Sunday – April 7

April 7, 2019April 4, 2019RJ Walters

Senility??

I can remember in the late 1980s thinking that the then president just might be in the beginning stages of senility. He just seemed to forget so many things and was forever depending on Nancy to finish his thoughts. Is that happening again?

It seems that the current Oval Office occupant can’t even remember where is father was born. Is this the beginning of senility or is it just another of the VERY LONG list of lies he has told? I don’t know? But I do have a post coming out this week with several explanations of why he says so many untrue things. I didn’t make up this list but I think each possible reason has some validity. I think you will be suprised by it.

Speaking of Telling the Truth…

It seems that Attorney General Barr is telling a story much different than the authors remember writing it. Some members of the Meuller team say his four page summary is not what they wrote. I guess we will never hear the end of this stuff until we hear the end of Trump.

Don’t Go Away Mad…

I see everybody is picking on Joe Biden again. It turns out that there are many people who he has hugged and embraced in different ways over the years that didn’t appreciate it. I know that is just the way he is but on a deeper level I think its time for him to go away. He shouldn’t put himself through the agony with no hope of reward. His time has passed and it’s time to let a younger generation have their change to screw things up.

Don’t Go Away Mad, Joe… Just Go Away..

Everything is Great Again

Now that we finally have the perfect person leading our country, everything it GREAT Again… Or is it???

But all the MAGA folks see here is the American Flag descecrated.

Nobody Makes Capitalism Look Worse…

March 25, 2019March 24, 2019RJ Walters

I get much of my inspiration about life in the US from the New York Times. They seem to have the best reporting and columnists in the country. That’s why I pay the big bucks ($4/month) for their daily feed. 🙂

The title above came from an column from Gail Collins. It started out with following paragraph.

Department of Irony: Republicans can’t stop howling about socialism. But nobody makes capitalism look worse than Donald Trump.

I couldn’t have said it better. To the majority of international banks Trump is just persona non-grata. He has declared bankruptcy so many times (11) that they just don’t want anything to do with him. About the only bank in the world who will still give him loans is Deutsche Bank. Why is it that they still loan him money? The Mueller team is looking into that and I wouldn’t be surprised if they find something illegal about that. Cohen has already stated that he filed illegal reports to them as to his boss’ wealth.

At this point the bank did a review of Trump’s claim that he was worth about $3 billion and discovered it was more like $788 million…

The skyscraper got built, but nobody seemed to want to live there. Trump, who had personally guaranteed $40 million of the loan, then went to court, pointing to a clause in the contract that said he wouldn’t have to cough up the money in the event of a natural disaster. And what about the recession? Was that a natural disaster or what?

Onward. More loans from Deutsche Bank. Some of which he used to pay back … Deutsche Bank. Nobody seemed to think that was crazy.
So, what’s the problem here? Anat Admati, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, said she found it shocking that “a corporation the size and complexity of Deutsche Bank is so poorly governed.”

The bank, however, didn’t run for president on the basis of its financial genius. Trump did, and it worked so well he is now running around making speeches about reducing business regulation.
Source: New York Times

I imagine there are many real capitalist around who hate the fact that the “proudly ignorant” voters out there consider his capitalistic traits make him worthy to be president. I suspect they are laughing and crying at the same time.

Why Incompetent People Think They Are Amazing

December 12, 2018December 12, 2018RJ Walters

I know the title of this post will get quite a bit of attention because it mirrors someone we all know. It is known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Here is a quote from an article about it:

“When psychologists Dunning and [Justin] Kruger first described the effect in 1999, they argued that people lacking knowledge and skill in particular areas suffer a double curse. First, they make mistakes and reach poor decisions. But second, those same knowledge gaps also prevent them from catching their errors. In other words, poor performers lack the very expertise needed to recognize how badly they’re doing.”
Source: Vox.com

Of course, this phenomenon is not limited to the obvious example of the current Oval Office occupant. In fact, there are probably millions of incompetent people across America and the world who think they are great simply because they have not taken the time to learn more about the subject at hand. But maybe the biggest problem with thinking you are smarter than you are is that you then go on to make horrible decisions based on your incompetence.

