Category Archives: American Character

August 15, 2017 · 11:16 am

We can all be duped by demagogues

Soul-searching is something we all should do sometimes.

Long ago, I used to be an inveterate channel-flipper watching cable news and when there was some breaking news event, I would flip between the cable news networks and also ABC, NBC, and CBS.  It was a habit I developed in October of 1983.  I was almost 7 months pregnant with my second child and my husband had deployed to Grenada.  Then there was the news void during the first couple days.  I was anxiously hoping for some news.

From that channel-flipping news habit, I started watching all the TV pundits on TV, even the ones I disagreed with on almost every issue.  Back then I would listen to those with views diametrically opposed to my own and I was open to finding small points with which I agreed.

Over the years and with the advent of the internet, my news consumption changed, as I began to get more and more news online and much less from TV.  I think I did what most Americans do – when it comes to political commentary and opinion, I began to go to mostly websites where the views fit my own political viewpoints.  When I did read opinions from liberal writers, I read it looking for ways to counter their arguments, rather than seriously consider them.

President George W. Bush became akin to Hitler in the liberal punditry echo chamber. The election of President Bush followed not only a contentious election, but also the Clinton impeachment, which left American partisans deeply angry and divided.  Just as the mainstream media worked to feed the Bush Derangement Syndrome, FOX News played an outsized role in the constant stream of anti-Obama reporting.  That is the truth.

I disagreed with President Obama on most political issues and he turned me off early with his condescending comment about rural Pennsylvanians “clinging to their guns and religion” comment.  My childhood roots are in rural PA soil.  I also started watching mostly FOX News, when I turned on TV news, because the CNN and MSNBC Obama lovefest had turned me off quickly.

It didn’t take much for me to believe the worst of President Obama, because the Obama administration started talking about their “narratives”, which were concocted stories of events, often “evolving narratives” they hadn’t completely fabricated yet,  and it reminded me of the Clinton “spin”, which was talking points (lies), they colluded with their friends in the media to spread.  Often, the Obama narratives were quickly exposed as being untruthful, just like the Clinton spin.  These untruths fed the right-wing news and punditry information bubble and provided the base for a constant stream of whataboutism and paranoid distrust of President Obama.  The liberal media and punditry do the same thing and in their bubble of whataboutism and paranoia, conservatives are all haters and might be closet Timothy McVeigh wannabes.

I remember when FOX News brought on Glenn Beck and he was busily pointing out all the dangerous Obama administration connections to other dastardly doings and devious leftist demons, with his ever-widening conspiracy circles on his chalkboard.   Beck was entertaining with his presentation, but as I would try to actually connect the dots from many of his shows, I began to suspect he was a con man and something, besides his extremely bizarre emotional outbursts,  seemed very off to me.  Those circles never really connected.

Beck became too controversial and left FOX news and began his online show.  I subscribed and kept watching, trying to figure out what his real game was.  It was like watching a magician who does really amazing card tricks and trying to find out how.  He had on many guests whom I liked and he spouted enough right-wing views to keep me watching.  I still wasn’t 100% convinced he was a total con man and I still listened to him.

One day, I watched his show, where it finally clicked in my mind that his act is all fake. Long before I came to that conclusion I kept wondering about the commercials he ran on his show – the seed bank/build the bunker stuff, the guns, guns, guns, and the people in these ads seemed like total grifters.

The day it all clicked in my mind that he really is a con artist he had some man promoting a haven of American patriot bliss in Idaho on as his guest.  It was a ponzi scheme and Glenn Beck gave this man a platform to dupe people.  That Beck guest, an obvious con man, was selling an imaginary gated community, The Citadel, using American patriotism as a lure, just like Beck.  His gated community existed only as some online scam, where people could send monthly payments for the “collective” to buy land for the community.   He sold this as a place for American patriots to find like-minded people, united by their belief in patriotism, liberty, pride in American exceptionalism and preparedness.

Beck gave this con artist a platform, an audience and credibility to scam people.

I unsubscribed from his online show, but I still ask myself, why I listened to him for so long, despite the uneasiness I had with so much about him.  The answer, I think, is because he was feeding my fears and distrust of President Obama, but he was also carefully couching everything in Tea Party patriotic rhetoric.  I have always loved reading about the American Revolution, the founding fathers, and long before Beck came along with his Being George Washington, in fact since my early teens, I have been captivated by George Washington.

Many people on the right, myself included, lamented how so many on the Left fell for President Obama’s soaring oratory and we mocked Chris Matthews’ rapturous fawning that he felt a tingle up his leg, when Obama spoke.  We asked ourselves, “Why don’t these people see through his demagoguery?”  Then along came Donald Trump with his rousing rallies, flag-waving, get tough on law enforcement – “Make America Great Again”.

During the 2016 campaign, Glenn Beck was against President Trump and supporting Ted Cruz, but his bizarre, on his knees praying antics, actually hurt Ted Cruz.

I don’t have the answers to the scope of the media efforts to deceive Americans, but American news, across the board, has become a partisan wasteland, where tweeting poorly vetted news stories leads to viral stories spreading, long before anyone has even fact-checked the information.

The aftermath of both political parties choosing completely corrupt candidates, who lie constantly and engage in ruthless, scorched earth information war has left America an easy target for hostile disinformation efforts.  The 2016 campaign wasn’t just about the dangers of Russian influence.  It sure seems to me that the American cable news media and most of the other news media turned into total disinformation operations too.

We have a president who is really jazzed about waging information war against the mainstream media, FOX News spreading Trump disinformation 24/7 and most of America’s other journalists and political pundits hanging out on Twitter retweeting each other’s “hot takes”.  Most of them are liberal, most of them supported Hillary, most of them loathe Trump and most of them are click happy about retweeting any negative Trump story, without thorough fact-checking.   In February, even the Washington Post  fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, retweeted the fake racist Fred Trump campaign ad video, without fact-checking it.

Trying to ascertain facts is harder now than during the news void during Grenada.  In 1983 I trusted the U.S. Army to let me know my husband was okay.  When the news networks started getting news during Grenada – they reported the same things about the events.  Now, there are completely different realities being reported, depending what cable news channel you watch.

