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and CNN. Even Coulter’s fellow conservatives were horrified by her unfeeling remarks and quickly chastised her.

coulter-5In an interview last week, Ms. Coulter said “If Trump doesn’t win, it’s over. I’ll be writing cookbooks and mysteries. It’ll probably take some talk radio hosts and a certain TV network [Fox News] a while to figure that out. But it’s over.”  We can only hope.  Though I cannot imagine I would eat any dish that came from one of her cookbooks, as I expect she would be cooking up a passel of hatred.

Notice that Ms. Coulter supposedly has a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, and was an editor of the Michigan Law Review.  Wouldn’t you think that might have required a degree of … intelligence?  Apparently she lost it somewhere on the way to the forum. And so, Ms. Coulter, you have certainly done everything you could to earn Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award.

A Bored Nation

Posted on by under Political commentary, Social commentary

The United States of America is a nation that is bored.  Yes, b-o-r-e-d.  Don’t believe me?  All you have to do is visit any of the social media sites and see what is trending, what people are talking about.  Now, if you remove all sources with the word ‘Trump’ of ‘Hillary’, you are left with what people apparently think passes for news, for importance.  Today’s topic?  The father of social media, Facebook.  An anonymous source apparently accuses Facebook of suppressing some conservative stories from the ‘trending now’ spot.  Rather than question the source, everybody … well, 85% of everybody … has jumped on the bandwagon, assuming the ‘anonymous tipster’ to be perfectly legitimate, and gone ‘viral’ with their criticisms of Facebook … on Facebook!

fblogoFirst of all … if you depend on Facebook or any other social media outlet for your news, then you are pretty much getting only one side, if that, of the story anyway.  Second, why would you believe this any more than you would believe that Jackie Chan has died … again … oh, but wait … most people do believe that every time they see it!  Third, what does it matter if Facebook leans more to the left or right?  Every news outlet does … think Fox (left-leaning) and Washington Post (right-leaning).  Facebook is not in the news business, it is entertainment, pure and simple, and their goal is that which will earn them the greatest amount of followers.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Even RNC chairman Reince Priebus and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune weighed in with Tweets and Twits.  Do these guys really have nothing better to do?  Facebook has denied that it is biased toward one party or another, and frankly, having seen plenty of ‘trending stories’ and ‘memes’ for both ideologies, I am inclined to believe them.  However, it probably doesn’t matter, as the idea is now firmly planted in the minds of the public, and once planted, it will live there forevermore … or until something more interesting comes along, say a new video featuring Beyoncé.

But, of course, the public is not content to stick with the topic at hand, nor, God forbid, try to verify the veracity of the source.  No … though the only allegation was that Facebook editors may have cut some conservative stories from the trending news feed, now Facebook users are claiming that their memes and posts promoting conservative values and candidates are disappearing.  This, I can tell you, is definitely NOT true, as I see so many of them per day that I eventually log off Facebook just for self-preservation.  Facebook is not hacking your account and removing your right-wing cutesy memes, my right-leaning friends.  Trust me, they are still there in all their glory! Before long I fully expect people to start blaming Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg for the disappearance of great-aunt Harriet and the swarm of cicadas in the garden.

Some have even given so much importance to this non-issue that they claim Facebook “could easily tip this year’s presidential election in one candidate’s favor.”  If that is the case, and I seriously hope it is not, then that is a very sad statement about the American voter indeed. Facebook’s ‘Trending Topics’ is intended, loosely, to be a compilation of those stories that appear to be of interest to the most people on Facebook.  If you want news, visit a news source, if you want entertainment, visit Facebook.  The two are independent and as such, are not interchangeable.

Carson and Christie … the Comeback “Kids” in 2020?

Posted on by under Political commentary

Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who briefly led the Republican presidential race before his campaign began an extended public implosion, told his supporters in a statement Wednesday afternoon that he does not see a “path forward” and will not attend Thursday’s debate in Detroit. “I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results,” the Wednesday statement said. “However, this grassroots movement on behalf of ‘We the People’ will continue. Along with millions of patriots who have supported my campaign for President, I remain committed to Saving America for Future Generations.” Though he is done for the 2016 election, I do not think we have seen the last of Dr. Carson on the political scene.

