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Talk – Tweet – Wail – Talk – Tweet – Wail – But No Action

June 5, 2017 by Mark

Day 206. 

Over the weekend we saw another attack in London.  This one was no doubt a terrorist attack where seven people were killed and several others were wounded.  The attack began with a van running into a crowd of people on the London Bridge and then the attackers jumping out and stabbed others.

Right after, our beloved leader pledged our support to the British.  Then on Sunday morning he went off on his tweets again issuing one stupid comment after the other.  This man showed the world that he has no basic understanding of how things work in other countries, nor any idea of simple English.

In one tweet he criticized the London Mayor, who is Muslim and trump hates, for saying, according to trump, “there is no concern for alarm”.  What the man actually said was that citizens will be “seeing more police officers on the street some with guns.  So, there is no cause for alarm.”  What beloved leader does not understand is that police in England do not carry guns as part of their standard equipment.  Therefore, the mayor was assuring his citizens not to worry if they see more police on the streets with guns.

Then Mr. Moron tweeted something he heard on Fox News.  He said “you notice we aren’t having a gun debate because these attackers used a vehicle and knives.”  Once again, pea brain doesn’t know what he is talking about.  England has some of the strictest gun control laws ion the world for private gun ownership.  As a result, it is much harder for terrorists to purchase guns, than say here in the good ole USA.  If this kind of attack took place in this country, the odds are that guns would have been used and that many more people would have been killed.  The strict gun laws in England helped keep the toll down because the terrorists couldn’t get the guns they could have here.

Then beloved leader told the biggest lie of the year on terrorism.  He said “I will do everything I can to stop the killing.”  As a matter of fact, his own budget is making us less safe.  And, his lack of hiring key officials in many departments are also making us less safe.

For example.  There is a program called Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), which aims to combat terror threats.  This program is an essential part of major city police departments in their fight against terrorism.  So, what does beloved leader’s budget do to this program?  It cuts it 25 percent.  How is that making us safer?  Senator Schumer said it best:

Amazingly, with terrorism on the rise, President Trump actually proposed cutting vital anti-terrorism funding in his budget last week.  He has proposed cutting anti-terrorism funds, including a 25% cut to UASI, a program that is essential to major city police departments, including New York, in their fight against terror. These proposed cuts would make us less safe.

As you can see, beloved leader is going to make us safer by cutting programs that are designed to help keep us safe.  Yeah, that makes total sense to me.  Doesn’t it make sense to you, too?

Then we have the anemic hiring process of this administration to fill necessary positions to help make us safer.  He still has several key positions in the State Department that need to be filled.  He hasn’t even nominated anyone to fill these positions.  The State Department helps track terrorists and offers advice to federal and local law enforcement.  These critical positions are vacant with no prospect of being filled anytime soon.

Beloved leader finally nominated someone to fill the position as the Head of FEMA.  That isn’t such an important position.  That position is only responsible for coordinating federal assistance after either natural disasters, or, get this, major terrorist attack.  So, that can’t be too important to fill quickly either.  The Senate will hold confirmation hearings next week.

There is still no head of the Transportation Security Administration.  That agency isn’t very necessary either.  It is only responsible for air travel security.  They are supposed to keep terrorists from getting on planes with weapons or bombs.  So, why would it be important to make sure the head position is filled?

The Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division is open as well.  Why would we need to fill the lawyer in charge of our National Security Division in our Justice Department?  That person is only responsible to bring charges against terrorists.  We obviously don’t need that position filled anytime soon.

Nor, do we have a deputy at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence or a director of the office’s National Counterterrorism Center.  Okay, maybe he can justify not having a deputy at DNI, but how can he justify not having a director of the National Counterterrorism Center.  That is only the place that helps plan anti-terrorist activities to keep us safe.  Obviously, that position is vital in the trump world of stupidity.

Then we have the one position that is probably most critical in any fight against terrorism.  That position is the Director of the FBI.  Remember when trump fired Comey?  He said that he would fill this position within a week.  Ooops!  Here we are several weeks later and still not even a nomination.  We have had more people turn the job down than ever before.

Also remember when he took office, he promised us that he would have an anti-hacking strategy within 90 days.  Where is his promised anti-hacking plan?  It is well past the 90 day window he gave.  Why is there no plan?  Simply because no one knows who the hell is supposed to be in charge of this task.  Work hasn’t even started.

When you couple this lack of leadership with the budget cuts proposed to grants for cities and states for counter-terrorism efforts, you can see we are not safer under beloved leader.  Rather we are far less safe than we were before.

Christian Marrone, who served as chief of staff to former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson put it this way:  “The proposed cuts to state and local law enforcement are dangerous.  We must ensure the men and women on the front lines have the tools and training they need to handle such situations.”

So, how does beloved leader plan to keep us safe?  Ban those awful Muslims, that’s how.  He tweeted how his “Travel Ban” must be reinstated.  Not Muslim Ban 2.0, which is the one under court review,  but Muslim Ban 1.0 that he pulled with Muslim Ban 2.0.

The second step is to build his Berlin Wall along the Mexican Border.  He still refuses to understand that the latest Muslim type terrorist attacks in this country have been committed by U.S. citizens.  His Travel Ban would not have stopped them.  The rest of the terrorist attacks in the country were committed by U.S. citizens who are part of the Radical Christian Terrorist groups. How is his Travel Ban going to prevent those attacks?

There has been zero evidence that any terrorist came across the border from Mexico.  There have been no arrests of any “radical terrorist” of any kind being arrested at the southern border.  They are arrested coming in from Canada and other countries in Europe and the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia which is not on the Travel Ban list.

