Steele Nails Liberal Corruption

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2017/03/06/the_exhaustion_of_american_liberalism_404255.html

This is one of those "read it all and just understand" columns, so just go do it. (the link is a double bump off Real Clear because of WSJ paywall vagaries).

I've weakly attempted cover this issue, but the genius of Shelby Steele as well as the moral authority of a black man on the topic makes a much stronger case than I am able to.  I pray he is right -- the rise of Trump means the end of this sorry chapter in our history. Creating a morally bankrupt nation where young black men kill each other by the thousands every year while our children are taiught to hate their own nation has produced nothing but destruction and despair.

Let’s stipulate that, given our history, this liberalism is understandable. But American liberalism never acknowledged that it was about white esteem rather than minority accomplishment. Four thousand shootings in Chicago last year, and the mayor announces that his will be a sanctuary city. This is moral esteem over reality; the self-congratulation of idealism. Liberalism is exhausted because it has become a corruption.

Just in case you don't follow my advice and go read it (it is not long), there is this important point.

It is also the heart and soul of contemporary liberalism. This liberalism is the politics given to us by white guilt, and it shares white guilt’s central corruption. It is not real liberalism, in the classic sense. It is a mock liberalism. Freedom is not its raison d’être; moral authority is.

I grew up with this. It is religious fundamentalism ... the kind that gets you "shunned". The kind that doesn't let you visit some people because they are "worldly".  It is the "safe spaces" and the
"I can't talk to them anymore, they voted for Trump" of today.  It is the politics that makes me cry.

Russians or BO?

Trump's Wiretap Claims: What We Know and What We Don't | The Weekly Standard:

We live in largely separate echo chambers of media narratives, but Trump is breaking down those walls and causing general discomfort to most people in their comfy chambers hearing the narratives they expect with all the appropriate spin they also expect. Last weekend, Trump tweeted the obvious -- in order to gather all this supposed "information", the BO administration must have been investigating the Trump campaign -- Watergate where the FBI, NSA, CIA play the role of the "Plumbers".

The picture IS of an actual NY Times front page, but if you go off to Snopes, they will "explain" that the article has nothing to do with wiretapping of Trump ... so much for skimming NY Times headlines for "information" ... a headline in the NY Times stating Trump was wiretapped should NOT be construed to be "evidence" that he was wiretapped. So much for using the NY Times as a "source".

The right wing media got all wrapped around the axle about the Times "changing the headline" in the digital issue -- but in fact they just used a different headline when they put it up to digital originially -- a version of "a man accused of killing three men and a dog produces the dog alive" ... only in this case, he maybe comes up with a dead dog and the three men show up in court to testify that he murdered them. We have arrived at surrealism.

The Administrative State was clearly (and probably still is) investigating Trump -- otherwise we would not have all the "leaks". Either BO told them to, allowed them to, or was incompetent and simply had no clue about a major misuse of government power. He should be jailed -- ideally, he should be executed (slowly), but justice is so rare.


The following from this excellent article.

In short, the media and Democrats have been playing with fire for months. The use of law-enforcement and national-security assets to investigate one’s political opponents during a heated election campaign has always been a potentially explosive story. Let’s not kid ourselves: If the roles were reversed, and a Republican administration had investigated officials tied to the campaign of the Democrats’ nominee, we would be drowning in a sea of Watergate 2.0 coverage.

And all of a sudden, the Russian Narrative appears to have gone "poof". I suspect that the NY Times, WaPo, NPR, Nancy Pelosi, etc just realized when they saw the Trump tweets, that they don't officially have a single branch of government under "The Party" (TP-D) control. The Republicans CAN run an investigation of "Why was the BO administration or the Administrative State that they are supposed to be responsible for, investigating the opposition campaign?".

They looked around and decided, that BO and Hildebeast could just as well be targets as Trump and his administration -- and in fact, Trump is in the WH and Republicans are in both houses of Congress. Sure, TP still DOES own the Administrative State (AS) and the big media, but their "ownership" of the AS is supposed to be a "secret" -- it can be fully open when they own the White House, because in THEORY the president is supposed to be in charge of the AS, and **IS** when the president is TP. When the president is not TP, the AS needs to fake like it is under his executive authority!

