tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56223007109153186712024-03-13T08:18:01.859-07:00Durango World<p align="center">IT IS NOT A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL</p>Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-5445114232434547202019-02-14T08:17:00.000-08:002019-02-14T08:17:48.604-08:00Louise Maughan James Provides Best Ever British Description Of America's Trump Nightmare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The following is from the insightful thinking of someone across the pond, a citizen of the United Kingdom named Louise Maughan James.<br /><br />Apparently someone on Quora asked a probing question about Donald Trump, which prompted Ms. James to provide the following British perspective...<br /><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Someone on Quora asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?" Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote this magnificent response.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A few things spring to mind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">'My God… what… have… I… created?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.</span>Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-73929356628667440122019-02-13T10:16:00.002-08:002019-02-13T10:16:58.405-08:00Trump's El Paso Miracle Stuffs 35,000 People In 6,500 Seats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
If your only news source was right wing hate speech radio purveyors, such as Rush Limbaugh. <br />
<br />
Or Fox News.<br />
<br />
You would have heard that Trump drew a crowd of 10 to 15 thousand to his Wall Rally in El Paso, while Beto O'rourke drew only 1 or 2 hundred to his El Paso Wall Rally.<br />
<br />
Only a couple hundred, and according to Trump's Number One propaganda supplier, Limbaugh, Beto jumped around the stage like a Jack in the Box, was totally unprofessional, spewing erratic nonsense.<br />
<br />
You know, as opposed to that dignified address Trump gave to his cult members, leading them in chanting 'lock her up', 'build that wall', along with anti-media chants which resulted in a BBC reporter getting a beating.<br />
<br />
Beto countered Trump's lies about El Paso and the wall in El Paso, and the wall concept in general, but actual facts apparently are not able to be processed by someone like Limbaugh, and his ignorant ilk.Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-48747048213548183612017-03-02T10:40:00.002-08:002017-03-02T10:40:55.389-08:00Trump Sons Detained At Vancouver Airport Due To Alleged Ties With Fascist Dictator<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, you knew it was only a matter of time before these two boys got themselves detained for some bad deed, such murdering elephants, lions and tigers, or some equally foul bad behavior.<br /><br />A British Columbia, Canada newspaper, the Burrard Street Journal, is the source of the news about the Trump boys being detained.<br /><br />And you know those ultra-polite Canadians would never fabricate a story.<br /><br />Three paragraphs from the <b><a href="http://www.burrardstreetjournal.com/trump-sons-detained-at-vancouver-airport/" target="_blank">Trump Sons Detained At Vancouver Airport Due To Alleged Ties With Fascist Dictator</a></b> article...<br /><br />
<b>RICHMOND, BC</b>—<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are in police custody at YVR airport this evening, after alleged ties to a fascist dictator surfaced during routine questioning.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The two sons of a former American billionaire, had flown to the pacific northwest for the unveiling of the new Trump tower in Downtown Vancouver.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">However upon arrival the brothers were reportedly selected for random inspection by the Canadian Border Services Agency and ultimately detained under suspicion that they may be connected to an oppressive regime in a foreign nation.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
_________________</div>
<br />Related news in the Burrard Street Journal...<br /><br /><b>BREAKING</b>: <b><a href="http://www.burrardstreetjournal.com/pope-tweets-donald-trump-to-give-up-presidency-for-lent/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pope Suggests Donald Trump Gives Up Presidency For Lent</span></a></b><br />Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-34169534879266231562016-07-21T06:56:00.000-07:002016-07-21T06:56:00.903-07:00Is Trump Mad Cruz Refused To Endorse The Great Orange Pumpkin?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I lasted less than ten minutes of Ted Cruz's hard to watch, for me, speechifying, at last night's Republican Convention Embarrassment.<br />
<br />
There is a large segment of the population, thankfully, who react to Cruz in the same way one instinctively reacts to a scary reptile.<br />
<br />
How is it some people don't see this guy's oily snake-like reptilian-ness?<br />
<br />
A face that somehow causes a visceral urge to punch it. The pitchy voice that sounds like somehow the voice change process got halted part way through his teen age years.<br />
<br />
And then there is the dumb stuff that comes out of this Canadian's mouth. All spoken in a phony bad actor method of delivery.<br />
<br />
I don't know how the ill-fated Cruz candidacy survived his ridiculous Simpson's audition. Or that even more embarrassing, long video of Cruz and family making political ads, with the most damning segment being Cruz sitting next to his mom, telling the camera that his mom prays for him, for hours, everyday, with the look on his mom's face of utter astonishment at the lying nonsense coming out of her creepy son's mouth.<br />
<br />
And yet there he was, last night, back on America's TV screens, causing the skin to crawl of a large segment of the world's population.<br /><br />I am even more appalled by the Great Orange Pumpkin than I am by Ted Cruz, but if I was Donald Trump I would not want someone like Ted Cruz to endorse me, in fact, I would prefer he didn't.<br /><br />Republican Party unity be damned....Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-42303529974261739102016-07-16T08:17:00.000-07:002016-07-16T08:19:17.003-07:00Looking For A Trumpence Definition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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48 hours ago if one Googled for the meaning of the word "trumpence", via the Internet's Urban Dictionary, one would have learned.....<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A trumpence is the amount of return on investment on a con job. </span><br />
<br />
Used in a sentence...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">"I knew it was too good to be true, but I thought it was worth trumpence."</span><br />
<br />
And...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“You should always make sure the target of your scam isn't overly intelligent, then you can play on their fears to maximize your potential trumpence.”</span><br />
<div>
<br />
And now, 48 hours later, for some reason, the Urban Dictionary's <b><a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=trumpence&defid=10003028">trumpence definition</a></b> has been expanded....<br />
<br />
<div>
<b>trumpence</b></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The return on investment of a con, bribe, theft or fraud. This could include the direct financial benefit of a scam or plot, but also can be used to represent the emotional boost a narcissist or sociopath gets from feeling superior to those they have manipulated and tricked.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
________________</div>
<br />
I have read Mr. Trump is having some regrets about picking Mr. Pence. We think he should get over any regrets.<br />
<br />
The TP Ticket is going to be a lot of fun....</div>
Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-30824434732100733902016-02-05T09:15:00.002-08:002016-02-05T09:15:52.580-08:00Weary Of Rush Limbaugh And His Low Information Listeners<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Did Rush Limbaugh really say that human beings have a propensity to believing, falling for every single apocalyptic doom that they are told is happening?<br />
<br />
Thus accurately describing the audience of dimwits who listen to him without realizing they are listening to ignorant nonsense.<br />
<br />
I listen to Rush Limbaugh for a short duration fairly regularly. I find him entertaining, in a warped sort of way. That being the reality that a man this ignorant, so un-educated, has a legion of followers too ignorant to know how stupid Limbaugh is. <br />
<br />
If I had to pick the most amusing thing that comes out of Limbaugh's mouth it might be his frequent reference to what he calls "<i>Low Information Voter</i>s".<br />
<br />
Low Information Voters.<br />
<br />
