Betsy DeVos, Trump's Education Secretary Is "A Danger To Students With Disabilities"

January 19, 2017, 9:52 pm

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"A Danger To Students With Disabilities"

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2017-01-19/students-with-disabilities-deserve-better-than-donald-trumps-betsy-devos?google_editors_picks=true

Instruction And Education Aim At Antipodes
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/instruction-and-education-aim-at.html

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"Everyone Is Biased And There Is No Reality," FiveThirtyEight.com

January 20, 2017, 7:42 am

≫ Next: Trump's "Ratings": The Only Reply I've Made To A "User Comment" Attached To 1 Of My Memes

≪ Previous: Betsy DeVos, Trump's Education Secretary Is "A Danger To Students With Disabilities"

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Alan: There are many interpretations of what this photo represents.

It is, in fact, a human nipple.

We may delude ourselves and we all impart "spin."

But "It is out there."

Everyone Is Biased And There Is No Reality

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/everyone-is-biased-and-there-is-no-reality/

Trump's "Ratings": The Only Reply I've Made To A "User Comment" Attached To 1 Of My Memes

January 20, 2017, 8:37 am

≫ Next: "On Being An American," H.L. Mencken Reviews Donald Trump's Inauguration

≪ Previous: "Everyone Is Biased And There Is No Reality," FiveThirtyEight.com

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(Here is the only reply I've made to a "user comment" attached to one of my memes. The meme in question is pictured above.)

Alan here... I am the creator of this meme. 

In response to the comment by JuicyDeath1025... Yes, many people will want the source of my statistics. Unfortunately, inclusion of a URL ruins the meme. (Plus, responsible citizens should conduct research themselves.) 

In any event, the source of Trump's approval rating is Nate Silver's 538.com https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-you-trust-polling-in-the-age-of-trump/ 

And the source of President Obama's approval rating is CNN and The Washington Post: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/politics/obama-approval-rating-cnn-orc-poll/ 

For those people who say these statistics were biased by "the left-wing media," I will point out that Nate Silver (the most highly-regarded political statistician in the United States) concluded --- just prior to Election Day --- that Trump's chances of winning were 15%. That's about 1 chance in 7 - far from insignificant. 

Also, a life-long friend knows one of Trump's physicians who confided that Trump himself was amazed at winning. 

It is noteworthy that Hillary got 4.55% more popular votes than Trump and that Trump's cumulative vote total in the 3 crucial swing states -- Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan -- was only 81,704 more votes than Hillary's. 

Here is what we know: 

Trump is NOT the popular president of the United States in the sense of winning a majority of the popular vote. 

And Trump is not a popular president as abysmal approval rating shows, a rating which - according to historical trends - will only go down. 

(Here is the URL for Trump and Hillary's vote totals in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan: http://fortune.com/2016/12/05/presidential-vote-recount-wisconsin-michigan-pennsylvania-nevada/) 

By way of conclusion, check out this meme: https://imgflip.com/i/1gpt9u

Compendium Of Pax Posts About Donald Trump
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/06/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-donald.html

Compilation Of Pax Posts On Similarities Between Hitler And Trump

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/05/compilation-of-pax-post-on-similarities.html

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts About The Relationship Between Trump And Putin

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-about.html

Compendium Of Pax Posts About Russian Electoral Manipulation

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-russian.html

Best Trump Memes From Pax On Both Houses
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/09/best-trump-memes-from-pax-on-both-houses.html

"Are Republicans Insane?" Best Pax Posts

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/are-republicans-insane-best-pax-posts.html

"There Are Two Ways Of Lying..." Denis De Rougemont And Donald Trump

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/12/donald-trump-and-denise-de-rougemont.html

Faith and Falsehood

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/11/faith-and-falsehood.html

"On Being An American," H.L. Mencken Reviews Donald Trump's Inauguration

January 20, 2017, 9:54 am

≫ Next: Seth Myers And Trump's "Great Relationship With The Blacks"

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"When the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre -- the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

Snopes Commentary

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/whitehousemoron.asp

Lincoln And Mencken Comment On Donald Trump's Election
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/11/lincoln-and-mencken-comment-on-donald.html

Mencken's Best Quote?

Long Form And Short

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/05/menckens-best-quote-long-form-and-short.html

"Do War's Really Defend America's Freedom?"

