While watching the impeachment hearings today, I couldn't help but notice that when you have an honest and competent witness, the Republicans don't know what to do. So they attack and repeat the same bullshit over and over again. They have no original ideas, they know he's guilty as hell and they have no defense. I would find it amusing if not for the fact that they are facilitating the destruction of the United States and killing many people in the process in foreign countries.
This is no longer humorous! We are in the midst of the worst crisis America has faced in it's history. We have a renegade President causing great harm just to satisfy his enormous ego and you have a Republican Party that only cares about protecting themselves and their benefactors and donors. We can't survive this if something isn't done soon.
We are turning on allies, we are abandoning allies on the battlefield in wars we should not be in and they see it. They are losing faith in this wonderful country. Is this the way you want it to be? Are you that shallow or ignorant? Think of your children and grandchildren, do they deserve this?
Impeach and convict this miserable bastard and all his enablers, the world will survive it. What it will not survive is the takeover by Republicans!
I am not a Republican or a Democrat. I am an independent, have been most of my adult life. While I identify with the thinking of the Democrats, I still will not belong to the ideologies of a particular political party.
You can deny all you care to, but we are in serious trouble and the only way out is a revolution of ideas. The democratic socialists have the right idea, because capitalism is not working for the masses, it's only working for the billionaire class.
Open your eyes, open your mind to new ideas, open your mind to truth. It's liberating!
As always, may your life be good and peaceful.
dennismoconnor.com

With the situation here in the states being what it is, I hear a lot of people comparing the US to Canada, as in " if it goes south here, I'm heading for Canada"!
I have a friend in Florida that I was talking to last week and she is from Canada, a snowbird. Of course the conversation drifted to the difference in healthcare, government and politics in general.
A lot of people think of Canada as a utopia, where they have universal healthcare, cheap drugs and a stable government, which they do.
But in talking to a Canadian, it's not all sweets and honey. They have problems with wait times just like we do,  but there is a difference between the two. In Canada, the wait times are caused by prioritizing their medical delivery system to care for the sickest first. Elective surgeries do not take precedence over emergencies. Mediction does not put you in the poorhouse or bankruptcy.
In America it's what is in your insurance, does it cover this or that, with the insurance company trying to see what they can deny, and then how cheaply then can get it for. The Pharmaceutical companies want extortion rates on drugs that the US pays for and then gives to the insurance company to gouge us for 20 years by issuing a patent.
All is not well anywhere any more, but we can at least stop being stupid and allowing these companies to buy our politicians and dictating policies that benefit only them. Washington is corrupt, as are many state legislatures, we all know that.
2101 billionaires own as much as the entire middle class in this country and you think that's OK?  Let me sell you a bridge in Brooklyn, NY.  Nice riverside view!
Inequality is dangerous, both for the ones who have it and the ones who don't. Mark my words, the next few years are not going to be pretty.
So if you want instant gratification, or feel you should be treated better than the next person because you have money, think again and don't go to Canada, because believe me, they don't want your short-sighted ass!
If you feel you can wait a few months for an elective surgery and cheaper meds that you can afford, put up with an English type government, and be treated with respect, then by all means if the shit hits the fan here, I'm going there, if they will have me. Don't get me wrong, I loved what this country used to be. I remember a simple time, when neighbors helped neighbors. Hell, nowadays, you don't know your neighbor, and you don't care.
I remember a simpler time when you left your doors unlocked because you had reason to trust, you didn't worry about walking home at night, when you didn't have all the technology driving you, when life revolved around the next coule of miles. You had friends and neighbors you talked to.
Life has gotten very chaotic in the past thirty years, mainly due to greed by 2101 greedy people! Don't you think it's feasible that no one needs a billion dollars, much less  multiple billions? 
Just remember one thing "It's only money". Survival of the fittest will depend upon knowledge of the real world, not the financial world. That money will be worth nothing, to you or anybody else. The only way mankind will stay alive is by adaptation to it's surroundings, and that takes knowledge and planning. Rich people will die off quickly, because food can only be preserved for a limited time, and they know not how to get their hands dirty.
