Remember, too, the Other Memorial Day

May 25, 2020 at 12:13 pm | Posted in Abuse of Office, Enemies of Freedom, Fairness, Good People | Leave a comment
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A Chinese Type 59 tank at the Beijing Military Museum. A Type 59 main battle tank on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in western Beijing. On June 3, 1989, People's Liberation Army soldiers on Type 59 tanks began firing on civilian demonstrators at Muxidi near the military museum. (Wikipedia) Photo by Max Smith.

A Chinese Type 59 tank at the Beijing Military Museum. A Type 59 main battle tank on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution in western Beijing. On June 3, 1989, People’s Liberation Army soldiers on Type 59 tanks began firing on civilian demonstrators at Muxidi near the military museum.
(Wikipedia) Photo by Max Smith.

Tiananmen Square Day (June 4, every year) memorializes the patriotic martyrs in China who were slain by tanks and by other means beginning on June 4, 1989, in Beijing and in other cities in China.

Recall Jeff Widener’s (Associated Press) astounding image of Tank Man, blocking a column of Type 59 tanks heading east on Beijing‘s Chang’an Boulevard (Avenue of Eternal Peace) near Tiananmen Square.

Nowadays Tiananmen Square Day also salutes

– those who have been killed or imprisoned for defending freedom in Hong Kong,

– and those who have been killed or imprisoned for defending freedom in Venezuela,

– and those who have been killed or imprisoned for defending freedom in Iran,

– and those who have been killed or imprisoned for defending freedom in Syria,

– and those who have been killed or imprisoned for defending freedom in Egypt,

– and at so many other times and places.

To see more about Tiananmen Square Day, and to see how to honor both past and present martyrs for freedom, see here, and here, and here, and here.

 

Good News for Some Race Horses

May 20, 2020 at 7:55 pm | Posted in Brain and mind, Fairness, Good People, Humans and other animals | Leave a comment
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When horses lie down to sleep, others in the herd remain standing, awake or in a light doze, keeping watch. Horses on Bianditz mountain, in Navarre, Spain. Behind them Aiako mountains can be seen. Photo by Mikel Ortega from Errenteria, Basque Country, Spain, retouched by Richard Bartz. 8 October 2006.

The usual life-trajectory of a race horse is good treatment followed by horror.

From babyhood until it is no longer considered a contender, the horse is treated as
valued, almost as a pet.

The horse is coddled, and receives affection and care. Horses are sensitive and
emotional, so they are fully aware of the affection and care.

Then, all of a sudden, and for no reason that the horse can discern, affection is replaced
by harshness, and the horse is sent to slaughter, like a person being sent to a
concentration camp.

This practice is a betrayal – a betrayal of the trust of a very emotional, sensitive animal.

Recently, for a few lucky race horses, the horrific ending has been edited out. This good
news is told in an article “When the Race is Over”, by Annie Marie Musselman, with
photos by Jay Hovdey, in the May 2020 issue of Smithsonian magazine.

The title of this post says ‘some’ race horses, because not all middle-aged race horses
are lucky enough to go to the refuge described in the article. Many of the other race
horses are slaughtered.

An analogous betrayal happens to
– a cow who has stopped having calves and giving milk;
– a bull who is sent into a bull-fighting ring.

It is likely that an analogous betrayal occurs for many sled dogs during Iditerod, where
many of the dogs who become too exhausted to keep up the pace are killed en route.

By the way, what happened to all of the puppies, kittens, rabbits and other animals in pet stores, and at breeders, while the new corona virus kept pet stores closed for over a month?

Those last four topics will be discussed further in future posts.

But on a more cheerful note, there are good people who recognize the feelings of animals.

Here is a ring-tailed lemur in Africa who likes having people scratch its back, and who instinctively knows how to tell them to keep scratching.

Here is a young deer who accidentally discovered that it loves belly rubs, and is quite unwilling to let people stop giving them.  (You probably have not previously heard a deer’s voice.)

Here is a lost newborn fawn who is rescued by a little girl.

(If you like animals, Reshareworthy will be a favorite web site.)

