Fully Present Post 50

I am exhausted from an undercurrent of anger cursing through me every day that I watch my fellow Americans subjected to a mind-boggling amount of gas lighting coming from the highest office in the land: the president of the United States. Donald Trump abuses us every day to feed his own perverted needs. I’m not psychologist, but I know what emotional abuse is and how gas lighting works as a tool of an abuser to bend victims to their will.

Simply put, gas lighting is when a person methodically makes his target question reality so that he can feed whatever perverted need is driving his behavior. The need might be power, control, ego, or money. Gas lighters are without moral character and conscience as they emotionally abuse their victims for their own gratification. They do it in a number of ways.

First and foremost, gas lighters are liars. They lie all the time. Their lies are blatant and they will shamelessly deny having said something even if they are caught on audio or video or email or text message saying it. Even worse, they will claim that everyone else is a liar and that only they are telling you the truth. Sound familiar? They are constantly insisting that targets suspend their belief in previously trusted sources of information such as the news media, teachers, historians, and even science. They use bravado and charm and empty compliments to endear themselves to the unaware as they keep insisting that they are the truth teller while everyone else, even with factual evidence in hand, is lying. Think about how Trump often tells his rally audience that they are the smart ones and that they are the true patriotic Americans and that they together will make America great again.

The unrelenting efforts of Trump gas lighting wears down his targets to the extent that he can successfully cast doubt on everything his followers once believed to be true, decent, and right. Look at the corrupting effect he has had on everyone who enters his orbit. This week he pardoned three convicted war criminals against the advice of military leadership. I feel sorry for people like Jeff Sessions and the now seven of his associates who have been convicted and sent to prison. He demands loyal but his loyalty is not reciprocal and once they have served his purposes, he discards them like trash. And if they wake up and leave on their own, he publicly ridicules them.

Like all gas lighters, he actively works to uproot our sense of stability and foments mistrust of normal channels of information so that he alone becomes the source of reality and truth. He has gotten Fox News and some conservative radio hosts to align with him and Trump rallies are filled with a cult base who have aligned to protect and defend him. I see all these folks as victims who are being abused and used and will one day wake up empty and full of shame.

The other characteristics of a gas lighter are evidenced by his constant need for an enemy to attack. Trump has turned public servants, Democrats, immigrants, and the media into public enemies. He attacks what is important to us such as news and information, the intelligence community, the FBI, science, immigrants, and even President Obama. The “deep state” is supposed to be out to destroy him and therefore, America. He tells his followers that you can’t trust anyone who accuses him of wrongdoing, labeling them as traitors or “Never Trumpers”.

Once his enemies are established, he projects, accusing them as individuals or groups of every wrongdoing that you can almost guarantee he himself is committing. For example, when he calls someone stupid, I think to myself that he believes he himself is stupid. When he calls for draining the swamp, he is really pointing out the swamp where he is most comfortable. He is so quick to publicly attack people that Republican lawmakers are terrified of him because his cult base will align with him against that person.

And finally, the words of a gas lighter will not match his actions. He says he will provide the best healthcare when in fact he is dismantling it. He says he always hires the best people, but look who he has hired. He says he will protect Dreamers when he is literally working to end DACA through the Supreme Court. His followers are not getting the benefit of tax cuts or the “easy tariffs” and the water they drink and the air they breathe is getting worse because of deregulation.

This week, the nation is fighting for its survival against a man hell-bent on destroying it for personal ego, power, and wealth. The Impeachment Inquiry is shedding light on just how pernicious this president is and just how much Republican lawmakers have become pathetically submissive to the gas lighter in chief. It is high time we impeach and remove Trump. And at the same time, we have to provide a way for Trump victims to redeem and rehabilitate themselves.

It’s evident to me that a lot of Americans aren’t paying much attention to what is happening with our government. I can’t say that I blame anyone for this inattention because we are all busy just trying to live our lives. We work, we sleep, we groom, we pay bills, we take care of family, we clean and maintain our homes, we eat, we worship, and we play a bit. There is very little time left for paying close attention to politics. And yet, our lives and the lives of our children might be fundamentally changed if we don’t.

