Venezuela to sue US over its decision to regard Caracas as national security threat

I don't get it. What type of threat could Venezuela possible be to us?

https://www.rt.com/news/320185-maduro-sue-us-sanctions/

Obama approves deployment of small U.S. special forces mission to Syria

The United States will deploy dozens of special operations troops to northern Syria from next month to advise opposition forces in their fight against Islamic State, a major policy shift for President Barack Obama and a step he has long resisted to avoid getting dragged into another war in the Middle East......

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/30/us-mideast-crisis-syria-usa-idUSKCN0SO1VD20151030 

This is a mistake. We need to pull out of middle east. 100% abandonment as i wrote earlier:

http://politicalrealities2015.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-middle-east.html

UN says US blockade of Cuba needs to end with overwhelming vote

"The UN General Assembly has voted 191-2 to condemn the US blockade of Cuba, with only the US and Israel opposed.
Washington voted against the resolution despite the recent renewal of diplomatic ties with Cuba and the push by President Barack Obama to lift the embargo first introduced a year before he was born...."

You would think with a vote of 191-2, we might rethink our position.

https://www.rt.com/usa/319873-cuba-blocade-unga-vote/

U.S. And The South China Sea

There's a dispute over territorial waters in the South China Sea. This is something that needs to be worked out at the U.N.

Back in May we were tapping the border with an aircraft and got a warning from China, now we doing it with a ship.and got a warning. This is stupid, why are we antagonizing China?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/10/27/china-south-china-seas-territory-islands-dispute-uss-lassen/74668522/

Did I Miss The Trial?

Did I miss the trial? or is he being the judge and the jury?

...Mo Brooks of Alabama told a radio interviewer that "she (Hillary Clinton) will be a unique president if she is elected by the public next November because the day she's sworn in is the day that she's subject to impeachment because she has committed high crimes and misdemeanors."...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/24/us-usa-election-clinton-impeachment-idUSKCN0SI02420151024 

Our Crazy Gun Culture

Remote Idaho School Buys Guns For Safety

 BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A tiny school district in Idaho far removed from law enforcement has purchased firearms and trained a handful of staff to use them should the same school shooting rampage that has occurred across the country take place......

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/08/garden-valley-school-guns_n_7535252.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 

I am prior military and have a B.S. degree in Law Enforcement. Here's the problem. They'll be trained on how to use the weapons, but they won't have CQC (closed quarters combat) training, Shoot don't shoot training, or friendly fire training. Without that training mistakes are so easy to make. During my training, I still clearly remember shooting the person running towards me, pulling a steel object out of his pocket while I was yelling "stop". "freeze". In the training I shot, and it turned out I shot an innocent deaf mute.

A $10,000 prize - for voting in Phila.

Philadelphia residents: If you trouble yourselves to vote Nov. 3, you might win $10,000.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20151023_A__10_000_prize_-_for_voting_in_Philly__Really_.html

Interesting idea to get people to vote, but I would have broken the $10,000 into $20, $50, $100 prizes so people have a better chance of winning.

The Witch Hunt Continues - Benghazi

The never ending search for something that isn't there:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/10/22/benghazi_live_blog_hillary_clinton_testifies_before_the_trey_gowdy_s_house.html

Both Sides Of The Story

Something that I have found so very important to do is listening to both sides of a story. If you hear a story about China, go directly to a Chinese news source and read their side of the story: http://english.cntv.cn/  If you hear a story about Russia, go directly to a Russian news source and read their side of the story: https://www.rt.com/

You'll be amazed as to how much better you'll understand issues.

The Witch Hunt Continues

The witch hunt continues. Next they'll want to dunk Hillary to prove she's a witch.

https://www.rt.com/usa/319126-benghazi-panel-outs-cia-source/

Chicago Police Detained 7,000 People At An Off The Books Site

I am wonder what Rahm Emanuel will say about this?