Tweets by thepoliblog – 2

January 27, 2020 at 4:26 pm | Posted in Disinformation, Dysfunctional Politics, Enemies of Freedom, Enemies of Planet Earth, Fairness, Global warming, Presidential election | Leave a comment
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640x417.NorthernMockingbird.U.S.Fish&WildlifeService.jpg

640×417.NorthernMockingbird.U.S.Fish&WildlifeService.jpg

Here are newer tweets by thepoliblog.

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2019-08-23

#PresidentChump, you said that Xi Jingping is an enemy of the United States.

Xi is not the only enemy head of state.

Putin is another.

You are the third, and worst.

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2019-09-06

[@SpeakerPelosi, who noted that Chump opposed energy-efficient light bulbs.]

Who bought #PresidentChump this time?

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2019-09-06

[@SenSchumer]

If McConnell will only bring up bills that #PresidentChump supports,

then he is violating the Constitution by undermining its checks and balances.

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2019-09-09

After the Group of Seven met, the other leaders said,

The US is not sending us their best.

It sent us an ignorant, insecure, bigoted groper and would-be rapist.

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2019-09-09

[@drerinchou (Dr. Erin Chou)]

The Straight Pride marchers are as insecure as President Chump.

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2019-09-09

[@SenSchumer]

Trump is Putin’s chihuahua, and McConnell is Trump’s chihuahua.

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2019-10-09

[@SpeakerPelosi, @Eugene_Robinson, ]@RepAdamSchiff, @SenSchumer

#PresidentChump claimed that he was worried about corruption in Ukraine.

But he didn’t say “I need you to do the right thing.”

He said, “I would like you to do us a favor though”. He asked for corruption.

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2019-10-19

[@SpeakerPelosi, @Eugene_Robinson, @RepAdamSchiff, @SenSchumer]

Why does #PresidentChump want to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty?

The editors of the Washington Post say that the treaty “monitors the conflict

in eastern Ukraine being fueled by Russia.”

Chump wants to aid Putin.

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2019-10-25

Medicare for all would be a Government monopoly of healthcare.

It would become like the VA at its worst, with no alternative.

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2019-10-25

To undo #PresidentChump’s damage:

Biden, who is electable, humane, and knowledgeable,

backed up by Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg (one as VP and one in the Cabinet),

and John Delaney, Cory Booker, and other good candidates in the Cabinet.

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2019-10-26

[@realDonaldTrump]

#PresidentChump, why isn’t your Twitter tag @realJohnBarron?

In pretending to be someone else, you tried to create REAL fake news!

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2019-11-22

[@SpeakerPelosi, @Eugene_Robinson, @TomPerez]

Today’s Washington Post described Bernie Sanders as “staunchly liberal”.

Sanders is not liberal, he is statist. He is not a democratic socialist,

because he doesn’t like democracy.

Sanders wants Gov’t to be the only source of everything,

with no alternatives, no choice.

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2019-11-22

McConnell blocked sanctions on Russia

because after McC’s wife joined #PresidentChump’s administration,

McConnell ceased to be on our side. He became #MoscowMitch.

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2019-11-24

[@SpeakerPelosi, @Eugene_Robinson, @TomPerez]

Fiona Hill’s words apply to Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan and Kevin McCarthy:

they “promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests”.

To help #PresidentChump, they have to help Putin. So they do.

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2019-12-02

@SpeakerPelosi, @Eugene_Robinson, @TomPerez, @SenSchumer

Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy: Putin’s mouthpieces in the House.

Either unknowingly or knowingly. Stupid or disloyal or both. #Putin’sMouthpieces.

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2019-12-02

[@SpeakerPelosi, @Eugene_Robinson, @TomPerez]

#PresidentChump wants to build a #ChumpTower in one or more cities in Russia.

That is why he finds it convenient to believe Putin rather than the CIA.

President Chump is one of #Putin’sMouthpieces.

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2019-12-06

#PresidentChump was mocked at the NATO conference because he doesn’t favor

the free world. He is not the leader of the free world.

President Chump Made America Second Rate Again.

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2019-12-19

[@Eugene_Robinson, @TomPerez]

#PresidentChump, you send asylum seekers back to dangerous areas.

Should Spain in the 1930s and 1940s have deported those who snuck into Spain to flee the Nazis and Vichy France? How was that different from refugees from gangs?

