I think ...

The "angry white male" by definition cannot be the "silent majority" as there are more women than men in every demographic.

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In the good old days, it was called "tell a lie" ...

When people distort, fabricate, prevaricate ... in the good old days, it was called "tell a lie" ... in order to strengthen their argument, they demonstrate their position cannot be based on truth.

Does repeating a lie render the person complicit in the lie? If the lie distorts public perception leading to actions that otherwise would not take place, an individual would still be responsible for whatever part played.

But if no harm comes from the lie, it cannot be “wrong,” i.e., “No harm, no foul.” An insidious fallacy as it will have the individual eventually disregard the unethical aspect of the lie. Said person would then look only to the results of the lie. Shortly, the individual has chosen “the ends justify the means” AKA “the terrorism standard.”

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"… Obama is a failure”

Obama is a failure because ...

• no guns have been seized from private citizens nor have any been declared illegal
• the Boy Scouts exist
• preachers continue to use radio & TV broadcasts
• students can pray, read religious texts, talk with willing others in school
• campus ministries exist
• pornography can be kept from children
• home schooling continues
• Al-qaida did not take over Iraq
• an Iranian nuclear bomb has not yet exploded in Tel Aviv
• there is no national, single-payer healthcare system
• healthcare has not been rationed
• there are no “death panels”
• tax rates have not increased
• income level subject to Social Security tax has not doubled
• oil drilling has not been restricted in the U.S. save from some offshore areas where the citizens don’t want it
• the global demand for oil is being met
• there are no periodic blackouts of electricity in the U.S. due to shortages
• conservative talk radio exists
• no Bush administration officials have been prosecuted from “war crimes” in Iraq, etc.

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Trump will deport 11 million undocumented immigrants in two years. Really?

On Monday, 12 May 2008, Postville, Iowa: ~900 agents from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raided Agriprocessors Inc, the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing facility. The raid – officials boasted – was “the largest single - site operation of its kind in American history.” The investigation preceding the raid required more than a year. Some 400 were arrested during the raid. About half were eventually deported.
-- www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/opinion/13sun2.html?_r=1
Time: more than one year before the raid.
Personnel: >1000 in the raid & processing thereafter
Result: around 200 deported.

Do the math.

A Fractured Fairy Tale ...

Large numbers of people are supporting Donald Trump for President because they feel betrayed by the current Republicans in leadership roles.  Those current Republican leaders promised to do something about immigration, undocumented aliens, the national debt, the budget deficit, the economy, and to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) AKA Obamacare among other items.

Donald Trump promises to change the way things are ... just as the current Republican leadership did when they campaigned for office.

If Donald should be elected President, what is likely to happen?  Let us imagine the scenario:


The Place:  The Oval Office
The Time:  the day after the inauguration
The Scene:  President Donald and his advisors

Donald: I would like to get started on my list of promises, gentlemen. And, I do mean "gentlemen" ... no bimbos here, right?

Advisors: Yes, sir.

D:  About that wall between us and those Mexicans ...

Advisor A: If I may, sir, initial cost estimates are way too high with the economy the way it is now.

D:  That shouldn't be a problem. Call the President of Mexico and ask when we can expect that check to pay for the wall.

A:  Sir, Mexico has broken off relations with us. We cannot call the President of Mexico anymore. In addition, Halliburton said they would not be able to hire enough cheap labor to do the work in that area anyway.

D:  Well, we will have to just manage that better, won't we?
Advisors: Yes, sir.

D:  What about deporting those brown people here in the country illegally?

Advisor B:  Sir. If we transport all the "illegal browns" to the nearest local airports that use only regional jets, it will require 95 years to move them all out of the country because their numbers will increase in the camps next to the local airports as they wait. IF we use major metropolitan airports with the larger aircraft, general business operations will slow to a crawl because CEO's will not be able to move around the country in their corporate jets as a result of the restricted airspace requirements to protect the "illegals" housed between the runways of the airports.

D: OK, let's hold on that one for a bit. Obamacare!  When can we get rid of that?

Advisor C:  Well, sir, the Speaker of the House and the Vice President on behalf of the Senate, both called to express their concern on that matter but not for release to the press, you must understand.  It turns out a majority of your supporters have actually signed up for Obamacare and, to the dismay of the Congressional Republican leadership, your supporters like having medical insurance after so many years without it.

D: No problem. We can just blame the Republicans for not getting rid of it sooner and then we will start calling it "TrumpCare"! Anything with my name on it will be OK with my followers.

Advisors: Yes, sir.

Advisor D: Sir, about the national debt?

D: Right! I have been thinking about that and, last night, it came to me! We will declare bankruptcy!  I know about bankruptcy since I've done it at least four times in the past.

Advisors:  GASP!

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You can create your own church sign ... for good or ill.

What is a militia?

A well-organized militia is one organized by state or local government, i.e., an authority having the legal power and authority to do so.  

The Minute Men were organized by the British Massachusetts Bay Colony more than 100 years prior to the American Revolutionary War.  They were part of the colony's militia -- all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60. 

A self-organized militia is a contradiction in terms -- it is simply a gang ... with guns ... and no adult supervision.

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Exxon-Mobil: An upright, straight forward, two-faced company ...

... July [2015], The Guardian reported that Exxon Mobil Corp ... knew as early as 1981 of climate change – seven years before it became a public issue, according to a newly discovered email from one of the firm's own scientists. Despite this the firm spent millions over the next 27 years to promote climate denial."

-- NPR

As many of the world’s major oil companies — including Exxon, Mobil and Shell — joined a multimillion-dollar industry effort to stave off new regulations to address climate change, they were quietly safeguarding billion-dollar infrastructure projects from rising sea levels, warming temperatures and increasing storm severity.

From the North Sea to the Canadian Arctic, the companies were raising the decks of offshore platforms, protecting pipelines from increasing coastal erosion, and designing helipads, pipelines and roads in a warming and buckling Arctic.

-- LA Times