diff --git a/_posts/2024-09-10-WatchingTheDebateFacialExpresdions.md b/_posts/2024-09-10-WatchingTheDebateFacialExpresdions.md index a2535d2..fc2a06c 100644 --- a/_posts/2024-09-10-WatchingTheDebateFacialExpresdions.md +++ b/_posts/2024-09-10-WatchingTheDebateFacialExpresdions.md @@ -1,13 +1,13 @@ --- 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 diff --git a/_posts/2024-09-11-DayOfRemembrance.md b/_posts/2024-09-11-DayOfRemembrance.md index bbc60b1..99078d5 100644 --- a/_posts/2024-09-11-DayOfRemembrance.md +++ b/_posts/2024-09-11-DayOfRemembrance.md @@ -1,8 +1,8 @@ --- 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: diff --git a/_posts/2024-09-11-TheDebate.md b/_posts/2024-09-11-TheDebate.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..991a11d --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024-09-11-TheDebate.md @@ -0,0 +1,72 @@ +--- +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.” + diff --git a/_posts/2024-09-12-DonaldTrumpFuckingIdiot.md b/_posts/2024-09-12-DonaldTrumpFuckingIdiot.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b69f1c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024-09-12-DonaldTrumpFuckingIdiot.md @@ -0,0 +1,123 @@ +--- +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 + + + diff --git a/_posts/2024-09-12-DonaldTrumpWantsToBeDictator.md b/_posts/2024-09-12-DonaldTrumpWantsToBeDictator.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6a8818 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024-09-12-DonaldTrumpWantsToBeDictator.md @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +--- +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.*
Sept. 12, 2024, 9:28 AM EDT
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 + diff --git a/_posts/2024-09-13-DontNeedNoStinkingOligarch.md b/_posts/2024-09-13-DontNeedNoStinkingOligarch.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aad53d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024-09-13-DontNeedNoStinkingOligarch.md @@ -0,0 +1,85 @@ +--- +layout: post +tags: [Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Oligarch, America, quid pro quo] +categories: [politics, quid pro quo, transaction] +#date: 2024-09-08 13:14:15 +#excerpt: '' +#image: 'BASEURL/assets/blog/img/.png' +description: Donald Trump could turn Elon Musk into an American oligarch +#permalink: +title: 'America Don't Need No Skinking Oligarch' +--- + +# [Donald Trump Could Turn Elon Musk into an American Oligarch](https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/07/trump-elon-musk-government-position-00177845) + +Story by Liz Crampton, Lara Korte, Derek Robertson and Brendan Bordelon +September 8, 2024 + + +*Elon Musk firmly planting himself into politics is not surprising to those who have watched him.* + +Former President Donald Trump’s plan to have Elon Musk lead a government efficiency commission would vault the world’s richest man to an unprecedented role: American oligarch. + +The details of the commission and Musk’s involvement are still vague, but any formal role in government would give greater influence to the billionaire owner of Tesla, Space X, satellite company Starlink and the social media platform X — signature ventures that have benefited from federal contracts, tax credits and government incentives. + +“This is like red lights blaring, all kinds of conflicts of interest,” said Danielle Brian, president of the Project on Government Oversight. +Beyond the possible competing interests, Musk’s potential foray into government would represent a striking development for the tech titan, who would essentially have a role at the highest levels of business, manufacturing, media and Washington. + +At the same time, handing Musk a position in his potential administration would fit neatly into Trump’s approach to government. The former president tapped billionaires Wilbur Ross and Steven Mnuchin to serve in his Cabinet, though they had far lower public personas as Musk — and less to gain directly from their involvement. + +“Musk is the latest example of a totally gearheaded, engineering-brained, Silicon Valley guy who looks at government and says ‘How hard can it be? Let me at it and I can solve it for you,’” said Peter Leyden, founder of the strategic foresight firm Reinvent Futures and a former managing editor at Wired. “There’s been many of these characters before, and he’s just the latest.” + +Musk firmly planting himself into politics is not surprising to those who have watched him move from electric car innovator to space entrepreneur to owner of X (and online troll of liberals). But tech experts say Washington may be tricky terrain for a Silicon Valley businessperson unaccustomed to the complexities of federal bureaucracy. + +“He’s always been a contrarian,” said Will Rinehart, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “He’s worked on electric cars when no one cares about electric cars. He’s