ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE - AND BEING BROKE

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE - AND BEING BROKE
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One Black woman told me, "Barack Obama didn’t do anything for us because he didn’t give us jobs or provide housing." That woman wasn’t out of a job because of what Barack Obama failed to do, she’s out of a job because of what SHE’S failing to do.

Barack Obama has done Black people proud, and any Black person who doesn’t see that is a fool who’s sitting around waiting for someone to come bring them a gift basket.  Nobody’s gonna do that, so you might as well wake up and realize that Santa Claus is a myth.  A good president is one who creates the conditions for you to help yourself.  So the days of waking up and looking under a Christmas tree for your happiness ended when we were kids. So you're going to have to  get up off your ass and learn to do something that people will be willing to pay for, and create your own goddamn jobs.
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Black people have proven that we're a brilliant and creative people, and the very same creativity that went into creating Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, and Marvin Gaye can also be directed toward every other area of knowledge if we'd just take the time to pursue it. I went into business doing legal research and writing legal briefs for attorneys for an upfront payment and a third of their legal fees - I learned to do that fighting my own cases when I was a teenager growing up on the street and I got pretty good at it, I had to if I wanted to stay out of jail. That serves as an example of how the adversity of the Black experience has made us MORE, rather than less. 
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As a result of the knowledge that I picked up on the street just trying to survive, it allowed practicing attorneys to sit on their asses and let me win their cases for them before they even stepped foot in court.  I only lost one case in 20 years, and I never even passed by a law school. The knowledge that I picked up on the street just trying to survive allowed my son and daughter to never have to want for anything in their entire lives. A case would come in and I’d go out and buy a motor home or an Escalade - cash.  But after my kids went out on their own and my wife passed, I gave that up and began to just try to enjoy what’s left of my life.  But here it is over 10 years later, and lawyers are STILL ringing my phone off the hook today - some even call me for legal advice!!! 
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The following is an example of the kind of common sense that Black people consider routine and don't realize everybody doesn't have:  The United States Supreme Court and legal scholars all over this country are debating whether or not Trump has the power to pardon himself. The answer should be clear to anyone with common sense, but they’re just looking in the wrong place. These so-called "legal scholars" keep looking at Article II Section 2 of the Constitution which says, "The president “shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." First, when it says, "except in cases of impeachment," it means except when it involves himself. And they also overlook another part of the Constitution that overrides even that - the Presidential Oath of Office.  Article VI, Clause 3, of the Constitution requires the President to "be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution."  And the Presidential Oath of Office says the following:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will FAITHFULLY execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, PRESERVE, PROTECT, and DEFEND the Constitution of the United States."
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So no, Trump cannot pardon himself or any member of his extended crime family, because the case involves himself and it's a possible cause for impeachment. It's also a direct violation of the Presidential Oath of Office. He cannot pardon crimes in pursuit of self-service because it violates his oath of office in which he swore to “FAITHFULLY, PRESERVE, PROTECT, AND DEFEND” THE CONSTITUTION."  In addition, his successor cannot come in and pardon him later for the very same reason - he'd be failing to “FAITHFULLY, PRESERVE, PROTECT, AND DEFEND” THE CONSTITUTION as well."  Having a President, or his successor, pardon either himself, or his fellow conspirators doesn't protect the Constitution, it corrupts it.
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So for a president to attempt to pardon either himself, or his fellow conspirators in order to protect himself, is a direct violation of his Oath of Office, and thus, illegal.  It's clear and simple, and anyone who can't see that is either dumb, or they don't want to see it. 
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So I defy ANY legal scholar in America to challenge me on this issue. This simple-minded debate clearly demonstrates just how clueless many of the people we except as "EXPERTS" really are. So we should never be blinded by titles and credentials. That's how we get played. Sharpen your own mind, and then NEVER give anyone else's ability to think priority over your own. And when the need arises for you to assess others, never base your assessment on their titles or credentials. Always base your assessment on their ability to think - period.
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Many of these so-call “scholars,” including Cornel West (I had to mention him) are simply ignorant little men with a receipt from Harvard and a big sign on their door. Yes, they can regurgitate the words of the thinkers of the past, but more often than not, they can’t think for themselves.  We must always remember that Socrates, who's universally accepted as the father of modern thought, was not a scholar, he was a stonemason. If it were not for his proteges, people like Plato and Xenophon, who listened to him hold court on the block, we wouldn’t even know who he was.  So be like Socrates and never underestimate your own intelligence, and since knowledge is free, you don’t have to depend on the White men at Harvard, Princeton or Yale to give it to you. Congress is full of Harvard graduates and people with titles, but it’s the most dysfunctional assemblage of self-absorbed idiots and fools in America - and at this point, it's not even necessary to describe the gross level of ignorance and incompetence that currently disgraces the White House.
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So don't just sit on your ass and wait around for the White man to BRING you a job. Knowledge is not only power, but it’s free. You don’t have to go to Harvard to obtain the knowledge to survive any more than John Coltrane had to go to Juilliard to obtain his musical genius. The adversity that the Black man has had to face has made him more, rather than less. We assume that these so-call scholars and "intellectuals" have some deep and arcane knowledge that we're not privy to, but that's not true. They're simply little men who pass out awards and certificates to one another and give each other big signs to put on their doors.
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Thus, the biggest problem we have in the Black community has absolutely nothing to do with our lack of intellect or ability, it’s based on the fact that we’ve allowed ourselves to be brainwashed into UNDERVALUING our intellect. We're buying into the brainwashing that others have a special kind of intellect that we don't possess, but that's pure, unadulterated bullshit.
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When the White man tells us that we can’t think because HE didn’t give us a receipt from Harvard or Yale certifying that we can think, far too often, we believed him. That’s how he controls the quality of our lives, and our destiny.  In contrast, Jews are taught from birth that they are God's chosen people. That's why they excel, because you ARE what you think.  A White boy told me just yesterday that "You need to get over yourself." I told him in response, "No, I'm not gonna get over myself, because if I don't love and respect myself, who is? And beyond that, I take great pride in having the ability to make you feel just like you're feeling right now - inferior." That's also why bigots hate Barack Obama so intensely, he makes them feel inferior to a Black man, and to some White folks, that's worse than death.
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So as Black people, we need to turn off BET and start educating ourselves. Once we do that the White man will be begging us to take his money in return for our knowledge and creativity.  Black creativity is a very valuable asset.  So if you're broke, that's not Obama's fault, it's your fault, because you're wasting all of your time sitting around learning rap lyrics instead of getting up off your ass and learning to do something that people will be willing to pay you for. A job is not a gift. Applying for a job is about placing your expertise up for sale. So if you can't do nothing, you can't expect to get paid.
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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.