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2019-12-19

[@Eugene_Robinson, @TomPerez]

#PresidentChump’s deferrment from the draft resulted from

a diagnosis of heel spurs made by a doctor whose office was rented from Fred Trump.

Chump’s walking never shows any effect of heel spurs.

Chump, prove that you really had heel spurs.

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2019-12-19

McConnell promises to lie under oath during Trump’s trial by the Senate.

Isn’t that impeachable? Cannot McConnel be at least censured?

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2019-12-20

[@SpeakerPelosi, @Eugene_Robinson, @TomPerez]

President Chump’s post-impeachment message to Nancy Pelosi proves it:

#PresidentChump is a psychopath.

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2019-12-24

[@Spea[kerPelosi, @Eugene_Robinson, @SenSchumer]

If McConnell blocks #PresidentChump’s Trump’s conviction on the current

bills of impeachment, Chump can be re-impeached on other counts.

This justifies Congress’ calls for hitherto refused testimony and information.

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2019-12-24

[@Eugene_Robinson]

As Eugene Robinson noted, Mark Galli’s editorial in Christianity Today said,

“Mr. Trump did not have a serious opportunity to offer his side of the story …”

#PresidentChump was offered that opportunity, but refused it.

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2019-12-24

Mahatma Ghandi and Jawaharlal Nehru would both be aghast at what that bigot Modi has done.

Narendra Modi spits on what India once stood for.

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2019-12-24

[comment to to a tweet by Jim Acosta about Trump’s claims about windmills]

#PresidentChump is too stupid to know when he sounds stupid.

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2019-12-26

A rare opportunity for #Republican Senators: #PresidentChump’s impeachment.

Return to classical Republicanism. Reclaim your honor.

Disassociate from #MoscowMitch.

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2019-12-26

#Republican Senators: switch back from Putin’s side to the American side:

expel the creepy clown in the White House.

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2019-12-26

If enough #Republican Senators vote to expel the creepy clown in the White

House, then neither the Chump nor his base would have a well-defined target.

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2020-01-07

[@LindseyGrahamSC]

Lindsey Graham, why did you stop being a patriot?

The answer: you thought it would boost your chance of being re-elected.

John McCain would have been ashamed of you. You should be, too.

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2020-01-07

@LindseyGrahamSC]

In the history books, you will be grouped with Devin Nunes and Louis Gohmert.

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2020-01-13

[@TomPerez, @Eugene_Robinson]

#PresidentChump: defective as a human being, and is destructive to America and to the free world.

But if Sanders becomes the Democratic candidate I will leave blank the Presidential line on the ballot.

Sanders would be as bad as Trump, but in a different way.

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See Heathcare For All? Yes! But Beware Medicare For All

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2020-01-13

[A comment to Erin Chou’s tweet that

“I’m puzzled by the growing number of so-called vegan products being peddled by Burger King and others. If I were a vegan, why would I want to support a business whose core is based on cruelty and slaughter?”]

Let them transition. Every increase in humaneness has been gradual.

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2020-01-13

[A comment to Nancy Pelosi’s tweet that

“After this weekend’s 6.0 earthquake, we continue to pray for our fellow American citizens in Puerto Rico. Trump Admin must quickly approve Governor’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration and stop withholding Congressionally appropriated funds to recover from 2017 hurricanes.”]

He’s withholding the Congressionally appropriated funds because he wants a favor, though.

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2020-01-13

[A comment to Jim Acosta’s tweet that

“Grisham defends Trump’s tweet of Schumer and Pelosi in traditional Muslim clothing: “I think the president is making clear that the democrats have been parroting Iranian talking points and almost taking the side of terrorists and those who were out to kill the Americans.”

Stephanie Grisham, the taxpayer funded Press Secretary, does not do her job.

Instead she creates disinformation.

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2020-01-16

[@Eugene_Robinson, @EJDionne]

E.J. Dionne Jr’s op-ed today mentioned “Rudi Giuliani’s unseemly efforts to undermine

our own ambassador to Ukraine”.

Giuliani’s actions were illegal for a US Citizen.

Lock him up!

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2020-01-19

[@Eugene_Robinson, @danbalz]

Another #NeverSanders voter!

