Random Politics & Religion #19

It's a big mistake to stop caring about what your government is doing. The biggest enemy to democracy is apathy.

They love bush in africa. Which surprised even him.

Look man, if you meant by "respect = basic human decency" that some South Park-level of funny (like that episode I remember from 2008 elections; where an object was lost in Hillary's vagina) then yeah, I find that silly and terrible, and I agree with your point.

Then there's the "respect" that's earned. If I don't know the person, I treat them with a default level of respect/tact. It's up to them by that point to increase it or to totally lose it. In Trump's case I guess it's obvious what he did to his reputation.

I consider my audience. You didn't back up anything you said, of course the difference is, it didn't sound like you could. Thats what happens when you just make things up and say things like "mainly the middle east."

Don't worry about how well regarded Obama was in Europe and Asia.

Maybe it’s not a coincidence that Barnum & Bailey is folding its tents this year. After all, how could the circus possibly compete with Donald Trump?

The president proved once again that he is the greatest show on Earth. Lions and tigers and elephants are kid stuff next to his high wire act.

Next time, the White House ought to sell popcorn.

Amid feverish reports of chaos on his team and with Democrats fantasizing that Russia-gate is another Watergate, Trump took center stage to declare that reports of his demise are just more facts I don't like.

Far from dead, he was positively exuberant. His performance at a marathon press conference Thursday was a must-see-TV spectacle as he mixed serious policy talk with standup comedy and took repeated pleasure in whacking his favorite piñata, the “dishonest media.”

“Russia is a ruse,” he insisted, before finally saying under questioning that he was not aware of anyone on his campaign having contact with Russian officials.

Trump’s detractors immediately panned the show as madness, but they missed the method behind it and proved they still don’t understand his appeal. Facing his first crisis in the Oval Office, he was unbowed in demonstrating his bare-knuckle intention to fight back.

He did it his way. Certainly no other president, and few politicians at any level in any time, would dare put on a show like that.

In front of cameras, and using the assembled press corps as props, he conducted a televised revival meeting to remind his supporters that he is still the man they elected. Ticking off a lengthy list of executive orders and other actions he has taken, he displayed serious fealty to his campaign promises.

Sure, sentences didn’t always end on the same topic they started with, and his claim to have won the election by the largest Electoral College margin since Ronald Reagan wasn’t close to true.

Fair points, but so what? Fact-checkers didn’t elect him, nor did voters who were happy with the status quo.

Trump, first, last and always, matches the mood of the discontented. Like them, he is a bull looking for a china shop. That’s his ace in the hole and he played it almost to perfection.

The immediate impact of his performance is likely to calm some of the jitters among Republicans in Congress and supporters elsewhere, especially after the beating he took in the last few days.

On Monday night, Trump suddenly removed Gen. Michael Flynn, his national security adviser, over circumstances that still are not entirely clear. And on Wednesday, his nominee for secretary of labor, Andrew Puzder, withdrew after Republicans said he didn’t have the votes to be confirmed.

Combined with courts blocking his immigration and refugee order, unflattering leaks of confidential material from intelligence agencies and numerous demands for investigations into any Russian connections, Trump’s fast start suddenly hit a wall.

Just three weeks into his term, Democrats, in and out of the media, smelled blood. Many already were going for the kill.

They won’t get it, at least now. Trump bought himself time yesterday.

Yet those determined to bring him down won’t give up, and the insidious leaks of secret material suggest some opponents are members of the permanent government who are willing to use their position and the media to undermine him.

Indeed, the most serious leaks seem to vindicate a warning that Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer made in early January after Trump criticized leaders of the spook agencies.

“Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you,” Schumer told an interviewer. “So even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he’s being really dumb to do this.”

That incredible statement reflects what a dangerous game rogue agents are playing. The world is on fire yet the president is the target of partisan revenge in his own government. It’s a scandal and it’s outrageous, but it’s a fact that Trump must confront.

Finding the leakers and prosecuting them, which he promises to do, is part of the solution.

