Obama Fans/Trump Fans - Birds of a Feather

A little over three years ago, before Trump was elected President of the United States, I wrote a blog post where in I said that Barack Obama and Donald Trump were two sides of the same coin. Now, after two years into the Trump presidency, my belief in that position is even stronger.

I observed as early as January 2016 that both Trump and Obama are narcissists with followers that have fallen victim to a cult of personality.

When I read Internet comments of Obama lovers/Trump haters and the Internet comments of the Trump lovers/Obama haters, I see that both sides are operating under intense emotions with little or no objectivity.

A quote from an article on goodtherapy.org can be used to describe both groups :
"A common theme in hatred is a complete negation of the humanity of the other person or an inability to believe that the other person has any redeeming qualities or any worth".

Neither side is able to accept any criticism of their guy and anyone speaking in the least way about a positive quality the other might have is branded an enemy as well, and perhaps the spawn of Satan.

Both sides love comparing the other guy to Adolf Hitler without realizing that you immediately lose any argument once you've resorted to Reductio ad Hitlerum.

I haven't gained any friends or changed any minds trying to point out the flaws in either side. I'm attacked while attempting to remain reasonable.

The Trump haters will say vile and vicious things about Trump's wife and children just as the Obama haters will give no quarter to his family.

Sadly, I don't see any end in sight and I'm not optimistic about the sanity of the United States.

Trump Equals "1984" ?

A month ago, after having read George Orwell's Burmese Days, I added 1984 to the list of books I'd be reading (or re-reading) this year. Even after reading 1984 a few weeks back, I can't recall if I had actually read the novel in my younger days. I have a vague memory of having read it in the 1970s, but I can't recall if I actually finished reading the book all those many years ago.

I bring up the novel today because of an article I came across on apnews.com, George Orwell’s son says his father’s ‘1984’ was ‘prescient’.

The article states,

One edition of “1984” saw sales jump by 10,000 percent since January, when Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway defended incorrect claims as “alternative facts.” It instantly drew comparisons to Orwell’s terms “doublethink” and “newspeak” and to the type of government manipulation the author wrote about nearly 70 years ago.

Of course, we knew that someone, somewhere would be comparing the world under Trump to Orwell's dystopia. The comparison of Orwell's novel and a U.S. President isn't a new phenomenon , however. Life in the U.S. has been compared to 1984 for as long as I can remember - well before the year 1984 came and went.

I'm not saying life isn't becoming more and more like 1984; we can all see that it is. But, this isn't new under Trump's presidency. Governmental surveillance of our daily lives didn't begin yesterday. Orwell could see it in 1948. The problem has been around for ages, but the techniques and methods used by governments today are becoming more sophisticated.

There are some who want to put the problem down to Trump - as in Trumpian equals Orwellian. The situation didn't begin with Trump. If Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize wasn't Orwellian, I don't know what is.

Trump is simply the latest manifestation.

The Dumbing Down of the American Electorate.

As someone with a strong desire to improve my writing, I will, on occasion, visit a website which utilizes a tool for measuring the readability of written text. The website, Readability Score.com, uses several readability algorithms to provide an average score, which should tell what level of education someone will need to be able to read a particular piece of text easily. The website provides scores based on the Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning-Fog, Coleman-Liau Index, and SMOG Index readability tests.

According to another website, the average American adult reads at the 9th-grade level and experts recommend writing documents, intended for the general public, at that level.

On January 10, 2017, maintaining a tradition followed (off and on) by departing Presidents since George Washington, President Barack Obama delivered his Farewell Address to the American people. George Washington's Farewell Address from 1796 is considered by most, to be the Gold Standard for Presidential Farewell Addresses and naturally, writers have compared Obama's address to Washington's.

To compare the two Presidential Farewell Addresses, I copied both and pasted each one onto the Readability Score.com testing algorithm to find out the grade level of each. After testing each, I took a screen shot of the results, which I've posted below. Following today's standard, Obama's text was written at a 9th Grade reading level - par for the average American today. The reading level of Washington's Farewell Address is at a grade level of 18. To understand Washington's address, the reader should have, not only 4 years of college, but an additional 2 years of post graduate study.

