With the focus on President Trump and his escalating efforts to minimize the potential damage from the increasingly obvious findings of the Mueller probe, America has been collectively distracted from the deeds undertaken by the GOP-led Congress.  Seriously, is anyone paying attention to what the GOP cabal is actually doing - other than covering up for their president by avoiding obvious inquiries and efforts to safeguard our nation from further enemy cyber-attacks?  Let us take a look at what they accomplished before leaving for break.
         According to the Associated Press, Democrats proposed legislation to prohibit the sale of what is commonly known as "Junk Insurance" - an alternative pushed by Trump and the GOP to the high premium coverage provided for in the ACA.  Why is it considered "junk?"  The reason the premiums are lower than those available via the ACA exchange is because the polices actually provide little actual coverage for serious medical needs.  Despite Democratic efforts to block the issuance of Junk policies, the GOP-led House killed the Bill by a vote of 224-184.    The House did pass a Bill to allow fitness club fees and some over the counter drugs to be eligible for Health Savings Account payments that would be tax sheltered accordingly.   This measure passed the House by a vote of 277-142.  Sounds great right - except how many truly sick Americans have the ability and the funds to spend on "fitness clubs?"  (See: H.R. 6469 and H.R. 6199).
         It only gets better with the GOP-led House rejecting a Democrat Bill to "call up a debate for a Bill imposing financial sanctions on any country, individual or entity found to have interfered with a U.S. Federal election in 2015 or any year later".  How can such a protective measure be defeated?  Ask your GOP House Representative!  Instead of publicly echoing Trump by claiming Russian interference is a hoax, the GOP in the House quietly defeated a Bill to punish those that interfere with our elections.  How does that indicate a willingness to protect our democracy from further foreign intrusions intended to disrupt or derail our free and fair elections?  It doesn't!  The Bill (H.R. 6494) was defeated by the GOP by a vote of 226-183!  Should there be any further doubt as to where the GOP stands on protecting America from further enemy cyber-attacks?  We know our president has done nothing.  Can anyone guess why though?  Perhaps Mueller's investigation will inform us? 
       As an aside, I somehow have been put on to the Tea Party Patriots mailing list.  Does anyone read this nonsense spewed by the Far-Right?  They gleefully pass along lies about Hillary Clinton's poor health and Obama's lawless "Deep State" designed to undermine our "beloved president."  In their latest newsletter, the Tea Party says the recently released FISA Memo "proves" Obama "weaponized the FBI" in order to create a "Deep State" mechanism to harm Trump and to conduct an illegal "Coup" to remove their president.  It goes on to state; "​President Trump said a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves. Let's LOCK THEM UP! "  No wonder Trumplings have little to no understanding of how the Rule of Law works.  A president is not a ruler who can freely by edict demand political opponents be "locked up!"  All of this despite the fact that the FISA Memo provided insight into the actual legal issuance of warrants pursuant to FISA judges' orders (all of which are registered Republicans who were appointed by Republican presidents!). Go figure!?  
          And we have the continued efforts of Fox News to distort Trump's actions in an effort to shield its loyal and obeying audiences into believing what they hear only from them or Trump and to reject what they see and hear by themselves.  Rather Orwellian don't you think?
           So as we approach November, let this remind us all to stay aware and diligent in an effort to vote the GOP House and Senate out of the Majority so we can return America to its proper course - while keeping the radical Right Wing from controlling all of the levers of government.  As President Andrew Jackson once wrote; "Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in."  November 2018 can't come soon enough!  Before I end, kudos to my son Nathan, for his stellar performance on Fox News' Fox and Friends.  He held his ground and proved the Left can have a rational debate with anyone holding onto to misleading beliefs that the represent such a small minority of Americans.(See: millennialpolitics.co/nathan-rubin-fox-and-friends/).   Have a great week!