TRUMP REPRESENTS A HOT SKILLET

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

TRUMP REPRESENTS A HOT SKILLET
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We’re suffering with Donald Trump for a reason. We're going through this because far too many people were much too willing to just follow the lead of the string-pullers. The DNC told those people to vote for Hillary Clinton or else, and that's just what they did - at least, some of them. If Hillary had won, what would stop them from doing that very same thing in the next election, and the one after that? So instead of pointing the finger at each other, we should just stop for a minute and think about the consequences of blindly allowing others to manipulate our vote. We learn by being burnt, and Trump simply represents a hot skillet, the very same kind of hot skillet that taught me to never vote for a Clinton again.
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I wrote an article discussing the need for Black people to become efficient thinkers in order to move forward. That article applies perfectly here. In fact, I wish I had this discussion as a example when I wrote it. I understand the frustration of many people, but it's misdirected. We've all been played by the DNC, but the first reaction of many is to blame their own people, and to start calling each other names because many refused to vote for the preferred bigot. But the anger of those frustrated over Trump should rightly be directed toward the DNC who used corruption and deceit to force them to have to choose between two bigots in the first place. The DNC made Trump a virtual shoo-in by shoving Hillary down our throats. Too many people saw through Hillary, and they hated what they saw. So it was foolish to even expect to win when even the polls were telling them that the rules have been bent to run the most flawed Democratic candidate since the Civil War. So instead of going online and ranting about their own people, the appropriate thing to do was to direct their anger at the DNC. If the DNC got a few million letters like the one below it would cause them to think long and hard before they tried to manipulate us again.