As an aside - the reading level of this blog post is 14.7. Maybe that's why I have so few readers.

Article Asks, "Is Donald Trump Mentally Ill?"

According to the Huffing and Puffington Post, 3 Professors Of Psychiatry Ask President Obama To Conduct ‘A Full Medical And Neuropsychiatric Evaluation’ of Donal Trump.

The three "experts" - Judith Herman, M.D.Professor of Psychiatry Harvard Medical School, Nanette Gartrell, M.D.Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry University of California, San Francisco and Dee Mosbacher, M.D., Ph.D.Assistant Clinical Professor Department of Community Health Systems University of California - wrote a letter to POTUS, Obama stating that, although professional standards do not permit them to "venture a diagnosis for a public figure whom we have not evaluated personally", they never the less believe that Trump displays symptoms of “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” (NPD).

As early as January of 2016, I noted that I believed Trump to be a narcissist, but in that post - as well as one written in September, I opined that America's love for Trump was in many ways similiar to its earlier love for Obama. I felt then that America could very easily replace one narcissistic sociopath for another. The results of the 2016 POTUS election appear to have proven me right.

In the Huffington Post article linked to above, 9 criteria for NPD are listed. The article goes on to claim that if an individual has 5 out of the 9 they have a confirmed diagnosis of this illness. Many of the criteria which is supposed to fit Trump fit Obama as well.

The thing that I find especially amazing about this letter from the psychiatric experts is there call for Obama have trump undergo tests. Under what authority do they imagine Obama could order an incoming POTUS to undergo any tests what-so-ever? Do these people actually believe that Obama can demand that these tests be given?

Schemes such as this may have been used in the old Soviet Union - using psychiatry to quiet political opponents - but it won't work in the current U.S. of A., no matter how much progressives may want this to happen.

Merkel meets Urkel

I came upon the above photo via an article in Der Spiegal when Barack Obama recently traveled to Berlin to show his support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The photo looks way too lovey dovey for my tastes. Obama's facial expression and dreamboat eyes toward Merkel are even creepier than Joe Biden's behavior at his creepiest.

Photo Replay

I've posted this photo a number of times, the last time being March 17, 2011. This is one of my favorite photos of Barack Obama. It appeared on line in 2008. He really is eating an ice cream cone, but I added the crown myself. I look at it as my crowning achievement.

I like this photo so much, I felt it was due a republication.

Obama to Visit Hiroshima

Last week, I made what should have been an obvious observation; that is, you can't blame Obama or Trump for everything wrong with the world. In a post from May 16, I noted that a few of Obama's opponents had blamed the POTUS for apologizing for the U.S.'s WWII bombing of Hiroshima, during a Presidential visit that hadn't actually happened yet.

I'm reminded of this by a report of Obama giving an exclusive interview to NHK(Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai - Japan Broadcasting Corporation) in advance of his scheduled arrival in Japan. Again, according to the taped interview, Obama will travel to Hiroshima on Friday and said he did not intend to offer an apology in his message to survivors of the atomic bombing.

If, after the visit, we learn that Obama does apologize for the bombing of Hiroshima then, by all means, criticize the POTUS to your heart's content. But, please, don't lie about an event before the event even takes place.

You Can't Blame Obama (or Trump) for Everything

Today is May 16, 2016.

This is important to remember. This morning, I came across a photo posted onto Facebook, which is dated May 12. This is also a fact that needs to be remembered.

In this photo, it's written that President Obama has traveled to Japan and apologized to that country for the United States having dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.

For decades, there has been discussion as to whether or not the U.S. was justified in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but that really isn't the point of this particular post. I won't even address that issue now. Later, maybe, but not at this time.

No, the point of this post is that, at the time of this writing, Obama has not yet visited Japan. As reported by independent.co.uk Obama will visit Hiroshima on May 27. The event hasn't happened, yet the photo gives us false information, telling us that Obama was there and has issued an apology.

