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White Supremacy Distilled (With Compendium Of Best Posts About Racism)

June 26, 2020, 3:33 pm
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A History Of Trump's Incitation Of Violence

Reprise: Must-See Mash-Up Of Trump's Racism

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/07/reprise-must-see-video-mashup-revealing.html

"Donald Trump’s Long History Of Racism, From The 1970s To 2019," Vox

Stephen Colbert's Monologue About Trump's Racism Is His Best Work Ever
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/07/stephen-colberts-monologue-about-trumps.html

Pope Francis Warns Against Nationalism, Says Recent Speeches Sound Like "Hitler In 1934"

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/08/pope-francis-again-warns-against.html

Ronald Reagan Phoned Dick Nixon To Make This Comment About Black People: "Damn Those Monkeys. They're Still Uncomfortable Wearing Shoes." Reagan's Daughter Patti Davis Weighs In

A Remarkable Piece Of Writing About Trump's "Alleged" Racism

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts About Racism, White Supremacy And Voter Suppression

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/10/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-about.html

Der Spiegel Trump Cover: Was Trump's Father Arrested At A KKK Rally?

Facebook Dialogue With Christian Fundamentalist Friend About Trump's Affiliation With The Klan

"It's Time To Give Up On Mueller: Racism Is The Most Glaring Reason To Impeach Trump"

Even The Big Wigs At Fox News Know Trump's A Racist
(Chis Wallace Reads The Riot Act To Trump Advisor Stephen Miller)
Lindsey Graham's Stunningly Shameless Reversal On Donald Trump
"Who Gets The Political Support Of 892 Certifiable U.S. Hate Groups?"
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/11/who-gets-political-support-of-892.html
Facebook Exchange With Xtian Fundie Friend Who Insists That 
The Democratic Party Is The Epicenter Of Racism In Today's America
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/08/facebook-exchange-with-xtian-fundie_14.html
Facebook Exchange With Xtian Fundie Who Swears There's Not An Iota Of Racism In Trump
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/08/facebook-exchange-with-xtian-fundie_50.html





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"Does America Have a Future?" By Umair Haque

June 26, 2020, 4:05 pm
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Does America Have a Future?

Is America’s Collapse Into Disease, Depression, and Isolation Irreversible Now?



umair haque
America now faces three catastrophic events, in the immediate future. A tidal wave of mass death . An historic depression . And a world that quarantines it — 
These three trends are likely to define much of the next decade of American history — and maybe your life, too.
One of these three trends alone would be horrific enough. But all three together? It makes me shudder. It’s the stuff of nightmares to an economist like me.
It’s about as bad a set of outcomes for a society as it’s possible to imagine. Yes, really — no matter how  have normalized 
Let’s take those three trends one by one.
You probably thought I was exaggerating when I said America now faces a tidal wave of death at the level of a world war. 20,000 Americans died per month at the height of World War II. 
Stop to take it in for a second. America has a tidal wave of death on the scale of a world war. What the?
Why? Because America still has , plan, vision, agenda, to fight Coronavirus. In  called for Kiwis to become a “team” — and they did, following a careful, quick, thoughtful plan to fight a deadly pandemic,  In America, there’s just a vacuum at the top — when the President’s not telling people to drink bleach, not wear masks, or gathering them in arenas.
In that vacuum, the predictable happened. , which are run by some of the world’s most backwards leaders, reopened too fast, and barred people — something that I have to explain to my European friends whose jaws drop in disbelief.
Hence, today, . Pakistan has . Pakistan. Texas alone has more cases than one of the poorest countries on earth. Pakistan has  the population of Texas. That means on a per capita basis, Texas alone has seven times the Coronavirus incidence of one of the poorest, most devastated countries on the planet.
Just think about that for a second. Texas, a rich state in a rich country, has more cases of coronavirus per day that one of the poorest countries in the world. Do Americans understand how needless and horrific this is?

Did Trump's Coronavirus Action, Inaction And Ineptitude Kill 91,724 People Needlessly?

