Some five years ago I embarked on a series of essays outlining my philosophy and my thought patterns. I completed 13 and
posted them. I still have #14 in the works, but it struck me that it
might be useful to some people if I posted the links to the first 13. I
will warn you that you might need to keep your Funk and Wagnall's handy
or at least a passable Webster’s.
Hence, here they are:
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosophy-101essay-1.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosophy-101essay-2.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosophy-101essay-3.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosophy-101essay-4.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosophy-101essay-5.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosophy-101essay-6.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosophy-101essay-7.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosophy-101-essay-8.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosophy-101-essay-9.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/12/philosophy-101-essay-10.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/12/philosophy-101-essay-11.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/12/philosophy-101-essay-12.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/12/philosophy-101-essay-13.html
May
you find them enlightening, informative and thought-provoking. I make
no claims of omniscience or any special wisdom. These truly are the
thoughts of an old warrior-journalist monk. They merely are worth what
you can take away from them in your own thoughts.
I now include a few more links for you to read somewhat to round out the collection
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/poor-people-poor-decisions.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2013/11/philosopher-as-soldier.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2014/01/and-you-were-expecting-them-to-do.html
http://desertdragon90.blogspot.com/2016/08/words-to-live-by.html
I probably will add more to the list as time goes by but you can go back through the list in the right column yourself and pick and choose.
rhb
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Trump Derangement Syndrome
Ok, before we start:
1. I apologize for having neglected to maintain my blog for the past year. I could lay out a litany of reasons and excuses, including being very lazy, but basically it seems that every potential entry gets overcome by events and the world moves on. The only thing that doesn’t seems to be the Presidency of Donald J Trump and the constant drumbeat of efforts to convince people he is unfit for office and should be removed.
2. My opinion of President Trump is that he is a somewhat self-centered, narcissistic, arrogant, unconventional individual who for some reason has inspired virulent hatred, a lifetime of jibes and mockery and a certain measure of envy and resentment for being a rather successful (to the tune of several billion dollars) American entrepreneur and corporate business person.
Now, on to my discussion of the title of this post: the Trump derangement syndrome.
Mr. Trump has been the favorite pin cushion of both the tabloid and mainstream media since I was a first a news editor at a daily newspaper back in the 1980s. What that means, I think, is that he has a lot thicker skin then his detractors give him credit for. However, it also means that lots of ink and airtime has spent to belittle and mock him, despite the fact that even with his various peccadilloes, he actually built a successful business empire and ran a successful political campaign (on his first try) that allowed him to win the office of president of the United States. Neither is a mean feat on their own, and the latter literally was against all the odds.
Now, let me point out that the man is neither stupid nor irrational. Unconventional? Oh, definitely yes. However, one does not build a multi-billion-dollar corporate empire by being either stupid or irrational. One may be eccentric or different like Howard Hughes or Henry J Ford, but that is not being mentally unbalanced.
And it has been nearly a century since someone won the office as a relative political novice. Usually, candidates have to try and fail several times before reach the peak of the political ladder in this country. So, despite all, you have to give him some credit for doing it.
So, you don’t like his policy proposals and plans, or the way that he approaches dealing with a host of issues. So what? The old saying that “elections have consequences” holds just as true for President Trump as it did for President Obama or any of his predecessors. If you were happy with the direction the country was going under Obama, and now the country is going in a different direction, you really need to get over it as did those who didn’t agree with the transformation agenda Obama proposed had to do.
It is interesting to note that the president was able to convince Congress to pass a tax cut that actually cuts taxes for 8 of 10 Americans and not just the 1 percent at the top. It also lowers the tax rates for American corporations to which the corporations responded with a modicum of jubilance. Some even went so far as give their employees bonuses and others actually gave out raises. Now, I am trying to see the down side to all this money flowing back into the U.S. from shelters and havens, but I can imagine those who can see no good coming from Trump or the GOP undoubtedly will find it. To me their cries of despair are a bit Orwellian in which good is bad and bad is good.
Now, where his detractors see and claim he allegedly is a budding tyrant, I see someone who has respected the road blocks to his policies and plans by the courts and Congress.
