Monday, September 10, 2018

An Ode To America

We rarely get a chance to see another country's editorial about the USA
Read this excerpt from a Romanian Newspaper. The article was written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title 'C'ntarea Americii, meaning 'Ode ToAmerica ') in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentulzilei 'The Daily Event' or 'News of the Day'.
~An Ode to America ~
Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs.
On 9/ll, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the Army, or the Secret Service that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby to gape about.
Instead the Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.
After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a government official or the president was passing. On every occasion, they started singing: 'God Bless America !'
I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have killed other hundreds or thousands of people.
How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put into collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money can buy. What on earth unites the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their history? Their economic Power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace, I thought things over, I reached but only one conclusion... Only freedom can work such miracles.
Cornel Nistorescu
(This deserves to be passed around the Internet forever.) It took a person on the outside - looking in - to see what we take for granted !
GOD BLESS AMERICA !!!

113 comments:

  1. _____ A Wry Memorial _____

    The Swarthy Ones took over;
    And made weapons of four planes.
    The riders had no cover;
    They suffered dreadful pains

    That ended once their deathtraps
    Burst into roaring fires
    Turning instantly to mere scraps––
    Cinders––made of former flyers.

    The burning towers crumpled,
    And fell into the street.
    New York was more than rumpled;
    Briefly, it knew defeat.

    The nation drew together;
    We felt collective grief.
    Anger broke its tether;
    To express it gave relief.

    But just a few years hence
    We're at each other's throats;
    We've built ourselves a fence
    Over which the Devil gloats.

    We've failed to give the orders
    To build a proper wall
    Sealing off our borders
    To the fiends who’d have us fall.

    Instead, we've made division––
    Went to war against ourselves––
    And are mired in derision
    Sparked by partisan elves,

    Who forget this blessed land
    In pursuit of powers lost
    In close elections manned
    By fraud. So, tempest-tossed

    The country is in turmoil.
    The enemy's our own.
    He says it's all for Big Oil,
    And he would usurp the Throne.

    The heap of twisted rubble
    Raising toxic fumes for weeks
    No longer gives us trouble
    Because of media leaks

    Designed to throw us off the scent
    Of whom we need to blame
    And encourage ruinous dissent
    That hopes to break the frame

    That holds us all together
    And preserves our liberty,
    So many now doubt whether
    We really should be free.

    And each rabble rousing louse
    Should 'neath these words be pinned:
    "He who troubleth his own house
    Shall inherit–––the wind"


    ... FreeThinke

    ReplyDelete
  2. The bush administration saw the goodwill that swept the land as their opportunity to deceive the American people into going back into Iraq. Still, not only is the war criminal george w bush a free man, but has seen his image rehabilitated. Due in no small part to the fact that the current occupant of the White House is an even worse potus! A traitor, an egomaniac, an admitted sexual assaulter, a racist, a White Nationalist, a bigot, etc. Although we should never forget that bush was WARNED that OBL was planning something, but decided to ignore the warnings and ALLOW the terrorists to attack. Never forget that gwb founded ISIS! (no, it was Obama, as the idiot-in-chief has claimed. It was gwb).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Obama didn't "found" it, he almost certainly was an honorary "plank owner". :)

      Delete
    2. The only problem with your analysis is that the defacto "Islamic State's" capital was in Syria, NOT Iraq. Ooooops! Thanks, Hillary!

      Capture the capital... win the war.

      Delete
    3. Berniebot's on 'shrooms again! He says ISIS originated in Iraq. It must be true because the Berniebot says it's true. Berniebot must have special powers from the magic 'shrooms to change Syria into Iraq.

      Delete
    4. ISIS = The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

      Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Wikipedia entry excerpt)... The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham [and] the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)... ISIL originated as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, which pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and participated in the Iraqi insurgency following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by Western forces at the behest of the United States.

      Delete
  3. ....as Dervy attempts to rewrite history....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what happens when Berniebot consumes magic 'shrooms and plays rusty trombones with his mutts.

      Delete
  4. ___________ Be Prepared __________

    Between each stud too widely –– sparsely –– placed
    An empty –– yawning –– unclad gap allowed
    Drenching rains and dampness like a cloud
    Advantages the place should not have faced.
    Seepage in the rafters caused wood rot ––
    Possibly a beacon drawing vermin
    Homing towards destruction like a German
    Avidly conqu’ring someone else’s plot.
    Letting Nature take her course brings grief.
    The end, however, need not strip you bare.
    Rotted rafters may inspire relief
    Of urges to rescue, build, and maybe share.
    One needs funds and boundless self-belief
    For real success in taking on a dare.


    ... FreeThinke

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey Franco don’t you know better than to LOUSE up Lisa’s blog by writing all those stupid things over and over again?
    You are acting like the DUMBASS LIBERALS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What liberal unleashes such a real s***storm of doggerel?