Add Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, and so on — and  by a long, long way. America’s Red States are now outdoing the world’s poorest, most dysfunctional countries when it comes to Coronavirus — by shocking, surreal lengths, five times, ten times, more.
What the?
One thing we know by now is that the predictions economists like me made about the link between pandemic and depression were correct.  You can force stores to open, and even force people back to work, by denying them benefits — but you can’t make people spend money. (Alan: And so, the economy doesn't improve in any meaningful way and the underlying adversity of the increasingly out-of-control pandemic makes the economy worse. I will emphasize this same essential point: The economy doesn't improve in any meaningful way and the underlying adversity of the increasingly out-of-control pandemic makes the economy worse.) 
That’s exactly what we see happening in America, too. Red States don’t just have surging Coronavirus numbers — they also have economies which are falling into depressed states, even though they’re “reopened.” The reason’s simple. Who wants to go shopping when there’s a pandemic spiking? To the hotel, bar, restaurant, club? Maybe that fringe of  does — but the average person stays home, having lost confidence.
Consumer spending comes to a halt. As it does, unemployment surges, and “hysteresis” sets in — what economists call it when short-term unemployment becomes long-term unemployment. Businesses that could have survived, shutter their doors, because few can survive six months, a year, of dampened spending. All those people they used to employ are now jobless. And spending falls even further. 
That’s exactly what’s happening in America right now: . Let me put that another way.
The longer the pandemic lasts in a country, the worse the economic effects will be. In Europe, for example, , the economic effects will still be enormous — but they won’t be nearly as bad as in America, where the pandemic will go on with .
To stave off a depression is to restore confidence in an economy — by preventing three things from happening. One, preventing short term unemployment from becoming long term unemployment. Two, preventing short term falls in consumer spending from becoming permanent declines. And three, preventing a wave of personal and business bankruptcies, which cause economic “scarring”, or a long term shift away from entrepreneurship, risk, and investment.
America has done none of those three things. None of them. What has it done? . Businesses were offered roughly the same. That’s the equivalent of just…. Here we are — and it’s now the 14th week of staggering rises in unemployment. One week of support — in a pandemic that’s already lasted three months and counting.
No wonder the vicious spiral of depression is now setting in.
We shouldn’t be seeing massive numbers still filing for unemployment —  — but we are. We shouldn’t be seeing such depressed levels of spending — but we are. We shouldn’t be seeing  and  already going nuclear — but we are.
These are grim portents. To a good economist, they are clear signs that a depression is already igniting — and little to nothing is being done to stop it. The result will be .
Meanwhile, how do you imagine the world is going to respond to a country in which Coronavirus is still hitting new peaks? 
And so . That’s polite European-bureaucratic-speak for: please prepare yourselves, we are closing our borders to you.
Europe is already quarantining America. Canada won’t be far behind, and neither will China.
Now, the 70% of Americans who never leave America might say: “So what? Who cares!” But a nation being isolated by the world is very bad news indeed. What will some of the effects be?
One effect will be that the depression already in the cards will be magnified. When Americans can’t enter Europe — or China — how much harder do you think it will be to do business? To sign deals, to forge agreements, to find partners and customers and markets? Bang! 
Another effect of being isolated by the world is that . Who’s going to care much about Trump … when the world’s busy trying to quarantine America? Much of it’s likely to just say: “Good riddance! Americans are a nuisance. Let them lie in the bed they made.”

Blue State Secession And Subsequent Global Boycotting Of The Rogue Red State Left Behind

America’s arrogant, clueless class of pundits used to call Europe the  It never was — but now America indubitably is.
The third effect of being isolated by the world will be the most devastating. Americans will be trapped. Just like Soviets were, by their Iron Curtain. They won’t be able to leave. And so they won’t really understand how much better life is — even post-pandemic life — in other countries. How Europeans have a decent, civilized society, how Canadians have learned to , and so on. , and that ignorance is what makes them vote, time and again, against things like their very own healthcare, retirement, education, incomes.
You might interject at this point: “But electing Biden will fix all that!”
The above is me assuming Biden does get elected.
If he doesn’t, America gets all the above — pandemic, depression, isolation — with the added bonus of .
Sure, if Biden gets elected, he can begin attacking these three great problems right away. But they will not go away overnight. America has let them bake in too long, and now it’s cooked. These problems will  — public health, depression, and isolation. It will take massive waves of investment — resting on  — lasting for years, to even begin to undo them now.
No President is going to be able to snap his or her fingers and undo the damage that so much  have caused. It’s going to take time, money, vision, and working together — four , and doesn’t know how to do very well anymore.
America’s future is beyond bleak.  Why would anyone let their society turn into this bizarre, grim dystopia? Even poor countries ask the question now, like Vietnam, which beat back Coronavirus, or even Pakistan, which, like I said, has fewer cases than Texas alone.
America’s purpose at this juncture in history is to serve as a  Of where greed, selfishness, hatred, ignorance, and violence lead. Not up, not towards the light — but only down, down into the abyss, where the monsters scurry, and history laughs.
Maybe, after a long, painful decade, America can reinvent itself — as a civilized country, . But don’t kid yourself. The road there isn’t just going to be long: the climb is going to be steep, the way perilous, and the path twisted. Getting there — to being a functioning society — from ? That’s the kind of challenge that most nations in history have failed.
Umair
June 2020


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The Nine Circles Of Dante's Hell: Where Trump Fits In

June 26, 2020, 4:58 pm
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Pin su Circular
Alan: "Treachery" and "Traitor" are ethmological twins.
However, it is unfortunate - at least in terms of English language expressiveness that the adjective "treacherous" so often applies, while the word "traitor" applies so seldom.
Notably, the innermost circle of Dante's Inferno is where "the treacherous" reside, whether or not they be full-fledged traitors.

David Cay Johnston: "Trump Is Not A Loyal American... There Is A Traitor In The White House"

"Trump Is A Traitor By Virtue Of Normalizing Falsehood And Teaching Americans To Do The Same"

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2020/02/trump-is-traitor-by-virtue-of.html

Alan: Trump's other signature sins are "fraud,""greed" and "lust." 
Notably, "fraud" occupyies the penultimate circle of Hell.

