4.19.20
15,000 troops marched in the 70th Anniversary Parade in October 2019, Image Thomas Peters – Reuters.
Category: Uncategorized
Daring New Instructive Idea is the Real Answer on Mass Shootings
Arrogant NRA Keeps Lying about Mental Illness
Expert Offers Exciting Focus on the Genuine Problem
954 Words, 3 minute, 47 sec read
18 August 2018
This is a continuation of my post on ‘Anger Not Mental Illness’.
Something went awry since the post was about a paragraph long.
So if you read that post I am sure you were disappointed. I will delete it and start anew.
Pictured above is Spec. Ivan Lopez in his helicopter in the Sinai Peninsula during his service with the 295th Infantry of the Puerto Rico National Guard.
Spec. Lopez is suspected of fatally shooting three people before killing himself at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas on April 2, 2014.
The accounts of what lead up to the shooting spree that killed the innocent people vary.
The Guardian January 23, 2015, reports that Specialist Lopez two parents had died shortly before the shootings.
The military relied heavily on personnel to ‘self-report’ on their conditions.
The self-reporting of personal issues did not work because Spec Lopez did report to his supervisors about his depression, although he was undergoing treatment for the depression.
Other factors may have played a part as well. Spec Lopez, in conversations, said he had injured himself in combat in Iraq.
There was no proof of that claim.
However, whatever system there was to monitor Spec Lopez it didn’t work.
He had an argument with his supervisor about the leave he was expecting and when it was denied ‘blew up’.
He traveled two blocks and killed three people including himself.
According to the Washington Post, he pulled out his private 45 caliber pistol, shot up the office of the 49th Transportation Battalion wounding two soldiers.
Before killing himself, he killed three people and wounded 12 others.
The question is:
Did his mental state, i.e. depression cause him to set off this horrible attack?
The NRA has been foisting this theory on people at every chance it can.
‘Mentally ill people are the mass murders.’
Psychologist Laura L. Hayes disagrees.
She states this “relatively weak connection between mental illness and mass shootings,” does not override another position.
She states that “the connection between the inability to manage anger and violence,” is a stronger motivation.”
We have to look back to the 1980s for answers.
The 1980s were a time of massive deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill.
She was working toward her degree in clinical psychology and was training at a psychiatric hospital in Washington D.C.
She relates “one small, diminutive, the elderly patient sometimes wandered the halls.”
“She had been committed to the hospital after she stabbed someone in a supermarket.”
She was what is sometimes referred to as a revolving-patient: She was schizophrenic and heard frightening voices in her head.
When she became psychotic enough, she would be hospitalized, stabilized on medication, and then released back to the community.
There she would go off her medication, become psychotic, be re-hospitalized, stabilized again on medication, released, etc.”
In 1955 deinstitutionalization began.In 1955 deinstitutionalization began.
It was the result of the introduction of the drug Thorazine. This was the first effective antipsychotic drug.
The abbreviated version is that in 1955 the total population was164 million people.
Of those 558,239 were hospitalized as mentally ill.
By 1994 the hospitalized population was 71,619. The true magnitude of the issue was that if the portion of the population in 1994 was equal to that of 1955, 885,010 people should have been hospitalized.
How many were hospitalized? 71,619.
Does that point to a problem?
Over three-fourths of the population should have been hospitalized in the same rules applied!
Back to our little, old lady, this is not intended as a pun or disparagement.
“She testified that she had become extremely upset in the grocery store before repeatedly stabbing the man in front of her in the checkout line.”
The hearing officer asked if she had been hearing voices at the time she stabbed the man. ‘Yes’, she replied, she had.
‘What were the voices telling you’ he inquired.
“She explained that the voices were telling her not to hurt the man, but he had gotten in the express checkout lane with more than 10 items, and that made her so mad that she couldn’t stop herself.”
This tale sounds a warning I think.
One that the NRA chose to ignore.
As we have seen so far in 2018
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mass-shootings-in-2018/ according to
the Gun Violence Archive which tracks the statistics there have been 154 mass shootings thru the deaths at the Capital Gazette.
While getting absolute confirmation of the numbers varies on the criteria used to calculate them, this massive number of deaths is not acceptable in a civil society.
This will not be a debate about guns or no guns.
The facts that are available are simply stated.
Ms. Hayes, notes that “Violence is not a product of mental illness; violence is a product of anger”.