I know I have rambled on a bit, but that's what happens when you live in Maine and have free weed and can't sleep!
But getting back to the US versus Canada, it's not all that different. Yes we have different problems and objectives, but the Canadian people take their country a lot more seriously than we do or we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.
Think about that for awhile!
As always, may you have peace in your life and may you learn to treat your fellow man with dignity!
dennismoconnor.com

Warning! This may be a bit lengthy.
I am deeply saddened tonight that our country has reached the point we have. Most of my adult life, I have surrounded myself with good people who I have considered to be good friends, people I trusted, people who I have loved, people who I have shared my life with, only to find that most of them blindly follow the Republican mantra of greed and corruption. I can no longer, for my own peace of mind, continue to tolerate this. I have already lost many good people who I considered family, because of the piece of shit named Donald J. tRump and what we presently refer to as the Republican Party. I am sure many others feel the same about losing friends and family, but politics in our country is corrupt and toxic. We have lost 11 years accomplishing nothing on critical issues, such as climate, energy, infrastructure, etc.
I have tried my best to maintain a modicum of civility towards people of differing opinions. I have tried not to criticize too heavily in conversations. But you people who believe in DJT have .collectively drank the Kool-aid. You don't want facts. You want narratives that fit your mindset. You no longer believe in your fellow man's right to the same playing field.
As you sit in your comfortable home, with heat and air conditioning, with a fridge full of food, you condemn the homeless as lazy, miserable people who should not be helped by YOUR tax dollars, yet you allow the scum in DC to give it all to Big Pharma, Big Oil, private prisons, constant war, malfeasance, graft and golf trips to Florida or other properties
You no longer believe that women should have control over their own lives, that abortion is criminal, yet you take away all benefits to the children after they are born.
You no longer believe that children should have access to a decent, healthy meal each day. You allow children to be shamed because they don't have lunch money, to be forced to go hungry when it may be their only meal that day.
You no longer believe that children should have access to a decent education and future unless it's through private schools funded by tax dollars and run by religious organizations.
You believe that the wealthy should have all the money and shouldn't have to pay taxes.
You believe that you are the only ones who should have access to healthcare, because it may take a bit of YOUR money to support universal care, yet people are dying because they can't afford simple insulin, which costs next to nothing to produce.
You apparently have no problem with corruption and fascism, because the right-wing white nationalists are the Brown-shirts in waiting, with their guns and jackboots, holdovers from the 30's and Naziism. This is no longer a "white country" , it is and always has been a melting pot of nationalities. Get used to it and make friends instead of enemies, because it will continue for the remainder of our lives.
Quite frankly, you disappoint me. Many of you are good people, but continue to vote against the common worker who didn't have the same opportunities that you had. What has become of today's Republican Party is disgusting. There was a time in my life when I could have voted Republican, because they stood with the people. Not today!
Many of you are a bunch of weak kneed sycophants who are buying into this bullshit because of hatred for what you call "libtards". They have divided us to control us and you don't see it. DJT is not making America great again, he is destroying it from within. You know it but will never admit it.
Those of you in Florida and other beach-side communities can see the damage from pollution, such as red ride or deadly algae blooms, but you seem to take it in stride as natural. The Gulf is dying from oil.spills, yet we continue to tolerate drilling for more. The Galapagos Islands which are a microcosm of evolution, are dying. The Great Barrier Reef is dying. the permafrost in Alaska and Siberia is thawing, Japan wants to dump millions of gallons of radioactive wastewater into the sea from the Fukishima nuclear plant.
I honestly feel sorry for you and the future generations of your children and grandchildren. You will pay part of the price, but they will be so overwhelmed by what we leave them that they will hate our generation for the remainder of their lives, if they even have time.
I know damn well I have not covered everything by a long shot, but I'm sure that I will think of more daily!
In the meantime, enjoy this dystopia you have created, because you don't have much time left!
As always, may peace be with you and may you someday again learn to compromise.
dennismoconnor.com