In closing one of my favorite sayings that I learned many years ago in college is “You don’t have to know what you are saying, as long as you say it with authority”. Little did I know that someday those words would become the modus-operandi of a supposed world leader!

Benefit Of The Doubt… Wrong!!

October 31, 2018October 27, 2018RJ Walters

There are many people who I have come across in my life that I give the benefit of the doubt to what they say. For those who might be a little fuzzy on that term, here is an explanation:

Even though I am a skeptic at heart I trust them to be telling me the truth. For the most part, they have earned my respect by their previous actions. One person who has had the exact opposite effect on me is the current Oval Office occupant (#CO3). My modus operandi for him is to take whatever he says as being false until it is proven to be true. I have been critical of past presidents but never to the degree of this one.

Part of my distrust and maybe even animosity toward #CO3 is my personal association with another extreme narcissist who was for limited times in my life my mother. Even at a young age, I realized that she often said things that I knew to be not true. Most of her lies, like #CO3’s, centered around making herself the center of attention. I also came to realize later in life that she probably believed the lies she was telling. I also came to realize that much of this was due to an inferiority complex. She claimed she was a nurse even though she never likely graduated from high school. Later in life being a nurse was not enough, she then claimed to be a doctor.

From these experiences, I have come to have a deep distrust of anything #CO3 says. I realize that when the attention is taken away from him he will do anything to get it back. Absolutely everything HAS to be about him. How we ever allowed such a person to occupy the highest office in the land is totally shocking to me!

I only pray that the coming election stifles any further damage he is doing to our democracy. Let him rule during his last two years if he is not impeached before then with strong checks and balances from the legislative branch.

Proud Beta Male, MeToo…

October 5, 2018October 5, 2018RJ Walters

I have to give you a quote from one of my most recent regular reads in the blogsphere. It is from John Pavlovitz. He is a North Carolina pastor who speaks to my heart. Here is the snippet for discussion in Today’s post. It is about a Trumpster who tried to insult him by calling him a beta-male (as opposed to an alpha-male I suppose):

Source: Confessions of a Proud Beta Male

Evidentally #CO3 has been using this term in his rallies/self-adoration sessions. He intends it to be an insult/putdown but it seems that many are now proudly taking up that mantle. I am one of them, I now call myself a Beta-Male.

I guess to him and his base it means that you are not an alpha-male:

You are not a take-charge guy who has to dominate every situation.
You are not a guy who proudly boasts of his conquest over others, especially females, and proudly proclaim the things you can do to them with complete immunity.
You are not a guy who strikes back in anger when you feel even a slight bit challenged.
You are not a guy thumping your chest and proclaiming yourself superior and vastly more intelligent than others.
You are not a guy who berates and mocks those you have decided are your enemies.
You are not a guy who primarily makes decisions with gut feelings as opposed to studying the situation to make an informed choice.

I, like Pastor Pavlovitz, proudly proclaim that I am a beta-male. Thank you #CO3 for painting me as very different from you and so many of your base. I will proudly wear the mantle you perceive as a smear.

I am a proud beta-male

#CO3 = Current Oval Office Occupant

I Don’t Want To…

July 18, 2018July 17, 2018RJ Walters

I don’t want to be united with people who think Trump is a good person

The words above came from a comment to the Facebook posting that centered around the picture here. It got me to thinking about my personal attitude about those who think Trump is a good person. I just returned from a uRV trip to see the Madison Regatta in southern Indiana. On my route there I stopped at a small town restaurant for lunch. When I opened the door I was greeted with a large screen TV with Fox News glaring at me! To make matters worse several of the patrons were wearing the now familiar red hats with the MAGA logo. I was very tempted to just turn around and walk out but I realized this was probably the only dining option available in the area.

I’m sure by many other standards most of these folks are good people, but does that ameliorate their political and moral stands? Can I look past that to see their goodness? The short answer to that is “I don’t know?” That stand just seems to tarnish everything else. I know fear is what drives many of them. They see “their way of life” changing and are willing to grab on to ANYTHING to prevent that from happening. Morality and Truth are two of those causalities.