Some mass shootings occurred become some people had emotional problems.
It has become fashionable, i.e. The NRA, to blame mental illness for violent crimes.
“Violence is not a product of mental illness.”
“Nor is violence generally the action of ordinary, stable individuals who suddenly “Break” and commit crimes of passion.”
“Violent crimes are committed by violent people, who do not have the skills to manage their anger.”
Most homicides are committed by people with a history of violence.
Murderers are rarely ordinary, law-abiding citizens, and they are also rarely mentally ill.
“Violence is a product of compromised anger management skills.”
I thought I would throw this out there and let you follow the link to add to your insight in the conversation taking place.
Thanks for stopping.
Craig
My Rose Garden Party part 3
July 1, 2018
I have favorite names for my ‘gardens’.
The names are a bit grandiose in relation to the actual ‘gardens’ but it helps me remember which is what and where. I assure you it is entirely on purpose to no purpose except to point an old mind in the right direction.
You have to remember that I am more than 68 years old and my memory is impaired. I am scheduled for a 4-hour session with a neuropsychologist next week.
That sounds a bit scary and it is. But maybe this doctor can find where I lost my memory. I don’t remember where I put it.
In the front of the house are the west side garden, the west front garden, the front center and the east front.
We may only get through two gardens in a post. We’ll have to see how much gabbing I do.
The west side garden is probably the best place to start since it has the fewest plants.
West Side Garden
When we moved in more than 43 years ago there was a large chokecherry bush on a small hill. In order to plant a French White Lilac, we move the chokecherry bush to the west side of the house.
You can learn about Chokecherry Bushes here.
The major drawback to this location is that we can’t see the birds feeding on it.
It does well most of the time.
However, since an invasion of tent caterpillars a few years ago it has struggled. Tent caterpillars are a nuisance in town.
But in rural areas, they are outrageous and dangerous. Cars have slid into a ditch after striking a patch of caterpillars.
Bob King An invasion by an army of forest tent caterpillars swarm the yards of residents in Lakewood Township.
fileCATERPILLAR0110c4 — t5.31.00 Bob King — kingICK2c1 — Hordes of forest tent caterpillars wriggle up the walls of a home on Apple Ave. in Lakewood Township this week only to fall back down in a pile and try again.
Forest Tent Caterpillars aka Army Worms in Minnesota
Just a glimpse of these crawling masses of Army worms is sufficient to bring back the odor of thousands (4 million can reside in one acre of a forest!) of these squished by car tires on rural roads.
They are nasty, ugly and bright green when squished.
People line the trunks of their expensive flowering trees to prevent these worms from climbing into the branches and devouring every last leaf.
Most of the time trees recover in the same season from being de-foliated. But there are times when the march of the Army worms is a contributing cause of trees dying.
I take this time to introduce you to one of my favorite image makers. Her name is Annie Spratt. Her images are found on Unsplash.com. You can download any image by thousands of professional photographers for FREE!
All the images are covered under Creative Commons License.
Rose images by Annie Spratt
West Side Garden
In the west side garden, in addition to the chokecherry bush, we planted two Jens Munk roses in memory of Becky’s sister Sue. These Canadian Explorer roses have blossoms that may look frail but their canes are not in the least frail or fragile.
They have nipped a grandchild or two so they just stay out of that area of the yard now.
Ms. Munk looks after herself. Her thorns are almost a wicked as the rosa glauca (more on that rose later).
In the background of this garden are Iris. This is a picture of the bulbs we grew.
This is a link to many other varieties of Iris.
The next flower is a favorite of Becky’s. Lily of the Valley.
A Lily of the Valley short primer is here.
The fragrance of this Lily is intoxicating. This flower can be invasive depending on where you plant them.
One last concern with Lilies of the Valley is pets. These Ladies are poisonous to cats and dogs. If ingested you will see vomiting and diarrhea.
As with all plants it pays to do the research. I once heard weeds described as flowers that are just in the wrong place.
I have hewed to this theory. As undergarments to many of the roses, I planted dead nettle in many of the beds. It is invasive and I planted purple and silvery pink flowers.
Within a few years of planting, they had filled the ground under the roses and choked out many other weeds. Their luminescent foliage was a pleasant sight when not many other flowers were in bloom.
Dead nettle as ground cover.
