Talk Radio; The Ruination And Dumbing Down Of America. (And The Cause Of The Donald J. Trump Shit Show)

I have been focusing on why we are where we are with this horrendous novel,  The Donald Trump Shit Show. Recently I blamed the GOP for being so discombobulated that they couldn’t even put up a candidate that could outsmart or outwit the dunce of the class.

But as I give this some more thought, I ask what could have prompted 13 million people to vote for Donald J. Trump?  

We have a certain populace now that is so vehemently against anything with a capital D in front of it, they have a visceral hatred for anyone who is a Democrat, or even those called a moderate Republican…...Why?

It began around 1984. President Reagan riding the wave, already lifting the spirits of America after a recession, and having recently decimated the Democratic Presidential contender, Walter Mondale.  Rush Limbaugh, a former Disc Jockey, (who was fired and told that he would never make it as an on air talent) began his political commentary show in Sacramento, CA. Shortly thereafter, the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine- - (stations had previously been required to provide free air time for responses to any political, or controversial opinions that were said on the air.) allowed stations to broadcast commentary, without having to give equal time to opposing views. Rush soon gained popularity and became syndicated from NY, in 1988. One may note, that on his Wikipedia page, the first listing  for Rush is “Entertainer”.  ENTERTAINER!!!!!!  

Forgetting, or simply never realizing that radio talk shows are formatted to entertain and grow listenership, the audience bought into Rush and his diatribes, (no matter how inane they were) and repeated his rantings as fact at every family discussion or bar gathering.  Any argument that actually entailed facts, were rapidly refuted; for  studies show that attempts to refute false information often backfire and lead people to hold on their misperceptions even more strongly.  The dumbing down of America had taken a solid footing.

Hugh Hewitt proclaimed Rush the Grand Daddy who paved the road to the popularity of conservative talk radio. If you listened to Rush in the early days, you may remember, along with the entertaining segments signified with the appropriate tune, there also used to be an actual dialogue, with opposing views.  Rush proclaims he can win any argument with half of his brain tied behind his back.  And he tried. It wasn’t long, though, that he quit debating, and rapidly became an echo-chamber for those frustrated Americans, accepting calls mostly from people who simply regurgitated any argument he put forth.The Ditto-Head revolt began. Many of them, Americans who were, and are, going through hard times ultimately blaming the liberal agenda and immigration for their struggles.  

Unrestrained by the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, Rush rapidly changed the way politics is discussed, perceived and conducted, all the while proclaiming the mainstream media as liberal and not to be trusted.  Americans throughout the country, driving in their car, or in their office in their quotidian lives, tuned in, and bought into his increasingly visceral diatribes against feminazis, liberals, the media, the Clintons, or any person or thing that did not fit into his scope of what the Republican Party should be and do.  Even moderate Republicans became the target. (For example,John McCain was targeted by Limbaugh and numerous others, as they mobilized  in favor of Mitt Romney in the 2008 election). The greater the visceral ranting, the greater his popularity and the more his listening numbers grew.

Soon, many more conservative or libertarian talk radio hosts joined in; Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, and many more, all who raged against moderates and Democrats. The more outrageous they became, the greater the ratings. Across America, those that didn’t get tired of the one-sided, radical vehemence, cheered them on for more and bought into conspiracy theories, unsubstantiated claims, ( ie. the Vince Foster “murder” and cover-up,) and just plain erroneous reporting.  The populace thought of these as news sources, rather than entertainment, and the hosts made millions of dollars off of stirring up the masses into frenzies of anger.  We became lazy and stopped reading more than 140 characters at a time, and investigating the facts on our own.

Today, the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity and others support this demagogue they helped to bring to just one vote from the oval office; but there are others who actually attempt to talk reason into their Trump supporting audience….to tame the Frankenstein's Monster they had created. Sadly, it is too late.  Nothing can calm down an angry mob, for mobs show no sense of reason.  This was one of the greatest fears of  Alexander Hamilton and our founding fathers.

“There are seasons in every country when noise and impudence pass current for worth; and in popular commotions especially, the clamors of interested and factious men are often mistaken for patriotism” ….Hamilton.

The GOP Forced Donald Into This Shit Show!