With so much disinformation swirling, I know I can’t trust the mainstream media, FOX News, the partisans on both sides and most especially I can’t trust President Trump to tell the truth.

My soul-searching has led me to wonder why I listened to FOX News and many of these “conservative” pundits for so long.  I cringe when I hear these Trump supporters on FOX News selling their “Deep State” conspiracies and character assassinations of honorable men, like Robert Mueller and General McMaster, men who have spent their lives dedicated to serving America.

Demagogues feed our fears and prejudices.  President Obama played to the fears of people who distrust conservatives and believe they are all closet racists.  Beck played to conservatives’ religious and patriotic beliefs, while drawing nefarious Obama conspiracy circles on a chalkboard.  I distrusted President Obama after his “clinging to their guns and religion” remark, so it was easy to feed my fears.  There were also lots of signs of corruption in the Obama administration, lots of mishandled classified information (way beyond just Hillary), lots of information requested by Congressional Oversight Committees that never was turned over.  I suspect there’s a lot of criminal leaking of classified information from former Obama officials going on now.

CNN and MSNBC have been spinning for the Left for decades and their anti-Trump slant is obvious.  I recognized the liberal spin long ago, but I did not recognize the extent of right-wing spin.  What frightens me is how many people watching FOX News completely believe the Trump spin.  They were conditioned since 2015 to alter their belief system and accept that “Trump being Trump” is good, because he’s fighting to “make America great again”.  They were sold that “Trump doesn’t play by the rules” is great too, because  Trump’s fighting to “make America great again”.   Whenever FOX News and Trump supporters have to acknowledge something negative about Trump, it’s always wrapped up in more whataboutism than even Russian propaganda.

Trump mocks the media as “Fake News”, while many in the mainstream media, along with pointing out all the Trump lies, keep churning out highly dubious or grossly misleading information, that Clinton and Obama operatives have leaked to them.

It’s becoming very hard to get to facts, as the pile on continues, because of the speed and amount of disinformation being dumped.  It’s exhausting even trying to keep up with the Trump and media information battles. My fear isn’t just about hostile foreign disinformation efforts, my fear is that this information war between Trump and the media has created a vast, domestic disinformation wasteland.  Discerning facts is harder as the mountain of disinformation (spin) grows and it’s harder to even find the facts buried in the pile of lies.

In Charlottesville, VA on Saturday, a young neo-nazi ran his car into a crowd of people. One young woman died and many others were injured.  Immediately, President Trump tried a whataboutism approach, with his “many sides” comment.  Alt-right and neo-nazis brag that President Trump supports them.  During his campaign,President Trump refused to denounce David Duke, by pretending he didn’t know who David Duke is and what Duke stands for.  His “many sides” comment was a repeat of his David Duke performance.

Whataboutism thrives on binary thinking, where people start believing in the lesser of two evils .  It’s like dealing with children and one child is caught doing something wrong, but he starts pointing out what all the other kids did wrong.  If you start buying into those excuses, you start losing focus about right and wrong.  Whataboutism destroys moral clarity by muddying the water with misdirection and misleading facts.

The 24/7 FOX News and Trump pundits have ramped up Trump damage control, another whataboutism disinformation campaign (the “many sides” evil alt-left and Leftist hate groups), will throw enough misdirection to prop up Trump.  And as a last resort, there will be Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich to remind the right, “at least Trump isn’t Hillary” or “but Gorsuch!”.

The truth is President Trump is a lying demagogue just like Hillary; he even borrowed Hillary’s spin – “it’s all a witch hunt” and the Trump version of the “vast, right-wing conspiracy”  is the omnipresent “Deep State”.

Update in light of President Trump’s press conference this afternoon, where he was using morally relativistic dodges to avoid condemning neo-nazis.   Hillary Clinton used the same lying and demagoguery techniques,  BUT he is the President of the United States and must be held accountable for what he says and does.  He is totally unfit to lead our great nation and a national disgrace.

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Filed under American Character, Corrupt Media Collusion, Culture Wars, General Interest, Politics, Public Corruption, The Media

July 23, 2017 · 12:23 pm

Talking to ordinary people

“My country is the world and my religion is to do good.”  – Thomas Paine

Here’s another quote I had typed on a piece of my “cute” stationery in the 70s, which was in my beat-up quote notebook.  The type is fading on these saved quote loose pages, but then again that old typewriter I used in the 70s was a second-hand, manual one my Pop found somewhere.

I had mentioned that I wanted a typewriter and Pop came home with a used one shortly thereafter.   My Pop always encouraged my interests.  When I came home with stray pets, he let me keep them, when I told him I really wanted a large desk, he found an old wood schoolteacher’s desk.  The top was badly damaged, so he covered the top with a woodtone formica, which I absolutely loved.  I didn’t have to worry about damaging the top when I set a glass of iced tea or cup of hot tea (my two favorite drinks – always) on it.  In 7th or 8th grade, I needed to do a science project and science is not my strong suit.  I decided I wanted to order some liquid that I saw in a science catalog a boy in my class had.  It could preserve snowflakes on glass slides.  My mother helped me order the liquid and sure enough, my Pop came home with a microscope and slides, he found somewhere, probably a flea market.  It worked and I got an A on that “saving snowflakes” project…

After looking through my old quote notebook, I decided to tape the falling apart cover back together the other day, using some dollar store, red duct tape I had in my sewing/craft room.  It might be good for another 40 years:

The quote at the top of this post is from Thomas Paine, one of America’s foremost political theorists, activists, and revolutionaries.  He fought with words. The American Pamphlet Debate, probably set the stage for how big issues in America are fought in the public square, as intellectuals, politicians, and often, unheard of American citizens rise from the rabble, with a voice or message that will not be silenced.  America has always had a very egalitarian view when it comes to the voices that gain prominence and effect enormous influence and change.

I like The Smithsonian magazine, because in every issue there are so many articles that spark my interest.  From the July edition I mentioned the article on the history of maps a few days ago.  There’s a very interesting article on Earl Shaffer, who was the first person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in 1948, that’s definitely worth a read.   Another article in that edition, What Happened to America’s Public Intellectuals?, written by Elizabeth Mitchell, got me thinking, again, about America’s long history with our very open, often loud public debates.

