The deed…
…is done.
The fat’s in the fire.
The fat lady’s sung.
The bird’s on the wire.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
It will be interesting to see the mood at the end of the GOP convention. Trump seems incapable of any gestures of good will to his fellow Republicans. Most people aren’t as prone to nurse grudges like Donald, but they do notice unnecessary slights.
Hello 1850 again, there will be pain before things get better.
“The Moving Finger writes”…. and then gives you the finger.
Since you’re into Omar Khayyam, I’ll post my Grandfather’s favorite verse from the Rubaiyat; It seems appropriate:
I always understood that last to mean that life is a temporal gift and very soon we’ll all be with our ancestors.
snopercod:
Taking the looooong view.
The die is cast, now let us see where we stand in a few months. Do you want the known Hillary or the maybe better Trump? I am hoping that Trump is a Democrat lite in sheep’s clothing and not the wolf Hillary who will eat us alive.
Good old G.W. was a Republican lite because he worked his butt off to make the Democrats like him. It worked in Texas but he got bit in the butt in DC when he tried to work with the lefties.
My only hope is that my vote for the Trump Meister will bring us a few better nominations to the Supremes and maybe a few better appointments to the critical positions in his cabinet he happens to win the election.
Now we get to watch Hillary in a few weeks move on up and become a prime target for a guy with a loud mouth who does not hold back and says it like he thinks it is.
Kind of like a rodeo when you are rooting for the meanest bull to really hurt the top rider. Life sure is fun if you live long enough.
I’ll not vote for a Republican, donate a cent, or an ounce of my efforts. The Republican Party is dead to me. If the best this country can do is Trump and Hillary, it deserves to burn.
what Tom said
Yes, good bye GOP.
Also, as a PSA, some math for everyone.
If I don’t vote for A, and don’t vote for B, and A is your favored candidate, I didn’t just vote for B no matter how loudly you tell me i did.
Both B and A got 0 votes from me.
Trying to keep an open mind, I tuned into some of the convention speeches tonight. My impression: How does an authoritarian narcissist raise such accomplished children? Donald Jr.’s speech (extemporaneous, no less) was a stem winder. Methinks that this young man could have a future in politics if he so chooses. The kid has a better grasp of the issues than his papa – at least he can communicate them better.
The former prosecutor, Chris Christy, did a public trial of Hillary Clinton’s performance as Secretary of State that was very effective in countering any arguments that she is qualified to be C-in-C. It was tough stuff, but actually no worse than the way HRC and the MSM have been attacking Trump. Looking at the evidence of Hillary’s incompetence and mendacity, it is hard for me to believe some #NeverTrumpers could skip voting or vote for Hillary. Just does not compute – as Spock would say.
I heard Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan speak tonight and I was reminded why I loath them. They really think we are stupid. McConnell said that they passed bills repealing Obamacare, defunding Planned Parenthood, approving the Keystone pipeline, etc but Obama vetoed them. McConnell said we need a Republican President for them to be able to do anything.
These bills were standalone sacrificial lambs passed knowing that they would be vetoed. If they really wanted to fight, they would have put these provisions in must-pass bills and let Obama shut down the government. Instead, Ryan and McConnell passed the monstrous omnibus budget in December of 2015 that totally capitulated to Obama and the Deomcrats.
http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/16/whats-wrong-with-the-massive-omnibus-spending-bill/
These two slimeballs and their henchmen in the Republican establishment and the fact that the Republican base is neither fiscally nor socially conservative gave us Donald Trump. Now they are like cockroaches scurrying for the dark saying we need to elect Trump and Republican majorities and then “we will really get things done.” And coincidentally keep them at the trough in Washington DC. Well at least until they find they do not have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate.