Make that #NeverSanders, #NeverTrump.

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2020-01-19

[A a comment to Ted Lieu tweet about Devin Nunes]

Nunes can’t change the fact that he will go down in history as one of Putin’s mouthpieces.

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2020-01-24

Every time McConnell is mentioned in connection with #Trump’s trial,

recall that McConnell’s wife is in Trump’s Cabinet.

Conflict of Interest!

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2020-01-24

[A comment on a tweet by Jim Acosta that

“Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn spent hours attacking Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key National Security Council aide who testified before Congress on the Ukraine scandal, on Twitter, including questioning the Purple Heart recipient’s patriotism”]

That proves that Marsha Blackburn is not a true patriot, and opposes those who are.

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2020-01-25

Washington Post headline: “defense [of #trump] will focus on Bidens”

Note the attempt to change the subject. Note the utter irrelevance.

This proves that Cipollone and Sekulow have no case – NOTHING!

Prevent Abuse by the Senate Majority Leader

September 27, 2019 at 8:13 pm | Posted in Abuse of Office, Conceited, Dysfunctional Politics, Enemies of Freedom, Fairness | Leave a comment
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Mitch McConnell at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

Mitch McConnell at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo by Gage Skidmore.  (For more imformation see Post 141 in theploblog’s index of posts.)

 

Mitch McConnell abuses his position as the Majority Leader of the Senate.

Mitch McConnell has declared himself to be the Senate’s Grim Reaper, a position not forseen in the Constitution.

He has declared that the Senate shall not even consider any bill that the President wouldn’t sign, thereby rendering empty the Constitution’s provision for Congress to overturn a Presidential veto – a central ingredient of the Constitution’s mandating of checks and balances, including Comgressional oversight of the Executive.

McConnell has unilaterally declared that no nomination by a President will be considered during that President’s last year, if that President was from the opposing party. He sneered that no such restriction would apply to a similar nomination by a President belonging to McConnell’s own party.

McConnell has obstructed efforts to protect the integrity of American elections.

McConnell has obstructed efforts to prevent sensible limitations on access to weapons that enable mass killings, despite the large majority of Americans that now favor such limitations.

The Senate Majority leader has too much power.

The writers of the Constitution never foresaw the possibility of this type of abuse of power by a Senator, and certainly wouldn’t have wanted it to occur.

Either the rules of the Senate must be changed to prevent this sort of abuse, or the Constitution must be amended to do so.

The rule should be that within 10 days of receiving a bill passed by the House or a nomination from the President, the whole availible body of the Senate shall vote on whether to have debates and a vote to approve or to disapprove the bill from the House, or the nomination by the President. This first vote does not require the Senators to have studied the prospective bill or candidate: they need only to have a rough sense of what the bill is about, or a rough sense of the nominee’s background. If at least 40% of the Senate votes to debate and then vote upon the House bill or on the Presidential nomination, the debate and the legally-binding vote shall occur in a timely fashion. Those who voted for the debate and the binding vote shall schedule the date for the binding vote, allowing adequate time for Senators to scrutinize the bill or to interview the candidate. The Majority Leader of the Senate shall have no special role in setting that date, and may participate in setting that date only if having voted for the debate and binding vote to occur.

Most of the procedures in a legislative body should be independent of which party currently dominates the membership of that body. Of course the outcomes of many of votes will be determined by the majority. But not all outcomes will ne determined that way: legislators have the right to not always vote the party line. McConnell’s rule takes away some of that freedom of conscience, and assumes that all voting will be by unchanging blocks.

Mitch McConnell has chosen to become one of the major villains in American history.

 

Tweets by thepoliblog – 1

August 18, 2019 at 8:38 pm | Posted in Abuse of Office, Climate change, Conceited, Disinformation, Enemies of Freedom, Enemies of Planet Earth, Fairness, Presidential election | Leave a comment
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Singing male blackbird, Bogense havn, Funen, Denmark. Image provided by Malene Thyssen (User:Malene), 13 May 2004, via da:Billede:Solsort.jpg on the Danske Wikipedia.

Singing male blackbird, Bogense havn, Funen, Denmark. Image provided by Malene Thyssen (User:Malene), 13 May 2004, via da:Billede:Solsort.jpg on the Danske Wikipedia.

