STABLES AND HAREMS

Just when viewers may have believed it was safe to go back into the water (https://soundcloud.com/aamandacarp/jaws-theme-song) I’m addressing something other than photography and related again that by any analysis is more important than my photographic pursuits.

The only incentive Republican pols need, the threat that their handlers will cut off their allowance/bribe money.

Need anymore proof they are bought and paid for?

The infusion of corporate money into politics isn’t something new, it hasn’t been a secret.

People may have condemned it, looked away if they believe it advanced their own personal or party agenda, or grudgingly accepted it as just the way it is and nothing can be done about it – especially in view of the SC ruling related to Citizens United.

Both the law and the SC ’s mandate is or should be based on sound reasoning, not favoritism, political debts, or personal ideology.

If that in fact were the situation we would be living in an entirely different society.

At the very core of the Constitution is a stated principle to insure and protect the common welfare of citizens – this isn’t nor ever will be the guiding principle if wealth and it’s accompanying influence direct either policy, legislation, the enactment of biased laws, or the failure to exclude corporate money and lobbyists working on their behalf.

I seriously doubt the rank and file actually understand healthcare issues, the impact it will have that will affect a great many among those who march in lockstep based singularly on misinformation and an agenda to further increase the wealth of one percenters via the vehicle of “tax breaks” they will receive.

Populism can be reflective of many things, it has and can serve a viable purpose at times, but it can also be a snare, a wolf clothed in sheeps clothing.

History speaks to that, and a history ignored will repeat itself.

Examples of this repetition can be seen everywhere as we see a resurgence in racism, the strategy of pitting demographic against demographic and the increasingly overt denigration of the disenfranchised, those at or below the poverty line.

“Alternative facts” presented as truth and truth as “fake news” – nothing new in this either and to paraphrase former president Ronald Reagan there isn’t a great deal of difference between politics and prostitution.

It isn’t that there is no historical precedent for politicians selling themselves, the problem is their respective parties are taking on the appearance of a pimps “stable” or a potentates harem.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/koch-urgency-conservative-network-fears-closing-window-075811642–election.html

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMFgCSwAOzs

WHITE PRIVILEGE AND SAVAGES

The term “white privilege” can be a little misleading at times as more and more from that particular demographic descend into poverty, but the truth is and will remain as I have continually stressed throughout the existence of this blog that the impact of policies and the direction this country takes will have a far greater impact on the nations than others.

When you’re on the bottom rung of disenfranchisement and not perceived as a voting or campaign contributions bloc of significance that is the reality, a reality history has verified time and time again.

It isn’t mere coincidence that Trump is enamored of one the worst presidents this country has ever had, that being Andrew Jackson.

Andrew Jackson who was also known as the “ndn killer” defied a Supreme Court order prohibiting his personal agenda to murder, steal, seize land, and drive indigenous people from their homeland.

Betsy DeVos, Trump’s hand picked crony in the assault on public education is tasked with being an advocate for education, for students.

As such her position includes providing input into such budgetary considerations – perhaps if our schools became charter schools or embraced the bullshit evangelical approach DeVos caters to and we all wrapped ourselves in the blood stained flag she genuflects to our children might be worthy of consideration – the “great white father” might toss a bread crumb or two their way.

It’s increasingly obvious that as nations we can expect nothing from conservatives or the current administration.

Nothing in the way of a level playing field for our children – nothing in the way of being secure from the ramped up resource and land grab.

Nothing with a twist this time around- a twist that will encompass a great many of those who voted for this current administrational aberration when they discover as the quality of education, healthcare, and the environment they experience declines that they likewise aren’t included in this concept of white privilege.

During the five hundred plus years of occupation our children have been as much a target as our women and our men have – they were ruthlessly slaughtered, compared to vermin, stolen and taken to “boarding schools” where they were beaten for speaking their language, sexually assaulted, and “civilized”.

They are no less vulnerable now, all that has changed are the weapons of choice…… and we were labeled as “savages”?