Donald Trump, Felon: Re-Visiting The Fraud Of Trump University

"The Love Of Money Is The Root Of All Evil" - An Open Invitation To Christian Conservatives


    File:Dante Inferno Levels.png - Wikipedia

Trump's Full-Throttled Promotion Of Greed, Traditionally One Of Christianity's "7 Deadly Sins"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/09/trumps-full-throttled-promotion-of.html

Carnival Lust, Capitalist Greed And Counterproductive Christian Finger-Wagging

Seven Deadly Sins: "Sadness-Sorrow-Despondency-Despair" Was On The Original List







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Hannity Asks Trump About His Priorities For A Second Term. Trump's Reply Is Infantile Gibberish

June 26, 2020, 5:34 pm
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25 Best ALEC Memes images | Koch brothers, Republicans, Politics

Here is the gist of Hannity‘s recent interview with Trump concerning Malignant Messiah’s plans for a second term.
A full third of Americans continue to support Trump - dimwitted Trumpists who, at bedrock, are determined to rub your nose in their shitty beliefs that stupidity, ignorance and ineptitude are superior to the acquisition of knowledge and skills in a socio-political milieu of law, civility and scientific discovery.
These addlepates insist that their single-synapse opinions are superior to truth, and that the so-called Deep State is the locus of all that is wrong with American politics.
Consider this.
Even if a diabolical Deep State existed (which it doesn’t), that Deep State would be far preferable to The Shallow State we have.

Image may contain: text that says 're- elected the president of the United States' talk. What's at stake in election as compare contrast, and what are your top priority items for second term? be know, experience important than experience. I've always said that. the word experience very important word. important meaning. never this before, never slept in Washington. in Washington think times, all of a sudden I'm president of United States, story, Pennsylvania Avenue many Washington Manhattan, Now everybody. people administration. You some mistakes, know an idiot like Bolton, wanted is drop bombs on everybody. have to drop bombs everybody. to kill people. great.'


The President Obama Coalition

21 hrs Shared with Public

Here's the transcript of Trump's response when he was asked what are his top priorities for a second term.




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Judge Rules That U.S. Must Release Migrant Children From Detention Centers

June 26, 2020, 7:49 pm
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Pax on both houses: New England Journal Of Medicine Determines The ...

U.S. must release migrant children from family detention centers due to coronavirus outbreaks, judge rules

Children held for more than 20 days at any of the three facilities must be transferred to family sponsors or released with their parents by July 17, according to the federal judge's order.

U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee of California criticized the government for not appropriately implementing public-health recommendations at its detention facilities, citing outbreaks at two of them. The centers, she wrote, “are ‘on fire’ and there is no more time for half measures.”
Read more

Pax on both houses: "Trump Administration Argues That Caged ...


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"First Of All I Am A Great Christian - I Am - I Really Am" - Online Meme Debate

June 27, 2020, 7:04 am
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"First Of All I Am A Great Christian - I Am - I Really Am" | "First Of All I Am A Great Christian - I Am - I Really Am. Remember That." Donald Trump 10-27-2015 | image tagged in trump lies,trump bullshit,trump nonsense,trump garbage,trump falsehood | made w/ Imgflip meme maker
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I_am_Orlando
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Who are you to stand in judgment of one's faith? The very thing you detest you have become. Look in the mirror hypocrite.


AArchibald
0 ups, <1h div="">
"Here's the deal..."

My meme includes a photograph of Donald Trump holding a bible with a caption that is a verbatim quotation of President Trump's own words.

Just that.

Nothing more.

My meme is comprised of a photograph that Trump himself arranged to be taken, coupled with a citation of President Trump's own words.

That's it.

Nothing else.

A 100% "Trump show."

Please hear this.

After looking at a photograph taken by Trump's own photographer, and then reading the presidedent's own verbatim quotation, you say I'm "standing in judgment."

Explain to me how quoting nothing but the president's own words against the backdrop of a photograph that the president himself carefully arranged means that I'm "standing in judgment?"

I tell you, -- as a matter of fact -- that, in the context of this meme, yoiu have no reason -- none whatsoever -- to claim that this meme demonstrates MY "judgment of one's faith" and that I have become "the very thing (I) detest."

Here is a "God's Truth" explanation of what you're doing.

You look "into the mirror" of Trump's OWN image -- and you read nothing but Trump's own words -- and then you fault me.

By any measure, that is crazy talk.

It makes no sense and reveals you as someone whose thought process is fundamentally faulty.

Here, learn something about hypocrisy.

American Conservatives Are The Apotheosis Of Pharisaism. (Conservatives, Please Weigh In)
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/04/american-conservatives-are-apotheosis.html

The Pharisees Are Always With Us: A Field Guide
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-pharisees-are-always-with-us-field.html

The Pharisee Party And The Devolution Of GOP Leaders Into Oligarchs Who Despise Democracy
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-pharisee-party-and-devolution-of.html

The Pharisees Are Always With Us: Here's What They "Look Like" Today
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-pharisees-are-always-with-us-heres.html

Jesus Rages Against The Hypocrisy Of Religious Leaders: "Woe To You Religious Leaders!"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/04/jesus-fingers-hypocrisy-of-religious.html

Eichmann, Merton, Galbraith, G.K. Chesterton And The Current Generation Of Pharisees
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2020/06/eichmann-merton-galbraith-gk-chesterton.html
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Octavia_Melody
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Look in the mirror hypocrite.
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Trump's "Campaign Is Collapsing": The Big Three Reasons Why

June 27, 2020, 7:36 am
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Granlund cartoon: Light at the end of the tunnel - Opinion - The ...

Alan: People are seeing through The Big Lie - and The Big Liar.
Malignant Messiah's response (and lack of response) to coronavirus is bizarre, not to mention his self-seeking exploitation of the virus at the expense of American lives.
More Americans have now died of COVID-19 than the number of GI's who died in World War II.
"Did Trump's Coronavirus Action, Inaction And Ineptitude Kill 91,724 People Needlessly?"https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/06/did-trumps-coronavirus-action-inaction_27.html
Then, there's the economy. (If the ongoing debacle had happened on Obama's watch, every conservative in America would have held him COMPLETELY responsible.)
And finally, we are witnessing the revelation of systemic racism and Trump's championship of white supremacy while doing nothint to take responsibility for his lifelong belittlement of -- and contempt for -- black people.
"A Comprehensive Review Of Trump's Racism"https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-comprehensive-review-of-trumps-racism.html

Pax on both houses: "Cruelty Is The Point," An Update On Trump's ...

