tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77086568679395843482024-03-13T00:56:34.599-07:00Sacred Cows Make The Best Hamburgers "An Established Church is only a political machine." - Mark Twain ......."Organized Religion is Satan's greatest masterpiece" - Anon.DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.comBlogger217125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-12322114447816934962020-03-31T21:19:00.000-07:002020-03-31T21:19:49.854-07:00Righteous Arrogance Turns Deadly: Are Coronavirus Christofascists The Virus' Biggest Enablers?<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>Televangelist Claims He Has Magic Machines That Will ‘Shoot Down’ Coronavirus. </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Update:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yesterday Rodney Howard-Browne <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkaN0-IkynQ&feature=share">was arrested</a>, causing many of the Christian Right to go Christofascistically crazy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(Self) Righteous Arrogance has been defined as feeling morally superior to others. We’ve <a href="https://www.opednews.com/populum/page.php?f=Twitter-Truth-Mark-Drisco-by-Rev-Dan-Vojir-Arrogance_Hell_Mark-Driscoll_Righteous-Arrogance-140114-64.html">written about it</a> countless times in the past decade when writing about politics and religion. The strong, Christian Right variety, we’ve referred to as Christofascism, imposing harsh penalties of discrimination and intolerance on those who oppose its will.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Never before, however, has righteous arrogance been so deadly as today during these times of a pandemic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In the past, we’ve referred to them as moralizing morons, but their steadfast flouting of government (read CDC) guidelines are harmful and their outpouring of misinformation may be more deleterious to the populace than Trump’s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sadly, they have flocks (congregants)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>God's Vengeance.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In keeping with Trump's early "it-will-go-away" response to the virus, many of his staunchest CC supporters like <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/03/why-trump-friendly-christian-leaders-are-feeling-totally-fine-about-the-coronavirus.html">Robert Jeffress</a> declared the virus to be no big deal, but as the deaths piled up, so did the sermons of God's vengeance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As with AIDS, natural disasters or anything bad happening to groups of humanity as a whole, God’s vengeance comes into play for most of these Sacred Cows. Of course, preying on fear and guilt is the Evangelical’s stock and trade. How can they control their innocent (read: desperate and/or simply gullible) flocks? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In the case of this pandemic, however, spending time and valuable resources telling people that God hates them (or at least hates their immorality -remember, it’s love the sinner, hate the sin) may be looked upon as immoral in times of crisis. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The Sin Of Misinformation:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>“If people are asymptomatic, they don’t have the cough, they don’t have the respiratory issues, they don’t have a fever, they’re not contagious. And so they don’t need to be tested.”</i> - <a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/03/26/coronavirus-misinformation-homophobic-evangelicals-american-family-association-bryan-fischer/">Byran Fischer</a>, on Focal Point, a radio program of the American Family Association</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>(Pat) Robertson <a href="https://youtu.be/h5ksl932M90?t=387">then proceeded</a> to hawk products like probiotics, kimchi, and — I’m not kidding — sauerkraut as ways to combat the disease. Lorie Johnson, the “health reporter” he was speaking with, said nothing to dissuade him from doing this.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Righteous Arrogance of some CCs has taken the time-honored stance of flouting medical science to suit their beliefs or their own whims.* Of course, they're governed by God to do so, therefore people must take their "advice" seriously for the sake of their souls - but to the detriment of their health.</span></div>
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<li class="m_Z12nDQf D_F ek_BB ir_0" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(241, 241, 245); display: flex; flex-direction: column; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One church's <a href="https://www.journal-news.com/news/local/solid-rock-church-continues-public-worship-services-during-coronavirus-outbreak/SmzNNNAitDfm2oetMWJRpI/">defiant stance</a>:</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>We at Solid Rock Church share everyone’s concern to help keep people safe. The First Amendment of our Constitution guarantees freedom concerning religion, expression, and assembly. It specifically forbids congress from restricting an individual’s religious practices. Therefore, the government ban on large gatherings does not apply to religious worship,” the church noted in its statement.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2020/03/covid-19-guidance-for-faith-based-institutions">Holland and Knight</a>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="color: #333333;">In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that neutral, generally applicable laws are ordinarily constitutional even if they infringe upon religious exercise. </span><span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Employment Div., Dep't of Human Res. v. Smith</span><span style="color: #333333;">, 494 U.S. 872 (1990). Most executive orders temporarily limiting or precluding gatherings are these kinds of limitations invoking the state's broad police power to protect the welfare, health and safety of citizens that do not have as their purpose limiting religious exercise but only as their incidental effect. </span></i></span></blockquote>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Update 2: Imprecatory Prayers Can Be Useful</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1D-pFUgyXakdsSo7W5fR1VDxO3Esz80QfKeg0CXGcHz2btzlKCAU9bfG_CsWuVM8nedtpRKBU_Bv5DNjegZl0_1vRx3hpG0a21HyNUkNNpWDXFQbBRTs2IaEEtmjG0jy3-tblUF5L8lko/s1600/Rodney+Howard-Browne+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="937" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1D-pFUgyXakdsSo7W5fR1VDxO3Esz80QfKeg0CXGcHz2btzlKCAU9bfG_CsWuVM8nedtpRKBU_Bv5DNjegZl0_1vRx3hpG0a21HyNUkNNpWDXFQbBRTs2IaEEtmjG0jy3-tblUF5L8lko/s320/Rodney+Howard-Browne+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<ul class="hd_n M_0 X_0" data-test-id="cards" style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/31/media/chris-cuomo-coronavirus/index.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chris Cuomo:</span></a></ul>
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<ul class="hd_n M_0 X_0" data-test-id="cards" style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>"I have been exposed to people in recent days who have subsequently tested positive and I had fevers, chills and shortness of breath," he wrote. "I just hope I didn't give it to the kids and Cristina. That would make me feel worse than this illness!"</i></span></ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Far be it for any staunch Evangelical to wish harm upon anyone, the satisfaction of seeing one's moral enemies suffer may be too tempting. Remember: </span><a href="https://www.opednews.com/articles/Nothing-to-See-Here-Just-by-Rev-Dan-Vojir-Christian-Right_Coronavirus_Gods-Ambulance-Chasers_Katrina-200325-145.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">demonizing liberals, like gays,</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> has become the Christian Right's greatest weapon in their arsenal of spiritual warfare.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"Renting Out Jesus to this moronic monster" </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Former evangelist and outspoken critic of Christofacism ,Frank Schaeffer socks it to the CCs on AMJoy**</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>When we come to this time of COVID-19 overtaking our country, a literal life and death issue, we see two things very clearly, Joy. One is the utter moral bankruptcy of this leader who pits himself against governors trying to save their people, and the second is the utter moral bankruptcy of evangelicals, the white evangelical voter having rented out Jesus to this moronic monster who in this time of crisis, far from being our Winston Churchill leading us to freedom against the Axis in Germany and others and basically tells those in my day, those in their 70s, to do what the jews were were told to do by the Nazis: Put on a yellow star, identify yourself as old, we're not going to make respirators, especially for governors we don't like, just go off and die so the stock exchange numbers go up and I look good.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In the end, what Schaeffer is saying is that the "moral bankruptcy" of both CCs and Trump may be the worst virus of all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*<i>Did you know that there is a <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/03/saint-corona-patron-saint-of-plagues.html?via=article_article-inline_recirc-rubric-faith-based">Saint Corona</a>? She's been tauted as the patron saint of epidemics, but while in truth she did really exist, her title did not. She was merely a second century Roman martyr, but some Catholic CC's have given her new life - as a patron of opportunists.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">** <i>The entire slam is worth the view:</i></span><br />
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-54921200458223260982019-11-19T00:45:00.000-08:002019-11-19T00:45:52.942-08:00When a City Doesn't Vote for You, Mr. President: An Open Letter From a “Dangerous, Disgusting Slum” Resident. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3J8JmCGYB606Okl2B8rGGZl4hwBtVREbS3OCNV9-lJeKS3sUAXv4igXPk_KF9_xcOP7D5Muje_BULqiQ14NKZ7g8OgJ173_2eLTYcDY5USWPXHMNHMXHXXkMTnBYHKexy6dMP3kQJEmI/s1600/Greetings+from+San+Francisco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3J8JmCGYB606Okl2B8rGGZl4hwBtVREbS3OCNV9-lJeKS3sUAXv4igXPk_KF9_xcOP7D5Muje_BULqiQ14NKZ7g8OgJ173_2eLTYcDY5USWPXHMNHMXHXXkMTnBYHKexy6dMP3kQJEmI/s400/Greetings+from+San+Francisco.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>t’s not the problem of homelessness, nor its impudently proud reputation as a Sanctuary City that riles Trump about San Francisco. No, Donald Trump is the only President in history to openly malign American cities for no other reason than the fact that they didn’t vote for him. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Donald J. Trump<br />President of the United States<br />Re: San Francisco<br /><br />Dear Mr President: <br /><br />During the entire time of your tenure, you have referred to yourself in superlative terms. You are the “greatest” President possessing “great unmatched wisdom”. You have always placed your Presidency in the “best”, “greatest”, “smartest” categories. But after your denigration of my home, San Francisco, I feel you have earned another, less admirable, but notable superlative (hence the well-earned medal): </span></div>
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Yes, I think your comments about San Francisco (“Dangerous, disgusting slum”) are tantamount to treason, for they undermine <i>with intent to harm</i> a beloved American city as much as any foreign invasion. And for no other reason than San Francisco didn’t vote for you in 2016. <br /><br />Forget your lame excuses:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />...it’s a once-great city now in the hands of do-nothing liberals like Nancy Pelosi, <br />...it’s a Sanctuary City harboring killers and rapists<br />...it’s a godless, drug-infested blight on America that needs me to clean it up.<br /><br />The real reason for your attacks is that even before your election, you considered San Francisco (indeed most of California) to be “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/17/761448104/trump-goes-behind-enemy-lines-to-raise-money-in-sf-bay-area">enemy territory</a>” and should be treated as such. <br /><br />Ironically, it is <b>you</b> who are the enemy. <br /><br />With your embarrassing demeanor, your divisive, violent rhetoric, your impulsive approach to major issues, your total ignorance of those issues, (indeed your overall ignorance) <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/454415-trumps-vindictive-pettiness-renders-him-incapable-of-taking-the-high-road">you have consistently and vindictively attacked citizens</a>, communities and entire states by stifling government support and even going so far as to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/09/trump-threatens-cut-off-fema-aid-california-forest-fires/">threaten to withhold disaster relief</a>. <br /><br />And above all, it is your unabashedly petty vindictiveness resulting from a thin-skinned nature that makes you the most un-Presidential, the most treasonous President. <br /><br />I have been a proud resident of San Francisco for over 45 years* and while it has had the problems which many cities face, it has always approached them with intelligence, compassion and dignity; admirable human traits which you , in all honesty, lack. <br /><br />In abundance. <br /><br />San Francisco is a city that has had its <a href="https://sfist.com/2019/07/10/sf-homicide-rate-on-track-for-historic-low-in-2019/">lowest crime rate</a> in years. In terms of pollution, it is a city that has been battling your administration's gutting of the <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/09/19/experts-blast-trumps-claims-of-needles-in-san-francisco-bay-pacific-ocean/">Clean Air Act</a> (as well as your bogus claim that needles are flowing into the ocean). It is a city that has weathered the Age of AIDS with unparalleled compassion and continues to fight for human rights.** It is a diverse city, immune to the kind of xenophobia you so enthusiastically spread. It is a <a href="http://www.worldcitiescultureforum.com/cities/san-francisco">cultural city</a>, having the most art institutions per capita in the U.S. And above all, it is a proud city, a city that should never be as maligned as a “dangerous, disgusting slum” by a man who knows nothing about it, with one exception: it didn’t vote for him. <br /><br />Be it against a country, a state or a city, (as one writer put it) you, are <i>obsessed </i>with revenge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>It’s called “Get Even.” Get even. This isn’t your typical business speech. Get even. What this is a real business speech. You know in all fairness to Wharton, I love ’em, but they teach you some stuff that’s a lot of bullshit. When you’re in business, you get even with people that screw you. And you screw them 15 times harder. And the reason is, the reason is, the reason is, not only, not only, because of the person that you’re after, but other people watch what’s happening. Other people see you or see you or see and they see how you react. - <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/donald-trump-obsessed-with-revenge/">Donald Trump, Toronto 2007</a></i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Mr. President, even as you face numerous charges against you, it seems tragic that none of your most disgusting, treasonous traits are considered impeachable. Yet even more tragic: some of your ardent followers have even considered those traits <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/10/trump-email/504773/">admirable, or at least, electable</a>. <br /><br />But as you know, the citizens of San Francisco considered those traits impeachable long ago. <br /><br />I suppose I should pity a man so insecure and thin-skinned that he wildly lashes out at the smallest criticisms, but when that insecurity manifests itself in a petty vindictiveness followed by treasonous words and deeds, pity is the last thing I can think of. And When it comes to your childish reactions to any form of criticism, I can only offer this advice: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Mr President, grow a pair. <br /><br />But you won’t. You’ll continue to berate your perceived enemies via Twitter ad nauseum. You’ll continue to demean American citizens, American cities, American institutions, as relentlessly as you do entire (“shithole”) countries. <br /><br />So with a President like you, who needs enemies? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;">Certainly not San Francisco. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><b>*</b>Originally from Chicago, another American city you have maligned And characteristically, another city that didn’t vote for you.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><b>**</b> a compassion never even approached by your stalwart Evangelical Right, many of whom forced People With AIDS (PWAs) to seek succor in San Francisco - so that they could die with dignity. I was a client intake volunteer for the AIDS Emergency Fund at the time and witnessed this compassion.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b style="font-style: italic;">***</b><i>Disclosure: I have been a community activist for much if those 45 years (please view my video profile) as well as the recipient of the </i>Jefferson Award for Community Service<i> for tutoring children in San Francisco’s Bayview district. Yes, I am a bit biased. The Bayview was, at the time, a place where I had to report gunshots twice a week, where our building was shot up twelve times by a high powered rifle (gang-related), and where there were 6 homicides in 5 years.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>However, Mr. President, at the same time, the area was home to the kindest, most compassionate, most humanitarian people I’ve ever experienced in my life. They and my other friends helped and inspired me through my time there. While harrowing, it was a profoundly humanizing experience the likes of which you could have gone through to educate yourself about that part of America, but instead you opted for a life of exclusionary privilege and ignorance.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Currently, I am helping a worthwhile non profit (Demonstration Gardens) to teach environmental literacy to children and adults in SF’s Tenderloin, the district upon which you based your “<a href="https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/trump-san-francisco-speech-finland-president-tents-14486160.php">tent city</a>” tag. </i></span></blockquote>
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-1210454444938077092019-02-04T10:54:00.000-08:002019-02-04T10:54:20.017-08:00“Choosing greatness” Or choosing fantasy? What will Trump’s SOTU Speech Tell Us?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trump SOTU writers</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">First Off, he didn’t write it. </b></div>
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<b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">What Is the SOTU address?</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> It is a formal address to Congress about affairs of our democracy, what has happened and what we can do to move things forward. It makes the case for legislation to be passed and foreign policies to be adopted. In the early years of government, the President wrote the SOTU for Congress , but it took television to make it an address to the people. Trump, however, sees it (as with everything) as an extension of himself. Sooo...<br /><br /><b>It is NOT:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b>- An episode of “The Apprentice.” In Trump's mind, it may be geared towards a it-must-be-true-because-he-says-it-on-TV audience. But there can be no “reverse engineering” as one producer put it. The President cannot change the focus, style or subject matter on a whim. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />- A Trump rally. Congress may give standing ovations to some pints, but (hopefully) no one will be wearing a red MAGA cap. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />- A <i>Fox and Friends</i> appearance. The President will not be addressing a group of sycophants (or at least not as many as he would like)*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />- A showcase for Trump to “act” presidential. He doesn't realize that in speech, tone and demeanor is not just for SOTU. <br /><br /><br /><b>“I write my own speeches” </b><br /><br />LOL! We know he didn’t write his last SOTU address and this time will be no different because:<br /><br />- There will be at least twenty big words that are not in Trump’s vocabulary<br />- The Style will be coherent <br />- The address will be far too long. Ghostwriter <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/08/18/art_of_the_deal_ghostwriter_trump_presidency_reminds_me_of_watergate_and_the_last_days_of_nixon.html" target="_blank">Tony Schwartz</a> said that Trump did not actually write “Art of the Deal”. A speech that long would take Trump many hours to write, and, as noted <a href="https://www.joemygod.com/2019/02/leaked-schedule-reveals-trumps-empty-work-days/" target="_blank">in the just-leaked daily schedule</a>, Trump spends too much “executive time” each day to delve into anything that labor intensive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In fact, given Trump’s now infamous “allergy to reading” he probably hasn’t taken the time to read the whole thing, a fact that will cause the SOTU’s address writers to have panic attacks resulting from the nightmarish possibility that he will go off script (see above reaction).**<br /><br />And although he will not have written it, the SOTU address will still be full of misstatements Trump will have insisted be included. (</span>Last year, Trump's SOTU <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/30/state-of-the-union-fact-check-trumps-address-analyzed" target="_blank">was analyzed and his misstatements brought to the fore</a>). <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It will be packed with a kind of disingenuous drivel, glossing over the harsh words he had for Pelosi and Schumer and the Shutdown, making him look as if he is magnanimously teaching out to Democrats in a plea for unity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So much disingenuous drivel in fact, that Stacey Abrams will be hard pressed to keep her cool during her rebuttal and not die laughing. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He's already tweeted that his theme of unification will be a farce and that he's going ahead with emergency strategy:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/02/01/trump-state-of-the-union-wall-emergency-crn-vpx.cnn" target="_blank">"Dems do nothing.</a> If there is no Wall, there is no Security. Human Trafficking, Drugs and Criminals of all dimensions - KEEP OUT!"</b></span></blockquote>
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<b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Battle of the Guests</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=TAuISnOdq0Y" target="_blank">Like his first SOTU address</a>, there will be protests in various forms in contrast Republicans who give him standing ovations, but this year's invited guests may provide greater entertainment. The roster alone screams "War!" Of course, it </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">would be fun if SOTU were to be set in a school cafeteria where a food-fight would commence, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">but the House Chamber will instead be filled with tension, scowls and boos as well as applause. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trump may be distracted by the looks of:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-02-01/democrats-to-make-a-statement-at-state-of-the-union-with-boycotts-guests" target="_blank">Victorina Morales</a>, an immigrant without legal status living in New Jersey who was fired from the Trump National Golf Club.</span><br />
- <a href="https://taskandpurpose.com/transgender-sailor-state-of-the-union" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">A Transgender Sailor</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Who Challenged Trump's Military Ban</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- A </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/state-of-the-union-mother-child-family-separation/index.html" target="_blank">mother and child separated at the border</a><br />