Dead nettle as ground cover
The next flower in this garden is Globe Thistle. I planted two of these and they rewarded us with large and robust plants.
Globe Thistle.
The Last Plant
This plant wraps around the corner of the house and shares some space with our Jackmani Clematis.
Viburnum ‘Snowball’ bush
Our Viburnum ‘Snowball Bush’ was about 6 feet wide when we moved in. After fertilizing and cutting back to the ground several times it prospered and grew to about 15 feet wide.
A caveat, in the wet spring early summer the flowers will rust quickly just as white lilacs do.
I never researched in depth until now the difference between the Snowball Bush Viburnum and the Snowball Bush Hydrangea.
I would casually look up the Viburnum and then Hydrangea at different times. I would wonder why our Snowball Bush didn’t have the full shape that Annabelle Hydrangea has.
Next post we will look at Turkestan Burning Bush and a BIG chunk of Bluestone.
Thanks for stopping by.
Craig
A Gallery of Duluth MN and Lake Superior by Rick Rice
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| A king surveying his domain |
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| Ancient Rock Builders |
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| Sunset on the Big Lake |
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| Born to Run |
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| Downtown Duluth at Dusk |
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| He went that away |
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| Laker just passed thru the Duluth Ship Canal |
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| Laker just passing thru the Duluth Ship Canal |
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| Packing for the Road Trip this weekend |
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| Sunset after the Storm |
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| Sunset on the Lake |
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| MN Noreaster.com |
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| Laker in the Sea Fog |
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| What did you do on New Year’s Eve? |
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| Peace and Quiet Can you hear the fish swimming? |
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| Bridal Gazabo at Duluth Rose Garden |
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| Springtime on the rivers of the North Shore |
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| Sunrise on the Lakewalk |
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| The City Steam Plant Dukes in and out of the Sea Smoke |
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| Bentleyville in its Finest |
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| Bentleyville at Christmas |
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| Wrapped up Snug and Warm for the Winter |
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| Split Rock Lighthouse in Spring Thaw |
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| Presque Isle December 31st, 2017 |
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| St Clair maneuvering in Sea Smoke |
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| St Clair Maneuvering in Port of Duluth |
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| Full Moon in Canal Park |
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| Moonlit Aerial Lift Bridge |
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| Canal Park |
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| A Summer Evening on the Lake |
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| At the Cabin |
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| Amity Creek |
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| Seven Bridges Road |
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| A Night of Nostagia |
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| Music on the Bayfront |
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| Isn’t Driftwood Fascinating? |
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| Stunning View of the Waterfront |
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| Early Morning Best Morning |
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| Breaking at the Boardwalk |
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| Palisade Head with Rick out for a Stroll |
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| Canoes? Must be Northeast Minnesota |
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| Under On the Boardwalk |
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| Who wants Duck? |
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| Wedding Gazebo up with the Crocus |
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| Must be Minnesota |
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| Wedding Gazebo in the Rose Garden |
A Gallery
Duluth MN and Lake Superior
by Rick Rice
2017
MN Noreaster Featured Post
A Gallery of Duluth MN and Lake Superior by Rick Rice
Trump Channeling Rodney Dangerfield, I don’t Get the Respect I Deserve
Trump sounded like a whiny Rodney Dangerfield with his Christmas tweets. (We should save them for next year and hang them from his Christmas tree.)
Post title:
Whiney Rodney Dangerfield
or Who Will Still Vote for Him Now?
Post dated: December 26, 2017
I read his tweets very early this morning and was almost physically repulsed (of course I’m also fighting some kind of bug).
Rather than trying to channel Mr. Dangerfield, who needs his peace and quiet I think, I am going to run down a list of questions that somebody may want to show a friend that still supports Trump. Remember I have forsaken all communication with anyone that still supports him after he has been in office for a year.
These questions are in no particular order. Most of them are taken from a Facebook Rant sometime last week. I am getting worried that Facebook buddies are next on my list of things to break free from. There very astute questions and observations that throw me into such quandary that I cannot escape from.
QUESTIONS FROM TRUMP’S FIRST YEAR
> Would you agree that Trump’s supporters are still enthralled with him as they were after the election?
> Would you agree that Trump and his supporters are still bewitched by his rally spectaculars?
> Would you agree that Trump and his supporters live for these rallies? (reports from White House observers seem to indicate that he feeds off them for energy and self-preservation?
