From Jack Class to Jackass: The Views of Two Presidents

Woman cryingIn his inauguration speech Trump spelled out a vision of America that could only be set out by a man who knows nothing about what America is about. It is the type of speech that could only be given by a man who never gave anything to his country but only thought of making money by fair or foul means. As I have written before, the man is obsessed with money and nothing else.

His vision of America is totally wrong. We once tried to live by “buy American and hire American.” That slogan was popular during the ascendancy of the American Party that opposed Irish immigration and Catholics. We have not become what we are by being “only America first, America first.” We have long recognized that we are affected by what other nations do. We have been a nation that reaches out for and sacrifices for the purpose of keeping free people free.

Maybe some of you recall these words spoken by another American JFK to whom the idea of American first was quite alien. He said we are: “unwilling to witness  or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

Trump has no appreciation for such intangibles as liberty or freedom. He is going to represent a tight, narrow, insipid, fearful, crimped and cranky America telling us“a crucial conviction, that a nation exists to serve its citizens . . . .”

No, that is false. It is much more than that. Another person had a much different understanding of what America is about.  He said: “To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do–for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder. To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, . . . To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge–to convert our good words into good deeds–in a new alliance for progress–to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. “

Ah, how sad it is listening to an uncultured man after having heard one with grace and class who truly understood what America is about. Who will stand up to tyranny in the world and protect the weak if America turns its eyes inward; who will protect the freedom of the seas if America withdraws back into its shores?

Trump judges everything by money: “we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; subsidized the armies of other countries, while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military. We’ve defended other nations’ borders while refusing to defend our own. And spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America‘s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We’ve made other countries rich, while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon.”

He is right we have done some of those things. It all began long ago with the Marshall Plan when we helped Europe recover from WWII. As we helped those countries get back on their feet we also helped our home industries who profited greatly as Europe rebuilt.

Yet it was not just putting Europe and Japan get back on their feet that was important; what we most recognized that these free democratic countries would bring about an era of peace as we became the strong center in assuring the “survival and success of liberty.”

With all his talk about money Trump does not figure in the value of peace upon which no price tag can be placed. Have you seen the pictures of Aleppo or Mozul? Compare them to Barcelona, Rome or Paris. Hasn’t our spending of money overseas been worth it to keep those latter cities free and peaceful?

Trump does not value this. Nor does he understand that by America spending some of its money by assuring that liberty exists in other countries we are also benefiting ourselves.

 

38 Comments

  1. Ah … Robespierre and a Day Of National Devotion on the Field Of Mars. Elbows is channeling Professor Seagull ( Joseph Ferdinand Gould) jumping around … flapping his arms …and going SCRA-EEK SCRA-EEK! Ms.Freeh stil … Ugh … fights the Good Flight ( sic ) and Donald Trump does not bore.

    ” The Goulds were The Gould Family in Boston when the Cabots and Lowells were still clamdiggers ” Joe Gould

    One for the Senate President 🙂

  2. Echoing North Korea, Trump Declares Inauguration a ‘Day of Patriotic Devotion’
    President Donald Trump proclaimed his inauguration a ‘National Day of Patriotic Devotion,’ using a phrase popular with North Korean leadership

  3. I agree. Cardinal Romero had no interest in liberation theology. His strong commitment to Christ and the poor was in the best tradition of the Church. Unfortunately, many, including those who murdered him, had other ideas.

  4. RIP Cardinal Romero … LT was going strong until John Paul tore that priest a new one on the airport tarmac. I always liked its adherence to the leanest message of Christ without the trappings. Humble porridge has never been the staple dish of the Church Opulent however.

  5. Paco Dos is all cool with me. He supports Liberation Theology, so, I can support him.

    See Scorsese’s new flic “Silence.” It’s about time for Neeson’s Oscar. What a great story!

    The Tokugawa Bakufu’s (tent government )reaction to the invasion of Catholicism is very interesting, Many powerful daimyo on Kyushu were converted along with all their people (Francis Xavier). There were quite a few Catholic Samurai. Hideyoshi Toyotomi used his war on of Korea to get rid of them. Kyushu’s Catholic daimyos were all called up for the struggle. Hideoyoshi mounted two major invasions of the Korean Peninsula in the late fifteen hundreds. After the Tokugawa unified Japan , the Shoguns
    outlawed Christianity, and, restricted European contact to the port of Nagasaki.