For example, the courts hammered him on his immigration plan (although in some estimations it was a severe overreach by the Judges), and he respected the various court orders and went back to the drawing board twice and while it is still being litigated, it appears that the third try – with a little tweaking – is going to pass muster with the Supreme Court of the United States.
He wanted an out-and-out repeal of Obamacare. He didn’t get it. Congress just wouldn’t agree to it.
Some tyrant there. It is, however, a clear demonstration on how the American system of governance is supposed to work. Unfortunately, his detractors are so obsessed with overturning the results of the 2016, they can’t see this apparently and take solace in it.
To those people I suggest they stop obsessing about it.
For those obsessing over Michael Wolff’s book. I merely shake my head in
wonder. I suspect it should be taken with a liberal amount of salt and cynicism.
First, even the author has admitted in a multitude of interviews that he made up
stuff to fill in the gaps. This would be consistent with his track record as a
gossip journalist in New York City where he has been accused of making stuff up a multitude of times.
Secondly, with his admitted credibility problem, it becomes problematic to separate the wheat from the chaff, the true from the false. Yes, there probably nuggets of truth in the book, but – honestly speaking – most of those truths were known to the electorate before he was elected to president. However, for those who truly can’t accept Trump as president, it becomes a case of the book is so salacious and fits their narrative so well, it has to be true … even if it is not.
To that end, I commend this article for your perusal.
Book too good not to believe in the LA Times
I know I haven’t read the book, so I really suppose I shouldn’t comment, but I will. It is the hysteria and hyperbole that bothers me. The fact that the author says his book will bring the president down and have him removed, I also find disturbing. It seems to me that certain groups whose ox is getting gored have decided that to heck with our federal democratic form of government, they are going to overthrow it and destroy the nation.
Damn it folks, get over it. You have 2018 here now and in November you can change the make up in Congress and legally stymie everything Trump does in the next two years. Then in 2020, you can vote FOR someone to replace him and if a majority of people in a majority of states by electoral vote agree with you, he will be out of office on Jan. 20, 2021, and you all can back to status quo ante and business as usual. If you believe in the American system, please stop going hysterical every time he tweets something. Did you ever think he might be doing it just to push your button and distract you from things that really are going on. Like a magician, watch this hand while the other hand does the real magic.
Ironically, if you look at the results of what his administration has done in its first year, you will find that it mostly has had a positive impact, or so says the New York Times (if you want to believe them). Hmm, strange. I would commend this article for your perusal:
Trump has accomplished much to counter the gossip
Finally, I find it amazing that the major news media basically played down this story or just ignored it.
Trump says he is open to talks with Kim
I mean he opens the door to talks with the little rocket man and nobody thinks that is important or worthy of extensive discussion. How myopic is that? Maybe he isn’t into a race to push the damn button,
Now, I am through with this rant. You are welcome to leave comments either here or on my Facebook page. You won’t hurt my feelings. I already am in my safe zone.
1. I apologize for having neglected to maintain my blog for the past year. I could lay out a litany of reasons and excuses, including being very lazy, but basically it seems that every potential entry gets overcome by events and the world moves on. The only thing that doesn’t seems to be the Presidency of Donald J Trump and the constant drumbeat of efforts to convince people he is unfit for office and should be removed.
2. My opinion of President Trump is that he is a somewhat self-centered, narcissistic, arrogant, unconventional individual who for some reason has inspired virulent hatred, a lifetime of jibes and mockery and a certain measure of envy and resentment for being a rather successful (to the tune of several billion dollars) American entrepreneur and corporate business person.
Now, on to my discussion of the title of this post: the Trump derangement syndrome.
Mr. Trump has been the favorite pin cushion of both the tabloid and mainstream media since I was a first a news editor at a daily newspaper back in the 1980s. What that means, I think, is that he has a lot thicker skin then his detractors give him credit for. However, it also means that lots of ink and airtime has spent to belittle and mock him, despite the fact that even with his various peccadilloes, he actually built a successful business empire and ran a successful political campaign (on his first try) that allowed him to win the office of president of the United States. Neither is a mean feat on their own, and the latter literally was against all the odds.
Now, let me point out that the man is neither stupid nor irrational. Unconventional? Oh, definitely yes. However, one does not build a multi-billion-dollar corporate empire by being either stupid or irrational. One may be eccentric or different like Howard Hughes or Henry J Ford, but that is not being mentally unbalanced.
