tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25911617033383613842024-03-28T20:29:47.386-07:00demulcentsTrying to counter the inflammations of extremist forces in Americademulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comBlogger918125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-62409062232230973132024-03-26T19:12:00.000-07:002024-03-26T19:12:08.275-07:00What was Roe v Wade based upon?<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Roe v Wade - allowing abortions - was based on the Right to Privacy, right? Well, sure, but I believe it was based on something even deeper and more important - the right of the Empowerment of Women. It allowed women to determine their lives and not be under the tyrannical foot of theocratic religions. The right to privacy was the doorway through which women’s empowerment emerged. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Women, and couples, could decide for themselves whether to have a child. A hard choice oftentimes, of course. But one that brought women into the workforce as never before, and one that gave women a freedom that liberated their lives and their destinies. They could decide. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, the theocratic religious extremists who have taken that freedom away - watch out - women of both parties are voters. And elections are going to move more and more in the direction of women's empowerment, or so I believe.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If one takes away such a fundamental freedom, one can expect a pretty angry blowback. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Perhaps a fatal flaw of authoritarian extremism is the inability to understand those who are not in the cult, and a false belief that they can force those not trapped inside their bullying religion to obey their own fanatical dictates. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I believe personal freedom triumphs over extremist dogma. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Roe Roe Roe your vote…</span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-28095403825944877162024-03-23T20:18:00.000-07:002024-03-24T17:51:15.270-07:00Watch out<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;">Thom Hartman gives us a warning:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">A. The U.S. warned Putin that they had intelligence that a terrorist attack in a Russia was very possible.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">B. A horrendous terrorist attack killed about 130 civilians </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">C. Muslim ISIS claims responsibility in response to Putin’s barbaric slaughters in Muslim Chechnya two decades ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">D. Putin vows revenge against…Ukraine, claiming they were responsible</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">E. Putin uses this “Reischtag Fire” pretense and massively escalates his slaughter of Ukraine - nukes?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">F. Why? Because Putin’s subservient, Donald J Trump, is keeping his Trump Authoritarian Party (mistakenly called the Republican Party) from funding Ukraine. So Putin senses America will not be able to stop him </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">G. So Putin slaughters and conquers Ukraine with the help of Trump and his MAGA/Putin Cult. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, I extend this logic forward:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">H. Next step for Putin? The rest of the Balkan states - re-establish the Soviet Empire boundaries </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I. Putin says “Thanks, Donny - now stay out of my way while I conquer Europe”, and Trump says “OK, I hate NATO anyway” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I think that’s the plan, but I think Putin needs Trump to be in power in America, and I believe that is not going to happen, he is disintegrating before our eyes. Plus I think he is unelectable, dangerous, violent, but will fail in his next attempted coup. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Plus, I think Putin is also disintegrating before our eyes, and Russians are getting sick of his war and his corruption. Time for Russians to end Putin’s war.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I hope. </span></p>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-19538739917534549472024-03-21T06:34:00.000-07:002024-03-21T17:11:35.165-07:00The John Gotti rule<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> John Gotti was a dumb criminal. He was the boss of the New York Gambino Family Mafia. The reason he was dumb was that he called attention to himself and became a public celebrity. The reason he was dumb is because his mega-maniacal ego that needed to be seen and "admired(?)” What I call the John Gotti Rule is that if you are a criminal just lay low, do not call attention to yourself, do not become a celebrity. Do not become a blatant target to law enforcement.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Gotti was convicted of murder, racketeering, tax evasion, and extortion, plus some others. He went into prison in 1992, died in prison in 2002. Good riddance.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I think the same can be said of the most famous Mafia psychopath of all, Al Capone. Prison. Death (syphilis brain damage caused heart attack). Good riddance. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So what? Well, another dumb criminal is Donald J Trump. Another mega-maniacal ego in desperate need to be seen and admired/worshipped. He has lived a life as a business fraud, a tax evader, a rapist, a money launderer, a deadbeat, a scofflaw. So what does he do? He becomes a celebrity. As long as he is just a TV showboat, who cares? But then he ran for and became president. Dumb.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, his business crimes have gotten him fined nearly half a billion dollars </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">- three sets of financial books - overvalued books for better bank loans, undervalued books for lower taxes, real books (I guess) of his actual business. Crimes. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">His rape cost him $83 million (not the rape, but the defamation of E Jean Carroll the rape victim - ("sexual assault" victim - rape victim). His financial fraud is costing him $460million.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you do the crimes - shut the fuck up and stay out of the news, nitwit, and especially don't run for president of the United States of America.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Just dumb. Thinks he "can do whatever the hell he wants" (dumb quote of a dumb person). </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He can’t. Prison please. </span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-44174375361285947672024-03-14T15:21:00.000-07:002024-03-15T21:14:13.751-07:00The continuing attempt at Revolution<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> For those who didn't know - Liberal <span style="background-color: white; color: #404040;">Thom Hartman is hearing </span><a href="https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-new-over-the-top-secret-plan-518?utm_source=pocket_reader" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">Republican plans </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040;">to overturn the election results in November and install the mentally ill Donald Trump in the White House and capture the country.</span></span></p><div class="post-header" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">After the November election results, the plan is to have the House of Representatives elect Trump and install Theocracy and Oligarchy. How?</span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The Speaker of the House will refuse to certify enough Democratically elected Congresspeople ("irregularities"). Then the Speaker of the House will refuse to accept Electoral College Certificates from selected states ("irregularities"). </span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Then, golly gee, there aren't the needed 270 elctoral college votes to elect a president! What to do? What to do? Oh yes...