(Homage To Marine Commandant, Major General Smedley Butler)

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/11/do-wars-really-defend-americas-freedom.html

Scare The Sheep 

And They Will Applaud Military-Industrial Profiteering

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/12/scare-sheep-and-they-will-cheer.html

Dwight Eisenhower: War Is Brutal, Futile, Stupid

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/08/dwight-eisenhower-war-is-brutal-futile.html

The Age-Old Normalization Of Warfare Through Stupidity, Ego And Religion

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-age-old-normalization-of-warfare.html

Excerpt from The Thinking Housewife: "One can point to H.L. Mencken’s satirical essay, On Being An American, wherein he argues that there are only two grounds for an intelligent man to remain in the United States: either as a means of swindling an easy living, or to enjoy some cheap laughs at the expense of the vulgarity around him." John Rao 

On Being an American

by H.L. Mencken (1922)

All the while I have been forgetting the third of my reasons for remaining so faithful a citizen of the Federation, despite all the lascivious inducements from expatriates to follow them beyond the seas, and all the surly suggestions from patriots that I succumb. It is the reason which grows out of my mediaeval but unashamed taste for the bizarre and indelicate, my congenital weakness for comedy of the grosser varieties. The United States, to my eye, is incomparably the greatest show on earth. It is a show which avoids diligently all the kinds of clowning which tire me most quickly — for example, royal ceremonials, the tedious hocus-pocus of haut politique, the taking of politics seriously — and lays chief stress upon the kinds which delight me unceasingly — for example, the ribald combats of demagogues, the exquisitely ingenious operations of master rogues, the pursuit of witches and heretics, the desperate struggles of inferior men to claw their way into Heaven. We have clowns in constant practice among us who are as far above the clowns of any other great state as a Jack Dempsey is above a paralytic — and not a few dozen or score of them, but whole droves and herds. Human enterprises which, in all other Christian countries, are resigned despairingly to an incurable dullness — things that seem devoid of exhilirating amusement, by their very nature — are here lifted to such vast heights of buffoonery that contemplating them strains the midriff almost to breaking. I cite an example: the worship of God. Everywhere else on earth it is carried on in a solemn and dispiriting manner; in England, of course, the bishops are obscene, but the average man seldom gets a fair chance to laugh at them and enjoy them. Now come home. Here we not only have bishops who are enormously more obscene than even the most gifted of the English bishops; we have also a huge force of lesser specialists in ecclesiastical mountebankery — tin-horn Loyolas, Savonarolas and Xaviers of a hundred fantastic rites, each performing untiringly and each full of a grotesque and illimitable whimsicality. Every American town, however small, has one of its own: a holy clerk with so fine a talent for introducing the arts of jazz into the salvation of the damned that his performance takes on all the gaudiness of a four-ring circus, and the bald announcement that he will raid Hell on such and such a night is enough to empty all the town blind-pigs and bordellos and pack his sanctuary to the doors. And to aid him and inspire him there are travelling experts to whom he stands in the relation of a wart to the Matterhorn — stupendous masters of theological imbecility, contrivers of doctrines utterly preposterous, heirs to the Joseph Smith, Mother Eddy and John Alexander Dowie tradition — Bryan, Sunday, and their like. These are the eminences of the American Sacred College. I delight in them. Their proceedings make me a happier American.

Turn, now, to politics. Consider, for example, a campaign for the Presidency. Would it be possible to imagine anything more uproariously idiotic — a deafening, nerve-wracking battle to the death between Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Harlequin and Sganarelle, Gobbo and Dr. Cook — the unspeakable, with fearful snorts, gradually swallowing the inconceivable? I defy any one to match it elsewhere on this earth. In other lands, at worst, there are at least intelligible issues, coherent ideas, salient personalities. Somebody says something, and somebody replies. But what did Harding say in 1920, and what did Cox reply? Who was Harding, anyhow, and who was Cox? Here, having perfected democracy, we lift the whole combat to symbolism, to transcendentalism, to metaphysics. Here we load a pair of palpably tin cannon with blank cartridges charged with talcum power, and so let fly. Here one may howl over the show without any uneasy reminder that it is serious, and that some one may be hurt. I hold that this elevation of politics to the plane of undiluted comedy is peculiarly American, that no-where else on this disreputable ball has the art of the sham-battle been developed to such fineness...

... Here politics is purged of all menace, all sinister quality, all genuine significance, and stuffed with such gorgeous humors, such inordinate farce that one comes to the end of a campaign with one's ribs loose, and ready for "King Lear," or a hanging, or a course of medical journals.