We have the unfortunate situation where we have a beloved leader who hides whenever things get tough for him.  He hides behind his press corps telling lies for him.  He won’t face the free and open press in press conferences.  He tweets in the darkest hours of the morning showing his own cowardice.

He always talks tough when standing at one of his political rallies with his ardent supporters, but cowers back into the shadows when faced with real crises.  Our beloved leader, just like every other dictator wannabe is nothing short of a coward.  He knows nothing.  He doesn’t want to know anything.  He blusters. He talks. He tweets.  He wails about being persecuted.  But, he does nothing!

And, what do the leaders of his party, the Republican Party, do?  Nothing.  They sit quietly on the sidelines only because trump will help them get the billions of tax cuts they want for the rich.  That is what all of these cuts to the budget are all about, and they know it.  They are willing to go along because they don’t give a shit if you are safer or not.

And, the shirts keep marching along!

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Beloved Leader Takes Two More Steps In Dismantling Our Democracy

June 3, 2017 by Mark

Day 204. 

As you are being distracted by the Russia Investigation, beloved leader is moving closer to the dismantling of our democracy.  He has taken two steps in that direction while no one has been watching.  And, in the process, he is betraying the very people who voted him into office.

In order to establish an autocracy, you need to end democracy.  One step he took was to issue an executive order, and then ignore it.  The other step was taken to stifle congressional oversight.

When beloved leader took office, he made a big show of signing an executive order to establish what he called “strict ethics standards”.  Then, he promptly ignored that very executive order.  Last week, he issued 17 exemptions to 14 members of his staff.  In doing so, the gave who some are calling the de facto president steve bannon the power to establish a propaganda machine from inside the White House.

Bannon was head of Brietbart News and now he can associate with them, or any other media outlet he wants, which is a clear violation of ethics rules that were already established before beloved leader took office, and clearly violates his own executive order.

The worst part of these exemptions is that some of them were not dated.  Meaning they were retroactive.  The problem is that you are not allowed by law to issue retroactive exemptions to ethics rules.  Having to make an exemption retroactive means you have already broken the ethics laws.  As one ethics exepert said, “retroactive exemptions are nothing more than a pardon”.

We have also learned that trump plans on releasing information on an additional two dozen exemptions soon.  According to records, our beloved leader has already issued more exemptions to the ethics rules in four months than President Obama issued in eight years in office.  And more are on the way.

I say he is betraying the very people who voted him into office because these exemptions allow his staff to work with and allow their former clients to have a seat at the tale to set policies.  These “former clients” are not the working slobs in the middle of the country.  They are Wall Street elites that trump claimed he was going to drain from the swamp.  These people are not interested in the welfare of the middle of the country people, they are only interested in their own pockets.

This is just another sign of just how unethical trump and his White House team really are.  They are in it for the money they can make for themselves.  Otherwise, these exemptions wouldn’t be necessary or granted.  The corruption just keeps growing and growing.  That is a necessary step in dismantling our democracy and establishing your autocratic government.

The most disturbing step he has taken concerns Congressional oversight.  Our Constitution allows Congressional Oversight as part of the separation of powers defined in the Constitution.  He is taking steps to degrade and/or stop oversight.

It turns out that the White House is telling federal agencies to blow off Democratic lawmakers’ oversight requests.  For no other reason than their fear the information could be weaponized against President Donald Trump.

At meetings with top officials for various government departments this spring, Uttam Dhillon, a White House lawyer, told agencies not to cooperate with such requests from Democrats, according to Republican sources inside and outside the administration.

Democrats have been complaining for months that their requests for oversight information from various agencies have been ignored.  We already know of one instance where a Democratic Member was told in writing that her request of this oversight information would not be honored unless a Republican has to co-sign the request.

There has never been a policy that said a member of both parties had to sign-off on a request for information by a congressional oversight member.  And, it is true that requests from minority members have been delayed and in some instances ignored for a long time by every administration in our history.

However, this is the first instance that an administration has told their agencies to “blow off” requests from the minority party.  This is nothing more that a partisan attack on the Congress’ responsibilities of oversight.

To give you a few examples:

One month ago, Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats sent a letter to the Office of Personnel Management asking for cybersecurity information after it was revealed that millions of people had their identities compromised. The letter asked questions about how cybersecurity officials were hired, and in Rice’s view, it “was not a political letter at all.”

“The answer we got back is, ‘We only speak to the chair people of committees.’ We said, ‘That’s absurd, what are you talking about?’” Rice said in an interview. “I was dumbfounded at their response. I had never gotten anything like that … The administration has installed loyalists at every agency to keep tabs on what information people can get.”

At a House Appropriations hearing in May, Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) asked acting General Services Administrator Tim Horne about a briefing House Oversight Committee staffers had received from the GSA, in which they were informed that the “GSA has a new policy only to respond to Republican committee chairmen.”

“The administration has instituted a new policy that matters of oversight need to be requested by the committee chair,” Horne responded.

As you can see from these few examples, this blatant refusal to cooperate is rampant towards Democrats from just about every committee.  But, that is not unusual for this administration.  They won’t even answer simple questions from the podium in Press Briefings like “does the president still believe climate change is a hoax?”

The danger is to have proper oversight, Congress needs answers to these questions.  Ignoring the other party just because they are the minority is troubling.  However, ordering agencies to blatantly ignore requests from the minority party is a complete disregard of the Constitution.

Then again, if you desire to dismantle a democracy you need to ignore the “opposition” party.  You need to ignore any request dealing with oversight that comes from that “opposition” party.  You actually set policy telling your agencies to ignore their requests.