</span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Then he applies the 12th amendment, where each state gets one vote to elect the president of the United States - viola! More states are Republican and the Republicans vote for the Republican candidate, who lost the real election but wins the 12th amendment phony baloney election. </span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Tada! </span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Say goodbye to:</span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Future presidential elections</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The Rule of Law in America</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">All abortions</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">All birth control</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Any and all opposition to Putin's Russia conquest of Europe</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Gay marriage, gay relationships in public</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Black and brown voting</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Social Security</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Medicare and Medicaid</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Environmental regulations and protections</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Financial regulations and protections</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Anti-monopoly and anti-trust laws</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Clean air</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Clean water</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Government support of green energy</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Public transportation</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Affirmative action</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Unions</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Public Schools</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Public lands</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Pubic parks</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">etc.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The Republican Party has been seized by an extremist Theocratic and Oligarchic revolutionary movement. They have been planning their revolution since the fall of the Confederacy, or at least since the FDR New Deal, or at least since the Civil Rights Movement and Women's Empowerment Movement. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">This is the White-Christian-Rich-Men-Take-Over-Just-Like-They're-Supposed-To Revolution.</span></div></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Trump is just their battering ram. He is the most easily manipulated person I have ever seen - money, praise, blackmail, etc. He will sell out America for anything that he thinks benefits Donald Trump, he is incapable of thinking of anything other than himself. Other than destroying the rule of law, helping Putin, and being king for life, he doesn’t give a crap about the other agendas on the above list. He'll just sit in the White House in his poopy diapers watching TV that praises him and feel smugly vindicated. </span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">And, oh yes, he will destroy everyone who criticized him - all the judges that tried him, all the prosecutors that prosecuted him, all the witnesses who testified against him, all newspapers and magazines that opposed him, all media that doesn't spew the propaganda lies of the revolutionary tyrants, anyone who captures his attention that he wants to hurt. </span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">He will get very rich, and his "friends" will get very rich - with no Rule of Law, who can stop them?</span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Welcome to the Putinization of America - <b>if</b> these fanatics succeed in their revolution. </span></div><div style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />But I believe in the goodness of America. I believe we will stop this abomination. But please understand that these folks are very serious.</span></div><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-flexDirection-column pc-paddingBottom-16 pc-reset" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-weight: 400; list-style: none; padding-bottom: 16px; text-decoration: unset;"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-16 pc-paddingTop-16 pc-paddingBottom-16 pc-justifyContent-space-between pc-alignItems-center _flexGrow_1o6bj_209 pc-reset _border-top-detail-themed_1o6bj_52 _border-bottom-detail-themed_1o6bj_55 post-ufi" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-detail-themed); border-top: 1px solid var(--color-detail-themed); column-gap: 16px; display: flex; flex: 1 1 1px; gap: 16px; justify-content: space-between; list-style: none; padding-bottom: 16px; padding-top: 16px; row-gap: 16px; text-decoration: unset;"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; column-gap: 8px; display: flex; font-family: Spectral, serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; gap: 8px; list-style: none; row-gap: 8px; text-decoration: unset;"><a class="post-ufi-button style-button no-icon has-label with-border" role="button" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; align-items: center; background: 0px 0px repeat; border-radius: calc(var(--size-40)*.5); border: var(--border-default-themed); box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--print_on_web_bg_color, var(--color-primary)); column-gap: var(--size-8); cursor: pointer; display: flex; flex: 0 0 auto; font-family: var(--font-family-text); height: var(--size-40); min-width: var(--size-40); padding: 0 var(--size-16); text-decoration: none; user-select: none;"><div class="label" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-top-width: 2px; color: var(--color-secondary-themed); font-size: 14px; font-weight: var(--font-weight-medium); letter-spacing: -0.15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></div></a></div></div></div></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-73886542634725761012024-03-13T13:55:00.000-07:002024-03-13T13:55:18.350-07:00Trump just keeps paying for the legal fees of those he sues and loses to<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In case you didn't know:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Trump is <a href=" https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-ordered-to-pay-legal-fees-after-failed-lawsuit-over-shocking-and-scandalous-steele-dossier/ar-BB1jvnJi">ordered to pay legal fees</a> after failed lawsuit over the Steele dossier</span></b></span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Trump lost that case and has to pay attorney fees of $338K. Just like he had to pay about $400K attorney fees to the New York Times for a frivolous lawsuit against the paper that reported his history of deceptive and fraudulent business practices. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Dumb person who has a decades long history of overwhelming small pocket plaintiffs with endless legal costs is running up against people who are not caving in to his cruelties. And he not only loses the court cases but has to pay the legal costs of defending themselves against this bullying fraud.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">He just keeps on losing. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Prison soon is coming, I do believe. He has been indicted for criminal activity, not "just" civil suits. He is counting on corrupt judges and a corrupt Supreme Court to rescue him, but I think his end by date is coming soon.</span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-85865464869042169862024-03-10T20:03:00.000-07:002024-03-10T20:10:01.674-07:00Isn’t it past your jail time?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgoEDNT9CHRFQr2zBgJQHKuJgBbVTnf4hkYBhjoB0G7icSjLS3wTBKrLVQSGks21xmAVmjFWW6rfEYz7ZC_Z1YP0VOEJvh-DwpyJXnxkG9r_ho-ZaJOOm1XgQgkDofH67_Ptd_VVBMYxzXnt721LOI7PFirRZszfyDiXQrXWFbM1JsiL57U6TAWuCwP1LP/s670/IMG_0718.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="558" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgoEDNT9CHRFQr2zBgJQHKuJgBbVTnf4hkYBhjoB0G7icSjLS3wTBKrLVQSGks21xmAVmjFWW6rfEYz7ZC_Z1YP0VOEJvh-DwpyJXnxkG9r_ho-ZaJOOm1XgQgkDofH67_Ptd_VVBMYxzXnt721LOI7PFirRZszfyDiXQrXWFbM1JsiL57U6TAWuCwP1LP/s320/IMG_0718.jpeg" width="267" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">WAY past his jail time!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /> </span><p></p>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-60412052257284488742024-03-07T19:58:00.000-08:002024-03-07T19:58:21.098-08:00Give ‘em hell, Joe!<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> State of the Union - Give ‘em hell, Joe!