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HILLARY CLINTON’S CORRUPTION, AND DESTRUCTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
(ACCORDING TO DONNA BRAZILE, CHAIRMAN OF DNC)

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1). “As Hillary’s campaign gained momentum, she resolved the party’s debt and put it on a starvation diet. It had become dependent on her campaign for survival, for which she expected to wield control of its operations.”

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2). “Gary Gensler, the chief financial officer of Hillary’s campaign, described the party as fully under the control of Hillary’s campaign, which seemed to confirm the suspicions of the Bernie camp. The campaign had the DNC on life support, giving it money every month to meet its basic expenses, while the campaign was using the party as a fund-raising clearinghouse. Under FEC law, an individual can contribute a maximum of $2,700 directly to a presidential campaign. But the limits are much higher for contributions to state parties and a party’s national committee.”
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Thus, Hillary was using the DNC to skirt campaign finance laws. “Individuals who had maxed out their $2,700 contribution limit to the campaign could write an additional check for $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund—that figure represented $10,000 to each of the 32 states’ parties who were part of the Victory Fund agreement—$320,000—and $33,400 to the DNC. The money would be deposited in the states first, and transferred to the DNC shortly after that. Money in the battleground states usually stayed in that state, but all the other states funneled that money directly to the DNC, which quickly transferred the money to Brooklyn” - or to the Hillary Clinton campaign.
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“Wait,” I said [DNC Chairman Brazile]. “That victory fund was supposed to be for whoever was the nominee, and the state party races. You’re telling me that Hillary has been controlling it since before she got the nomination?”
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3). “Right around the time of the convention, the leaked emails revealed Hillary’s campaign was grabbing money from the state parties for its own purposes, leaving the states with very little to support down-ballot races.”
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“A Politico story published on May 2, 2016, described the big fund-raising vehicle she had launched through the states the summer before, quoting a vow she had made to rebuild ‘the party from the ground up … when our state parties are strong, we win. That’s what will happen.’ . . .
“Yet the states kept less than half of 1 percent of the $82 million they had amassed from the extravagant fund-raisers Hillary’s campaign was holding. A Politico story described this arrangement as ‘essentially … money laundering’ for the Clinton campaign.”
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So Hillary was using the DNC to take money from the states to use for her own campaign. Could that be the reason that we have so few Democratic governors and other officeholders across America?  Could that also be the reason that Democrats are so vulnerable to gerrymandering across the nation, solidifying the Republican lock on congress?   Really!!!? - because of one woman’s self-serving ambition!!!? 

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A MESSAGE TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE

It has come to my attention that you’ve just adopted a rule requiring candidates to both run, and serve, as Democrats. Such arbitrary rules are, by definition, undemocratic, and they’re also an insult to the voter. You’re trying to deprive the voters of their freedom of choice. Such an action is just as unconscionable as gerrymandering, instituting a poll tax, or a literacy test. It’s an attempt to give the candidates of YOUR choice an unfair advantage. The candidates who the voters choose to vote for should be the VOTER’S choice, not yours. So who wants to vote for - or even trust - people who try to deprive the voters of their right to choose?
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Just the thought of your arrogant attempt at manipulation turns my stomach. That’s why I voted against Hillary Clinton in the last election - and that was in spite of the fact that I knew it could cause Trump to win. But I came to the conclusion that since I was being manipulated out of my right to choose, I would vote for democracy by voting third party - and although I hate Trump intensely, I’d do the exact same thing again even if the election was being held tomorrow and my vote alone would determine whether the Democrats won or lost. Because as I see it, one group of scoundrels are no better than another, and I WILL NOT allow myself to be blackmailed out of my vote - and believe me, there are millions of other voters across this country who feel EXACTLY the same way I do. You’re trying to treat us like children, and personally, I don’t appreciate it a bit.
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One of your cultists asked me, "Didn't you learn anything from the 2016 election?" I did. I learned that many of the people who run the DNC are nothing more than corporate conservatives in drag, and thus, just as corrupt as any Republican. So while I hated seeing Donald Trump win the election, I would have been just as miserable if Hillary had won. At least Trump is serving to wake people up from their state of apathetic somnambulism, but with Hillary it would have been the quiet corruption of business as usual. I only agree with Trump in one regard - Hillary should have gone to jail over her emails, because the one and only reason she used a private server was to try to hide her corrupt pay-to-play schemes from the federal government:
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BILL CLINTON ENCOURAGED TRUMP TO RUN,

