I wanted a real man in my illustration above, so I chose Marshawn Lynch, a man to ride the river with, the guy you’d want next to you in a foxhole, a man who understands the realities of life. Marshawn, long a Seahawks favorite, landed at an airport en route to an NFL game as an Oakland Raider the other day wearing a t-shirt that read “Everybody vs. Trump.”

For God’s sake, just erase Obama’s name from everything and write in “Trump.” Then perhaps the country can move on beyond Donald Trump’s massive ego. He is determined to tear down any remnant of a hard-earned legacy created by that black guy with the funny name whom he couldn’t get out of office with the faked-up claim that he’d been born in Kenya. 

One of the latest wrinkles in Donald’s quest for deification is his plan to decertify the nuclear deal with Iran, a major Obama initiative in which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also played a major role (and we all know how he lies awake nights seeking ways to discredit her). Obamacare, of course, continues to take a beating from Donald, continuing to jolt him awake in the wee hours and inspiring him to turn to tweeting. He says he will have the Senate votes to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act by early next year.  As he has the type of compassion and empathy that threw rolls of paper towels to the crowd to soak up mud and blood in Puerto Rico, I suspect he feels he’ll have a replacement by February or so for opposing GOP Senator John McCain, currently in serious shape with brain cancer. And in no way do I feel I’m hitting below the belt with that observation. 

Donald is a second-rate, Svengali-like manipulator who continues to tell us to throw out what we have working for us and he’ll bring us something better (details later)—“the greatest ever, let me tell you.” He’s dragging us toward some sort of combination anarchy and plutocratic dictatorship with his continuing appeal to troglodytes, misogynists and racial supremacists.

I can hardly wait for our comic-book hero to come out with some high-pressure bullying on behalf of his so-called “tax overhaul” handout for industry and the ultra-wealthy. He’s already tested out the main lie that is central to his proposal, and I’m sure will be continuing to spew it here and there at every opportunity. While raging about “fake news” out of one side of his mouth, out to the other he maintains that America is “the highest taxed nation in the world.” Big lie. The truth is almost exactly the opposite. The U. S. collects less in taxes, as a share of national income, than almost any other advanced economy.

As still another hurricane (Nate) was heading for the Gulf coast Oct. 6, it was announced the Trump administration is moving to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's efforts to slow global warming, seeking to ease restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, etc. See detail here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-epa-to-ease-emissions-restrictions/

Meanwhile, Donald hacks away at the Affordable Care Act, chipping off pieces here and there. Also on Oct. 6 (a Friday) he announced plans to sharply limit the act’s contraception coverage mandate, a move that could mean many American women would no longer have access to birth control free of charge. Pro-religious right, pro-polluting industry, anti-women, anti-Obamacare . . . a big day for Donald on his way to the golf course for the weekend. How many “mulligans” do you imagine he proclaims for himself out there on the links?

It’s gotten to where when people look at Donald’s health-care proposals and say “over my dead body,” that’s literally and exactly what they mean. As for the opt-out on birth control, specifically, 

Fatima Goss Graves, president of National Women's Law Center, said:"The Trump administration is saying to employers, 'If you want to discriminate, we have your back.’” The ACLU immediately filed a suit challenging this birth-control rollback. A top staff attorney stated: "We're filing this lawsuit because the federal government cannot authorize discrimination against women in the name of religion or otherwise.” Washington State if filing a similar suit.

The public remains distracted by the noise of such things as the NFL player protest during the national anthem—as the basis of those players’ action, brutality and injustice toward blacks, remains unaddressed. Trump likes the status quo. Not that he’s racist, you understand; he just has this white supremacy thing.  

Through all this, the complacent remain unperturbed, the innocent remain victimized and the struggling and suffering remain desperate. Just where should our concern be directed? Throwing innocent young Hispanics out of the country (DACA)? Pursuing military action against North Korea (War, possibly nuclear)?

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THE BIGGEST STORIES of recent days, of course, have been Las Vegas and Puerto Rico. Gun control could prevent such elaborately-prepared shootings as the Las Vegas massacre. Pollution control would gradually decrease the magnitude of ever-more severe storms such as the ones that devastated Puerto Rico, Houston and Florida—which dramatically illustrate Global Warming/Climate Change. As does the dramatic increase in devastating wildfires that have accompanied record heat and increasing drought in recent years.

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