HumblePi

Here's some good news, Ben Carson has come out publicly and stated that he is NOT interested in a cabinet post. (whew) Oops, here's the bad news. It appears to be imminent that Rudy Giuliani will be appointed Secretary of State. He will assume the job that Hillary Clinton has held for the past four years.

I'm so glad you posted this because I hadn't heard about it, and I hope we'll all hear about this vile comment from Pamela Ramsey Taylor on the news. I'm going to her twitter now to shame her. I'm posting her letter so people can see that she has already been criticized for this remark. This infuriates me to the core. Well, Ms. Pamela Tamsey Taylor, I intend to post this message from your Facebook page on every social website, every twitter account that I've followed for months and every comments section on this article that I possibly can. People need to be held responsible for their words. End of discussion. Pamela Ramsey Taylor is Director of the Clay County Development Corporation in Clay, West Virginia.  She was "removed" from her position on November 14, 2016 after a controversy over her comments on Michelle Obama. So good she's out of her job in W. Virginia, that's some consolation at least. I'll put part of her letter here, in case people have trouble reading it clearly. (her grammar sucks too)

I've been doing the same thing, blaming those who voted for him. But Bernie Sanders made me sober up and realize that it's not only their fault but the Dem party's fault. Just this morning on CBS Morning Show he said; Truthfully, it's been instinctual to blame the people that voted Republican. The sobering fact is that the party of Democrats failed us completely. I'm confident that President Trump will foul things up quite well over the next four years if he gets that far. Our country will be so egregiously fouled that it will force our Congress and Senate to get off their well-paid asses and actually listen to what the people have obviously told them by the results of this election. In the end, we may emerge torn and tattered but more prepared and better able to function as a government for all people, not just the elites.

I don't know where to dump this post, here or in the anxiety forum so I'll take a shot at posting it here because it speaks directly at the causes of the Democratic leadership failing and the reasons Donald Trump took over the government. I watched Debbie Dingell the US Congresswoman from Michigan on CNN this morning. Shas been the United States Representative for Michigan's 12th congressional district since 2015. I've seen her once before on CNN and basically she tried to warn Democrats long before the election. Here's what she said, and I have to say that it's everything I thought from the night of the election. The blame-buck stops right here at the feet of our Democratic party. Here's what she said; So yes, there's that. Democrats were the party that was taken down, not the Republican party. The red flags were waving long before election day but nobody in Congress or Senate heeded them. Bernie Sanders knew, that's why he was working so hard in Michigan during the primaries. But Hillary Clinton was seen as part of the establishment by the people in Michigan and Wisconsin and that was a fatal flaw in the campaign. I don't mind that the Democrats lost despite voting for Hillary Clinton, because actually they deserved to lose. I just totally mind the fact that it's Donald Trump that won. Anyone would have been better even 'sleepy eye, two-second blink' Ben Carson.

Here's the thing and this is a real quandary for Donald Trump (pres-elect-whatever). I don't know how he's going to work around this legally or if it's even possible, but nevertheless, he'll try. Donald has been reliant on his 3 older children even more than anyone realizes. He's given them control and the decision making for most of his 500 businesses in 12 countries around the world. It's a 'yuge' operation that his entire family and their spouses are involved in. He trusts them implicitly and he relies on their opinions and direction without question. They are his security blanket. Now, he's the President elect and shitting himself over what he just found out is a ginormous task and even greater responsibility. To do it alone? Oh no, that's impossible and he knows it. Top level security clearance or not, he's going to be talking with them and getting their input on just about every single decision he's going to have to make. Sure, that's illegal but it's a fact that it's going to be like that. Now, if he does succeed in getting his wish that they all have top level security clearances then they would be permitted to see what he sees, read what he reads, and have access to the uttermost ultra-secure intelligence that top level officials will provide to him. Putting aside the fact that they are all running his private businesses, which is a clear conflict of interest, there's another problem. But first what if he gets intelligence that there's a threat in one of the countries that he happens to do business in. They can pull out of that business, sell it off, take the profit and be gone. That's just one example of how that would be a conflict of interest. The last thing is security. These children of his have busy lives. Ivanka has her line of jewelry or clothing she sells at J.C. Penny and QVC. The other two sons each have the businesses that they run for Donald. How secure are our top government secrets going to be with so many knowing them? How difficult would it be to grab Ivanka as she goes into Cartier's to look for a new diamond ring or goes into the QVC studio and some evil spy from a foreign country kidnaps her and holds her for ransom, or threatens to harm her if she doesn't give up International secrets? Or creepy Erik is kidnapped while getting into his Bentley, and he'll throw up the intelligence all over the place in a heartbeat, (the little twerp). So, it's a mess for Donald and for our country because there's no easy answer to any of it. There's no way to protect our intelligence and strategies with so many people having knowledge of it, no way.

