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Category Archives: My Opinion

NOTES


The advent of the Trump administration’s cabinet choices are beginning to bear fruit, bitter, bitter fruit. From education to the EPA we are being sent down a path that will harm us for years. The current attempt on tax reform is yet one more slap to the faces of Americans in the name of improvement and more money in the pockets of “middle class Americans”. All of the buzz words and sound bites put out on a daily basis are not worthy of being called information. The so called tax reform touted as being better benefits only the so called 1%. There is no real middle class anymore, there are the 99% which covers everyone who does not make the imaginary middle class wage. It is well to remember that Congressional members will not be affected by any tax reforms just as they would not be affected by any changes in the ACA (Obamacare). I contend that our faith in the elected members of the Government from the Whitehouse to the Congress is misplaced as they talk a good game but have not delivered in years. What they have delivered is a divide that pits most Americans against one another so that they (administration and Congress) can maintain power. We have been fed so much erroneous information that the truth is only one more lie from drowning. All of the activity on ACA and Tax reform is about campaign promises and staying in office. We the voters have an obligation to speak out and complain about what the Congress and the Administration is doing. Do not be fooled or ignore what is coming out of Washington as much of it is untrue or “alternate facts”. If you have been paying attention at all you must realize that we are in trouble and only we  voters can correct it. We must write, call, email, and tweet our representatives and Congress until we get their attention, do not wait for someone else to do it. The way to look at this except for a few, our Congress and TOTUS do not care about you and will continue to do things in your name without your permission.  Disregard the “titles” like conservative, progressive, liberal, right and left, these word wars are just distractions and  the usual smoke and mirrors of politics. Get real and pay attention. Remember what happens to one affects us all even if you don’t think so.

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Wrong Assumptions


This current political climate is potentially the worst in our modern history. We have politicians who deem to speak for “the American People” and fomenting a divide along Racial lines to help themselves. These are the same people who while suggesting they are working for their constituents are really working for themselves (or their backers). The laundry list of political parties and the subsets is confusing to most people. For clarity: there are two (2) major political parties, Democrats and Republicans ( I call them Scamocrats and Dupublicans). There are subsets of these known as Conservative, progressive and probably some others that are  lesser known. All the voters want to know is what are you doing for us? During campaigns many things are said and often tailored to  the group that is being addressed although many of them are not viable as issues since they cannot be accomplished. What is viable is proper legislation that takes in the good of all of the people not what is good for certain groups. Many have not read the Constitution even though it is a relatively short document, reading this important paper should bring a realization of how it should work. It is a “living” document which means it was designed to change as the country grows and changes. The basic tenets and protections remain the same. It is unfortunate that our politicians have become (for the most part) slaves to their particular party rather than representatives of the people who elected them. It appears to be commonly assumed that the elected officials are smarter than we are , not true but they are adept at giving the impression that they are. What if  your representative came to your home and began looking in your cabinets and helping themselves to your stuff? This would probably give you pause at the very least, so take this thought to the nation’s capital. What exactly are they doing for you, the answers are not on any single news channel or publication. It is the duty of all citizens to expose themselves to as many information sources as  available since  the trustworthiness of our representatives is suspect. Looking at the recent executive orders which can seriously harm the existing healthcare system just to save money (how about saving lives?). Remember that most of if not all of the administration will not be affected by these changes in healthcare. Recently the administration has removed your ability for justice in the financial sector (really looking out for you). All of this to say that whatever you think you know about the current administration and Congress is probably wrong if you do not spend some time looking at several sources for information. Taking in all of the groups claiming “white” privilege aka: nativists, white nationalists, Neo Nazi’s et al, I am still wondering how they could be making “America Great” again when the real Native Americans were robbed of their lands and relegated to a few areas called “Reservations”. These reservations now for the most part have their own sovereignties and for the most part are untouchable but it took many years for the Native Americans to get to that stage at the cost of millions of lives and acres of land area. Who are the real Americans? If you want to know  merely ask a Native American. Essentially we are a in the midst of the same type of nativism that produced the German regime that produced WWII and cost millions of lives. We have an administration that is supporting this movement while looking for glorification and approbation for it.