I'd argue that the biggest challenge that Trump faces if he really does want to "Make America Great Again" is to put the ultimate control of the AS back under CONGRESS -- supposedly that is where their "law powers" are delegated from, since it is CONGRESS that can make law as well as control funding.

Trump ought to be able to hire and fire AS personnel at will, raise or lower their salaries, cut their benefits, etc. If they want to do things to cause him embarrassment or ignore his directives, he ought to be able to fire them just as Reagan fired PATCO. He is the CEO ... the alphabet government is supposed to be under his executive authority, with powers only delegated to them from congress.

I've been shocked this week to see how quickly the whole MSM has shut up about Russia!  If this continues, I think we can be certain that BO in fact either ordered Trump tapped, or looked the other way as it happened, and the tweets hit a bit too close to the bone -- TP really doesn't want to see BO in prison.

Let's get the SCOTUS firmly switched, the AS defanged, and THEN maybe see if BO can't be put behind bars where he has belonged since he destroyed the health system and lied to the American people about how we could "keep our healthcare". I wonder if he would still wag his finger the same way behind bars?

Imagine a sample BO interview from prison.

"I am the greatest president to ever be in prison. Just today, I was telling some guards about how I know more about prison than any prisoner in history, I know more about being a guard than they do, I am simply smarter, smoother and better in all respects than even the warden. I should be warden ... I'm certain he agrees, I just need to explain it to him better. I've been explaining how to make this a better prison -- I know I have a lot to do, but I work hard and I simply think more and more deeply than anyone I've ever met. I know I will be remembered as I have said that I will be. I'm glad you gave me this chance to explain how great I am doing here and how I will continue to be the kind of success that only I can possibly be!"

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Intimidation As A Way Of Life

Trump Isn’t Intimidated, Either | Power Line:

The column is a nice little litany addressing MSNBC "girding it's loins" to continue it's all out attack on Trump. They are mad their girl lost and they are going to get nastier -- that might be hard to do, given than they have been pretty nasty already, but whatever.

I'm reading an excellent book by a guy named Dallas Willard called "The Divine Conspiracy" that gives a very refreshing Biblical view of the Heaven -- yes, with the Advent 2K years ago, the HEAVEN that we live in as Christians. Sure, it is the lowest Heaven, but for Christains properly aware, it is very much a taste of the eternity in Heaven to come. No doubt there will be one or more relatively long reviews of the book when I finish it shortly.

As I often observe, we live in a post-Christian west with Christianity growing in China, Africa and South America. In our post-Christian, post-law tribal state, intimidation (POWER) is everything, love is nothing. The only possible morality without God is might=right, so we have returned to pagan tribalism.

We live in the era of spying on everyone, leaking what you spy selectively (or just prosecuting if you have the judiciary on your side), and then opposing media forces seeking to "win the spin", and possibly to shift the "rules" (the current position defined by POWER) to their side of the balance. The "nice" thing that is being discovered by the left is that two or more can play at that game -- if the "right" has full control of the powers of government, then they can also make the rules their way. There is even right wing media now to go with the previous left wing -- the OTHER media is always "fake".

One answer to this morass is transcendent values which EVERYONE agrees on -- that used to be called Christianity. In the Islamic states it is called Islam. The other answer -- the answer that both sides in the US are now pushing toward is totalitarianism -- one side gets all the power, keeps it, and prosecutes those that disagree with them. BO had a decent start on that with the IRS, BOcare, spying on news people and political opposition, prosecuting Christians who opposed gay "marriage", etc

Will Trump be able to swing the pendulum the other way? Who knows. In an amoral world, the only "standard" is "hooray for our team". The Who covered this quite well once ...

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Franken Returns Money, All Forgiven

Franken hands over $41K in contributions from Boston law firm under investigation - StarTribune.com:

Ah yes, taking illegal campaign contribtuions -- but never mind, "The Party" (TP-D) took over a million dollars worth. Isn't nice that YEARS after the damage is done, a TPer in "good standing" with TP can just give it back and say "never mind"?

This is Al, "The Felon's Choice" Franken who "won" by 312 votes in an election that 341 felons voted illegally in. Any guesses who felons vote for?

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Bible For Today, A Prayer for Trump

My Bible reading today included Psalm 56. Even though our Pastor was to put it chairitably, "no friend of Obama", he would dutifully include him amoung the rulers to be prayed for in the prayers. I wonder how many liberal churches do the same for Trump?

