I’m not prone to depression or negative thoughts, but recently I’m feeling something about America that’s not healthy. One of the tropes I hear daily is because I’m a member of a specific party or hold values different from the current administration, then I must hate America. Not true!
I love America, it’s only certain Americans I have a major conflict with. Why do people make it so binary? People are complicated and to unite them we must focus on common values. Why are we forced into a corner? We can’t all be tree huggers or flag huggers, somewhere in the middle we must find a way to get along, be productive and free.
Since moving to Florida almost 10 years ago, the people in state government have never made me feel welcome. It’s always been a “us vs. them” philosophy. As time goes on, I realize the real problem is a principle some have never learned, it’s Newton’s Third Law of Motion, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
For those who have spent any time on my blog they know exactly what I think of our current president. In fact, I’ve written more than million words about him; few positive.
One might ask, why waste your time? I’ve asked myself that same question and I guess the answer is I love my country more than I like my government. With all the self-dealing, aggrandizement and lack of real priorities, I feel we are all at the mercy of lunatics and crooks.
Most people — and that means the majority — don’t like this President, the Congress or the Supreme Court. We’re not a bunch of spoiled brats here in the USA. We’re just people in need of stability, certainty and a way to stay ahead of personal debt. While gold seems to be everywhere in the White House, people are paying more for everything.
When the national debt went over $40 trillion the other day, no one in Congress yelled, “You lied to us!” Donald Trump’s ultimate demise will come when 80% of the citizens of this great land realize he knows nothing about economics, business, math, empathy or sense of common decency. So far, we’ve spent $37.5 billion on the military conflict with Iran. Gee, what could that money have gone to that would have helped Americans? Think about those who have lost their homes to fires or floods.
When his government cut school lunches for kids and cancer research, this should have been a clear message. But some people just don’t care. The way the White House is spending our money is a glaring siren screaming “wrong priorities!” In the richest country of the world, people are getting poorer. Isaac Newton would calmly explain in plain English the reason we are talking so much about socialism is because the common man can’t seem to get ahead.
America always baked in a certain number of social programs to keep the populace feeling good about the future. It’s not necessary to rewrite the constitution to help the underprivileged get a foot up in economic downtimes or natural disasters. If the geniuses in D.C. understood history, they will remember that when there was no bread in France, the king lost his head.
Another thing that bugs me are these elitist rich guy comments from Trump’s team that are akin to the old “Let them eat cake!” JD Vance is guilty as charged. The administration should comprehend when the real hillbillies turn against you, you’ll have some real problems on your hands.
There is this notion, a truly unchristian-like attitude, that if you give people some bread, they will stop working to make their own bread. Poverty is not an American-only reality, but the countries who deal with it, generally are more stable politically. Remember that old line from Bob Dylan, “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose” from Like a Rolling Stone. Poor people don’t steal because of greed; they do so because of need.
The heartache is driven by the reality that the people given the most airtime are there for entertainment or to feed a drama based on conflict. Those on the far right or far left never take the time to fully understand the impact of their words. Truth died with Trump and there will be no resurrection until he’s gone.
Sure, you can denigrate me and I could either shut up or move, but this is just as much my country as it is for those self-ordained ideologues. After all, I’m just a kid from Pittsburgh; I’m not your enemy.
I love America but I’m getting a little tired of the hype, lies and blame we hear daily. Must we, as the world’s wealthiest nation, suffer through this misguided effort. The current politicians who have captured our government seem to have all the wrong priorities.
Sure, we have enough money to feed 333 million people, especially school children, but we would rather have the magic wand of capitalism do its work, even if it means cutting social programs.
The one part of the budget that wastes the most money is the military. We want to be protected, and this writer doesn’t want to “defund the police” or the army, but we’ve got to understand the ramifications of our actions. Do we really need another trillion-dollar war?
Recently I heard someone say, “You know if the president was smart, he would…” and then they state an obvious solution to some vexing problem. Well, are we to assume that the President of the United States cannot see a solution right before his eyes? Well, we’ve seen him in office for more than six years and he appears to be an incurable disease.
He is either talking too much, taking bad advice, or only hearing what he himself believes to be true. The rest he ignores. When you declare you know more than everyone, how could anyone possibly counsel you, Mr. President?
There doesn’t seem to be any discussion, it’s just “ready, fire, aim.” Being a good leader means you’ve got to see the bigger picture. You must comprehend that everything you do must be put through the “cause and effect” analysis. For example, if you wanted to get Iran to do what you want them to do, you would first secure the Strait of Hormuz. And you would do this before you bombed them.
Sure, hindsight is always 20/20 but, in most cases the current POTUS is not a particularly good listener. This is the man who made fun of “global warming” and denies “climate change.” The danger of his miscalculations is quite apparent. Massive fires are out of control and will destroy people’s livelihood and homes. Other cities have flooded streets and roadways. We are seeing the hottest temperatures in history which help produce high winds and tormenting rain. There appears to be zero plans to solve the misery of the people. The White House just lives in its own news cycle.
One would think the “real priorities” are wrapped up in reflecting pools, ballrooms and getting his name on a theater in DC rather than focusing on the real disasters. The redundant rhetoric and cantankerous claims of the leader of the free world are really getting tired.
A botched attempt at war drove up inflation. Tariffs have driven up prices. No one is screaming back on Capitol Hill. The answer to things is much simpler than these lackies that make it seem. If I hear one more person tell me that I don’t understand something because it’s complicated, I think I will throw up. And the first target of my regurgitation will be RFK Jr.
Take the current problem of drinking water in Puerto Rico. Nobody in the administration seems to care. Even news reporters attempt to get through to Trump by reminding us that Puerto Ricans are American citizens. Why haven’t we gone to places like Aruba to see how they turn saltwater into drinking water? They’ve been doing it for almost one hundred years. Every time we move forward on a plan to do the same thing, the government says it’s too expensive. It’s water, we must pay for water ANYWAY, so why not tap the ever-enlarging ocean? The dimwitted wannabe demigods in D.C. can’t see solutions that could help real people.
Most of the elected fools only live for talking points and political posturing and propaganda. Now they turn to the old boogeyman offering and use FEAR as the motivation in asking for their vote. DATA CENTERS have been around for decades. They are already in your backyard; you just didn’t know where they were. Now, with all this hype on AI and invading buildings that will “use up all our electricity and water.” They are telling us, “We must stop these guys.” More development from big tech is a problem for you. Really? People tend to use technology as a God-given right. The anti-data centers conspiracy theory is rich, knowing how many politicians took contributions from those same tech bros coming to take land and build a large building.
First, they told us to ban Critical Race Theory, which by passing laws against even talking about it, means it’s not a theory, it’s REAL. The “theory” for those who care, was an observation that white people will pass laws to keep the Black man down. Or at least quiet.