Mitchell lays out the current angst with America’s seeming dismissal of experts, in favor of populist fervor:

“This painful conclusion weighs heavily on public intellectuals, who created the country during the 116 steamy days of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, when Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and crew crafted a new nation entirely out of words. Then they bolstered it with 85 newspaper columns under the pen name Publius, now known as the Federalist Papers, to explain and defend their work.”

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-happened-americas-public-intellectuals-180963668/#yVyIdqRP8zD3WrGS.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
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Understanding America’s long tradition of public debate leading to great political and cultural changes leads me to believe that public intellectual battles, to win American hearts and minds, are ingrained in the American psyche and I don’t believe the soul of America is lost.

Millions of Americans may have fallen for a fast-talking, NYC real estate hustler/con man turned reality TV star, but even with the power of the bully pulpit of the Office of the President of the United States and his just “great” tweet storms, brimming with 140-character rants, he still seems to have a public image problem, if his flagging approval poll numbers are to be believed.  While some of the self-professed “experts” on politics and national security fuss and fume daily, via their own tweet storms, about how people aren’t listening to them, perhaps many of them have the same problem as Trump – overblown egos and constant braggadocio repel many people.

America’s Pamphlet Debate began more than a decade before the Revolutionary War.  I mentioned the 2-volume Library of America set, The American Revolution: Writings from the Pamphlet Debate 1764-1776, in a previous blog post.  The set was edited by Gordon S, Wood and it includes many of the most influential pamphlets in the Pamphlet Debate, which really defined both American political beliefs and principles and later, the very framework of The Constitution. Volume 2, which covers 1773-1776, includes this explanation on Thomas Paine’s writing approach:

“Paine was determined to reach a wide readership, especially among the middling sorts in the tavern and artisan centered worlds of the cities, and to do more than explain and persuade; he wanted to express feelings — even revulsions and visions — that the traditional conventions of writing tended to disparage.  He refused to decorate his work with Latin quotations and scholarly references; instead , he relied on his readers knowing only the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.  He used simple, direct — some critics said coarse, even barnyard– imagery that could be understood by the unlearned.  He wrote for ordinary people and forever changed the rules of rhetoric.”

p.647,  The American Revolution: Writings from the Pamphlet Debate 1773-1776, edited by Gordon S. Wood, published by The Library of America, copyright 2015

President Trump may have lowered the bar with his effort to reach the common man, resorting to ruthless, modern mass media information warfare tactics (GOP insurgency, indeed), but Americans, even “the worst deplorables”, are not beyond having their hearts won over to American principles, defending The Constitution and above all treating other people respectfully.   Even with FOX news serving as a powerful Trump propaganda platform, America is not becoming Trumpistan.

The real crisis for America’s current intellectual class, is not Trump, but that many Americans are sick of puffed up pontificating pundits, parading a pile of degrees from posh pillars of academia, posing and primping before the cameras  — talking down to them.  Trump, while certainly no Thomas Paine (or Mussolini, for that matter), has learned the fine art of the con man, he identifies his mark and speaks directly to him.  That is why Trump relates to ordinary people – he knows he’s got to get them and keep them buying into him.  He talks to them.

The media faces the same problem as many of the pundits, especially given how many times, in recent months, the media spun themselves into a tizzy with a new, devastating revelation about Trump, which within 24-48 hours fell apart, as the facts in these stories turned out not to be facts at all.  The constant media and punditry Trump hysteria is destroying their credibility way more than anything Trump can do.

I agree with Mitchell’s view on America’s present crisis of spirit.  She writes:

“If we look back at our history, public intellectuals always emerged when the country was sharply divided: during the Civil War, the Vietnam War, the fights for civil rights and women’s rights. This moment of deep ideological division will likely see the return, right when we need them, of the thinkers and talkers who can bridge the emotional divide. But this time they will likely be holding online forums and stirring up podcasts.”
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-happened-americas-public-intellectuals-180963668/#yVyIdqRP8zD3WrGS.99

One of the things I love about YouTube videos is that I can find so many crafting and sewing tutorials.   I can watch several videos on how to make something and get different approaches about how to make it.  I don’t have to buy an entire book or magazine for directions for one project.   Often, I end up using bits and pieces of instructions and advice from several videos.  Many of these videos are made by ordinary people and completely amateur.  Yet, some of these amateur videos are carefully edited and produced with the dedication of professional videographers.  Some have tens of thousands of subscribers.

Most of America’s intellectuals and experts on politics and public policy talk to each other, not to ordinary Americans.  And while castigating Trump’s use of Twitter, many of America’s intellectuals lazily lecture and throw temper tantrums about Trump, daily, on Twitter, and of course, boringly brag about all their “expertise”.

Love him or hate him, Trump talks to ordinary people.

Note: Here is a podcast that is a Library of Law and Liberty conversation with Gordon S. Wood, discussing the American .Pamphlet Debate

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Filed under American Character, American History, Culture Wars, General Interest, Politics, The Media, Worthwhile Quotations

June 14, 2017 · 4:32 pm

Time for a truce in the civil war of words

The political atmosphere in America continues to descend into deeper partisan divides and the media’s frenetic spinning the news keeps perpetuating confusion and keeping America’s politics in a state of constant chaos.

Believing the worst of political opponents and those who hold differing views is the new normal.  Extreme partisans feverishly work to launch vicious smear campaigns to destroy the character of political opponents, without any concern for the veracity of their scurrilous attacks in this endless scorched earth information war.  With American partisans so entrenched in this self-destructive, by-any-means necessary, war of words, the Russians don’t have to do much to “influence” or work to destroy our democratic institutions.  Our own partisans are burning them down rapidly, while Putin sits back and laughs at “America developing political schizophrenia”.

Here are two reading recommendations

David French’s piece: To Defend Trump, The GOP Is Becoming a Party Bill Clinton Would Love

The other is a book, Stopping Words That Hurt, Positive Words In a World Gone Negative, by Dr. Michael Sedler.  I read this book a couple years ago and last night I started reading it again.   I have it in kindle format, but it’s available in paperback at amazon now.  While the book is written from a Christian perspective, the lessons really are universal and just plain old common decency.  He explains why, what biblically is referred to as “evil reporting”, lying, gossiping, spreading negative stories about others, is only half of the issue.  He explains why listening to “evil reporting” is very destructive and he offers many positive personal strategies to “stopping words that hurt”.  I need to work a lot harder on this.