I am now about Neo’s honorable age so I will do what little I can to hold this country together while I live. The only thing I can figure is to contribute to the Senate campaigns of the embattled Republicans in blue states and some fresh faces like Glenn Reynolds to see if he can knock off the execrable Michael Bennet in Colorado. It is probably way too little and too late but I am lighting a candle instead of cursing the darkness, which saying contrary to popular lore was not first said by Eleanor Roosevelt or Robert Kennedy but predates them:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/better_to_light_a_single_candle_than_to_curse_the_darkness
J.J.:
How does an authoritarian narcissist raise such children?
See this. Short answer: other people raised them.
Well, unless there actually is a civil war, Trump can’t be more divisive than Abraham Lincoln.
The fickle finger of fate strikes again.
Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has cast the stone that put the stars to flight.
Perhaps the USA has awoken from 8 years of corruption on both sides of the House and the Senate.
The left is actually now suggesting that we have a military coup to oust trump…
funny, but when people pick someone that the elites dont like, then what?
Daughter: Mommy, i dont want my vegetables
Mother: Well daughter, you can have a choice between peas and carrots
Daughter: ok mommy
You can have any color of Model T you want, as long as it’s black…
Doesnt the left always say they are the champion of free choice?
if its a womans body and right to choose, why cant she choose trump?
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/07/20/coup-kirchick-los-angeles-times-suggests-president-trump/
what i want to know is how does he know what Trump will or wont do?
And even if he WAS a despot, of which NONE of them have been crazy enough to ever have a war over things like small hands/penis insults… EVER…
would he prefer LBJ And his big penis instead?
Hey, Kirchick, what about posse commitatus?
so far, Kirchick and Clinton and many others have been willing to smear our military and its function, by saying that the military would become nazis under trump, the military would have a coup, the military would follow orders that were illegal (which in the the US military are illegal to follow!! a soldier has a duty to not follow illegal orders!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
be afraid little children because Trump is: the Bogeyman, Babba Yaga, Pé¨re Malfait, Tata Duende, Gorska Maika, La Llorona, Tokoloshe, Cuca, Bugbear, Ježibaba, Gurumapa, Bokkenrijder, Butzemann, Wewe Gombel, Namahage, and even the Jersey devil… ALL ROLLED INTO ONE!
Most people aren’t as prone to nurse grudges like Donald
You don’t think Obama nurses grudges ?
Hmmmm.
Trump is going to surprise people with the positive outcome that they believe wont or cant happen – Just as they said about Reagan and even have tried to twist and remove his success…
DirtyJobsGuy Says: Trump seems incapable of any gestures of good will to his fellow Republicans.
then tell the fellow republicans to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, or have you forgotten they mobilized to hurt him, remove him, and more…
kind of stupid to ask for goodwill on his part to people who are supposed to be on your side, and have done little to help and even more to conspire against you!
reminds me of what Chesty Puller said:
“All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time.”
and in terms of how he has won:
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” – Eisenhower
[and so Trump got everyone to join his band without a lot of money or payoffs, or adverts, or much of anthing, as if they want it]
Three key determinants of financial performance are efficiency, adaptation, and human capital. – Leadership Quarterly
Volume 19, Issue 6, December 2008, Pages 708-722
[note that adaptation is what we call flip flopping, the willingness to change a position once one finds out they are wrong on it… the left hates that, because when your wrong, they want you to continue being wrong… so they double dare you to stay wrong, not adapt, while pretending to be the adaptable ones, which if they cow their opposition, they appear like as they dont yell flip flop to themselves. Two other things that Trump expresses is the willingness to close or leave unproductive practices, and of course the left hates his positive use of human capital, which so far, out of 30,000 employees have not found anyone who works FOR him that dislikes doing so (which is not the same as work WITH him like the ghost writer who wasnt a ghost writer)]
“Peace won by compromise is usually a short-lived achievement.” Winfield Scott
“One of my superstitions has always been when I start to go anywhere or do anything, not to turn back, or stop until the thing intended was accomplished.” – Ulysses S. Grant
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” – George S. Patton
[this applies to trump and not the left or hillary in that the left leaders want to dictate and know HOW the leader will accomplish something, but trump doesnt give details, because he delegates to others to accomplish things using superior human capital!!!]