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What It Takes to Govern America


The seemingly unending sound bites and buzzwords are still overshadowing what is really happening in Government. The “tweet Storm” is hiding the ineptitude of the administration and the steady erosion of protections for all of us. The EPA is being gutted (our water and air quality protectors), the Education system is going down a dangerous path with an administrator whose sole objective appears to be privatization of education, now the tax system is under attack with the ruling party working to “make the tax system fairer”. All of this in the name of “making America great Again”. America has never been “ungreat”, what has occurred is the elected officials who have always been suspect by all of us to some degree have not been “great”.  The rise of TOTUS is clear evidence that our long serving Congress and State officials do not and have not had any interest in serving us (the often cited “American People”). They have been busily serving them selves in one way or another. These folks have assumed the mantle of our “thinkers” regardless of what we actually think and say to them through written or oral communications. This is why we have the current administration. Too many of us are rightfully upset and angry at our legislators from the local to the Federal levels however our method of dealing with them is to not vote (judgement error)because they did not like the candidates, they believed the hype of one candidate or another or just did not take time to read up on the people who are running. Voting is a privilege which should not be taken lightly so why would we accept the opinion of someone else when we vote? Currently the administration’s moves on healthcare and taxes sound great but when enacted will not bring the relief for voters as touted. If you truly believe the hype, at least READ all available data before maintaining any level of trust in our elected Ne’er do wells. We are being assailed by misinformation daily and it is the same tactic Hitler used in WWII Germany to move his agenda forward. The result was WWII and the extermination of 6 plus million Jews and other ethnic sects considered inferior. During that time few Germans were living the high life as shown in the propaganda films made during that time. We are at a period where forces are pushing a separatist agenda in an attempt to get a foothold in Government which will be a blow to our Democracy. What it takes to govern America is knowledgeable voters who will not be taken in by “true sounding” statements that have no basis in fact. Your fellow Americans span the spectrum of Race, Religion and ethnicity and it has been that way since the inception of the Constitution. There is no one solution to good government except knowledgeable voters and it starts with being “WOKE”.

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In the Trump Administration, Everyone Becomes a Liar


 

