Tag: Trump

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I don’t know why Hamas thought attacking Israel on October 7 was a good idea but they were wrong. What a disaster. It has failed utterly to do anything of value for the Palestinian people. All they are getting from it is more martyrs. A whole population ruined again by this ill thought out attack.

And I don’t blame the Israelis for kicking the shit out of the Palestinians. Hamas attacked the civilian population of Israel — killing men, women and children. Did they really expect the Israelis to do nothing? Anyone watching the Middle East for the past 70 years knew they were going to retaliate. Unsurprisingly they did with the full might of their military.

Maybe Hamas thought that they could change world opinion which might have worked if October 7 had not been so vicious. But it was so much so that whenever I try to get mad at the Israelis, I remember October 7 and I no longer can muster the requisite anger to actually change my mind.

The modern world doesn’t work in a way that matches the Hamas’ strategy. The news is everywhere. What you do is seen and once it has been seen, it can’t be unseen. Terrorism still scares the shit out people. The more repellant the terrorism, the less likely that any positive message you have will be heard. October 7 was truly repellant.

What about the Israeli merciless attack on Gaza. Yes it was bad but, again, I keep coming back to Hamas. Israel wanted the perpetrators of the October 7 attack. They were hiding in Gaza. If Hamas truly wanted to stop the Israeli counter attack, they could do what any losing army does when their civilian population is getting the shit kicked out them — they can surrender. They refused to do it, so then who is responsible for the long bloody war in Gaza? To my mind, Hamas.

Unfortunately for the Palestinians, it looks like the world agrees or, at least, they aren’t willing to do much to save them outside of street demonstrations. So, Hamas allowed its civilian population to take the brunt of Israelis justified anger after a pointless, but savage, attack of Israeli citizens. How has it helped the Palestinians in any way? I mean fucking Donald Trump wants to take over Gaza, kick out the Palestinians and put up resort hotels.

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I know that Donald Trump doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the poor but I think it is important to question him, nonetheless, on his intentions here. Getting rid of social welfare programs is all fun and games to him, but it will have a serious impact on poor people thus on everyone else in the community.

Contrary to popular opinion, social welfare programs work. The biggest drops in poverty have occurred during the expansion of federal social welfare programs during the 1930’s and the 1960’s. Conservatives like to think that just cutting these programs will somehow force poor people to go out and get jobs. This has never worked. Never.

And we know that because there were an awful lot of poor people around before social welfare programs existed. Indeed they made up a much higher percentage of the population than they do now. Churches and charities were unable to make up the difference. That was why there were so many poor people back in the good old days.

Even Jesus realized this. Matthew 26:11 “The poor you will always have with you.” So how does Trump, Musk and company intend to help them. Taking them off the dole is hardly helpful. People need housing in order to take showers so they can make a good impression with looking for a job. They need transportation in order to arrive at the job on time. They may need psychiatric counseling so that they are coherent enough to hold a job. They may need drug rehab or alcohol rehab. They may need job training so that they can work the available jobs. The poor need an awful lot of help to make companies see them as potential employees. Where is this help going to come from?

I do have a modest proposal here and it is from the Bible — a source that Republicans particularly like to refer to. Matthew 19:20 If you want to be perfect (a perfect Christian that is), sell what you own. Give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

Come on Donald and Elon, you know what to do.

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Marko Elez, one of Elon Musk’s young DOGE stooges, resigned for making clearly racist comments. A day or so later, Musk rehires the poor thing as he shouldn’t have to suffer for his racism. What? Am I hearing this correctly?

This would have been perfect situation for Trump to prove his concern for racism. Elez is a low level employee who would be easily replaced by another young more discrete racist. Trump wins for not putting up with racist assholes. Musk gets to carry on cutting jobs and government agencies.

And for what? They didn’t want to ruin the life of a young man. What? How is Elez life ruined? He would have surely gone on to some other job where he could lay off people. Corporations are chockablock full of these dudes.

Now Trump is stuck rehiring a racist asshole. Everything Elez does will have a taint. As it should. Trump is more interested in showing he is in charge and he doesn’t care what other people think. He is so obsessed with showing his macho-you-can’t-tell-me-what-to-do side that he misses these opportunities of showing some grace to his critics.

Elez is an asshole. There was no reason to hire him back. His life won’t be ruined by leaving Musk’s DOGE budget cutting fiesta. This was no great matter and a missed opportunity for Trump to show he actually cares about a real display of racism. He blew it.

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I laughed out loud when I heard Donald Trump was taking on the Chairman’s role at the Kennedy Center.