    There were Jesuit missionary efforts in Indochina, also. Alexander du Rhodes developed a national language written in Latin script for the Vietnamese. In converting it from Chinese ideographs. he used diacritics above the individual letters and words to show how they were pronounced. This new national language, Quoc Ngu, is used by the Vietnamese, today. Brilliant! I’m fond of the Society, but, despise Opus Dei and other reactionary manifestations of fascism in Holy Mother Church.

    A literal translation of “dien cai dao” is crazy in the head.

  6. Khalid is quoting Pope Francis, so there is some comfort in the Day 🙂

  7. Did I not describe his behavior as shameful? I showed the chain of custody in response to a question. Yes, Really … Paul Wolfowitz . Oy Vey!

  8. Paul Wolfowitz? Really? He never stopped beating his wife ( or anyone else he didn’t like)…even the neocons scrambled when they saw him coming–great job at World Bank to top off his stellar career.

  9. Obama leaves Trump with a vastly improved economy. (The best the dittoheads can do is to claim the unemployment numbers are fixed. So sad.) He also kept us out of a new war and vastly reduced the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. (The America Firsters are rending their garments over faraway places like Syria. I couldn’t care less about Syria — or Libya.) And Obama set a high standard of personal conduct. No White House scandals on his watch. He’s done a very good job, and his approval rating suggests that most Amercans agree he’s served them well.

  10. ugh!

    9/11 and Other Deep State Crimes Teleconference

    ** wtc7   pentagon
    ————————————————————

    ** Draft Agenda for 1/25/17 Teleconference
    ————————————————————

    8pm (ET)/5pm (PT)   Teleconference #  (641) 715-0632    Access code: 551571#

    Greetings all,

    Our apologies for sending out this draft agenda a bit later than usual, but some last-minute arrangements delayed the process.  We are happy to report that Wednesday night’s teleconference will feature our first visits by two first-rate scholars of the Truth community.

    When asked to name academics who have graced the Truth movement, the name of Graeme McQueen is always near the top of the list.  His earliest contribution was his monumental study of the anthrax attacks, but he also has published a number of treatises which help address larger philosophical issues of the 9/11 Truth movement, and help lend it academic respectability.  He will be discussing his recent article (http://houston911truth.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84a2c6cbe080c5515da932a5d&id=eefc859a56&e=91763ac879) on the implications of a recent poll in England which showed that only 4% of Muslims there accept the official story of 9/11.
    My first encounter with A K (Kee) Dewdney was when an early copy of his New World Intelligencer mysteriously appeared one day in my inbox…chock full of useful links to 9/11 Truth material.  Dr. Dewdney’s current research, which he will be discussion on Wednesday night, is a bit further afield, but we never know when such information might become terribly relevant:  he is studying the likely mortality rate in extended local blackouts.  This should be interesting!

    As always, we’ll reserve time for any announcements.

    See you Wednesday night!

    Peace,
    Ken Freeland
    Cheryl Curtiss
    Craig McKee

    DRAFT AGENDA for Wednesday 25 January Teleconference

    I Roll Call, minutes approval (see below), agenda approval  (5 min)

    II “9/11 Truth: British Muslims Overwhelmingly Reject the Official 9/11 Story” [Graeme McQueen, PhD]  {Cheryl Curtiss} (15 min. + 15 min. Q & A)

    III  Local Mortality Projections in Blackouts [ A K Dewdney, PhD] {James Hufferd, PhD}

    IV Announcements

    V  Any available updates on issues of identified ongoing concern (if any remaining time):

    * New articles, books, films, or recent news about 9/11 or other Deep State crimes
    * 9/11 and the Deep State on the legal front, including current adjudicatory efforts by Lawyers for 9/11 Inquiry, JASTA, 28 pages, William Pepper’s efforts with AE911Truth against NIST and the Dept. of Commerce
    * Censorship and cognitive infiltration: new examples of censorship or harassment of members of the Truth community;  MSM treatment of 9/11 Truth
    * The 9/11 Crash Test
    * The 9/11 Consensus Panel
    * 9/11 Truth political candidates

    VI Adjournment (by 9:30 p Eastern)

  11. In 1961 Jack Rabbit promised the world what was not his to give. When the Kremlin built the Berlin Wall, courage failed him. Ditto, at the Bay Of Pigs. For all his blowzy rhetoric he lacked the will. Not that he had any mandate to do so. The Constitution clearly states for whom the national government was formed: “And secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. That is not a mandate for establishing a global empire all gussied up with honeyed verbiage.