- <a href="http://ana%20maria%20archila%2C%20one%20of%20two%20women%20who%20was%20recorded%20in%20september%20confronting%20then-republican%20arizona%20sen.%20jeff%20flake%20in%20an%20elevator%20during%20the%20confirmation%20process%20for%20supreme%20court%20justice%20brett%20kavanaugh%2C%20will%20be%20attending%20the%20state%20of%20the%20union%20as%20a%20guest%20of%20new%20york%20rep.%20alexandria%20ocasio-cortez./" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">Ana Maria Archila</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">, one of two women who was recorded in September confronting then-Republican Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- A</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center employee who was furloughed during the shutdown.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- A Transportation Security Administration agent. TSA agents were required to work without pay during the shutdown</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- a former golf club employee, <a href="https://twitter.com/JimmyGomezCA/status/1091385626404900864" target="_blank">Sandra Diaz</a>, who did not have legal status during her employment, is now a legal permanent resident of the United States.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">...while Democrats will hear the cheers from:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- A middle class welder heralded as a dreamer taking advantage of Trump's tax break. He has a six figure salary, but hey, he's black!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- Parents of two teens killed by MS-13 gang members. Absolute proof that immigrants are bad. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-13" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>:</span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There is no evidence that weak immigration enforcement or</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_city" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Sanctuary city">sanctuary city</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">policies contribute to MS-13 activity. Republican politicians, President Trump in particular, have falsely accused Democratic politicians of supporting MS-13.</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- A Southern California firefighter who would not have had to save children and adults staff from a wildfire is California had better forestry management and techniques like Finland's raking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The Aftermath</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-claims-his-state-union-had-largest-viewership-history-s-n843661" target="_blank">SOTU 2018</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday morning that viewership for his first State of the Union address was “the highest number in history.” </i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">While it will be interesting to watch Stacey Abrams intelligently rebut Trump's hyperbole, his attacks on Democrats,and his gestures indicating how very (ahem) on-the-money he is, the SOTU address response will show America how deeply divided it is in the ideologies and the support of a know-nothing, do-nothing President. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />* Chief sycophant spokesperson, Stephen Miller insulted the intelligence of most of Americans when he said this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">**Somewhere along the line, someone must have sat him down and told him these things before the first SOTU. They probably has reminded him that to many, he sounded “presidential” in the last SOTU. So remember, Donnie Boy, to keep to script no matter what. Because if you go off script, we're all doomed. </span><br />
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-74489791303929400832019-01-28T10:00:00.000-08:002019-01-28T10:00:02.165-08:00 A Big Balloon Of Hot Air and Ignorance: America's Biggest Crisis May Be Trump's Lack of Substance. Anybody Got A Pin?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Could it be a Learning Disability?</span></i></b><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The Shallowness Of A Know-Nothing President. </span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is no depth, no substance to the 45th President of the United States. He provides no details, no resources, no factual basis, not even any continuity of any sort to his rhetoric. He seems to think that he doesn’t really need to present any substance, just what he calls “common sense” and “gut instincts” punctuated with “I know more about _____________(fill in the blank) than anyone”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Witness:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Oh yes, and “I’m very smart”, “I’m a genius”. Apparently no one has ever told him that truly intelligent people almost never talk about their own intelligence - they possess confidence in their cognitive abilities - and that only intellectually insecure people boast about their brainpower. He boldly states “facts” and figures, gives examples, tells stories as if plucking them out of thin air. So much so that people surmise he knows next to nothing about anything. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><u>This Just In (1/27/19):</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><b><a href="https://www.joemygod.com/2019/01/trump-invents-14-million-additional-illegal-aliens/" target="_blank">Trump Invents 14 Million Additional “Illegal Aliens”</a></b></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>“We’re not sure how the president is sourcing his number and really wouldn’t want to speculate,” said David Ray, communications director for FAIR.</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">FAIR is a staunch supporter of Trump.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">His “allergy to reading” (as one journalist put it) is acute and telling: Trump’s lack of knowledge with regard to any given topic has even prompted staunch supporters like Tucker Carlson to call him ignorant. Some (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd79UsXSLWg" target="_blank">like David Packman</a>) even call him functionally illiterate. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On his aversion to reading PDBs (Presidential Daily Briefings):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>"I don't have to be told — you know, I'm, like, a smart person," Trump said. "I don't have to be told the same thing and the same words every single day for the next eight years. It could be eight years — but eight years. I don't need that."</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One person who interviewed him put it in frightening terms: “An existence unmolested by the rumbling of a soul.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">An empty mind accompanied by an empty heart. That may be a bit too harsh an analogy, but there are times when Trump seems to have a small conscience overshadowed by gigantic self worth. Or as one friend of mine put it: "elephantiasis of the ego." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>So how did this shell of a man come to be? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>"When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same. <a href="https://theweek.com/speedreads/820106/here-are-all-times-trumps-campaign-allegedly-talked-russia" target="_blank">The temperament is not that different.</a>" </i></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Think of a rich, spoiled bully, totally uncontrollable: one whose father fostered his narcissism saying “everything he touches turns to gold” while pumping money into his son’s projects and bailing him out repeatedly out of failures. Think of a kid who thought studying anything was pointless, because he was already rich and knew that if he stuck with his father he would become richer. Think of a kid who developed a fantasy world where he would never apologize because he was so very entitled. And think of a kid-turned-teen-turned man who eschewed reading anything past a headline because reading anything was difficult, boring and a waste of time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And besides, anything worth knowing was on TV where money was king and news was encapsulated for his benefit. Sitting in front of a television instead of reading a book is for many Americans more enjoyable, but in Trump’s case, watching TV substituted for formal education. Attending schools like Wharton was a necessary nuisance: he had to go to classes for appearances sake, but gleaning anything from instructors and books was as useless as interacting with classmates who were not in his class of "smart". One professor called Trump "<a href="https://prospect.org/article/why-trump-keeps-telling-world-i%E2%80%99m-smart" target="_blank">the dumbest student I ever had</a>." And some classmates recall him asking rather clueless questions in class. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>“I went to an Ivy League school. I’m very highly educated. I know words, I have the best words,” he said at a rally last December; Wharton, he said on Meet the Press, “is probably the hardest there is to get into,” adding, “Some of the great business minds in the world have gone to Wharton.”</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"I know words. I have the best words." Statements like that have led <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump-2016-wharton-pennsylvania-214425" target="_blank">Penn State to distance itself</a> from Trump.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As for Trump's Wharton degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics, the man who </span><a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0402/27/lkl.00.html" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">told Larry King </a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">that before <i>The Apprentice</i>, he "didn't know what demographics were," may not have actually earned it - at least not in economics. Fred Trump's money may have helped him get out of Wharton as well as into it. In the meantime, others may have earned cash for taking his tests and writing his term papers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A "very stable genius"?? Consider Randy Rainbow's hilarious take on that statement (see below). Such self indulgent over-the-top statements from Trump have invited, no, <i>encouraged</i> mockery. But encapsulated in his own clueless world, he doesn't see how ... or why. The same goes for the response to his address at the U.N. - "I wasn't expecting that." </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Trump's development summed up: he has probably suffered from a rare form of learning disability which one might facetiously label <b>PECD</b> - <b>P</b>rogressive <b>E</b>ntitlement <b>C</b>ognitive <b>D</b>eficiency resulting in an aversion to reading and learning ... anything. PECD also causes disdain for people with higher intelligence while building up a feeling of superiority. In short: a person with PECD is apt to know nothing while bragging that he knows everything. Sounds snarky, but when it comes to Trump ...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Trump's brag about his performance on "The Apprentice" led producers </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">who worked with him on the show to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/media/423142-apprentice-producer-says-they-struggled-to-make-trump-seem-coherent" target="_blank">set the record straight</a>: </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A TV producer who oversaw the first five seasons of <a href="https://thehill.com/people/donald-trump">President Trump</a>'s former reality television show “The Apprentice” says those working behind the scenes often “struggled to make Trump seem coherent.” </span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“He wouldn’t read a script — he stumbled over the words and got the enunciation all wrong." </span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2c30;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>“The Apprentice," helped pave Trump’s path to the presidency by ending a downward slope in his professional life and giving him the appearance of a tycoon.</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>“<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/working-trump-was-making-court-jester-king-says-apprentice-producer-1274414" target="_blank">Most of us knew he was a fake</a>,” Braun, who worked on six series of the show, told The New Yorker. “He had just gone through I don’t know how many bankruptcies. But we made him out to be the most important person in the world. It was like making the court jester the king.”</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Braun also told Bill Maher Trump told him he should tell people he was #1 in the ratings even though he hadn't been #1 for five years: "Jon, you tell them, they'll believe it."</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Narcissism, Distrust and.. And Vulnerability</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It has long been known that there are certain facets of Trump's life in which he switches to a fantasy level that is unthinkable to the rest us. This fantasy world developed in early stages when he thought he knew more than teachers. Later, when he left the real world of boring learning for the fantasy world that his ego had created, along with help from his father, he encapsulated himself - enshrined himself so to speak- in a world where he was always the winner and that he was a man with a greater destiny than anyone else, especially when it came to money and power. Conning people to go along with his bravado became easier: they didn't need details - they could get those from underlings and no one questioned his sincerity. If his rich father said he was the "golden boy", they believed it. When Trump said something was "the best", it just had to be. After all, wasn't the real estate game just solid bullshit? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Trump as the Real Estate Boy Wonder aka Never too young to start peddling bullshit</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It is significant that so many voters seemingly believed Trump’s I-Know-Everything narrative, especially after red flags were raised (like not releasing his tax returns). Watching the above video, it seems impossible to believe in such a braggart. Such egotism is usually put down quickly and permanently. Has the U.S. fallen for a hollow con man because it is hollow itself? Exceptionalism is, in itself, a form of narcissism. Or maybe, just maybe its education is complimentary to his disability: an education built on chyrons and showmanship along with distrust of politicians and, more importantly, truly intelligent people.* To some, it may (flippantly) sound as if we're saying that half of America was home-schooled in a trailer park, but the lack of scrutiny in the American public is really a serious matter: once the dye is cast and they vote for someone like Trump, they have bought into the "America first/Make America Great Again" exceptionalism/narcissism and refuse to believe they made a mistake. Opposition to their decision is tantamount to treason. In other words, they lack the depth to believe in anything but the man who himself lacks depth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Just as some Americans distrust intelligence, so does Donald Trump. His administrative picks have depended on loyalty through flattery and monetary support, not experience and knowledge of the appointment's focus. Trump's "gut instincts" about people involve cronyism because cronies are people who have proven their loyalty by donations in one form or another. They also involve the trappings of beauty no matter how skin deep. For example: Katrina Pierson. Here was a beautiful female who could spin, but not very well (remember her "<a href="https://uproxx.com/news/katrina-pierson-trump-tax-returns/" target="_blank">novelty tradition</a>" statement defending Trump's unwillingness to release his tax returns?). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And it is this narcissism, this distrust of intelligence that lends itself to the kind of gullibility Russia preyed upon: the <a href="https://themoscowproject.org/" target="_blank">Moscow Project</a> shows how early Russia had started to cultivate Trump, seizing upon his desire to develop business in Russia, <a href="https://themoscowproject.org/collusion-chapter/chapter-1/" target="_blank">funneling money-laundered loans</a> to him when American financial institutions would not lend him a dime. Putin was wise to let Trump be Trump from the beginning and up through the campaign, all the while amassing payback and means of intimidation. Trump's inexperience and ignorance would serve him well. But Putin was surprised in how <i>very</i> ignorant and erratic Trump's narcissism made him. He knew Trump was ignorant, but not THAT ignorant ... and inept. Poor Putin, he had to keep reminding Trump how much he owed to Russia and how easy it would be for him (Putin) to pull the rug out from underneath everything. And how he, not Trump, controlled the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Putin makes Trump jealous ... and a bit intimidated</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The secrets of Helsinki screamed "We OWN you!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">An aside:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To get the latest full picture of Trump's long time involvement with Russia, read </span><a href="https://themoscowproject.org/" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">The Moscow Project</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. Yes, it's long and involved, but also thorough in it's analysis of the collusion, of all the operations and operators involved, of all the implications and possibilities. It also outlines a man who's vanity and ambition was used to the fullest extent by Russia. Putin had knowledge of all of Trump's "successes" and most certainly of his failures. After all, he was a </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">top KGB officer (Lieutenant Colonel)</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> when Trump made his foray into Russian business dealings. He knew of Trump's peccadilloes and vindictiveness and used them to add weight to his (Putin's) demands. "<a href="https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/01/26/pelosi-issues-blistering-statement-what-does-putin-have-on-trump/23653523/" target="_blank">What does Putin have on Trump</a>?" is one of today's headlines proffered by Nancy Pelosi.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">The Wasted Month</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>In the eyes of some aides and outside advisers, an entire fruitless month has passed that cannot be recouped, a waste of the most valuable asset a White House has: the President's attention and time.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A month ... for the entire country as well. A month of a temper tantrum resulting in lost jobs, no paychecks, almost catastrophic airport delays and terminal closures, market plunges and an approval rating on the skids. All by a man who could not consider the consequences against his need to keep his base happy and uphold his self image as a winner. A victim of his own vain fantasies and lack of regard for learning</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The wall/shutdown situation and Trump's collapse against reality proved just how clueless Trump is about the rest of human nature outside of his inner world. He will, of course, take solace in the spin of some supporters:</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"This is for three weeks," Trump adviser turned Fox analyst <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/26/media/shutdown-trump-conservative-media/index.html" target="_blank">Sebastian Gorka told Dobbs</a>. "As fa</span></i><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">r as I'm concerned, this is a master stroke."</i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trump can retreat into his fantasy world with supporters like these and leave only his hollow shell for the rest of the world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b style="color: #26282a; font-size: 13px;">All together, Trump and his supporters may be the REAL CRISIS America faces today. </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>A Last Word:</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">To some, ending this writing on a humorous note might</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> lessen seriousness of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Trump's lack of substance, but believe me when I say if we can't take a moment to laugh at Trump's disastrous treatment of the Presidency, we deserve it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In a few short years, Randy Rainbow has become a YouTube internet sensation with over 250,000 subscribers waiting anxiously for his next take on the country's right-wing political hypocrites and scam artists. His articulate artistry and creativity can only be described as bi-products of genius - sort of like a concrete definition of what Trump <i>thinks</i> he is. And perhaps his best parody is a take on Trump's "very stable genius" tweet. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Set to the song <i>I am the very model of a modern major general</i> from Gilbert & Sullivan's <i>The Pirates of Penzance, </i>Rainbow's parody beautifully captures the absurdity of Trump's temperament and how much of the world sees him. Enjoy!</span><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k-LTRwZb35A" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">*One particular anecdote concerning Adlai Stevenson could be an example: Stevenson was considered an egghead" in his day and America was very suspicious about cerebral candidates who thought things over quietly and in depth. Once when Eleanor Roosevelt was campaigning, someone shouted "Stevenson's an ass!" and without missing a beat, Roosevelt said "...nevertheless" and continued speaking, lauding Stevenson. </span></div>
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-28624105307645060832019-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:002019-01-04T06:00:06.944-08:00A Year’s Worth Of Trump’s Bubbly Bullshit:, Welcome To The Biggest (and LONGEST) Hangover!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmy1YZ5uBeEixuSVTuWb4k0m9UK4stYPS4ryf4nF4JPAe4iCCpdY2PlHizFa8ejnZ2iqpS2-sFpBcLZzzcTqDwibJgXyhvP0J9NwnTzP3rCqtkGtLDCvDdgokNSl9sERT4YFd_erctSX7/s1600/Trump+bullshit.gif" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmy1YZ5uBeEixuSVTuWb4k0m9UK4stYPS4ryf4nF4JPAe4iCCpdY2PlHizFa8ejnZ2iqpS2-sFpBcLZzzcTqDwibJgXyhvP0J9NwnTzP3rCqtkGtLDCvDdgokNSl9sERT4YFd_erctSX7/s200/Trump+bullshit.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>It could last for years!</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The hangover. The only ray of hope for that throbbing head is that it won 't last forever. So how many of you readers have not quite gotten over it? One reason: perhaps your brain has switched its motor neurons to its memory function. In other words, the bad memories of 2018 are creating your headache. And you realize the ray of hope is getting dimmer. And as 2019 proceeds it may continue to get dimmer and dimmer and dimmer while the consequences the Trump era's 2018 become more acute. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2018 could be termed politically as "The Year of Repeal and Deregulation." While trying to repeal Obamacare, the Trump administration worked hard to repeal and deregulate almost everything else. Why? Because in certain sectors, Trump's bullshit struck a chord: everything that Obama did was bad for you, no matter what it was. And my administration is going to <b>M</b>ake things (and <b>A</b>merica) <b>G</b>reat <b>A</b>gain! So, in effect, people drank Trump's fake </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">champagne, totally disregarding the fact that most of America was going to suffer from the hangover. (Call it the results of "second-hand irresponsible drinking"). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This just in:</span></div>
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<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/423587-apple-warns-of-lower-revenue-than-initially-forecast-for-first-quarter" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Business Insider:</span></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday warned investors that the company expects to fall as much as $9 billion short of its earlier revenue target for the first fiscal quarter of 2019. In a rare guidance revision, Cook pointed to a struggling market in China as the biggest factor for the change.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Needless to say, the DOW took a serious hit as well as Apple stock. Another casualty of Trump's 2018 antics, or i</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">n other words, "It's Trump's Trade War, stupid!" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And Trump? Due to his lack-of-reading habits, Trump probably doesn't know anything about these things except for the fact that rules were made to be broken or changed to his own egotistical benefit. Like his executive orders, he can brag about how many he's signed, but couldn't possibly give you any details as to WHAT he signed. And couldn't tell you anything about the repeals and deregulations listed below. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Scary. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And he knows absolutely nothing about the ones pending (in process). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Scarier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Below is a <i>partial </i>list of repeals and deregulation compiled buy the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/interactives/tracking-deregulation-in-the-trump-era/" target="_blank">BROOKINGS INSTITUTE</a>. To be fair, some of these were enacted in 2017, but their effects were most probably not felt until 2018 (when the REAL hangover commenced). The full scope of the findings is worth reading, but warning: it may only make your hangover worse. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">EDUCATION</span></b></div>
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<li>Title IX Guidances on Transgender Student Rights (<b>Repealed - </b>Betsy DeVos and Mike Pence got their say)</li>