Like much of what Limbaugh spews, this Low Information Voters thing is sort of Orwellian. The people Limbaugh refers to as being low in the information department, are actually the enlightened, progressive, educated types he fears. The actual Low Information Voters are the idiots who listen to Limbaugh who are too stupid to realize they are listening to a hate mongering moron.<br /><br />Some amusing anti-Limbaugh comments gleaned from hundreds of comments made to this particular Facebook post by Americans Against the Tea Party.....<br />
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<b>Kenneth Kuller:<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Just remember, Limbaugh's record on Politifact remains at zero truths.</span><br />
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<b>Barbara Wolfe:</b> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Never once I have I turned on one of his broadcasts. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.</span><br />
<br />
<b>Gregg Davis: </b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Why is it that it's against the law to tell lies to sell products but it's not against the law to sell the lies themselves?</span><br />
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<b>Merl Miller: </b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Remember, Limbaugh was a Democrat until he discovered that Democrats are not gullible enough to be rabid fools. He is an entertainer and he gets paid millions a year to tell stupid people what they want to hear so he can sell crap.</span><br />
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<b>Lois J Buzzell: </b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">He should take Ann the demon spawn Coulter, and go to a deserted island. Two of the most disgusting and dangerous people on the planet.</span><br />
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<b>Gary Werner:</b> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">He's a windbag</span><br />
<br />
<b>Tim Koerber:</b> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Why does he still have an Audience? Oh I know, those with brain damage or mental or rational disabilities still have money to spend via "Sponsors" who pay for his broadcast! Sad, so sad!</span><br />
<br />
<b>Bob Holmes: </b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Most countries would arrest such a liar set on stirring public revolt. He is lucky for the first amendment, otherwise he would be in prison.</span><br />
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<b>Gordon Brooks: </b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Much of what spews from his mouth is merely said to stir his crowd of ill educated followers. </span><br />
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<b>Alfred N. Van Kirk:</b> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">He doesn't really give a damn. He started the conservative radio apocalypse. He discovered the more outrageous the claims the more he made! Not a single fact. Just lies followed by more lies! You know it as the Republican creed!</span><br />
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<b>Tom Massa:</b> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Lush Slimebaugh and Donald Trump are the two most obnoxious people on the face of the earth.</span><br />
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<b>Mitchell Stein Sr.:</b> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Fear sells....the salesman without morals will sell anything for cash.</span>Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-17582091877061245482016-01-22T07:36:00.000-08:002016-01-22T07:37:23.655-08:00Americans Against Tea Party Queen Sarah Palin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgazGDuSqm8a9lxNKoOvwQFLB6JFQNRliXXD5MqkDXBLmDcftxAPYuEcxSWioWCiI9sJyurKO1idpdlQfUkyLORpbNtnUGc2QLiZB-YTMVwNqfeCnzcDq4R_svOyeRJ9n6GTLHd-KCGMa8/s1600/Palin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgazGDuSqm8a9lxNKoOvwQFLB6JFQNRliXXD5MqkDXBLmDcftxAPYuEcxSWioWCiI9sJyurKO1idpdlQfUkyLORpbNtnUGc2QLiZB-YTMVwNqfeCnzcDq4R_svOyeRJ9n6GTLHd-KCGMa8/s400/Palin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Several months ago I found myself being appalled reading comments made to FOX News online articles, astonished by the fact that so many people had such ignorant, ill-informed, hateful, racist ideas and were so willing to share. <br />
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Reading the comments was like a window into some perverse club where occasionally someone whose education had continued past high school would attempt to be a voice of reason, to no avail.<br />
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Much of the FOX News type idiocy, as reflected in comments, is the fruit of those who read no legit news sources and who listen to too much right wing talk radio, becoming what are known as Rush Limbots, often not understanding what Limbaugh is actually saying, morphing the nonsense into something even more ignorant and stupid.<br />
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Eventually I had my faith restored in the majority of American humanity when I came across various news sources where intelligent, educated, healthy minded human beings made comments regarding our current sad state of American affairs.<br />
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One of those more elevated comment sources comes to me from Facebook via something called Americans Against the Tea Party.<br />
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A couple days ago the Queen of the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, endorsed Donald Trump. <br />
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Palin's endorsement rant took Palin being embarrassing to an entire new level. Below is a sample of comments regarding Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, then, followed by the comments an amusing selection of memes on this subject which are currently circulating the Internet......<br />
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<b>Todd A. Smith</b>: <i>Sarah Palin is a buffoon and (probably in the most literal sense, here) a tool. Donald Trump - I am still unsure, on that one. The man is not stupid. He speaks ignorantly, but that is calculated pandering, to enable the LCD of the population to "identify" with a billionaire. I'm not convinced he isn't actually running a huge scam, to divide and weaken the GOP base, and thereby hand the election to his old friend, Mrs. Clinton. The Republican establishment despises Trump, and have been scrambling to distance themselves. If they excommunicate Trump, and he goes third party independent, he takes a good portion of the GOP voter base with him, and effectively murders any chance of a Democratic loss.</i><br />
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<b>Julio Ojeda-Urzua:</b> <i>Stop kidding ourselves, Trump is a joke and Palin is a court jester, but Trump is really running. We need to take him seriously because he actually has a real shot at winning the GOP nomination and the presidency if enough stupid people go out to vote while disenchanted liberals/moderates stay home.</i><br />
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<b>Jen Lavris Makovic:s</b>: <i>I think that Sarah Palin's incoherent ramblings are proof enough of her idiocy. Either that or she's got a major disability.</i><br />
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<b>Brian Cronin:</b> <i>To everyone (and you know damn well who you are) who ever thought this dingbat was intelligent, sharp, a viable politician, or potential leader of our country...we'll except your apology now, please. This comical Alaskan dingbat with the double digit IQ is as useless as a goddamn Kardashian....or one of those Duck Dynasty poser douche bags.</i><br />
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<b>George Neill:</b> <i>What is so very sad about Sarah is that she is able to connect with so many other ignorant white trash Americans!</i><br />
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<b>Ron Murray Sr.:</b><i> Well, you have to understand, that since most of the White Folk in Red States are on Welfare and Food Stamps they have plenty of time to sit around watching Faux Noys on their Chinese Habitat for Humanity television set and then go meet up with their neighbors at the Chines Habitat for Humanity Wal-mart store to talk about how bad the nation is with that BLACK MAN LIVING IN THEIR "WHITE" HOUSE.</i><br />
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<b>Doug Tull:</b> <i>If you live in a Red State or travel through the Red States, it's not hard to believe at all. I hear folks saying just insane shi* that they hear on Fox and Rush Limbaugh. I hate to break it to you, but there are a lot of stupid, racist, homophobic, xenophobic bigots in America. Get out and vote, or it's over.</i><br />
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<b>Joseph Abate:</b><i> I said the same thing months ago - Trump is playing a colossal joke just to bring out the true colors of republikids. Then he's going to say, "See how they are? You've GOT to vote for Hillary. She'll be terrific."</i><br />
