monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

@blatham,

Ignorance is preferable to error, and He is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than He who believes what is wrong. -Thomas Jefferson (Notes on Virginia, 1782)
- .....or, lies about what is the truth! -bw, 2019

1 Reply

@BillW,

What is so sad to me is how low so many formerly respected people have sunk. Honor??..out the window, Dignity??? Screw that......Fairness and decency?? Hardy har har, that's for suckers. Can you lie? Sure, especially if it's the fake news, the opposition party, and it's star quality if you lie to destroy the reputation of someone else. And it really won't be a problem because the duplicitous power hungry assholes you swim with will have your back....well at least up until you anger the temper tantrum toddler in the White House. It reminds me of a Randy Newman song "Rednecks"...Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV show, with some smart ass New York Jew, The Jew laughed at Lester Maddox, the audience laughed at Lester Maddox too......Well he may be a fool, but he's our fool, and if you think your better than him you're wrong..So I went to the park and took this paper along, and that's where I wrote this song: We're rednecks, we're rednecks, we don't know our ass from a hole in the ground.....and the song goes on from there.

Here's the thing that's happening, there are too many people angry because they think others are looking down on them, even when they are not. They want to wipe the smirks off all those smarty pants know-it-alls....and they will pretend it's about 'religion' or 'patriotism' or flag and how much more American they are than thou. It's really just about ego, the frail super sensitive types who must be constantly flattered or they become offended. It's called rank Hypocrisy and they worship at that dung heap in the White House.

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Trump constantly attacks New York and California as American shitholes. The message from him is the same as it has always been from (mostly) the right in America - "Hey you great people in the center of the country, you are right to hate the coastal parts of the US. Hate them ever more!"

It is the use of fears and hatred to manipulate Americans and to have them vote as the right desires.

And what are the chances that Trump would ever choose to live or even hang out in Kansas or Wisconsin?

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@blatham,

Quote:

Trump constantly attacks New York and California as American shitholes

Care to share some evidence to support that claim?

Quote:

"Hey you great people in the center of the country, you are right to hate the coastal parts of the US. Hate them ever more!"

Whom are you pretending to quote here? And Cali and New York are only small sections of "coastal parts of the US".

1 Reply

@blatham,

The worst thing that tRump has done to America is blown the Economy 10 times worst than Bush and his banker/real estate/hedge fund trading with derivatives fiasco.

It takes 4 to 6 (even 8) years for the economy to show the effects of a President. Yes, we are still living in the after effects of Obama term. However, some of the actions tRump has taken may start showing soon, which would be a little early.

His tax cramp was large and one sided - not suited for a thriving economy which needs the fast turnover of money, but a slowing down by putting vast sums in the hands of millionaires and billionaires. They haven't put money into industry and workers pockets as promised, either.

His tariffs are also terribly anti-economy also. The are a tax increase on the middle and poor class without adding anything to paychecks. The are just an increase in cost of goods.

This will cost figures will probably start getting fully reflected about this time next year. Of course, it would be reflected on the new Dem President then. But, if asshole does win (pity America) he would just push it down onto the middle class as another new cost to society - like any authoritarian leader would do.

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@blatham,

The States along the East Coast are the homes of original signers of the Declaration of Independence...New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia (Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia ((and a few late comers including the opportunistic Texas)) tried to overthrow the United States in 1860, they lost and still haven't gotten over it. Trump is exploiting the small minded fear of "outsiders". I just don't understand the appeal, they can't possibly want him to come to their homes for dinner, marry their sister, handle their money.......the only thing I can think of is that the simmering resentment and desire to prove they are superior to those pointy headed intellectuals, the liberals, Hollywood, East Coast anything, Catholics, Jews, oh holy crap the Muslim community, people who want the minimum wage raised, people who belong to a union, all those feeding the hungry clothe the naked do-gooders and treehuggers, the pansy's who wants clean water, all the liberal sissies who must be proven wrong......So that the Righteous can take their rightful place next to Trump or God or whatever.

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@glitterbag,

Righteous = White, Men, Protestant/Catholic (to a smaller degree)/Evangelical (top of the list)

1 Reply

@Builder,

Are you living in Siberia, or just in a state of denial?