Trumps campaing style:
“Tenacity, Dick, stay with the bast*rd ‘til he’s on the bottom.” -Mush Morton to fellow sub commander Dick O’Kane
in terms of hiring women, and paying them well (better than clinton), and not because he was running for office as they went back to his high school days to find something to smear him with and came up empty
“It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.” – Schwarzkopf
how many of you would admit that given the negative press, your own side against you, the hate spew, the riots and attacking your people, and more… would you have stayed to the end of the fight?
and since this has turned into the poetry hour:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul. — Invictus by William Ernest Henley
JJ:
“The kid has a better grasp of the issues than his papa — at least he can communicate them better.”
Or it’s sales pitch, both ways. Hard to say.
The only consistent political moorings during the Trump campaign have been Russian propaganda and alt-Right.
Tom Says:
July 19th, 2016 at 10:35 pm
I’ll not vote for a Republican, donate a cent, or an ounce of my efforts. The Republican Party is dead to me. If the best this country can do is Trump and Hillary, it deserves to burn.
betty Says:
July 19th, 2016 at 10:57 pm
what Tom said
Bill Says:
July 19th, 2016 at 11:24 pm
Yes, good bye GOP.
Also, as a PSA, some math for everyone.
If I don’t vote for A, and don’t vote for B, and A is your favored candidate, I didn’t just vote for B no matter how loudly you tell me i did.
Both B and A got 0 votes from me.
Such educated readers in their own minds! 🙁
Whether Trump will be better than Hildabeast, I do not know. I do know based on the fruit of her tree- Hildabeast and her ilk bring pain and suffering wherever they go. So I will vote for Trump because the alternative choice will bring this 200 yr+ experiment in democracy to and end, As fot the PSA dialog- here is a counterview. sign me- nail 🙂
“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”
― Benjamin Franklin
@Artfuldodger – It was not trump’s “leadership” that won, at least not in the way your quotes imply.
He occupied a niche that no other of the 17 occupied.
Only Cruz came closest, but he was beholding to conservative principles, and couldn’t get “there”, while the rest competed for the same niche.
Don’t need to relitigate the entire campaign (already spent enough virtual ink on that) other than to say trump won pluralities through most contested states he was awarded, on the strength of unprecedented MSM attention vs the other candidates.
The process is broken if this is the result. But, water under the bridge, now.
““Peace won by compromise is usually a short-lived achievement.” Winfield Scott “ – Art
But, isn’t trump the ultimate compromise? After all, he is hardly conservative, having a history of stances consistent with the Dems.
GOP was supposed to mean something, but wt(hey) do principles count for any more?!
In our minds, we are stuck in a two team contest Blue vs Green paradigm.
http://theresurgent.com/sadness-for-friends-who-cannot-be-sad/
Why didn’t they put the nail in the shoe
And save the horse and rider, too,
And win the battle and save the King?
I guess it’s just the same old thing–
Somebody goofed!
–Dennis the Menace
Results from Frank Luntz’s focus group in Ohio yesterday:
http://dailycaller.com/2016/07/19/frank-luntz-tries-to-beat-his-focus-group-into-submission/
On trump…
“At this point Luntz orders his class to shout out a word or phrase that describes Trump.
It’s like a human word shit cloud: “Intolerant. Dumpster fire. Narcissist. Evil. Media whore. Impulsive. Destructive. Impulsive. Bat shit crazy. Lunatic. Polarizing. Ignorant.””
On clinton…
““Liar. Bought and paid for. Liar. Power hungry. I think she’s tired. Entitled. Greedy. Self-centered. Entitled. Honest. Washed up has been. Corrupt. Ignorant.””
Luntz asks: ““Which candidate would you rather have in a time of tragedy?””
Result: “Hillary wins.”
One participant concludes…
““My feeling is that our political system is so broken. I don’t feel myself any closer to making a decision. I can’t, in good conscience, vote for either.””
