“a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.” Famously, those freedoms were the “freedom of speech and expression,” the “freedom of every person to worship God in his own way,” the “freedom from want” and the “freedom from fear.”

I find this in the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal.” I believe the founding fathers, with this statement provided the mission statement for the country.

DeSantis vs DisneyMan vs. MouseThe New York Times identifies the article above as a political memo. I find the observations...

Their approach is to label opposing people and ideas in negative terms. All the while many republicans do little to advance alternatives. The terms liberal, socialism and now WOKE paint opponents as extremist when in truth the most dangerous extremists are getting elected as republicans.

It wasn’t Democrats who excited a mob to attack the capital on January 6th. It isn’t Democrats calling for strict restrictions on abortion or limiting what is available in school libraries. Republicans with a super majority in Florida are restricting speech in schools and public forums.

While democrats may disagree with conservative ideas and dismiss those ideas as unworkable, they do not attack the right to express those ideas. This is true around the country.

Webster’s definition of liberal is found here. Possible synonyms include generous, open-minded. Republican rhetoric considers liberal to be a dirty word.

I can think of little now that I would value more than being liberal. Our country has serious problems in the area of health care and immigration among others. While espousing easy answers might get someone elected. True long term solutions require an ability to think outside the box.

Solutions won’t be found without open discussion. Do democrats need to hear conservative views. Absolutely. But open-minded individuals adjust when others present reasonable arguments. Conservative leaning on authoritarian individuals expect others to bend to their will without question.

In today’s environment too many republicans are unwilling to compromise. And the rest of the republicans enable the bad apples.

Donald Trump is again trying to get in front of the truth in a report. Just as with the Mueller Report, Donald Trump is lying. With the Mueller Report he used a Bill Barr misleading memo to falsely tag the report to say “No Collusion, No Obstruction”.

Now with a partial release of the “Special Grand Jury Report”, Donald Trump expects his followers to believe it shows “Total Exoneration.”

We have all heard the saying “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” To those of you who still believe in Donald Trump. I say.

Shame on you.

As with many groups, discussing politics is discourage in our poker game. At the start of a recent game someone, stated that we live in the Greatest Country in the world, to which several individuals agreed. I was struck by this comment as being extremely political. And also wondered about the validity.

Greed…

Greed defines capitalism. Whether we have a sales tax or an income tax, the wealthy will have access to means beyond most of us. Purchases outside of the US will not be levied a tax. Return to the country will require adding sales taxes for purchases made and returned to the country. Those who can travel abroad will be able to avoid taxes by leaving the purchases behind.