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-native-children_us_5942f2e1e4b01eab7a2c88f9?section=us_politics

POWDERED NOSES

 

It’s obvious after this disgusting display that Trump Cabinet members will from this point forward need to powder their brown noses prior to any future public appearance.

I can’t help but be reminded of the actors Trump hired to cheer and carry placards when he announced his candidacy.

They got a few bucks, cabinet members received more than a monetary compensation – they got a job and have the same equivalency of scabs.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/searching-conscience-trumps-cabinet-090040420.html

 

TIME FOR THE DUMMY TO LEAVE

I’m not what you would call a James Comey fan, but if it’s a contest as to credibility between Trump and Comey, Comey wins hands down.

The gauntlet was thrown when Comey characterized much of what Trump has to say as lies – no dancing around employing terms like falsehood, or perhaps somebody “misspoke” – something the media should have the intestinal fortitude to say, call a lie a lie regardless of who says it.

Dumbo’s reply was predictable, he claimed vindication and his feckless minions jumped on board the turnip truck to shamelessly do likewise.

But the tale was told by Comey encouraging Trump to bring it on if the now Nixonian Trump tapes do exists – if they do and exonerate Trump does anyone believe he wouldn’t be burning up twitter posting them on calling upon his Fox “News” cronies to spread the word?

Instead what we have is a maybe – maybe at some point this wannabe emperor will deign to release them, toss a few breadcrumbs to the serfs.

Sounds familiar? Well it should as it is the same approach taken with Trump’s tax returns.

The entire world knows Trump is an idiot, that he isn’t qualified to scrub bedpans in a hospital much less be president.

Apparently the good news is it will be a cold day in hell before Trump visits the UK if he’s waiting for some nebulous time in the future when there won’t be protests.

The bad news is the US won’t have the opportunity to enjoy a brief respite from his presence.

It seems as though the crazier Trump gets the more his supporters become infected, validating Trump’s contention during the campaign that he could actually shoot someone and it wouldn’t make any difference to them.

I never suspected that insanity was a virus that could be transmitted from one person to another but there doesn’t seem to be any other explanation.

Everybody but Trump is liar regardless of how much evidence is offered to the contrary, and I’m not just referencing Comey’s testimony but the more mundane like his inauguration crowd was larger than Obama’s when photographs and number counts proved the opposite.

Or that one about winning an electoral vote among the largest in history.

All that’s been missing thus far is the appearance of Trump’s alter ego John Barron to check in with the media describing what a ladies man and how brilliant Trump is.

But then maybe there’s no need when you have Conway and Spicer to assume the role.

Trump’s willing to testify before Congress? Right, any odds on whether it actually happens or will be a public or closed door session if he does?

The tapes? More likely there will be some explanation that there are no tapes and it was merely some masterful ploy to claim there were – or possibly that no one’s interested like the tax return excuse.

Considering Trump’s IQ deficit I wouldn’t actually be surprised if he claimed they were stolen, “acccidently” erased, or a dog ate them.

Either way though what will be demonstrated once again is that Trump is a serial liar,  will that make any difference to the serial ignorant who grovel at his feet?

There isn’t a single reason to believe it would.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a55514/end-of-trump-presidency/

THE WEDDING MY HAVE JUST BEEN CANCELLED

This may force Trump to break off the relationship and give the engagement ring back.

The Trump pooper scooper brigade will be out in full force attempting to clean this mess up with their by rote asinine claims of fake news and witch hunts.

https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/huge-national-security-experts-were-021105484.html

HOODWINKED AND BAMBOOZLED

 

 

That’s pretty much the gist of it when it comes to Trump’s core base, even so as of yet they apparently are either in full blown denial or just excruciatingly slow on the up take – more likely a combination of the two.

They suspect something is amiss, some vague inkling they’ve been sold a bill of goods and find the manner in which they’ve been duped too unsettling to confront it and admit the obvious.

So let’s see – every country on the planet has signed on to the Paris agreement save for three, and they are The U.S., Syria, and Nicaragua.

This amounts to being between a rock and hard spot for the Trumpkins to discover they are now in the same bed with the very countries they historically express disdain for.