This is one of those times when I kinda wished I could hear again. I would love to have heard some of the stories at the tables around me. I could only imagine that some of those stories are about all those people who are invading their world. But then again, maybe they were just chitchatting about their daily lives.

Infatuation With Dictators??

June 22, 2018June 22, 2018RJ Walters

I have said here many times that #CO3 is driven totally by his self-image. Being an extreme narcissist everything simply has to be about him. Keeping that in mind read below what Politico says about some of his latest insanities.

President Donald Trump reliably tells the truth on one thing: He likes the way dictators do business.

“He speaks, and his people sit up at attention,” Trump said on Friday morning of North Korean despot Kim Jong Un in an interview with Fox News — a network where he receives no shortage of praise. “I want my people to do the same.”…

Vladimir Putin’s also a tough guy whom Trump praises for running his country well. So is Rodrigo Duterte, whose executions of drug dealers without trial in the Philippines is something Trump has said he’s looking into.

Source: Donald dreams of dictators – POLITICO

As I see it he is becoming a very dangerous person if no one will stand up to him. His own party, well at least is adopted party for convenience, seems to be totally afraid to call him to task on any of his many abusive blunders. When our government of three separate branches ceases to function, our democracy could be in serious trouble.

It appears that #CO3 is starting to get comfortable in his new job and kinda thinks he wants to make it permanent. Will the other two branches continue to cower under his insanity or not? We can only pray that they somehow find the fortitude to make him eventually accountable for his actions and constant lies.

It is very troubling how he praises the world’s dictators and accosts our allies with his usual stinging words. I pray the mid-term elections will cause some level of balance to be restored in our three branch system.

#CO3 = Current Oval Office Occupant

I Get All The News I Need From The Weather Report…

May 16, 2018May 16, 2018RJ Walters

I didn’t realize how freeing it could be to disentangle myself from the political world. It used to be that I spent a good half hour every morning browsing my internet feeds for political stories. That process now takes about five minutes or less. The PBS Newshour that I watch the morning after now takes about 10 -15 minutes of my time. The rest goes by at “super fast-forward”. Especially when #CO3’s picture shows up.

The title of this post is from the album by Simon & Garfunkel entitled “Bridge over troubled waters”. I gotta do a post on that song soon. Getting back to the topic at hand, keeping today’s politics beyond arm’s length certainly is less stressful. I used to scan the daily news to get the latest Trump screw-up but I don’t do that anymore. I’m sure they will continue to come with increased intensity as each day passes but I just won’t be reading them anymore. There is simply no use in getting upset about things that I have no control over.

For some, speculating what Meuller has uncovered is a way of life. For some, dissing Meuller and everything he finds is a way of life. At this point, it is not likely that any minds will change on this topic. Just tell me when the Special Counsel issues his report and when the impeachment starts and I might get engaged at least at some level again. But, until then I get all the news I need from the weather report.

#CO3 = Current Oval Office Occupant

Puppy Dog Eyes

April 9, 2018April 9, 2018RJ Walters

The old Indiana governor, which is my home state is probably the best Vice President in US history. I know that is kind of a bold statement, especially coming from me! But hear me out. If you are as sharp as a tack you probably already figured it out.

The basic job of the vice president is to sit in his office and wait for the president to die. At least that is the Republican take on it, the Democrats actually put their VPs to work. I got to change subjects slightly here to make my final point so bear with me. The old saying in DC is if a president wants a friend in Washington then he should get a dog. Well, I think the current Oval Office occupant has the best of both worlds.

Every time I see the VP with him he is looking at him with “puppy dog eyes”. He just seems to be in awe of everything the guy says or does. He is definitely a loyal employee who would never dare to question anything his boss said, and he is definitely house trained. What more could a sitting president, especially the current one, want?

The Trouble with Lies…

February 19, 2018February 23, 2018RJ Walters

Being unable to read is illiteracy. That is tragic but something even worse is being able to read but choosing not to. Of course, you know who I am talking about.

canstockphoto14308761 We have never had a president in our history who was proudly illiterate until now. He claims he is a genius and graduated first in his class at Wharton College. A reporter recently found public records of those who made the Dean’s List during those years and Mr. Trump was never on the list. So how could someone who graduated at the top of his class not make the dean’s list? Of course, that is impossible. But if pushed to it Trump would probably give another conspiracy theory about how the dean didn’t like that he was so much smarter than him that he erased his name.

