H O W A R D S B E N D

This is still your Daddy’s Democratic Party and most likely your Granddaddy’s Democratic Party. This is a party that stills boasts about their New Deal and their Great Society legislation. This is a Party that is being lead by two octogenarians. It is finally time for the Democratic Party to get a complete makeover.

First, let’s give the old “donkey” the boot. I do not think that the next generation of young, engaged, empassioned, motivated voters want to come together under the banner of an old slow, lumbering jackass. The Democratic Party needs a new banner that captures both the energy and the diversity of a party committed to bring changes to this country. I suggest a banner and logo like the picture above which is a group of multi-racial hands enthusiastically waving together. And while we are making basic changes, let’s change the name of the Democratic Party to The Party of Democracy which clearly delineates us from the other guys who are clearly not committed to the basic principles of our Constitutional democracy. Either you are with the Party of Democracy or you are opposed to democracy.

In order to win tfhe 2022 election, the Party of Democracy must rely on three essential constituencies. First, they need young voters to turn out in large numbers. Next they need the block of suburban women that enabled them to capture in the 2020 Presidential election. And of course, they must rely on minority groups especially black and Hispanic voters. The Party of Democracy will need simple and precise policies and programs that motivate these groups to the pools in 2022.

The Party of Democracy must stop promoting election platforms that rely on spending gargantuan sums of money promising to bring about generational reforms. This strategy in not working. The opposition easily paints these programs as “rampant socialism” which will obviously raise everyone’s taxes and lead to more amd more DC bureaucracies. The Build Back Better legislation clearly falls into this category. The Party of Democracy needs a few simple campaign issues for the 2022 midters which seem realistic and very attainable and will motivate voters.

First, the Party of Democracy should stand for the national legalization of marijuana. It is time. There will be federal taxes on the sale of this item and the federal revenues will be targeted for a brand new “Civilian Conservation Core”. This Civilian Core will be available to anyone 18 to 25 years old and perform conservation work throughout the nation’s forests and perform clean-up and enhancement work in the nation’s urban area.

The new Party of Democracy will immediately pass legislation that guarentees equal pay for women as men in the same job. Again, it is time. This legislation will be passed in the first 30 days of the new Congress. The Party of Democracy will also support a “woman’s right of choice.”

The new Congress will also pass new DACA legislation establishes DACA for new applicants and also establishes for the Dreamers, those currently living under DACA status, a clear path to citizenship. This is another simple policy issue whose time has come.

The current Congress has failed to protect individual rights to vote as many states have passed legislation that makes it harder for minority populations to have access the ballot box. Also, many states are passing legislation that does not guarentee that the winner of the po;ular vote in that state will be awarded the proper set of elecorals to go tothe Electoral College. The new Congress will make it a top priority to protectthe integrity of our elections and to make the ballot box assessible to anyone wishing to vote.

This is very simplistic, but we will be running against a party that has no policy agendas and does not even chose to the promote the integrity of our political process. Let’s keep it simple and win both the House and Senate in 2022.

The NFL just took and unexpected hit and fumbled the ball. Will they be able to recover the fumble and run with the ball, or will they let the opposition bounce on this opportunity and go on the offensive?

The analytics do not look good. There are 32 NFL teams and only one black head coach equating to about 3% for a league that in 2020 was made up of almost 60% black players. The Rooney Rule which requires teams searching for a new head coach to interview minority applicants is obviously not working. There is no incentive and obviously no punishment for not hiring a minority head coach.

Here is an idea. Draft picks are so valuable in the NFL where careers are short and injuries pervasive. Draft picks are referred to as “assets”. These assets are essential to both good teams hoping to maintain their high level of achievement as well as to the average and mediocre teams looking to get back on the winning trail. The NFL Draft Day is almost a national holiday as the fate of teams and the fate of their respective cities rely on how well their teams do on selecting players on the day. The shrewd general managers are known for accumulating extra picks which potentially will help their team succeed in coming years.