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcf2mSmnqHu7PzaI1xOxT1j9mAyhkd9ujchja-qgLFfoEh3I1iDCS2dom4Y2HwKuuIkKxwWUAHKd0b_Uq08SmzOgEJOn95gJsG5FUqiLkl1yrqJYGYQB9d2OJd4zq0-8T4SzkjTTVGQFVDphbDiQYQVHo9yH11muSCmBYpCdpIFQ5kuXQq37349NFnz3jp/s507/IMG_0701.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="492" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcf2mSmnqHu7PzaI1xOxT1j9mAyhkd9ujchja-qgLFfoEh3I1iDCS2dom4Y2HwKuuIkKxwWUAHKd0b_Uq08SmzOgEJOn95gJsG5FUqiLkl1yrqJYGYQB9d2OJd4zq0-8T4SzkjTTVGQFVDphbDiQYQVHo9yH11muSCmBYpCdpIFQ5kuXQq37349NFnz3jp/s320/IMG_0701.jpeg" width="311" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUiF4nTpjK3DqdcHZ0mzyg6AarW6fVq23BRSEFYVCOts_bkalMfDz7Zi-qqeRRxHY1kl1gWOv7XQO3im4O1A79WQQ4-FW8JQmpXooI_3iRyTRY_Y9PjqN95eMMTLaPw8aRtSttlXn-s19iR0SURvxVLma1-vJxL-qIBGtJTNOmVTlYJJk5s38RAxAPyBDv/s736/IMG_0702.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="736" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUiF4nTpjK3DqdcHZ0mzyg6AarW6fVq23BRSEFYVCOts_bkalMfDz7Zi-qqeRRxHY1kl1gWOv7XQO3im4O1A79WQQ4-FW8JQmpXooI_3iRyTRY_Y9PjqN95eMMTLaPw8aRtSttlXn-s19iR0SURvxVLma1-vJxL-qIBGtJTNOmVTlYJJk5s38RAxAPyBDv/s320/IMG_0702.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-64966053275393275772024-03-07T10:10:00.000-08:002024-03-08T07:18:28.759-08:00Trump's court cases<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> In case you don't know.... Trump has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/opinion/trump-trials-supreme-court.html?referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb&smid=nytcore-ios-share&utm_source=pocket_saves">four court charges against him</a>, and he has already lost one other. Thomas Edsel summarizes:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"A <a href="https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Awareness_About_Donald_Trump_poll_results_20240130.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient( to top,rgba(0,0,0,0),rgba(0,0,0,0) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 2px,rgba(0,0,0,0) 2px ); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: -1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),-1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas); transition: color 0.1s ease-out 0s;" title="">Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 YouGov survey</a> asked voters whether they knew </i></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">a) that Trump has “been charged with falsifying business records to conceal</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/trumps-alleged-hush-money-payments-path-criminal-charges-2023-03-30/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient( to top,rgba(0,0,0,0),rgba(0,0,0,0) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 2px,rgba(0,0,0,0) 2px ); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: verdana; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: -1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),-1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas); transition: color 0.1s ease-out 0s;" title=""><b>hush-money</b></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">payments to a porn star,<b>” </b></span></i></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">b) that he “has been charged with taking highly</span><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/timeline-special-counsels-investigation-trumps-handling-classified-documents/story?id=101768329" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient( to top,rgba(0,0,0,0),rgba(0,0,0,0) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 2px,rgba(0,0,0,0) 2px ); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: verdana; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: -1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),-1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas); transition: color 0.1s ease-out 0s;" title="">classified documents</a></b><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">from the White House and with obstructing efforts to retrieve them,” </span></i></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">c) that he “has been charged with<b> </b>conspiring to</span><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-should-be-on-trial-today-for-trying-to-overturn-the-2020-election-heres-why-hes-not/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient( to top,rgba(0,0,0,0),rgba(0,0,0,0) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 2px,rgba(0,0,0,0) 2px ); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: verdana; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: -1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),-1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas); transition: color 0.1s ease-out 0s;" title="">overturn</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: verdana;">the results of a presidential election<b>”</b> and </span></i></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">d) that he “has been charged with attempting to</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;"> </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-charged-us-special-counsel-probe-efforts-overturn-2020-election-2023-08-01/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient( to top,rgba(0,0,0,0),rgba(0,0,0,0) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 1px,var(--color-textPrimary) 2px,rgba(0,0,0,0) 2px ); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: -1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px -1px 0 var(--color-canvas),-1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas),1px 1px 0 var(--color-canvas); transition: color 0.1s ease-out 0s;" title="">obstruct</a><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">the certification of a presidential election.”</span></i></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Of those surveyed, 20 to 25 percent said they did not know, and 20 to 25 percent said they were “not sure” what the charges against Trump were; in other words, <b>nearly half of those surveyed had little or no comprehension of the array of allegations against him</b>."</i></span></p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In addition he has <b>already been found guilty of decades of business fraud</b> in his New York businesses and has been fined nearly half a billion dollars.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Why are so many uninformed about Trump's crimes? Because they are locked into propaganda media to get their "news", and the right-wing extremist propaganda media don't tell them the news, just the distortions and lies. Proof of this is that Fox News had to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 Million for <b>deliberately lying to its audience</b> (in order to keep them from switching the channel) and telling them that the election had been stolen from Trump and the Dominion voting machines were rigged. It was a lie. They knew it was a lie. It was proven they knew it was a lie. They were sued and paid lots and lots and lots of money as a result.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It amazes me how uninformed so many "Republicans" are. But so it is. It is the way extremist authoritarians overthrow a democracy.</span></div></div></div></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-77423257048263115542024-03-06T13:19:00.000-08:002024-03-06T13:21:08.928-08:00One of the many dangers of a Trump presidency<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In case you didn't know...</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;">Miles Taylor, the Department of Homeland Security's former chief of staff,</span> has issued this<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/everything-miles-taylor-has-said-about-donald-trump-1543039"> firsthand account</a> of trying to brief the Former Guy about national security - like talking to a five year old:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"What we saw week in and week out, for me, after two-and-a-half years in that administration, was terrifying," he recalled of his years serving as a Trump appointee. "We would go in to try to talk to him about a pressing national security issue, cyberattack, terrorism threat…he wasn't interested in those things."</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And, oh yes, if you live in a blue state? no federal assistance for you for disasters: </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">"...</span><span style="background-color: white;">Trump intentionally withheld funding from California to support its wildfire response because it is a traditionally Democratic state."