This all brings to mind a personal story. I have let it be known here on RJsCorner that my mother, like our current president, was an extreme narcissist. Some of her regular fabrications were about her occupation.

She proclaimed was a college graduate when in fact she very likely never graduated from high school. She was pregnant at the age of fifteen in the 1940s and then had a second child (me) at 17. Preganent girls did not attend high school during those years let along college.
In another part of her life, she proclaimed she was a nurse when in fact she only worked as a receptionist in a doctor’s office for less than a year in her early twenties.
Later in life, she proclaimed she was a doctor. This came about when she volunteered once a week for two months at a local medical center and they let her wear a white coat. After that, she added “Dr.” to her name everywhere she could.
After her fourth husband died and I had to take over managing her life, I insisted she stop saying she was a doctor. Reluctantly she did so, but then she started telling all the assisted-living and nursing home folks that she was the head nurse at a major metropolitan hospital.

I don’t think she really consciously knew she was constantly lying. She was probably convinced in her own mind of each of the fabricated occupations. Her narcissism dictated so many lies in her life. The same thing is true for Mr. Trump and his fabrications. He claims he is a genius so there is nothing else he needs to know. He proclaims he is a billionaire but hides possible proof of it and calls it a “red line” if anyone should access his tax returns.

The primary symptom of Narcissism is that they make EVERYTHING is about them. There is no meaning outside of themselves. Sadly that proved to be true yet again when he recently tweeted about the latest school shooting. His point wasn’t about empathy, of which he likely has none, but instead about how investigating him made it happen. Everything has to be about him.

In closing, the trouble with compounding one lie after another is that it becomes impossible to keep them straight.

Being Prepared…

February 15, 2018May 4, 2019RJ Walters

Even though I was never a Boy Scout, I am a person who tries to be prepared for the challenges I will be facing. If I want to discuss a controversial topic I try to study both sides to see where my feelings might reside. “Think For Yourself” is one of my primary mantras in my life. I simply don’t let others tell me what to think. But then again, maybe that is one of the reasons I was never a Boy Scout (ha).

Then I see the current Oval Office occupant who is totally unprepared for the many challenges he faces. I know he never dreamed he would actually occupy that prime real estate, he was just having fun dissing people. Maybe that is an excuse for being unprepared? But the even more tragic thing about all of this is that now that he is there he seems doggedly determined to stay unprepared. Of course, his narcissism has something to do with that and his grand illusion of being a perfect genius also contributes to that continued ignorance.

Changing pace a little here with a snippet:

the real craziness of 2017 is best expressed in terms of constitutional theory. Our Constitution vests the entire executive power in a single individual. No worse joke has been played on the American people than the very fact that tens of thousands of eighth graders have a far better grasp of the Constitution than Donald Trump, even though he swore a sacred oath to “preserve, protect, and defend” it on January 20, before the record crowds he deluded himself to see assembled before him. That’s not just political craziness; it’s truly meshugah in every sense of the term. Just try to imagine a conversation with Jefferson, Madison, either Adams, or Abraham Lincoln—strong constitutionalists all—on one side of the table, and the current chief executive on the other. That would be crazy, too!

Source: Was 2017 the Craziest Year in U.S. Political History? – POLITICO Magazine

Unwillingness to even attempt to prepare for the future when millions of lives are at stake by your actions is a deadly sin as far as I am concerned. To me, that is a 25th amendment thing in itself. As my hero, Will Rogers said, “Everyone is ignorant, just on different subjects”. Ignorance is not stupidity unless we refuse to learn. But then again extreme self-imposed ignorance is STUPIDITY!

The underlying reason for his continued ignorance of constitutional matters is his abject refusal to read. Here is a little about that:

Wolff [Fire and Fury authoer] quotes economic adviser Gary Cohn writing in an email: “It’s worse than you can imagine. Trump won’t read anything—not one-page memos, not the brief policy papers, nothing. He gets up halfway through meetings with world leaders because he is bored.”…

In March, Reuters reported that briefers had strategically placed the president’s name in as many paragraphs of briefing documents as possible so as to attract his fickle attention.

