Thank you, Heather, for taking us back to June 1, 2020...
---------------------------------
... although the protests were largely peaceful, Trump was desperate to get 2,000 federal officers into the area around the White House ... to increase federal control of the city. To the frustration of the people in charge of the agencies, he could…
Thank you, Heather, for taking us back to June 1, 2020...
---------------------------------
... although the protests were largely peaceful, Trump was desperate to get 2,000 federal officers into the area around the White House ... to increase federal control of the city. To the frustration of the people in charge of the agencies, he could not articulate a mission, only that he wanted 2,000 people around him. With only about 90 officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Bureau of Prisons, and the U.S. Marshals Service on hand early on the morning of June 1, Barr told a conference call with Justice Department leadership that Trump wanted “max strength” on the streets, and to “dominate the streets.”
Trump then echoed that language in a call with the nation’s governors, saying, “If you don’t dominate your city and your state, they’re [going to] walk away with you. And we’re doing it in Washington, in D.C., we’re going to do something that people haven’t seen before. But you’re going to have total domination.”
-------------------------
I hope everyone realizes that "domination" is what Trump thinks about from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep. This is the 'mental mantra" of a malignant narcissist... of a man who lives to bully people. He attempted to bully the women who interviewed him at the NABJ conference today and - by saying "She only recently became Black" (I'm paraphrasing a bit) - attempted to dominate Kamala Harris.
I am thrilled we are living in a time when such bullying is no longer being tolerated (except within the Trump cult and by those wealthy supporters who want Trump to win for their own benefit). My mother was bullied by my father literally every day of their 20 year long married (from 1947-1967... a very different time in American culture). I cannot wait for Kamala Harris to become President of the United States and for the legal cases against Trump to continue. He belongs in prison not in the Oval Office.
I’m sorry you had to live through that. My own father, while not as bad as you describe yours, was likewise a bit of a bully. I marvel at what wonderful men, fathers, and husbands my brothers are, having grown up with such an example. I once asked one of them how he did it, and he said “I just ask myself what Dad would do, and then do the opposite.”
I'm happy you had brothers to help you deal with the damaging behavior of your father. I found alternatives to the example my father set on television. There were some great role models on TV when I was growing up.
Yup. There are many of us way too familiar with abuse & recognize it a mile away. Then there are people that don't come from these backgrounds but know full well it's not healthy. Together we will demonstrate to those confused, this world isn't run by dominance & deception.
True. He thinks of himself as king of the world when he's hurting others, but tantrums like a baby when he is frustrated. I don't usually listen to Trump, but my wife played the audio of Trump's remarks to black journalists. The transcript does not really capture the depth of his petulant, juvenile, self-aggrandizement.
mmm Are we living in a time when such bullying is (really) no longer being tolerated?
Our media press isn't consistent with advocating to change many of the most extreme white supremacist concepts as they blast 'fears of white genocide through immigration' across our communication channels...We try to act civilized and take one step forward, and our press media sends us two step backwards...
The Heritage Foundation is complaining about the Democrats money spending on DEI, because they want money to build out a war chest for a 'War of this Decade'.
Project 2025 says we should go without social services so we have money to "regain American competitiveness with a successful renaissance in American shipping that will allow us to build momentum and set conditions for a sustained revival in America’s maritime industry. One way is creating a 'maritime security trust fund' funded through increased port user fees to non U.S. flagged ships, tariff Chinese shippers who support their military."
I support policies for our Climate Crisis, and I'm worried the Republicans will sell pro-War to the Red voter. Can we look at the scope of what Republican agenda Harris is not talking about?
Thank you for bringing up the media. I mistakenly forgot that bullying **is** tolerated (I guess because it's "drama" and news people love "drama") by journalists. But what was on my mind when I wrote my comment is that regular people don't tolerate it these days... unless, as I said, they are in the Trump cult or want him to win for other reasons. The anti-bullying efforts by celebrities some to mind... along with anti-child trafficking. I believe that even if news organizations like The NY Times continue to make excuses for Trump that the voters will reject him in a big way in November... and then journalists will have to get used to covering a President who comes from joy instead of hate. I hope they don't have a meltdown when confronted by positive rather than negative emotions. I hope they don't try to tear Kamala Harris down because they themselves are unhappy people. (Sorry. I don't have a positive opinion about journalists in general these days... although there are wonderful exceptions.)