56 Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
10 In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.
11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
12 Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

Climate Change, Insanity, Why We Fight

Tucker Carlson & Bill Nye Debate Climate Change | National Review:

Attempting to watch the video is insanity inducing. Bill Nye assumes the the position of the Oracle of Delphi to present wisdom from on high to Tucker Carlson. The "oracle", like the "GOREacle" before him is clueless. ALL of the "rate of change" is caused by humans. HUH?

In simple terms, the "rate of change" is the slope of the graph showing warming / cooling / speed / etc. So Carlson asks an obvious question ... "If I grant you that it is settled science that climate is changing, what % of that change is human caused?". If it is "settled", then it is an easy question ... 20% is due to natural causes, 80% is due to humans, etc.

NR likes this a lot better than I do, it is a classic of "let's shout over each other" -- the reason I gave up the "shout shows". As we sat in Ole's in Paxon last night having a wondrous bone-in ribeye, I noticed all the TVs tuned to Fox or CNN.Proof that we now live in BOistan. Politics? It's something that ought to be done in closed smoke filled rooms and STRICTLY limited! Let them screw up 15% of the economy but NO MORE!  (it is like 35% today) Just keep it out of sight and don't scare the horses.

Because government is no longer limited, it is ALL about government all the time. EVERYTHING becomes a "political fight" because the State BECAME the Church -- there is no "separation" for 50% of the country because they believe there is no god, long live the state as god!

The old rule used to be "don't talk about religion or politics", now politics IS the religion of nearly half our population, and EVERYTHING is political!

Lock SOMEBODY Up! (at least)

The story so far | Power Line:

Readers of this blog realize that I'm at least a few years into my belief that we no longer live in "America", but rather in BOistan. Or, to give it a bit more color, "Toto, I have the feeling we are not in Kansas anymore".

Thus, it really isn't surprising at all that while "The Party" (TP-D) and it's propoganda arm, the "Fake Media" (FM) was busy lamenting Trump supporters saying "Lock her up" about Hillary, the BO adminstration and the Administrative State was actively investigating Trump and his campaign for 8 months trying to lock HIM up! Nixon was at least running for office when "The Plumbers" tried to bug the Dems campaign and he helped cover it up. BO wasn't even on the ticket -- he went crimial for the Wicked Witch.

Never fear, as the linked article points out:

 "Bottom line: The Obama Justice Department and the FBI spent at least eight months searching for Trump–Russia ties. They found nothing criminal, and clearly nothing connecting Trump to Russian hacking…."

Anyone that is paying attention knows that we no longer live in a "Christian nation", or even a nation with a Consitutution or laws -- we live in a totalitarian failed tribal state called BOistan, and if we ever want to get back to "Kansas", we better melt the damned witch of totalitarianism!

We got VERY lucky, or in my belief VERY blessed in the Old Testament Esther - Haman sort of blessing, and we better impale a few folks if we want to return to justice. When a nation returns to pre-Christian, pre-law times, even an "eye for an eye" is completely optional. (that was a LIMITING law instituted by God) BO, Hildebeast and Slick would look great on a pike, and as Ester makes clear, justice needs to have some real TEETH in a tribal state.

If it wasn't extremely obvious before, it certainly is now. Anyone that thought that "the election would put it behind us" was WAY too optimisitc. TP is not giving up, and their only remaining power is the illegitimate one of the Administrative State -- they have been, and they intend to keep using it overturn the results of the election. They MUST be shut down! HARD!

Once morality and rule of law has been abandoned as it clearly has in BOistan, the ONLY thing left is MIGHT IS RIGHT, and Trump gave the forces of "bad, but not the worst" a chance to prevail over "absolute godless destruction of anything remotely decent". It still isn't much of a choice, but at least it is "Old Testament clear" -- it's definitely eye for an eye (or worse) time. From Esther 7

8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.
The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?”
As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 

9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits[b]stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.” 

The king said, “Impale him on it!” 

10 So they impaled Hamanon on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.

BO, Hildebeast and Slick impaled on a 75' pole next to the Washington Monument with Ester 7 quoted in giant letters saying "One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!"

