Saturday, January 5, 2019

Are We Great Again Yet?



Making America great again is taking a toll, but thank Republican Jesus, not on Trump, or his family and cronies not yet indicted, or even his party of appeasers and Russian agents.

It's not taking much of a toll on Russia either. 

Putin is delighted Trump wants to make Russia great again too. We recall his puppet spilled top secret info to Russians in the Oval Office. That's making America great too, right?

Trump has also been regurgitating Russian propaganda about "aggressive" Poland and Montenegro. Remember the man the Big MAGAt rudely pushed aside at the NATO conference? That was 
the Prime Minister of Montenegro. Putin had backed a coup against him, because he wanted to join NATO. 

Imagine that.  So someone had to send a message. Putin's Puppet was loyally following orders.

You don't think bending the knee to kiss Putin's ass in Helsinki was enough, do you?

Don the Con has taken good care of his soulmate Putin, but how about the non-rich, working class Americans? Well....

Hundreds of TSA airport screeners are calling in sick; sick of working without pay. Trump has compromised Americans’ safety and security. 

Again. 

He is as cruel as he is stupid. We know he doesn’t care about the country, only his ego and his equally stupid and cruel cult. Period.

The worst president in American history held an enlightening so-called press conference yesterday. I was so happy to hear him tell us he was the best president ever, and how great he’s making our country.

Mexico still isn’t paying for Trump’s wall, so he’s following Secretary of Shutdowns Ann Coulter’s orders to hold our government and workers hostage until someone pays for it. 

But don’t worry about those employees and contractors losing their pay. The Big MAGAt says they LOVE not being paid, if it will just get that wall. 

And no worries about safety nets or compensation for them either. Landlords won’t ask for rent. That’s right. And better yet, he said the WALL would be their safety net! Just what all the unpaid families who are truly paying for his shutdown really want.

But there was more good news.

Has anyone seen one of those new steel mills Trump bragged about opening?

Still looking, huh? You fools! Has anyone called up the heads of US Steel? Bet you never thought about that, did you?

No need. The "Only One" fixed it. He told us at the press conference.

“Our steel industry has come roaring back, and that makes me very happy....all of the border things that we’ll be building will be done right here in the good, old USA by steel companies that were practically out of business when I came into office as President. And now they’re thriving. You call up the heads of U.S. Steel, and I could name 10 companies. If you look at what’s going on with the steel industry, it’s almost a miracle. It was a dead industry. We need steel for defense. We need steel for a lot of things. Steel and aluminum...But those industries were in deep trouble. The steel industry was almost dead, and now it’s a very vibrant, vibrant industry...I know you’re not into the construction business. You don’t understand something: We now have a great steel business that’s rebuilt in the United States.”

(US Steel's stock price is down 47% in the last year.) 

Meanwhile, CNN is featuring a running article of personal stories on “How the government shutdown is affecting Americans”.

20 comments:

Jefferson's Guardian said...

"As reprehensible was Mr. Trump’s utterly false narrative of the Soviet Union’s involvement there in the 1980s. He said: 'The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there.'

Right to be there? We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with three divisions in December 1979 to prop up a fellow communist government.
" ~~ Trump's Cracked Afgan History, The Wall Street Journal, 1/3/2019

Even the untra-conservative news source of American business thinks Donald Trump is an idiot.

The unsaid words, and thinking behind this op-ed, is undoubtedly what most independents and a growing wave of Republicans are starting to realize: this president is a traitor to his country.

Dave Dubya said...

JG,
Yes, Trump also regurgitated Putin's revisionist reason why Russia went into Afghanistan.

Thanks for reminding us of this additional, and very clear, example of Putin's puppetry and Trump's betrayal of our country.

"ITMFA" swag is available here:
https://www.impeachthemotherfuckeralready.com/

Jefferson's Guardian said...

The ITMFA site...