And it has been nearly a century since someone won the office as a relative political novice. Usually, candidates have to try and fail several times before reach the peak of the political ladder in this country. So, despite all, you have to give him some credit for doing it.
So, you don’t like his policy proposals and plans, or the way that he approaches dealing with a host of issues. So what? The old saying that “elections have consequences” holds just as true for President Trump as it did for President Obama or any of his predecessors. If you were happy with the direction the country was going under Obama, and now the country is going in a different direction, you really need to get over it as did those who didn’t agree with the transformation agenda Obama proposed had to do.
It is interesting to note that the president was able to convince Congress to pass a tax cut that actually cuts taxes for 8 of 10 Americans and not just the 1 percent at the top. It also lowers the tax rates for American corporations to which the corporations responded with a modicum of jubilance. Some even went so far as give their employees bonuses and others actually gave out raises. Now, I am trying to see the down side to all this money flowing back into the U.S. from shelters and havens, but I can imagine those who can see no good coming from Trump or the GOP undoubtedly will find it. To me their cries of despair are a bit Orwellian in which good is bad and bad is good.
Now, where his detractors see and claim he allegedly is a budding tyrant, I see someone who has respected the road blocks to his policies and plans by the courts and Congress.
For example, the courts hammered him on his immigration plan (although in some estimations it was a severe overreach by the Judges), and he respected the various court orders and went back to the drawing board twice and while it is still being litigated, it appears that the third try – with a little tweaking – is going to pass muster with the Supreme Court of the United States.
He wanted an out-and-out repeal of Obamacare. He didn’t get it. Congress just wouldn’t agree to it.
Some tyrant there. It is, however, a clear demonstration on how the American system of governance is supposed to work. Unfortunately, his detractors are so obsessed with overturning the results of the 2016, they can’t see this apparently and take solace in it.
To those people I suggest they stop obsessing about it.
For those obsessing over Michael Wolff’s book. I merely shake my head in
wonder. I suspect it should be taken with a liberal amount of salt and cynicism.
First, even the author has admitted in a multitude of interviews that he made up
stuff to fill in the gaps. This would be consistent with his track record as a
gossip journalist in New York City where he has been accused of making stuff up a multitude of times.
Secondly, with his admitted credibility problem, it becomes problematic to separate the wheat from the chaff, the true from the false. Yes, there probably nuggets of truth in the book, but – honestly speaking – most of those truths were known to the electorate before he was elected to president. However, for those who truly can’t accept Trump as president, it becomes a case of the book is so salacious and fits their narrative so well, it has to be true … even if it is not.
To that end, I commend this article for your perusal.
Book too good not to believe in the LA Times
I know I haven’t read the book, so I really suppose I shouldn’t comment, but I will. It is the hysteria and hyperbole that bothers me. The fact that the author says his book will bring the president down and have him removed, I also find disturbing. It seems to me that certain groups whose ox is getting gored have decided that to heck with our federal democratic form of government, they are going to overthrow it and destroy the nation.
Damn it folks, get over it. You have 2018 here now and in November you can change the make up in Congress and legally stymie everything Trump does in the next two years. Then in 2020, you can vote FOR someone to replace him and if a majority of people in a majority of states by electoral vote agree with you, he will be out of office on Jan. 20, 2021, and you all can back to status quo ante and business as usual. If you believe in the American system, please stop going hysterical every time he tweets something. Did you ever think he might be doing it just to push your button and distract you from things that really are going on. Like a magician, watch this hand while the other hand does the real magic.
Ironically, if you look at the results of what his administration has done in its first year, you will find that it mostly has had a positive impact, or so says the New York Times (if you want to believe them). Hmm, strange. I would commend this article for your perusal:
Trump has accomplished much to counter the gossip
Finally, I find it amazing that the major news media basically played down this story or just ignored it.
Trump says he is open to talks with Kim
I mean he opens the door to talks with the little rocket man and nobody thinks that is important or worthy of extensive discussion. How myopic is that? Maybe he isn’t into a race to push the damn button,
Now, I am through with this rant. You are welcome to leave comments either here or on my Facebook page. You won’t hurt my feelings. I already am in my safe zone.
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