      Delete
    2. You do, Quackobyrd, with the Berniebot and Nursie Poo Poo.

      Delete
  6. __________ Elation for Days __________

    Speak quietly. It helps to soothe the nerves.
    Yelling –– any harshness –– is abrasive ––
    An agitating force no one deserves
    Denying peace, obnoxious and invasive.
    Refresh the soul with calm, sweet introspection.
    Opening the mind clears out the dross.
    Find serenity under prayer’s direction.
    Needs depart, as does the pain of loss,
    Only when we lift our thoughts to Heaven.
    Images of all that’s bright and clean
    Transcend gloom and sagging spirits leaven,
    As on the rock of Truth we safely lean.
    Leave resentment, fear, distrust behind;
    Endure with patience, and sweet peace you’ll find.


    ... FreeThinke

    ReplyDelete
  7. _______ A Constant Bitch ________

    A mask for self indulgence, piety
    Contains a plausible ingredient. An
    Overbearing aura of propriety
    Negates what to it’s not obedient, and
    So a self-sealed system’s put in place
    To exclude everything that won’t conform,
    Adore, pay homage to a cell-like place
    No loving person would have as a norm.
    The rationale for doing what one chooses
    Brings isolation, tedium and grief.
    Indulging Self exclusively soon loses
    Touch with a sound basis for belief.
    Cast aspersions, scorn, express contempt.
    Hell still yawns. Zealots are not exempt.


    .. FreeThinke

    ReplyDelete
  8. ___________ Harbingers of Doom ___________

    Mountainous lumpy females draped in black ––
    Threatening thick black locks massed, hanging loose ––
    Faces ghastly pale, mouths drooping, slack ––
    Thick black horn-rimmed spectacles adduce
    Morbidity, while dressed in red and navy
    Silver-headed granddads watch the pair,
    Who look like they’ve been weaned on greasy gravy ––
    Thick white flesh eclipsed by savage hair.
    How could such sad, ungainly creatures spring
    From decent-looking, comely elder folk?
    What craftily demonic, beastly thing
    Could make of these sad females a cruel joke?
    Indulged, unchallenged children don’t mature.
    Instead, they vegetate, rot, become manure.


    ... FreeThinke

    ReplyDelete
  9. __________ I Hail Thee, Obama __________

    In speechless wonderment I sit and grieve ––
    Hopeless, now deprived of further gain ––
    And left without much in which to believe.
    I still feel good, however, ‘neath the pain.
    Living with far less might take me back ––
    To a leaner, harder, better time ––
    Hope, Ambition, there took up the slack ––
    Exciting prospects beckoned past the Grime.
    Enjoyment costs so little when we’re poor
    Once accepted, limitations move
    Beyond the barriers of the Secure
    And liberate the mind and soul to prove
    Money might pay one to lick my boot,
    And yet for Love it is no substitute.


    ... FreeThinke

    ReplyDelete
  10. ___ I Love the Irony that You Employ ___

    I love the irony that you employ
    
In rhymes appearing simple, clean and true.

    The treatment balks trite comments that annoy
    
And makes prosaic writers feel quite blue.

    

I hope that you will ever persevere
I
    n making banal sentiments less trite

    Encouraging your readers to revere

    Thoughts uplifting, noble, clear and bright.



    In making reference to Sandra Fluke

    The homely, would-be harlot with agenda

    You've focused on an issue with great pluck

    Should the public support habits that engender



    Out of wedlock births and STD's

    Flaunting mental, moral, physical disease?


    ... FreeThinle






    ReplyDelete
  11. _ IDIOCY REIGNS SUPREME _

    (Or What’s So Especially Bad
    About Chemical Weapons?)

    Apparently, it’s AOK
    To mow ‘em down with bullets,
    But don’t dare try to kill ‘em off
    By poisoning their pullets.

    It’s all right too when bombs
    Rain from aloft or on the level,
    But when you kill with poison gas,
    You’re in league with the Devil.

    Lock ‘em in a building,
    Then burn it to the ground.
    By judges at The Hague
    You’ll not be guilty found.

    Go drag them from their cells
    Into a courtyard to be shot.
    The World Court will not chide you,
    Nor tell you “Thou shalt not.”

    Take mothers, babies, toddlers ––
    Grandmas –– anyone who thrives,
    Then hack them with machetes
    And bayonets to end their lives.

    Rape and loot and strangle,
    Garrote or stab at will ––
    Of you The World Community,
    I promise, won’t think ill.

    Set ‘em loose in wood or field,
    Then hunt ‘em down like game;
    Let half-dead bodies lie unhealed.
    You won’t lose your good name.

    Rob and cripple, maim at will ––
    Dislocate their joints.
    Multiculturalists will know
    You must have your good points.

    Gouge their eyes out, slit each tongue.
    Sodomize, impale their young.
    Club ‘em down, then crush with tractors.
    Brussels won’t call you bad actors.

