RESISTANCE PUBLISHING

Attached is a letter to the editor that I just submitted to our local on-line news paper.

Feel to use any or all parts in your own Resistance Publishing.

PRESIDENT’S TRUMPS FIRST MONTH IN OFFICE.

If you live in the Fox News bubble then Trump’s first month as president has been a resounding success. 

However, if you live in the world of actual facts, cause and effect, then Trumps first month is troubling.

Trump’s selection of Steve Bannon, a white supremacist member of the alt-right, as Whitehouse Chief Strategist is contrary to traditional American values.

Trump has unnecessarily alienated Mexico; a five-billion-dollar trading partner.

His withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership will increase the consumer cost of all Asian products coming into the United States and result in Asian trading partners turning to China and moving away from trade with the United States.

Trump has unnecessarily alienated the Australian Prime Minister – a country that has been our ally in all wars since WW-2.

Trump’s unconstitutional Muslim band on counties that have not been involved in terrorism against the United States has further fueled resentment of the US in the Arab world.  

Trumps business conflicts of interest are glaring and can only be fully known by him releasing his income tax records – which he refuses.

Trumps ties to Russia and to the Putin regime are troubling, and the question that must be answered is: were the members of the Trump election team in communication and complicit with the Russian effort to influence our Presidential election?  

Trump’s over the top attack on the free press is in line with other authoritarian regimes of dictatorships. 

Then there are the misrepresentations, exaggerations and the outright lies, labeled as alternative facts, that float freely from the Trump Whitehouse almost daily.  

This is by no means a comprehensive list and should trouble all Americans.

 the Ol'Buzzard

RESISTANCE PUBLISHING

Below is a copy of an open letter to a Maine Senator that I just sent out to the news paper in Augusta, our Maine capital.   

 I feel it is not enough to send letters to our politicians and to call them when a grievance arises; but by publishing open letters to your Senators and Congress persons in state news papers you are more likely to get their attention.  It is also important when they cast a vote against the Trump overreaches to acknowledge your support.

I urge you to Resistance publish.

An open letter to Senator Susan Collins.

I really appreciate your vote against Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.  As a retired school teacher and principal I readily concur that she was and is unqualified for the position.

Your willingness to cross party lines and vote your principles is the reason I willingly cross my party line and vote for you, though I am a registered Democrat. 

I was disappointed in your vote for Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, as I feel his racist background was disqualifying. 

I would ask that you take a close look at the nominee for Supreme Court Justice and that he is well vetted before deciding to cast your vote.  

This is a new era we face; and rest assured politicians will be held accountable for all their votes when the results of this new regime is tallied.

Feel free to use any part in composing a letter for publication to your state's Senators. 

We also resist that stay at home
the Ol'Buzzard

RESISTANCE

You can stay home, but still stay active.

Just a reminder: Call your Senator and express concerns about the racist background of Jeff Sessions, and request they take a close look at his background before casting a vote. 

Our calls do matter.   Politicians are primarily concerned about their next election and if enough opposition is expressed about a vote it can change minds. 

the Ol'Buzzard

WE COULD USE A LITTLE HUMOR

With all the depressing Trump news, we could all use a little humor this day.


Here's my offering: Dusty and Lefty from the movie Prairie Home Companion.









the Ol'Buzzard

RESISTANCE PUBLISHING

In order to resist Trump and the Republican agenda it is not enough to blog to people of like mind.  We can join demonstrations, or as writers we can confront alternative facts whenever they surface

The following is a letter I sent to the editors of major and local news outlets in Maine.  Feel free to copy or use any part in Resistance Publishing 

FACTS AND ALTERNATIVE FACTS

According to who you listen to, the first week of the Trump Presidency has been the greatest week in American governance or the beginning of the dismantling of American values.

  

There have been too many declarations and Executive Orders to cover in one short commentary, so I will focus on just one.

Paul Ryan stated that now the Republicans have the Presidency, the House and the Senate they can begin to simplify the tax code.  This sounds like a great move, because we all feel that tax preparation is too difficult.