But feeling better for the laugh. Ridi si sapis, said Martial. Mirth is necessary to wisdom, to comfort, above all to happiness. Well, here is the land of mirth, as Germany is the land of metaphysics and France is the land of fornication. Here the buffoonery never stops. What could be more delightful than the endless struggle of the Puritan to make the joy of the minority unlawful and impossible? The effort is itself a greater joy to one standing on the side-lines than any or all of the carnal joys it combats. Always, when I contemplate an uplifter at his hopeless business, I recall a scene in an old- time burlesque show, witnessed for hire in my days as a dramatic critic. A chorus girl executed a fall upon the stage, and Rudolph Krausemeyer, the Swiss comdeian, rushed to her aid. As he stooped painfully to succor her, Irving Rabinovitz, the Zionist comedian, fetched him a fearful clout across the cofferdam with a slap-stick. So the uplifter, the soul-saver, the Americanizer, striving to make the Republic fit for Y.M.C.A. secretaries. He is the eternal American, ever moved by the best of intentions, ever running a la Krausemeyer to the rescue of virtue, and ever getting his pantaloons fanned by the Devil. I am naturally sinful, and such spectacles caress me. If the slap-stick were a sash-weight, the show would be cruel, and I'd probably complain to the Polizei. As it is, I know that the uplifter is not really hurt, but simply shocked. The blow, in fact, does him good, for it helps get him into Heaven, as exegetes prove from Matthew v, 11: Hereux serez-vous, lorsqu'on vous outragera, qu'on vous persecutera, and so on. As for me, it makes me a more contented man, and hence a better citizen. One man prefers the Republic because it pays better wages than Bulgaria. Another because it has laws to keep him sober and his daughter chaste. Another because the Woolworth Building is higher than the cathedral at Chartres. Another because, living here, he can read the New York Evening Journal. Another because there is a warrant out for him somewhere else. Me, I like it because it amuses me to my taste. I never get tired of the show. It is worth every cent it costs.

That cost, it seems to me is very moderate. Taxes in the United States are not actually high. I figure, for example, that my private share of the expense of maintaining the Hon. Mr. Harding in the White House this year will work out to less than 80 cents. Try to think of better sport for the money: in New York it has been estimated that it costs $8 to get comfortably tight, and $17.50, on an average, to pinch a girl's arm. The United States Senate will cost me perhaps $11 for the year, but against that expense set the subscription price of the Congressional Record, about $15, which, as a journalist, I receive for nothing. For $4 less than nothing I am thus entertained as Solomon never was by his hooch dancers. Col. George Brinton McClellan Harvey costs me but 25 cents a year; I get Nicholas Murray Butler free. Finally, there is young Teddy Roosevelt, the naval expert. Teddy costs me, as I work it out, about 11 cents a year, or less than a cent a month. More, he entertains me doubly for the money, first as a naval expert, and secondly as a walking attentat upon democracy, a devastating proof that there is nothing, after all, in that superstition. We Americans subscribe to the doctrine of human equality — and the Rooseveltii reduce it to an absurdity as brilliantly as the sons of Veit Bach. Where is your equal opportunity now? Here in this Eden of clowns, with the highest rewards of clowning theoretically open to every poor boy — here in the very citadel of democracy we found and cherish a clown dynasty!

VIDEO: Trump Tells More Lies Than Any U.S. Politician. Why Do "Patriots" And "Christians" Believe A Liar

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/video-trump-tells-more-lies-than-any-us.html

People Want To Be Lied To: The Convergent Horror Of Faithful Falsehood And Aggressive Ignorance

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/people-want-to-be-lied-to-convergent.html

Watch: CNN Spent Ten Straight Minutes Tearing Down Trump's Lies

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/watch-cnn-spent-ten-straight-minutes.html

Pulitzer Prize-Winning PolitiFact Finds That Only 1% Of The Things Trump Says Are Entirely True

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/08/politifact-finds-that-only-1-of-things.html

Keith Olbermann's 176 Reasons Trump Shouldn't Be President

(Yes, It's All Here And Worth Hearing In One Relentless Torrent)

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/09/keith-olbermanns-176-reasons-trump.html

Who Lies Most? A Pants-On-Fire Comparison Of America's 20 Best Known Politicians

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/09/politifacts-who-lies-more-pants-on-fire.html

Head, Heart And Belly Tell Me That "Christian""Conservatives" Are Spellbound By Essential Evil

