When You Think About It: We Must Take Sides

F LoBuono

It's simply gotten ridiculous. I can't keep writing the same shit over and over again. And, the way things are, I'm just preaching to the choir anyway, i.e. those of us who are like-minded in our disdain and disgust for our current President and his entire Administration.

Much like mold in a damp basement, our list of righteous grievances grows on a daily basis and is just as toxic.

Today was another classic example.

In an impromptu press conference before he boarded Marine 1, Mr. Trump decided to bring Labor Secretary, Alex Acosta, with him, ostensibly to have Mr. Acosta announce his resignation from the Administration and also to show his support for Acosta. The back- story is that Acosta is being forced to resign by the public outcry for his role in the sentencing (or, rather LACK) of convicted (and, recently indicted again) pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

After lauding Mr. Acosta for being an outstanding Labor Secretary, reporters questioned the President about his own relationship with Mr. Epstein. Despite numerous quotes (and photos) extolling Epstein's virtues and their friendship*, Mr. Trump NOW denies not only any affection towards him, but claims he hardly knows Epstein. This, of course, is keeping with the President's penchant for distorting the truth when he is not outright lying. In fact, sadly, about the only thing he has said that may prove truthful is his campaign statement that he "could stand in the middle of 5th Ave., shoot somebody and not lose any voters." (and, that seems to be just fine with his supporters - except, possibly, the person he shoots).

However, there were many other instances of not only exaggeration, self promotion, deflection, and distortion, but also of his flagrant demagoguery. This became most apparent when he criticized the New York Times for an article he disagreed with eventually calling them AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. This is an outrage - a classic case of blaming others for his own failings. None other than Thomas Jefferson said this about freedom of the press. And, it is only one of MANY defending the 4th Estate:

"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." --Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823.

Think of that - keep the waters pure. Thanks to THIS President, our government has become a cesspool instead.

This man and his lackeys have become the Executive Producers of a reality TV show - the ONLY thing Mr. Trump has done well. It might be entertaining if it wasn't so god damned serious. This is OUR Country. I will not have it usurped by a charlatan!!

So, why bother, you may ask? Why keep drinking poison and wait for a different result? Well, this is why. And, I hope that you will join me in the resistance:
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.”

Elie Wiesal, The Night Trilogy: Dawn, Night, the Accident

*https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/us/politics/trump-epstein.html