In a country where the media and politicians are consumed by their scorched earth war of words, to win the news cycle, I think all of us need to start demanding a truce in this “cold civil war”.

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Filed under American Character, Civility, Culture Wars, Food for Thought, General Interest, Politics

June 11, 2017 · 12:49 pm

Will Republicans act like Democrats now?

“No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character” 

– John, Viscount Morley

Character counts most, especially in leaders.

I started collecting memorable quotes in my early teens.  The above quote is one of my favorite quotes, because it goes to the heart of human character.  Along with collecting quotes, watching people and trying to figure out what makes them tick (how they operate) is another life-long hobby, of sorts.  Often, even as a child, I would point out something someone said or did that made me distrust that person.  My mother had a very trusting nature and wanted to believe in the best in people.  I, on the other hand, prefer to assess what people say and do, to get to the heart of their character.

President Donald J. Trump is not a hapless, naive victim and the darkening clouds around his presidency aren’t just angry #Resist partisans out to do him in.  The darkening clouds are caused by how Trump operates.

Even if Comey is a disgruntled former employee, a grandstander, acted totally inappropriately in leaking his memos or going along with Lynch on using Clinton talking points language and his July 5, 2016 public statement exonerating Hillary Clinton, that still leaves us with Trump asking Comey to publicly clear his name several times and having 9 private conversations with Comey – all of them about the Russian influence matter.

There are Republicans and Trump supporters hitting the media with a barrage about this being a partisan “witch-hunt”, which it most assuredly is, but it’s also just like with the Clintons, that Trump acted in ways that give every appearance of being very corrupt.  Democrats have been willing to sacrifice every shred of honor to go out and spin and do damage control for the Clintons for decades.  It now appears that many Republicans are willing to do the same thing for President Trump and partisan political purposes.

The Republican Party allowed its party to be hijacked by Trump and his strong-armed, tough-talking thugs, turning this election into some “do or die” civil war, where Trump was the “GOP Insurgent”, who was America’s last hope.  How low Republicans and conservatives will sink to prop up Trump remains to be seen.

All along, I have refused to support Trump, because I believe he is just like the Clintons – amoral and thoroughly corrupt.  I noted early in his presidency how corrupt it was for the president to personally be making business deals using the Office of the President as leverage.  He not only made deals, he publicly disparaged some companies, using the Office of the President to damage private businesses.  Back during the primary, in August of 2015, I wrote:

“The first Republican debate ended with no clear winner emerging.   Sure, there were plenty of gotcha questions,  but Donald Trump didn’t answer any questions in detail, except the one explaining his support for Democrats in the past.  His followers will latch onto his bombastic, red meat, xenophobic rhetoric,  missing that Trump personifies exactly what these supporters hate about Washington.   He eloquently described buying politicians and peddling influence.   He represents the worst part of big money greasing palms in DC.  I would have asked him why he wanted Hillary Clinton at his wedding, since he said his big donations compelled her to attend.

Nothing Trump said demonstrated he studied the issues and did some research prior to this debate.   His performance reminded me of Sarah Palin,  who reveled in throwing out the same sort of red meat rhetoric, devoid of  any substantive details.   If he doesn’t bother to read up on and research the complex issues facing America for this debate, one can only wonder how he would handle them as President. It speaks to a narcissism that echoes the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, another “I am the greatest” ego.”

https://libertybellediaries.com/2015/08/07/trump-the-influence-peddler-in-chief/

Shortly after this LB blog post, in August 2015, there was the Trump/Kelly debate dust-up:

“Last week I bought one of Trump’s books, as I mentioned before, and I read it.  Assuredly, Trump offered many interesting insights into, as the book’s title stated, “TRUMP: How to Get Rich”.  The pride he takes in his children comes across and he offers some worthwhile advice on investing and negotiating, but trying to get to the character of who exactly is Donald Trump, well, he’s a man who has chapters in his book like “Be Strategically Dramatic”, “Sometimes You Still Have To Screw Them”, and “Sometimes You Have To Hold a Grudge”, replete with examples from his life and his guiding principles. Here are some quotes (page 138):

“When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can.  Like it says in the Bible, an eye for an eye.”

Be paranoid.  I know this observation doesn’t make any of us sound very good, but let’s face the fact that it’s possible that even your best friend wants to steal your spouse and your money.”

The chapter on holding a grudge is even more interesting, because Trump relates how for years he had donated huge amounts of money to NY governor, Mario Cuomo and when he called Cuomo to ask for a favor from Cuomo’s son, Andrew, who was running the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Mario Cuomo refused to do the favor (which Trump doesn’t explain in detail other than to say it was an appropriate favor involving attention to a detail). Trump blew up and for any who are confused with Trump’s vendetta against Megyn Kelly on Twitter, calling her a bimbo last night or his refusing to entertain a question by Jorge Ramos from Univision this evening, well, this chapter on holding a grudge (page 142) explains it.  Trump called in a political favor believing it was owed to him, because he donated a lot of money to Mario Cuomo  (crony capitalism is what most people call this greasing of palms).  Here is how Trump describes the phone call:

“I did the only thing that felt right to me.  I began screaming.  “You son of a bitch!  For years I’ve helped you and never asked for a thing, and when I finally need something, and a totally proper thing at that, you aren’t there for me.  You’re no good.  You’re one of the most disloyal people I’ve known and as far as I’m concerned, you can go to hell.”

My screaming was so loud that two or three people came in from adjoining offices and asked who I was screaming at.  I told them it was Mario Cuomo., a total stiff, a lousy governor, and a disloyal former friend.  Now whenever I see Mario at dinner, I refuse to acknowledge him, talk to him, or even look at him.”