Really. I mean really. This is the job, of all the jobs in government, that is so important that he decides only he can do it right.

Elon Musk is slashing government budgets this way and that, the Gaza Strip is soon to become an American responsibility, the price of eggs is going through the roof, a trade war is brewing, and, well, the list goes on but of all the big problems Trump and his new administration are facing, Trump wants to take on scheduling acts at the Kennedy Center as a priority.

Gobsmackingly amazing.

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I can’t help myself. I try to ignore Donald Trump as much as I can but since he is now president it is impossible, so here goes.

Donald Trump wants to prioritize White South Africans as immigrants. Does this have anything to do with native South African Elon Musk? No, it couldn’t. Musk would never use his influence in the Trump Administration to ask for something so egregiously racist.

Immigration give priority to people who are in immediate danger. Trump’s focus is on South Africans of European descent. So this applies to mix raced South Africans as long as one of the two parents were of European descent. What if only one of the grand parents is of European descent? What percentage European descent is he talking about?

Then, why do White South Africans get priority? Are they in any more danger than women who want out of Iran? Or Sudanese rebels? Or just plain poor folk from Central America who want to escape drug lords?

The troubling aspect about Trump’s order is that it is so transparently racist. This order comes while he is trying to shut down the border from non-white immigrants. So Trump isn’t really opposed to immigrants, just non-white immigrants.

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Donald Trump is a mystery to me. I can’t understand why people vote for hm. I disagree with his politics. When he speaks, I immediately think what a pompous ass. I am deeply perplexed on how this vile unpleasant man is succeeding.

And it is breathtaking how successful he has been. The man has reshaped the Republican Party into his image against the wishes of the Republican Establishment. He has humiliated the Democratic Party twice. He wants to take over the Gaza Strip. The fucking Gaza Strip and people are actually considering it. The man has something going for him that I am missing but others find attractive. It is so irritating. Every time you think he has irredeemably screwed up, he comes out of it completely unscathed.

I once worked for an asshole. He was crude, not very bright, arrogant, a narcissist — well very much like Donald Trump. He was universally despised up and down the food chain. So how did he keep his job? I never understood but I got a glimpse when talking with two co-workers about him. They agreed he was an asshole but they also said that they thought he was the right man for the job because he got things done. He bulldozed his way to the finish line on time and on budget. His being liked was immaterial to what needed to be done. They both also, much to my surprise, said they would work for him again.

Assholes apparently have their place in the scheme of things. I don’t like it and it isn’t the way I would do things but millions of people voted for the man. Just look at his actions since becoming president. He has taken the initiative so aggressively that the Democrats can’t keep up with him. He has thrown so many ideas against the wall that some of them are bound to stick. He doesn’t want to just roll back DEI (diversity, equality, inclusion), he wants to destroy it so he has asked his Attorney General to pursue criminal charges against companies who continue to use it. The whole concept of DEI is in a defensive crouch.

Vast swaths of the American public are in trouble. Much of the public believe that government isn’t much help in dealing with these troubles. Education, which used to be a linchpin for future success, looks like nothing more than a meaningless money suck. I believe these ideas are wrong but this is irrelevant to the problem the Democrats have here. As long as people believe that government is more concerned in DEI than the ABC’s, the Democrats have a big problem because Trump has made the Democratic Party and Liberals the face of this failure.

I wish I had the answer to Trump’s frenetic attacks against government. They are damaging because they undermine the best ways in which regular people can better themselves. That doesn’t change one important fact — he is successful and part of his success is he has shown himself willing to shake things up in what people have come to believe are moribund and corrupt government institutions. Until this changes, the Democrats are on the defensive and Trump is in the driver’s seat.

Is there a liberal asshole out there up to the job of challenging Trump? So far I don’t see it.

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One of the most annoying things about the Christian Right is that they try to reposition Jesus as an angry warrior for Right-Wing causes. Jesus was remarkably silent about the wrath of God although you would never know this from the Jesus these Christians describe. Sean Walsh, in TCW Defending Freedom, reacting to Bishop Budde’s inaugural church service where she reminded Trump of Jesus’ compassionate approach and urging him to consider it when he makes his decisions, says Jesus was a difficult person who would be reviled by liberal Christians because he advocated for adherence to Hebrew laws.

This is a pretty nice trick. He ties Christians to the Old Testament’s angry God, the punishing God, the God that will send you to Hell for any wrong move. But Jesus wasn’t all that much on punishment. Remember the woman who he saved from stoning. He just wanted her to sin no more. He saved her from death which, according to Hebrew law, was the appropriate end for this woman. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Is Jesus then an angry warrior for Hebrew Law when he actively worked to prevent it from happening?