In effect, what you are doing is trying to establish a one-party system where your party is the only party that counts in governing or in conducting “oversight”.  That is not democracy, that is authoritarianism.

In the four months of being in office, our beloved leader has taken steps to totally dismantle our democracy, and Republicans are all in favor of him doing so.  That way, they keep their phony baloney jobs as trump’s rubber stamp and keep their limited power.

Not one Congressional Committee Chair, all Republicans, have spoken out against this power grab by the administration.  Not one.  That shows they are complicit in helping to dismantle our democracy.

The investigations going on are very important to our society and our democracy.  However, we cannot ignore the things that are going on behind the scenes.  Yes, trump has been under pressure because of the investigations.  Yes, he has failed to get a single bill passed through both Houses of Congress.

But, very quietly behind the scenes and in dark closets, he has heaped lots of damage on our country and our democracy.  These last two acts are nothing more than additional steps being taken to dismantle our democracy.

The person that the middle of America chose to be their savior from the oligarchs has betrayed them.  He promised to “drain the swamp” but has filled it with more sharks than ever before.  He promised to create jobs for them, but has done nothing to create a single job.

These are the people who felt left behind when we recovered from the last economic crisis in 2008.  They are right too.,  The very rich have done extremely well since then, but the rest of us have not kept up.  They believed this clown when he said he would be their savior.

Since taking office, beloved leader has ignored their plight.  He has betrayed them “big time” as he would say.  And, he is now trying to destroy the democracy these people want, fought to protect, and love.

He has weakened the EPA that protects their water and air.  He has weakened worker safety that protects them in the workplace.  He is trying to take away their health coverage.  Everything he has done has betrayed his supporters and helped the oligarchs establish their feudalism society on us.

It is very simple, beloved leader cannot be trusted because he has no integrity.  He is a serial liar only out to benefit himself.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

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Beloved Leader’s Real Motto: America Last

June 2, 2017 by Mark

Day 203. 

We have seen it coming ever since trump took office, but his goal and battle cry of “America First” is a lie.  He is really trying very hard to make “America Last”.  That was completely solidified yesterday when our stupid beloved leader announced that he was pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.  According to our beloved leader the accord was a conspiracy by over 200 countries around the world to “screw America”.

The other odd thing about his decision is that practically no one, except some Republicans, wanted us to pull out of the accord.  Even the fossil fuel companies, except that wonderful brand Koch Industries, wanted us to stay in the accord.  Why?  Because even fossil fuel companies know that their future profits will decline and they want to be in on the new renewable energies that are becoming less expensive.

In short, they want certainty in their business models and decisions.  Beloved leader’s actions yesterday threw that “certainty” into complete chaos.  But what is new with the so-called president.  Everything he touches turns into chaos.  Furthermore, the Paris Accord was intended, and was successful, in getting countries like India and China to participate and hold them accountable for reducing their carbon emissions.

We already know that the U.S. was taking the lead in cutting emissions until trump took office.  Now, that lead is being forfeited to other countries.  Meaning that the new energy technologies will be developed in places like China and in Europe.  Instead of creating millions of new clean energy jobs in the U.S. and selling our products overseas, we will now be forced to purchase those new technologies from abroad.  Another “smart move” by our pea brained president.

Beloved leader says this move will “create millions of jobs for Americans”.  He is lying.  It will not create new jobs in America, rather it will ensure those new jobs are created overseas.  Additionally, he said that he wants to “renegotiate” the accord to be more favorable to the U.S.  Why in the hell would the entire rest of the world want to renegotiate with a country that is basically standing on its own in denying climate change?  What can he possibly offer the world to entice them to even talk to him much less negotiate?  The answer is simple.  Nothing!  And, guess what?  The accord included a provision for everyone to sit down every five years and renegotiate the accord according to how things were progressing.  Since we are no longer part of the accord, we lost our seat at the table.

This isn’t just beloved leader making all of this happen either.  Republican so-called leaders like Ryan and McConnell praised the move.  Ryan showed just how much he favors party over the country and the world.  McConnell can almost be forgiven because he represents a coal state.  However, everyone with an ounce of a brain knows that coal isn’t being left behind simply because it is dirty.  It is being left behind because natural gas is cheaper.

So, the fantasy that McConnell and beloved leader keep telling coal miners that they will be returning to work in massive numbers because we pulled out of the Paris Accord is just that a fantasy.  They are lying to their constitutes just to justify this terrible move.

One only need look at human history to figure out that coal and other fossil fuels futures are limited.  We began burning wood for our energy.  Then we moved to coal.  Then we moved to oil.  Then we moved to natural gas.  The next natural progression is to move to clean, renewable, cheaper energy.  Pulling out of the Paris Accord is not going to stop this natural progression.

The idea was to make sure that our country was leading the pack in these new energy sources.  It was to make sure that our workers were employed in creating and manufacturing these new sources of energy.  Beloved leader killed that idea yesterday with his typical stupid decision.  He cannot give a good reason for his decision so he went back to his “persecution complex” that he wants to place on the rest of us.

It was also intended to ensure our grandchildren have a planet to live on.  Without the measures proposed in the accord, illnesses, especially things like asthma, will increase causing massive increases in health care coverage.  The oceans will continue to rise to the point places like Florida will lose about one-third of its land to the oceans.  Denying all of this is not going to stop it from happening.  Only acting will stop it, or at leas reduce the effects.  Pea brain doesn’t seem to understand that.

