Portrait of Mark Twain by Robert Shetterly, Ohio
and by permission of: Americans Who Tell the Truth project
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1) Please confirm you are using Common Sense, because Common Sense matters.
Thanks!
Please CYN ROAI FOSSL POHFPronounced: Please Sin Roy Fossil Poff
2) Please confirm you’re not relying on any information from our socio-serial-lying President or his Fox’s.
Thanks Again!
Important: If unable to confirm #2, please return to #1.
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Opposite of Great. Believe me … there are NO examples of greatness in modern history that resemble MAGA.
Only a comedy writer would govern using social media for policy making.
So THAT’s what happens when you get rid of Independent Career Government Oversight?
Only a comedy writer would use the term “Deal” in foreign diplomacy and trade negotiations.
Why laypersons (and TV personalities) are mostly not good at: heart surgery, government oversight, plumbing, checks and balances, rocket science, politics, software coding, foreign policy, screw worms, trade negotiations, medical research, measels, treasury, election results, codes and standards, military policy,
You can’t play Chutes & Ladders when world powers are playing 3D Chess.
Insider Trading: a new Presidential and Executive Branch Sport.
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The Topics Below are deliberately presented in Black, then White.
Election and Voter Fraud
by: John Hughson
The US holds a gold standard among global democracies for Federal Election integrity. There is no measurable fraud recorded in modern times, nor evidence of wrongdoing. Why? Among many reasons, we don’t have a Federal Election in the US. We have over 10,000 local elections. They deliberately adhere to unique state and local laws, conduct, and regulations. These cannot be corrupted in any central way. On the other hand, a sure way to corrupt a federal election system, demonstrated by authoritarian regimes (think Venezuela, Viktor Orban’s Hungary), would be to allow the federal government to play a role in the voting, counting of votes, voter rolls, gerrymandering, etc. (READ: Poll place monitoring, SAVE Act, using USPS to interfere with ballots, etc.) This is why the US federal Government is expressly prohibited from interfering with state voting processes.
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Why then would someone lie to convince you there is an election fraud problem that doesn’t exist? Bingo! To rig the election that is otherwise not rigged, based on the fear that their candidates will not win elections democratically without influencing election results or falsely undermining election integrity.
Opposite of Great
There are zero examples of greatness in modern history that resemble MAGA.
Great is one of those important words that does not have a solid antonym. Awful. Inferior. Trite. Hate. In politics, governance, diplomacy, and leadership … greatness means excelling as a public servant, commitment to the broader public, leading with big-picture vision. Like Eisenhower in the late ‘50’s navigating the Cold War with calm reassurance to all Americans, recognizing that increased military spending was wrong because it directly siphoned programs that support our most vulnerable and needy populations, and enforcing the integration of schools, upholding federal rulings. Or FDR, who navigated the Great Depression (magnified in large part by the reintroduction of widespread tariffs by the prior R administration) and introduced sweeping social and economic reforms. He also marshalled industrial might to guide Allies through World War II.
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What are the biggest clues you are not great? When you spend most waking hours, public speeches, social media, calling yourself Great. Honest John’s used cars. When you are the opposite of a public servant: self-dealing, graft, self-enrichment. When you are a pathological liar and you name your self-serving social media service “Truth Social”.
Did you know? Tariffs are double taxation!
Yep. High school students learn in their Civics class that broad Tariffs – and even worse, Tariff Wars –fail, have negative impacts on the economy, and are particularly harmful for the nation imposing the tariffs. Tariffs have not only failed but have caused economic havoc since the late 1800’s. For over its first 100 years, the US Federal Government used Tariffs as the primary source of federal revenues. However, by the early 20th century it became clear that taxing income was a more stable, regulated and even-handed method of generating federal revenue. It took a few decades to get Income taxes to work evenly and systematically. Then in 1930, Republicans introduced sweeping tariffs which dramatically impacted the Great Depression with negative impact globally. Until Trump, tariffs since the Great Depression have been used surgically and strategically in managing trade balance, foreign relations and certain critical technologies.
