Remember when black “leaders” came up with the ridiculous story that the CIA was helping blacks kill themselves by introducing crack cocaine to inner cities. It turns out that the federal government recently has been helping another group to kill themselves.
I disagree with Krauthammer sometimes, but he’s one of the columnists I find worth reading from time to time. What he seems to not understand (and he’s not alone in this) is that it’s not about appearances. It’s not about sounding like a banana republic. It’s about actually becoming one—and that has nothing whatsoever to do with Donald Trump. He is merely the expression of what we have already become to this point. He is the direct result of big corruption—too big to fail, too big to jail, and too big to derail. He is the voter attempt to make ourselves a country again. If Jeb Bush had won, we wouldn’t be having this discussion, but our condition as a nation would still be just as corrupt and degraded. Donald Trump makes you pull the blinders off your eyes and say ‘wow, just wow’ and ‘how did we get here?’. If we don’t somehow manage to come up with a fruitful answer to that question, within a few years, the left will have their version of an answer. I would much prefer a more traditional or traditional-friendly solution.
My point is that the country didn’t become a banana republic overnight—or with the advent or Trump. He is a symptom of our corruption–not the cause of it. Real answers are only to be found by those who are questioning.
I really prefer the term Idiocracy to banana republic. Debra and DJ are right that Trump is a symptom rather than the underlying cause. However, he is the Mother of all Symptoms.
It may be the “new” normal culture-wide, but seriously, he needs to stop doing this. Maybe Debra’s right and this will also serve as a wake-up call, but I doubt the culture as a whole is willing to do any self-assessment at this stage.
I tuned in to a cable news program on the radio last night on my drive home, something I rarely do anymore (I listen mostly to Christian stations again these days) — I could take about 2 minutes of the anger, screaming and yelling before I had to turn switch it back. Enough. Everyone. All of us.
__________________________________________
… Several GOP lawmakers—including House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina—denounced the president’s tweets. “Please just stop. This isn’t normal and it’s beneath the dignity of your office,” Sasse tweeted. …
________________________________________________
@12:20 I hope our MOAS is not considering more MOABs in Syria. I’m ready to see some of those “safe zones” we were going to create to help alleviate the human suffering in that region. :–/
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s government and its ally Russia accused Washington on Thursday of concocting a “provocation” in Syria, which would then be blamed on President Bashar Assad’s government as alleged use of chemical weapons to justify an attack.
In a statement carried by the official news agency, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said it rejects U.S. allegations that Syria was preparing for a chemical weapons attack, describing such accusations as “misleading” and “completely baseless.”
It said the objective of such allegations was to “justify a new aggression on Syria under ill-founded pretexts,” similar to what happened in April when the U.S. struck a Syrian air base, which it said had been used to stage a chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed nearly 90.
Earlier this week, the White House has warned that Assad is preparing for another chemical attack and said the Syrian ruler will “pay a heavy price” if he unleashes it.
Also Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow has received information that Syrian rebels have already fabricated video materials to accuse Damascus of a chemical attack.
Debra, the news concerning ISIS in northern Iraq is getting better, as they have been driven off the site of the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul, where they first declared their caliphate. The mosque itself was blown up by them (they tried to blame the explosion on an air strike but there is no evidence for such a strike and nobody is taking their word for it), which reminds me of how Hitler intended to blow up all of Paris’ monuments as the Allies drove the Nazis back: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/29/mosul-mosque-where-isis-declared-caliphate-has-been-recaptured.
It remains to be seen, however, what will be built from the ruins. The Kurds are seizing the opportunity to declare their own state, after decades of trying to get one by any means possible. Turkey is trying to crush the Kurds’ efforts, while Iraq will probably try to do so once it is strong enough, since neither Iraq or Turkey have treated the Kurds well in the past. The Christians and Yazidis are still in great danger, as there are reports that while dealing with the Kurds, the Turks are also targeting Christian places. The wounds between the Sunni and Shiite Iraqis have been ripped wide open by this conflict. ISIS’s days are numbered, but those who were united in trying to get rid of them are divided in everything else.