Source: The President Who Doesn’t Read – The Atlantic

One Good Thing About the Trump Presidency

February 14, 2018February 13, 2018RJ Walters

As usual, I have been in a reflective mood this time of year. I am trying to see if any good has come from the current presidency. What I am currently latching onto is that now that there is a self-proclaimed, and seemingly proudly so, the sexual abuser in the White House that topic has finally moved to the forefront. Of course, it has a hashtag #MeToo. Even though he has not yet been called to task many others who thought they were exempt have now fallen from grace. It is amazing to me just how quickly that happened.

But I do kind of wonder just how deep this current sexual harassment base is? Since 53% of white women voted for Trump even as he admitted he was guilty of sexual abuse, I wonder where those voters are now? Are they still Trump supporters? I don’t know..

I worked 30 years in the corporate world and was aware of the sexual harassment around me. In my company, it was never rampant but it did exist under the surface.

Too bad #MeToo was not around when Anita Hill testified during that infamous Supreme Court nomination. If it was we would likely not have an incompetent holding down a lifetime appointment to that noble institution. I wonder if there is a way to get someone off that bench who plainly is unable to perform the duties. Is there a 25th amendment for Supreme Court judges? But I am getting off topic here…

I know that Bill Cosby started this avalanche but Trump caused it to go critical mass and that is a good thing. I just wonder if that will be the Trump legacy years after he has relinquished his deadly hold on the country?

Oct 8, 2016 –

Trump: You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

Bush: Whatever you want.

Trump: Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.

Oct 16, 2016 – People magazine writer, Natasha Stoynoff, was interviewing the Trumps in 2005 at Mar-a-Lago. She says, quote, “I turned around and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.” Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice alleges Trump forced …

Etc, Etc, Etc…

In the back of my mind, I kinda wonder if Bill Clinton had been called to task on his alleged sexual assaults whether there would even be a Trump presidency??

What Happens When You Don’t Do Your Homework?

February 7, 2018February 6, 2018RJ Walters

I suspect there has not been a kid alive that didn’t have to be forced to do his grade school homework. In my day parental threats were used to accomplish that task, today enticements most often are likely used. Here is my list of the consequences of not doing your homework:

When you don’t do your homework you make terribly uninformed decisions. –

When you don’t do your homework you lose out on opportunities in life. –

When you don’t do your homework you fall behind everyone else.

When you don’t do your homework you remain ignorant of too many topics.

It is not until later that most of us learn that studying a topic makes us more informed and better able to take on life’s challenges. When we gain knowledge on a subject we can make better decisions and if we are writers/bloggers maybe we can even convince others to look at things a little differently.

One of the most dreadful realities of not doing your homework currently resides in the White House, well at least for a few days each week. He is so vain and convinced of this superintelligence that he refuses to do his homework so he could be a better president. Surely in his mind’s eye, he knows he is not qualified for his duties but he will never, even if his life depends on it, admit to that fact. To do so would be to admit that he is not perfect. The sad reality is that the average eighth grader probably has more knowledge of the Constitution than he does. He is one of those few people who doesn’t care to learn something he doesn’t know. But maybe that is because he thinks he knows everything.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.
— ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Looking Back…

February 5, 2018February 5, 2018RJ Walters

I now have over 3,000 posts here at RJsCorner and in a number of them I made some predictions. Every once in a while I need to revisit those posts, especially those where I got my predictions wrong. This is one of them. In this post below, I predicted that there was no way Trump could win the presidency. But I did leave myself an out by saying it depends on how many of us vote, so maybe I was right after all. I guess my faulty logic was that I gave the general electorate too much credit for being informed voters. I have learned my lessons in that regard. 🙂

About Brexit and the British.. And How We are NOT Like Them

July 25, 2016 RJ Walters

241 years ago we were part of the Great British Empire. We were loyal, although complaining, citizens. Then we chose to go our own way and eventually after a four-year rebellion got our way. We still have common bonds with GB but we are also markedly different. One of the major differences is that we are a nation of immigrants and Great Britain is a nation embedded in aristocracy.

