The Dark Places

I’m sure I don’t need to repeat myself, but I’m going to anyway … I’m a fan of Heather Cox Richardson. 😊 I read every newsletter she writes … and recently started reading some of the comments as well.

Awhile back, I posted the comments of an individual who had written what I was thinking … and today, I found another person who expressed my thoughts. And maybe yours as well. In any case, for the benefit of those who might have missed it, following is a portion of Eric O’Donnell’s remarks in response to Heather’s most recent newsletter where she talks about recent and upcoming elections.

Trump touched the dark places in tens of millions of American souls. He awoke and aroused those who hate and fear cities, hated a black President, hated the smug entitlement of Hillary Clinton, hated being preached to about climate, hated the speed with which the new economy had trashed their towns and workplaces. Above all they felt looked down upon by others whom they perceived to be riding a higher horse.

The podcast “S***Town” opened millions of eyes to present day life in the poorer regions of the South. The characters in this extraordinarily interesting true saga live lives bereft of meaning. Their expressed philosophy, uttered before they do anything illegal, dangerous or profoundly anti-social, is “Fuck it.” Meaning this will probably bite me in the ass, but I’m going to do it anyway. How much worse can my life get?

Those are the people Trump galvanized. They’d been waiting decades for someone to spit on those whom they perceived to be elites and Trump did that and then some.

They followed him and gradually the movement became larger and larger, spreading like wildfire, propelling Trump to an election win that shocked everybody, including those who felt they were just along for a good ride.

Trump became a god to many of them. They would criticize nothing he did, twisting every evil word and deed around until they could make it sound moral or at least, justified in the opportunity to give “the elites” another well-deserved kick.

The movement became a cult. It is now fully engraved in the psyche of half – give or take – of America. Their fealty is limitless. “I’d walk behind Trump and clean up his shit”, one proud to be a Trump serf declared to the media just before the 2020 election.

These people are not going away. Democrats are going to lose key elections to them if the candidate makes the slightest error. And so, McAuliffe last night.

Here is the link to O’Donnell’s complete comment.
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Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

This Is Scary!

Scottie at ScottiesToyBox just posted the following excepts from this article at Salon.com. Rather than a regular repost, I wanted to give the article as much exposure as possible because the information is so downright scary!

One way or another, this guy MUST be removed from office!

The article is entitled:

Trump must remain in power to stay out of prison:
watch what he does after Senate acquits him

Excerpts:

He’s going to put the full weight of his Department of Justice behind efforts to suppress the votes of poor people, young people, blacks, Latinos, women, the LGBTQ community — in fact anyone likely to vote Democratic. He’ll call for “investigations” of every Democratic presidential candidate who’s going up in the polls and announce he’s got “dirt” on every one of them. He’s going to unleash an army of surrogate liars to spread falsehoods about his opponent. He’s going to go from one rally a week to two to three; maybe he’ll hold a rally every other night. He’s going to turn Air Force One into an airborne criminal command post.

He’s going to wave unindicted co-conspirator Rudy Giuliani like a red flag and tweet out every red-meat lie he blabs on Fox. Then he’s going to pardon his indicted co-conspirators like Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos and Roger Stone and line them up at rallies alongside the murdering war criminals he’s already set free.

Donald Trump is the O.J. of American politics. He murdered American democracy, and his search for the “real killer” produced a villain: Joe Biden.

(…)

Republicans have taken an openly sick delight in electing Trump. They are proud of him. He’s the perfect avatar of their party. All he cares about — and all his entire party cares about — is power. Impeaching Trump won’t remove him from office, and we’d better get serious about removing him at the ballot box. Republicans — Mitch McConnell, especially — have already shown us what they’ll do with the power they will seize with four more years of Trump. They’ll cram that nightmare down our throats.

They’ve already cut taxes for the wealthy and driven the budget into a hole. They’ve packed the federal courts with the simpering incompetent children of the Republican conservative “revolution” and jammed two yes-men punks onto the Supreme Court in a pure exercise of rank political power. If Trump is re-elected, they’ll strip-mine Social Security, murder Medicare and shred the social safety net, and they won’t stop there. Even as the dead bodies from one mass killing after another pile up in the schools, churches, streets and shopping malls, they’ll remove the few controls states have been able to put on gun ownership. They will turn voting into more of an exercise in futility than it already is. They’ll commit every crime they can to nullify the demographic changes that are on the horizon before new voters will have a chance to save us.

Remember … these are simply excerpts. Please read the entire article to get the FULL picture of the crisis that’s facing those of us who truly care about this country … and its people.