In addition to the independent.co.uk report, other news websites (such as aljazeera.com - international.thenewslens.com and business-standard.com to name just three) are reporting that Obama will not be apologizing for Hiroshima.

Lord knows, I am not an Obama supporter. In my opinion, he has been the worst POTUS in my life time......far worse than Richard Nixon or Jimmy Carter. However, just as I believe that you can't blame Trump for everything that's wrong in this world, you can't put all the blame on Obama either. It does us no good to lie about our political opponents, no matter who that might be.

D.T.= B.O. sq

In Sept, 2015 I opined that Barack Obama and Donald Trump are Two Sides of the Same Coin. In January of this year, I wrote that it would be exactly like the American people to replace one narcissistic sociopath for another.

Now, going along those same lines, Bret Stephens has written in the Wall Street Journal that Trump Is Obama Squared: "Two epic narcissists who see themselves as singularly suited to redeem America".

As much as I would love to say otherwise, Stephens has done a much better job of explaining the point I was attempting to get across in my very modest way.

He does point out their differences.

"Donald Trump is Barack Obama squared. Not as a matter of rhetorical style, where the president is glib and grammatical, while the developer is rambling and coarse. Not as a matter of economic instincts, where Mr. Obama is a social democrat while Mr. Trump is a mercantilist.
And not as a matter of temperament. Mr. Obama is aloof and calculated. Mr. Trump loves to get in your face."

He goes on to explore the similarities of the two "epic narcissists".

"Both men see themselves not as politicians but as movement leaders. Both are prone to telling fairy tales about their lives and careers.
And both believe they are better than everyone else."

In one way, Stephens did not go quite as far as I did in comparing the two men to Benito Mussolini.  All three rose to fame via a cult of personality.

Oddly enough, Wikipedia compiled a list of cults of personality because it is a phenomenon that has taken place in several countries in the world. There are quite a few countries on the list, but no Wikipedia editor has had the cojones to list the United States, Barack Obama, or Donald Trump.

The Blame Game

For nearly eight years, more than a few folks have tried to place the blame for every imaginable evil on POTUS Obama. No reasonable person, who either knows me personally or has read this blog, could accuse me of being an Obama supporter, but I have to say that he cannot be held responsible for all that's wrong within the United States. Obama could be classified more as a symptom, rather than a cause.

In a recent example, a Wisconsin man was sentenced to three years in prison and three additional years of supervised release for threatening to kill the President - accusing Obama of being a "usurper" to the office.

Now that we are in an election year, the mantle of Evil Personified has been transferred to Donald Trump.

Again, I am not fan of Donald Trump. I could no more vote for him than I could Hillary Clinton. I do not want to see either one elected POTUS. But, just as Obama cannot rightly be blamed for every evil, neither can Trump. As bad as he is, Trump is not the cause of all the problems facing the United States. Like the current POTUS, Trump is more symptom than cause.

This is why I have to call foul on a recent headline on a site called countercurrentnews.com -Trump’s America Is Here: Man Kills 3 People For Not Speaking English.

Another Wisconsin man, Dan J. Popp, is being charged with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of Jesus R. Manso-Perez, 40; Phia Vue, 36; and Mai K. Vue, 32, who were shot and killed on March 6 inside their apartment complex in Milwaukee.

In spite of research into police records having uncovered evidence of mental illness in Popp's history, several groups are urging that he be charge with "hate crimes" with some people claiming that the hate was brought on by Trump's "rhetoric and nationalist remarks".

Last year, when it was discovered that the man accused of the murder of three Muslims in Chapel Hill NC was a fan of Bill Maher and Rachel Maddow, the two Liberal celebrities were not blamed for inciting violence with their rhetoric. It's not even been established that Popp is a Trump fan, yet Trump is already getting the blame for the lunatic's actions.

If convicted in Wisconsin, Popp faces a mandatory life sentence on each count of first-degree intentional homicide...... three counts equals 3 life sentences. If guilty of a "hate crime penalty enhancer", Popp would receive an additional five years imprisonment.

Perhaps Wisconsin will continue to keep Poop's decaying corpse in solitary confinement after he has died in prison.