</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;">And Republican voters have just given this dangerous lunatic the nomination for President. There is no Republican Party. It disappeared in 2016, any other thoughts are dangerously naive and delusional. </span></span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-61888944701992941592024-03-04T11:30:00.000-08:002024-03-04T11:30:52.323-08:00Some good news<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> What do you know? France has said no to theocratic extremists in their country. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="css-1l8buln e1h9rw200" data-testid="headline" id="link-62dbad2c" style="border: 0px; color: var(--color-content-primary,#121212); font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 2.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.5rem; max-width: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><i>"French Lawmakers Enshrine Access to Abortion in Constitution</i></span></h1></div><p class="css-1n0orw4 e1wiw3jv0" id="article-summary" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: var(--color-content-secondary,#363636); font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 1.875rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Legislators passed an amendment giving women the “guaranteed freedom” to end their pregnancies...""</i></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thank you, France. France gives Women empowerment to control their own lives rather than submit to theocratic dictates of times long ago.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To all those who think that they should not have abortions - don't. But don't force others to live by the beliefs of your minority religions. Please. The first amendment promises freedom OF religion and freedom FROM religion. In America, the Constitution is above the beliefs of any religion.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thank you France. America is about to speak this November, and we will be speaking about women's empowerment pretty clearly, I most certainly hope.</span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-70491090534553887202024-02-25T16:54:00.000-08:002024-02-25T20:04:08.092-08:00Putin is destroying America via Trump and Johnson<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> The United States of America is being destroyed by Validimir Putin. Just like he wants to. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">That is, the United Sates of America is being destroyed by Donald J Trump. Just like Putin is telling him to.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">That is, the United Staes of America is being destroyed by the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, White Christian Nationalist Mike Johnson, just like trump is telling him to.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">How? By destroying the confidence of America’s allies in the ability and willingness of America to honor our commitments and protect them against invasion. All of NATO is watching Putin/Trump/Johnson refuse to send $60 billion of military aid to Ukraine. China is watching too. Taiwan is watching, I am sure. Not to mention history is watching. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is this the end of Pax Americana? Do Republican politicians watch Russians kill those on the front lines defending democracy and resisting autocracy and root for Putin? So far, that is what it looks like to me. (None of this has anything to do with the border, “the border” is just the cover story- this is about helping Putin and turning America’s back on its honorable commitments)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Everyone in Ukraine knows Mike Johnson’s name and how the pro-Putin Trump is telling him what to do. Ukrainian morale is being harmed, and as we know Ukraine has always been overmatched but successful because of their fierce fighting spirit. So Putin is clear that breaking the spirit of Ukraine is his key. Trump knows it too. As does Johnson. But they are on Putin’s side. Johnson because he sees Putin as an ally in hating gays and controlling women. Trump because…Putin says nice things about him. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">By the way, most the money for Ukraine goes to Americans who manufacture the weapons for Ukraine.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6aa5XCYrMPjKgG69JS2N2sxaToCfQhscZslFcM-RgGg9hzrR9hR4TyIw86hOVGsVqKMAmKRXIUADLEkDCu2oNZkMCdWsXSDT1az7XACF_jF3cSYEKLtK2wsiVEcQAY9twkXWG3Vrm5uyP9Om8vt8XhI0uLcN9O-mVW-j2HqPILeOf7hPEUQX_5voxG9su/s1415/IMG_0672.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1415" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6aa5XCYrMPjKgG69JS2N2sxaToCfQhscZslFcM-RgGg9hzrR9hR4TyIw86hOVGsVqKMAmKRXIUADLEkDCu2oNZkMCdWsXSDT1az7XACF_jF3cSYEKLtK2wsiVEcQAY9twkXWG3Vrm5uyP9Om8vt8XhI0uLcN9O-mVW-j2HqPILeOf7hPEUQX_5voxG9su/s320/IMG_0672.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is up to the Republicans in the House to force Johnson to allow a vote which will pass with both Democrat and Republican votes. Are there any Republicans left in the “Republican Party”. Or are they all just MAGA zombies and cowering hypocrites unable to just say no to Putin/Trump?</span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-40014056032595795782024-02-22T19:33:00.000-08:002024-02-23T19:21:10.514-08:00CPAC extremists vow to destroy American democracy<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">For those who don’t know, here is the heart of what used to be the Republican Party - at the CPAC meeting:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">“<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #333333; text-size-adjust: auto;"> Alt-right conspiracy theorist</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #333333; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </span><strong style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background: repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">Jack Posobiec</strong><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #333333; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #333333; text-size-adjust: auto;">vowed to finish what rioters began on Jan. 6 by working to “overthrow” democracy “completely.”</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #333333; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></span></span></i></div><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background: repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Posobiec made the comments during the opening day of <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/news/what-an-embarrassment-left-and-right-skewer-cpac-for-low-attendance-at-maga-dominated-event/" rel="noopener" style="background: repeat; border-color: currentcolor currentcolor rgb(193, 38, 44); border-image: none; border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: 0.05s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">CPAC</a>, the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Washington, D.C., Wednesday.</span></i></p><p class="qualified qualified-1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background: repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>“Welcome to the end of democracy!” Posobiec declared. “We’re here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6th, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here,” he said, holding his fist in the air. “That’s right, because all glory is not to government, all glory to God</i>.”</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The White Christian Nationalists have given up on democracy because they are repulsive theocratic authoritarians and cannot win outside of deep red enclaves. They have been preparing for their violent overthrow of America for decades. And here they are. Trump is just the current battering ram. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But actual America will defeat these fanatics who collect in extremist huddles and pump themselves up with bravado. </span></div><p class="qualified qualified-1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background: repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p class="qualified qualified-1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background: repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-42926204267824558752024-02-21T20:20:00.000-08:002024-02-21T20:20:20.524-08:00Alabama to prosecute make-believe abortion BEFORE impregnation<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It’s not just Trump who crushes individual freedoms in America. Christo-fascists are showing us who they are. In their extreme anti-abortion fanaticism they are actually impeding pregnancy in deep red Alabama - preventing women and couples who desperately want a baby from in vitro fertilization:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">“<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white;"> <i>Alabama’s largest hospital paused </i></span><span class="LinkEnhancement" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: calc(1em + 4px);"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/ivf-frozen-embryo-alabama-court-7c968cc00201731d7baba5a284655b0d" rel="noopener" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; line-height: calc(1em + 4px); touch-action: manipulation;" target="_blank"><i>in vitro fertilization treatments</i></a></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white;"><i> Wednesday </i>…”. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">What? </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white;">“</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(54, 54, 54); color: #363636;"> <i>It has become standard medical protocol during in vitro fertilization to extract as many eggs as possible from a woman, then to fertilize them to create embryos before freezing them. Generally, only one embryo is transferred at a time into the uterus in order to maximize the chances of successful implantation and a full-term pregnancy.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(54, 54, 54); color: #363636;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(54, 54, 54); color: #363636;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">So now the fanatics are charging murder BEFORE impregation?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(54, 54, 54); color: #363636;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(54, 54, 54); color: #363636;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Extremism ends up having no limits. It just keeps relentlessly inflicting more and more domination and cruelty. Of course, cruelty by a tyrant is the point, is it not? You must submit totally to the will of the “superior”. Or else!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(54, 54, 54); color: #363636;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(54, 54, 54); color: #363636;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Good grief. </span></span></div><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-6769556491847839332024-02-20T20:56:00.000-08:002024-02-23T09:40:43.686-08:00Short summary of the Republican Party<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2D__C4lbWPn-BjhNShq_hAh12hYUjMGb0kzYeJzqAk8xezOZUA-aZJWuUcge8S0NbnhFuvzhg0W8ArN5Be27jOGqXhyphenhyphenMTSY6PidKppH-4ti91UTLbtErs5p2NEKIVDMjxUzqf5jg78ifoqY2uhcglZuRntPDOnKvyW-bw_m0w-UZjSf_w0jG_WIrOfM6/s1208/IMG_0669.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="1208" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2D__C4lbWPn-BjhNShq_hAh12hYUjMGb0kzYeJzqAk8xezOZUA-aZJWuUcge8S0NbnhFuvzhg0W8ArN5Be27jOGqXhyphenhyphenMTSY6PidKppH-4ti91UTLbtErs5p2NEKIVDMjxUzqf5jg78ifoqY2uhcglZuRntPDOnKvyW-bw_m0w-UZjSf_w0jG_WIrOfM6/w490-h248/IMG_0669.jpeg" width="490" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">1860 to 2024.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The end…</span></p>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-64149230001376225022024-02-18T16:17:00.000-08:002024-02-23T09:43:17.230-08:00Russia takes key Ukrainian town Avdiivka because House Republicans refuse to arm Ukraine<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: verdana;">Putin orders Trump to stop arming Ukraine, so Trump orders House Republicans to stop arming Ukraine, so House Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to bring the Senate funding bill for a vote, and Speaker Johnson sends the House home. They go home. Go home. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ukrainians die defending their country, defending Europe, defending democracy, defending America. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Republicans went home. Ukrainians are dying. As Trump said, to MAGA cheers “Russia can do what the hell it wants”. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Republican House did not do this because of the American border. That’s just the cover story. The Republican House did this to help Putin conquer Ukraine. Because the Putin/Trump wing of the Republican Party has figured out how to win total authoritarian control over the House, and thus control the foreign policy of America, and they are on Putin’s side. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, Russia has conquered a key Ukrainian town. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This extremist, authoritarian, pro-Putin MAGA Cult is killing Ukrainians. Why? In order to end Pax Americana. To push the world into The control of Authoritarian rule by those that the MAGA Cult admires and wants to be like - Putin, Xi, all the new Caesars. They want to be just like them, just like Putin. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I believe some of them are compromised (blackmail bribery etc.) and under the control of Putin’s GRU - starting with the Former Guy. Some are just fools, have been fooled. Some are active agents of Russia. Oh well. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">These folks are going to lose in 2024. By a lot. Blowout coming. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-16077809598620457292024-02-16T10:24:00.000-08:002024-02-17T15:09:37.106-08:00Putin's America - coming fast<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <span>Two related stories today. The first is the terrible news that Putin opponent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/16/world/aleksei-navalny">Navalny died in prison </a>- he was killed by Vladimir Putin.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #363636;">Aleksei A. Navalny died in prison, the Russian authorities said. The anticorruption campaigner rose to become the most prominent critic of President Vladimir V. Putin."</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #363636;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #363636; font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;">To state the obvious, Putin's Russia is a deeply corrupt police state with no real Rule of Law, only Rule of Fascist Tyrant.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #363636; font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;">The second story hits closer to home - t<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/02/15/us-marshal-director-threats-against-judges-prosecutors-increase-cnntm-vpx.cnn#:~:text=Head%20of%20US%20Marshals%20identifies%20an%20alarming%20trend,development%20%22constitutes%20a%20substantial%20risk%20to%20our%20democracy.%22">hreats of violence</a> against judges and prosecutors in America. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #363636; font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0c0c0c; font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><i>"US Marshals Service Director Ronald Davis sounded the alarm on a dramatic increase in the number of threats aimed at federal judges and prosecutors, telling lawmakers that the development "constitutes a substantial risk to our democracy."</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0c0c0c; font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;">Our Putin wannabe Former Guy, Donald Trump, is already damaging the Rule of Law in America. How? Authoritarian/autocratic/fascist threats and violence against the legal system that has the temerity to hold this lifelong criminal to account. And this is while he is out of office! </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;">What happens if he is re-elected? Welcome to Putin's America. Can anyone doubt that if the Former Guy lucks into the presidency that he will imprison the judges and prosecutors who charged him with his crimes? How about the witnesses that testified against him, from Michael Cohen and Mark Meadows to Cassidy Hutchinson?</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;">Not only will the Rule of Law disappear in America, but it is already under serious, sustained, threat of violence. The "Republican Party" has disappeared. It has been replaced by the MAGA Cult, by extremist White Supremacist Christian Nationalism, by Oligarchic deregulation of polluting and corrupt BigBidness.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;">My deepest hope is that the very few real Republicans left in the "Republican Party" realize their political party long ago disappeared and had been taken over by Steve Bannon revolutionaries, Evangelical Paul Pressler evangelical "prophets", and polluting Oligarchs and addictive pill pushers.