There are 32 teams in the NFL with the worse team drafting first. Beginning with the 2023 NFL, there will be a special tier in the draft. After the 16th pick in the first round, any team with a minority coach will get an extra pick. At this time, only the Pittsburgh Steelers will get an extra pick, the 17th pick in the 2023 draft. If more than one team has a minority coach, the length of tenure will determine the higher draft pick…thus a team with a minority coach for 3 years will draft higher than a team with a minority coach that has worked for two years. All teams with minority coaches will get draft choices before the draft reverts back to its traditional sequencing.

The tier of draft choices will be determined by the percentage of minority coaches in the league. If after a few years there is still only a single minority coach, this drafting tier can be moved to the top of the draft board such that a team with a minority coach will get the first pick in the draft. If this revised structure has a more positive outcome, the special tier can be moved to the end of the first round. The goal is to have the percentage of minority coaches match the number of minority players in the league. Hopefully at this point, the NFL will be able to end these special draft provisions.

There is a handoff to Najee Harris.  He goes left around the end, sprints to the sideline, outruns the defense and scores his third touchdown for the Crimson Tide.  Najee Harris walks into the voting booth, signs in at the registry and asks for a ballot.  He is told he cannot vote because he does not have a valid voter ID.  There’s a long pass to Devonta Smith. He leaps over two defenders, pulls in the pass and races 40 yards for another TD for the Crimson Tide of Alabama.  Devonta Smith mails in his absentee ballot, but it is passed into the waste basket because he does not have the photo ID properly notarized. 

Over 150 million people voted for President in 2020 which is about 20 million more people than the total vote count of 2016.  And yet, instead of celebrating the triumph of our electoral system and rejoicing in the broadening of the electoral base, Republicans have already introduced 120 proposed laws in 28 different states to limit and restrict voter participation.   The Republicans know they cannot win elections with a large voter turnout, and they are acutely aware that the 2022 election is just around the corner.  The Supreme Court will soon heat a case of attempted voter suppression in Arizona that could shape the future of voting rights for decades. Voter suppression is an issue that must be addressed immediately, as the Democrats hold only paper-thin margins in both the House and Senate, and the suppression of votes in 2022 just might be enough to give the Republicans both branches of Congress once again. 

We need a strategy that will  immediately challenge these latest attempts at voter suppression primarily in Southern states. Most of these voter suppression laws require voters to show state-issued photo ID at the polls.  These voter ID cards are often issued at DMV offices, and many states have closed many of these offices, making it difficult for people without cars or other means of transportation to get their IDs.  Many states have laws preventing people formerly convicted of a felony from voting, despite the fact that some of these individuals have already completed their prison sentences.  States are also removing people from the voting registry without informing them, based on a misspelling of a name, or a residential address that may have changed but was not officially submitted.  All of these attempts are designed to remove minorities from the voting ranks, because minorities generally vote more Democratic than the general population.

Here is my simple solution to voter suppression in these states – convince young super athletes of color to refuse to matriculate in colleges and universities within those states that have voter suppression laws.  Alabama has six National Football Championships since 2009.  Clemson, located in South Carolina which just reelected Lindsay Graham to the Senate despite his supporting of Trump’s racist policies, has made four appearances in the National Championship and winning two of these.  The other collegiate football powerhouses are the University of Georgia, Arkansas, LSU, University of Texas and Texas A&M.  The list of Southern schools with big-time sports programs should also include University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Look at the rosters of these teams and you will see a very high percentage of minorities.  These big football schools draw 70,000 to 100,000 people per game and generate a lot of revenue for both the college and the communities.  These winning teams also create a state identity that goes well beyond the student population.  Ordinary blue collar people who never went to college identify with their Crimson Tide and they love their team.  What would happen if these teams fell to mediocracy and could no longer compete with the likes of Notre Dame or Penn State or USC?  What would happen if Alabama lost to the University of Michigan by 40 points?  I would also include in this program, universities with big-time basketball programs in states that engage in voter suppression.  We must convince the super athletes to avoid matriculating at colleges in these states.  This list should include the University of Tennessee and both the University of Florida and Florida State, Arizona and Arizona State and of course, the University of Kentucky. 