Conservative Cruelty: Donald Trump And The Relentless Normalization Of Everyday Monstrosity

Trump ridiculed after his campaign has to spend 2020 money in former Confederate states: ‘His campaign is collapsing’
President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign was ridiculed for spending money on a statewide television ad buy in Georgia. The spending was initially reported by an ad-monitoring account. New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin followed up and was told it was a statewide ad buy. Update: Am to...





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Watch Sarah Cooper's Revealing Lip-Sync Video Of Trump Answering A Sean Hannity Question

June 27, 2020, 8:09 am
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"Defecating In The Streets": Is American Civilization Definitively Unraveling?

June 27, 2020, 8:37 am
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Does America Have a Future? - Eudaimonia and Co

"Does America Have a Future?" By Umair Haque

'Defecating in the Streets': What We Heard This Week
— Quotable quotes from MedPage Today's sources
by MedPage Today Staff June 26, 2020

"We have laws against defecating in the streets. Is that infringing on somebody's rights?" -- Theodore Mazer, MD, former president of the California Medical Association, on hostility toward public health officials and defiance of measures like wearing masks.

"I don't think we can prognosticate really about what things will be like for these patients in 6 months time." -- Benedict Michael, MD, PhD, of University of Liverpool, discussing the potential long-term neurologic and psychiatric complications of COVID-19.


"The virus is not going to disappear." -- NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD, on a second wave of coronavirus infections in the fall and winter.

"It isn't just that women live longer; we also start showing the tell-tale signs of Alzheimer's earlier on in life." -- Lisa Mosconi, PhD, of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, discussing the trajectory of Alzheimer's disease in women.

"Schools just don't have the financial resources to meet the expectation of the CDC guidelines." -- Andrea J. Farina, EdD, assistant superintendent of the Upper Perkiomen school district near Philadelphia, on the challenges educators face in reopening schools in the fall.

"When we go out and see large gatherings with people not wearing masks, it's concerning because there's a sense that it's starting to be more widespread in the population." -- Robert Bednarczyk, PhD, of Emory University, on Georgia's relatively flattened curve starting to rise again.

"The last time I checked, the U.S. was still fighting coronavirus and losing." -- Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), speaking at a hearing called to examine "lessons learned" from the COVID-19 pandemic and to prepare for the next pandemic.
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The 17 Best Lyrics From Bob Dylan’s New Album, "Rough And Rowdy Ways"

June 27, 2020, 9:10 am
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Bob Dylan on Twitter: "New album 'Rough And Rowdy Ways' coming ...
The 17 Best Lyrics From Bob Dylan’s New Album, "Rough And Rowdy Ways"
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-06-18/bob-dylan-rough-and-rowdy-ways-best-lyrics

"False Prophet"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QPBpFAKTGo



False Prophet

WRITTEN BY: BOB DYLAN
1.
Another day that don't end - another ship going out
Another day of anger - bitterness and doubt
I know how it happened - I saw it begin
I opened my heart to the world and the world came in

2.
Hello Mary Lou - Hello Miss Pearl
My fleet footed guides from the underworld
No stars in the sky shine brighter than you
You girls mean business and I do too

3.
 Well, I’m the enemy of treason - the enemy of strife
I’m the enemy of the unlived meaningless life
I ain’t no false prophet - I just know what I know
I go where only the lonely can go

4.
I’m first among equals - second to none
I’m last of the best - you can bury the rest
Bury ’em naked with their silver and gold
Put ’em six feet under and then pray for their souls

5.
What are you lookin’ at - there’s nothing to see
Just a cool breeze that's encircling me
Let’s go walk in the garden - so far and so wide
We can sit in the shade by the fountain side

  6.
I’ve searched the world over for the Holy Grail
I sing songs of love - I sing songs of betrayal
Don’t care what I drink - I don’t care what I eat
I climbed the mountain of swords on my bare feet
7.
You don’t know me darlin’ - you never would guess
I’m nothing like my ghostly appearance would suggest
I ain’t no False Prophet - I just said what I said
I’m here to bring vengeance on somebody’s head


 8.
Put out your hand - there’s nothin’ to hold
Open your mouth - I’ll stuff it with gold
Oh you poor Devil - look up if you will
The City of God is there on the hill

9.
Hello stranger - Hello and goodbye
You rule the land but so do I
You lusty old mule - you got a poisoned brain
I’ll marry you to a ball and chain

10.
You know darlin’ the kind of life that I live
When your smile meets my smile - something's got to give
I ain’t no false prophet - nah, I’m nobody’s bride
Can’t remember when I was born and I forgot when I died

Copyright
© 2020 by Special Rider Music




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Very Powerful Reflection By NPR's Guy Raz On Willy Brandt's WWII-Holocaust Commemoration

June 27, 2020, 4:09 pm
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May 8, 1945, was ′zero hour′ for Germany in multiple ways ...
Alan: Thanks to friend Roger Barcant for bringing this article to my attention.

