Please be careful how much you believe what you hear . . .
(from Lincoln's Last Trial by Dan Abrams and David Fisher)
". . . then from memory (Attorney John Palmer) quoted John Adams, "but as Mr. Adams told us, 'Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations or the dictums of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.' . . . "
". . . "We are respected again, I can tell you that. We are respected again," Trump told the naval cadets. "A lot of things have happened. We’re respected again.". . . The evidence — both in nonpartisan polls and in the increasingly critical remarks of exasperated allies — suggests otherwise. . . leaders of long-standing allies like (Japan's President Shinzo) Abe, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May — all initially deferential to Trump and his famous ego — have grown frustrated and at times disapproving. . . Significantly, so have their citizens, increasing the pressure on foreign leaders to distance themselves from Trump’s America. Across 134 countries, the median approval of U.S. leadership dropped 18 points in Trump's first year, to a record low of just 30%, according to a Gallup survey released in January. That was before Trump's decisions to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and impose tariffs on a number of allies, which further alienated many of them. . .The finding echoed a Pew Research Center survey last year that found in all but two of 37 nations polled, Trump got far lower marks than President Obama; the exceptions were Russia and Israel. . . "In the main, it's a preposterous claim to say the U.S. is better regarded in the world when we haven't had for many decades this many crises with our allies," said Nicholas Burns, a career diplomat under several presidents — serving as ambassador to NATO and Greece and as undersecretary of State — and now a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. . ."
(https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/texas-church-shooting/fact-check-no-more-guns-won-t-prevent-mass-shootings-n818126)
". . . But there’s no evidence that more guns can reduce gun violence broadly, said Daniel Webster, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. . . “As a researcher, that drives me nuts,” he said, explaining that guns increase the number of everyday moments or interactions — like bar fights, road rage, suicidal thoughts — that turn lethal. “The more guns are readily available, the more shootings occur. That’s what the latest research shows. When states make it more easy for people to carry guns, the number of incidents of aggravated assault grows.”. . . According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, 93 people die a day from gun violence, including 32 murders and 58 suicides. A study out of Stanford Law School analyzed crime data from 1977 to 2014 and found that areas with more relaxed “right-to-carry” gun laws saw higher rates of violent crime. . . “If more guns made America safer, we’d be an awfully safe place,” said University of California Los Angeles law professor Adam Winkler, author of "Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America.". . ."
". . . In March, he accused (without any evidence) Obama of wiretapping him: “How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”. . . In June, he attacked London’s mayor after a terrorist attack there: "At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!". . . In July, he gave a political speech at the Boy Scout Jamboree: "Did President Obama ever come to a Jamboree?" (The crowd, in West Virginia, booed at Obama's name.). . .
In August, Trump blamed “both sides” for the violence in Charlottesville, Va.: “I think there is blame on both sides,” he said. “You had a group on one side that was bad. You had a group on the other side that was also very violent. Nobody wants to say that. I’ll say it right now.”. . . Last month, he called NFL players who take a knee during the National Anthem SOBs: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say ‘get that son of a bitch off the field?’”. . . Also in late September, Trump attacked Puerto Rico’s mayor, who had criticized his administration’s response to the hurricane there: "Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help," he tweeted. "They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.". . . None of these statements was about politics or policy or ideology — instead, they were all about his respect for the highest office in the land. . ."
(https://informedvote2016.wordpress.com/2016/03/18/do-i-really-need-to-worry-about-hillarys-emails-yes-she-will-be-indicted-full-form/)
". . . Hillary Clinton and her aides not only violated numerous federal criminal statutes, but may have conducted a cover up to hide incriminating evidence – the likes of which forced Richard Nixon to resign as President. This article was intended to be a quick, digestable piece to help everyone get caught up on the scandal, but I really had no idea how complex this issue was. Here is the takeaway – I believe the FBI will refer Hillary Clinton for indictment for a violation of Section 1924 and Section 793 of Title 18 US Criminal Code dealing with deletion, retention and transmission of classified documents. If prosecuted and convicted, the punishment would be some combination of a fine, a year in prison or 10 years in prison. The implications for the Presidential race will be discussed. . ."
My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)
Why do I have to hear, see, read about Donald Trump every day as if he really is a serious, viable, candidate for president of the United States of America? Because of our wonderful press - gawd bless 'em!