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; letter-spacing: 0.4px;">Summary - Trump and his extremists are destroying the Rule of Law in America. Please understand that.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="cnn_sans_display, helveticaneue, Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif" style="color: #0c0c0c;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><br /></span></span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-85715031236658408282024-02-09T20:52:00.000-08:002024-02-10T11:02:48.771-08:00Please step aside Joe<span style="font-family: verdana;">President Biden has two jobs - President and Candidate for president. </span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">He does his job as president quite well, from vaccinating America and stopping the Pandemic, to passing the infrastructure bill, to taming the pandemic caused inflation, to creating record breaking jobs, to coordinating the free world to fight the Russian invasion, to promoting American computer chips industry, to reestablishing American alliances and world leadership, and perhaps more accomplishments that are not on the top of my head. </span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">His popularity tanked when he carried out The Trump initiated, and Biden desired, withdrawal from Afghanistan as we saw the Taliban extremists drive us out humiliated. His popularity never recovered. </span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">His second job, his more important job now, is to be candidate for president. And he is terrible at it. Although he runs his administration with authority and competence he looks like a bumbling, confused, fragile elderly man who has lost more than one step. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I want him to step aside, very very soon, and announce he will not seek and will not accept the presidency in 2024. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The biggest myth in politics is that the Democrats don’t have anyone behind Biden who can beat Trump. Are you kidding? There are many very talented and energetic Democrats who would wipe the floor with the mentally ill, stupid, insecure, terrified, mentally declining old man Trump.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Illinois Governor, JB Pritzger. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">California Governor Gavin Newsom.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are probably others that are not on the top of my head. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The stakes in this election are the highest since Lincoln ran in 1860 - the very survival of American Democracy and the American Constitution. The Former Guy has already announced he will destroy the Constitution, destroy the Constitutional balance of power, and he has promised to never leave the presidency. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are no policy issues that are worth ending American democracy and the American Constitution. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am afraid that Biden is not up to the most important job since Lincoln ran in 1860 - the job of Democratic Candidate to defeat the most dangerous threat to America since South Carolina seceded upon Lincoln’s election. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Please step aside Joe. You were a great transitional president. You did the most necessary thing in my lifetime, you beat the Former Guy in 2020. You got 9.4% more votes than that sad little overgrown child. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thank you. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-18358221608168002842024-02-06T15:01:00.000-08:002024-02-07T14:27:48.906-08:00Reduce oil based plastic with cork?<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Fossil fuel based plastic lasts forever, destroys oceans, creates mountains of ugly waste, gets into our food and into our bodies. It was wonderful when it was invented, and has, like so many good things, become a problem because it is now everywhere and is damaging to the environment and to our bodies. But...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are alternatives. It seems that people have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/02/03/cork-sustainable-material/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_climatecoach&wpisrc=nl_climatecoach" target="_blank">figured out how to use cork</a> - cork! - to replace plastic. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">"<span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Now cork is experiencing a revival as more industries look for sustainable alternatives to plastic and other materials derived from fossil fuels. The bark is now used for </span><a href="https://www.amorimcorkflooring.com/" style="border-bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; text-decoration-color: rgb(42, 42, 42); text-decoration-thickness: 0.0625em; text-underline-offset: 0.125em;" target="_blank">flooring</a><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> and furniture, to make shoes and clothes and as</span><a href="https://www.insulation-info.co.uk/insulation-material/cork-insulation" style="border-bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; text-decoration-color: rgb(42, 42, 42); text-decoration-thickness: 0.0625em; text-underline-offset: 0.125em;" target="_blank"> insulation in homes</a><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> and </span><a href="https://www.emobility-engineering.com/new-chapter-in-the-story-of-cork/" style="border-bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; text-decoration-color: rgb(42, 42, 42); text-decoration-thickness: 0.0625em; text-underline-offset: 0.125em;" target="_blank">electric cars</a><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">. Portugal’s exports reached an all-time high of </span><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.jornaldenegocios.pt/empresas/detalhe/exportacoes-de-cortica-sobem-3-ate-junho-e-atingem-recorde-de-670-milhoes__;!!M9LbjjnYNg9jBDflsQ!H_Yc3qxaq4-8ankgEOIs1JfMpTD9Mrnut8MKCcjLxrAmM5BoMXkbFf5PRIntV_6zA5ysUzVz5Eyy4lJqp8inq1MwbN4H$" style="border-bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; text-decoration-color: rgb(42, 42, 42); text-decoration-thickness: 0.0625em; text-underline-offset: 0.125em;" target="_blank">670 </a><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">million euro ($728 million) in the first half of 2023."</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: verdana;">And the cork trees are not cut down, just the bark is stripped off and regrows in about 9 years. So, the trees still pull carbon out of the atmosphere.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: verdana;">I believe in the resilience and innovation of our human species and I celebrate advances in sustainable technology. California just experienced Climate Change driven massive floods and wind. Earlier the wandering winter jet stream brought an arctic winter into the Northern states and down into parts of the South. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: verdana;">But many people are dedicated to reducing our carbon pollutions into the atmosphere. And I am glad to see examples of them. </span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-27643916799964082712024-02-05T12:22:00.000-08:002024-02-05T12:22:15.438-08:00On the verge of total collapse?<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I think the Former Guy may be about to have a total public meltdown. He has no center - there is no "there there". He has no internally based self. One much wiser than I has said that if we want to build our self-esteem, we must build upon internal qualities - like honesty, integrity, responsibility, self-trust, don't consciously hurt people, and be real. These internal qualities are built by ourselves and cannot be taken away.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Former Guy has none of these internal qualities. Indeed he is deeply dishonest, has zero integrity, only blames and never takes responsibility, manipulates and threatens rather than trusts, deliberately and consciously hurts people, and is only a show, a pretense, an image, a "brand" - not real at all.