We until recently have a classless nation. We don’t hold people in higher esteem just because of what name they have. America became known as the land of opportunity. A place where anyone with the right opportunities and drive could make their fortunes. I say until recently because since the 1980s, I always like to put the blame on the Reagan administration, we simply did not allow massive fortunes to flow from one generation to another. For the super-rich inheritance taxes were often 90% or more.

In the last one hundred years, but especially the last thirty, wealth began to flow with very little taxes from one generation to another. That results in people like Paris Hilton getting massive fortunes from their great-grandparents. That fact separates us into the “haves” and the “have-nots”. Paris has never known what it is like not to get her every whim and wish fulfilled with no effort on her part. Unlike Britain, we don’t put perpetual titles on our gifted.

Getting to the point of this post, many people fear that since GB chose to exit the European Union that it might be a signal that we will also do something radical such as electing and egomaniac narcissist anti-immigrant person as our president. Given that we are a nation of immigrant and the most part unprivileged that is not likely. Of course, this election will test that theory to the max. It all depends on turnout. Presidential election turnouts have typically been in the mid-50% range. That is, only about half of us bother to show up at the polls. We are perhaps the worst in established democracies in that regard.

It will soon come to a point that the majority of us in the U.S. will no longer be WASPs. Over 40% of us presently claim heritage of a different nature. Whereas Britain is still very much entwined with a whites-only society. It has been pretty well established that immigration was one of the primary reasons for the Brexit vote. The well-established citizens could see the “British way of life” changing too quickly for them and because they are still a significant majority they were able to say “no more immigrants”.

The ethnic diversity of the U.S. is unique in all of the world. It has allowed us to empathize with oppressed countries around the globe and as the plaque on the Statue of Liberty says we don’t put a monetary or class requirement on those who want to come to join us. Well, at least until now, and these time will soon pass…

Future GOP Celebrations of the Trump Presidency??

February 1, 2018February 1, 2018RJ Walters

Will a day come in the future that the GOP will actually celebrate the years of the Trump presidency? That seems to be an extremely unlikely scenario but I can see how it could happen. The reason I say that is because the Democrats celebrate what they call one of their party’s best presidents when I think he was anything but that. To me, this person was a racist, egotistical, loudmouth do-nothing who was driven primarily by ego. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

I suspect my more nuanced readers know I am talking about Andy Jackson. In local politics around the country, there are annual events called “Jefferson/Jackson Day Dinners” to celebrate their roots. They proudly get together to celebrate their heroes! Yes, Thomas Jefferson who is one of my primary heroes was a great man and a serious thinker but Jackson was anything but that. Here are some snippets about him from my friends at Wikipedia:

His presidency marked the beginning of the ascendancy of the “spoils system” in American politics.

Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, [Trail of Tears] which relocated most members of the Native American tribes in the South to Indian Territory. The relocation process dispossessed the Indians and resulted in widespread death and sickness.

Congress, led by Clay, tried to reauthorize the Second Bank of the United States; Jackson regarded the Bank as a corrupt institution and vetoed the renewal of its charter. After a lengthy struggle, Jackson and his allies thoroughly dismantled the Bank [and as a result] reckless speculation in land and railroads eventually caused the Panic of 1837.

Jackson’s quick temper was notorious. .. his opponents were terrified of his temper: “Observers likened him to a volcano, and only the most intrepid or recklessly curious cared to see it erupt. …His close associates all had stories of his blood-curdling oaths, his summoning of the Almighty to loose His wrath upon some miscreant, typically followed by his own vow to hang the villain or blow him to perdition. Given his record—in duels, brawls, mutiny trials, and summary hearings—listeners had to take his vows seriously.

His unrepentant ownership of slaves marked him as one to be censured rather than praised.” Further, “By the turn of the present [21st] century, it was scarcely an exaggeration to say that the one thing American schoolchildren learned about Jackson was that he was the author of the Trail of Tears.”

