OBAMA DRAGGING TRUMP THROUGH THE MUD

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

OBAMA DRAGGING TRUMP THROUGH THE MUD

Knowledge and character
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We’ve got to stop chasing the carrot and start working on self-development. The money game is how this White supremacist society tries to convince themselves, and us, that White people are superior. They use the dollar to measure our relative worth as a people, and if you buy into that game, since the cards are stack against you it’ll have a negative impact on your self-image.
There are many more important things in life than just trying to be rich. Is Donald Trump more valuable to humanity than was Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Langston Hughes, or Martin Luther King?  Of course not. If Donald Trump had never been born this world wouldn’t have even skipped a beat, but that’s not true of the ones mentioned above.
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So all we need is enough money to satisfy our primary needs in life. After that, money can't do a damn thing to increase our happiness or personal value. Proof of that point is, in spite of the fact that Donald Trump is filthy rich, he seems to be one of the most miserable people on the planet, and of next to no value to humanity. Yet, he wants to be loved and admired so badly he’s become delusional, saying things like, “At my inauguration I had the biggest crowds in American history; or, “In my first year in office I’ve accomplished more than any other president in American history.” - Pure bullshit. The man would trade in every penny he's ever made to get the love, honor, and respect of Barack Obama. That's why he's so fixated on him, but it's not going to happen, because Trump lacks the character, intelligence, and class of Barack Obama.
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Trump’s only value as a human being is he clearly demonstrates the fact that no matter how much money you have you can't buy the admiration and respect of others, and that's what we all want most. People respect those with the most intelligence, talent, knowledge, and character. We only want money, and a big house and car, because it's suppose to represent those things, but it doesn't. It takes a personal effort to attain knowledge and character, but all that’s necessary to become rich is the willingness to be a crook, as Donald Trump or any drug dealer clearly demonstrates.
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Below is Barack Obama proving that point with his customary knowledge, elegance, and grace.  On this very night President Obama captured Osama Bin Laden, but he didn't say a word. Trump would have turned the entire night into a celebration of his greatness, or an exercise in the desperation of a wannabe.


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Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.
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ORGANIZED RELIGION IS UNGODLY - ALL OF THEM

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

ORGANIZED RELIGION IS UNGODLY - ALL OF THEM
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I tried to swat a fly the other day but he got away.  Did that mean he was blessed by God for being a good and obedient fly? That may sound like a ridiculous question, but that's exactly the kind of nonsense that religious fanatics would have us believe about our own lives. But since God created both man and fly, what makes man assume that God loves one any more than the other, or that the rules of existence are not exactly the same? God created the fly with all of the instincts he needed to survive, just as he did every other living thing, so, unlike the fly, why does man need  "Holy Men" and a users guide to navigate his way through life?  The answer is, he doesn't.  Just as God gave the fly and all other living things the instincts to navigate their way through life, he did exactly the same thing for man.  It's called "common sense."  Common sense is the word of God, and the word of man is nonsense.
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For example, if God loves and bestows worldly blessings upon those who are most obedient, does that mean that he loves White people more than he does Black people and people of color?  Of course not, but whether you know it or not, if you're a devout Christian that's the underlying nonsense that's being fed into your subconscious, because if God bestows blessings upon those who are most Godly, he must deem White folks more Godly than Black people, because they certainly have more.  On a conscious level, or through common sense, you know that's nonsense, because God uses common sense to speak to you directly, but on a subconscious level, that's what's being fed to your subconscious mind through the Voodoo of man.
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That's the primary reason why many Black people are often so hostile toward their own people. Due to their Christian indoctrination, they're the only people on Earth who's allowed themselves to be convinced that their own people are ungodly. Jews have convinced themselves that they're "God's chosen people," and that's why they prosper, because you are what you think. But Black people have been brainwashed into believing that the White man is Godly, right down to the White Jesus that we're taught to embrace so passionately. But if we used just the tiniest bit of the common sense that God bestowed upon us we'd asked ourselves, how could a blond haired, blue-eyed, White Scandinavian have been born in the desert? But we don't. We simply have "faith" in what we've been told and become hostile toward anyone who has the common sense to challenge that nonsense. That's one of the major reasons Black people can't come together and move forward.
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When I was a kid and learning to play the saxophone, my "God-loving" grandmother used to tell me, "Don't be playin' that Blues in my house." I never understood that, because we used to sit up and watch Spade Cooley singing Country and Western music on television all the time, yet, she never stopped to consider that her attitude was anti-Black.  That's when I first started thinking about the impact that our Christian indoctrination is having on our thinking. It's turning us into Black, White folks - or at least, White wannabes. But by that time I was heavily influenced the brilliance of Charlie Parker, Miles, and John Coltrane, so I didn't wannabe anything but Black, and I wasn't gonna let anyone change that with the threat of Hell and damnation. So I did as the Bible suggested - I "casted the dust from my feet" and left the church behind. I was only 14 years old at the time, and I haven't looked back since. 
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IN OTHER WORDS, IGNORE WHAT GOD
HAS BESTOWED UPON YOU, AND LISTEN TO US

If people truly had “faith” in God, they’d have faith in the mind that God bestowed upon them instead the word of the word of man. They'd understand that those who prosper, prosper due to their own efforts, not because God blessed them for having "faith" in the word of another man. They'd also understand that God did his part when he gave us a brain, and thereafter, it's up to us to use it. For anyone who doubts the truth of that simple common sense, test your faith by getting on your knees in front of an oncoming train and pray that God stops the train before it hits you.  If you don't use your God-given sense to get out the way, you're gonna be dog food, and all of the "faith" in the universe is not gonna prevent that. That's the way that life works, not by faith, but through the use of common sense.  So people need to wake up and come out of their fantasy world, and especially Black people, because many of us have been socialized into passionately embracing the very philosophy that was designed to hold us down. When we're told we must have "faith," they don't mean faith in God, but faith in the nonsense they're telling us, like snakes can talk.