> Would you agree that Trump and his henchmen have pulled off the largest financial heist in the history of THE WORLD?
> Would you agree that the Republican party, due to its generosity to wealthy donors, have now positioned themselves for bundles of money?
> Would you agree that the American taxpayer is the entity actually funding the Republicans next election campaign?
> Would you agree that Trump has alienated every minority living in this country?
> Would you agree that the key to winning the next election is to rally the support and vote of these minorities, assuming that the Republicans have not initiated enough Voter Suppression tactics to keep them from voting?
> Would you agree that Trump has alienated every country that once we called friends?
> Would you agree that these ‘lost’ friends will further drive a wedge between the world of nations and the US? (which is Trump’s design for his brand of isolationism)
> Would you agree that Trump has drawn to him at least two of the worst despots on the planet? Rodrigo Duterte and Recep Tayyip Erdogan
> Would you agree that he has destroyed one of the most sacred precepts of our constitution, the emoluments clause?
>Would you agree that he has ignited the flames of nepotism by elevating family members to seats of power and influence?
> Would you agree that he and his henchmen are raping this country and in many cases so such a degree that the damage from the pollution may be beyond repair? An example is the 210,000-gallon oil leak into the Ogallala Aquifer? Considering that a crude oil spill near Bemidji Minnesota in 1979 is still polluting the groundwater? Furthermore, in 2003 the estimated 240,000 kilometers (over 149,000 miles) is estimated to release an annual estimated 111,000 liters (29,323 gallons) per 1,600 km of pipeline (994 miles). In total 149,000 miles of pipeline divided by 994 miles equals 149 segments of pipeline. Each segment is estimated to release 29,323 gallons of crude oil PER YEAR. Total released crude oil is 29,147,062 gallons PER YEAR! Because of the state’s power of eminent domain a person owning property on the pipeline route will have the property seized. What value then is the balance of the property owned by that landowner? (USGS https://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/2014-07-03-remediation_challenge.html)
> Would you agree that he and his alt right religious cohorts are bent on turning back the clock on women’s rights?
> Would you agree that he and his alt right religious cohorts are bent on taking away the Civil Rights of the LGBT community?
> Would you agree that by gerrymandering and in some cases extreme gerrymandering, the Republicans will continue to have substantial control of House legislative districts? An example is the much ballyhooed Democratic victory in Virginia. While winning the popular vote by a 9 point margin, they could only manage to put 50 Democrats in seats in the 100 seat legislature. The same control has remained in Republican hands during the Obama presidency, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.The Southern Democrats and Midwestern Republicans seem to have a stranglehold on being able to stop any progressive agenda. Indeed “as long as Republicans have a lock on the House, party polarization will continue in the years to come, since House Republicans will have no reason to compromise with a Democratic president or even more moderate voices within their own party.” (Julian E Zelizer June 16, 1916, Washington Post)
> Would you agree that by appointing a large number of judges Trump will the foundation of white conservative, not necessarily qualified, federal judges. These judges have lifetime appointments and will reinforce whatever Trump wants and conservative Republicans want for years and years to come. How did this happen? Merrick Garland was not the only nomination that Obama proffered to fill a federal judgeship. The number of vacancies Trump has to fill is approximately double the number Obama had. The Republicans stymied Obama’s nominees so he left 67 vacancies. So Trump is actually filling 25 Obama era vacancies. Trump has so far nominated 59 federal judges, with 14 confirmed so far. The vast majority are white men which reverse a trend towards a more diverse federal bench started by President Clinton.
> Would you agree that Trump has seized control of a republic that does not know that it is in deep trouble? Never in the history of this country has one man, with the jubilation of what was once a respected national party, despoiled the principles, the land and the minds of a nation now wallowing in his spit?
What Trump has Done
Trump has:
Thrown away the goodwill and standing in East Asia by killing the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership)
Thrown away the goodwill and standing in Europe by slamming NATO, tweeting ugly and irresponsible messages of condemnation in which he didn’t have the barest of facts
Thrown away the portions of this country that had been set up for preservation many years ago by forward-thinking leaders as a treasure to the people of the United States. The parks have been opened to hunting, mineral exploration and forest decimation.
Thrown away any standing of dignity and principle in which the world held the United States of America
Trump has:
Sown anger, frustration, bitterness, racial discord thru his actions and words
Sown anger and fear among people that had been offered the hope of a better life and chance to earn the American Dream with his immigration policies and brutal tactics in deporting people.