Then they moved to “woke theory,” where if you had progressive thoughts and a modicum of empathy and ultraism, you were the enemy. The maga men marched in to destroy DEI because diversity was “un-American?” This coming from the grandsons of German and Italian immigrants. Newborn bigots.
Now the new enemy is the old gripe of “not in my backyard” or NIMBY. Let’s trick the voters into voting against data setters, which sooner or later will be approved anyway. With the billions of dollars being spent on AI, big tech will not be stopped. But there is an answer right there before our eyes.
Why not get something for our “troubles?” Communities should demand wealthy data firms build wind turbine farms, or large solar farms and powerful water treatment plants. Why can’t we all benefit? Imagine if all your electricity and water were free. Why aren’t we talking about compromise? The citizens are already using the data from these centers; they just don’t realize it.
Instead of constantly telling us what is wrong with America, why not start looking for real solutions? Why not focus on how to lower the prices of food, healthcare and help people with affordable home loans? Most right-winged political operatives are trying to make us hate each other by calling people communists, when the people in Washington are ignoring those wife beaters, child abusers and pedophiles in their midst.
Why don’t we ask, “If we take this action or make this law, is the result good for the majority of America?” The laws they write with some claim of progress only pay back a small cadre of investors. They shouldn’t be called “donors,” they should be called “bribers.” Helping large donors get richer doesn’t seem like “America First,” at all.
The ideological manipulation of laws on the local level must stop. These nefarious rules and policies tend to disenfranchise voters. We don’t need a fast talking lying grifter to waste our money. It’s not your money, it’s OUR money, Donald. I don’t need a billion-dollar ballroom, but there are some kids in states that voted for you that are going without breakfast at school. Why?
The current corruption executed by this White House proves the president has lost his way, and our real priorities have been ignored. Maybe he’s just too old or isolated or angry to do the right thing. The solutions are right in front of him. It’s not too late to figure it out. The answer is right before our eyes. We need to end the Donald J. Trump presidency.
I might be old-fashioned, but I like my church separated from my state and prefer my media be guarded from unreasonable and unlawful interference from the government. I do feel we’ve lost our core values these days.
I suggest it might be better to post a framed copy of the First Amendment in American classrooms rather than the 10 Commandments. I would make sure the First Amendment was boldened:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
It’s pretty clear but it doesn’t talk about ownership of the press or whether some wealthy person might be able to buy up all the published newspapers when it ran a story a privileged person didn’t like. But isn’t that where we are right now?
Not too long ago, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and thus the government held that a company or person could only own 7 AM radio stations, 7 FM radio stations and 7 TV stations. I’m not sure how the Commission determined 7 was the right number, but that seemed to work. It gave America a variety of opinions, formats and coverage.
Of course, from the beginning, each station had to prove they were serving the community or as the official language goes, “the public interest.” There used to be a joke in the media business, ownership of a broadcast facility was a license to print money. During the Clinton administration, deregulation took away ownership limits, and the bankers and investors took over Radio and TV.
Companies with big pockets could not only program radio and TV stations but also create networks which were less regulated but very lucrative. NBC’s radio network became so large and powerful that the government stepped in and split the network into two, with one sold off to create ABC in 1943.
The role of the state has always been to protect the public from one man or one party or one corporation’s opinion dominating the minds of America.
Our very strong antitrust regulations were designed to guarantee fair trade, a ban on monopolies and price fixing and generally, a level playing field for all. We want to make sure monopolies don’t run roughshod over customers and competitors in America; it’s part of who we are. The big sharks in the water will feed on the little fish, and it’s gotten out of control.
Who does control the content we watch and consume? The entertainment business gets its content from the major film studios. The big five are Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and Sony Pictures.
Paramount, along with its parent company SkyDance Media run by David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison, wants to buy up as much as possible and because both father and son are such big Trump supporters, they are getting unreasonable treatment and green lights without proper hearings.
When you own a studio, you will also own many cable channels, like Paramount: Paramount Network, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT, TV Land, LGBTQ+, Nickelodeon, BET, MTV2, MTV Classic, Smithsonian Channel and Showtime. But Ellison wants to own more.
SkyDance Media wants to take over: TBS, TNT, TCM, TruTV, HBO, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Investigation Discovery, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and wait for it, CNN. Why would one entity own all this programming and influence?
The FCC was granted a special charter that gave them the duty to unify regulations. No state can rule on broadcasting in the USA. The commision was also there to prevent TV or radio interference on a technical level and protect the public from nefarious players who might ignore public interest. That definition of public interest and community standards has been abused by the FCC in the past.
Under the Trump administration, the FCC has been damaged by a lack of appointees. Where we should have 7 commissioners, we have only three! Why?
The law states the majority party may have most seats on the FCC but the chairman is usually from the president’s party, not sure why that’s right but most of Washington makes up the rules as they go along. I certainly don’t feel properly represented with only one Democrat on the FCC.
Chairman Carr
The real problem with the FCC is its chairman, Brendan Carr who acts as Trump’s puppet. Here is a question, how could it be that in order for the Redstone family to sell CBS to the Ellison family, Stephen Colbert had to be fired? This far-fetched fraud that the number one show in that slot was canceled for financially reasons is, as Richard Nixon would have said, poppycock!
And now Paramount wants to merge with Warner Brothers. There is no way the FCC and das commissar Carr would approve this merger if Comcast or a Democratic billionaire wanted to buy it. How did Warners end up owning so much of America’s media landscape?
Clearly, it’s time the court steps in. The lawsuit brought by twelve state Attorney Generals has merit and must be taken seriously. While this is going on, Carr is attempting to eliminate the 35% ownership penetration rule, which could mean, one person, or one corporation could control ALL BROADCAST and CABLE COMPANIES.
My solution: first CNN should be put into a public trust governed by a special free-speech Commission with three Republicans, three Democrats and one independent. They would be appointed to five-year terms after congressional approval via the congressional hearing process.
Like “Ma Bell,” the Warner Brothers properties must be broken apart and sold to groups with no attachment to Skydance and the Ellison family. This ownership conundrum, if not dealt with right now, will create a biased control of opinion and facts.
CBS News under Ellison’s has already shown that Skydance is not worthy of greater penetration and expansion into the media landscape of America.
Next the FCC must immediately get to a full quorum with seven commissioners. Brendan Carr must be replaced. He’s proven by his threats, pronouncements and actions is not protecting the public interest. More specifically, Mr. Carr is biased.
There you have it, fair and balanced and better for America. Please call your Congress person and warn them.