Why is it we go through this with every Republican president "elected" in the last twenty years?...and by every right, should go back through Reagan, and certainly does go back to Nixon.

Seeing a pattern here?

(No need to reply. They're both only rhetorical questions. I know why...and do see a pattern.)

Rex said...

I think leftists should all get together and insist that we ban shredded cheese. In that way we could make America grate again.

Jefferson's Guardian said...

Welcome back Mr. Paine! I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away long! LOL

Is your "little buddy" following You?

As I asked you on Saving Common Sense this afternoon, may I assume "Rex" is your real name?

[woof...woof] ;-)

Dave Dubya said...

Rex,

Thank you for visiting my blog. I appreciate your opening with a joke. Well done.

If you seek a thin-skinned emotional reaction of a snowflake, look to your president, not here. Your angry insults only validate everything we observe in con-servatives.

We see it didn't take long for the name-calling and assumption of moral superiority. Perhaps you are TP's brother, if not a fellow traveler. Your extended verbiage indicates you are not JTF or one of his myriad troll IDs.

The emotional level of your words indicates a defense mechanism from the amygdala.

I suggest you start with "Con-servatism 101". Since you judge and comment without first reading my words, I'll bring you up to speed on a couple points. I have long noted Con-servatives place a higher value, and reliance, on emotion and ideological confirmation bias over facts and reason. This is why you trust FOX(R). If you have read my posts you would be familiar with the fact brain scans show conservatives have more active amygdalas, the center of the fight or flight, primitive brain responses to perceived "others", the unknown and unfamiliar.

This is why the blame and anger game is always employed by your far Right leaders and propagandists. They understand how to flip your emotional triggers. In fact, you are letting JG do that already. Play cat and mouse with him if you like, but you would be the mouse.

"Jefferson Davis' Guardian"? Hookaay. I really wouldn't consider him one of the "very fine people" with the tiki-torches. But, whatever tickles your rage reaction...

TP hates it when I note authoritarian behavior, but you have kindly indicated your personality type.

What makes me so confident? For one thing I have years of education and experience with behavioral observation and psychological examination. And that's not just my blogging history.

But that's OK. We know far Right authoritarian personalities have nothing but contempt for education and science. We get it. (Wink, wink.)

But the dead give-away is your jumping into a thread with no regard or rebuttal to the post's content. This is the standard MO of a con-servative.

My MO is to take your words for dissection and examination of expressions of an authoritarian personality. Further adolescent Trumpian name calling will be deleted. Hope you got it out of your system.

If you'd like to offer contradictory facts or reasonable arguments to my post, please feel free to do so.

Stay tuned. And thanks for visiting.






Jefferson's Guardian said...

Gee, "Rex", why so touchy? Is it because I blew your cover? ;-)

Nice try, but you're going to have do better than that. But, you're forgiven.

Your penance: recite ten Hail Marys and five Our Fathers. Then...go directly to jail and do not collect $200.

Rex said...

Dave, glad you appreciated my attempt at humor.

And no, Jeff Davis isn't the Trump-type of racist. He is the type that supports black racists and anti-Semites like Rashida Tlaib and Maxine Watters. But we all know that people of color cannot be racist, right? HA!

By the way, it is because T. and I were talking about his blog and why he shut it down that I started checking it out again and going back and reading yours and others comments in recent articles. I know exactly where you stand and what you believe.

Super-sleuth Jeff Davis thinks I am T. Paine. That is funny. He is a gentleman by comparison. I simply don't care what that jackwagon thinks. He seems to assign names to everyone. I was simply returning the favor. Comrade Jeff Davis can troll around in his Tesla and play the mean girl if he wants, but this dog will bite back. :)


Rex

Dave Dubya said...

Rex,

You'll have to pardon JG for his suspicions. Both TP and his sidekick have used different IDs. Have you posted as "Unknown" anywhere? TP did. If so, that may have led to the confusion. I'm not accusing you, and to be fair, Mr. Paine clarified.