Here are some tweets by thepoliblog. Some were posted on Trump’s and on McConnell’s government twitter pages, where, as comments by the public about official business, they cannot be removed, so Trump and Trump’s fans, or McConnell and McConnell’s fans, are confronted by them, again and again. Some of the tweets are directed to Devin Nunes and to Rupert Murdoch.
Tweet to counter the twits.
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Contrary to his boasts, #PresidentChump was a failure in business.
After his many bankruptcies, most banks refused to lend to him.
He was reduced to marketing his name instead of real estate, and to strutting around on TV.
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Chump is like the Music Man, but meaner.
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When most banks decided to stop lending to #DonnyTheChump,
his main source of funds became Putin’s henchmen, and DeutscheBank.
That is probably one reason why #PresidentChump hides his tax returns.
It also explains his loyalty to Putin.
#PresidentChump is Putin’s chihuahua.
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#PresidentChump’s inflated claims of wealth are designed to support his false
claim of success in business.
They are like con-man Bernie Madoff’s claims to his actual and potential investors.
This is one of the reasons why Chump wants to hide his tax forms.
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If #PresidentChump’s claims of wealth were true, he could prove his claims by showing his tax forms, as previous Presidential candidates and Presidents have done.
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Recent newspaper articles wonder whether a woman can be elected President.
We already have proof that a woman can be.
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Hillary Clinton would have won if it hadn’t been for the obsolete Electoral College, Putin’s interference, disgruntled Berniecrats, and the malevolent Green Party, which always draws pro-environment votes away from the only pro-environment candidates who could win.
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President John Barron?
John Barron, John Baron, and John Miller are names that #PresidentChump
used in phone calls to the New York Times, while attempting to CREATE fake news.
He pretended to be calling with favorable insider information about Donald Trump.
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#PresidentChump is NOT the leader of the free world.
He doesn’t even LIKE free societies.
He prefers authoritarian societies: societies that are
like the Trump Organization writ large.
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#PresidentChump envies heads of state who command goons.
You can see that at his rallies,
and in his approval of the atrocities by Putin, bin Salman, Kim, Duterte, and on and on, ad nauseum.
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#PresidentChump sneered at John McCain’s academic record.
Them why does #Chump use lawyers to prevent the release of his OWN academic records? You already know the answer.
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Why is #PresidentChump’s self-esteem so fragile?
His father bullied him, and his alcoholic drug-addicted older brother committed suicide.
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There is nothing abnormal about #PresidentChump’s frantic bleats of “No collusion”.
The guilty deny guilt. Chump’s panic and frenzy give him away.
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Make America Great Again, eh?
No, #PresidentChump made America SECOND-RATE again.
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#PresidentChump, how does it feel to be one of the 3 worst Presidents
in American history, and, among those 3, to be one of the most harmful 2 ?
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#PresidentChump, how does it feel to be the most illiterate President in American history?
You boasted that you didn’t read your textbooks in school because you didn’t need to.
That was a lie. You didn’t read them, because you couldn’t.
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His only guiding principle: Trump First!
His only goal: Make Trump Great Again! Lets hear it: MTGA!
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#PresidentChump is an excrementalist: an excremental political thinker, an excremental economist, an excremental human being, and an excremental businessman.
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#PresidentChump cannot read Mueller’s report, because he cannot read.
Chump tries to hide the fact that he is nearly illiterate.
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#PresidentChump, the Creepy Clown in the White House,
deserves to be impeached and convicted.
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But unpatriotic Mitch McConnell would prevent conviction by the Senate, which President Chump would then claim as exoneration.
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Nancy Pelosi is right. Hold hearings instead, to obtain evidence for the 2020 election.
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Trumpist agent Mitch McConnell blocks Constitutionally mandated Congressional oversight.
He has a conflict of interest: his wife is in #PresidentChump’s cabinet.
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#MBS claimed that his team merely wanted to bring Jamal #Khashoggi
back to Saudi Arabia, and that Khashoggi’s death was unintentional.
Why then did MBS’s team bring a bone saw to their encounter with Khashoggi?
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#PresidentChump defends MBS: pretended heel spurs defend a bone saw.
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After January 20, 2021, Canada, Mexico, Britain, Ireland, the EU, Australia and other
non-authoritarian countries can declare #PresidentChump (#Trump) to be persona non grata, and bar him from polluting their countries by his presence.
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#PresidentChump demanded that Obama display his birth certificate.
With far more justification, we demand to see X-rays of
President Chump’s heel spurs. Heel spurs don’t go away by themselves.
If they are no longer there, show us documentation of the operation that removed them.
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If what E. Jean Carroll says is true, #PresidentChump attempted rape.
He should be tried. If convicted, he should go to jail,
and should be required to register as a sex offender.
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#PresidentChump claims the he didn’t rape E. Jean Carroll because
she “is not my type”.
Pause for a moment, to digest what Chump’s statement says about his character.
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#PresidentChump claims that he didn’t rape E. Jean Carroll because
“she’s not my type”. But Lady Liberty is not his type either,
and that hasn’t prevented his repeated attempts the penetrate her.
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@realDonaldTrump, #PresidentChump, are you proud of what you tried to do to Vera Coking?
{Widowed Homeowner Foils Trump in Atlantic City, By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN JULY 21, 1998}
And YOU call OTHER people NASTY!
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@realDonaldTrump, #PresidentChump, you tried to have an elderly widow, Vera Coking, ejected from from the home that held all of her treasured memories.
You LOST!
You claim that you always win, but that is just a bluff. You are a LOSER!
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#PresidentChump = President John Barron = President John Baron = President John Miller.
You pretended to the New York Times to be other people
with insider information about the wealth and victories of Donald Trump.
That was ACTUAL Fake News!
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The United States WAS the greatest and most powerful nation on Earth, but only  before you became #PresidentChump.
You didn’t Make America Great Again, you Made America Second Rate Again.
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The most harmful immigrants so far have been the ancestors of
#PresidentChump, and Rupert Murdoch himself.
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#PresidentChump, in 2002 you said of Jeffrey Epstein “… he likes beautiful women
as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” How young did you know about?
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Leave, #PresidentChump! Emmigrate to Putinia – Putin’s Russia.
You don’t share the values of any free country.
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America receives NO PAYMENTS from the tariffed country.
Importers in the US pay, and ultimately WE pay.
Another lie by #PresidentChump.
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The Pilgrims were refugees, seeking freedom to practice their religion.
Most other immigrants from Europe and elsewhere came to escape persecution
and/or sought opportunity. Examples: your paternal grandparents and your mother.