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Common sense should also cause us to ask, if God created religion to guide man, why are there so many of them? There are over 4,200 religions on Earth, so which one of them is true, and what makes you think that yours is the only true one?  The answer to that question is quite simple - none of them are true; they're merely unfounded beliefs - superstitions - conjured up by man to manipulate other men, just like Voodoo.
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The reason there are so many religions is because every society establishes it’s own belief system to accommodate the people's selfishness, greed, and need to feel special. Religion allows the people of every society to convince themselves that they're special and God loves them more than he loves "the heathens" of other religions.  That's why 99% of all wars have religion at their root.
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People feel justified in killing those who they consider "ungodly," and therefore, less than themselves, and that’s exactly how bigoted White people feel about Black people and other people of color. According to their way of thinking, they have God's permission to abuse and/or kill the ungodly, or those who they feel are less than themselves. That mindset led to Europeans killing over 100 million Native Americans to steal this land. The doctrine of "Manifest Destiny" dictated that since the Native Americans were "ungodly heathens," God made it the White man's destiny to eradicate the heathens and bring God to this sacred land.  But what the Manifest Destiny actually was, was an excuse to murder, ravage, and steal.
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Most Black Christians don't even know about the Doctrine of Discovery. That's a Christian doctrine that says that if they show up on the shores of a land where the people who's lived there for thousands of years are not Christian, they had the God-given right to take it. Yet, many Black people are worshipping that gross hypocrisy. That philosophy also accounts for Black kids being shot down in the street by rogue cops with complete impunity.
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Religious bigots in the United States feel like it's their God-given destiny to correct the mistake of infesting this land with ungodly Africans, so they are determined to either domesticate Black people or exterminate them, and by any means necessary.  Due to public outcry, however, they've recently renounced the public lynching of Black people as a means of “holy cleansing,” so now they’ve turned to lynching by bullet on the street, and even in a victim’s backyard. Yet, many Black people are running around talking about "have faith." In what!!!? Being rewarded after you're dead? That's the White man's game as well.  Why isn't he willing to wait until after HE'S dead to be rewarded?  Instead, he's robbing people blind TODAY, just like many Black preachers, and that's exactly why I have very little use for them. 
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The exact same thing is currently going on in Israel. It’s “Manifest Destiny” 2.  In 1948, just after WWII, the Zionists went into Palestine, took over Palestinian land, and then relegated the Palestinian people to an open-air prison in Gaza with poison water and limited electrical power. In addition, they instituted a blockade around Gaza to prevent the rest of the world from lending assistance to the Palestinians with food, medicine, and the other necessities of life.  So they’ve placed the Palestinian people in a position where they would slowly perish, and all because the Zionists claimed that "God wanted them to have the land" that the Palestinians have lived on for thousands of years - and that's in spite of the fact they'd been crying over how brutally they themselves were treated during the Nazi holocaust.  But the reason they felt free to commit such an unjust atrocity is because they've convinced themselves that it's "God's will," he loves them more than he does the Palestinians - and it's all based on their religious myth that they are “God’s chosen people.”
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But while one would think that after the atrocities committed against the Jews by the Germans during WWII that they would demand and takeover a piece of Germany as their homeland, but obviously, in spite of their religious beliefs, they knew that their claim of being God's chosen people wouldn't fly with the White people of Germany, so with the able assistance of United States bigots, they chose an easier target. The entered into a long-term quid pro quo arrangement with the United States - Israel would gradually takeover the land in the area, and the United States will takeover the oil beneath the land, and all in the name of God. So the turmoil in the Middle East, and the deaths of poor and middle-class American troops, is just beginning in the area.
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So based on a religious myth, the Zionists are committing the exact same kind of genocide to the Palestinian people that the Nazis tried to commit against them, but in order that it wouldn’t be so obvious, instead of building concentration camps, they’ve turned Gaza into an open-air prison, and instead of using gas chambers to exterminate them, they’re allowing the Palestinians to slowly perish by depriving them of the necessities of life.  And the exact same kind of atrocities are being committed by religious fanatics all over the world. They're using the name of God to justify the very worst kind of murder, brutality, and mayhem against others.  But when looked at with a clear and unpolluted mind, it becomes clear that it doesn't make any kind of sense that a loving God would be a part of that.
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The very same thing is true of the Evangelicals here in the United States. Nearly 81 % of White Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, and that’s in spite of their claim to be following the teachings of Jesus Christ. The fact that Trump is a crook, a philanderer, and undoubtedly one of the most evil men walking the Earth doesn't seem to bother them a bit. The reason for that is ,their so-called religious beliefs are not based on God at all, they're based on self-service, greed, and mean-spiritedness.  Think about it, do you think Jesus would support an evil and corrupt lunatic like Trump for a minute, a man who referred to homeless immigrants as animals!!!? I don't think so. But the Evangelicals voted for him nevertheless, so he could "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN."
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Thus, all of the atrocities being committed in the name of God makes it abundantly clear that religion is evil, and it has absolutely nothing to do with God. Man merely uses the name of God as a justification for murder and greed. Consider  what "Make America Great Again" actually means. It means maintaining White supremacy by any means necessary.  Yet, many Black people have passionately embraced the very religious philosophy that makes that possible. You don't have to believe in walkin' dead men, talkin' snakes, or attend expensive spoken-word concerts every Sunday morning to prove you love God; all you have to do is live a good and loving life.  And just because a man likes to run his mouth and doesn't want to get a job doesn't mean he's been "anointed" by God; it means he's anointed himself - to rip you off.  So many Black preachers are using the techniques designed to oppress Black people to victimize their own people.