For too many Americans, their notion of the current turmoil comes from a few sound bites here and there. And Donald Trump has mastered the art of delivering sound bites that are riddled with lies and distractions. Unfortunately, he has a news channel and radio pundits who are happy to accommodate him. And sometimes they even feed him the next set of talking points to obscure our understanding. Trump has been able to convince a number of people that he is looking out for their best interest when in fact he is destroying and undermining their health, livelihood, and futures. It’s mind-blowing to think about how many times in a day this man lies to the American public. The lies themselves make him dangerous to public health, national security, safety, and our economy. His administration is actively dismantling the protections provided in Obamacare while he says he will protect pre-existing conditions. The truth is the exact opposite. He lies about climate change, covers up the science and then promotes deregulation that will further pollute the air we breathe and the water we drink while speeding up climate change itself. All the while he calls climate change a “Chinese hoax”. He breaks the law in plain sights and brags about it as if the law itself is actually wrong and not him.

Americans who voted for Trump knew that he sexually assaulted women, cheated on his three wives, filed bankruptcy six times, defrauded consumers, didn’t pay contractors for their work, hired undocumented workers, discriminated against blacks, falsely accused people, called his opponents names, and lied excessively about just about everything. His moral bankruptcy and corrupt tendencies were, and continue to be in plain view, and yet they supported him and 80% of Republicans continue to support him, even in the face of his obvious obstruction of justice and now his abuse of power with Ukraine.

The question is who are we as a nation and is our Constitution, the rule of law, and common decency worth preserving? Donald Trump deserved to be impeached long ago but he has been protected by lawmakers who are afraid of his cult-like base that revels in his unorthodox, break-all-the-rules, brash and unhinged behavior. They are entertained by his clearly ignorant proclamations and blatant lies about facts. They are amused when he openly bullies other politicians and nations who are considered our allies and friends. They give a nod to his relationships with despots like Putin. And they blindly cheer his not-so-simple trade war with China that negatively impacts them. They think he is strong when in reality he is the weakest and most dangerous kind of leader. He is the boastful emperor who has no clothes. He has surrounded himself with “yes” people who are afraid to tell him the truth. These foolish Americans enable and empower a fool and are unwitting participants in his folly. It is all the more imperative that the rest of us wake up and start paying closer attention.

In the coming weeks, we must find the time to get beyond the sound bites and watch the public impeachment inquiry hearings in the House. We must watch and encourage our friends and family members to watch. We must share what we see with those who are still too busy living life to watch for themselves. And whenever possible, we have to provide an alternative narrative to people living inside the Fox News bubble. It is only when public opinion about the reality of this president’s misdeeds are more widely rejected that those Republicans in the Senate will find the courage to do what their oath to the Constitution and their duty to Americans requires of them: remove Trump from office.

Before my husband left for the golf course at 5:00am yesterday morning, he admonished me to get off the couch today and do something. He is tired of seeing me sitting on the couch and frankly I’m tired of sitting there. However, I felt a surge of frustration when he said that. He really doesn’t understand what it is like to struggle to breath when the air is polluted with smoke and debris. I have asthma and I’m struggling. I hear myself wheezing through my own ears. I feel the constriction in my chest. My noise is clogged with mucus and I can capture very little air needed to move. The fires in California impose great restrictions on my movements as they have become an annual occurrence.

I skipped a lunch with colleagues on Friday because I couldn’t walk across campus to the cafeteria where we had agreed to gather. I felt bad having to cancel my Friday evening plans to attend two outdoor events scheduled by student groups who went out of their way to invite me. They understood that I couldn’t be outside when the air was this bad because of my asthma, but they were still disappointed. With my mask firmly placed across my face, I at least looked at their decorations before making my way back inside the building. I even wear my mask to walk the short distance between my car and my office and my car to my front door. Asthma is no joke and asthma attacks are frightening and could be deadly.

