Posts Made By: Gerald Miller

Originally Posted by Keith Fredrickson

This is the sad left of today.

Not anyone I know who is on the left would approve this. In your mind, maybe.

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

What...victims of the control freak Nazi's?

You made a rather profound comparison though I know you arent aware of it.....

We are victim's of control freaks that is certain.....and who are the control freaks of today? The left......

You want to control or eliminate anything that doesnt appeal to your emotions favorably.....everything from the climate to your opposition.

Whereas we are less interested in such things......I dont give a damn what you do or say as long as it doesnt interfere with my rights you are fine doing whatever floats your boat....

I feel exactly the same.

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

Great then you will understand when I say stop advocating violating my rights......worry about your own.

I never have advocated for violating any your lawful rights.

The only thing I've advocated is outlawing, as allowed under the current law as set forth by the Supreme Court, AR-15's. You don't have a right to own one if Congress would lawfully outlaw them because an AR-15 simply isn't a common weapon used in the home for self defense. Only those types of weapons can not be banned according to the court's ruling, as it found controls on specialized weapons like AR-15's are permissible because they don't fall in that category. The court didn't find all controls of guns unconstitutional, only those as defined in the opinion, and those were pistols.

That's the problem with those who don't actually understand what the law is in regard to what their rights actually are. You begin thinking you have a right you don't even have and fear it may be taken away from you based on what you read or hear on some forum or website. Your actual right is whatever the Supreme Court says it is.

But please tell me if there is some other right I have advocated that would in some way take away your rights besides this issue. If so, I was not aware of it and perhaps there was some misunderstanding.

And I do worry about my own rights. I worry about my ability to elect the person of my choice because of the unlimited money and undisclosed sponsors of candidates that is now allowed that can put and keep one party in control. I worry about the party in control rigging the voting system to deter voters they think won't support them. I worry about Republicans cutting social security and medicare that I've paid for forty years now that the deficit has mushroomed after Republicans cut taxes for the top 1% and corporations-as McConnell has suggested was needed just last week. I worry about our crumbling infrastructure and no money or the will to collect taxes to pay for improving it. I worry about the need to always be at war with someone, somewhere. I worry about crime in the cites where there is little hope for those trapped in poverty to ever escape. I worry about health care although the cost now that I turned 65 is 1/10th it was before the ACA, and 1/5th after (which I paid for out of my pocket for my entire life with no help from anyone). I worry about the  stock market crashing taking down my retirement along with it. I worry about the out of control deficit (which started with Bush and continues through today). And I worry about the guy who has no morals or decency and appears to be bordering on insanity who has the power, subject to no one's veto, to launch a nuclear strike. That one is the one I worry about most of all.

These are the things that should worry us all.

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

Let me quote you "whatever(yawn)"

You could at least think of something original.

But if that’s the best you can, then fine. I will take that as a compliment.

The following editorial was written by Michael Gerson, who served as President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter from 2001-2006. This appeared in my local paper on line edition today:

“The most fundamental moral principle in the universe may well be: “You break it, you buy it.” But a close second is: You can’t call women cruel and misogynist names, defame ethnic groups, discriminate based on religion, accuse opponents of being “un-American” and “treasonous,” excuse and encourage violence by your supporters, threaten political rivals with prison, tear migrant children from the arms of parents and then credibly call for national “unity” when it is politically useful.

This is the horrible reality of our political moment. The president of the United States says something entirely presidential — “We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony” — and it did nothing more than add another layer to his lies. More specifically, President Trump wants Americans to join him in a fake reality — to prove their loyalty by taking outlandish hypocrisy at face value. It is like the sophomoric entrance ritual to some secret society. Eat this cow eye and pig intestine, and we will be bound forever by our willingness to do asinine things on command. Trump’s call for national unity is the functional equivalent of an offal banquet.

“It would be different if Trump had accompanied his words of reconciliation with any sense of remorse. But this is a difficult thing for a narcissist to fake (though some have that talent). I come from a religious tradition where anything can be forgiven — but only if repentance involves demonstrated sincerity. Trump could not maintain his ruse of reconciliation for 15 seconds. He used his call for unity to blame the news media for hostility and negativity. This is like a leper blaming the mirror for his sores.

Here is the reason that Trump’s deception is so destructive: He is asking for voters to ignore consistency, rationality and morality in the midst of a midterm campaign that he has infected with bigotry. Having started his presidential campaign with the false charge that Mexico was sending “rapists” to America, Trump is returning to a similar theme in the last days before the midterm election. A migrant caravan headed for the southern border — in Trump’s depiction, and against all evidence — is infiltrated by “unknown Middle Easterners” and may be organized by Democrats. Democratic policies, according to Trump, would invite the MS-13 gang members and terrorists into the country on competing murder sprees. And Californians are so enraged by sanctuary cities that there are riots in the streets.