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So all of the atrocities being committed by man in the name of religion makes it crystal clear that religion is evil, and it has absolutely nothing to do with God - man merely uses the name of God as a justification for murder and greed.
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So once again, God has absolutely nothing to do with religion. Religion is the "word of man," not God. So anyone who chooses to believe in walking dead men and talking snakes over the common sense that was bestowed upon them by nature (or God), has chosen to give the word of man priority over God.  Evil men came up with all this nonsense to promote their own interests.  And again, that's why in spite of the fact that there's only one God, there are over 4,200 religions in the world, because every group comes up with their own version of God to support their particular interests. So which religion is the true religion?  Let me tell you - NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

THE NATURE OF GOD

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Considering man’s limited intellect, there's only so far man can go in trying to understand the concept of God. We don't even fully understand the laws of nature, much less God.  We don't understand the nature of time and space, relative proportion, or even how a subatomic particle can be in two places at once, yet, we know through science that it happens. So if we're so limited in our intellect that we can't wrap our heads around those simple concepts, how can we even hope to embrace the concept of God?
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For all we know, our entire universe may only be a speck of dust under the toenail of some gigantic being. So again, we're simply not equipped to deal with the concept of God. Thus, we're limited to using our logic to try to understand reality (or God), and my logic tells me that nothing that functions with the precision of our universe just happens haphazardly - that's God speaking to me through his medium, common sense and logic. But then, I run into people who think it’s chic and sophisticated to be atheists, and who jump up and down because I refuse to accept their “Everything came from nothing” fanaticism. Their thinking is just as ridiculous as Pat Robertson's.  Religious fanatics - which includes both atheists, and Christians, Muslims, and Jews - are different sides of the same coin.  Neither one of them know what the hell they're talking about. They’re just repeating what some other man has told them - and any man who blindly follows another man is a mindless, unthinking idiot, who instead of having a brain, their skull would be put to far better use as a grape juice container.
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Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR BLACK PEOPLE TO BECOME EFFICIENT THINKERS

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR BLACK PEOPLE TO BECOME EFFICIENT THINKERS
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I recently posted a photo to Facebook that I thought was adorable. It was a photo of two children preparing to attend a “Kindergarten Prom.” According to the response, most people had the same reaction to the photo that I did, but because the children were dressed like adults, a handful of people objected to it because they inserted their own sexual attitudes into the mix instead of viewing the event in context. They complained that the dress the little girl was wearing wasn't “age appropriate.”
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When I looked at this photo of these children with the little girl straightening the little boy’s tie it made my eyes moist, because it reminded me of how my late wife use to deal with me. She’d let me go out and swagger and strut around in my masculine bluster like I was the man, but when push came to shove, she was running our family - and that’s the way it is in most functional Black families.  My wife and I didn’t break down our responsibilities in terms of a man’s role, and a woman’s role, that’s a myth. The way we actually broke down our responsibilities was, she took control of those things that she was best at dealing with, and I took control of those issues that I was best in. 
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When it came to having something done to the house, for example. My wife would decided what needed to be done, and she would hire the contractor to do it.  She was in complete control.  But if later, the contractor decided to play games and decided he was gonna try to rip us off, that was when my area of expertise came into play, and she would say, “Wait a minute, let me have you speak to my husband,” and I’d handle the situation.
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So when I saw this photo of this little girl straightening the little boy’s tie, with him standing there in complete compliance, yeah, it made my eyes moist, because it reminded me of my own life.  My wife would say, “Eric, come here and be still. You ain’t going out in the public with me looking any kind of way.” And then she would do whatever she had to do to make me look presentable, and I remember my grandmother dressing my grandfather for church every Sunday morning in the same way, just like he was a child.  So even though in public I would act like I was the man, and runnin' things, in private, I would follow my wife's  instructions and shut up and be still, because that was her area of expertise.  My grandfather was the same way. That's where I probably learned it. He had the key to a stable life. He used to tell me, "All I want from this whole damn nation, is a pretty little wife and a good foundation."  I learned that from him as a child, and later, it colored my life as a husband and father.
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That’s the way a functional family actually operates, and I saw that in these two kids. When I saw that young boy standing there in complete compliance, it became clear to me that they were already learning what makes a successful family work efficiently, and that’s exactly what makes the kind of activities they were engaged in so valuable to our culture. 
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Chances are, if these parents continue raising these kids with the excellence that they obviously are, later in life, you won't see this young man runnin' around with his pants saggin' callin' Black women "bitches" and "hoes." He's gonna get married and raise a functional family, and that's exactly what we need in the Black community. But many people are missing that, because they're focused on the negative connotations that THEY'RE CORRUPTED MINDS are placing on a little girl's dress.