I will address you as Rex. I can only suggest Trumpian name calling isn't necessary. As Mr. Paine once pleaded, I would prefer civil dialogue. It could never develop due to the hostile tone of his sidekick. Like you, I tend to return incivility in kind. Pardon me if my sarcasm and satire occasionally appear as incivility. It's a defense mechanism. As I say, a sick sense of humor is healthy in these sick times.

I thought you didn't like the race card?

He is the type that supports black racists and anti-Semites like Rashida Tlaib and Maxine Watters

This is the Con-servative tactic of accusation and blame, unsupported by factual evidence. You’re saying JG is a racist for supporting "black racists and anti-Semites like Rashida Tlaib and Maxine Watters". (A Triple Accusation, folks!) But you insist nobody is a racist for supporting Trump, the racist birther who rose to power on the lie that the Black president wasn’t an American.

And if someone suggests rabid Trump supporters are racists, well...that would be playing the race card, amirite? Yeah, that’s hypocrisy.

I know exactly where you stand and what you believe.

Yeah, we cleared that notion up already at TP’s blog..

Do you lefties care more about political correctness than protecting innocent Americans? Never mind. We already know the answer...they think it is okay for illegal aliens to come here and vote

Ah, how refreshing to hear from an “expert” on my thinking. (Not one of my points was quoted or disproved, but he did confirm they have all the answers.)

The fact is this. Con-servatives THINK they know what we think and know. They do not. In fact they seem quite unable to process or accept what we say, so cannot respond with reason. Ideologically conditioned responses like accusation, blame, misrepresentations, dismissal, deflection, and demeaning distortion are usually all we get.

Her ignorance is only surpassed by Ocasio-Cortez. That stupid woman cannot even list the three branches of government.

Right. And Obama the Kenyan Commie Muslim didn’t know how many states there are. Gimme a frickin’ break!
Weak.

Word slips: IOKIYAR

Just for that, help yourself to some more AOC derangement syndrome, courtesy of the lovely lady herself.

“Maybe instead of Republicans drooling over every minute of footage of me in slow-mo, waiting to chop up word slips that I correct in real-tomd, they actually step up enough to make the argument they want to make: that they don’t believe people deserve a right to healthcare,”

Well? Maybe?

And just a tip. You’re getting unintended laughs. We know you think liberals, progressives, democrats, and socialists are all commies. You’re showing your age and how out of touch you are with the moldy oldie McCarthy-ite 50s and 60s invectives “Comrade” and “politburo”. “Russia, if you’re listening...Got your back in Helsinki!” would be the punch line to the joke. Trump is now defending the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; Putin’s revised claim being it was a response to “terrorism”. What a useful idiot, or compromised agent of Russia.

But don’t let me stop you if you want to keep up with the Politburo/comrade Russia game. I can think of many names of Russians that Trump and his cronies have lied, or even bragged, about meeting.

Here’s a sample. A Russian oligarch indicted by Mueller for running interference in our election is known as “Putin’s Chef”. He is very rich. He is defending a Russian thief and money launderer in a US court. He’s trying to get the court to release government secrets and info on Mueller for, guess who?

“Comrade”, indeed.

Jefferson's Guardian said...

"Super-sleuth Jeff Davis thinks I am T. Paine. That is funny." ~~ "Rex"

and...

"You'll have to pardon JG for his suspicions. Both TP and his sidekick have used different IDs. Have you posted as 'Unknown' anywhere? TP did. If so, that may have led to the confusion. I'm not accusing you, and to be fair, Mr. Paine clarified." ~~ Dave Dubya

"Rex", it didn't take any sleuthing - only a sharp mind and intellect. The evidence has always been there. Here, just in case you've fallen off the wagon again and can't remember, I'll help you:

Read The Rant by Tom Degan, his post dated Sunday, September 30, 2018, titled Beer! Beer! Beer! Beer! In this particular article's comment section, time-stamped 1:05PM (EDT), "Unknown" began by writing:

"Yes, 'Unknown' is T. Paine. I am not sure why it didn't post my moniker to my account but it certainly was not out of fear of J.G. and his brilliant Commentary."