Given my 500 word limit on posts, I can only give you a short look at the person, but even this is enough to show that Jackson was a man with a huge ego and a short temper who really had zero respect for others different from him.

In my opinion, he did more to damage the country than almost any president. Kind of sounds familiar doesn’t it? My Native-American roots will be celebrating when he is finally removed from the $20 bill and replaced by anyone else. But I think it would be serendipitously fitting for a Native-American to take his place.

I Am Always Trying To Figure Out The New Evangelicals…

January 28, 2018January 27, 2018RJ Walters

One of the things that totally baffles me is how people who now say they are Evangelicals but vote in almost direct opposition to those established beliefs. I hate to use the words but due to their hero the only words that come to mind is that they are “FAKE EVANGELICALS”!!

It’s a good time to try to sort out how Protestants who voted for Moore and Donald Trump may differ from, well, lots of the rest of us Protestants.

Analysts say about 80 percent of voters who identify as white Christian evangelicals and participated in Alabama’s special election voted for Moore. That’s roughly the same percentage of white evangelicals who supported Trump in 2016….

What baffled non-evangelicals in the 2016 election and the recent Alabama election was how evangelicals could support people whose values and actions made a mockery of evangelical ideals. Trump: a self-confessed sexual predator, a man of multiple marriages and mistresses, a businessman deeply engaged in casinos, a man of xenophobic tendencies. Moore: a credibly accused molester of teenage girls, a man known to express racist views, a flouter of the law who had to be removed as chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court.

How to explain all that?

via Evangelicals, non-evangelicals are divided by common religion | National Catholic Reporter

To me, this is kind of like the KKK who claims to be a Christian organization but don’t show it in any way, shape, or form. I know I am not supposed to judge what is in the heart of fellow Christians but I just can’t seem to see any other explanation. I wish some of these folks would explain themselves in a public discourse so that we could begin to understand the logic in their beliefs if indeed there is any.

Without that testimony, I kind of think they are either lazy Christians who never bothered to learn about the teachings of their founder or they are putting on a mask to validate their very narrow view of the world. I don’t want to judge them but without their input that is about all I can do.

But one thing I do know for certain is that they are killing religion with their actions.

Another 10 Lies From a Trump Interview

January 5, 2018March 27, 2018RJ Walters

To me, the most disgraceful thing about the current Oval Office occupant is his constant lying and exaggerations. I’m not sure how much of it is just plain ignorance, but even ignorance is no excuse. From the quote below he managed to rattle off ten lies in less than 10 minutes. Maybe that is a record but I kind of doubt it. I wonder what the total lie count is for the year just ended? Probably in the thousands..

President Trump, in an impromptu interview on Thursday with The New York Times, rattled off at least 10 false or misleading claims about …

He inaccurately said the claims against Paul Manafort occurred “many years ago before I ever heard of him.”

He misrepresented what a senator has said about the Russia investigation.

He falsely claimed the Democrats “made the Russian story up as a hoax, as a ruse, as an excuse for losing an election.”

He claimed to have “saved coal,” contrary to trends reported by the government.

He overstated his influence on the special Senate election in Alabama.

He gave a premature estimate of the cost of the wars in the Middle East.

He falsely claimed to have “essentially gutted and ended Obamacare.”

With no evidence, he accused other countries of sending their “worst people” through the diversity visa lottery.

He exaggerated the trade deficit with other countries

He exaggerated the number of followers he has on social media

Source:10 Falsehoods From Trump’s Interview With The Times – The New York Times

Maybe I should forgive him for this horrible trait? He has lived a totally privileged life that has been centered exclusively around himself. I think his father was much like him so maybe it is inherited?

But one thing I am certain of is that the blame for him occupying that cherished real estate is the ignorance of the voters who put him there and the laziness of the ones who didn’t bother to vote at all. I hear leaks from his once buddy Steve Bannon that while he was campaigning he didn’t want, nor expect to be elected and was shocked as much as anyone else at the voter ignorance that put him there.

I find it somewhat relieving that we managed the first year of him and am hoping that this year will be his last and in 2020 we will have learned our lessons never to allow this to happen again.