    BUT, urinate upon the corpse
    Who tortured your best buddy,
    And you’ll be tossed in the stockade
    With nose broken and bloody.

    And should you dare to wipe yourself
    With leaves from the the Koran,
    ‘Tis YOU The World Community
    Will call BARBARIAN!


    ~ FreeThinke

    ReplyDelete
  12. _________ Is It Worth Dying? _________

    Is there anything worth dying for, I ask?
    Show me why I should give up my life.
    I feel this Gift from God is like a cask
    That too soon emptied functions like a wife

    Who pledges love, then treats it like a task,
    Or welches on an honorable bet ––
    Reneging, shameless, insolent to bask
    Truculent –– a Booby Trap to Let.

    How ironic to be born just to regret
    Duty’s dreary dictates spelling Doom ––
    Years of preparation to beget
    Impossible demands shrouded in gloom.

    No innocence should be required to cede
    Great future hopes to selfish monsters’ greed.


    ... FreeThinke

    ReplyDelete
  13. ___________ Impatience ___________

    How much time passes idly who knows?
    One wonders if productive hours compressed
    Would leave most Men of Conscience distressed ––
    Indignant and embarrassed at what grows

    Hampered by dull duty and inertia ––
    And ever-present impulses to waste
    Time pursuing vices they’ve embraced ––
    Expeditions feral west of Persia?

    Taken by surprise we often find
    Our time is drawing swiftly to a close.
    Well past our prime we learn we have been blind.
    Awareness comes just when we want to doze.
    In the frantic rush to rip away the rind
    The fruit is bruised; its beauty never shows.


    ... FreeThinke

    ReplyDelete
  14. KIPLING'S LITTLE MAN

    ________~ or ~ _________

    . Bolshevism Revisited .

    A Leftist caught in doubt
    Lifts up his head to shout:

    Your treatment is unfair,
    You bully! How you dare
    To question my veracity
    With cruel, hard-eyed tenacity
    I do not know. My views
    Which boldly you accuse
    Of being falsely ranked
    In truth are sacrosanct.

    My thoughts are Holy Writ.
    Your thoughts are quite unfit;
    Based on selfish fears
    They inspire tears
    And dare to say the blame
    Lies squarely in the frame
    Of those whose failing lives
    Look to him who thrives
    And say: Your gold is mine,
    You greedy, bloated swine.
    You have more than you need.
    It's up to you to feed
    Me, the ill and weak,
    Else Heaven that you seek
    Will ever be denied.

    And I will see your hide
    Shredded, tanned and dried.
    And hung outside the gates
    Of each neighborhood that hates
    The needy and the poor,
    Who soon will storm your door
    And drag you from your bed
    And then lop off your head.
    While the masses you denied
    Will ever take great pride
    Your ignominious demise
    Was effected in the guise
    Of condign righteous wrath
    Giving Bourgeois digs a bath.

    With stolen food and goods
    We'll raze your neighborhoods
    And laugh to see you hurt
    Dying in the dirt.
    WE DO NOT CARE TO RISE:
    We live for your demise.
    We thrive on righteous hate.
    It is by now too late
    To make a plan to stop us
    End the Founder's opus.
    Our Marx destroyed your God.
    He's in - not on - the sod
    Feeding nematodes
    In their dark abodes.

    With mockery and shrill
    Sarcastic gibes we kill.
    We drool with sheer delight
    At the thought of endless night.
    Where everything that's witty,
    Charming, gracious, pretty
    Slumps to the nitty gritty,
    As we revel in the dung
    Corrupting all your young.

    For 'we are the little folk, we
    Too little to love or to hate.
    Leave us alone, and you'll see
    How quickly we'll drag down the state.'*


    ~ FreeThinke
    –––––––––––––––––
    * Rudyard Kipling

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. More doggerel from FreeThinke(LMAO)™'s favorite white supremacist.

      It isn't as bad as FreeThinke's crap but it's pretty lame.

      Delete
  15. Replies
    1. It is certain though that unhinged cons (Franco is one) are much mote unstable and irrational than the biggest wingnut progressive that constantly eats shrooms.

      Delete
  16. IMO 9/11 is a date when we should remember, in addition to the thousands who lost their lives, that it was because a Republican president betrayed his country that the attacks happened. bush may as well been partners in crime with Osama bin Laden. As I recall, the traitor president went on the longest vacation ever waiting for the attacks to occur. He knew they were coming and didn't want to be in the White House because he was aware that it was a possible target. He figured he could start a war with Iraq (even though Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11) by feeding the American people BS about "mushroom clouds". And get reelected to a second term. Which he was, thanks to his buddy Osama.