I was diagnosed with asthma when I was two. I thought I had grown out of it until it reared its ugly head again in my late twenties and early thirties when I was plagued by constant attacks and was prescribed steroids. I eventually whined myself off of them and my rescue inhaler. I keep the rescue inhaler handy for days like this. But mostly, I have learned to control my environment and curb my behavior to avoid attacks. I’ve never had the benefit of full breath, but I’ve managed. I had to train my husband to stop polluting our home air with beach and other harsh chemicals that set off asthma attacks. I have houseplants in every room, particularly pothos, snake plants, peace lily and a few others that purify our air and I dust and vacuum more than many, using a vacuum with a hippa filter. I’m careful with my bedding and I get a flu shot every year. I’ve gotten the pneumonia vaccine, too.

These last two weeks, I haven’t been able to walk on the tread mill or ride the stationary bike in my garage because of the bad air. I’ve taken to stretching and a bit of yoga instead. But this can’t last forever. When I finally retire in a few years, we’ll need to move to a state where fires are rare. I don’t do well with humidity either. So, Nevada or Arizona might be in our future. Right now, I just need to find a place where I can breathe and sadly, that is my couch. Sorry, hubby.

I had a great conversation with my son this week following the democratic debates. He’s a millennial so I was expecting him to be for Sanders or Warren, but he wasn’t. He was for Andrew Yang and strongly against Joe Biden and Tulsi Gabbard. And his reasons were sound except when it came to Buttigieg whom he disliked at a gut level. It got me thinking that I really needed to do more policy research along with an examination of my own gut feelings about these candidates. What follows is who I’m supporting today. And my preferences have shifted since the last time I wrote about this.

A while back I was all in for Michael Bennett for president. I even donated to his campaign. I still like him a lot, but I believe we need a presidential nominee who has a fighting chance at actually winning the election and he simply isn’t gaining enough momentum to win the Democrat nomination. There are a few others that I would put in that same category but who I would be happy to see as Vice President along with Bennett: Booker, Buttigieg, Castro, Harris and Klobuchar.

At this moment, I’m no longer in favor of Biden, Warren, nor Sanders for president. Biden seems too feeble at times and I’m not thrilled with the issues surrounding his son’s foreign business dealings even though he technically did nothing illegal. While I like Warren and would wholeheartedly support her if she were the nominee, I think her ultra liberal policies would throw too many voters toward Donald Trump. And even if she were elected, I don’t believe she could get any of her big ideas past Congress. And as for Sanders, I’m not just vary because of his recent heart attack, but his policies are too left for me and ultimately wouldn’t get pass Congress either.

Additionally, the presidency is a high stress job and both Biden and Sanders don’t seem up to it in my opinion. They already show all the signs of age-related decline. Reagan was in mental decline and they kept his condition from us until after he left office. I don’t want history to repeat itself. However, I must admit that Warren appears to be in exceptionally good mental and physical health and so I’m not as concerned with her age. But even still, I do feel it’s time to move to the younger generation.

So, in this moment, I am leaning toward Amy Klobuchar, the senator from Minnesota. I agree with her policies. She is from the mid-west, has a working class upbringing, appears to have integrity, and she won’t scare off more moderate voters who could be pushed towards Trump if Sanders or Warren were our nominees. She’s a pragmatist who wants to get things done that can actually be passed through Congress. I think she can stand up to Trump simply by her intelligent and dignified presence. She doesn’t bring the baggage Hillary had. Her likability is high. But she isn’t all that exciting and her support would need to skyrocket to win the nomination. So, to build the excitement, I would pair her with either Senator Cory Booker or Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Booker would bring the fire, forthrightness, and fight to her ticket. Together, I think they would be impossible to beat. He is intelligent, energizing, and represents the urban parts of the country. Buttigieg, although another mid-westerner, brings the ability to explain things in a clear and concise manner. He makes great arguments with a level of articulation that is impressive. He’s also a veteran and gay. Both Booker and Buttigieg have executive experience, having served as mayors. They would be a great asset to any candidacy and are young enough to again become future presidential candidates.

If Joe Biden were to secure the nomination, then I would pair him with Senator Harris. She brings youth and leadership ability and a sense that she could take over if needed. She will sharpen his message on issues and help him with the duties of president as well as giving him cover on women’s issues. Another good running mate would be Amy Klobuchar for the same reasons. Given his past history where he could be vulnerable on his behavior towards women, he needs a female running mate.