The White House even refused to answer a simple question about beloved leader.  They refused to say whether our nut-job even believes that climate change is real.  If he believes it is not real, one can almost understand his decision.  But, if he does believe it is real, then there is no explanation for why he would pull out of the accord.

This move has the markings of Steve Bannon and Miller all over it.  The speech he gave trying to justify it was just like his morbid inauguration speech which Miller wrote.  His dark view of the world and beloved leader’s persecution complex is making our country the laughing-stock of the world.

Beloved leader asked yesterday when “will the world start laughing at  us?”  The answer is simple.  They already are and you, beloved leader is the reason they are laughing at us.  China is lapping up on your dumb and irresponsible decisions about trade and the climate.  While you were making a fool of yourself on national TV with your Jazz Band nearby by pulling out of the Paris Accord, China was in Europe trying to work out trade deals with them.  The one thing Europe can be sure of is that China is not in love with Russia like you are, and they see Russia as the main problem for them.  So, since you wouldn’t even assure them in your NATO speech that we are behind them, they are now looking to China.

We have seen other leaders use this fake persecution complex before.  Every dictator who ever took power convinced enough of their own people that the world was out to get them.  Beloved leader is using the same tactic to establish his own dictatorship in this country.

He has taken every step he can to pull back from the world.  He has taken every step to justify his cowardice by saying the world is out to get us.  That speech he gave yesterday was a perfect example of that tactic.  Only, beloved leader isn’t smart enough to pull it off by himself, he needs Bannon and Miller to put the words into his mouth.

In short, beloved leader is killing our country from the inside.  He is doing everything he can in order to convince his base that we need a “strong leader” to “save our country from the barbarians”.  The problem is that all of the barbarians are sitting in the West Wing right now.  Stupid couldn’t even pick a proper city to use as an analogy.  He said: “I represent the citizens of Pittsburg not Paris”.

Pittsburg has been on the cutting edge of renewable energy for some time now.  They have cleaned up their environment better than most other cities and diversified their economy to compete in a globalized world.  Plus, 80 percent of the citizens of Pittsburg voted for Hillary Clinton.  If you are going to use an analogy, at least pick a city that supported you.

Under the guidance of beloved leader and his surrogate president bannon, America is going to fall further and further behind the rest of the world.  If these two morons want to make America a third-rate country, they are well on their way to accomplishing that goal.

Just remember the real motto of these morons:  AMERICA LAST!

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

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In Four Months – Beloved Leader Has Made America Inconsequential In The World

June 1, 2017 by Mark

Day 202. 

That flushing sound you keep hearing coming from the Eastern Seaboard is trump flushing American ethics, integrity, and leadership right down the toilet.  This so-called president is the worst president in our nation’s history.  That may be a harsh statement in just four months, but there is no other way to describe this nut-job sitting in the West Wing.

In the four months in office, he has done nothing to keep any of his campaign promises to the voters.  He has kept all of his promises to the very rich, but that is about all.  He has weakened America’s influence in the world.  He has opened the door for China to become more of a leader on the world stage than us.  And, he has pissed off our closest allies.

He promised to pull out of the TPP which he did.  But, at what cost.  Without America being involved in the TPP, and at the table negotiating a better deal if possible, trump, the great negotiator, ran and hid in the closet.  He simply said he doesn’t like it, and won’t do anything to make it better.  As a result, China has stepped into the void and trump has mostly ceded the Asian Pacific to them.

He keeps griping about trade deficits with Europe and declares Europe isn’t doing their share.  But, instead of using his great negotiating skills he claims to have, he runs away and hides in the closet.  He wouldn’t even say he would fully support the NATO treaty Article 5 defending member nations against aggression from countries like Russia.  As a result, China is looking to step in and fill the void especially with trade.

Today we are going to hear if trump stays in or pulls out of the Paris Climate Accord.  Even companies like Exxon/Mobile say we should stay in the accord.  But, trump promised his base that he would pull out and that is probably what he will do.  He will even disregard the advise of his two closest advisors his daughter and son-in-law who are pushing him to stay in the accord.

Why does Exxon/Mobile think we should stay in the accord?  Because even they understanding that pulling out means we won’t have any seat in future negotiations about energy use and development.  Meaning, again, China will step in and fill the void.  Instead of being the leader in developing clean renewable energy, as we currently are, trump is going to let China take the lead and become far richer than us.

The best way to make America Great Again is to reduce our energy costs.  The best way to reduce energy costs is to develop clean, cheap, and renewable energy.  Not to mention that if something isn’t done, trump’s own Mar A Lago will be under water in about 25 years.  But, he figures he will be dead by then so it doesn’t matter to him.

But his base loves the  idea of pulling out of the accord.  They really don’t know why we should pull out, but since it is a deal with every single country in the world except Syria and Nicaragua, it must be bad according to conservatives.  Even so-called Christian Conservatives think it is a good idea.  Take the moron Erik Erickson.  Yesterday he tweeted:

I worship Jesus, not Mother Earth. He calls us all to be good stewards of the planet, but doesn’t mean I have to care about global warming.

I know this just shows just how stupid and un-Christian he really is, but this is the type of people trump listens to.  This is the kind of person who doesn’t like anything except their own narrow stupidity.

However, trump being trump placed this all in an ironic mode again.  Yesterday he declared June to be both “Great Outdoors Month” and “National Ocean Month”.  How better to honor the Great Outdoors and the Oceans than to ruin both?  If trump pulls out of the Paris Accord, we will know exactly what covfefe means.  It means “Conservatives Offer Very False Evidence to Fuck the Environment”!