Clinton Points Out Obama's Failures

In Hillary Clinton's speech tonight, she sounded more like someone running against President Obama rather than someone who wants to be seen as being Obama's third term.

She said:

"And so our next president needs to be ready to face three big tasks. First can you make positive differences in people's lives? Second, can you keep us safe? Third, can you bring our country together again?"

Bring us together? Wasn't Obama supposed to have been the post-racial President? Wasn't he going to be the one who united us as a nation?

And:

"Families deserve a president who will fight for the things that are our priorities at home but too often aren't priorities in Washington: affordable child care, paid family leave, and, something we have waited for long enough, equal pay for equal work for women."

Equal pay for equal work for women? Didn't Obama solve that with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009?

"And above all, above all, hard working Americans across our country deserve a president with both the ideas and the know how to create good jobs with rising incomes right here in our country."

I thought Obama had fixed the economy. I thought unemployment under Obama was at an all time low. What's to fix, Hillary?

According to her website, "Hillary believes that strengthening our infrastructure is critical to boosting wages and making our economy productive and competitive. That’s why she has announced a $275 billion, 5-year plan to revitalize our nation’s bridges, roads, public transit systems, and other public works".

Didn't Obama fix our infrastructure problems when he called for a $850 Billion Infrastructure Spending Plan to Jolt Economy?

Here in Philippines, it's an election year. You can tell because money is being spent to repair roads and bridges through out the country. The elected officials fix the roads in order to get reelected. The difference in the U.S. is that the pols there promise to repair the infrastructure after the election. Of course, those promises go unfulfilled. At least in Philippines, the roads do get repaired every four years.

As an aside, I posted a photo of Clinton dressed in orange. She may need to get used to wearing orange colored clothes soon, although the clothes put together by her prison tailor may not fit her as well. Regarding Hillary's supporters, not only does Gullible Sound Like "Oranges", it looks like Oranges too.

Sounds Like "Oranges"

Back on Feb 11, I wrote in a post that I could see the very real possibility that the two candidates emerging out of the primary debacle this year would be Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. After the results of the so called Super Tuesday primaries, I believe I may have spoken too soon regarding Mr. Sanders. I no longer think he has much of a chance of defeating Hillary Clinton - assuming, of course that she does not get indicted prior to the Democrat convention.

Unfortunately, it appears that Trump is still on a direct path to victory in the Republican contest.

My track record for predicting winners in the U.S. Presidential races has not been spectacular. Even though my record is abysmal, I'm going to go out on a limb and make my prediction for the Nov. 8th election. Contrary to what the current polls would indicate, I believe Donald Trump will be the next POTUS.

I know, some are shaking their heads in disbelief. How can Trump win, they say? Look at his negatives. The people that say that are ignoring the negatives surrounding Hillary Clinton.

As early as last September, I have pointed out that Trump and Barack Obama are two sides of the same coin. Like Obama in 2008, Trump is offering Americans empty promises with words and sound bites the people long to hear. In 2008, it was "Hope and Change", today it's "Make America Great Again".

There's talk about American exceptionalism. There really isn't anything exceptional about Americans. Just as the Italians were taken in by Mussolini and his flamboyant personality, they were taken in by Barack Obama in 2008 and it appears they will surrender once again to a cult of personality.

Obama's Executive Actions Will Do Nothing to Stop Gun Violence.

In a piece published at nydailynews.com, Elliot Fineman, head of the National Gun Victims Action Council (NGVAC) does make a legitimate point when he opines that Barack Obama’s executive actions on gun control are completely meaningless.

One need only go the whitehouse.gov website and actually read the President's proposals to realize that nothing will be accomplished by these executive actions. The politicians on both sides of this issue are making much ado about nothing. There is nothing in the proposals which will actually please the gun-control supporters and nothing in the Presidents proposals will take guns away from law abiding citizens.

The whole issue is simply the establishment politicians throwing red-meat to their particular supporters.

