Carol, if his reputation hasn't yet been destroyed by his misanthropy and multiple misdeeds, then even I, an avowed agnostic, am willing to beseech whatever gods that may exist to intercede. My wishful message cast to the heavens is for a lightning bolt out of the blue to strike him one day as he plays golf. If that were to happen, I think I'd become a believer after all.
@ Doug. Here in Baghdad By the Sea they sell Trump voo doo effigy dolls and pins so you can inflict pain on the part of the anatomy you deem appropriate.
Can one get them mail order to Europe? Last night several of my friends went to Hamburg where there was a debate held between a member of Democrats Abroad and a Republican Abroad. According to a short clip a friend posted to the website, the Republican defender was saying that he was a Republican and a Patriot. I said, "Isn't that an oxymoron?" Supporting a party that is trying to destroy our constitution, the underpinnings on which our nation is based is the opposite of patriotic, it is supporting treason. That calls for some voo doo effigy action.
Taking this seriously, if there were now a Constitutional Convention convened to re-write the Constitution, I don't think we'd get the best aspirations of Enlightenment thinkers. We'd get whatever oligarchy-protecting corporate-sponsored drivel the highest bidder wanted. I'm pretty sure there would be a less-restrictive version of the 2nd installed (who needs to be "well-regulated" anyway?).
Mine was from Jr. saying and I quote “ Jeri, I’m not going to play this game anymore. My father and I need…”. Piss on you Jr and the cretin who sired you
I still get Ben Carson’s Cornerstone/ Little Patriots BS. Trump requires a weekly dumping of the 100 or so that populate my spam folder. Epoch Times had too many paywalls. These people are nuts.
Robmail xxxx Richard, i guess you are entertaining yourself perversely lol. I signed up for the ultra paranoid Heritage Foundation's newsletter, i suspect ill ditch the signup before long.
Hsun Tzu, on the Art of War, opined that if one knows one's enemy, in 100 battles one will win 100 victories. I often wonder how in the name of reason people can believe TFFG's words. TFFG is a completely dishonest thug, a cipher, lacking any worthwhile human qualities.
I just did a quick check. Etsy and Amazon have many trump voodoo dolls to choose from. I might get one for laughs and will probably give a couple as novelty gifts. Maybe I can even find one that will give profits to a worth cause.
Under pressure, when he can’t lie and scream, and he is forced to face the truth, Trump falls asleep. The wrong man to have in a crisis. The wrong man to leave alone with your daughter.
Exactly but I would rather pray for a real interventionist. Where's Lee Oswald or maybe Kyle Rittenhouse will have a change of heart or have a heart period.
So? Do you really think the MAGAts and militias aren't going to do anything when tRump loses? He's already framed himself as a martyr. Sorry Doug, but I think the die is already cast.
Trump had a very bad case of COVID before the vaccine was ready. He may have died, as he was overweight, but the doctors saved him. Human intervention.
Doug, I too am a devout agnostic. I beg you not to pray for his death, although I doubt the efficacy of prayers and thoughts in any instance. I make this request because I believe his living collapse would be better for America than his demise. I believe a slow crumble of all he has pretended to be could disrupt the whole MAGA movement. I'd like to see the last of him, to be sure, but a deathblow to them even more. Whomever forbid they march on behind a new standard bearer. Bannon? Flynn? Miller? Ecccchhhh!
Doug, as an avowed atheist I might become a believer also if out of the BLUE lightning would be attracted to his golf club in his back swing and it would be the end of our nightmare.
LOL!!! Seriously though, if I had to guess, his lawyers probably put a 'sed-a-give' in his drink so that he didn't wind up in contempt of court and hauled off yesterday.
I wish that you were right, Jack, but "the MAGA thing," i.e., the KKK, has been around since Reconstruction and Jim Crow. If you haven't yet, Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland," about the rise of the KKK in the Midwest in the 1920's is a must read. There will be no doubt in your mind that MAGA is the 21st century version of the KKK: white Protestant nationalism now, white Protestant nationalism forever.
Heather has a bit to say on the rise of the KKK and a then widespread effort to promote the myth that the South went down for a "worthy cause". I don't think today's societies, even in the South, are up for that again, considering among other things, the widespread removal of Confederacy statuary over the past 20 or more years.
Frank, while some of the Confederate statues are coming down, that appears to be motivating the millions of die-hards to fight ferociously to save "the cause." TFFG is the face of this ugly condition. In retrospect, a more fitting figure could not have been imagined: egotistical, dishonest, cruel, mendacious, cowardly, lazy, malignantly narcissistic and more.
To be realistic all I could hope for is that MAGA would be forced to fly low and keep their heads down with no more hate rallies with the crowd cheering on a lunatic speaker.
It could be that the former political party known as Republican will dwindle down to permanent minority status. However, the wealthy oligarchs will continue to fund the media to sow discord with wedge issues (abortion, immigrants [xenophobia], gay rights, women's rights, etc.)
