Another Thanksgiving With Little To Be Thankful For

One year ago tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day 2016, I wrote a post on this blog entitled "Thanksgiving 2016 So Little To Be Thankful For" . Today, the day before Thanksgiving 2017, I writing another blog post and searching for a few things, anything to be thankful for.  First and foremost, I am thankful that America and world have managed to survive nearly a year with American Democracy in greater danger than it has been since at least 1945.  We are still hanging onto a fragile freedom which has been under direct and relentless attack since November 8, 2016.  Somehow, the TRAITOR Donald Trump and his Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate are still in control of the White House despite all their crimes which are common knowledge and those crimes which we still do not have sufficient knowledge about to discuss.  Somehow, the TRAITOR Donald Trump and Kim Jun Un have avoided an armed conflict which will, if it happens, literally destroy the world in a radioactive plague which can only be imagined.  I am thankful that Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors and investigators are still going about their work and have actually been able to indict three of TRAITOR Trump's henchmen for at least part of their crimes.  We can only hope that their work will continue to its completion and the entire Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate and TRAITOR Trump are indicted, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned for their crimes.  I am thankful that in most of the off year elections which have occurred since November 2016 Democrats and rational, qualified people have been elected.  In Virginia, we saw a widespread win by a diverse group of Democrats all across the spectra of both humanity and state elective offices.  In Oklahoma, we saw several important offices won by intelligent, well qualified Democrats.  There is a great deal of hope in these wins.  Perhaps, the tide has turned that assisted Vladimir Putin and TRAITOR Trump in their seizure of the White House.  However, the Republican Party holds control of all three branches of government at the national level and has shown absolutely no willingness or ability to face the crimes of TRAITOR Trump, Vladimir Putin, and their Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate. 

In Alabama, the Fascist and accused sex offender and pedophile Roy Moore is the Republican nominee for the US Senate and very few members of the US Senate or the Republican Party have shown enough courage to speak out against him and his crimes against both women and children.   The TRAITOR Trump has spoken publicly in support of Roy Moore.  My response to that endorsement of Moore by TRAITOR Trump is this: Ask any detective!  Any time a self-admitted sex offender claims another accused sex offender is innocent it is the best indicator you can find that both are guilty of everything of which they have been accused.  American Democracy is in a terrible state and, as citizens, we have little to be thankful for.  This Thanksgiving Day is a bleak day in America.  Health care, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Department of Education, human rights in general, the Bill of Rights in particular are all under attack from TRAITOR Trump and his Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate.  Our only hope lies in the voting booth, in public protest, and in the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  Thanksgiving 2017 is turning out be just as bleak as I predicted it would be one year ago at Thanksgiving 2016.  God Help Us All, both as a country, as individual citizens, and as a world in great danger! 

Freedom Of Speech--Stand Up, Speak Up, Speak Out!

American Flag Photo By Newsmax.com

Yesterday, July 7, 2017, I received an unexpected phone call from an employee of a large private practice medical practice in Lexington, KY, of which I had been a patient for several years beginning in the early 1990's.  I had become a patient of that practice when a general practitioner I was seeing, greatly respected, and trusted absolutely became a member of that practice.  A few years later, that physician had left that practice and I had gone along with him, following him in at least two practice moves in Central Kentucky because of that trust, respect, and genuine affection for him.  The last time I had seen him, in another practice, about two years ago I felt that he had slipped some in his attention to detail and decided to end my association with him.  When it came time a year of so ago for my annual physical, I had randomly chosen another member of that former practice from which I received the call yesterday and went to see him for my annual physical.  During that physical, we had discussed my potential need for a shingles vaccination and the doctor remarked that "we don't do those here but I can write you a prescription for one and you can get it at a pharmacy.  Barack Obama makes me charge you over $200 for that shot."  The remark was clearly intended to criticize the Affordable Care Act and President Obama.  It also clearly labeled the physician as a Republican party member or sympathizer.  I instantly responded to him that he "still need to be voting Democratic".  He said "we can discuss that some other time" and walked out of the examining room.  To say the least, I was clearly irked by his attempts to criticize both the Affordable Care Act and the best President in recent years in this country.  

President Barack Obama Photo  By White House Archives

When I answered the phone yesterday, the employee stated that it was time for my Medicare Physical and they were calling to schedule it with the physician in question.  I hesitated at first before going on to discuss the issue with the employee.  But after a moment of thought, I told her the story of my previous encounter with the doctor and the fact that his comments had "irked me".  To which she replied "Our Medicare Physicals are performed by one of our nurse practitioners.  Would you like me to schedule you with one of them?"  My response was, "I have three perfectly good nurse practitioners in the county in which I live. I prefer to be seen by an MD. We are facing ongoing treason in this country and I will not support or condone it. I will not spend my money anywhere it is even remotely possible that even one cent of it could go to support a Republican cause."  At that point, she asked me if I would like her to remove me from the patient list of the practice.  After a second of thought, I told her to remove me. Even before the phone call, I had been contemplating the fact that I have not seen a physician in over a year and needed to schedule with someone for an annual physical.  I have no known health problems or prescriptions and had not been under any pressure to find a new doctor any time soon. But I had recently asked a Facebook Friend who works for a nursing college to help me find a politically liberal general practitioner. 

But the two conversations and my ruminations about them have led me to come to some important conclusions.  Firstly, I realized that I should never have hesitated even briefly to voice my opposition to the doctor's defamation of both President Obama and the Affordable Care Act.  I also realized that no one should ever, in these times when TRAITOR Trump, regularly attacks both free speech and a free press, hesitate to voice their freedom of speech, freedom of the press, or any other constitutional freedom. On a daily basis, every citizen in America should be speaking out in defense of the US Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees.  On a daily basis, every citizen in America should be willing to confront TRAITOR Trump, his criminal syndicate which occupies the White House, his TREASON which has placed all of American Democracy in danger, and the Right Wing Radical Repugnicans who tolerate, defend, and support him in his ongoing crime spree against the human race.  I will not, I cannot, I must not stand silently by and watch the destruction of all that is sacred in American politics and government while a gang of Russian Owned TRAITORS work to destroy it.  And neither should you.  Stand up, speak up, speak out to defend the freedoms which all of American history and the US Constitution guarantee you and every other citizen of this country.