When I first made notes for this piece, I was trying to figure out what to call the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. My first choice, “asshole,” but I felt would have violated the commission’s previous rulings on bodily functions, so I moved to “horse’s ass.” That too, seemed a bit rurally motivated, so I settled on “jackass.” The term originates from the Latin word “asinus” meaning donkey, combined with “jack” to indicate the male gender.
Donkeys are generally shorter than horses or bulls. And the fact his father was one of Nixon’s lawyers makes this Trump revenge tour feels like the old “enemies lists” of Tricky-Dicky. We should remind our readers; Nixon resigned from office after we found out he was complicit in a robbery in an attempt manipulate an election.
Why do we even have an F.C.C.? We already have this: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” But the origin of the agency, ah, I mean, commission was more a technical rule maker and licensing agency than overseer of truth or facts.
The donkeys at the FCC obviously don’t know the law. The Federal Communications Commission does not have the power to censor radio and television broadcasts, as it is expressly prohibited from doing so by the First Amendment and Section 326 of the Communications Act. The government cannot preview content before it airs, ban specific political viewpoints, or pull a station’s license because an official dislikes a host’s commentary. One would assume a blanket power of eliminating dissenting voices would be a violation and a strong form of censorship.
The original Communications Act of 1934 required broadcasters to operate in the “public interest,” but also gave the President broad authority to manage or control communication channels during wartime or a national crisis. Congress needs to better define the word “crisis” due to the 47th President’s misuse of the term. We are not in a crisis, Mr. Carr.
Congress never viewed the “public airwaves” as the same as print publication. The theory here is the air — molecules of ether — are in the public domain and therefore, no one person or company can own the frequencies, they just “rent” the channel for a term. To gain renewal one must meet certain “public interest” requirements. The small number of revocations were done so because of obvious violations such as fraud, technical non-compliance or lack of use of the license.
The Commission is not a court, but many of their decisions have landed in courts. And over time, we have learned that protecting children is one argument that gave us the famous 1978 “Seven Dirty Words” Supreme Court decision, which clarified what is “indecent” speech and set a vague precedent for what shouldn’t be broadcast. If you want to know about the “seven dirty words case” just google it. It involved a non-commercial radio station in New York City.
Howard Stern came under the microscope at the F.C.C. and because of complaints about what some thought was obscene or indecent speech, stations were fined. The shit storm in this case was more about sexual innuendo and suggestive language not only from the performers and DJs, but also a Congressional investigation of the lyrics of rock songs. You may not remember but leading the charge against this need to warn us about lyrics was Al Gore’s wife, Tipper. The result; those warning stickers on CDs and albums.
During the 1990s, the F.C.C. focused more on the so-called “shock jocks” and fined Stern specifically, $2.5 million. The penalties were levied against licensees of Howard’s show between 1990 and 2004. That was the most for any radio program and motivated him to move to the less regulated satellite radio platform.
I remember writing an article defending Howard Stern by asking a simple question, if a performer on the air uses a euphemism or innuendo, wouldn’t that show a desire to not say the forbidden word or phrase? Why is avoiding the more gross way of depicting something wrong? But the F.C.C. in many of the cases, held that innuendo just as offensive as the actual term or depiction. This wasn’t the first time the government told us what we meant.
They focused on “bodily functions” humor and part in their logic was to protect the kids until later at night when they were supposedly sleeping. Kids today are up all night on their phones and can watch, read and listen to whatever they want.
Speaking of mean girls, Brendan Carr is just another short-little, inside-the-beltway bitch who loves Donald Trump more than our country, the law or the constitution. Just listen to him, he’s not serving the public, he’s serving his golden idol and himself.
One of things I have to say about all these political appointee maga-manical people is how thin their collective skins seem to be and how dense they are with nuance and humor. Brendan Carr is known for quick quips and quotes, which he thinks are funny. I am here to tell you; BRENDAN CARR is not funny. Even a jackass is funny three times a day; yes, that is a bodily function joke. Trump thinks he’s funny as well, but the truth is, we are not laughing at $4 a gallon gas. NOT FUNNY!
Here are some facts. The Redstone family, who owned CBS wanted to sell the company. Larry and David Ellison (Oracle) are very friendly with Donald Trump and put together money from international sources — including the Saudis — and bid to buy CBS and Paramount. Trump told Carr to tell the Redstones the only way they could consummate the deal is if they first fired Stephen Colbert. CBS fired him, and then the deal was approved. They can deny it all they want, but those are the facts.
Then, Trump wanted to go after Jimmy Kimmel because he doesn’t like his jokes and critical opinions, so Carr threatened the licenses of ABC. After Kimmel criticized the way the maga world was handling comments about an accused assassin of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, Kimmel was taken off the air. When viewers revolted and executed massive cancellations at Disney Plus, Kimmel returned to his job. Even the conservative owner/operators (affiliates) who kept him off a week longer, finally deflected Carr’s threats and put Kimmel back on TV.
Brendan Carr’s comments about “doing things the easy way or the hard way,” alarmed not only hard core First Amendment people, but also conservative and libertarian types of all stripes. Carr attempted to use political equal time rules to go after ABC and confused the definition of entertainment and news programming. At the stroke of his pen, Carr unilaterally expanded the rule to include many talk show interviews that were previously exempt. Clearly, this should have been done by the book. Chairman Brendan can’t just make laws, Congress does.
And in case you were wondering, Reagan eliminated the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, which was created in 1949. In June 1987, Reagan vetoed a bill passed by Congress that would have written the Fairness Doctrine into federal law. Following the veto, the FCC voted to abolish the doctrine, arguing it violated broadcasters’ First Amendment free speech rights.
Back to the letter of the law, 47 US Code Section 326 says, nothing in this section “shall be understood or construed to give the Commission the power of censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted by any radio station, and no regulation or condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall interfere with the right of free speech by means of radio communication.” So, why can’t someone bring Brendan Carr to the woodshed? Because Congress is negligent in their duties to oversee this body.
As much as I hate the “what about them” argument we hear all the time, well, here goes. Fox News is a cable channel, therefore, doesn’t need a federal license to operate, but Fox does own TV stations and their licenses were never put under a microscope when they knowingly broadcast false information about the 2020 election. They, and other news networks were sued by the company that makes voting machines and during discovery we saw the Fox commentators’ intent to deceive the American public. No challenges, no big press conference, Rupert Murdoch’s company just paid the money, just like they did when sexual harassment in the workplace was found. Another possible reason for revocation of their licenses.
Surely, we can point to this Napoleonic self-serving twit heading the F.C.C. as nothing more than Trump’s beast of burden; the jackass following the large horse’s ass in the White House. Brendan is just another Trump sycophant phoney and his “aggressive” activities at the Commission must be stopped by Congress.