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/19/homan-square-chicago-police-disappeared-thousands

Assange And Snowden

I just saw this article on Julian Assange where the UK told Swedish Authorities it wouldn't be wise to interview Julian Assange in the Ecuador embassy. This could have possible ended the whole  Ecuador embassy fiasco:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/19/uk-resisted-julian-assange-questioned-london-emails

What always come to mind when I think about either Assange or Snowden is, if we were open and honest about everything we did, would there be any secrets anymore? Would there be a need for any secrets?

Capitalism And Price Fixing

First off, I don't hate or disdain Capitalism, but it doesn't always work the way it is suppose to. I just saw this article on Bloomberg News. Iran wants OPEC nations to lower oil output to raise oil prices. That's price fixing. Capitalism can't work properly with price fixing, It eliminates competition. The article is about Iran, but I have seen other countries and companies saying the same thing:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-19/iran-urges-opec-to-cut-oil-output-to-lift-prices-to-70-80

The Middle East

The Middle East is a mess. Then to top it off there are articles like this from one of our Middle East allies:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11927812/British-grandfather-facing-350-lashes-in-Saudi-Arabia-for-making-wine.html

We don't need allies like that. My solution to the Middle East is 100% abandonment. Don't talk, negotiate or bargain with them until they come into the 21st Century.

Social Security

There's always a lot of talk about Social Security being solvent.

Here is what most people do not realize, only the first $106,800 of ones income is paid to Social Security. This means people making over $106,800 pay a smaller percent of their income to Social Security than a person making under $106,800.

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/policybriefs/pb2011-02.html

How do we make it fair? It really simple, make it a flat tax across all income levels. Now who could possible complain about a flat tax across all income levels being unfair?

The Great Wall Of Mexico

Illegal immigrants are a big issue this political season and I keep hearing about this Great Wall Of Mexico that is going to be built.

I was in the U.S. Coast Guard and it's almost as if no one realizes how many miles of unprotected shoreline we have.

So what will this Great Wall Of Mexico do? It will simply create a detour and not resolve the issue.

Definiitons And Meanings

The first issue I want to talk about are definitions and meanings.

I had a English teacher in college that was really into etymology, which is the origin of words and  how their meanings have changed over time, and breaking down words for their definition. One of the first words he broke down for the class was Astronaut. Astro means star, Naut means sailor, so Astronaut actually means Star Sailor. Kind of nice isn't it?

Now, how does this relate to political realities? Let's breakdown Capitalism and Socialism. Here we go:


-ism is thought or theory based on it's subject.
Capital is accumulated wealth, money.
Social is relations of people, community.

One of the words has an emphasis on "Me" the other has an emphasis on "We".

Both political parties talk about the same issues, it is simply their resolve that differs. Both parties realize that there is an issue on wealth distribution. If you are politically active, you know what each parties resolve on the issues are, so I am not going to repeat it.

Here's something I have seen on CNN that has really bothered me. A few of their anchors are using the word "Socialism" almost like a scare word, in fact I almost thought I was watching Fox News rather than CNN.. I really wonder if they understand what the word means. If they look at what Hillary's resolve is on issues and Bernie's  resolve is on issues, there isn't a lot of difference.

The general public needs to understand that being a Social Democrat or a Socialist doesn't mean we are all going to be running around in Mao jackets. Countries like Denmark, Norway, France all have an emphasis on "Social" issues. Oops! there's that scare word again. :-)

Welcome To My Political Realities Blog

Welcome to my political realities blog.

I haven't been politically active in a long time. The last time I was politically active was in college where I wrote a column in the college paper and was part of the FL split from the DFL in the late 70's.

Why have I decided to become politically active now? There are just so many misconceptions flying around the political arena and I hope to define and simplify a lot of the misconceptions flying around.

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement and a double minor in Sociology and Political Science. I was either 4 or 8 credits (one or two classes) short of a double major in Political Science, but the Political Science classes offered during my last two quarters were not classes I had any interest in.