When you hear Trump whining about being treated unfairly, here’s what I believe he means: If you agree with him, fawn over him and puff up his ego, that’s treating him fairly.  If you disagree or criticize him, I believe, he will wage an all out campaign to destroy you.  So, I keep wondering how his character will play in the long, arduous rough and tumble of presidential politics, where being ripped apart by opposition research, pundits and reporters only escalates as the campaign wears on”

https://libertybellediaries.com/2015/08/25/trumps-his-own-bimbo-eruption/

The most disturbing aspects of Trump’s retaliation against Kelly were his supporters running hit pieces about her, digging up her Howard Stern interview to cast her as a “slut” and he called Roger Ailes to try and get her booted as a debate moderator. Trump encouraged his followers not to watch FOX News. Later, Trump refused to show up for a FOX debate, set-up a vet fundraiser, to try and upstage the debate and then months later, controversy arose with how the funds raised in that vet fundraiser were handled.

Kelly was a private citizen and it worried me how Trump would use the power of the presidency, when he was willing to use his power as a celebrity and leading GOP presidential candidate to try to harm not only her job, but to rally his followers to attack her.

Preet Bharara, a former federal prosecutor, may be friends with Chuck Schumer, may be angry Trump fired him, but this morning he stated that President Trump called him 3 times in one month, 2 times before inauguration and 1 time after inauguration.  Bharara said he refused to take the third call, when Trump was president and reported the contacts to the chief of staff to the Attorney General.  These phone calls left an electronic trail and that Bharara reported these calls to the chief of staff to the Attorney General can be corroborated. Do I believe Bharara?  Absolutely.  Bharara felt like President Trump was trying to cultivate a relationship. The interesting thing to find out is if Trump called other federal prosecutors around the country, where he didn’t have “personal business interests”.

Bharara is well-known for his fight against public corruption.

Trump is known for bragging about buying politicians.

Yesterday, some of the most ardent Trump pundits were out in full-force trying to smear Robert Mueller too and this scorched earth character assassination is the same thing the Clintons and Democrats have engaged in to bury Clinton scandals.  It is corrupt, immoral and extremely damaging to the country, because it corrupts American culture.

Whether Republicans are willing to give Mueller the Starr treatment remains to be seen.

Will Republicans make propping up President Donald J. Trump, the “GOP Insurgent” and extremely corrupt crony capitalist, the hill they die on?

 

 

 

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Filed under American Character, General Interest, Public Corruption

June 7, 2017 · 10:14 am

“Assault” on our institutions

Former DNI, James Clapper, a liar under oath, was on TV lamenting about the “assault” on our institutions with the Russian trying to interfere in our election and Trump’s attacks on the intelligence community.

The media is stuck on moral preening about the “dangers” Trump poses to our republic daily, but here’s the one truth the media and Dems completely ignore:

The Dems colluded with the mainstream media to the tune of millions of dollars in free media to aid and abet Trump’s  “GOP Insurgency”. Without their CORRUPT collusion, it is very unlikely Trump could have gained traction and been taken seriously as a presidential candidate.  The media SOLD Trump to the American people as a viable candidate and they also sat on negative Trump stories until Trump’s GOP insurgency had succeeded.

The Russians ability to engage in cyber attacks is a direct result of the Obama administration (of which Clapper played a vital role) failure to act aggressively against escalating Russian cyber attacks and influence operations.

All the moral preening, from those who were a part of the Obama intelligence failures and corrupt Dem mass media spin operations (EVERY Democrat in Congress included) is deflection.

The GOP failed to defend its own party from a “GOP insurgency” waged by a loudmouth, Reality TV host.

And the American people have no respect of “our institutions” or they would not have settled for two completely corrupt candidates.

Our institutions were under assault long before Trump, otherwise a scorched earth information war between two extremely corrupt candidates, like Trump and Hillary, would not have been tolerated by the American people.

The Russians took advantage of  the weaknesses in “our institutions”.  Clapper should be held to account for his large role in the security failures, but the political class, the media and most of all the American people will have to wake-up and face their culpability too.

Blaming the Russians for attacking our institutions won’t save America.

Only a united America can do that.

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Filed under American Character, Corrupt Media Collusion, General Interest, Politics, Public Corruption

June 6, 2017 · 8:40 am

D-Day Remembered

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Filed under American Character, American History, General Interest, Military

May 29, 2017 · 8:39 am

The cost of freedom

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Filed under American Character, Food for Thought, General Interest

May 3, 2017 · 10:35 pm

Dutiful women and needlework

NormaFrableMy mother, as a young nurse.

The post I wrote about basics,  practice and self-discipline brought to mind many things.  First, I’d like to explain that Rose Wilder Lane was a self-made woman.  She was the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder and it was through Lane’s very successful journalism career, that the Little House books were published.  Rose Wilder Lane grew up in poverty, where her parents moved several times as their farms failed.  Lane taught herself several languages and journalism.  She became one of the highest paid journalists in the 1920s and was also a successful editor and novelist.

When Rose Wilder Lane was younger she dabbled in supporting Communist ideology, which was common among journalists and the American left when the Russian revolution was thought to be the advent of great freedom for the Russian people.  Lane later rejected Communism and became a prominent figure in the American libertarian movement.  Regardless of your political views, Rose Wilder Lane is one of the most fascinating women of the 20th century – a truly remarkable woman.   Her needlework book I mentioned is a very interesting read.  Woman’s Day commissioned her to write their Book of American Needlework, because not only was Lane a famous journalist, novelist and historical writer, she was an expert needlewoman.  Her book, The Discovery of Freedom, is another truly amazing read too, no matter where you fall on the political scale.  The Mises Institute offers it free: Here.

I love counted cross-stitch and various types of decorative needlework.  Thinking about needlework basics made me think of my mother.  My parents had 7 children and my older brother died in infancy several years before I was born in 1960.  My father did road construction and my mother was a registered nurse, who always worked.

My mother grew up in poverty too.

My mother kept our house immaculate and was a superb cook and baker.  We had a garden and my mother canned a lot of vegetables in the summer.

In previous posts, I mentioned that my mother was very good at fixing things and she was good at electrical wiring too.  My mother loved crewel embroidery and she did lovely beadwork on satin for several ringbearer pillows that she did for people. However, I only recall a few crewel pieces that my mother did, because although my mother loved decorative needlework, she had six kids and she dedicated many hours to and was an expert at mending our clothes.  She also was an expert at stain-removal and laundry.  Every piece of clothes she washed was folded neatly and put away.  She ironed a lot of stuff, then taught us how to iron.  I loved doing laundry, especially hanging the clothes outside on the line and I loved ironing as a kid.