As Carr said in the recent Financial Times interview that he believes it’s his duty to “fix journalism.” Really? I ask the question, is journalism broken because you don’t like what the news people are reporting, or are you really trying to force your viewpoint, political beliefs and sense of humor on America?
Mr. Carr has already admitted the F.C.C. is not an independent institution. He’s admitting openly and publicly that the commission is a tool for Donald Trump to use, and as Carr declared, “Trump is winning.” His illusion of absolute power is wrong. Brendan is far more corrupt and believes his opinions are more important than the American right for a free press. He is repulsive. Remember, before Colbert was fired the Late Show was #1 in the time slot. People liked him and watched every night.
My idea for a T-shirt is a picture of a jackass and the words, “Nothing will get better until they are all gone.” The first person I would eliminate from the government would be Brendan Carr because he is the enemy of the Constitution.
From the beginning of time, when someone had something you wanted, you either forced the person to give it to you or you used a more efficient and civilized method to get it. The fastest and least bloody approach was to buy or trade or barter for it. Fair trade is simple: both parties leave satisfied with the transaction. It’s always been important to maintain goodwill with a trading partner because possible future exchanges are always on the table.
The level of demand for available supply is a key factor in determining price. When supply is low and demand is strong, one can charge more.
When the world got smaller, goods originating in one place could be purchased to be sold freely in other places with prices that satisfied both seller and buyer. No one country could produce everything it needed or what its people came to want, so trading partners looked at price and quality first, not the location of production. So long as you got what you wanted, the cycle was free to operate organically.
After World War II, we sent business experts to Japan to help with the country’s recovery after it surrendered to the United States. After all, we had dropped two atomic bombs on their industrial centers and killed more than 250,000 people. Completely apart from any moral question — and at the time, military experts had calculated more than 268,000 American lives would be lost in a ground invasion — it was good for business. Good until the mid-’60s, when the United States began showing a trade deficit with Japan. My first transistor radio was made in Japan and most of the electronics I’ve purchased over the years have come from Asian markets.
Trade deficits can solve as many problems as they create, but in our country, running trade deficits has increased the buying power of Americans and raised the standard of living for people who might not otherwise have had the money to enjoy the benefits of globalism in a balanced market. At the same time, our manufacturing base dwindled. We could not competitively produce things we bought from other countries.
American smarts have always driven new innovations around the world, but to manufacture the physical products, we needed to produce high quality at a lower price. The US looked at outsourcing our manufacturing to other countries to do that. We turned to globalism for the development of our ideas.
Mr. Trump’s closed mind on the aspect of globalism demonstrates his need for power and control, even if he must lie to keep it. His vindictive prejudicial attitudes will turn off the most hardened capitalist. The President believes that everyone around the world owes us something (from the beginning of time) and all those people selling and buying have been ripping us off? It’s not logical how America grew into the largest economy in the world by being abused by traders paying top dollars for our products. Senseless.
Apple computers and eventually iPhones are manufactured overseas to maximize profit for an American company, which in turn fired up innovation. They can be made more cheaply there — workers earn less, manufacturing is less stringently regulated. Research and Development (R&D) always costs a lot of money and every unit sold is paramount. This can be achieved faster in the borderless state of the mass market. It’s the same thing in pharmaceuticals.
Mass markets are the result of globalism, not localism. In a perfect world, one could have used tariffs to protect American workers more strictly but as we’ve painfully learned, more tariffs always mean higher prices.
While U.S. companies strive to regulate costs of production in part by suppressing wages, they seek to produce high-quality products. But in this country, keeping wages level cuts into buying power as other costs of production rise. Fluctuations in price have always been a burden on the middle class because most of us are on a fixed income. This is what creates conundrum of limiting the buying power of those who could benefit by a more fair-trade arrangement.
Trump always thinks he is the smart smartest guy in the room, but when his basic premise is wrong, he will hurt us. His insistence on only one right way gets in the way of the natural evolution of a marketplace, and I might add, science and innovation.
By constantly bragging how much he’s done for our economy, he fails to understand the two dynamics of globalism. His mantra of “America First” might resonate in politics, but in economics it’s based on the myth we must create everything here. We can’t. And the trickle-down economics promise is a large lie.
When prices go up because of wars, bad rules and policies American consumers get hurt. Simply saying it’s “temporary” makes it seem like we will get some rebate further down the road for the expensive gasoline we bought now. We won’t.
Trump’s inability to admit he’s wrong could not only hurt the economy but hurt and kill people. It already has. His lack of empathy isn’t a good business model. It’s only going to damage us in the long run. There is already a brain-drain to other countries due to healthcare, research and university cuts. When other countries bring innovation to the market, we generally will have to pay more for it.
Slicing most of the money for cancer research is so short sighted and reckless it’s amazing that more citizens aren’t circling the White House and screaming bloody murder. It’s obvious Trump’s policies are not popular and even some of his closest advisers are reported to be frustrated. Although it’s doubtful Trump ever hears the mild dissent inside.
Trump appears to be ready to protect Artificial Intelligence from state regulation by knee-capping local lawmakers. This action is directly opposite to his sales pitch of always saying he wants to give states more power. It’s just another lie.
Donald Trump can attempt to manipulate the stock market with his tweets and diatribes but he’s not aware of what’s really going on. The support he has now from the very rich is just as transactional as Trump is himself. If he screws up the economy this year and the Democrats take the House and Senate in the midterms, these same cheerleaders will turn against him. The American oligarchs will start their search for another puppet they can manipulate for their personal gain.
In the early 1900s, Leon Festinger an American psychologist coined the term “cognitive dissonance,” and it was an amazing observation. It’s not a complicated term, it simply means holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values or attitudes and exhibiting behavior that conflicts with those beliefs. This psychological tension motivates people to attempt to reduce their inconsistencies by changing their behaviors, or rationalizing their actions or worse, ignoring conflicting information. This is Trump.
If you lose an election, you announce to the world the election was rigged, and you actually won the contest. In the chaos that follows, you claim victory. In many countries, this prolonged turmoil could take down a democracy.
The Iran war is just another demonstration of his lack of clarity. For whatever reasons Donald J Trump throws out, he believes the many different beliefs, values and attitudes he states at any given time is all he needs to justify his war. If you distill all the opinions and misinformation, one realizes he was started a war with Iran because he doesn’t like them. Recently he even admitted he really had no desire or intention to negotiate with Iran. He claims to want to forge a new restrictive nuclear treaty, but no country believes him. He’s lost all credibility with the world.
Donald’s inability to understand what was in the last treaty — the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) he tore up within days of taking office — isn’t as important as his personal opinion. He just wants to punish the government of the Islamic country because they wouldn’t give him total control. He said he wanted to pick the new leader of the country himself. And he tells the press, only he can determine when the war is over, saying, “I’ll feel in my bones.” Could that be the bone spurs talking?
