https://youtu.be/t_yG_-K2MDo
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lincoln-project-trump-mourning-covid-19_n_5eb094fcc5b60a927780d301
Showing posts with label TRUMP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TRUMP. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Woe to you, GOP
What might he say if He were here now?
Yes, some liberties have been taken.
-But woe unto you, hypocrites! for ye shut up the doors to a better life for the working person.
-Woe unto you, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make speeches that you care: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
-Woe unto you, hypocrites! for ye travel the sea and land to make converts from other dictators and allies of our enemies, and they are made, ye make them twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
-Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear under oath, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the Trump tower, he is a better!
-Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or those who have slaved to make the gold?
-And, Whosoever shall swear by that all that is just, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift moved secretly to your bank is holy.
-Woe unto you, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe to the banker, the broker, and the corporation, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done.
-Ye blind guides, which strain at the truth, and swallow the lies and propaganda from the Tower.
-Woe unto you hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup by hiding on secret drivers and accusing others of the sins you commit, but within you are full of extortion and excess.
-Thou blind Republican, cleanse first that which is within the cup that those you deceive may be cleaned also.
-Woe unto you hypocrites! for ye are like perfected sculptures, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
-You outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
- Woe unto you hypocrites! because ye build the towers for the rich and attend the rallies of the liars,
-And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would probably shed their blood also.
- Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
- Wherefore, behold, I send unto you those who tell the truth: and some of them ye shall kill and demonize, and some of them shall ye persecute them from city to city.
- Behold, your house in 2020 is left unto you desolate.
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Why the Only Issue That Matters is Impeachment
Image: https://signsofthetimes.org.au/2019/02/dystopian-future/
I listened to an NPR report in which numerous people interviewed stated that they were more concerned with issues like health care, education, wages, jobs, etc. than the impeachment of Donald Trump. This made me laugh and then sigh. Why don't those who aren't concerned with impeachment get the fact that all else revolves around the crimes, misdimeanors, negligence, and destructive actions of Trump?
The current administration has been on a quest, a Sherman's march, to gut public education, environmental protection, affordable health care, national public land treasures, voting rights, LGBQT rights, the rights of the disabled, worker rights, women's rights, programs to feed those in need, the rights of asylum seekers, programs to support small scale farming, safe drinking water water protections, our relationsip with allies, treaties that prevent nuclear proliferation, the constitutional separation of powers and the right of oversight, to name a few. Nothing positive has been enacted, unless you consider billions of dollars in tax breaks for the rich to be positive. And, his plans for a second term, if, God forbid he actually gets that far, are too scary to even contemplate.
When someone says Congress should not waste time on impeachment it syas to me, We should not waste time protecting American democracy and the health and welfare of its our citizens. Instead, we should sit idly back while Trump inplements his distopian agenda for the rich and powerful while the masses just do what they're told and get whatever the rich decide they should get.
This is why impeachment is the only issue that matters.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
A WARNING FROM THE WHITE HOUSE TO AMERICANS
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html
This is too important not to share. And what is of great concern is that Trump wants the name "turned over to the government." Really? If you disagree with the WH your name should be turned over to the government. Is this America?
This is too important not to share. And what is of great concern is that Trump wants the name "turned over to the government." Really? If you disagree with the WH your name should be turned over to the government. Is this America?
The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here.
President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.
It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.
The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
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I would know. I am one of them.
To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.
But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.
That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.
The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.
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Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.
In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.
Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.
But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.
From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims.
Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.
“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier.
The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren’t for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful.
It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.
The result is a two-track presidency.
Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations.
Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals.
On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many of Mr. Putin’s spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behavior. But his national security team knew better — such actions had to be taken, to hold Moscow accountable.
This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state.
Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over.
The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.
Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter. All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation.
We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example — a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere them.
There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.
The writer is a senior official in the Trump administration.
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Friday, December 8, 2017
Trump: A Gift From Heaven
For those who wield power, Donald Trump was an unexpected gift from heaven.
Throughout history, there has been a struggle between those who would enslave and those who would enlighten. You do not know who they are, and they are not who you think or read about.
Generally, bets are hedged. Basically, you will find that those who seek to enslave will support both sides. For example, the .05% will donate funds to both liberals and conservatives in the expectations to get minor concessions for their agenda. This has often been a tactic that has worked. Ocassionally, a person comes along that is more supportive of their cause and more headway is gained, soon to face a backlash from the opposition, and thus the pendulum swings. Just look at the dictators in history, their rise and fall, and rythm can be seen.
On a rare occassion, each side receives a gift, mana from heaven, an individual who champions their cause. Donald Trump is such a gift. He's an inner circle wannabe. Such people serve as tools, puppets, front men, hoping to earn their way in. They never get there, despite appearances. Others border on the circle and have a foot in the door and many changes occur in society. Hitler was a wannabe. Pope John XXIII had a foot in. JFK had a foot in.
Trump does not have a foot. By doing "their" bidding, he thinks he does, but he doesn't. He is the ideal puppet for he believes he's the puppeteer, but he's the puppet. He's a gift from heaven for those who seek to enslave.
All civilzations, all nations, rise and fall. There comes a time when the people get complacent, they sit on the sidelines, and impetus is given to the extreme to advance their interests. Balance is lost, society crumbles. The cycle repeats until such time that the whole system implodes.