I took time to myself and did decorative needlework, despite having four kids and being a stay-at-home Mom.  I also hate mending clothes and did very little of it.  When my mother would come visit, she would gather up all my kids’ clothes that needed mending and patiently sit and repair it.  The reason I am not good at “finishes”, turning finished cross-stitch pieces into decorative pillows and wallhangings, etc., is finishes require other stitching and I never took the time to learn practical stitches, unless I felt like it.  So, I now need practice at simple stuff, like ladder-stitch, because when I was younger I would have just whip-stitched small stuff closed.  I was only interested in decorative stitches.

My mother also assigned chores that my brothers and sisters and I had to do.  When I had children, my mother constantly told me that I needed to make my kids help clean and do more around the house.  I was very lenient with them on chores or even cleaning their rooms.  I also am not as disciplined as my mother was in running a well-ordered home.

My mother was the hardest working woman I have ever known.  We would tell her to get more rest, because often she would work the 3pm to 11 pm shift at the hospital and then come home and spend most of the night doing housework.  Without fail, she would be up early in the morning and work in the house until it was time to go to the hospital at 3pm.  One of her favorite sayings was, “I’ll have plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead.”

My mother wore an old red sweater in the winter time to shovel snow or carry the ash buckets outside from the cellar. Our house had a coal furnace that required manual labor to shovel coal into it and my mother shoveled a lot of coal to keep our house warm in the winter and to heat hot water year-round.  She mended that red sweater over and over through the years.

When my mother passed away, my sisters in PA, took her old red sweater to the funeral home and had it placed in the corner of her casket.  My mother never bought a lot of clothes, but she kept everything she owned in pristine condition. Whenever I sit and do needlework, I think about my mother’s old red sweater and now that I am getting older, I think about how I didn’t even take the time to mend my kids’ clothes, because I hate mending clothes.

Mending clothes reflects a virtue – it is a belief that you should not be wasteful and that you should take care of your clothing and keep it serviceable for as long as possible.  We became a disposable culture and it shows in how we do everything, not just in regards to how we care for our clothing.  We became an “I” culture, fixated on self-indulgence above all else.  This buying more and more “stuff”, without even using most of the “stuff” we already have is another symptom of this wasteful culture.  It is corrupting the moral fiber of the American people.  We are the most wasteful and self-indulgent people on earth.

Most of the needlework I have done has been for gifts,  although there are a few pieces I’ve kept for myself.  I’m trying to learn to finish small pieces, so I can give nicer gifts to my friends and family.

Someday, I hope that I might develop as selfless and good character as my mother, who put other people before herself, at home and at work, always, but I doubt that I can be as dutiful to caring for others as my mother was.

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May 1, 2017 · 3:00 pm

When everyone gets a gold star

” In the days when all properly brought up little American girls stitched their samplers, as all little boys did their chores, they wrote verses in each other’s Autograph Albums to record the eternal friendships of first days in school.  Their careful Spencerian penmanship is faded now on the brittle pages where you read two verses often repeated, the first usually signed by Abner or Joseph, the second by Eliza or Phoebe:

When Duty whispers low, “Thou must,”

The youth replies, “I can.”

And

Straight is the line of Duty,

Curved is the line of Beauty.”

p. 52, chapter on Cross-Stitch, Woman’s Day Book of American Needlework, by Rose Wilder Lane, published in 1961

The oft repeated line for little boys comes from an 1863  Ralph Waldo Emerson poem titled Voluntaries.  Sage Stossel, in a piece in The Atlantic explains that the poem, “paid tribute to those prepared to sacrifice all for the sake of the Union. The final four lines of the stanza below are among Emerson’s most famous, and have been inscribed on veterans’ memorials around the country.”  That “Duty” the above verses speak to is a concept America’s founding fathers embraced and which J. Rufus Fears, the late historian and professor of Classics at the University of Oklahoma, described simply as:

“Civic virtue: The willingness of the individual to subordinate himself to the good of the community.”

In previous posts I’ve expounded on the demise of civic virtue in America and how it all begins in American families and communities, where the seeds of civic virtue must be planted and nurtured.   We have child-rearing experts, from child psychologists to educational professionals to celebrity experts and yet in bygone eras, most people, with few resources, managed to train and educate their children to be citizens of good character.

For a needlework book, Rose Wilder Lane, managed to explain a great deal of American history, along with the history of American needlework.  In the chapter on Cross-stitch, Lane offered photos of several American samplers, which young girls stitched to both learn how to stitch and as a future reference for various stitches.

Many of the samplers contain the girl’s name, age, and the year the sampler was stitched.   Some of the most beautiful samplers were stitched by girls  as young as 9 or 10 years old.  These girls designed their own samplers and diligently stitched them as Lane describes:

“Dutiful those little girls were required to be, silently repressing their rebellion while they did their daily “stint” of stitching that must be done before they would be allowed to play.  And the beauty of their work is in its four-square character, strictly faithful to the straight line  Yet, it is a gentle beauty, for in the beholder’s eye the straight line becomes a curve of vines and flowers, of woodland bird and rabbit and deer and of the darling dog and the long-tailed mouser on the hearthrug

So those grim hours of duty unexpectedly produced the deep joy of work well-done, a triumph earned by difficult self-discipline.”

p. 52, chapter on Cross-Stitch, Woman’s Day Book of American Needlework, by Rose Wilder Lane, published in 1961

Lane also describes a sampler completed by a girl, aged 14 and points out how that girl lacked self-discipline and should have been ashamed to produce such shoddy workmanship at her age.  Lane dissects how the girl began her sampler using harder stitches and patterns, which she abandoned for simpler stitches and poorly drawn motifs.  Lane attributes this to indulgent parenting and that the results show that girl was not required to do her “stint” of stitching daily.

The thing that Lane is referring to is the character-building beliefs and attitudes that created people like our founding fathers.

These beliefs dominated until progressive attitudes in the late 1800s gained a foothold and throughout the 1900s this new belief system trampled civic virtue.  The age of “I” took hold, where at every turn the belief, that above all else, “how you feel matters most”.   The suggestion, that there is value in self-discipline, self-restraint or self-sacrifice, in anything, will be met with anger and hostility.  You will be quickly cast as mean and a hater.