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, what does he do? His entire life is built around insatiably needing outside validation. He proves that he is valuable by having money. He has no self-esteem, so he demands the worship of others - he is a slave to his rallies with adoring fans of his celebrity. He demands that people submit to him and kiss his ring. He cannot admit a mistake. He cannot apologize. He cannot be seen as "weak". He cannot be seen as human. He has created a super-image of a semi-god. To be rich, to be worshipped, is what it means to him to be valuable - </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">an insatiable need of outside approval, outside worship, outside validation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And he is about to lose lots and lots of money. And thus, he is about to lose his Brand of Being Rich, his brand of being what he thinks as being a "winner'. I think that there may be a point that he crosses where he has a total melt-down. He seems to me to be disintegrating daily. His speeches are becoming more disconnected and bizarre and demented. There may be a "Caine Mutiny Trial" moment that is so mentally ill that the "conservative" voters finally just turn away. (See the excellent Humphrey Bogart movie) Those turning away can pretend that they never really liked him much anyhow. And his political career, and his pretend business success all comes crashing down.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And he will be, like Captain Queeg of the Caine Mutiny, looked at with pity rather than fear. And he will be, like Senator Joe McCarthy, shouting into an emptying room "Point of order...point of order!"</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Just turn away, my dear "conservative" friends. You just made a mistake in voting for him and admiring him. Just let this sick person go. Like his father before him who ended his life with Alzheimer's, he is disintegrating before your eyes. Let him go, Please.</span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-71173592493165081432024-02-02T12:21:00.000-08:002024-02-02T12:21:27.052-08:00Summary of British disgust of Trump<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Former Guy is many disgusting things. This writeup from a British wit says it so concisely. I just show it in directly, no comment needed, other than a hearty you-betcha!:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #5c5c5c; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: bolder;">Someone on Quora asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?" Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"A few things spring to mind.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump's limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I don't say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But with Trump, it's a fact. He doesn't even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And scarily, he doesn't just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It's all surface.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, we don't. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He's not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He's more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy' is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">• You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After all, it's impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">'My God... what... have... I... created?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5c5c5c; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 1em 0px 2em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."</span></p>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-40461295059839987082024-01-26T20:28:00.000-08:002024-01-26T20:28:18.081-08:00Why are we stuck with the toxic Electoral College?<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: verdana;">Thomas Edsel in the New York Times presents the most concise explanation of how we got the anti-democracy Electoral College by quoting sociologist Douglas Massey:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>“</i><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(90, 90, 90); color: #5a5a5a;"><i> The biggest threat to democracy stems from the fact that we have a constitution written by slaveholders who wanted to make it difficult if not impossible for slavery ever to be ended by constitutional means, so they gave tremendous powers to a minority of states and voters to block progressive change, which is why we have the Electoral College</i>.”</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(90, 90, 90); color: #5a5a5a;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #5a5a5a; font-family: verdana;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(90, 90, 90);">And so, today, right wing extremists, often overtly white supremacist, are over-represented in the Senate and in presidential elections. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #5a5a5a; font-family: verdana;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(90, 90, 90);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #5a5a5a; font-family: verdana;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(90, 90, 90);">I favor ending the Electoral College in presidential elections, and combining the Senate and House of Representatives into one Congressional body, with the number of elected Congresspeople in each state proportional to the population count. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #5a5a5a; font-family: verdana;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(90, 90, 90);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #5a5a5a; font-family: verdana;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(90, 90, 90);">Time to destroy the toxic grip of white supremacy on America. </span></span></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-51011210828825526512024-01-17T15:10:00.000-08:002024-02-06T10:15:23.295-08:00America's dumbest "businessman"<div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt;">Donald Trump is not a good businessman, he is only a greedy,
bullying conman. His businesses go bankrupt over and over again. And now, this nitwit has
managed to nearly bankrupt HIMSELF with about a half a BILLION dollars in legal
losses. So far. (But the year is young)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: repeat white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Donald Trump already has to pay E. Jean Carroll
a total of $5 million for defamation and slander after sexually assaulting her and then calling her a liar after he was found guilty of his crime. And he is about to lose another $10 million, and it
looks like he is on his way to even more as he continues to think that the way
out for him is to keep defaming and slandering her. He doesn't seem to
understand that he has already been found guilty of sexual assault and
defamation, so he just keeps defaming and defaming and defaming... But,
some children just never learn and they think that temper tantrums will get them
what they want. Oh well.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;">And he must give the New York Times about
$400,000 for stupidly attacking them for a brilliant set of articles showing
that his real money came from daddy Trump, while his own businesses often struggled
and failed. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;">And, of course, he will have to pay the state
of New York about $370 million for his decades of bank and tax fraud, as well
as lose his license to do business in New York state. But he screams and
threatens and intimidates and thinks New York city will crumble from his
whining and complaining. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;">And I am guessing he owes about $50 million in
legal fees for his various court battles and cases. Who knows what he will
actually pay since he has a long history of not paying lawyers, which is why he
has no top drawer lawyers who will work for him, and he goes to central casting
and gets a woman who looks like Melania and tells her what stupid things to
say, and she does, on TV and - stupidly - in the courtroom.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;">That’s nearly half a billion dollars, and we’re
only a couple weeks into the new year.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt;">So, what's a conman to do? Con con con
con con con con. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt;">Of course he has millions of obedient believers in his Trump Cult
who just keep saying "Please Sir, Give me more of the Kool-Aid" - i.e. "Let
me send you my rent money, please sir, can you hit me up for money again? and