Recently, many athletes took a knee for social justice.  I am now suggesting that they take a stand against systemic racism and voter suppression.  We need a movement that convinces super star high school athletes to boycott these universities.  Instead of heading to the University of Alabama, take your running back talents to UCLA.  Instead of leading a fast break for for the University of Tennessee, help lead Boston College to the Big Dance.  Of course, the word must get out and the movement needs a highly respected and reputable organization to lead this drive in order to succeed.  I am suggesting that the NAACP work with already successful professional athletes to endorse this policy and get involved in seeking out blossoming high school super-stars on a grand scale and convince them that they are bringing about important social change. How about Lebron stopping by the home of a young athlete and suggesting Ohio State over ASU?  How about Lamar Jackson visiting high school athletes’ homes and pushing the University of Oregon or USC instead of pushing his alma mater University of Louisville.  By choosing to take their talents to a university in a state that does not have these voter restriction laws, these young athletes will become a force leading to improvements to the social equality in our country.  The sacrifice for the young athlete are minimal, but the results can be outstanding and immediate.

The drop in top talent in these large universities should result in a quick drop-off in the performance of these sports teams.  I am convinced that the people of these states are more concerned with the performance of their sport teams than they are about the racial make-up of the state’s electorate or elected bodies.  The people of Alabama care more about the success of the Crimson Tide than of who occupies the White House.  I believe that a successful boycott of these schools will result in the very quick reversal of these voter suppression laws.   Such a simple solution to a social wrong.  It would be nice if other social injustices could be attacked with such simple solutions.  

1. The evening news now stinks.  It is unwatchable with all these kumbaya moments – the first gay Secretary of Transportation is confirmed; a 110 year old man who wants to go on his honeymoon with his new bride gets his Covid vaccination; cute and adorable Hispanic babies are smiling as they illegally enter our country.  We haven’t seen Rudy with his hair color running down his face in almost three weeks.  Can the 24 hour news channels make it without Trump?

2.  The country still wants to see Trump’s tax returns.  If it means that he has to be in office for another 4 or 8 or even 12 years, we do not care.  We started the process, let’s see it to the end.  How much money have the Russians lent Trump to get that type of influence over him? 

3.  Who wants to physically go back to work?  Who wants to get stuck in rush hour traffic every day?  How about being choked for 10 hours every day wearing that stupid tie?  We love working in our pajamas.  Trump must be returned to office to keep this good thing going.. 

4. “Jews will replace us.”  I am not sure what that even means, but I heard those white supremacists chanting it in Charlottesville.  I am Jewish and I still don’t want any Jews replacing me.  With Trump in office, the Jews will not replace us.

 5. The military needs Trump.  The military budget under Trump was about $738 billion was expected to get close to $800 billion in the couple of years.  Joe Biden and his socialistic allies in Congress will cut the defense budget significantly.  Can Raytheon withstand these cuts?  Will General Dynamics have to cut their dividend?   Will the Chinese win the weapons race in space?  Will LBGT generals have the courage to defend this country against foreign invaders?  

6.  Trump has really been good at uniting the minorities in this country giving them a shared identity and cause.  Back 2016 blacks were not united about Hillary Clinton.  Four years later, the black community found a common cause to vote almost 100% against Trump.  The Hispanics need another four years of midnight ICE raids, or another four years of family separations, or another four years of limbo for the DACA community to get 100% behind the next Democratic presidential ballot.  

7 .Learning science is no fun and to a large extent a waste of time unless you are going be a geek scientist.  With Trump back in office, kids will not be required to study biology, chemistry and physics.  We all hated that science requirement in our college curriculum.\

8  Golf is finally making a resurgence.  For many years, the sport of golf was suffering a slow death as membership at golf clubs dropped and golf courses were sold off to real estate developers.  Finally, we have a president that loves to golf and promoted golf, especially as it is the perfect sport for the pandemic with its social distancing.  Golf is finally back and now we have a lame Joe Biden riding his heavy duty bike around the neighborhood.

9.  The bird population of this country might be in extreme danger if Trump is not re-instated as President as he has made America aware that windmills kill birds.  Joe Biden and his green energy policies will decimate the bird population.  Windmills are also a cause of cancer. 