The only "yard" I see him being placed in for his own protection is the 'pet relief area' at the DC Zoo. His security detail needs to be posted right outside the fence. Don't waste money on signs. Just grab one that says 'Don't feed the monkey'.., that ought to do it. Of course we could get Kellyanne to have one made up that says "ALTERNATIVE - Pet Relief Area". Or maybe "Don't piss into the wind". You choose.
That must be where "20-20 hindsight" came from. In those 'olden days' one had to go to the library to dig up stuff from the previous 80 years or so. Today..., we can just Google it.., or browwwwwwzzze the web. So, there is no excuse for not being able to "did up" what the gerrymanderers have done to 'screw us' mere mortals. No excuses. None. I think we have finally reached a reckoning point here in our Country. Provided we survive it.., I say it needed to happen, right next to: This wouldn't have happened had Hillary been elected. The fusion would have continued to build beneath the Confederate flag mentality. So much has come-to-light during these six years. Try this: "It's an ill wind, that blows no good." (shortened by me. See Cambridge Dictionary - John Heywood proverb, 1546). Old sayings - So appropo.
trump has taken matters into his own hands in destroying his reputation--no need for God's intersession here. The moment I learned that he won in 2016 I prayed that the GOP would self-implode (in progress). I am now praying that he goes broke and goes to prison (in progress). Please join me in prayer....
"The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory" by Tim Alberta has highly readable interviews with Trump's MAGA-Christian Evangelical supporters. Most fail to see the irony in that they think America has gone off its rails because of secular liberties but deny or diminish Trump's criminal behavior.
Is The Book of Job not real? It’s great prose. Metaphor or prophecy, it’s the Bible’s Last lesson, trial and the eternal question: God and the Devil duke it out as we the people watch - and vote virtue and faith or whatever cynicism Man can muster. Job is surely tested as Trump the Devil is testing we, the people - our flocks, savings and children are threatened, warming threatens, The Eclipse was total, and that experience was proof of our existence, our utter insecurity, insignificance and vulnerability. The rocks in space and Don’t Look Up will do it if Trump v. Biden doesn’t, it’s Evil and the Devil facing goodness and the good, and we all are called to vote to preserve the right to vote. Ontological, yes. Truth stands against Lies, President Biden offers again, and Trump threatens again. We are living out our days like Job and Creation did in the Good Book. For our country and our children, VOTE. Job voted. And he was saved.
The eternal truths are found in the Bible. The Tower of Babel is vital. Tolerance and love matter.
April 15th will matter in the public square and in federal court.
Trump will be tried and convicted and jailed, or Evil wins and Democracy loses. The Court is Law and a good judge and justice will challenge the Jury of 12.
It must be unanimous. Devil has his candidate. Warmly supported, he falls asleep in open court. His contempt is on display. The rules don’t apply to the Devil. He’s spending other people’s money.
A republic if you can keep it, said Ben Franklin.
To be or not to be was Shakespeare’s lesson in Hamlet.
We are living The Book of Job.
We have choice and must give choice back to women. They now vote and they love the child.
Hey SB, people who enjoy being proselytized at sit in church or listen to insipid bible-belt a.m. radio broadcasts, but ultimately nobody with any critical thinking skills enjoys being proselytized to, especially with tired cliches thrown in. Thanks, but no thanks.
Why use the Bible at all? Stories written by men, all sharing similar origin stories intended to diminish and control women and minorities. The assault of fantasy and myth.
Job - A book in which God and Satan make a barroom bet tisee how much suffering one guy can take before he breaks. On top of the cruelties that God lets Satan deal out, Job has to put up with every two bit preacher in town telling him that the real problem is sin in his life. When Job finally gets an answer from God it's a loud and thunderous "I take the fifth." But God doesn't leave the stage without telling Job that the two bit preachers were wrong.
If there's a lesson there, but mostly it's about not listening to two-bit preachers.
I like Enigma better, SB - something for everyone plus George Carlin. Hamlet was considering suicide, by the way, not when the deity might intervene in human affairs. Your conclusion is the only intervention we need - VOTE. I'll light a votive candle for it, or maybe a voodoo one. Maybe both.
Theodicy is one of the great unsolved mysteries about God, how would "he" let bad things happen to good people and let the bad sometimes go unpunished. Lots have dropped their faith in "God" over it. Fictionally, that happened in Contact. In the case of "God", lack thereof. Just the same, most of the faithful cherry pick when the deity intervened with a miracle, common with near misses from tornadoes, not that i dont well wish them for their good luck!
True. There's all kinds of "god's" out there, assuming they all still exist. And, one can only wonder how "they" might have.., or indeed are right now, viewing #45 's behavior. Personally, having boarded with many families of varied religious bents while growing up, I find I can't "believe" in any of it. However, there is one thing out there in 'the heavens'.., meaning the universe, referred to as "black holes". So, in regards to numbnutz, I BELIEVE that's what "black holes" exist for.., POS's like him. Perhaps those "black holes" are calling him when he dozez' off. And, it's only a matter of time before some 'concerned citizen' jumps on 911. Hopefully his wife will have misplaced the "do not resuscitate" paper. I like to "believe" she has. Is that just me? Huh! Have faith pilgrims.
