Mark Zaid, JFK and Trump

[James DiEugenio]

45%. APPROVE OF WHAT?

THAT WOULD BE LIKE 45% APPROVING OF RUDY G  ON 9-11, YOU KNOW THE GUY WHO PUT THE HQ IN THE TIWN TOWERS!

[Joe Bauer]

On 3/15/2020 at 12:11 AM, James DiEugenio said:

This is getting scary:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7992909/Military-approves-11-COVID-19-quarantine-camps-1-000-people-major-airports.html?ito=facebook_share_article-top&fbclid=IwAR2DQ--ieXHcFS4CwqFuvKDG9Qee4uoGutj2JwzTyMdIiYW3Vq9DbJ8IBDo

It's not unreasonable to consider now (even at this early stage of virus infection and it's entire life and economic social impact ) that we may be on the cusp of a martial law situation.

As millions of Americans become more and more stressed and - God forbid - to basic need survival levels ( especially the lowest income ones ) it isn't hard to imagine them eventually taking to the streets if this happens, especially if they can't feed their children or other loved ones and are perhaps denied equal hospital and medical care if they become ill for any reason or cause.

The spectre of national guard/military involvement, travel bans, forced lockdowns, rationing, "quarantine" camps, and most ominous: curfews, extreme punitive action for looting, suspension of some personal rights, etc, etc,  ... isn't now just an overly paranoid impossibility, especially if 100 million Americans get infected and 1 to 2 million are in the death range.

When the staffs at every hospital, rest and retirement homes, doctors and medical clinic offices, schools, jails and prisons are over burdened and also susceptible to being reduced ( many would have to stay home to care for their out of school children or ill older family members ) the challenge in keeping these institutions running safely is even more paramount.

Just at this very beginning state of viral infection and control protocols our personal, civil and economic situation in our own local area of California alone is unprecedented to an alarming and hard to believe impacting degree that we have never seen except in short term cases like the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989.

All our schools are shut down including class room attendance requirement in our local colleges.

Our city owned swim and fitness center and public library is closed, as is our world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. Senior centers have closed down. Theaters are restricting their hours and probably shutting down. Most restaurants ( we have hundreds and hundreds ) are seeing such a huge drop in customers they are cutting hours or even laying off thousands of employees. Same with our 10,000 + room hotel and motel business sector. Our convalescent homes are restricting or even stopping visitors.

Our hospitals are changing protocols almost daily. They have pitched tents outside for triage of possible virus infected patients.

Banks are seeing most of their customers avoiding inside lines and using outside ATM machines instead.

Thousands are panic buying at our grocery and department stores.

But, imo the most dangerous impact is lost wages and unemployed people and especially those with children now at home  ( including pre-school ) versus the structure and free lunches at school.

If millions of Americans are thrust into this extreme basic survival need stress in the next few months, we'd better start sending them financial help ( directly into "their" hands ) to seriously help them versus Wall Street Banking interests as Trump seems most concerned about versus them.

And every government level should be all in with this same kind of help. City, county, state besides the Federal level.

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Joe Bauer

[James DiEugenio]

I stand corrected, makes it worse then.

Annals from a visitor from Italy and Trump's we screen everyone coming in from Europe:

Lest you think I’m completely irresponsible, before I exited the airport I found an official & asked if I should self-quarantine as I’d been in Italy.  I said I felt fine, I was healthy, had no symptoms, didn’t know anyone who was sick or exposed but still, I was coming from Italy.  He said you’re fine & pointed towards the exit.

Two friends I ran into at the Italian airport were also heading to North America.  The friend who flew into Toronto was asked a bunch of questions about previous travel, country of origin, health, etc.  She & her daughter agreed to voluntarily quarantine themselves.  The 2nd friend entered the US via Detroit.  She told the immigration officer, “I’m coming from Italy.”  His reply?  “Welcome back.”  She, too, is voluntarily self-quarantining but without being asked.

It’s ironic to me because I actually felt safer in Italy.  They’re taking it seriously.  They issue new information all the time from scientific experts & the government.  There is universal healthcare so everyone can be tested & treated.  They offered no-cost testing & treatment for everyone, including visitors.  It’s illegal to fire anyone who cannot work due to illness.

 

 

[Joe Bauer]

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

 

It’s ironic to me because I actually felt safer in Italy.  They’re taking it seriously.  They issue new information all the time from scientific experts & the government.  

There is universal healthcare so everyone can be tested & treated.  

They offered no-cost testing & treatment for everyone, including visitors.  It’s illegal to fire anyone who cannot work due to illness.

 

 

This quote above says it all.

Yet, Trump defenders still refuse to allow themselves to see and face these truths.

Even when it is right in front of their eyes.

Loyalty to Trump and his Republican representative enablers means choosing to believe in a false reality world of Trump's creation and promotion. A world where there is no self assessment, no taking of personal responsibility and blame even and especially when their actions create harm, loss or stress to tens of millions of Americans.

Even if these bad result actions of Trump harms and stresses those they profess to love and care about.

The fact that half this country has chosen to live in this Trump Pollyanna false reality world for 3 and 1/2 years and still idolizes a man of his worst moral value character traits says to me that half this country is clearly suffering from a true reality escaping mental illness or they have been seriously and successfully brainwashed.

Either scenario is equally troubling on every level.

With the unprecedented crisis now in our daily life midst we need a reasonably mature, intelligent, U.S. Constitution respecting, principled and less pathologically egocentric and more mentally healthy leader more than ever.

Edited March 15, 2020 by Joe Bauer

[Ron Ecker]

8 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

The fact that half this country has chosen to live in this Trump Pollyanna false reality world for 3 and 1/2 years and still idolizes a man of his worst moral value character traits says to me that half this country is clearly suffering from a true reality escaping mental illness or they have been seriously and successfully brainwashed.

