RIP John McCain. In Death, You Began the Journey to Save the Republicans from Trump. Long Live the Resistance.

NOTE - the second half of this was originally written before his burial. Obviously, the things at the beginning were added to it. 

We are living in historic times. Today, Cory Booker risked being thrown out of the Senate for releasing confidential e-mails on Brett Kavanaugh's judicial feelings on racial profiling and abortion. Yes, he's a potential Presidential candidate, but desperate times call for definite responses. Like or hate his politics, you have to respect his decision to put it all on the line while the partisan status quo rushes forward Trump's Supreme Court nominee.

That said, Kamala Harris has been incendiary on taking the nominee to task as well.

The future will not wait with so much at stake... such as whether a Supreme Court nominee feels Trump could pardon himself for his own crimes. 

But Kavanaugh is "empathetic" to those people not like him. In his own magnanimous words:

"I understand for example, well, to start, I understand the situation of homeless people because I see them on a regular basis when I’m serving meals."

Yesterday, an anonymous senior White House staff member wrote an op-ed for the New York Times.

It said the following (as well as other things):

There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.

It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.

The majority of the essay was about how Trump's own team has to babysit him and keep him from signing orders that could mess up the world.

With a "President" who is hesitant to reign in Moscow, it's scary to think about Russia telling the U.S. it is prepared to attack an area in Syria where American troops patrol.

Prior to John McCain's death, the following last letter was released saying this (as well as other things):

Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.

We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.

Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.

Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America.

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Today, Twitter ejected Alex Jones rather than allow itself to be a platform for his conspiracy hate. Yesterday, he tried to instigate Marco Rubio, who didn't bite.

"I know you've got to cover them, but you give these guys way too much attention," Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill. "We're making crazy people superstars. So, we (are) going to get crazier people."

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After what the Trump fans called the FLIGHT 93 ELECTION (the linked article mirrors the alt-right with the alt-left in how they are both choosing to disrupt politics as usual with radical change - and not in a good way), there are 2 takes on whether McCain's funeral was a resistance event... FOR people to stand up for necessary change and AGAINST radical change, but rather to collaborate to make things better in a taking back the Republican party kind of way (from the Breitbart / Hannity / Alex Jones gangs). As the latter article says:

For those of us who’ve never been Republicans, it’s easy to say that perspective is wrong. For those who are, it must be a genuinely difficult choice. But it’s a choice that has been made — in 2018, America will either elect a Congress that continues to bolster Trump’s regime or it will elect one that tries to erode it. Those resisting Trump are pushing for one kind of Congress, and those not pushing for an anti-Trump Congress aren’t resisting Trump.

With the next event in the Trump resistance being THIS explosive book Fear (which Trump talked to writer Bob Woodward about HERE), I feel it's a call to take back our country. Whether that classifies as resistance or not, it may not be for the radical left, like we often view protest, but it is a declaration against the insane right.

The same can be said for the intentions of the 2017 Women's March and the March for Science, though this holds more power.

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In a world where Brett Kavanaugh's history is deliberately hidden, to fight against a rush job confirmation with so much on the line (pre-existing conditions), the Republican force to push him into a lifetime position, is the correct thing to do. We don't need more time. We've had enough. Eject him from the position before he gets to it and can allow Trump to Pardon himself. Prepare the 25th Amendment to remove an out of control man from a seat of power. This isn't the WWE. This is real life.

"RESIST MUCH; OBEY LITTLE."

WALT WHITMAN

Meghan McCain (typed speech here)

John McCain was defined by love. This love of my father for my mother was the most fierce and lasting of them all, Mom. Let me tell you what love meant to John McCain and to me.

His love was the love of a father who mentors as much as he comforts. He was endlessly present for us. And though we did not always understand it, he was always teaching. He didn't expect us to be like him. His ambition for us, unmoored from any worldly achievement, was to be better than him, armed with his wisdom and informed by his experiences, long before we were even old enough to have assembled our own.  

As a girl I didn't appreciate what I most fully appreciate now; how he suffered and how he bore it with a stoic silence that was once the mark of an American man.

