… but remember that his replacement, the Vice President Mike Pence, is a far-right asshole who has stated that homosexuality is a choice and voted to fund “rehab centres” dedicated to curing homosexuality, as if it’s a disease of some type. Pence also is opposed to abortion and same sex marriage … What can you say about a man, Trump, who, on the first full day of his very first term, stands in the CIA headquarters right in front of a wall, decorated with 117 stars, each representing a CIA operative who gave his life for God and country, as they say, and who then proceeds to deride the media and make all kinds of other inappropriate remarks … there are two vastly different realities here, the reality as spouted by Trump and his ilk – dark, threatening, xenophobic, populist bullshit, a world of “alternative reality” – vs the reality as portrayed by mainstream media, but more importantly and most significant, by our own brains, minds, senses and souls …
Moving the American embassy there would be telling the world that the Excited States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a slap in the face to the Palestinian Authority as well as to Arabs … That’s all some Jews seem to care about, Israel or bust …
To expect Trump to unite the country, is a pipe dream but you are perfectly free to dream away, basking in your short-sightedness and/or in your support of one of Trump’s platform planks like his unyielding support of Israel. Just wait … I remember a question on an IQ test I wrote in grade 3, when I was around nine or ten years old … Then there was the honest, down-to-earth voice of intelligence and reason, Bernie Sanders …
So let’s see if I understand this correctly. Trump, an alleged serial sexual predator, is running for the presidency of the richest and most powerful country on the face of God’s greying earth and says that one thing he plans to do in his first hundred days in that office, will be to sue the women who have come out, names and all, interviews, written statements, etc. and accused him of sexual assault or battery depending on your definition of terms.
At this point, eleven (11) women have alleged that Trump made unwanted advances on them, everything from hugging and kissing to groping including putting hands under skirts. I have trouble believing that these women were put up to this by the Clinton campaign or anyone associated with it. Just as an aside, one of these women, Jessica Drake, Trump’s most recent – as of this writing – accuser, is a porn star which may turn certain people off but really should have no bearing on the fact that she alleges that Trump grabbed her and kissed her without her permission. Trump’s response to Drake’s allegation that he grabbed her by the arm : “I’m sure she’s never been grabbed before,” or words to that effect. Misses the point. Completely. Totally. But not unexpectedly.
Trump, himself, ironically, should be the one who gets locked up. Anyone still supporting this megalomaniacal, narcissistic, lying misogynist must have trouble tying their shoes on a good day (Thank-you, Iverstein.)
When Trump says things like “I have great respect for women. No one has greater respect for women than me”, how can anyone with a mind take him seriously? Further, what can we say about a man who says stuff like this? Does he actually believe that? I think he does. More’s the pity.
The poor fucker hasn’t a clue what the word “respect” means. That being said the things that would merit respect in a Trump universe would be purely material, bricks, steel, mortar, push the button, end the world, why not, the guy insulted me. Hit me and I hit back harder.
What a complete and total idiot. He reminds me of Paris Hilton, famous for fame’s sake, but at least Paris realized the brevity of her shelf life as a media sensation and knew when to disappear, get off the stage, make the odd appearance to ensure that people know that you’re not dead, but go away, quietly. Retire from the limelight.
Trump, on the other hand, is well past his “best by date” but he doesn’t act like he’s aware of that. I think that he understands that his chances of beating Hillary Clinton are extremely slight if they exist at all and he has started thinking about making sure that he ain’t forgotten if he becomes what he has called in referring to others like Mitt Romney, “a failed candidate”.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Trump has actually stated, and this is his most recent stance on this issue, that he will accept the result of the November 8th vote, but that he reserves the right to legally challenge the result (if there are irregularities, in his mind that is). This represents a walk-back from his statement during the third presidential debate that he would not make public whether he would accept the result of the vote or not, that he would “keep (us) in suspense” until the election has taken place.
August 2, 2016
My distrust stems from the fact that the oligarchy, the people in control of the capitalist economic reality, highly unfortunately, will go to any lengths necessary to protect their wealth and power and thereby maintain their positions at the pinnacle of that hierarchy which has evolved into, if it has not always been, the basis of the very world in which we live and breathe. So, if you think that this capitalist elite, the controllers, the people who pull the strings, have a moral compass which would mitigate against this group taking any action which might compromise the democratic process so as to benefit their own economic and political interests, including rigging the election, then you need to think again.
