No Hope For #DumbDonald

Only those who have patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.
—  James J. Corbett
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On This Day In:
2016	Do Something
2015	What Are You Making Now?
2014	Like Fire Burning In My Heart
2013	Oh Yes He Can!
2012	Enquiries
2011	The Prize: Understanding
2010	Can You Tell My Scanner Works?
	Rebecca – The Early Years
	James – The Early Years
	Brothers By Another Mother

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Real Conservatism

Conservatism is measured and reliable.  Conservative foreign policy is where you embrace your allies and recognize your enemies.  That’s a long way from where we are today.  We’ve adopted a populist attitude that is a sugar high.
—  Senator Jeff Flake
U.S. Senator (R) from Arizona
Quoted in the article “8 Questions“
In Time Magazine dtd: 21 August 2017
Written by: Jack Brewster
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On This Day In:
2016	The Business Of Life
2015	Alone Again, Naturally
2014	Agreed
2013	Smile From Your Heart!
2012	Like You
2011	Got Days?
2010	K9 Humor – Has Anyone Seen My Setter? (Must read!!)
	A Longer Blog Than You Want To Read (Probably)
2009	Back and Forth and Round Again…

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Never Forget

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
―  Martin Luther King, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2016	It’s All Greek To Me (Well, Latin Actually)
2015	Truism
2014	Thank You
2013	Really
2012	Ordinary Five Minutes Longer
2011	The Wealth Of Sons (And Daughters)

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A Letter To 45

Dear Mr. President –
Congratulations on a remarkable run.  Millions have placed their hopes in you, and all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure.
This is a unique office, without a clear blueprint for success, so I don’t know that any advice from me will be particularly helpful.  Still, let me offer a few reflections from the past 8 years.
First, we’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune.  Not everyone is so lucky.  It’s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that’s willing to work hard.
Second, American leadership in this world really is indispensable.  It’s up to us, through action and example, to sustain the international order that’s expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend.
Third, we are just temporary occupants of this office.  That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions — like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties — that our forebears fought and bled for.  Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it’s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.
And finally, take time, in the rush of events and responsibilities, for friends and family.  They’ll get you through the inevitable rough patches.
Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best as you embark on this great adventure, and know that we stand ready to help in any ways which we can.
Good luck and Godspeed,
BO
[Former President Barack Obama’s hand-written letter to his successor – President Donald Trump.  Unfortunately, I fear for the seed, for the ground was rocky and the soil was shallow…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2016	REDs
2015	Cities
2014	Still
2013	Dare = Hope
2012	Check My Math
2011	Just Asking

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Serving Is Proving Harder Than Winning For #DumbDonald

The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.
—  Adlai E. Stevenson
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On This Day In:
2016	Come Again…
2015	At Five
2014	Touching The Past
	The Supreme Question
2013	Children Will Judge
2012	Liar, n.
2011	Freedom To Doubt

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Cowardly Defamation

A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops.
—  General John J. Pershing
[I really wish the Draft avoider in the Oval Office would stop defaming the character of a General who (by all accounts) seems to have been a decent man and a good commander.  I do not have a great deal of knowledge about General Pershing because I’ve never studied him or his achievements.  I have recently taken the time to read about President Trump’s “claims” (lies) about the General and the stores of how he supposedly dealt with Islamic fighters while he was commanding in the Philippines.  Trump’s lies were debunked during the 2016 campaign (when he first made them) and they are being exposed again after Trump’s latest tweets on the topic.  Our President doesn’t do our military forces or its historic leaders any honor when he dishonors their achievements with lies in the attempt to make himself out to be a “tough-guy” or strong-man leader.  It just illustrates how small a man he really is.   SAD…   —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2016	With No Allowance For Chance?
2015	Details
2014	Here’s One…
2013	Non-Fungible Commodities
2012	Hope And Tears
2011	Just Long Enough
	Meaningful Thoughts

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Regrets – The Donald Failed The Test

…
Mr. Trump once boasted that he could shoot someone in the street and not lose voters.  Well, someone was just killed in the street by a white supremacist in Charlottesville.  His refusal this weekend to specifically and immediately denounce the groups responsible for this intolerable violence was both morally disgusting and monumentally stupid.  In this, Mr. Trump failed perhaps the easiest imaginable test of presidential leadership.  Rather than advance a vision of national unity that he claims to represent, his indefensible equivocation can only inflame the most vicious forces of division within our country.
If Mr. Trump had been speaking about the overall political climate, he might have been right to say that “many sides” are responsible for exacerbating social tensions.  Yet during the events in Charlottesville this past weekend, only one side — a deranged white nationalist — was responsible for killing anyone.  To equivocate about this fact is the height of irresponsibility.  Even those concerned about the overzealous enforcement of political correctness can hardly think that apologizing for neo-Nazis is a sensible alternative.
Those of us who supported Mr. Trump were never so naïve as to expect that he would transform himself into a model of presidential decorum upon taking office.  But our calculation was that a few cringe-inducing tweets were an acceptable trade-off for a successful governing agenda.
Yet after more than 200 days in office, Mr. Trump’s behavior grows only more reprehensible.  Meanwhile, his administration has no significant legislative accomplishments — and no apparent plan to deliver any.
…
Far from making the transformative “deals” he promised voters, his only talent appears to be creating grotesque media frenzies — just as all his critics said.
Those who found some admirable things in the hazy outlines of Mr. Trump’s campaign — a trade policy focused on national industrial development; a less quixotic foreign policy; less ideological approaches to infrastructure, health care and entitlements — will have to salvage that agenda from the wreckage of his presidency.  On that, I’m not ready to give up.
…
—  Julius Krein
From his opinion piece / editorial:  “I Voted for Trump.  And I Sorely Regret It”  17 Aug. 2017
Appearing in: “The New York Times“
The original editorial is located at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/opinion/sunday/i-voted-for-trump-and-i-sorely-regret-it.html
[Okay, so we agree.  #DonTheCon is “monumentally stupid”.  And, yes, you made a mistake.  So what now?  What are you going to do about it?  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2016	Just Ask “The Donald”
2015	Did You Pass On It?
2014	Even When It Ain’t, It Is
2013	Still Happens
2012	Possessing Eternity
2011	I Thought We Were Talking About Afghanistan

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