“Don’t Confuse Me With The Facts”…

October 2, 2017October 2, 2017RJ Walters

I am becoming more and more convinced that the title of this post should be the theme of the Trump base. Their hero continues to lie, attack and poison everything he touches and they just ignore it. Don’t confuse me with the facts… yeah that fits.

Fake news is often the topic with the liar in chief so I’m sure he has seen the article below:

Horner, whose fake news stories often went viral on Facebook and Twitter, told The Intersect, a Washington Post blog, last year that Trump supporters were especially susceptible to being fooled. “My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time,” Horner said. “I think Trump is in the White House because of me.

“His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything. His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist.”

Source: Fake news writer in 2016 presidential election found dead | TheHill

This quote was by a self proclaimed fake news writer. He got his kicks out of making up stories and then seeing how “Trumpsters” propagated them across the Internet without ever questioning their validity.

Yes, many of Mr. Trump’s Twitter rants are about fake news. How ironic is that since he would not have his current job if fake news and some very naive voters hadn’t help put him there.

Breaking Gridlock…

September 15, 2017September 15, 2017RJ Walters

Hey, I’m not ashamed to give someone credit for things that are accomplished even if it was only by accident or maybe serendipity. So, congratulations President Trump on starting to break the gridlock that has kidnapped our nation’s capitol for far too long. The GOP is starting to scream “He wants to work with the DEMOCRATS!!!” “WE HAVE BEEN BETRAYED!!” To all that I say It is about time.

We knew going in that Trump was neither a Republican or a Democrat. The only thing he is for is to make himself look good. Nothing else really matters to him and I mean nothing else. That fact is obvious to anyone with an objective take on this alternative reality. But who says two wrongs don’t eventually make a right? Putting Trump in office and letting him betray the party that put him there just might solve some of the fundamental problems inside the beltway.

Bernie Sanders and others have brought forth the proposition that an independent in the Oval Office who is not of either party is someone who can force the two bickering parties to “play well”. He can propose legislation that at least some of both parties can accept.

So, I celebrate Mr. Trump’s success in making a deal with the Democrats even to the total dismay of the GOP. Maybe this is the beginning of a successful Trump strategy. I am certainly a dreamer aren’t I? 🙂

If nothing else these limited successes, however long they last, will show us what an independent and competent person could do with Oval Office power and that just might give an independent a chance in the 2020 election..

Your World Is Just So Small

August 18, 2017August 17, 2017RJ Walters

I am still pondering why people are so different in this world today. Why are there those who celebrate that they just don’t care much for other’s circumstance and places in the world. They are almost exclusively in a world centered around themselves. Everything else is just “Not my thing”. This especially troubles me with I then hear them say that they are also “real” Christians?

I think I have latched onto one of the reasons for this and that is that their world is just too small. Psychology has shown that very young children are by nature pretty selfish. All that they can preceive is their small world around them. It will take nurture and exposure to other things to move them away from this mindset. Some people just never accomplish that feat. Their world remains small and they maintain their childish selfishness throughout their lives.

How do we broaden our horizons? That question seems to be plaguing me lately. How do you make people come out beyond themselves? I have termed this condition as “Meitus”, that is people who have their heads stuck up the own rear ends so far that they can only see themselves. I know it is impossible for me to come up with a solution to this problem but because I am a fixer by nature I have to think about this kind of stuff.

Of course there are people like our current president who have character flaws due to one thing or another that keeps them centered totally on themselves. They don’t see any reason to move beyond that state by studying alternatives. Then there are people who are for one reason or another just too mentally lazy to see outside themselves. Most of the white supremacists are likely in this group. Their lives are dominated in fear of almost everything they don’t understand and due to a lazy lack of curiosity that is a lot of topics. They say things like “science is fake truths because I don’t understand it”. Some cling to something or someone to be their “truth”. For some it is a contrived collection of words from a bible, for others it is a person who tells them things no matter how untrue that they want to hear.

How do we make sure that people get out into the world in order to understand they are not the center of it?

I am a proud beta-male

I don’t want to be united with people who think Trump is a good person

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt. — ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.
— ABRAHAM LINCOLN.