Though from day one I considered him highly unqualified for the job of president of the United States, there are a few things I like about Dr. Carson, not the least of which is his calm, mild-mannered demeanor. He is soft spoken, yet well spoken. He comes across as intelligent and reasonable, which is more than I can say for the “leaders of the pack” The nation does not need a personality like Trump, now or ever. That said, Dr. Carson would be well-advised to suspend his campaign and stop spending money today! He never did stand even a 1% chance of winning the GOP nomination. However, if he spends his time and money wisely over the course of the next four years, I think he could possibly become a viable candidate in 2020 or even 2024, if that is what he really wants to do.

This plan would mean a lot of hard work, but his past tells us he is not averse to hard work. He needs to spend the next four years studying, learning, and studying some more. Dr. Carson is already a renowned neurosurgeon, but his knowledge of government and history is sorely and acutely lacking. His first step needs to be to start back on the first rung of the educational ladder, this time with an eye toward Political Science, Environmental Issues, and Foreign Relations. Courses in American History, World History, Constitutional Law, Contract Law and Criminal Law are essential. Within the four years between now and 2020, he could do all of that and more. It would also be an expensive venture, but if he drops out of this lost-cause presidential race now*, he could likely meet all his educational requirements with the money he will save!

Again, I like Dr. Carson as a person. Compared to the rest of the pack of 2016 GOP candidates, he shows remarkable reserve and intelligence. I think that in addition to his educational needs, he will need to develop a stronger backbone, a shell, and a more fiery voice, but only a little. The other thing is he will need to learn to discern the truth from a lie and stop thinking that lying about his past will make him appear more of a “tough guy”. We don’t need a tough guy nor a wuss in the White House, we need a thinker, and I believe that Ben could ultimately be that thinker. 2016 may well have been a get-your-feet-wet test run for him. If so, he needs to look back, see what he is lacking, and take steps to fill in those blanks. I doubt we have seen the last of Dr. Carson, and that may be a good thing.

Carson is 64 years old, meaning that in 2020 he will be 68 and in 2024 he will be 72. A bit long in the tooth by 2024, but then Bernie Sanders is 74 and Hillary Clinton 68 in this election year. I don’t discriminate here, but he would be 80 when he left office, assuming two terms, and … I don’t know about any of you, but I really don’t want to be working that hard when I am 80!

Chris Christie is by any standards a good man. He has a conscience, he cares, he has government experience, but unfortunately he made some bad moves and “Bridgegate” became his nemesis. The most important thing that Christie needs to do now is to immediately and firmly distance himself from the Donald Trump Carnival of Horrors. Instead, he chose to endorse Trump, though from the picture that has been broadcast far and wide, it appears that he is now asking himself “WTF have I done???”

I am disappointed in Christie. Not for Bridgegate … that is politics, the media and the past. I am disappointed in him because he sold his soul to the devil. Governor Christie hates Trump as much as I do (believe me, that is a lot), but a day after the gov dropped out of the campaign, before he even had time to lick his wounds, he endorsed Trump. Why? Only one possible reason … he is seeking to be the trumpeter’s running mate. As I see it, this was the absolute worst move he could have made. The man still stands a shot in 2020 or even 2024, but not if he aligns himself with the Trump circus.

What do I like about Governor Christie? He probably won me over in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy in 2012. He was there, he was involved, he genuinely cared, and he risked the love of the republican party to stand with President Obama to get help to people as timely and efficiently as possible. Christie is, or at least was, a more moderate politician than most in today’s GOP. His views on firearms and gun control are more reasonable than most of the right-wingers: he supports a ban on assault weapons and .50 caliber weapons, especially after the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. He has shown his willingness to be a team player, to compromise when necessary in order to get things done. If he has backed down in the past year, I blame the GOP circus-atmosphere that has every republican candidate turning in circles, chasing their tails trying to figure out how to bring down the trumpeter.

Can Christie make a comeback in 2020? I think he can. What he needs to do, not only for himself, but for the survival of the GOP (if it isn’t too late already) is return to his own beliefs and stop trying to do what others expect of him. There is no better advice I can ever offer to any political candidate than to “stay true to yourself, your beliefs”.

Though I am not a republican, not by any stretch of the imagination a conservative, I do care what happens within the GOP, as it affects us all, democrat or republican, liberal, moderate or conservative. We are all in this together, and at the end of the day we all stand together or we go down together. I believe that if Christie and Carson can get their acts together, they can help bring the GOP back to a more moderate, more acceptable stance and be a driving force four years from now. It should be interesting to watch.

 

*Note:  I wrote this a few days ago.  Since that time, Dr. Carson has suspended his campaign.

Who Did NOT Kill The Judge?

