The Official Paracast Political Thread! — Part Three

[Constance]

According to MSNBC last night, a bill is going to be introduced into the Senate and House prohibiting Trump from firing a nuclear missile unless it is in response to an incoming attack. This will of course be an embarrassment to him and lead to further narcissistic outrage on his part. Maybe it will be a wake-up call to him that if he continues to behave like a child he will be treated like a child. But I doubt that his fragile ego will allow him to actually realize what most people in this and other countries think of him. My main hope is that he eventually experiences a psychological melt-down from the lack of approval, much less adulation, that he is receiving and that he has to be institutionalized.

 

[Tyger]

According to MSNBC last night, a bill is going to be introduced into the Senate and House prohibiting Trump from firing a nuclear missile unless it is in response to an incoming attack. This will of course be an embarrassment to him and lead to further narcissistic outrage on his part. Maybe it will be a wake-up call to him that if he continues to behave like a child he will be treated like a child. But I doubt that his fragile ego will allow him to actually realize what most people in this and other countries think of him. My main hope is that he eventually experiences a psychological melt-down from the lack of approval, much less adulation, that he is receiving and that he has to be institutionalized.

Well, at least they are minding the store to that degree. It's something.

Agree that it will have an impact on his fragile sense of self. According to some folks I know who have 'inside slant', (if they are to be believed) the Republicans are in fact carefully monitoring the situation and will remove Trump at the first sign of a 'problem'. He was forced to accept Pence and it's 'expected' that Pence will be president at some point in actual fact, but until then Trump serves as the puppet signing all the executive orders, etc. Trump winds up being a handy smokescreen for the Republicans.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Trump is a loose cannon, so unless they can remove him from office, there's no knowing how he'll react to some of these bills.

 

[Tyger]

But honestly, the press has little credibility since they virtually crowned Trump. If the playing field had been fair, we would now have a President Sanders. The link below has a short video clip.

Carl Bernstein: Nervous Republican officials are questioning President Trump’s ’emotional stability’
LINK: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/car...tioning-president-trumps-emotional-stability/

TEXT: President Donald Trump’s obsessions with defending his inauguration crowd size and embracing false “voter fraud” conspiracies has reportedly led some members of his own party to question his emotional well being.

Reporter Carl Bernstein went on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon this week, and he said that he’s been hearing from Republicans in Washington D.C. who are concerned about the president’s overall mental health.


“It is unlike anything that I have seen in 50 years of being a reporter,” said Bernstein, who first made his name by breaking stories on the Watergate scandal while working for the Washington Post. “I am hearing from Republicans, and other reporters are as well, that there is open discussion by members of the President of the United States’ own party about his emotional maturity, stability.”

Trump drew criticism even from media confidantes such as Joe Scarborough this past weekend for his speech at the CIA in which he boasted repeatedly about his inauguration’s crowd size, while at the same time sending out Press Secretary Sean Spicer to deliver an angry news conference whose sole purpose was to defend the size of the Trump inauguration’s crowds.

Apparently, these actions have been enough to raise red flags from people within his own party about his temperament.

“People are saying his psyche is driving the news cycle,” said Bernstein. “We are in uncharted territory.”​

 

[Gene Steinberg]

This was obvious before the election, but people voted for him anyway, and now we see the consequences of something who hasn't a clue what he's doing.

 

[Sand]

According to MSNBC last night, a bill is going to be introduced into the Senate and House prohibiting Trump from firing a nuclear missile unless it is in response to an incoming attack. This will of course be an embarrassment to him and lead to further narcissistic outrage on his part. Maybe it will be a wake-up call to him that if he continues to behave like a child he will be treated like a child. But I doubt that his fragile ego will allow him to actually realize what most people in this and other countries think of him. My main hope is that he eventually experiences a psychological melt-down from the lack of approval, much less adulation, that he is receiving and that he has to be institutionalized.

Sadly the bill will probably never make it through the Republican Congress.