If Elizabeth Warren pulls off the nomination, then she would need to be paired with either Bennett, Buttigieg or Julian Castro who will each bring her down to earth a bit in the minds of voters with their pragmatic outlooks and calm demeanor.

There is still so much to consider and I truly like all of our candidates. But only two can people will make up our democratic ticket. My first choice today is a Klobuchar-Booker ticket. But the next debate might change that. This is why I hope Americans are paying attention.

In the last presidential election, 42% of eligible voters didn’t vote. And look what that got us. In the words of the late (and very great) Senator Elijah Cummings, “We are better than this”. Rest in peace, Senator Cummings, and may we live up to the promise of our democracy as you admonished us.

This was my first week taking on the job of two people. I learned something surprising about myself: I become hyper-active when faced with too much to do. And being a task-oriented person, I can easily become insensitive to the needs of others when I become hyper-focused on my “to do” list. I realized that was happening on Monday morning when by 11 a.m., I hadn’t even said, “Good morning” to my co-workers. It took an unexpected encounter with a colleague in the mail room to help me begin the process of time management.

As I mentioned last week, there are a lot of changes happening at work. My new boss has a lot on her plate. She also brings plenty of new ideas to our newly formed department that she wants implemented quickly. I appreciate the ideas and I am content doing my part to help implement them and I even enjoy it. But this week, I was handed nearly all the duties that had been the responsibility of my colleague who went on leave. My initial response was “Wow, this a lot of extra work for one person to take on”. My second response was, “Okay, I love a challenge”.

And then my inbox blew up with demands coming in fast and furious from all over the place. The problem was that there with no sense of what was urgent. Every request seemed to be on the same high level of priority. And some people are impatient by nature, including me. So, I started to take it all on at once. Admittedly, the sense of accomplishment was invigorating. I felt my energy level go into this hyper-active “gotta get it all done” mentality. I was on a roll but I was also difficult to deal with on a personal level. I stopped chit-chatting with colleagues, instead focusing only on what I needed from them to accomplish a task. I realized Tuesday morning that I didn’t even greet people when I came into work for the second day, heading straight for my office to dive in.

Thankfully, I had to walk across campus to the mail room Tuesday morning. It was there that I ran into a colleague known for his caring attitude towards people. He knew about the changes in our office and about my situation and insisted on showing me the item he had purchased from Amazon that he was going to use on his desk to help calm students. I think he could sense my uncomfortably high energy level.

He demonstrated the power of this spinning desk toy. If you turn it one way, it brings your energy level up. Turn it the opposite way and it calms you. It had an immediate affect on me and he volunteered to send me the link so I could purchase one myself. But being the kind and thoughtful person he is, he later showed up in my office and presented his to me as a gift, saying he would simply order another for himself. That’s kindness.

The ball calmed me down immediately. In fact, it helped me to relax enough to be able to put my inbox into perspective so that I could set priorities for what was immediate and what could actually wait. I asked for some requested items to be wait-listed until other things were accomplished. I took my time with people instead of rushing them out the door. And I took a full hour for lunch. I greeted my colleagues and started treating them like human beings again.

Yes, there is a whole lot to do and I’m lucky that I am passionate about completing each item on my “to do” list. But striking a balance between getting things done and caring for people is important for the kind of work I do. In reality, this balance is good for all of us as human beings working and living together. While it is true that the things that need to be done are in service to people, I’m reminded by a quote by Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Managing my energy allows me to manage my priorities and my time so that I can make room for the humans I care about. For me, help was found through a chance encounter with a caring colleague who made time for me and the ingenuity of a spinning metal ball.

The Kinetic Spinning Desk Toy can be purchased on Amazon here.

In the past year and a half, my department at work has undergone major changes in personnel and operating procedures. Two people left rather than deal with the changes. Others have been in a perpetual state of stress. And just this week, my closest work companion of the last ten years announced that she was going on medical leave until January because the stress was too much given her ongoing medical condition. I understand and fully support her decision. But now I am left with the added stress of doing her job and mine for an undetermined amount of time. I’m thinking about how to manage it all and remain sane.