    Ronald Reagan, another traitorous Republican president, colluded with the hostage takers to hold our people until after the election. They call it his "October Surprise". Now another traitorous president occupies the White House. This one, an active Russian asset, colluded with Russia to destroy America from within. The takeaway here is that Republicans hate America and are actively trying to destroy it. They'd prefer we were a plutocracy. This goal is one they've been working hard to achieve ever since Ronald Reagan. This next election they may very well achieve their goal. Which is why Democrats MUST turn out and vote. If not Putin wins. We will become more like Russia, where sham elections are held and the president is reelected with 76.7 percent of the vote.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dervish, you're REALLY stretching on this. What you are asking rational folks to believe here is, IMO, not much more than a EXTREME progressive conspiracy theory. Don't become an Alex Jones of the left.

      Delete
    2. I'm pretty sure that's what happened, RN. Of course I can't be 100 percent certain. BTW, your old buddy Willis Hart thinks 9/11 was an inside job and that the world trade center was a controlled demolition, which I think is nonsense. bush knew an attack was coming (and allowed it to happen) but he didn't know exactly what form the attack would take. Although I think that he could have guessed the world trade center would be a target (as it had been in the past). Remember that even Osama was surprised that the towers were brought down and he knew what the plan was.

      As for Reagan's October Surprise, there are several books on the subject that confirm that Reagan arranged for the hostages to be held until after he was sworn in. October Surprise by Garry Sick and Trick or Treason by Robert Parry are two.

      BTW, I didn't mention Nixon previously, but he is another treasonous Republican president. As per the 6/20/2017 LA Times article Some October surprise conspiracies turn out to be true "Richard Nixon passed messages to the South Vietnamese president, Nguyen Van Thieu, telling him to stall on the peace talks. Nixon always denied the allegation. But we now know from the private diary of H.R. Haldeman, Nixon's chief of staff, recently discovered by the presidential historian John Farrell, that Nixon was lying".

      Delete
    3. Of course, when Bill Clinton "went after Osama Bin Laden" with an air attack by tomahawk missile in 1998, he missed.

      3 years later, Osama decided to "return the favor" and attack the USA directly. I wonder what gave him the idea...

      Delete
    4. Operation Infinite Reach was the first time the United States acknowledged a preemptive strike against a violent non-state actor.

      ...it almost sounds like a declaration of war, don't it?

      Delete
    5. Following the strikes, Osama bin Laden's spokesman announced that "The battle has not started yet. Our answer will be deeds, not words."[8] Zawahiri made a phone call to reporter Rahimullah Yusufzai, stating that "We survived the attack ... we aren't afraid of bombardment, threats, and acts of aggression ... we are ready for more sacrifices. The war has only just begun; the Americans should now await the answer."[169] Al-Qaeda attempted to recruit chemists to develop a more addictive type of heroin for export to the U.S. and Western Europe, but was unsuccessful.[170] A September 1998 intelligence report was titled "UBL Plans for Reprisals Against U.S. Targets, Possibly in U.S.,"[171] while the August 6, 2001, President's Daily Brief stated that after Operation Infinite Reach, "Bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington."[172]

      Afterwards, U.S. considered, but did not execute, more cruise missile strikes;[173] from 1999 to 2001, ships and submarines in the North Arabian Sea were prepared to conduct further attacks against bin Laden if his location could be ascertained.[174] The U.S. considered firing more cruise missiles against bin Laden in Kandahar in December 1998 and May 1999; at an Emirati hunting camp in Helmand in February 1999; and in Ghazni in July 1999, but the strikes were called off due to various factors, including questionable intelligence and the potential for collateral damage.[175] Similarly, CIA-employed Afghans planned six times to attack bin Laden's convoy but did not, citing fears of civilian casualties, tight security, or that the al-Qaeda chief took a different route.[176] Thus, Operation Infinite Reach was the only U.S. operation directed against bin Laden before the September 11 attacks.


      ...and the only attack on Washington, directly (Pentagon).

      Delete
    6. Right. The time they missed. That is what I was talking about. And who knows, if not Clinton had not been distracted with a bogus impeachment, they probably would have kept trying and got him. And 9/11 never would have happened.

      As for your bullshit about Obama being a gay drug addict... a drug addict who graduated from an ivy league school and a gay man who married a woman and fathered 2 children. Right.

      Delete
    7. The miss that convinced Osama to plan the 9/11 attack.

      If Clinton hadn't been "distracted" by Impeachment, I'm sure there would have been new "interns" to distract him... #metoowjc

      Delete
    8. Was that the bush "strategy"? Attack us as much as you want and we will do nothing, so long as none of your attacks take place inside the us??

      Delete
    9. I don't know Dervy. Firing missiles at foreign nationals you disapprove of is generally frowned upon no matter what nationality you are.

      Delete
    10. At least the Mosad will send a human agent to kill you who will minimize collateral damage.

      Delete
    11. It is written "Do not cast your pearls to swine for they will trample over them."

      Delete
    12. Isn't it ... before swine mystere?

      Delete
    13. I'll have to check back, but you know the spirit of what's been said.