Nuclear holocaust, after Trump’s period of admiration for Vladimir Putin goes sour, is a very serious concern of Masha Gessen, a Russian author, dissident, and long-time observer of Putin’s Russia and other autocracies. Over the last year Gessen has turned her focus to Donald Trump.

Gessen -
"Sometimes vastly different processes yield surprisingly similar results. Trump is staging an assault on America’s senses that feels familiar to me—not because he admires Putin (though he does) or because he is Putin’s puppet, but because they seem to be genuinely kindred spirits. It might take a long time to understand why we have come to enter the age of a kakistocracy, but evidently we have.” (government by the least qualified and most unprincipled)

Here is a shorter humorous interview with Gessen.

A longer interview.

 

[Constance]

Sadly the bill will probably never make it through the Republican Congress.

Certainly it's most likely not to reach the floor of either body for debate and a vote, but once it's re-introduced* in both houses of Congress next week it will be followed assiduously by the press, here and worldwide, at every step in its disposition by the rules and other committees in Congress.

* Dems seek to limit Trump's options for using nuclear weapons

How A Bill Becomes A Law | U.S. Congressman Alan Lowenthal

 

[Tyger]

People are trying to respond to Trump's lies with logic - won't work per the following insights. Here is a brilliant, must-listen analysis: the Nazis were not stating facts, but what would have to be true to do what they planned to do next. The Nazi lies were a 'statement of intent'. [From Arendt's book]

"Thom excerpts both Milton Mayer's 'They Thought They Were Free' and Hannah Arendt's 'The Origins of Totalitarianism' and lays out the warning signs we all need to look out for under the current administration."

Excellent description of our current condition - and sobering. A wake-up call?
Thom Hartmann on 'The Origins of Totalitarianism and the Trump Administration'

The Origins of Totalitarianism and the Trump Administration

TEXT: "Thom excerpts both Milton Mayer's 'They Thought They Were Free' and Hannah Arendt's 'The Origins of Totalitarianism' and lays out the warning signs we all need to look out for under the current administration."

 

[Tyger]

BTW the long quote of Milton Mayer's "They Thought They Were Free" that Thom Hartmann reads (in the foregoing video) makes me think of all the SciFi B-Movies from the 1950's - like 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' and 'They Came From Outer Space'. The SciFi genre was hosting serious political ideas during the time of McCarthyism and Red-Baiting - when the universities and the entertainment industry were being purged of 'suspicious thinking' and mighty intellects in their own right via the 'Red Scare'.

 

[Tyger]

Robert Reich -

In one of his first instances of Twitter diplomacy as President, Trump tweeted yesterday morning, “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.”

Not surprisingly, Mexican President Peña Nieto cancelled.

Trump thereby poisoned the relationship with one of America’s closest allies and our third-largest trading partner.

As with his degrading comments about NATO, his view that Taiwanese democracy and independence is a negotiating chip with China, his cavalier attitude toward Russia’s annexation of Crimea and meddling in Ukraine, his obsessions with the use of torture and the seizure of Iraq’s oil fields, Trump’s views are devoid of the democratic values that have kept Western democracies together for decades.

Trump’s impulsive use of Twitter to make foreign-policy statements is turning American diplomacy into a series of petty, vindictive personal statements unguided by strategy or forethought.

And this is only the first week. OMG. Are there no adults to supervise this child?​

 

[Tyger]

A longer interview.

Outstanding interview. Thank you for the link, Sand.

 

[Tyger]

The last sentence resonates - I agree 100%: "I don’t think it’s unreasonable to wonder if the president’s issues are gradually getting worse."

There's something unusual about Trump these days - more so than when he was on the campaign trail. He was ott - yes - but he never came across as unhinged the way he is now. It's almost as if winning the presidency has seriously undermined his mental stability. He's getting worse.

Trump offered bizarre evidence to back up voter-fraud falsehoods
LINK: Trump offered bizarre evidence to back up voter-fraud falsehoods

 

[marduk]

Where was all this anti-trump passion and protest... before you let him be elected?