What has Trump accomplished?
He has created division among citizens, increased and promoted racial bigotry, decreased the hope of the future due to his immense give away to the rich which raised the specter of enormous tax increases on the middle and working classes
He has set the stage for the reduction in social safety nets such as Medicare and Medicaid and Children’s Aid (CHIP) to pay for the largesse has given to the already wealthy
He has torn the hope away from the working poor and elderly of a better life with better healthcare
He has consigned the children of the working poor to second-class citizenship because they will not have the nutritional or medical care necessary to earn a good education
He slammed to the ground the hope of parents with children suffering from grave illness by canceling medical aid and devastating Medicare
He has laid waste the ‘we are the champion’ spirit in Americans. His battle cry ‘Make America Great Again’ was a lie that he promoted at the expense of raising America to a higher good and instead throwing it into the gutter
Trump in Washington
He promised to ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington DC, instead he increased it by bringing in all the high ranking people that were fighting against the improvements in caring for the environment and placed them at the helm of agencies responsible for the good keeping of the national treasures and let them plunder and pillage those treasures, many times for their own personal gain.
He has by his actions and crimes, instilled in American leaders that they can abuse any system of laws for their own gain and not be held accountable.
He has set education back by promoting hateful and ill-conceived projects: 1)slashing funds by 13.5% or $9.2 billion; 2) remove $2.4 billion in grants for teacher training, $1.2 billion in funding for summer and after-school programs; 3) curtails or eliminates funding for approx 20 departmental programs. Low-income students are particularly vulnerable which is in line with his racist actions. While his proposed budget won’t be accepted by Congress in full, based on the recent Tax and Jobs Cut it is possible that Congress will gut education even further especially regarding Pell Grants for higher education and funds for special needs students.
Trump in the World
Trump has made America number three in the world after Russia and China. Russia is number two because Putin outsmarted Trump and will do so again. Putin has moved strongly into position with the increasing rumbles of Iran’s expansion and Syria’s implosion. Trump appears to be aligning himself with the young Saudi Arabian prince now controlling that country who has made many missteps due to inexperience (he is 32 years old) and bad advice. Trump has fanned the flames of international repercussions due to his recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Trump’s influence due to ‘Fake News’ and other attacks against a free press (which is unconstitutional) is heard around the world. Other despots are using his examples to control their own populace.
Trump has made China number one in the world green energy, computing power, and growth in expenditures on Artificial Intelligence projects.
Oh yes, America remains number one in the world in wealth. But that is a major caveat. The bulk of the wealth in the United States is in the hands of 1% of the population.
The Exponential Effect
Until yesterday (or Jan 21, 2017) The Rule of Law Applied (mostly) in America. Today the President can get away with using government property for his own gain (emoluments clause), promoting his properties while in office; be not accountable for crimes committed while in office,(personal use of helicopter by Jared and Ivanka); ignore the laws laid down by Congress at his own whim (Russia sanctions).
The Russian government committed a crime of war against the United States and not only does it go unanswered Trump actually hold his own intelligence agencies up to ridicule over those acts and hold Putin up as an example to be followed.
If another party other than the Republicans were in power, Trump would have been hung long ago.
As a result of his action and the inactions of Congress, the Rule of Law no longer applies in the minds and conscienses of politicians of less than stellar integrity and even among business leaders with the same standard of integrity.
The Final Proverbial Nail
What concerns me the most about any and all of this is that these feelings of white nationalism, white supremacism, racism, and bigotry have been held by supposedly Christian white people (I would guess that 40% or more of the white people I am referring to are Christian) for thirty years or more (since the 1960s Civil Rights movement). How did they manage to keep these feelings of rage, or illogical thinking, suppressed for so long? It must have rotted their guts as well as their brains. The specter of a black man as president is so much more reviled than the current holder of that office. The black man showed all of the best qualities a leader can have, none of his subordinates was charged with nor convicted of a crime while in office. He was a leader on the world stage thru his normal duties in the office and his ability to fashion a twenty nation pact for economic partnership, that he was able to fashion a means to hold Iran from pushing its militant style threw its geographic area. He extricated the United States from ill-conceived wars and fashioned ways to deal with evil men throughout the world by marginalizing them or ignoring them completely.