In Trump’s mind it was easier and more efficient to bomb a country than wait for a negotiated compromise? It feels like the true crime plot where the husband kills the wife because he thinks it’s easier than divorce. Sure, it made a hell of a show demonstrating American military might, but why? But this is not a TV show, this is real life, with real people having to deal with the hell of war. Was his reason for jumping the gun now, just a large nudge from Netanyahu?
What Trump fails to sell properly to America is this notion that he’s helping the Iranian people by bombing the Iranian people. It’s the dissonance he produces with a claim he should get a peace prize while killing people. It’s not some form of “tough love,” it’s more like what a dangerous abusive father does to his kids when he “teaches them a lesson.” It’s not logical and it smells like Putin.
Could this whole Iran conflict be part of a larger plan to take all the oil in the world? He said oil prices going up helps the USA. Really? What economic reality does he live in?
Sure, the leaders of Iran threated to destroy Israel and openly stated they would like to murder our president, but if you judged our president by his words and actions, you might conclude he promotes violence against citizens who disagree with him and he is a colossal failure at quelling the growing hate in America. We might say, he’s feckless, and not unlike the people he professes to be saving Iran from.
If Trump were to bomb every country in which their leaders, (elected or not) hold absolute power over their people, we would have World War III. Not to mention the president, who is the titular head of a movement in this country that believes in theocracy, is determined to bring to its knees the kind of theocracy the militant Christians seeks here. Remember the leader in Iran is called the Supreme Leader, like a deity.
I remember a business associate once declaring “a great salesman always falls in love with another talented salesperson.” I’ve adjusted it a bit with, “a con man or wannabe dictator always has an affinity for others who bully, manipulate and con their way through life. But in the case of Iran, our salesman-in-chief wants to do him one better. We must ask ourselves why. The military conflict did dilute the Epstein coverage.
Lies can be employed, but in today’s diverse media landscape, microchip world, the truth and facts tend to land simultaneously and to your preferred political cocoon. In music when two or more notes clash or sound off the term is dissonance. The sound is ugly and the reaction by most listeners is repulsion. When one lies most of the time, eventually the lie gets toppled by the facts and the truth. When this happens, the liar begins to look incompetent, or even stupid. It’s gets worse when the sycophants around the president try to launder the lie.
Cognitive dissonance creators like Trump, can’t seem to get out of the way of their own message. That might explain why it feels as if our president shows deference to Kim Jong Un, another supreme leader or Vladimir Putin, elected de facto president for life. I’ve never believed giving Putin a pass was good for America, but Trump just doesn’t show strength toward most strong men because he’s in awe of their success. He wants to be them, if we’d only let him.
If you are MAGA loyalist, you might argue, “just have faith.” Sure, he’s the president, but in this country, he can’t justify his heavy-handed logic when people are starving to death or die for lack of medical attention, and worse, shot to death in our streets. Just because you think your guy is right doesn’t make it right. Every action and deed must be judged on moral and sound justifications.
The man says no more foolish and costly wars, while he carries out the start of a war that will cost more than ONE BILLION dollars per day. Right now, President Trump is now in conflict with candidate Trump. Did he lie about “no more wars” just to get elected? What is extremely annoying is Trump’s weakness of being easily seduced and manipulated by Neo-Cons like Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham. They talked him into bombing Iran. The greatest challenge here: Who else might manipulate our president?
When Donald Trump brags about how great it was to arrest and extract the leader of Venezuela, he forgets the government didn’t change. Political prisoners are still being held. He’s apparently thinking about doing the same in Iran. Just bomb, say you won and walk away. But let’s be sober here. Not everything can be Joe Biden’s fault. Trump must own his own war.
The effects of this cognitive dissonance can be mental fog in which new information struggles to surface. And this constant defending his harmful behavior makes him seem so defensive and silly. It seems to me we have arrived at the foggy bottom of his brain. Every question Trump is asked is answered through the filter “how will this make me look?” The truth only serves a purpose if it contributes to the “looking good” part.
His use of ad hominem in almost every speech and press conference doesn’t move anything forward. It’s how he deflects from delivering bad news. He fills our collective brains with so many complains about Democrats or other evil forces he hopes the person listening will miss the point. This cluttering the mind lessens his meaning or worse, nullifies his major point and clouds the communication.
President Trump is even guilty of disagreeing with himself in the same paragraph. The latest Hamburger Helper he dishes out is a notion that both comments could be true. He thinks it makes him look thoughtful or word wise. It makes him seem indecisive and scattered. He creates an illusion, a space in his own mind where he’s always right, therefore he closes the door, and no new information gets in.
He says everything is fine one day, then, the next day we learn what he said wasn’t true. The Strait of Hormuz was shut down by Iranian forces. The question most reporters failed to ask Trump, “Why didn’t you position our Navy to keep the passageway open before you started a war?” When asked about a report from the Pentagon that the US did bomb a school where at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed, Trump said, “I don’t know anything about it,” More cognitive dissonance. He’s the Commander in Chief of our military forces; wouldn’t he know if we hit the wrong target? You can’t deny everything you don’t want to talk about. America deserves to know the truth.
Truth, opinions and lies are not interchangeable. Each one has its own power. Some might argue that a big opinion could become a truth, while lies if said enough start to seem true.
There’s a crude saying from the street, “Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.” (And if the logic continues, if we didn’t have “one” we would truly be “full of it.”)
It’s humorous to me when someone says something so obviously unbelievable, we are quick to declare the statement “Bullshit.” In the aftermath of the shootings at a high school in Parkland, Florida, the callback during the student speeches was “I call B.S.” It’s become a common reaction when kids are lied to by adults.
Most of my life I’ve been on a quest to know the facts, find the truth and to live my life with the lowest amount of that so-called B.S.
Growing up in the Vietnam War era, we had to deal with President Richard Nixon’s lies, the Pentagon coverups during the war and the angry cries of protesters. I was certain the adults were lying to us back then as well.
As I tripped my way through math and science as a student, I might not have excelled with equations and formulas, but I sat in wonderment when someone pointed out the amazing outcomes of mathematical puzzles. Math could prove itself, whether you agreed or not. It didn’t lie; it simply is. Most science reaches toward that same certitude.
But much of what cannot be proven or is yet to be proven seems painfully up for debate these days. Humans have this need to predict the future; just ask a sports bettor. But we also try to make sense of the present by piecing together an illuminating picture of our past. For example, in the realm of social sciences, the argument that “slavery was good for the slaves” is laughable, if it weren’t so heartless. Slavery of any kind is wrong. Owning the life, hope and destiny or freedom of another human being for any purpose, no matter how “benevolently,” cannot be justified.
