John McCain: I wasn’t a huge fan, but I appreciate his anti-torture stand. And I highly respect his decision to remain a POW in North Vietnam with his fellow prisoners, even though an offer of early release was made. That took true courage and integrity. And yet, that guy in the White House initially refused to fly the flags at half-staff, even at the urging of Pence and Kelly. So, if you still had any doubts, it must now be crystal clear that DJT is not a conservative, a Republican, or a patriot by any accounting. His ideology, his party and his loyalty are about one thing only. That’s why we call it classic narcissism.

         Free Markets – the Truth: As Robert Reich (graduate of Dartmouth, Oxford and Yale and former Secretary of Labor) explains there is no such thing as a true “free market” – an inevitable all-knowing entity that exists perfectly in nature (some kind of Mother Market). All markets are regulated by laws regarding tax structure, bankruptcy, contracts, employment, trade, workplace safety, etc. This is not an intrusion; it’s a way to organize and maintain that market. Therefore, when the market creates gross inequality it’s not because “the market knows best.” And we can and should do something about it.  

·         Socialism – the Truth: Socialism is NOT ownership of production by the state. That, according to Economics Professor Emeritus Richard Wolff (graduate of Harvard, Stanford and Yale), is what you would call state capitalism. Rather, socialism is ownership (or partial ownership) of production by workers. Co-ops, share ownership and board participation are all working well all over Europe. Why is that so scary?

·         Medicare-for-All: A recent poll shows that 70% of all citizens and 52% of Republicans are now in favor. Go ahead and tell me how you’ve heard horror stories about healthcare in Canada. Here’s my response. 1) This week my co-worker cost his insurance company $30,000 (instead of $5,000) for an ER visit, just so he could get a CT-scan the doctor ordered, because the insurance company wouldn’t approve an outpatient test! 2) People are fond of saying that our “free” market system promotes innovation, something at which we supposedly excel. Why then are we incapable of coming up with a system that smooths out the wrinkles? Why does American ingenuity stop at the border of single-payer healthcare?

·         Russian Troll Farms and Facebook: I’m no expert, but I thought the whole point of the Facebook algorithm was to bombard users with things they already like. So, how could a few Russian troll farms change anybody’s mind about anything?

·         Those DNC Emails: According to Bill Binney, NSA whistleblower extraordinaire, there is no reliable evidence that the Russians hacked the DNC servers. For starters, I’ll simply say that the DNC refused to allow any outside agency to inspect them. Rest assured, those emails were "leaked, not hacked."