"You can say what you want I have no doubt that it (waterboarding) does work in term of information and other things," Trump told (Jake) Tapper. ["other things"? - my note]
Jacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American journalist, cartoonist and author. As of 2016, he is the Chief Washington Correspondent, anchor of the CNN weekday television news show The Lead with Jake Tapper
Did Jake Tapper ask Trump to provide empirical evidence of maybe an example or two of instances where he (Trump) could prove that the statement he had just made was, in fact, accurate?
NNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
Our dedicated, objective, informative press at work? (Maybe "Jake" is a better cartoonist?)
My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)
(from The Hidden History of 9-11, Edited by Paul Zarembka)
". . . According to Chossudovsky (2004), the 9-11 attacks have been used as "a war pretext incident," in which the over twenty-year history of the CIA inventing and supporting the terrorist network that is now call al-Qaeda has been "shoved to the background".
The fact that the successive US governments since the Soviet-Afghan
war have supported and abetted the Islamic terror network is no longer
mentioned for obvious reasons. It would break the consensus regarding
al-Qaeda as the outside enemy of America, which is a crucial building
block of the entire National Security doctrine. (Chossudovsky, 2004)
Focusing on the 9-11 "hijackers," we have shown that the US government withheld crucial evidence from the public for no justifiable reason, fabricated other evidence in support of its story, and confiscated and destroyed still other evidence which would prove that story a falsehood. . ."
(taken from http://www.factcheck.org/2009/04/snopescom/ by Viveca Novak on Friday, April 10, 2009)
A widely circulated e-mail contains a number of false claims about the urban legend-busting Snopes.com and its proprietors, Barbara and David Mikkelson, who started the site in 1995 and still run it. They’re accused of hiding their identities, doing shoddy research, producing articles with a liberal bent and discrediting an anti-Obama State Farm agent out of partisanship.
One issue prompting the tirade was a sign Gregg posted last summer outside his office in Mandeville, La. It said, "A taxpayer voting for Barack Obama is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders." Snopes.com wrote it up in an article headlined "Chicken Hawked." The e-mail writer says that "they claimed the corporate office of State Farm pressured Gregg into taking down the sign, when in fact nothing of the sort ‘ever’ took place." But that’s exactly what did happen, according a company representative.
In her article, Barbara Mikkelson didn’t actually use the word "pressured" as the e-mail claims. What she said was: "A State Farm representative said that Bud Gregg’s office sign bore these messages until 3 July 2008 and that the company had requested the sign be removed as soon as they became aware of it because the sign was inconsistent with State Farm’s policy of not endorsing candidates or taking sides in political campaigns."
And State Farm spokeswoman Molly Quirk-Kirby confirmed in a letter to us the same thing she had told Snopes.com earlier: "Management requested the sign be removed as soon as its presence became known. It was taken down on July 3, 2008. Mr. Gregg’s sign was not endorsed by, nor consistent with State Farm’s corporate practices. The company does not endorse candidates, nor take sides in political campaigns." The e-mail’s author says the Mikkelsons didn’t call Gregg, and David says that’s true. He says he sent the insurance agent an e-mail, but did not receive a response.
The e-mail goes on: "Then it has been learned the Mikkelson’s are very Democratic (party) and extremely liberal," adding: "There has been much criticism lately over the internet with people pointing out the Mikkelson’s liberalism revealing itself in their website findings." The author cites no evidence and no sources for either of these propositions.
We asked David. He told us that Barbara is a Canadian citizen, and as such isn’t allowed to vote here or contribute money to U.S. candidates. As for him, "My sole involvement in politics is on Election Day to go out and vote. I’ve never joined a party, worked for a campaign or donated money to a candidate. . . You’d be hard-pressed to find two more apolitical people," David Mikkelson said. . ."
The e-mail also accuses the Mikkelsons of "hiding" their identities. "Only recently did Wikipedia get to the bottom of it," the message claims. That’s nonsense. It may well be that the author of this e-mail was ignorant of the Mikkelsons until recently, but it’s never been a secret who is behind Snopes.com. We even dug up a reference to David Mikkelson from 1995, a year when the Internet was in its infancy. A collection of short items under the headline "A Special Report: The Virtual Valley" in the Los Angeles Times included a photo of him.
The e-mail’s last paragraph advises that everyone who goes to Snopes.com for "the bottom line facts" should "proceed with caution." We think that’s terrific advice, not just in connection with material on Snopes but for practically anything a reader finds online — including articles on FactCheck.org. The very reason we list our sources (as does Snopes.com) and provide links is so that readers can check things out for themselves. . .
The mistakes (in the email) could have been avoided if the authors had contacted the couple. "None of them did," Mikkelson said.
. . . sticks and stones? . . . don't think so . . .
Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, two D.C. journalists for more than 40 years known for their carefully nonpartisan positions are saying that Congress is more dysfunctional than it has been since
the Civil War. They also name drop saying ". . . the Republican Party, has become an insurgent outlier —
ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic
policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional
understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the
legitimacy of its political opposition," they write in their new book, It's Even Worse Than It Looks. . . "
They also say, ". . . the media and elsewhere sometimes do a disservice to the reality. . . It disarms the electorate in a democracy when
you really need an ideological outlier to be reined in by an active,
informed public. . . "
This one'll be a must-read for me.
What
do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
Also download
your
very own copy of
AMBIENCE & WINE
by Ray
Jozwiak
(from Wikipedia.com) Denial (also called abnegation) is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund
Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too
uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not
true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may use:
simple denial: deny the reality of the unpleasant fact
altogether
The concept of denial is particularly important to the study of addiction. The theory of denial was
first researched seriously by Anna
Freud. She classified denial as a mechanism of the immature mind, because it conflicts
with the ability to learn from and cope with reality. Where denial
occurs in mature minds, it is most often associated with death, dying
and rape.
More recent research has significantly expanded the scope and utility of
the concept. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross used denial as
the first of five stages in the psychology of a dying
patient, and the idea has been extended to include the reactions of
survivors to news of a death. Thus, when parents are informed of the
death of a child, their first reaction is often of the form, "No! You
must have the wrong house, you can't mean our child!"
* the popular conservative presidential candidate this year has little to no footing in the real social world choosing instead to prescribe to an ancient, archaic and tribal concept of religion which divides (in that anyone who disagrees with that concept is branded as 'prosecutorial') the public
* every human being deserves respect and equal rights and protection under the law [in spite of personal social or religious bias based upon ancient. . . (see above)]
* the current global economic conditions are a result of more than eight years of deregulation and abuse and no human being currently in office is or could possibly be capable of undoing what has taken that long to do
* and. . . .
What do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
Download
your
very own copy of
ANOTHER SHOT
by Ray
Jozwiak
". . . On Dec. 21, 2012, many doomsday believers fear the apocalypse —
anything from a rogue planet smashing into us to our world spinning end
over end. However, the world should expect nothing more next year than
the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, NASA says. Many people point to the end of
the Mayan Long Count calendar on Dec. 21, 2012 as evidence of the
coming apocalypse, but astronomers have been quick to stress that there
is nothing to be concerned about. According to the ancient Mayan calendar, next year's wintersolstice
marks the end of a 144,000-day cycle. This cycle, which begins at the
mythical Maya creation date, has already been repeated 12 times. The
13th will end in 2012, capping a full 5,200-year Mayan cycle of
creation. This date has long been shrouded in mystery, with many claiming that
it will bring destruction to our planet. [End
of the World? Top Doomsday Fears]
Rogue planet Nibiru?
One fear is that a rogue planet that has been dubbed "Nibiru"
or "Planet X" is supposedly aimed at Earth. Self-proclaimed Nibiru
expert Nancy Lieder, who says she is in contact with the aliens from
Zeta Reticuli, first said Nibiru would cause widespread disaster in May
2003, only to change it to There is, however, no
evidence that Nibiru is real. "Nibiru is ridiculous because it doesn't exist — it never existed as
anything other than a figment of the imagination by pseudo-scientists
who don't seem bothered by a complete lack of evidence," astronomer Don
Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program office at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told SPACE.com.
There is no basis for the claim that it might be lurking behind the
sun, as it could not have hidden from observation until now, Yeomans
said. If such a planet was headed toward Earth by Dec. 21, 2012, it
would already be visible to the naked eye.
Cosmic alignments?
There are also concerns that planets or stars might line up
in ways that will transform Earth. For instance, some theorists claim
that from our point of view, the sun will cross in front of the plane of
our galaxy on Dec. 21. However, the sun already does this twice a year,
Yeomans said. In fact, the sun will eventually cross the plane of our galaxy.
However, the sun is about 67 light-years from the galactic plane, so it
should take several million years to do so, Yeomans said. Even then,
when our solarsystem
finally does cross the plane, nothing special will occur, he added. [10
Failed Doomsday Predictions]
Some also claim that gravitational effects from planets lining up
with each other will somehow affect Earth. However, there is no
planetary alignment due on Dec. 21, 2012, "and if there were, it
wouldn't cause any problems," Yeomans said.
What
do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
Download
your
very own copy of
ANOTHER SHOT
by Ray
Jozwiak
small.jpg)
