Happy Monday, guys and gals, kids and kiddies, and any precious furry pets that are a part of your singular or familia mojo. Here we are, just a little over 14 months until the next chance for the GOP to steal yet another election. If you recall, the last time we the people were invited to the polls to choose many an office holder, starting with the White House occupant and descending orders of political magnitude, 99% of which are members of either what I call the party of Murder, Inc. or the other major political organization I will call The Spineless Ones, the outcome was quite an odds-beater.

Harsh name calling, you may feel, but I am speaking on behalf of those who have the ability to see reality for what it is after actually taking the time to assess who is who and what they do and the whys and hows of their political sausage-making. I’ve been rather bleak in attitude the last couple of postings, basically saying that Evil is winning, in this still pretty young (infancy, actually) 21st century. The powers-that-be have brought the U.S. to a point that begs the question: what kind of country are we anymore? We seem to have become quite uncivil, to say the least.

Is there hope? Sure there is. After all, where there is no hope to be grasped, to cling to, to tightly hold in one’s heart and soul, then what’s the point of getting up in the morning? Hope for what, however? Well, many people hope to see an end to the acrimony, for a more peaceful coexistence, regardless of race, religion, gender, lifestyle or political affiliation. Sure, that’s worth hoping for! But I do believe the current Las Vegas odds still have Evil as a 3 to 5 favorite today and moving forward. Those oddsmakers closely study the participants, the major influences of their modus operandi, and set odds that are reflective of what is basically an irrefutable “tip sheet” on probable outcomes. The contest is a 2-horse political race, so there’s not a lot of sorting through the competitors. And, yeah, it’s 3-5 that nothing is going to change. The same horse will “win” again, one way or other. Why? Because the other “horse” has no game. It’s jockey has no spine, the horse under the jock is not interested in winning, not conditioned to win, not trained to win, or willing to make any serious effort at winning. The horse is as good as dead. How is this? I mean, how does this organization lose to a reality TV creature bereft of any substance? A prevaricating huckster. But lose they did. Yeah, I know, the loser got a few million more votes than the winner, but the Spineless candidate was so flawed and one-dimensional that millions more of potential voters sniffed the flagrant odor of the evil of two lessors and stayed home. Electoral math sealed the shocking outcome.

As I said, it’s barely 14 months to Race Day, and here’s what we have so far since the last race in 2016, the outcome of which has engendered much of that divisiveness (and hostility, and hate and, oh right, mass killings that occur on an almost daily basis) alluded to above. Try to refute my assertion, but you cannot, other than simply say this posting is just “fake news”. I wish it were. But I see reality. If you do too, you might agree.

Here is some harsh reality for you to chew on, whoever you are and what you may or not be aware of. Our current government, since January of 2017, after the “winner” of the 2016 election was settled, has taken action, all of which has succeeded to one degree or another: Caging migrant children, imposing corporate rule, destroying workers rights, rigging our elections, degrading women, gutting healthcare, gutting public education, denying climate change, decriminalizing pollution (again, climate change!) pampering billionaires with yet more tax cuts for the 1% leading the way, demonizing Muslims, coddling racists (literally labeling white supremacists as “nice people”) kowtowing to dictatorial thugs, profiteering on the presidency, flagrantly obstructing justice and I’m leaving some things out that I’ve lost track of.

Sounds like some Orwellian nightmare vision of a future dystopia, no? Yeah, except the future is now. Oh, you can still move about freely–especially if you are a white male of the species, but all are free to get up in the morning and go about things, okay?—-take the toddlers out to play innocently in the sandbox, walk the dog, cuddle your kitty, or your significant other, your spouse equivalent, or hit the sports bars and cheer for the home team, ride a bike, take a hike, attend a concert or a movie, a play, or just while away the day, maybe go to a mall. A museum. Your favorite eatery. Watch the idiot box. Go to the health club. Check the mail. Sure, on the very first layer of current waking life, all things seems pretty much the same as they were before the final electoral college outcome of election 2016.

But go a little deeper under that veneer of normalcy, and take a closer look. Listen more closely. Think beyond the daily routines. Think about the future. If you do, well, that’s a start. But how many of us are demanding change? Have you seen a wrong and stood up for right? Is what you think is wrong even right? Did we ask for this new “normal”?

Bullet-proof backpacks are now being sold for the little ones marching off to grades kindergarten and above. What?! No, that’s not the The Onion. It’s the New York Times reporting it. But not demanding to know how it came to be. Along with much of the mainstream media in its neo-journalistic slumber mode.

And if you do see what I know I see, do you sense any blowback against this increasingly unstable society fostered by an clearly nefarious government? Is there not any action, legal and binding, that can be taken? Right now? If not legal and righteous action, any mass rallies for a more reasoned, balanced approach to governing and its impact on our innate desires to pursue a peaceful place among the many of us, a mixed bag of race, gender, ethnicity, and spiritual beliefs? I don’t see any reports on any mass protests (unlike in France, and especially Hong Kong, with millions taking to the streets to vent their outrage). What about the opposition party, you know The Spineless Ones? Oh, wait. That’s right. They have no backbones, at least the supposedly empowered jockies who ride that party’s listless equine don’t. There are new members ready take the reigns of a fresh mount, but they are not given any access for real action. Their elder peers are apparently okay with the current choas and malice of Murder, Inc. But first, they need to grow that SPINE. Long odds on that!

I thought we had a constitution that set a clear agenda for one and all to live by, and by that I mean for the common good. You know we the people and our rights and protections from unreasonableness and ill intent. There is a Constitution, I know this because I saw it, encased under protective glass in a D.C. museum. However, I’m not sure anyone who really, really matters in either of the camps of Murder, Inc. or The Spineless Ones, has ever read it, or even if they did, have decided that its just a old piece of parchment and apparently fake news too! Seriously. Where are the committee hearings? Where are the subpoenas calling for answers and action to set things right? I hear crickets, not the gavel being slammed down as a call for inquiry and ultimate accountability. I hear crickets. No, not even crickets at this point. It’s that sound of silence, deafeningly filling the airwaves, while Murder, Inc. prevents any action as though it, and it alone, runs the show. Can you say Moscow Mitch.? I think he actually runs this country, though the constitution doesn’t spell that out, I’m pretty sure.

Really, caging children? A tacit support of white supremacy? Rigging election systems? Undermining public education? Denying affordable healthcare? Denying women the right to control their own bodies? Mocking the sciences, climate studies included? Overt union busting? Aren’t any of these well documented wrongs forbidden by the language and spirit of that constitution?

For now, I say I guess not. It’s just an old piece of parchment, folks. It reads all noble and just through its preamble and its Articles and Amendments, but it may as well be reprinted on toilet tissue for all the good it is doing with regards to those who are doing some really, really, very, very, nasty, dangerous and even deadly things as they go about “governing”.

If we now live in a country that is selling bullet proof backpacks for the kids, just in case an active shooter shows up at their school, why can’t we have our constitution on toilet paper? At least that way, its will serve we the people in a very fundamental way on a daily basis. I mean, think about it. Both Murder, Inc., and The Spineless Ones have been essentially wiping their asses with it for quite a while now.

Excuse me. Think I’ll take a stroll and watch the veneer of normalcy pass before my eyes. It can be downright Norman Rockwell-ish in mis-en-scene. I’m especially bewildered by the young couples pushing strollers, some carrying a payload per double or triple occupancy models. I look at them and assume they are blissfully unaware of the troubled times in which they all live. Complacent? Comatose? Clueless. Unless they endorse our current state of affairs, as too many apparently do.

…never mind. It’s late August. Here’s what is being profoundly judged and argued over: Are you ready for some football?!