Very Powerful Reflection By NPR's Guy Raz On Willy Brandt's Holocaust Commemoration Wreath-Laying

Contextualization of Lead Photograph: Those who witnessed the scene were awe-struck: a politician actually displayed his emotions by confessing to guilt and begging for forgiveness. With his head bowed low, he froze in this position for twenty or thirty seconds. “I have been often asked what the gesture was all about. Was it planned? No, it wasn’t”. This is how Willy Brandt described the situation many years later in his memoirs: “As I stood on the edge of the Germany’s historical abyss, feeling the burden of millions of murders, I did what people do when words fail”.



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Companies That Have Donated More Than $1,000,000.00 To Anti-Civil Rights Politicians

June 27, 2020, 6:59 pm
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Home Depot Leads The Pack Of Corporate Donors To Right-Wing Candidates, Donating Nearly $7,000,000.00. Loew's, Costco, Honda, Sysco And YouTube Donate Zero Dollars To Right-Wing Candidates | made w/ Imgflip meme maker
Companies Behaving Badly
Many companies have given lip service to racial justice even as they act in ways that perpetuate injustice. The organization Progressive Shopper has identified companies that talk the talk even as they donate large sums to politicians who have the worst ratings from the NAACP for opposing civil rights legislation.
Among the companies that have donated $1 million to these anti-civil rights politicians are Bank of America, Comcast, FedEx, General Electric, Home Depot, Microsoft and Wells Fargo.


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George Orwell Reacts To Donald Trump

June 27, 2020, 7:06 pm
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Orwell is rolling in his grave with such rotational force that if moldy George were connected to a turbine, the planet’s energy needs would be met in perpetuity | made w/ Imgflip meme maker

Orwell: A Brief, Image-Rich Introduction To A Prophetic Genius

Neil Postman Predicted Trump In 1985. "It's Not Orwell," He Warned, "It's 'Brave New World'"

Cartoon: George Orwell, Fascism And "Homage To Catalonia"



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A Homeless, 9 Year Old, Nigerian Refugee, Is Rising To The Top Of The Chess World

June 27, 2020, 7:10 pm
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Tanitoluwa Adewumi, 9, went from chess novice to chess champion in little over a year.Christopher Lee for The New York Times
Some Good News About Our Young Chess Hero
Last year I wrote a couple of columns about a Nigerian refugee, Tanitoluwa Adewumi, who learned chess in his public elementary school and then, just a year later, beat kids from the elite private schools who normally dominate chess and won the New York state chess championship. Oh, and Tani was homeless, too!
The article led to an outpouring of support, and Tani and his family now have a home, and he has continued to progress in chess. At age 9, he now has a chess rating of 2049. In an international competition this week, Tani represented the United States and a Sri Lankan refugee represented Britain — a reminder of how much refugees enrich us. And Tani won! You can follow their games here and Tani’s new book, “My Name Is Tani, and I Believe in Miracles,” is for sale as well.

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American Hispanics Live 4.2% Longer Than American "Whites"

June 27, 2020, 7:13 pm
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Jessica Monje-Perez, center, of Centro Cultural de Washington County works with volunteers and other employees to prepare food boxes for migrant workers in Cornelius, Ore.Leah Nash for The New York Times
Now's The Time To Learn From Hispanics

Author Headshot
Opinion Columnist
This is a time of great national crisis in America, and perhaps there’s something we can learn about resilience and looking out for each other from Hispanic Americans.
Scholars call it the “Hispanic Paradox”: Despite disadvantage and discrimination, Latinx Americans actually live significantly longer (81.8 years) than either whites (78.5 years) or blacks (74.9 years). Latinos in the United States also appear to have lower suicide rates than whites, lower overdose rates and (at least for immigrants) lower arrest rates.
There are lots of theories about why. It may have something to do with an immigrant work ethic and with religious faith and church networks, but part of it seems to have to do with a good old-fashioned sense of social responsibility. People look after each other.
My column today explores these issues and suggests that there’s something the rest of us can learn in this difficult time from the Hispanic community. Check it out.
Covid-19 Is Out of Control
The coronavirus is surging out of control, with the United States this week setting a record for new cases. Globally as well, Covid-19 is accelerating; it took 100 days to get the first million cases, and just six days to go from 8 million to 9 million.
The CovidExitStrategy website lists only six states that are moving in the right direction.
I’m still saddened by how refusing to wear masks has become a badge of identity among some on the right, a way of asserting toughness and conservative values. I’m not sure that people appreciate that the point of the mask is to protect others. So a mask is an emblem of personal responsibility; a failure to wear a mask is like driving drunk.
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I've Always Looked Down My Nose At Miley Cyrus, But Her Rendition Of "Help" Is Quite Good

June 27, 2020, 9:38 pm
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Hillsborough, North Carolina Contemplates A Ubiquitous, Locally-Owned And Operated ISP

June 28, 2020, 8:31 am
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Fed up with slow and spotty internet, a small Texas town built its ...

Fed up with slow and spotty internet, a small Texas town built its own high-speed network

"No one wanted to run up and punch the giant," says Dwight Thomas, who runs Mont Belvieu’s municipal broadband network.