Plenty of blame has gone around regarding this election and the consequence of Donald J. Trump becoming the Republican candidate.  The Media, for giving Trump so much air time, Obama/Congress, each for their obstinence, the list goes on. Frankly though, It lays solely on the GOP.  We can go into the history of the last twelve years, or even back to the 1980’s to discuss how we got to this point.  But tonight, I am lazy and don’t want to give a history lesson.

The fact of the matter, Donald Trump didn’t want to get this far.  That is documented truth. A March 28, 2016 open letter from former Trump communications director of a Super Pac for him, a person who knows him well, expressed as much.  For the primaries, he simply wanted to come in a good 2nd, and be done with it.  This would have given him a boost to his ego, fulfilled his blustery bragging of “Someday I’m going to run, and I will win”...and been able to go back to his cherry, three sentence required, world, where he could play spokesperson on the phone with the media, and give out tidbits on what DJT wanted you to know about some imagined, fantasy story on him.

Sadly though, the GOP, out of 16 other candidates, couldn’t muster one person...not one candidate that could out-wit a 3 year old mentality, and overcome the dysfunction of what their party has become. The sad reality of that, though, is that they had too many candidates running. Qualified candidates to be honest. At least reasonable candidates from the Republican point of view. And when you have that many options for reasonable people to choose from, then the reasonable, common sense vote gets spread out among those candidates, and the radical votes concentrates on the loony option. the GOP did not have enough common sense to see this coming, even though this has happened in local and national elections throughout history.

When 68% of the populace says that the country is headed in the wrong direction, but at the same time, President Barack Obama’s approval rating is at 52% or higher, who, then is to blame for that wrong direction we are going? Congress has an approval rating of 11%. The GOP controls both houses of Congress.  I think we found our answer.  

So out of 16 other GOP candidates, the electorate couldn’t find one choice that could convince them, that they were any better than a man who can’t comprehend world affairs, economic theories, social issues, or even complex sentences.

Donald tried.  He tried hard to lose it.  His weekly stumbles, racist rants, buffoon like diatribes, uncivil name calling, just weren't enough  to get it done.  He isn’t even good at losing apparently...or the rest of the party is so dysfunctional, it just couldn’t figure out how to overcome Donald’s tripping to the top.

So here he is, stuck with the nomination to an office that even he knows he has no business holding. He even tried to get John Kasich to be his Vice Presidential running mate, so Kasich could do all the work.  This is all well documented.  But his ego won’t let him quit. He is stuck. And you, GOP are stuck with the Tasmanian Devil wreaking havoc on your party, and leaving a wasteland.  There are ALWAYS consequences to your actions. Bye Bye GOP!

Whose Email Scandal?

Let's get something straight right now.  It was asinine, careless, selfish,ill-advised, shortsighted, brainless, idiotic, irresponsible, and just plain dumb-assed, to have a private server whilst being Secretary of State. It is also just as stupid, and the multitude of adjectives previously listed, to have a private server as President of The United States.  I think we can all agree, if Hillary Clinton does pull this off, and becomes President, she won’t make that mistake again.  But you know what? There was a president who did. Yep!  Mr. George W. Bush.  And know what else?  Karl Rove deleted 22 MILLION emails off that private server…….22 Million!!!!!

Now, after the hearing last week with FBI Director James Comey, more than 200 lawmakers wrote to Comey on Monday, asking him to reveal additional details about his decision-making. But many, if not most, of those 200 lawmakers, also have their own email, private server, and some even have their own web-hosting sites in which they have email addresses on those sites.  The Honorable Mr. Trey Gowdy, who headed the House Select Committee on Benghazi,  being one of them.  

Let’s assume that the Honorable Mr. Gowdy, only uses that site and email for his candidacy, and no congressional related  emails get interchanged with that server and web-hosting.  Should he not, then, be willing to turn those emails over, or even explain how he handles those emails?  I would also think he would be willing to hand over his unclassified congressional emails to comply with the Freedom of Information Act?

But Alternet.org asked Congressman Gowdy's office, through both a telephone inquiry followed up by an email communication to his press secretary, about how he segregates work he conducts through his personal domain vs congressional work. They also inquired about where his personal email server is stored and how it is secured. With no response, they attempted to contact Gowdy's campaign manager, George Ramsey, but he did not return their phone calls either.