Wake up and die right. Stop being naive. Please.
The latest national poll among likely voters shows Clinton with a 5% lead over Trump.
Eh, what.
Peace.
With allegations coming fast and furiously concerning Trump’s sexual assaults on at least eight different women, at last count, the man is done. Stick a fork in him.
I don’t know if Trump’s “locker room banter” with Billy Bush in 2005 is “horrific” as Hillary Clinton – as prone to using hyperbole as ever – stated that it was. But Donald Trump is ridiculous and his behaviour is unconscionable.
“Hey Joe, where you going with that gun in your hand?”
“Why I’m off to Cleveland and I hope you understand.”
Milos and Genie, a very considerate toll booth guy in Nova Scotia, and a beautiful number by Don Henley to back it … a nice mix of acoustic and electric guitar work …
Two different ways of conveying the same message : Eli Wiesel (RIP) and Sir Elton John. When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?
It’s incredible how totally dumb some people can be … an unfitting tribute to the 4th.
Free Trade, The European Union and all that:
People are freaking out after the Brexit vote which saw the English people voting 52% to 48% in favour of leaving the European Union.
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A bit of history:
The European Common Market (ECM, later the European Economic Community, the EEC) was formed in the 1950’s when 6 countries – France, West Germany, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and Italy came together.
England tried to get in but France’s de Gaulle kept her out, questioning the UK’s commitment to Europe. In the end, with de Gaulle a dead duck and out of the picture, England gets admitted simultaneous to Denmark and Eire (Irish Republic). This occurred in 1973.
Trudeau has said that he “left other parties in the dust” with a popular vote of less than 40%. Many elections are won and lost with less than a 52% majority : Take the 1960 US presidential election when Kennedy squeezed out less than 50% majority win. 49.72 % vs. 49.55% where Nixon becomes the first man in history to lose a Presidential election despite the fact that he carried more states than his opponent, Kennedy, in this case.
JFK, the beloved philanderer and noted womanizer par excellence, glorified by the American people today simply because he was shot down by a deranged maniac in the prime of his life.
Tricky Dick Nixon, speaking of liars.
And speaking of tricky Dick – I remember a poster with a picture of Nixon on it, his five o’clock shadow prominent as usual, with the following cut line:
“Would you buy a used car from this man”?
Even in the defeat of McGovern in 1972, Nixon lost only one or two states and ended up with only about 60% of the popular vote.
All this to provide some historical context for my argument as follows: there is a petition going around stating that something like 2/3 (66.7%) of the British population should be required to say NO to Europe, rather than the 52% that actually did and, consequently, that the British government be petitioned to call a second referendum because they don’t like the result of the first.
Remember our feelings right here in Quebec when the PQ called the second referendum on separation in 1995 after what was called a “stunning” defeat in the 1980 referendum on Sovereignty Association (60% to 40% against, that time).
Setting the bar at 66.7% is way too high.
Free Trade/Globalization
We have environmental laws which other countries like the USA supposedly have to respect when exploiting our natural resources for example. Free Trade hurts the working people whose wages must be kept low in order for any country to compete with others sans tariff protection.
Speaking of which, when is free trade not free trade? When tariffs and quotas continue to exist on foreign cars and parts entering Canada from the United States, regardless of their memberships in NAFTA. It’s a rhetorical question, by the way.
Same thing within Canada : even with free trade established long ago as a principle of inter-provincial trade, Ontario continues to protect its brewing industry by levying tariffs and/or quotas on beer imported from Quebec. Free trade among the provinces was supposed to be one of the cornerstones of the pro-Confederation movement which ended up creating this country in 1867.
Question: What do American beer and making love in a canoe have in common?
Answer: They’re both fucking close to water.
During the Free Trade Debate period in the latter 1980’s, one top executive of the then-government Crown Corporation, Canadair, speaks to around 1500 “line workers”, telling them that a vote for the Conservative Party in the upcoming 1988 (?) election would be a vote pro the adoption of the FTA with the United States, one of the planks in P.M. Brian Mulroney’s election platform.