I still remember when access Hollywood hit the media and I thought for sure it would expose him for the misogynistic buffoon he was. None of the males in my life talk like that, even in the locker room. Makes me seriously wonder if releasing this information at the time would have had an impact on the good "Christian" people who worshiped him. Even if he eludes conviction a prolonged exposure to public scrutiny may have more impact on his image than all the accusations currently pending.
It does seem contradictory, out of character, that is, Christian support of the "Fallen One." But, their desire for white Protestant Christian nationalism is so strong that they see God working in strange and mysterious ways, selecting TFFG as His Messenger. If this were fictionalized, it wouldn't sell. This is a simple, clear case of the first error in attempting to exercise critical thinking: confirmation bias.
Let's face it Cameron, we have become a "Tabloid" society here. Simply, sex sells. We've descended into a sort of cesspool officially with #45... clearly a Nat'l Enquirer fan. Look at how toilet humor has prevailed on TV with ti"tt"allating humor at best. Check the intentional display of 'cleavage' we had for quite a spell on all the talking NEWS-heads (huh? you didn't notice?). Hahahaa.. Jackie Gleason, All in the family, and the Jeffersons, were pretty benign.. then along came Susanne Somers (nice tits) and enter #45.., the emperor with no clothes. Pretty-much sums it up.
To quote whoever designed the poster for the film version of Chicago: "If you can't be famous, be infamous!"
The Booth family was a showbiz institution of the day. There is actually still a Broadway theater named after them. Nutty to think that someone could be driven to alter history through misplaced anger resulting from not being as talented at monologues as his bro.
John Wilkes Booths' brother, Edwin Booth, saved Robert Lincoln from being struck by a train in Jersey City some months before.
Robert Lincoln, in effect, saved Edwin, who was severely depressed and unable to work, by acknowledging Edwin's saving him though Edwin probably didn't recognize who he was he was (Robert knew who the famous Edwin Booth was, though).
Personally, I think much if not most of what we believe or think, is simply internalization, ie from others, by one means or another. That would include "critical thinking". Of course, this can and does readily work in reverse, such as a prophet who's seen the light and passes it along. Social creatures thus we are.
I was vaguely aware of Edwin. John's grandiose narcissism seems evident to me in his delivery of a hammy line in the act of murder. It appears to me that terrorism is the height of malignant narcissism. Some, like Trump are calculating opportunists, while fanatics (such as the 9/11 hijackers, are willing to die for it. We all, of necessity, pursue self-interest, but some of us spin out into thinking only our agenda matters. I recall the comment of an American soldier ordered to kill defenseless native women and children that it was God's will. I think that fame and fortune carries risks for intensifying malignant narcissism. That's not a given, but it often afflicts the rich and powerful, and has throughout history. Or so it seems to me.
Additionally, I think that cults are designed to control people by trapping them in narcissistic circular thought patterns, enforced by flattery ("Master Race", etc.) and implicit or explicit threats. "Thoughtcrime".
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and of your ears. It was their final, most essential command.” - Orwell
In full agreement but I beseech us all to ask what has turned off such a large percentage of Americans? What have we done wrong? If we can’t answer this question and find remedies, then we are doomed to possibly bow to the New Snazzy Nazi American Way.
It’s not enough to get out the vote. This is a call to move to the center as repugnant as it may sound to some folks.
Interesting question. I think it is multi-faceted, and has as its sides the declines in our educational system (intentional) and the corresponding rise in the private/home schooled "student" populations (also intentional), the movement of family wage jobs overseas creating the evaporation of the true middle class, the uncontrolled explosion of "the internet" and all that it has become today, and the dominance of "social" media in our lives. The destruction of the fairness doctrine, and the disappearance of independent local news stations and newspapers is another. Starting in 2000 (in earnest, the beginning was in the late 1960's) the country has seen the elections of two Republican presidents who did not win the popular vote, one of whom was put in office after a recount was stopped that would have given him the electoral college majority and the first Black president. That 20 years of turmoil has led to the divide we see blatantly in our country today.
Or… unlimited money in politics is the biggest wound. Big money chooses leadership that bows to their desires. It’s the unending pursuit of money that has done it. At least in the 1890s there was a great progressive republican president that broke up the Trusts. Today, no such thing exists. Social Media the huge monster that it is has a free rein except in Europe. We can’t even complete the ban on Tik tok as it’s now held up in the senate. Again, money doesn’t talk it screams.
First sentence is incomprehensible. You are partially correct. This began in the 1960s when the progressive plans of LBJ — a great leader, as a reaction, sent the mostly working class white to the right into the waiting arms of republicans. Which of course was the wrong place to be. I’m very in favor of all Americans getting a piece of the pie. But something has done gone wrong. You are correct about the speed of change. The white working class have felt left out even as they witness those of other cultures non European arriving. No one group should feel left out. But they do. I wouldn’t bet which way this election is going. There seems to be a perfect storm brewing for a cataclysmic change.
People who thought they knew what to expect, People who planned to do what their parents had done, People who were born in the same town or neighborhood their grandparents were born in, all these people, mostly white and male especially, believe that they have been cheated because their expectations were not met. Because a thousand little butterfly changes created a wave that washed away the world they thought they knew.
