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8 changes: 4 additions & 4 deletions _posts/2024-09-10-WatchingTheDebateFacialExpresdions.md
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---
layout: post
tags: [debate, presidential election, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump]
categories: [debate, election]
date: 2024-09-10
tags: [debate, 2024, election, presidential election, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump]
categories: [election, 2024, president]
date: 2019-06-25 13:14:15
#excerpt: ''
#image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png'
#description:
#permalink:
title: 'Watching the Debate'
title: 'Watching the Debate"
---
# Watching the Debate — Differences in Facial Expressions
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4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions _posts/2024-09-11-DayOfRemembrance.md
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layout: post
tags: [terrorists, al-Qaeda, United States of America]
tags: [terroris, al-Qaeda, United States of America]
categories: [terrorist attacks, remembrance]
date: 2024-09-11
date: 2019-06-25 13:14:15
#excerpt: ''
#image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png'
#description:
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72 changes: 72 additions & 0 deletions _posts/2024-09-11-TheDebate.md
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---
layout: post
tags: [politics, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, 2024 debate]
categories: [politics, election, 2024]
#date: 2024-09-11 11:27 PM
#excerpt: ''
#image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png'
#description:
#permalink:
title: 'title'
---

# The Debate: Prosecutorial Logic versus Toddler Gibberish[^11]

[^11]: My mother taught high school English and she instilled the proper use of English and grammar. As such, I cannot listen to Donald Trump speak and mangle words and grammar. It is like listening to fingernails screech across a blackboard.

## [Election 2024: What we know about Harris' tactics from past debates / AP News](https://apnews.com/article/harris-debate-approach-trump-matchup-240d0978bd7d38d9757b5d314359b7d0)
Updated 11:48 AM EDT, September 9, 2024
By BILL BARROW

ATLANTA (AP) — From her earliest campaigns in California to her serving as President Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris has honed an aggressive but calibrated approach to debates.

She tries to blend punch lines with details that build toward a broader narrative. She might shake her head to signal her disapproval while her opponent is speaking, counting on viewers to see her reaction on a split screen. And she has a go-to tactic to pivot debates back in her favor: saying she’s glad to answer a question as she gathers her thoughts to explain an evolving position or defend a past one.

Tuesday’s presidential debate will put the Democratic vice president’s skills to a test unlike any she’s faced. Harris faces former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, who will participate in his seventh general election debate since 2016 for an event that will be seen by tens of millions of viewers just as early voting in November’s election starts around the country.

People who have competed against Harris and prepared her rivals say she brings a series of advantages to the matchup, including her prosecutorial background juxtaposed with Trump being the first U.S. president convicted of felony crimes. Still, Harris allies warn that Trump can be a challenging and unpredictable opponent who veers between policy critiques, personal attacks, and falsehoods or conspiracy theories.

“That little girl was me,” Harris said in a widely circulated quip that punctuated her story about court-ordered busing that helped non-white students attend integrated schools.

### Landing memorable punches
Castro said Harris has a good feel for when to strike, a quality he traced to her trial experience. In 2019, as multiple Democratic candidates talked over one another, Harris sat back before getting moderators to recognize her.

“Hey, guys, you know what? America does not want to witness a food fight. They want to know how we’re going to put food on their table,” she said, taking control of the conversation and drawing applause.

When Harris faced Pence in 2020, it was a mostly civil, substantive debate. But she got in digs that framed Pence as a serial interrupter, as Trump had been in his first debate with Biden.

“Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking,” she said at one point, with a stern look. At another: “If you don’t mind letting me finish, we can have a conversation.”

### Finding traps in policy
Debates have sometimes put Harris on the defensive.

In the 2020 primary matches, Tulsi Gabbard, who this year has endorsed Trump, blitzed Harris over how aggressively she prosecuted nonviolent drug offenders as a district attorney.

That fall, Pence made Harris sometimes struggle to defend Biden’s positions. Now, her task will be to defend not just Biden’s record, but her own role in that record and what policies she would pursue as president.

Short, one of Pence’s top aides, noted that Republicans and the media have raised questions about more liberal positions Harris took in her 2020 primary campaign, especially on fracking, universal healthcare, reparations for slavery and how to treat migrants who cross the U.S. border illegally.

“We were surprised that she missed some opportunities (against Pence) when the conversation was centered around policy,” Short said.

### Timing, silence and nonverbal communication
One of Harris’ earliest debate triumphs came in 2010 as she ran for California attorney general. Her opponent was asked about his plans to accept his public pension while still being paid a salary for a current public post.