THINKING THAT WOULD GIVE HILLARY A SURE WIN

"New Democrats, also called centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats or moderate Democrats, are a relatively centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party that emerged after the victory of Republican George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election. Describing themselves as "centrist", they are an economically moderate to conservative and "Third Way" faction of the party. New Democrats dominated the party starting in the late 1980s after the U.S. electorate turned to the political right, until the mid-2010s following a rise in the Congressional Progressive Caucus" (Wikipedia - New_Democrats).
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And please don’t try to write me off as just another fanatical "Bernie Bro," because I’m not. I'm simply an informed American citizen who's highly insulted over being dealt with like I'm a clueless child, and people like me are growing with every day that's passes. It's time for the American people to send you arrogant bastards a message, and this is mine - you’re NOT our leaders, you’re our EMPLOYEES, and any one of you who don't understand that fact needs to be voted out of office.
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So I sincerely hope you have the common sense to review your thoughtlessly ridiculous decision, because if you don’t, you can add Jesus to your ticket and I’d vote against him - and since he espoused honesty and fairness, I’m sure he’d be in my corner.
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You'll find just a few of the people you've pissed off below.
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TAKING A STAND FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY:
I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED OUT OF MY VOTE

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Sincerely,
A TRUE progressive.
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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.

A MESSAGE TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

A MESSAGE TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE

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It has come to my attention that you’ve just adopted a rule requiring candidates to run, and serve, as Democrats. Such arbitrary rules are, by definition, undemocratic, and they’re also an insult to the voter. You’re trying to deprive the voters of their freedom of choice. Such an action is just as unconscionable as gerrymandering, instituting a poll tax, or a literacy test. It’s an attempt to give the candidates of YOUR choice an unfair advantage. The candidates who the voters choose to vote for should be the VOTER’S choice, not yours. So who wants to vote for - or even trust - people who try to deprive the voters of their right to choose?
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Just the thought of your arrogant attempt at manipulation turns my stomach. That’s why I voted against Hillary Clinton in the last election - and that was in spite of the fact that I knew it could cause Trump to win. But I came to the conclusion that since I was being manipulated out of my right to choose, I would vote for democracy - and although I hate Trump intensely, I’d do the exact same thing again even if the election was being held tomorrow and my vote alone would determine whether the Democrats won or lost. Because as I see it, one group of scoundrels are no better than another, and I WILL NOT allow myself to be blackmailed out of my vote - and believe me, there are millions of other voters across this country who feel EXACTLY the same way I do. You’re trying to treat us like children, and personally, I don’t appreciate it a bit.
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One of your cultists asked me, "Didn't you learn anything from the 2016 election?"  I did.  I learned that many of the people who run the DNC are nothing more than corporate conservatives in drag, and thus,  just as corrupt as any Republican. So while I hated seeing Donald Trump win the election, I would have been just as miserable if Hillary had won.  At least Trump is serving to wake people up from their state of apathetic somnambulism, but with Hillary it would have been the quiet corruption of business as usual. I only agree with Trump in one regard - Hillary should have gone to jail over her emails, because the one and only reason she used a private server was to try to hide her corrupt pay-to-play schemes from the federal government:
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"New Democrats, also called centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats or moderate Democrats, are a relatively centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party that emerged after the victory of Republican George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election. Describing themselves as "centrist", they are an economically moderate to conservative and "Third Way" faction of the party. New Democrats dominated the party starting in the late 1980s after the U.S. electorate turned to the political right, until the mid-2010s following a rise in the Congressional Progressive Caucus."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrats
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And please don’t try to write me off as just another fanatical "Bernie Bro," because I’m not. I'm simply an informed American citizen who's highly insulted over being dealt with like I'm a clueless child, and people like me are growing with every day that's passes. It's time for the American people to send you arrogant bastards a message, and this is mine - you’re NOT our leaders, you’re our EMPLOYEES, and any one of you who don't understand that fact needs to be voted out of office.
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So I sincerely hope you have the common sense to review your thoughtlessly ridiculous decision, because if you don’t, you can add Jesus to your ticket and I’d vote against him - and since he espoused honesty and fairness, I’m sure he’d be in my corner.
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Sincerely,

A TRUE progressive.