Posted on by under Social commentary

Last week Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in his sleep at a resort in Texas.  This week, the conspiracy theorists have swooped in with all manners of theories and accusations ranging from ‘Obama killed him’ to ‘Dick Cheney killed him’.  I am waiting for Richard Belzer to add his two cents worth any day now and theorize that he knows just how the CIA had him killed.

This whole scenario could have been so easily avoided if only Scalia had the courtesy to die someplace other than Texas!  Or if only somebody had the good sense to perform an autopsy.  There was no murder, and Justice Scalia died of natural causes.  He was not a well man, as his family knew and has told us.  So why all the mystery?  Because under Texas law, it is permissible for the pronouncement of death to be made by phone, without the Medical Examiner or anybody acting in an official capacity ever having seen the body, which is exactly what happened in this case.  The local Justice of the Peace was out of town, so she pronounced Scalia dead by phone without ever seeing his body.  Also, no autopsy was ordered, at the family’s request.  This combination is the base recipe for disaster … enough gaps in procedure and credibility to get those bored, over-imaginative minds brewing.  Then, to add insult to injury, the resort owner, who discovered Scalia’s body, mentioned that he had “a pillow over his head”.  Throw another log on the fire.

Conspiracy theories are nothing new.  In recent history, the ten (10) top conspiracy theories were:

  • Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone (or possibly at all)
  • Princess Diana was killed on purpose
  • Aids is a manmade disease
  • The government was involved in 9/11
  • Elvis never really left the building
  • The 1969 Apollo moon landing did not happen
  • A UFO crashed in Roswell, New Mexico
  • Global warming is a hoax
  • President Obama was born in Kenya (another ‘Trump-ism’)
  • Holocaust revisionism

With the possible exception of the first one, all of the above, every single last one, have been credibly de-bunked, as will the “murder” of Justice Scalia.  Were it not an election year, were it not for Trump and his “road-show mentality”, and were it not for ultra-conservative radio personality Alex Jones, the rumour would likely never have seen the light of day. First of all, despite Donald Trump’s hasty conclusion that the pillow was “on his face, which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow”, the resort owner who found him clarified that the pillow was leaning against the headboard and above his head, not on his face.  And besides … what kind of murderer is going to leave the pillow over the victim’s face, for Pete’s sake???  Secondly, what was to be gained by murdering Scalia?  He was one of nine justices serving on the Supreme Court.  His textualist/originalist views were disagreeable to some, but that never kept him from being well-liked and well-respected by all who knew him.  There was, simply, nothing to be gained by his death and much to be lost.

Justice Scalia was known to have heart problems, high blood pressure and was recently rejected for surgery to treat a shoulder injury based on his other health problems.  “Our family just has no doubt that he was taken from us by natural causes,” Eugene Scalia, Justice Scalia’s youngest son said on Wednesday.  “We accept that. We’re praying for him. We ask others to accept that and pray for him.”

Meanwhile, it is a tragedy that his family, friends, and the public must suffer through politically-motivated rumours. Though I often disagreed ideologically with Scalia’s conservative, textualist decisions, I had great respect for him.  One quote, in particular, stays in my mind, “I attack ideas. I don’t attack people. And some very good people have some very bad ideas. And if you can’t separate the two, you gotta get another day job.”  He was a good man, and he served the Supreme Court and this nation well for over 30 years.  Let us not diminish this memory by allowing the conspiracy theories and theorists to turn this into yet another three-ring circus.

A Light Bulb Moment!

Posted on by under Political commentary

“When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.”  Or, as sometimes stated, “To every action there is always an opposite and equal reaction.”  This is the third of the respected physicist Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion.  Now, I am not a scientist, in fact hard science is and has always been my nemesis, but I admit that sometimes it comes in handy even for a layperson.  So, note that whatever I say will be in laymen’s terms , and I hope those of you who are science geeks can overlook my simplicity.  To understand this third law of Newton’s, we need only consider that age-old executive desk toy, Newton’s cradle shown here:

Newton cradle

The concept is there are 5 steel balls suspended on nylon strings from a cradle-like structure.  If you pull a ball on either end back then let it go, when it swings back down, the ball on the opposite end will swing out precisely as far as you pulled the first ball.  If you pull two balls out on either end, the two balls on the opposite end will swing out the same distance once the initial two balls return to their starting point.  You have all seen them in action, but in case anybody has not, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton’s_cradle for some cool animated samples and a more scientific, though still user-friendly explanation.