Bill Says: If I don’t vote for A, and don’t vote for B, and A is your favored candidate, I didn’t just vote for B no matter how loudly you tell me i did. // Both B and A got 0 votes from me.
“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for … but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting. Charles Bukowski
Majority rule only works if you’re also considering individual rights. Because you can’t have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper. Larry Flynt
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. James Bovard
[you can negate one wolf]
CC was a star last night. Very, very effective.
This AM on Morning Joe CC said Trump is very different in person than in private. He really listens. I believe CC.
You know…
Whenever I start to make peace with the idea of voting for Trump in order to deny Hillary the White House, all I have to do is listen to Trump supporters on political sites, and the feeling mysteriously vanishes.
Many tend to have the same frustrated reaction. But why not narrow the target a bit?
There are probably almost a hundred million worthwhile humans in this country …
That was meant to be a jokey statement in case it was misunderstood.
I am sure there are over twice that many who I would implore The Almighty to pity and refrain from destroying.
But then again what do I know. I never look at Twitter; and those live streams we have been seeing …
“In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.” ― Robert A. Heinlein” – Art
Right, vote against BOTH!
Pick another choice that IS available.
““Evil draws its power from indecision and concern for what other people think.” ― Pope Benedict XVI”
““He sat where he was, on Mouse, in the grip of terrible indecision. He almost wished something would happen–a sudden attack of Mexicans or something. He might be killed, but at least he wouldn’t have to make a choice between disobeying Mr. Gus and disobeying Lorena.” ― Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove
““The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.” ― John Kenneth Galbraith”
Cornhead Says: This AM on Morning Joe CC said Trump is very different in person than in private. He really listens. I believe CC.
Thats why i like him… i have met lots and trump is actually much different than the leftist oscialist communist pravda press paints him because he is their antithesis… not left, not socialist (but cares to help), not communist, and tells the truth regardless of pain to him or outcome..
i only met him in passing the first time… and out of many people i met doing fashion photojournalism, he remembered my name, was genuinely happy to see me the next time… yeah, he probably wont remember me now, years later. but i knew people who forvot me several times in the same day…
and he wasnt that way to get his photo taken, or in the paper, or anything… he was curious, polite, easy going for the most part, and wanted the best for his kid (whether introducing his son to the model he married, or the daughter who did jewelry)
clintons on the other hand were money grubbing, press seeking, freebie taking, and so on. they were not enjoyable to be with… patty hearsts kids did not like them, and all of them came out to play, so you got to meet distant cousins who were trading on the name for entry, free drinks, photo ops, and more.
hillary daughter is much like her parents, and is heaing down the same amoral path
trumps kids are honorable, hand shake deals, and so on..
to think that trump genetics and trump has nothing to do with that is to imagine george soros kid being good.
second bible quote of the day:
For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
from modern medicine
If you think about all of the behaviors and qualities you would expect a sociopath to have, it shouldn’t be surprising that lots of genes can be involved. Sociopaths (also sometimes called psycopaths) tend to be irresponsible, egocentric, manipulative, impulsive, and antisocial. They tend to lack empathy and guilt. In some cases they also show criminal behavior.
What kinds of behaviors would you expect of a sociopath?
They might lie a lot:
Hillary lies a lot, Truinp is hated for not lying or even gilding the lilly… Clinton kid is just as her parents, and trumps kids are handshake honest!!!
They are probably really irresponsible:
Clinton server, and other things, like her husbands sex in the whitehouse… Trump sold his airline (hillary lied about that to her followers) and cashed in on his chapter restructuring (otherwise known as bankruptcy)..
They lack empathy:
bengazi, what difference does it make? throwing them under the bus, etc? trump flying sick kids on his plane, donating money to various ends (That was not tax deductable), etc
the difference as i see it is that geniune leftist leaders are rule by sociopathy… and THAT is what people are rebeling from other than followers… because sociopaths are great at winning followers who believe they are what they falsely represent… Obama cares not a whit about the officers or others that were killed… and clinton blaming whitey in her speeches shows the same… but this is the same sociopathy of hitler, stalin, mao, castro, che, etc.