Today’s immigrants have the same motives.
#PresidentChump, what is your justification for persecuting them?
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Disloyal Devin Nunes,
Dances to Putin’s tunes.
Devin, why do you oppose protecting American elections against Putin?
Devin, why haven’t you registered as lobbyist for a foreign government?
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Mitch McConnell is not Putin’s agent. He just acts like one.
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@realDonaldTrump
You said that “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.”
That just proves that the gun shouldn’t have been available, #PresidentChump.
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Other countries have about the same percentage as we do
of mentally ill people and of haters.
But they don’t have as many mass shootings (we are number 1!)
because in other countries guns are not so easy to obtain, #PresidentChump.
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#PresidentChump, your trade wars reflect poorly on Wharton.
You failed to learn at Wharton why trade deficits are not harmful.
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Hey, #MoscowMitch! You obstruct the defense of the integrity of US elections.
That obstructs the defense of the integrity of Kentucky’s elections.
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Did Kentucky’s voters know that they voted for a Senator who would work against their interests?
Putin thanks you for leaving the door open.
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#MoscowMitch is too busy protecting #PresidentChump and Putin.
He doesn’t have time to work on protecting American adults or kids.
Not even kids in Kentucky.
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#PresidentChump, Wharton’s shame.
Mis-understands foreign trade,
Causing farmers’ pain.
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#PresidentChump, Wharton’s shame.
Wharton should withdraw your degree
until you pass a remedial course
in foreign trade.

Healthcare For All versus Medicare for All

June 29, 2019 at 3:10 pm | Posted in Enemies of Freedom, Fairness, Presidential election | Leave a comment
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U.S. Air Force surgeons Dr. Patrick Miller (left), Dr. Michael Hughes (right), and surgical technician SrA Ray Wilson from the 379th Expeditionary Medical Squadron, repair the ruptured achilles tendon of a servicemember on March 11, 2003. The doctors are performing this surgey at a field hospital in a forward-deployed location.