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<b>Chuck Accleton:</b> <i>America has become the nation of the lowest common denominator. Conservative voters are the stupidest people on the planet.</i><br />
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<b>Parrish Galusky:</b> <i>There is a huge percentage of the population that is extremely stupid and they do have those votes locked up. Stupid loves stupid.</i><br />
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<b>Richard Garrison:</b> <i>Everybody really should listen to the entirety of Sarah's speech. If it is a "beauty pageant" speech, where some pretty but empty-headed young woman gives a rambling, jumbled, incomprehensible speech on some subject like world peace. Usually Sarah delivers a word salad. Words strung together in "sentences" which slightly resemble, and sound like, English. But this speech is in a whole other category, much more industrial strength. This one is more like gallons of alphabet soup which has been eaten by a cow, digested through all the cow's stomach's, then evacuated onto a landfill, then picked up by Sarah and read to us as she praises Trump. The bottom line is that if this speech makes sense to you, you are part of the problem.</i><br />
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And now some amusing Sarah Palin/Donald Trump memes....<br />
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<br />Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-44446410618949491282016-01-12T09:03:00.001-08:002016-01-12T09:03:30.823-08:00President Obama's Final State Of The Union Tonight On YouTube<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Tonight, January 12, 2016, President Obama gives his final State of the Union address.<br />
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Seems like only yesterday President Obama gave his first State of the Union address.<br />
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If you have cut the cord, meaning cancelled your cable TV service, and are wondering where you can watch Obama's final SOTU speech, YouTube may be your best option.<br />
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YouTube will be streaming the SOTU speech live. at <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse">youtube.com/user/whitehouse</a></b>.<br />
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Below is a YouTube video currently running on the YouTube Whitehouse channel as a sort of promo for tonight's speech, along with the following text....<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We've come a long way these past seven years. Check out the progress we've made since President Obama's first address to Congress in this preview of his final State of the Union address.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/USIbGW0Z9tg" width="500"></iframe>Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-65766273700973861252016-01-10T09:04:00.000-08:002016-01-10T09:04:31.252-08:00America Is Not A Christian Nation As Founded By The Founding Fathers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Innumerable times I have heard right wing conservative sorts use variations of "America is a Christian nation, as founded."<br /><br />While Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson said, "<i>Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law."</i><br /><br />While Founding Father, John Adams said, <i>"The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion."</i><br /><br />While Founding Father, Thomas Paine said words very applicable to our modern world, <i>"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."</i><br /><br />And then there is Founding Father, James Madison saying <i>"Religion and government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together."</i><br /><br />How did America go from having such wise Founding Fathers to much of the ignorant foolishness that constitutes political debate in 2016?<br /><br />Of all those seeking to be America's next president, to me, only Bernie Sanders seems to be operating at an American Founding Father level of wisdom.Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-65233494942596660012015-11-07T07:26:00.001-08:002015-11-07T07:26:43.469-08:00Ted Cruz Unfortunate Embarrassing Audition for The Simpsons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I saw that which you see here a couple weeks ago. I was both appalled and amused.<br />
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And actually felt embarrassed for Ted Cruz that he could embarrass himself to this level of embarrassment.<br />
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With that embarrassment being a make believe Ted Cruz audition for <i>The Simpsons</i>.<br />
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Apparently Ted Cruz thinks <i>The Simpsons</i>, which has been on TV for a couple decades, is still a hot, trendy, pop culture relevant topic with young people, you know, Millennials , in 2015.<br />
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Methinks the idea that Ted Cruz thought making this video was a good idea is all the evidence one needs to know that Ted Cruz lacks the critical thinking ability to function as President of the United States. Fortunately there is a mountain of evidence, in addition to the Ted Cruz Simpsons Audition Video, which provides plenty of evidence this guy is not presidential material.<br />
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That and to me he comes across as a very oily used car salesman who will say just about anything without being troubled by that which comes out of his mouth going through the filter of a functioning conscience.<br />
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Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, the Ted Cruz Audition for The Simpsons....<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_K0sRkvX4KE" width="500"></iframe>Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-8299336115416671312015-11-05T09:27:00.002-08:002015-11-05T09:27:58.990-08:00A Republican Blaming Rush Limbaugh for Poisoning the American Mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know there are millions of Americans, other than myself, and millions more, world-wide, who find the current crop of Republican presidential candidates to be embarrassing on a level we have not seen before.<br /><br />As in jaw dropping embarrassing. So much spewing of utter nonsense.<br /><br />While I know that I am not alone, I have thought maybe my high level of being so appalled might be a function of being older, more jaded, maybe wiser. I do not remember Republicans being so embarrassing during the Reagan and Bush years. Obviously I am referring to Bush 1, not Bush 2. It was during the Bush 2 debacle that I think the Republicans lost their collective minds.<br /><br />The only Republicans I remember being embarrassing during the Reagan/Bush years where the two Pats, Robertson and Buchanan.<br /><br />So, this morning on Facebook, via one of the wisest Americans on the planet, Robert Reich, I was pleased to see that I am on the same page as Mr. Reich in terms of wondering if I am being somehow overly appalled by that which seems so appalling.<br /><br />The entirety of the Robert Reich Facebook post for your reading pleasure....<br /><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The other night I phoned a former Republican member of Congress with whom I'd worked in the 1990s on various pieces of legislation. I consider him a friend. I wanted his take on the Republican candidates because I felt I needed a reality check. Was I becoming excessively crotchety and partisan, or are these people really as weird as they seem? We got right into it:</span><br />
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<b>Me:</b> "So what do really you think of these candidates?"<br />
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<b>Him: </b>"You want my unvarnished opinion?'<br />
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<b>Me:</b> "Please. That's why I called."<br />
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<b>Him:</b> "They're all nuts."<br />
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<b>Me:</b> "Seriously. What do you really think of them?"<br />
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<b>Him:</b> "I just told you. They're bonkers. Bizarre. They're like a Star Wars bar room."<br />
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<b>Me:</b> "How did it happen? How did your party manage to come up with this collection?"<br />
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<b>Him:</b> "We didn't. They came up with themselves. There's no party any more. It's chaos. Anybody can just decide they want to be the Republican nominee, and make a run for it. Carson? Trump? They're in the lead, and they're both out of their f*cking minds."<br />
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<b>Me:</b> "That's not reassuring."<br />
