Trump's America

The place for measured discourse about politics and current events, including developments in science and medicine.
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Sunsilver
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Sunsilver »

This is the only thread I can find that refers to the banning of books. If there's a more recent one, feel free to move my post.

Conservatives have cracked down on the Patmos library re. them having gay-friendly books on the shelves. And now, library hours have been cut due to the librarians receiving threats, and the library is scheduled to be closed due to lack of funding! People are complaining... :roll: As ye sow... :help:

Here's the Twitter link to the librarian sounding off:



Link to the article: https://www.insider.com/michigan-librar ... ks-2022-12
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
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RoseMorninStar
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Re: Trump's America

Post by RoseMorninStar »

Our town went through this (library controversy) in 2009. Our long standing, highly educated library board was removed. It's frustrating. It does not help the community. It bubbles up every once in awhile. These 'warriors' keep chipping away at our public institutions working toward a fascist theocracy.
My heart is forever in the Shire.
N.E. Brigand
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Re: Trump's America

Post by N.E. Brigand »

Túrin Turambar wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:36 pm President Trump's inaugural address

Fairly brief and to the point. A few things I picked up on:
He thanked the Obamas graciously for their help in the transition and drew loud cheers from the audience.
"For too long a small group of people in Washington D.C. have reaped the rewards of government while the people have born the costs...their victories have not been your victories."
"What truly matters is not which party controls government, but whether government is controlled by the people."
The education system flushed with cash but not delivering results (which is a fair call, as the U.S. spends more per capita on education than almost any other country with mixed results).
"We are one nation, their dreams are our dreams, and their success will be our success."
"We defended other nations' borders while refusing to defend our own."
A lot of talk about infrastructure again, mirroring his victory speech.
He will eradicate radical Islamic terrorism (a very big call!).
"When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice."
Going into space to free humanity?
And the crowd-pleasing "make America great again" at the end.
This inaugural address, the "American Carnage" speech, weirdly borrowed from one of Bane's speeches in The Dark Knight Rises (at other points in his presidency, Donald Trump likened himself to Thanos and, as I recall, to the Emperor from Star Wars) and was described by former president George W. Bush to others on the dais that day as "some weird shit." I'm resurrecting this thread briefly because of this new study about a subject that Trump tackled in the speech that immediately became a flashpoint of his presidency, immigration, in light of this news:

N.E. Brigand
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Re: Trump's America

Post by N.E. Brigand »

Linking to this Rolling Stone article here rather than in the "Trump-related cases" thread because it's not a "case" as such:

"Trump’s White House Pharmacy Handed Out Drugs Like Candy: : A Dept. of Defense report found an obscene lack of control over the handling of controlled medications while Trump was in office."

To be sure, we heard during Donald Trump's administration that the White House physician from 2013 to 2018, Ronny Jackson, who then was promoted for a year to the new position of "Chief Medical Advisor to the President" and then in 2020 was elected to Congress representing Texas's 13th district, was already known as "Dr. Feelgood" during Barack Obama's presidency for his liberal distribution of medication. But this report, which was issues more than two weeks ago, covers the period of 2009-2019 with most findings dating to 2017-2019, and says that "all phases of the White House Medical Unit's pharmacy operations had severe and systemic problems due to the unit’s reliance on ineffective internal controls to ensure compliance with pharmacy safety standards."

Specifically, recordkeeping was poor, they bought name-brand when they were supposed to be generic -- for example, spending more than $144,000 on Ambien and Provigil, which could have been purchased generic for just over $2,000 -- and the issued medication to staff ineligible to get it.
N.E. Brigand
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Re: Trump's America

Post by N.E. Brigand »

N.E. Brigand wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2024 11:02 pm Linking to this Rolling Stone article here rather than in the "Trump-related cases" thread because it's not a "case" as such:

"Trump’s White House Pharmacy Handed Out Drugs Like Candy: : A Dept. of Defense report found an obscene lack of control over the handling of controlled medications while Trump was in office."