All this is an elaborate deception designed to incite those who are already inclined to believe it. Trump’s electoral strategy is damaging to the country, because the systematic organization of racial and ethnic hatreds is damaging to the country. This approach is damaging because it invites partisans to live in a dream world of ideology and conspiracy that is immune to evidence, immune to persuasion, immune to reason. And it is damaging because it provides permission for copycat prejudice.

So one Republican accuses his opponent of being an “Indo-American who is a carpetbagger ” with financial support that may be “coming from overseas.” Another says his opponent is “not a good example of a Mexican.” Another accuses his Arab American opponent of being a “security risk” who wants to “infiltrate ” the government. Another accuses his opponent of supporting immigration policies responsible for the rape of children. And a Republican party ad attacks an African American candidate as a “big-city rapper.”
By 

It is not that such tactics have never been employed before. But they have never been employed, at least in my memory, in a political environment where conspiracy theories and ethnic slanders have presidential blessing. Trumpism has been poured directly into the GOP mainstream, and the poison is tainting the whole.

It is typical of political polarization to separate the children of light and the children of darkness. But those who believe in democracy and the possibility of moral leadership generally have a different view. They find light and darkness in every human soul — including their own — and attempt to cultivate the light as best they can. This cause is not easy, but it is never finally lost, because the light is never fully extinguished.

We have a president who summons the darkness. It is sad and sick that so many have responded. And it would be nice if more Democrats began appealing to our better angels, in addition to talking about health-care policy.

But the promise of equality and solidarity has a power of its own, and it has defeated far more impressive enemies.”


Wow. ? Spoken by a Republican. 

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

Man....anyone ever tell you that you are a drama queen? LOL

As you are a man of few words...lol.

In a rally this weekend, Trump tells another made up story that Wall Street opened up the day after 9-11.

In fact, it didn't reopen until 9-17, about a week later.

Yet, the adoring hordes ignore his lies and in fact, relish in them.

Sad. They'd rather believe a charlatan than know the truth.

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

Ooooo kinda stings a little when your own BS is turned on you huh?

Well....here is something else that should make your day...... Trump just keeps on winning......Bet no one heard about it on the mainstream news either.....

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-tariffs/china-to-cut-import-tariffs-on-wide-range-of-products-idUSKCN1MA0HJ?fbclid=IwAR0nRffjceYAmsgIHHe-R0zluMCAa6p5dZoqgt0L8NtNCZrPpbjszp6uFWM

Actually, that was reported on Bloomberg, Fortune and Yahoo and a few other news outlets. It did not seem to be widely reported.

It was not reported by FoxNews either, for that matter.

Originally Posted by Maurice Clark

Hi James,

Don't forget the incident in Jeffersontown Kentucky, where a white man tried to enter a black church, and when he couldn't get in he then shot 2 black people at a grocery store while ignoring a white person. The hate is getting more and more open. :-(

Here is an interesting perspective on all that is happening from the BBC. Its heading is "Pugilist or Peacemaker: The choice facing Donald Trump."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46012626

Cheers,

Maurice

The article rings so true. Trump's continuation of speech that divides us is without a doubt what emboldened the extremists and spurned the violence we saw last week. No doubt, he will continue down the same path because healing the division in this country is the last thing Team Trump wants to happen. If a majority of us unite against his fake fear tactics and reject his immorality, deception, and corruption, he wouldn't stand a chance. 

Another shooting of a child by a child.

No other civilized country in the world has as many gun deaths by children killing themselves or each other. No other civilized country has as many mass gun related shootings. No other country has as many suicides and homicides by gun. In no other country does a parent think in the back of his/her mind when sending a child off to school, they won't ever see them alive again.

Between Jan. 1 and May 18, 2018, more students and teachers were killed inside U.S. schools by guns than the number of U.S. military service members who died in combat and noncombat roles during the same period.

Ask yourself, why that is case? And how long will the public tolerate it before some attempt to do something about it is done?

Now, a shooting with less than half a dozen deaths hardly makes the news cycle.

What is the number 1 cause of gun related deaths in the USA? Surely, it has to be defending oneself from some criminal, right? Nope, it's suicides, by a 2 to 1 margin. Homicides is number 2.  This chart says it all. I couldn't find a single statistic for deaths by anyone defending himself or others, likely because it happens so rarely.

Reasonable restrictions on guns are permissible as the U.S. Sup. Ct. ruled. Quoting Judge Scalia in the Heller decision, "Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms." In a footnote to that quote, Justice Scalia noted "We identify these presumptively lawful regulatory measures only as examples; our list does not purport to be exhaustive."

Clearly, reasonable regulations are allowed, even by Honorable Judge Scalia's standards.

Would reasonable regulation stop all gun related deaths? No. Would it slow it down? Absolutely.

Ok, so the question is "what's reasonable?" That's a question that will have to determined. But anything is better than what we have now.

Now for the gun nuts response as they blow a gasket as they perceive any reasonable regulation too much, thinking that any regulation is taking away a right they don't even have. Maybe they should take their AR-15's and go shoot something up for some stress relief after they read this post. At least they would be wasting bullets that could be used to kill someone else.