There are several other times, "Rex", that you started out your comments by clarifying either with "From T. Paine" (What They Are Doing to America, dated October 16, 2018), or my personal favorite, "Dang it 'Unknown' was me, T. Paine." (Dark Days in Idiot Nation, dated October 27, 2018).

So, the only conclusions are two: Either "Unknown" is, in fact, also T. Paine (as I've shown he's admitted), or "Rex" is a chronic liar -- like his president.

Strike that. It could be both. ;-)

Dave Dubya said...

JG,
I'm afraid, instead of pardoning your reasonable suspicions, or clarifying the issue, Rex may decide to resort to personal attacks and name-calling again

He employs the same evasive tactics as TP. All I ask of our con-servative friends is to support their opinions with verifiable facts, and show me with evidence, where I am wrong or mistaken.

We get anger, resentment and other emotional reactions, but rarely anything resembling rational discourse.

For some reason they tend to prefer simply judging us as commies. Maybe all they want is to yell, "Commies" at us, as we yell, "Nazis" back?

It seems to make them more secure in their self-righteousness. And it would fit the pattern of a simplistic bumper sticker mentality that seems to comfort and guide them.

"MAGA". "Own the libs". "Real Americans/religion". "Libs love open borders/crime/antifa/BLM/NOI/abortions/racists/illegals voting/voter impersonation fraud/Venezuela", etc.

Not that I mind their usual authoritarian tactics of discourse. It's fun to note them as the foundation of their ideology. I guess they can't just come out and argue, "Healthcare should not be a basic human right", and "The rich are entitled to have their way on everything", and "Corporations should run the government and write public policy and legislation".

That would be too honest, and would expose "the man behind their curtain".

As I wrote in "Con-servatism 101", what they call defense of "capitalism, morality and liberty" is in reality a defense of corporatism, inequality, theocracy, and suppression of consent of the governed.

That leaves only liberals to defend the Declaration's "Consent of the governed" and the Constitution's equal justice under law, taxes, regulation of commerce, and providing for the general welfare.

They must hate the fact the Founders were such socialists, and must work to dismantle the fragile elements of democracy that we have.

Ironic, isn't it?

Jefferson's Guardian said...

So it seems the liar-in-chief will address the nation from the Oval Office to plead his case for a wall and to apparently declare a national emergency. This is only because Congress will not grant him the funding for his favorite pet political-project.

The irony, obviously, is that the national emergency began when he took office in January of 2017.

I'm confident the vast majority of Americans watching tonight will realize this.

Dave Dubya said...

JG,
Declaring an emergency where there is none is the favorite power grab tactic of dictators. No wonder the Big MAGAt loves the idea.

Then:

"Nukular aluminum tubes!" "Saddam is in cahoots with al-Qaeda!" "WMDs!!!!!"

Now:

"Brown Invaders at the border!" "Thousands of terrorists at the border!!"

This country is finished. The brain-dead, soulless authoritarians and greedheads have taken it. Corporate media does its best to tell us leftist politicians are "out of touch and unelectable". Funny how they never say that about corporatists and far-right authoritarians. Hmm. Whatever could be their "bottom line"?

Dave Dubya said...


True colors of a true believer:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/us/florida-government-shutdown-marianna.html

‘It’s Just Too Much’: A Florida Town Grapples With a Shutdown After a Hurricane

Ms. Minton, a 38-year-old secretary, (who works without pay at a federal prison) said she had obtained permission from the warden to put off her Mississippi duty until early February because she is a single mother caring for disabled parents. Her fiancĂ© plans to take vacation days to look after Ms. Minton’s 7-year-old twins once she has to go to work.

The shutdown on top of the hurricane has caused Ms. Minton to rethink a lot of things.