If you think that trump is really looking at “economics” as reasons to pull out, you are kidding yourself.  He is pulling out because he is an illiterate, ignorant, buffoon with no idea about anything except himself.  Since he is too stupid to realize that climate change is real, it can’t possibly be real.  Maybe a scientist should write a comic book complete with pictures so moron can actually read and understand it.

Then he showed us that he cannot be trusted for anything he says.  Remember he signed that great executive order that placed ethics standards on his staff?  Well, yesterday, he gave 17 people on his staff waivers to disregard those ethics standards.  His idea of “draining the swamp” is to let people work with former clients and companies they worked for to set policies.

He is openly defying his own executive order and allowing his staff to practice no ethics in the performance of their duties.  How the hell can we expect any other country or national leader in the world to trust a single thing this clown says?  We can’t which means we are going to be truly alone.  If we are attacked again like 9/11, why should NATO come to our aid like they did back then?  They know that trump cannot be trusted.

Violence against Gays, Blacks, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, and other groups are on the increase and trump is doing nothing to abate it.  As a matter of fact, he is ignoring it and giving silent approval to it.

While you have been watching the Russia scandal, he has quietly been wrecking our country from the inside.  He has quietly been making our integrity a laughing-stock around the world.  He has quietly been making our streets less safe for those bastard “others” in our own communities.  He has quietly been making America less safe from terrorist attacks.  He has been a disaster in every way.

His proposed budget is a gift to the rich and a burden on the rest of us.  His Americans Without Health Care Act is a gift to the rich and a death sentence to may other Americans who need health coverage just to stay alive.  He has not created a single job since being in office, but has quietly watched while his buddies shipped more jobs overseas.  He hasn’t even moved his own family’s business to America.  They still manufacture in other countries.

While trump destroys our country, the Republican Party seems to be sitting on the sidelines cheering him on.  In my lifetime, I have never seen so many Republicans who have a “favorable” opinion of Russia.  I know that Republicans and the Conservative Christian Cult hate the poor, but they were always united in their hate for Russia until trump took office.  Now they all love Russia.

Our country is in very dire straights right now.  We have a president who really believes that our country needs to be destroyed from the inside, and he is working diligently to make that happen.  All Americans are going to wake up one day very soon and realize just how much damage this clown has done.  I just hope they wake up before it is too late.

In just four months trump has made this country a laughing-stock in the world.  He has ruined our influence.  He has destroyed our integrity.  He has openly defied proper ethics.  All he has done in his four months in office is to make China a bigger player on the world stage.  Nice going pea brain!

And, the shirts keep marching along.

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Republican Conservatives Are Trying To Changing America Into Iran Of The West

May 31, 2017 by Mark

Day 201. 

NOTE:  Before I start on this article, I want to make one point.  The photo with Kathy Griffin holding a fake head of donald trump is repugnant.  She can call it art.  She can say she was “mocking the mocker in chief”.  She can say it was free speech.  I say it was repugnant, uncalled for, tasteless and hateful.  Whenever people in the public venue of any kind makes such an image, it is hurtful to all Americans.  Resistance against policies and hate are one thing that is always needed.  This photo was not resistance against policies or hate.  It was an expression of hate that does not belong in the public discourse. 

Arguments that similar, though not as gruesome as this were used against President Obama is no excuse either.  I condemn this photo just as I have condemned all forms of violence.  I think that is enough said.  I don’t want to bring any more attention to disgusting actions as this one.

Now for today’s article.

If things keep going the way they are, it is very possible that our country will become the Iran of the west.  I don’t believe that is an accident either.  I believe that it is a planned plot by Republican Conservatives, especially their biggest allies the Conservative Christian Cult.  Despite all of the hand-wringing over the so-called Sharia Law plot they like to tell us about on Fox News, it is these wackos that are actually trying to model our country after Iran.

It is not difficult to see the signs all around you.  It is difficult to recognize them for what they are and do something to help stop them  you don’t pay attention.  To make matters even more severe, we now have a president who goes along with all of this changing of America into Iran.  Our beloved leader is actually taking the lead in the transition.

This transition has been going on for years.  It has taken root in Republican controlled states, and is now reaching the Federal Government level.  We have not seen such a coordinated attack on true religious freedom and civil rights in our country for decades.  Unfortunately, this attack has taken root inside this president’s administration, and everyone is at risk.

We have heard the cry that places like Iran have what is known as Sharia Law.  Under Sharia Law, strict interpretation of the religious beliefs of their religion take precedence over civil law.  Therefore, women are second class citizens.  Any criticism of leadership is banned.  And, harsh penalties for minor crimes are rampant.  Human rights and civil rights have no place in Sharia Law countries.

Sharia Law is considered evil by Christian conservatives only because it is based on the Muslim faith.  Yet, all across the country, these same Christian Conservatives are trying to institute their own version of the same kind of law into our society.  These sickos are trying to convince you that it is Christians who are under attack in this country.  Even though they are the vast majority.

They want you to believe that what they are doing is in the name of “religious liberty” all the while they are basically outlawing the very religious liberty that they don’t agree with.  We see this in places like the Soviet Socialist State of North Caroline, the Caliphate of Texas, and many other non-democratic autocracies in several other states.

The first battle came with the states that outlawed same-sex marriage.  Their argument was nothing short of denying religious liberty to people of the LGBTQ community.  They openly were trying to stop these people from receiving the same due process and protection under the law because they were gay and they hate gays.  Their only argument was based on religious belief that homosexuality was “against the bible”.