For people who are currently satisfied with their health insurance, forcing them to replace their insurance by Medicare would be a coercive version of Health Care For All. A non-coercive Health Care For All would include the option of private insurance.

People who are currently satisfied with their health insurance are numerous, and a larger percentage of them vote than do those in the general population.

For this large bloc of people, insisting upon Medicare For All would be a show-stopper, in the sense that these people (myself included) cannot vote for any candidate who insists on Medicare For All, no matter how many other good positions are espoused by that candidate.

By insisting upon Medicare For All, a candidate needlessly loses a very significant number of votes.

President Chump: A Contest

June 28, 2019 at 3:03 pm | Posted in Abuse of Office, Climate change, Conceited, Crime and punishment, Disinformation, Dysfunctional Politics, Enemies of Freedom, Enemies of Planet Earth, Fairness, Global warming, Presidential election | Leave a comment
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Scary Clown, photographed by Graeme Maclean in 2005.

Scary Clown, photographed by Graeme Maclean in 2005.

The skillfull, aristrocratic hippie poet Lord Byron was described as being “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.”

That was astute but exaggerated in Byron’s case. It is an apt and unexaggerated characterization of America’s sleaziest, most dishonest, and stupidest President: President Chump.

There is new evidence evidence that President Chump is indeed the Creepy Clown in the White House: here1, here2, here3, here4, here5:

Here are a few tweets (here) about this episode, followed by a suggestion for a political cartoon based upon this incident, and then the announcement of a contest to draw the best version of that political cartoon:

– If what E. Jean Carroll says is true, #PresidentChump attempted rape.
He should be tried.
If convicted, he should go to jail, and should be required to register as a sex offender.

– #PresidentChump claims the he didn’t rape E. Jean Carroll because
she “is not my type”.
Pause for a moment, to digest what Chump’s statement says about his character.

– #PresidentChump claims that he didn’t rape E. Jean Carroll because
“she’s not my type”. But Lady Liberty (the Statue of Liberty) is not his type either, and that hasn’t prevented Chump’s repeated attempts to penetrate her.

This would be a good two-panel cartoon:
Panel 1: Chump in 1995 or 1996, with his pants down and his back toward us, thrusting at E. Jean Carroll.
Panel 2: Chump in 2019, with his pants down (his rear end fatter and droopier than before) and his back toward us, thrusting at Lady Liberty.

If Chump’s campaign in 2020 wanted an honest emblem, that cartoon would be it.

Thepoliblog hereby announces a contest to produce the best version of that two-panel cartoon.

The winner – or winners – would reap no financial award, but would reap recognition and satisfaction, in having struck a forceful blow for humanity.

To enter, in the comments section of this blog indicate the URL of your entry.

Religious or Moral Exemptions for Health Care Workers

May 3, 2019 at 5:34 pm | Posted in Abuse of Office, Fairness | Leave a comment
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U.S. Air Force surgeons Dr. Patrick Miller (left), Dr. Michael Hughes (right), and surgical technician SrA Ray Wilson from the 379th Expeditionary Medical Squadron, repair the ruptured achilles tendon of a servicemember on March 11, 2003. The doctors are performing this surgey at a field hospital in a forward-deployed location.

President Chump has just delighted religious conservatives by issuing a rule that will shield doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers who do not want to provide abortions, sterilizations, assisted suicide, unspecified provisions in Advance Directives (presumably statements such as “I do not want medical efforts to keep me alive if …”), compulsary vaccination (!), compulsary hearing screening, and compulsary treatment for mental health problems, and who do not want to even be obliged to tell or counsel patients about abortion, sterilization, or assisted suicide.

Three informative news articles on this topic are here (by Ariana Eunjung Cha, Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Amy Goldstein), here (by Ariana Eunjung Cha), and here (by Paige Winfield Cunningham).

This is a short-sighted approach.  It should lead to particular types of discrimination in hiring and employment.