American academia is filled with nostrums to fix the social and political ills, that experts and pundits galore all agree are destroying America.  Most fixate on political panaceas rather than address the cultural attitudes and mores that produce our corrupt political morass.  It’s politically incorrect to point out the failures in parenting, the failures of individual citizens to learn civic values and live them, and the failures of the American spirit.  And into this self-indulgent culture, those who suggest “standards”  or behaviors that bolster the values, upon which civic virtue is built, will be attacked immediately as mean-spirited fascists.

In our schools, kids today are taught to care more about their own feelings than about learning to read, think, or acquire knowledge.  In the early 90s, our oldest daughter was in elementary school.  She wrote an essay and received a 100 as her grade on this pathetic effort.  I asked her teacher how on earth this essay deserved a 100 and the teacher acted like I had grown horns.  She lectured me about how important it is to encourage “creativity” and how I didn’t understand how fragile children’s emotions are, etc. etc.   For the record, children are completely self-centered and need to be taught how to care about other people.

The problem with my daughter’s essay was she used no capitalization and no punctuation and she sure isn’t ee cummings.  In addition her spelling was appalling, so it was almost impossible to make sense out of what she had written.  I knew my daughter could spell, write and use punctuation much better than her lazy effort.  When we got home, I told my daughter that despite what her teacher said, trying to do your best matters and that I knew she could write much better than that effort.

When everyone gets a gold star, a gold star means nothing.

I worked in Walmart almost 15 years, holding several positions, including being the department manager in fabrics and crafts a number of years.  Working in Walmart is like a social laboratory of American social pathologies, especially the fixation on “stuff”.   Speaking as a hoarder of craft and sewing supplies, I diagnosed my own bad behaviors years ago and am still working on gaining more discipline about my craft and needlework shopping habits.  The buying-too-much-stuff problem is a common behavior among way too many needleworkers, hobbyists, computer gamers, sportsmen, outdoorsmen and in every recreational pursuit.  Each pastime comes with a lot of “stuff” that we want.

Often, when talking to customers who were new to craft and sewing supplies, I would discuss what they were working on or wanted to work on and direct them to the supplies we carried.  I also would often direct them to websites or books where they could learn more about the basics of that particular craft or needlework.  There’s a mindset in America that has taken over quilting and needlework, that if you buy the “right” stuff (expensive frames, gadgets, fabric), you will be able to create beautiful work.  The entire building blocks, of learning the basics first and taking the time to practice those basics skills, are lost in the mindless pursuit of buying more and more “stuff”.

This same attitude prevails in the attention-seeking Reality TV culture and social media culture, where even thousands of cross-stitchers have their own floss tube channels, where they talk about their cross-stitch and offer support and encouragement to each other (mostly to promote mindless acquisition of more “stuff” and starting lots of projects).  Although, in the mix there are plenty of amazingly talented needlewomen out there.  For the record, I am just a competent cross-stitcher, who works hard to keep my stitches neat on the front and back of my work.  I have the build of a PA Dutch farm woman, as befitting my heritage, and I have large hands and wear a ladies size 11 shoe. Mine are not the dainty fingers of a needleworker.

Whenever I learn a new type of needlework, I try to learn the basics first and practice a lot.  My mother taught me simple rules about embroidery and I still follow them.  These rules are in the instructions in almost every cross-stitch kit and book too.  They aren’t my mother’s rules, but the time-tested standards for embroidery, of which cross-stitch is a popular type of embroidery.

Anywhere in social media, I run into issues stating facts or an opinion that offends someone or evokes anger, so it was no surprise to me that on floss tube, I would offend someone.  The prevailing attitude is it’s taboo to say anything is wrong, apparently, even when what people are promoting is not only wrong, it’s a recipe for disaster for new stitchers.  Some stitchers started a facebook group called “Stitch Maynia”, which began as some event in May, where they focus on starting a new cross-stitch project every day in May.  Their focus is all about starting new projects, not about finishing what they start. They believe they are promoting cross-stitching and doing something good.

There’s now also a common attitude among many stitchers that it doesn’t matter how the back of their work looks, it’s all about that stitching makes them happy.  If you don’t care that your work is sloppy and a messy back on needlework is sloppiness (that’s a FACT), fine, but once you have a facebook group and a floss tube channel, with thousands of followers, well, you can become a corrupting influence very quickly.  This happens with Reality TV stars constantly too.

I tried to point out to a fairly new cross-stitcher that from years of experience with needlework and crafting, that starting too many projects leads to lots of unfinished projects and also added stress.  To keep track of this madness, there are floss tubers waxing on about all their “WIPs” (works-in- progress) and the spreadsheets, stitch journals and stitching schedules, they are using to keep track of it all.  Into this chaos, they insist they love stitching and starting so many things makes them”happy”.  For a new stitcher, this approach assures lots of wasted money, lots of unfinished projects and lots of poor needlework.

There is no foundation, of focused practice and good stitching habits, upon which excellent stitching is built.

One of the ladies who promotes sloppy needlework at Stitch Maynia quickly tried to tell me I was wrong and that it’s all about being happy stitching and that the back doesn’t matter.  She also told me she has 20 years experience at cross-stitch.  I didn’t even bother to respond, because it’s lost on her.  She has no idea how sad it is to smugly state she’s proud of doing sloppy needlework for 20 years. Sadder still is most of these needlewomen, caught up in this “feel-good” ethos will follow her advice and believe I am mean for stating that standards in needlework (just like everything else we take pride in) matter.  She proudly told me Stitch Maynia has 9,000 followers.

People of good character, not government programs, build a society based upon civic virtue.

Good work habits matter.  

Practice matters.

Lazy, sloppy habits and work should not be cheered on or promoted, in tasks, whether small or large.

Learning self-discipline is the key to building good character.

It really is that simple.

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Filed under American Character, Culture Wars, General Interest, Things That Matter

April 24, 2017 · 4:14 pm

Standards of excellence… or not

wp-1493051949855.jpg

Do standards matter and are they worth teaching and preserving?