I came to appreciate it first when he demanded it of me. I was a small girl, thrown from a horse and crying from a busted collarbone. My dad picked me up. He took me to the doctor, he got me all fixed up. Then he immediately took me back home and made me get back on that very same horse. I was furious at him as a child, but how I love him for it now.

My father knew pain and suffering with an intimacy and immediacy that most of us are blessed never to have endured. He was shot down, he was crippled, he was beaten, he was starved, he was tortured and he was humiliated. That pain never left him. The cruelty of his Communist captors ensured he would never raise his arms above his head for the rest of his life. Yet he survived. Yet he endured. Yet he triumphed. And there was this man who had been through all that with a little girl who simply didn't want to get back on her horse.He could have sat me down and told me that and made me feel small because my complaint and fear was nothing next to his pain and memory. Instead, he made me feel loved. "Meghan," he said in his quiet voice that spoke with authority and meant you had best obey. "Get back on the horse." I did. And because I was a little girl, I resented it. Now that I am a woman, I look back across that time and see the expression on his face when I climbed back up and rode again, and see the pride and love in his eyes as he said "Nothing is going to break you."

For the rest of my life, whenever I fall down, I get back up. Whenever I am hurt, I drive on. Whenever I am brought low, I rise. That is not because I am virtuous, strong, resilient, it is simply because my father, John McCain, was.

When my father got sick, when I asked him what he wanted me to do with this eulogy, he said, "Show them how tough you are." That is what love meant to John McCain.

Barack Obama (full speech HERE)

“It’s a politics that pretends to be brave, but in fact is born of fear. John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that.”

Joe Biden (speech quotes HERE)

"It wasn't about politics with John. He could disagree on substance, but the underlying values that animated everything John did, everything he was, come to a different conclusion. He'd part company with you if you lacked the basic values of decency, respect, knowing this project is bigger than yourself."

Lindsey Graham (best friend in the Senate)

George W. Bush

"We are better than this. America is better than this."

Larry Fitzgerald (football player)

After hearing all of these speeches, I wonder what Putitn's speech will be like at Trump's funeral. I can't imagine too many other people other than Vince McMahon coming (since Trump's NFL knee comments benefit him the most). 

I like to think of myself as a middle of the road, slightly to the right guy. Sometimes I lean right. Sometimes I lean left. I have no use for the garbage peddled by outlets like (what has become of) Slate and (what has always been) Breitbart, who take their extremes to never be happy with anything except for what caters to their every further to the side whim. That said, our resident Twitter News Network is still the worst of all the CRAP NEWS outlets when it comes to finding ways to deride anyone who doesn't tow it's party line. This is really bad with their thoughts on McCain's contributions to America. For instance, reactions like THIS made me ecstatic that McCain did THIS.

It's one thing to not like a person. It's another thing to tarnish the office you work in with intentional disrespect toward a fellow government servant after he / she dies. This is why I WILL NOT RESPECT a  de facto President who can't respect his position.

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We can't always get what we want, no matter what side we're on, as the Rolling Stones sang, but Obamacare went on, even if the individual mandate later vanished, as did the birth control mandate. However, before it did, McCain tried to force debate in a utilitarian way - not just whoever is in charge at the minute gets whatever he / she wants.

McCain was a Republican who knew that sometimes it costs money to get the right things. I can imagine this "maverick" wore his RINO (Republican in Name Only, as they called him) tag with pride, crossing the aisles to save the filibuster to debate Bush 2's judicial nominees and to create an immigration plan. Hell, he even stood against his friend Lindsey Graham's plan when Trump was in his by any means necessary, destroy ACA / Obamacare as fast as possible (as well as anything else Obama did).

This is a great expression of McCain's fight to force debate on a plan that mandates coverage for pre-existing conditions (something that my Parkie self can and does fight for). In the same way that he didn't like the party line vote for Obamacare, he sure didn't like being dragged back to symbolically be the person to destroy it. Why make the same mistake twice just to obey his theoretical party-line master?

Yes, McCain may have voted for things that came next (as some people attacked him for), but at least he created debate first... not caving into partisan politics and step in line with the blowhard in charge (or else - no matter who that is - from the right or left). Real leaders know that very few decisions need to be made immediately, and if they don't, the point it to ponder.

For all of his disagreement with Bush 2 and Obama, they will speak in his honor at his funeral this week.