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/head-heart-and-belly-tell-me-that.html

Donald J. Trump's Christianity As Seen Through The Eyes Of His Followers
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/donald-j-trumps-christianity-as-seen.html

Donald Trump's "Christianity" As Seen Through The Eyes Of His Followers

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/donald-j-trumps-christianity-as-seen.html

Seth Myers And Trump's "Great Relationship With The Blacks"

January 20, 2017, 10:19 am

≫ Next: Borowitz Report: More Than Three Hundred Million Americans Now Enrolled In Trump University

≪ Previous: "On Being An American," H.L. Mencken Reviews Donald Trump's Inauguration

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A Serious Look at Trump’s Claim He Will Win 95 Percent of the Black Vote in 2020

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/08/a-serious-look-at-trump-claim-hell-win-95-of-black-vote.html

Compendium Of Pax Posts About Donald Trump
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/06/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-donald.html

Best Trump Memes From Pax On Both Houses
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/09/best-trump-memes-from-pax-on-both-houses.html

"Are Republicans Insane?" Best Pax Posts

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/are-republicans-insane-best-pax-posts.html

"There Are Two Ways Of Lying..." Denis De Rougemont And Donald Trump

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/12/donald-trump-and-denise-de-rougemont.html

Compilation Of Pax Posts On Similarities Between Hitler And Trump

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/05/compilation-of-pax-post-on-similarities.html

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts About The Relationship Between Trump And Putin

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-about.html

Compendium Of Pax Posts About Russian Electoral Manipulation

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-russian.html

Borowitz Report: More Than Three Hundred Million Americans Now Enrolled In Trump University

January 20, 2017, 10:40 am

≫ Next: Donald J. Trump's Christianity As Seen Through The Eyes Of His Followers

≪ Previous: Seth Myers And Trump's "Great Relationship With The Blacks"

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Compendium Of Pax Posts About Trump "University" Scam

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/06/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-trump.html

More Than Three Hundred Million Americans Now Enrolled In Trump University

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In an astonishing comeback for the scandal-scarred educational institution, Trump University enrolled more than three hundred million new students at noon on Friday.

“Congratulations,” the President of Trump University told the new students. “For the next four years, you are all in Trump University.”

Some Americans who supported the President of Trump University in his long-shot bid to reopen the school made the journey to Washington, D.C., to hear his welcome address.

“He said we’re all going to be rich!” Harland Dorrinson, a new Trump University student, said. “I just know that this is going to end really well.”

But even as students like Dorrinson celebrated, there were complaints from other students, millions of whom said they had been enrolled in Trump University against their will.

“I never signed up for Trump University,” Carol Foyler, who is one of those students, said. “The President of this school is some kind of a con man. And why are so many members of the faculty Russian? The whole thing seems fishy.”

“Not my University,” she said.

While the original program offered by Trump University had a price tag as high as thirty-five thousand dollars, the next four years are expected to be far more costly, experts say.

Compendium Of Pax Posts About Donald Trump
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/06/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-donald.html

Best Trump Memes From Pax On Both Houses
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/09/best-trump-memes-from-pax-on-both-houses.html

"Are Republicans Insane?" Best Pax Posts

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/are-republicans-insane-best-pax-posts.html

"There Are Two Ways Of Lying..." Denis De Rougemont And Donald Trump

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/12/donald-trump-and-denise-de-rougemont.html

Compilation Of Pax Posts On Similarities Between Hitler And Trump

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/05/compilation-of-pax-post-on-similarities.html

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts About The Relationship Between Trump And Putin

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-about.html

Compendium Of Pax Posts About Russian Electoral Manipulation

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-russian.html

Donald J. Trump's Christianity As Seen Through The Eyes Of His Followers

January 20, 2017, 10:46 am

≫ Next: BBC: "Trump's Inauguration: President Vows To End "American Carnage"

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"Any Religion That Needs Fear To Thrive Is Bad Religion"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/02/any-religion-that-needs-fear-to-thrive.html

It Is Important To Know These Things So Religion Doesn't Do You More Harm Than Good

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/02/it-is-important-to-know-these-things-so.html

What Too Many Christians Get Wrong

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/02/what-way-too-many-christians-get-wrong.html

"Bad Religion: A Compendium"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/bad-religion-compendium.html

Pope Francis On Fundamentalism: The Horror Of Turning God Into Ideological Pretext