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<b>Him:</b> "It's a disaster. I'm telling you, if either of them is elected, this country is going to hell. The rest of them aren't much better. I mean, Carly Fiorina? Really? Rubio? Please. Ted Cruz? Oh my god. And the people we thought had it sewn up, who are halfway sane -- Bush and Christie -- they're sounding almost as batty as the rest."<br />
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<b>Me:</b> "Who's to blame for this mess?"<br />
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<b>Him: </b>"Roger Ailes, David and Charles Koch, Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh. I could go on. They've poisoned the American mind and destroyed the Republican Party.<br />
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<b>Me:</b> "Nice talking with you."<br />
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<b>Him:</b> "Sleep well."<br />
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<br />So, it is pleasing to read that there are some Republicans who recognize the damage uneducated right wing nutjobs, like Rush Limbaugh, have done to the psyche of way too many Americans.<br /><br />I really think it might be a good thing if President Obama used one of those Executive Orders which the right wing ignoramuses think are some illegal usurpation of the Constitution, to issue a new version of John Adams' Alien & Sedition Acts. <br /><br />Arrest the right wing hatemongers, charge them with treason and send them to that Guantanamo Bay location so many of them are so fond of....Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-1496191304383854752015-10-25T09:37:00.000-07:002015-10-25T09:37:15.262-07:00What Happened to the Republican Party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Goldwater & Reagan?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If Abraham Lincoln were alive today it is likely he'd keel over in a dead feint upon learning what the Republican Party has become 150 years after his tragic demise via a bullet fired by a reactionary Southern fanatic.<br />
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Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower would also likely be appalled.<br />
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Republican William McKinley, thought to be a conservative Republican in his day, would likely be appalled at the behavior of those considered to be conservative Republicans in 2015. <br /><br />In 1898 McKinley was dragged, reluctantly, into war with Spain, over Cuba.<br />
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When the Spanish American War was so easily won, with the United States taking possession of Puerto Rico and the Phillippines, President McKinley did not crow about "Mission Accomplished" aboard an American battle ship, even though, in that war, the mission was actually accomplished.<br />
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When Barry Goldwater became the first conservative presidential nominee for the Republicans since Calvin Coolidge, Barry Goldwater was thought to be, by many, far too right wing conservative to be president. As the years passed after his smashing defeat by LBJ, Goldwater seemed to become a much more reasonable Republican.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifl_c50I1lN2xT-NpwgsonYMgGerYh7-eoYPvCF5OQtv-OUecc7RDqk2V3UDHkBeUuQ6c_g_eYtfHoRljbjELKyL5ojlsWhD6bA36eHswn2ahkXJO8eHrOA43k7ioFo4qP62UdhnbXpoo/s1600/Republicans2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifl_c50I1lN2xT-NpwgsonYMgGerYh7-eoYPvCF5OQtv-OUecc7RDqk2V3UDHkBeUuQ6c_g_eYtfHoRljbjELKyL5ojlsWhD6bA36eHswn2ahkXJO8eHrOA43k7ioFo4qP62UdhnbXpoo/s400/Republicans2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I suspect Barry Goldwater would be appalled by what passes for conservative Republicans in 2015. Be it Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson or any of the other Republican embarrassments currently seeking to be the next American president.<br /><br />Like Donald Trump.<br />
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If Barry Goldwater were alive today would he agree to go on the Rush Limbaugh Show? I don't think Barry Goldwater would be able to restrain himself from reacting to some of Limbaugh's nonsense.<br />
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What if Ronald Reagan was still alive and firing on all cylinders? Reagan always seemed to be a decent, nice guy. He worked with the Democrats to find common ground. Reagan and House Leader, Democrat Tip O'Neill, had a cordial relationship, trying to do what the two thought was best for America.<br /><br />I found the two memes you see above, on Facebook, both from the good people at NOTEAPARTY / AGAINST TEAPARTY. I thought the No Tea Party / Against the Tea Party people summed up the current Republican situation quite succinctly....Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-35160585209959605932015-10-06T08:54:00.000-07:002015-10-06T08:54:24.003-07:00May 13, 1971 Nixon Conversation About Same Sex Marriage & Archie Bunker<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-kHBJAb58q7pgMwczvY5xQjeuPNsT3P22CooBpaq1r0Meg6pF51mI58RRboNjTGMpXiXDeiOBiW4P1JvLXOS_IGRFpdww5XB9-93Fe11HMwnK4pXtd3w6YymDqYaBx_5nqCzSUsdh1o/s1600/Nixon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-kHBJAb58q7pgMwczvY5xQjeuPNsT3P22CooBpaq1r0Meg6pF51mI58RRboNjTGMpXiXDeiOBiW4P1JvLXOS_IGRFpdww5XB9-93Fe11HMwnK4pXtd3w6YymDqYaBx_5nqCzSUsdh1o/s400/Nixon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
That is a screen cap of a YouTubed Nixon tape. This tape not audio of a Watergate related conversation. This Nixon tape is about Archie Bunker and Nixon's fears regarding the future calamity facing America from those who find themselves attracted to their own gender.<br />
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YouTube has been suggesting Nixon tapes to me ever since I listened to the infamous Smoking Gun tape and the equally infamous Cancer on the Presidency tape.<br />
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For those who don't remember the Watergate Scandal, the Smoking Gun tape is the one that brought about Nixon's resignation. The Cancer on the Presidency tape is the one where it was learned John Dean was telling the truth, Nixon did approve of paying hush money.<br />
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On the Nixon tape, which you can listen to below, you will hear Nixon talking to H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, his two chief henchmen, about something he watched on TV which had him appalled.<br />
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An episode of <i>All in the Family</i>.<br />
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Nixon is very funny in this video. Not intentionally so, but very funny. Some of the things that come out of his mouth, well, it's the type stuff one would not think one would hear in today's White House. Or even in George W. Bush's White House. Or Bill Clinton's. Or Jimmy Carter's. Make note I left out George H.W. Bush and Reagan and Ford. <br /><br />Times have changed. A lot.<br />
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Below is the video and below that is the first comment about the video on the YouTube website. I thought it was a good comment.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TivVcfSBVSM" width="500"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Well, the USA is certainly very different 44 years later. And homosexuality is all over mainstream media and television, a former male Olympic athlete graced the cover as a woman after becoming transgender, and even the White House is covered in rainbow colors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Though at the same time, things are so much worse. The USA economy is built like a house of cards and nearly all wealth that was in the middle class has been systematically transferred to the elite. All jobs have been shipped off to countries like China, and foreigners are brought in on temporary H-1B visas to work the same job as Americans, but at much lower wages.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Well - USA, you had a good run, but it's over. The empire didn't last very long, hopefully the next superpower (China) does a better (and more peaceful) job. It would be hard to top the US, so regardless I think better times are in store for the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As for USA -- where do you go from here? I think the film "Idiocracy" is a good look into the future, albeit highly exaggerated.</span>Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-6793422627921787202015-07-30T08:55:00.001-07:002015-07-30T08:56:37.946-07:00Before The Murder Of Cecil The Lion Teddy Roosevelt Bagged 9 Lions In Africa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-lTSe2gfmx8WHbX2ljnPlB8cJUNe1KIJ34qQ0O1XhKlgSvMEFq-YOMZU8Fr7MU1cWBV4Hpa5i9ELL0BVAZwHtaGtCifXI0exw9V8-FLU2wem1G1UI8PIOQJG8KyfpuK7zHS8i-xnh7U/s1600/Cecil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-lTSe2gfmx8WHbX2ljnPlB8cJUNe1KIJ34qQ0O1XhKlgSvMEFq-YOMZU8Fr7MU1cWBV4Hpa5i9ELL0BVAZwHtaGtCifXI0exw9V8-FLU2wem1G1UI8PIOQJG8KyfpuK7zHS8i-xnh7U/s400/Cecil.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The murder of Cecil the Lion by a psychopathic American dentist has outraged, appalled and disgusted people all over the planet.<br />
