Monday, January 30, 2017

Just In Case You Missed It.

Don't Think That We Cannot See You!

Just for the record


Just think, we have 48 more weeks in this year!
A recap of the Trump regime thus far....
From the I'm Paying Attention Department: To recap: so nobody forgets...
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the DOJ’s Violence Against Women programs.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Minority Business Development Agency.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Economic Development Administration.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the International Trade Administration.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Legal Services Corporation.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Electricity Deliverability and Energy Reliability.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Fossil Energy.
* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered all regulatory powers of all federal agencies frozen.
* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered the National Parks Service to stop using social media after retweeting factual, side by side photos of the crowds for the 2009 and 2017 inaugurations.
* On January 20th, 2017, roughly 230 protesters were arrested in DC and face unprecedented felony riot charges. Among them were legal observers, journalists, and medics.
* On January 20th, 2017, a member of the International Workers of the World was shot in the stomach at an anti-fascist protest in Seattle. He remains in critical condition.
* On January 21st, 2017, DT brought a group of 40 cheerleaders to a meeting with the CIA to cheer for him during a speech that consisted almost entirely of framing himself as the victim of dishonest press.
* On January 21st, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a press conference largely to attack the press for accurately reporting the size of attendance at the inaugural festivities, saying that the inauguration had the largest audience of any in history, “period.”
* On January 22nd, 2017, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer’s lies as “alternative facts” on national television news.
* On January 22nd, 2017, DT appeared to blow a kiss to director James Comey during a meeting with the FBI, and then opened his arms in a gesture of strange, paternal affection, before hugging him with a pat on the back.
* On January 23rd, 2017, DT reinstated the global gag order, which de-funds international organizations that even mention abortion as a medical option.
* On January 23rd, 2017, Spicer said that the US will not tolerate China’s expansion onto islands in the South China Sea, essentially threatening war with China.
* On January 23rd, 2017, DT repeated the lie that 3-5 million people voted “illegally” thus costing him the popular vote.
* On January 23rd, 2017, it was announced that the man who shot the anti-fascist protester in Seattle was released without charges, despite turning himself in.
* On January 24th, 2017, Spicer reiterated the lie that 3-5 million people voted “illegally” thus costing DT the popular vote.
* On January 24th, 2017, DT tweeted a picture from his personal Twitter account of a photo he says depicts the crowd at his inauguration and will hang in the White House press room. The photo is curiously dated January 21st, 2017, the day AFTER the inauguration and the day of the Women’s March, the largest inauguration related protest in history.
* On January 24th, 2017, the EPA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to freeze all grants and contracts.
* On January 24th, 2017, the USDA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to stop publishing any papers or research. All communication with the press would also have to be authorized and vetted by the White House.
* On January 24th, 2017, HR7, a bill that would prohibit federal funding not only to abortion service providers, but to any insurance coverage, including Medicaid, that provides abortion coverage, went to the floor of the House for a vote.
* On January 24th, 2017, Director of the Department of Health and Human Service nominee Tom Price characterized federal guidelines on transgender equality as “absurd.”
* On January 24th, 2017, DT ordered the resumption of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, while the North Dakota state congress considers a bill that would legalize hitting and killing protesters with cars if they are on roadways.
* On January 24th, 2017, it was discovered that police officers had used confiscated cell phones to search the emails and messages of the 230 demonstrators now facing felony riot charges for protesting on January 20th, including lawyers and journalists whose email accounts contain privileged information of clients and sources.
And yesterday: the wall and a Muslim ban.

Friday, January 20, 2017

Thought for Today



Today, I am going to give my opinion on equivocating.


When you ask a "Why" question, the answer boils down to, "Because I did or did not wanted to" but, that is not what is said, that is where the "Equivocating" comes in. The truth may be so distasteful that we cannot bring ourselves to allow it to pass over our tongues or, because the receiver will find it unpalatable to their senses or an insult to their intellect.

Now, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know but, it might not be the thing that leads you to making good decisions. Right around the time that my thoughts went from "Cowboys-to-Girls" and the young women's thoughts went from "Baby dolls-to-Boys", I started in a summer program at the local University called Upward Bound. The goal of the program was to prepare promising High School students for College and life beyond.

Foremost, "Critical Thinking Skills" were recognized and polished; we were instructed to question and not accept what was thrown at you; before answering or responding, in the back of my head I always ask, "What's in it for me", to believe or not believe something I was told or heard; what was in it for me to act a certain way or not act a certain way. What was in it for me versus, what was in it for the other guy, the community or the world. But, I have digressed fifty years.

Fast-forward to our recent "past", 18 months of specious, rhetorical fallacies, egregious Straw-man false equivalencies that culminated with an illegitimate-questionable Presidential election. That election has left the country more divided than united. Not since the Civil War of the 1860's has our country been so polarized. Almost one half of the voters who turned out believed that the other side was wrong, foolish - while, more than one half of the voters who turned out knew the other side was foolish; which side were you on?

When you find someone explaining their deeds and having to define them as being within the framework of whether it is or was "Legal" or "Illegal" a deeper question begs for an answer, "Was it moral"? Morality should always come before Legality.

In conclusion, I have explained why you don't get answers to tough questions and why those without a strong moral compass always try to fall back to the legality of their actions as an excuse. Their clown car continues to rolls toward the precipice dragging the rest of the nation with it.

BTW, A shout-out to the "Ol' School" group, The Intruders for "Cowboys to Girls", I hope the "No-school" crowd can appreciate it.