And America Continues to Show it's True Colors. . .

[D'Snowth]

I put Trump supporters in a different category than true Conservatives because he's such a horrible person, a hypocrite, a blatant liar and a flimsy leader, yet his supporters will make excuses for all of his antics for some "bigger picture" that doesn't exist.

I notice that's their new thing now: before, it was always, "At least give him a chance" (which they do still do, even after the mess he's created thus far), but now, like you say, they also keep talking about this "bigger picture," which, I mean, if we're going to go that route, the real "bigger picture" was when Obama was in the early days (months, even years) of his Presidency, because Bush really did leave such a mess behind, it was going to take Obama a looong time to repair and fix it . . . and it did, right up until the beginning of his second term . . . but he did it, and in doing so, he not only managed to repair our economy and job market as best he could, but he also insured people who were previously denied healthcare altogether, championed basic human rights for groups considered minorities, reduced our dependency on foreign oils which brought gas prices down below $2.00 a gallon, and made it possible to capture and kill bin Laden (which Trump supporters refuse to give him credit for, but are quick to blame Hillary for some other guy's death).

This "bigger picture" that some of his supporters talk about? Well, let me put it into perspective from conversations I've had with someone who actually voted for him: there's this fear and paranoia that these other countries (Syria, China, Russia, North Korea, etc.) will attack us if we don't attack them first, and if that happens, then America will be taken over by said other country, and we'll wake up to nation-wide massacre of whites and Christians and have our stars and stripes replaced with the other country's flag and America will be ruled under Sharia Law. I've no doubt these other countries want to kill us, I mean just look at all the trouble ISIS is going through just trying to take over the entire froggin' world. They may see this as the "bigger picture," but the way things are shaping up at the moment, the "bigger picture" I'm seeing is that Trump is basically risking WW3.

I guess it's just as difficult for some supporters to quit Trump.

Well, if you can believe, some of his more . . . "intelligent" (for lack of better word) supporters are becoming a little more leery and apprehensive about his recent actions, and some even second-guessing their vote for him as the right person to lead our country.

People who want to learn something about the world will read the newspaper.

My town's newspaper clearly has a Trump/conservative bias though. Before the previous Trump thread was deleted, I showed you what our headlines said the day after the election: "DIVIDED NATION UNITED BY SHOCKER." Yes, we were already a divided nation, but Trump's victory did nothing to unite us, and in fact, only further divided us, and that division continues on more and more. Then, there was the article they had written about how God was personally thanking Trump for winning the election, and that really gets me when these supposed Christians say these un-Christian things about Trump, because not only is it blasphemous, but it's downright disgusting. I'm not just talking about them saying the usual God personally elected Trump as our Lord and Savior in the flesh to save our nation, as they've been saying since the election - and his supporters actually believing that - but now all these televangelists and Evangelicals are saying crap like God is using Trump for His "master plan" to save the nation, and if Christians don't support him as President, God will personally punish and curse them with poverty and gay children. I mean how idiotic is that? These are religious leaders who are supposed to be represent the Christian faith saying the most ridiculous things ever. God gives people free will to make their own decisions - if He didn't, He wouldn't be much of a god, He would be a dictator Himself; secondly, God doesn't punish or curse people - He disciplines. But to say all of that, then by that twisted logic, anyone who didn't support Obama would have been cursed and punished by God as well . . . oh no wait, they wouldn't, because those same conservatives kept insisting Obama was Muslim, when he wasn't.

 

[jvcarroll]

Former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, just listed this update for Trump voters:

1. He said he wouldn’t bomb Syria. You bought it. Then he bombed Syria.

2. He said he'd build a wall along the border with Mexico. You bought it. Now his secretary of homeland security says "It’s unlikely that we will build a wall."

3. He said he’d clean the Washington swamp. You bought it. Then he brought into his administration more billionaires, CEOs, and Wall Street moguls than in any administration in history, to make laws that will enrich their businesses.

4. He said he’d repeal Obamacare and replace it with something “wonderful.” You bought it. Then he didn’t.

5. He said he’d use his business experience to whip the White House into shape. You bought it. Then he created the most chaotic, dysfunctional, back-stabbing White House in modern history, in which no one is in charge.

6. He said he’d release his tax returns, eventually. You bought it. He hasn’t, and says he never will.

7. He said he’d divest himself from his financial empire, to avoid any conflicts of interest. You bought it. He remains heavily involved in his businesses, makes money off of foreign dignitaries staying at his Washington hotel, gets China to give the Trump brand trademark and copyright rights, manipulates the stock market on a daily basis, and has more conflicts of interest than can even be counted.

8. He said Clinton was in the pockets of Goldman Sachs, and would do whatever they said. You bought it. Then he put half a dozen Goldman Sachs executives in positions of power in his administration.

9. He said he’d surround himself with all the best and smartest people. You bought it. Then he put Betsy DeVos, opponent of public education, in charge of education; Jeff Sessions, opponent of the Voting Rights Act, in charge of voting rights; Ben Carson, opponent of the Fair Housing Act, in charge of fair housing; Scott Pruitt, climate change denier, in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency; and Russian quisling Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.

10. He said he’d faithfully execute the law. You bought it. Then he said his predecessor, Barack Obama, spied on him, without any evidence of Obama ever doing so, in order to divert attention from the FBI's investigation into collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives to win the election.

11. He said he knew more about strategy and terrorism than the generals did. You bought it. Then he promptly gave the green light to a disastrous raid in Yemen- even though all his generals said it would be a terrible idea. This raid resulted in the deaths of a Navy SEAL, an 8-year old American girl, and numerous civilians. The actual target of the raid escaped, and no useful intel was gained.