Just the fact that a man was black and that a woman was Trumps opponent in the election was enough to unleash all of the hatred towards minorities, of superiority over women (if the Republicans have been so hell-bent on persecuting Ms. Clinton for her email servers, what have they not pursued the fact that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump had used a personal email server for classified work purposes? ). In a nation guided by the Rule of Law, there would be no favoritism, no winking at wrongdoing. But that is not the United States of America any longer. Indeed it will be a long time before any government will be as criminal free, as inclusive, as progressive in its care of the citizens than the last. Scripture says that the sins of the father will be felt thru three generations. That folks is a truism that will constipate this nation for a very long time.
The Final Word
A great statesman, probably the last that this country will have in its midst for a very long time gave a speech that convicted the current administration and its supporters of every crime and intentional demeaning thought that have come out in the course of a national press that is neither fake nor dishonest.
“To fear the world we organized and led for three quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain the ‘last hope of the earth’ for the sake of some half-baked,spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems are as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history. We live in a land made of ideals at home and their champion abroad. We have done great good in the world. Leadership has its costs, but we have become incomparably powerful and wealthy as we did. We have a moral obligation to continue in our just cause, and we would bring great shame on ourselves if we don’t. We will not thrive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent. We wouldn’t deserve to.”
These words were spoken by Senator John McCain, R-AZ, the Senior Senator from Arizona on occasion of being presented the Liberty Medal awarded by the National Constitution Center, on October 16, 2017.
Words Matter or They Don’t
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| My Mood this day#! |
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| Bob Canning #58962 via Unsplash! |
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| Jaanus Jagomagi #365720
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Words Matter – or They Don’t
Originally posted on Facebook August 25th, 2017
Dated Today: December 24, 2017
This blog post was written to accompany the pardoning of Sheriff Arpaio.
After he pardoned the sheriff a hue and cry arose to impeach Trump.
Most people saw it as a prelude to Trump pardoning everyone charged with a crime in the Russia Investigation.
This was before anyone had come forward and the only charges were related to the campaign.
Trump had also opened the question that he could even pardon himself.
That brought a hue and cry from constitutional scholars.
re: The Matter Before Us: Say What? Impeach?
I will play a ‘pretend’ radio news interview host. I will type your ‘pretend voices coming out of your radio’ (probably in your car, I don’t know of anyone that just listens to the radio anymore. I remember Mom having KOZY radio on in the kitchen all morning.)
Person number 1: (this listener happens to be a saved soul – he lives in Denmark)
He taps taps on his phone to Jack (Jack is one of your voices)
“Why are you upset that DJT has pushed his power to a pardon higher than God’s similar power, by pardoning an ‘unrepentant sinner’ (editors note: God at least asks them to repent first).”
“Don’t you know DJT is already greater than God, and more famous than Jesus? All good Evangelical Electors know that”.
A new voice #2: “In order to impeach Trump he would have to do something insane and unethical something like, and I’m just throwing this out: subverting the judicial branch’s sole power to hold a criminal in contempt of court by immediately pardoning a person for political and not legal reason.”
“But that would be insane, no one would allow that to happen unchallenged” voice is unidentified but it is from among your voices).
Now voice #1 again (from Denmark):
“Why are you upset that DJT has pushed his power to a pardon higher than God’s similar power, by pardoning an ‘unrepentant sinner’ (editors note: God at least asks them to repent first).”
“Don’t you know DJT is already greater than God, and more famous than Jesus? All good Evangelical Electors know that”.
“Oh, bummer I already said that. Jack, what question was that again? My headset is a little funky at the moment?
Now me (livid with righteous anger!) “What, WHAT? You say Trump can not only pardon a non-repentant sinner and a gnarly one at that? And then claim to be more powerful than God?”
Voice #1: “Apparently so. Not a person put up a squawk about it. AND, don’t forget, more famous than Jesus! No less”.
“I’d say (me again) these are pretty heady times we live in. Don’t you think we must pay a price for all this tomfoolery?”
“No hurry” is the reply “Eight more years until we have to answer for any of it”.