ABC News reported on March 4, a report that was not, and has not been widely circulated, nor mentioned much in the congressional testimony of Director Comey,  that the State Department, through its investigation, “concluded that past secretaries of state, including Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice  along with their  immediate staff, "handled classified material on unclassified email systems."  

The State Department has also asked former of Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to forward emails in his private mail system to the State Department.  He has not responded to those requests.

So, 56% of Americans, in a survey this week, say they are displeased; one might even say OUTRAGED at FBI Director James Comey’s decision not to recommend prosecution. They see little snippets of the Congressional hearing where the Honorable Trey Gowdy, in a wonderful lawyer-like sophistry, ask Director Comey rapid questions, and requesting short, or one word answers. With just this snippet, custom made for news sound-bites, they can only conclude that Hillary Clinton is guilty of high crimes and getting away with it.  

What most Americans didn’t see, or hear though, was Director Comey state that “it would be a double standard TO recommend punishment” for what Hillary did, because he KNEW about the server in President Bush's office; he KNEW about Secretaries of State Powell's and Rices use of private email with classified emails; and he KNEW about the systemic issues in all of Washington DC regarding private emails and the lax policies.   

Even Colin Powell himself said to NBC News, “I wish they would release them, (the emails) so that a normal, air-breathing mammal would look at them and say, “What’s the issue?””

We can only conclude that Trey Gowdy, et. al, are not normal, air-breathing mammals.

Was Hillary stupid for following the modus operandi of previous administration executives?  Yes!  She knew she was running for president one day, and she knew she would be held to a higher standard, and she knew, from 30 years of experience, that if the Republicans could find anything at all to nail her to the coffin, they would.  And is this exactly what that is?  You bet your scandal-less ass it is!

Sez Me...Random Thoughts For the Week......

GOP Delegates, This Is Important!!!!!!!!!

The first amendment says you can vote your conscience….No state can bind you to vote against your conscience.   Here is proof……...  http://www.ammoland.com/2016/06/conscience-republican-convention-delegate-voting-rules/#axzz4Dpr0RBUI

Outta My Way!!!!!!!

You know? If the Clintons  could just stay out of their own way, they certainly would have a hell of a lot less problems to deal with and just might win this thing.  That is a BIG if though……..

Sooooooorry.....

Sometimes having the courage to say you messed up, really goes a long way.  I know someone who did, and someone who refuses to…….

Why Do You Even Have a Policy?....

Twitter and Facebook have rules stating that you “may not make threats, of violence, or promote violence” , and they prohibit content that promotes violence against people or groups…..Have you seen some of the crap on these sites?...

Are You Afraid?...

Democrats are afraid that their candidate might find a way to lose, while Republicans are afraid their candidate might find a way to win……..

Stupid Tweet of The Week….

With a Son-in-law that is jewish, and a daughter that has converted to Judaism, coupled with grandchildren who are jewish and I am sure he loves, I don’t think Trump is a  “Jew hater”.  I just think he is stupid as hell…….

Who Is The Greatest Criminal Master-mind of All Time?......

Either Hillary Clinton is the greatest criminal master-mind of all time, greater than Dr. No, The Joker, Lex Luther, Dr. Moriarty, Loki, Dr. Doom, Magneto, and King Pen, all combined, or has been, for the last 30 years, a survivor of the largest target of right-wing hatchet jobs that, like the Eveready Battery Bunny, keeps on going. Either way, one of those would be cool to have as a president……….

Comey Sure Aint No Hoover….

I truly wish that FBI Director, James Comey could be the GOP Nominee.  That man has balls and intergrity…….

A Void Is Always Filled….

When justice is perceived as absent, the masses will attempt to fill that void. We MUST eliminate that perception to maintain a civil society…….

Quote Of The Week….

You may have guessed that Alexander Hamilton is a hero of mine…What he said 240 years ago, so applies to today.

“There are seasons in every country when noise and impudence pass current for worth; and in popular commotions especially, the clamors of interested and factious men are often mistaken for patriotism. ”

Alexander Hamilton

Tweets Of The Week….

And Finally, But Most Importantly…….

You can be pro COP, AND pro black.  They are NOT mutually exclusive……….

Republicans Don't Have A Monopoly on Liberty!