<li>School Accountability Rule (<b>Repealed</b>)</li>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">HEALTH</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">:</span></div>
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<li>Religious and Moral Exemptions from Contraceptive Coverage Mandates (In Effect )</li>
<li>Definition of Short-Term Limited-Duration Insurance (In Effect - changed to longer terms)</li>
<li>State "Empowerment Waivers" for the Affordable Care Act (In effect - one of the first steps to defunding Obama Care)</li>
<li>Firearms Prohibition For The Mentally Disabled (<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Repealed - </b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">the NRA rejoiced)</span></li>
<li>State Funding for Abortion Providers (<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Repealed - </b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Christian Right rejoiced)</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">IMMIGRATION</span></b></div>
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<li>Asylum Seeker Restrictions (In Effect)</li>
<li>Commercial Real Estate Appraisal Rule (<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Repealed</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">)</span></li>
<li>Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources under the Clean Air Act (In Effect)</li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>ENVIRONMENTAL</b></span><br />
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<li>Methane and Waste Prevention Rule (In Effect)</li>
<li>Methane Rule (Emissions) (Partially In Effect)</li>
<li>Endangered Species Act: Mitigation Rule (In Effect)</li>
<li>Lowering Renewable Fuel Standards for 2018 (In Effect)</li>
<li>Oil and Gas Fracking Rule (<b>Repealed</b>)</li>
<li>Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources Under the Clean Air Act (In Effect)</li>
<li>Oil , Gas, and Coal Lease Valuation Rule (<b>Repealed</b>)</li>
<li>Power Plant Pollution Rule (<b>Repealed</b>)</li>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">TELECOM:</span></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wireline Infrastructure Rule (In Effect)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">5G Protection Program (In Effect)</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">FINANCIAL</span></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Corporate Credit Unions Rule (In Effect)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Commercial Real Estate Appraisal Rule (In Effect - easing limitations on commercial Real Estate)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Disclosure Exemptions to Certain Nonprofits ,(In Effect)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Dealer Markups Guidance (<b>Repealed</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Regulatory Capitol Rule for Small Banks: Transitions (In Effect)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Repeal of R&D Technical Interchange (In Effect)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Main Studio Rule (<b>Repealed</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Arbitration Rule (<b>Repealed</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers (<b>Repealed</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">)</span></span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">LABOR</span></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Drug Tests for Unemployment Compensation (<b>Repealed</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Federal Acquisition Regulation / Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (<b>Repealed</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">)</span></span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">FARMING</span></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices/Animal Welfare Rule (<b>Repealed</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Farmer Fair Practice Rule (Scope of Anti-Competitive Practices) (<b>Repealed</b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">)</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Donald Trump's, New Year Tweet:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA! 2019 WILL BE A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR THOSE NOT SUFFERING FROM TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.. JUST CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE RIDE, GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR OUR COUNTRY!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trump's "champagne" bottle as no bottom. </span></div>
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-44779087853543103482018-12-23T19:38:00.002-08:002018-12-23T19:38:41.075-08:00No, Evangelicals, This will Not Happen: An Open Letter to Trump's Most Rabid Supporters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUqrqs7zvGFHXaQohIKqK9wRC3ijUmFMd3ueqHVSX-cPrb_QhUQUJX5eFjmAFUI8Na-CP0A8BAIygLhlwJ-65cSJGEzUD3bkqCo30J3GXsE2CWgVkGo_QHVhVZJ826O3owly8Gf4vdCvk/s1600/imageedit__2265932876.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="247" data-original-width="330" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUqrqs7zvGFHXaQohIKqK9wRC3ijUmFMd3ueqHVSX-cPrb_QhUQUJX5eFjmAFUI8Na-CP0A8BAIygLhlwJ-65cSJGEzUD3bkqCo30J3GXsE2CWgVkGo_QHVhVZJ826O3owly8Gf4vdCvk/s320/imageedit__2265932876.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Dear Rabid Trump Supporters (75% white Evangelicals):</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Yes, the image of Donald Trump as the Baby Jesus is incredibly blasphemous, but, then again, so are you. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Making Trump The “<u>Chosen One</u>” is the next step to deifying a man who has lied consistently and made bullsh*t his raison de etre. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>With Mueller’s team closing in and the media exposing his lies (“I’m a self-made billionaire”, “I have no ties to Russia”, “There was no collusion”). With Trump childishly shutting down government for a Border Wall the majority of Americans do not care about. With Trump’s playing the Christian Right for a fool (“Nobody reads the Bible more than I do”). With these and any crimes he has committed, the only line of defense for you, to twist yourselves into knots over, may be to make him the Second Son of God. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>“The Chosen One” has worn thin, unless in choosing Trump, God’s as bad at vetting as the Republican Party. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Please, This year’s-long betrayal of Christianity, this insult to God’s integrity must stop. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>And it will stop. As this Presidential Aberration continues to be revealed as a semi-literate grifter mouthing words you want to hear, you will be laughed at and scorned for not seeing the man as he really is/was for over 2 years. And, as Mark Twain said, “Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>In his wake, You may not get the “<u>Seven Mountains</u>” chance to overtake the government (unless, of course, Mike Pence openly does your bidding which the House of Representatives may have something to say about). </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>You may not succeed in abolishing gay rights or abortion, even with “beer-bro” Kavanaugh on the Bench because fallout from Trump’s antics have given pause to the tattered GOP. It may listen to your ministers on a local level, but on a broader and more reasonable scale, the support for your agenda will be weakened. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>You may see other countries respecting us again for ousting a man who was laughed at by the U.N., and managed to offend our allies (do we have any left?). You may even see the world breath a sigh of relief that some form of sanity and development dignity will be restored to the U.S. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>You may even see people who are willing to strive for “Peace in Earth” without depending on the mercurial whims of a narcissistic fool. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Of course you will again be like a wounded tiger as you were during the Obama Administration, but how many wounds can a tiger take before it succumbs to death? </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>The only Christmas Miracle we can hope for at this point is that you come to your senses and realize that in supporting Trump, you sold your Christian soul in return for your agenda: a Christian Only nation, abortion-less , gay-less and blessed by God in its isolation, with only missionaries venturing out to save the rest of the Godless world. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>This miracle is a fantasy, to be sure, more impossible than not. So we can only ask of you on Christmas Day, when you are sitting in your pews and praying for Donald Trump, to PLEASE pause and ask yourself if you’re praying for a man Christianity wants or if you’re praying for the man himself. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>While commemorating the Birth of Christ should you be honoring such a man with your prayers? </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Such a pause is not too much to ask, is it? </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Look at it this way: excluding Trump from your prayers may be the first step in saving you Christian soul. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Just a thought. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Merry Christmas. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>PS: I do not normally take so strident and politically motivated a stance on Christmas, but rest assured that I do hope for “Peace On Earth Good Will Towards Men” for everyone.</i></b></span></div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YDcB5GNwo-w" width="560"></iframe>DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-36858168026466899492018-07-16T00:13:00.000-07:002018-07-16T00:13:10.695-07:00Dealing With Discouragement In A Trumpian World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Take A Break</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In Donald Trump's world, there are only winners and losers. He's made that very clear his entire life. And while not everyone can be a winner in his world, we cannot afford to be losers in ours. Losers being the ones who give up and who are too discouraged to go on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"If we give up, he's won," said the boss of a non-profit environment venture I work for. This was said after a particular trying day, when we discovered that homeless people had camped out in our garden and trashed a great deal of it. It was worse than a natural disaster, because we couldn't quite conceive of the motives, but we set about replanting and taking stock of things, hoping that it wouldn't happen again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trying not to be discouraged, however, is very hard work. Harder work than replenishing a garden after its been trashed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sometimes we need a break from this hard work. Not giving in, mind you, but just taking a break from the world at large and its Donald Trumps (yes, there are more than one - aaagh!). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For the last six months, my break has been in a garden of my own, not on my own property, but in back of my building where I and my husband rent an apartment. Many mornings have been spent hauling river rocks from a ravine, afternoons have been used for plantings, watering, building and design. Last year, my efforts won an award from San Francisco Beautiful, not solely because of the garden, but because its elements have been used in community-building where I live. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Six years in creation (by myself) have led to a peaceful and even magical sanctuary for my neighbors. It has definitely helped to keep me from being too discouraged and giving in by giving me periodic rests. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">OK. Rest period is over. Now back to writing about this discouraging Trumpian world of ours. </span></div>
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<br />DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-13537188366763664062018-02-27T23:46:00.000-08:002018-02-27T23:46:16.290-08:00 Humiliator-in-Chief: It All Comes Down To Power, Money, and Unbridled Misogyny <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbGvQ-Q3YWkDoeecVwoTHDv87FXdbd7YgvM8rQqWwYi8zludrH_rpK8jQe_FfuFld8LfwApebbXnN9M8YHjPgq0QvWp9fy8FZVG3pCzQhkc1383VexqXjzJ8YYRvp8COVPcSR9FrH6ekV/s1600/imageedit_10_9904752366.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="480" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbGvQ-Q3YWkDoeecVwoTHDv87FXdbd7YgvM8rQqWwYi8zludrH_rpK8jQe_FfuFld8LfwApebbXnN9M8YHjPgq0QvWp9fy8FZVG3pCzQhkc1383VexqXjzJ8YYRvp8COVPcSR9FrH6ekV/s320/imageedit_10_9904752366.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>"This is not the man I know."</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Those words from Melania Trump were to define her role as the wife of a known philanderer. Were they disingenuous? Probably. The woman reading the script was determined to convey the message, but not forcefully so. People immediately began to wonder what the Trumps' relationship was really like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now bits and pieces of the picture are coming to light ... brought to us by scandal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Giving Trump a "Mulligan"</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Christian Right brushed aside the Stormy Daniels affair in characteristic fashion: "It was a long time ago. He's definitely changed." They might add: "... and he's going in the direction we want."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Tony Perkins of the Values Voter Summit and far-right hate group Family Research Council says the Christian Right in effect gave Trump a"do-over":</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/Perkins%20knows%20about%20Stormy%20Daniels,%20the%20porn%20actress%20who%20claimed,%20in%20a%202011%20interview,%20that%20in%202006%20she%20had%20sex%20with%20Trump%20four%20months%20after%20his%20wife,%20Melania,%20gave%20birth%20to%20their%20son,%20Barron.%20He%20knows%20of%20the%20reports%20that%20Daniels%20(real%20name:%20Stephanie%20Clifford)%20was%20paid%20off%20to%20keep%20the%20affair%20quiet%20in%20the%20waning%20weeks%20of%20the%202016%20election.%20He%20knows%20about%20the%20cursing,%20the%20lewdness%20and%20the%20litany%20of%20questionable%20behavior%20over%20the%20past%20year%20of%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20life%20or%20the%2070%20that%20came%20before%20it.%20%20%E2%80%9CWe%20kind%20of%20gave%20him%E2%80%94%E2%80%98All%20right,%20you%20get%20a%20mulligan.%20You%20get%20a%20do-over%20here,%E2%80%99%E2%80%9D%20Perkins%20told%20me%20in%20an%20interview%20for%20the%20latest%20episode%20of%20POLITICO%E2%80%99s%20Off%20Message%20podcast." target="_blank">Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico</a>:</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Perkins knows about Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who claimed, in a 2011 interview, that in 2006 she had sex with Trump four months after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son, Barron. He knows of the reports that Daniels (real name: Stephanie Clifford) was paid off to keep the affair quiet in the waning weeks of the 2016 election. He knows about the cursing, the lewdness and the litany of questionable behavior over the past year of Trump’s life or the 70 that came before it.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“We kind of gave him—‘All right, you get a mulligan. You get a do-over here,’” Perkins told me in an interview for the latest episode of POLITICO’s Off Message podcast.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The Bunny Hop</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“No paper trails for him,” she wrote. “In fact, every time I flew to meet him, I booked/paid for flight + hotel + he reimbursed me.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Former <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-a-playboy-model-and-a-system-for-concealing-infidelity-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal" target="_blank">Playmate Karen McDougal </a>a man obsessed with his image and keeping their affair quiet. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">She also told how obsessed he was with women:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>During the Lake Tahoe tournament, McDougal and Trump had sex, she wrote. He also allegedly began a sexual relationship with Clifford [Stormy Daniels] at the event. ... Another adult-film actress, whose screen name is Alana Evans, claimed that Trump invited her to join them in his hotel room that weekend. A third adult-film performer, known as Jessica Drake, alleged that Trump asked her to his hotel room, met her and two women she brought with her in pajamas, and then “grabbed each of us tightly in a hug and kissed each one of us without asking for permission.” He then offered Drake ten thousand dollars in exchange for her company. (Trump denied the incident.) A week after the golf tournament, McDougal joined Trump at the fifty-fifth Miss Universe contest, in Los Angeles. She sat near him, and later attended an after-party where she met celebrities. Trump also set aside tickets for Clifford, as he did at a later vodka launch that both women attended.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Having so many women in tow at the same time must have been an ego-booster.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And now this</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As far back as November of 2002, Trump's penchant for picking the final ten (and the winner) in the Miss Universe Contest he owned, became evident when he pressured judges to pick Miss Russia as the winner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>“According to an individual with firsthand knowledge of the judging of the 2002 Miss Universe pageant, Trump tried to rig the outcome of the international contest to award the prestigious ‘Miss Universe’ title to Vladimir Putin’s then-mistress, Oxana Fedorova,”</i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Oxana Fedorova was, at the time, rumored to be the mistress of non other than Vladimir Putin.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In his article, "<i>Ten Reasons Why Evangelical Christians Can No Longer Stand With Donald Trump</i>," <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/ten-reasons-evangelical-christians-withdraw-support-donald-trump-guns-florida-a8214616.html" target="_blank">David Usborne</a> posits that the Evangelical Christian Right will finally cave in to morality in the light of recent scandals, but will they? The myriad number of excuses, "mulligans" and bizarrely contorted theological explanations have taken hold in that community and may last for years. To date, there is no response to the McDougal/Playboy Bunny affair, but such convoluted reasoning may take time to emerge.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Whither Melania?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The woman who never wanted to be First Lady has not spoken publicly about the scandals let alone the humiliation. Living with a black hole of dignity and integrity for so many years, one wonders if her distance from Trump is more the result of countless such situations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Melania Trump has always been first and foremost a loyal, submissive trophy wife. Donald Trump has power over her; he owns her. To please him, his characterizations of any scandal as fake news must be taken without reservation. It is strange, therefore, that the Christian Right hardly ever focuses on this dutiful wife. There are no pastors rushing to counsel her in her time of stress.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Having lived with a man who used women shamelessly to further business interests, who lied to her time after time about his many infidelities, who demands the utmost loyalty, who used his power over lawyers and tabloids to cover up affairs with "<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/16/media/trump-catch-and-kill/index.html" target="_blank">catch and kill</a>" tactics, we have to ask:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In distancing herself, is Melania Trump really acting on her own? WILL she ever act on her own?</span><br />
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-34401134654482202062017-12-20T01:50:00.000-08:002017-12-20T01:51:51.950-08:00Peace on Earth? Good Will Towards Men? 2017 Was The Antithesis Of The Christmas Spirit. Thanks, Mr. President. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13.0pt;">7 Days until Christmas. 8 Days
until we're bombarded with reminders of what 2017 brought. Certainly no "Peace on earth nor "Good Will toward Men. "Retrospects" of the year’s events will abound, and for most
Americans the pictures won’t be pretty. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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This week may be a time for people to slow down, look inward, meditate <i>before</i> the
onslaught of memories of the year. This is especially true for people in
the LGBTQ, Muslim, immigrant, Hispanic and African American Communities.
Actually for people in any vulnerable group. And the Year of Trump has created a lot of vulnerable communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13.0pt;"><br />“Peace on Earth”? "Good Will Towards Men”? These Americans have
to make their own Christmas sentiments because they cannot in all conscience join Trump's America for Christmas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13.0pt;">To be more direct: There is
absolutely no way one could link those phrases to a Trump Christmas. From before last Christmas, when Trump almost single-handedly erased 50 years of U.S.- China relations with a diplomatic blunder worthy of Dan Quayle. Peace on earth? ...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13.0pt;">through internal bickering and
firings. petty tweets, lies and deceit, to an air thick with treason and corruption polluting the Presidency- Good will
towards men? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13.0pt;">This Presidency, this
political aberration is a mockery to Christmas and the true Christmas spirit.(
Link to old article)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;">Of course, Christmas </span><i style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 13pt;">is</i><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;">
bright- for the gullible and believers in Trump’s fantasy. For the Alt Right
and White supremicists who’ve never such a forceful “voice” befor. For the
Christian Right who envision abortion and gay rights </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;">fading </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;">from </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;">their </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 17.3333px;">worldview/Christofascist</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;"> </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;"> </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13pt;">spectrum of self-righteousness. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13.0pt;">For all others, the
brightness, the joy, the altruism of Christmas must be scaled back, must go
inward, must be more quiet. Yes, it must recede into its own shell so that it can emerge clear and bright (and even a bit tacky/glittery) in the New Year. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody"; font-size: 13.0pt;">My husband stand and I believe
in what you might call “snuggle therapy”: we hold our bodies close and together
for a long time and sometimes we whisper “you and me against the world”. We
wanted our Christmas angel-bear tree ornaments to reflect snuggling instead of
kissing, but it would have been difficult to position them on the
tree without looking like they were doing something else. But notice that they are definitely focusing on each other while engulfed in the glitz of what could be a metaphor for a Trump Christmas.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody";"><span style="font-size: 17.3333px;">Maybe American communities need a form of "snuggle therapy" this Christmas: holding themselves closer, quieter. Sheltering themselves. Observing (but not necessarily participating in) the raucous - and fake - Trump Christmas. Meditating upon the past year. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: "uictfonttextstylebody";"><span style="font-size: 17.3333px;">Healing.</span></span></div>
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While meditating on 2017, HOPE should still be an element. Many of Trump's supporters are finally waking up to the fact that Trump and his administration <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/trump-2017-approval-least-popular-750461" target="_blank">are nothing like what they thought it would be</a>. HOPE has always been a powerful coping mechanism. In my case, for example, it can divert the angst over the year with some humor, so here's my Christmas wish for 2018:<br />