Meanwhile, people who did not have those expectations; people like women and immigrants and minorities, saw the changes as opportunity instead of obstacle.
I think Steve Bannon was correct. Trump has hopefully established the floor for awful charlatans who managed to ascend to the presidency. If elected again, he'll set the floor even lower as he continues his grifting and his leaning in towards autocracy. He'll be good for no one, not even the billionaires.
Not always indeed, and Lincoln's murder was especially problematic since it gave Andrews an opportunity to roll against what Lincoln likely would have promoted had he lived. Bannon has minimal/nil credibility on anything. Early in his media career he put out a godawful apocalyptic video showing the "end of things"... too bad Bannon didn't manage to follow suit, figuratively mind you!
That all this is a possibility just boggles my mind.
That America as #1 at one point has fallen to …18th?
That the country everyone felt was the land of opportunity is now held hostage by a minority of Putin loving extremists?
That the half of Americans (who we hope has fallen to 25% ) stood defiant beside a known con man …and still yet the streets of the nearest town I live by are currently filled with signs they will vote that way again. And who doubts half of those would ever admit regardless of the cookie crumbled how they backed the Fall of Democracy Coup?
The love of money, power, and control is pride goeth before the fall.
It shocked me to realize along the incredible education I received from these writers -Heather, Joyce, Simon, Steve, Dan et al ..that 35-40% was the voting numbers ( a rare 66% in 2020).
I can’t say I haven’t been amused , but being shocked by the conspiracies carried , the lies repeated, the undergrowth I never knew there -white supremist, racism, proved I too was not paying attention/ had become complacent. I worked my whole career for the underdog and didn’t see the forest through the trees.
My apology is surpassed only by my own naivety.
It near unbelievable that so few can hold the world hostage over minuscule petty issues while no secret is there striving to become rich, power scum lords backed by evil minded entities.
I applaud the Biden/Harris Team with their class-act leadership in near insurmountable chaos.
I encourage you to …💙VOTE ALL THOSE COMPLICIT OUT💙
Almost eighty years to the day, during the second week of April, two of the most transformative American presidents died, Abraham Lincoln and FDR.
In 2016, Steve Bannon boasted the Donald Trump would be the most transformative president ever.
He might be, but the other two presidents transformed American democracy by expanding it. Trump will transform America democracy by destroying it.
Transformation is not always a good thing.
I pray God will intercede and destroy T’s reputation such that even diehard followers will decide not to vote for him at all.
Crumble his ego and leave his tatters floating somewhere …
Carol, if his reputation hasn't yet been destroyed by his misanthropy and multiple misdeeds, then even I, an avowed agnostic, am willing to beseech whatever gods that may exist to intercede. My wishful message cast to the heavens is for a lightning bolt out of the blue to strike him one day as he plays golf. If that were to happen, I think I'd become a believer after all.
@ Doug. Here in Baghdad By the Sea they sell Trump voo doo effigy dolls and pins so you can inflict pain on the part of the anatomy you deem appropriate.
Can one get them mail order to Europe? Last night several of my friends went to Hamburg where there was a debate held between a member of Democrats Abroad and a Republican Abroad. According to a short clip a friend posted to the website, the Republican defender was saying that he was a Republican and a Patriot. I said, "Isn't that an oxymoron?" Supporting a party that is trying to destroy our constitution, the underpinnings on which our nation is based is the opposite of patriotic, it is supporting treason. That calls for some voo doo effigy action.
I have a Trump voodoo doll.It is really a cat toy that looks like Trump.I have used several pins and so far, nothing has happened.Sigh.
Spice up the catnip and let the kitties have a romp with it!
Damn, my cats need one of those.
I too have one. I pulled it out of the closet yesterday and will hope it works it’s voodoo magic
I have a T damn it doll. Right now he is dangling from his throat by a large, fuzzy spider's leg.
Well, look at the bright side. If they destroy the Constitution, no more 2nd amendment to protect their cherished weapons.
Taking this seriously, if there were now a Constitutional Convention convened to re-write the Constitution, I don't think we'd get the best aspirations of Enlightenment thinkers. We'd get whatever oligarchy-protecting corporate-sponsored drivel the highest bidder wanted. I'm pretty sure there would be a less-restrictive version of the 2nd installed (who needs to be "well-regulated" anyway?).
Amazon and Etsy have them. Amazon even has one where you pull his finger and he farts, not unlike what he's been doing to all of us from the start.
Daniel, I am on TFFG's email list. I get 5, 6 or 7 emails a day from him asking for donations. He is, without a doubt, the Begging Billionaire.
Mine was from Jr. saying and I quote “ Jeri, I’m not going to play this game anymore. My father and I need…”. Piss on you Jr and the cretin who sired you
I get the emails too!
Or "Billionaire Beggar" for those billionaires enabled by Citizens United/country dis-united.
The Begging Billionaire -- I love that! Wouldn't that be a great idea for a TV show that he could pitch?
Oh, wait. He'll be in prison sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.
Now that would be a show I might watch! A day in the life at federal prison.
