monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

(...)As George Orwell observed, human beings “don’t only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene, birth-control and, in general, common sense; they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flags and loyalty-parades.”

(...)

You’re sitting in the middle of the country sharpening dull needles with fingernail files to be sold on the street for $25, or taking too many prescription opioids to calm the nerves before a presentation, or taking the coating off an opioid and cooking it down to liquid form, and straining it and shooting it up, or trying to cope with a couple of foster kids and a criminal record — and hell the country looks ready for a shake-up. It really does; and this guy is angry for you against all the phony intellectuals who have no idea.

Don’t underestimate that anger or the number of Americans who still believe Trump is the most honest president in history.

“The mere words “socialism” and “communism” draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice-drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex maniac, Quaker, 'Nature cure' quack, pacifist and feminist in England.”

President Trump said in an exclusive interview Tuesday that he believes former President Barack Obama and his top aides are behind the protests and leaks that have tormented the new administration – and he doesn’t expect it to stop anytime soon.

He certainly is not alone, though, in his view that top Obama administration officials could be involved. A former senior intelligence official told Fox News earlier this month that he suspects ex-CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper – among others – were connected to leaks.

But the assertion that Obama – who began his political career as a community organizer – is actively aiding protests against Trump is new. Though, Trump added, it doesn’t necessarily bother him.

“But I also understand that’s politics,” Trump said. “And in terms of him being behind things, that’s politics. And it will probably continue.”

He added: “I’m not really surprised because I understand the way the world works. It’s politics. I mean I’m changing things that he’s wanted to do.”

Trump, Pelosi trade barbs

Pelosi charged Sunday on ABC's “This Week” that the Trump administration has “done nothing except put Wall Street first, make America sick again, instill fear in our immigration population in our country and make sure Russia maintains its grip on our foreign policy.”

Trump shot back with typical bravado.

“Well, I’ve been watching Nancy’s tape, and so I think she’s incompetent, actually,” Trump said. “You know, if you look at what’s going on with the Democrats and the party, it’s getting smaller and smaller.”

You know, in a certain way, I hate to see it, because I like a two-party system, and we’re soon going to have a one-party system,” Trump said. “I actually think a two-party system is healthy and good.”

He added of Pelosi: “But she’s done a terrible job."

I think this guy has a point. There's something sinister happening, and I doubt it has to do with the price of tea on BA flights or even excessive greed by corporations, generally. Trump is tapping into what seems like a vast reservoir of sheer hatred, accumulated over the years.

History suggests that omplacent contempt for the opposition is a fairly common trait of stagnant elites approaching their demise.

You might ask yourself just what might be the source of that "vast reservoir" and whether there might be more to it than the rather superficial "sheer hatred" you allow.

History suggests that complacent contempt for the opposition is a fairly common trait of stagnant elites approaching their demise.

The lawmakers in charge of investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives are also helping the Trump campaign counter negative news stories, according to reporting by The Washington Post and Axios.

The news — confirmed by the White House and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), one of the lawmakers — is a strong blow to the credibility of the congressional investigation and any appearance that the investigation is being conducted free from political influence.

According to the reports, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer asked Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Nunes to speak to reporters and dispute stories alleging frequent contact between Trump campaign members and Russian intelligence operatives. Burr picked up the phone at Spicer’s request and told reporters the story was false, Axios reports, but didn’t provide any evidence to back it up, and wasn’t quoted on the record.

Nunes reportedly volunteered. He told The Post that he was already making similar calls, but made an additional one at the White House’s request.

Burr and Nunes are, respectively, the heads of the House and Senate
Intelligence committees. Both committees are currently leading the ongoing investigation into the alleged links.

Why don't you take the issue up from where Bob dropped it, and try and explain it all to me, in a nutshell?

Europe has tried to go beyond nationalism and globally the UN had tried to foster a collaborative, multilateral approach to problem solving.

The UN was constituted, right from its inception, to subordinate the interests of any one nation to the will of the majority of nations. In theory this constitution would promote equality and justice, but in actual practice an assembly where “each member enjoyed an equal voice,” as the textbook puts it, and where most of the member nations are totalitarian, forces the world’s democratic nations to accept minority status.

It’s a sad fact that only about a third of the world’s nations can be properly described as politically “free.” By giving equal voting power to every nation, the UN effectively becomes a democracy of dictators. And since the totalitarian nations tend to be Socialistic in their economic structures, hence desperately poor, the UN is frequently a tool that poverty-stricken totalitarian regimes can use to extract financial aid from freer and more prosperous nations.