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Since Trump has decreed that there will be more visits to the Moon - "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2017/jul/03/buzz-aldrin-faces-trump-speech-space-video" target="_blank">What would we do without space?</a>" - what better Christmas present for him next year than to make him the first person to colonize it? With an attractive plan to build a hotel/casino/golf course and, of course, a boutique for Ivanka, he would make a killing!<br />
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And the sweetest thing about this gift: we could send The Donald off with a blessing:<br />
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"May God bless and keep you, Mr. President -far away from us!*<br />
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7 DAYS<br />
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This week, individuals, families, whole communities should practice their forms of "snuggle therapy" by being as close to each other as possible. And safe, for the time being, from the onslaught of "retrospectives" and thoughts of more ugly scenes to come.<br />
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This following video Christmas card was produced primarily for the immediate neighborhood and friends, featuring a Garden everyone views as a community-builder. From the Meditation Station to the acrylic rock heart, it is looked upon as a sanctuary - a place of peace and reflection. It represents the Christmas spirit all year round. It is our building;s "snuggle therapy." Notice that the Christmas tree is lacking a star on top - that's because the true light of Christmas comes from within.<br />
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It serves as my Christmas card to everyone.<br />
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<br />
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* a line borrowed from Fiddler on the Roof the story of which has some odd parallels to our present situation.DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-30731179079421556272017-10-30T11:14:00.002-07:002017-10-30T11:14:45.318-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-28945952434224531152017-09-21T07:40:00.000-07:002017-09-21T07:40:41.612-07:00Saturday: The Apocalypse. Sunday: Gays To Celebrate With A Street Fair And Beer Bust!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVQEWOT06SUmE5_mkFIGt3VyHis2AF21DiYB1MNZGlSsGRwRYeA_p_W-bXZWJWYNOjidDTx3sbF0QcqU9HIZQVfElxE94hDZsD1I0guNzGDMMgZYrhKT2_ZY-yGdJL6xyt-xL_kwnRotDg/s1600/Beginning+of+the+End.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="798" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVQEWOT06SUmE5_mkFIGt3VyHis2AF21DiYB1MNZGlSsGRwRYeA_p_W-bXZWJWYNOjidDTx3sbF0QcqU9HIZQVfElxE94hDZsD1I0guNzGDMMgZYrhKT2_ZY-yGdJL6xyt-xL_kwnRotDg/s400/Beginning+of+the+End.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrJkCuHdV9wI9BfKJfcqaCbyJ8mXK4pynQfnB9C9Lmf7F2D_HcJqiX2W0-QNv6EDAp1VZkrlF5Lrq0VWKrdJNMY7kzx7-0-TUUU1y64o7Da0DiAmqg3Ri-EyFCdHKbtxhs0yb29vBf-je6/s1600/Gay+Disaster+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="869" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrJkCuHdV9wI9BfKJfcqaCbyJ8mXK4pynQfnB9C9Lmf7F2D_HcJqiX2W0-QNv6EDAp1VZkrlF5Lrq0VWKrdJNMY7kzx7-0-TUUU1y64o7Da0DiAmqg3Ri-EyFCdHKbtxhs0yb29vBf-je6/s320/Gay+Disaster+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><b>God's going gay for the Apocalypse</b><br />Taking a break from Trump Messiah sycophant-ism the "prophets" of the Christian Right are warning of Saturday's coming Apocalypse. <br /><br /><b><a href="https://www.opednews.com/articles/God-s-Ambulance-Chasers-Di-by-Rev-Dan-Vojir-110830-34.html">God's Ambulance Chasers</a> are changing course</b><br />Far from following in the footsteps of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson* (the original Christofascist blame-the-gays theorists), today's Apocalyptic ministers have changed from merely raining bibles on disaster victims to connecting the Armageddon dots, forming a picture of a God totally pissed that anyone, any country would do something so abominable as accept gay marriage<br /><br />And considering that disasters like hurricanes Katrina and Harvey have been blamed almost exclusively on the LGBT community, it's gonna be a very GAY Apocalypse.<br /><br />There will be ...<br /><br />Gay floods<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg33t9C15ZOjIe5znJv-hcptNNKVAtNxJOw7OpPLA0Ty9qP-l3p_9cwVwVHesqbU-kaNKzcmoNsxBbJlr8BsGyW678S3_vuQh-vhzgTURiC7ETnE8OUGlrrkWtgcmqW2W3qLhJn7jIHyE_1/s1600/Gay+Disaster+1+-+Copy.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg33t9C15ZOjIe5znJv-hcptNNKVAtNxJOw7OpPLA0Ty9qP-l3p_9cwVwVHesqbU-kaNKzcmoNsxBbJlr8BsGyW678S3_vuQh-vhzgTURiC7ETnE8OUGlrrkWtgcmqW2W3qLhJn7jIHyE_1/s320/Gay+Disaster+1+-+Copy.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Gay <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/05/italian-priest-blames-earthquakes-on-gay-civil-unions">earthquakes</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8-OwwAF1YaY3EHj6hjnL4oVNLpdIXGgbzKmNz90tcKsFM1JcmaD8ckuh_54L_q2dCvGHmt1l1_tj_83YLxgg9NbNhoy2_C3tRhp1aQOxsZ9Jd5De3lYUuxwLR2iOzXDUm9uXXEPZzOf4/s1600/gay+disaster+5+.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8-OwwAF1YaY3EHj6hjnL4oVNLpdIXGgbzKmNz90tcKsFM1JcmaD8ckuh_54L_q2dCvGHmt1l1_tj_83YLxgg9NbNhoy2_C3tRhp1aQOxsZ9Jd5De3lYUuxwLR2iOzXDUm9uXXEPZzOf4/s320/gay+disaster+5+.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br />Gay<a href="http://govtslaves.info/worlds-worst-tornado-came-one-day-after-ok-began-gay-pride-week-parade/"> tornadoes</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCjXOODopq9-KjjsZB5tQ3e3g2vkO5WlSf7WY_P-nbnRWPa1RcNs2rIEHJsQ_PPWkc9lo_NG166a8s3dRvSDMw55zJtXC3sYFiQZktpTSCjJaDLYohrc9CVDkGFD0u-hynyBSD4ru6XQJ/s1600/gay+disaster+4.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCjXOODopq9-KjjsZB5tQ3e3g2vkO5WlSf7WY_P-nbnRWPa1RcNs2rIEHJsQ_PPWkc9lo_NG166a8s3dRvSDMw55zJtXC3sYFiQZktpTSCjJaDLYohrc9CVDkGFD0u-hynyBSD4ru6XQJ/s320/gay+disaster+4.jpg" /></a><br /><br />And, of course, Gay volcanic eruptions!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUuyomp49PHqSLwCgWIWpAxs-nDqUTbbVcpkK_A1llCF66bJX7fCN5enzAV88_f3xTRtzEkyqcU7nTdxJLn7HDWpx4dbqyuGRzlW92Ap3OJCwuZ5ne9bKZLM2cNeBUsCLbVFDUAg-VOgJb/s1600/Gay+Disaster+2+-+Copy.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUuyomp49PHqSLwCgWIWpAxs-nDqUTbbVcpkK_A1llCF66bJX7fCN5enzAV88_f3xTRtzEkyqcU7nTdxJLn7HDWpx4dbqyuGRzlW92Ap3OJCwuZ5ne9bKZLM2cNeBUsCLbVFDUAg-VOgJb/s320/Gay+Disaster+2+-+Copy.jpg" /></a><br /><br />The signs have already been in place:</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />- a rash of major hurricanes!<br /><br />- Planet X/Nibiru has been seen hurtling toward us through space by millions thousands hundreds tens of people !<br /><br />- San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair is the DAY AFTER!<br /><br />- Fox News <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/hannity-addresses-time-slot-change-challenges-viewers-to-beat-conspiracy-theory-tv-msnbc/">changes Sean Hannity</a>'s time slot to be opposite Rachel Maddow!<br /><br />- Robert Mueller <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-09-18/robert-mueller-likely-has-donald-trumps-tax-returns">has Trump's tax returns</a>!<br /><br /><b>It's Nibiru, stupid!</b><br />Theories abound in YouTube with dozens of "updates" (average number of views - an astounding 250) and signs ranging from homeless genocide to "sightings" are scattered like dandelion puffs across the internet.<br /></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />The science behind Nibiru might seem a tad secular, but look deeper into the YouTube uploads and you'll see God lurking around. The comments are a testament to man's blessed skepticism:<br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> - It's time for us to stop believing bullshit jus cos a mofucker tell u bullshit wiv a straight look on their face</i></span></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- OLD SHIT FOR NEW MONEY</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> - i am glad to see that you dont have any subscribes... rlly. I am not negative perons who want worse for others, but this bullshit cant spread anymore</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- For anyone who believes this stuff... WILL YOU PLEASE GIVE ME 1,000 dollars so I can go have fun with my wife for a few days before Nibiru gets here? </span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The date of September 23rd is also a magnate for armchair Armageddon freaks: the alignment of the moon, sun and planets have alarmed <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4887222/Biblical-prophecy-predicts-Rapture-September-23.html">"rapture" believers and exorcists</a>. <br /><br />Of course,the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4887222/Biblical-prophecy-predicts-Rapture-September-23.html">Mexico City quake</a> is fueling the bullshit fires. So far, God's ambulance chasers are ominously (but respectfully) silent. Just wait. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Pope Francis, of course, is having none of it: several years ago, after a quake in Italy was attributed to civil unions by a local pastor on radio:<br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The radio station <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/05/italian-priest-blames-earthquakes-on-gay-civil-unions">distanced itself from Cavalcoli’s</a> views and the Vatican has issued a stinging rebuke, saying the idea of a vengeful God was “a pagan vision” dating from “the pre-Christian era”.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Archbishop Angelo Becciu, number two in the Vatican’s powerful secretariat of state, said Cavalcoli’s comments were “offensive to believers and disgraceful for non-believers”.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>A</i>lignment of the planets, Nibiru or an angry God, God's Ambulance Chasers have to blame someone, anyone else for the Apocalypse. Gays are the easy target. <br /><br /><br />Postcript:<br /><br />Remember Harold Camping?<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3BBNw6ZVRMnxRdv840IxBKK0AQEgcRozcVsB6inG2h2ZpLIo3qjoc7HBvlkYbOqjodEzkmaO_Iq5eKFcARxEvE0WmG5ocCMSAD4li__qqlOD5EzxxkxY1uyOTqoOoggz1A9e7Yt8C9uT/s1600/Rapture+Kitty.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3BBNw6ZVRMnxRdv840IxBKK0AQEgcRozcVsB6inG2h2ZpLIo3qjoc7HBvlkYbOqjodEzkmaO_Iq5eKFcARxEvE0WmG5ocCMSAD4li__qqlOD5EzxxkxY1uyOTqoOoggz1A9e7Yt8C9uT/s320/Rapture+Kitty.jpg" /></a><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>"God has given sooo much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all. - Harold Camping</i></b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It didn't. <br /><br />See you at the Fair on the 24th.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs4xZG_Hegzrf9APVnOQ9zT2HETkFKjbAbvDiB4USCasKBGAyZr7CBjNJ_zu58vVk1pdGiZz9CRBQk1zlphv2e0WHx76theVhTztCAZ1NGbjtMqB_OyHuj_dDC9g2sU8N88UMeu0D3O7O9/s1600/folsom+street+fair+2017.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs4xZG_Hegzrf9APVnOQ9zT2HETkFKjbAbvDiB4USCasKBGAyZr7CBjNJ_zu58vVk1pdGiZz9CRBQk1zlphv2e0WHx76theVhTztCAZ1NGbjtMqB_OyHuj_dDC9g2sU8N88UMeu0D3O7O9/s320/folsom+street+fair+2017.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><i>*Robertson warned Orlando, FL of a meteor striking it in retribution for Disnesy World's Gay Day.</i></span></div>
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-52723498970934094832017-09-11T23:40:00.001-07:002017-09-11T23:40:10.816-07:00A Quest For Community - One Attempt To Create A Community In San Franci...<br /><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: red;">his is just a little effort compared to the greatness that is community-building, but it is nonetheless sincere. </span></b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;">Using a garden to form togetherness and alliances with neighbors is certainly nothing new, but if you live in a large urban area, you know the challenges something like this can come up against.</b></span><br /><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;">So far, this is still a secret among immediate locals. It is a sanctuary, a spot for meditation, a welcome place for intimate get-togethers ... and for dreaming. It's slated for demolition in a year or so, and must be taken advantage of by people soon. </b></span><br /><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;">I might include it in a longer post in my own blog.</b></span><br /><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;">Please enjoy it. Comments and suggestions (and yes, criticisms) are welcome.</b></span><br /><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;">Dan Vojir</b></span><br /><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;">Parkmerced resident</b></span><br /><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dY-Zsdc59GU" width="459"></iframe>DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-58260814087905422082017-07-25T08:49:00.000-07:002017-09-11T22:35:01.897-07:00The Miseries of the M: Cursed, Incompetant, or just plain Sadistic? <div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Miseries if the M</b></div>
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<b><br />OR How I Experienced MUNI's Torquemada </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /> After I read the notice about MUNI's new metro trains the only thing that came to mind was that however bright and spiffy the cars would look, the M line would still be the M line. <br /><br />The M, by the way, stands for MISERABLE. <br /><br />Today (maybe the M line was celebrating 9/11?):<br /><br />2:55PM: the M was running late as usual, but the crowd at the 19th and Holloway platform was enormous, indicating that it was VERY late. It took 20 minutes for it to arrive (after the digital display said 11 minutes). I would venture to guess that there were more than 120 people packed in the three car train. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br />After arriving (slowly) at West Portal Ave., we were told that we were being dumped off (ahem, "transferred") at West Portal, then were told to get off half a block away from the station. It was obvious that the driver was told to turn back to "get back on his schedule" totally disregarding ours. Then we waited another 8 minutes for another train - which turned out to be an M.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br />Late trains filled with disgruntled riders seem to be the raison d'etre for the M line. So do dump-offs, M trains suddenly turned into shuttles - or Ls or Ks and the attitude that M riders are somewhat second class. These and other maladies of the M have made it the darling of ... Uber. <br /><br />MUNI's excuses abound:<br /><br />Traffic? Door malfunction? Body on the tracks leftover from previous train? <br /><br />Who cares? We've heard them all - the countless excuses have numbed us: we can't believe anything remotely rational. <br /><br />After experiencing years of this kind of frustration, after years of being dumped off at West Portal both inbound and outbound, hundreds of missed appointments, watching numbers on the GPS boards bounce around like lottery balls, scurrying to catch makeshift shuttles when the Line was shut down, and getting stuck in the tunnel, I was forced to come to this conclusion: the M line is maliciously making its riders miserable. <br /><br />The M, in other words, runs on sadism. <br /><br />I've compiled instances with photos giving evidence that M riders are definitely treated with disdain: the "miseries" show that times between M trains are greater than between Ks or Ls and in some instances unbelievable. <br /><br />Once while waiting at the Castro St station for the M outbound, the board declared "32 minutes" , then, in the space of twenty minutes, THREE almost empty Ks and THREE almost empty Ls came by. <br /><br />Insultingly sadistic. <br /><br />Annotated photos of MUNI's gps displays tell the plight of M riders and their daily miseries. <br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeRr3qffgLro4f_6qzOs1eDmuMZ1_sR7ivSWEeK9B7QOqDU1LAcUAnDifnyXId0uys2X_OUcDUFXfI0HHrBeVV5APY1RaZTotTKOR6V8KFW-6uIk-3XCbUL9D8x2nNrzTFwOL3Sln9Cn1O/s1600/Miseries+5.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeRr3qffgLro4f_6qzOs1eDmuMZ1_sR7ivSWEeK9B7QOqDU1LAcUAnDifnyXId0uys2X_OUcDUFXfI0HHrBeVV5APY1RaZTotTKOR6V8KFW-6uIk-3XCbUL9D8x2nNrzTFwOL3Sln9Cn1O/s1600/Miseries+5.jpg" /></a><br /><br />A not uncommon sight: longer waits for outbound passengers. (And no, an M had not just left the station)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyaxNEzy4tf0XASMl33b9rnuTkisRkXRLQvxggl_pHnfb6RVnt-Gh6lL3UA6N9rMKobGI2k7Jzq89ga2UWxLpRALNgFHbyIas2pkJun3uKDBur832gDnu1pMaeYIuN-p5z4KTDKmqts1yG/s1600/Miseries+3.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyaxNEzy4tf0XASMl33b9rnuTkisRkXRLQvxggl_pHnfb6RVnt-Gh6lL3UA6N9rMKobGI2k7Jzq89ga2UWxLpRALNgFHbyIas2pkJun3uKDBur832gDnu1pMaeYIuN-p5z4KTDKmqts1yG/s200/Miseries+3.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Another example: The K had just left, so this K was still arriving sooner than the M. At 11:00AM? Standing at the station for 27 minutes while Ks and Ls stop by is not a fun pastime. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpmvaWhGlsAEHlWW3o6AvI5r7KiWJ2s3YYzdffFNd11IWNiibqkB6rZAStKNofdRc5zgV3giR3CbVVUd5_0NfOmPF8ZaWKlEb74B2QtEFVIBo0JEpWFtlADEDsc4vPlgwwUpRFLJmMpPaS/s1600/Miseries+1.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpmvaWhGlsAEHlWW3o6AvI5r7KiWJ2s3YYzdffFNd11IWNiibqkB6rZAStKNofdRc5zgV3giR3CbVVUd5_0NfOmPF8ZaWKlEb74B2QtEFVIBo0JEpWFtlADEDsc4vPlgwwUpRFLJmMpPaS/s200/Miseries+1.jpg" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Rush hour: knowing that this particular M is too be packed (because it's late), getting on an outgoing M may take another 30 minutes. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFNMs_z9LLtSF7_8yEzH3OP_RFn_WUUIV8_KtwseIu2DbYTsm2TbIIWgRqxfw6GRJwdsWKeHQASw3wAaennknzxpikVXlfNpCKVYbDdbeXjJACVSo6gzNaltobaDYxShv2YnSN_ZUh_WCH/s1600/Miseries+7.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFNMs_z9LLtSF7_8yEzH3OP_RFn_WUUIV8_KtwseIu2DbYTsm2TbIIWgRqxfw6GRJwdsWKeHQASw3wAaennknzxpikVXlfNpCKVYbDdbeXjJACVSo6gzNaltobaDYxShv2YnSN_ZUh_WCH/s320/Miseries+7.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwyy28rlt4YnT5-zBdF9rR-TNdgsDuo6juTYsvrKLRI0jBrh-Tynfd0e5J8gbDiMhwf9xDKfeUGRJDEVd4zXtJla9aU9Xl2Rr9SKJiEAl9gGqRGcTmX3cphTHig6TTIjhwoTD1FNavgiKj/s1600/Miseries+13.jpg"></a><br /><br />Outbound at the Powell station. In the span of those 7 minutes, 2 Ns 2Ks 3Js passed. Also: both the L and the K were changed from other trains and arrived at Powell within 2 minutes. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwyy28rlt4YnT5-zBdF9rR-TNdgsDuo6juTYsvrKLRI0jBrh-Tynfd0e5J8gbDiMhwf9xDKfeUGRJDEVd4zXtJla9aU9Xl2Rr9SKJiEAl9gGqRGcTmX3cphTHig6TTIjhwoTD1FNavgiKj/s1600/Miseries+13.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwyy28rlt4YnT5-zBdF9rR-TNdgsDuo6juTYsvrKLRI0jBrh-Tynfd0e5J8gbDiMhwf9xDKfeUGRJDEVd4zXtJla9aU9Xl2Rr9SKJiEAl9gGqRGcTmX3cphTHig6TTIjhwoTD1FNavgiKj/s320/Miseries+13.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Notice the ridiculous inbound number. Look at the blank K inbound and it's number outbound. Truly someone has it in for the K almost as much as the M.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br />This time.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwlWm5QRoxShoLpri26vG2MHaN-hUGqFExBe4HQBNvqf-WGHp7v1g_QJIYbfgK5NafU83ClZ8_QTfeDNlqyON2Z8xJ47i9mYA_paEkd_WeQcDhG9uZrkrh30MmPaxu3F2nLFCvnYICeO0o/s1600/Miseries+9.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwlWm5QRoxShoLpri26vG2MHaN-hUGqFExBe4HQBNvqf-WGHp7v1g_QJIYbfgK5NafU83ClZ8_QTfeDNlqyON2Z8xJ47i9mYA_paEkd_WeQcDhG9uZrkrh30MmPaxu3F2nLFCvnYICeO0o/s1600/Miseries+9.jpg" /></a><br /><br />10 minutes ago at Civic Center a station an M was scheduled to arrive in 2 minutes. Took the L to a west Portal where the M says 9 minutes.<br /> <br />M in 9 minutes, right? Except it's not an M, it's a shuttle. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWWZlVzPnB9jZHZ8K3Jg7lSm-6NfgnXmTFcRCuXkjwxKmqD-WD8X1ScO9inhvZRyaCCkbawYAOlwUXqQcWB8TYw_CkIOlmE0aqr7vHdSD-pJiXjYhj-WKCZJyStwJ7V2MbrXmUXD09Lxox/s1600/Miseries+8.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWWZlVzPnB9jZHZ8K3Jg7lSm-6NfgnXmTFcRCuXkjwxKmqD-WD8X1ScO9inhvZRyaCCkbawYAOlwUXqQcWB8TYw_CkIOlmE0aqr7vHdSD-pJiXjYhj-WKCZJyStwJ7V2MbrXmUXD09Lxox/s320/Miseries+8.jpg" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Translation: without riders given any lead time, that M was turned into I a "Castro Shuttle" (probably at Montgomery) people who board at Embarcadero or Montgomery may have no idea that they are only going to west portal, while the people at Civic center have no idea that the next M will be a shuttle. This happens frequently, frustrating M riders all the time - no apologies. <br /><br />A word about "dump offs" (as I call them): it seems that the M experiences more of these "transfers" than the K or the L. Outbound ones always add minutes of travel due to the fact that the next actual M might not arrive at West Portal for a while. Once, when the M turned into an L at the last minute, riders complained loudly when they saw only three people remaining on the newly minted L train. After a few choice words to a MUNI crew member, an outgoing L was turned into an M. All the while the crew member was laughing.<br /><br />During an inbound dump off at West Portal, I asked irately why? "They told me to turn around to get back on my schedule." Apparently M riders don't have any schedules of note. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br />I almost got snarky when a driver shouted "You'll have to get off. I'm going to the Zoo!" One the tip of my tongue to shout back "Oh dear! I hope your mother's OK!"<br /><br />May 27 3:45:<br /><br />19th and Holloway: M inbound just passed. Sign above: "Downtown- 11min" "LRV not running- take M ocean view bus"!!! WTF? 3:56 - M arrives. Confusion reigns.<br /><br />The gap says it all: note how far the M is FROM Castro station<br /><br />June 5 2:52PM 19th and Holloway - 3 (yes, 3!!) Ms spaced 2 minutes apart (?!) <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vwpw0msCcSycHDDWc8CJF2VTsgRlFYIew8xn1RXpmDUObI39ivoxyjJGxHh5bGKkbnR3SuFWUVuyIA8mRzEqsfNcIdA3Lhz4XaZ-G71fWu3q3YnxRkIS-74HzT7qV4Gt_iZq-cIonfd7/s1600/Miseries+12.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vwpw0msCcSycHDDWc8CJF2VTsgRlFYIew8xn1RXpmDUObI39ivoxyjJGxHh5bGKkbnR3SuFWUVuyIA8mRzEqsfNcIdA3Lhz4XaZ-G71fWu3q3YnxRkIS-74HzT7qV4Gt_iZq-cIonfd7/s320/Miseries+12.jpg" /></a><br /><br />7:34pm - 19th Holloway station: "M Balboa Park 7min and 9 min. M Downtown 10min and 35 min. Talk about erratic!! <br /><br /><br />6/8- Train #120648. Dumped off at West Portal and took a K. Driver made some bizarre remarks about a horse then whinnied! He left us with "And remember folks, MUNI loves you!!" Groans were audible. <br /><br /> An incredibly weird pile up of Ms WTF is going on 1, 2,3 maybe, but FOUR? Maybe one real M and three shuttles?<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUIvPboE0MWwUYCw6MYjRh3AX852nbHUKq-2EiuT9MZEpcNX17vyezs2Zqu0JxOrgSbwb90brfFVpLjmDbokj_G26VlVKbu5ORUaQt2NkIIzFaKn03i8xneaH4YW1yZ84b4Unl6QzA6Ka/s1600/IMG_5361.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUIvPboE0MWwUYCw6MYjRh3AX852nbHUKq-2EiuT9MZEpcNX17vyezs2Zqu0JxOrgSbwb90brfFVpLjmDbokj_G26VlVKbu5ORUaQt2NkIIzFaKn03i8xneaH4YW1yZ84b4Unl6QzA6Ka/s320/IMG_5361.JPG" /></a><br /><br />10:51 - 7/18/17 just now got on the M - waited on the platform 22 minutes while numbers on the digital display bounced around like balls in a lotto machine. <br /><br /> Conclusion:<br /><br />Well, I'd love to say, that's all, but it certainly isn't: These things happen to M riders on daily basis. Once, when MUNI got enough complaints, they posted rather flippant, unfunny notices for a meeting: "Is the crowded M crowding your style?" (showing a crowded car with one man obviously trying to cruise another man). The meeting consisted primarily of a "proposed" plan to make the entire M line underground. <br /><br />But, knowing the rate at which MUNI works, not in our lifetimes. <br /><br />We know that a slew of complaints will result in the usual sloughed off "sorry for the inconvenience" (I often think that's what they say to people they've just run over), and this rant is really no different, with the exception and it proves that M riders are definitely second class.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">The Sadistic M and its Torquemada</span><br /><br />As the saying goes "We might as well laugh at this or deserve it." My favorite pertinent quote is from Mark Twain: "Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand." So I've composed a little "Miseries of the M" video using Mel Brooks' "The Inquisition" song as a backdrop. I dubbed in Mel's voice with my own "It's the M Line" lyrics.</b></span><br />
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-52388590832092025482017-07-24T23:31:00.000-07:002017-07-24T23:31:02.984-07:00My Quest for Community<div align="center" class="yiv4200206233p1" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VWZKwulTncpsH2tgrghyKUJO1dtcyn4DiR5_cJRRqk0llhEpArkArGjc7SLL4OSITp61V-v8Zgors6gAFuPr2Qo44cGzOVIyL2h_tygTs8f6i3HdpWzpgrqBX9EF3y1EMVZbJsLbMo6s/s1600/050+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VWZKwulTncpsH2tgrghyKUJO1dtcyn4DiR5_cJRRqk0llhEpArkArGjc7SLL4OSITp61V-v8Zgors6gAFuPr2Qo44cGzOVIyL2h_tygTs8f6i3HdpWzpgrqBX9EF3y1EMVZbJsLbMo6s/s400/050+%2528800x600%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s1"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 24.0pt;">My</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 24.0pt;"> </span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233s1"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 24.0pt;">quest for community.</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 24.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">using
Faeries, a Buddha and an acrylic rock heart.</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">...