And America would be made great again. It is absolutely clear that "voting" and whatever was supposedly "law" in BOistan is long gone -- blood is going to be shed. Better a few examples than civil war.

Documenting Democrats

Real ID bill hung up again over immigrant drivers' licenses | Minnesota Public Radio News: 

Governor Goofy wants to add MN to the 12 states that document Undocumented Democrats for at least driving. Naturally, requiring ANY id for voting is still not to be required, so this is just to make it easier for them to get welfare, healthcare, housing, education, cable tv, cell phones, mail packages, etc.

He wanted the same thing last year, but he may well have forgotten that.

"It's very distressing that they would try to make a political case out of this," Dayton said. "If they'd acted last year as I suggested in the legislative session this would all be resolved and we'd be underway. So, this is entirely their creation and any delays that are occurring now are entirely their responsibility."

I'm sure many and various things are both distressing and not distressing to Gov Goofy -- pretty much dependent on the dosage / content of his meds, the phase of the moon, and any voices or visions flowing through his head.  Politics in government! The horror!

It will be interesting to see if they can manage to get anything worked out that allows the Undocumented Democrats to improve their standing even more, while still allow actual Minnesotans to get on airplanes and such.

My thought is that the Undocumented Democrats (maybe ALL Democrats?) just get a Real ID that has a chip for charging things to it at the government expense. That could save them filling out a whole bunch of forms.

Based on my MPR listening, the Ds seem to be betting that they can hold this off demanding ID for their undocumented Democrat voters, and the Republicans will be blamed. Could be, it's a crazy state. Does Read ID and "ID for illegals" HAVE to be linked? It does in D minds, because they don't want to have to pass a bill providing IDs for illegals, so they are putting their money on forcing Republicans to sign off on the linkage out of fear that "they will be blamed".
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Republicans Still Playing Bean Bag Session(s)

Partisan Discord Tainting Probes of Russia, Trump, Election | Political News | US News:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/03/the-sessions-connection.php

If BO had "recused himself" or resigned because of this ... or if anyone had seriously indicated that he should, then I would think Republicans need to be "consistent' relative to the Russians.

So which are they, a friend or an enemy?

We just purchased 2 more seats for a total of 5 on their rockets to the Space Station through next year, with options on more for 2019. Do you usually arrange rides for your family with your enemy?

So sessions talked to Russians as a SENATOR and that is an issue?

It was a HUGE mistake for him to recuse himself. We just had a SITTING AG, Loretta Lunch, talk to the husband of a target during an active investigation to show us that both her and the target(s) the Clinton Crime Family were and are above the law.

All this does is show that Republicans are STUPID and have put blood in the water. Do they REALLY think that the Ds or the media are going to look at this and say "wow, what high minded people! We stonewall every single investigation of a D since Watergate, and just got through having our sitting AG cut a deal with a target basically in public! Wow, it makes us feel seedy, we are going to change our ways!"

Maybe in some fairy tale, but that is the wrong story to look at here. The history lesson here is that the D party went "full corrupion" in the '30s ... sometime between Slick - end of BO, the R party followed suit. Now we have TRUMP. Some of us hope that he has a "good heart", but like Rambo, Clint Eastwood,  or a zillion action heros, the hope is that he is a law unto himself and will DRAIN THE SWAMP, or just blow it up -- it really doesn't matter anymore.

After Hildebeast does the "Reset" (overload), BO quips about "the '80s wants it's foreign policy back", Kerry and BO scede Syria to them, and BO indicates he will give them stuff "after the election", we are supposed to believe this crap?

Two biggest dissappointments of Trump administration so far -- Flynn resignation, Sessions recusal. This has got to STOP! I hope this is the point in the movie where the hero binds up his wounds and goes out to KICK SOME ASS!



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Home Run, Low Bar

Donald Trump's Speech to Congress Benefits From Low Expectations | Op Ed | US News:

I only watched excerpts of Trump's speech, but it was obvious by all the silence on the lefty news shows and sites last night and early this AM that it was a HOME RUN! It was noon before they could describe why they hated it ... "it was only perceived good by the masses because the bar was so low".

There is some truth to their lament, but of course it is THEY who set the bar! They would talk about how horrible a speaker W was, and then he would come out and give a half decent speech and everyone was stunned! Why he was able to speak! He didn't slobber, he didn't have a tail, there were not snakes poking out of his eye sockets and ears! How AMAZING!