Now there’s a liar that puts Hillary and Trump to shame – “Lyin’ Brian” we used to call him.
Anyway, back to the Canadair story: what the fuck do the workers know? Are they willing to take the chance that their jobs will be endangered and vote against Mulroney, in an effort to jettison the proposed Free Trade Agreement, or are they going to do what the executive suggests, supporting and casting their votes for Lyin’ Brian and free trade without knowing much about its implications other than what one of their big bosses has just told them? Rest assured of one thing though : that boss and others within the corporate greed structure knew damn well that Free Trade was a great deal for them and their already corpulent bank accounts.
That’s it for today.
Hello to my editor, John Fasciano
Peace and love.
This former CIA officer’s secret life taught her one lesson: Listen to your enemy. Her message is right on point. What can we do?
Hi there, friends.
Just thought I’d enlighten you and your evening with some bits of wisdom re. the kid, our Right Honourable P.M. Justin “Pretty Boy- Doe-eyed-in-the-headlights” Trudeau.
That’s the way he looked to me in his meeting with one of the three companies’ executives re. trying to get a commitment from them to invest more in Canada. Executives from Honda, Toyota, and Suburu, stated that they had no plans to increase their investment in Canada.
So now the spin is that this whole Japanese trip is part of a process of building bridges, getting to know each other (better?) and the like. Oohh-Kay.
Who’s he trying to “kid”?
Not someone older than him, me for example, or those Japanese fifty to sixty year olds sitting opposite Trudeau at the “negotiating table”, with Trudeau’s look and demeanour saying that he’d rather actually be anywhere else. Just totally out-classed and out-gamed on a playing field not of his making – let’s be fair here, give the boy his due.
He can’t play their game anymore than they can play his. Unfortunately, things get pretty well defined when one of the nations actually goes begging, literally.
Please remember at times of indecision that the “eyes have it” or as in the words of a Phoenix Alternative colleague, Susan Gilmore, “you know what you saw”.
And then there’s poor little Sophie Gregoire, the Prime Minister’s wife, to whom I deliver a simple message: Stop falling all over yourself and get real, babe.
Peace.
Love.
#not in this lifetime
Donald Trump’s quite popular, we see. This should worry sane, educated and intelligent people not only in the USA, but also in North America and the rest of the world. This guy just yesterday told one of his crowds that he felt “like punching (one of the protesters at the rally) in the face”. Enough said to the sane, educated and intelligent among us.
There is actually a chance that this brash … adjectives defy me at the moment, so let’s just refer to this jerk as Trump, he has a chance to become the US president next November. Horror of horrors.
In order to view this scenario in a less negative light, we have to go with what may be referred to as the “Marxist Dialectic Route” [MDR] which argues that history unfolds dialectically. What this implies that for every Thesis, there is an Antithesis (anti-thesis), which invariably leads to a antagonistic struggle between these two with result that a Synthesis takes place, combining the “best” elements of both the above-mentioned Thesis [T] and Antithesis [A]. This Synthesis [S] then becomes a spanking new Thesis which we can and will label as T1. Hence the process begins again so that T1 + A1 = S1 and so it goes.
Back to Trump in a moment.
First though, it must be noted that a conservative view of the Dialectic as Marx, Karl, described it, would lead to the end of history as we know it because eventually all antagonistic stuff would be eliminated. Mao Zedong took care of that which doesn’t mean necessarily that Mao was a “conservative”; he probably decided that Marx’s theory needed a supplement purely to make this ideology more palatable with conservative Communists and/or Progressives in the house.
What he argued was this. He stated that there were going to exist “Non-Antagonistic” Syntheses and Antithesis which would enter the picture once the ultimate stage according to Marx had been reached. Then the contradictions between T and A would never end as we seek purer and purer forms of life, friendship, generosity, etc., all good.
With the Trump phenomenon, we are very much viewing his progress towards the Presidency as some kind of Antithesis of something more positive with the ultimate result being a higher Synthesis with Trump no longer in the picture.
The two questions that then come to mind are: (a) For how long must we endure him?; and (b) How much damage can he do in the time he remains “in the picture”?
All this is in the context of the Dialectical interpretation of history. If that theory did not exist or if we don’t swallow it “in all its glory” then God help us. All.
Peace out.