Even better; he could pitch it from his cozy little jail cell
I still get Ben Carson’s Cornerstone/ Little Patriots BS. Trump requires a weekly dumping of the 100 or so that populate my spam folder. Epoch Times had too many paywalls. These people are nuts.
This one of the latest from TFFG today:
MESSAGE FROM TRUMP:
Can you believe this, Richared?
I’m actually on trial AS WE SPEAK!
My crime? Putting YOU, the AMERICAN PEOPLE, ahead of the COMMUNISTS, MARXISTS, AND FASCISTS that want to see our country DESTROYED.
The Epoch Times is the favorite fodder of my MNJ friends.
Robmail xxxx Richard, i guess you are entertaining yourself perversely lol. I signed up for the ultra paranoid Heritage Foundation's newsletter, i suspect ill ditch the signup before long.
Hsun Tzu, on the Art of War, opined that if one knows one's enemy, in 100 battles one will win 100 victories. I often wonder how in the name of reason people can believe TFFG's words. TFFG is a completely dishonest thug, a cipher, lacking any worthwhile human qualities.
Lorena Bobbit available?
Maybe that guy that sold ginzu knives ... Lorena'd have heckuva time applying scissors to the tiny mushroom dick the giant orange dick sports.
I just did a quick check. Etsy and Amazon have many trump voodoo dolls to choose from. I might get one for laughs and will probably give a couple as novelty gifts. Maybe I can even find one that will give profits to a worth cause.
Under pressure, when he can’t lie and scream, and he is forced to face the truth, Trump falls asleep. The wrong man to have in a crisis. The wrong man to leave alone with your daughter.
"Dozo the Clown" - Jimmy Kimmel
Now that is a good one!
Does he really deserve the gift of passing while doing something he loves???
I'm with you, Doug. If there were a god then surely s/he would have stricken the angry cheato long ago....
Yep, I would bow down to the golf God
Exactly but I would rather pray for a real interventionist. Where's Lee Oswald or maybe Kyle Rittenhouse will have a change of heart or have a heart period.
And you will have created a martyr, along with a bloodbath in the name of vengeance.
So? Do you really think the MAGAts and militias aren't going to do anything when tRump loses? He's already framed himself as a martyr. Sorry Doug, but I think the die is already cast.
Margaret, I already suggested this outcome in another post today.
Doug, I am smiling at the lighting bolt....maybe Thor or Zeus...or even
the god of Gangrene although she would probably say it was a Jewish space laser.
Trump had a very bad case of COVID before the vaccine was ready. He may have died, as he was overweight, but the doctors saved him. Human intervention.
Exactly so...
Doug, I too am a devout agnostic. I beg you not to pray for his death, although I doubt the efficacy of prayers and thoughts in any instance. I make this request because I believe his living collapse would be better for America than his demise. I believe a slow crumble of all he has pretended to be could disrupt the whole MAGA movement. I'd like to see the last of him, to be sure, but a deathblow to them even more. Whomever forbid they march on behind a new standard bearer. Bannon? Flynn? Miller? Ecccchhhh!
Doug, as an avowed atheist I might become a believer also if out of the BLUE lightning would be attracted to his golf club in his back swing and it would be the end of our nightmare.
Make sure the door is locked.
LOL!!! Seriously though, if I had to guess, his lawyers probably put a 'sed-a-give' in his drink so that he didn't wind up in contempt of court and hauled off yesterday.
Nice! I see a Yorgos Lanthimos movie in the making.
He's the guy that directed Poor Things and the Favourite. I love Poor Things, definitely worth a watch. I think it's on Prime.
Divine intervention is almost certainly not forthcoming. The ball is in the American people's court now.
ThankYou. Exactly.
Vote Biden!
GOTV Blue Wave 2024
Talia. Yes will mega Americans finally realize what a self-centered, lying, thug their idol is???
Only if his minions ever see what the rest of us see. Fox, OAN, etc, will make sure his followers never see the real Trump.
Agreed.
@ Carol O. This whole MAGA thing may crumble, without the defendants fanning the flames. They don’t allow press briefings from the prison yard.
I wish that you were right, Jack, but "the MAGA thing," i.e., the KKK, has been around since Reconstruction and Jim Crow. If you haven't yet, Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland," about the rise of the KKK in the Midwest in the 1920's is a must read. There will be no doubt in your mind that MAGA is the 21st century version of the KKK: white Protestant nationalism now, white Protestant nationalism forever.
Heather has a bit to say on the rise of the KKK and a then widespread effort to promote the myth that the South went down for a "worthy cause". I don't think today's societies, even in the South, are up for that again, considering among other things, the widespread removal of Confederacy statuary over the past 20 or more years.
Frank, while some of the Confederate statues are coming down, that appears to be motivating the millions of die-hards to fight ferociously to save "the cause." TFFG is the face of this ugly condition. In retrospect, a more fitting figure could not have been imagined: egotistical, dishonest, cruel, mendacious, cowardly, lazy, malignantly narcissistic and more.
To be realistic all I could hope for is that MAGA would be forced to fly low and keep their heads down with no more hate rallies with the crowd cheering on a lunatic speaker.