However, Trump's speech was much better than any W or even BO speech. With BO, I can only imagine that even the lefties got somewhat sick of his I this, I that, finger wags, pontification, superior to all -- sure, they enjoyed the stench of BO like admiration for a pungent emission on a high school football bus, but stench is really only SO entertaining and then it just gets old and stale. BO was WAY past stale.

NPR was pretty much avoiding the speech this AM, then went to their knowing superior cluck clucking about "low bar" this PM. "Sniff, sniff, nose in the air" ... anyone "taken in" is beneath the NPR dignity. Any oceans stop rising yet? Is Gitmo closed? Demographics still destiny? NPR really needs to change their tag line to "This is NPR ... Always certain, frequently wrong".

And, for a kicker, the market goes up 300 points the day after. It is clear that it sucks to be a lefty these days.

"What's interesting to me is how different he was from even that morning's 'Fox and Friends' interview, when he's accusing Obama of being behind the town hall protests," says Jon Maas, a Hollywood producer-writer who did a 2000 made-for-TV movie about Washington, "The Last Debate," based on a Jim Lehrer novel. "He was clearly playing 'calm' and 'measured,' which is preferable to coming off like a raging lunatic whipping up the crowd. But in trying to be 'presidential,' he ended up being monotone. Everything had the same emphasis, nothing built towards anything, which made the thing feel even longer than it was. "

"Jon Maas" ... really? Was it not obvious that Trump (like Reagan often did) was showing that he is a consumate role player. He can play ANY role he desires and make it WAY more believeable than your Monday AM quarterbacking because he is IN THE ARENA now! He can hit all his marks IN THE GAME! You are all just scribblers trying to make people listen to your whiny "analysis" from the stands after a couple expensive beers.

Sure Jon, to you he is either a "raging lunatic" or "monotone" -- but OTOH, who is president, who has the billions, who is married to Melania, and who is scibbling for US Today?

Bummer Jon.
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More Fire Insurance Saves Lives

Obamacare Has Not Saved American Lives | National Review:



Being a Democrat means never having to consider if your statements have any remote connection to reality, the MSM will make it seem like they might.



BOcare was about INSURANCE, not medical care! The fire department doesn't check your insurance before they come out, nor does the emergency room when you are there for something serious. Nobody asked for insurance information as I went in with my paralyzed wife in the ambulance last summer.



It is quite likely that a BUNCH of BOistanis have and will continue to die because of what BOcare did to health insurance, but repealing it at this point isn't likely to fix that. What it did was HUGELY increase deductibles, which means that for many (most) BOistanis, they effectively have NO HEALTH INSURANCE of the kind that they think they need. Most people's deductables and co-pays have risen from a few hundred dollars to $5K or more, which for many people means that they effectively are uninsured in ways that count.



First, since the vast majority of BOistanis have no concept of basic economics or personal finance, a little background:



INSURANCE -- Something you buy to protect you against losses that might ruin you. A rational person NEVER purchases insurance against losses that they can afford to cover, because it is obviously not to their economic advantage since the insurer is making a profit in selling you insurance and betting that you will not have a loss -- he has all the statistics and is making a smart bet or he would not be in business. The normal place you see this is on consumer electronics -- they REALLY want to sell you the extended warranty because it is nearly pure profit for them!



"Affordable" -- Most financial advisors recommend that you keep 6 months family income in savings, so if you are a "reasonable person" and have a $50K income, you should have $25K in savings. This means that you can "afford" losses up to $25K max, although $10K would be a more reasonable level -- you are really holding the savings to guard against losing your job.



Health BENEFITS -- Most Americans really didn't have health INSURANCE, they had health benefits. Since payments for medical care could be deducted by an employer, and were not charged as income to an employee,  it was a great way to give employees a benefit unencumbered by taxes. Typically, a family would have to pay "30%" of the cost of a doctor trip up until they had a total family bill of "$300", and then "insurance" (benefits) covered it.



