Mark Sanford for President?

NBC Mark Sanford Interview

GovTrack Mark Sanford

I would need to learn more about him and his positions, but he makes sense to me.

Trump, Antifa and Alt Right Killers

WE Trump watching Portland

So we have the Alt Right Extremists assaulting and killing people, and our idiot President is trying to paint Antifa as the terrorist organization... :-(  Maybe he really is a KKK member hiding in plain sight..

VOX Trump does not mention the Alt Right
BBC 7 Things to Know about Antifa

Alt Right Proud Boys 
SPLC Proud Boys

I am thinking that people who push back against racists like the Proud Boys are not all bad... :-)

No More Poor Immigrants?

NYT Trump Immigration Plan Offers a Ticket to the American Dream. The Poor Need Not Apply.


This is an interesting and disturbing piece.  It makes perfect sense that we do not want to bring a bunch of welfare recipients into the country.  I mean we have enough of them without importing more. :-)


And yet it does seem Un-American to not welcome some of the world's struggling masses. 


I assume most of us would not be here if these standards were in place when our family members came here with nothing.  On the other hand there was no Medicaid, food stamps, social security, Medicare, education grants, etc for them to receive.  Just some land out in the middle of no where...


Thoughts?

Trump Campaigns On Tax Payers Dime

What do the Trump True Believers think?

Is it okay that the White House billed this as a Presidential speech regarding energy policy...
So we the tax payers paid the costs,
And then Trump turned it into a Trump 2020 rally?

VOX Why Trump’s blurring of the line between campaigning and governing matters, explained by an expert

CNN 28 Trump Lines from Official White House Speech

The Hill Trump Attacks media, Biden, etc

Rev Trump Transcript

Political Polarization Quiz

From Laurie...

In my previous comment I implied my views were influenced by the news sources I choose.  Maybe my views (party affiliation) are mostly influenced by the fact that I am a non religious white woman.  NYT Polarization Quiz

Stock Returns by President

Now that is interesting... Click to expand...

How to be an Anti-Racist

NPR Ibram X. Kendi's Latest Book: 'How To Be An Antiracist'


I listened to this on the way to work. It deserves more study.


Atlantic Am I American?
Wiki Ibram X Kendi

Washington DC Free Pre K

I am a huge fan of a sliding fee scale for Quality Preschool programs, and the concept that a child's first 5 years are most important.  This means that tax payers pickup more of the bill for lower income households.


Here is some information regarding a Washington DC Program.  It sounds like they are embedding it in the Public Schools and Picking up the tab for everyone, both of which I disagree with.

Trump True Believer Stages of Denial

Moose had posted this awhile back and I thought it was excellent. He said he did not cpme up with it, but it helped me to understand how Trump True Believers rationalize his most manipulative blatant lies? Maybe we can call it the Trump Stages of Denial. :-)

1. He didn't say that.
2. And if he did, he didn't mean that.
3. And if he did, you didn't understand it.
4. And if you did, it's not a big deal.
5. And if it is, others have said worse."

Now let's test it out on a few fact checked Trump quotes.

"If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value," Trump told his fellow Republicans April 2.  "And they say the noise causes cancer." 

"If you buy, you know, a box of cereal, if you do anything, you have a voter ID. … The only thing you don’t is if you’re a voter of the United States."

"For years, they have not been able to get tax cuts -- many, many years, since Reagan." 

California "admitted" there were "a million" illegal votes in the 2016 presidential election.

Now I understand that Trump will be Trump, that is not what puzzles me.  I am more interested in how people can look at me straight faced and go through this list almost every time he throws out an obvious falsehood.

Why it is so hard for them to admit that they voted for a chronic liar and manipulator, and that they will likely do it again?

How do they determine what is real?

The scarier thing... What does Trump think in real?

Will Farmers Quit Trump?

FP Farm Loan Delinquencies High
Stress Response Program
Forbes Trump Fails Farmers

Do People Want News?

Two older Conservatives linked to this on FB. I found this odd given that most Conservatives I know seem to dislike news, data, facts, etc. They seem to thrive on the FOX talking heads, Rush Limbaugh, Prager U, etc.  And they seem to work hard at not fact checking Trump.

I spend most of my time reading the sources that are closer to the center. Usually I find that they:

• give more facts and less opinion
• if they have speakers, they have one from both tribes

When I look at sources from the far left or far right. I try to read them very critically by considering:

• what is their agenda?
• do they provide real data?
• do their assumptions make sense?
• do they use absolutes like all, none, always, never, etc?

So do we want news? Or do we want to hear people confirm our perception of reality?

How Can Religious Right Person Score Neutral?

Jerry took the Political Compass Test and scored 0.0 on the Authoritarian / Libertarian axis.  This puzzled me because we know that he often supports the government passing and enforcing morality laws.

So I took all the questions and sorted them...  My guess is that the blue ones had the most impact on the Freedom axis. The interesting thing is that they have many offsetting questions.

A Religious Right person may agree with spanking, free markets, and company freedom.  Whereas they may disagree with LGBT rights, ProChoice, Recreational Drugs.

So as with all tools, one must be careful to consider the details.  By the way, he did score the highest on supporting more government control than the rest of us.  Not sure what that indicates. Especially since he is a pretty devout "GOP Small Government Conservative". :-)

Personally I think people on both the Far Right and Far Left tend to like using government to enforce their version of morality. Even though they are very different.

The Consequences of Trump's Words :-(

NYT Trump and the Shooter

ABC Trump Comments

Words of Hate have consequences.

I wonder if Trump is capable of understanding that?

Or if he and his True Believers will rationalize 

the death of these innocent men, women and 

children away... :-( 

The Small Tent Democrats

When did Obama become a Republican?
Thanks Obama

And the DEMs wonder why the Centrists are balking at their message?

Similar to the Political Compass is the the Nolan Diagram.  I think this a better graphic.

More Comics

Democratic Debates

From Laurie:

links for a new topic:

How to Campaign When Nothing Is Possible

Democrats Aren’t Addressing the Biggest Challenge We Face

Pete Buttigieg had the most important answer at the Democratic debate

As the three links explain the DEMs will be able to get nothing done if they win so John should just go ahead and vote against Trump. I found the links very persuasive and depressing for contemplating the future of our country.