Despite their differences, Obama still said THIS about his one-time opponent, even after McCain caved to his party's ideology to think he had a better chance to get elected (even taking Sarah Palin onboard to completely sink his ship instead of his choice of Joe Lieberman).

Despite their differences, W said THIS to eulogize his opponent.

Lots of people who weren't aboard the McCain train said nice things. As for the "president," Trump had to be made to fly the flag at half mast.

McCain, though running for election against Obama, once took down a racist making stupid comments to defend Obama. He also braved the party-line hatred to honor the man who would be president when it came time to concede. And yes, they traded barbs along the way with McCain's inability to know how much property he owned being used against him, but in the end, they mended fences.

Because that's what civil people do.

In a world where people who never served try to vilify McCain for his time in POW Hell, John survived those horrible days with permanent injuries. I'm not sure how long it would take ass clowns who attacked his character (like Milo) to scream "Do it to Julia," but the fact is McCain endured torture, came to oppose torture, and still had to deal with barbs like that while being accused by W's campaign of being too angry and reactionary to lead the nation (and Obama's campaign of being so old he might die in office - then again, the GOP did that, too - more on Kelli Ward later).

AUTHOR'S NOTE - even in the eulogies, much was made of McCain's "famous" temper.

That said, if you're a former POW, like James Stockdale (who never gave in), have at. That said, Stockdale respected McCain for his years in that nightmare. If you're so inclined to believe the smear merchants, keep on keeping on. That's what you're inclined to believe, and you have the right to believe what you want.

This is still a free country where you're allowed to think for yourself, even if it's to spread hate to encourage an all out holy war (though Wilders is Dutch, there's enough American whackos that would have came out to play on THIS - see this about Pamela Geller's American Freedom Defense Initiative's 2015 Texas soiree than ended with a security guard shot and two attackers killed).

Shouldn't there be underground Fight Clubs so these people who want their extremist crap can take each other out instead of hurting the rest of us?

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For the rest of us, just use your rights to believe what your eyes see... not what the party line and conspiracy nonsense tells you to believe.

As the anonymous op-ed in the New York Times said:

The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.

Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.

UNFORTUNATELY, the partisan right looks at this act to restore dignity to the administration (which it stands with and for) as TREASON and demands the writer quit.

It's like they want the ship to sink.

Mind you, losing the House and / or Senate in fall will ensure the demise of the Republican party as those who are a part of it know it to be. In a country that needs many voices and legitimate middle of the road debate, for either the GOP or the Democrats to go off the rails, we would sink further into the swamp.

This can't be.

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That said with opposition like those in charge, sometimes, I'd like to have my own restaurant to keep people out when they can't play nice with others. Let's face it; some people's money just isn't worth it. Then again, some companies make money to stand up for their ideological causes, whether we agree with them or not. For those who feel hate for it, cut off your Swoosh. The money is in the bank.

You don't have to pay to play anymore, but there are plenty more who will, and many of them are Nike's target audience as opposed to many opponents who weren't.

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That said, for the self righteous, just remember, it's OK to protest when it's for slights to Sarah Huckabee Sanders or Trump, not his enemies. I may not be a Kaepernick fan on or off the field, but he has his 1st Amendment right to make a political stance for his cause. People have the right to tune out and not buy, but this is America... not partisan fueled outrage. While I don't support all of what he's saying, I realize why he does. Oh yeah, this is a great ad campaign that must have inspired Senator Cory Booker.

BTW - this is a great editorial on the situation.Historically, see Muhammad Ali's conscientious objection and Curt Flood's "well paid slave statement."

When you look at most of McCain's haters, they were either harder right (a respectable place to be since they've at least rationalized their beliefs as I have my own and they stand by them when they make sense) or downright "crazy" (a place unworthy of respect because it defends thee old cause no matter what - let's call it Palinland, where one minute, you're ready for war with Russia and the next, they want to hang out with you).

Ben Folds / Nick Hornby - Levi Johnson's Blues

In a world with an administration that hates the McCain point of view and appoints candidates to head the EPA on the basis that they would never do this (SEE VIDEO BELOW), I'd love to own a Chinese restaurant so that if I had to serve people like Sanders (which this new Supreme Court said I don't have to do - provided it goes against my core values), I could bring out the new and improved pu pu platter to people like her and KELLI WARD who somehow think McCain's choice to go off meds and DIE was aimed at her campaign. Oh, to live in Arizona so I could at least vote against her.

