Who Says G'd Doesn't Listen?

BY EFFEY

Newsmax reported the following today (8/3/2016). 

Breaking: RNC Thinks Trump May Drop Out

                                                                                                                                                                                    

           

RNC Thinks Trump May Drop Out, Considering Options
The Republican National Committee is weighing its options in the event Donald Trump drops out of the presidential race, ABC News' Jonathan Karl reported Wednesday.
"I am told senior officials at the party are actively exploring what would happen if Trump dropped out, how to replace him on the ballot," Karl said on "Good Morning America."
"The answer is they can't force him out. He would have to go out voluntarily then it would be the 168 members of the RNC through a complicated process that would pick a new candidate. It would have to happen by early September."
"This is absolutely unprecedented," Karl said. "I am told that RNC chairman Reince Priebus is furious — he has had multiple discussions with Trump telling him he needs to drastically change course. "
The RNC’s worries about Trump come after he continued to pummel the parents of the late Capt. Humayun Khan in media appearances. Khan, a naturalized citizen and a Muslim, died in 2007 during combat operations in Iraq.
Veterans groups, including the American Legion, the VFW, and the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), have sharply rebuked Trump for continuing to criticize Khan’s Gold Star parents.
"Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression," Brian Duffy, leader of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said in a statement Monday.
The VVA called Trump’s continuing barrage against the Khans “disgraceful and un-American.”
Trump’s support among key Republican leaders across the nation is eroding.
NBC News reported that Priebus is "apoplectic" over Trump's comments Tuesday that he is not endorsing House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. John McCain in their re-election efforts. Both Ryan and McCain have endorsed Trump in his presidential bid.
According to NBC News, Priebus called Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort indicating his "extreme displeasure" with Trump.
MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" reported Wednesday that key Trump campaign staffers are "checking out" as the campaign flounders over the continuing controversy of Trump’s Khan comments.
Does this tell you something?
Red Beans and Ricely yours,

Effey

What?  Pinocchio a Demagogue?

By Effey

Lately I have gotten a lot of help from Carl Bernstein who together with Bob Woodward in 1972 exposed the Republican's break-in into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate Hotel complex.  The subsequent scandal led to the resignation of the Republican President at the time Richard M. Nixon, who initially kept on denying that he ordered the break-in because he was seeking re-election. 

Bernstein's and Woodward's exposure of the break-in was deemed "maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time" by Gene Roberts, the former National Editor of The New York Times and Professor of Journalism at Philip Merrill College of Journalism, at the University of Maryland.

In the past I have warned that Donald Trump is a fascist and has all the makings of a dictator.  Bernstein is slightly kinder to Trump and just calls Trump a Demagogue.

But let's look at the dictionary definition of a Demagogue.  Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines a demagogue as: “a leader, who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises, in order to gain power”,

I have even gone one step further and accused Trump of having all the characteristics of a dictator.  So again, let me use the same dictionary and its definition of a dictator: “A person granted absolute power…holding complete autocratic control and often oppressively”.

What then is the difference between the two?  Not much.  Essentially being a demagogue is the forerunner of becoming a dictator.  Trump makes all kinds of promises, without giving any details on how he will do what he promises.  Because so much of what he promises is really pie in the sky, they are just empty promises, nothing else!  He doesn't have any specific plans such as detailed workable plans.  He keeps telling you “Trust me.  I can do it".

Study the patterns which brought Mussolini and Hitler into power!  They appealed to the unemployed blue collar classes, never offering specific plans, just exhorting the masses to just trust them.  And guess what happened!  Both of them actually delivered the jobs, but at a huge price!

I have studied quite extensively the patterns which make a leader into a dictator for a book I am finishing and which will be published next year.  Not just Mussolini and Hitler.  Other dictators, too, like Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Juan Peron, Mao-Tze Dong, Marshall Tito, Joseph Stalin and Muammar Qaddafi.  Generally these dictators meant well for the people.  Actually they delivered jobs by creating more infrastructures just to provide jobs.  But somebody had to pay for all their projects.  So they resorted to genocides, wars, and slave labor or all of the above.  But the end never turned out good and in the end they left their countries in ruins. 

Is this what we want or what we need?  I don't think so!  True, we live in difficult times and there are tons of people unemployed and some of the things Pinocchio says may be true.  But the solutions to these problems are not as simple as Pinocchio makes them sound.  He will promise you the world but all he will deliver is skyscrapers or hi-risers from which only he will profit!  Look at the promises he made to contractors, investors and students!  Look at how he fooled them all!  They lost their monies and he profited from them immensely.

God save us from Donald Trump, snake oil salesman, par excellence!

Red beans and ricely yours,

Effey.

THE DONALD DOES IT AGAIN

Is he for real?  Now he fires his campaign manager who got him to where he is, but his family doesn't like Corey Lewandovski.  So, according to Lewandowski, he was working on Donald's campaign at 8 a.m. in the morning and then The Don called him to his office and told him "You’re fired". 