Republicans talk as if they have the monopoly on Liberty; Freedom; Equality; The Bill of Rights; The Constitution; The Will of the People; Government by Consent; Self Determination and Patriotism. They think they are the only ones who wave the Flag with pride. Paul Ryan talks about these in platitudes every time he is on the podium, implying that if you are a Democrat, you don’t adhere to these principles.  Another Republican platitude is “A rising tide lifts all boats”.  (A side note; if you are unfortunate enough to not have a boat, I guess you’re gonna drown?).

So when Ryan and other Republicans imply that If you are a Democrat, you don’t adhere to the principles of Freedom, Self Determination, etc, they are telling you, that only their party can deliver what we all believe in.  It is a fantastic marketing ploy, and a  a classical Trump tactic….If you say it with conviction, and often enough, people (some people, anyway) will believe it.

Buts let’s look at just a couple of these principles and talk about the differences:

Liberty:

The Republicans has said that in the name of Liberty, we adhere to a free market, capitalist system, and that regulations on corporations are an attack on liberty.   They believe in deregulation and opening the free market. They attack any attempt of the Federal Government to impose regulation, whether it be on financial institutions, oil companies in regards to the environment, or food companies and labeling.   Any person with a sense of reason knows that complete liberty logically leads to inequality. Too much liberty for controlling organizations, limits liberties for the working mass. All we need to do is read Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, a true life representation of the meat packing industry in Chicago, to see how the liberty of corporations stole the liberty of hard working Americans.

After that book was published, and read throughout the country, the FDA was formed, regulations were implemented, and abuses of liberty were curtailed. Without that Government regulation, our food supply would still be tainted, and workers would still be subject to horrendous working conditions.

In more current day events, Republicans speak of the Citizens United ruling as in favor of free speech and liberty for corporations, non-profits, labor unions and associations. They tout that this free speech cannot be regulated.  What this means, then, is that those with more money, have more free speech.  Democrats would contend that money is not speech, but property, and those with property should have no more liberty than those without.

Let us remember the words of the currently popular Alexander Hamilton;

“Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty.”

― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers

The Constitution:

Yes, Republicans and Democrats have differing views on the interpretations of the Constitution.  Should Supreme Court Justices be chosen based on interpreting the Constitution in regards to the time it was written, or is it a living breathing document that reflects the time of its necessary reference?

Simply because parties differ on that, does not mean that any one party has the correct philosophy.

I again quote two of our greatest founding fathers, who disagreed on this matter:

“Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.”

― Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers

“Do not Separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.”

― James Madison, Unverified

Equality:

I will use the 14th Amendment and equal rights for this one, as this is where conservatives and liberals have historically disagreed.  The 14th amendment in part: forbids states from “deny(ing) to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” So what right a state grants to one group of people, it must grant that same right to all groups of people.  Since we have determined that the Lesbian/Gay/Bi-sexual/Transgender (LGBT) population is a group by definition, then we MUST grant them that same,equal right to marry.

We may all agree that government should do for the people, only what the people cannot do for themselves….the debate then becomes, what we can, and can't do for ourselves.  But in the end, nobody has a monopoly on liberty, freedom, self determination, or being  patriotic; and  only when we realize this, and stop accusing the other of the absence of values, maybe then can we get something done for the benefit of all.

A Society Of Platitudes

Everywhere you turn nowadays, you see some moronic platitude expressing some non-original thought.  We think we are so clever because we found some poster, some meme, some saying that is “profound”.  

A Platitude is defined as a remark or statement, especially one with a moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful. In other words….meaningless.

It seems that Facebook's sole purpose these days is to continuously regurgitate some platitude or another. Do we not have something better to do with our time than passing these placards back and forth?  Has one of these every changed your life? Have they changed your opinion, or only pissed off your friend who thinks differently?

• “Good things comes to those who wait”  Bullshit! Just plain bullshit!
• “Time heals all wounds” Really? Tell that to someone with PTSD
• “Everything happens for a reason.” Ha! Things just happen, we may have caused them to happen, or through no fault of our own, they happen, but there isn’t some profound reason behind it at all.
• “Life doesn’t give you things you can’t handle.” There are plenty of people who would completely disagree with this. Too many of them commit suicide.

(I know, I used a  platitude to express my detestment for platitudes)

Here is what might change your life….read a book; read poetry; write a book; write poetry; come up with an original thought of your own. If we are going to quote someone, quote it from a passage you read and with context.