They had no argument that held water to prove that same-sex marriage had any effect on normal society.  These same-sex partners were simply trying to gain the same protections under the law as heterosexual couples received.  But, since they were “different’ and didn’t follow strict interpretation of someone else’s form of Christianity, they were denied that right in many states until the Supreme Court ruled otherwise.

Of course, that didn’t end the battle.  Rather it escalated it.  The Christian Conservative Cult decided that the best way to fight this was to pass laws that openly and legally discriminated against any same-sex couple who wanted a normal “wedding” from getting one.  They passed laws that allows companies to legally discriminate against same-sex couples by denying them simple things like a cake or a hall to hold their wedding.

There are still several states where it is legal to fire a homosexual for no reason other than that person is homosexual.  It is legal to deny renting an apartment to same-sex couples.  These “I hate gays” laws are trying to make it legal to deny them health care, or prescription drugs.  These hate laws are making it legal to deny adoption of needy children to same-sex couples or homosexuals.

The next target was woman’s rights.  When the ACA mandated that birth control was an essential medical right for women and that birth control should be covered under health insurance policies at no cost to the patient, the Conservative Christian Cult went nuts.  Then we had the Hobby Lobby case.  That ruling was an outrage.  The court, led by Antony Scalia, said basically that companies were “people” and could deny the birth control mandate if the “owners of the company held deeply religious beliefs against birth control.”

That opened the door for millions of women to lose their birth control in their policies unless they wanted to pay much more for health coverage.  It didn’t matter that not all people in the country believed that birth control was “evil”.  It only mattered that the Conservative Christian Cult believed it.  So, the Supreme Court allowed the discrimination of other people’s “religious liberty” in the name of some people’s narrow interpretation of their religious beliefs.

Today, we have a president that wants to make that change to the rule permanent and allow more companies to disallow birth control coverage in their health care policies.  This is nothing more than attacking women’s rights to decide when they wish to become pregnant.

Of course we also have the ongoing battle over abortion.  In this battle, many states have placed so many onerous restrictions on a woman’s right to choose, it has become almost unavailable.  Once again, the only arguments that can be made over the abortion battle is religious.  It comes down to two main arguments.

One argument is that life does not begin at conception, but rather at a time when the fetus can exist outside the womb.  The other agreement is that life begins at conception.  There is no scientific evidence to say either is correct.  It is purely based on religious beliefs.  Yet, the Conservative Christian Cult says only their view is pertinent and therefore, they can change the laws to make sure that others who do not agree with them cannot have an abortion if that is their decision.  They are denying other people’s religious liberty in making their own decision in this matter.

We are now seeing the Conservative Christian Cult in an uproar over transgender people. They equate transgender people with “rapists and child molesters”.  As a result, they are trying to pass as many “bathroom laws” to keep transgender people from using the bathroom that corresponds to their actual gender rather than the one on their birth certificates.

There is no viable evidence for this mania either. There is no evidence to show that “men will dress up in dresses just to enter a woman’s bathroom or locker room to rape our women and children” as these nuts tell us.  There is no evidence that transgender people “attack” anyone.  No, this is all about religious beliefs again.  Strict interpretation says any form of homosexuality, including transgender people, is strictly evil and forbidden.

Denying safety and civil rights of transgender people is nothing less than denying their religious liberty to live according to their beliefs.  It has nothing to do with the safety of women and children.  It only has to do with the Conservative Christian Cult’s hatred towards anyone considered homosexual or different.

There are other signs. We still have pay inequality that is based solely on sex.  Women still make about 80 percent of a man doing the exact same job.  And, Republicans have no intention of changing the laws so this ends.

Our beloved leader has proposed a budget that will hurt women who are abused by their spouse.  They want to cut the funds that are intended to help these victims with things like legal services and shelter.  The only reason for these cuts is the religious belief that women are subordinate to men.  Therefore, women don’t need protection if their male partner says they need to be beaten.

All of these laws and actions are wrapped up in the false narrative of “religious liberty”.  If a person believes strongly in their religious beliefs, the government is saying they can basically do whatever they want.  They can legally discriminate against those horrible “others”.  They can beat their wives if they think that is their right and no one can stop it.

They can attack non-Christians and call it “patriotism” like the murderer in Portland did yesterday in his court appearance.  As the country moves more and more to a secular society where religion is becoming a “personal”  thing, Conservative Christian Cult is trying to codify their beliefs into our laws.

What this really boils down to is establishing a theocracy just like the one in Iran.  There, they have elections for their “civil government” but the religious leaders have ultimate power.  That is what the Conservative Christian Cult wants in America.  They want religious beliefs, specifically their religious beliefs, to be the law of the land.

The biggest problem with religion is the idea of which religion belongs and which do not.  Which religion is “real” and which is not.  The other problem is that which is which changes too often.  You may be on the “right” side today, and on the “wrong” side tomorrow.  Your side may have power today, and be out of power tomorrow.

That is precisely why the concept of “freedom of religion” has been written into our laws.  Our Founding Fathers understood that religion is a personal relationship with whatever god you believe in.  They also lived in a time when every nation in the world had an “official” religion.  As such members of those non-official religions were discriminated against by the government.  They understood that in their vision of a democratic society, that cannot be allowed to happen and still protect the rights of every citizen.

That is probably why you have never read the word “god” in any official document like the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.  Belief in god is personal, not governmental.  Yet, today we see that very simple principle being attacked by the very people who claim to love the Constitution.  They want to destroy that document and enforce their own theocracy on the rest of society.

If you really look at it, there is no better definition of establishing Sharia Law on a country.  It doesn’t matter which religion takes precedence, it is wrong for our country with Freedom of Religion to be forced into laws that only follow one viewpoint of a religious belief.