And when you get into the discussion of religious dogma, you can expect some emotional push back when you pronounce that it was evolution and not creationism that got us here. There are people who just cannot conceive of a more complicated beginning for the planet and life on this wonderful blue and green ball in the sky.
The world is not just 5,000 years old, it’s more like 4.54 billion years old but even with the certainty developed from evidence provided by science, it seems like every other day we find a fossil that says, “Hold on, we might be even older than we thought!” One great thing about science is that it never stops exploring, experimenting, reaching and discovering which proves another fact about human and planetary existence. It looks to the past and present to predict the future.
One can claim the Holy Bible is the beginning of all truth and the only science you’ll ever need, but it’s just a compilation of 40 different writers who didn’t have to prove anything they wrote 2,000 years ago. (How do they know they got it right?) They wrote for their times, and what was known of their world. Scientific study evolved from the human tendency to carry the past into the future.
Some science has pretty simple roots. It began when we figured out what we could eat and what plants, vegetables or fruits were poisonous. By observation — and sometimes by accident — humans learned what was safe and dangerous to eat. (Someone had to give their life in these test groups) We trusted clan leaders could determine and declare what was off limits.
Perhaps the whole story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden “evil fruit” has its roots in protecting villagers from death. (This was a motivator and the beginning of kosher laws and eventually, the state ordained Food and Drug Administration.
In the 21st century in the United States, we should expect the public to trust a scientific study dealing with food safety. Surely the public should trust an agency that keeps them from harmful food. Some of us take an FDA warning label which is based on testing and observation as truth. While others dismiss it with a wave of their hand and, “Ah, that’s just their opinion.” That viewpoint gains momentum when conspiracy theorists amplify and elevate an opinion to the level of fact. Once this rumor has legs, disruptors use it as proof that people the government are constantly lying. But which ones are lying?
A warning for the pontificators and promoters of false concepts, just because you cannot pronounce the name of an ingredient, doesn’t mean it’s bad for you. And just because your limited experience in each area did not result in a disaster does not mean everything is safe for everyone. You should be afraid of what you don’t know.
When a certain president of the United States suggested people could ingest bleach to ward off COVID, I realized we’d jumped past truth and right into the dark hole of charlatanism.
Quackery has been with us forever. The ancient belief that sacrificing a virgin would help grow better crops in that season didn’t sit well when smarter people in the community pointed out that it didn’t seem to make a difference. (Or perhaps they were running out of virgins?)
This was the notion of “cause and effect” at work. It may have been the beginning of early scientific discovery helping mankind find real conclusions through observation.
We have sold our souls to the devil millions of times throughout history. When things were going poorly, we needed to blame someone, so we invented a villain we called “the devil.” It was a great story that justified many cultural shifts and laws.
But we needed some polarity in the afterlife, so we also while we longed for a place called heaven, we also created the devil’s domain, Hell. It made sense back then, if you’re good and followed the rules, you got to go to paradise and live forever. Of course, if you were wicked you were sent to a burning hell forever. One aspect was a motivator and reward, while the other was meant to be a deterrent.
Theology, the systematic study of religious faith, practice, experience, and belief, which is primarily focused on the nature of divinity, it not considered a science, while the Bible is classified, “non-fiction,” so I guess it’s an authorized historical work. Having faith and belief is not proof, but if it makes you feel good, go for it.
There’s supporting evidence in what scientists now call climate change — global warming being too dire a suggestion for people to contemplate (sure sounds like hell on earth). We will argue and offer opinions about how to solve and survive what is happening because of a polluted atmosphere. Changes to the global condition can be documented and measured, but you cannot join the solution committee without accepting current scientific facts. Seemly saying something is a hoax is lazy governance.
There are those who have too much power over policies who are lying about climate change every day. They see a quicker payout for themselves. Well, that’s my opinion, but the facts are on my side.
We have those who are imposing their will on us and trying to force a lie into fact but sooner or later, they will not be able to deny that flooding is not good for farming, or worse, with no water, nothing grows. Nothing grows; we all die. Plight of important pollinators adds to this danger.
The desire to ignore painful facts and truth reached through scientific study is America’s greatest vulnerability. At some point, we may find through additional study our first lessons need to be revision, but it’s additional studies, not more opinions that we need.
But if we continually believe in false prophets and presidents who live in a world of fantasies, misinformation and greed for their own ends, we will be forced to take greater, more expensive measures to cure bad science. Will there be time for that?
Once again, we must remember, truth should be the goal of a thinking society.
It was very logical for our forefathers to put the Department of Justice under the executive branch. They knew all too well over-zealous, self-serving politicians in Congress might use the Justice Department to detain, arrest or incarcerate their enemies.
The founders probably believed the courts would block the weaponization of the law enforcement part of our government. I believe the authors of the constitution were a bit optimistic. Understandably they never believed a tyrant would be elected to head up the executive branch, but to make sure, they added the concept of impeachment, a trial with the potential conviction of the president. This was a good effort of checks and balances of three so-called equally powerful branches of government.
We are now in the throes of a debilitating constitutional crisis because this president has indeed used his power against American citizens, our institutions and large corporations. Even though impeachment of Donald Trump failed twice, there remains a lot of doubt and speculation of his level of decency.
It feels like the letter, spirit and definition of justice has lost its power in America. Trump doesn’t know when to shut up. The more he talks the more lies find their way onto the front pages and the screens we hold. He lies like a King, a royal father with immunity. Isn’t that powerful king the motivation for our revolution in 1776?
The recent government force being used against immigrants, no matter what their status, proves that Trump lied about which immigrants would be rounded up. It’s just another reason the current administration can NOT be trusted. When legal citizens become collateral damage, something is WRONG!
The government is known to have brought violence to our streets and cities. Remember the Kent State and Jackson State assassinations in 1970? Six college students were gunned down by National Guard troops. The powers in Washington show they dislike the First Amendment. It has been trampled on before but in the 1970s, it wasn’t the unrest and dislike of the president that brought Richard Nixon down. He participated in a break-in and robbery of the rival party’s headquarters in the Watergate complex. This malfeasance got Nixon busted, shamed and deleted from the office. In some ways, I wish he had been impeached, convicted and disqualified, at least we would know how that felt.
Back to Minneapolis, when overzealous protesters stormed a Cities Church where the pastor, David Easterwood, also serves as the acting field office director for Enforcement and Removal Operations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) several people were arrested for disrupting the service.
In America, churches and religion have a protected status and this is codified in the First Amendment. That reference was more about the ban on any type of state “endorsed or mandated religion,” than some kind of populace invasion of a place of worship.