It could be that the former political party known as Republican will dwindle down to permanent minority status. However, the wealthy oligarchs will continue to fund the media to sow discord with wedge issues (abortion, immigrants [xenophobia], gay rights, women's rights, etc.)
Where will the dozen Secret Service guards abide while frump's in jail ?
The only "yard" I see him being placed in for his own protection is the 'pet relief area' at the DC Zoo. His security detail needs to be posted right outside the fence. Don't waste money on signs. Just grab one that says 'Don't feed the monkey'.., that ought to do it. Of course we could get Kellyanne to have one made up that says "ALTERNATIVE - Pet Relief Area". Or maybe "Don't piss into the wind". You choose.
With all the shite he flings, it's necessary to have a solid wall between him and the viewers.
God leaves it to us I think
and old fashioned saying was "God helps them who help themselves"
Seems that God created a bunch of helpless creatures that can only prey on those more helpless. Surprise to God too, I would presume.
That must be where "20-20 hindsight" came from. In those 'olden days' one had to go to the library to dig up stuff from the previous 80 years or so. Today..., we can just Google it.., or browwwwwwzzze the web. So, there is no excuse for not being able to "did up" what the gerrymanderers have done to 'screw us' mere mortals. No excuses. None. I think we have finally reached a reckoning point here in our Country. Provided we survive it.., I say it needed to happen, right next to: This wouldn't have happened had Hillary been elected. The fusion would have continued to build beneath the Confederate flag mentality. So much has come-to-light during these six years. Try this: "It's an ill wind, that blows no good." (shortened by me. See Cambridge Dictionary - John Heywood proverb, 1546). Old sayings - So appropo.
trump has taken matters into his own hands in destroying his reputation--no need for God's intersession here. The moment I learned that he won in 2016 I prayed that the GOP would self-implode (in progress). I am now praying that he goes broke and goes to prison (in progress). Please join me in prayer....
Carol, Professor Richardson quoted Haberman as saying that Trump might not be able to "project an image of grandeur."
His followers have been in awe of his "grandeur."
He is no more Grand than the I am. :)
The poor man's image of grandeur is nothing but Delusions of Grandeur.
Yeh... we're talking about the Emperor (choke) sans clothes. No pity for him. POS*
(* piece of s--t)
Isn't that the truth?
"The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory" by Tim Alberta has highly readable interviews with Trump's MAGA-Christian Evangelical supporters. Most fail to see the irony in that they think America has gone off its rails because of secular liberties but deny or diminish Trump's criminal behavior.
And those supporters also deny and diminish T’s own antisocial behaviors e omen, but also w men to belittle and control them in every encounter.
Yes, near Bin Laden's.
Why, one must wonder, did god joke with us by giving this “Job-test”?
Is The Book of Job not real? It’s great prose. Metaphor or prophecy, it’s the Bible’s Last lesson, trial and the eternal question: God and the Devil duke it out as we the people watch - and vote virtue and faith or whatever cynicism Man can muster. Job is surely tested as Trump the Devil is testing we, the people - our flocks, savings and children are threatened, warming threatens, The Eclipse was total, and that experience was proof of our existence, our utter insecurity, insignificance and vulnerability. The rocks in space and Don’t Look Up will do it if Trump v. Biden doesn’t, it’s Evil and the Devil facing goodness and the good, and we all are called to vote to preserve the right to vote. Ontological, yes. Truth stands against Lies, President Biden offers again, and Trump threatens again. We are living out our days like Job and Creation did in the Good Book. For our country and our children, VOTE. Job voted. And he was saved.
The eternal truths are found in the Bible. The Tower of Babel is vital. Tolerance and love matter.
April 15th will matter in the public square and in federal court.
Trump will be tried and convicted and jailed, or Evil wins and Democracy loses. The Court is Law and a good judge and justice will challenge the Jury of 12.
It must be unanimous. Devil has his candidate. Warmly supported, he falls asleep in open court. His contempt is on display. The rules don’t apply to the Devil. He’s spending other people’s money.
A republic if you can keep it, said Ben Franklin.
To be or not to be was Shakespeare’s lesson in Hamlet.
We are living The Book of Job.
We have choice and must give choice back to women. They now vote and they love the child.
Let not the law dictate, let women decide.
Democracy or Putin, Trump, and the Devil.
Vote. Color blind, vote. Denial is Death.
Vote.
Hey SB, people who enjoy being proselytized at sit in church or listen to insipid bible-belt a.m. radio broadcasts, but ultimately nobody with any critical thinking skills enjoys being proselytized to, especially with tired cliches thrown in. Thanks, but no thanks.
Well at least he is using the bible against trompy, rather than in support of him, as so many so-called Christians do.
Why use the Bible at all? Stories written by men, all sharing similar origin stories intended to diminish and control women and minorities. The assault of fantasy and myth.
Strong letter to follow?
Job - A book in which God and Satan make a barroom bet tisee how much suffering one guy can take before he breaks. On top of the cruelties that God lets Satan deal out, Job has to put up with every two bit preacher in town telling him that the real problem is sin in his life. When Job finally gets an answer from God it's a loud and thunderous "I take the fifth." But God doesn't leave the stage without telling Job that the two bit preachers were wrong.