“I earned it,” Republican Steve Cooley said of the so-called “double-dipping” practice.

Harris looked on silently, with a slightly amused look as Cooley explained himself. When moderators recognized her, she said just seven words – “Go for it, Steve. You earned it!” — in a serious tone but with a look that communicated her sarcasm. The exchange landed in her television ads within days.

“Kamala Harris is quite effective at nonverbal communication and knowing when not to speak,” Jamieson said.

The professor said Harris often will shake her head and, with other looks, telegraph her disapproval while her opponent is speaking. Then she smiles before retorting, or attacking, in a conversational tone.

“She defuses some of the argument that Trump makes that she is ‘a nasty woman,’ that she’s engaging in egregiously unfair behavior, because her nonverbal presentation is actually undercutting that line of attack,” Jamieson said.

### Meeting a new challenge with Trump
For all of Harris’ debate experience, Tuesday is still a new and massive stage. Democrats who ordinarily tear into Trump instead appeared on Sunday’s news shows to make clear that Harris faced a big task ahead.

“It will take almost superhuman focus and discipline to deal with Donald Trump in a debate,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, yet another of Harris’ 2020 opponents, on CNN. “It’s no ordinary proposition, not because Donald Trump is a master of explaining policy ideas and how they’re going to make people better off. It’s because he’s a master of taking any form or format that is on television and turning it into a show that is all about him.”

Castro noted that Trump is “a nasty and crafty stage presence” who makes preparation difficult. And with ABC keeping the candidates’ microphones off when they are not speaking, Harris may not find it as easy to produce another viral moment that hinges on viewers having seen or heard Trump at his most outlandish.

“The best thing she can do,” Castro said, “is not get distracted by his antics.”

123 changes: 123 additions & 0 deletions _posts/2024-09-12-DonaldTrumpFuckingIdiot.md
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---
layout: post
tags: [Donald Trump]
categories: [election, 2024, president]
date: 9/12/24 12:58 AM
#excerpt: ''
#image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png'
#description:
#permalink:
title: 'Donald Trump is a Fucking Idiot'
---
I initially started out putting my opinions of Trump on this page, [Opinions/Donald Trump Is a Fucking Idiot / Ralph Hightower](https://ralphhightower.github.io/RalphHightower/Opinions/DonaldTrumpIsAFuckingIdiot.html).

But it has become too unwieldy to keep it updated, so I switched to the blogging format.

I was an independent voter, but watching **The Apprentice: White House** unfold in what was then known as the Republican Primary.

Both political parties fucked up in 2016.

- The Democrats chose Hillary because it was *"her turn"*.
- Whereas the Republicans chose the worst of the worst. The Republican Party died in 2016. It is now the Trump Party, and also his legal defense fund for business, personal, and also government legal problems.

The Republican Party died in July 2024, when the convention chose the most temperamental, volatile, unfit, and unqualified candidate among the *"Dirty Two Dozen"*. It is now known as the Trump Party.

Characteristics of Trump:

1. Boastful
2. Bully
3. Charlatan
4. Cheater
5. Con Artist
6. Conceited
7. Criminal
8. Crybaby[^112]
9. Deceitful
10. Dictator
11. Draft Dodger
12. Egotistical
13. Fat
14. Felon
15. Fraud
16. Fragile
17. Gaslighter
18. Grifter
19. Huckster
20. Mean
21. Megalomaniac
22. Misogynist
23. Obese
24. Pathological Lia
25. Petty
26. Philandere
27. Rotund
28. Sore Loser
29. Spoiled Brat
30. Sore Winner[^113]
31. *"Terrible Twos"*
32. Tax Cheat
33. Toddler
34. Unfit
35. Unqualified
36. Volatile
37. Whiner
38. Zipper Problems[^114]


[^111]: **The Victim Card.** Trump plays the victim card when things don't go his way, or fail. *"It's not my fault. It's the Democrats fault."* Or someone else's fault.
[^112]: Trump whining ***"It’s not fair!"***
[^113]: The *"I got bigger crowds!"* falsehood comparing his inaugural crowd to Obama's.
[^114]: Bill Clinton has the same problem. He can't keep his pants fly closed around women.