Unfortunately, most BOistanis are financially illiterate because the schools have helped encourage financial illiteracy, so they have ZERO savings. Therefore, when you go to buy anything you get offers for "maintenance contracts. Since people have ZERO savings, they envision (and the salesperson helps them envision) a car repair of "$2K", or broken $1K TC, and with the consumers zero savings and likely tapped out credit lines, they see it as a "good deal", since they can't afford an unexpected $2K bill.



So back to health insurance. In the BOcare world, typical deductibles and co-pays are thousands of dollars, so all the people that have effectively no savings have NO HEALTH INSURANCE. If they go to the doctor, they need to pay THOUSANDS of dollars before they get any help from insurance. They don't have thousands of dollars, so unless they have an emergency they are unlikely to seek medical treatment unless they feel they have to.



Clearly, BOTH the old system and the current system are INSANE. I've covered some ideas on how to fix  them before, but the "big picture" is:

• In order to be a free people, the population MUST understand basic finance. I'd argue that after age "21", having 6 months living expenses in savings ought to be a pre-requisite for voting! How can anyone be a "responsible citizen" and not be able to financially care for themselves?
  
• People need to realize that basic healthcare is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY ... pick a suitable % of income number by age "6% for young, 20% for elderly" and assume that is going to be the YEARLY healthcare cost. Put it in a tax free savings account to level it out over lifetime.
  
• Work to change the healthcare system to RESULTS BASED vs fee for service as it is now. Allow competition for "all the standard stuff", so you see what it costs for a given RESULT and can shop (it is YOUR MONEY after all).
  
• Reform medical liability. Medical errors are "fined" to a max of $10K a pop, and on the "3rd" in an x year period, the Doctor (or other health practitioner) is reviewed for remedial education or removal. No more ambulance chaser ads on afternoon TV! 

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Care Of The Spiritually Disabled

Peter Singer Thinks Intellectually Disabled Less than Pigs | National Review:

Singer is a an easy target for anyone with remote conservative or religious leanings. He is a purely godless materialist philosopher of "ethics", so his "morality" has things like:

• "humanity" is pure intellect, so your "value" is how smart you are. 
• All "life" has the same value ... any other view is "speciesist". 

From these basic premises, he concludes that abortion or infanticide are both fine up until the child  reaches some level of appropriate intellectual capability for Peter to call "human". Sex with animals is fine as long as it is "consensual", but eating meat is morally wrong. Downs children, elders who have lost cognitive function to some level, or any traumatic brain injury that drops the individual below Pete's standards also warrants extermination. Keeping them alive is "immoral". And so it goes. 

As a human with a sinful nature, my first reaction to Peter is not particularly Christian:

I imagine Peter in the wrong bar, a couple large gentlemen hearing him out in his pronouncements, informing him that they are brothers and their other brother is a Downs person. They deck him, drag him outside and tell him that they are giving him a wonderful chance to test his theories. First they will give him a beating he has a chance to recover from, then they will ask him some easy questions -- who is the current title holder in the WWE, who won the last Indy 500, which bourbon is better, Jack, Makers or Jim (and why), and who sings "Bad to the Bone'.

If he wakes up, and gets the answers all right (as any sentient human "should" using their "standards"), then he just got a cheap lesson in getting along with folks. If not, well then he is in for a long night, but his worries will be over by the time the sun rises. Naturally, he MUST agree with them that they are being "moral", because it is "all about intelligence" -- and he is obviously significantly less smart than he had estimated as judged by those with the power he is currently subject to!

My second reaction however is that Peter is clearly Spiritually Disabled -- in the extreme. His condition is more severe than many in our world, but not unusual. It comes from "losing your sense of small".  Loki may think "he is a god" ... he may be immortal even, we really all are after all. Spending eternity in a small cell with the Hulk would likely make him question if immortality was really quite as wonderful as he first thought.

As an aside, I believe that our belief in eternal punishment is a requirement for us being (imperfectly) created in God's image, to believe in God's justice. If we don't see justice as being ultimately certain, we will feel ourselves forced to judge in the here and now.

However, I believe that God cares enough for the Spiritually Disabled (which is ALL of us) that he was willing to sacrifice his Son to give us hope of recovery from our much more serious than Downs disability. Through the gift of Grace, we are to love the fellow Spiritually Disabled and repent of our natural reaction to treat them in a manner similar to the way they would treat us given the chance. Being able to recognize that we are all Spiritually Disabled, immortal, and DESPERATELY in need of Jesus is really all that is important to "get" in this life!