      Delete
  17. OMG, I didn't know all these Republican presidents were traitorous. Damn Dervy, thanks for bringing that to our attention.
    Has there ever been a dem president who was traitorous? You know it's been said FDR had prior knowledge of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, FDR Did Not Know The Japanese Were Going To Bomb Pearl Harbor. (excerpt) "It's ridiculous", says Rob Citino, a senior researcher at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. ... No, says Roosevelt biographer Jean Edward Smith. "He was totally caught off guard by it", Smith says. "The record is clear. There was no evidence of the Japanese moving toward Pearl Harbor that was picked up in Washington".

      Delete
    2. Whew, thanks Dervy, I was worried there may have been a traitorous dem.

      Delete
  18. Terrorists WERE emboldened to attack us on 9/11? Because, during Bill Clinton’s eight years in office, they had waged an unimpeded offensive against the United States. On Clinton’s watch, terrorists launched a string of escalating attacks, each one bolder than the last: the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993; the attack on Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia three years later; the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is why the Clinton administration came up with a plan to take the fight to al Qaeda. As per Richard Clarke, the outgoing Clinton administration warned the incoming bush administration about OBL. But the bush administration ignored the warnings and threw the Clinton plan in the trash. Instead they came up with their own plan, which was to do nothing.

      Delete
    2. What the writer of that shallow article fails to note, Lisa, is that the unity was very short lived as the populace split over The Dauphin's rush to invade Iraq and commit one f the worst foreign policy blunders in American history.

      The fringe right screwed up big time.

      Delete
    3. oh so how long did Clinton know about it? Bush got the memo on Aug 6 2001 . People would have been livid if they had to take off their shoes and get pat downs at airports. Look how they were against the Patriot Act even after the fact.

      Delete
    4. I don't know what 8/6/2011 memo you refer to. The Clinton administration went after bin Laden and the Republicans said it was "wag the dog" to distract from Monica Lewinsky. And, like I said, the outgoing Clinton administration warned the incoming bush administration. Which decided al Queda was nothing to be concerned about. Cutting taxes on the rich was their top priority. As it always is for Republicans.

      Delete
    5. Clinton went after bin Laden? Why, did the CIA still owe him money for radicalizing the Bosnians in former Yugoslavia?

      Delete
    6. Yes. As you know because you bring it up in your comment above.

      Delete
    7. Clinton sure was a cheap b*stard, trying to kill a guy who he only owed a few bucks to.

      Delete
  19. Dervy,you've proved GWB was a war criminal. Why haven't you taken this public? Americans should be aware of you findings,have you notified any elected officials of this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The information is already public. That is where I got it from.

      Delete
    2. Are you sure you didn't get it from James Comey?

      Why do I get the feeling that all this Dervy dirt and "public information" came from the Steele Dossier???

      Delete
    3. Christopher Steele's dossier on Trump contains info regarding bush and 9/11? Not as far as I know. And why the hell would it?

      Delete
    4. I don't know. You're the one who wrote that absurd comment.

      Delete
    5. ...and you're the one who get's his "public information" from The National Enquirer (aka Huffington Post).

      Delete
    6. Dervy's magic 'shrooms are giving him acid trips.

      Delete
    7. You sound like a shroom expert mystere. Personal experience?

      Delete
    8. The National Enquirer isn't also known as the Huffington Post. The National Enquirer is otherwise known as the rag that supported tRump. By buying the rights to anti-tRump stories, then burying them. And by running pro-Trump stories and anti-Hillary stories (that were mainly comprised of lies). Hopefully Pecker will spill the beans on tRump now. So many former associates are turning on him. I wonder why? Must be because of the "Russia hoax", huh Minus?

      I have never used mushrooms, btw. I would like to try them. But so far I haven't. I would have no idea where to find them.

      Delete
  20. News flash... tRump overall approval rating @ 36%. It keeps getting better and better all the time.

    Keep tweeting Herr tRump. Keep tweeting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 69% of Americans say the economy is good. Yet tRump has only a 36% approval standing.

      O t is heartening to see that Americans understand there are very important values that rise above the almighty dollar and irrational selfishness.

      Things are starting to shape up positively for the blue team.

      Delete
    2. they also said Hillary was going to win. Funny how according to Obama he inherited a horrible economy and was only able to fix it 18 months after he left office .

      Delete
    3. Hillary did win. Also, the economic recovery began under Obama. There was more growth under Obama than under Trump. And Trump is currently wrecking what Obama fixed. The economy looks good because Trump gave a huge (unpaid for) tax cut to the wealthy and corporations. It won't be pretty when the Trump bubble bursts. Just as it wasn't when the bush bubble burst. How many times do Republican administrations need to set up a bubble followed by a recession before people catch on?

      Delete
    4. ________ How Do I Love Thee? _______

      How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
      I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
      My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
      For the ends of being and ideal grace.