I expect have already encountered Les Moonves 2016 remarks about Trump:
“It May Not Be Good for America, but It’s Damn Good for CBS”
“I’ve never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going,”
We ALL bear a share of responsibility for the quality of our society, if government of the people, by the people, for the people is to be more than a slogan. If not us, then who?
"We try to act civilized and take one step forward, and our press media sends us two step backwards."
When I was growing up, media my understanding was that media companies we restricted from owning to big of a market share in any one area. Then we all but abandoned anti-trust. Power tends to corrupt, and money is power, as is political authority, as is violence; and the more corrupted the society, the more the three converge. For those whose greed has replaced their soul, it is intolerable that the masses receive more than a minimal share of the wealth they want for themselves. There are exceptions, but often the richer, the greedier, and those are the people who "Reaganomics" relieved of social responsibility, and touted as leadership. Collectively we were fools to let it happen.
"This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." - Dwight Eisenhower, 1954
If Trump is the Anti-Christ then Jesus has returned as a Black woman...several of them: Prosecutors, politicians, entertainers and reporters; collectively they are bringing him down.
I am not a "believing" Christian, but I respect (when taken seriously) the saying of "What would Jesus do?" From what we read of him, it seems nutso to associate his behavior with that of Trump, although there has long been a certain version of the church that seems more like the mindset of the Roman occupiers than Jesus' prescription for an open heart.
The dominance tactic also fits within Trump’s sociopathy as well. Trump’s malignant narcissism and sociopathy are so intertwined that it is hard to tell where one personality disorder ends and the other begins.
Kathy, I am reading Bandy Lee's deep dive into that sociopathy in her latest book "Trump Contagion" and how by giving him any platform of power his deep seated disorder gets projected and spread out into society at large. It becomes, in her words, a public health danger-- like an epidemic that, without containment, becomes a pandemic. Message: stop him now!
Bandy Lee's point of view is very important. We are normalizing dysfunctional, destructive behavior. There are people who will see Trump having the position in society he has been granted and say "I want to be like him". He should have been laughed off the national stage in 2015, but news organizations treated him as legitimate and talk shows (Letterman, et al) brought him on as a guest. Not good.
I have not researched it, but I see a parallel between a computer virus and the dynamics of a true cult. The cult becomes it's own circular point of reference, rejecting and punishing (unless forced to by circumstances, and sometimes not even then) any intrusions of contrasting reality. I recall reading an account of a nurse who cared for patients dying of COVID, some of whom insisted COVID was a hoax to their dying breaths.
A sense of "normalcy" is dangerous if not unceasingly reexamined. Slavery was normalized for a great many people, even US presidents. Restricted citizenship for women was "normal", along with other moral outrages most of us recognize as injustice today. Successful protest has carefully pointed to an injustice, relentlessly and concertedly. Evil can hide behind what comes to be considered "normal".
"A shrewd victor will, if possible, always present his demands to the vanquished in installments. And then, with a nation that has lost its character -and this is the case of every one which voluntarily submits - he can be sure that it will not regard one more of these individual oppressions as an adequate reason for taking up arms again." - Mein Kampf
I will tack on the new research that shows that AI spits out rubbish when it trains on itself. Sort of like inbreeding.
" A particular picture or copy of verses, if it do not awaken the same train of images, will yet superinduce the same sentiment as some wild mountain walk, although the resemblance is nowise obvious to the senses, but is occult and out of the reach of the understanding. Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations. - Emerson on "History"
The human urge to dominate, to subjugate or destroy other people has be our species own worst enemy throughout recorded history. Seemingly the source of most of humanity's avoidable suffering.
Today’s letter and your comments brought me back to the summer of 2020 and the federal crackdown in Portland, Oregon, aka Operation Diligent Valor. It was so chilling for Trump to think it was OK to override local and state authorities in sending us people in unmarked uniforms to harm and detain peaceful protesters, taking many away in unmarked vehicles. Bizarrely, they seemed to let everyone go. It became clear they were focused creating images for journalists, photographers and citizens to share far and wide, to make it look like there was widespread chaos. There were a few miscreants who caused damage after the majority of the anti-racist, BLM protesters went home with their children, but Trump's action was thuggish staging. It was like we were living in a different country with fewer rights. It was wrong and scary...and I don't want to see that return!
Thank you, Heather, for taking us back to June 1, 2020...