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The murdering dentist thinks he is participating in the sport of hunting. He lured Cecil from his home, shot him with an arrow, then trailed Cecil for 40 hours before completing the murder with a gunshot. Followed by severing Cecil's head and skinning him.<br />
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The fact that much of the world is outraged over the murder of Cecil the Lion indicates the planet has evolved into being a more humane planet over the past hundred years.<br />
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In March of 1909, shortly after turning over the presidency to William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt took off to Africa to do some big game hunting in a year long safari.<br />
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At the end of year long safari hunt Roosevelt listed nearly 300 animals that he "bagged". <br />
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"Bagged" is Roosevelt's word for killed. Among the animals Roosevelt listed as having bagged were nine lions, five elephants, thirteen rhinoceroses, and seven hippopotamuses.<br />
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This safari was known as the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition. The purpose of the safari was to hunt for specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and New York City's American Museum of Natural History.<br />
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In addition to the 300 animals Roosevelt bagged, the Expedition as a whole killed or trapped some 11,400 animals, ranging from insects to rats to hippos to elephants.<br />
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Of the 11,400 specimens taken, 512 of were big game animals, including six rare white rhinos. The animals killed which were intended for exhibits were skinned, preserved in salt and shipped to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. <br />
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Tons of dead animals were shipped back to America. It took many years for the Smithsonian to taxidermize them all.<br />
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After the safari Roosevelt wrote about the experience in African Game Trails, were Roosevelt detailed the excitement of bagging the big game.<br />
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Roosevelt must have received some criticism about his mass murder of so many defenseless animals. Roosevelt defended the mass murder by saying, "<i>I can be condemned only if the existence of the National Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and all similar zoological institutions are to be condemned</i>".<br />
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I suspect if Teddy Roosevelt was still around he would join in the world wide condemnation of the murder of Cecil the Lion.Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-27359972977272805662015-07-08T09:21:00.001-07:002015-07-08T09:21:42.032-07:00Bellingham's Better Way For Police To Defuse A Tense Situation Without Fatal Force<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihY13nntVjpembdD52iI5bpc6dQIT98LUkB5jwgnFPylSTQT5FFKvLxirtVvrdZbiA6BU3VQ25NdldpOtnDDPg0oYOLj4Y-FQ4OjkdIbDQq-NlSL_TPoPXG1SobG5MGYImaViSmH45da4/s1600/Bellingham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihY13nntVjpembdD52iI5bpc6dQIT98LUkB5jwgnFPylSTQT5FFKvLxirtVvrdZbiA6BU3VQ25NdldpOtnDDPg0oYOLj4Y-FQ4OjkdIbDQq-NlSL_TPoPXG1SobG5MGYImaViSmH45da4/s400/Bellingham.jpg" width="391" /></a></div>
Each time there is a new incident where police use fatal force to defuse a threatening situation, such as someone waving a knife, gun or just acting nuts, with the police shooting multiple bullets, I always wonder why there is not a better, safer, saner way?<br /><br />Such as some sort of stun gun. Something less dire than shooting a taser dart.<br /><br />And then I read that which you see screen capped here on Facebook, telling the story of how Bellingham, Washington Police Department police defused a confrontation with a man wielding a knife in a threatening manner.<br /><br />Read this and ask why this is not standard operating procedure for all the police patrolling America.....<br /><br />
<i>Just prior to 1 p.m. today our officers were dispatched to check on a man in his early 40's that was in a gravel lot near the McDonalds on Hannegan Road. Callers reported that he was displaying a kitchen knife and was yelling. The first two officers to arrive requested more assistance as the man was posturing as if he was going to attack them. Based on his behavior, and proximity to nearby citizens, the man could not simply be left alone. With additional resources on scene the officers were able to convince the man to set the knife down and as he moved away officers tried to block his path back to the knife. Seeing this the man lunged back toward the knife and an officer armed with a less lethal shotgun deployed bean bag style impact munitions striking the extremities of the man. The intent of the pain compliance measure was to drive him away from the knife and worked for a short time. A second officer deployed a Taser which successfully disrupted the man's ability to move long enough for an officer to place handcuffs on him. The man was quickly checked for injuries and then taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. He will likely be charged with brandishing a weapon and resisting arrest but his medical needs take priority. </i><br />
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<i>We are proud of the actions of our officers in this tense situation. Using proper equipment that they are well trained in likely prevented this situation from escalating to a deadly force scenario. Well done!</i>Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-62527480499384296862015-07-06T09:12:00.001-07:002015-07-06T09:12:37.693-07:00Liberals Possess A Generous Heart With A Broad Enlightened Mind Free From Narrowness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAil1cZGgJA2fMSKL0zU4otbxnBDoJcM9VZO7PdRGE9BkgBkBLyfapLhgborwDIWkiN03_4lCof4201dlnqdHCRlGxB1Pa-ZiyPQ-oMEG7c1Y2p4rRlRIKRY29vxCej14B9ADCpEz5_lg/s1600/Liberal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAil1cZGgJA2fMSKL0zU4otbxnBDoJcM9VZO7PdRGE9BkgBkBLyfapLhgborwDIWkiN03_4lCof4201dlnqdHCRlGxB1Pa-ZiyPQ-oMEG7c1Y2p4rRlRIKRY29vxCej14B9ADCpEz5_lg/s320/Liberal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
On right wing talk radio, or reading comments online, like on Facebook, or comments to an article on an online news source, over and over and over again you will hear and read comments from those who think themselves to be "conservatives" besmirching those they believe to be liberals.<br /><br />Liberals are referred to in various ways, as libs, libbies, libbers, libtards. and others I am not remembering right now.<br /><br />Many a time I have thought to myself that those conservative right wing sorts, who so drastically disdain liberals, if asked to explain what a liberal is would be left dumbstruck, unable to articulate the meaning of "liberal".<br /><br />You can see liberal defined above by Webster.<br /><br /><i>Possessing or manifesting a free and generous heart with a broad and enlightened mind, free from narrowness, bigotry or bondage to authority or creed, a person who advocates liberty of thought, speech and action.</i><br /><br />Any of those positive attributes sound like any conservative republican sort you know of? No? Me either.<br /><br />To me the definition of a liberal sounds like the Ideal American operating in the Ideal American Way.<br /><br />Regarding being a liberal, someone had this to say, which I agree with...<br /><br /><i>"The conservatives say liberal with such disdain, like its meaning is so nasty. Call me liberal anytime."...</i>Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-22925374863856419212015-06-26T08:44:00.001-07:002015-06-26T08:44:20.390-07:00Booker T. Washington Having Dinner With Teddy Roosevelt Was Not The Most Damnable Outrage Ever<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTh4gLFUdV6juTpoqUys9kLbwv-mtZGBNbNYOKvnBwZwdxNbtxE51kSXpygtU9gY3uu7SlYacVlz6Px4Fnt97KAa_PYFA0p9Qzq-_xP_Q-Y0PLcX_mOVHj5j_I4gEu6skx_gr1HEuwXtQ/s1600/Booker+T+Washington.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTh4gLFUdV6juTpoqUys9kLbwv-mtZGBNbNYOKvnBwZwdxNbtxE51kSXpygtU9gY3uu7SlYacVlz6Px4Fnt97KAa_PYFA0p9Qzq-_xP_Q-Y0PLcX_mOVHj5j_I4gEu6skx_gr1HEuwXtQ/s400/Booker+T+Washington.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Booker Washington and Theodore Roosevelt at Tuskegie Institute" </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What you are looking at here is Booker T. Washington and President Theodore Roosevelt at the Tuskegie Institute.<br />
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Recently an idiot murdered nine fine Americans thinking doing so would set off a race war.<br />