12. He called Barack Obama “the vacationer-in-Chief” and accused him of playing more rounds of golf than Tiger Woods. He promised to never be the kind of president who took cushy vacations on the taxpayer’s dime, not when there was so much important work to be done. You bought it. He has by now spent more taxpayer money on vacations than Obama did in the first 3 years of his presidency. Not to mention all the money taxpayers are spending protecting his family, including his two sons who travel all over the world on Trump business.

13. He called CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times “fake news” and said they were his enemy. You bought it. Now he gets his information from Fox News, Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, and InfoWars.

More to come.

 

[jvcarroll]

I'm ashamed I almost didn't make it to mass for Palm Sunday, knowing people actually got killed in Egypt today for the crime of being Christian.

I'm ashamed that both print and televised news are hardly covering the civil rights abuses in Chechnya and that their Russian leaders have opened concentration camps for gay men. I'm also ashamed that Trump views Putin as a good leader and that many of the leading members of Americas Religious Right view Russia's solution for dealing with LGBT people as a model for our country. Regardless of anyone's way of life, everyone has value. In some countries, it's Christians who are marginalized. In others it's Jews or Muslims. But most of the time, the LGBT gets squashed the most. That's been the one thing that many bigots and religious folk can agree on. I'm glad that's changing some. I hope that changes more.

 

[newsmanfan]

http://shareably.net/nasa-changes-in-earth-v1

I guess the right will continue to say this is all a hoax and these images are Photoshopped or something.

The argument I have usually heard from those who oppose more regulations to fight climate change is that the Earth goes through cycles of warming & cooling...which is proven. However, what they ignore is that climate change is happening rapidly, and that the culprit for the acceleration is fossil fuel use. I gave seen several conservatives in local govt (Florida cities affected already by rising and hotter seas come to mind) who are speaking out, so perhaps there is hope. I think an insular mindset/widespread sociopathy are the prime movers of climate change deniers.

 

[jvcarroll]

The much respected, non partisan Associated Press just reported that Russia knew about the chemical attack in Syria beforehand and tried to cover it up with an airstrike. Link

There's been much wild speculation that I'm not going to fuel, but Trump team's coziness with Russia and the president's praise of Putin fuels bizarre conspiracy theories and that makes us weaker as a nation.

I'm no fan of Pence. I really hate his bigoted brand of politics (and that's is the correct term), but I'd much prefer he take over the office. He's wrong on so many things, but he's one of the few people in the White House not linked to the Russians and he's not a hothead.

 

[D'Snowth]

And yet, Trump's supporters seem to think that whatever collusion may be going on with Russia is actually a good thing, because they feel it's better to be friends with Russia than to be enemies . . . even though Russia was pretty much our enemy up until Trump won, then they suddenly became our new best friend - that feels suspicious to me. They'd probably be singing a different tune if it was any Middle Eastern nation that was suddenly palsy-walsy with us.

 

[jvcarroll]

And yet, Trump's supporters seem to think that whatever collusion may be going on with Russia is actually a good thing, because they feel it's better to be friends with Russia than to be enemies . . . even though Russia was pretty much our enemy up until Trump won, then they suddenly became our new best friend - that feels suspicious to me. They'd probably be singing a different tune if it was any Middle Eastern nation that was suddenly palsy-walsy with us.

It's a willful ignorance from Trump supporters. One air strike is supposed to be proof that Trump is somehow clean in this Russian scandal. That's just stupidity, but that's how he won. He makes stupid folk feel smart. Everyone with a 5th grade education or under now feels emboldened to have a political opinion. Haha! What makes a leader truly great is the art of compromise and the knowledge of when to do so. Trump has never exhibited any of this wisdom. That's not a republican or a democrat value. It's a quality value and we'll find none of that in this cheap, gold-plated presidency.

 

[dwayne1115]

The much respected, non partisan Associated Press just reported that Russia knew about the chemical attack in Syria beforehand and tried to cover it up with an airstrike. Link

There's been much wild speculation that I'm not going to fuel, but Trump team's coziness with Russia and the president's praise of Putin fuels bizarre conspiracy theories and that makes us weaker as a nation.

I'm no fan of Pence. I really hate his bigoted brand of politics (and that's is the correct term), but I'd much prefer he take over the office. He's wrong on so many things, but he's one of the few people in the White House not linked to the Russians and he's not a hothead.

Great just more upsetting news about this whole issue. This could very well start our next world war....

 

[jvcarroll]

Great just more upsetting news about this whole issue. This could very well start our next world war....

Yup. In other news, a passenger was violently dragged from his assigned seat of the United Airlines flight today because the airline overbooked the flight and wanted to put one of their employees in the spot that he'd paid for. The undue violence aside, most companies usually wouldn't dream of bumping a passenger like that because it's bad customer service. However, the airline feels more beholden to their shareholders and their own corporate interests than their passengers (in other words, regular Americans). This is why elections matter. Corporations are gaining more and more power over the individual in America and we're going to see more of this sort of craziness. Justice Gorsuch, while qualified, has a history of favoring corporations over people. This is just plain against the interests of American citizens. Most people don't think it matters who's in charge, but it does. Whether our next president is conservative or progressive, we need to find one who actually stands for the people. Trump talked a good game during the election, but has done the opposite afterward. And now with this ambiguous military strategy, I'm worried all around.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

I know that this has nothing to do with Donald Trump, but just wanted to share this.

You'll never guess what I just heard on the local news. My mother told me that libraries are going to start pulling the TV show Little Bill. I was like, that show was one of my favorites as a kid and why would they do something like that? What's next? Little Bill being pulled from television?