The Conservative Christian Cult, along with their co-conspirators the Republican Party, are trying to make our country into another Iran.  The religion may be different, but the concept is exactly the same.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

 

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I’m Told I Should Focus On Beloved Leader’s Accomplishments – Okay, Here They Are

May 30, 2017 by Mark

Day 200. 

We keep hearing from the right about beloved leader’s accomplishments since taking office.  I can find only two major accomplishments of this administration.  The first is chaos which is rampant in his team.  And the other is a vast rise in violence, especially against people of color, non-Christians and journalists.

Chaos has reigned since beloved leader took office.  Then today we learned that the White House Communications Director resigned.  There are differing stories as to whether or not he resigned or was forced to resign.  The outcome is the same.  He is out.

We had our beloved leader piss off our allies in Europe.  Angela Merkel even told her country the other day that they could “no longer rely” on some allies.  Meaning America of course.  Beloved leader tried to hit back, but missed again.  He claimed that Germany is bad for America mainly because Germany has a surplus trade market.  As usual, he only sees things in terms of money.

Instead of fixing our trade deficit using proper and real trade agreements, he blames someone else for his failure to do anything.  That was the complete definition of his campaign.  Blame someone else and you will feel better.  You won’t get any better, just feel better.

Then the French President showed up beloved leader.  He stood next to Putin after the two had a closed-door meeting, and accused the Russian of meddling in their election.  He held back no punches.  Something our cowardly lion won’t do with Putin.

Beloved leader said after his trip that “we reestablished America’s role as the leader of the free world.”  Oh yeah?  Looks like Germany and France are far stronger leaders of the free world than beloved leader will ever be.  Beloved leader needs to have some history lessons.  He needs to learn that France and Germany are our allies and that Russia is our adversary.  Of course that would mean he needed to read books without pictures and we know that isn’t possible.

Couple all of that with the Russia Investigations going on and you can see the chaos beloved leader has unleashed on our country.

Then we have the increase in violence.  Last week two men were killed and another was seriously wounded when they attempted to stop a bigot from verbally abusing two teenage girls.  One of the girls was wearing a hijab.  Instead of calling this attack what is was, Radical Christian Terrorism, beloved leader called it “unacceptable”.

Gianforte, the Republican Candidate in Montana body slammed a reporter because it was considered “badgering” when the reporter asked his reaction to the CBO Report on the Americans Without Health Care Act.  Still, he won the race the next day, mostly because about two-thirds of the votes had already been cast.  Even though there were a bunch of calls asking if people could change their early vote.

This was not the first attack against reporters.  Beloved leader kept reporters penned up during his rallies, and then pointed them out for ridicule during his speeches.  Katy Turr had to be escorted out of some rallies by the Secret Service because of threats hurled at her.  She wasn’t the only one either.

Since his election, there have been more attacks.

Alaska Dispatch News reporter Nathaniel Herz told police earlier this month that Republican state Sen. David Wilson slapped him during an encounter over a recent story.

West Virginia reporter Dan Heyman was arrested on May 10 while trying to ask a question of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who later praised police for their handling of the situation.

And last week, CQ Roll Call reporter John M. Donnelly said he was pinned against a wall by security guards after trying to ask a Federal Communications Commission member a question in Washington.

All of this is just a continuation of the antics of the trump campaign.  During the campaign his team blacklisted news outlets, manhandled reporters and restricted movements at events, while the candidate routinely and  recklessly blasted journalists on stage and on Twitter. As president, he railed against the “fake news” media as “enemies of the people.”

Then while in office, trump had the gall to suggest that journalists be imprisoned for publishing classified leaks.  Something the Supreme court says cannot happen.  You can prosecute leakers, not people who are given the information for publishing it.

Then we have a case from Sunday where a newspaper in Louisville, KY had its windows shot out.  The paper is not saying directly that it was an attack on the press.  They said that they refuse to connect the dots until there are dots to connect.  But, the timing is particularly interesting.  Rspecially when you consider it is in Louisville that beloved leader is being sued for violence against protesters at one of his rallies in Louisville.

Now, we have what could possibly be termed as the birth of the “brown shirts”.  Right after the deadly attack in Portland, James Buchal, chair of the Republican party for Multnomah County, which includes Portland, told The Guardian that GOP figures may need “a security force protecting them” while out in public. When asked if he meant private groups, Buchal told the newspaper, “Yeah. And there are these people arising, like the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters.”

It must be pointed out that both groups this wacko wants to use to “protect” Republicans are on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of extremist, anti-government groups.  Something the Anti-Defamation Leagues agrees with.

Let this sink in for a minute.  A Radical Christian Terrorist verbally abused two innocent teenage girls on a commuter train in Portland.  When three men decided to put an end to it, he attacked them with a knife killing two and seriously wounding the other.  After this terrorist attack, this Republican Wacko says that Republicans need special security to protect THEM.  And, he proposes using extremist, anti-government groups to “protect the Republicans”.

He said:

Yeah. We’re thinking about that.  Because there are now belligerent, unstable people who are convinced that Republicans are like Nazis.

Well, if you want to use groups that can be described more like the Nazi Brown Shirts to protect your people, than maybe others are right to look at you as being like Nazis.

The major problem with all of this chaos and violence is that neither beloved leader nor Republican Leaders in the Congress say anything condemning the actions.  They are very and suspiciously quiet about these attacks.

One common theme that came from the Nuremberg Trials after World War II was that silence was an approval of the Nazi Government.  So, Mr. Ryan and Mr. McConnell, why are you so silent about these incidents unless you approve of them?