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Now, these critics all seemed like wonderful and well-meaning people, but they completely failed to recognize that the entire point of the event was to give these children the chance to play adult for a day, and to give the parents the joy of seeing what their babies will look like when they actually do become adults - after all, some of those parents won’t live to see that in reality. So the people who are complaining are failing to recognize the positive benefits of parents and children bonding to enjoy a mutually pleasurable activity together - perhaps because many of them have never had that in their own lives. So if all they've ever known in life is ugliness and dysfunction, instead of recognizing the value of such moments, naturally it has caused them to get all worked up over children dressing up like adults.
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But that's their issue, and it has absolutely nothing to do with these families who have come together in a very innocent and fun-filled way that the children and parents will undoubtedly remember for the rest of their lives.  After all, we can't allow the dysfunctional views of a few to undermine the joy and growth of others. That's the kind of twisted thinking that causes our children to be shot down in the street for smiling while Black.
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My educational background is in psychology, and psychologists would say that the event that these families were engaged in was an excellent example of parents bonding with their children, and parental bonding is one of the healthiest activities that a parent can engage in with their child. But instead of recognizing that fact, these people are preoccupied with the kids dressing up like adults on a one-time basis as a part of that bonding.
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That's completely superficial, parochial, and ridiculous thinking. It reminds me of the antiquated thinking of some of the old folks who used to refuse to allow their kids to attend events because they played "THE BLUES" (or Black music) at the event, but they had absolutely no problem with letting their children attend a hootenanny (with White, country music) because they considered it just kids having innocent fun. I remember the frustration of that, because I play saxophone, and I remember how my very God-fearing grandmother used to tell me, "Don't be playin' that blues in my house." Those old folks failed to recognized that their attitudes were simply anti-Black.
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WHITE FOLKS KNOW THIS IS JUST A COSTUME
AND DON'T SEXUALLY OBJECTIFY THIS CHILD,

UNLESS IT'S ROY MOORE.

While these people may not see the correlation between these two issues, it's the same mindset. Just as the old folks, failed to see the negative attitudes toward their own Black culture that had been indoctrinated into them, these people don't the psychological dysfunction that has been inbred into them. And just as my grandmother failed to see that while learning to play the saxophone I was also learning valuable lessons about our culture, these people are failing to take into account that when these parents invested the time, money, and effort to bond with their children, they were making an investment that would reap huge benefits in the future. The people who complained never stopped to consider that. Instead, they inserted the ugliness of their own sexually dysfunctional attitudes into mix. If they tried to explain their objections to that little girl, she wouldn’t have had any idea what they were talking about.
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So just like the old folks in the past associated innocent fun with “the evils” of Black music, these people are associating HEALTHY parent-child bonding, and the fact that the kids were having the time of their lives playing “dress-up,” with their OWN dysfunctional sexual attitudes. That's inefficient thinking.  It’s the exact same kind of thinking that mindless bigots engage in when they associate Black skin with the completely false and negative images that they've conjured up in their minds about Black people.
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Thus, these complainers aren't thinking, they're reacting to an emotional response, and that's not good. It’s very important that Black people learn to think efficiently, because God made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to think. The ability to think is what separates man from all other beasts - and yes, we’re just another species of animal. The ability to think is what makes humans most human.  But according to their flawed logic, “Wearing a "sexy" dress is whorish, and that little girl is wearing a sexy dress; therefore, the little girl is being whorish.” Or in other words, “All dogs have teeth, and my cat has teeth; therefore, my cat is a dog.” 
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Epistemologist (scientist who study efficient thought) would tell them that their thinking is horribly flawed. They're engaged in what's called "making unwarranted assumptions." Just because dogs have teeth and a cat has teeth, doesn’t mean that a cat is a dog. Similarly, just because a child playing “make-believe” is wearing a dress that for some reason the critics associate IN THEIR MINDS with sexuality, doesn’t mean that child is being sexual in any way. They have to take other factors into account, like the reason she’s wearing that dress. Just because Shirley Temple wore a military uniform in the movies, that didn’t make her a soldier.
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Black people have got to start understanding the importance of efficient thinking. We weren’t forced into slavery because the White man could beat us up; we were forced into slavery because the White man had a knowledge of gunpowder and we didn’t. So in order to liberate ourselves we’re going to have to arm ourselves with the ability to think, and use knowledge as our weapon of choice. We can’t out-scream the White man, because he controls the media, and we can’t out-fight him, because we’re only 13.3% of the population, and he controls both the police, and the military. So the only way that we’re ever going to liberate ourselves is through the use of our minds, which means learning to become efficient thinkers. That entails being guided by our intellect, instead of our emotions. But the response of those who complained about the little girl wearing an adult “costume” was not being guided by their intellect, they're being guided by knee-jerk emotionalism. They've failed to use their intellect to take context into account. If the little girl wore that dress to a birthday party, yes, it would be inappropriate. But in the context in which she was wearing it, it was perfectly appropriate, and even adorable.
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So the bottom line is, as long as we allow ourselves to be guided by our emotions rather than clear and logical thinking, we’ll be easy targets for manipulation.  In addition, it will always prevent us from uniting as a people, because our emotions will always get in the way. So it is very important to make ignorance a fading part of Black history. 
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Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