### The Only Person That Can Change My Assessment of Trump

**The only person that can convince me that Donald Trump is not a fucking idiot is Donald Trump himself.**

*How?*

- Tame your temper! Quit throwing **Trumper Tantrums!**
- Quit your pathological lying and tell the God-damned truth!
- Grow up and start treating people with respect. I.e., quit that childish behavior of calling people names.
- Be a true leader! A true leader recognizes team members, and subordinates for their accomplishment, and accepts the blame when things fail. A true leader does not use intimidation and fear.
- Accept the fact that the president lives under a microscope. You will be praised by some and condemned others.

Trump may act *"presidential"* for five minutes, but it is impossible for him to be an adult.

### Government Ain't Business

Government is not a business and should not be run as a business. Government provides services and has laws to manage the smooth functioning of society. Trump has no business experience running a large corporation having executive officers with a board of directors as independent advisors. The Trump Organization is *simply* a large family-run business, which he runs like a dictatorship.

### Leadership

Leadership is not intimidation and fear. Trump has absolutely, no fucking clue as to how government works. He thinks that he can run government like his family owned business. Trump thinks that he can just bark orders and people will jump through hoops like a circus poodle and that he can fire and hire federal employees at will.

A true leader recognizes and praises their team for their successes and accepts blame and responsibility when things fail. Trump claims credit for others' accomplishment, the *"I did that all by myself!"*, and blames others for his failures, the *"It's not my fault."*[^111]

### The Apprentice: White House

As can be seen in the [Presidential Rankings Survey - Historians Rank the Top 10 Presidents / C-SPAN Survey on Presidents 2021](https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2021/?page=overall), section 17 of this page, Trump places dead last among modern day president's.

Trump may have been a breath of fresh air, but nothing has changed about Trump. He's still a *bull in a china shop.* After four years, Trump still thinks that he can run America like a dictatorship.

### Nepotism and Cronyism

Trump's executive office and cabinet was rife with [nepotism](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nepotism) and [cronyism](http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2024/09/03/).

Trump's daughter, Ivanka Kushner and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were unqualified to be part of his executive office.

### Cult Worship and Idolatry

#### Acolytes and Sycophants

Senator Lindsey Graham (T-SC) has the attention span of a squirrel. After the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021, Graham said *"That's it! I'm done with Trump."* He was on NBC's Meet The Press after the failed assassination of Trump in 2024. He said that he was supposed to play golf with Trump that weekend. Graham is one of Trump's [sycophants](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sycophant). He has he head so far up Trump's ass that he doesn't know if it's night or day.

[Senator Tim Scott (T-SC) – Meet the Press. May 5, 2024](https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/federal-funding-is-a-privilege-not-a-right-tim-scott-tells-college-presidents-full-interview-210290757680) refused to answer a simple 'yes/no' answer to the question "Will you accept the election results if Trump loses?". As one of Trump's [acolytes](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acolyte), Scott is Trump's "lawn jockey". He does not have the courage to stand for what's right.

##### [Opinion / The Messianic Trump Cult - POLITICO](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/31/the-messianic-trump-cult-00054382). 08/31/2022 01:46 PM EDT
Opinion by Jack Shafer

#### [The One Way History Shows Trump’s Personality Cult Will End - POLITICO](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/04/16/history-shows-trump-personality-cult-end-00024941). 04/16/2022 07:00 AM EDT
By MICHAEL KRUSE



26 changes: 26 additions & 0 deletions _posts/2024-09-12-DonaldTrumpWantsToBeDictator.md
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---
layout: post
tags: [freedom of speech, free press, Trump, election]
categories: [media, press]
#date: 2019-06-25 13:14:15
#excerpt: ''
#image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png'
#description:
#permalink:
title: 'Trump Really Wants to be Dictator'
---


## [Why Trump’s comments about ABC’s broadcast license matter](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-comments-abcs-broadcast-license-matter-rcna170786)
*The problem isn’t just that Donald Trump threatened a network’s broadcast license. The problem is that he keeps threatening networks’ broadcast licenses.*<br />Sept. 12, 2024, 9:28 AM EDT<br />By Steve Benen

It is no surprise that Trump holds admires strong-arm dictators, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un[^11], and Minister Victor Orbán of Hungary. Putin is former KGB; he knows how to control people. Flattering Trump will get you anything you want.

One of the principles of America is freedom of speech and a free press. Trump wants to control what the media says about him.

America has no need for state-run media.

Trump

[^11]: [Kim Jong Un letters with Trump: A window into the leaders’ ‘special friendship’ / CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/kim-jong-un-trump-letters-rage-book/index.html). By Jamie Gangel and Jeremy Herb, CNN.Updated 6:48 PM EDT, Wed September 9, 2020

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