Why have transcendent values rather than human selected ones? Well, because Pete, the bar guys might be the ones deciding who lives and dies rather than you if you leave it up to mere human generated "values" -- the only one that actually counts without God being "Might Is Right"!

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Fake News, Pornography

Fallen SEAL's dad slams Trump - CNNPolitics.com:

The "worst flub in Oscar History" barely edged out the return of the "let's have bereaved parents say bad things about the Commander in Chief" gambit.  In BOistan, even our admittedly fake tinseltown can't get it's known to be manufactured awards show right. Somehow it seems fitting that our fake news media stacks that failure on top of the old "bereaved parents" pornographic fakery.

In review, pornography is direct presentation of that which should be hidden for civilization to exist. "Obscenity" is an even better word -- showing what ought to be "off stage".  Sexual porn is just the most familiar. Showing extreme violence, pain, emotion, etc publicly is also pornography -- the killing of the Christians in the Roman colosseum was pornography. We are DAILY hammered with emotional, violent and painful porn, that is far more damaging than the sexual porn because:

• We are primarily emotional and rational beings, not merely sexual, violent, abusive, etc.
  
• The fact that our population is not SCREAMING to shut down the daily pornographic manipulation shows that the media manipulators have been so successful, most don't even realize it is pornographic and destroying their natural desire for the proper distancing required to have a civilization.
  
• When combined with constant direct manipulation for profit and political purposes, the human capability to know what is REAL and what is fake / created / dramatic / voyeuristic is damaged to the point where the basic ability to detect "propriety / distance / wisdom / decency" is lost.  

Bereaved parents are bereaved. They are in great pain, they can be prompted to say lots of things. Their emotions are raw, open ... when pushed, it is possible to get nearly any angry statement you would like against ANYONE they remotely see as responsible for the death of their child from many if not most of them.

As of last spring, over 2500 soldiers had died during the BO administration. Our fake media would like you to believe that NOT ONE bereaved parent could be induced to say something bad about BO by a professional fake media pornographer out of over 2500. Not ONE, and this is when the WaPo believes that the military voted 2 to 1 for Trump!

When Trump got going on his "Fake News" campaign, I thought he was way out on a beach head too far. Now I am beginning to really wonder if he isn't actually at the heart of the matter. I've railed agains the level of media bias and how they use that bias to shape public opinion on  daily basis way too often, but only after Trump picked up the Fake News battle did I really start to see the true scope.

It took the media awhile to get the upper hand on Reagan, but they did. They had HW from the git-go, and then did all they could to cheerlead Slick Willie. W was a punching bag from day 1 and never really got his footing, and then we had the 8 years of hyperdrive cheerleading for BO.

I too often forget how we are bombarded with selective tear jerking stores if bereaved military parents, families affected by immigration policy, selected sexual perversions and of course the house fire, car wreck, starving child, etc.

Our humanity has been increasingly damaged by living in the largely fake, always pornographic UNreality show of the BOistan fake news machine. Perhaps it takes a "reality star" to see just how damaged we all are.

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Journalists and Lefties, Goose and Gander

If Donald Trump Targets Journalists, Thank Obama - The New York Times:

Naturally, when BO targeted the media, including jailing some, it was "all good", after all, his heart was always in the right place, and anyone that disagreed with him was racist, homophobic, etc ... you know, "deploreables".

When Mr. Obama was elected in 2008, press freedom groups had high expectations for the former constitutional law professor, particularly after the press had suffered through eight years of bitter confrontation with the Bush administration. But today, many of those same groups say Mr. Obama’s record of going after both journalists and their sources has set a dangerous precedent that Mr. Trump can easily exploit. “Obama has laid all the groundwork Trump needs for an unprecedented crackdown on the press,” said Trevor Timm, executive director of the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation.

BO also made it frequently clear how much he disliked Fox news. Naturally, since the left hates "Faux News", they approved heartily.

When one is a lefty, the assumption is not only that your positions are right/good/moral/etc, and the other side is wrong/stupid/evil/etc, but also (and importantly!) that you should be protected from even having to hear those positions, other than to be aware that "wrong/stupid/evil/etc" exist out there in "flyover country".