If there's a lesson there, but mostly it's about not listening to two-bit preachers.
I like Enigma better, SB - something for everyone plus George Carlin. Hamlet was considering suicide, by the way, not when the deity might intervene in human affairs. Your conclusion is the only intervention we need - VOTE. I'll light a votive candle for it, or maybe a voodoo one. Maybe both.
Theodicy is one of the great unsolved mysteries about God, how would "he" let bad things happen to good people and let the bad sometimes go unpunished. Lots have dropped their faith in "God" over it. Fictionally, that happened in Contact. In the case of "God", lack thereof. Just the same, most of the faithful cherry pick when the deity intervened with a miracle, common with near misses from tornadoes, not that i dont well wish them for their good luck!
True. There's all kinds of "god's" out there, assuming they all still exist. And, one can only wonder how "they" might have.., or indeed are right now, viewing #45 's behavior. Personally, having boarded with many families of varied religious bents while growing up, I find I can't "believe" in any of it. However, there is one thing out there in 'the heavens'.., meaning the universe, referred to as "black holes". So, in regards to numbnutz, I BELIEVE that's what "black holes" exist for.., POS's like him. Perhaps those "black holes" are calling him when he dozez' off. And, it's only a matter of time before some 'concerned citizen' jumps on 911. Hopefully his wife will have misplaced the "do not resuscitate" paper. I like to "believe" she has. Is that just me? Huh! Have faith pilgrims.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed. I believe in that.
How it transforms, that's the mystery.
Sorry, gods. We don't ned you.
I still remember when access Hollywood hit the media and I thought for sure it would expose him for the misogynistic buffoon he was. None of the males in my life talk like that, even in the locker room. Makes me seriously wonder if releasing this information at the time would have had an impact on the good "Christian" people who worshiped him. Even if he eludes conviction a prolonged exposure to public scrutiny may have more impact on his image than all the accusations currently pending.
It does seem contradictory, out of character, that is, Christian support of the "Fallen One." But, their desire for white Protestant Christian nationalism is so strong that they see God working in strange and mysterious ways, selecting TFFG as His Messenger. If this were fictionalized, it wouldn't sell. This is a simple, clear case of the first error in attempting to exercise critical thinking: confirmation bias.
Let's face it Cameron, we have become a "Tabloid" society here. Simply, sex sells. We've descended into a sort of cesspool officially with #45... clearly a Nat'l Enquirer fan. Look at how toilet humor has prevailed on TV with ti"tt"allating humor at best. Check the intentional display of 'cleavage' we had for quite a spell on all the talking NEWS-heads (huh? you didn't notice?). Hahahaa.. Jackie Gleason, All in the family, and the Jeffersons, were pretty benign.. then along came Susanne Somers (nice tits) and enter #45.., the emperor with no clothes. Pretty-much sums it up.
Sad, but true
Many Trump followers only hear the interpretations provided by Trump of Fox ( and their clones). They do not see or hear the background facts.
John Wilkes Booth was transformative, but not in a good way.
To quote whoever designed the poster for the film version of Chicago: "If you can't be famous, be infamous!"
The Booth family was a showbiz institution of the day. There is actually still a Broadway theater named after them. Nutty to think that someone could be driven to alter history through misplaced anger resulting from not being as talented at monologues as his bro.
John Wilkes Booths' brother, Edwin Booth, saved Robert Lincoln from being struck by a train in Jersey City some months before.
Robert Lincoln, in effect, saved Edwin, who was severely depressed and unable to work, by acknowledging Edwin's saving him though Edwin probably didn't recognize who he was he was (Robert knew who the famous Edwin Booth was, though).
Toxic ideas sadly have a way of producing toxic results, often consuming both perpetrator are victim alike.
“The ancestor of every action is a thought.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Personally, I think much if not most of what we believe or think, is simply internalization, ie from others, by one means or another. That would include "critical thinking". Of course, this can and does readily work in reverse, such as a prophet who's seen the light and passes it along. Social creatures thus we are.
I was vaguely aware of Edwin. John's grandiose narcissism seems evident to me in his delivery of a hammy line in the act of murder. It appears to me that terrorism is the height of malignant narcissism. Some, like Trump are calculating opportunists, while fanatics (such as the 9/11 hijackers, are willing to die for it. We all, of necessity, pursue self-interest, but some of us spin out into thinking only our agenda matters. I recall the comment of an American soldier ordered to kill defenseless native women and children that it was God's will. I think that fame and fortune carries risks for intensifying malignant narcissism. That's not a given, but it often afflicts the rich and powerful, and has throughout history. Or so it seems to me.
Additionally, I think that cults are designed to control people by trapping them in narcissistic circular thought patterns, enforced by flattery ("Master Race", etc.) and implicit or explicit threats. "Thoughtcrime".
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and of your ears. It was their final, most essential command.” - Orwell
Plenty of that pattern vividly displayed of late.
Today we had Yawn Wilkes Booth.