In the end, John McCain was my favorite politician who lived in my lifetime. He made a difference for many people. What's more; he chose to die with dignity, calling off the fight against cancer treatment and choosing to shuffle off this mortal coil on his terms. Politics aside, we can look at a beautifully imperfect life and say, "He made a difference."

It sure beats letting a draft dodger tell us what isn't heroic as he gets bought and sold by the KGB and the US really and truly needs to be made great after we sanitize this administration's office.

Joe Biden / Cory Booker 2020.

Yawn...

Oh, for the days when we didn't have to debate whether the extremes of our amendments were really necessary, and we could just have all of them and play nicely with one another, but alas... the idea of great power requiring great responsibility is out the window with the schizophrenic vitriol of both sides.

As a Parkinson's advocate, I need to be accurate of my experiences. I need to share my credentials (guy with PD sharing the knowledge I learn). I need to make sure I'm not spreading B.S. to people and being honest of the products I endorse (I get paid for nothing - though I did get an umbrella and cooler bag from Toyota, but I would support them for free). I can be funny and show human feeling, but I shouldn't use it to be divisive to my target audience. I also need to call out evil speech, but not insult it.... see Rush and Michael J. here.

When I think of Michael J. Fox, I see a man of class and commitment. If anything, he shows how we can face the enemy while educating and advocating against a guy who pretty much is a comedian talking the news in a full-on attack mode. I'm sure that it's possible to find people like him on the left. Michael Moore comes to mind. Even in a political world, Comedy Central could only sustain one nightly hate the Right show (and that 1 is terrible without Jon Stewart).

Nevertheless, I find myself more and more tuned out to the news. Not some of it... Almost all of it, and I'm a major history loving guy.

On one end, I see an endless anti-Trump swamp of news that's getting so redundant, it's hard to sift through it to find substance to judge (mind you, I'm a Never Trump). On the other end, I see an endless parade of counter attacks that feel just as rabid. It's like they get off on hating one another. It's now so bad that I can't read the news (though some parts slip through).

What's wrong with that? Is this part of the mission? Divide and conquer? Bait and switch?

Sadly, we've got nobody in the middle to support in the next election so that the 50% in the middle can push out a potential extreme candidate from either side's swamps.

I'm not asking for a compromise on the unethical. I'm looking for someone willing to cross the aisle and talk about larger issues that can be made better for all of us.

I sit here and think of my college law professor Bill H. (a brilliant man and former superintendent) talking about how most Constitutional cases are based on people who are pretty messed up (I've paraphrased his words a bit, but in his grandfatherly way, he implied that).

Ernesto Miranda, perfect example. You have the right to be read your rights because police were overzealous in obtaining his confession for rape and kidnapping. As he already had a history of rape, assault, and burglary, he was no angel. Obviously, as an ethical society, we want to be right in how we get it right, so now, our Constitution has been clarified to the point where the suspect who was later investigated for knifing and killing Miranda at a later date was given his rights (though he was never charged).

As a writer for Parkinson's (and sometimes the environment and education) I sit here and think about the power of writing. Opinions are a good thing, but anyone can have whatever one he or she wants, and in a world that mirrors Mike Judge's Idiocracy too closely, that's a dangerous thing. Sandy Hook conspiracy... perfect example.

I think about fact checking, and that doesn't matter anymore in a world that is just looking for what they want to see as it is flashed in headlines for clickbait.

Here, I think of Time Magazine. They have an emotional and powerful issue with immigrant families. People are upset that kids are being detained without their parents. Go figure.

Now, we get into the argument of illegal and undocumented,  but that's not the point here. I'm not here to argue that since this is about contemplating civility and reality in news.

The point is selling a cause to get people to buy it for its truth, not its lip gloss.