    It seems a tad odd that you left out Kennedy’s most famous peacock feathered flight of fancy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. Perhaps it was because you recognize he did not understand the fundamental concept of America, that the government was created to serve the people and that no one is born the property of the state. You did well to leave that noted blarney outburst out.

    President Trump (how sweet that sounds) has a firmer grasp on the role of government and its inherent limitations than any president for at least a generation. This bodes well for the American people. There will be inevitable missteps and betrayals but the bloated, lumbering ship of state will not turn directions on a dime. Old entanglements cannot be undone in a moment. But it is being wheeled around and will sail towards a port of prosperity for “ourselves and our Posterity” anew.

  12. John: I’m a long time gone from Chi. It’s a Driftless Area Hill-Billy, I be. When I go to the city, it’s the Bohunc-side of Madtown I visit (UW stacks). My extended family still all live in the Chicago area. Visiting them is always an excuse to slip away for a fine Italian meal at my favorite Cicero red-check tablecloth joint. I don’t get down there often enough. I got one sister who’s lives in Oak Park. After Sis moved outta the old neighborhood, and, started living with the swells, she began developing a foreign accent. Everybody in Canaryville knows the correct way to pronounce thirty-third is “dirty turd.” Suburban living changes folks.

  13. John King McDonald

    Petit- * BourgeOisssseeeeee 🙂 …All apologies to Karl, Leon, Vladimir and the rest of the Merry Red Scarf’s .

  14. Matt:
    1. You mention Mosul & Aleppo: It was excessive military interventionism that gave us the Iraq War and its spawns, and it was 8 years of Obama/Hillary’s continuing meddling and fumbling in the Middle East and their attempts at regime change in Syria (arming rebels; promising no-fly zones) that led to Aleppo.
    2. Trump has a different vision: “We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world. . . .We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone but rather to let it shine as an example. We will shine for everyone to follow. We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones.”
    3. Everyone should read the transcript of Trump’s speech: Plain, straightforward language, like Truman’s. A 5 minute read.
    4. Kennedy’s flowery words are contrasted with Trump’s simple ones. But Kennedy’s promise to bear any burden and pay any price for “liberty” was proven unrealistic, pie-in-the-sky, in the face of Vietnam. What price would we pay to free Tibet? Hard cold facts waken us from flowery dreams.
    5. The Marshall Plan and countless examples of American generosity are to be commended, but there is a limit to what Americans can and should pay in resources, treasure and blood to secure others’ liberty.
    6. There is much work to be done at home in many fields, as Trump’s speech and Mr. Fitzgerald indicated: Education; Infrastructure; Industry; Technology; gainful Employment; Public Safety; Secure borders; reducing the carnage caused by drugs, gangs, crime.
    7. Prioritizing national interests, does not mean forsaking international obligations.
    Trump wants to “reinforce old alliances and form new ones”; that doesn’t sound like he’s shirking world responsibilities. His meetings this week with international leaders indicate he’s committed to continuing dialogue. That’s good.
    8. Point-Counterpoint: Free speech.
    9. My hope is George Washington’s: that America will avoid “excessive foreign entanglements.” To that end, end the subterfuge that constantly seeks “regime change” everywhere. Let’s get out of that business.

  15. John King McDonald

    Khalid, Patriotic Hysteria toppled the WTC? GWB was stuck with that …REALITY. A lot of the Neo-Con bushwa that followed was indeed shameful … but, somehow inevitable. A man with a hundred goats and a roomy barn of books in Illinois used to be called a Petit-Bourgeisie in the Red Cafe’s here on the coast. But I only jibe wit’ d’ Old Weatherman. You paid your dues. You are listened to here when you sling ( sic ) your blues. Right Wing stooges use overly repressive Police tactics ; Left Wing stooges riot in the streets. Anarchy is insupportable. Better to err on the side of the Right Wing stooges. It is not a Perfect World , whether or not you feed the Goats.