There is, however, one aspect of Elliot Fineman's opinion piece that is more than a bit scary. According to Elliot, President Obama could do more to "halt the gun violence epidemic and to protect the American people" if the President would really bypass Congress and overstep his authority by using the powers granted to him under the National Emergencies Act.

It is Elliot's wish that we sign an online petition calling on Obama to "declare a national state of emergency over guns". It's Elliot's hope that the President will assume dictatorial powers which will enable him to confiscate guns from the American people.

Elliot is right about one thing - Obama's executive actions will do nothing to fix the nation's gun problem. But he is absolutely wrong about giving the U.S. President the power to tear up the U.S. Constitution.

Obama/Trump. Two Sides of the Same Coin.

In 2008, during U.S. Presidential campaign, I was shaking my head in disbelieve as Americans became enamored with Barack Obama. He was - and still is - the ultimate "empty suit". It was obvious to any clear thinker that Obama did not have the expertise to run the country; the American people were in love with Obama's charismatic personality.

Americans had fallen victim to the cult of personality.

Now, as Obama is winding up his 2nd and final term, Americans appear to have taken the bait again and are falling for Donald Trump.

The Establishment politicians and media are now the ones shaking their heads.

How could the American people support Trump in such vast numbers?

They voted for Obama - twice. Do you really need any further explanation?

Progressives Attempt to Divide Conservatives With Laudato Si.

There is no lack of "news" headlines on the Internet attempting to spin the Pope's "climate change" encyclical into a political groove.

From USA Today - Pope's climate change statement a challenge for Republicans.

Desmogblog writes - Republican Presidential Candidates Attack Pope’s Climate Change Encyclical

And from Huffington Post - Right Wing Steamed Over Pope's Climate Change Encyclical

Hoping to divide Republicans, Democrats are overjoyed that GOP Catholics more convinced about climate change than other Republicans.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has even gone so far as to say, "We really must listen to his Holiness as we go forward.".

Are the Democrats ready to embrace Pope Francis and his encyclical, Laudato si completely?

Is Pelosi, fellow CINO John Kerry, and Democrat Presidential favorite, Hillary Clinton ready to accept what is written concerning abortion in Laudato si ?

nationaljournal.com quotes the papal encyclical:

"Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion. How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties?"

Another bothersome quote for Democrats:

Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate. At times, developing countries face forms of international pressure which make economic assistance contingent on certain policies of "reproductive health". Yet "while it is true that an unequal distribution of the population and of available resources creates obstacles to development and a sustainable use of the environment, it must nonetheless be recognized that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development." To blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.

I've read Pope Francis' latest encyclical and I've found nothing in it that I can object to. I'm not a scientist by any stretch of the imagination, so my thoughts on whether the planet is experiencing anthropogenic climate change involves a certain amount of trust in "authorities". I trust Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, President Obama and their ilk about as far as I can hurl the planet Earth, but I don't put much faith in the scientific views of Rush Limbaugh or Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe either.

Is the Earth warming? If so, is that warming due, in large part to human activity? I have absolutely no proof one way or the other, but I trust Pope Francis more than anyone else speaking on the issue.

America's First Jewish President?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is no secret that there is little love between the Obamas and the Clintons.

President Obama may feel some pride in the fact that his daughter is worth more than the Clintons' daughter when it comes to a Kenyan Bride Token. Having one's oldest child given the value of 50 cows, 70 sheep and 30 goats must be extremely heart warming for Barack and Michele.

On the other side, I'm certain that it bothers Obama to no end that Bill Clinton was the first "First Black President". Not being satisfied with being the second "First Black President", Barack Obama has proclaimed himself to be America's First Jewish President.

From the Washington Times:

"In an interview by an Israeli TV station, former Obama adviser David Axelrod recalled the president venting in a moment of contemplation about criticisms that he doesn’t support Israel strongly enough, JPupdates.com reported.

'You know, I think I am the closest thing to a Jew that has ever sat in this office,' the president told Mr. Axelrod".

Clinton/Obama Feud Continues Over Kenyan Bride Token.

It's certainly no secret that President Obama and his former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton are not the best of friends. It's been reported that Mrs. Clinton referred to Barack Obama as ‘incompetent and feckless' and was quoted as saying of Obama, "You can’t trust the motherf***er".

