Civil Discourse Now

Where the far left and far right overlap for fun and enlightenment

Mark Small's Blog (1,743)

Another grade school mass shooting is obscene

Guns: How many kids are dead? Guns: Are we really more safe like NRA always said? Guns: Is your home any more secure? Guns: Are you sure your kid will come home from school alive? Guns: are 40K dead each year enough? Guns: they were banned in the Old West. 1/2

Mass shootings - plural - at grade schools are the USA. We need gun control. I’m Mark Small: pro-choice, pro environment, pro-civil rts & anti-gun GOP nominee (I won the primary) for Indiana House District 86. I approve of…

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Added by Mark Small on May 24, 2022 at 4:32pm — No Comments

My letter to GOP State GOP Hupfer re: how to address former presidents

May 23, 2022

To:

Kyle Hupfer

Indiana Republican Party

State Chair

Dear Mr. Hupfer:

This afternoon I received an email from you in regard to the “Spring Dinner Keynote Speaker” having hosted a guest at the 2022 Kentucky Derby. I would point out that by protocol the proper way to refer to a former president is reflected in The Louisville Courier Journal article to which your email was linked. There only is one President of the United States, and since January 20,…

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Added by Mark Small on May 23, 2022 at 5:39pm — No Comments

Civil war is not an answer to anything

Former POTUS posted statements that favor a civil war. No GOP voices raised yet to drown out his idiocy. Points about the Civil War, 1861-65. 1) States that tried to secede lost; 2) About 620K ppl died; 3) Keeping slavery was a reason given (by a minority), but also the main cause. 1/4

The GOP has crafted a machine to enforce the views of a minority (e.g., gun control & majority of us say leave Roe v Wade alone) through a stranglehold GOP has on gov’t. The GOP wants more: a…

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Added by Mark Small on May 23, 2022 at 11:55am — 1 Comment

Not content w/censorship in schools, they now sue book stores!

Freedoms of speech & press are essential to a country that claims to be the “Land of the Free.” In the minds of (some?) evangelicals, free speech takes a back seat to what? “God” might be in the drivers seat of their jalopy. In Virginia Beach it wasn’t enough that schools banned a book. 1/6



“Gender Queer” offends these people so much they sued Barnes & Noble to restrict its sales. The LGBT Life Center in Norfolk (careful how you pronounce that 2nd syllable!) Stated: “Growing… Continue

Added by Mark Small on May 22, 2022 at 6:12pm — No Comments

Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano" foresaw so much

Indiana’s economy has kept the same pace as its approach to social issues. We lag in the 1930s. In “Player Piano,” Kurt Vonnegut painted a stark future: Factory jobs are rare, machines have replaced people as technology has advanced. Today Indiana approaches that future. 1/4

Yet a lot of people cling to the past. In this context enabling billionaires to concentrate wealth in fewer hands is obscene. Their PR machine indoctrinates as early as it can (kindergarten) and has mass media at…

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Added by Mark Small on May 21, 2022 at 3:02pm — No Comments

2 facts establish why guns do not deter crime

2 facts: 1) Nearly all burglars avoid homes when people are there & 2) Guns deter burglars only when person is at home to use the gun. One: ppl buy timers 4 lights & when they’re away no one tell if it’s vacant. You don’t post vacays on FB ‘til you’re back. For the same reason 1/4

ppl who live in apts in complexes w/high % of public housing crank v-o-l on TVs if they’re not home. Two: can’t use a gun to protect your home if you’re not home. It’s a bluff can’t work as burglars…

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Added by Mark Small on May 20, 2022 at 7:48pm — 1 Comment

One more time: legalize marijuana and, well, all other drugs

In the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, Dr Oz (apparently) opposes legalization of pot: “We need to get Pennsylvanians back at work. You got to give them their mojo. I don’t want marijuana to be a hindrance to that.” If Indiana legalizes pot, we help our economy in several ways. 1/5