Swept up in the arrests in Minneapolis at the church were two journalists: former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent reporter Georgia Fort. Clearly, the reporters werecovering the confrontation in the church, not participating.
Don Lemon
For some, this might appear a simple case of “cause celebrity,” but the chilling effect of the government spying on, detaining or arresting journalists creates a real constitutional crisis. After watching Lemon’s reporting, I can see undoubtedly the government (Pam Bondi, Donald Trump) have it all wrong.
Without the video that Lemon shot, the government wouldn’t have known what happened in the church. My advice to Americans, video everything, upload to a cloud and save it for judgment day. But to be clear, places of worship, no matter what they are called, are protected places, even Scientology. Does the reporting from inside a church nullify the journalist’s right to free speech? Only the court can say.
In 1994, Bill Clinton signed what’s known as the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act. Ironically, the Republican White House is now using an Act that was intended to protect women seeking reproductive health services (including abortions) to prosecute journalists covering “the news.” And now those reporters have made the news. That doesn’t make them less journalists. The DOJ is using this old law to prosecute Lemon and Fort
The FACE Act, focuses mostly on clinics, but to get the bill passed, they added in a restatement of fact on religious freedoms of the First Amendment. It’s clear the long arm of the law could use this act, but then, as it pertains to places of worship, one would assume when ICE goes into a place of worship to take people, they, too, are in violation of the FACE Act. The violation brings a $10,000 fine and up to six months in jail. But the legal question is, which part of the First Amendment are we honoring with these arrests of journalists?
ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, etc. spent millions attempting to bring us the news but they are not the only storytellers in today’s digital world. There are tens of thousands of reporters, journalists, and even an internet “influencer” is a reporter of sorts.
Georgia Fort
Disrespect for the “Free Press” is on display every day. May I remind my readers Donald Trump called the media reporters “the enemy of the people,” and he even told a reporter on Air Force One, “Quiet, Piggy!” He keeps saying he hates the press, but if no one showed up to cover him, he would break into their homes and drag them into the press room. He’s a drug addict. Trump needs his press “fix.”
The new litmus test for fairness is whether the Donald J. Trump likes the question or statement, not whether facts were involved. The power dynamic is all wrong and any journalist worth their salt knows Trump lies more than any president in the history of America.
Lemon will eventually get this case thrown out, but the money and time wasted is annoying and unnecessary. Whether you like Lemon is not the issue. The more Trump distorts the meaning of words like “biased,” “corrupt” and even the old worn out, “fake news” no one can say that he’s transparent, fair or thoughtful in anything he does. Journalists should know better, but protesters are not trained on where the line is, thus the death on both sides.
The Free Press is here to inform us and to call out the lies and bullshit that pours out of these sycophants’ mouths. If you listen to them now, they are saying it’s now wrong to carry a gun. Trump seems ready to take your guns away, especially if he doesn’t like you. And now, he wants to federalize the voting in each state, another colossal unconstitutional power grab.
The policies of this White House go against the First, Second and Fourteen Amendments, but the remedy for this unlawful behavior takes too long to resolve. It might be time for some serious judges to hold people in contempt and give those people “30 days in the hole.”
It’s clear Trump only believes his own truth and his own lies and will never be held accountable. He’s a runaway train and citizens waiting for the train will be sacrificed for one man’s agenda. More people will die because of his corruption, poor judgment and lack of true leadership.
What happens when the fox has eaten all the hens in the henhouse? Will he then go after the farmer, the farmer’s wife and the farmer’s children. No one will be safe. He’s not just against immigrants; he’s against anyone who doesn’t get in line.
With all the journalistic power we have, it’s time to report the truth and help America heal from this disastrous man. You can be unbiased when you point out the lies and laws that are being broken. The administration’s actions sadly create media martyrs, who will get more coverage than they would if he just SHUT UP. Trump will never stop talking, and watch him closely, he’s going to talk us out of our civil rights away right up to the moment he’s forcefully extracted from the White House.
When I moved to Florida almost ten years ago, I was attending a fund raiser for our local botanical garden, and I sat next to a friend of one of my lawyers. She was an intelligent person, and I was enjoying our conversation, until she asked me a question, “What do you think of Donald Trump?”
To put this in context, I had moved here from New York where for 15 years prior, I had witnessed the antics and “P.T. Barnum act” and was quick to answer, “He’s an idiot.” That is where the conversation ended. She admitted she admired him and was prepared to give him money for his presidential run. It was at that moment I had to ask the question, why would intelligent people fall for this conman’s lies and fraud?
Trump likes to use the word, “hack” when he attacks people — no matter what line of work they are in. I get his meaning, a writer or journalist producing dull, unoriginal work, or someone who does repetitive, dull work. I find it quite confusing that when someone disagrees with him, or confronts a lie, or just asks a question “the wrong way,” Trump’s M.O. is always ad hominem. Better to strike the messenger and live to tell more lies tomorrow.
For the longest time I just didn’t understand him. Did Trump really believe the American public was so unaware and foolish that they would think this guy knew what he was doing? There is a quote that was all over the internet that when Trump was asked about running for president, he said if he did run, he would run as a Republican because those people were the dumbest voters. Well, it turns out, even though it sounds like something he would say, he never said it. So, with Trump, his denials and falsehoods, always have just enough truth to get online, in print or broadcast on TV.
He is a little like the kid who cried wolf, and then we find out, no reasonable person wants to believe him because he lies all the time. Trump’s lies, now numbering in the hundreds of thousands, are part of his personality. It is classic spoiled rotten youngest child, who continually craves the attention of, in this case, everyone. Read Mary L. Trump’s book and you’ll understand how this dastardly villain was created, but right now, we must deal with this lunatic as president.
Is he smart? Where I grew up, we used the phrase, “the gift of gab.” The person who has a gift of talking and talking until the audience either walked away or followed the person. Followings have a religious bent to it, and that was one of the mysteries of Donald Trump. Why would members of the church or the temple follow this guy like he was the new messiah? I’m over the logic that says, “God will send a flawed messenger to help the church.” Obviously, God did not vet this guy, his moral fiber is highly questionable.
Just because you can talk, close and convince people, doesn’t mean you are smart. I can introduce you to dozens of used cars salespeople with that talent. But more importantly do liars and conmen have your interest in mind? Trump is a mean old man who will continue to believe his own lies because he cannot conceive that he would ever tell a lie, therefore, anything he says, must be the truth. It is a sick cycle with the question looming over all of us, are we better off with, or without Donald Trump? We are almost ready to admit millions made a mistake with this guy.