In deciding whether to hire, or to re-assign or fire, or to promote a health-care worker, an employer has both the right and the duty to know whether the person is willing to perform all of the duties that are part of a given position, or is willing to perform only some of them. If only some of them, the employer has both the right and the duty to know which activities the employee will not perform.

The employer cannot wait for an emergency to obtain that information. The employer needs to know that information immediately, to ensure that all likely needs are adequately staffed by those who are willing to meet those needs. Any employer of health care workers therefore needs to require signed, witnessed statements by existing employees as well as by potential future employees.

The situation here is very much like that for concientious objectors in military service, except that heath care workers are typically not drafted into their health care roles.

The Weldon Amendment denies federal funds to Federal agencies, state agencies, and local governments if those government entities discriminate “on the basis that the health care entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions”. But that does not constrain non-govermental hospitals and medical practices.

This issue will inevitably be brought before the Supreme Court.

President Chump at Valley Forge

December 25, 2018 at 8:21 pm | Posted in Abuse of Office, Conceited, Disinformation, Dysfunctional Politics, Fairness, Presidential election | Leave a comment
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Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge, John Ward Dunsmore, 1906

Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge, John Ward Dunsmore, 1906

Shortly after noon on December 24, President Chump tweeted:
I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security.

(Philip Rucker, in the Washington Post.  The original tweet is here.)

This comes on top of President Chump’s repeated whining deceptive unpatriotic claim that the investigation of Putin’s interference in the US election in 2016 is “a witch hunt”.

All of these statements reek of self pity, and of trying to deflect blame.
Hence they reek of fear.

Can you imagine George Washington whining with self pity like that? Even during the cold, resource-starved, discouraging winter at Valley Forge?

Can you imagine George Washington trying to deflect blame?

President Chump – the weakest President we have ever had.

Because of his bottomless insecurity, President Chump claims superlatives whenever possible. But he did not realize that by his tweets he was inadvertantly claiming to be the ‘weakest President’.

Here are truthful superlatives that apply to President Chump:

– The largest number of whining tweets.

– The Whiner in Chief.

– The Chief Whino.

Eugene Robinson, in the Washington Post, has concisely summarized America’s greatest current problem:

The chaos all around us is what happens when the nation elects an incompetent, narcissistic, impulsive and amoral man as president.

It is difficult, at the moment, to fully assess the damage Trump is wreaking. We have never had a president like him, so history is a poor guide. For his racism, we can perhaps look back to Woodrow Wilson; his general unfitness to hold the nation’s highest office recalls the hapless Andrew Johnson. Maybe Andrew Jackson was as impetuous, maybe Richard M. Nixon as venal.

In connection with Andrew Jackson, “impetuous” should be expanded to “impetuous and cruel”. With that extension, the statement still applies to President Chump.

Mitch McConnell’s Conflict of Interest

October 14, 2018 at 5:37 pm | Posted in Abuse of Office, Conceited, Dysfunctional Politics, Fairness, Presidential election | Leave a comment
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Mitch McConnell at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

Mitch McConnell at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

 

Mitch McConnell has a conflict of interest.

Elaine Chao, Trump's Secretary of the Department of Transportation.

Elaine Chao, Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Transportation.

His wife, Elaine Chao, is Secretary of Transportation in President Chump’s Cabinet.  Hence she is a member of the Trump Regime.

This explains why McConnell suddenly stopped barking at Trump, and now wags his tail instead.

This is a clear conflict of interest: a member of Congress is the spouse of a member of the executive branch.  That undercuts the effectiveness of the Constitution’s deliberate separation of powers, which was intended to have each of the three branches of government prevent abuses and mistakes by the other two branches.

Instead of trying to temper the effects of his conflict of interest, McConnell has embraced them.

When Mitch McConnell refused to do his duty when Merrick Garland was nominated for the Supreme Court, he had abandoned most of his principles, but not all of them.

Now he has abandoned the rest.

Merrick Garland. This photograph was provided to the press by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2016 on the occasion of Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States by US President Barack Obama. At the time Garland was chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, having served as a federal judge on the court since 1997.

Merrick Garland. This photograph was provided to the press by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2016 on the occasion of Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States by US President Barack Obama. At the time Garland was chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, having served as a federal judge on the court since 1997.

 

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