 

Now if you have followed this blog for any length of time, you are scratching your head and asking yourself if I have gone and lost my marbles (pun intended).  Filosofa writes about politics, rants about social injustices, sometimes goes for a chuckle or two, but Filosofa does not write about scientific things, so where is she headed?  Ah yes, my loyal followers, I am headed somewhere.  Since I rarely sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time, I have lots of time to think.  So a few nights ago I was pondering how the rift between conservative and liberal thinkers has gotten wider than I can ever remember, how Democrats and Republicans are almost completely incapable of forming working coalitions these days, and I was trying to figure out the reason for this.  Thinking of myself, I realized that 10 years ago I followed a more moderate ideology, but today I must admit that I am about 95% a liberal thinker.  Why is that, I asked myself.  What changed?  And then, like a bolt of lightning illuminating the grey matter within my skull, I envisioned Newton’s Cradle.  As long as the right-most ball is only pulled out, say an inch, the left ball will also only move an inch.  But, pull that right ball out six inches, and the left ball will swing six inches to the left!  Enlightenment!!!  A “Light Bulb” moment, as it were!  The more radical either side swings, the more radical the other side will swing in the opposite direction!!!  I don’t know which came first, the chicken or the egg, and I don’t know which side started swinging wide first, those to the left or right of center.  The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter, the momentum is already set and the balls are swinging wildly out of control.  Ten years ago, knowing what I know today, I think I would have argued for gun regulation that restricted certain types of weapons and ammunition, but today I argue that the Second Amendment should be repealed and guns should be taken out of the hands of citizens.  Ten years ago, knowing what I know today, I might have argued that in light of recent terrorist activity, we ought to more carefully screen immigrants, but today, since the other side is screaming hatred and calling for a ban on any and all Muslims, I push back with opposite and equal reaction and argue that we must accept all who seek asylum in this nation.

 

Okay, all of the above is helpful (maybe) in understanding how the right and left have become so ideologically divided, how we can no longer find a middle ground on which to meet, but is it helpful in finding a solution to the problem?  I don’t have the answer to that.  Well, actually I do, but it isn’t a solution that seems likely to transpire anytime soon, as both right and left are talking too loudly to hear any but their own views.  Too busy patting themselves on the back and declaring that their viewpoints are the only righteous ones to even consider that they may be part of the problem and as such will need to be willing to seek compromise in order to be part of the solution.  There can be no compromise as long as both sides have managed to convince themselves that they are 100% right and everybody who doesn’t agree with them are wrong.  Make no mistake … if we do not ALL start moving toward a common ground, toward the middle, toward compromise, the result will be catastrophic, and probably sooner than we think.  A couple of examples:

 

  • Gun regulation – the conservative right calls for every citizen to arm themselves, while the liberal left would repeal the 2nd Amendment. Meanwhile, while we argue and fight among ourselves, crime rates, mass shootings, school shootings, suicide rates all  are on the rise in exponential rates.  Check the facts and stats, then extrapolate the date forward ten years.  See what I mean?  Some solution must be forthcoming or we will self-destruct before our very eyes.
  • Climate change – the conservative right claim that climate change is being blown out of proportion and there is no imminent threat to the planet, thus we should build the Keystone pipeline and continue burning massive amounts of fossil fuels in order that corporations can continue polluting and people can continue living their extravagant lifestyles, while the liberal left see the total destruction of the planet earth as only a few years away.

Yes, these are extremes, but that is what I am talking about.  Start with one extreme on either side, and it is inevitably met with an equal extreme on the other side.  There are hundreds more examples I could cite … social welfare, social security, nuclear proliferation, education, immigration policies all are subject to extreme partisan swings, while the truth, the solutions, lie somewhere in the grey area in the middle, an area that has been largely abandoned.  There may be no single “correct” solution to the problems facing the nation, the world, today, but there are certainly a number of absolutely “wrong” answers.  I am calling for a toning-down of vitriol in any direction, and let us all put our heads together and find ways to once again meet each other halfway.  It is the only chance this nation stands of remaining a democratic secular nation, a world leader, a decade from now.