I wrote down my personal response on Facebook the day of this ‘pardoning’. “Is there any hour of the day that toddler Trump” (my unflattering nickname for him. The whole nickname is ‘toddler in potting training’ trump but I usually just shorten it) ” doesn’t make a mockery of our rule of law, of our customs, of our heritage? I would guess that the Majority of citizens have a penchant for unity vs his penchant for insults, pandering, corruption, collusion, consorting with the enemy and other crimes way too numerous to mention? The Reprehensible Republicans (another apt nickname I think) are just as much to blame. And he is taking advantage of their gutless lack of integrity. (I assume no one heard my outburst that day since it wasn’t mentioned in any post ).
Me: “OKAY. Let’s listen to this take from a former GOP Senator: I would like to introduce you to former GOP Senator John Danforth. Senator, what is your take on all this?”
“I have warned the Republicans that DJT has ‘corrupted’ their party and that they must break with him to save it.”
The former Missouri senator issued a stark warning to members of his party and published it in the Washington Post. “My fellow Republicans. We cannot allow Donald Trump to redefine the Republican Party. But our party is now corrupted by this hateful man, and it is now in peril.” Danforth wrote. He emphasized Trump’s divisive rhetoric as a main threat to the Republican message.
The following is regarding an article in CNN Money dated June 20, 2017
” I love my factory job, but I don’t want my kids to do it.”
When I was growing up and until I read this piece I thought most fathers wanted their kids to follow in their footsteps. HMM…
The article is by Heather Long @byHeatherLong
She traveled the Rust Belt talking to factory workers. “Over and over, in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Kentucky, men and women have told me two things:
“They love their manufacturing jobs and don’t want them to go away. But they don’t want their kids to do these jobs.”
Jeff Neibauer, 60 in Waukesha WI said: “To be honest, I steered my children as far away from manufacturing as I could”(he makes $30 an hour).
Every parent wants their kids to have an even better life than they did. Neibauer felt strongly that, for his children to live the American Dream, they would have to ditch the blue-collar lifestyle he led and aim for a white-collar job in business or healthcare.
“Hundreds of miles away in Reading PA, Lisa (she didn’t want me to use her last name) sat on her back porch and told me she had lived the American Dream. Lisa owned a home with a small pool and an abundance of plants thanks to her $22 an hour job at a paper factory nearby.” But she was glad her daughter went to college and works in an office. ‘I didn’t want her to work as hard as I did physically, Lisa is an optimistic 55-year-old, told me before the election. “Its difficult working odd shifts and 12 hour days in steel tip shoes’. Lisa was laid off at the end of last year when the Neenah Paper Factory shut for good. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to earn $22 an hour again. It was the second time in her life that Lisa had toiled for more than a decade in a factory only to lose her job when it closed.”
The American Dream – ppfft
The American Dream used to be about owning a home, a picket fence, and a safe place for their kids to come home to, a good school and a church nearby. Now the American Dream seems to be a stable job.
The United States has lost 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000. It is a key reason parent don’t want their kids to do what they did. They want them to get a career, a chance for more hope, for more income, for stability.
“Sal Moceri has worked for years at Ford in Detroit. He is quick to call Ford ‘one of the greatest companies in America.”
Moceri, a lifelong Democrat and union member, voted for Trump because ‘A lot of doors shut behind me over the years’ at Ford. The opportunity to live a middle-class life he said ‘is no longer there’.
“None of Moceri’s three children went into manufacturing. One is a science teacher, one is training for law enforcement, and the youngest is studying biology.”
Ms. Long continues “many factory workers had followed their fathers and grandfathers into manufacturing. The decline of manufacturing jobs is tragic for America – and a sign of the end of the middle class. “These workers also saw ‘the writing on the wall’. These jobs weren’t coming back and even if they did it would be for a lower wage.
‘Moreci works at a plant for $30 an hour. Younger workers around him work for $20 because they are under a different contract.’
(I will interject here – I’m the one writing this remember? Didn’t we learn in Civics or history or econ class that a country can only survive if it has a strong middle class? Or was that to be successful? ).
In nearby Lapeer MI, 28-year-old Angelica could only find factory jobs that paid $10 an hour. It wasn’t enough to cover childcare for her 3 sons. She is now back in school training to be a nurse.
Let’s look at the boss’ side of the story. True the assembly line type jobs, screwing in a bolt here, a screw there, are gone. Manufacturing is changing to high tech just like the rest of the country.
“Suzanne Kelly is CEO of the Waukesha Business Alliance. She meets with CEOs of about 50 manufacturing companies in her area. They all have one complaint. They can’t find enough skilled workers to handle the advanced machines nor the complex orders.”