10. We are finally safe from Islamic terrorists as the “Muslim ban” has kept these terrorists out of our country.  Do we want to go back to the days when we were constantly scared of a terrorist bomb going off on our streets? 

The raging pandemic persists.  We receive constant reminders from the news that the “worst is still to come”.  We are told to stay home, if at all possible.  Flying has become taboo, as no one wants to breath re-cycled air for five hours.  People are scared to venture too far from home and do not want to put themselves in compromising situations.  Foreign travel is banned.  I have always loved vacations and particularly traveling an so I have tried to design several vacations that are safe during the pandemic and not that difficult to make happen.  No passport is required.

We always loved visiting Jamaican with the combination of the sun, the beach, the food and the local culture.  I have designed the “Jamaican Getaway for right in your own home.  First turn-up the thermostat in your home to 94 degrees during the day and then lower it to 85 degrees for the evenings.  Tune Pandora to the Bob Marley station and make sure it blasts loudly through out the house.  Place several tanning lights around the house to bring in the Caribbean sun while also re-creating that fear of contracting skin cancer while enjoying your vacation in the sun.  Make sure there is plenty of rum in the house, must have both white rum and brown rum and make sure you have plenty of pineapples, strawberries and oranges for those rum runners.  Fire up the BBQ and get the spices for the local favorite jerk chicken for lunch.  Don’t be shy about having it for both lunch and dinner.  And finally, when talking to each other, finish each sentence with “mon”.  

If you have recently been to Jamaica try a  Mexican vacation.  Please use the same thermostat settings as in the previous section.  Turn the cable to the Telemundo and get an app to learn the Spanish language so that you will be able to ask your family members in Spanish for another Corona or where the bathroom is located.  Go out and buy a piñata and drink plenty of Tequila.  Create a celebration in order to smash that piñata to smithereens.  Invite your landscaping crew over(even though it is still January)  for an afternoon of Margaritas and tacos.  For those who want to add to the cultural experience, take a ride to Home Depot at 6:00 AM and enjoy you compatriots in their manual, underpaid jobs.  Put Taco Bell and Chipotle on the speed dial as you will need plenty of authentic Mexican foods.  For those that do not want to cross the border and venture into Mexico, but still love that Southwest/Mexican culture how about a vacation to that great state of Texas?  The guidelines for this trip are very close to the Mexican trip outlined above.  I would just play country music very loud on the stereo and maybe substitute chili dogs and some BBQ ribs for the Mexican meals.  Just yell “Remember the Alamo” and “Go Longhorns” several times a day.

How about a simple camping trip without the need to drive hours to a remote campsite in the mountains only to share bathroom and commissary with potentially infected strangers.  Just pitch the tent right in the backyard.  No need to scour through the neighborhood for wood for the campsite, just roll the BBQ grill from the patio to the backyard.  Don’t worry about forgetting to pack the catchup or mustard for those grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, they are both right there in the kitchen. Need a scary campfire story.  Bring the I-PAD and turn on “Scream” or “Saw” both of which are guaranteed to keep the little ones up way past their bedtime.   Enjoy your night under the stars and if not, you can always head back to the house and your comfortable king-sized bed..

Las Vegas has become the quick get-away for many of us.  Now we can experience Las Vegas right in our own homes.  First pull down all the shades and blinds so the house is completely dark and turn the air conditioning to 62 degrees to simulate the casino atmosphere.  Pour your favorite drink and make sure to add plenty of water re-create that water-downed casino cocktail.  Then, go to your favorite betting website and gamble away – black jack, roulette, poker craps are all available on this website.  At 10:00 PM, take a break from gambling and turn on an old Wayne Newton tape one night, or watch an old David Copperfield video the next night, or find an old Elvis video of The King on the Strip.  Make sure to return to gambling and stay until 4:00 AM.  Don’t forget that everyone is a winner.