In full agreement but I beseech us all to ask what has turned off such a large percentage of Americans? What have we done wrong? If we can’t answer this question and find remedies, then we are doomed to possibly bow to the New Snazzy Nazi American Way.
It’s not enough to get out the vote. This is a call to move to the center as repugnant as it may sound to some folks.
Interesting question. I think it is multi-faceted, and has as its sides the declines in our educational system (intentional) and the corresponding rise in the private/home schooled "student" populations (also intentional), the movement of family wage jobs overseas creating the evaporation of the true middle class, the uncontrolled explosion of "the internet" and all that it has become today, and the dominance of "social" media in our lives. The destruction of the fairness doctrine, and the disappearance of independent local news stations and newspapers is another. Starting in 2000 (in earnest, the beginning was in the late 1960's) the country has seen the elections of two Republican presidents who did not win the popular vote, one of whom was put in office after a recount was stopped that would have given him the electoral college majority and the first Black president. That 20 years of turmoil has led to the divide we see blatantly in our country today.
Or… unlimited money in politics is the biggest wound. Big money chooses leadership that bows to their desires. It’s the unending pursuit of money that has done it. At least in the 1890s there was a great progressive republican president that broke up the Trusts. Today, no such thing exists. Social Media the huge monster that it is has a free rein except in Europe. We can’t even complete the ban on Tik tok as it’s now held up in the senate. Again, money doesn’t talk it screams.
Excellent points.
A move to the center for the Democratic Party would be a move to the left.
However, I don't think the pain that led to MAGA is political. I think it's actual pain caused by change and the speed of that change.
First sentence is incomprehensible. You are partially correct. This began in the 1960s when the progressive plans of LBJ — a great leader, as a reaction, sent the mostly working class white to the right into the waiting arms of republicans. Which of course was the wrong place to be. I’m very in favor of all Americans getting a piece of the pie. But something has done gone wrong. You are correct about the speed of change. The white working class have felt left out even as they witness those of other cultures non European arriving. No one group should feel left out. But they do. I wouldn’t bet which way this election is going. There seems to be a perfect storm brewing for a cataclysmic change.
People who thought they knew what to expect, People who planned to do what their parents had done, People who were born in the same town or neighborhood their grandparents were born in, all these people, mostly white and male especially, believe that they have been cheated because their expectations were not met. Because a thousand little butterfly changes created a wave that washed away the world they thought they knew.
Meanwhile, people who did not have those expectations; people like women and immigrants and minorities, saw the changes as opportunity instead of obstacle.
Actually, FDR died on April 12, 1945. So, close, but....
He said “during the second week in April”.
I think Steve Bannon was correct. Trump has hopefully established the floor for awful charlatans who managed to ascend to the presidency. If elected again, he'll set the floor even lower as he continues his grifting and his leaning in towards autocracy. He'll be good for no one, not even the billionaires.
Herb, both Bannon and 45 have said that they want to destroy the democracy.
https://www.gq.com/story/steve-bannon-shadow-president
Jury Duty Interview
Court: Mr Cats, are you well read on current events?
“Yes ma’am I am.”
Court: Mr. Cats, do you think you would make a good, impartial juror?
“Yes I do.”
Court: Mr. Cats, have you written anything on the topic of Orange Fat Baby recently?
“Nope.”
Court: Welcome Mr. Cats, you are confirmed as juror number 1.
Not always indeed, and Lincoln's murder was especially problematic since it gave Andrews an opportunity to roll against what Lincoln likely would have promoted had he lived. Bannon has minimal/nil credibility on anything. Early in his media career he put out a godawful apocalyptic video showing the "end of things"... too bad Bannon didn't manage to follow suit, figuratively mind you!
That all this is a possibility just boggles my mind.
That America as #1 at one point has fallen to …18th?
That the country everyone felt was the land of opportunity is now held hostage by a minority of Putin loving extremists?
That the half of Americans (who we hope has fallen to 25% ) stood defiant beside a known con man …and still yet the streets of the nearest town I live by are currently filled with signs they will vote that way again. And who doubts half of those would ever admit regardless of the cookie crumbled how they backed the Fall of Democracy Coup?
The love of money, power, and control is pride goeth before the fall.
It shocked me to realize along the incredible education I received from these writers -Heather, Joyce, Simon, Steve, Dan et al ..that 35-40% was the voting numbers ( a rare 66% in 2020).
I can’t say I haven’t been amused , but being shocked by the conspiracies carried , the lies repeated, the undergrowth I never knew there -white supremist, racism, proved I too was not paying attention/ had become complacent. I worked my whole career for the underdog and didn’t see the forest through the trees.
My apology is surpassed only by my own naivety.
It near unbelievable that so few can hold the world hostage over minuscule petty issues while no secret is there striving to become rich, power scum lords backed by evil minded entities.
I applaud the Biden/Harris Team with their class-act leadership in near insurmountable chaos.
I encourage you to …💙VOTE ALL THOSE COMPLICIT OUT💙
BOGGLES MY MIND!
I believe this week will destroy him.
Herb - Amen.
Amen.
I cannot hit the mute button fast enough when “himself” comes onscreen.
Trump ties to destroy democracy, but we can see to it that he fails. Again.