{"id":1676,"date":"2019-12-12T19:54:53","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T23:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/?p=1676"},"modified":"2019-12-13T00:11:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T04:11:05","slug":"sifting-through-the-ashes-part-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/blog\/2019\/12\/12\/sifting-through-the-ashes-part-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Sifting Through The Ashes,  Part 22"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Greetings and Salutations!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today,  in the House,  much of the time has been spent by the two parties working on finalizing the Articles of Impeachment  for El Cheeto.   The Democrats are simply stating the facts, calmly and with some regret.  The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/think\/opinion\/house-republicans-trump-impeachment-strategy-was-simple-distract-deceive-yell-ncna1100081?fbclid=IwAR0ykMMzxWzzBmUFcwk_zChHn7IoTcsuVWXco02OKUE4_ZPzxY5x_iWYTRk\">Republicans are screaming<\/a>, and attacking the process, or people who have NO connection to the current case.   A big point the Republicans keep coming back to is that the Democrats only want to overturn the 2016 election, and they hate El Cheeto.   They are dead wrong on the first point.   They have a valid argument about the second point.   However, while they seem to ascribe it to some delusional belief that the only reason so many rational people dislike the current Occupier of the Oval Office  is that he is a Republican,  there are SO many other, more valid reasons.   A FaceBook Friend of mine  just posted the following list laying out why El Cheeto is disliked, and needs to be removed from office.   I thought I would pass it along&#8230;as it seems quite accurate to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Look what I found. Pass it along<\/em>&#8230;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em>&#8220;A person asked the question, &#8220;Why are people so hostile towards President Donald Trump?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em>Before you pass my answer off as \u201cAnother Liberal Snowflake\u201d consider that<br \/> 1.) I&#8217;m an independent centrist who has voted Republican way more often in my life than Democrat, and<br \/>  2.) If you want to call someone who spent the entire decade of his 20\u2019s  serving in the Marine Corps a snowflake, I\u2019d be ready to answer the  question what did you do with your 20\u2019s?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <strong><em>Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">  <em><strong>A.)<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/personalities\/donald-trump\/\">He lies. A LOT<\/a>. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as  \u201cMostly False or worse\u201d Only 17% of the things he says get a \u201cMostly  True\u201d or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How  he doesn\u2019t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in  context, Obama\u2019s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a  problem with that. Many of Trump\u2019s former business associates report  that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he\u2019s the President of  the United States, and that\u2019s a problem. And this is a man who expects  you to believe him when he points at other people and says \u201cThey\u2019re  lying\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em><strong>B.)<\/strong> He\u2019s an authoritarian populist, not a conservative. He  advances regressive social policy while proposing to expand federal  spending and federalist authority over states, both of which  conservatives are supposed to hate<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em> <strong>C.)<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bEA_28uPW3g&amp;list=PLpHYwpcWWeEboJcYtWdcjE6S2il0VjHaQ\">He pretends at Christianity<\/a> to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em><strong> D.)<\/strong> His nationalist \u201cAmerica First\u201d message effectively alienates us  and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>  <strong>E.)<\/strong> His ideas on \u201cKeeping us safe\u201d are all thinly veiled ideas to  remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also  are simply bad ideas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em><strong>F.)<\/strong> He couldn\u2019t pass a 3rd-grade civics  exam. He doesn&#8217;t\u2019 know what he\u2019s doing. He doesn&#8217;t understand how  international relations work, he doesn\u2019t understand how federal state or  local governments work, and every time someone tries to \u201cRun it like a  business\u201d it\u2019s a spectacular failure. See Colorado Springs\u2019 recent  history as an example. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/magazine\/story\/2017\/06\/30\/colorado-springs-libertarian-experiment-america-215313\">The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise<\/a>  And that was a businessman with a MUCH better business track record  than Trump. We are talking about a man who lost money owning a freaking  gambling casino.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em><strong>G.)<\/strong> He behaves unethicaly and always has. As a  businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and  invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em> <strong> H.)<\/strong> He is damaging our relationships with our best international  friends while kissing up to nations that do not have our best interests  in mind. To his question \u201cWouldn&#8217;t\u2019 it be great to have better relations  with Russia?