(from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/fact-checking-trump-no-tariff-man-china-doesn-t-foot-n943686)
"The people who are purchasing foreign goods are paying tariffs," said Columbia Business School professor Amit Khandelwal, who teaches on international trade. . . If you went to an electronics store right now and bought a foreign-made, big screen television hit by tariffs, the sale price will likely include a sizeable price hike thanks to the U.S. tariff — potentially to the tune of hundreds of dollars.
. . . coincidental that a (former) 'television reality' host, who harbors a peculiar affinity for 'winners', tweeted support of Reality? (at the very least, amusing). . .
(from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/reality-winner-former-nsa-contractor-deeply-regrets-leaking-classified-documents/)
". . . Reality Winner, the former NSA contractor who leaked a secret report on Russia's election hacking efforts to the media, responded Thursday to President Trump's tweet that called her sentence "so unfair." "I can't thank him enough," Winner said on "CBS This Morning" by phone from Lincoln County Jail in Georgia. . ."
(from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4583088/How-Reality-Winner-got-unusual-name.html)
". . . Reality's father had the honor of naming his second daughter. . . 'He always wanted to have a 'Real Winner' so he named her Reality Leigh Winner. It's just a beautiful name. The plan was to call her Leigh because Reality is kind of a strange name but everyone who knew her just loved the name Reality and it stuck with her. . ."
. . . of the land evokes images, in my mind, of old cowboy movies replete with ten-gallon hat, many horses, six-shooters and lots and lots of wide-open spaces; the proverbial 'back forty.' In my current reality, the lay of the land means adjusting in terms of where to find what, and learning exactly how to get there. . .
(http://grammarist.com/idiom/lay-of-the-land-or-lie-of-the-land/)
Lay of the land is a phrase that figuratively or metaphorically means the current state of affairs, how something is organized. Literally, the lay of the land is the arrangement of features upon the land. One usually assesses the lay of the land in preparation for action. The idiom lay of the land is first recorded in 1819. A related idiom is the British phrase how the land lies, a usage that turns up in about 1700. According to Google Ngram Viewer, the use of the term lay of the land peaked in the early 1900s. Lay of the land is a North American phrase. . . Lie of the land is the British phrase that metaphorically means the current state of affairs, how something is organized. Literally, the lie of the land is the arrangement of features upon the land. In fact, lie of the land and lay of the land mean the same thing.
". . . business career was . . . a long list of bankruptcies, defaults and alleged dalliances with organized crime . . . rebranded as a towering tycoon through his reality TV show . . . could be the person he had always pretended to be: a Manhattan behemoth whose decisions were obeyed and feared without question. . . What was the worst that could happen?. . . went on to parlay his newfound celebrity into becoming America’s most unpopular first-year president ever. . . first State of the Union address. . . bore little resemblance to the reality America has endured over the past year. . . spoke of unity, (yet) there was no mention of last August’s white supremacist rally in Charlottesville . . . later stated that some white supremacists in attendance were “very fine people.” . . . claim(ed) that he was not interested in using nuclear weapons despite threatening North Korea for a year with talk of pre-emptive strikes and “fire and fury”. . . while remaining unaccountable to the American public about his own myriad scandals involving everything from his finances to allegations of sexual misconduct. . . despite steady public condemnation of . . . racism, cruelty and incompetence, conservative politicians and some pundits will likely spend the next few days once again proclaiming that the president has miraculously “pivoted” to become “presidential.” (If and when this temporary delusion occurs, ignore it.). . .Indeed, Republicans have already begun to praise him like apparatchiks of an autocrat. This is not helped by select journalists who have helped perpetuate an echo chamber of his own narcissism. . ."
. . . Symone Sanders (of CNN) to fellow CNN political commentator and President Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord regarding his comment "Think of President Trump as the Martin Luther King of healthcare" . . .
(http://thehill.com/homenews/media/328616-cnns-jeffrey-lord-think-of-trump-as-martin-luther-king-of-healthcare?amp)
"Jeffrey, you do understand that Dr. King was marching for civil rights because people that looked like me were being beaten," she said. "Dogs were being sicced on them. Basic human rights were being withheld from these people merely because the color of their skin. . .So let's not equate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner, to the vagina-grabbing President Donald Trump."
(from Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy by John Shelby Spong)
". . . If we reduce this Matthean character (the Canaanite woman) to literal person, we can deal with her once and for all and then move on. If she is a symbol, an icon, her challenge will be eternal; her face will change throughout history, but her demands will remain, constantly challenging our security and eroding our barriers. Jewish readers of Matthew's gospel knew that she was a symbol. Gentile readers, later, would assume that she was a literal figure and that they had dealt with her once they had brought themselves to accept Canaanites. Perhaps we need to confront the possibility that Christianity has not failed, as our critics constantly assert; the reality, I believe, is that Christianity has never been understood and thus has never really been tried. . . "
My latest solo offering, No Frills, is now available at - No Frills
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Some pundits call Donald Trump the 'reality show' candidate, but the reality is . . .
(from http://www.politicususa.com/2015/12/11/abc-cbs-nbc-news-intentional-decision-ignore-bernie-sanders.html)
". . . Bernie Sanders polls equal to or better than Donald Trump in every single poll, but the corporate owned network news divisions have given Trump nearly 30 times more airtime than Sanders. . . The networks are ignoring Bernie Sanders because his anti-corporate message is dangerous to their well being. The broadcast and cable networks both have a habit of ignoring stories that can hurt their bosses’ bottom lines. . . Sen. Sanders is trying to inform the electorate, but the broadcast networks would rather focus on keeping voters ignorant by focusing on Trump. . . "
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)
Representation is the use of signs that stand in for and take the place of something else. It is through representation that people organize the world and reality through the act of naming its elements. Signs are arranged in order to form semantic constructions and express relations. For many philosophers, both ancient and modern, man is regarded as the "representational animal" or homo symbolicum, the creature whose distinct character is the creation and the manipulation of signs – things that "stand for" or "take the place of" something else.