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Dr. Abbas Kadhim
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Verified account

@DrAbbasKadhim
13h13 hours ago
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Iraqi political blocs from all sides are condemning the US bombing & some of them are calling on the Govt. to ask for their withdrawal.
I haven’t seen the reaction from protesters at Tahrir Square, but I expect the US withdrawal will be added to their demands of the next PM

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Five Democrats Have Qualified For The January Debate — Who Else Might Make It?

Quote:

When it comes to presidential primary debates, there’s no holiday break. The sixth Democratic debate took place just last night, but today the Democratic National Committee released the qualification rules for the seventh debate, which will take place on Jan. 14 in Iowa.

To qualify, candidates need to reach 5 percent support in at least four national or early-state polls, or 7 percent support in at least two early-state polls, from qualifying polling organizations released between Nov. 14 and Jan. 10.1 But candidates must also have at least 225,000 unique donors, including at least 1,000 donors in at least 20 states or territories.2 Based on what we know, five candidates have already made the January stage.

The four candidates leading the polls nationally and in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — all easily made the seventh debate. But Sen. Amy Klobuchar, too, has already qualified — she’s hit at least 5 percent in just enough polls and her campaign says she has the donors.

For more who might qualify click on the 538 link above.

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@BillW,

Talking of political religious folks, Barr is crazy.

Bill Barr Thinks America Is Going to Hell
And he’s on a mission to use the “authority” of the executive branch to stop it.

1 Reply

How Big Companies Won New Tax Breaks From the Trump Administration

As the Treasury Department prepared to enact the 2017 Republican tax overhaul, corporate lobbyists swarmed — and won big.nyt

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@revelette3,

Quote:

Talking of political religious folks, Barr is crazy.

Yes, he is. But he's working from an ideological and theological view that was shared by Scalia and many others. There is an extremist branch of Catholicism these folks represent which has been profoundly influential though that influence is not generally recognized as it is quieter and more strategic than the right wing Evangelical community. I've been meaning to write something up on this but haven't gotten to it yet. These folks are genuine theocrats.

1 Reply

@blatham,

I find it surprising and very dismaying, but most of all scary.

As most everyone here knows, I am religious and I am not ashamed to show or talk about it. However, I absolutely believe in separation of Church and state for both political and religious reasons. I thought it was a done deal in America but I thought wrong.

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@revelette3,

I don't know how I feel about separation of church and state. We don't and we're not at all religious as a result.

The C of E is an incredibly broad church, most of its clergy seem to spend their time apologising and trying not to offend.

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@izzythepush,

I think that the reason the US is so religious is the nominal separation of church and state. When the state pushes a specific religion, the backlash is anti religiousness. By having freedom from state sanctioned religion, people pursue whatever version of religion works for them.

1 Reply

@glitterbag,

Quote:

the only thing I can think of is that the simmering resentment and desire to prove they are superior to those pointy headed intellectuals, the liberals, Hollywood, East Coast anything, Catholics, Jews,

Yes. This is a very old set of tendencies. One can readily see how it played out in the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorrah, for example.

And of course it all rides upon facts of our biological nature where groups form and are then understood or conceived as "us" and all others as "them".

But there is obviously considerable variation in how strictly the boundary between us and them is drawn and in the manner in which it is drawn or conceived. The Taliban aren't much open to liberalization of boundaries or inclusion of others. Nor are white supremacists. Bigotry shows up in lots of places, sadly, and it seems always to be driven by personality types that are extremely fearful of change. I think we all probably know this stuff.

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Trip Gabriel
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@tripgabriel
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NEW: Bolton, Pompeo and Defense Secy Esper met w Trump in the Oval Office in August to try to convince him it was in US interests to release military aid to Ukraine. Trump refused. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/29/us/politics/trump-ukraine-military-aid.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share … via @NYTimes

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@revelette3,

Quote:

As most everyone here knows, I am religious and I am not ashamed to show or talk about it.

Nor should you be, in my view. I'm not sure if you've listened to Stephen Colbert speak about his Catholic faith but there's quite a bit available on youtube. He's the sort of voice for faith which I cannot condemn and he's certainly not the only one.

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@izzythepush,

Lately You have a rapidly growing Fundamentalist "Science" problem in the UK. When something gets really nutty out there, Ive found that the ENglish begin to embrace it and turn it into great fun. Keep it up, Our Fundamentalists actually believe their ****.

2 Replies

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