\u201d The answer is Yes. But it is RUSSIA who needs to earn  that, who must stop doing the things that are damaging to that  relationship, or we are simply weaker for it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em><strong>I.) <\/strong>He has never  seen a shortcut he didn&#8217;t like, and you can\u2019t take shortcuts in  government. \u201cNuclear Option, Remove the Filibuster, I\u2019ll change the  Constitution by Executive Order\u2026Don\u2026what happens when you remove the  filibuster and the other side retakes the majority in the Senate?  Suddenly want that filibuster back? What happens if you manage to change  the Constitution by Executive Order and an Anti-2A President wins the  next election?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong> <\/strong><em><strong>J.)<\/strong> He behaves and has always behaved as an  unabashed racist. Yes, I\u2019ve seen your favorite meme that claims he was  never accused of racism before the Democrats\u2026Absolutely false. Donald  Trump\u2019s long history of racism, from the 1970s to 2019 See the Central  Park 5, the lawsuits and fines resulting from his refusal to lease to  black tenants, the 1992 lost appeal trying to overturn penalties for  removing black dealers from tables, his remarks to the house native  American affairs subcommittee in 1993. The man sees and treats racial  groups of people as monoliths.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong> K.)<\/strong> He is systematically  steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like  the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em><strong>L.) <\/strong>He  speaks and acts like a demagogue. He sees the Legislative and Judicial  branches of government as inconveniences, blows up at criticism no  matter how deserved and actively tries to countermand constitutional  processes, not to mention attempts to blackmail and coerce people who  are saying negative things about him<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong> M.)<\/strong> His choices for top  positions, with the exception of Gen. Mattis, who is a gem, have been  horrendous. A secretary of Education without a resume that would get her  hired as a small town grammar school principal, A secretary of Energy  who didn&#8217;t know the Department of Energy was responsible for nuclear  reserves, an EPA head whose biggest accomplishments to date had been  suing the EPA on multiple occasions, an FCC head who while working for  Verizon actively lobbied to kill net neutrality, and an Attorney General  who thinks pot is \u201cnearly as bad as heroin\u201d and asked Congress for  permission to go after legal pot businesses in states where it is legal.  (There goes that great Republican States rights rally cry again, right?  *Crickets*) An Interim AG after Firing his First AG who\u2019s appointment  is probably unconstitutional.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong> N.)<\/strong> He denies scientific fact. Ever  notice that the only people you hear denying climate change are  politicians and lobbyists? 99% of actual scientists studying the issue  agree that it\u2019s real, man-made and caused by greenhouse gasses. Ever  notice that every big disaster movie starts with a bunch of politicians  in a room ignoring a scientist&#8217;s warning?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong> 0.)<\/strong> He does not have  the temperament to lead this nation. He is Thin Skinned, childish, and a  bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil  discourse<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong> P.)<\/strong> He still does not understand that the words he  speaks, or tweets, are the official position of 1\/3 of the US  government, and so does not govern his words. He still thinks when he  speaks it\u2019s good ol\u2019 Donald Trump. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s the PRESIDENT OF THE  UNITED STATES. You have probably spread a meme or two around talking  about how no president\u2019s every word has ever been dissected before\u2026YES,  THEY ALWAYS HAVE. It\u2019s just that every other president in our lifetime  has understood the importance of his words and took great care to govern  his speech. Trump blurts out whatever comes to his mind then complains  when people talk about what a dumb thing that was to say.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em> <strong>Q.)<\/strong>  He\u2019s unqualified. If you owned a small business and were looking for  someone to manage it, and an unnamed resume came across your desk and  you saw 6 bankruptcies, showing a man who had failed to make money  running CASINOS, would you hire him? He is a very poor businessman. This  is a man it has been estimated would have been worth $10 BILLION more  if he\u2019d just taken what his father had given him, invested it in Index  Funds and left it alone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong> R.)<\/strong> He is President. But he refuses to  take a leadership position and understand that he is everyone\u2019s  President. Conservatives complain about liberals chanting \u201cNot my  President\u201d while Trump himself behaves as if no one but his supporters  matter.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em><strong>S.)<\/strong> He\u2019s a blatant hypocrite. He spent 8 years bitching  Obama out for his family trips, or golfing, or any time he took for  himself, and what does he do? He was already on his 20th golf outing in  APRIL of his 1st year in office. He constantly rants about respect for  the military, yet can\u2019t be bothered to attend the 100th anniversary of  Armistice Day because of a little rain. (And that excuse about Marine  One not being able to fly in the rain is HILARIOUS.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em><strong>T.)<\/strong> He\u2019s a  misogynist. It&#8217;s not really ok in this day and age to be a misogynist,  but it\u2019s not a huge deal if you\u2019re a private citizen. It\u2019s a pretty big  deal if you hate half the people you\u2019re elected to lead. The disdain for  women seeps out of his \u2026whatever\u2026. and he just can\u2019t hide it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>  <\/strong><em><strong>U.)