EB• 1 day ago
Story (podcast) about towns providing Internet service. Given the popularity of posts on here about Internet service providers, I thought people might be interested in this Planet Money podcast about what happened when Wilson, NC decided to offer Internet service. They were worried about losing businesses because of Internet problems (like speed), and when they asked the current provider to upgrade the system, the provider was not interested, so the city decided to offer their own Internet service. https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865908114/small-america-vs-big-internet

Small America Vs. Big Internet : Planet Money

npr.org
Comment
Kathleen Ferguson
 • 
NorthWest Hillsborough
Wilson is why the NC General Assembly passed specific legislation prohibiting cities and towns from offering internet service. Cities and towns have been advocating for years to be able to do what Wilson did. There are bills pending now that if passed would permit cities and towns to do what Wilson did. Our delegation supports the bills but there still is opposition.
1 day ago
Emma Millis
 • 
Riverwalk
Open Broadband is currently offered b y Orange Coun ty and Peidmont Energy( guessing at the correct name) it's a movement growing incrementally across under served areas who as we are under thrall to .mega corps that offer take or leave it terms. Open is in Efland and edging into North Hillsborough. I have no love lost for any of the big guys and am proud of the fact I took AT&T to small claims court and prevailed.
23 hr ago
Alan Archibald
 • 
Hillsborough Historic West
I have been an advocate of town-wide internet for years. Years ago, when I spoke with then mayor Tom Stevens, he was wide open to the idea but thought -- at the time -- that it was not technically feasible. In this new and technologically-improved environment, I encourage you to communicate with current mayor Jenn Weaver. Her office number is 919-296-9414 Thanks again for publicizing this splendid idea! If town-wide internet comes to fruition, Hillsborough could become a "go-to consultant" for other towns hoping to do the same. Let's hear it for "The Common Good,""The General Welfare" and a "Social Contract" in which the "Rugged Individualism" that lies at the heart of unregulated "Cowboy Capitalism" takes a back seat to the better angels of society and social goods.
Just now

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The Problem Is Black Violence, Not White Oppression: A Reply

June 28, 2020, 9:51 am
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The Other Mistake Southern Heritage Defenders Make | History News ...
Dear Josie,

Thanks for your email.

It is soooooooo hard to be in close relationship with someone whose obtusity is probably irremediable.

Consider.

A hugely disproportionate percentage of black-on-black killings AND white-on-white killings take place in any residentially segregated society. 

This fact is so rudimentary that one would hope it needn't be necessary to point out the statistical inevitability of this huge disproportion. 

American "conservatives" are always on the lookout for anecdotes and statistical anomalies which, supposedly, "prove the scientists wrong." 

This predisposition is related to "magical thinking,""miraculous thinking," delusion, illusion, alternative facts, whole cloth lies, innuendo, gossip and the existential sine qua non of ensuring the survival of one's ideology. There may be no threat as great as "losing one's religion."

An Aside: If you view contemporary American politics through a statistical lens, you will find with astonishing regularity that shoddy thinking goes hand-in-hand with the inability/refusal to understand statistics.  This observation is true across a very broad spectrum, right down to the dimwitted and essentially egotistical refusal to wear masks. (This kind of egotism often manifests when people MUST adhere to the strict tenets of their belief system or risk some kind of perceived "damnation." The phenomenon is called "Salvation Assurance.")   

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Here is a highly informative (and pertinent) article published in the U.S. News and World Reports (a centrist if not slightly right-of-center publication). 
Race And Homicide In America, By The Numbers

Excerpt: White-on-white killings as a percentage of all homicides involving a white victim also fell, to 81.3 percent, marking the lowest share of such killings since 2001.
The margins are small, fluctuating by less than 3 percentage points in the last 15 years: Since 2001, the share of black-on-black and white-on-white homicides as a proportion of those killed of each race peaked at 91.9 and 84.2 percent, respectively.
I also draw your attention to Trump's egregious lies on this same subject: 

And here are a number of posts on closely related issues.

The Chances Of A Refugee-Terrorist Killing An American Are 3.6 Billion To 1
But, By God, We're Going To Eliminate That 1!
(3.6 billion to 1 is a far lower probability than being killed by a fellow American or a member of one's own family) 

Americans Are 9 Times More Likely To Be Killed By A Policeman Than A Terrorist

American Cops Fire More Bullets At One NYC Man Than All German Cops Fire In A Year
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/85-shots-us-cops-use-more-ammo-per-man.html


1 Small Town's Cops Have Killed More People Than Combined Police Of Germany And U.K.
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/1-small-towns-cops-have-killed-more.html

"Is The United States Still A Nation Of Law? Bad Cops And Bad Politicians Walk"

"We Like War"
Video

Alan: Fundamentally, America is in an epistemological crisis which is to say we've gotten very sloppy about asking the question: "How do we know what we think we know?"

Tyranny's Best-Kept Secret: It's All About Epistemology
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/tyrannys-best-kept-secret-its-all-about.html

That Big Brother Is Watching You Is Nothing: The Horror Is His Redefinition Of Trumpery As Truth


Recently, I have started calling people who eat ideological shit by their true name:

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Similarly, never forget the Prime Directive, recently re-focused by The Surgeon General:

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Love

Alan

PS Here are several posts exploring relatively recent findings about the relationship between childhood upbringing and the nearly obligatory political beliefs that children then hold in adulthood. The psychology of "Strict Father" and "Nurturant Parent" has illuminated the entire political panorama for me.