This one is on the backs off all americans who didn't vote, or let the vote be split on spurious claims, or didn't stand up and march before a clown was elected to the highest office in your land.

 

[Sand]

Outstanding interview. Thank you for the link, Sand.

Yes, so much of what she said a few weeks ago predicted the way Trump would act this last week.

Great article detailing the delusion Trump told stunned members of Congress earlier this week about the millions of illegal phantom voters, based on the anecdote from the German golfer.

Particularly this paragraph:
"Why is this the perfect Donald Trump story? Because it checks so many boxes: Trump got to brag about knowing a celebrity, who shared a bizarre and racially charged anecdote, which the president believed because he lacks anything resembling critical-thinking skills, which then led the president to concoct a broader conspiracy theory about immigrants, which in turn helped soothe Trump’s bruised and unhealthy ego."

 

[SRL+]

What I’d really like to know is; where’s ET in all of this? Why in the world hasn’t ET shown up yet to save us from the evil clutches of this delusional maniac who persists in providing “alternative facts”?

Trump: New York Times is 'fake news'

 

[Tyger]

Yes, so much of what she said a few weeks ago predicted the way Trump would act this last week.

Exactly so. An example of those 'experts' (so often derided by Trump himself), who study and immerse themselves in a topic, being dead-on. I'm tempted to take notes and write up her interview content to post - it's that important to hear (and I know some will fail to listen to the video or will stop listening part-way through). At least they could read her insights.

 

[Tyger]

What I’d really like to know is; where’s ET in all of this? Why in the world hasn’t ET shown up yet to save us from the evil clutches of this delusional maniac who persists on providing “alternative facts”?

Because ET doesn't really exist? Very possible. Those sci-fi films from the 1950's had a powerful influence on the mass imagination - and many 'creative' (read: unscrupulous) sorts latched on with supposed 'experiences' that wouldn't have made it into 'Amazing Stories' or 'Analog' as a decent piece of science fiction writing. The 1950's were a very gullible time (as opposed to 'innocent' - the time was far from 'innocent'), resulting in mass hysteria - from the 'Red Scare' to 'Flying Saucers'. Short step to hoaxes. One of the most famous early UFO film footage (early 1950's) even I - forever skeptic/cynic in these matters - supposed was 'real' as an anomaly, and I have since found out has been proven a hoax. (Pretty convincing hoax as the interview with the guy making the claims oozed credibility imo).

Going sideways here a bit, it's why the 9/11 conspiracy theory doesn't hold up imo - despite all the carefully crafted logic and percieved 'evidence' from videos and amassed 'science'. No real life person(s) has come forward who was part of - say - placing the explosives for a controlled demolition. They always do. Leaked papers. Leaked reports. It shows up. That's why we know about the Gulf of Tonkin being a manufactured incident. Even with the murder of Emmitt Till in 1955 - the woman who made the accusations against the boy retracted her accusations decades later. The truth outs - inevitably. In the UFO 'field' what usually 'outs' is an admission of a hoax.

In fact, the very fact that masses of people can honestly believe in 'lizard people' and aliens from something-Reticuli - and spend their time and resources creating videos showing various and sundry people morphing into 'lizard-eyed' aliens - makes Trump far less of a mystery. At my very first - and last - MUFON meeting a pleasant faced gentleman giving a lecture on aliens talked casually but with relish (as one does when telling a tall-tale around the fire to set the blood thumping) about meeting people attending a UFO conference who were cloaked aliens (he had a phrase for it - can't recall). At least our grandfathers-and-mothers knew that Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Pecos Bill, were fabrications - 'fakelore' as some have called the stories. Tall tales. That's what UFO stories are imo. Especially the alien stuff.