    • John: What did the Manhattan Ghazwa (WTC) have to do with the invasion of Iraq?

      • Khalid, Talk to Paul Wolfowitz who was the Deputy Secretary Of Defense undet GW for an answer to that question. He was the ideologue who drove the neo-con prankster bus in OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM in 2003 which Op had metastasized out of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM in 2001 . A Rum Bunch indeed . IThe catalyst was the razing of the WTC Towers by 15 Saudi’s and two commercial jetliner’s.

    • Terrorists toppled the WTC…..Saddam did not. The Patriotic Hysteria allowed for the govt. to lead us to believe otherwise. Stop defending the indefensible.

      • John King McDonald

        Dave : Stop shrieking. You are generally coherent. An enormous complex of factors contributed to the … Invasion …of Iraq. They started back in the Father Bush Admin. when Saddam rolled on Kuwait. Keep the Lefty talking points for cheerleader practice. I do not care to engage in sniping and snarking with emotional partisans . Tx, John

        • I don’t think Dave was shrieking. EXPRESSING YOUR THOUGHTS IN CAPS is shrieking.

          • NO .. WRITING IN CAPS IS FOR EMPHASIS …IF YOU NEED A ” CAP FREE SAFE SPACE ” THAT’S YOUR ISSUE. ALL THE LEFTIES DO IS SHRIEK …AS THE 20 YEAR OLD WHITE MAYA ANGELOU WROTE IN HER POEM….. SHRIEKED BY ASHLEY JUDD …YOU AS A PRIVILEGED WHITE MO SHOULD JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP … YOU ARE A SCREAM 🙂

            • Obnoxious, stupid and incoherent. Did I mention filled with stuttering rage? Having three names doesn’t make you smart …

              • Lpok pal, put a spotlight on yourself with this dithering nonsense, but don’t complain when the audit comes. I am closely watched. Dave is very articulate and a gpod writer. I believe I have encouraged your writing in the past. So, Again, no good deed goes …etc. I have very different politics than yours. Yet I have never … intruded … my remarks on any of your posts. This is a courtesy I have extended to you. You butted into an exchange between Khalid and myself that involved my clarifying a point for him. Dave had initially kneejerked an observation which he had the native sense to subsequently realize was a quibble, and the class to let the matter lay. So. spare me the bile. I don’t have time for sophomoric remarks and frankly expected better from.

                And you are correct. It is not …. having three names … that makes me smart . Thankyou for the unintended compliment . Your UNCONSCIOUS is a wonderful thing. Pay attention to it. 🙂

  16. Matt: I’ll keep using Glorious Leader to describe the fascist in the Whitehouse, but, consider “President Jackass” to be a fine alternate designation. Keep up the good work.

    Unfortunately, as power leaks away from Trump and his stooges, they’ll resort to police-state tactics to quell dissent. GL is painting himself into a corner that only a war will get him out of. He’ll be counting on the same patriotic hysteria that disabled commonsense in the lead up to GWB’s war in Iraq.

  17. Here’s what Pope Francis thinks of Glorious Leader:

    “When I started to hear about populism in Europe I didn’t know what to make of it, I got lost, until I realised that it had different meanings,” said the Pope. “Crises provoke fear, alarm.

    “In my opinion, the most obvious example of European populism is Germany in 1933. After [Paul von] Hindenburg, after the crisis of 1930, Germany is broken, it needs to get up, to find its identity, a leader, someone capable of restoring its character, and there is a young man named Adolf Hitler who says: ‘I can, I can’.

    “And all Germans vote for Hitler. Hitler didn’t steal the power, his people voted for him, and then he destroyed his people.

    “That is the risk. In times of crisis, we lack judgment.”

    The Pope added it was natural for people to want to regain their identity when it is challenged – calling for closed borders as a result – but said it was as important as ever to maintain open dialogue with one’s neighbours.

    Earlier last year, the Pope questioned Trump’s Christianity due to his stance on borders and immigration.

    Despite the strongly worded warning, the Pope insisted the world must “wait and see” before judging Trump and see how he performs in his role.

    He said: “I don’t like to get ahead of myself nor judge people prematurely.

    “We will see how he [Trump] acts, what he does, and then I will have an opinion. But being afraid or rejoicing beforehand because of something that might happen is, in my view, quite unwise.