If you can tell me that you as a parent wouldn't try to give your kid, who is living in a really rough environment like a lot of places South of the Border, a better life, then you're lying. Why wouldn't you want kiddo to be given the opportunities of wealth, healthcare, education, safety, possibility, and dare I suggest an opportunity to take a Caribbean vacation and not just watch it from outside the compound? Consider that for many people in these conditions, they have nothing to lose. Think about how they get here - they pay off unsavory types for a dangerous trip that they may not survive to come to a country with no work skills other than minimum wage jobs they must do in secret since they're not "legal." Then, they support family back home while living in hiding here.

Who does that? If you were the father or mother, would you make the trip if you could afford it? I'm sorry if you don't like the "put yourself in another person's shoes" hypothetical game. This is real. If you think your kids of all ages wouldn't obediently follow you on your journey to wherever, ask yourself why young kids wouldn't follow their parents on this journey to survival as well.

Mind you, this isn't about whether we should or shouldn't allow this. It's that this is real, and it's happening now. What are we going to do about it?

This doesn't mean we let everyone in, but can we make it more possible and less dangerous? Besides, Americans love the benefits of cheap labor. That's why we've been allowing this for years. These people often do the jobs we Americans are "above" doing. Our system lets this happen. Why not work together to help one another and provide better options? There has to be a good solution to make something happen other than stopping it because "they'll all vote Democrat since that's who wants them in here."

Besides, lots of people are immigrating legally and illegally from all over the place to all over the place. Remind me to tell you about the time I got detained going back to Britain after my time in the Air Force, as I (and my girlfriend at the time) were grilled on "my intentions" (and that was pre 9.11).

But anyway... major crisis... both sides shaking their heads... find a solution... wrap this up nicely.

What does Time do? No, it's not the endless op-ed pieces painted like articles that appear any time anyone has an accusation about anything a border guard might have done, and sadly, they are everywhere (Why? Because people are listening to what it's assumed they might want to hear.). Instead, they took a picture that has nothing to do with the story and made it a cover story photo.

Thus, for those people whose issue is based around amnesty / human rights, you just lost credibility to a side that thinks this is somehow OK for a first lady to wear. Mind you, this is also the mindset that gave us a candidate who couldn't lose until she did.

Is it true that some people only care because Trump is doing the opposite of it? Yes. Social justice keyboard warriors and their right leaning equivalents (who did it to Obama) are empowered by hating their opponents just because. Many of them will forget this cause just like they did the Ice Bucket Challenge and Elian Gonzalez.

That said, other people really do care, and for this, they shouldn't lose headway for the sake of cheap headlines based on a foundation of poop (THIS APPLIES TO ANY CAUSE).

For me, I see my politics in the middle. I liked John McCain before he had to people please his Republican backers in 2008. Many of them elected him. Others hated him because he couldn't withstand torture by his Vietnamese captors (or so it was alleged). They were never going to like him, yet he had to dance for them.

WHY? 

In these later years in office, I like that he votes his conscience and stands strong. He's not perfect, but I respect him completely. I dread the day I wake up to his obituary.

Now, if you're sitting in Ma's and Pa's house Tweeting or you're just a person like me who has never been waterboarded or received any other vicious body damaging torture, you don't get an opinion on those who did.

And that's a lot of the point with the case of the Red Hen. If you don't live in the area or intend to drive there, how the heck can you write a review of the place? Does patriotism implore you to do such from your cross country home? Are you traveling there to do this as a special thing?

What are you getting in return for your money if you are? I'm not sure where you get the money, but when it comes to my money, I'm using it for a fun vacation.

Also keep in mind, I can't imagine one restaurant or service I couldn't replace if they said, "No people who tremor in this barber shop!" But that's just me. I'm trying to spend less time hating on stuff. I'd rather support a good place who cares, but then again, I'd rather purr.

Additionally, would Sarah travel to your sleepy burg or ville when it comes to standing up for you? Does she write Yelp reviews about the bad people out there? Injustices come every day. My cheese steak wasn't perfect. It's time to get her to speak up on my replacement one.

Granted, the Red Hen never should have asked Sarah "The Voice of the G.O.P." Huckabee Sanders to leave. That's not good for business, nor is it professional, and it's not like she was going to trash the table. She probably would have left a big tip, which could have benefited a gay right's organization.

While it would have been funny if the staff  played "Lying Eyes" until she did (I kid, I kid...), imagine if they took the amount of her tip and showcased it being sent to support a non-Trump candidate / organization.