Kelly told CNN Money in April 2017 “It is the one thing that could hold our economy back”. Not enough talent for businesses as they move forward.
I find that to be very scary. One the one hand Trump is railing against immigrants because they are taking American jobs. On the other hand, businesses are saying the problem is ‘there aren’t enough skilled workers.’ Can both statements be true? Probably not for long. Soon the migrants, field workers, and low-end workers in the city jobs like restaurants, slaughterhouses etc will disappear.
The high tech jobs that could salvage America are not being filled by Americans because there aren’t enough of them willing to learn how to unravel the mysteries of science. The big tech companies have relied on highly educated people from overseas. But those people are being stopped from entering the US by the shut down of the H-1B Visa program. Now what?
The jobs that required sciences will move overseas. The messy jobs like slaughterhouses will move overseas. India would love to have these jobs. There is a tussle going on in India because the Hindu’s (now in power) want to end the slaughter of cows. While the Muslims need them for food and jobs. (Most of India’s meat comes from buffaloes).
So What’s Left for Americans
So where does that leave Americans? Trump won’t let highly educated people into work for the high tech companies like Apple, IBM, Google etc. (They are outsourcing their work so American workers don’t get any benefit from Trump’s arbitrary rulings). In fact, by keeping the India people out he is supporting their industry that will soon compete against ours. Dumb! So these jobs, if they can’t be outsourced are going to end up where? Overseas! The skilled jobs like manufacturing that require advanced training? Overseas!
What jobs does that leave for the Americans? I think that leaves the unpleasant jobs that migrants used to do. Picking crops and working in the slaughterhouses. Oh, wait those jobs went overseas also. So, very hi-tech jobs, skilled jobs in manufacturing, low skill ‘dirty jobs’. American’s don’t want to learn, Americans are too snooty to do. But it seems those are the only ones left.
So where does that leave Trump? He throws out the highly educated so that they can become a competition for American jobs. He throws out the migrants that do the work that Americans don’t want to do. He throws out the people willing to do those unpleasant jobs because they know they can work their way up. The only game even partially open is the highly skilled manufacturing jobs. But what is going to persuade American’s to start learning to use their brains?
I guess what’s left is the military. As I have read those jobs are becoming pretty hi-tech also.
So to summarize:
Jobs Available – Throw the people out
Jobs that need skilled training – Not sure but most gone
Jobs for the Highly educated – don’t let those people come in. Throw the jobs out.
I have read that schoolmasters in India are pleased that their students can’t get the H-1B Visas anymore. It means rather than teach their student s to aspire for highly educated jobs and then leave for the United States. They will be able to keep them at home and shortly beat the Americans or play ‘Whack a Mole”.
The Sadness in My Bones
Sign away the prospects of thousands of jobs and the opportunities to maintain the ability to win on the world stage. Kill the TPP and kill America’s influence in the East. Kill the Paris Agreement. Kill the ability for millions of people to remain in their own homes and lead dignified lives? Kick ’em out in the streets.
I cannot express the sadness in my bones. These are not even short range positions. By not encouraging and supporting ‘green’ industries where there is unprecedented proven growth he tries to turn coal into an industry again. China now is outstripping the US in green production. Ah, but there is one industry where Trump can still try to win. WAR!!
War has made more billionaires than any other pursuit. Since the beginning, Trump has pushed for shiny new bullets. Oops, he has pushed for a shiny new wall too? Can both be purchased at the same time?
That is a $3 billion expenditure. He just gave $1.5 trillion to the already wealthy. He is running out of trillions I think. Well, wait, his Republican stooges are going to take away, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. Maybe he can make it all work.
So he just has to engineer a way to not have single-payer medical care, not have people stay in the family home, not have people live longer than 50 as earlier in the last century.
The young people will be fighting the wars. That means older people will have to fill in and do those unpleasant jobs nobody wanted but he kicked the people out anyway. That means that won’t live as long and!!!
Hey, we’ve got this nailed. WINNER! WINNER! WINNER! Am I the dealmaker? You bet boss, you are making deals with the devil.
Thanks for stopping.
Craig
An update on the tax and gift to the rich. I read an article today that said the rich are having a very hard time. They can’t spend their money since they have too much. And this was before the gift of last week.
I think that I am going to post my new slogan, hang on a minute
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