“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”


Trump said on Twitter “most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats”

And they wonder why we say it’s really all about who they hate.

Rex said...

Dave, I was simply pointing out absurdity by using absurdity. Jeff Davis said he loves AOC and has shown support of other Democrats like Tlaib. Since they both have hung out with anti-Semites and racists (see the links on T.’s site for clarification), I concluded that Jeff must also be a racist Jew-hater. The whole BDS movement is about destroying Israel. It is anti-Zionist (which is racism) and potentially anti-Semitic. It makes about as much sense as stating that anyone that voted for or supports parts of Trump’s agenda is also a racist.

After reading your “Conservative 101”, I do know the fallacy of your thinking, Dave. I think my expertise on your thinking is pretty well grounded in what you have said. As I have said little thus far, it is amazing how well you think you know my mind and amygdala.

Moving down the road, I think Trump is an idiot when it comes to justifying Russian aggression in Afghanistan and his soft-pedaling when it comes to Putin. Despite that, can you tell me how many votes that Trump and Putin changed or even influenced with Russia’s interference? I think the real collusion was done by Hillary and her campaign with the Steele dossier. Do you suppose Putin helped Hillary and the DNC so Bernie wouldn’t get elected? Do you suppose the Russians had Donna Brazille give Hillary the debate questions in advance? If you want to find criminality, I think the Democrats have still outdone the GOP in recent years. (And that says a lot considering the crap Trump has gotten involved with.)

As for Jeff Davis’ searing logic and towering intellect, I must confess. He’s got me. There absolutely cannot be more than one “unknown” out there on the web. (Especially when T. came and clarified when the “unknown” person was actually him. You really have had too many shingles blow off your shed, haven’t you, Jeffy?

"Healthcare should not be a basic human right", and "The rich are entitled to have their way on everything", and "Corporations should run the government and write public policy and legislation". ~ Davey

Uh… yeah… I am glad that you are such an expert on conservatism. Yeah, there are idiots that think this crap on the right, but they are a small minority. I sure as hell don’t buy that or most of the ludicrous crap your con 101 article says I must since I am a conservative. By the way, the founders replaced the weak article of confederation with the constitution in order to provide the government with very specific and limited duties. They were not to go outside of those boundaries as everything not specifically authorized to the federal government was supposed to be the rights of the people or the states. You leftists think the general welfare clause wipes away all of the other restrictions that the body of the constitution places on the federal government. I know this it a tough concept to grasp even for someone with the towering intellect of Jeff Davis.

Hey Davey, did the Huffington Post tell you there were no WMD’s over there or that Saddam and al Qaida were not in cahoots? No evidence cited… just like your unsupported assertions of what a “conservative” is. I sure as hell don’t support corporatism. Doesn’t matter though. You just keep on believing!

Rex said...

By the way, who the hell said anything about "brown invaders at the border"? Didn't I just say that we would be clamoring for a wall on the Canadian border to keep out the lily-white Canadians if they were coming over with drug and human trafficking etc.? (Might be on T.'s site.) I guess if you have nothing of substance, you can always fall back on that race card again, right?

Dave Dubya said...

Rex,
I don't think you understand my position. It is on the general nature of your ideology, not your specific variances in belief. YOU claim to know my personal thoughts, deny their validity and still fail to offer evidence to support your claim.

"Since they both have hung out with anti-Semites and racists"

If guilt by association is your standard, and you admit Trump is a racist, then his entire administration and party of appeasers are racists.

Does logic frighten you?

”After reading your “Conservative 101”, I do know the fallacy of your thinking, Dave.”

Did you really?

Then why won’t you cite my errors and provide evidence? You didn’t even get the title correct. I explained how modern con-servatism is unlike traditional conservatism. Is this really out of your ballpark?

”It is amazing how well you think you know my mind and amygdala.”

Yes, open minds do find that science IS amazing. Face it, our brains are wired differently. Deal with it.