      I love thee to the level of every day's
      Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
      I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
      I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

      I love thee with the passion put to use
      In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
      I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
      With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

      Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
      I shall but love thee better after death.


      ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

      The could be no doubt whatsoever that I could love thee MUCH better after death –– YOUR death that is, of course.

      ];^}>

      Delete
    5. Thee = yourself, an egomaniacal narcissist. BTW, you (if you haven't croaked first) will never know that I've died. If I stop commenting here that might mean I'm dead or it might not. You will never know.

      BTW, if I ever read an online obituary that says a man who went by "Franco Aragosta" and "FreeThinke" online has died? I will smile and feel joy. Not for myself, but for your family. That is a day I suspect they will celebrate.

      Delete
  21. Oooo...thanks for that most interesting information Leslie...now go polish your trumpet

    ReplyDelete
  22. You're welcome.

    Now, go polish your trombone and then stick it where the sun never shines.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh Leslie, just think you'll be able to watch Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh protect the constitution for the rest of your life...what a great way to enjoy your golden years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Court-packing, Democrats' nuclear option for the Supreme Court. Excerpt from a 7/10/2018 Vox article by Dylan Matthews.

      There is nothing in the Constitution mandating that the Supreme Court have nine members, and a simple act of Congress could increase that number to 11, or 15, or even more. ... if that kind of judicial conservatism comes to dominate the Supreme Court, then even winning back the White House and Congress won't be enough for programs like a $15 minimum wage, or Medicare-for-all, or a free college plan, to be passed and secured. The Supreme Court would stand ready to rule them unconstitutional nearly as soon as they are passed. In such a scenario, court-packing starts to look like a reasonable defensive measure. ...

      David Faris, a political scientist at Roosevelt University, whose book "It's Time To Fight Dirty" argues... "Because of this unspoken agreement between the two parties, both sides regarded Supreme Court openings as what they are — lotteries to be won by lucky presidents, or lost by those unfortunate enough not to preside over an opening. The GOP's treatment of Merrick Garland means that this informal agreement is trashed".

      Delete
    2. Indeed. The GOP, playing dirty (not considering an eminently qualified Garland) to gain political advantage through packing the court could be considered tyranny of the minority. Which is after all exactly what the cons want.

      Delete
    3. Better hope RBG doesn't kick the bucket

      Delete
    4. You Rusty Trombone boy may be in your "golden years". I on the other hand haven't time to worry about such BS as I'm too damn busy, AND, I plan to remain so for quite some time.

      Delete
    5. You must still be playing "catchers"

      Delete
    6. Perhaps you are Rusty Trombone boy. I on the other hand have other interests these days.

      Delete
    7. Like sodomizing other men with trombones, RN? You did say put that rusty trombone where the sun never shines.

      Delete
    8. Nope.

      Are you fantasizing about anal penetration with Rusty trombones mystere? Given your many perverse posts I suspect so,

      Feel free to contact Rusty the Trombone Shackelford to provide your sought after service.

      Delete
    9. Mystere is a big fan of sodomy. He and his husband practice it frequently. But even that is not enough sodomy for Mystere. According to what he wrote on his blog, he believes that sex with a male dog is the "pleasure of a lifetime".

      And I don't know how everyone could NOT have noticed that, ever since I mentioned the "rusty trombone", Mystere has been talking about it non-stop. I have little doubt that he has since given his husband a "rusty trombone" many many times. Rikishi should send me a thank you gift.

      Delete
    10. ____ WARRIOR CLOWNS ____



      The crowds stopped roaring
      
And vacated the arena long ago.

      The spectacle had reached the point

      Where it no longer titillated,

      No longer shocked, depressed,

      Annoyed or inspired

      Even the faintest semblance

      Of empathy, interest or concern.

      

Evening shadows lengthen

      Darkening the tarmac;

      The sky purples, then blackens;

      There is no moon tonight.

      She has taken refuge ––

      Along with the stars ––
      
Behind a thick blanket 

      Of lowering thunderclouds.



      And still
The weary gladiators fight on ––
      
Unaware that the sweet Release ––

      The blessed Relief ––

      The Peace
 ––

      The JOY ––

      Of DEATH


      Can never overtake
      
Warrior-clowns

      Thrusting in futility

      In the vast emptiness

      Of Cyberspace.


      Their Agony shall be

      Eternal.


      ~ FreeThinke

      Delete
  24. Meditation on a Tragic Anniversary

    A radiant cloudless morning
    ___ air fresh and clear
    ______ sky the brightest blue
    _________ mood mellow
    A lovely young day bright with promise ––

    And then a gleaming silver shell appeared
    ___ mirroring beautifully the morning sunshine
    A Thing of Beauty –– but horribly out of place
    ___ like a spacecraft from an alien planet

    Dipping crazily far too low upon the skyline
    ___ before anyone could feel the menace ––
    ______ it smashed directly into a gigantic upright construct ––
    _________ one of a pair ––

    Twin monuments to Greed and Vain Ambition
    ___ some were quick to say

    But sudden violent death eradicated
    ___ an entire investment firm
    ______ in one horrific instant ––
    _________dozens of bright young lives
    incinerated –– gone!