The Impeachment Circus

Did anyone else happen to watch yesterday’s Judiciary Committee impeachment proceedings? I watched them for awhile in the evening (my usual TV-watching time) and one thing stood out to me above everything else.

The Democrats again and again gave clear and concise REASONS — and cited evidence — for why President Trump should be impeached.

The Republicans, on the other hand, could do nothing more than lambaste the impeachment hearing, continually complaining about how the process was being handled. Even calling it a “kangaroo court.” Yet, from my perspective, the speakers on “their” side offered little to no defense to the claims presented by the Democrats against the president.

Essentially, it was just a bunch of whining.

While I admit I lean towards impeachment, it will be interesting to see what information the Republicans present when the impeachment action moves to their home territory.

Hopefully, after all has been said and done, the Moderates and Independents watching this circus will be able to ferret out the truth and make an informed decision next year at the polling stations.

One thing is for certain. Even if the Senate lets Trump off the hook, it does not mean his hands are lily white.

Nor does it mean he won’t continue to push the limits of his authority. Or make up his own …

Is It Socialism?

Essentially, I’m still on a break. For the most part, I’ve been able to work out my problems with the Quickbooks update, but I’m not quite ready to tackle a full post. Although I continue to read your blogs and occasionally add my thoughts, I think you’ll agree that’s a whole lot different than writing an entire post!

Having said that, one of the bloggers I follow occasionally tackles the subject of politics. From my perspective, it appears fairly obvious this writer thinks most Democrats lean toward “socialism” — and in this person’s mind, the word definitely carries a negative connotation.

A quote from a recent post: At its core, socialist policies are not meant to provide equality but rather to undermine freedoms. 

To reinforce his perspective, the blogger provided a link to this article. I’d be interested in your thoughts and reactions.

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Image by Pexels from Pixabay

This Is What They See

Excerpts from a letter in our local newspaper.

The writer starts out by saying that although he was not originally a Trump fan, he simply couldn’t support Hillary because of, well, all those BAD things she’s noted for. (He actually wanted Cruz.) However, as you will see from the following excerpts, he’s now a solid supporter.

First, he points out that “Congress has wasted 2 1/2 years to try to dump Trump because of so-called collusion with Russia, when the Democrats actually worked with Russia to get that info in the first place.”

(Note: I don’t think he understands the big picture.)

He continues by saying what a “waste of valuable time” it’s been in the attempts to “dump Trump” when we could have used the time to … “rebuild infrastructure to close the border with Mexico and stop the drugs.”

He continues …

What angers me most is that Democrats thought Trump was more important to dump than fixing roads and airports, stopping illegals flooding into America, ending drugs killing our younger population and the murdering of our newborns.

(Note: I wonder if he realizes that “fixing roads and airports” is part of the “infrastructure” that was supposed to be discussed at a recent meeting between the Democrats and Trump … that ended rather abruptly.)

Then he scolds the Democrats! “Shame on all of you that are still in that Democratic camp” … and tells them to “Stop hiding behind that donkey.”

And finally, the coup de grace:

Trump has decreased the tax rates, increased jobs, increased trade, appointed great men as Supreme Court judges and hundreds of district judges, eliminated federal regulations, fought MS-13 gangs, destroyed 95% of ISIS, reduced the killing of our policemen, backed up our military and 200 other important items.

He has kept his word in every aspect except where Democrats have blocked it in the House. Wake up people. You are destroying all we have built upon the last 200 years.

(Note: The Democrats have only been in control of the house for less than six months.)

I actually liked his phrase, “Wake up people.” In fact, I couldn’t agree more because it’s pretty apparent he and others like him really need to wash the sleep out of their eyes.

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This letter clearly demonstrates the views of approximately 40-45% of the U.S. population. Less than half. Yet that group of people have dug their heels into the ground and refuse to see their “leader” for what he truly is — a man who is simply incapable of effectively running a country. Few are aware that many of his “accomplishments” are nothing more than the termination of actions made by someone else. Rarely has he offered anything to replace them or set up new and better options (e.g., Affordable Care Act).

Further, they look the other way at the MANY harmful actions of Trump as regards our relationship with other countries. They’ve become so enraptured with MAGA that they refuse to accept the importance of cooperative interactions.

And of course, since most of them refuse to accept climate change, they’re blind to Trump’s fateful decisions related to the environment.

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©Time Magazine

I can’t help but wonder if they will like it if/when he puts on the robe and crown that he is so ardently seeking.