AN OPEN LETTER TO ACTING PRESIDENT TRUMP

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

AN OPEN LETTER TO ACTING PRESIDENT TRUMP

Dear Mr. Trump,
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While you’ve made it clear over the past several months that you’re petty, ignorant, and insanely jealous of former President Barack Obama, how could you possibly be so incredibly stupid as to pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement!!!?  In just days you’re suppose to meet with the North Koreans to try to negotiate the exact same kind of agreement, yet in spite of opposition from all of our allies, and the U.N. Security Council, you announced with great fanfare that you were dishonoring the agreement with Iran. Now, tell me, Donald, what incentive do the North Koreans have for seriously entering into an agreement with a man, or a nation, who so casually demonstrated to the world that neither he, nor his nation, have any compunction against dishonoring such agreements? That’s got to be one of the dumbest acts in diplomatic history, but you never stopped to even consider that, because you govern by whim rather than intelligence.
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But of course, there's always the possibility that the North Koreans may have read you - just like every other country in the world - and have come to the conclusion that you'd sign almost anything that you could go back and wave in Obama's face, even if it includes washing Kim Jong Un's draws (sic) once a week.  That's something that should be of great concern to the American people, because as we all know, with you, everything in life is about what's in the best interest of "The Donald."
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At this point America, and the world, fully understand that you’re far less than an intellectual giant, but with this latest act you seem to have plunged the very depths of profound stupidity.  That’s the problem with you, Donald. You don’t think before you act, and you never stop to consider the possible impact that your actions may have on pending circumstances or to others around you. All you think about is catering to your own selfish whims, and when you combine that with your incredible narcissism, ignorance, and immaturity, that makes you a very dangerous man.
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In the past President Obama has had the good sense and maturity to simply ignore your childish taunting and stupidity, but in this case he found it important enough to the American people to speak out. So please take the time to read the rationale of a REAL President:
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"There are few issues more important to the security of the United States than the potential spread of nuclear weapons, or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. That’s why the United States negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the first place.
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"The reality is clear. The JCPOA is working – that is a view shared by our European allies, independent experts, and the current U.S. Secretary of Defense. The JCPOA is in America’s interest – it has significantly rolled back Iran’s nuclear program. And the JCPOA is a model for what diplomacy can accomplish – its inspections and verification regime is precisely what the United States should be working to put in place with North Korea. Indeed, at a time when we are all rooting for diplomacy with North Korea to succeed, walking away from the JCPOA risks losing a deal that accomplishes – with Iran – the very outcome that we are pursuing with the North Koreans.
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"That is why today’s announcement is so misguided. Walking away from the JCPOA turns our back on America’s closest allies, and an agreement that our country’s leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals negotiated. In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities from one Administration to the next. But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility, and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers.
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"Debates in our country should be informed by facts, especially debates that have proven to be divisive. So it’s important to review several facts about the JCPOA.
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"First, the JCPOA was not just an agreement between my Administration and the Iranian government. After years of building an international coalition that could impose crippling sanctions on Iran, we reached the JCPOA together with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia, China, and Iran. It is a multilateral arms control deal, unanimously endorsed by a United Nations Security Council Resolution.
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"Second, the JCPOA has worked in rolling back Iran’s nuclear program. For decades, Iran had steadily advanced its nuclear program, approaching the point where they could rapidly produce enough fissile material to build a bomb. The JCPOA put a lid on that breakout capacity. Since the JCPOA was implemented, Iran has destroyed the core of a reactor that could have produced weapons-grade plutonium; removed two-thirds of its centrifuges (over 13,000) and placed them under international monitoring; and eliminated 97 percent of its stockpile of enriched uranium – the raw materials necessary for a bomb. So by any measure, the JCPOA has imposed strict limitations on Iran’s nuclear program and achieved real results.
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"Third, the JCPOA does not rely on trust – it is rooted in the most far-reaching inspections and verification regime ever negotiated in an arms control deal. Iran’s nuclear facilities are strictly monitored. International monitors also have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain, so that we can catch them if they cheat. Without the JCPOA, this monitoring and inspections regime would go away.
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"Fourth, Iran is complying with the JCPOA. That was not simply the view of my Administration. The United States intelligence community has continued to find that Iran is meeting its responsibilities under the deal, and has reported as much to Congress. So have our closest allies, and the international agency responsible for verifying Iranian compliance – the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
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"Fifth, the JCPOA does not expire. The prohibition on Iran ever obtaining a nuclear weapon is permanent. Some of the most important and intrusive inspections codified by the JCPOA are permanent. Even as some of the provisions in the JCPOA do become less strict with time, this won’t happen until ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years into the deal, so there is little reason to put those restrictions at risk today.
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"Finally, the JCPOA was never intended to solve all of our problems with Iran. We were clear-eyed that Iran engages in destabilizing behavior – including support for terrorism, and threats toward Israel and its neighbors. But that’s precisely why it was so important that we prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Every aspect of Iranian behavior that is troubling is far more dangerous if their nuclear program is unconstrained. Our ability to confront Iran’s destabilizing behavior – and to sustain a unity of purpose with our allies – is strengthened with the JCPOA, and weakened without it.
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"Because of these facts, I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake. Without the JCPOA, the United States could eventually be left with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East. We all know the dangers of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. It could embolden an already dangerous regime; threaten our friends with destruction; pose unacceptable dangers to America’s own security; and trigger an arms race in the world’s most dangerous region. If the constraints on Iran’s nuclear program under the JCPOA are lost, we could be hastening the day when we are faced with the choice between living with that threat, or going to war to prevent it.
.
"In a dangerous world, America must be able to rely in part on strong, principled diplomacy to secure our country. We have been safer in the years since we achieved the JCPOA, thanks in part to the work of our diplomats, many members of Congress, and our allies. Going forward, I hope that Americans continue to speak out in support of the kind of strong, principled, fact-based, and unifying leadership that can best secure our country and uphold our responsibilities around the globe."
.
In addition, one of America’s closest allies, President  Emmanuel  Macron of France - a man you were just holding hands with a few days ago - said the following:
.
If Trump decides to leave the nuclear deal with Iran, “That would mean opening Pandora’s box, it could mean war.” He then goes on to say, “My view – I don’t know what your president will decide – is that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons.” The key words in that statement is, “for domestic reasons.” So what he’s telling us is, if you place the world at risk by pulling out of the agreement with Iran, it won't have anything to do with the agreement itself, but in order to create a distraction from your problems here at home, and I completely agree.
.
Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is rapidly closing in on you, and you know it, so you’ve been trying every tactic under the Sun to head off your day of reckoning. So it's become clear that you’re so recklessly self-serving that you’re fully prepared to bring the entire world to the brink of WWIII just to save your own mindless ass.  You don't care about America, or the world; all you care about is Donald Trump, and that's a horrible trait in anyone who's suppose to be a leader.
.
You’re not fooling anyone, Donald, other than a handful of clueless bigots who share your ignorance and mindless bigotry.  Every since you’ve been in office your character, or lack thereof, has been on full display. So it’s clear that there’s also another reason you pulled out of the Iran agreement - because it was negotiated by President Obama. For that reason you've ignored the objections of all of America’s allies, and you’re the only one who saw fit to pull out the Iran agreement, in spite of the fact that, considering your grade-school grasp of public policy, you’re undoubtedly the only one of all of our allies who doesn't understand the history of the agreement, the delicate balances that it was negotiated to maintain, or the possible consequences of the action that you’ve just taken.
.
So it seems to be clear to everybody but you that you don't understand the important nuances of the agreement that you've just walked away from. All the other leaders of the world know that you wouldn't be able to explain that agreement if Putin offered to build a Trump Tower in Red Square - and for free. You simply don't have the brain-power.  All you know is it was an Obama accomplishment, and you don't like that.  So again, due to your pettiness, and unjustifiably bloated ego, you’re willing to place every man, woman, and child on the planet in imminent danger of extinction just to try to undercut Obama's legacy, which you'll never be able to do.  So just this reckless pettiness alone, makes you without a doubt, the most severely flawed individual who's ever even visited the White House.
.
That makes the way you’re always trying to compare yourself to Barack Obama a joke - I know, it's hard for a person like you to admit to being inferior to a Black man, but reality is what it is. So in spite of your desperate craving to be loved and respected by the people, if this nation is fortunate enough to survive your tenure in the White House, you’re only going to be remembered as an ugly smudge on American history. But based on how you constantly strut around bragging about what a spectacular campaign you ran to win the presidency (even to the BOY SCOUTS!!!), and the childish delusion you nurtured about having had the largest inaugural in American history, you obviously see being elected President as the ultimate feather in your cap. But here's a dose of reality, donald: Wake up!  You're no president, and you didn’t win the presidency, Hillary Clinton lost it. You just happened to be the last guy standing in the wings.
.
So stop deluding yourself. While you have the title, you're not really considered a President by the vast majority of the American people.  Every time you're introduced as "President of the United States," it's done with a wink.  Even your own staff is disgusted by your gross incompetence - that's why the White House leaks like a sieve, and even as we speak, the rest of the government is trying desperately to work around you in order to help America to survive until we can manage to get rid of you. Just take a moment and look at a photo of your own wife when she can't avoid having to stand next to you. She looks like she can barely hold her lunch. That alone should tell you something. They all know that you're an unqualified incompetent who's merely keeping the seat warm until we can elect a real President.  So, Donald, you're essentially, an acting President.
.
And that's not just the opinion of the American people, but the world. Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan, says the following about how the world now sees America under your tenure:
.
"Of 17 nations for which Pew Research Center has numbers for both 2016 and 2017, only three—Greece, Hungary, and Nigeria—saw a popular uptick for America. All the others were down, some dramatically: Australia (60 to 48), Canada (65 to 43), France (63 to 46), Germany (57 to 35), India (56 to 49), Italy (72 to 61), Japan (72 to 57), Kenya (63 to 54), Netherlands (65 to 37), Poland (74 to 73), South Africa (60 to 53), Spain (59 to 31), Sweden (69 to 45), and United Kingdom (61 to 50)." Thus, in short, in the eyes of the world, you're a disaster.
.
You're also fond of talking about how much you love our troops, but is it reciprocal? Dr. Daniel Barkhuff, former navy seal and president of Veterans For Responsible Leadership, and  William Burke general counsel for VFRL, and both 2001 graduates of the United States Naval Academy spoke of you in an article for the Baltimore Sun.  They said,
“The sitting president [Trump]. . .  makes small choices guided by self-interest, ego, impulse and immediate self-gratification. He could never do what we ask our U.S. Naval Academy graduates to do. He is a physical coward, a liar and no leader at all."
.
And with regard to a military parade, Retired Major General Paul Eaton penned what some have referred to as a "jaw-dropping" response. The general said the following:
.