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Because tariffs are double taxation and have broad economic impact, they must be approved by Congress. The Trump tariff wars also result in double taxation that is uneven, disproportionately impacting the middle and working class. Further, producers in key industries like agriculture lose export markets due to retaliation and increased costs of goods. The Republican led Congress chose to ignore its responsibility to approve tariffs.
Laundering with your money. Feeling any cleaner?
In 1976, newly elected President Jimmy Carter sold and stepped away from his family peanut farming business to demonstrate focus on the most important job in the world and to eliminate any concerns of distraction from duty, self-dealing, or impropriety. All presidential candidates in modern history have made their tax returns public. Until Trump. Note to self: when a the next time I hear from a political candidate who needs Spin Doctors to convince me they are “honest” and yet won’t disclose their personal finances, won’t untangle from complicated private family global businesses full of gaping openings for graft, self-dealing, and corruption. Note to self: when my favorite candidate starts a Crypto enterprise designed to generate first-time mega-wealth for owners and insiders, lasting losses for supporters with unregulated channels for 7, 8, and 9-digit graft from foreign actors, pardon seekers, corporate favors, remember to check the other box.
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Let’s put our thinking hat on. Why would a president spend so much of your tax dollars suing the IRS (an agency controlled by the Executive Branch) and then ink a “settlement” to avoid going to court in return for receiving a $17B “Slush Fund” settlement PLUS preventing review of all tax records covering Trump and all Trump businesses and family members? Then, when the suit is declared a sham, why would that president nominate an Attorney General who refuses to state under oath that the taxpayer-funded sham arrangement would no longer be pursued? BINGO! When you have made billions of $$ through self-dealing applying the power of your elected office including your largely unregulated Crypto bank with family and cabinet members allowing an open back door for bribery payments from individuals and foreign nations, wouldn’t you also want to prevent the IRS from scrubbing your tax returns? Wouldn’t you also want a get-out-of-jail-free card in that Monopoly game?
Only a comedy writer would govern using social media for policymaking and public notification.
Remember the daily “cringe moments” in 2017 when we discovered firsthand how inept, unprepared, incompetent, and ill-suited this former reality TV personality was as President? We instantly learned he was not a public speaker except as a cheerleader for himself. We instantly learned he had no understanding of governance, seeing everything as an “I don’t win unless you lose” transaction. In both first-term and second-term, he shows he does not know how to document or deliver important policy through proper channels, chain of command, or diplomatic protocols. As a result, policy matters, managing personnel, and major announcements all come through social media, including through the President’s own owned-and-operated social media channel.
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Trump’s social media channel of communication gets further polluted with a steady stream of late-night and early am sewage level rants befitting teen warfare. But this is the President of the United States. In his first term, an entire entourage of spin doctors was there at every uncontrolled outburst to filter and explain “what Trump really means is:”. Now, in his second term, even the spin doctors have given up, except, of course, for Fox News and other “see no, hear no, speak no” platforms, which apply more slant than truth to news and current-events reporting. Hey … maybe getting rid of the leading mainstream press in favor of Trump TV will result in unbiased reporting? OMG … Please CYAUCS BCSM!
You can’t play Chutes & Ladders when world powers are playing 3D Chess.
At the turn of the century, two research psychologists, David Dunning and Justin Kruger published results of a seminal study into what has become known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. This occurs when someone with low ability or knowledge greatly overestimates their competence. If that person acts based on this incompetence, they then lack the self-awareness to realize their shortcoming. Add in Trump’s immediate action to fire massive numbers of highly skilled non-partisan career brain trust from all areas of government, including foreign relations and the diplomatic corps. Replaced with family members and loyalists, there becomes a void in all manner of competent management of foreign policy, foreign aid, trade relations, long-standing alliances, and nearly major department and responsibility of the Federal government.
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It is then embarrassing when Trump applies his limited personal views of transactional policy, meaning I get this, you give that, resulting in the ups and downs of Chutes and Ladders. Meanwhile, those seasoned statesman/women working to manage and influence the world toward democracy and mutual prosperity, safety, and defense are managing national priorities and international alignments more akin to 3D Chess.
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