”can you tell me how many votes that Trump and Putin changed or even influenced with Russia’s interference?”

Nobody can give you a number, but the interference is what we call a fact in the real world.

I think the real collusion was done by Hillary and her campaign with the Steele dossier.”

Of course you do. Trump says so too, so you got him on your side again. Most of the info in the dossier has been confirmed, you know. Or maybe you don’t know. Who knows where, besides Trump, you get your information and opinions.

I’ll agree with you on corruption by both parties. Criminality is by evidence. There’s that word again.... Have you noted the number of indictments of Trump cronies? How many under Obama?

Dave Dubya said...

"Healthcare should not be a basic human right", and "The rich are entitled to have their way on everything", and "Corporations should run the government and write public policy and legislation". ~ Davey

”Uh… yeah… I am glad that you are such an expert on conservatism. Yeah, there are idiots that think this crap on the right, but they are a small minority.”

Good! And they are a very powerful minority. Trump’s cabinet is filled with corporate CEOs. And look what Cheney did for Halliburton. Corporatocracy in the flesh. Wall street insiders are often in the cabinets of both parties.

Am I wrong?

Whether understood or not by conservatives, that is the Republican agenda based on facts, evidence, and even corporate written legislation.

The Founders did not define the limits of taxes, regulations and general welfare. YOU have. We can get a glimpse when John Adams allowed ships to be taxed for sailors’ medical care and treatment. But what did HE know about the founders?

"You leftists think the general welfare clause wipes away all of the other restrictions that the body of the constitution places on the federal government."

No. There you go again.

“...WMD’s over there or that Saddam and al Qaida were not in cahoots? No evidence cited”

We need remedial logic here, don’t we?

Proving Non-Existence:

Description: Demanding that one proves the non-existence of something in place of providing adequate evidence for the existence of that something. Although it may be possible to prove non-existence in special situations, such as showing that a container does not contain certain items, one cannot prove universal or absolute non-existence. The proof of existence must come from those who make the claims.

This is one reason why rational discussion is nearly impossible with conservatives. Facts, logic and reason can never penetrate indoctrinated beliefs.

Trump called them “invaders”. He sent troops to the border as a political stunt before the election. Where have you been???

” I sure as hell don’t support corporatism.”

Good for you. Every Republican you voted for has done exactly that. So have corpo-Dems like the Clintons. Repealing Glass-Steagle was one example. See what I mean by “evidence” here?

Let me attempt to console you. I voted for Clinton in ’92. I didn’t know it, but I was supporting a corporatist. I learned a few things and I didn’t vote for him the next time. See? I can admit the truth,

Al-Qaeda came in through Canada, didn’t they? And nobody proved they were in cahoots with Saddam, the Big Lie that was use to start a war of aggression.

Jefferson's Guardian said...

"There absolutely cannot be more than one 'unknown' out there on the web. (Especially when T. came and clarified when the 'unknown' person was actually him..." ~~ Rex (aka "T. Paine" or "Unknown", depending upon which personality dominates)

You're right, Mr. Paine, there can be, and are, many "Unknown" monikers used on the World Wide Web at any given time.

What you are wrong about, though, is there can only be one "Unknown" through Google's Blogger platform at any one time - especially when hyperlinked to a Blogger page as yours.

You're a fraud and a liar, Mr. Paine - or whatever personality is reading this right now. Very Trumpist of you.

(Are you drinking again?)

Jefferson's Guardian said...

"I'm afraid, instead of pardoning your reasonable suspicions, or clarifying the issue, Rex may decide to resort to personal attacks and name-calling again." ~~ Dave Dubya

Or "Rex" (aka "T. Paine" and "Unknown") may throw a baby-Trump tantram and shut down the comments section of his own blog in retaliation.

That'll fix my "liberal commie ass." ;-)

"Rex", you're definitely, as Tom Degan would say, a hoot! Keep 'em coming, man!