I acknowledge that upon hearing her news I reacted in unproductive ways, doing some things that will prove counterproductive if I allow myself to continue. I went to bed later. I stopped my normal early morning exercise routine, opting to stay in bed and try to sleep a little longer. And I ate a lot of the bad comfort food that you purchase in a drive through. None of these behaviors will ultimately help me; in fact they will only add to my stress and worsen my ability to be productive. But they were my way of coping with the immediate emotional distress that I was feeling. I forgive myself for that human response and I vow to treat myself better.

So, with the four days of transition completed with calendars, accounts, student groups, responsibilities, and office keys turned over to me, Monday will be the start of a whole new work life. This weekend will be my restart although I found myself in yet another drive through yesterday for lunch. Back to normal sleep hours, 5 days of early morning exercise, a walk at lunch and no more fast food or sugar starting today. I put some things in place at work to help me better manage the calendar of things to do, but it’s going to be difficult and I will need to press others in the office to take on more tasks.

Change is difficult for most of us. It causes stress no matter who you are. But what matters most is how we handle it. I have always chosen to see change as an opportunity to learn more and to grow. I have a personality that tends to welcome challenge. However, I realize that my mind, body and attitude must be in sync to handle the challenging changes that will continue to present themselves. If my mind is overwhelmed, my body is unhealthy, or my attitude is negative then I won’t be equipped to handle change and I’ll need to find the fastest way out of the situation to survive. Change is a part of life and evokes a flight or fight response. At this moment, I choose to stay and fight but I don’t blame anyone who chooses to flee.

Given the change I’m facing starting tomorrow, I’ll have to do everything possible to keep my mind sharp, my body healthy, and my attitude positive if I am going to make lemonade out of this lemon of a change.

Amid the long-awaited announcement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week that the House of Representatives was launching a formal impeachment inquiry, I started reading Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, “Talking to Strangers”. In his book he begins with the assertion that we as human beings tend to believe that people we meet are telling us the truth despite multiple red flags and evidence to the contrary. His examples of how far we go to give people the benefit of the doubt, helps me understand why so many people continue to listen to and even support a proven liar like Donald Trump.

In my opinion Donald Trump is the worst kind of leader. He has learned to exploit this human vulnerability to immediately believe lies told to them. And what’s worse is that he does this for his own gain. He spews lies, half truths, and innuendos about the media, his political opponents, and factual statistics in service to whatever his personal agenda happens to be for the moment. He is dangerous because he is also corrupt and even criminal and quickly lies to deny his misdeeds or tries to convince us that each misdeed wasn’t really wrong. From the beginning, he lied about his tax returns. Business people and women publicly exposed his dirty business dealings and sexual assaults and he simply plays the victim of “fake news” and “false accusers”. How many times did he say things like, “I never met that woman”? Then pictures surface and he claims, “fake news” even louder. Those who expose him are viciously attacked with lies and insults. His willingness to weaponize false accusations has silenced his opponents in his own party.

Sadly, there is a segment of our population that only listens to Trump and Fox News. When an entire media outlet supports a liar by ignoring the lies, minimizing their impact, or outright spinning them to sound like truth, the listeners become unwitting accomplices in the undermining of our common good. According to Gladwell, on balance it is good that trusting each other is our default setting. However, this default setting makes life easy for people with corrupt intent like our Bernie Madoff and his ponzi scheme to do real harm for a long time. Trump is like Madoff, trying to swindle the American people for his ego and his financial profit. And he is willing, as we learned this past week, to invite a foreign government to take down his political opponent Joe Biden. This is in violation of his oath of office and an action for which he deserves to be impeached and removed from office. And there are so many other impeachable offenses.

So, I’m not saying silent as a citizen. It is only when the American people rise up and demand justice that justice will be served. I contacted Nancy Pelosi three times this week pressing for action. I contacted Mitch McConnell and will continue to do so as he and the republicans are the ones standing between American justice and this president. I contacted Senator Devin Nunes in real time to express my disgust during the hearing of the inspector general after Nunes acted again as a ridiculous human shield for this lawless administration.