MAJOR GENERAL PAUL EATON

“Donald Trump has continually shown himself to have authoritarian tendencies, and this is just another example, For someone who just declared it was ‘treasonous’ to not applaud him, and for someone who has, in the past, admired the tactics of everyone from Saddam Hussein to Vladimir Putin, it is clear that a military parade isn’t about saluting the military — it’s about making a display of the military saluting him.
.
“The military is not Donald Trump’s to use and abuse in this way.” The retired major general went on to say that the military would not be “reduced to stagecraft to prop up Donald Trump’s image.
.
“Unfortunately, we do not have a commander in chief, right now, as much as we have a banana republic strong man.” 

.
So the fact is, Donald, your being awarded the presidency was the worst thing that could have ever happened to you. If you had never become president you might have been able to leave this world with the admiration and respect of a handful of people due to your wealth, but now that your incredible ignorance has been put on display for the entire world to see, you’re going to be looked upon throughout the coming history of humanity as the biggest international joke that the United States has ever produced - a carnival barker who stumbled upon an office that's far beyond your ability to handle. So this whole presidency thing has backfired on you severely.  It started out as just an ego-feeding publicity stunt that you didn't intend to actually win, but now that you have, all of your phony facade is coming out, including your ignorance and incompetence. So now you have to either shit or get off the pot, and since you're not qualified to shit, and Special Counsel Mueller is dragging out your gross criminality, you're in big trouble. 
.
So please stop making a fool of yourself by struttin' around and trying to take yourself so seriously, because we, the American people, don't take you seriously at all. We see you as the most dangerous threat to our democracy since the Civil War, and a looming threat to the existence of mankind as a whole.  President Obama sized you up perfectly long before you entered office.  Notice how even the people at your own table were straining to keep from laughing . . . .

.