again? and again?"</span></p></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-31065213838866245452024-01-16T10:01:00.000-08:002024-01-16T10:47:57.530-08:00The MAGA Cult kills the Republican Party in Iowa<div style="text-align: left;"> <span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The authoritarian, bigoted Trump won the Iowa Caucus in a landslide. The race for the Republican nomination for president is over. This is frightening, of course, because this mentally ill, below average intelligence, vengeful and cruel overgrown child is going to have a real chance to destroy American democracy and establish himself as the next King George III, which is exactly what the Founding Fathers fought and died for to free America from the original King George III, and tried to make sure we never got another king nor a new Caesar.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">But...</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The MAGA Cult wants a cruel king (who poops his pants, by the way). They mistakenly confuse cruelty with strength.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">In 2022 during the Primary Season, Trumpist Election Denying candidate after Trumpist Election Denying candidate won Republican primary elections. MAGA was ecstatic and triumphant! And guess what? Most of them lost.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, maybe we can actually celebrate that the disgusting leader of the MAGA Cult will be the nominee and will lose, just like his MAGA proxies lost in 2022. A big problem with all of them is that they are deeply unpleasant people in addition to being extremist fanatics.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Trump, of course, will claim, as he always claims, that his loss was "rigged" and will try to lead a violent overthrow of the election. So, that is a real danger, but our country has beaten down right wing extremists before - the NAZI "America Firsters" in the '30s - the Jim Crow KKK led racists in the South for nearly a century after they lost the Civil War until the Civil Rights Movement stirred the conscience of the nation in the '60s. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Right wing extremists keep thinking that force of will and violence will put them on the top of the heap, but they lose, because what they actually end up doing is awaken the conscience of a decent American nation.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I choose to believe that the goodness of America is stronger than the fears and violence of our white supremacist, theocratic and Oligarchic neighbors. I just hope they don't do too much damage this time around.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-53517225391904387912024-01-08T10:49:00.000-08:002024-01-08T18:24:23.771-08:00Call to violence if convicted <p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Trump is running a “political ad” that I believe is it fact a call out to his rabid Evangelical Christian base to violence if he is convicted and punished in one or all of his four (soon to be five) trials. The ad itself is horrific and is called “God Made Trump”. Now, I know preachers have been preaching this to their flocks for years, but the outright preposterous lies and nearly biblical imagery in the ad are literally god-awful. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I don’t think Trump is appealing to Evangelical voters to vote for him, they already belong to him, I believe he is using them as a threat against the prosecutors, judges, witnesses, and juries in his trials. The message is if you convict me you are a godless sinner violating the plan of God - and my slavish cult will come after you. Death threats are already common weapons being used at his urgings.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">He is desperate because he knows that he is losing his fortune, his fame, and his freedom. Threats and violence are all that he knows. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">He keeps finding ways to crawl lower and lower. And we are splattered with his slime and his stench.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I deeply hope that this is repulsive to actual conservative Republicans and they continue to turn away from this dangerous mentally ill child.</span></p>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591161703338361384.post-15931139150433359012023-12-30T07:30:00.000-08:002023-12-30T07:30:01.222-08:00Slavery was the cause of the Civil War, and Nikki Haley knows it<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Nikki Haley tried to dodge a question as to whether slavery was the cause of the Civil War? Why? She knows history, but the base voters of the Republican Party don’t want to hear it. The Confederate South did all it could to change the history of the Civil War, their reason for seceding, and the reason for their losing. But the cause of the Civil War was and still is just one thing - slavery, the attempt to expand slavery, and the racist justification of slavery. Want proof?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“<span data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" face="-apple-system, "Helvetica Neue"" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"> <i>The vice president of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens of Georgia, was quite clear about the cause of the Civil War. Stephens explicitly rejected the idea embraced by U.S. politicians from the revolutionary period onward that human enslavement was “wrong in </i></span><i><span data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" face="-apple-system, "Helvetica Neue"" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;">principle</span><span data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" face="-apple-system, "Helvetica Neue"" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;">, socially, morally, and politically.” Instead, he declared: “Our new government is founded upon…the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition.” </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" face="-apple-system, "Helvetica Neue"" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: verdana; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" face="-apple-system, "Helvetica Neue"" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: verdana; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;">That principle - “…subordination to a superior race…” is central to Evangelical and Catholic White Nationalism today, was central to the horrors of Jim Crow, and is central to the vaunted MAGA Base that has turned its back on democracy and taken over the Republican Party, the Supreme Court, and are trying to take over American Politics, American Rule of Law, American Education, American Media, American Military, American law enforcement, American Foreign Policy, America itself. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" face="-apple-system, "Helvetica Neue"" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: verdana; font-size: 1rem; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="-apple-system, Helvetica Neue" style="color: #404040;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: verdana; word-spacing: 1px;">White Supremacists vote for white supremacists. Anti-democracy extremists vote for anti-democracy extremists. It’s not just the mentally ill Former Guy, it is the entire revolutionary cult of threatening and violent followers, enablers, strategizers, promoters, opportunists, and charlatans. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="-apple-system, Helvetica Neue" style="color: #404040;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: verdana; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="-apple-system, Helvetica Neue" style="color: #404040;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: verdana; word-spacing: 1px;">America is under chaotic but planned and organized attack. But I firmly believe the true American Spirit and Soul will emerge stronger and better as a result. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="-apple-system, Helvetica Neue" style="color: #404040;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: verdana; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="-apple-system, Helvetica Neue" style="color: #404040;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: verdana; word-spacing: 1px;">These people may be violent and threatening, but they are extraordinarily repulsive. They are going to lose more than they win. </span></span></div>demulcentshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12944857894321590611noreply@blogger.com