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Instead the idiot murderer set off American revulsion at remnants of racism and white supremacist hate mongers.<br />
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America has come a long ways since the Civil War regarding all Americans of any make or model being being treated as promised by the U.S. Constitution.<br />
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White supremacist racism in the South used to be way worse. In 2015 the hatemongers are small in number.<br />
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As an example of how far we've come let's go back to the turn of the previous century, about a month after Theodore Roosevelt became president after the assassination of William McKinley, read this blurb from the Wikipedia article about <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington" target="_blank">Booker T. Washington</a></b>...<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When Washington's second autobiography, Up From Slavery, was published in 1901, it became a bestseller and had a major effect on the African-American community, its friends and allies. In October 1901 President Theodore Roosevelt invited Washington to dine with him and his family at the White House; he was the first African American to be invited there. Democratic Party politicians of the South, including future Governor of Mississippi James K. Vardaman and Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina indulged in racist personal attacks when they learned of the invitation. Vardaman described the White House as....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"so saturated with the odor of the nigger that the rats have taken refuge in the stable", and declared "I am just as much opposed to Booker T. Washington as a voter as I am to the cocoanut-headed, chocolate-colored typical little coon who blacks my shoes every morning. Neither is fit to perform the supreme function of citizenship."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tillman said, "The action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that nigger will necessitate our killing a thousand niggers in the South before they will learn their place again."</span><br />
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<br />Multiple newspapers in the South editorialized that Roosevelt having dinner with Booker T. Washington in the White House was the "most damnable outrage ever."<br /><br />Contrast South Carolina in 2015 with South Carolina in 1901. If a South Carolina senator in 2015 said that which Senator Tillman said I would think he would be ousted from the Senate, arrested, charged with some sort of hate crime, tried, convicted and likely jailed.<br /><br />We have a ways to go, but America has come a long way from the days when racist idiots were in the majority.<br />Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-90830732344641755802015-03-18T07:57:00.000-07:002015-03-18T07:57:07.425-07:00The Conservative Truth Is Seattle Restaurants Are Not Closing Due To The New $15 Minimum Wage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEignxx6NRQwscA5tuKgHCGljGbvLEDpgGu58LDHNnnZ0YDcaAW3pjP5j-29hoX4hl1NsHGXaXQS3cOtsQnqjDA-xrUUCQMkAX8q9eK4LD5pZAUfbZeb22wEL_Xn5A7_OBsQJM3y9jkZa_o/s1600/Seattle+Restaurants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEignxx6NRQwscA5tuKgHCGljGbvLEDpgGu58LDHNnnZ0YDcaAW3pjP5j-29hoX4hl1NsHGXaXQS3cOtsQnqjDA-xrUUCQMkAX8q9eK4LD5pZAUfbZeb22wEL_Xn5A7_OBsQJM3y9jkZa_o/s1600/Seattle+Restaurants.jpg" height="226" width="400" /></a></div>
Yesterday, via WBAP talk show radio out of Dallas, I heard conservative talk show talker, Ben Ferguson, go on and on about an alleged rash of restaurant closings in Seattle, with those closing supposedly caused by Seattle's new $15 minimum wage.<br /><br />I can only take listening to Ben Ferguson for about 15 minutes. He has an annoying tendency to repeat himself. Over and over again. He repeats himself.<br /><br />See what I did there?<br /><br />In addition to repeating himself, over and over again, Ben Ferguson is also very fond of various iterations of "you're an idiot", in sentences such as "If you think that you're an idiot." Every time I hear Ben Ferguson repeat his "you're an idiot" phrase it crosses my mind to assume that he has had that phrase directed at himself all his life, because, well, he comes across, to me, as a bit of an idiot.<br /><br />As witnessed by the idiotic nonsense he was spouting yesterday about the supposed rash of Seattle restaurant closings caused by the $15 minimum wage.<br /><br />Apparently the conservative world has been all abuzz about those Seattle restaurant closings being caused by the $15 minimum wage, with those doing the idiotic conservative buzzing focusing on several Seattle restaurants which have closed, including Grub, which Ferguson repeatedly referenced.<br /><br />Well.<br /><br />This morning in the Seattle Times Seattle's newspaper of record, in an article titled <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/truth-needle-is-15-wage-dooming-seattle-restaurants-owners-say-no/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Truth Needle: Is $15 wage dooming Seattle restaurants? Owners say No</a><b>.</b><br /><br />In the Seattle Times article we learn the truth about the Grub restaurant which Ben Ferguson was repeatedly obsessed with....<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sharon Fillingim, the owner of Grub, the final restaurant referenced, said on Facebook that Grub was “a huge success.” In fact, the restaurant was sold and is reopening imminently under new ownership as Bounty Kitchen.</span><br /><br />The Seattle Times talked to all the owners of all the restaurants which were referenced in the various conservative media and found no owner who was closing his restaurant due to the new minimum wage. In fact, several were supportive of the new minimum wage.<br /><br />And that new minimum wage does not go into effect next month, like Ben Ferguson repeatedly repeated. The minimum wage increase is to be phased in, incrementally, over seven years.<br /><br />If Brian Williams can get in trouble and lose his job due to spouting falsehoods, how does someone like Ben Ferguson repeatedly keep his job?Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-74199107897639521382015-01-27T07:36:00.000-08:002015-01-27T07:36:07.728-08:002016 Ted Cruz Sarah Palin Republican Dream Ticket for Democrat Win after Palin Iowa Freedom Summit Speech<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoBMCeHX7TucMmus1bUjQr01dgNBCp0e2q1ICe7iBqruDPecd4goLl8wCaOM5lf9Nsas5U3s7C8l8k8nqxirnMeNPYj3sRNdiu0ukl0aME4q4TqOqaDs9M1jztJhZp-jUv-AgwP3Muxw/s1600/Palin+Cruz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoBMCeHX7TucMmus1bUjQr01dgNBCp0e2q1ICe7iBqruDPecd4goLl8wCaOM5lf9Nsas5U3s7C8l8k8nqxirnMeNPYj3sRNdiu0ukl0aME4q4TqOqaDs9M1jztJhZp-jUv-AgwP3Muxw/s1600/Palin+Cruz.jpg" height="320" width="231" /></a></div>
I am just about 100% certain that this CRUZ PALIN 2016 poster was not actually paid for by the Hillary Clinton for President Committee.<br />
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What a high level potential amusement factor possibility there would be in a debate between Hillary Clinton and either Cruz or Palin.<br />
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I am assuming this poster is suggesting that it is Cruz who is running for president, not Palin,<br />
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But, Sarah Palin in the top spot would surely be comedy gold.<br />
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Just a day or two ago, in Iowa, at an event called the Iowa Freedom Summit, Sarah Palin gave a speech that has had pundits, both right and left commenting on what some have characterized as a "tragic speech."<br />
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I could not make it through the entire, over a half hour, rambling, disjointed, confused stream of consciousness mess.<br />
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When you Google "Sarah Palin Iowa Speech" below is what shows up at the top of the results page...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7j1r6d9ciUzL8hJeINlJ7zYynOJZDeRFSidOKXKUzKJ5qkfZtDpD3zfkChzrgynx87AI0tnxy56a2jDnTPn8aDtdSc8CXbI14TdEArcvufwoUQRJaRfhnHiPa99zxeVDWpZH0j2miOY/s1600/Palin+Speech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7j1r6d9ciUzL8hJeINlJ7zYynOJZDeRFSidOKXKUzKJ5qkfZtDpD3zfkChzrgynx87AI0tnxy56a2jDnTPn8aDtdSc8CXbI14TdEArcvufwoUQRJaRfhnHiPa99zxeVDWpZH0j2miOY/s1600/Palin+Speech.jpg" height="212" width="500" /></a></div>