From dust to dust.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Trump is not to blame, however ...
It is clear that American have implicit biases.
"What is meant by implicit bias?
Unlike explicit bias (which reflects the attitudes or beliefs that one endorses at a conscious level), implicit bias is the bias in judgment and/or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes (e.g., implicit attitudes and implicit stereotypes) that often operate at a level below conscious awareness and ..." (Google search). In other words, they are biases held secretly and usually not expressed openly.
From the moment we experience consciousness, parents, society, and the media begin to instill us with biases. If all three are in play, the biases become worse and may openly be expressed. This should be more obvious with respect to racism and anti-Muslim attitudes. It is the "us and them" attitude. They aren't like us so they must be bad, or suspect, or feared, or shunned. Religions are big on this. But when a mother pulls a child close when an African-American or a person in a headscarf passes by, the parent passes on a bias. Many biases stay hidden/latent and may never be openly verbalized.
However, when a major personality openly expresses and even endorses these biases and phobias, the door is open for such attitudes to become socially acceptable. Further, when said personality encourages action upon these biases, what was once socially suppressed behavior now becomes acceptable.
Perhaps it is good to know the extent and depth of these biases. Hidden fears and emotions can burst at the most inopportune times and can even be the cause of disease. Once exposed, maybe they can be discussed and and even dispelled.
What is sad is the extent of these implicit biases and what is scary is that an individual, even in America, can make these biases acceptable.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Crude, rude, offensive debate: Bad Donald
Couldn't even watch the whole debate. The GOP nominee was rude, crude, and offensive. He kept interrupting, didn't answer questions, was hot headed, and, frankly, scary.
I mean, I'll release my tax returns when you release deleted emails is like saying I'll tell you if a I robbed a bank if you tell me when you last had sex. What does one have to do with the other?
Q.How do you bring the jobs back? A. Don't let them go.
But hey have left already ... still no answer. And on, and on, and on.
Hubris defeats many.
I've said this before, but I have never seen such rudeness in a debate for president of the US. Shameful
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
It's not just the GOP that's imploding
"A nation divided ...."
There are many recent news articles about the GOP imploding under the weight of the idiotic antics and positions of its presidential candidates. This implosion, however, is resulting from the implosion of American society. It is a symptom, not a cause. It reflects the current disarray of American society and culture--a cultural that is suffering from severe identity crisis.
There is talk about "making America great again." What the hell does that even mean? When was America every really great? Was America great when it destroyed Native civilizations? How about when it took land from Mexico? Vietnam? Iraq? Is greatness defined by military power?
Is America great because we've been such an open/tolerant society? How did (do) we treat Chinese, Irish, Italian, Puerto Ricans, Latin, Asian, Arab immigrants? Were/have they been welcomed with open arms? Have we embraced the religious beliefs of all? Have we been a nation tolerant of all races? Do we even know if we are a liberal or conservative nation? Do we know what we want to do with education (that is in a crisis of its own)? Are we committed to helping the poor? Have we ever been? Do we support universal health care or are we more concerned about profits for Big Pharma? Do we respect the rights of all or do we choose who and when rights apply?
There are nations with higher standards of living, better health care, lower mortality rates, less stress, and perhaps even more freedom. So again, what greatness did we have that we must return to?
Look, America is a good place to live. There are certainly many worse places. The point is, we lack direction. We have been trying to define who and what we are since the 1700s. We have been fed dogma about who we are, but 'they' have never portrayed reality. We have been brave, we have risen to 'the' occasion, we do sometimes help others (when in someone's best economic interest), and we love to preach but we don't do as we say.
Because of the internet and instant forms of communication, we are now better informed of how messed up we really are. The news is geared to polarizing opinions and the immediate attention and sharing of bad news prevents time to distill and sort out information. We react and no longer respond.
While it may be easy to laugh at our politics, and if it wasn't so sad it would be laughable, we must understand that we are laughing at our selves. Don't be shocked by what Trump does or says, but rather be shocked that people listen to and approve of what he says or does. We, as a people, have a very hard time setting a direction. And, when we do, we sabotage our own efforts. We'll elect a president because of his/her ideas, then put holes in the ship by electing a congress of a totally different persuasion. Then we wonder why nothing ever gets done. We have one side rowing north and the other south and we get angry because we're going in circles.
Rome fell from within, not because of the barbarians. Soon we will have the opportunity to have a president and a congress that could row in the same direction. We need to get it together!
"Implosion is a process in which objects are destroyed by collapsing (or being squeezed in) on themselves."
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Sheep & Goats: A Nation of Extremes
"... and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."
Have we become a nation of extremes? We have always been diverse in our political/social ideas, with the middle road, the golden mean, usually the road we have traveled. The views of Trump vs Sanders are polar opposite in political ideology. This is not new, there have been many historical political figures whose ideas were diametricaly opposed. So what's different?
The difference is that it appears that the middle is gone. Not only are the candidates divided, but the views of the electorate appear to have also migrated to the extreme. Perhaps this has been building over time. America has frequently been divided over the issues or civil rights, welfar, health care, immigration, education, and the economic dominance of corporate America and Wall Street. Can't help but wonder if we should have even fought the Civil War. Perhaps we are so divided that we should be two nations. More often than not we have managed to come together in the middle, but can a nation so divided endure? I think Lincoln had thoughts on this.
We are treading on dangerous ground.
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