This is the sum total of beloved leaders “accomplishments” we are all told we should be talking about.  So, here I am talking about them.  He hasn’t accomplished anything else.

Just think, he’s only been in office for four months.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

 

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Three More Heroes To Remember Today – But Beloved Leader Ignores Them

May 29, 2017 by Mark

Day 199. 

There are three more heroes that need to be remembered today.  Memorial Day is when we remember and honor our fallen heroes.  Today we need to add the names of Ricky John Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Micah David-Cole Fletcher.  Best and Namkai-Meche were killed and Fletcher is in critical condition.

These men were not killed on the battlefield.  They were not killed while serving in the service, though Best is retired Army.  These men were attacked in Portland, Or.  These men were attacked and two were killed while they were fighting against Radical Christian Terrorism right here at home.

On Friday, Best and Namkai-Meche were stabbed to death while traveling on one of Portland’s MAX train ahead of Memorial Day Weekend. The men had stood up from their seats to confront a man harassing two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. Police say Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, who has ties to white supremacy, targeted the girls for “religiously and racially motivated reasons.”

“He was saying things about how Muslims should die and how they’ve been killing Christians for years,” Dyjuana Hudson, one of the girls’ mothers, said.

When Best and Namkai-Mechei tried to intervene, along with a third man, 21-year-old Micah David-Cole Fletcher, Christian violently attacked them. Fletcher survived the stabbing but remains hospitalized with serious injuries.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Saturday called all three men heroes.

“They were attacked because they did the right thing,” Wheeler said. “Their actions were brave and selfless and should serve as an example and inspiration to us all.”

Ricky John Best was the type of person who people turned to for help.  He was that kind of person.  He was 53 years old father of four who worked for the City of Portland.  He served 23 years in the Army and retired as a platoon sergeant for Corps Maintenance.

Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche was a friend who would “never forget about you,” said Christopher Landt, who grew up with him in Ashland, Oregon.  He was 23, a recent college graduate, and worked for a consulting company mainly focusing on environmental issues.

“This is a guy who had so many friends and he seemed to have a special connection with every single one,” Landt said. “We’d all say the same thing: ‘Man, he’s just the best person.’”

Namkai-Meche graduated in 2016 from Portland’s Reed College, where he studied economics and made a lasting impression on students and teachers.

“He was thoughtful, humble, smart, inquisitive, and compassionate,” Reed religion professor Kambiz GhaneaBassiri said in a statement. “He was a wonderful human being. As good as they come. And now he is a hero to me.”

Namkai-Meche’s sister, Vajra Alaya-Maitreya, said”

He was resolute in his conduct and respect of all people. In his final act of bravery, he held true to what he believed is the way forward. He will live in our hearts forever as the just, brave, loving, hilarious and beautiful soul he was.

These three men decided that a white supremacist shouting horrible and hateful things to two teenage girls on a public transit train was going too far.  They tried to confront the thug and get him to stop.  The result was the death of two of them and the serious injury of the third.

This was nothing short of a Radical Christian Terrorist attack on both the girls and the men who tried to stop it.  You cannot call it anything else.  So in his eagerness to show just how much he hates terrorism of any kind, what has our beloved leader said about this outrageous attack?  NOTHING!

Nor have we heard anything from any of the top Republicans either.  The day before this horrendous attack, a Republican Candidate was elected to the House of Representatives the day after he body slammed a reporter for asking him a question.  He was charged with misdemeanor assault.  And, beloved leader called his victory, “A Great Win!”

Republicans failed to rebuke the body slamming candidate as well.  Meanwhile Islamaphobic attacks are on the rise in the U.S., with at least 385 documented instances in 2016 alone, attacks by perpetrators who are white, non-Muslim and are confirmed or suspected of holding white supremacist or white nationalist views typically receive less sustained media coverage ― and condemnation from politicians ― than acts perpetrated by a suspect believed to be motivated by an extremist Muslim ideology.

All of these attacks have resulted in the same coverage by the press and response by Republicans.  None.

One of the targets of Christian’s rage, Destinee Mangum a 16-year-old girl thanked the three men who stood up for her and her friend with a tearful statement.

I just want to say thank you to the people who put their life on the line for me because they didn’t even know me.  They lost their lives because of my friend the way we looked. Without them, we probably would be dead right now.

But, beloved leader has said nothing about the attack and has not condemned it as the terrorist attack that it was.  Why?  Maybe it is because it doesn’t fit into his idea of terrorism.  In his warped mind, only Muslims conduct terrorist activities.  Maybe in his hate-filled little pea brain, he actually applauds this kind of Radical Christian Terrorism.  After all, he won’t even use the term Radical Christian Terrorism, so how can he possibly defeat it?

Today is Memorial Day.  It is the day we honor our fallen heroes.  Today we must add the names of Ricky John Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Micah David-Cole Fletcher even if beloved leader won’t.

I don’t care if this upsets beloved leaders supporters.  The very idea that this clown is planning to attend a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery today is completely repugnant to me as a veteran.  He stands for none of the values, ideas, and honor that we served.  He is a sham and as far as I am concerned, his stepping on such hallowed ground is an insult to all who served this country especially those who gave the ultimate sacrafice.

These three men died trying to defend two girls they didn’t even know.  They took a risk in order to do the right thing.  Maybe it is fitting beloved leader won’t mention their names.  They are far too good, far too honorable, and far too American Patriots for the hater to even mention.

Is this the type of nation we veterans served to defend?  No.  But it is the nation trump wants to create.

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