AND, DONALD,

EVEN AS BARACK TOOK THE TIME TO DRAG YOU THROUGH THE MUD,

THIS WAS THE VERY NIGHT THAT HE GOT OSAMA BIN LADEN.

YET, UNLIKE YOU, INSTEAD OF GLORIFYING HIMSELF,

HE DIDN'T SAY A WORD ABOUT IT.

*****************
UPDATE - 6/13/18

.

WHAT DID I TELL YOU?

.TRUMP’S PUBLIC MASTURBATION
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Trump’s constant self-glorification is about to make me puke. Now he's running around bragging that his Korean Summit has made the world safe again. That so-called “SUMMIT” was nothing but a glorified photo op between two egomaniacs - but at least Kim Jong Un is a smart egomaniac. Kim got everything he wanted - international recognition and the promise to bring South Korean war games to an end.  But America didn’t get a damn thing. The only thing Kim Jong Un gave up was the promise to talk later. We could have gotten that over the phone and saved the gas money. When will Trump realize that no one takes him seriously and he’s making a goddamn fool of himself!!!? I don’t think he ever will, and that’s a sign of mental illness.
.
RUSSIANS SAY KIM JONG UN OUT-MANEUVERED DONALD “MASTER-NEGOTIATOR” TRUMP
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They said, Trump's "exaggerated self-belief in his powers of negotiation" puts the US president "at risk of manipulation by his negotiating partners."
      .
https://twitter.com/i/status/1006808379053010944
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North Korea Says It Won Major Concessions From Trump in Singapore
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/world/asia/trump-kim-summit-north-korea.html

Eric L. Wattree

wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

THE HOOD RAT

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

THE HOOD RAT

.

Baby,
I’m sure you know that I love you.
You’re everything I need.
You fit the bill of all my desires,
a perfect match for all of my dreams.
From the moment I first laid eyes on you,
You were everything I craved -
that luscious vision from across the tracks,
that delicate flower, beyond my blade.
*
But what you ask is foreign to me.
You need something that I’m not.
You said, just tweak my nature a little bit,
and you’ll give everything you’ve got.
*
But that "tweak" you need is who I am -
it’s my essence, can’t you see?
How can you speak of loving my soul, but
not the hood rat that is me?
*
While "hood rat" may seem trite to you,
it’s the essence of my being.
So forget about what all the other’s say,
here’s what it means to me:
*
I’ve been brutally dragged through the pits of hell,
yet, managed to survive,
well educated and fully functional,
when I came out the other side.
I scrounged the lessons taught at Harvard,
because knowledge, I found, was free.
But they’ll never obtain the lessons I’ve learned,
or the knowledge that makes me, me.
*
While the "elite" may have heard a mournful Trane,
or Miles muted in the night,
not in the context of hunger and pain,
or hopelessness, hatred, and blight.
*
So while I've lived the life of a hood rat,
I’ve reaped a knowledge that money can't buy;
a knowledge passed on to my son and daughter,
which has greatly enhanced their lives.
*
Thus, I wouldn't change a single thing in my life -
I’ve faced Hell and passed the test.
I have a PhD in adversity,
that's made me much more,
rather than less.
*
So unlike the people at Harvard and Yale, who
try to buy intellectual clout,
they only study the genius of Miles and Trane,
while I'm who they’re blowin' about.
*
So when snobs try to slur me as "just a hood rat,"
I say, "thank you," and don’t take offense.
I take great pride in surviving the travails in my life,
That’s what gives me my confidence.
*
The Ivy League degrees of those of means
are only paper compared to mine;
while they have a "receipt" for knowledge obtained,
my lessons are ETCHED within my mind.
*
I can teach philosophy to Aristotle
with the adversity that I’ve endured,
so any snob who tries to match my wit,
will come up short, and that’s for sure.
*
Snobs walk about quoting Socrates and such,
through their "education" they are prone;
but while they’re spewing the thoughts of various dead men,
I spend my time developing my own.
*
Never give the thoughts of ANY man
priority over our own;
You must collect the facts, and think for yourself,
that’s where Harvard and Yale has gone wrong.
*
Preacher, politician, potentate,
whatever their point of view,
God didn't bless them with any knowledge
that he failed to bestow on you.
*
So being seen as a hood rat has its advantages
against racists of limited wit;
I simply quietly wait for their condescension,
then show ‘em that they ain’t shit.
*
While God made birds to fly and fish to swim,
he gave man thought and that's the key.
So any man who thinks he's superior
will have to PROVE his wit to me.
*
Thus, knowledge is the key to set us free,
no matter what the people say,
and there’s nothing more formidable than
a knowledgeable hood rat, and
that’s what you’re looking upon today.
*
Yet, these are the things you want me to purge,
and spurn the life I’ve led,
but I’m sorry, my love,
as much as I love you,
the soul of a hood rat is my edge.

*

Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

REPUBLICAN PREDICTABILITY: DECEMBER 22, 2015

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

REPUBLICAN PREDICTABILITY: DECEMBER 22, 2015
.

DONALD TRUMP IS A BAD JOKE, BUT HE SERVES A USEFUL PURPOSE - HE REVEALS HOW CONSERVATIVES REALLY THINK
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Donald Trump is an ignorant, mean-spirited, xenophobic, and self-serving racist who's willing to tell any lie he can conjure up to promote his own interest. That makes him the quintessential Republican, and that's exactly why he's leading the Republican polls. 