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Below you can watch Sarah Palin's Iowa Freedom Summit speech in its entirety (if you are blessed with the patience to do so)...<br /><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wYc92hi5shE" width="500"></iframe>Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-33152484112727472482014-12-07T09:31:00.001-08:002014-12-07T09:31:50.997-08:0073rd Anniversary of the December 7, 1941 Japanese Attack On Pearl Harbor & America<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8wBf8ZKzTVJ5CZkgv0j4dQsOfnNycxGeTISqWERPfozA13D2AHU40o9WjAhLgJc4TS3GW9fE5uGkOwjEEHxLhyphenhypheneVqexbx1_pZjtcLft6RiPe-tRfANkjh7N60LqcQcMxRxOj4JBqRP8U/s1600/Pearl+Harbor+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8wBf8ZKzTVJ5CZkgv0j4dQsOfnNycxGeTISqWERPfozA13D2AHU40o9WjAhLgJc4TS3GW9fE5uGkOwjEEHxLhyphenhypheneVqexbx1_pZjtcLft6RiPe-tRfANkjh7N60LqcQcMxRxOj4JBqRP8U/s1600/Pearl+Harbor+Day.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
It seems like only yesterday, but it was 73 years ago today, December 7, 1941, a day with continues to live on in infamy, that the Japanese sneak attacked Pearl Harbor and other points on Oahu and the Philippines, leading America to declare war on Japan and Germany, which eventually put an end to the fascist madness.<br /><br />Americans were shocked that Sunday morning 73 years ago. America had been helping fight the Nazi peril, indirectly, supplying weapons and ships to those, like England, who were already fighting Hitler and his Nazi terrorists, but avoiding getting directly involved.<br /><br />Until December 7, 1941 unleashed the strongest military response the world had ever seen, bringing an end to World War II with a couple real big bangs over Japan, in less than four years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.<br /><br />America was not shocked with another Pearl Harbor type shock for almost 60 years, not til September 11, 2001, with that attack bringing America into a totally different type of World War, with the War on Terror not ending with a victory in less than fours years after the attack which started the war. <br /><br />America's War on Terror continues, over 13 years after it began, with no end in sight.<br /><br />Today was supposed to be the last official meeting in Pearl Harbor, on Pearl Harbor Day, of the few Pearl Harbor Attack survivors still alive. However, at least one of those survivors has said he will return every December 7, as long as he remains able to do so.Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-7956149796942283122014-11-20T08:44:00.000-08:002014-11-20T18:40:42.424-08:00Will President Obama's Latest Executive Order Push the Republican Know Nothings Over the Edge?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpTuTpDuFypoSQ5qA67BR0GkELhK99cu_v2zT0KbBkPoCJ3Olf0pmuJPpSh4srJ93fFUJfeulbo9mJfVhKrUS_3E0UZ9gD9PDX5Ph2cN8dE54wqH2jhhv7U0P9O549ylReo-tLKa43LSg/s1600/Executive+Order.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpTuTpDuFypoSQ5qA67BR0GkELhK99cu_v2zT0KbBkPoCJ3Olf0pmuJPpSh4srJ93fFUJfeulbo9mJfVhKrUS_3E0UZ9gD9PDX5Ph2cN8dE54wqH2jhhv7U0P9O549ylReo-tLKa43LSg/s1600/Executive+Order.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
Tonight, in a speech the American networks, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, are refusing to cover, President Obama is expected to announce an Executive Order executing some sort of action regarding the immigration issue.<br />
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This has the Republicans, also known as the Know-Nothings, in high umbrage mode, again rattling the impeachment cage.<br />
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If you listen to the Know-Nothings, and knew nothing about the reality of the American Constitution, you'd believe Rush Limbaugh when he rants that Obama is trying to dismantle the Constitution and end America as we know it.<br />
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These type poorly educated blowhards have been part of the American landscape all the way back to the start of the nation. Only in modern day America, sadly, these types can access millions with their idiocy, via having a radio show.<br />
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As you can see, via the chart above, the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, sparingly used Executive Orders. Lincoln was president during a period where he had reason to use all the power available to him. Subsequent Republican presidents made frequent use of Executive Orders, with Teddy Roosevelt using this power the most.<br />
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Barack Obama is second to Lincoln in the limited number of times he has issued an Executive Order.<br />
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Way back a couple centuries ago, in the election in which Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams to become the first Democratic-Republican President, Adams' Federalist Party ran on a campaign of fear mongering claiming that if Jefferson were elected he would destroy the Constitution.<br />
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Instead, immediately upon taking over as president, Jefferson used an Executive Order overturning Federalist abuses of power, freeing all who were imprisoned or facing prosecution under the Adams' administration's Alien and Sedition Act, an Act which actually did endanger the Constitution and its Bill of Rights.<br />
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I fear it is not going to be pretty what the Republican Know-Nothings are about to come up with in reaction to President Obama's latest Executive Order....Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-34173528839173079442014-11-17T09:13:00.000-08:002014-11-17T09:14:57.434-08:00ISIS & the Stupidity of Evil Can Kill Both Domestic & Foreign<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Rosewater</i> is a movie written and directed by Jon Stewart about a Canadian-Iranian journalist named Maziar Bahari who found himself jailed in Iran for 118 days due to idiotic Iranian spy accusations based on nonsense.<br />
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At some point in <i>Rosewater</i> Jon Stewart sums it up, saying "<i>Some people are just idiots, and the stupidity of evil can kill you</i>".<br />
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Which brings me to the idiotic stupidity of that entity known as ISIS, currently terrorizing large swatches of Iraq and Syria with crucifixions, mass murders and beheadings, among with other atrocities.<br />
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The world reaction to the ISIS debacle totally perplexes me. <br />
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We have had multiple beheadings of Americans, shown via video on YouTube. Along with beheadings of nationals of American allies, like the UK.<br />
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When is the United Nations Security Council going to meet to deal with ISIS?<br />
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How is it that the United States presented a case before the United Nations Security Council calling for action against Saddam Hussein, and Iraq, due to what turned out to be false claims that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction posing a threat to the peace of the world?<br />
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And so America led its allies in America's first pre-emptive war, against a foe who had beheaded no Americans.<br />
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What is the point of America spending trillions of dollars on defense when we have a situation where Americans are being beheaded with America not using the full power at its disposal, both military and diplomatic, to put an end to ISIS?<br />
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I don't get it.<br />
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All that money wasted taking down Saddam, and the chaos which followed, which pretty much led to the festering of the ISIS virus.<br />
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The United States led a coalition of around a half million soldiers to free Kuwati from Iraq. The United Nations was on board with that.<br />
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Is this ISIS problem not at least as serious as was the Iraqi takeover of Kuwait?<br />
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It is just maddening, all the resources wasted with the toppling of Saddam, who posed no threat, with that toppling resulting in the deaths of thousands of American soldiers, the wounding of thousands more, the deaths of untold thousands of Iraqis.<br />
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All in a war which never should have happened and which brought about the instability brought by ISIS.<br />
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You think ISIS would be beheading Americans if Saddam where still in control of Iraq?<br />
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No.<br />
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Would America be better off right now if Saddam were still in control of Iraq?<br />
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Most likely yes.<br />
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Would America be better off right now if the man who actually won the 2000 election became president, rather than the man who got a couple million fewer votes than George W. Bush?<br />