How about a European Wine Tour?  This is one of my favorite pandemic vacations.  Start with joining one of the many online wine clubs.  These wines are generally delicious and very reasonably priced.  Begin your tour by ordering Greek wines to be delivered on Monday.  Find the appropriate foods to go with your particular country wine.  For Greece you can have Greek salads, moussaka, lamb in grape leaves all complemented by your favorite Greek wines.  On Tuesday, have the wines from Italy delivered and have spaghetti, lasagna, or veal cacciatore ready to go with your Italian wines.  Finish the week with wines from France, Spain and Portugal again plan the appropriate meals from the particular country where the wine originated from.  You can return to the USA  for some good California wines a fabulous Omaha steak and and Idaho baked pot

For the more adventurous traveler, I might suggest a tour of the Far East.  Start the week off with a visit to your local Buddhist Temple.  Spend some peaceful moments cleansing the soul and striving toward perfection.  I suggest sushi for lunch after the visit to the temple.  The next day, go to your local China Town and try hanging out at a local Asia supermarket market.  You will be able to spend hours trying to figure out what are these different monstrosities and asking yourself  how do people really eat them.  If you still have an appetitive after the supermarket, try some Chinese food.  Have some shark fin soup and Peking duck.  The next day watch “Crazy Rich Asians and then head to the mall for a quick massage – only a dollar per minute for a excellent massage.  Have some Thai cuisine for dinner.  Dig out that Slum Dog Millionaire DVD and let’s tour India.  Of course, finish off the day with a samosa and chicken tikka marsala with coconut custard for dessert, or the real desert might be flipping through the Kama Sutra with a very close and limber partner.

For those that lack the imagination and energy to plan and organize your own “pandemic” vacation, there is always the virtual tour.  There is virtual reality system from Oculus for only $299.  For the cost of one fine meal (with a somewhat heavy bar tab), you can tour the ancient pyramids in Egypt, scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef, tour of the Louvre or go on an African safari right from the couch your living room.  Buckle up and enjoy.

1. Absolute Trump – Enjoy a new brand of vodka made in the style of traditional Russia vodka.  This is the vodka favored by the most rich and powerful oligarchs. This high quality and expensively tasting vodka can be secured at a price that a deeply devalued ruble makes very affordable.  Absolute Trump goes perfectly with Trump Caviar which can be purchased at most of your favorite supermarkets. 

2. Opti Tax Con – Do you owe the IRS  millions of dollars?  Do you resent the IRS asking to see your current tax return?  Are you receiving harassing phone calls threatening to repossess your yachts or vacation homes.  Stop worrying.  Call Opti Tax Con and let us handle your disputes with the IRS.  Let us set up bogus foundations which will generate millions of dollars of tax deductions while letting you enjoy the fruits of your hard earned passive income.  Let us set up off-shore tax havens that will let you hide millions and millions of dollars giving you and your family a way to avoid those annoying inheritance taxes.   Why pay any taxes when ex-presidents worth billions of dollars pay only $750 annually in taxes?  We can help you. 

3. Trump Light – Try our new brand of cigarettes that deliver a full body taste with less tar and nicotine than the average cigarette.  Have a Trump Light before a siege on a federal building or enjoy a Trump Light while relaxing and counting casualties after the armed insurrection.  Trump Light is the preferred smoke of MAGA Nation.  Do not believe the Fake News about cigarette smoking being bad for your health.  In fact, the Surgeon  General’s warning has been removed from the carton.  And the idea about getting ill from secondary smoke is again totally false and just as silly as getting Covid from a drinking buddy.  Enjoy the freedom of a good smoke.

4. Trumps Not Nice and Not Easy – Want to open a few doors to you in the corporate world?  Want to get ahead in the Republican Party?  Try Trump’s “Not Nice and Not Easy” which is a new hair coloring product which is so easy to use that even our ex-President could color his own hair almost by himself.  The company is currently offers a single color, a rusty shade of orange which is the only color you need.  With a regular application, you can look like a not-too-distant relative of our former president and visit Mar a Lago without even needing a visitor pas

5. Ashley and Trump Madison – Been married several times and yet still restless and unsatisfied.  Looking for a discrete rendezvous with a woman who can provide the excitement and the pleasure for which you are secretly yearning.  Do you need a little change of scenery from your pregnant wife.  Visit our new updated website, www.ashleyandtrumpmadison.com (Links to an external site.).  We also provide legal services to those that are being sued or blackmailed by their current spouse.  We are now offering a new service that matches those clients that are seeking beautiful trophy wives from Slovakia.  (All ur women are tested regularly for STDs, although we do not test for Covid). 