First: we ditch catastrophic damage caused when ppl are busted/convicted for sale or possession of a plant. These busts prevent people from getting into college, getting jobs, etc. Second: we stick a nice fork…

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Added by Mark Small on May 20, 2022 at 2:07pm — No Comments

Sec'y of State: Indiana's chief elections officer

Indiana Secretary of State (“SoS”), established by Indiana’s Constitution, Art. 6, § 1, will be on the ballot in November. An office few notice, the % of votes a party’s candidate receives for SoS determines if the party must hold a primary. I.C. 3-10-1-2. That’s free publicity. 1/5

% of votes also can make a party one of the 2 “major” political parties in Indiana. SoS is State’s chief elections officer. I.C. 3-6-3.7-1. The SoS can be pivotal. Pennsylvania’s GOP nominee for Gov, Doug…

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Added by Mark Small on May 19, 2022 at 4:20pm — 1 Comment

Response to IBJ op-ed by my opponent, Rep Ed Delaney

In an op-ed for the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ), Rep Ed Delaney, my Democratic Party opponent in the November general election made several points, the basic notion being Indiana needs to use its budget surplus  for items that will attract businesses. Rep Delaney didnt mean we need to give more tax breaks 1/4

to businesses. He used a recent speech by the CEO of Eli Lilly, and that company’s decision to expand, but to do so outside of the Hoosier State, to make the point that…

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Added by Mark Small on May 18, 2022 at 6:46am — 1 Comment

Guns did not make this country "great"

Former high sch classmate posted on FB: “That’s how this great nation came to be. With the use of GUNS.” No. USA is not/inherently could not be great as long as slavery was legal (1789-1865), voting & equal rights were denied or we killed to expand fr sea to shining sea. 1/4

Guns were used to stop slave revolts. Unless one says guns were pivotal in winning The Civil War (& most right wing ppl embrace the Confederacy), guns have not played a role in securing freedom. otoh…

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Added by Mark Small on May 17, 2022 at 6:48am — 1 Comment

Idiocy & racism in Buffalo & on airwaves in Indy

Idiocy & racism struck in Buffalo last weekend but racism & idiocy know no geographic bounds. White gunman traveled couple of hours to kill people in the only grocery in an African-American neighborhood. He proclaimed replacement theory. Racism: cops talked him out of suicide. 1/4

Racism: how many seconds would an African-American male of the same age have lived as he stepped out of that store having just killed 10 people? Hold that thought. Idiocy here in Indy was on the…

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Added by Mark Small on May 16, 2022 at 7:56pm — No Comments

Our gov't is not a theocracy

In the early 1990s an NFL player negotiated a contract to require that he be 1 of the 3 highest pd linebackers in NFL. What would have happened if 3 other linebackers had the same provision? Our country faces threats on several fronts w/religion a common factor in each. 1/4

A theocracy is “Government of a state by those who are believed to be or represent that they are acting under the immediate direction of God or some other divinity.” Black’s Law Dictionary, 10th ed., 2014, p. 1706.…

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Added by Mark Small on May 15, 2022 at 7:59am — No Comments

Abortion opponents kill doctors; ppl in favor of women's rights march & picket

In academic debate, argument based on false premises loses. USA can’t legitimately claim to be the land of the free when 1787 to 1865 it not only allowed but protected slavery. Slaves made up nearly ½ the population of States that seceded in 1861& many were forbidden by law from 1/6

learning how to read & write. At Civil War’s end those 4 million ppl were not absorbed into the economy & recognized as having rights equal to the 5 million other ppl in the South. The South…

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Added by Mark Small on May 14, 2022 at 8:38pm — No Comments

Taking on the few who hold the fort on the hill: the GOP

The not-for-profit (NFP) corp that is IN’s GOP is like a fort on a hill that can shoot any who seek to pass it. In 2005, IN’s GOP was incorporated by Citizens United atty James Bopp, Jr. & are written to ensure that those who grabbed it nearly 20 yrs ago don’t lose it via elections. 1/6

