Sunday, February 26, 2017

The least of these...


21 comments:

  1. I Was a Muslim in Trump's White House [Click] When President Obama left, I stayed on at the National Security Council in order to serve my country. I lasted eight days.

    The Economy Is Not Doomed [Click]

    --Alan

    Even Trump Can’t Stop the Tide of Green Jobs [Click]

    New UN climate chief: 'Action on warming unstoppable' [Click]

    --Alan

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  2. Thanks for that picture from The Snarky Pundit, listener. I printed it out and will be mailing a copy to both Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan.

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  3. Oh, pox--I forgot that Blogger will probably delete my post above because of too many links. Here it is in two--make that three--parts.--Alan

    Trump’s Remarks Send Cabinet Members Scrambling[Click]

    Or,
    in other words:[Click]
    [alternative display][Click]

    How the FBI Is Hobbled by Religious Illiteracy[Click]

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  4. Trump’s Biggest Struggle Is with the News Media[Click] Money quote: “His anger is compounded by his belief that he should still be able to plant and steer stories.”

    —Alan

    P.S.: I addressed and dated my fifteen postcards for the Ides of March, and have so far written messages on and signed three of them. I also wrote a letter to the editor of the Toronto Star apologizing [apologiSing, actually] for the difficulties caused Canada by the embarrassment currently resident in the White House.

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    1. I will not be signing mine. Cheetolini is so obsessed with revenge he might send goons after me.

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    2. Is there a link to something about this? Where are folks mailing to?

      Thanks for writing to Toronto, Alan. Can't hurt.

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    3. There is safety in numbers, Susan. I am not favoring them with my address beyond the town and state, but heck, they know about us anyway.

      Alan

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    4. listener--I do believe this is a direct quote from Susan's post back around Feb. 9th.--Alan

      On March 15th, each of us will mail Donald Trump a postcard that publicly expresses our opposition to him. And we, in vast numbers, from all corners of the world, will overwhelm the man with his unpopularity and failure. We will show the media and the politicians what standing with him — and against us — means. And most importantly, we will bury the White House post office in pink slips, all informing Donnie that he’s fired.
      Each of us — every protester from every march, each congress calling citizen, every boycotter, volunteer, donor, and petition signer — if each of us writes even a single postcard and we put them all in the mail on the same day, March 15th, well: you do the math.
      No alternative fact or Russian translation will explain away our record-breaking, officially-verifiable, warehouse-filling flood of fury. Hank Aaron currently holds the record for fan mail, having received 900,000 pieces in a year. We’re setting a new record: over a million pieces in a day, with not a single nice thing to say.
      So sharpen your wit, unsheathe your writing implements, and see if your sincerest ill-wishes can pierce Donald’s famously thin skin.
      Prepare for March 15th, 2017, a day hereafter to be known as #TheIdesOfTrump
      Write one postcard. Write a dozen! Take a picture and post it on social media tagged with #TheIdesOfTrump ! Spread the word! Everyone on Earth should let Donnie know how he’s doing. They can’t build a wall high enough to stop the mail.
      Then, on March 15th, mail your messages to:

      President (for now) Donald J. Trump
      The White House
      1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
      Washington, DC 20500

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    5. Thank you!! I had assumed they were supposed to ARRIVE ON the Ides of March, but whatever the plan is, sounds fine.

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    6. My pleasure, listener. This past Thursday, passing through airport shops, I looked for the classic "Wish you were here" postcards with an aerial photo of Alcatraz, but didn't find any. I'm using standard USPS cards. I passed the information along to my cousin in British Columbia (Vancouver Island), who made the mistake of becoming a US citizen (retaining her Canadian citizenship) some time back, thinking it would be advantageous--but it definitely is not. Think double income taxation, for instance. And renouncing US citizenship is also financially very onerous if one has significant property.

      --Alan

      P.S.: I wondered if I might have a claim to Canadian citizenship by descent, but am pretty sure I don't. There is no evidence my grandfather asserted his right to Canadian nationality as an adult (he was presumably naturalized in the US by his father), nor that he registered my mother's birth with the Canadian authorities. It was idle curiosity, and the result seems as I expected--but I not unnaturally wondered.

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  5. Phone lines/computers/bah humbug. Spent a good part of yesterday trying to get the computer to dial. Line was actually good (would dial a telephone). Bah, bah, bah.

    Saving grace, the first two years of House of Cards came. Funny--politics, not of good people, like West Wing. But NOT politics of stoopid, vain, morons either. Which actually was a relief. The series logo has an upside down flag.

    Been thinking, wondering, what kind of deficit goes through 70 years of living and learns no lessons? Is content to seem rather than to be? What kind of yawning hole for a soul is filled with "He graduated first in his class," when one knows that to be a lie? When that pathological incuriosity has destroyed the world, your country, your fortune and your family--what then? When one has sold their soul, not even for gold, but for fool's gold?

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    1. Yes, it does make one wonder, puddle. It is sufficiently abnormal that one feels compelled to speculate about some sort of disease state.

      Alan

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  6. The Boston Molasses Disaster is still making news, 98 years on.[Click] And the Wikipedia entry has already been updated. I wasn’t aware of the bits about the steel in the walls of the tank only being half the thickness required at that time, and being too brittle (shades of the Titanic hull).

    —Alan

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  7. Given the new DNC Chair, it's clear the DNC has learned NOTHING from this election.
    I wash my hands of them. I want a third party geared for the younger generation!

    From NBC poll:

    Republican support of DT: Approval 86% Disapproval 9%

    Democrat Support of DT: Approval 9% Disapproval 86%

    Independent Support of DT: Approval 37% Disapproval 48%

    It's clear that if the DNC had at least had Bernie as VP, it would have been a landslide.

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    1. Well, it seems that about half the folks at the DNC haven't learned from the recent election. I suppose that at the very least they need to spend some more time in the wilderness. Maybe have a few of them eaten by the fauna there.

      I remember Bernie's rally in Fresno--reportedly the biggest political rally ever; it put Bill Clinton (the previous No. 1 in turnout) in the shade. Yes, it was predominantly young folks--but at 70 I was far from the oldest there. There were folks in their 80's and 90's, and us oldsters were just as much a part of it as the younger folks, even though we have been worn down more. I felt we were honored and respected comrades.

      --Alan

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    2. Just came across this in an opinion piece about the very serious decline in support for Labour in the UK. Sounds a trifle familiar to me....
      --Alan

      However, it would be a profound misreading to think he [Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader] is the sole cause of the problem. Its roots run much deeper. New Labour had tremendous success winning support across the social classes in 1997, but in government it was much better at hanging on to its middle-class voters than the less well-off. Between 1997 and 2010, for every voter Labour lost from the professional classes it lost three unskilled or unemployed workers...

      This was not a coincidence. The party’s strategy was to take core supporters for granted while courting the middle classes. The one time in the run-up to the 2005 election that I was asked by the party to run focus groups with the less well-off, their view of Labour was so devastating that the decision was taken never to talk to them again. The target audience continued to be “soccer moms” (sic).

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