It's all about money and control with the GOP - always.

Personal enrichment, corporate profits, and a show of power drives them.

Summary:
Laissez-faire trickle-down greed with a healthy dose of arrogant Prosperity Gospel elitism.

This will likely become a mental health crisis, too.

People surviving disasters also may go through PTSD or suffer other mental disorders triggered by such events.

We don't have adequate mental health treatment available on the mainland and PR will be neglected in this regard.

Massive hangover from Bush's wars, too.

Direct massive death and destruction: Iraq and Afghanistan.

Indirect massive death and destruction: Pakistan, Syria, Egypt and Libya.
(with assumption Arab Spring would likely not have occurred w/o Iraq war)

Does not include terrorist death and destruction around the globe due to spin-off outfits such as ISIS.

These things are a part of what's hardened America's heart and normalized violence.

The only problem here is....

we have to protect our impressionable children from exposure to the gore. In this day and age, you can't "send the kids to the other room", with social media and 24/7 access everywhere.

Not sure it's wise or productive for people with certain mental illnesses to see this stuff either.

Just like the reality that we can't stuff "truth" and "reason" and "reality" or "common sense" down a right-wingers throat, I don't see a way to force people to see these things in a safe way.

A weird thought just hit me: Repugs in some states want to force a woman to witness ultrasounds and listen to heartbeats of an unborn child prior to abortion.

What if gun buyers had to view scenes of mass killings before buying a gun?

Nothing more powerful than eye-to-eye and hugs.

Phone calls have a lot of power - hearing each other's voice - but not nearly as good as a good old-fashioned one-on-one physical visit with hugs and tears. May not be practical for you to swing for a while, but something to keep in mind.

Please wish her the very best from a bunch of good-hearted folks at DU!

tRump will want the TP+++++++++ version. n/t

One thing is for certain.

When a new administration comes in a wrecks the existing system that has thousands of highly qualified and experienced personnel, you're probably going to fail miserably - at least in the first year or two. And, if you don't replace them with equally qualified and experienced personnel, you will continue to fuck up.

As any experienced first-responder or military commander will tell you, a rapid efficient response to any emergency or crisis requires not only a lot of materials and equipment, but training, training and training and practice, practice and practice, AS A TEAM.

Team work starts at the top. Need I say more?

Yes! And our youth have the boundless energy.

Would seem that involvement in a Young Democrats group would be good, and hopefully one with good leadership. Most states have them now but unfortunately, not so much in rural America.

Just as important, it's imperative for us old timers to take more interest in our youth and encourage them and help them sort out the good stuff from the chaff. Goodness knows, there's a constant onslaught of chaff on social media. No better way to help our youth than encouraging them to reduce their time on Facebook and Twitter, and replace it with "ladies and gentlemen" face-to-face dialog.

It also helps our side by getting youth involved with conservation projects, local politics, protest efforts, attending political meet-and-greets and just being good, compassionate neighbors. To me, that's ground-up liberal politics.

Best of luck with the young folks you work with and have a good week!

Johnson parrots the standard right-wing mindfuck.

My experience with republicans is that they come from a subset of humanity that is psychopathic to varying degrees and low on emotions. They do, coincidentally, make good executors of capitalism under our current dog-eat-dog economic system.

What seems to be missing or in low supply in their personalities is the best of our emotional being: love, compassion, empathy, sympathy, belief in equality, gratitude, guilt, and remorse, just to name a few.

To make a statement that when a human is brought into life, that society holds no responsibility for that person is simply the face of that type personality., and we unfortunately have a mass gathering of those folks in the United States Congress.

They must be relegated to the minority where they belong.

Thank you, Raven Mad...

for all you've done to help build and maintain DU. I'm a newcomer here, but at 70YO have been a faithful Democrat all my life and couldn't dream of any other way. My earliest memories of the Party was Al Gore, Sr. from the area where I was raised. One of my bitterest memories was candyman Bill Brock defeating him.

Coming here late after suffering from the Nixon, Reagan and Bush X2 years, I find myself needed to vent a lot but try hard to keep it civil. Apparently, you folks have learned to be tolerant of us newbies, as no one has slammed me (yet) for being long-winded. I have a lot of steam to vent, LOL.

Being here is a blessing and helps relieve the massive frustration we're suffering from both as a nation and a Party. It also gives me courage there is a good future, but massive hurdles to overcome - particularly with campaign finance and gerrymandering issues.

You're right, DU is extended family. Keep up the good work!