6. Don’s Tiki Torches -Going to a white supremacist march and need a tiki torch that will last for hours and not flitter-out while swinging it at the ANTIFA  counter-protestors?  Try Don’s Tiki Torchs which are guaranteed to last throughout those long marches through the streets of Southern towns and is built with extra strength to withstand hand-to-hand combat.  Available in two sizes.

7. Chernobyl Trump Tower – Looking for a change to your current life situation…maybe a new luxury apartment in a new city or maybe just a second home to add some charge yo your life.  Or maybe, you are looking for an investment in real estate that guarantees a high return on your investment.  Contact us immediately about purchasing a new luxury condo in the Chernobyl Trump Tower.  Get in on the ground floor as Chernobyl goes through its re-gentrification and reap the rewards of being an early investor.  The newest Trump tower radiates high class living.

8. Trumpquoroquine –  This is the drug that saved the life of our 45th president and it can also save your life.  Ask your doctor for a prescription to the panacea of so many ailments, and if he/she refuses just contact the world-famous Dr. Stella Immanuel who has been at the forefront in research on the beneficial results of hydroxychloroquine.  Get a prescription right away because this drug is selling like hotcakes.  Keep that prescription bottle in your medicine cabinet for that rainy day.

9. Trump Lie detector –  This machine is a beautiful invention as it can tell fact from fiction.  This new machine will help so many defendants who have been accused of lying.   This is the lie detector that is being used by more and more police departments and law enforcement agencies.  The machine first asks if you are a Democrat or a Republican.  It can from there determine who is telling the truth and who is lying.  We would like to demonstrate the effectiveness our our new machine by asking Hunter Biden a few questions on his involvement with Burisma. 

10.  Trump College (not to be confused with Trump University) – This is a college offering studies in Eastern European culture, history and languages. The primary focus on the program is the Russian nations with offerings in the Russia language.  We offer Russian 1, Russian 2, Russian 3, Russian 4 and advanced language of Russian 5.  We also offer a course on the biography of Vladimir Putin and another course on the the Positive Contribution of Vladimir Putin to the political and economic rise of the Russian Nation.  We have one elective which is called Truth and Fallacy about Catharine the Great.  This course work is ideal for those seeking a mid-level bureaucratic position in the State Department.

DATELINE – DECEMBER 2019 – HOUSE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

John – Nancy, you are calling me on my phone.  I am shocked.

Nancy – John, how many books do you really expect to sell.  You know the Democrats hate you and and would never buy your book and the few Republicans that can read despise you and also will never buy your book. So how many books are you really going to sell?  I got a plan that will put your book on top of the charts.  You game.

John –   I believe in free enterprise.  Lay it on me.

Nancy –  If we subpoena you to testify in one of the House’s investigating committees, the President will exert executive privilege and block you from testifying.  We can challenge this in court which will take many months and when we win the President’s team will appeal the decision and that will take months and finally the case will make it to the Supreme Court which will take many more months to decide and by then the 2020 election will have come and gone and your book will be irrelevant and you will have only sold a handful of copies.

John – Not too promising.  I admit.

Nancy – However, we can withdraw subpoena and end the impeachment trial without your testimony.  We have enough evidence to impeach the President now.  Now comes the fun part for you as the trail moves to the Senate.  The Republican Senators have already concluded that they do not need witnesses.  Case closed!!  Witnesses are irrelevant.  However, you begin to leak several passages from your book as Republicans make their opening arguments  .You leak to the NY Times and the Washington Post the sections of your book that show the President had direct involvement with the blocking of funds designated for Ukraine.  All of the sudden everyone’s ear perk-up.

John – I like where this is going.