On Voting: A Short Primer

Posted on by under Political commentary

In a mere twenty (20) months we will be electing a new president to head up the executive branch of the government of the U.S. You scoff? Twenty months? That’s nearly TWO YEARS!!! Why worry about it just yet? And I would agree with you. Fully. Completely. Totally. Except, the potential candidates and the national parties are already circling the wagons, seeking weak spots in both the opposition and their constituency. Thus, it behooves us to start building our fortress and filling our moats! Man the battlements! Okay, okay … overkill, I suppose, though it is sometimes how I feel. Already, with nearly two years remaining in President Obama’s term of office, we are being bombarded on a daily basis by propaganda from BOTH parties and I can only imagine that by the time election day 2016 rolls around, we will all be nauseous, disenchanted, relieved, or perhaps suicidal. That said, to parody a popular, yet totally meaningless saying, “it is what it is”, and we might as well make the most of it. So, if the national parties and the candidates have twenty months to bombard and annoy us, that also means that we have twenty months to actually enlighten, educate and prepare ourselves for the final decision in November 2016.

Now, I lean toward a specific ideology, which is embraced by a certain political party, however my purpose here is not to sway anybody toward either side, but merely to assist in the decision-making process. Though I may favor one party in particular, I am more nearly a moderate and have voted, from one time to the next, for candidates representing both parties. As a popular old saying goes, I vote for the candidate, not the party. I’ve never been a “straight-ticket” voter, and I don’t recommend it for anybody, as there are good, not-so-good, and downright bad people on both sides of the aisle. It is good to keep in mind that you are voting for the person who you think is best qualified for the office and will do what is best for the nation as a whole. I have a few guidelines to share today, when thinking about the “upcoming” elections.

1. Make a list: List ten issues that matter to you. The first five should be things that matter to you personally, that will have direct impact on your life. The other five should be more global issues that you consider to be of significant importance in a more global sense, things you care about and that will have long-term impact or consequences for the nation and the world.

2. Research: Starting with the first item on your list and working your way through the list, find every scrap of reliable information available about that issue, what each potential candidate has said about the issue in the past, say, five years, ten years. Remember that what the candidate says today may vary significantly from what he or she has said in the past, and may vary from his/her voting record in the past. Be sure to study both sides of the issue, not just the one that you favor, because

a. You should be aware of the reasons each side feels as they do
b. You need to be able to clarify, in your own mind, why you feel as you do

It is likely that your research will lead to additional questions and thoughts on the topic … follow up on these with your research as well.
3. Organize: Start a spreadsheet or other type of visual tool to organize the results of your research, listing the issues and cross-referencing with each potential candidate. Make footnotes if you have found a source particularly helpful.

4. Ignore: Virtually ALL propaganda!!! I cannot stress this enough. You are about to be bombarded by trash. You will be told stories of each candidate’s indiscretions, both political and personal. Some may have an element of truth, most will be 90%-95% lies. For the most part, I recommend completely ignoring and disregarding anything you see on either Facebook, Fox News, or any of the other radical or questionable new sources. Even most mainstream news, think ABC, NBC, CBS, New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, are inept at telling a completely unbiased story. So … how, you ask, does one find the truth? Well, one looks to a broad variety of sources. I do use mainstream media, primarily print sources such as the Washington Post and New York Times, but I also rely on updates from Foreign Policy (both print and on-line editions) and Jerusalem Post for issues concerning the Middle East, Trove Today and Huffington Post for both national and international issues, and a wide variety of other sources as well. Where there are wide discrepancies, you will have to find other sources or use your instincts. The important thing is to use a broad variety, and never ever believe everything you see or hear, particularly on social media sites!!!

5. Understand: That no candidate will be perfect, no candidate will be 100% in line with your goals, beliefs and agenda, so it truly boils down to, as my father used to say, “the lesser of two evils”, or the candidate who shares the majority of your goals for the nation.
Voting is both a privilege and a responsibility that should never be taken lightly. The Preamble of the Constitution of the United States starts with a phrase, We The People. We the people are a very diverse group of human beings and each of us expect our elected officials to meet certain criteria which may vary wildly from one person to the next. We are truly blessed to live in a nation that not only tolerates, but encourages open and frank discussion among citizens. Use this wisely. Don’t let yourself be drawn into arguments that have no logical basis and exist solely for the sake of an argument. Remember that some people speak merely for the sake of hearing themselves talk. Listen … other opinions need not sway you, but sometimes you may learn from the wisdom of others. I steer clear of radicals on either side, recognizable by those who scream the loudest and are the most rigid in their thinking, convinced that their opinion is the only possible right answer. To sum up, start now doing your homework, and by the time election day rolls around in a short 20 months, you will be confident and secure that your decision is the right one for you. I am certain I shall be posting more over the course of the next twenty months, and I hope you will feel free to comment, whether you agree with me or not.