for starters</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It all started about 5 years ago after my
partner died of liver cancer. I had been planting flowers in my little 4x4 plot
in the community garden, but longed for a larger space, a more useful space.</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">One day I looked out the living room window
and saw an elderly lady carrying an enormous coil of hose towards bushes people
in the building knew were hers for many years.</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">She wasn't supposed to have a garden or plant
anything back there. This was a planned
residential community of over 3400 units and planting was limited to a small
community garden. But everyone looked the other way. </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">"Ok. If she can do it, so can
I". I spied a barren patch and got
to work.</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Like any unfettered project, the Garden
began to grow exponentially: a large red acrylic rock heart surrounded by
geraniums was followed by a "Faerie Portal", a " meditation
station", a CD player and speakers placed behind a large trellis, and a
birdhouse made almost entirely of branches from the echium bushes.</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD31we7y6mAngbtdpp8Ub6XyhH0PVtQ2JNexwwc0fItObFTxao44rW0OiNUIULiQlj_JTYD06bd0u9jK6oX_f2al19j1l-gbwJoHUKAA-2N79t6laKiAi0SilK1qJeWw-F4bYPbV_mmo8M/s1600/IMG_4232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1283" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD31we7y6mAngbtdpp8Ub6XyhH0PVtQ2JNexwwc0fItObFTxao44rW0OiNUIULiQlj_JTYD06bd0u9jK6oX_f2al19j1l-gbwJoHUKAA-2N79t6laKiAi0SilK1qJeWw-F4bYPbV_mmo8M/s200/IMG_4232.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71U1XWfAqkF4QecnF9M5Mq58MVdnZ44ZXlPJn0_C_nMH5K9hMrsCI8KTwYhDycwv8g0I136tEGQY6uE-44Mz0GrdqgWDJDvyhpV92T4ALGpJ2fVS8oRV7lBDdt0S138VIRxaffUR5n_Zt/s1600/IMG_5082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71U1XWfAqkF4QecnF9M5Mq58MVdnZ44ZXlPJn0_C_nMH5K9hMrsCI8KTwYhDycwv8g0I136tEGQY6uE-44Mz0GrdqgWDJDvyhpV92T4ALGpJ2fVS8oRV7lBDdt0S138VIRxaffUR5n_Zt/s200/IMG_5082.JPG" width="200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVCJnCYOLy2gho-GwAkh8Nw8swOnpV0BDeN9cIOgV2G7VUaF284XGCqWLHOOGWQjNgNq4vW_nDMju9A2_ixCAlQjIWGH2kEqLb6__fyhtzZtWY4DAbQS4d4Aa2r5R0nTvzK4ymOeK0iMNR/s1600/IMG_5633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVCJnCYOLy2gho-GwAkh8Nw8swOnpV0BDeN9cIOgV2G7VUaF284XGCqWLHOOGWQjNgNq4vW_nDMju9A2_ixCAlQjIWGH2kEqLb6__fyhtzZtWY4DAbQS4d4Aa2r5R0nTvzK4ymOeK0iMNR/s200/IMG_5633.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Oh, and a "Secret Sanctuary". And
an herb wheel. And Beatrice's Lovers</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Bench. And garden view seating.</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">And lights. Lots of lights.</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Building residents asked if the Garden had
any special significance. It didn't really, until I thought of a fulfilling
purpose: I called it <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The 50 Chumasero Memorial Garden - for
everyone who has lived and loved at 50 Chumasero.</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I wanted the diverse residents to consider
our building as a community.</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Diverse residential areas have come under
siege: no matter what location, people of every race, nationality, creed, and
sexual orientation need to protect each other from the vicissitudes of a
country becoming rife with hatred and violence.</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Garden has taken a good portion of six years to create and
has hosted events like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1it_TukyhsY" target="_blank">Valentine’ Day photo ops</a>, Easter egg hunts, Earth Day
and a children’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSSr96xQK-c" target="_blank">Great Butterfly Release</a>. And of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrDS3bi9fwY" target="_blank">Holidays</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Garden's Faeries have gotten into the
spirit of community with their latest effort: special lighting and music for
residents' birthdays. The results:</span></b></span><span class="yiv4200206233apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial";">Parkmerced Vision:</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "arial";">“…a really
thoughtful and creative way to approach building community. It’s very pleasing
to know that we have residents like you making grass root efforts. We stress
community both for the Vision and Parkmerced today and we can host as many
events imaginable, but it really comes down to residents getting involved and
talking with their neighbors.”</span></b></i></blockquote>
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<span class="yiv4200206233s3"><b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I am also using the Garden’s building (50
Chumasero Dr.) as a laboratory of sorts for ideas regarding a proposed ecology
program for all of Parkmerced: last year’s Earth Day, residents were given a
tour of Parkmerced’s new sustainable plants, culminating with activities for
the kids (receiving the chrysalises to grow the butterflies for release). So
far, this proposal has received attention in being nominated for the Golden
Gate award from San Francisco Beautiful. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Profile:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial narrow"; font-size: 14.0pt;">From the video “Sustainable Magic of San Francisco”:<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8NLxWO89zY0cHmency578l2V1R49QWSfdVLi7T9Vj95W8sxElZMnEPzQecmXPnoFU0TBjZQ1-Nge7DbB0wEUoYsFfBPMrcwuBhWlAgXqAUYisCZhBqhI7tnTsA3GJ0LiWt8OFvCLnMqWa/s1600/Vojir+Profile+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: transparent; clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="599" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8NLxWO89zY0cHmency578l2V1R49QWSfdVLi7T9Vj95W8sxElZMnEPzQecmXPnoFU0TBjZQ1-Nge7DbB0wEUoYsFfBPMrcwuBhWlAgXqAUYisCZhBqhI7tnTsA3GJ0LiWt8OFvCLnMqWa/s320/Vojir+Profile+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-7545054178918439042017-07-24T23:01:00.000-07:002017-07-24T23:01:02.197-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwxLqWb2eaz1Lhmpar_eu1OUkaKMEoRVkLOAsu2JpSIiHLTtAt-7EKxwOMYhJyP3TsT0uhYKMiLrJgRyqFy8w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br />DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-85612262014286745712017-07-03T11:15:00.001-07:002017-07-03T11:15:42.751-07:00Gimme That Ole Time Corruption: Pat Robertson in the Schemes of Jay Sekulow and Donald Trump<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIblQpJHnx-O51xj2FQcx_utSD9n8SlEnEtUYTxiCk50Zl46cS26sQaeks8NgKwHnf7OmlMcSJLCjmNimPx8ZY-DR03aEtWSeUQrSBCXzefanea1O0dJN2tXMcRIxgnbAcVRuPJw5C0qsT/s1600/Robertson+Money+Laundering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="606" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIblQpJHnx-O51xj2FQcx_utSD9n8SlEnEtUYTxiCk50Zl46cS26sQaeks8NgKwHnf7OmlMcSJLCjmNimPx8ZY-DR03aEtWSeUQrSBCXzefanea1O0dJN2tXMcRIxgnbAcVRuPJw5C0qsT/s320/Robertson+Money+Laundering.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power. - </i>George Bernard Shaw</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><b>The Three Self-Dealers: Another <a href="https://www.opednews.com/articles/Embracing-Evil-Christofas-by-Rev-Dan-Vojir-Blackwater_Christofascism_Easter_Islam-170417-260.html">Unholy Trinity</a> Formed Around Trump?</b><br /><br />President Trump solidified his ties to the Christian Right by appointing Jay Sekulow as his lawyer to handle the Trump-Russia-Collusion-Obstruction problem. Came highly recommended from the likes of Pat Robertson. And for several reasons:<br /><br />1. Sekulow is chief attorney for the ACLJ - the Christian Right legal defense team founded by Pat Robertson<br /><br />2. Sekulow's web of self-run non-profits funnel money to Pat Robertson's shadowy Advocacy Services<br /><br />3. Sekulow is just as corrupt as both Robertson and Trump (primarily in his self-dealings and family-filled "non-profits") and and is just as much of a showman.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/trump-attorney-jay-sekulows-family-has-been-paid-millions-from-charities-they-control/2017/06/27/6428d988-5852-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html?utm_term=.108c548d9d14">Washington Post</a> </span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Since 2013, CASE [Sekulow's Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism] has forwarded $500,000 each year to a small charity called the Law and Justice Institute that has no employees and relies almost exclusively on CASE for its revenue,tax filings show. Sekulow is president of the Law and Justice Institute. The Law and Justice Institute, in turn, has paid $500,000 each year to </i><b>Advocacy Services</b><i>. Robertson is president of that firm, according to Virginia state records. Robertson’s spokesman did not address written questions about the payments from The Post. [emphasis mine]</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And he's as bombastic and tenacious towards his enemies as Trump is:</span><div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>First, Sekulow <a href="https://religioninpublic.blog/2017/06/20/why-jay-sekulow-trump-attorney-makes-perfect-sense/">is at home in the spotlight</a>. He hosts a <a href="https://aclj.org/radio-shows">daily radio show</a> that airs nationally and online. He has been a <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/04/17/lois-lerner-got-off-easy-in-irs-scandal-its-time-to-reexamine-targeting-conservatives.html">regular contributor</a> and <a href="http://video.foxnews.com/v/5318047949001/">on-air guest</a> at Fox News. And his bombastic personality has stood out to several other attorneys in the Christian legal movement – asking to remain anonymous, one lawyer told me Sekulow “spends an inordinate amount of time tooting his own horn.” Judging by his past, <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/06/18/trump_lawyer_jay_sekulow_takes_on_chuck_todd_jake_tapper_chris_wallace_in_one_day_on_alleged_trump-russia_investigation.html">appearing</a> on various Sunday morning shows to defend Trump is a natural act for Sekulow.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">What is Sekulow getting out of all of this? It's possible Trump may not pay Sekulow: he has a history of not paying legal fees (unless they're paid by the Trump Foundation). In fact, one of his former legal teams has liens against his properties.* It's possible that Sekulow - ever the media hound - has an agenda involving power over the media. <br /><br />Trump is certainly no stranger to self-dealing and eager to appease the Christian Right via Pat Robertson, so again, Sekulow is a perfect match. Robertson has also defended Trump:</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Lest there be any doubt that Christian televangelist Pat Robertson supports President <a href="http://www.lgbtqnation.com/tag/donald-trump/">Donald Trump</a>, the longtime host of the 700 Club declared that God put Trump “in this office.”“He’s God’s man for the job,” Robertson said this week, as Right Wing Watch reported.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Pat Robertson was really angry with FBI Director James Comey, this morning: "Once again that clown that is in charge of whatever you call those people, FBI, is in charge of the headlines."</i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This last statement is ironic, since both Comey and Mueller came to the aid of Robertson's good friend and spiritual colleague John Ashcroft when he was in the hospital being besieged by Bush's White House staff.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />About the only real difference Robertson has with Sekulow and Trump is that he really, really hates Russia.*<br /><br /><b>RECIPROCITY</b><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg6xbzVATR3arF1HtnzxqQx3jQmH0-VZtHWhAkSktkCaAr0ZMEmuDfe2IpyPFvFfssbnO__QG9mswgGXkGOxlg363XSlX9Wf1oI130SfDGkvDwoAILccdTzU3ZR6AgH6iMQoteZVQipGuB/s1600/Robertson%252C+Trump%252C+Marx%252C+Sekulow.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg6xbzVATR3arF1HtnzxqQx3jQmH0-VZtHWhAkSktkCaAr0ZMEmuDfe2IpyPFvFfssbnO__QG9mswgGXkGOxlg363XSlX9Wf1oI130SfDGkvDwoAILccdTzU3ZR6AgH6iMQoteZVQipGuB/s320/Robertson%252C+Trump%252C+Marx%252C+Sekulow.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><i>Note: pictured above with Trump, Robertson and </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Sekulow is Gary Marx, leader of the Faith and</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> Freedom Coalition - the entity involved in the </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Birds of a feather...</i><br /><br />So dirty money and favors flow between these three seemingly opportunistic con men. In Pat Robertson's world, it's called "reciprocity," but without the God factor. <br /><br />God has little to do with this trio of corruption. <br /><br /><br />Reciprocity. Corruption. Perhaps the best depiction of the two intertwined is in this scene from "Chicago." <br /></span><div>
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*<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>:</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One law firm that fought contractors over payments and other issues for Trump — New York City’s Morrison Cohen LLP — ended up on the other side of a similar battle with the mogul in 2008. Trump didn’t like that its lawyers were using his name in press releases touting its representation of Trump in a lawsuit against a construction contractor that Trump claimed overcharged him for work on a luxury golf club.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As Trump now turned his ire on his former lawyers, however, Morrison Cohen counter-sued. In court records, the law firm alleged Trump didn’t pay nearly a half million dollars in legal fees. Trump and his ex-lawyers settled their disputes out of court, confidentially, in 2009.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In 2012, Virginia-based law firm Cook, Heyward, Lee, Hopper & Feehan filed a lawsuit against the Trump Organization for $94,511 for legal fees and costs. The case was eventually settled out of court. But as the case unfolded, court records detail how Trump's senior deputies attacked the attorneys' quality of work in the local and trade press, leading the firm to make claims of defamation that a judge ultimately rejected on free speech grounds.</span></i><br />
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*<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Again, Irony:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/01/20/russias-pat-robertson/" target="_blank">Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I</a> apparently <a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/patriarch-blames-crime-and-drugs-for-haitian-quake/397763.html">agrees </a>with U.S. preacher <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/13/haitis_pact_with_the_devil">Pat Robertson</a> that Haitians brought the earthquake on themselves:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Kirill, speaking during a weekend visit to Kazakhstan, said the Haitian people bore responsibility for the calamity because they had turned away from God.</i></span></div>
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-11024909974739803012017-06-27T19:10:00.000-07:002017-06-27T19:10:15.485-07:00Trump Killed America's Dignity and Integrity. Does The Christian Right Care?<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Of course, it is all too obvious that President Donald Trump lacks dignity and integrity.<br /><br />After all, he killed both.<br /><br />Dignity in particular fought a brave battle it did, but it was no match for the sheer bombast and inconsiderate crudeness of a con man whose slogan - Make America Great Again - should have been Debase America Always.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Last Memorial Day, President Donald J. Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery for the President's obligatory Memorial Day tradition, laying a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He delivered a proper (for him) address: he extolled the bravery of our soldiers.<br /><br />Then he forgot where he was and proceeded to perplex, shock and amuse everyone with a childlike rendition of dignity, half-mouthing, swaying and smiling to no one. It was a sight: the smugness and arrogance of five year-old. <br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><br />Integrity, on the other hand, never even had a chance: Trump annihilated it well before the election:<br /><br />- Thrice married: the second to a woman he with whom he was having an affair. He <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-cheating-ivana-marla-beautiful-1994-article-1.2822695">bragged about</a> his infidelities and said that having a wife and a mistress at the same time was "beautiful."<br /><br />- Had over 428 liens against his properties before becoming President (50 more to come with his newest venture of the (now) infamous hotel in D.C. He was long known as "<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/in-financial-circles-its-pretty-well-known-that-trump-is-a-deadbeat/237584/">the biggest deadbeat</a> in real estate."<br /><br />- His <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910">ties to organized crime</a> go back over twenty years.<br /><br /> The list of undignified experiences and quotations as well as the list of no-integrity dealings have been put forth for years, but supporters managed to brush them all aside during the campaign. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> Look for the narcissist. The most obvious target in today’s lineup is, of course, Donald Trump. When he looks at a glass, he is mesmerized by its reflection. If Donald Trump were shaped a little differently, he would compete for Miss America. But whatever the depths of self-enchantment, the demagogue has to say something. So what does Trump say? That he is a successful businessman and that that is what America needs in the Oval Office. There is some plausibility in this, though not much. The greatest deeds of American Presidents — midwifing the new republic; freeing the slaves; harnessing the energies and vision needed to win the Cold War — had little to do with a bottom line.</i></span><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/430187/william-f-buckley-jr-donald-trumps-demagoguery-cigar-aficionado-essay" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">-William F. Buckley</a></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Whatever the attraction of Trump to voters, it did not seem to be based on reason:<br /><br />After Trump's inauguration, some buyers' remorse had set in: blatant cronyism (look who he <a href="http://www.joemygod.com/2017/06/26/trump-family-wedding-planner-formally-appointed-role-overseeing-multi-billion-dollar-housing-agency/">appointed today </a>to head an agency she knows nothing about) nepotism, totally undiplomatic dealings with foreign countries, broken promises, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/opinion/trump-lawsuit-emoluments-private-businesses.html">self-dealing</a>, all took their toll leading to one of the lowest job ratings in presidential history in a matter of months. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Even Ann Coulter denounced his actions as "living in Dr Strangelove". <br /><br />Congressmen have been given to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-mental-health-ted-lieu_us_589a4b70e4b0c1284f2930cd">questioning Trump's mental health</a>.<br /><br />You would think that only the most unreasoning and addle-brained American would still support Trump. While not exactly true, the "35 percent" are a dangerous conglomerate of the uninformed, the misinformed, the disaffected and, of course, the Evangelical Christian Right. The main agendas for Trump's die hard supporters have encompassed xenophobia, eradication of governmental restrictions on most everything and discrimination against minorities with a nationalistic ideology that defines Trump's campaign opened doors for these mindsets - mindsets so important that anyone touting them would get their vote no how poor their morals and integrity seemed to be. <br /><br />The Staunchest of the 35% - Meeting Reason With Violent Unreason ... and God<br /><br />If good vetting of candidates is not a strong point of Republicans (think Sarah Palin), then any vetting is absolutely anathema to the Christian Right. After all, God vets, God chooses and that's that. <br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NwL_7mVTzbU" width="560"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Check out the entire outlandish segment <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhIlWEjYRtM">HERE</a> on the David Pakman show. <br /><br />Fringe craziness? The operative word here is "fringe", a part of the American political scene that is disproportionately influential - and dangerous, with people like Robert Jeffress, Jerry Falwell, Jr. and (prosperity preacher) Paula White bending the ear of the President:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dave-daubenmire-america-needs-a-more-violent-christianity/">Religious Right activist “Coach” Dave Daubenmire </a>declared on his “Pass The Salt Live” webcast <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SuQoccOoXI">this morning</a> that America needs “a more violent Christianity.” He cited President Trump and Greg Gianforte as examples of violent men who are properly “walking in authority.”</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Daubenmire and radio show host Alex Jones like Trump's macho, good-ole-boy misogynistic style. <br /><br />A "fringe" that supports climate change denial, a rollback of LGBTQ rights, and even a budget that makes the poor poorer and the rich richer is eager to take over:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/opinion/trump-lawsuit-emoluments-private-businesses.html">Religion Dispatches</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But the support for tax cuts, <a href="http://religiondispatches.org/why-trumps-evangelicals-wont-care-about-those-budget-cuts/">over assistance for those in need</a>, is not just a gift from Trump to his rich friends, tolerated by evangelicals because they care more about other issues. These budget cuts are in keeping with the religious right’s <a href="http://religiondispatches.org/a-pence-presidency-would-give-margaret-atwoods-dystopian-vision-a-run-for-its-money/">understanding of a biblical worldview</a>, and are at the very core of its agenda.</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Of course, it is Pence who is the <a href="http://religiondispatches.org/a-pence-presidency-would-give-margaret-atwoods-dystopian-vision-a-run-for-its-money/">Christofascist's dream come true</a>, but the Christian Right is still very satisfied with Trump, the "Chosen One."<br /><br /><b>The Chosen One</b><br /><br />With all the twisting, spinning and denying that make up the Christian Right's support of Trump, it could lose what little respect it has from the outside world. But what care they when they have their Chosen One leading them to moral (and possibly Dominionist) victory?<br /><br />A man with no veracity, no dignity, no integrity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A Chosen One indeed.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /><b>Note:</b> Comparisons of Trump to Hitler abound, so this piece from Judgement at Nuremberg might resonate. Pay particular attention to Marlene Dietrich's story (at the 1:30 mark) - it epitomizes in a sophisticated way what many of us would like to say to Trump.<br /></i></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j4xOuAo5c_I" width="560"></iframe>