    Before dazed onlookers could begin to understand
    ___ what was happening
    ______ another silver shell acting as a missile
    _________ crashed into the second of the giant pair.

    Ugly buildings! A hideous blot
    ___ on the once-graceful Manhattan skyline.

    “Ada Louise Huxtable might secretly rejoice at this,”
    ___ part of me thought wickedly, for I had always resented
    ______ the overbearing, outsized twins ––
    ____________ Bounders! Interlopers ! Invaders!

    But before that ruined day was halfway through
    ___ three-thousand innocents had been
    ______ burned alive, brains and eyeballs boiled
    _________ skulls pulverized, skeletons crushed
    between twisting, white hot girders
    ___ pelted with falling rubble midst the flames
    ______ caught, crippled, crumpled, smashed to bits ––
    Smothered in collapsing stairwells and buried alive
    ______in a torrent of red hot cinders and debris

    In so many ways the scene must have
    ___ mimicked the final hours of the residents
    ______ of Pompeii and Herculaneum

    And then there were those hideous echoes
    ___ of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire ––
    Where so many jumped to their deaths
    ___ to escape being burned alive ––
    In an instant smashed skulls, broken bones and bloody pulp
    ___ were all that remained of their vibrant young lives.

    And not so long ago in Benghazi –– to mark the anniversary
    ___ of this Great Triumph of Barbarity over Civilization
    ______ our young, handsome, well-meaning,
    _________ hopelessly naive, ambassador to Libya
    was surrounded in his quarters,
    ___ dragged out into the streets
    ______ beaten, sodomized and brutally murdered.

    But what does any of this matter?
    ___ What difference does it make?
    Let’s just forget about it, and MOVE ON.
    ___ Might as well.

    We are privileged to live in interesting times.

    Kyrie eleison!
    Kyrie eleison!
    Christe eleison!


    ~ FreeThinke





    ReplyDelete
  25. _ Recessional (1897) _

    God of our fathers, known of old,   
    ___ Lord of our far-flung battle-line,   
    Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
    ___ Dominion over palm and pine—
    Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,   
    Lest we forget—lest we forget!

    The tumult and the shouting dies;
    ___ The Captains and the Kings depart:   
    Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
    ___ An humble and a contrite heart.
    Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,   
    Lest we forget—lest we forget!

    Far-called, our navies melt away;
    ___ On dune and headland sinks the fire:   
    Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
    ___ Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!   
    Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,   
    Lest we forget—lest we forget!

    If, drunk with sight of power, we loose   
    ___  Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,   
    Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
    ___ Or lesser breeds without the Law—
    Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
    Lest we forget—lest we forget!

    For heathen heart that puts her trust   
    ___ In reeking tube and iron shard,
    All valiant dust that builds on dust,
    ___ And guarding, calls not Thee to guard,   
    For frantic boast and foolish word—
    Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!


    ~ Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Images of 9/11: A Visual Remembrance

    Breitbart, by Staff

    11, 2001, in real time. Videos, photos, and audio captured the horror wreaked that day by Islamic jihadists and the heroism of ordinary Americans. In our effort to never forget, Breitbart News provides you a visual remembrance of that fateful day when the world changed.

    ReplyDelete
  27. FOR the VICTIMS of (911, –– THEIR LOVED ONES, –– FAMILIES, –– FRIENDS, __ for our NATION, __ and for the WORLD:

    Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen,
    Fallet sanft und selig zu!
    Welt, ich bleibe nicht mehr hier,
    Hab ich doch kein Teil an dir,
    Das der Seele könnte taugen.
    Hier muss ich das Elend bauen,
    Aber dort, dort werd ich schauen
    Süßen Friede, stille Ruh.



    Slumber, my weary eyes,
    Fall softly and close in contentment.
     O World, I will linger here no more.
    For indeed, I find nothing in you
    Pleasing to my soul.
     
    Here I am resigned to misery,
    But there, there I shall feel
    Sweet peace and quiet rest.


    ~ J.S. Bach - aria from the cantata Ich habe genug

    ReplyDelete
  28. im sorry to say that we might never see that kind of unity again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If the Martians, the Venusians or the Neptunians attack. .. };^)>

      Delete
    2. RF, you're probably right. Repubs, especially tRump, gets the lions share of responsibility for this.

      Sad...

      Delete
  29. Why These 9/11 Monsters Still Haven’t Faced Trial

    New York Post,

    by Max Jaeger

    They say the wheels of justice turn slowly — but now they’ve ground to a virtual halt. Seventeen years after they helped murder 2,977 innocents in the worst terrorist attack on US soil, five 9/11 suspects — including self-avowed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — have not faced trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for all five men and have attempted for years to try the case, but a constantly shifting venue, questions over coerced evidence and the limitations of holding trials at Guantanamo Bay have slowed the case to a crawl. Victims’ families say the legal limbo puts them through hell.