Nancy – The TV media picks up on these leaked passages and promote them on prime-time TV new coverage.  Reporters begin asking all Republican Senators on prime-time  TV if they would like to hear from John Bolton.  Democrats keep insisting that we must hear from John Bolton.  Joe and Mika demand that Republicans hear your testimony.  Rachel Maddow, Chris Cuomo and even Chris Wallace are referencing your book.  All of the sudden you name is all over the news.  You become Rock Star.  People will clamor for your book.  You will sell millions of copies.

John – I like they way you think.

Nancy – You give us the first-hand facts that incriminate the President and will get Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer to commit to buy another one million copies each.

John – Who says that there is no money in the truth?

Many Americans believe that Trump is beholden to Vladimir Putin and that many of his actions as President better serve Russian foreign policy than they do our own American interests.  QUITE HONESTLY, I SUBSCRIBE TO THAT SCHOOL.  Just to give a few examples (without much detail here),: we have witnessed Trump shake the foundations of the NATO alliance which has been the bedrock of our foreign policy for 75 years; we have seen Trump walk from the INF Agreement which will allow Russia to grow its nuclear arsenal; we have seen Trump withhold military support from the Ukraine which is in a battle with Russia on its eastern border; we have watched Trump pull troops out of Syria abandoning the Kurds and strengthening Syria, the Russia proxy in the Middle East.  All these moves benefit Russia.

Therefore, I have to ask: Why did Putin want Soleimani eliminated?  I do NOT believe that Trump would take such an action without the prodding of Putin,  Putin is establishing himself as the kingmaker in the Middle East, first with its support of Syria in its civil war struggles.  Russia has been establishing economic relationships with Iran as both are subject to oppressive sanctions and Russia is selling arms both to Iran and Turkey.  Trump would NOT make such a brazen and provocative move that jeopardizes the new established Putin order in the Middle East.

So why did Putin want Soleimani eliminated.  I can only speculate, but here are a couple of theories.  First, Russia has a population of over 20 million Muslims within its borders and  has a series of Muslim states including Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, etc on its southern border.  Russia has not seen any unrest or resistance from its Muslim minority in many years and is developing strong economic relationships with many of these Muslim countries.  Soleimani is a militant revolutionary and was spreading his militarism.  He was establishing many militant Muslim cells throughout the Middle East and was looking to expand this pattern of establishing cells to a broader geographical area.  Putin possibly did not want to see this militarism spread to his home turf and upset the stability that has existed for the past many years.  He needed this man eliminated.

Russia has been courting Iran for several years now.  Iran especially needs Russian economic and military support since the US has pulled out of the nuclear treaty and has imposed harsh sanctions.  Did Putin have Soleimani killed by the US to further demonize the US and to strengthen the ties between Iran and Russia?  This killing of Soleimani draws both the Iranian leadership and populous closer to its new Russian ally.

Russia is an oil and natural gas economy.  Any conflicts in the Middle East sends the price of oil soaring.  Of course, Russia greatly benefits from this steep increase in the price of oil.  Could this assassination be a way to give the Russian economy a needed boost?

I know this sounds like a ridiculous conspiracy theory.  The right feasts on conspiracy theories, so I feel like I am entitled to my own indulgences.  And I still think that Putin is calling the shots for our president, so I have to ask and to speculate as to why Putin wanted Soleimani eliminated.

We all know that every president is not perfect.  Many of our illustrious leaders have led the country into war under false pretenses, or have been involved in scandals that have cost tax payers millions of dollars, or oversaw racist policies that have affected millions of people.  You don’t have to go back to Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears, or the suspicious sinking of the USS Maine that led us into the Spanish American War under William McKinley, or the selling of US oil reserves with kickbacks creating The Teapot Dome Scandal under Warren G. Harding to find horrendous scandals involving our elected leaders.

We can start right here in the 1960s with LBJ who happened to fabricate the phony attack on a warship in the Gulf of Tonkin which lead to a decade of horrific war and the death of 55,000 Americans at the cost of hundreds of billions to the US tax payer.