While things are irrevocably changed now in Iraq, there are stories like this which are encouraging that there is a God who sees and who acts. When I first read about the beginning of this story three years ago, from a report made by Mindy Belz at World, it made me weep. I began to pray for the child, reminding the Lord that he cared for the weak and helpless, that the man who had snatched this little girl from her mother would know no peace so long as he kept her, that the girl would be protected from the evil things that ISIS was perpetrating, and that the mother would be comforted: https://world.wng.org/2017/06/lost_and_found
This has been the waking nightmare of Aida Hana Noah for nearly three years. As ISIS invaded her town of Qaraqosh in August 2014, the 43-year-old mother sent her two sons and older daughter out to escape, but kept 3-year-old Christina with her as she stayed behind to assist her blind husband, Khader Abada. When ISIS hustled the three onto a bus, an ISIS “emir” suddenly snatched Christina from her mother’s lap.
Along with about 150,000 Iraqi Christians forced from Nineveh Plain that summer, Aida and her family found refuge in the northern city of Erbil. They have lived in a two-room trailer in Ashti, a camp for Iraq’s displaced run by church officers. There Aida and Khader spent sleepless nights sorting rumors about their daughter.: They heard ISIS had put her in the care of a Christian woman also captured and taken to Mosul, then “married” the girl to a fighter, then gave her to a Muslim family.
Her brother found a photo of Christina on Facebook, posted just after her fifth birthday—proof of life but little more. Christina’s proximity to her family—maybe 30 miles away—was excruciating. “Without her, it’s like part of our heart is missing,” Aida told a friend, vowing she would never leave Iraq as long as her daughter was missing.
Then the also-unthinkable happened—a miracle.
When Iraqi special forces liberated a poor Mosul neighborhood, word reached Khader his daughter was there. The family soon reached the area, retrieving on June 9 a shocked and speechless Christina who appeared healthy but at first did not remember them.
Eight months into the Mosul offensive a small—but menacing—pocket on the western bank of the Tigris River remains in ISIS control. Hundreds of soldiers and residents have died in the fighting. Houses lie crushed. Christina’s neighborhood, situated near a strategic industrial area where ISIS kept its main explosives factories, is among the last to be liberated. What are the odds one small girl could be found alive in such a place?
Roscuro – Thank you for sharing that. I had wanted to share it after I read it in the magazine, but obviously forgot.
Like you, reading the initial report of the little girl taken from her parents had me in tears. The story kind of “haunted” me, coming back to my mind to pray about quite often. As I read the latest report in World, I cried tears of relief & gratitude.
Michelle – Do they not want him prosecuted? I had read that many were upset that some were killed in efforts to look for & rescue him, because it was believed, at the time at least, that he had deserted. Then again, it’s been a while since I read anything about his case.
“The president’s unhealthy obsession with “Morning Joe” does not serve the best interests of either his mental state or the country he runs. Despite his constant claims that he no longer watches the show, the president’s closest advisers tell us otherwise. That is unfortunate. We believe it would be better for America and the rest of the world if he would keep his 60-inch-plus flat-screen TV tuned to “Fox & Friends.” . . .
Mr. Trump claims that we asked to join him at Mar-a-Lago three nights in a row. That is false. He also claimed that he refused to see us. That is laughable.
The president-elect invited us both to dinner on Dec. 30. Joe attended because Mika did not want to go. After listening to the president-elect talk about his foreign policy plans, Joe was asked by a disappointed Trump the next day if Mika could also visit Mar- a-Lago that night. She reluctantly agreed to go. After we arrived, the president-elect pulled us into his family’s living quarters with his wife, Melania, where we had a pleasant conversation. We politely declined his repeated invitations to attend a New Year’s Eve party, and we were back in our car within 15 minutes.
Mr. Trump also claims that Mika was “bleeding badly from a face-lift.” That is also a lie.
Putting aside Mr. Trump’s never-ending obsession with women’s blood, Mika and her face were perfectly intact, as pictures from that night reveal. And though it is no one’s business, the president’s petulant personal attack against yet another woman’s looks compels us to report that Mika has never had a face-lift. If she had, it would be evident to anyone watching “Morning Joe” on their high-definition TV. . .