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TAKING A STAND FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY:
I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED OUT OF MY VOTE

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 NARCISSISTIC INSTABILITY OF DONALD TRUMP IS A THREAT TO BOTH AMERICA AND THE WORLD? .

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

THE NARCISSISTIC INSTABILITY OF DONALD TRUMP IS A THREAT TO BOTH AMERICA AND THE WORLD?
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To a very large degree, Donald Trump’s presidency is, at best, quite a troubling phenomenon within our democracy. And he’s not just of serious concern to the average American citizen, but many who have played a significant role in keeping this nation free have chosen to speak out.  Retired Major General Paul Eaton is a perfect example.  The general has penned what many have referred to as a "jaw-dropping" response to Trump’s demand for a military parade. The general said the following:
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“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.
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“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.
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“Unfortunately, we do not have a commander in chief, right now, as much as we have a banana republic strong man.”
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In addition, 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 Trump in an article in 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."
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And according to the Pew Research Center, here’s how our allies view the United States under Trump:
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"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 the eyes of virtually the entire world (with the exception of Russia), Trump’s a disaster.
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The problem is, Trump doesn’t seem to recognize that this is the United States of America, not “Trumpville,” and he’s so self-absorbed and emotionally unstable that he doesn’t seem to have any understanding of the fact that a president is suppose to work for the betterment of the nation, not for his own glorification. And this goes beyond a simple character flaw, it is so pronounced that it has become glaring apparent that he’s grappling with a serious psychological disability - and that’s not at all comforting considering the fact that he’s walking around with the nuclear football.
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In it’s article reviewing the book, “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” Psychology Today pointed out:
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“John Gartner, Ph.D. is the founder of ‘Duty to Warn’ an organization intent on warning our country that we are in dire trouble due to our president’s mental instability. More than 60,000 mental health professionals have signed John’s petition, which states:
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‘We, the undersigned mental health professionals, believe in our professional judgment that Donald Trump manifests a serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States. And we respectfully request he be removed from office, according to article 4 of the 25th amendment to the Constitution, which states that the president will be replaced if he is ‘unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.’”
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If the Republican Party  wasn't in control of congress, Trump would have long since been on his way out the door, but the GOP is so fixated on their agenda of further enriching the rich that they’re willing to place the entire future of humanity in jeopardy in pursuit of that short term goal. They’re demonstrating their complete and utter irresponsibility in service of greed in this regard, and if we manage to survive this episode, it behooves the American people to never forget it. Our grandparent’s generation learned their lesson regarding the Republican Party during the Great Depression. They wouldn't let a Republican anywhere near the White House.
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During their era, Democrat, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to office four times, and finally died in office on April 12, 1945. The Republicans had to promote the Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution limiting the president to two terms in office just to have even a remote chance of getting into office. But finally in 1953 they managed to elect the hero of WWII, Republican, Ike Eisenhower to office, but even he was a Republican in name only - in 1957 he sent troops into Little Rock, Arkansas to integrate a segregated school after Gov. Orval Faubus tried to prevent Black students from entering, and as his final act in office he warned America about the Military-Industrial Complex, the very people that Donald Trump and the Republican Party represent today.  They claim to want peace on Earth, yet they're the world's biggest arms dealer.
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So in short, thanks to Republican bigotry and greed, every form of life on this planet is in the hands of a petulant egomaniac with serious psychological problems.  He’s desperate not to be humiliated but he’s now being hemmed in by the Mueller investigation and suffers from the emotional maturity of an eight year-old. I can’t think of any other scenario that could possibly be more horrifying.
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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.