Trump is calling the Green Party's Jill Stein's request for a recall a "scam."  No.  This is an exercise in Democracy.  

Betsy DeVos nominated for Department of Education

She's Erik Princes's brother.  As in Blackwater.  DeVos favors the school voucher system and Charter Schools.  Not a fan of public schools.  A billionaire and donated millions to the Trump campaign.

There are reports that Ben Carson is under consideration for Housing and Urban Development.  No experience in development and an utter fool.

Out of touch or part of the plan?

Anti-Fascism Southern Illinois Style

A new anti-fascist coalition has formed in Carbondale.  Find out more information here.

Trump's pick for National Security Advisor has called Islam a "cancer" and said fear of it is "justified."   He has called Islam a political ideology that "hides behind a religion."

Trumps potential pick for Defense Secretary, James "Mad Dog" Mattis, has publicly stated it's "fun to shoot people" and was strongly against the Iran nuclear deal.  

And then there's John Bolton.  This potential choice for Secretary of State has called for regime change in Iran.

Looks like a war in Iran is in the works.  Be very afraid.  

This is why we should be opposing Steve Bannon as Trump's Chief Advisor.  Straight from the mouth of Andrew Breitbart.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41jcsTh60MM.  We will fight you.

Voice of the Resistance

This space kills fascists.  More to come

Goodbye Anonymity

Back in the "old days" there was some fun in having online anonymity  Mine is Murdale.  Hello.  Good to meet you.  Recently it has become hard to hide behind an online identity. Especially in the last year of so.  This, in my opinion, is a double-edged sword.  On one side I can respect certain online communities in wanting to weed out the trolls and assume control over commentary.  Certain comments and behavior have no place in an adult conversation.

Huffington Post recently followed the protocol of other new organizations.  Leave a comment and you're identified by your Facebook Page.  Last year, the Southern Illinoisan did the same thing.  Okay,  Fine.  I feel however, it's chasing away people who may actually have something to say, but are wary of having their real identity exposed.  Again, I can relate.  

On the other hand, I worry about some of the trolls.  Some of the rhetoric I read makes me wonder if I really want to see my comments linked to my Facebook page.  The reason I say that is I was recently subjected to  bit of potential flaming by one lesser informed lower life form.  It stemmed from a comment I made on Facebook where I questioned the recent botched Oklahoma execution.   Without going into too much detail, I opined the botched execution along with the death penalty to me seemed barbaric.

In an adult conversation, this would have been a lively exercise in discussion.  However, that was not to be.  I received some diatribe about what the convicted had done to deserve the death penalty.  This however soon degraded to the point where I was accused of spitting on the graves of our service members, etc. I was even called a "liberal."  The clincher was when my Facebook name was copied in a post for all to see.  That crossed a line.

It was an invasion of my privacy.  We all have opinions.  Some get rather shrill.  But when you do something like that, it opens all sorts of doors.  It also lets people know who you are.  If you post on comments on the Southern Illinoisan you will show the world who you are, access to your friends and, at times, your various affiliations or ideologies that could be used to bully you.

That is the new bully pulpit.  In this age of NSA surveillance, Facebook and Google, a lot of people, some of them a bit warped, can now see you and yours.  Be careful.