    “It would be like prophets predicting calamities or windfalls that will not be either.”

    The Pope also warned that he felt people were more “anesthetised” than ever, describing people’s apathy to reality as “the most dangerous illness”.

  18. John King McDonald

    Did you miss the train bombing in Barcelona or the riots and burnings in Paris two years ago ; the soaring rape crisis in Sweden. and Cologne, Germany ; The runaway Yuletide eighteen wheeler in Berlin a month ago ; The Muslim ” No Go Zones ” in many European Capitals that are enclaves whose inhabitants flout Western Democratic values? Have you heard of Sharia Law by whose decree ” wanton ” women are stoned to death and gays are thrown off of rooftops? Does the phrase … The Islamicization Of Europe … have any meaning for you other than accusing those who espouse Western Democratic values of cultural solipsism ? Have you heard of BREXIT and the nascent Nationalist upsurge in Europe wherein many countries now realize that NATIONAL identity is worth being rescued from its submersion in EU identity ? Donald Trump is a CAPITALIST. He rejects being politically neutered by the CITIZEN OF THE WORLD soap bubble jump on in the water is fine Crowd … because the water is not fine. He has called it out for the cesspool it is. Barak is Classy. I have always maintained this . But his … Charm …was better suited to the Salon than to Oval Office. He mediated when he should have pushed ; pushed when he could have mediated. The Islamic Shitstorm is coming.

    It will take just ONE American city to be Chernobyled by some wacky death cult Islamic terrorist with the release of Cesium stolen from some University hospital and you will see a change in …hearts and minds … here that will send Ed Markey in his Gynocratic pink scarf heading for a bunker in the Blue Hills. Jackass? … Just how far up their asses do the LGBTQ Community and hysterical Liz Warren and the Nattering Hollywood Lefty Nabobs have to have their radiant, high minded, unrealistic and infantile logic heads to realize that your beloved Mullahs in Iran want just one thing and one thing only … THEIR COMPLETE EXTINCTION! … Israel may even be running a close second to the aforementioned, utterly and totally deluded, Crew.

  19. Gadzooks, Matt..what did you have for breakfast?
    Lets try education..“Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families and good jobs for themselves,” he said. “But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists. … An education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge.” As the son of a Master Teacher, who devoted 40 years to the Boston Public schools, and husband of another Master Teacher who has recently retired after her 40 years of serving children, I have witnessed the failure of public education to place the student at the center of that universe. Count the numbers of elected ‘elites’ whose kids attend public schools!
    Inner cities? I investigated mortgage fraud cases from 1989 through 2010 from Maine to Georgia. The economic and social blight could not be missed. Yet the old ‘thinkers’ from Yale drive through fallen sections of New Haven ( pick an institution) and fill in any inner city) blind to failed policies from 1964 forward and are incapable of breaking away from fossilized, failed ideas.
    It is time to address problems, domestic and international, with clear and open eyes.

    • So, right, ditch Trump. Glorious Leader has to go. As, soon, as, it’s conclusive that Manafort, and, Page, sold out the country to the Kremlin, Trump should get the bounce. I’m still hoping Jim Comey will be the guy who gives him the news.

    • Bill:

      Having represented the Boston School Committee during the 1970s busing case as I recall the suit was about equal educational opportunity. Unfortunately to make it equal Garrity rather than improving the education brought it down to a lower level because the idea of making education better fell to the concept of making schools racially balanced.

      I agree fully with you the public education has failed in America just by noting that since 1970 when I was involved it seems every year we come up with the news that the education stinks and it has to be improved. Sadly, no one, liberal or conservative has been able to make it better where it is bad. We still have good education in private schools and upper-middle class suburban schools. We don’t have it in other places. The other day there was an article about a school district in the upper west side of NYC where the students achieved greatly except in those schools where they were mainly black.

      I don’t think Trump is seriously going to address this problem anymore than anyone else. I don’t attribute the problem in schools to teachers since teaching is a hard job and most are highly dedicated. A good educational system requires a lot more than money, charter schools, good teachers, or anything the state is capable of doing. It requires a ton of parental concern which the last I saw was something the government, even the most intrusive liberal one, has been unable to do anything about.

      Good comment.