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-50348419709136954292017-04-18T19:44:00.000-07:002017-04-18T19:44:13.365-07:00Embracing Evil: Christofascism's Love For Trump, Putin and Prince Tips Its Hand In The Game Of Religion and Poltics<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>First, The Sanctimonious Hypocrisy</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yesterday, President Trump's attendance of Easter services at his local Episcopal Church in Palm Beach was hailed as the sign that Donald Trump was indeed the most religious President ever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">According to the Christian Right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The fact that his attendance at church was <a href="http://www.joemygod.com/2017/04/16/trump-makes-rare-church-appearance-video/" target="_blank">the first since his inauguration</a> matters not. Why? Because, according to self-prophet and <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/christian-leaders-alarmed-by-overt-anti-christian-bigotry-within-the-clinto" target="_blank">Christian Leader</a>, Mary Colbert, Donald Trump is "The Chosen One" and all of his opponents will be cursed (plus their children and their children's children).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Colbert's religious whitewash of Trump is not new - the extreme pretzel-twisting reasoning of the Christian Right `began well before Trump's campaign. It only got more ridiculous as Trump's lies, scandals and ineptitude became increasingly apparent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Colbert called Trump "not perfect." Forget "pussygate" and Russian prostitutes peeing on each other, as a leader of the free world, he has exhibited many many vices (sins), so we know he's not perfect, but here's what "not perfect" includes in Donald Trump:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The sin of Pride:</b> <a href="http://www.joemygod.com/2017/04/15/britain-trump-demands-royal-carriage-procession-october-visit-despite-uk-security-concerns/" target="_blank">BRITAIN: Trump Demands Royal Carriage Procession For October Visit Despite UK Security Concerns</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Secrecy is not necessarily a virtue:</span></b><br />
<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/white-house-says-it-wont-make-visitor-logs-public-237235" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">White House says it won't make visitor logs public</span></a><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Donald Trump has a problem keeping promises:</span></b><br />
<a href="http://www.joemygod.com/2017/04/12/trump-flips-four-campaign-positions-one-day-nato-janet-yellen-chinese-currency-exim-bank/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trump Flips On Four Campaign Positions In One Day: NATO, Janet Yellen, Chinese Currency, The EXIM Bank</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The sin of Greed:</b> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/washington-posts-david-fahrenthold-wins-pulitzer-prize-for-dogged-reporting-of-trumps-philanthropy/2017/04/10/dd535d2e-1dfb-11e7-be2a-3a1fb24d4671_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_media-pulitzer-310pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.dc110da8e30c" target="_blank">Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold wins Pulitzer Prize for dogged reporting of Trump’s philanthropy</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>A Champion of conspiracy:</b> <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/04/13/_concrete_evidence_of_trump_russia_collusion_exists_the_guardian_reports.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_ru" target="_blank">Guardian Report Claims U.S. Has “Concrete Evidence” of Trump-Russia Collusion</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/04/13/_concrete_evidence_of_trump_russia_collusion_exists_the_guardian_reports.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_ru#"></a><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Added to the above is the fact that Trump has continued to disappoint (sometimes enrage) his stalwart supporters:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Last night Ann Coulter appeared on the Fox News show of Trump sycophant Lou Dobbs, where she <a href="http://www.joemygod.com/2017/04/11/ann-coulter-denounces-trump-missile-strike-syria-feel-like-im-watching-dr-strangelove-video/" target="_blank">angrily denounced</a> Trump’s strike on Syria, saying, “I feel like I’m watching Dr. Strangelove.” Dobbs then moved the conversation to Trump’s other failing campaign promises including the Mexican border wall, prompting Coulter to sneer, “I didn’t know we elected Jeb Bush.”</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So why is Trump still "The Chosen One" among people like Colbert? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Enter Putin and Prince</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In some ways, Vladamir Putin is like Trump (with more intelligence): he is considered a con man who declares himself to be deeply religious and totally family-oriented. He is also secretive ... and greedy (no one knows his net worth)</span></div>
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<a href="http://figuring%20out%20the%20russian%20president%E2%80%99s%20net%20worth%20has%20long%20been%20the%20holy%20grail%20of%20spooks%20and%20hacks%20around%20the%20world.%20but%20the%20personal%20wealth%20of%20putin%E2%80%94a%20former%20kgb%20agent%E2%80%94is%20nearly%20impossible%20to%20decipher%2C%20and%20is%20likely%20distributed%20across%20a%20secret%20web%20of%20company%20holdings%2C%20real%20estate%2C%20and%20other%20people%E2%80%99s%20accounts.%20in%20fact%2C%20at%20a%20time%20when%20his%20political%20motivations%20are%20under%20scrutiny%20across%20the%20world%2C%20the%20struggle%20to%20pin%20down%20putin%E2%80%99s%20riches%20reveals%20something%20about%20the%20covert%20ways%20in%20which%20he%20wields%20his%20authority%20over%20russia./" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://figuring%20out%20the%20russian%20president%E2%80%99s%20net%20worth%20has%20long%20been%20the%20holy%20grail%20of%20spooks%20and%20hacks%20around%20the%20world.%20but%20the%20personal%20wealth%20of%20putin%E2%80%94a%20former%20kgb%20agent%E2%80%94is%20nearly%20impossible%20to%20decipher%2C%20and%20is%20likely%20distributed%20across%20a%20secret%20web%20of%20company%20holdings%2C%20real%20estate%2C%20and%20other%20people%E2%80%99s%20accounts.%20in%20fact%2C%20at%20a%20time%20when%20his%20political%20motivations%20are%20under%20scrutiny%20across%20the%20world%2C%20the%20struggle%20to%20pin%20down%20putin%E2%80%99s%20riches%20reveals%20something%20about%20the%20covert%20ways%20in%20which%20he%20wields%20his%20authority%20over%20russia./" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Money:</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Figuring out the Russian president’s net worth has long been the holy grail of spooks and hacks around the world. But the personal wealth of Putin—a former KGB agent—is nearly impossible to decipher, and is likely distributed across a secret web of company holdings, real estate, and other people’s accounts. In fact, at a time when his political motivations are <a href="http://time.com/4642670/snl-vladimir-putin-donald-trump-inauguration/">under scrutiny across the world</a>, the struggle to pin down Putin’s riches reveals something about the covert ways in which he wields his authority over Russia.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Putin, however, is perhaps THE most Christian of all world leaders because he openly hates gays - or so says Bryan Fischer:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Erik Prince</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">If Putin's friendship makes Trump look shady, the presence of Erik Prince makes the picture look positively sinister. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a54292/erik-prince-russia-seychelles/" target="_blank">Esquire</a>:</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On any list of loathsome Americans, Erik Prince has to be right at the top. He got rich behind Blackwater, the renegade mercenary army that is responsible for a great deal of the hatred directed toward this country in the Middle East. (Privatized hatred was Blackwater's primary gift to the world.) Since his brand cratered (Blackwater was renamed Xe, pronounced, I believe, "Kill." It is now known as Academi. Why? Who knows?), <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/03/24/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-under-federal-investigation/">Prince has become an International Man of Sleaze</a>, taking on clients from China to the UAE, which is probably how the meeting in the Seychelles came about, since it was brokered by the UAE government, and since prying Russia and Iran apart is something that the UAE would love to see happen. But what in the hell is Erik Prince doing negotiating on behalf of the United States government, even given the fact that administrations of both parties have done business with him overseas?</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Erik Prince's exploits have been chronicled <a href="https://www.opednews.com/populum/page.php?f=A-Conspiracy-Waiting-To-Ha-by-Daniel-Vojir-100623-675.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.opednews.com/populum/page.php?f=Eric-Prince-s-Blackwater--by-Daniel-Vojir-090807-865.html" target="_blank">here</a> at OpEdNews, and the articles make the point that Christfascism is ripe for conspiracy: Erik Prince is considered Islamophobic in the extreme, wishing to rid the world of Islam by brute force. His ties to both Trump and Putin are the stuff of spy novels. And let's not forget that he's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's brother. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">An Unholy Trio</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So in Putin and Prince, we have men who voice Christofascism's main concerns and the man who can implement their goals. It doesn't matter that the man is destroying American principles left and right. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After all, he's The Chosen One. </span><br />
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-36088833282164884112017-03-30T22:10:00.000-07:002017-03-30T22:10:33.350-07:00Jesse Would Be Soooo Proud!: Proposed Budget To Cut AIDS/HIV Research and Programs by Whopping 1.23 Billion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh7rOATAsNJzziw4jcOggNI0dF8vDn-qKbdix35K4nnStqCTGZ3I7uiFN497rw7Bcn8EugQdBctJQKy5PWAPlFx_6b8eQHCMXeUIgiQYOxyG9NjjDltOWERfd8qs0p-nh7M5hzdKLTXXrs/s1600/Jesse+Helms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh7rOATAsNJzziw4jcOggNI0dF8vDn-qKbdix35K4nnStqCTGZ3I7uiFN497rw7Bcn8EugQdBctJQKy5PWAPlFx_6b8eQHCMXeUIgiQYOxyG9NjjDltOWERfd8qs0p-nh7M5hzdKLTXXrs/s320/Jesse+Helms.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.joemygod.com/2017/03/28/white-house-proposes-massive-cuts-hivaids-programs/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Joe. My.God</span></a><div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed cutting $1.23 billion this fiscal year from research funded by the National Institutes of Health, according to a White House document sent to congressional appropriators.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The reduction is part of $18 billion in cuts that the administration wants in fiscal 2017, which ends in October. Most of the proposed reductions at NIH would come from research grants, with $50 million specifically taken from a program meant to support biomedical research in states that typically get less agency money.</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When I read this, I thought immediately about Jesse Helms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-ose/jesse-helms-shameful-lega_b_111791.html" target="_blank">Huffington Post 7/21/2008</a> (when Helms died):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Beyond his hateful words, Helms’ bigotry was shown by his political aims. He led the opposition to the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, supported the apartheid regime in South Africa, and consistently opposed civil rights legislation. For nearly two decades, he <b>fought tooth and nail against expanded federal funding for AIDS research</b>, and exploited gays and lesbians as convenient scapegoats in his constant fear-mongering crusade. (Emphasis mine)</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One of my San Francisco co-workers said: "Trump's rolling back the clock, isn't he?" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yes, but not to a kinder, gentler time.</span></div>
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-82499423043920138922017-02-14T05:59:00.000-08:002017-02-14T05:59:35.538-08:00Knee Deep And Starting To Rain: Will Trump Be Able To Weather His Problems? Only His Alternate Reality Knows For Sure.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE_nAjKObINq9_p6Qfaygm-ZH3JB2Gcx4949NFqy8q920EUIxxZdJMWoPZeXQ8GJgqU2QKijIdwrT7_OUS-wrNLgGYQhZcXvvGs6HUFAHeAPuerJZ36BtcrCR7O_FYsAD4zRoTThYZheE7/s1600/Knee+Deep+and+Starting+To+Rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE_nAjKObINq9_p6Qfaygm-ZH3JB2Gcx4949NFqy8q920EUIxxZdJMWoPZeXQ8GJgqU2QKijIdwrT7_OUS-wrNLgGYQhZcXvvGs6HUFAHeAPuerJZ36BtcrCR7O_FYsAD4zRoTThYZheE7/s320/Knee+Deep+and+Starting+To+Rain.jpg" width="293" /></a></div>
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Caption: 2017 Political Climate Forecast : "And more on the way!"</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>2017 will only make sense if Trump is impeached.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Russia. Conflicts of Interest. Animosity towards the press. John Lewis. <a href="http://heavy.com/news/2017/01/summer-zervos-lawsuit-trump-cousin-apprentice-gloria-allred-video-press-conference-email-can-sitting-president-be-sued/" target="_blank">Sexual Harassment Law Suit</a>. Questionable Cabinet appointees.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">...and Twitter Addiction. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trump's problems are piling up and there may come a time when even the Republican Party will not support him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In accordance with his way of celebrating Martin Luther King Day, Trump lambasted Civil Rights icon John Lewis via Twitter (of course) after Lewis said that he would not be attending the inauguration and called Trump "illegitimate". Trump called Lewis' 5th District "crime-infested" and "falling apart" and said that Lewis was "all talk and no action". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Lewis' 5th District includes Atlanta, which is considered one of the fastest growing cities in the country job-wise and has a much higher standard of education than the rest of the nation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jan/15/donald-trump/trumps-john-lewis-crime-invested-atlanta/" target="_blank">Politifact</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>In sum, Trump is exaggerating when he says Georgia’s 5th is "falling apart" by some metrics and, by others, he’s flat-out wrong.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The results:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-boycott-trump-inauguration-84bf27eb9af3#.nst45y3gq" target="_blank">As of Tuesday,</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/16/more-than-30-democratic-lawmakers-now-skipping-trumps-inauguration/?utm_term=.711b284577ad" target="_blank">60 House Democrats</a> have announced they intend to boycott President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, following his public rant against civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Of course, we expected no less from Mr. Trump, whose petulant temperament takes childishness to a new level. But will the country (and the Republican Party) hope for a more "Presidential" demeanor from this child-President?</span><br />
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<b>"PissGate" Will Take Its Toll</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The rancor and suspicions as to Trump's Russia ties caused by the now infamous dossier leaked to Buzzfeed will not be going away soon. Credibility aside, the fact that Trump's temperament aligns with the story of revenge is enough to plant questions in people's minds for a long time and spawn conspiracy theories to counter right-wing groups' denials.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So who will protect Trump when the going gets rough? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/kremlin-counts-days-trumps-inauguration-blasts-obama-144730663.html?ref=gs" style="background-color: white; color: #252525;" target="_blank">Yahoo News</a><span style="font-family: , "helvetica light" , "helvetica" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">:</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>MOSCOW (AP) — With eager anticipation, the Kremlin is counting the days to Donald Trump's inauguration and venting its anger at Barack Obama's outgoing administration, no holds barred.</i></span></blockquote>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqMo_B9kN7EPzpLRE7Og1X73LW3KZT52b4cMvBmJlzzD7ns0Rm-5NHI57VO3caev_Mn3lpx31wF2rKCgyG2B-fq0jpfLvkNvMXxQ04InH3gBkAqDRqOiY5hbMQcnTbk-QdzSzWfMX-EnB/s1600/Putin+protection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqMo_B9kN7EPzpLRE7Og1X73LW3KZT52b4cMvBmJlzzD7ns0Rm-5NHI57VO3caev_Mn3lpx31wF2rKCgyG2B-fq0jpfLvkNvMXxQ04InH3gBkAqDRqOiY5hbMQcnTbk-QdzSzWfMX-EnB/s400/Putin+protection.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.01em;">I<b>ntelligence Committee</b></span><b><a href="http://crooksandliars.com/2017/01/breaking-intelligence-committee-finally" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" target="_blank"> finally shows</a><span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"> </span><span style="color: #26282a; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; letter-spacing: 0.01em;">some intelligence</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>It took 17 intelligence agency reports, an M16 agents report, numerous Russian allies working ON the campaign, photos of actual meetings of said campaign staff with Putin and his cronies and Trump giving Putin verbal bj's on stage for over a year for the government to actually decide to investigate.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Problem Is: <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/even-richard-land-is-shocked-by-how-much-influence-the-religious-right-is-having-in-shaping-trumps-administration/" target="_blank">The Christian Right may have had a lot to do with it</a>:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/pro-family-leaders-in-russia-want-to-decriminalize-domestic-battery/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">RightWingWatch</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Two of the “pro-family” lawmakers behind Russia’s ban on “homosexual propaganda” are now behind a bill that would “downgrade assault inside the traditional family unit from a criminal offense to a misdemeanor,” according to a <a href="http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-decriminalizing-domestic-violence/28226375.html">report</a> by Tom Balmforth of Radio Free Europe.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Earlier this week, one of the members of that board, Richard Land of the Southern Evangelical Seminary, appeared on the “Point of View” <a href="https://youtu.be/B4xT897I-i0">radio program</a>, where he told host Kerby Anderson that he has been shocked by how much influence he and other Religious Right activists have had over the make-up of Trump’s administration.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christianity (Trump's Christianity but certainly not ours) will make America a dominionist country</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">While rarely mentioning God before or after the campaign, Trump has systematically appointed <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/betsy-devos-christian-schools-vouchers-charter-education-secretary" target="_blank">lackeys to the Christian Right</a>. Very wealthy Betsy DeVos has been a staunch Christian Reform Church member all her life and her policies smack of Dominionism:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/betsy-devos-christian-schools-vouchers-charter-education-secretary" target="_blank">"Our desire is to confront the culture in ways that will continue to advance God's Kingdom."</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For any other incoming president, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/16/politics/donald-trump-presidency/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29">such a pile of controversies</a> and crises would suggest an early political disaster is imminent for the new White House. But Trump broke the mold in his outsider campaign and has repeatedly shrugged off scandals and controversies that would have downed normal politicians. He appears determined to shake up conventions that have built up around the presidency for two centuries and has little time for those who say he lacks presidential demeanor.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-scottish-golf-resort-deal-conflict-of-interest-161ec1c6389f#.43ix5rxjo" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: -0.003em;" target="_blank"><b>Making Hay Off The Presidency</b></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>A multi-million dollar expansion of President-elect Donald Trump’s golf resort in Scotland is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/14/trump-scotland-golf-resort-conflicts-of-interest">reportedly underway</a> — less than a week after Trump’s attorney <a href="http://time.com/4631551/donald-trump-press-conference-russia-ethics-transcript/">told reporters</a> that the president-elect had, in an effort to distance himself from conflicts of interests with regards to his businesses, “ordered that all pending deals be terminated.”</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><b>One Glaring New <a href="https://qz.com/886230/trumps-new-manila-skyscraper-will-exude-luxury-and-showcase-his-conflicts-of-interest/">Conflict Of Interest</a>:</b><br /><br />We've already pointed out that Trump has a <a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/Trump-And-Supporters-Going-by-Rev-Dan-Vojir-Philippines_Philippines-Genocide_President-Rodrigo-Duterte_STUPIDITY-160815-663.html" target="_blank">branded Tower in Manila</a>, but now he'll have TWO:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>One of the most most glaring conflicts is set to open up this quarter: Trump Tower Manila, a 57-floor skyscraper inside <a href="http://www.centurycity.com.ph/">Century City,</a> in a gentrifying area of Manila’s business district. It’s a joint project with <a href="http://www.century-properties.com/about-us/">Century Properties Group, Inc.</a> (CPGI), a Filipino real estate development company owned by <a href="https://qz.com/864940/donald-trumps-potential-conflicts-of-interest-in-the-philippines-center-around-one-man-jose-e-b-antonio/">Jose E.B. Antonio</a>, who is also a special trade envoy to the United States. If the partnership between Trump and Antonio is structured like many of his other business deals, with Trump licensing his name in exchange for ongoing payments, Trump will essentially be on the payroll of a member of controversial Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte’s government.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="background-color: white;">These and all other s will dog him for a long long time and be the basis for future objections to Presidential actions. "notalegitimatepresident.org should pop up soon. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Again, all f this comes down to one question: will trump's alternate reality prevail? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Because in his world, Donald Trump has no problems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">No problems whatsoever.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-86464258678872588372017-02-14T05:58:00.001-08:002017-02-14T05:58:58.650-08:00Giving One's All To A Secular Charity In The Age Of Trump<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgllw5hEVIAGaicyAnz6vrRp7YrXZrEP9nIo5RNr65aVMuO-wZd-1sibVykyvuMXrbFCctyawg4JHYPChwT6tiKmez3MVEW56kjO_3sLM7idocSbPjfQkuFW8khEyDwe2H1Zl37cDL1TTSe/s1600/BCC+Oped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgllw5hEVIAGaicyAnz6vrRp7YrXZrEP9nIo5RNr65aVMuO-wZd-1sibVykyvuMXrbFCctyawg4JHYPChwT6tiKmez3MVEW56kjO_3sLM7idocSbPjfQkuFW8khEyDwe2H1Zl37cDL1TTSe/s320/BCC+Oped.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In Trump, the Christian Right has come alive and has a political blood thirst with a Seven Mountains, Christian-only nation on the horizon. People like David Barton, Franklin Graham, Tony Perkins and Jerry Falwell Jr. are buoyed to the point of giddiness about Trump's executive order eradicating the separation of Church and State. Until now, their persona needed at least a thin veneer of charity and tolerance. Now they can cast off the yolk of "Christian Charity". Now they can concentrate on what - to them - really matters: producing a Christian theocracy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Meanwhile, secular, non-faith-based charities remain as vulnerable as the diverse communities they serve. No doubt that donations to secular charities will trail off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For over 25 years, I have supported organizations like the <a href="http://www.aef-sf.org/" target="_blank">AIDS Emergency Fund</a> (I was on the "Working" Board of Directors for years) and last week, I did something few self-respecting septuagenarians would do: I entered the Bare Chest Calendar contest to help raise money for the AEF and for an organization devoted to helping people claim their Social Security and health benefits, <a href="http://www.positiveresource.org/" target="_blank">Positive Resource</a> Center. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I guess, in an odd sort of way, I have Trump to thank for my unusual support for charity: I'm frightened to think that the Christian Right will have cornered the market on Christian Charity, eradicating it in the secular area. I'm frightened to think what will happen to the efforts of diverse communities to stay alive - if we don't hunker down and band together, helping each and everyone to survive. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now please keep in mind, that the Bare Chest Calendar contest is not a beauty nor popularity contest: just view the video below and (if so inclined), show your support by clicking "like" under my picture on their Facebook page (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/barechestcalendar">https://www.facebook.com/barechestcalendar</a>) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After all, we really have to stick together.</span><br />