Short Form:
How The Values Of "Strict Father" -- Or "Nurturant Parent" -- Control Our Political Views

"Fear And Anxiety Drive Conservatives Political Attitudes"

Ironically:
"There is no fear in love. 
But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. 
The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
1 John 4:18

Long Form:
"Strict Father" And "Nurturant Parent": The Two World Views That Determine Our Political Values

"How We Ended Up In 2 Totally Divided Camps, Both Convinced They're Absolutely Right"

Thomas Merton: "Our Job Is To Love Others Without Stopping To Inquire If They Are Worthy"


Do you think the Confederate flag resembled Southern heritage (yes ... 


Heritage; Not Hate | made w/ Imgflip meme maker
On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 11:28 AM JM wrote:

Help me ... this in from Tom who thinks blacks killing blacks in Chicago is what everybody needs to be paying attention to.


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: TM
Date: Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 10:08 AM
Subject: Chicago: 75% of Murdered Are Black, 71% of Murderers Are Black
To: Josie




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Uncle Sam's War Of "Total Destruction" In Korea Started 70 Years Ago

June 28, 2020, 1:41 pm
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The Korean War and American History: How the Conflict Started | Time
Thursday, June 25, 2020

The Korean War and US 'Total Destruction' Began 70 Years Ago
For Koreans of a certain age, total destruction by the United States isn’t just some abstract threat, it is a hellish reality that ranks among the most egregious crimes of a century that witnessed some of the most appalling barbarity in human history.

https://pdf.printfriendly.com/camo/3e397638fa5c1b08ab46ec60c641f8447d865943/68747470733a2f2f73322e676f6f676c6575736572636f6e74656e742e636f6d2f73322f66617669636f6e733f646f6d61696e3d7777772e636f6d6d6f6e647265616d732e6f7267commondreams.org/views/2020/06/25/korean-war-and-us-total-destruction-began-70-years-ago


Bombs dropped by a US Air Force B-26 Invader destroy civilian targets in Wonsan, Korea in 1951. (Photo: USAF Photo/Creative Commons)
Bombs dropped by a US Air Force B-26 Invader destroy civilian targets in Wonsan, Korea in 1951. (Photo: USAF Photo/Creative Commons)

For a brief moment in the summer of 1945 there was joy in Korea. Koreans, who had suffered tremendously during half a century of brutal Japanese occupation and World War II, celebrated what they believed was their liberation by victorious US and Soviet forces. Full of hope for a future free of foreign rule, they proudly declared their independence; however, Supreme Allied Commander Douglas MacArthur announced that the US and the USSR would be occupying—and dividing—the entire Korean peninsula. Adding insult to injury, vanquished but no less vicious Japanese forces would be employed to violently repress dissent.

Like so many other imperial endeavors, the division of Korea along the 38th parallel was an exercise in arbitrariness and utter disregard for the wishes of the people it affected. The United States, which claimed to champion freedom, denied it to the people of Korea, who very quickly realized that they were merely trading one occupying empire for another. A survey of Koreans in the summer of 1946 found that 77 percent preferred socialism or communism while only 14 percent favored capitalism. However, the US backed the right-wing dictatorship of Syngman Rhee, a conservative Christian and staunch anti-communist who ruled the South with an iron fist. By early 1950 there were more than 100,000 political prisoners in the South. Summary executions of leftists, both real and imagined, claimed tens of thousands of lives as the South’s police state reign of terror rivaled the worst outrages of the communist North, which was unifying under the former anti-Japanese guerrilla leader Kim Il-sung.

As efforts to negotiate a unified Korean state failed, a nascent anti-government insurgency grew in the South and was brutally repressed. Brief but bloody border skirmishes escalated; both Rhee and Kim wanted to force unification through invasion. On June 25, 1950, Northern forces launched an all-out invasion of the South. Seoul, the Southern capital, fell three days later. Although the US initially insisted that no US ground troops would be needed in the fight, MacArthur was soon convinced that American boots on the ground were the key to repulsing Northern aggression. President Harry S. Truman agreed, calling the intervention a “police action.”

The US military, strutting with atomic swagger and still puffed up with the pride of victory, expected a short war. Green, flabby GIs, more fit for the pomp and parades of Japanese occupation duty than for the horrors of close combat that awaited them in Korea, imagined they would be back to the bars and bordellos of Tokyo in a matter of weeks, maybe a couple of months at the longest. However, Northern forces routed both the South’s army and the Americans, who hastily retreated southward toward Busan along with hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees.

One area in which US forces enjoyed near total supremacy was in aerial bombardment. 

Overcoming initial reluctance from MacArthur, Gen. George Stratemeyer ordered US bombers to "destroy every means of communications and every installation, factory, city, and village” in North Korea. More bombs were dropped on Korea than during the entire World War II Pacific campaign. The massive US carpet bombing of North Korea included napalm, incendiary and fragmentation bombs that killed and maimed by the thousands and left cities, towns, villages and countryside in scorched and shattered ruins. In the Northern capital of Pyongyang, only around 50,000 people out of a prewar population of 500,000 remained in 1953. When all the cities and towns were destroyed, US warplanes bombed dams, reservoirs and rice fields, flooding the countryside and destroying the nation’s food supply. Only emergency aid from China, the Soviet Union and other socialist nations averted imminent famine.

US commanders, fearing Northern troops would infiltrate Southern lines disguised as civilians, ordered fighter pilots to bomb and strafe refugees as they fled south. In the most infamous atrocity of the war, Air Force pilots killed hundreds of men, women and children at No Gun Ri over three days in late July 1950. Retreating US troops also blew up bridges teeming with hundreds of refugees and burned villages, towns and cities to the ground in a scorched earth policy meant to deny the advancing enemy quarter.