Now, it appears that the two families have more reason to dislike each other.

In what appears to be a slap in the face toward the Clintons, Felix Kiprono, a lawyer in Nairobi, Kenya, has offered a bride token to President Obama for the hand of his 16 year old daughter, Malia. The bride token is said to consist of 50 cows, 70 sheep and 30 goats. Kiprono's offer could be worth in excess of $90,000.

In 2000, then President Clinton was offered the bride token of 40 goats and 20 cows for daughter Chelsea's hand in marriage by another Kenyan, Godwin Kipkemoi Chepkurgor. I can understand how the Clintons would view this insult as a proverbial poke in the eye.

Naturally, President Obama and the First Lady have every reason to be proud. Even counting for inflation, the value of the bride token offered for Malia far and away exceeds the piddling amount offered for Chelsea.

Last August, Chepkurgor -a photographer - was "accidentally" killed in an elephant attack on while on assignment for the Kass Weekly magazine.

Coincidence?

Horsemeat Post Update.

When events change, I do my best to keep up. Looking at my Google Analytics this evening, I discovered that someone in Mechanicsville, Virginia had recently visited my blog, landing on a post from December, 2011 - Let Them Eat Horse Meat.

In that post, I reported that, in 2005, President Bush had signed into law an appropriation bill which had removed funding for USDA inspection of slaughterhouses which choose to slaughter horses for human food. I also reported in that post that a bill, signed by Obama, reversed Bush's ban on horse slaughterhouse inspection.

I wanted to find out if anything had changed over the last few years regarding this issue. Doing an Internet search, I discovered that in 2014, President Obama signed a bill that would block the resumption of commercial horse slaughter in the U.S..

As I said in my earlier post, I don't have a beef with people who choose to eat horse meat. According to a wikipedia article, more than 4.7 million horses are eaten every year. Who are we to argue?

Maybe one day, we'll see the Chick-fil-A cows with signs reading, "Eat mo hoss".

Protesters Block Access to Shell Oil Rig at Seattle Port.

An estimated 200 protesters gathered at the Port of Seattle on Monday to block oil workers’ access to a Shell drilling rig temporarily docked there on its way to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast.

Shell has been given approval to begin exploratory drilling in the area by
His Royal Highness President Barack Obama.

"I think it is important to also recognize that this is going to be a transition process,” he said. “In the meantime, we are going to continue to use fossil fuels, and when it can be done safely, and appropriately, U.S. production of oil and natural gas is important."

Are the "Progressives" who voted for Obama -twice- feeling buyers remorse yet?

I'm waiting to hear Hillary Clinton's plan on Arctic drilling. I'm sure she'll remain quiet as long as she can. Rocking the kayak might cost her too many votes.

Of course,the Progressives' not-so-wunderkind, Elizabeth Warren would most definitely support the protesters, if for no other reason than by doing so, she will have an opportunity to dress up like a Native American.

Arizona State Senator Wants Mandatory Church Attendance.

According to wikipedia, Snowflake, Arizona was founded in 1878 by Mormon pioneers, Erastus Snow and William Jordan Flake. Today, the town is represented in the Arizona State Senate by Republican Sylvia Allen.

One wonders if the good Senator is descended from the original settlers of the community. Recent comments would suggest that Sylvia Allen is definitely a Flake.

During a recent committee hearing concerning legislation that would allow individuals who have permits to carry concealed weapons to bring them into public buildings, Allen stated that she felt the committee should be debating a bill about mandatory church attendance instead of guns.

I agree with the Senators comments, "I believe what's happening to our country is that there is a horrible erosion of the soul of America" and "......we are slowly eroding religion ......." but the idea that we should pass a law requiring mandatory Sunday church attendance is absolutely insane. And Fascist.

It appears standard operating procedure for demagogues to want the government to make certain actions mandatory. Recently, President Obama opined that voting in elections should be mandatory. With Allen's idea concerning mandatory church attendance, Obama no longer has the dumbest idea of the week.