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/06/pope-francis-describes-horrors-of.html

Pope Francis: The Horror Of Religious Fundamentalism And What's Wrong With Religion

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/pope-francis-horror-of-religious.html

Faith and Falsehood

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/11/faith-and-falsehood.html

Frank Zappa Prophesied A Fascist Theocracy. Barry Goldwater Agrees

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/11/frank-zappa-profesied-fascist-theocracy.html

Bill McKibben "The Christian Paradox: How A Faithful Nation Gets Jesus Wrong"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/06/bill-mckibben-christian-paradox-how.html

James' Epistle: "Judgment Without Mercy Will Be Shown To Anyone Who Has Not Shown Mercy"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/03/james-epistle-judgment-without-mercy.html

People Want To Be Lied To: The Convergent Horror Of Faithful Falsehood And Aggressive Ignorance

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/people-want-to-be-lied-to-convergent.html

BBC: "Trump's Inauguration: President Vows To End "American Carnage"

January 20, 2017, 11:29 am

≫ Next: Trump's Inauguration: "White Enuf Fer Ya?"

≪ Previous: Donald J. Trump's Christianity As Seen Through The Eyes Of His Followers

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BBC: "Trump's Inauguration: President Vows To End "American Carnage"

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38688507

Alan: Trump is the first president in generations to take the reins from the other party while the economy is growing and unemployment shrinking. 

The carnage?

"On Being An American," H.L. Mencken Reviews Donald Trump's Inauguration

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/hl-mencken-reviews-donald-trumps.html

Borowitz Report: More Than Three Hundred Million Americans Now Enrolled In Trump University

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/more-than-three-hundred-million.html

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Trump's Inauguration: "White Enuf Fer Ya?"

January 20, 2017, 11:36 am

≫ Next: Dan Rather Shreds Trump's Inauguration Speech

≪ Previous: BBC: "Trump's Inauguration: President Vows To End "American Carnage"

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A token black.

No Hispanics.

Seth Myers And Trump's "Great Relationship With The Blacks"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/seth-myers-and-trumps-great.html

"On Being An American," H.L. Mencken Reviews Donald Trump's Inauguration

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/hl-mencken-reviews-donald-trumps.html

Borowitz Report: More Than Three Hundred Million Americans Now Enrolled In Trump University

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/more-than-three-hundred-million.html

Dan Rather Shreds Trump's Inauguration Speech

January 20, 2017, 2:13 pm

≫ Next: Every Thug-Leader In The World Celebrates Trump's Victory

≪ Previous: Trump's Inauguration: "White Enuf Fer Ya?"

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And his penis is so big he can't even get his small fingers around it.

Just ask the First Lady:

Vulgarian Donald Trump Brags About His Penis Size During Republican National Debate

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/09/vulgarian-donald-trump-brags-about-his.html

To Expose Our Children To Donald Trump Is Not Just Child Abuse, But Egregious Child Abuse

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/07/to-expose-our-children-to-donald-trump.html

What Does It Mean That "The Party Of Family Values" Has Elected A President Who Scandalizes Children

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/07/what-does-it-mean-that-party-of-family_30.html

Hillary's Ad About Donald Trump As Role Medel: "Our Children Are Watching"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/08/hillarys-ad-about-donald-trump-as-role.html

 Dan Rather Just Went Viral Shredding Trump’s Inauguration Speech

Dan Rather, former CBS Evening News anchor, has released an elegant, tragic statement about the Donald Trump presidential inauguration that occurred today at noon. He sums up the collective anxiety that is gripping the majority of Americans as we enter into the great unknown. Rather elucidates the reasons why the American people are faced with so much uncertainty heading into a presidency, when normally the incoming president is transparent.

And so it begins.

Of the nearly 20 inaugurations I can remember, there has never been one that felt like today. Not even close. Never mind the question of the small size of the crowds, or the boycott by dozens of lawmakers, or even the protest marches slated for tomorrow across the country. Those are plays upon the stage. What is truly unprecedented in my mind is the sheer magnitude of quickening heartbeats in millions of Americans, a majority of our country if the polls are to be believed, that face today buffeted within and without by the simmering ache of dread.

I have never seen my country on an inauguration day so divided, so anxious, so fearful, so uncertain of its course.

I have never seen a transition so divisive with cabinet picks so encumbered by serious questions of qualifications and ethics.

I have never seen the specter of a foreign foe cast such a dark shadow over the workings of our democracy.