At least 100,000 South Koreans were murdered by their own armed forces, who targeted anyone suspected of having leftist sympathies. American commanders approved, and US troops were present at horrific mass slaughters throughout the war. Most Americans were fed a more sanitized version of the war, although some of its horrors were celebrated—witness John Ford’s propaganda piece This Is Korea! in which footage of a flamethrower attack is accompanied by movie cowboy John Wayne’s chilling voice-over: “Fry ‘em out! Burn ‘em out! Cook ‘em!”

General Curtis “Bombs Away” LeMay—who commanded firebombing raids on Japanese cities that killed more civilians than the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—served as strategic air commander during the Korean War. He would later acknowledge that “over a period of three years or so, we killed off 20 percent of the population” of North Korea. That’s nearly 1.9 million men, women and children. In comparison, the Nazis had murdered 17 percent of Poland’s pre-World War II population just a few years earlier. Speaking of Nazis, the destruction of Korea occurred just a few short years after Germans were convicted at Nuremberg, and subsequently executed, for “wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages.”

By the time that North and South Korean, American and Chinese generals — China had intervened when Allied troops approached its borders—signed a ceasefire agreement on July 27, 1953, North Korea was utterly in ruins. “Everything is destroyed,” said US bomber commander Gen. Emmett O’Donnell. “There is nothing standing worthy of the name.” Sixty-four years later, President Donald Trump, who was in the process of fulfilling his campaign promise to “bomb the **** out of” Islamist militants in the Middle East, threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea over its nuclear missile program. Such threats, coming as they do from the nation that’s killed more foreign civilians than any other over the past 75 years, are not to be taken lightly. For Koreans of a certain age, total destruction by the United States isn’t just some abstract threat, it is a hellish reality that ranks among the most egregious crimes of a century that witnessed some of the most appalling barbarity in human history.

Watch:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/pn_dLez1g9k/hqdefault.jpg

Brett Wilkins is a San Francisco-based freelance author and editor-at-large for US news at Digital Journal. His work, which focuses on issues of war and peace and human rights, is archived at www.brettwilkins.com.

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Mr. Goldsmith, one of my HS history teachers was a Korean War vet. He told us of a "turkey shoot" when guards at a US POW camp would feign loss of power for a while to tempt POWs to escape. Power was turned back on, and US soldiers would machine gun prisoners outside the boundary. He showed embarrassment during the telling and admitted taking part.


  --  M. B. H., statistician
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The Original And Enduring Conspiracy: It's About Keeping The Filthy Rich, Filthy Rich

June 28, 2020, 4:02 pm
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Or... "Look out! That black guy is going to steal your cookie."
Divide and conquer.
It works every Goddamn time.

"How Wealth Rules The World: Saving Our Communities And Freedoms From The Dictatorship Of Property" 

"Ben Price identifies key counterrevolutions in U.S. history that squelched the transformative potential of the Civil War and American Revolution, and traces the roots of colonial and imperial systems of control."
Ben Price details how the U.S. Constitution was written to ensure that Oligarchy always triumphs over Democracy.
If you believe American Democracy is structured to rule over Oligarchy, you are simply mistaken. 
Factually mistaken.
The Constitution is fundamentally an oligarchic document that squelches democratic rule.

And here are the people who do the squelching...  

The World's Richest 1% Have 65 Times More Wealth Than The Poorest One Half


George Carlin: "It's A Big Club And You're Not In It"

 "George Carlin Describes America's Dumbf*ck Quandary"
The Original And Enduring Conspiracy
(It's about keeping the filthy rich, filthy rich)

Billionaire Nick Hanauer's TED Talk: "Capitalism's Dirty Little Secret"

  https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2020/01/billionaire-nick-hanauers-ted-talk.html

Since 1989, The Top 1% Gained $21 Trillion While The Bottom Half Lost $900 Billion

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2020/01/since-1989-top-1-gained-21-trillion.html


"For The First Time In History, U.S. Billionaires Paid A Lower Tax Rate Than The Working Class"
"The Rich Aren't Just Grabbing A Bigger Slice Of The Income Pie. 
They're Taking It All"

"Plutocracy Triumphant"
Cartoon Compendium

Time Out Of Mind "Deep State Plutocracy" Is The Enduring Conspiracy. Warfare And Racial Animus Is The Decoy

Image result for pax on both houses, ben franklin taxes
Alan: You should read the this Franklin quotation three times -- slowly and out loud.
Keep in mind that Franklin was the most financially successful of The Founding Fathers.
It is also notable that by the late 1750s, Franklin had become an abolitionist.

Ben Franklin On "No New Taxes"

1910 Income Tax Promised To Never Shift Burden From Richest 1 - 4%

Tax Rates Under U.S. Presidents Since Eisenhower

Nicholas Kristof On Taxes: How America's Rich Get Richer While The Poor Poorer

Cartoon: A "Free Lunch" Is American Conservatism's Unrelenting Nightmare

Canada, Sweden and The Collapse of American Culture

American Woman Living In Sweden Describes The "Socialist Nanny State." (Sounds Like Heaven)

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/12/american-woman-living-in-sweden.html

Image result for "pax on both houses" teddy roosevelt hidden government
This is what Republicans were like the year my Dad was born.
Roosevelt was a spearhead of "The Progressive Movement."

Teddy Roosevelt: "Malefactors Of Great Wealth... Are Curses To The Country"




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