With the exception of Fox News, investigative reporters are doing their constitutionally sanctioned job by exposing what our government officials are doing on our behalf. It is time for the Congress (both the House and especially the Senate) to be pushed to do theirs. Only when the American people press them will they do what is right and what is needed to clean house. And I’m talking about the White House. We do have a role to play and that is to make some noise to press for impeachment.

This past week revealed that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paraded himself in black face and brown face on at least four separate occasions from the 1980’s until 2001. Yes, he really should have known better and definitely should have done better. But couldn’t the same be said of all of us? When confronted by some of our youthful actions, few of us emerge without blemish. This is especially true when public sentiments about acceptable behaviors and lifestyles shift. What was perfectly fine to say or do twenty years ago may be taboo today. Is it fair to condemn each other and public figures today for past comments that are presently unacceptable?

I would say it depends on how the person has evolved with the times. Personally, I find it a distraction from important issues of the day to dig out someone’s behavior or comments from thirty years ago in an attempt to describe who that person is today. Of course, this excludes actual crimes like rape, murder, and theft where people were seriously injured for life. Time should never be an escape hatch from the consequences of such actions. But when it comes to sentiments and social attitudes, time should temper our judgement of others.

I know that I’m not the person I was thirty years ago. Many of my ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and values have shifted. For example, I was once pro-life and now I am pro-choice. I shutter at the thought of a college paper I turned in for a grade in which I cogently argued in favor of my pro-life stance at the time. Today, I vehemently disagree with my younger self. I haven’t always cared about the environment. But today, I care deeply. My point is that people can and often do change their opinions on social issues. But we’ve allowed the media and political opponents to normalize the practice of characterizing candidates using old comments or past behaviors. This practice steals the airtime from the real issues we need to hear these candidates address.

I guess my point is that we must give space for people in our lives and candidates running for our highest offices to tell us who they are today and what they stand for today. When past comments and behavior emerge, let’s provide them the opportunity to quickly acknowledge their past and tell us how they have evolved. Justin Trudeau did that this past week and I hope the Canadian people were listening and understanding and will quickly move on to the real issues their nation faces. And I hope that we will do the same during this crucial 2020 election season.

The co-pay for my routine blood work rose from $20 to $30 on my last visit. I paid it with a small sigh and later checked out the new co-payment schedule from Human Resources to ensure a mistake wasn’t made. And no surprise, the co-pay did rise. And so did my co-pay for my prescription medications. I understand that what I pay for each medical service is really low and is the result of negotiations between my employer and healthcare providers, including hospitals, doctors, procedures, and pharmaceutical companies. I also understand that these costs are only a fraction of what people without medical insurance would pay. For example, I noticed that those blood tests actually were billed for $700. That is too much! No wonder people without insurance risk losing their homes, having their wages garnished, or going bankrupt if they seek medical attention. It’s why many choose to forgo medical care until they are at death’s door when the cost is even higher and the public will foot the bill. In our capitalistic nation, greed in the healthcare field is out of control and needs fixing. However, I’m not entirely sure that Medicare for all is the only way forward.

The problem is how do we fix our crazy system. Early Saturday morning, C-Span interviewed Dr. Marty Makary, a John Hopkin’s cancer surgeon who writes on the subject of medical costs. His most recent book is, “The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care and How to Fix It.” During his interview he exposed the fact that 48% of federal spending is on health care. He explained that when we combine what we pay in federal taxes and insurance premiums, most of us are already spending about 1/3 of our income on health care. He attributes these high cost to price gouging by hospitals, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies. We often don’t know what a procedure or hospital stay will cost until after we get the bill. Why is that?