[BTW saying all the above does not mean I discount the idea of intelligent walking-around life on other planets. I just suppose that such life - if it is capable of advanced travel across light-years - has to be smarter than the aliens concocted by the unfortunate mind of a George Adamski. JMO]

Trump: New York Times is 'fake news'

Example of what Masha Gessem indicates - we have entered the age of kakistocracy: government by the least qualified and most unprincipled. Though truth of it is it's been a long time taking place - the US has a terrible track-record regarding toppling democratically elected leaders and intervening in the affairs of countries (take a look at how Hawaii became a US Territory for just one example stemming from the 1800's - scores more in the 20th). But in current times what we are experiencing with Trump started more overtly with Bush/Cheney imo - but we can go back and find pretty hair-raising stuff like with the Robber Barons. Tammany Hall and 'Boss' Tweed, et al Tammany Hall - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com

 

[Tyger]

Where was all this anti-trump passion and protest... before you let him be elected?

Of course, the point that will now be debated by historians into the far future as they try to unravel this debacle. Truth is, there was plenty of anti-trump passion but it was totally smoked out of visibility by the press who refused to cover the likes of Bernie Sanders - and other alternative party candidates. Trump was the press' darling - he gave interviews by phone to anyone, never having to actually show up in a studio. For all we know he was talking from his bedroom/bed having a beer/wine. It was a joke. Serious candidates were side-lined.

This one is on the backs off all americans who didn't vote, or let the vote be split on spurious claims, or didn't stand up and march before a clown was elected to the highest office in your land.

We all have a part to play in this. I agree. There are so very many who are responsible - the press being one, and even the Dems for their primary shenanigans - but this has been in the works for decades. Fifteen years ago we were lied to and sent to war by Bush/Cheney. The country was being put through Code Reds and Code Yellows. We lost habeas corpus. Trump is just the visible pimple - but it's been long coming. It was always in play really - under the surface.

Also, Hillary wanted it too much - the handwriting was on the wall - she should have stepped aside for Bernie Sanders - or if not that - she should have made him her VP and embraced the progressive platform. She was too inflexible. Had she bent more she would have won by too large a margin to get ousted (similar to Obama in 2012 - Obama's win in 2012 stunned the GOP - they didn't expect it - the fix was in - but Obama's numbers - and possibly Annonymous - saved the day). Hillary won - yes - but had she made more astute choices - that reflected more the will of the vast majority of the country - she would have won with the super numbers the same as Obama in 2012 and foiled the fix the GOP had set up. JMO.

Trump won with 75,000 votes across 3 counties - that's a pittance. Voter suppression was in the hundreds of thousands. There were protest votes against Hillary. Had she embraced Sanders and his message, she'd be president - or Sanders would be had she done the braver, selfless thing and stepped aside. I am one who did not buy any of the nasty stuff about her (I like her) - and I did vote for her - but her ambition got the better of her, imo. Political reality dictated another path for her. The Dems made a lot of mistakes.

But the largest and most egregious mistake imo was the press. They failed us.

 

[Tyger]

Last comment for this morning. All the above said, one never really does know how all this will play out. With human beings we can make educated guesses but sometimes the most unexpected can eventuate - and that I am bargaining for (meaning that the impact of Trump might be for the good in unexpected ways, despite him). I have felt that our future is pretty well on a knowable trajectory - given climate change. How we get there will be determined by human decisions. Either Hillary or Trump - same future, except with one it would have been slower, more comfortable but contradictory, with the other faster, less comfy with less ambiguity. I am, however, an optimist. I am hoping for the best.

 

[Tyger]

Last bit: Trump's 'anti-terrorism' ban on entry by people from certain countries doesn't include Saudi Arabia, which sent us the perpetrators of 9-11. Nor does it include other countries with whom he does business.

List of recent terror attacks on American soil and the associated 'homeland' of their perpetrators:
San Bernardino - Pakistan/Saudi Arabia
Orlando - Afghanistan
Cascade Mall (WA) - Turkey
9/11 - mostly Saudi Arabia

None of these are in his little ban.