---------------------------------
... although the protests were largely peaceful, Trump was desperate to get 2,000 federal officers into the area around the White House ... to increase federal control of the city. To the frustration of the people in charge of the agencies, he could not articulate a mission, only that he wanted 2,000 people around him. With only about 90 officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Bureau of Prisons, and the U.S. Marshals Service on hand early on the morning of June 1, Barr told a conference call with Justice Department leadership that Trump wanted “max strength” on the streets, and to “dominate the streets.”
Trump then echoed that language in a call with the nation’s governors, saying, “If you don’t dominate your city and your state, they’re [going to] walk away with you. And we’re doing it in Washington, in D.C., we’re going to do something that people haven’t seen before. But you’re going to have total domination.”
-------------------------
I hope everyone realizes that "domination" is what Trump thinks about from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep. This is the 'mental mantra" of a malignant narcissist... of a man who lives to bully people. He attempted to bully the women who interviewed him at the NABJ conference today and - by saying "She only recently became Black" (I'm paraphrasing a bit) - attempted to dominate Kamala Harris.
I am thrilled we are living in a time when such bullying is no longer being tolerated (except within the Trump cult and by those wealthy supporters who want Trump to win for their own benefit). My mother was bullied by my father literally every day of their 20 year long married (from 1947-1967... a very different time in American culture). I cannot wait for Kamala Harris to become President of the United States and for the legal cases against Trump to continue. He belongs in prison not in the Oval Office.
Thank you for being blunt! Trump is nothing but a high school age “bully” who needs to be removed! Cannot wait.
You're welcome. I think I was as blunt as I was because Trump reminds me every day of what a monster my father was.
I’m sorry you had to live through that. My own father, while not as bad as you describe yours, was likewise a bit of a bully. I marvel at what wonderful men, fathers, and husbands my brothers are, having grown up with such an example. I once asked one of them how he did it, and he said “I just ask myself what Dad would do, and then do the opposite.”
I'm happy you had brothers to help you deal with the damaging behavior of your father. I found alternatives to the example my father set on television. There were some great role models on TV when I was growing up.
Yup. There are many of us way too familiar with abuse & recognize it a mile away. Then there are people that don't come from these backgrounds but know full well it's not healthy. Together we will demonstrate to those confused, this world isn't run by dominance & deception.
Methinks more like 5th Grade.
At his most mature, Trump behaves like a fifth grader. At his least mature, Trump behaves like a toddler.
True. He thinks of himself as king of the world when he's hurting others, but tantrums like a baby when he is frustrated. I don't usually listen to Trump, but my wife played the audio of Trump's remarks to black journalists. The transcript does not really capture the depth of his petulant, juvenile, self-aggrandizement.
that explains "the droppings".
It certainly does!
mmm Are we living in a time when such bullying is (really) no longer being tolerated?
Our media press isn't consistent with advocating to change many of the most extreme white supremacist concepts as they blast 'fears of white genocide through immigration' across our communication channels...We try to act civilized and take one step forward, and our press media sends us two step backwards...
The Heritage Foundation is complaining about the Democrats money spending on DEI, because they want money to build out a war chest for a 'War of this Decade'.
Project 2025 says we should go without social services so we have money to "regain American competitiveness with a successful renaissance in American shipping that will allow us to build momentum and set conditions for a sustained revival in America’s maritime industry. One way is creating a 'maritime security trust fund' funded through increased port user fees to non U.S. flagged ships, tariff Chinese shippers who support their military."
I support policies for our Climate Crisis, and I'm worried the Republicans will sell pro-War to the Red voter. Can we look at the scope of what Republican agenda Harris is not talking about?
Thank you for bringing up the media. I mistakenly forgot that bullying **is** tolerated (I guess because it's "drama" and news people love "drama") by journalists. But what was on my mind when I wrote my comment is that regular people don't tolerate it these days... unless, as I said, they are in the Trump cult or want him to win for other reasons. The anti-bullying efforts by celebrities some to mind... along with anti-child trafficking. I believe that even if news organizations like The NY Times continue to make excuses for Trump that the voters will reject him in a big way in November... and then journalists will have to get used to covering a President who comes from joy instead of hate. I hope they don't have a meltdown when confronted by positive rather than negative emotions. I hope they don't try to tear Kamala Harris down because they themselves are unhappy people. (Sorry. I don't have a positive opinion about journalists in general these days... although there are wonderful exceptions.)