The reason that Jesus urges compassion is that all humans are sinners. The men with stones. The woman being stoned. Even his own apostles, his most trusted friends, would disappoint him. Every last one of us. Jesus realized that people will sin and keep sinning. Some day, we could wind up on the wrong side of the stone thus the reason for compassion when dealing with sinners.

Walsh ignores another big problem with the Old Testament Law. Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These books are chokablock full of things that modern Christians ignore. Forgive your debts every seven years. How many Christians do that? I am betting none. Christians having been picking and choosing what they follow and what they will ignore for centuries. Jesus would want us to follow the entirety of these laws.

No better example can be found than divorce. Jesus actually talked about divorce so I imagining it was important to him while completing ignoring homosexuality which the modern Christian Right want complete adherence. Jesus had a very ancient Hebrew outlook on divorce. He didn’t like it one bit. Given that there are vastly more heterosexuals than homosexuals, divorce should be a bigger problem for Christians than homosexuality.

So, then, where is the outrage with Trump’s marriage history. Well modern Christians have come to terms with divorced Christians. Second marriages involving a divorced person can even be performed in many churches without a second thought. If Jesus is a cultural warrior for values, Jesus, being Jewish, would want adherence to all Judaic Law. This means the laws detailed in the Old Testament.

Walsh is making a big assumption about Jesus here. Jesus would be offended by immigrants and would strive to keep them out. There is little evidence that this is true. Given what we know from the New Testament, we know Jesus spoke repeatedly about compassion and forgiveness. I think it is safer to say this is what Jesus was concerned about and not the Hell and brimstone prophet that Walsh and his compatriots are so wild about.

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One of the mysteries of modern media is how much time is consumed on absolute bull shit. The other day, Elon Musk’s Nazi salute made the headlines and, as far as I can tell, is still creating a bit of a hullabaloo. Some believe he made a Nazi salute; others believe it was just an accidental incline of the man’s arm. Musk denies it. This, as far as I can tell, should be the end of it. But no this tempest is still whipping around the teacup.

The fact is Musk is astute enough to deny it. What are his critics expecting him to say. “You caught me. I am a secret Nazi. I just got so excited that my arm just naturally went into a Nazi salute.” Since he didn’t fall into that trap, the matter should be closed. But it simmers on to what effect. Talking about it any longer is a waste of time and is taking up precious headline space on speculation over a trivial matter.

Distractions seems to be the game Donald Trump is playing. Take, for example, flying the flag at half staff for Trump’s inauguration. This is no big deal to anyone except Donald Trump and maybe Jimmy Carter’s family. If anyone remembers this in a weeks time, it would amaze me. Trump could have been gracious about it because it really is meaningless bull shit. Seeing the flags at half staff would go unnoticed by most and, by those who did, they would wonder who died, thinking that Jimmy Carter died years ago. But Trump knows how to grab headlines and attention. The media promptly fell into line reporting it and we have a controversy.

Now apparently the Trump administration is suspending Black and Women’s history months at the Department of Justice. I disagree with this but, in the scheme of things, this is small potatoes. I am not sure what occurs at the Department of Justice during these months and this is very much the problem. It doesn’t matter to most anyone in the country. But lets, by all means, have a little tiff about the Department of Justice display cases going empty during Black and Women’s History month.

What worries me is that Trump is the master of making controversial statements about meaningless bullshit that consumes the press for days on ends talking about his bullshit and then are immediately forgotten. There needs to be focus on the things that matter as opposed to the things that are nice to have. If I had to choose between Trump’s attack on the 14th Amendment which declares there is no birthright citizenship and the Department of Justice’s Black and Women’s History month. I know what I am going to focus on. Let’s choose our battles wisely because having a conniption fit about everything is pointless and time consuming which is exactly what Trump wants.

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Elon Musk is supposed to have raised his arm in what looks like a Nazi salute. I linked to said crime because given the context of what he was saying and how he raised his arm, I am inclined to agree with Musk. This is nothing to get our panties in a twist.

Before I delve into this further, I want to be clear I am no fan of Elon Musk (see here, here, here). As far as I can tell he is an overpaid idiot with authoritarian instincts. I don’t like the man.