 

But the devil is often in the details.   To Republicans, ‘simplification of the tax code’ means drastically lowering corporate taxes, taxes on investment income and taxes on the mega-wealthy. 

 

In order to pay for these tax cuts, the Republicans will cut discretionary spending.

 ‘Discretionary spending’ is the covert phrase for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and government subsidized health care (The Affordable Care Act.)   There is a Republican proposal now to increase the Social Security retirement age to seventy and to cut benefits in existing Social Security and Medicare payments.

But, if you live in the Fox alternative news world you will not worry about simplification of the tax code; because the alternative issues are women who enjoy killing their unborn children, gays destroying family values and Democrats who wish to take away your guns and your freedom.

Join me in Resistance Publishing

the Ol'Buzzard

RESIST TOMORROW

Call your Senator and Congress person and leave a message.  

 It is easy.  Call 202-225-3121  or 202-224-3121

Leave a message with the operator.

Give your name and zip code and the operator will get your message to your Senator and Congress persons.   

Tell your representatives to protect the Affordable Care Act and also to oppose the nomination of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary.

Congress persons are reelected every two years.  They do listen to their constitutes.

We all can Resist
the Ol'Buzzard

RESISTANCE PUBLISHING 1/22/17

Today I sent a letter to the editor to all the major newspapers in Maine and local papers in my area.  

It is not enough to blog about my discontent.  I only have about twenty five people that read my blog and five or six that comment. 

As writers, if we are to actively confront the Trump take over of America we have to reach out beyond our blogs.    We have to publish.  We have to point out ever falsehood and every Republican infringement on our liberty.  

Below is my letter to the editors.  Feel free to copy or use any portion - but please join Resistance Publishing:

As his first order of business on Friday President Trump signed an executive order giving federal agencies permission not to comply with parts of the Affordable Care Act.   The order was not specific, but gave an opening toward undermining the health care that eleven million people depend on.

The aim is obvious: by not complying with critical portions of the law opponents can push the entire Act into chaos; then Republican law makers can say the Affordable Care Act has been a disaster from its concept and use that as an excuse to repeal it without a replacement.  

Those of you who were so afraid of losing your guns should now be afraid of losing your Social Security retirement and Medicare, along with affordable health care.    All of these programs are on the chopping block of the Republican law makers in order to decrease government expenditures; thus allowing a justification for massive tax cuts for the mega-wealthy and major corporations.   

the Ol'Buzzard

I PICKED A FINE TIME TO BE A DUMB ASS

I have made a mistake – I gave up.   It was the result of traumatic stress caused by the election of Donald Trump as President.  

My intention was to pull away completely from everything political – avoid listening to the news or reading anything pertaining to post election and the Republican Parties’ plans for the rest of us. 

Now I have had time to adjust, and I realize that we are not helpless, that situations are not beyond our control.   That we must resist. 

The way for each of us to resist is not to just complain on our blogs to like-minded people; but to publish resistance pieces in letters to the editor, in all the local papers and internet news sites within our area.

Every time the Republicans make a move that benefits the mega-wealthy or infringes on human rights we should point it out.  

The Republican voters live in a fact free bubble and the only way to break that bubble is to constantly attack it with facts and logical arguments. 

Today I sent my first resistance letter to the editor to five news outlets here in the state of Main.     I am including it.   Feel free to pirate it or any part, and join in resistance publishing.

 

the Ol’Buzzard

*****

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Republicans are now in control of our government and we will all have to wait to experience the outcome. 

The Republican Party is the party ‘of the wealthy and for the wealthy’.  Their motto has always been smaller government.   The aim of smaller government is to limit federal expenditures, thus requiring less tax revenue from the wealthy.       

Republicans have pulled a bait and switch on voters who vote on single issue policies: gun control, abortion, religion etc.   They willingly placate these voters for their vote in order to gain control of government; but once in control legislate policies that benefit the wealthy.