And then there is our friend Richard Nixon, who escalated the war in Vietnam and secretly ordered the US bombing of Cambodia, Laos and Thailand without Congressional approval.  There were no impeachment hearings here.  Oh yeah, I hear that he spied illegally on his political opponents and the got involved in that Watergate mess.  Yes, he was on his way to impeachment and conviction, but only after a very long, drawn out fight.  We won’t even mention the corrupt deal in which Gerald Ford pardoned this crooked politician.

My favorite is the rough and tough Ronald Reagan.  Here is a president that blatantly violated two acts of Congress.  First, it was forbidden for any US company or the government to do business with the terrorist regime of Iran and yet we were selling them millions of dollars of munitions to fight an ally in the Middle East.  Then we used the illegal funds, that were money-laundered throughout the world, to fund the Contras in Nicaragua, which again was forbidden by an act of Congress.   I believe that Ron Reagan served out two full terms as president.  He should have been impeached twice.

And let us not forget our good friend George W. bush who led this country into a war with questionable motives in Iraq, using fabricated material and testimony leading to evidence of “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” This war led to the death of hundred of thousands of Iraqi people and approximately 5,000 US soldiers. It estimated to ultimately cost the US about 4 trillion dollars and has destroyed any hope of peace in the Middle East for the next hundred years

You are going to convict Donald Trump for asking a leader of another country for a “favor?”   There has been no war and no cost to the US tax payer.  It is just diplomacy.   “It happens all the time.”

This March Madness is going to my head.  But it has very little to do with basketball and everything to do with politics, especially with Democratic Party politics as the presidential race heats up.  Every other day, a new Democratic contender throws his or her hat into the ring.  As of today, I count 15 Democrats that have announced their candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and that  list does not yet include Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom, Sherrod Brown, Gerry Brown or Adam Schiff.  We could very possibly see 24 total candidates after Dennis Kucinich and Carolyn Kennedy enter the fray.

I would hate to see the Democrats repeat the same mistake as the Republicans did in 2016 and let all the candidates run at the same.  Having 12 candidates on the stage at the same time was ludicrous as it gave everyone about 10 minutes to speak during two hour debate. It was also farcical to have a minor league debate followed by the major league debate. But the biggest tragedy of the Republican primary process was that it allowed someone with only 35% of the party’s vote to capture the nomination as the other 65% of the Republican vote was split between the other 10 candidates.

I do NOT want to see the Democrats commit the same mistake.  Therefore, I have come up with a completely new and revolutionary idea for the primaries inspired by, yes, March Madness.  Here is my Primary Madness proposal:  We pit only two candidates against each other at a time.  This pairing will be made randomly with candidates drawing match-ups from a hat.  So say by the draw, Elizabeth Warren is matched against Corey Booker.  For the first two weeks only these two candidates campaign, making tours, going on TV, doing newspaper and magazine interviews and finally culminate in a one-on-one debate.  The next day, there is a national online primary election, and the winner is decided while the loser graciously steps out.  During the next two-week period, say Kamala Harris takes on Joe Biden.  The two-week campaign continues, and after the debate, the online votes are cast with only the winner moving on.  This will allow candidates to have maximum exposure for a short period of time and remove candidates who cannot out-poll one other candidate.  Only winners move on.

So how long will this process take?  With 24 candidates, we have 12 pairings.  During the first round, if each pair has 2 weeks in the limelight that is 24 weeks, or 6 months.  So if we start July 1, 2019, we can finish by the end of the year.

For the second round, we have 12 candidates or six pairs.  So again, if each pair has two weeks to campaign, this round will consume 12 weeks, or 3 months, which brings us to April 1, 2020.  In the third round, there will be three candidates who will campaign and compete for the month of April culminating in a debate between the three and a vote at the end of the month.  This process is repeated for the other three candidates for the month of May.  That leaves two remaining candidates that battle it out for the month of June with 3 debates and a vote in the end of June with the final Democratic candidate selected and ready for the convention in the month of July 2020.

This plan is clean and very simple and dare I say…fun

.  I tried to work in the “super delegates,” but unfortunately I could not squeeze them in.  This plan has been endorsed by Barack Obama.  You can see his signature and seal on my bracket parings in the chart above.  And finally, the winner of this contest has agreed to accept dinner at the White House.