Your definition of freedom means freedom FROM having to be exposed to alternate viewpoints including signs and symbols of Christianity. Typically, you are so sheltered that as your own lefty president targets media, you are not even made aware by the same media that you believe to be "unbiased", and then you have a cat when the shoe is on the other foot.






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Republicans Wishful and Stupid

GOP Senators Embrace Awkward Russia Probe That Could Hurt Trump - Bloomberg:

I looked at this column in disbelief and the only thing that came to my mind is Hank Williams Junior.

The only thing I can conclude is that "it's a Republican tradition".

Republicans sign on to the weirdest most useless "investigations" in history with some radically misplaced idea that Democrats are somehow "reasonable people", dedicated to some goal beyond the advancement of their own political power.

What can Republicans even IMAGINE that undertaking an investigation of "Russian Hacking" does for ANYONE, let alone any hope of building a lasting majority and at least attempting to turn the tide on the coninued massive growth of government and loss of Constitutional Rule of Law? Do they actually even believe at all in what they once claimed they did? A written Constitution, Rule of Law, smaller (limited) government, lower taxes, individual freedom and responsibility, hard work, religions freedom ...

Let's cover some thoughts:

• I assume that the BIG objective here is for some prima donnas like McCain and Lindsey Graham to show their "maverick colors" and "clip Trump's wings" ... no matter the cost to any prospects of a recovery from BOistan. Many party Republicans are very happy with global control from Davos and living in the failed state of BOistan. Apparently it is enough to go off on another bogus "investigation".
  
• Some number of Republicans have an imaginary vision of some "perfect party" that borders on  "The Party's"  (TP-D) vision for the utopian world controlled completely by their power. The Republican vision tends to be quasi-religious in thinking that "somehow", Democrats will see the "example" set by the Republican party in being "willing to investigate their own" from Watergate on, and will say "wow, what selfless moral people! We want to be just like them!".
  
  Let's review:
  
• Watergate -- R's worked with D's to take down a president over "lying to the American public" over a 2-bit burlary. Result? D's took the WH with a weak ineffective president, the economy tanked, foreign policy blew up,  the Russians marched into Afghanistan and we lost Iran to the mullahs, igniting the horror of Islamic states we deal with now.
  
• Iran Contra -- R's worked with D's to try to bring down Reagan based on an unconsitutional law called "The Boland Amendment" -- indictment of Cap Weinberger a couple weeks before election in '92 likely handed election to Slick Willie who stained the WH forever.
  
• Clinton Impeachment -- Democrats proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they thought Republicans to be exactly the idiots they are for thinking a Democrat EVER cares one whit over "lying, obstruction of justice or other bullshit". Giant R loss.
  
• 9-11 ... Republicans again are complicit in attempting to shoot their own president. Dems firewall Slick Willie from any blame. W takes hit for Slick Willie focused on BJs vs terrorism. Slick had a chance to shoot Bin Ladin, declined, went for "big hair" and the rest is history.
  
• Valerie Plame -- A special prosecutor over nothing at all. A woman who drives to CIA HQ is "outed" as someone who works at the CIA. She was outed by a long time left wing State Department hack named Richard Armitage -- a complete waste of time for anything other than weakening W.
  
• Libya, Syria, losing Iraq, Benghazi, Lois Lerner IRS, Hillary e-mails, Clinton Foundation, Solyndra, the 800 billion "stimulus" that was a political payoff, BO tells Russian Ambassador he will have "more flexibility after election" ON TAPE in 2012, etc, etc. R's basically do nothing, D's call them partisan for ever asking any questions, and there is very little in the way of any investigation. What there is ... largely Benghazi, the Democrats stonewall 100% and complain bitterly about the "waste of money".  If the R's had got busy after 2014, picked a couple of the jucier ones and played hardball with 

And so, here we are. There is definitely some truth in the common ding of the R party as "The Stupid Party". Can Trump shape it into a party with some BALLS?  It's a party that needs to learn the meaning of NO, HELL NO, and take a flying leap! 

It is just plain STUPID to play into TP's hands. You KNOW what they are up to, yet the lesson is never be learned -- OR, at least for most of the R party, they really prefer BOistan and want to stop Trump just as much as TP. 

Why are they spineless, and why to they keep being stupid? It's a family tradition! 

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