We have known Mr. Trump for more than a decade and have some fond memories of our relationship together. But that hasn’t stopped us from criticizing his abhorrent behavior or worrying about his fitness. During the height of the 2016 presidential campaign, Joe often listened to Trump staff members complain about their boss’s erratic behavior, including a top campaign official who was as close to the Republican candidate as anyone.”
Wandering Views 
Rich Kelsey is not a NeverTrumper. However, he has had enough.
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Remember when black “leaders” came up with the ridiculous story that the CIA was helping blacks kill themselves by introducing crack cocaine to inner cities. It turns out that the federal government recently has been helping another group to kill themselves.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170316112214.htm
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Sorry, folks. This is the article I was trying to post.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cjarlotta/2016/05/03/public-and-private-insurers-pay-majority-of-spending-costs-for-opioids/#24f1bea77b8d
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Charles Krauthammer was very good on Special Report last night.
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7:29 doesn’t open
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I disagree with Krauthammer sometimes, but he’s one of the columnists I find worth reading from time to time. What he seems to not understand (and he’s not alone in this) is that it’s not about appearances. It’s not about sounding like a banana republic. It’s about actually becoming one—and that has nothing whatsoever to do with Donald Trump. He is merely the expression of what we have already become to this point. He is the direct result of big corruption—too big to fail, too big to jail, and too big to derail. He is the voter attempt to make ourselves a country again. If Jeb Bush had won, we wouldn’t be having this discussion, but our condition as a nation would still be just as corrupt and degraded. Donald Trump makes you pull the blinders off your eyes and say ‘wow, just wow’ and ‘how did we get here?’. If we don’t somehow manage to come up with a fruitful answer to that question, within a few years, the left will have their version of an answer. I would much prefer a more traditional or traditional-friendly solution.
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Debra, Donald Trump doesn’t just appear to be an idiot. He is an actual idiot. Banana republics are led by actual idiots.
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My point is that the country didn’t become a banana republic overnight—or with the advent or Trump. He is a symptom of our corruption–not the cause of it. Real answers are only to be found by those who are questioning.
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Government reflects the culture. Much (many) to pray for in our day.
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I really prefer the term Idiocracy to banana republic. Debra and DJ are right that Trump is a symptom rather than the underlying cause. However, he is the Mother of all Symptoms.
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https://world.wng.org/content/trump_s_twitter_fight_with_tv_hosts_draws_disapproval
It may be the “new” normal culture-wide, but seriously, he needs to stop doing this. Maybe Debra’s right and this will also serve as a wake-up call, but I doubt the culture as a whole is willing to do any self-assessment at this stage.
I tuned in to a cable news program on the radio last night on my drive home, something I rarely do anymore (I listen mostly to Christian stations again these days) — I could take about 2 minutes of the anger, screaming and yelling before I had to turn switch it back. Enough. Everyone. All of us.
__________________________________________
… Several GOP lawmakers—including House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina—denounced the president’s tweets. “Please just stop. This isn’t normal and it’s beneath the dignity of your office,” Sasse tweeted. …
________________________________________________
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One of our former interns has been hired as an assistant programming editor for CNN, thrilling to see people move up! 🙂
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A President’s job is never done:
https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/880771685460344832
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https://twitter.com/jamespoulos/status/880838200075448321
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@12:20 I hope our MOAS is not considering more MOABs in Syria. I’m ready to see some of those “safe zones” we were going to create to help alleviate the human suffering in that region. :–/
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/syria-russia-accuse-us-of-plotting-provocation/ar-BBDr4mc?li=BBnbcA1
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Debra, what’s MOAS?
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Kevin, Debra and I have our own language.
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Debra, the news concerning ISIS in northern Iraq is getting better, as they have been driven off the site of the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul, where they first declared their caliphate. The mosque itself was blown up by them (they tried to blame the explosion on an air strike but there is no evidence for such a strike and nobody is taking their word for it), which reminds me of how Hitler intended to blow up all of Paris’ monuments as the Allies drove the Nazis back: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/29/mosul-mosque-where-isis-declared-caliphate-has-been-recaptured.