I have never seen an incoming president so preoccupied with responding to the understandable vagaries of dissent and seemingly unwilling to contend with the full weight and responsibilities of the most powerful job in the world.

I have never seen such a tangled web of conflicting interests.

Despite the pageantry of unity on display at the Capitol today, there is a piercing sense that we are entering a chapter in our nation’s evolving story unlike one ever yet written. To be sure, there are millions of Donald Trump supporters who are euphoric with their candidate’s rise. Other Trump voters have expressed reservations, having preferred his bluster to his rival’s perceived shortcomings in the last election, but admitting more and more that they are not sure what kind of man they bestowed the keys to the presidency. The rest of America – the majority of voters – would not be – and indeed is not – hesitant in sharing its conclusions on the character and fitness of Donald Trump for the office he now holds.

The hope one hears from even some of Donald Trump’s critics is that this moment might change him. Perhaps, as he stood there on a grey, drab, January day, reciting the solemn oath of office demanded by our Constitution, as he looked out across what Charles Dickens once called the “city of magnificent intentions”, he would somehow grasp the importance of what he was undertaking. Perhaps he would understand that he must be the president of all the United States, in action as well as in word. Perhaps, but there has already been so much past that is prologue.

There is usually much fanfare around inaugural addresses. They are also usually forgotten – with some notable exceptions. I think today will be remembered, not so much for the rhetoric or the turns of phrase but for the man who delivered them and the era they usher us forth.

Mr. Trump’s delivery was staccato and there was very little eye contact as he seemed to be reading carefully from a teleprompter. His words and tone were angry and defiant. He is still in campaign mode and nary a whiff of a unifying spirit. There was little or nothing of uplift – the rhetoric of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, or Reagan. We heard a cavalcade of slogans and one liners, of huge promises to “bring back” an America – whatever that really means to many who look at our history and see progress in our current society.

The speech started with a message of an establishment in Washington earning riches on the back of struggling families across the country. It was an odd note, considering the background of many of his cabinet picks. President Trump painted a very dark picture of the current state of our nation, beset by gangs and drugs and violence, regardless of what the data shows. His words swelled with his economic populism and the nationalism of “America first.” The applause was sparse, and I imagine many more being turned off, even sickened, rather than inspired by what our new President had to say. President Obama looked on with an opaque poker face. One could only imagine what he was thinking.

It bears remembering that one never can predict the arc of a presidency. It is an office that is far too often shaped by circumstance well beyond its occupant’s control. Those challenges, wherever and however they may rise, now will fall on the desk of President Trump. We can only see what will happen. We hope, for the security and sanctity of our Republic, that Mr. Trump will respond to the challenges with circumspection and wisdom. Today’s rhetoric was not reassuring.

Our democracy demands debate and dissent – fierce, sustained, and unflinching when necessary. I sense that tide is rising amongst an opposition eager to toss aside passivity for action. We are already seeing a more emboldened Democratic party than I have witnessed in ages. It is being fueled by a fervent energy bubbling from the grassroots up, rather than the top down.

These are the swirling currents about our ship of state. We now have a new and untested captain. His power is immense, but it is not bestowed from a divinity on high. It is derived, as the saying goes, from the consent of the governed. That means President Trump now works for us – all of us. And if he forgets that, it will be our duty to remind him.

Rather’s final two sentences are a reminder that we need to maintain hope for our great nation’s future and not be beaten down by Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric. Like it or not, Trump is our president and we are not going let him act otherwise.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/01/20/dan-rather-just-went-viral-shredding-trumps-inauguration-speech/

Alan: Trump had better build the wall before he deports his labor force.
And finally...
The tail end...

Every Thug-Leader In The World Celebrates Trump's Victory

January 20, 2017, 2:40 pm

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≪ Previous: Dan Rather Shreds Trump's Inauguration Speech

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Compendium Of Pax Posts About Donald Trump
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/06/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-donald.html

Best Trump Memes From Pax On Both Houses
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/09/best-trump-memes-from-pax-on-both-houses.html

"Are Republicans Insane?" Best Pax Posts

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/are-republicans-insane-best-pax-posts.html

"There Are Two Ways Of Lying..." Denis De Rougemont And Donald Trump

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/12/donald-trump-and-denise-de-rougemont.html

Compilation Of Pax Posts On Similarities Between Hitler And Trump

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/05/compilation-of-pax-post-on-similarities.html