The most disappointed people in the United States are the people who supported Trump as someone who “tells it like it is”, unfortunately the telling is merely a bullying, petty little man whose ability to tread the waters of Washington politics is waning. On the outside of this administration is Steve Bannon who is deconstructing the Dupublican party bit by bit and everyone is fair game. This disconnect with the people and the main party has left a rift that has allowed the rise of the far right much like the 1930’s rise of the Nazi party and we all know the results of that insurgence (if you don’t then you should read the history of WWII). To be clear most long serving politicians are less than honest and on a scaled system from more believable to least believable. MA
Paul Waldman
October 23, 2017
Eventually everyone, including John Kelly, must sink to lying for the president. Of all President Trump’s multitudinous character flaws, it’s the relentless dishonesty that does the most damage to anyone who works for him in the effort they must make to retain some shred of dignity as they labor in his service. You might to be able to spin or rationalize some of what Trump does—Sure, the Twitter stuff is nuts, but he’s just speaking directly to the voters! Sure, he knows nothing about policy, but that’s OK because his instincts are so sound! But you can’t explain away all the lying, day after day after day—especially when you may eventually be called upon to step before the cameras and explain it, echo it, or even add lies of your own to the ever-growing pile.
There’s a cycle that repeats itself in some variation again and again: Trump lies about something, then when it gets pointed out he doubles down, insisting that he didn’t lie, then someone gets sent out to defend him and usually ends up telling more lies, then the White House insists that not only did no one tell any lies, but the media should just shut up about it. And before you know it, the cycle will begin all over again.
So let’s quickly review what happened in the latest iteration of this miserable pattern, last week. At a press conference, Trump was asked why he hadn’t said anything publicly about the killing of four American soldiers in Niger, nearly two weeks after it happened. He replied by lying about his predecessors, claiming that they (especially Barack Obama) never called the families of fallen service members, while he did. The next morning in a radio interview, he claimed, “I have called, I believe, everybody—but certainly I’ll use the word virtually everybody.” This too was false. Then Representative Frederica Wilson told reporters that when Trump called the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson, he said the slain soldier “must have known what he signed up for,” which came off sounding insensitive. Then Trump lied again, claiming that he never said that, despite the fact that the family confirmed it. He also said “I have proof” that Wilson wasn’t telling the truth, yet another lie.
Which brings us to the person whose turn it was to defend Trump, Chief of Staff John Kelly. If there were anyone who one would have thought could work for Donald Trump and emerge with their integrity and reputation intact, it might have been Kelly. Not a vicious partisan or a striving careerist, Kelly moved to the White House from the Department of Homeland Security to impose some discipline and order on a chaotic situation, and has apparently been trying (with little success) to rein in the president’s worst impulses by restricting his access to shady characters and the kind of information that will get him too riled up. Kelly’s willingness to take on the extraordinarily difficult task of managing the angry toddler in the Oval Office has been widely seen as an act of public service, a final tour of duty from a career military officer done in order to prevent great harm coming to the country.
But as Kelly proved on Thursday, there is no such thing as noble service to Donald Trump. To join him means to descend into his sewer of division and dishonesty. Once you work for Donald Trump, he infects you like a disease, one for which there is no cure.
When Kelly began his statement to the White House press corps by describing the process by which a fallen service member’s body is brought back home, people watching were moved, particularly since Kelly’s own son was killed fighting in Afghanistan. But then he revealed that when Trump told La David Johnson’s widow that Johnson knew what he signed up for, he was actually following Kelly’s advice about what to say. That confirmed what was obvious from the beginning: Trump was trying to say something that in the hands of someone with a shred of human empathy might have been comforting, but coming from him it sounded insensitive and even offensive. But perhaps more importantly, it confirmed that Trump was lying when he repeatedly denied that he had said it.
Then to make matters worse, Kelly tried to discredit Wilson in ways both absurd and dishonest. He said, “It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation,” as though Wilson were eavesdropping, when in fact she heard it because she’s a friend of the family—she was in a limousine with them when the call came in, and Mrs. Johnson put the president on speaker. Then Kelly lamented the lack of what used to be sacred in America, including that “women were sacred, looked upon with great honor.” This was said with no apparent irony by a man who works for Trump, who not only has a decades-long history of demeaning women but is on tape bragging about his ability to sexually assault them with impunity, something he has been credibly accused of by a dozen different women.
Kelly followed that up by telling a story about Wilson’s allegedly self-aggrandizing behavior at a dedication of an FBI building, in which he claimed that she said she got funding for the building with a phone call to President Obama. Even if the allegation were true, it would have been Trumpian in its pettiness, a way of saying, “Well, that person who’s criticizing the president is a jerk, so nyah nyah nyah.” Yet when video of the event emerged, Kelly’s story turned out to be utterly false; in fact, Wilson said nothing about funding (which happened before she entered Congress) but instead gave a speech lauding bipartisan cooperation in getting the building named for two slain FBI agents and speaking admiringly of the agents’ courage.
If you were tempted to feel sorry for John Kelly because his job babysitting Donald Trump is such an impossible one, that press conference would surely have cured you of the impulse.
It may have been inevitable that he’d be called upon to do it eventually; how many times have we watched as someone working for Trump comes (often grudgingly) before the cameras to either repeat things that aren’t true or attest to their boss’s magnificence? For some, like the surpassingly shameless Sarah Huckabee Sanders or her predecessor Sean Spicer, it’s almost the entirety of the job. For others, like Kelly or Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, it happens at a moment of political peril for Trump, when they’re sent out to do damage control.
But in every case, the aide winds up looking worse for it. Watching them defend Trump only reminds us of how they sold a piece of their soul when they took the job, because to work for Trump is to acquiesce to all that he is. John Kelly might once have argued that he’s there to restrain Trump from inflicting too much damage, but that’s a claim he can no longer make. Like everyone else in this administration, he’s been stained forever.