Another part comes Saturday, when Trump takes his solo act to Florida for a massive public rally. It’s smart for him to get out of Washington and soak in the enthusiasm of the populist movement he leads.

He should do it regularly, and also hold smaller, town hall-style forums where ordinary citizens can ask him questions in more intimate settings. Any way he can speak directly to the American people and hear from them democratizes his presidency and reduces the power of big, biased media and the Washington establishment.

Yet the only sure and lasting way to keep ahead of the lynch mob is by producing results. Success will be Trump’s savior.

And nothing says success like jobs, jobs, jobs. Getting the economy to reach liftoff speed is essential so it can deliver the good-paying jobs and prosperity that he promised and the nation needs.

While Republican honchos in Congress say they’re getting ready to move on tax cuts and replacing ObamaCare, nothing will happen without presidential leadership. That means Trump’s fate is in his own hands and he must keep himself and his White House team focused on delivering an economic revival.

If he does that, the lynch mob will be left holding an empty rope.

Then there's the "respect" that's earned. If I don't know the person, I treat them with a default level of respect/tact. It's up to them by that point to increase it or to totally lose it. In Trump's case I guess it's obvious what he did to his reputation.

There's these sayings:

"You don't have to show respect to the man, but you have to show respect to the position"

"Patriotism is earned not mandated"


Give Donald a chance they say, yesterday's press conference was one of those chances. It was not impressive, it was not Presidential, it was embarrassing and not just for the press corps that were in attendance.

As a Republican it's embarrassing to see the brand associated to him in any capacity. Sadly bad decisions in Presidential choices are remembered and blight the party, Ex: Warren G Harding, Richard M Nixon and now Donald J Trump. Whereas the impacts of such men as Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower get muddled and forgotten sadly at times they're even conflated and attributed to the ideologies of the left.

Wikipedia sources and a conservative blog behind a wall, always a strong argument! Like I said, making things up. Rooks remains correct.

Show us how it is done, Master.

Is anybody reading these conservative blogswalls of text KN keeps posting? Its beginning to remind me of LG.

Why are you here?

So, using the same old stop posting things I don't like excuse from you?

Can't you even counter anything anymore?

Why are you here?

Agreeing with someone doesn't make something true...or correct.

I already countered it. Reducing Bush's failures to "just the Middle East" is a joke. He pissed off all of Europe (and Asia), so badly they convicted him of war crimes. You can't counter this.

While the hearing is regarded by some as being purely symbolic, human rights activist Boyle said he was hopeful that Bush and Co could soon find themselves facing similar trials elsewhere in the world.

“We tried three times to get Bush in Canada but were thwarted by the Canadian Government, then we scared Bush out of going to Switzerland. The Spanish attempt failed because of the government there and the same happened in Germany.”

Boyle then referenced the Nuremberg Charter which was used as the format for the tribunal when asked about the credibility of the initiative in Malaysia. He quoted: “Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit war crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any person in execution of such a plan.”

The US is subject to customary international law and to the Principles of the Nuremberg Charter said Boyle who also believes the week-long trial was “almost certainly” being monitored closely by both Pentagon and White House officials.

Obama healed the relationships that Trump has wasted no time in fraying again.

And consequently Obama's image is already on the rise thanks to Trump.

Might have to do with him saving millions of lives with AIDS medication...but who knows !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President's_Emergency_Plan_for_AIDS_Relief

The program has provided antiretroviral treatment (ART) to over 7.7 million HIV-infected people in resource-limited settings and supported HIV testing and counseling (HTC) for more than 56.7 million people as of 2014.[1] PEPFAR increased the number of Africans receiving ART from 50,000 at the start of the initiative in 2004.[2][3][4] PEPFAR has been called the largest health initiative ever initiated by one country to address a disease. The budget presented for the fiscal year 2016 included a request for $1.11 billion for PEPFAR as well as contributions from global organizations such as UNAIDS and private donors.[

I needed the laughs this morning, thanks for providing them. I would recommend (again) staying away from foreign policy in the future. Then again, you could try talking about Syria again for me.

What reputation ? I didn't know being President was a popularity contest.

who is going to stop him