.
So the Trump phenomenon says it all.  While the GOP establishment claims to be distancing themselves from him - and they are - it's not because they disagree with what he's saying, it's because he's either too dumb, or too self-serving, to realize he's not suppose to be saying it out loud.  The Republican establishment has been saying the exact same things for years, but in code and with a wink.  So if America is perceptive, this Trump episode should bring down the Republican Party for decades, or at least get them out the way long enough for the country to get back on it's feet, because while they're constantly giving lip-service to wanting to help the average American, an unequivocal historic record clearly demonstrates that has never been the case, and not only that, it has never even been a part of the GOP's agenda.
.
So it's time for America to come clean.  Do we really want the kind of America that we're always bragging (or lying) about and profess to believe in, or do we actually want a fascist nation that subjugates and demonizes minorities, and supports a Gestapo that kills innocent Black children on the street with impunity?  For those rabid conservatives who feel that they could live with the latter, they should think long and hard, because as your current living conditions suggest, this time it's not about simply establishing an Aryan nation, it's about establishing a corporate feudalist oligarchy where you and your family are just as meaningless as any minority.  Think about it - did they just send Black jobs out of the country?  I don't think so.
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The reason for that is, many fiscal conservatives are not just racist, they're also class bigots. One of the founding fathers of conservative thought was Alexander Hamilton. He was an aristocrat who advocated that poor and middle-class Americans should be relegated to second-class citizenship, and the GOP has fully embraced his agenda. Hamilton said the following:
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“All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and wellborn, the other the mass of the people.... The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in government. They will check the unsteadiness of the second, and as they cannot receive any advantage by a change, they therefore will ever maintain good government.”
Debates of the Federalist Convention (May 14-September 17, 1787).
.
While Hamilton’s position was resoundingly rejected by the vast majority of the founding fathers - whose primary reason for coming to America in the first place was to get away from the European class system - there were many of Hamilton’s ilk who chose not to recognize the American ideal that “All men [and women] are created equal.” Then they were later joined by Southern Dixiecrats, or social bigots, who also rejected the ideal of human equality. 
.

These are the people who currently run the modern day GOP - corporatists and their army of social bigots, who tend to believe that America belongs to them, and the rest of us are simply tolerated due to their “good will and Christian charity.” This is the primary reason that the Republican party’s platform is fiercely hostile to education (‘elitism’), labor unions ('socialism'), and ‘big government (or anything capable of curbing their excesses - bigotry, and their right to poison our food, environment, etc.). That’s also why they’re such strong advocates of state’s rights, so they can have an entity small enough to corrupt and allow them to engage in such practices. 

 .
In an article that I wrote several years ago,  The Republican Agenda: Keep America Ignorant and Miserable, at any Cost , I point out the following:

.

The Republican Party is a coalition of three separate constituencies with confluent interests. The first group is made up of traditional conservatives. These are highly patriotic Americans who believe in limited government, the primacy of the people over government, and fiscal responsibility. But the other two groups that have coalesced within the GOP are much more malevolent – international business interests, and social bigots.
.
It is the former of these two, international business, that controls the GOP. It’s made up of highly educated individuals with huge resources and plenty of clout – and they use every bit of their resources and clout to manipulate what has become their citizen army – the social bigots. The social bigots are the people we see armed to the teeth at presidential speeches, disrupting townhall meetings, and fighting against their own interests. In short, these are the Joe the Plumbers of the world.
.

While the traditional conservatives are legitimately concerned about the direction of the country and assuring that the nation remains fiscally sound, big business could care less about the condition of the American people, because for the most part, they’ve become international in scope. That should be clear to anyone with eyeballs, considering how they first, created an economic crisis in this country, then used the very crisis that they created to gouge the American people.
.
So all big business is concerned about is making money at our expense, and more often than not, to our detriment. These are the very same people who have gouged America dry, given themselves huge bonuses, then rented post office boxes in other countries to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

And if that isn’t bad enough, these corporations then used the very money that they avoided in taxes to buy politicians, who are suppose to be representing us, to feather their nest even further. They also use the incredible wealth that they’ve managed to maintain, again, thanks to our tax dollars, to clog our airwaves with propaganda in order to incite every under-educated social bigot within earshot to near insurrection. They use these people to distract us from examining the true issues, that would serve to protect us from their greed.
.

And the social bigots are easy targets – not only because they have less than a tenuous grasp on reality, but in many cases, they’re willing stooges. These are not true victims. Due to their bigotry – and I don’t mean simply racial bigotry, but bigotry against anyone who doesn’t happen to share their beliefs – and anger over losing the last election, they’re willing to accept any manner of nonsense disseminated about the government, and President Obama in particular. Due to that blind anger they’re perfectly willing to not only accept the most blatant nonsense, but they’re also willing to cut their own throats, and that of their families, if it means striking a blow in the name of hatred.
.
So there you have it. The Republican Party - or maybe I should say, the Donald Trump Party - is poised to bring America completely down to its knees. They know the demographics in this country are changing, and not in their favor. So should they win the 2016 election, America will never be the same, because the Corporate/GOP Alliance can't afford to ever give up power again. 

.

Retired Army General said He’s Willing to Mount A Military Assault on the White House and Congress.

.

Retired army general, and FOX News analyst, Paul Vallely, is quoted as telling the Arizona Tea Party Patriots, "I had a call this afternoon from Idaho. The gentleman said, ‘If I give you 250,000 Marines to go to Washington, will you lead them?’" Vallely said as the group laughed and gasped. "I said, ‘Yes, I will, I’ll surround the White House and I’ll surround the Capitol building, but it’s going to take physical presence to do things." 
.
That’s chilling, and it's just as chilling that the remark isn’t front page news and this retired general is walking around free.  While I'm no conspiracy nut, I think I'm on firm ground in suggesting that the situation boggles the mind, and that serious considerations must be taking place that the public isn't privy to that's preventing the government from taking action against such people.
.
So these people are dangerous - and yes, it can happen here.

.

Eric L. Wattree 
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA) 

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.