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts About The Relationship Between Trump And Putin

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-about.html

Compendium Of Pax Posts About Russian Electoral Manipulation

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-russian.html

Pope Francis More Popular Than Donald Trump, President Barack Obama In US, Survey Shows

January 20, 2017, 3:41 pm

≫ Next: VOX: Photos Of The Crowd At Donald Trump's Inauguration Vs. Barack Obama's

≪ Previous: Every Thug-Leader In The World Celebrates Trump's Victory

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Pope Francis More Popular Than Donald Trump, President Barack Obama In US, Survey Shows
http://www.ibtimes.com/pope-francis-more-popular-donald-trump-president-barack-obama-us-survey-shows-2478489

Trump's "Ratings": The Only Reply I've Made To A "User Comment" Attached To 1 Of My Memes

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/trumps-ratings-only-reply-ive-made-to.html

VOX: Photos Of The Crowd At Donald Trump's Inauguration Vs. Barack Obama's

January 20, 2017, 4:09 pm

≫ Next: Trump's First Executive Action Favors Banks; Screws Little Guy

≪ Previous: Pope Francis More Popular Than Donald Trump, President Barack Obama In US, Survey Shows

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Alan: Use horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of your screen to center the oversized photo above.

VOX: Photos Of The Crowd At Donald Trump's Inauguration Vs. Barack Obama's

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/20/14332462/photos-crowd-trump-inauguration-vs-obama

There Were A Lot Of Empty Seats In The Stands Along Trump's Parade Route

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/01/20/inaugural-parade-crowd-size/96855252/

Trump's First Executive Action Favors Banks; Screws Little Guy

January 20, 2017, 4:56 pm

≫ Next: Obama's Approval Rating Hits 60%, More Than 2X As Many Think He's "Great" As Reagan

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Trump's First Executive Action: Cancel Obama's Mortgage Premium Cuts

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/20/trumps-first-executive-action-cancel-obamas-mortgage-premium-cuts/96853446/

"Plutocracy Triumphant"

Cartoon Compendium

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/plutocracy-triumphant.html

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts: Plutocracy, Economic Inequality & Collapse Of Conservatism

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/03/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-on.html

"Politics And Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/01/politics-and-economics-101-curricula.html

Pope Francis: Quotations On Finance, Economics, Capitalism And Inequality

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/pope-francis-on-finance-economics.html

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

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/teddy-roosevelt-malefactors-of-great.html

Why Are Americans So Poorly Paid. This One Chart Will Even Shame The 1%

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/why-are-americans-so-poorly-paid-this.html

Inequality: Joseph Stiglitz Brilliant Reflection On Obama's State Of The Union Address

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/inequality-joseph-stiglitz-brilliant.html

"Of The 1%, By The 1%, For The 1%,"

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/of-1-by-1-for-1-nobel-laureate-joseph.html

It's Not About Income. "It's About Net Worth, Stupid!"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/06/net-worth-of-top-10-its-not-about.html

American Plutocracy: Who's Punished And Who's Not
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/03/american-plutocracy-whos-punished-and.html

Elizabeth Warren's Fiery Attack On The Bankers' Club That Runs America

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/elizabeth-warrens-fiery-attack-on.html

Federal Reserve Bank Investigator Carmen Segarra Fired For Holding Banks Responsible

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/fed-banking-investigator-carmen-segarra.html

"Inside Job"

Award-Winning Documentary Account Of 2008 Financial Meltdown

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2011/10/daily-dose-october-152011.html

"You've Been Trumped": A Documentary About Devious Donald's Imperious Takeover Of Scotland

(How Donald Works His Will By Denigrating "Commoners")

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/05/youve-been-trumped-documentary-on.html

Greed Is Good: A Dangerous 300 Year History Of The Idea That Greed Is Good
(The Role Of Usury)
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/greed-is-good-300-year-history-of.html 

Chesterton: Plenty Of Books Denounce Lust But What Of Those That Encourage Greed
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/chesterton-plenty-of-books-denounce.html

Carnival Lust, Capitalist Greed And Counter-Productive Christian Finger Wagging
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/carnival-lust-capitalist-greed-and.html

Capitalism, The Greatest Productive Engine EVER, Is Destroying The United States

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/03/capitalism-most-powerful-productive.html

Pseudo-Success And The Undoing Of America

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/03/pseudo-success-and-undoing-of-america.html