<\/strong> Face it. In any other election \u201cGrab Em\u2019 By the Pussy\u201d would have  been the end of that candidate\u2019s chances. Back in the 90\u2019s I used to  marvel about how Teflon Bill Clinton was. I no longer do. The fact that  he managed to slip by on that is as much a statement about how much  people hate Hillary Clinton as it is about what is wrong with politics  in this country right now.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong> V.)<\/strong> He has one response to a differing  opinion. Attack. A good leader listens to criticism, to different  points of view, is capable of self-reflection, tries to guide people to  his point of view, and when necessary stands his ground and defends his  convictions. Any of that sound like Trump? His default is not to Lead,  its\u2019 to attack. Scorched Earth. The Jim Acosta reaction is a good  example. There was no defense of his convictions when Acosta was asking  him repeated questions about his rhetoric on the caravan. His response  was to attack Acosta.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong> <\/strong><em><strong>W.)<\/strong> He takes credit for everything positive  while deflecting blame for everything negative. Look at him with the  Stock Market. He\u2019s been bragging about it since day one, and to give  credit where credit is due, speculation on coming deregulation early in  his presidency did fuel some rapid growth, but to pretend that it\u2019s all  him, that we\u2019re not in the 9th year of the longest bull market in  history and THEN, when the standard market volatility that deregulation  inevitably brings about starts to show up? Yeah. Look at yesterday. Hey!  Stock Markets losing because the Democrats won! Do I need to bring out  the Stock market chart for the last 10 Years again?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em> <strong>X.)<\/strong> He  emboldens the worst among us. Counter-protesters are slammed into by a  car while countering actual Nazi rally, and the response is there\u2019s  fault on \u201cBoth Sides\u201d The media is at fault for a nut job sending them  and Donald\u2019s favorite targets pipe bombs. The truth is not all  Republicans, not all Trump Supporters are racist, fascist lunatics. Many  are just taken in by the bombastic personality and are living in an  information bubble made worse by the fact that they unfollow anyone and  ignore any source of information that makes them feel uncomfortable.  People on the left do that too. The Biggest problem the right has right  now is that the worst of the Right is the loudest and the most in your  face, and the actual right, especially the Freaking PRESIDENT needs to  be standing up and saying No. Those are not our values.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em> <strong>Y.)<\/strong> He  seems to think the Constitution of The United States, the document that  IS who we are, the document he took an oath to support and defend is  some sort of inconvenience. He demonstrates a complete lack of  understanding of Constitution, from believing he can alter the 14th  through executive order, to thinking The free exercise clause in the  first amendment somehow supersedes the establishment clause (not that he  really understands either) or that the free exercise clause only  applies to Christians. Or his attacks on freedom of expression and the  press. He repeatedly makes it clear that if he\u2019s read them, he does not  understand Articles 1\u20133, and that\u2019s something he really should have  before he took the job, because they\u2019re not going away.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong> <\/strong><em><strong>Z.)<\/strong> I\u2019ll  use Z for something I do blame him for, but the rest of us have to carry  the blame too. Polarization. This country is more politically polarized  than I can remember in my lifetime. Some of you who are a few years  older than I may remember how it was in the late 60\u2019s when construction  workers in New York were being applauded for beating up hippies, I think  it\u2019s pretty close to that right now, but that was before my time. And  he is the cause of much of the current level polarization, but also the  result. It didn&#8217;t\u2019 start with Trump. We\u2019ve been going down this road I  think since the eruption of the Tea Party in the early years of the  Obama Administration. I do hope the tide turns before it gets much worse  because the thing that scares me more than anything is what if that  keeps going the way it has been? &#8220;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> *snagged from a friends wall&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">God Help Us All!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bee Man Dave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greetings and Salutations! Today, in the House, much of the time has been spent by the two parties working on&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/blog\/2019\/12\/12\/sifting-through-the-ashes-part-21\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,9,10,11,23,12,13,16,17],"tags":[584,846,847,203,848,293],"class_list":["post-1676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-humanity","category-nuttiness","category-observations","category-political-rants","category-politics-2","category-questionable-decisions","category-ruminations","category-snake-oil","tag-democrats","tag-el-cheeto","tag-liberals","tag-lies","tag-progressive","tag-republicans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1676"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1683,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1676\/revisions\/1683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}