To be sure, we heard during Donald Trump's administration that the White House physician from 2013 to 2018, Ronny Jackson, who then was promoted for a year to the new position of "Chief Medical Advisor to the President" and then in 2020 was elected to Congress representing Texas's 13th district, was already known as "Dr. Feelgood" during Barack Obama's presidency for his liberal distribution of medication. But this report, which was issues more than two weeks ago, covers the period of 2009-2019 with most findings dating to 2017-2019, and says that "all phases of the White House Medical Unit's pharmacy operations had severe and systemic problems due to the unit’s reliance on ineffective internal controls to ensure compliance with pharmacy safety standards."

Specifically, recordkeeping was poor, they bought name-brand when they were supposed to be generic -- for example, spending more than $144,000 on Ambien and Provigil, which could have been purchased generic for just over $2,000 -- and the issued medication to staff ineligible to get it.
The drugs being improperly dispensed by the White House doctor (including while Donald Trump was president) also included ketamine and fetanyl.
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Sunsilver
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Sunsilver »

:shock: :shock: :shock:
That's horrible! :nono:

I came across an interesting article in the Guardian today as to why people continue to support and plan to vote for Trump. After reading Michael Cohen's book, it jibes very well with what he said about how he came under Trump's influence.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... republican
Trump is king of the extrinsics.
People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. They are strongly motivated by the prospect of individual reward and praise. They are more likely to objectify and exploit other people, to behave rudely and aggressively and to dismiss social and environmental impacts. They have little interest in cooperation or community. People with a strong set of extrinsic values are more likely to suffer from frustration, dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, anger and compulsive behaviour.

Trump exemplifies extrinsic values. From the tower bearing his name in gold letters to his gross overstatements of his wealth; from his endless ranting about “winners” and “losers” to his reported habit of cheating at golf; from his extreme objectification of women, including his own daughter, to his obsession with the size of his hands; from his rejection of public service, human rights and environmental protection to his extreme dissatisfaction and fury, undiminished even when he was president of the United States, Trump, perhaps more than any other public figure in recent history, is a walking, talking monument to extrinsic values.

We are not born with our values. They are shaped by the cues and responses we receive from other people and the prevailing mores of our society. They are also moulded by the political environment we inhabit. If people live under a cruel and grasping political system, they tend to normalise and internalise it, absorbing its dominant claims and translating them into extrinsic values. This, in turn, permits an even crueller and more grasping political system to develop.

If, by contrast, people live in a country in which no one becomes destitute, in which social norms are characterised by kindness, empathy, community and freedom from want and fear, their values are likely to shift towards the intrinsic end. This process is known as policy feedback, or the “values ratchet”. The values ratchet operates at the societal and the individual level: a strong set of extrinsic values often develops as a result of insecurity and unfulfilled needs. These extrinsic values then generate further insecurity and unfulfilled needs.
The writer goes on to say how the consumerism of U.S. society has led to people embracing these values:
For well over a century, the US, more than most nations, has worshipped extrinsic values: the American dream is a dream of acquiring wealth, spending it conspicuously and escaping the constraints of other people’s needs and demands. It is accompanied, in politics and in popular culture, by toxic myths about failure and success: wealth is the goal, regardless of how it is acquired. The ubiquity of advertising, the commercialisation of society and the rise of consumerism, alongside the media’s obsession with fame and fashion, reinforce this story. The marketing of insecurity, especially about physical appearance, and the manufacture of unfulfilled wants, dig holes in our psyches that we might try to fill with money, fame or power. For decades, the dominant cultural themes in the US – and in many other nations – have functioned as an almost perfect incubator of extrinsic values.
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
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Sunsilver
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Re: Trump's America

Post by Sunsilver »

This Doonesbury comic was REMOVED from papers published by Gannett Co. Ltd., which owns over 100 daily newspapers: :x
Garry Trudeau - as relevant now as he was back in Vietnam days...

Putting in spoiler tags due to size...
Hidden text.
Doonesbury comic removed.jpg
Doonesbury comic removed.jpg (332.15 KiB) Viewed 1644 times
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
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RoseMorninStar
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Re: Trump's America

Post by RoseMorninStar »

Spot on. Political cartoons have long been cutting edge/target of politicians & political movements.
My heart is forever in the Shire.
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