But alas, creativity is dead. 

Apparently, we can't find The Eagles on Youtube, so I leave you with Pig Destroyer, who would chase everyone out of the facility.

Now, I get why the Red Hen did what they did (I wouldn't have - I would have posed for a picture next to her and made goofy eyes so I could showcase it on Facebook). Employees who felt particularly attacked by policies of the administration (homosexual rights) felt it went against their values to serve her. Fair enough. I get that, too. It's easy to counter hate with hate. Like Bartleby, they preferred not to put up with her. The manager chose to support them. Fair enough. If you don't want to come to the restaurant because of this policy, that's your choice and your right.

Just make sure it's the right restaurant you're attacking, and if you're told it's the wrong restaurant, apologize, move on, delete your comment, and take a "Net Etiquette" course.

Also, in this case, the boss chose to see her business as a "person with values and ideals." That's her right, and a very modern business kind of thing to do. I get it. We have to stand for something and so should her business. Because of this, I'm giving 10% of my income to the Human Fund.

However, when it comes to business entities, I was of the opinion that it wasn't left acceptable to see a business as a person.

Alas, I digress.

The point is that people have the right to protest injustice. Cool. Do your thing to support your thing as long as it doesn't involve "chicken poop" (this is real, and it's not protected speech) or hurting others.

Just make sure it's the the right restaurant if you're going to tell them you're not coming to their restaurant anymore. Don't be surprised if they look at you and think, "OK, I'll have a completely new audience to support me as soon as you go." It worked for the Dixie Chicks for at least a little while.

Anyway... yeah... learn to use the right search engine the right way. Apparently, a lot of people still don't know how to Google search. See THIS and THIS.

Nevertheless, the anti-Red Henners know how to celebrate Jack Phillips' right to refuse service to a gay couple based on his beliefs, which weren't just about cherry-picking Leviticus to justify one option not to serve one type of person. Apparently, his religious views beat the litmus test because he won in the final battle 7-2. That's pretty surprising when it comes to a lot of Leviticus claims in 2018.

In the end, the point here isn't to argue which side is right or spending all day being annoyed with hypocrisy. The solution you choose is your choice based on your values (and mine is based on mine). This is still America, and we are given the right to believe the world is flat (in a B.O.B., not Tom Friedman kind of way), even if it's not.

The first point here is that you get it right. Do your research. Challenge the other side respectfully. Don't lose your class by being a pain in the butt. Don't slander or libel. Don't yell. Don't lie. Your job is to be Jackie Robinson. When we see ANTIFA and Anonymous, they are warriors, vigilantes, and thugs. Who respects that? When we see the dogs and hoses turned on the protesters in the 1960s, we see martyrdom. Who wants to allow for that?

Think about it; which side stands for something real instead of replacing intolerance with hate and violence?

The other point is that the new so uncool thing that transferred from Left to Right is going after people's right to work. If you don't want to support Phillips or the Red Hen, fine. If you think one stupid act by a teenager / adult is enough to put them out of work for life, then you don't get it.

FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US.

The message is simple. Give people a chance to be better people.

But no... what matters instead? The only thing that matters is B.S. partisan politics and destroying a person just because. We make someone else suffer to justify our uptight self-important B.S. Too cool, dude. From the days of taking the attack to those who take the attack to them (Joe the Plumber), we've moved quite nicely in social media land. Anyone can hate / slander anyone in any way that he or she can imagine.

It's like the tweet response is either the unlimited posts of E.D. medications I have to delete from this site or some troll is hating someone else for something somewhere online.

That's bad enough, but now people are changing the question to a complete lack of sense..

"I know you're the wrong person, but you didn't answer the question, so you're in cahoots. Tell me now! If you don't agree with me, you are just as evil!"

Sadly, to ignore it is to allow it to fester, which is why we get conspiracies on Sandy Hook, Obama's birth certificate, and everything Alex Jones advocates.

Which leaves us in conclusion.

For Pete's sake, learn to discuss things civilly. Stand for something. Be ethical. Be respectful, and turn off the microphones on those who can't.

Better yet, just tune out all of the news and live life in a way that makes your immediate world better. Replace the babysitters with independent adults looking to work together.