He argues that we are gouged because we don’t know the cost of a procedure before we undergo it. The same procedure can be much more costly depending on where you go to have it. He gave the example of one hospital charging $20,000 to deliver a baby and a cross town hospital charged $7,000. Same doctors, same level of care, but very different prices. A self-insured employer gave free diapers and baby wipes for a year to his employees who elected to have their babies at the $7000 hospital. I never considered which lab to visit to have my blood work done because my out of pocket would be the same. However, the cost to my employer who might be self-insured could be impacted. Employees like me should be educated to understand that when my employer’s cost rise, my co-pays will also rise. Some sites that allow for cost comparisons include MDsave.com; clearhealthcost.com and healthcarebluebook.com

The total cost of doctors’ services to the system is about 4-6% while the cost of hospital stays is 44%. Before undergoing a procedure, we should be asking what it costs because about 60% of medical procedures are in fact shop-able. Who knew? I certainly didn’t. I just try to stay in network by following the insurance plan laid out for me. However, for the uninsured or under-insured, the prices are also negotiable by individuals, not just by private insurance companies and government insurance policies.

On top of this, Dr. Makary explained that 21% of our medical treatments are actually unnecessary. The epidemic of over-treatment is driven by a combination of greed and patient demand. The opioid epidemic was fueled by greed. Some surgeries are also fueled by greed and the realization that there is a paying customer. My husband was given a choice recently to have surgery to repair his knee or continue with physical therapy. He is on Medicare and has supplemental insurance, so he is a paying customer. The surgeon, the hospital, and the drug companies all stand to gain from a surgery. He was never given a price tag to consider.

Not having to consider or compare prices for medical treatments or drugs or hospital stays is a problem if we continue in this market driven medical system. The cost of insurance premiums, hospital stays, and drugs keeps rising because corporate greed has taken over. I don’t know that I am for Medicare for all as the cost would be outrageous, but I do know that I am not for a profit driven medical care system. We need the full picture before we can make a wise decision.

There are very few people whom I truly dislike. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel is definitely one of them. It is my observation that this 77 year old man is single-handedly destroying our nation and the lives of many people. Is he actually evil or disloyal to America? Or does he really see the issues so differently? Either way, for the good of the nation, I say it is time for the people of Kentucky to ditch Mitch.

McConnell is the longest serving U.S. Senator in Kentucky history, having been first elected to the Senate in 1984. He has been re-elected five times by the people there and is now the longest serving Republican leader of the Senate. However, I don’t believe history will be kind to him. My case against McConnell began when he refused to give Obama’s supreme court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland a hearing, arguing repeatedly that we were too close to an election. Now, with a grin on his face he admits that he would gladly grant a hearing to a Trump supreme court nominee before the 2020 election. He is absolutely shameless in his hypocrisy.

The level of his abhorrent behavior is even worse when I consider that he has been a shield for a law-breaking and utterly corrupt president Trump. If any other president had even hinted at some of the things Trump is doing on a daily basis, that president would have already been impeached. I’m disgusted that this one person stubbornly stands between a nation’s need for justice and competency and a corrupt and obviously inept president. Imagine if Obama acted like Donald Trump? McConnell wouldn’t hold back for a moment. This is worse than hypocrisy; this is actually damaging to our nation and its reputation in the world. But there is much more to hold against McConnell.

The only person preventing the passing of reasonable gun regulations that 90% of Americans favor is “Massacre Mitch”. Even in the face of mass shooting after mass shooting, he refuses to bring the gun legislation to the Senate floor. The House of Representatives passed gun legislation and he refuses to even consider it for a Senate vote. What is he thinking? Who is he protecting? And why?

And finally, “Moscow Mitch” refuses to protect our elections against foreign influence. He wants Trump re-elected for some unknown reason. Perhaps he and Trump have some secret plan with Putin to rule the planet together. Or perhaps he is a white nationalist who wants these guns in the hands of white nationalists to carry out some secret plot to eliminate Jews, people of color, and immigrants. Or perhaps he has committed some horrible act and is being blackmailed to keep it all secret. Whatever the case may be, something is terribly wrong with this man. His stance on guns, Trump, and election protections are all harmful to Americans and they undermine our democracy. History will reveal his actual motives. But the time to rid ourselves of this dangerous man is now.

So, citizens of Kentucky, if you are paying any attention, it is time to ditch Mitch in 2020.