Why?  Nobody seems to know the truth but according to the Donald his family advised him to do so.

So, let me ask you a question.  The president gets himself carefully selected advisors who know a bit or two about National and International Security and who give their advice (in very measured thoughts and phrases) to the president, which the president then carefully evaluates and decides on.  Does this mean that we, the taxpayers will have to pay for the advisors, but the Don will rely on his children's advice and make his decisions based on their advice?   Give me a break!

Just think about how his advisors will feel!  Guaranteed, that if this happens too often the advisors will quit their jobs.  There will be a revolving door to the Oval Office.  And our national security will be compromised and at high risk simply because we doddle with our security.  This is not the way to run an airline!  You can not learn about international and domestic issues in a few minutes.  I often quote George Santayan who was a Greek-American philosopher and author who said: "Those who do not learn history are bound to repeat its mistakes". 

In case you do not know it, in World War II the Japanese caught the United States with their pants down when they attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  For six months the Japanese Navy gave America a run for its money.  The Japanese had a superior fleet of six aircraft carriers, whereas the United States only had three active aircraft carriers.  During the Battle of Midway, June 4-7, 1942, the Japanese fleet sustained enormous, irreparable damage in part because the Japanese Admiral, Admiral Nagumo kept changing and re-arming his attack planes and wasting valuable time. 

Also, do you remember the Don telling his audiences that he is rich, very rich?  Well guess what!  Now he is running out of money!  Ha! Ha!  He was willing to spend $230 million for his campaign.  I forgot who said that it will take more like $730 million and he will have difficulty raising this much money.  He would lose his millionaire cronies because he offends a lot of people.

The Republican Party is also slowly deserting him.  Poor old Donald!  Don't you have pity on him?

In fact, the last First Lady before Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, President George Bush's wife said publicly that she would not vote for the Don, but that she would vote for Hillary!

Remember when big shot Donald Trump refused to participate in one of the debates, because Megan Kelly was to be the moderator of that debate?  Instead he tried to raise funds for our veterans.  All he was able to raise from his big millionaire buddies was close to six million dollars.  He himself contributed only $1 million dollars.  If you believe that he is worth $10 billion dollars then $1 million dollars is the equivalent of about 10 cents for us pee-ons!

Even the Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, recently said that Republicans should vote with their conscience, meaning that The Don is not a good choice for America to its President.  Members of his party and of his retinue are urging him to act more presidential.  What are they?  Are they nuts?  If he does change and becomes more presidential what is to stop him from becoming crazy again?  Wake up America!

Red beans and ricely yours,

Effey

THE GREAT ALI IS PASSING ON

By Effey

No matter how great we are, we all must eventually pass on.  Ali claimed to be the greatest.  And indeed he was!  New generations will never know the magic spell he had on my generation, world-wide.  He was the Fred Astaire as well as the Shakespeare of the boxing ring.  No fighter was as nimble as he.  No other fighter generated the excitement in boxing as he did.  He didn't win all his fights, but even the fights he lost in some inexplicable way were magical.  He won the world heavyweight champion title three times!  That was unheard of.  And when he lost his fights, to his audience he still won.

People laughed at him when he predicted in poetic style in which round he would knock out hs opponents but he always came through as predicted.  He taunted his opponents and they fell into the trap.  When they opened up he took the punches, and when his opponents became over confident he finished them off, 1-2-3.  All in all, he won 56 fights lost 5 and knocked out 37 opponents!!  What a record!!!

But there was much more to "The Great One".  He spoke his mind and he also fought our government and won in the end.  He refused to serve in the Army during the Viet-Nam war.  The government stripped him of his title but the Government really lost, because in the end he won his championship title back again. 

But perhaps more important than anything else, he became a driving force in the Civil Rights Movement, as powerful in his way as Martin Luther King was in his way.

The Civil Rights Act had not yet been passed.  When he fought in the ring he also fought for the legislation which ended the discrimination against the black community of the time.  The discrimination should have rightfully been ended at the end of the Civil War, but it didn't.  Ali earned the respect of the majority of white Americans and somehow through his personality helped bring about the respect for the African American community that it well deserved.  Ali's fight has now ended.  The Government has ended the discrimination against the African-American community, but the fight has not yet ended completely.  Much work still needs to be done.  But the Pioneers, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King are gone.  Who will lead the rest of the struggle?

I had the pleasure of meeting Muhammad in person, together with his manager and coach, Angelo Dundee, his sparring partner Jimmy Ellis and Ali's biggest fan and promoter, the great sports journalist Howard Cosell.  I am still basking in the glory of that moment in my life-time, when I was a lot younger.

Ali, Thank You.

How easily we forget!!