worked on space when no one cared about space.” + +“That has pushed him into this space where being a contrarian has this value for me.” + +Musk has described himself in the past as a moderate but shifted his allegiance to Trump, formally endorsing him after the attempted assassination in July. + +“I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises,” Musk wrote on X, “No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.” + +Like Trump, Musk has expressed hostility toward government oversight — particularly in California. + +The billionaire had long-running feuds with the state’s deep-blue government and has often tussled with the state’s powerful labor interests. Early in the pandemic, he defied local public health orders and continued manufacturing cars at Tesla’s Fremont plant in spite of the threat of Covid-19 — later suing to block what he called “fascist” restrictions and threatening to move the headquarters out of state. + +He ended up moving some company’s operations to Texas later that year, but continued to grow Tesla’s footprint in California. He made similar threats of withdrawal earlier this year when, outraged over new protections for LGBTQ+ youth, he vowed to move X and SpaceX to the Lone Star State. Last month, he announced the social media platform would shutter its offices in downtown San Francisco, relocating employees to nearby Palo Alto and San Jose. + +Musk has also faced legal scrutiny for his labor practices at both Tesla and X. A California judge found that he and other Tesla executives violated labor laws in 2017 and 2018 by sabotaging attempts to organize workers. Hundreds of former Twitter employees sued him after his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform in 2022, accusing him of failing to pay severance. + +Lorena Gonzalez, head of the California Labor Federation, for years, has traded barbs with the billionaire. She noted that state lawmakers often viewed Musk as a positive for the state — giving Tesla millions in subsidies and touting it as a marquee California company. + +“His product was often kind of labeled as enviro,” she said. “But there was nothing about him that suggested he was a progressive or liberal.” + +Musk did not respond to a request for comment. + +Musk’s push into national politics grew with his 2022 purchase of Twitter, which he later renamed X. He immediately oversaw mass layoffs and implemented a new vision promoting free speech — reforms that brought partisan criticism he was enabling misinformation and harassment on the platform. Under Musk’s leadership, X’s valuation has plummete, and investors lost over $24 billion. + +At the Reboot conference Thursday, hosted by the right-leaning tech think tank Foundation for American Innovation, attendees were largely indifferent or inattentive to Musk’s audacious pledge to lead Trump’s commission. + +Patrick Blumenthal, founder of the Anomaly venture capital fund, suggested that given its apparent lack of relation to any of Musk’s tech projects, it reflected a certain level of dilettantism not uncommon in the tech world. + +“Tech and politics, to some extent, I think are incompatible,” Blumenthal said. “But you have an industry full of intelligent people, so it’s inevitable that some of them will want to see if that intellect works in another arena.” + +[^11]: "All right," Curtin shouted back. "If you are the police, where are your badges? Let's see them."

"Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don't need badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and chinga tu madre! Come out there from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.
*The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.* + +
+ +## Trump’s Admiration of Dictators + +Trump admires strong-arm dictators, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Kim Jong Un of North Korea, and Victor Orbán of Turkey. + +## Government Ain't Business + +The first season of The Apprentice: White House demonstrated that people without any clue as to how the American government works, has no business running a country. + + +## Trump's Transactional Nature + +### No Surprise that Trump Wants Musk Support and Money for an Administration Position + +Trump flip-flopped on his opinion that electric vehicles are no good to win support of Musk since Musk preferred candidate, DeSantis, dropped out. Both Q&A live interviews on X/Twitter were rife with technical glitches since Musk gutted the staff of X/Twitter. + +### Did Trump Bribe SC Lt. Gov. McMaster for an Endorsement in Return for Governor Appointment? + +Looking back four years ago that everything is a quid pro quo with Trump, it wouldn't surprise me if Trump bribed McMaster for an endorsement, and he'd appoint South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley, to a position in his office. With Haley gone, McMaster becomes governor. \ No newline at end of file