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-53451488195325037402017-02-14T05:58:00.000-08:002017-02-14T05:58:24.309-08:00No Fine Print: Unsettling Thoughts On A Sound Byte Presidency<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTVJFg5JhDMNo-Jh7BVrVNQP41VQFWv_UzWPvf5NaUBYOEhSysrY7lL5MGnDm-V_bDWAhM9VEEbCEqomfknAcoSkHDsSVdrOAB8j9Y40KdN6S0RfR_pmbTwiQpJwWiDMf-tZs5MbPaN_y2/s1600/Trump+TV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTVJFg5JhDMNo-Jh7BVrVNQP41VQFWv_UzWPvf5NaUBYOEhSysrY7lL5MGnDm-V_bDWAhM9VEEbCEqomfknAcoSkHDsSVdrOAB8j9Y40KdN6S0RfR_pmbTwiQpJwWiDMf-tZs5MbPaN_y2/s320/Trump+TV.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/08/19/trump-i-dont-just-get-military-advice-from-tv-i-would-have-a-policy-team-in-white-house/<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The premise that President Donald J. Trump can barely read is growing by leaps and bounds.<br /><br />In his OpEdNews piece, <a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Is-President-Donald-Trump-by-Scott-Baker-Donald-Trump_Literacy_President-Donald-Trump_Trump-Presidency-170210-739.html">Is President Donald Trump Semi-literate?</a>, Scott Baker relates Samantha Bee's take on his literacy, as well as The Forbes article stating that Trump's Wharton Business School tenure is very questionable (see the Funny or Die video below for laughs).<br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As the Full Frontal host said in a segment that </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/fullfrontalsamb/videos/1919301411630829/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">premiered on Facebook Live</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">, Bee began by reviewing tape of a </span><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/30/in-deposition-trump-unrepentant-about-mexican-remarks.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">recently unsealed deposition</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> in which Trump was repeatedly asked to read from legal documents and refused, first saying he didn’t have his glasses and then using the excuse that he’s not a lawyer. “Objection!” Bee said. “How can you expect someone who isn’t a fancy-pants lawyer to read words?”</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Also: how can you expect someone with a sketchy education to read extensively? His transcripts, like his tax returns, are not available. He was a shadowy figure at Wharton:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/22/1602677/-Trump-s-Dirty-Little-Secret-He-is-a-Hidden-Illiterate" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Daily Kos</a><br style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One former classmate in an Accounting class remembers, "He rarely showed up to class and “everyone” knew he bought the answers to the final exam. He spent little time on campus preferring to travel back and forth to New York City."</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now we know why whenever he says "I'm really smart" it sounds as if its coming from someone who just passed his GED on the third try. In fact, his campaign speeches had grammar <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/03/18/trumps-grammar-in-speeches-just-below-6th-grade-level-study-finds/?utm_term=.2f561539ecc2" target="_blank">just above the sixth grade</a> - just about the same level as his followers on Facebook.</span></div>
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<br style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He said in a series of interviews that he does not need to read extensively because he reaches the right decisions “with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I [already] had, plus the words ‘common sense,’ because I have a lot of common sense and I have a lot of business ability.”<br /><br /><b>Sound Byte President</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It may have been Chuck Todd who discovered that Trump lives on sound bytes:<br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Todd: Who do you talk to for military advice right now?</span><br style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trump: Well, I watch the shows. I mean, I really see a lot of great — you know, when you watch your show and all of the other shows, and you have the generals.</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">His love of the <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/donald-trump-wonders-out-loud-why-didnt-the-national-enquirer-get-the-pulitzer-prize/">National Enquirer</a> (which, btw, was his only major newspaper endorsement during the campaign) is noteworthy: the supermarket tabloid deals in the same kind of sound bytes as TV, but only on a more salacious level. And what can he "learn" from the Enquirer other than some celebrity's "brave last days" and the latest Jon Benet Ramsey scandal?<br /><br />"<a href="http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=67567">Nobody reads the bible more than me</a>"<br /><br />The above evidence of Trump's bibliophobia leads to two very important questions: what has he NOT read and what will he NOT READ?<br /><br /><b> NOT READ:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /> The Constitution - It's evident that Trump has never bothered to read the constitution and only knows right-wing talking points (First and Second Amendment - think Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and the NRA)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a49139/trump-deposition-mexicans-rapists/">Legal Documents</a> - they're boring and complicated and way too wordy. Trust others to read them and tell you what they are in two tweets - max.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=67567">The Bible</a> - the above statement sent tidal waves of laughter throughout social media and the like. James Dobson of Focus on the Family* called Trump a baby Christian - a baby who hasn't learned to read and for whom the Bible is too heavy to pick up.<br /><br />Trump has said that the Bible is his favorite book, but then again, he said that the last memorable read was All Quiet on the Western Front. So, which one is it? <br /><br />It's obvious that Trump has never read the Bible - unless, of course, it comes in sound bytes. The sound bytes that come from him as heard by the Christian Right, however, seem to be okay: they've twisted themselves into knots turning this very faulty human being into a demi-god. <br /><br /><b>NOT GOING TO READ</b><br /><br /><b>Comprehensive <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/when-it-comes-intelligence-briefings-the-president-likes-maps">Security Intelligence Briefs</a></b><br />[W]hile Mr. Obama liked policy option papers that were three to six single-spaced pages, council staff members are now being told to keep papers to a single page, with lots of graphics and maps.<br /><br />“The president likes maps,” one official said. Scary.<br /><br />This getting too elementary, too unsophisticated. When will show and tell be part of the daily WH routine? Seriously, the thought that the National Security Council distrusts the Trump administration not only because secret documents and important intel have <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/trump-tackles-north-korea-crisis-in-mar-a-lago-dining-room.html">wound up at parties</a>, but because perhaps they doubt the President will ever read them. <br /><br /><b>This article </b>- Thank God!<br /></span><br />
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*Dobson has 17 honorary doctorates hanging in Focus on the Family's lobby. Trump's only honorary degree (in Scotland) was revoked.</div>
DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-35796269681224792382016-10-24T18:49:00.000-07:002016-10-24T18:49:42.304-07:00Hero Or Nero? Is Trump The Worst Thing To Happen To America In 156 Years?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnPmKmP8_FZFt4Rq0EDgEhUTOo1uUYSmkeN7lhCpgd9EhUoftfkOQzS8ZKjuX6r_jsuMYFu4kyHtB7oNtTDrOiXcFmC_WSddgAGwsLo-Fl1qtNR_lDN5OpRQwQmivPcyNOHVsbvF-AvQrE/s1600/Trump+as+Nero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnPmKmP8_FZFt4Rq0EDgEhUTOo1uUYSmkeN7lhCpgd9EhUoftfkOQzS8ZKjuX6r_jsuMYFu4kyHtB7oNtTDrOiXcFmC_WSddgAGwsLo-Fl1qtNR_lDN5OpRQwQmivPcyNOHVsbvF-AvQrE/s320/Trump+as+Nero.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><b>"I don't think he goes away. I -- you know, this is a Caesar crossing the Rubicon moment. He's got an army. What's he going to do with that army?"<br /><br />"I think he's going to be the Che Guevara of deplorables," - <a href="http://%22i%20don%27t%20think%20he%20goes%20away.%20i%20--%20you%20know%2C%20this%20is%20a%20caesar%20crossing%20the%20rubicon%20moment.%20he%27s%20got%20an%20army.%20what%27s%20he%20going%20to%20do%20with%20that%20army/?%22%20Maher%20said.%20%22I%20think%20he%27s%20going%20to%20be%20the%20Che%20Guevara%20of%20deplorables,%22%20he%20added.">Bill Maher on CNN</a></b><br /></span><div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Or maybe one of history's greatest deplorables - Nero. The problems with this Nero is that his loyal followers act more like unwashed bourgeois French Revolut</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ionaries or revolutionaries of the June Rebellion of 1832.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Nero Nero On The Wall ...</b></span></div>
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<br style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We have all been witnessing a candidate for President of the United States who lives in an alternate reality and has convinced a great many people to follow him and do the same. To them, he is a cult hero who speaks the truth but is demonized by the media elite. They listen to him and only to him. Lies! False accusations! All by a rigged system rife with conspiracy! He alone can fix things! He cares for this country! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But more importantly, he cares for THEM. With him "WE HAVE A VOICE!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Believe it or not, the Roman emperor Nero was very popular with Rome's lower class. Yes, the one who "fiddled while Rome burned."*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero" target="_blank">wikipedia</a>:</span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<i><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"Over the course of his reign, Nero often made rulings that pleased the lower class. Nero was criticized as being </span><b style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">obsessed with personal popularity."</b><span style="white-space: nowrap;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> (emphasis mine)</span></span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Nero also considered himself <b>quite the entertainer</b>, giving performances in song and poetry to the public. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For all his likability with the lower classes, however, Nero had a penchant for <b>political power and vengeance</b>:</span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"To consolidate power, Nero executed a number of people in 62 and 63 including his rivals </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas_(freedman)" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Pallas</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">, Rubellius Plautus and Faustus Sulla.</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero#cite_note-61" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">[61]</a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> According to Suetonius, Nero "showed neither discrimination nor moderation in putting to death whomsoever he pleased" during this period."</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Vengeance Before Country</span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; letter-spacing: 0.01em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<span id="yiv7202111055yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477148387877_39031"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>And before outlining the list of actions he plans to take after his inauguration, Trump<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-outlines-agenda-for-first-100-days-in-gettysburg-210608631.html?ref=gs" target="_blank"> first announced</a> what he intends to do immediately after the election: sue each of the women who’ve publicly accused him of sexual assault, unwanted groping, kissing and other inappropriate behavior.</i></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Parallels to Trump even extend (albeit slightly) to the physical:</span></div>
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<i>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suetonius" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Suetonius</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> describes Nero as '</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">his hair light blonde, his features regular rather than attractive, his eyes blue and somewhat weak, his neck over thick, his belly prominent, and his legs very slender."</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Suetonius, however, didn't say anything about small hands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Never Concede, Never Surrender</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>This turbulent election season has fanned the flames of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism and bigotry. Hate speech that typically resides in the dark recesses of the Internet has bubbled into the mainstream and onto Twitter, a popular online hangout for journalists and politicians such as </i><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/08/04/trump-clinton-social-media-twitter-facobook-youtube-snapchat/87974630/" style="font-style: italic;">Trump, who has millions of followers there</a><i>. - </i>Jessica Guyin<i>, </i>USA Today</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Both Republicans and Democrats are now becoming fearful of the aftermath of a Clinton win: i</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">f he doesn't concede (or gives an oddly-worded concession speech), Trump may continue with the presumption that he had actually won and those die-hards of his deserve a leader to fight for their rightful place in America.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In Lisa Belkin's <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trumps-fine-art-of-losing-192113945.html?ref=gs" target="_blank">"Donald Trump's Fine Art of Losing"</a> Donald Trump has never actually admitted defeat in anything. Instead, he just "moves the finish line" to where it appears he has won, or that he has achieved his goal since it was his true goal all along. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So after the election, it would be criminal - in Trump's mind - to concede. In fact, he will count it as a win: so many millions of people in America will, of course, agree with him that he can now do exactly what he wants: create another persona while creating another empire (like Trump TV). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The Revolution Of The Deplorables. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/10/21/carl_bernstein_trump_and_breitbart_are_creating_a_neo-facsist_media_empire.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Carl Bernstein</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">:</span><br style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"... I think the most interesting thing going on right now is Trump saying that he may not go along with the results of this election. What does it really mean? It means, I think, that he is setting himself up as the head of again, I'm going to go back to that neo-fascist term, of a real neo-fascist movement and media empire with the people from Breitbart. His businesses are going into the tank as a result of where he has come out in this election, and there are talks going on... about a media empire. Is there going to be remneants of a neo-fascist movment that he leads after this election? We're in a dangerous place.</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Breitbart. The KKK, Paramilitary groups. Neo-Nazis**. Pick just about any (or all) of the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of hate groups, and you have a substantial number of loyal Trump supporters. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">How many? Election results will show you just about the total who either believe Trump or dismiss his lies for compliance with their interests. In other words, the election may show us how many people are either bigots or gullibly desperate. Is there any other group besides these two? Of these, we can deduce that the people who can cause the most harm is of considerable size. </span></div>
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Some say <a href="http://occupydemocrats.com/2015/08/25/popular-neo-nazi-white-supremacy-group-endorses-trump-for-president/" target="_blank">up to 25 million</a>.</div>
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25 million people - very angry people.</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/10/21/massive-rise-in-hate-speech-twitter-during-presidential-election-donald-trump/92486210/" target="_blank">USA Today </a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This turbulent election season has fanned the flames of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism and bigotry. Hate speech that typically resides in the dark recesses of the Internet has bubbled into the mainstream and onto Twitter, a popular online hangout for journalists and politicians such as <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/08/04/trump-clinton-social-media-twitter-facobook-youtube-snapchat/87974630/">Trump, who has millions of followers there</a>.</span></i></blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/10/22/david_brooks_it_is_accepted_fact_that_trump_will_lose_inner_bitterness_coming_to_the_surface_in_unattractive_ways.html">David Brooks of the New York Times</a>:<br style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Two weeks ago, I was in Idaho, and I ran into a guy who said, well, obviously Trump is going to win because everybody I know is voting for him. And I tried to persuade — argue with this guy, well, if you look at the polls, he is actually not leading.</span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And this guy just wouldn’t accept that. That was not part of his lived reality. And you got the sense a guy like that, if Trump does lose, will be very angry and disbelieving and may be sensitive to the idea that the election was rigged.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">David French, a writer for National Review who was briefly considered as an independent candidate for President, criticized our beloved Ann Coulter(geist) in a column. <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/2016/10/i-wouldnt-want-be-state-election-official" target="_blank">Immediately the tweets started:</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>"I distinctly remember the first time I saw a picture of my then-seven-year-old daughter’s face in a gas chamber. It was the evening of September 17, 2015. I had just posted a short item to the Corner calling out notorious Trump ally Ann Coulter for aping the white-nationalist language and rhetoric of the so-called alt-right. Within minutes, the tweets came flooding in. My youngest daughter is African American, adopted from Ethiopia, and in alt-right circles that’s an unforgivable sin. It’s called “race-cucking” or “raising the enemy.”</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">French's wife who also writes for the blog, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/" target="_blank">Patheos</a>, received even more violent tweets with grisly images and, at one point, </span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>"... an angry voice actually broke into a phone conversation between my wife and her elderly father, screaming about Trump and spewing profanities. My wife was on her iPhone. Her father was on a landline."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Then there's <a href="http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/trump-delegates-patriot-movement-militias">David Riden</a>, a delegate to the RNC:</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Riden told Mother Jones in an interview that US leaders who violate the Constitution may have to be done away with: "The polite word is 'eliminated,'" he said. "The harsh word is 'killed.'"</i></span></blockquote>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trump TV</span></b></div>