My mother used to have a favorite saying: "Small children, small problems, big children, big problems."  You can take this wise truism and transfer it to many different issues.  For example: small accident, little damage, big accident, big damage.  Likewise: little exposure few critics, big exposure, tons of critics.

This is how I feel about Hillary Clinton.  She has had a lot of exposure, therefore many critics.  But there is another element involved when it comes to her critics.  Number one, she is a woman.  Number two, she is a Democrat.  So, her political enemies, the Republicans have slung all kinds of mud against her.  And she just ignores them and does what she has to do.  Move on forward and stand up against them all.

How many congressional hearings and inquiries have they wasted on Benghazi just to purge their on conscious?  Had Congress not cut the defense budget for embassy security, maybe Benghazi would not have happened at all.

Now they accuse her of having brought down Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.  You must be kidding.  Does anybody remember when in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie in Scotland, killing 243 passengers and 16 crew members, plus 11 people on the ground?  We hated Gaddafi.  Or don't you remember when in January 1989, President Ronald Reagan ordered two Libyan warplanes to be shot down by the U.S. Air Force off the Libyan coast, because Gaddafi became too crazy for Westerners?  We had trouble dealing with such an erratic leader.  So when there was a chance to get rid of him, we helped.  We had plenty of reasons to help his opponents to overthrow him and to get rid of him.  Just like Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Gaddafi was a loose cannon ball.

So Hillary did what we wanted and needed to do.  We had to encourage his opponents to overthrow him for Libya's own good.  And the Republicans criticize President Obama for being weak or not having a foreign policy or for being responsible for the weakness of our economy.  Think back.  It was not so long ago that we wanted out of Iraq and out of Afghanistan.  Who got us there?  President George Bush, a Republican.  Who got us out?  President Obama.  That is what the people wanted, that is what he pledged he would do if he would be elected and that is what he did.  Hillary was his first Secretary of State.  So now the Republicans are trying to find fault with her because she e-mailed unclassified e-mails on her private server back to the states.  Even the revered Colin Powell admitted that it is sometimes difficult to know which e-mails are classified and which ones are not because they only get classified when they arrive at the State Department.  So she did not break any rules.  They just did not exist.  And who s the first person ever to try to do something to provide healthcare for millions of people who were not covered by medical insurance because they could not afford any insurance.  It was Hillary when she was the first Lady.  And now much of the country is looking at another erratic potential president! 

How easily we forget!!!

"Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing".  (Luke 23-24).

Red Beans and Ricely yours

Effey

The Elections

Here is my assessment of the candidates running for the office of the Presidency.

Personally I like Bernie Sanders.a lot.  I have followed him for years on the Ed Schultz show where he offered his comments.  And I agree with him about the status quo in our government right now.  But I blame the Republican Senate and the Republican Congress for constantly undermining the president. 

When President Obama was running for President the majority of the country wanted us out of Iraq. 

So he got us out. 

But the big wigs in the Senate and the House are plain jealous that they don't have a Republican in the office and therefore they undermine everything the President wants to do.

Do we want Cruz, or worse, Trump in the oval office?  God, do I feel sorry for us if this happens!  Kasich is a good and decent man for the office, but unfortunately he does not do well in the polls.

This brings me to Hillary.  In my opinion she is a woman who has the gumption, the smarts, and the patience to put up with her opponents.  In the general election she can whip all of her opponents.  Remember, she is a lawyer by profession and she has a record for helping the poor and helping other groups.  So Bernie is attacking her for her speech to Lehman Brothers.  Doesn't he know that she was not in office when she gave that speech?  Over the weekend she held a fundraiser together with George Clooney, the actor.  This fundraiser was not for her own campaign; it was for the Democratic Party who wants to take back the Congress and finally get things done,

What can Bernie achieve?  He is looking for a revolution which will never happen.  There is an old rule; if you want to change something big, do it according to the appropriate bylaws fro within the organization.  And Hillary is just right for this because she knows how to bring about change and she also knows how to negotiate.  Remember she was Bill's private counselor.

Red Beans and Ricely yours

Effey

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HOW LIFE HAS CHANGED

We live in a fast changing world.  Some people have referred to it as the "Jet-Age" because things change as fast as the speed of light or a jet plane breaking the sound barrier.

I tried calling God the other day to elicit some help for our country.  With all the terrorism going on in Europe there is valid reason for fear of us being next in line for one of those terrorist attacks.  So, I wanted God to protect us from this scourge.

When I called God on my special 800 exclusive line, a machine answered my call.

"Your call is very important to God, but God is busy right now with other folks who need his help.  All of our angels are also busy but please don't go away.  We are here to help you.  There are 28 callers ahead of you, but please don't hang up.  If this is an emergency cal 911 right away.

I hung up in frustration.  I guess that is why the churches and synagogues are losing members.

Have a good one.

Red Beans and Ricely yours

Effey