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State Of DisUnion


We are now 10 months into an administration that is moving us into a pre civil war or at least pre WWII condition. The White House is in a state of barely controlled chaos led by a guy possibly sitting on a toilet and looking at a news station that says good things about him. Could this be a syndrome or a medical condition? We all marveled, sympathized or chuckled at stories about Howard Hughes’s last days but we may be living something similar right now. No matter what your politics are or what you believe to be true, the facts are that we are in a critical stage of being on the verge of war within and without our borders. Any of you who are enjoying better medical care are in the crosshairs of the administration’s cuts to programs that support you. Your tax burden will shift and you potentially will lose some tax breaks. If these things are important to you then you need to pay attention to everything the administration does in your name. It is important to note that in Congress whose leadership has been eerily silent on the administration’s actions only a few members on both sides have spoken against these actions. These out spoken members are in danger of challengers who will tout the administration’s actions as good for you, do not be fooled by tricks and  nonsense. Politics is a dirty business and built on lies much like pre WWII Germany , through historic events and writings we know how that ended up. The key to better government is to get involved and sometimes alliance to a specific politic identity is not the way. It is far better to be an independent with leanings toward a belief than a staunch believer in any one of them. Independence allows for exposure to several areas of thought which can and should create a reasoned approach to politics which shifts like the sands of the desert. Keep in mind that politics is a dirty business and not always in keeping with the Constitution’s framers idea of a United States.

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Janus


The Roman god Janus had two faces one to look backwards and one to look forward. Our month of January is named after him. The idea is to remember the past and look to the future. I would offer that TOTUS is like Janus except his two faces spew lies that cover lies, while telling another lie. It is unfortunate that hardcore Trump supporters do not realize that he has lied to them from the start and has continued to lie in the face of the truth. Trump’s “brand” if you will has always been:

1. Lie, when caught lie again.

2. Another feature of the “brand” is bully, then lie and repeat.

3. Throw anyone under the bus and lie again

4. Sell snake oil whenever possible

5. Lastly if it doesn’t make me look good then I won’t do it and lie again.

It’s called the “Trump Brand” or Trumpism (a non communicable disease).

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writ


“The moving hand once having writ moves on. Nor all thy piety nor wit can lure it back to cancel half a line.”

― Omar Khayyám, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Is it possible that the signing of executive orders by the “Tweeter In Chief” is a way of having a small army of people around him and being filmed is a sexual rush or just an ego driven affair? It appears that he does not read what he has signed but is quite proud to show off his signature. His goal appears to be issuing more executive orders than former President Obama but not understanding why Mr. Obama did what he did. Mr. Obama received no assistance from the Congress on much of his agenda so resorted  to executive orders when he had to. Trump is just trying to sign more and push his campaign promises into law with no thought as to the consequences. His base will suffer the effects along with everyone else but for some reason it seems that has not been a realization for them as long as he keeps his word (which we already know is worthless). Aside from what we have seen in the these 10 months of servitude, the stream of Governance tweets is good news to some and they possibly assume that the tweet storm is helpful and progressive. Meanwhile other forces are gathering to push their visions of America under his umbrella of ignorance. We must beware of the ides of Trump!

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Did Mercury in “Little Blue Pills” Make Abraham Lincoln Erratic?


Could this explain Trump? Perhaps not mercury but possible some other drug or the lack of? Maybe he is just bat crap crazy!

Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News
July 17, 2001
Tales of the melancholia that dogged U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at various times during his life have been documented by historians and biographers and in Lincoln’s own correspondence.

Whether he suffered from a full-blown case of what today is called clinical depression is unknown. What is known, however, is that for a while, Lincoln took little blue pills to treat his condition.