"Not only is it likely that Trump will not wholly divorce himself from running his business empire – he plans on staying in Trump Tower a few nights a week, and traveling to Mar-a-Lago on weekends, so he'll be at the nexus of his empire several days each week – his children, who will be running his businesses for him, will be privy to state secrets and national security information – information they could use to benefit The Trump Organization. And in turn, smart foreign agents could discern America's secrets by moves Trump businesses make." http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/breaking_report_trump_asks_for_security_clearances_for_children_who_will_be_running_his_blind_trust I watched President Obama give his press conference today, and he mentioned the daily briefs, he made a hand measure as to how many there are each day and his hands were a foot apart, so he gets a brief from every executive branch of government every day and he takes hours to go over all of them. Trump barely has enough attention span and focus to get through the National Enquirer, how is he going to deal with that every day without an army of relatives to read it all for him and condense all the information down to one paragraph?

Family empire in the making?

Yep, it's a Priebus vs. Bannon matchup. Should be fun. I noticed something, google photos of Steve Bannon and notice his hand gestures, Trump copied them.

We just went through a messy campaign where the Clinton's were wildly and aggressively attacked by the Trump campaign by being guilty of pay to play with the Clinton Foundation. Michael Bloomberg was mayor of NYC for three consecutive terms and his business was run by people not in the Bloomberg family. Hillary Clinton never had this top security clearance during Bill's Presidency and none of the Bush children had this type of top security clearance.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg better live to be 110 because she's the only staunch liberal on the Supreme Court. And, if she dies, we better go find those two guys from Weekend at Bernie's. We can't afford to lose her. Angela Merkel is all that stands between Russia and the free world.

We tend to think of this president in terms of what's happening right here to us in this country and tend to forget that there are things that are even more important than domestic issues. When you have been leading the world for 70 years, you cannot expect the world to lead itself. So, the USA has to continue to do that.

We did know that Donald wasn't ready to run the country with confidence or knowledge but did we really imagine it would take a small village to help him run this country?

I don't know if it can be stopped honestly. I've come to the resignation that whatever he's going to do we'll have to deal with the consequences and are absolutely powerless to control it. Yep, we're in it for the long haul now that he's officially the President-elect. President Obama wasn't kidding us, this man is totally unqualified and unfit to be President. This bullshit is happening now before he's even sworn in, can you even imagine what he's going to do once he actually has the power to do as he wants?

The announcement just now on CNN that Trump wants top security clearance for his children and for his son in law doesn't help reduce my anxiety and fear. I thought their interests were to run the 500 businesses that he has. If that's not a conflict of interest and a violation of the Hatch Act, I don't know what is.

If his children are going to be running his more than 500 different businesses plus have top security clearance in the White House, isn't that obvious that's a conflict of interest? This man wants to be ruler, not President. He has already spoken to Vladimir Putin today, they're getting their ducks in a row. I'm editing to make it clear exactly what 'top security clearance' means. This isn't just a security clearance to walk past the guards in the hallway or go through without passing through a metal detector, this is TOP SECURITY CLEARANCE which means they will have all or any part of access to data that affects national security, counter terrorism, counter intelligence, and other highly sensitive data.

Just now on the news it was announced that President-elect Donald Trump is asking that his children and his son in law be given top security clearance. I can't even find words for this.

sorry, I was referring to the quote you replied to, not to yours. I just couldn't copy their quote. It was this..... "The Obamas are nice people, but I'm wondering if they really actually care about anything. Because, seriously." I'll gladly edit it now....

I believe that his record of accomplishments stand for themselves and proves that he cared very much about this country. Like ending the 2008 deep recession we were in after George Bush. Like reforming health care. Like regulating the big banks that Bush and Greenspan wouldn't do. Like an $838 billion dollar stimulus package in 2010. Like eliminating Osama Bin Laden. Like making a nuclear trade agreement with Iran. Like pushing forth the International Climate Change agreement. Like job growth and decreasing the national debt by $6.8 trillion. Like bringing the dead housing market alive again. People say 'so, what did he do?' He did plenty, and left a footprint that will not be comparable anytime in the next four years. He leaves his Presidency without any personal scandal or blemish. He leaves with dignity.