         Now that I have returned from Europe, I am more frustrated than ever.  Watching an American president grovel in front of a Russian Leader was bad enough, but blaming America for Russian election interference was just too much. It wasn't that long ago that the Right Wing had a fit over Obama allegedly holding a World Apology Tour. Now they seem in accord with a president ceding his authority under Article II of the Constitution ("Take Care Provision") by giving an enemy a "pass" on their wrongful work in interfering with our elections.  Worse yet, the Administration (despite their claims), have done nothing about protecting our election systems from being further hacked.  As if this would be enough to demand action, the GOP-led Congress also refuses to independently take steps to protect our election mechanisms.  It seems Trump's constant public claims of "collusion and interference" and lumping Mueller's investigation into the same box as just a "hoax" have found favor with the GOP base, so why expect GOP elected leaders to do anything that resembles performing their job?
        Recent polling reveals that the GOP base supports Trump no mater what he says or does.  So much so that cartoonists have illustrated Trump (per his election campaign rhetoric) shooting Uncle Sam on Broadway and no one with the authority to act seems willing to do so.  And in the interim, our democracy remains susceptible to interference by foreign entities.  Similar to Trump's claim that North Korea is no longer a threat, he wants us to believe that Obama and Hillary (and Liberals) are more a threat to our democracy than foreign agents and their sinister handlers (or GOP sycophants).   So to just blame Trump is missing the bigger picture.  The GOP and its supporters no longer care to protect a democracy that includes opposing ideas.  Instead, authoritarianism appears to be preferred by the Right, as long as it only includes their demands and ideology.  Hardly what the Founding Fathers and Framers had in mind when seeking to create a "More Perfect Union."
      The solution is obvious.  Seize control of Congress by electing Democrats, not because of their liberal ideology, but because they remain willing to ensure and safeguard our great nation from the slowly eroding corrosiveness the GOP has been engaged in since Ronald Reagan's presidency.  Liberals are just as American as anyone else - and in this modern era, perhaps more patriotic than those that cast democracy to the curb in an endless thirst to control our government and culture.  
       Voting is not a revolutionary idea.  Adhering to an ideology to suppress voting rights though embodied by the GOP in all of the states they control is just short of revolutionary - but it certainly is not an American ideal. Unfortunately, it appears the GOP, Trump and his supporters are leading the way to divide America, which is what a foreign government could never accomplish on its own.  Midterms can't come fast enough, so please VOTE to right America''s course which has been diverted by the GOP.  As President James Madison once wrote;  "If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."   Try to have a great week!

        Now that Justice Kennedy has handed Mr. Trump a huge opportunity to steer the High Court further Right, Right Wing activists are openly celebrating.  They see the hard right move of the Supreme Court as a long-term victory for their conservative ideals, especially as an inroad in over turning Roe v Wade.  What do they call this up-swell of Right Wing support heading in the MidTerms?  The "Red Tide".  They choose this label in order to counter the widely publicized "Blue Wave" label many on the Left are using to gin up MidTerm Election support of Democratic platforms and candidates.
      The difference?  A Blue Wave is the notion that millions of Americans are fed up with unfettered and unchecked authority Trump has asserted while the GOP-led Congress abdicates its role to check him.  The Blue Wave is synonymous with the grass roots up swelling of support for dividing our government and allowing at least one branch (House or Senate) to flip to the Democrats so an effective check can be put in place of the hyper-partisan GOP sycophantic chambers.  Except Red Tide means something totally different and Democrats better heed its advancement.  Real Red Tide is actually a toxic bloom of bacteria that not only turns water red in color, but also is so toxic, it kills thousands of fish and aquatic life.  (See:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tide). Ironic the Right Wing embraces a slogan that is inherently toxic - and now is threatening our democracy.  
       So the Left better get its act together.  They must unify.  They must act.   They must vote.  If they don't vote to ensure our democracy is protected this fall, we will risk severe damage which will lead our government to incrementally creep towards authoritarianism based upon purely tribal foundations of Party Power over Country.
      As President Franklin D. Roosevelt once wrote; "​Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country."  Which do you prefer?  A Blue Tide to protect our democracy or a Red Tide that will damage it, potentially beyond repair.  The choice is obvious.  Vote For Democracy!

I am pleased to announce I will once again be a guest speaker aboard P&O's Arcadia for a segment of it's World Cruise from January 23 - 30, 2019!