Guys, I’ve met and worked with many executives a few of whom were shades of trump. They were very gracious to outsiders. And their inner circles would swear to those outside as to the graciousness, intelligence, etc., etc. of the executive, when reality was very different.
Heck, GWB “looked into Putin’s eyes” and found a “straightforward and trustworthy man”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1392791.stm
If surrogates have to tell us trump is really a nice guy, and really does listen, but we cannot see that from how the campaign is conducted, something is amiss.
Over time, we will find out that there was no substance behind things that we thought were bid deals but were really just false flag, inflience, agit prop, etc…
RNC Protests Rage, but Anti-Trump Organizers Ask: Where Is Everyone?
Low turnout and very few arrests come as a surprise
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-07-19/rnc-protests-rage-but-anti-trump-organizers-ask-where-is-everyone
“Look, I’ll say this: It’s not a good thing people aren’t here in a bigger force when an openly fascistic candidate is being nominated,” says Noche Diaz, who served as spokesman for the day’s highest profile march, which promoted revolutionary communism and the jailing of “killer cops.”
“Why? I don’t know all the reasons, you’ll have to ask them,” Diaz said after the hourlong march by about two dozen protesters, a greater number of reporters and likely even more law enforcement officers, who rode bicycles alongside and behind the group.
“Slavery, genocide and war, America was never great!” the group chanted as they walked past Republican convention-goers, one of whom shouted that they should consider moving to another country.
Neo, thanks for the link to your post about Trump’s children. I was in the process of recovering from surgery and missed it. It certainly explains a lot about the children’s upbringing. Kinda makes me wonder if the line that Donald Jr. and Eric keep uttering that their time with their father was spent on construction sites is not a bit of hyperbole.
Ivana, her parents, and Marla have been the greatest contributors to the kids formative years and if DJT was a gentleman he would certainly give credit where credit is due. Unfortunately, he does not seem to have those gentlemanly instincts. But of course Hillary is no gentle lady either.
I think back to the Reagan years and his children. How different they were from Trump’s children although their childhoods were somewhat similar. The fact that Reagan’s children were mostly estranged from him in their early years was a big argument against him when he ran. Michael and Maureen did become Republicans and supported him as young adults but Ron and Patty were in the left and of the left during his entire lifetime. Patty has finally mellowed, but Ron is still a strong leftist. We consider Reagan as having been an outstanding President in spite of his children. I knew a man who worked for Reagan as a campaign aide. He related to me that Reagan’s affable public persona was a role that Reagan played. That in reality he was a “hard man” with a spine of stainless steel. The same was true of Eisenhower. His pleasant grandfatherly image concealed the “hard man” who was able to mount the successful assault on Nazi Germany through his ability to keep Generals like Patton and Montgomery under control and in line with the Allied goals.
What we see in a candidate’s public persona is often not the real person. I’m wondering if Trump’s tough guy public persona is the real Donald Trump.
Maybe you NeverTrumpers will get lucky and Hillary will listen to LTG Mike Flynn and withdraw from the race.
LOL!
@ Artfldgr:
I have to admit that your posts are usually so long that I sometimes just skim them. But the one with the Chesty Puller quote was excellent. Thank you.
Richard Saunders Says:
July 20th, 2016 at 2:48 pm
Maybe you NeverTrumpers will get lucky and Hillary will listen to LTG Mike Flynn and withdraw from the race.
The country’s going to hell regardless of who is President. That’s something Americans in their arrogance, still refuse to consider.
Heck, GWB “looked into Putin’s eyes” and found a “straightforward and trustworthy man”.
As far as that goes, he is correct. Putin’s policies are very transparent, even to people like me who barely pay attention to Russia.