 

I think "brainwashed" might be the best explanation. I say that because I think Trump supporters get most of their "news" from FoxNews, which has become a Trump propaganda network. (The latest I've heard is that Trish Regan has blamed the coronavirus on the Democrats. Apparently that was too much even for Fox, and Trish is on "hiatus." IOW she'll be back, don't worry.) CNN is accused of a liberal bias, but at least you can get some real news or real-world perspective there as opposed to the Trump idolatry at Fox. Rupert Murdoch should be real proud.

   

[Ron Ecker]

17 minutes ago, Robert Wheeler said:

You are pretty good at determining the the inner psyche of Trump supporters.

So am I "brainwashed?"

If I attributed some sort of mental disorder to you, or liberals in general, would you agree if I was right, or would you just think I was being petty and unimaginative in trying to establish a narrative?

 

I believe I've stated before that I don't understand Trump supporters. That includes you. If you want to attribute my lack of understanding to a mental disorder, feel free.

 

[Kirk Gallaway]

19 hours ago, Robert Wheeler said:

So I'm brainwashed says Robert?????

Brainwashed????, or a 60 + year old devotional "moonie" who actually said this and has been running away from it ever since..

Trump told GWB to give up the names of the "crooked cops", dirty generals, and compromised judges or else the JFK records get released.   and  Trump and his allies (minions if you prefer) have been dropping breadcrumbs for the past two and a half years that point to the Executive Suite and Board of Directors of the enterprise that killed JFK.  And    To credit Trumps efforts to clean up the Deep State is to acknowledge the Deep State's destruction of the WTC and the murder of 3000+ people.   If the Deep State destroyed the WTC, then what roll did George W. Bush play? George W. to George H.W. > Iran/Contra > Watergate > JFK.

Despite the phony bravado, While we can only contemplate the vacuous suckership of a 60 plus year old Q anon, wholesale accepting a concocted fantasy legend of a politician solely as a means to negate himself into slavish hero worship. There are  examples of youth cults emulating political figures throughout history, the obvious come to mind, but not of a 60 year old!    

 

 

 

 

[Ron Ecker]

5 minutes ago, Robert Wheeler said:

So just say, "I don't understand Trump supporters." That way, you sound less petty and unimaginative.

I already have. I would say it in Spanish but I don't know the Spanish word for "supporters." That's the only other language I know as far as working knowledge. I took some German in college but it was hopeless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Douglas Caddy]

8 minutes ago, Ron Ecker said:

I already have. I would say it in Spanish but I don't know the Spanish word for "supporters." That's the only other language I know as far as working knowledge. I took some German in college but it was hopeless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't always trust hand-held machines to translate English into a foreign language when visiting a foreign country. One guy asked "out of sight, out of mind"  be translated into Russian. Then he asked what came up in Russian be translated back into English. What came back was "Invisible' and "Insane."

[Douglas Caddy]

Fed cuts rates to zero

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/federal-reserve-cuts-rates-to-zero-and-launches-massive-700-billion-quantitative-easing-program.html

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by Douglas Caddy

[Douglas Caddy]

The UK puts people over 70 on ‘wartime’ lockdown for four months

 

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/the-uk-puts-people-over-70-on-wartime-lockdown-for-four-months/

[Douglas Caddy]

Chris Bennett wrote on Facebook today

Last year, I got invited to a super-deluxe private resort to deliver a keynote speech to what I assumed would be a hundred or so investment bankers.

"Finally, ...the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked: 'How do I maintain authority over my security force after the Event?'

This single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from the angry mobs. But how would they pay the guards once money was worthless? What would stop the guards from choosing their own leader? The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. Or maybe building robots to serve as guards and workers – if that technology could be developed in time."

 

[James DiEugenio]

38 minutes ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Fed cuts rates to zero

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/federal-reserve-cuts-rates-to-zero-and-launches-massive-700-billion-quantitative-easing-program.html

 

This is a really drastic move.  Has not been seen since the crash.  If you ever wanted to refi or buy a home, this is the time to do it.

Once this virus scare is over, they will go back up.

Powell cut it by 75 basis points I think. Which is really unusual.  Trump must be screaming in his ear: "I want to get reelected!"

BTW, I went to the supermarket today, Ralph's probably the biggest in SoCal.  They cut their hours back significantly. They used to be open from 5 am to midnight.  They are now open from 8-8.  The lady told me, even though they chopped 7 hours off, they still sell more stuff.

One of the most surprising sights was the bottled water section.  It was 90 per cent empty.  

Edited March 16, 2020 by James DiEugenio

[James DiEugenio]

National quarantine on the way?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-national-shutdown_n_5e6eb670c5b6bd8156f9f468

 

Have you ever seen a president do a 180 degree pirouette like this on a major issue. Worthy of Nureyev.

[Ron Ecker]

1 hour ago, Robert Wheeler said:

You said it after you said Trump supporters are "brainwashed".

Feel free revise.

Well, since I don't understand Trump supporters, I have to cast about for a possible explanation as to why they support him. No cierto? That is, if I think about it that much, which I don't. Trump is very unpleasant thought. But I'm pretty sure that their "news" channel of choice is Fox's Trump propaganda network, so it follows that they probably get most of their "news" or Trumpian alternate facts there. And I would say that that's not dissimilar to being willingly brainwashed. But this is a general statement and of course can't apply to every single Trump supporter. I would also say that being brainwashed is a little more understandable than not being brainwashed. If a Trump supporter hasn't been brainwashed, then his or her support of Trump is even farther beyond my understanding.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Ron Ecker