On the other hand, it is ridiculous to believe that he, in a widely seen speech, would break out in a Sieg Heil at Trump’s inauguration. It is a complete waste of time to be talking about it. He says he was thanking his audience for voting for Trump. His critics say his raised arm suspiciously resembles the Nazi salute. a

As there is no way to know what is in a person’s mind, I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think he is that dumb, particularly after denying any Fascist inclinations for years, to suddenly give the Nazi salute because he so imbued with Nazi theology that his arm raises unconsciously a la Dr. Strangelove.

Then there is the matter that calling Trump and his gang Fascists has failed to dissuade millions from supporting him. Trump, Musk and gang have been repeatedly called Fascist to an indifferent audience. People either don’t understand Fascism or don’t care that they are Fascists but continuing to call them Fascists has had little effect on people voting for him. People have heard it a million times and have made their peace with it. Now it doesn’t mean he isn’t a Fascist, but it does mean that calling him one is pointless. Other than giving Trump opponents a strange sense of satisfaction for calling Trump out for what he is, it is screaming into the void. It is time to reach into the election handbook for a new and, hopefully, more effective trope to use against him.

Even if he was intentionally Sieg Heilling, it is hardly the best stone to throw at him. He has plausible deniability as so many people end up giving the Nazi salute that it makes the criticism uniquely irrelevant. See Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez found giving the Nazi salute. Here is Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, giving the Nazi salute. If you search long enough you can find most prominent speech givers caught in this pose. It means nothing. Let’s get him on actual policies and not the accidental position of his arm.

The bottom line here is that Musk appears to be innocent of Sieg Heilling. The media are making a big deal out of nothing. This would be OK if the press were held in high esteem but they aren’t. It amplifies an already widely held sentiment that the press will make mountains out of molehills. More importantly it isn’t changing any ones mind and this is what needs to be done. But, by all means, carry on with the same tired strategy and see where that will take us.

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Lucian Truscott IV proposes the most bizarre reason yet for the Democrats loss in last year’s election. His idea is that too many of the potential Democratic voters were high on legal marijuana. Yes. You heard it right. As a legal marijuana smoker, I can only reply one way. For Christ’s fucking sake, man, you are scraping the bottom of the barrel for that one.

His opinion, which he himself concedes is based in speculation and no data whatsoever, sees millions of potential voters emotionally deadened to the prospect of an authoritarian takeover of their government just failed to vote. They just weren’t scared enough to vote because they were floating on feel good marijuana.

This isn’t even worth consideration — not even worth a maybe and lets look into this further. This is bullshit with a capital B. It is just a way to avoid looking at the bigger problem that large swaths of the Democratic Party establishment are out of touch with regular voters. Hell, they are out of touch with their own voters.

I hang with a primarily liberal Democratic group and I don’t know anyone who cares about proper pronoun use or support sex change operations for children. Republicans managed to attach these really suspect ideas onto the Democratic brand. The Democratic Establishment did relatively little to change this perception. Instead of Hell no this isn’t what we are about, they downplayed the importance of the issues saying that the vast majority of voters don’t care about these issues as they only affect a small number of Americans. Not talking about an issue that is unpopular to the general population is a terrible response to the question. It is as good as admitting that these issues were indeed important to the Democratic Party but are too toxic to talk about.

If people in my liberal circles aren’t particularly worried about proper pronouns and child sex change operations, then I am pretty certain that people who have less liberal inclinations are baffled. This awkward non-response left a lot of people asking why are we talking about transexuals in the schools in the first place. Parents would much prefer children learning what a pronoun is before learning which is their child’s preferred pronoun. These aren’t issues that will capture the imaginations of mainstream voters.

Say like the homeless overrunning the streets of our cities. I happen to agree that this is a bigger problem and isn’t easily solved. It also sounds like an excuse to do absolutely nothing. Well, then, if you can’t do anything to resolve the problem, then why wouldn’t people opt for someone, no matter how awful he is, who seems willing to take on the problem. Liberal government has to perform with the resources it has and perform well. Right now the perception is that government is failing to deal with the homeless problem and, I am afraid, this perception is right.

A lot of this caution is due to concern about the rights of homeless people. Middle class people vote, the homeless do not. Political parties have to deal with reality in order to get elected. This means addressing the concerns of this larger electorate is an important step in winning elections. When people have homeless people camping out on their streets and government says we are unable to help you because the homeless have rights, well what the hell can you do then? Shrugging your shoulders in despair is hardly a motivating call to action.

In the meantime, by all means, go after the non-voting marijuana smokers if you must. But, I think a better use of our resources would be to learn how to deliver better government services to the people who vote. All I know is that after reading all Truscott’s bullshit, I need to smoke me a joint.