Make America Great Again…
DUMP TRUMP
This political cartoon sums it all up for me…
Must read article from The Atlantic – How to Build an Autocracy
From the article in The Atlantic How to Build an Autocracy:
“Those citizens who fantasize about defying tyranny from within fortified compounds have never understood how liberty is actually threatened in a modern bureaucratic state: not by diktat and violence, but by the slow, demoralizing process of corruption and deceit. And the way that liberty must be defended is not with amateur firearms, but with an unwearying insistence upon the honesty, integrity, and professionalism of American institutions and those who lead them. We are living through the most dangerous challenge to the free government of the United States that anyone alive has encountered. What happens next is up to you and me. Don’t be afraid. This moment of danger can also be your finest hour as a citizen and an American.”
We should all be very concerned. Part of me wants desperately to run and hide from this cluster fuck that is happening to us. We need to heed David Frum’s advice.
Support of Trump is a Litmus Test
Rightly or wrongly voting for or supporting Trump has become a litmus test for me. In an attempt to articulate my arbitrary position I have come up with the following reasons:
- If you voted for Trump you are possibly intellectually challenged. I deal with enough mentally deficient people, I do not need another one in the hopper.
- If you voted for Trump simply because he was the Republican candidate and you always vote Republican, or you did not want to split your ballot, then you are lacking in key critical thinking skills. See number 1.
- If on the other hand you have a reasonable level of intelligence and still voted for Trump then you have a twisted world view. And I am sure it is a world view I do not care to associate with.
- And finally if you voted for Trump because you thought it would be entertaining to have a narcissistic reality TV star in the White House… I only have a string of malas palabras for you.
In past elections I could at least see where there were some basic philosophical differences that would cause us to vote differently. That is how is should be, that is why we have elections. However, this election resulted in putting a thug in the White House. There was a stark difference in an America for the people versus an America for Trump’s ego. And if you are responsible for enabling that egomaniac, do not expect to see a Christmas card from me.
Trump mistakes LBJ quote as a guideline
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” ~~ Lyndon B. Johnson
I went to Snopes.com to verify this quote. At the end of the article they stated:
” In the blunt vernacular that he loved to use, LBJ was describing what the television pundits of today would probably call the politics of resentment and divisiveness. It is still very much with us.”
Trump uses Joseph Goebbels play book on the “Big Lie”
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” ~~ Joseph Goebbels, German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.
Below is from a New York Times article, With False Claims, Trump Attacks Media on Turnout and Intelligence Rift
He also called journalists “among the most dishonest human beings on earth,” and he said that up to 1.5 million people had attended his inauguration, a claim that photographs disproved.
Later, at the White House, he dispatched Sean Spicer, the press secretary, to the briefing room in the West Wing, where Mr. Spicer scolded reporters and made a series of false statements.
He said news organizations had deliberately misstated the size of the crowd at Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Friday in an attempt to sow divisions at a time when Mr. Trump was trying to unify the country, warning that the new administration would hold them to account.
Strap on your seat belts, while he has been lying all along, it is going to get much, much worse. At one level, I do not believe this man is in touch with reality. His brain is operating in some alternate, dysfunctional dimension.
I will have to agree with Trump on one thing he Tweeted, ““Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote?
The fact that this so called leader is still ranting on Twitter should be scaring the shit out of any reasonable person. I know that there are certain types of people that will always be drawn to power, but it perplexes me why any sane person would associate themselves with this obscenity masquerading as a human being.
WTF – Trump – May God have mercy on our souls
“A man can smile and smile and be a villain. Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain.” ~~ from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” ~~ Albert Einstein
I was a military brat, and I was raised Southern Baptist. As such, to a small extent, my foundation was God and Country. Having always been around military bases growing up and seen more than a few military ceremonies of one ilk or another, it was not uncommon for me to get goose bumps when I heard The Star Spangled Banner or God Bless America.
Twenty five years or so ago I made the “mistake” of rereading the whole Bible. When, as an adult, you read the Bible closely it does not stand up. So I started studying other religions which caused me to look at my own religion with the same critical eye. I detailed this in a previous blog article, Rev. Joe Stumbles. The long and the short of it, I lost one of my weak pillars, that of God. My religious faith evaporated. I became a born-again agnostic.
That still left a faith in Country. This had become weakened over Continue reading “WTF – Trump – May God have mercy on our souls”
I Had to Walk Away
I had just got done golfing Friday and went into the club house to get my post round 
Budweiser. On the TV, the news was blowing up with latest Donald Trump atrocity. Which one? They one where he got caught on tape bragging about assaulting women sexually.
The gentleman behind the counter was a fellow my age. We have had several nice conversations together. They are however, generally of the innocuous nature of small talk involving cars, golf or the Cardinals.
After watching the TV for a couple minutes I made the comment, Continue reading “I Had to Walk Away”
Robert Reich Nails It Again
2016 – Not the Time To Vote For A 3rd Party Presidential Candidate
There is a pretty good argument to be made that the reason George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in 2000 is due the votes the Ralph Nader garnered. Undoubtedly most of those votes would have gone for Gore. Also undoubtedly a Gore presidency would have been head and shoulders above the cluster that was the Bush Presidency. The world and our country would have been in a much better place than what has been left to us by Bush-Cheney disaster.
I understand folk’s disenchantment with both the major parties, Democrats and Republicans. I do not know if it is still common, but in years past in some states when you registered to vote you had to declare party affiliation. I usually registered as an independent which in many ways disenfranchised me. Continue reading “2016 – Not the Time To Vote For A 3rd Party Presidential Candidate”
4 Fish We’re Overeating and What to Eat Instead