This is just a snapshot, a tiny microcosm of the United States that underwent major changes since closing their Planned Parenthood resources. They can thank Mike Pence for he was instrumental in getting the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed. This particular county that closed Planned Parenthood is experiencing an extremely high number of new cases of HIV, 1.5 times the State's average number of new cases. https://mic.com/articles/114248/here-s-the-hellscape-rural-indiana-became-since-it-shutdown-its-planned-parenthood-clinics#.8pq83WIIc If the Republicans managed to overturn Roe v Wade, and they will if Trump appoints a conservative justice, the fallout from that will be absolutely horrendous on many levels and for many reasons. First, all abortion clinics would close immediately. Abortion will move from the clinics to the bedroom and woman will die. One common method, pre Roe v Wade, was for the woman to insert a wire coat hanger with the curved hook as far into the vagina as it will go. By piercing the fetal sac with the hook, you cause an abortion. Other methods included hitting themselves (or having someone hit them) repeatedly on the stomach with a hammer and douching with laundry bleach. In 2013, the Texas State's health commission said that Texas would see nearly 24,000 unplanned births between 2014 and 2015 thanks to these cuts, raising state and federal taxpayer's Medicaid costs by up to $273 million. Three years later, in the even of Roe v Wade happening, those numbers across the country will be enormous and the costs of Medicaid unimaginable. Planned Parenthood does so much in the way of education, birth control. pap smears, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. The actual numbers of abortions performed through Planned Parenthood equals to just 3% of their services, the rest is care and education provided to millions of adults and teens.

This is just some of my own 'chewing the cud' or ruminations but thinking of the two appointments so far that Donald Trump has made I realized something. Reince Priebus is pretty much a cookie-cutter conservative Republican and good friends with Paul Ryan. Steve Bannon is.......well, we all know what he represents. These two men will be working very closely with Trump, both giving him their ideas, suggestions and guidance. They are pretty much opposed philosophically so I'm hoping that one will cancel out the other. But even more pertinent is the fact that every single one of Trump's campaign staff (lackies), Giuliani, Gingrich, Christi, Jeff Sessions, Lewandowski, Kellyanne Conway....ALL of them, they're ambitious, visceral, verbal, pompous, arrogant, stubborn, love the spotlight AND the control. In the short term I can imagine a very bumpy start but as time goes on I predict these people will turn on each other and cut each others throats and take everyone they can with them.

Fox Network is a vile insult to our intelligence and people watch that shit-show either for titillation, morbid curiosity or validation of their hate. The best way to eliminate such right wing so-called 'news' networks is simply to ignore it, stay off the network as a viewer. When viewer numbers diminish, they'll have a deep shake-up and chop off some heads.

The Bible has always emphasized the formative power of speech. In the Bible, book of James, he compares the tongue to a rudder on a ship, capable of defiling the whole body. (James 3:3-6). Even more than 2,000 years ago, wise men realized what power the spoken and written word holds. Our speech is a principle function in defining who we are. If you change how people talk, that changes how they think. Has Donald Trump taken seriously the way language can alter the way we view him? The power of speech can never be understated, it can be used to build or it can be used to destroy. It's an extremely powerful weapon that takes no army, guns or tanks to eliminate enemies or to calm fears and promote real healing. Donald Trump never had this power, never will. That he would dare to equate himself to Abraham Lincoln who was perhaps one of the most powerful orators in history, is absolutely abhorrent to me. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was written by him in 2 days prior to the dedication of Gettysburg as a cemetery for soldiers that died up to that point in the Civil War. It was 2 minutes long and 273 words and in that short time Lincoln was able to galvanize a country with the emphasis on freedom, equality and union. At the very start of his speech at Gettysburg, Donald Trump's speech was about how "those women lied" and that he plans to sue those 12 or so women who claimed he was sexually inappropriate with them. He went on to talk about ending illegal immigration, scrapping the ACA, and building a wall. The ability to articulate in a clear and comprehensive manner is something that neither Donald Trump nor anyone within his entire staff and cabinet just don't have. If nothing else, Barack Obama should be put on retainer just to help draft any speeches or presentations that the new President Trump will be required to give, at least he won't embarrass himself to the public.