I expect have already encountered Les Moonves 2016 remarks about Trump:
“It May Not Be Good for America, but It’s Damn Good for CBS”
“I’ve never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going,”
We ALL bear a share of responsibility for the quality of our society, if government of the people, by the people, for the people is to be more than a slogan. If not us, then who?
"We try to act civilized and take one step forward, and our press media sends us two step backwards."
When I was growing up, media my understanding was that media companies we restricted from owning to big of a market share in any one area. Then we all but abandoned anti-trust. Power tends to corrupt, and money is power, as is political authority, as is violence; and the more corrupted the society, the more the three converge. For those whose greed has replaced their soul, it is intolerable that the masses receive more than a minimal share of the wealth they want for themselves. There are exceptions, but often the richer, the greedier, and those are the people who "Reaganomics" relieved of social responsibility, and touted as leadership. Collectively we were fools to let it happen.
"This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." - Dwight Eisenhower, 1954
If Trump is the Anti-Christ then Jesus has returned as a Black woman...several of them: Prosecutors, politicians, entertainers and reporters; collectively they are bringing him down.
I am not a "believing" Christian, but I respect (when taken seriously) the saying of "What would Jesus do?" From what we read of him, it seems nutso to associate his behavior with that of Trump, although there has long been a certain version of the church that seems more like the mindset of the Roman occupiers than Jesus' prescription for an open heart.
The dominance tactic also fits within Trump’s sociopathy as well. Trump’s malignant narcissism and sociopathy are so intertwined that it is hard to tell where one personality disorder ends and the other begins.
Kathy, I am reading Bandy Lee's deep dive into that sociopathy in her latest book "Trump Contagion" and how by giving him any platform of power his deep seated disorder gets projected and spread out into society at large. It becomes, in her words, a public health danger-- like an epidemic that, without containment, becomes a pandemic. Message: stop him now!
Bandy Lee's point of view is very important. We are normalizing dysfunctional, destructive behavior. There are people who will see Trump having the position in society he has been granted and say "I want to be like him". He should have been laughed off the national stage in 2015, but news organizations treated him as legitimate and talk shows (Letterman, et al) brought him on as a guest. Not good.
I have not researched it, but I see a parallel between a computer virus and the dynamics of a true cult. The cult becomes it's own circular point of reference, rejecting and punishing (unless forced to by circumstances, and sometimes not even then) any intrusions of contrasting reality. I recall reading an account of a nurse who cared for patients dying of COVID, some of whom insisted COVID was a hoax to their dying breaths.
A sense of "normalcy" is dangerous if not unceasingly reexamined. Slavery was normalized for a great many people, even US presidents. Restricted citizenship for women was "normal", along with other moral outrages most of us recognize as injustice today. Successful protest has carefully pointed to an injustice, relentlessly and concertedly. Evil can hide behind what comes to be considered "normal".
"A shrewd victor will, if possible, always present his demands to the vanquished in installments. And then, with a nation that has lost its character -and this is the case of every one which voluntarily submits - he can be sure that it will not regard one more of these individual oppressions as an adequate reason for taking up arms again." - Mein Kampf
I will tack on the new research that shows that AI spits out rubbish when it trains on itself. Sort of like inbreeding.
" A particular picture or copy of verses, if it do not awaken the same train of images, will yet superinduce the same sentiment as some wild mountain walk, although the resemblance is nowise obvious to the senses, but is occult and out of the reach of the understanding. Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations. - Emerson on "History"
The human urge to dominate, to subjugate or destroy other people has be our species own worst enemy throughout recorded history. Seemingly the source of most of humanity's avoidable suffering.
Yes, he's also a formally recognized psychopath (according to how this mental illness is measured)
Today’s letter and your comments brought me back to the summer of 2020 and the federal crackdown in Portland, Oregon, aka Operation Diligent Valor. It was so chilling for Trump to think it was OK to override local and state authorities in sending us people in unmarked uniforms to harm and detain peaceful protesters, taking many away in unmarked vehicles. Bizarrely, they seemed to let everyone go. It became clear they were focused creating images for journalists, photographers and citizens to share far and wide, to make it look like there was widespread chaos. There were a few miscreants who caused damage after the majority of the anti-racist, BLM protesters went home with their children, but Trump's action was thuggish staging. It was like we were living in a different country with fewer rights. It was wrong and scary...and I don't want to see that return!
I remember when that happened in Portland. OR. It was very disturbing and frightening.