"God” is a human word but does point to something that is real; a presence, something into which we are able to live, not just an idol constructed in our own image. The word “God” points to something that human language can never encompass. We should strive to bear witness to our beliefs by the way we live. Part of loving another person is to give them the freedom to process truth and reality in their own personal way and time. The journey into the mystery of God is a life’s work. The only thing that is ultimately destructive is when we begin to believe that we have arrived and that now we possess the ultimate and final truth.
(thanks to http://johnshelbyspong.com and http://www.wikipedia.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_%28arts%29)
". . .TIT FOR TAT What Happens When You Post Revenge Porn?
Nerve Lust
It's a truly modern story: Man posts revenge porn of ex-girlfriend, ex-girlfriend then posts revenge porn of man. . ."
A contemporary problem, to be sure. Revenge Porn!!???
First, the only place revenge should exist is in a Mel Gibson movie. In real life, it serves no purpose and never solves anything. (Example: Israel and Palestine)
Second, revenge and porn within the same sentence is pure incongruity. Only in this post-digital, pro-reality-TV, sub-stratus-personal standards age could two unrelated terms be used within the same sentence and actually portray a veritable reality.
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. . . or was the debate something like this? . . .
(from http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/president/candidates/romney/2012/10/11/fact-check-slips-vice-president-debate/7ZH8sFVuIfG2B7XpZaaozH/story.html)
". . .Vice President Joe Biden has
mangled a heaping helping of facts over the years. Despite being newer
to presidential-campaign politics, Republican Paul Ryan has already
earned something of a reputation Vice President Joe Biden has mangled a heaping helping of facts over the years. Despite being newer to presidential-campaign politics, Republican Paul Ryan has already earned something of a reputation for taking flying leaps past reality.
How'd they do Thursday night?
Here’s a look at some of their claims:
BIDEN, on whether U.S. should have beefed up security at the U.S. Consulate in Libya before the deadly terrorist attack there: ‘‘We weren’t told they wanted more security there.’’
RYAN: ‘‘There were requests for more security.’’
THE FACTS: Ryan is right, judging by testimony from Obama administration officials at a congressional hearing this week.
Charlene R. Lamb, a deputy assistant secretary for diplomatic security, told lawmakers she refused requests for more security in Benghazi, saying the department wanted to train Libyans to protect the consulate. ‘‘Yes, sir, I said personally I would not support it,’’ she said.
Eric Nordstrom, who was the top security official in Libya earlier this year, testified he was criticized for seeking more security. He said conversations he had with people in Washington led him to believe that it was ‘‘abundantly clear we were not going to get resources until the aftermath of an incident. How thin does the ice have to get before someone falls through?’’
___
RYAN: ‘‘We should have spoken out right away when the green revolution was up and starting, when the mullahs in Iran were attacking their people. We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer when he was turning his Russian-provided guns on his own people.
THE FACTS: Neither President Barack Obama nor anyone else in his administration ever considered the Syrian leader a ‘‘reformer.’’ The oft-repeated charge stems from an interview Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave in March 2011 noting that ‘‘many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.’’ She did not endorse that view. The comment was widely perceived to be a knock at senators such as John Kerry of Massachusetts who maintained cordial relations with Assad in the months leading up to his crackdown on protesters.
___
BIDEN: ‘‘We went out and rescued General Motors.’’
THE FACTS: Actually, the auto bailout of General Motors and Chrysler began under President George W. Bush. The Obama administration continued and expanded it.
___ RYAN: ‘‘And then they put this new Obamacare board in charge of cutting Medicare each and every year in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors. This board, by the way, it’s 15 people, the president’s supposed to appoint them next year. And not one of them even has to have medical training.’’
THE FACTS: Ryan is referring to the Independent Payment Advisory Board, created under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law. It has the power to force cuts in Medicare payments to service providers if costs rise above certain levels and Congress fails to act. But it doesn’t look like the board will be cutting Medicare ‘‘each and every year,’’ as Ryan asserts. Medicare costs are currently rising modestly and the government’s own experts project the board’s intervention will not be needed until 2018 and 2019 at the earliest — after Obama leaves office if re-elected to a second term.
___
BIDEN, when asked who would pay more taxes in Obama’s second term: ‘‘People making a million dollars or more.’’
THE FACTS: Obama’s proposed tax increase reaches farther down the income ladder than millionaires. He wants to roll back Bush-era tax cuts for individuals making over $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000.
___
RYAN: ‘‘We cannot allow Iran to gain a nuclear weapons capability. Now, let’s take a look at where we've gone — come from. When Barack Obama was elected, they had enough fissile material — nuclear material — to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five. They’re racing toward a nuclear weapon. They’re four years closer toward a nuclear weapons capability.’’
THE FACTS: Ryan’s claim is misleading. Iran isn’t believed to have produced any of the highly enriched uranium needed to produce even one nuclear weapon, let alone five. That point isn’t even disputed by Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implored the world at the United Nations last month to create a ‘‘red line’’ at enrichment above 20 percent. Iran would have to enrich uranium at much higher levels to produce a weapon. There is intelligence suggesting that Iran has worked on weapon designs, but not that it has developed a delivery system for any potential nuclear warhead. . . "
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