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Most likely yes.<br />
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How does George W. Bush sleep at peace with himself? I have no idea. The benefit of having no conscience?<br />
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Most likely yes.....Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-55514013174371573192014-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:002014-11-11T10:15:28.056-08:00For Veterans Day We Need A 21st Century Bonus Army March On Washington<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9P5uafAwPzQ6B6wNQltYutd6zvYym-7PTXBkrA1XoPaiilp_eopK3mULf80VfNy09WYYhwkBMpNp7PP6iV9pAbWL89Re3A2CwwMsFSX3iPD4UCzmCfLaXigZhIZmdwbefKH7Yn20pm1k/s1600/Bonus+Army.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9P5uafAwPzQ6B6wNQltYutd6zvYym-7PTXBkrA1XoPaiilp_eopK3mULf80VfNy09WYYhwkBMpNp7PP6iV9pAbWL89Re3A2CwwMsFSX3iPD4UCzmCfLaXigZhIZmdwbefKH7Yn20pm1k/s400/Bonus+Army.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Today is Veterans Day in America. The annual federal holiday where we honor Veterans, past and present.<br />
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Honoring Veterans is a fine thing to do. Expressing one sentiments honoring Veterans is a fine thing to do. Remembering the fallen is a fine thing to do.<br />
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However.<br />
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Today something about Veterans Day is bugging me bad.<br />
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Currently, every day, on average, 26 Veterans commit suicide.<br />
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Remember the recent fuss made over one person in Dallas dying from Ebola?<br />
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I repeat, on average, 26 Veterans commit suicide every day.<br />
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We hear reports over and over again about Veterans hospitals not properly treating injured soldiers, now safely back home in America, trying to recover from the damage done to their minds and bodies.<br />
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The Veterans Administration is underfunded.<br />
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How much does one aircraft carrier cost? How much would it cost to fully fund the Veterans Administration?<br />
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How can Americans proudly salute the service of Veterans and then so drastically underserve them when the get back home?<br />
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I know of National Guard Veterans, called to serve in Iraq, leaving job and family behind, not paid enough to make the house payments, badly wounded, not able to get adequate treatment, returned home to face bankruptcy,<br />
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I have seen a Veteran living in a ramshackle cardboard shack in a wooded area behind a grocery store.<br />
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Many among America's returned Veterans are among America's Homeless People.<br />
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To me, much of this tribute paying to Veterans today rings very hollow.<br />
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But, this is not a new phenomenon in America. Read the <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army" target="_blank">Bonus Army</a></b> article in Wikipedia if you are unaware of the long history of the American government's bad treatment of America's Veterans.<br />
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Just one snippet from the Bonus Army article should whet your curiosity.....<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shots were fired and two veterans were wounded and later died. Veterans were also shot dead at other locations during the demonstration. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the army to clear the veterans' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.</span><br />
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By next Veterans Day it is my hope that a Bonus Army of this Century marches on Washington, demanding that America do the right thing for its Veterans, as in all the medical and financial help needed to make the Veteran whole again.<br />
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And if Americans really want to celebrate Veterans Day in an actual meaningful way, they should join the Bonus Army march....Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-89931770763674881832014-11-10T08:15:00.000-08:002014-11-10T08:15:25.397-08:00Senator Bernie Sanders' Proposed Democracy Day Elections in America<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Vermont's junior Senator, Bernie Sanders, has proposed a new federal holiday, Democracy Day, making Election Day into a national holiday, a day off work so everyone can make it to the polls.<br />
<br />Senator Sanders has a <b><a href="http://www.sanders.senate.gov/democracyday" target="_blank">Democracy Day website</a></b> where you can sign up, via petition, to support his Democracy Day bill.<br /><br />A couple paragraphs from the Democracy Day website....<br /><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In America, we should be celebrating our democracy and doing everything possible to make it easier for people to participate in the political process. Election Day should be a national holiday so that everyone has the time and opportunity to vote. While this would not be a cure-all, it would indicate a national commitment to create a more vibrant democracy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We should not be satisfied with a "democracy" in which more than 60 percent of our people don't vote and some 80 percent of young people and low-income Americans fail to vote. We can and must do better than that. While we must also focus on campaign finance reform and public funding of elections, establishing an Election Day holiday would be an important step forward.</span><br />
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<br />I have long thought it odd that America's biggest election days, those being the every four years presidential elections and the mid-term elections, take place on a Tuesday, that being a working day for most Americans lucky enough to have a job.<br /><br />Saturday would seem to be a much more logical day for an election.<br /><br />I don't know if the premise behind the idea of turning election day into a national holiday would result in more voters going to the polls.<br /><br />Voting is already extremely easy to do, without going to the polls on voting day.<br /><br />When I lived in Washington, I, like most Washingtonians, voted via a permanent absentee ballot, which basically is voting by mail.</div>
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<br />My current location, Texas, has the absentee ballot option, plus many days of early voting where one can go to a polling place and do their voting, which is what I did a week before the most recent election day.<br /><br />So, I am thinking the low voter turnout is not a a function of election day taking place on a workday, I think it is more a function of way too many people thinking that voting does not matter, that voting does not effect them, that voting makes no difference in their lives.<br /><br />Convincing people that voting matters, that would seem to me to more likely result in a real Democracy Day.</div>
Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5622300710915318671.post-25090285838931527242014-11-07T07:46:00.002-08:002014-11-07T07:46:59.519-08:00Sarcastically Congratulating American Voters on a Well Played Election<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I saw the above on Facebook via someone named Janis Ian. The results of America's most recent election are puzzling.<br />
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Puzzling to many Americans and to many people around the world.<br />
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This Janis Ian Facebook post generated dozens upon dozens of comments, from all over the world. A sample below of three of those comments....<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">What I just can't grasp is that, apparently, many Americans can't understand Obama needed even móre time than he expected to clean up the mess of TWO Bush-administrations. If WE understand it in the Netherlands already, surely the Americans should tóó. Now áll Obama has achieved may be ruined again .... scares me to bits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Only 37% of registered voters went to the polls. This is the pathetic result.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The rest of the world is correct in thinking most of the people living in the United States are stupid.</span><br /><br />That last comment seems a bit harsh........Durangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10231271044296466883noreply@blogger.com0