 Republicans have always desired to do away with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid by turning these programs over to private industries.   Now they have the government trifecta necessary to end these programs as we know them.

At this time Republican politicians are lining up.  Their first order of business is to do away with affordable government health care.   Next will be to gut Social Security and Medicare.    

Republican Congressman Sam Johnson (R-Texas), chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, has already offered a plan that consist of massive cuts for Social Security beneficiaries.  His plan would cut benefits for all but the lowest earners; it would raise retirement age to 69 and reduce cost-of-living adjustments.

I marvel how middle income working people have bought into the Republican purpose.   It is the Democratic Party that gave us Social Security, gave us Medicare and supported unions, which resulted in better working conditions and higher pay.    The only thing the Republicans have ever offered is tax cuts, which disproportionally benefit the wealthy.  

283 words

LIBERALS vs CONSERVATIVES

Liberals are pussies and Donald Trump has just grabbed us by the crotch.  

Bill Maher warned us over and over again that liberals are overly concerned with political correctness while conservatives line up and fight.  

On the very day Obama was sworn in as President, Mitch McConnell, leader of the House Conservatives, said that the aim of his party would be ‘to ensure that President Obama became a one term President.’ 

Yet, with a mandate in both the House and Senate, Obama compromised away from universal health care before the discussions even began, wrongly believing that moving toward the middle would elicit cooperation from the Republicans. 

Even Harry Reid, when he had a chance to do away with the filibuster in the Senate and override Republican obstruction, made a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with McConnell that allowed the filibuster to remain.

We have constantly heard Democrats speak of their friends on the other side of the aisle; but those words have never been uttered from the mouth of a Republican.  

I warned in my blog, that a Trump election was a real possibility.   We saw thousands of rabid supporters turn out for Donald Trump’s campaign events and only hundreds turn out for Hillary.  The momentum was always with him.  We chose to ignore The Burn with a popular ultra-liberal agenda, and instead line up behind the politically correct, middle of the road, accepted heir to the throne.

 

It didn’t matter that Trump’s party intends to privatize Social Security (remove the safety net for seniors by offering tax cuts for investment in commercial retirement accounts) or that his party intends to do away with Medicare (turning health management back over to insurance companies.)    Trump’s P.T. Barnum flare mesmerized the uninformed and easily manipulated Tea Party masses and the racist, homophobic, anti-government far right extremist, who’s main desire was to throw crap like monkeys in a cage. 

Liberals are now experiencing a ‘regroup assessment.’   A ‘how could this have happened to us’ regret.  But again, there is danger in our tendency for politically correct overreaction.  

Liberals will make a monumental mistake if they try to move toward the conservative right in order to patronize the Republican base voters.  The idea that we did not try to appeal to the blue collar middle class is a straw man of political correctness mentality.  

We are the party of the middle class and should shout it to the sky.    We should hunker down in our liberal beliefs and loudly and aggressively call out ignorance and bigotry and racism and misogyny when it dares to rear its head.   We should become aggressive in our values and not cower to ‘our friends across the aisle.’    It is time for liberals to give up political correctness and enter the cage match, not with the attitude to resist and compromise, but with the attitude to win. 

the Ol’Buzzard   

KEITH OLBERMANN'S 'WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD'

I always liked Keith Olbermann  when he was on MSNBC.   I still miss his show.  He is now running a series on GQ that is Resist Trump.
   
I just happened to see this on YouTube and watched it.  Pretty angry stuff - and I agree with him.

But

Today I just had a physical and my blood pressure was 116/68 and everything checked out good.    I would like to keep it that way.  I live a pretty active life for my age: I work out on my Total Gym  at least three times a week, walk the road a mile-and-a-half most days when it is not deer season or snow banks to contend with, I meditate, heat with fire wood, shovel snow when necessary  and have a great sex life.    

I don't want to add this level of stress to my life; but if you are younger and want to get on the Resistance train - more power to you.
the Ol'Buzzard