A month or so ago, I stitched this small American-themed design to add to my “I love America” room, which is the foyer by my front door.  That space is approximately 4 feet X 10 feet.  I get lots of ideas for this small area, as I mentioned in a previous post: here.  The foyer had vinyl flooring when we bought this house in 1994 and although there was a chair rail trim, about halfway up around the walls, above and below the chair rail were an off-white color.   It took me a few years to find the wallpaper I wanted, which has an English hunting vibe.  Above the chair rail is the animal print and below the chair rail is a coordinating striped-print.  My husband hung the wallpaper, but then I decided I wanted hardwood flooring in the foyer.   However, after shopping around and asking a lot of questions, I decided I wanted a vinyl flooring that was cut into “planks”, like hardwood floors.  The easy maintenance and durability, with having 4 kids and dogs in the house, sold me on the vinyl option.  These vinyl look-alike planks were about the same price as going with hardwood flooring.  My husband laid these vinyl planks, but in typical LB style, I had looked at hardwood floor designs and decided that I wanted them laid in a herringbone pattern.  So, I showed my husband some pictures from a book and he drew it all out on paper with measurements, then installed my herringbone floor.

About 10 years ago, we replaced flooring and carpet in our home and my husband really wanted tile flooring in the kitchen, bathrooms and foyer.  I opted for a high-quality vinyl “tile” floor for in my kitchen, because it’s not as hard to stand on cooking and it’s not as cold as tile on concrete-slab homes here in coastal GA.  He got his real tiles in the foyer and bathrooms.  We had someone install the tiles, because my husband wasn’t in good health, by that point.  I missed my herringbone pattern on the floor, but these big tiles are nice too.

My beloved wallpaper should be removed, but I am hanging onto it as long as I can.  The above craft project isn’t anything great, but I am satisfied with it.   Instead of just framing that little piece, I opted for trying a finishing using a paint canvas.  The fabric is a print I love, which I had sewn into a travel-size pillowcase years ago.  I used a travel-size pillow on my lap for propping my Q-snap frames or embroidery hoops, when I do needlework.  Lucy, my stray-dog rescue, loves to chew holes in the corners of throw cushions and even furniture cushions.

This is partly another “happy hoarding” story, as after she chewed the corners off my travel-size pillowcase and pillow, I washed that damaged pillowcase and kept it with my patriotic fabric.  Last night, I cut up the pillowcase and used one side of it to cover this paint canvas, then I added some rickrack trim and the cross-stitch.  I am keeping the rest of that pillowcase too, because I can use it for the backs on some small patriotic-themed cross-stitch pillows.  I decided to add the pins, which were a set of 6 pins I bought at a yard sale years ago.  The hanging ribbon, was just ribbon that I twisted up to look like cording.  There are obvious imperfections, but overall I am satisfied with it.   It’s a small piece that I can stitch up again, easily and finish it differently or I can take this apart and finish it differently, if later I decide it needs improvement.

The “imperfections” are really what this blog post is about, despite it taking over 500 words for me to get to the point. The lack of concern with doing things “right”, maintaining “standards” and the pervasive willingness to heap praise on mediocre work is as destructive to the moral fiber of our society as all the more obvious cultural revolutions in the past century.  This attitude, that how you feel about your work matters more than the quality of your workmanship, permeates even into needlework.

The 2016 election, with two venal, lying, corrupt candidates, both running vile scorched earth propaganda campaigns left me wondering how on earth, these two disgusting candidates could be the candidates the two major political parties put forth.   More Americans, who voted in the primaries, opted for these two candidates and that speaks volumes about the state of our republic.

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I started watching embroidery videos on YouTube, then discovered “floss tube”, where cross-stitchers post videos about their work.  I wrote:

  “The usual floss tube video seems to be about an hour, divided into sections of show and tell about finished projects, works-in-progress (WIPs), and “Haul” (more cross-stitch junk purchased).  Then there are a few floss tube contributors, like the expert needlewoman , Mary Rose, named after Mary, Queen of Scots, who present much shorter, highly educational and deeply thoughtful videos that deal with much larger life lessons.”

My craft project last night was a technique, covering a paint canvas with fabric, which I saw on a floss tube video by Silvia.  Silvia, who posts under the name beckisland, is a sweet, German lady who stitches small cross-stitch pieces and finishes them in creative ways.  Silvia is very dedicated to doing the best work she can and often she will dissect an older piece she finished and discuss what she isn’t happy about with her work and how she would do it differently now.

She’s focused on excellence.

Since floss tube is an informal community, people from around the world post their videos, which offers an unfiltered look at the good, the bad and ugly (and not just about cross-stitch).

Last year, I mentioned another YouTube video by  Dr. Saul Cornell, the Paul and Diane Guenther Chair, American History, Fordham University.  His video explains the concept of civic virtue.  At minute 26:56 Dr. Cornell discusses how after the American Revolution women in America started including elements of American civic values into their needlework samplers:

Listening to people is a lifelong hobby of mine too, so watching these videos, I detected that many of the same attitudes and beliefs that are corroding our social fiber, have had an effect on needlework too.

There are stitchers posting videos in which they declare that they don’t care if the back of their needlework is a knotted up mess.   There are plenty of stitchers who make comments that the back of their work isn’t neat and they are embarrassed about it, because they know it’s not up to accepted standards.  These younger stitchers, who boldly proclaim those standards don’t matter offer an assortment of rationales… like “my friends love my work and I love my work, so who cares” or “the back of your work only matters if you’re entering your work in needlework competitions” or “no one sees the back, so who cares”.

Keeping the back of your needlework as neat as the front is a standard of excellence in needlework, because the neatness on the back assures the stitches on the front will remain snug and keep their shape.  Neatness on the back also assures there are no unsightly lumps on the front from tangled and knotted threads on the back.

I’m trying to use up scraps of Aida cross-stitch fabric, that I’ve had since the 90s, for small projects.  I stitched this little piece on an old Aida scrap yesterday.  My back is pretty neat, but I need to improve on neatness with my backstitching, where the lettering is.  The creases in the fabric are where it was folded in a box for years and then wrinkles from my hoop.  With washing and pressing, I will get all of those out.  I try to trim loose threads as I stitch, because loose threads are like pythons lying in wait, ready to wrap around other threads and they create tangled nightmares.

This post ran way longer than intended, so in another post, I want to discuss how this disregard for standards of excellence hits you in the face at every turn… even on needlework videos.

It is destroying the American character.

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