It remains to be seen, however, what will be built from the ruins. The Kurds are seizing the opportunity to declare their own state, after decades of trying to get one by any means possible. Turkey is trying to crush the Kurds’ efforts, while Iraq will probably try to do so once it is strong enough, since neither Iraq or Turkey have treated the Kurds well in the past. The Christians and Yazidis are still in great danger, as there are reports that while dealing with the Kurds, the Turks are also targeting Christian places. The wounds between the Sunni and Shiite Iraqis have been ripped wide open by this conflict. ISIS’s days are numbered, but those who were united in trying to get rid of them are divided in everything else.
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Well then, Ricky, perhaps you’d translate. There should not be tongues without an interpreter.
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While things are irrevocably changed now in Iraq, there are stories like this which are encouraging that there is a God who sees and who acts. When I first read about the beginning of this story three years ago, from a report made by Mindy Belz at World, it made me weep. I began to pray for the child, reminding the Lord that he cared for the weak and helpless, that the man who had snatched this little girl from her mother would know no peace so long as he kept her, that the girl would be protected from the evil things that ISIS was perpetrating, and that the mother would be comforted: https://world.wng.org/2017/06/lost_and_found
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Kevin, MOAS is from the 12:20 post. Debra was referring to the Mother of all Symptoms.
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FYI. Military members are quite upset with the Bergdahl case. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bergdahl-case-judge-lets-rare-misbehavior-charge-proceed/ar-BBDuDks?li=BBnbcA1
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Roscuro – Thank you for sharing that. I had wanted to share it after I read it in the magazine, but obviously forgot.
Like you, reading the initial report of the little girl taken from her parents had me in tears. The story kind of “haunted” me, coming back to my mind to pray about quite often. As I read the latest report in World, I cried tears of relief & gratitude.
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Michelle – Do they not want him prosecuted? I had read that many were upset that some were killed in efforts to look for & rescue him, because it was believed, at the time at least, that he had deserted. Then again, it’s been a while since I read anything about his case.
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“The president’s unhealthy obsession with “Morning Joe” does not serve the best interests of either his mental state or the country he runs. Despite his constant claims that he no longer watches the show, the president’s closest advisers tell us otherwise. That is unfortunate. We believe it would be better for America and the rest of the world if he would keep his 60-inch-plus flat-screen TV tuned to “Fox & Friends.” . . .
Mr. Trump claims that we asked to join him at Mar-a-Lago three nights in a row. That is false. He also claimed that he refused to see us. That is laughable.
The president-elect invited us both to dinner on Dec. 30. Joe attended because Mika did not want to go. After listening to the president-elect talk about his foreign policy plans, Joe was asked by a disappointed Trump the next day if Mika could also visit Mar- a-Lago that night. She reluctantly agreed to go. After we arrived, the president-elect pulled us into his family’s living quarters with his wife, Melania, where we had a pleasant conversation. We politely declined his repeated invitations to attend a New Year’s Eve party, and we were back in our car within 15 minutes.
Mr. Trump also claims that Mika was “bleeding badly from a face-lift.” That is also a lie.
Putting aside Mr. Trump’s never-ending obsession with women’s blood, Mika and her face were perfectly intact, as pictures from that night reveal. And though it is no one’s business, the president’s petulant personal attack against yet another woman’s looks compels us to report that Mika has never had a face-lift. If she had, it would be evident to anyone watching “Morning Joe” on their high-definition TV. . .
We have known Mr. Trump for more than a decade and have some fond memories of our relationship together. But that hasn’t stopped us from criticizing his abhorrent behavior or worrying about his fitness. During the height of the 2016 presidential campaign, Joe often listened to Trump staff members complain about their boss’s erratic behavior, including a top campaign official who was as close to the Republican candidate as anyone.”
http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-brzezinski-scarborough-on-trump-0702-20170630-story.html
President Trump’s tweets may not be important in themselves, but they do give us a look into his mindset & character.
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Thanks, Ricky. I had even read 12:20, but somehow didn’t remember it and didn’t see it when I skimmed over everything again. Must be getting old…
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Hmm.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-40456443
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Tychicus, We just got Paul George.
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They do want Bergdahl prosecuted, they’re not buying his stories.
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