That may be something of the norm though in the world of prostitution, but I submit they would be well advised to abandon the pimps they’re elected.

But then if Trump will cozy up to Putin why not Assad ?

There are no silver bullets for global problems, no one size fits all solution – what’s important are confronting the issues and the incremental steps along the way to build on.

The problem with Republicans is that if they don’t author a bill, any piece of legislation or agreements they don’t perceive as pandering to the wealthy and corporations they don’t want anything to do with it, and it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Kyoto agreement was likewise abandoned by them and former president Bush.

What’s interesting is that among the conservative pols and rank and file which includes a number of corporations is that while they have consistently denied climate change they now are saying withdrawing from the Paris Accord is a mistake.

Duplicity is putting it mildly, but when you look at their reasons they become entirely understandable.

These sudden advocates are ultimately saying the reverse of what they’ve said previously – now the withdrawal will lead to a loss of jobs, but more importantly for them as corporations lost revenue, and that is what their concerned about.

One transparently feckless response to all this is conservatives point to China as being the world’s biggest polluter, and while that’s true they conveniently overlook the fact that a country ( the U.S.) nowhere near the size of China and with a significantly lower population is in second place.

They also ignore the fact that China is making a concerted effort to clean up their own backyard with a full court press to convert to clean energy.

What this dunce Trump and his conservatives cohorts have done is to hand the keys of leadership to other nations.

Is there so much as a single Trump supporter who may read this willing to step up and explain how this will lead to “greatness” or are they content to ruminate among themselves that it’s all fake news, part of a “witch hunt”?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cities-states-climate-leaders-trump-paris_us_593037a9e4b0e9a77a536fa9?section=us_politics

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/02/european-leaders-vow-to-keep-fighting-global-warming-despite-us-withdrawal

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world-headlines-reaction-trumps-exit-slideshow-wp-141618242/photo-p-lib-ration-published-paris-photo-141618912.html

PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD

It should be obvious to one and all by this time that the current administration has as much credibility as Benedict Arnold – collusion is in the air and the meme of making America great appears to be little more than a cover story for slash and burn politics.

Close to two hundred of the world’s nations have signed on to the Paris environmental agreement, among them the United States who should be taking a leadership role and providing an example rather than teetering on the brink of abandoning it’s commitment.

Corporate influence, which is the guidepost for the Trump cabal and pulls the strings attached to conservative politicians have not only denied the very existence of climate change but insist efforts to address the effects are a waste of money and a “jobs” killer.

That translates to doing away with regulations that can hold them accountable as polluters and their insatiable desire to literally leave no stone, leaf, or blade of grass unturned in their wanton quest to “drill baby drill”.

The motivation for their willingness to commit what amounts to crimes against humanity is greed – like Johnny Rico in the movie Key Largo simply put they want more.

More money, more access, more influence, more of everything.

Nearly three decades later the effects of the Exxon Valdez spill of eleven million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound of Alaska has yet to be remediated and should serve at the very least as a global miner’s canary.

In this country the issue of climate change cannot be left to the government, at least the current edition, it is a people’s issue.

A growing awareness of that obvious fact is taking root in multiple states, cities, and now among shareholders in rogue corporate entities like Exxon.

Should it raise eyebrows that one time CEO of Exxon Rex Tillerson nows holds a high cabinet post in the Trump administration – in all honesty what do you think?

Should “draining the swamp” lead to the appointment of multiple lobbyists being given “ethics waivers” and positions in government, or that of former CEO’s?

My personal belief is that since the only language corporations understand is revenue any person of conscience, any person who cares about the future of their children, of this country, and is an Exxon or affiliates card holder should cut that card up and send it back.

Seemingly a small gesture but if enough do so the impact will be felt just as the one generated by shareholders.

There is nothing smart about owning an Exxon “smart card” – not only is Exxon fully aware of that but relying upon it as well.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/05/exxons-investors-climate-change-reporting

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/23/opinion/holleman-exxon-valdez-anniversary/

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/4-priceless-moments-in-exxonmobils-history-of-climate-denial/

https://corporatewatch.org/company-profiles/exxonmobil-corporate-crimes