Known as “blue mass,” the little blue pills were a 19th-century staple. They were prescribed for a host of ailments, including apoplexy, worms, child-bearing, tuberculosis, toothaches, and constipation.
The key ingredient was mercury—and the medication was well on its way to poisoning Lincoln when he stopped taking it in 1861, says a team of researchers in a study published in the Summer 2001 issue of Perspectives in Biology and Medicine.
“Cave of Gloom”
Lincoln lived in what a friend called “a cave of gloom.” His melancholy “was a matter of frequent discussion among his friends,” wrote William H. Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner and biographer.
Norbert Hirschhorn, a medical historian and the lead author of the new study, said of Lincoln: “There seem to be clear, qualitative changes in his underlying behavior during the 1850’s. The gloom becomes impenetrable. He becomes subject to towering rages and outbursts of bizarre behavior—jumping up suddenly and running out of the house for no reason, bursts of inappropriate laughter.”
To document the changes in Lincoln’s behavior, the authors of the study cited numerous accounts of friends and fellow lawyers who traveled the legal circuit with the man who became the 16th U.S. President.
Lincoln’s leaps to rage could be terrifying. One contemporary described his face in anger as “lurid with majestic and terrifying wrath.” Another described him as “so angry that he looked like Lucifer in an uncontrollable rage.”
During an 1858 debate with Stephen Douglas, his rival for a seat in the U.S. Senate, Lincoln became so enraged that he grabbed a former aide and shook him until his teeth chattered.
As President during the U.S. Civil War, Lincoln was known for his steady hand, patience, and wisdom. The authors believe the difference between Lincoln the statesman and the earlier Lincoln lies in the “blue mass” pills.
“Mercury poisoning certainly could explain Lincoln’s known neurological symptoms: insomnia, tremor, and the rage attacks,” said Robert G. Feldman, a professor of neurology, pharmacology, and environmental health at Boston University’s School of Medicine and Public Health, who was a co-author of the scientific report.
Hirschhorn said: “In the absence of a hair sample from 1855 to 1861, which I don’t think exists, we can’t absolutely prove mercury poisoning. But it’s a very good clinical suspicion.” Reconstructed Formula
A few months after his presidential inauguration in 1861, Lincoln told his good friend John T. Stuart that he had quit taking the little blue pills because they made him “cross.”
It’s no wonder.
Ian A. Greaves, an associate dean at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, reformulated “blue mass” using a 19th-century recipe, which included mercury, liquor ice root, rosewater, honey, sugar, and dead rose petals. The ingredients were combined using a traditional mortar and pestle, and then shaped into the early pill’s typical size.
The reconstructed “blue pill” was a round gray pellet the size of a peppercorn. If taken at the normally prescribed dose of the time—one pill two or three times a day—it would deliver nearly 9,000 times the amount of mercury that is deemed safe for people by current health standards.
Because the effects of mercury poisoning are reversible, Lincoln’s decision to quit taking the little blue pills had extremely important consequences, said Hirschhorn.
“Faced with as great stresses as any President, Lincoln demonstrated incredible maturity, calm, and steadiness at the helm,” Hirschhorn said. “He might not have had that capacity if he had continued taking blue mass. That insight may have been crucial to the outcome of the Civil War.”

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What If?


What if the Native Americans decided to take America back? Do you think they would be seeking the removal of all non native Americans? What if the current and proposed immigration laws were in force in 1875? If the current  or proposed immigration laws were in effect, there would possibly be no Donald Trump as his Grandfather would not have been allowed in the United States. That being said what is wrong with Trump supporters who believe the DACA recipients are stealing jobs or college spots? Each of these people would tell you with impunity that they are not racist but ask the question : when was the last time you had a non white over for drinks, dinner or to watch a sports game? Did you support any non white people running for any elected office? or do you (did you) support the Indians in the movie accounts of “Custer’s Last stand?”. Do you now support giving as much aid to Puerto Rico as is given to Florida and Texas? Depending on the answers you may be dealing with a Racist on one of the many levels of Racism that exist. Our current administration has no good outlook for any of us matter what anyone chooses to believe about their fate and the overt or covert sense of their race. Our President is no more than a racist who has an over inflated ego with a healthy dose of megalomania. If it were not for the luck of his Grandfather and the savvy of his father, Donny would be no different than many of his supporters and no one would know who he is except for his immediate family. It is also possible the he may be a member of any one of the many anti groups.

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What Have We Become?


The current administration along with outside interests have concocted a web of lies on everything they do and will do. There is no activity that is directed toward the good of the oft cited American People. For years now the political parties have underserved us and that under service allowed for an insidious group of people to take over the Presidency. This group has taken the tactic of another 1930’s dictator and that is tell lies until they become truth in the minds of the people. Once this conversion is complete the people will believe anything that is said. We now have the real possibility of war with a rogue nation and have hardened the lines of other countries. Our allies are not sure what we are doing and therefore have had to move ahead in world affairs without us. The administration has rolled back EPA protections that will spoil our air quality for years while producing no new jobs and will surely cause health issues. This Congress has all but suborned the rash actions of this administration with no thought of the what their duty to the country is. Considering the recent the weather related  events, there have been many statements of what will be done but  more attention on the activities on the Sports fields. It is as if the administration is promoting personal issues over National interests. This is merely more lies issued with smoke and mirrors. What we could become is a nation echoing 1930’s Europe.

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