Also, neither the IN GOP rules nor articles of incorporation tie the IN GOP to an ideology. Thus a RINO is mythical. Among ways to remove the fort are frontal attack (i.e., running against GOP…

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Added by Mark Small on May 7, 2022 at 7:30am — No Comments

This GOP nominee won't pander to MAGA: I'm pro-choice

As GOP nominee for Indiana House Distr 86 it would be easy to pander to the far-right-wing of this iteration of the GOP & cheer a leaked SCOTUS opinion that indicates Roe v Wade, written by Justice Blackmun, a Nixon appointee, soon will be overturned. I won’t pander. 1/4

I’m pro-choice. If elected to Indiana’s Gen’l Assembly I shall vote against any measures that seek to infringe women’s reproductive choices. Roe hinges on a right to privacy. Alexander Hamilton, one of The…

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Added by Mark Small on May 5, 2022 at 5:17am — No Comments

I won the primary. Now: let's change Indiana's corporate laws

Results of yesterday’s primary, IN House Distr 86: I’m GOP nominee for Nov 8’s gen’l election. Last Saturday, Washington Twp GOP held a Lincoln Day brunch, attended by a cpl of hundred. A person said to me he was “involved” because of where the country is headed. 1/6

Me: That’s why I’m running. Him: I voted Pres trump in ‘16 & ‘20. Me: trump’s a sociopathic thief. [pause] Him: Well, I agree w/his policies. Me: “He doesn’t have any policies.” We can’t let a minority of the far…

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Added by Mark Small on May 4, 2022 at 6:32am — No Comments

If pro sports franchise receives public subsidies, taxpayers shouldn't have to pay to watch its televised games

High % of ppl from all sides agree: pro sports receive too much $ in subsidies. Indy has Colts, Pacers, Indy 11 & The Indy 500. We shouldn’t subsidize billionaires’ hobbies, but that train has sailed (or the ship departed the station). However, taxpayers of any jurisdiction that...1/4

pays public $$$ to subsidize a sport shouldn’t have to pay a 2nd time to watch that specific sport on TV. Example: Colts either be on a regular network or The Colts pay for people to have free…

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Added by Mark Small on April 29, 2022 at 6:00am — No Comments

First time caller, apparently last in (history) class

Caller asked about my views as a candidate as she’d not seen mat’ls from my campaign. I sd I’m GOP, pro-choice, anti-gun, pro environment & don’t believe $ should be dynamic of campaigns. She then said she works in education & is sick of CRT (Critical Race Theory). I asked 1/5

her what pub school mat’ls she’s seen that teach CRT since CRT’s a grad school theory. She said CRT was “implicit,” that children are divided in classrooms, white kids taught to feel guilt over their…

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Added by Mark Small on April 27, 2022 at 7:05pm — No Comments

Legalize all drugs - period.

When we have to guess whether what we do is illegal (e.g., can I light up a cigarette within so many feet of a school?), ours is not a free society. How adults choose to relax, whether with a shot of single malt or a joint, should not be subject to criminal penalties. The default...1/3

position should be that unless something is intrinsically wrong, e.g., outright murder of a human being, that thing should be legal. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson smoked pot: drugs were legal.…

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Added by Mark Small on April 26, 2022 at 8:11pm — 1 Comment

Big military hardware has become obsolete

Aircraft carriers are big & cost lots of money. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should teach several lessons (e.g., the whole good vs evil thing). We should realize that large pieces of military gear are vulnerable & obsolete. Small missiles take out tanks. Several yrs ago China developed...1/3

a thousand-missile anti-capital ship system. U.S. Navy carriers will be among the first targets in any major (i.e., w/Russia or China) conflict we might have. We’ve done a lot to starve…

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Added by Mark Small on April 26, 2022 at 2:51pm — No Comments

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