I’ve written over one million words about this man, and I keep coming back to my original evaluation. I’m not deranged or sick or a hack, I’m just one blogger who truly believes that what he says and does is idiotic. As I said in 2016, this man will be bad for this country. But to the millions of people who truly believe Trump is the best president we’ve ever had, I cannot and will not waste your time (or mine) trying to convince you of your myopic uninformed ways. That’s your burden.
The real anger and hate for Trump in my heart is that he’s managed to tear up and divide communities, families, churches and society. He’s turned Americans against Americans, and I will NEVER forgive him for it. Trump believes he’s got some weird king-like immunity which we all can thank the Supreme Court for such a perversion of law. The court ruled that if whatever he says or does is part of his “official duty,” he’s immune. Okay, what if tomorrow he declared in his officialness of POTUS, all the Justices on the Supreme Court should be executed. How would they feel about granting any president that power — Well, they did.
It seems to me that tons of bad press, network rebukes and video tape of the administration actually committing crimes seems to get them to cautiously take back the lies but why lie in the first place? Sure, more protests, editorials, outrage, even from fellow Republicans, gets Trump attention. When I read this, I fell off my chair, according to the New York Times, Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s top aides, said they “may not have been following” protocol before they shot Pretti, who was on the ground, restrained and disarmed. After calling the guy who was murdered a domestic terrorist the day before, someone, probably Trump, told him to say that. And of course, the VP J.D. Vance said the agents have “total immunity” when they used lethal force. Then Vance denied he ever said that. What a pimp.
But two people are dead, and while RFK Jr. has created doubt about the efficacy of vaccines, more people will die because the dump president hires even dumber sycophants to run things. People who don’t care or don’t know anything are dangerous.
Trump has been running his whole life as a psychological experiment to prop up his ego, demand love from all humans and has no compunction about lying and denying. Why does he lie all the time? Sooner or later, more people will realize he is just an angry old man who lies all the time. His greatest hits of complaining about anyone, or anything that gets in his way is getting boring.
If the guy is so smart, why does it take him so long to reverse the policies he constantly blames Biden and Obama screwed up? Is life so complicated that the leader of the free world must constantly complain about windmills to make things better? Windmills lower the cost of energy. He cannot hold that fact in his brain.
And finally, when someone feels compelled to continually boast about and compliment themselves it’s called INSECURITY. He’s not smart, he is deeply doubtful about everything he does and speaks. He is a big fat TACO!
It’s not hard to see what is happening in the United States of America. The original idea of each state having enough input in this glorious experiment to form a more perfect union has been perverted beyond belief. Those who disregard our need for a shared ethos are extremely zealous politicians who have a general lack of comprehension of basic laws. These wannabe despots and dolts are being led by a demonic leader who defrauds the American public daily. Trump is the lowest form of cheating grifter.
What is the “American ethos” and why is it important? The ethos of any country is its unique moral nature, shared values, traditions and beliefs which define a national identity. Hopefully that ethos will guide a people’s behavior now and into the future. We need common bonds that should influence social order. When times get tough, it’s especially important to favor an ethos of national identity.
We’ve seen how quickly Americans can come together and create a collective narrative for good. We’ve also seen how quickly these great moments of moral melding can evaporate. We might love our country more, right after events such as 9-11, but we can’t seem to stay together for very long. Afte all, we are a very distractible group.
A good friend of mine came to this country from Georgia, the country South of Russia and was part of the USSR and Russia until 1991. Russia has bullied and tormented this country for years. When I asked my friend about Russia, she was quick to answer, “In Russia they always need someone to hate; someone to pick on.” And true to form, they always seem to be invading another country and killing people, wherever they believe their enemies are found.
America’s true north star should be peace and respect, but we too fall prey to a need to manipulate, micromanage or use the muscle of financial aid to control many sovereign nations. We will endorse violence and war to reset the geopolitical map. Speaking objectively, our success rate on nation building is not that good.
Korea is still a divided peninsula, Vietnam never wanted a democracy, Afghanistan is right back to where they were after Russia pulled out in 1998, and Iraq was not a successful war our intervention was based on a lie.
Russian is terrorizing Ukraine. Even though the USA and EU are sending billions in armaments and military equipment, the alliance has not been able to make Russia pull out of the country they invaded.
We are currently aiding and abetting Israel in what many people have judged is genocide toward the Palestinian people. But our current leader seems more excited about developing the land of Gaza than solving the conflict between two entrenched dogmas.
Donald Trump is the major reason we are losing our national ethos, but his sycophants will justify his jokes and action explaining that Trump wants to remodel our country and make it into his image, but what does that mean?
Mass shootings continued to plague our country and Trump’s team has done absolutely nothing to prevent the next event. They scream loudly when the shooter is a lefty but say little about the maniac when he’s from the far right.
The FBI is not good at crime under this administration. They just complain about it. They are sending the National Guard to the cities rather than sending more money for local law enforcement. Internationally, we end up looking less stable, less safe and more like a police state.
Is our national ethos really based on negative energy, put downs, bullying and vindictive actions to please one man’s ego? When the American audience at the Ryder Cup harassed, heckled and threw beer cans at the European golfers in 2025, I asked, “Is this who we’ve become?” Ugly Americans who act like Donald J. Trump.
We all must stand up to the bullies and the fake leaders. We must not forget that the President of the United States pardoned more than a thousand people who attempted to attack our government. Why did this happen? Because Trump approved of their actions. They broke the law, and Donald is constantly destroying the national trust in law.
With each outrageous and self-serving decision and action, Trump is killing the American ethos. They Republicans, even the Supreme Court seem comfortable with bringing back little bits of racism. Why did they make DEI illegal? When was diversity, equality and inclusion bad for Americans?
Trumps constant complaints and blame routine makes a mockery of the presidency and embarrasses the United States at home and abroad. They don’t respect us Donald, they are laughing at YOU!
For years we’ve heard the far right say, we needed to take our country back Oh really, who exactly had your country? I’ll tell you who has your country now, rich billionaires, unskilled politicians, grifters and dishonorable lawyers. They have the endorsement of the biggest liar in the world.
If we don’t get rid of Trump soon, we can bury any national ethos we might believe in. We can do it. No one wants to live in this era of resentment. Take a look at what resentment means: a feeling of indignant displeasure or persistent ill will at something regarded as a wrong, insult, or injury. The President of the United States walks around each day believing that he personally has been insulted, injured and uses this persistent ill will to hurt people. He’s not making America Great; he’s only making himself feel better. WTF?
The sad truth is we must deal with his insanity and hate for the next three years. Donald Trump resents anyone who doesn’t kiss his ass. So, if you want something from him, you must give him a gift, like you would for a needy dog or a crying child. It’s not transactional, it’s a weakness that will be exploited by anyone smarter than 47. We need to get back to a moderate, national ethos that cares about all the citizens. We must dump Trump, before he ruins America.