Politicians are professionals at this. We hear about “Freedom”, “Family”, “Values”, “Principles”...All meaningless, because they are simply regurgitated bull-crap trying to invoke some emotion. I am convinced that this attempt at emotional inspiration will result in a placard on every corner someday. Neither party has a monopoly on Freedom, Liberty, Principles, or any other string of empty words. They are empty because you put no meaning behind them. Words are important, they are supposed to mean something, but you spew these words one day, and then refuse to act on them. Don’t give me regurgitated crap, give me a plan, and how you are going to implement that plan. Don't give me an empty platitude. It demeans you, and it demeans us as a society.

Sez Me.....Random Thoughts For The Week....

Be Careful What You Wish For......
There are a lot of Brits wanting a do-over right about now. #Regrexit is trending, and all week we keep hearing "I voted for BREXIT but I didn't think it would win, and I hope we can have another vote."   I understand a "protest" vote, but if you get enough stupid people together to protest, bad things happen.......

Who is the Wishy-Washy One?.....
Everybody thinks Hillary changes her stance, based on the popular winds.  But clearly Trump is the master of this.  He has no opinions of his own, no clear thought process to come to any clear and reasonable conclusion.  I honestly don't think he is capable of forming an argument on his own. His methodology is to gauge which way the masses are swaying, and then voice a statement that reflects what he has observed to be the favor of the majority.  BREXIT is a clear example....he had no opinion 2 weeks prior, when nobody could predict which way it would go, and then as soon as the vote came in, he was all for it!......

How's That Record So Far?.....
 Now that we are past the primaries, and almost to the conventions, let's take a look at what Trump based his whole candidacy on from the beginning;

• Self Financing Campaign......Nope!
• Complete and absolute Muslim ban.....Not so much any more.
• Build a wall...Well, I think that's still a thing, though I haven't heard him talk about it these last couple of weeks.........

All In The Name Of Charity.....
So D.J.T. purchases an item from a charity to help out.  Cool.  Good on him.  BUT...he didn't spend his own money....he wrote a check from HIS CHARITY!!!!! the Donald J. Trump Foundation.  details here ..... http://wpo.st/L1pj1

Here's A Novel Idea.....

It would be really great to show our independence and show the world what America is all about by bucking the trend of these radical, nationalistic based votes, electing fascist politicians and causing havoc..... and actually vote with some common sense this year.....

Longest Game Ever......
The longest baseball game in history happened in 1984 between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox.  It was 8 hours and 6 minutes.......Another "game" recently broke a record for longest ever....It was the Congressional investigation on Benghazi. It went on longer than the 9/11 Commission; longer than the JFK Assassination Warren Commission; longer than the Commission on the Katrina Response, and longer than the Commission on Pearl Harbor.  for comparison, it lasted 200 days longer than the 9/11 Investigation, which released its report after 604 days....
What was the result? Well, Chris Steven's Sister recently said, " Don't blame Clinton for Benghazi,  If any entity had any culpability, it was Congress."  'nuff said?  I suspect not..........

Words Are Important.....
Words matter, and they reflect what the person who orates them, thinks.  taking that thought to conclusion, President Obama and presidential candidate Clinton, should use the words, "Radical Islam". It is disingenuous not to.  If only right wing demagogues speak to this, then we will elect only right wing demagogues.....

Say What?...
On that same note, that words matter, and reflect conceptual clarity. Let's look at another presidential candidate....One who uses words such as "Bigly". One of the "Four Horsemen" Sam Harris, famous neuroscientist  and philosopher, says...and I paraphrase....It isn't his bigotry, misogyny, or demagoguery, that bothers him. It is quite possible that he isn't actually a racist. But what isn't possible is that he is a brilliant and knowledgeable person. "There is simply too much evidence for the poverty of his thinking."
The core of this, is the vacuousness of his speech. Smart people don't talk the way he does.  When people speak, they are speaking what they think, out loud. "What you hear, is what they've got....He never manages to utter a single extemporaneous string of sentences that is deep, insightful or interesting.  It reveals something about him....".THERE IS NOTHING OF VALUE IN THAT HEAD OF HIS!!!!  He has no desire to seem coherent......He is "bigly" dumb.......

Tweets of The Week....


In Honor of Canada Day..... (I love a good dachshund photo)