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<i style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"His businesses are going into the tank as a result of where he has come out in this election, and there are talks going on... about a media empire. Is there going to be remnants of a neo-fascist movement that he leads after this election? We're in a dangerous place."</span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Carl Bernstein may have hit on something: speculation about a "media empire" is rife on social media. Trump, Steve Bannon of Breitbart and Roger Ailes (formerly of Fox), coupled with 25 million rabid fans could become a force to be reckoned with And although some think it highly unlikely***</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Aftermath</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Upon a likely Trump loss, we can deduce several things: Trump will probably not concede, claiming the election is rigged (and insulting America's very foundation), reactions may be violent - certainly as ugly as Trump's rhetoric ... and Donald Trump will not go away quietly, if at all, resulting in a difficult tenure for Clinton and even a chaotic four years in our government. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We face more years of Donald Trump's inflated ego screaming at every political process, every politician, every American who cries for respite from Donald Trump. And we face his rabid cult supporters. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />America's Civil War began 156 years ago. It was arguably the worst time in America's history. Along with battling Islamic terrorists worldwide, can we afford another one?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
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Deplorables Unite Video<br />The YouTube description (complete with a much younger/thumbnail picture of Trump):<br /><br /><i><b>Published on Sep 19, 2016<br /><br />Over 200k Views! Original!<br /><br />All over the world - the spread of the Trump revolution continues for a free people and sovereign nations free from the clutches of globalism and Islamic terrorism. If being nationalistic, patriotic, and free people who enjoy the riches of modern civilization is considered "deplorable" then count us in and consider us UNITED!</b></i><br /></span><div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lDUwXFvTJfA" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*Another myth dispelled: </span><br />
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According to Tacitus, upon hearing news of the fire, Nero returned to Rome to organize a relief effort, which he paid for from his own funds.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-annals-xv-39_101-2" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero#cite_note-annals-xv-39-101" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">[101]</a></sup> Nero's contributions to the relief extended to personally taking part in the search for and rescue of victims of the blaze, spending days searching the debris without even his bodyguards.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (May 2010)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> After the fire, Nero opened his palaces to provide shelter for the homeless, and arranged for food supplies to be delivered in order to prevent starvation among the survivors.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-annals-xv-39_101-3" style="font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero#cite_note-annals-xv-39-101" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">[101]</a></sup></div>
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**<a href="http://occupydemocrats.com/2015/08/25/popular-neo-nazi-white-supremacy-group-endorses-trump-for-president/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">To no one’s surprise</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">, America’s most popular neo-Nazi website, the Daily Stormer, has officially </span><a href="http://www.donotlink.com/framed?767439" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">announced its support</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Predictably, the endorsement praised the numerous racist statements in Trump’s announcement video, especially </span><a href="http://freakoutnation.com/2015/08/we-saw-this-coming-popular-white-supremacist-site-endorses-donald-trump/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">his</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> “willingness to call [Mexicans] out as criminal rapists, murderers, and drug dealers.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*** To the dismay (and embarassment) of Trump and his supports, the domain name of Trump.tv has already been picked up by someone at auction. Trump plans to sue, of course, but the person openly<a href="http://www.redstate.com/jimjamitis/2016/10/23/donald-may-plans-start-trump-tv-internet-rigged/" target="_blank"> mocks such a feeble attempt.</a></span></div>
DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-63094580499451600142016-10-10T23:31:00.000-07:002016-10-10T23:31:30.276-07:00Sticking To The Lecherous Mad Guard Dog: Christian Leaders Want Protection And Revenge - Not Morals<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYVHUA9-Sy-CX0M7R3lKrC5zSWszO5lHBzfwaq6eQ5hc4ANmt7SnbLyLFL0ZNb1mWJf01VM-43OV53njDrcmAVRuWbgG050Fn6_oE4nCCfQbiwM6TnXOXkhAUPkmnPL5aRFkVNarDHp_uo/s1600/Trump+Guard+Dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYVHUA9-Sy-CX0M7R3lKrC5zSWszO5lHBzfwaq6eQ5hc4ANmt7SnbLyLFL0ZNb1mWJf01VM-43OV53njDrcmAVRuWbgG050Fn6_oE4nCCfQbiwM6TnXOXkhAUPkmnPL5aRFkVNarDHp_uo/s400/Trump+Guard+Dog.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>The Lecherous Mad Guard Dog has never mentioned God in the debates, but no matter. </b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For Trump, the second Presidential Debate with Hillary Clinton was really no better than the first: fidgeting, interrupting and sniffling, Trump piled on falsehood after falsehood (see Associated Press' <a href="http://elections.ap.org/content/latest-updates-2nd-clinton-trump-debate">running critique of the debates</a>) and "throwing <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/liveblogs/2016/10/second-presidential-debate-clinton-trump/503495/">as many attacks against Clinton</a> as possible." He even wrangled with debate monitors Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper, implying that they were partial to Hillary Clinton. Throughout the debate, his morality was questioned, not only with the scandal of leaked tapes and his mysogenist views, but with his handling of the debate. For example:<br /><br />- Was it moral to dig up Bill Clinton's past even before the debate? And in such as seemingly vicious way?<br /><br /><a href="http://elections.ap.org/content/latest-updates-2nd-clinton-trump-debate">Associated Press:</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Donald Trump unexpectedly appeared live on his Facebook page with women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of rape and unwanted advances. They didn't take questions but repeated some of the claims they made against Clinton years ago.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- Was it moral to lie as much as Trump did during the debate? He lies so badly that it seems as if he's mocking fact-checkers with lies that have been exposed months ago (see above).<br /><br />- Was it moral to be so vengeful?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/liveblogs/2016/10/second-presidential-debate-clinton-trump/503495/">The Atlantic</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>"If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation,” adding that if he were in charge, “you would be in jail.” While the campaign <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/lock-her-up-hillary-clinton/492173/">has seen numerous incidents</a> of Trump aides suggesting the sort of political retribution more common in banana republics, the specter of one candidate promising the prosecution of the other was unprecedented.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><b>If We Don't Care, You Shouldn't Either</b><br />With the Christian Right and today's politics, morals take a back seat to agenda: it goes deeper than the hypocrisy of demonizing Bill Clinton for his affairs. By supporting Trump, the Christian Right has laid bare it's real agenda. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />And it's not to save souls.<br /><br />Donald Trump has attacked everything the Christian Right wants to be destroyed and they see him as the snake oil salesman of their dreams: with a cult-like following of proud "deplorables" he can manipulate, they can transform his "movement" into a model of David Barton's Seven Mountains theology.<br /><br />They look back upon his campaign as a necessary inconvenience, with promises like "I will protect gays" as hopefully disingenuous as his promise to be "presidential" when the time comes.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/10/09/tony-perkins-donald-trump-comments-about-women-state-2016-race"><b>Tony Perkins</b> </a>(Family Research Council)<br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"We don't share the same type of values. We don't see the world the same way, although we do have some shared concerns," Perkins said.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He explained that Hillary Clinton has made it clear she would appoint liberal, pro-choice Supreme Court justices if she's elected president.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Perkins said that Trump, although he has his share of issues, will be a better president for people who are concerned about religious liberty.</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Ralph Reed</b></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In an email to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/10/08/still-the-best-candidate-some-evangelicals-still-back-trump-despite-lewd-video/">Washington Post</a>, Reed — head of Trump’s advisory board and the Faith and Freedom Coalition — the comments were “inappropriate,” but pivoted to attacking Clinton.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"I think a 10-year-old tape of a private conversation with a TV talk show host ranks pretty low on their hierarchy of their concerns,” he said.</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Michele Bachmann</b></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Bachmann <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/bachmann-is-still-voting-for-trump-781663299713">dismissed</a> Trump’s comments as “bad boy talk.” She has not rescinded her support.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Robert Jeffress</b></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">While the comments are lewd, offensive, and indefensible … they are not enough to make me vote for Hillary Clinton,” he said, adding he would “not necessarily choose Donald Trump to be a Sunday School teacher” but he still supports him.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The list goes on: James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Jr., "Bishop" Harry Jackson, Pastor Mark Burns - plus a plethora of known Christian Right leaders, whose silence on the matter is deafening. Even Trump's own spiritual advisor, prosperity gospel preacher Paula White is mum.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.charismanews.com/politics/60435-franklin-graham-what-we-need-to-keep-in-mind-after-donald-trump-s-lewd-remarks">Charisma News</a><br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Since Trump's initial comments, he has <a href="http://www.charismanews.com/politics/58832-jentezen-franklin-donald-trump-rededicated-his-life-to-christ">rededicated</a> his life to Christ. Prominent Christians like James Dobson and Jentezen Franklin stand behind the candidate, as do dozens more as part of his <a href="http://www.charismanews.com/politics/58003-pentecostal-leaders-pack-out-trump-s-new-christian-advisory-board">Faith Advisory Board.</a></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Dr. Ben Carson, who has been serving as a top surrogate for Trump since ending his own presidential campaign, <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ben-carson-says-donald-trump-prayed-for-forgiveness-before-the-presidential-debate-043443555.html">told Yahoo News</a> that Trump prayed with James Robison, a televangelist and founder of the Christian relief organization LIFE Outreach International.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Onward Christian Guard Dog</b><br />So it seems that Trump's following among the Christian Right is quite unshakable; if they can manipulate him (rather a fantasy of theirs), they can win and Seven Mountains Theology will emerge triumphant.<br /><br />They will continue their dream until November 8.<br /><br />***<br /><br /><b>On A Lighter Note:</b><br /><br />Donald Trump's "locker room banter" gave the euphemistic term "p*ssy" new life: there was a time when the term "p**sy was looked upon as a light, almost frivolous euphemism. The English comedy Are you Being Served played fast and loose with Mrs Slocum's "pussy".</span><div>
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DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708656867939584348.post-13176311726412746752016-10-03T13:00:00.000-07:002016-10-03T13:00:21.184-07:00For The Sake Of The Country: Don't Tamper With Delusional Donald! <br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>CLINTON: Well Donald, I know you live in your own reality, but those are not the facts.</b><br />Trump's alternate reality will (hopefully) be his undoing. <br /><br />It might take a while for Trump supporters to catch on, but with reality knocking at their door constantly, they might (hopefully) give in to it sooner or later. <br /><br /><b>Because in his alternate reality, he will:</b><br /><br /> - <b>Claim to be the <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/07/19/donald-trump-negotiating-the-art-of-the-deal/" target="_blank">Great Negotiator</a></b> while the unionized workers at his Las Vegas hotels and golf courses are calling for a boycott because he refuses to negotiate a contract and address serious complaints as proscribed by law. The "NO Negotiator" would be closer to the truth.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMlQXTTKML4ug19qTm42T4x7txJRKRkGC8kT3hHRiCxKPttPUXV-mUsqtAhi2rpJUZ5lMG9PXHVEN9fwwi23ZZQqbKjzQOwTbHYxABhRERFj_pRfx6sDB1ygQVJEkqh6-awMYoPcZhD7v5/s1600/Trump+Las+Vegas+workers.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMlQXTTKML4ug19qTm42T4x7txJRKRkGC8kT3hHRiCxKPttPUXV-mUsqtAhi2rpJUZ5lMG9PXHVEN9fwwi23ZZQqbKjzQOwTbHYxABhRERFj_pRfx6sDB1ygQVJEkqh6-awMYoPcZhD7v5/s1600/Trump+Las+Vegas+workers.jpg" /></a><br />Content Trump employees<br /><br /><br />- Keep telling people that he doesn't have any relationship with foreign countries that don't honor America. He will never connect with "losers". His personal approach to foreign policy, however, makes one wonder if the only "winners" he has dealt with are Russia and Cuba.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFbn-RZPHHAyJ_0CeASYOxA9OVkr5iivFS416Ve3ElxpD3WvvWi5W0298F-MxPhX45ORKoxJg8cyX5wPD78qzInLJfJhmBQoyn54dujGKVZArZ1njNHpW6j6g8XSbhYQcMb5LFxlwTxuJ2/s1600/Trump+Cuba.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFbn-RZPHHAyJ_0CeASYOxA9OVkr5iivFS416Ve3ElxpD3WvvWi5W0298F-MxPhX45ORKoxJg8cyX5wPD78qzInLJfJhmBQoyn54dujGKVZArZ1njNHpW6j6g8XSbhYQcMb5LFxlwTxuJ2/s320/Trump+Cuba.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br />http://babalublog.com/wpr/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/newsweek-trump-castro-connection-cover-560x722.jpeg<br /><br />- <b>Continue to berate</b> former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado. The adulterer and thrice married septuagenarian will continue to act as the moral arbiter of the country. He will berate, in fact, anyone the Christian Right hopes he will: from Machado to the Clintons. He has to, of course, be beholden to God.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRED4o-9KglPo8CiJJRi0555eAQBa51z_Wp58E7-x6Xh3kb3RUE3uY5ASuFwlxgMbCJFOyAuTqq510G8V38z1NJif6pwO2r48b6miyq3ggtzOi7kCnjvHsSv6Q58nNi6EDFOELOiVRkMdd/s1600/Trump+Machado.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRED4o-9KglPo8CiJJRi0555eAQBa51z_Wp58E7-x6Xh3kb3RUE3uY5ASuFwlxgMbCJFOyAuTqq510G8V38z1NJif6pwO2r48b6miyq3ggtzOi7kCnjvHsSv6Q58nNi6EDFOELOiVRkMdd/s320/Trump+Machado.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br />- <b>Keep saying that he will build a wall</b> and make Mexico pay for it In doing so, He'll show the country that he doesn't know how our constitutional democracy works: With a project of that size, the President cannot snap his fingers or scream at tCongress what to do. Nor does he have the required respect from Congress to pass any bill. It would become the Congress of NO with anything he proposes, not just a "spite wall". <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_LvLNH464ywUOUvgnWXoQCb3KD_3ETclY3gG7kZ6bih-mHmgcC0oJTqrRdpeyHS5WKVuTGzsKj3XzmOihfBCN-lK8Ogyflr3Eb4JGbyBopDGB1viI1WVOaw1rGDUSD7y5wvriXBbW_FX/s1600/Trump+wall.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_LvLNH464ywUOUvgnWXoQCb3KD_3ETclY3gG7kZ6bih-mHmgcC0oJTqrRdpeyHS5WKVuTGzsKj3XzmOihfBCN-lK8Ogyflr3Eb4JGbyBopDGB1viI1WVOaw1rGDUSD7y5wvriXBbW_FX/s320/Trump+wall.jpg" /></a><br />Certainly a statement: a "wall" around Trump's </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">star on Hollywood's <i>Walk of Fame</i>.<br /><br /><br />- <b>Throw tantrum after tantrum</b>, his surrogates "spinning" out of control, trying to keep up. The latest "He's a Genius!", with Christie and Guiliani whirling like dervishes is providing entertainment so hysterical that even his supporters might be laughing. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNoKQqcapdHTANobmIMHsseAzCuPZp6wF5ZstOWWl32MxSqrctXQwQofwY_Cs9JYI7V87EwyyZ94UTQuAI55lk24V7czYU8JxoxDfwatHGOG_M1q9Wkkjohzg3fpMPdqvO6aPC7JOyrTMj/s1600/Trump+tax+returns+2.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNoKQqcapdHTANobmIMHsseAzCuPZp6wF5ZstOWWl32MxSqrctXQwQofwY_Cs9JYI7V87EwyyZ94UTQuAI55lk24V7czYU8JxoxDfwatHGOG_M1q9Wkkjohzg3fpMPdqvO6aPC7JOyrTMj/s320/Trump+tax+returns+2.jpg" /></a><br /> "An absolute ah... what's the word? Oh yeah, GENIUS!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/giuliani-christie-trump-genius-skirting-income-taxes-article-1.2814651<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/03/politics/donald-trump-tax/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29">CNN:</a><br /><br />"The reality is that we are in day six of the meltdown," Clinton supporter Neera Tanden said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "He had a terrible debate performance. Everybody sees that. He sees the state polls moving towards Hillary. Eleven state polls were out this week. She's beating him in every single one. He can't take that. And so this is the latest meltdown."<br /><br /><br />- Keep withholding his tax returns. He doesn't seem to realize the consequences if he actually becomes President: if Congress decides that any one of his schemes (like Trump University) is worthy of investigation, it could SUBPOENA his tax returns and everything would come out anyway. Delusions such as Trump's never count on consequences.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEU_MClfkrbGzW-B90KRhN1YKM18-Jgy9ku7pv4h5fVtd-cHaCmi7SwakgUmEFVeSaK7LixTiqvrd6w5tRCqAwoNdyFROOSg-ZBcO5Vu2-H1nfkSIr8ck35XrtqnOVQidDIp3PJZL6L3Hc/s1600/Trump+tax+returns+1.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEU_MClfkrbGzW-B90KRhN1YKM18-Jgy9ku7pv4h5fVtd-cHaCmi7SwakgUmEFVeSaK7LixTiqvrd6w5tRCqAwoNdyFROOSg-ZBcO5Vu2-H1nfkSIr8ck35XrtqnOVQidDIp3PJZL6L3Hc/s200/Trump+tax+returns+1.jpg" /></a><br /><br />https://imgflip.com/i/18e75n<br /><br />- Provide more <b>medical "documents" </b>from a crackpot "physician" who stated that Trump could be "the most physically fit President" simply because he "liked that phrase."<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirC3lgNjJxQAacLRO6WFPIw7CnkiGuXy3X0O91CWA1_5VUqsPioaAmYgbmwDbU3fcIgDPRKF86BxtgON5uTBc7pA20a-fM5OvgxrZ1rLhxV7zanlCjQniR-1C19ua0VAmWg1uoHG-oyelh/s1600/Trump+doctor.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirC3lgNjJxQAacLRO6WFPIw7CnkiGuXy3X0O91CWA1_5VUqsPioaAmYgbmwDbU3fcIgDPRKF86BxtgON5uTBc7pA20a-fM5OvgxrZ1rLhxV7zanlCjQniR-1C19ua0VAmWg1uoHG-oyelh/s320/Trump+doctor.jpg" /></a><br />Dr. Bornstein on vacation - </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">the very picture of health!<br /><br />http://www.newsgrio.com/articles/347052-donald-trump-is-in-excellent-condition-and-has-great-mental-health-his-doctor-says.html<br /><br /><br />- Continue to <b>eschew any advice</b> from anyone because, of course, he doesn't need any. He doesn't take notes either, because, of course, he has the <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-university-memory-224712" target="_blank">greatest memory</a>!<br /><br /><br />- Keep staffing his campaign with people who look as if they just <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/kkk-leader-david-duke-tells-twitter-i-love-donald-trump-great-speech-2394029" target="_blank">came out if a Klan meeting</a> while trying to ensure African Americans they have "nothing to lose" by voting for him. With unwarranted "surrogates", ah, supporters like former Grand Wizards, Trump's <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.740062" target="_blank">bizarre attempts</a> at courting African American votes may have been a bit futile.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiawbFmizQUNlNu_yFw0KNIgU7zArRw7paAv25sh2AkHfkasDRzAAHyCSPVQDEWYTWKHwFYBTuyaIJoDS287pvCPAFvQwvtCxPU2eX8Fa_OUqjtM9GnkBfooCRQXi5ampeuTYWmpO8Sgd9b/s1600/Trump+spokesperson.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiawbFmizQUNlNu_yFw0KNIgU7zArRw7paAv25sh2AkHfkasDRzAAHyCSPVQDEWYTWKHwFYBTuyaIJoDS287pvCPAFvQwvtCxPU2eX8Fa_OUqjtM9GnkBfooCRQXi5ampeuTYWmpO8Sgd9b/s320/Trump+spokesperson.jpg" /></a><br />Is that an American flag<br /><br />http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/02/28/heres-why-trump-says-he-cant-unequivocally-condemn-david-duke-kkk-endorsement/<br /><br />- Gild everything: his apartment, his wife, his life, his name. Everything must be painted gold. Including all of his tweets. After all, his supporters, all of them designers with taste, expect him to be shrouded in gold because he is so <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/opinion/sunday/trump-the-bad-bad-businessman.html?_r=0" target="_blank">obscenely successful</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpKuNMWS09GalVdZu5HweD7OkNg8OJhR-0voxtvAh3Ij0oIBnmAjluKNSSUkM5FMa5pA3tl_SGk_mYzpjvRc7Qk1uWxCgLTc46HuFpBeLbu-evboNcYXkncJOuxKFPG0ePnfFs9rHbXCI/s1600/trump+apartment.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpKuNMWS09GalVdZu5HweD7OkNg8OJhR-0voxtvAh3Ij0oIBnmAjluKNSSUkM5FMa5pA3tl_SGk_mYzpjvRc7Qk1uWxCgLTc46HuFpBeLbu-evboNcYXkncJOuxKFPG0ePnfFs9rHbXCI/s320/trump+apartment.jpg" /></a><br />Stand in it long enough ....<br /><br /><b>And finally:</b><br /><br />Donald Trump will still contradict himself continuously, saying he "never said that" when googling his phrases <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2016/03/24/10-things-trump-said-but-says-he-didnt/">shows he did</a>. This last may be the absolute, the last straw against proof of sanity: obvious and immediate concrete evidence does not phase the truly delusional. This is also the reason some people look upon Trump's support as <a href="http://www.gq.com/story/the-cult-of-trump">kind of cult</a>.<br /><br /><b>Poor Donald</b><br /><br />To take advantage of someone who has basically lost their mind (even <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-family-values-are-the-kids-starting-to-worry-about-dads-behavior-181141177.html">his children are concerned</a>) seems cruel...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">... but what's a beleaguered country - one which has gotten tired of the circus of delusions - to do? <br /><br />If we continue to let The Donald be delusional, we'll all wind up much happier.<br /><br /></span></div>
DFVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07003705351039137032noreply@blogger.com0