Our friends over at The Lincoln Project keep knocking the proverbial ball out of the park. With less than 3 weeks until the 2020 Election the folks at The Lincoln Project are shooting deadly arrow after arrow at the heart of the Donald Trump re-election campaign. The one I’m sharing today is amazing. It’s been a long time since I enjoyed an ad campaign as much as I have the ads from The Lincoln Project-D.S.M.
“White is something, just like black is something. Everybody born on this earth is something, and nobody, no matter what color, is better than anybody else.” Mildred DeLois Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976)
The ‘Muslim ban’, ‘the wall’, ‘make America great again,” have receptive listeners. Such rhetoric is part of Donald Trump, and Stephen Miller’s war against people of color. If it was just about terrorists we would look north and south. The Canadian border however is no concern because to Trump because it separates two predominately white countries. If it were really about illegal immigration there are other issues besides our southern border. Why hasn’t the president called for a countrywide sweep to pick up of all the Irish visitors who have over stayed their visas? Statistics show that most of the illegal immigrants are here after over staying legally obtained visas. These visa abusers flew into the country, they didn’t walk across our southern desert.
It certainly looks as if the president of the United States has a dangerous condition.
Writing for Calamity News and Politics gives me a platform to discuss headline events and political policy. It also provides me a place to vent and fume. If somebody doesn’t like the drum I’m beating, they are fully able, and encouraged to move on; to a site that better satisfies their social view of the world.
“Don’t get so wound up, it’s just politics”, my son recently told me. Well, whether I’m saying it to my son, or to a potential reader, or to a neighbor, that is the wrong attitude. In the end, politics is policy, and policy effects everything in our lives. Schools, hospitals, parks, highways, airports, waterways, international trade, health care, military defense and social justice to name just a few. Nearly every part of our daily life is effected in someway by the policies that our elected officials enact in Washington, D.C., or our state capitols. Got it?
Here is another anti-Trump ad from The Lincoln Project group. Please share. We here at Calamity News and Politics want to give a shout out to the former Republicans who are co-founders of the group. Thank you, Rick Wilson, George Conway, Steve Schmidt, Jennifer Horn, John Weaver, Ron Steslow, Reed Galen, Mike Madrid. It will take all of us that want to keep this a democratic country to come out this election and vote Joe Biden-Kamala Harris.
T.K. McNeil talks about the Michigan Kidnapping Plot. Trump is the first president that has encouraged terrorism and violence against a sitting governor, in this case, Gretchen Whitmer. Trump frequently encourages his supporters to break the law. While Trump tries to destroy the country at least some of the law enforcement groups believe the white supremacists are terrorists and needed to be treated as such.
In The Early Morning Hours
I had gone to bed late Thursday (10/01/20) night and was sort of watching TV while sort of dozing. It was early a.m. Friday (10/02/20) on the west coast, when Kaisie Hunt, on her show “Way Too Early,” made a dramatic announcement. Close advisor to the president, Hope Hicks had tested positive for Coronavirus. The name of Hope Hicks caused me to sit up and take notice. Over the next couple hours information dribbled in; and eventually we got word that Donald J. Trump, president of the United States had tested positive for COVID-19. Yikes and oh, my! I got up and made a cup of coffee. I knew I had to hit Twitter. Where the prevailing sentiment seemed to be, “Wouldn’t it be funny if Trump died from COVID-19?” and “big surprise, he doesn’t even wear a mask or social distance.”
Okay, I have to admit I have a greater than normal share of cynicism. I nearly barfed when I heard all the TV hosts wishing the president “health and happiness” and the proverbial “thoughts and prayers.” I know, I know. Be nice. But, really… here is a man holding super spreader rallies, Rose Garden COVID-19 parties, insulting Biden and others for mask wearing, undermining the postal service, threatening our very democracy, refused to admit he would give up power if he loses the election, has in my view at least, encouraged armed insurrection, and I am now supposed to say, “oh, poor Donnie.” To be blunt, fuck that shit! I will not.
Words matter. Talk can be both cheap or expensive depending on the context. All words are arbitrary in their invention but also vital in terms of their function which is to help understand existence. Which is why people can get quite irritable about words being used correctly. Misuse of words quickly leads to miscommunication. Something the last four years of Trump has shown us.
A favorite word tossed at Trump is fascism. A much used and seldom understood word. This is at least a linguistic issue, the original word being the Italian fascismo, roughly translated as fastening or togetherness. The main symbolism of the time being a bundle of sticks. One stick can be broken, a bundle of sticks cannot. A nice idea undercut by the fact that by fastening together, the members of a fascist society also close others out.
Another eye opening ad from the folks at The Lincoln Project. Love these ads. Just have to share.
It is a question that has been asked before. Though as we get closer to Election Day and things might still go either way, it is still a productive exercise to try and figure out how we got to where we are today. Particularly with so many Trump Voters, particularly in swing states, suffering industrial strength buyers guilt.
The answer seems obvious. All the Trump voters are backward, racist, sexist, idiots who don’t know what’s best for them. A ‘basket of deplorables’ as Madam Clinton once put it. This is a mistake. Not only is it reductionist and prejudiced, the very things most accuse Trump of being, it is also wrong. I don’t mean wrong in the modern sense of things that make people feel icky. I mean it in the far more basic, Aspie way of false as according to the evidence. There are simply too many people of various groups, including those whom Trump has attacked, supporting him for this to be the whole story.
If anything, the less savory things Trump has said or done are incidental to his support. Not that what he did doesn’t matter. It does in terms of general morality but a lot of things are a matter of priorities and he has other aspects that outweighed his misconduct. At least in the minds of those who prioritize such things. One of the things a lot of critics overlook is his focus on jobs. Particularly in places like Michigan. A state in which things have been so bad for so long, the condition of cities like Flint have been referred to as ‘economic terrorism.’ A situation which makes it easier to understand Trump’s support despite his desire for a border wall or his opinions on where it is okay to touch female strangers. Even if they ‘let’ you.
"If puppies and kittens don't make you smile, you might consider therapy." D. S. Mitchell 2015.
I Barely Have Time To Walk The Dog
Self-isolating has forced us to turn even more to telecommunication and social media.
The Major Cause Of Sex Trafficking Is Poverty
Many great charities, here are a couple that I support: Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, ACLU, and Planned Parenthood.