"Is Democratic Capitalism Moribund?" 
Conservative Columnist Robert J. Samuelson

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/11/is-democratic-capitalism-moribund.html

Adam Smith's "Moral Sentiments" Thwart The Real But Barbarous Impulses Of Capitalism

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/12/adam-smiths-moral-sentiments-thwart.html

Pope Francis: Quotations On Finance, Economics, Capitalism And Inequality

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/pope-francis-on-finance-economics.html

Pope Francis: One Of The Most Powerful Critiques Of Capitalism You Will Ever Read

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/03/pope-francis-one-of-most-powerful.html

Pope Francis: "This Economy Kills"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/01/pope-francis-this-economy-kills.html

"Pope Francis Links"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/11/pope-francis-links.html

Obama's Approval Rating Hits 60%, More Than 2X As Many Think He's "Great" As Reagan

January 20, 2017, 5:34 pm

≫ Next: Trump's DeploraBall Guests Told Not To Heil Hitler. Seriously.

≪ Previous: Trump's First Executive Action Favors Banks; Screws Little Guy

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Obama Approval Hits 60% As End Of Term Approaches

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/politics/obama-approval-rating-cnn-orc-poll/

Excerpt:"One-quarter of Americans (25%) say Obama is one of the nation's greatest presidents, far outpacing the share who felt that way about other recent presidents as their terms ended (11% described Reagan that way, 10% Clinton, and 5% or fewer said so about either President Bush). Still, nearly as many (23%) call Obama a poor president, more than said so about Reagan, Clinton or the first president Bush, but well below the 46% who said George W. Bush was a poor president as he prepared to leave the White House. That assessment of Obama's presidency, as well as his approval ratings, are marked by sharp partisan divides. While 54% of Democrats consider Obama one of the greatest presidents, 54% of Republicans call him a poor president. Though he has earned near universal approval among Democrats (95% approve), just 18% of Republicans say they approve of how he handled the presidency." 

---

Trump's DeploraBall Guests Told Not To Heil Hitler. Seriously.

January 20, 2017, 8:09 pm

≫ Next: Samuel Adams Contemplates Trump's Presidency

≪ Previous: Obama's Approval Rating Hits 60%, More Than 2X As Many Think He's "Great" As Reagan

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DeploraBall Guests Told Not To Heil Hitler

http://wonkette.com/610643/deploraball-guests-told-not-to-heil-hitler-and-no-dirty-dancing-either?google_editors_picks=true

Trump Will Go Full-Throttle Fascist Following The 1st Major Terror Attack On American Soil. Putin Knows This And Is Both Able And Eager To Make It Happen

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/01/trump-will-go-full-throttle-fascist.html

Samuel Adams Contemplates Trump's Presidency

January 20, 2017, 8:16 pm

≫ Next: Washington Post: "White House Website Touits Melania Trump's Modeling And Jewelry Line"

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Washington Post: "White House Website Touits Melania Trump's Modeling And Jewelry Line"

January 20, 2017, 8:20 pm

≫ Next: James Comey Spent 15 Years Looking For A Chance To Get The Clintons & It Came In November

≪ Previous: Samuel Adams Contemplates Trump's Presidency

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The QVC Presidency

"White House Website Touits Melania Trump's Modeling And Jewelry Line"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/20/white-house-website-promotes-melania-trumps-modeling-and-jewelry-line/?utm_term=.0a0162f17f31

James Comey Spent 15 Years Looking For A Chance To Get The Clintons & It Came In November

January 20, 2017, 8:23 pm

≫ Next: "The American Carnage Stops Here And Now" - Fact-Checking Trump's Inaugural Address

≪ Previous: Washington Post: "White House Website Touits Melania Trump's Modeling And Jewelry Line"

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James Comey Spent 15 Years Looking For A Chance To Get The Clintons & It Came In November

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/20/1622610/-James-Comey-spent-15-years-looking-for-a-chance-to-get-the-Clintons-and-it-came-in-November

"The American Carnage Stops Here And Now" - Fact-Checking Trump's Inaugural Address

January 20, 2017, 8:29 pm

≫ Next: Reflection On Today's Inauguration, Tomorrow's Women's March, And What I See Going Forward

≪ Previous: James Comey Spent 15 Years Looking For A Chance To Get The Clintons & It Came In November

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Fact-Checking Trump's Inaugural Address

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/01/20/fact-checking-president-trumps-inaugural-address/?utm_term=.e093a06d9a0d