    Comments:
    America is going through hell waiting. I would have thought at the very least that these animals would have been tried secretly at GITMO, found guilty and then executed. That seventeen years have passed and no trials is criminal enough to our Uniform Code of Military Justice. These non-combatants, or whatever title should have met swift justice ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That, Dervish, is IRRELEVANT to the 911 terrorist attack on our soil. Argue all you want that our attack on Iraq was a mistake (it was), that it was largely responsible for the eventuality of ISIS (it was), and that GWB was finishing what his father failed to finish (for good reasons), but the heinous 911 attack by those 17 terrorists should have been answered with SWIFT and Deadly justice. Franco IS correct on this.

      Delete
    2. Even if gwb purposefully ignored the warnings that an attack was coming, RN? That is "irrelevant" to the attacks that bush allowed them to occur? BTW, the "justice" being swift was how we got into 2 illegal wars. Congress gave bush powers he shouldn't have had. It was also how we got the AWFUL "patriot" act. I'm wishing the justice would have been a little slower.

      KSM would have been tried and found guilty a LONG time ago if the Republicans would have allowed his trial to be held in civilian court.

      Delete
    3. Franco is WRONG. What should have tipped you off is... Franco said it.

      Delete
    4. I don't share your views on this. Never have. Likely never will.

      Until I see ironclad proof that GWB knew and ignored its just a sort of conspiracy theory IMO.

      Anyway, the terrorists ought to have been termuinated LONG ago.

      Delete
  30. ´We remember the moment when America foughtback!´ Trump commemorates heroes of Flight 93 and pledges to fight ´radical Islamic terrorism´as U.S. marks 9/11 with somber tributes,*

    Daily Mail (UK) & Wires

    by David Martosko

    President Donald Trump commemorated the victims of Flight 93 on Tuesday in Pennsylvania, praising the heroes who stopped a hijacked plane from reaching Washington, D.C. seventeen years ago. A quartet of plots in 2001 shook America´s collective sense of national security and signaled the global beginning of a new normal. They ´took their own fate, and America´s fate, into their own hands´ by storming the cockpit and forcing a group of jihadis to crash into a field instead of turning the U.S. Capitol building into a domed inferno. ´America will never forget what your loved ones did for all of ...

    ReplyDelete
  31. POSTED as a MEMORIAL TRIBUTE to the VICTIMS of ALL the ISLAMIC MASSACRES and THE LOVED ONES THEY LEFT BEHIND


    After great pain
    A formal feeling comes
    The nerves sit ceremonious –– like tombs.

    The stiff hear questions
    Was it He that bore ––
    And yesterday –– or centuries before?

    The feet mechanical go round ––
    A wooden way
    Of ground or air or ought.

    Regardless grown ––
    A quartz contentment lie a stone.

    This is the hour of lead.
    Remembered –– if outlived ––
    As freezing persons recollect the snow.

    First chill ––
    Then stupor ––
    Then –– the letting go.


    ~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

    ReplyDelete
  32. Students Told to Stop Chanting “USA!
    USA!” At High School Football Game
    Honoring 9/11 Because It’s ‘Racist’


    Gateway Pundit,

    by Christina Laila

    Students at a southern California high school were told to stop chanting “USA! USA!” at a special patriotic football game honoring 9/11 because it’s offensive and racist. Students at Aliso Niguel High School in Orange County, California were told to stop chanting “USA! USA!” in Friday night’s football home game wherein students wore red, white, and blue to honor Patriot’s Day (September 11th). The Gateway Pundit obtained an email sent to parents addressing this ‘controversy.’ In the first part of the email, Ms. Deni Christensen, the Principal of Aliso Niguel High School said two ‘offensive’ signs referencing Obama and Trump were ...

    ReplyDelete
  33. Replies
    1. And WE gratefully accept
      ___ your revealing self-ID
      With boundless, unrestrained
      ___ and unreserved high glee!

      Delete
  34. I'll never forget that day for as long as I live. It's a harsh reality of how far the Left have gone to try and erase this day.

    America stood proud and strong that day, and the few days that followed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also although you might not hear it on your local news station, but Kavanaugh’s Mother ( who was a Judge at the time). Presided at the Trial of Fords Parent’s home foreclosure..
      Reason enough to hold a grudge??

      Delete
  35. In fact Records show that she Ford donated to the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Friends Of Bernie Sanders Committee.

    ReplyDelete

  36. Now it is obvious that the Democrats are pulling out all their despicable, pathetic stops to not only stop Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation but to DESTROY the man, smear his reputation, undermine his credibility, character, family, and possibly even end his marriage.

    ReplyDelete

  37. RN,s and Shaw’s blogs are POLLUTANT, and should not be permitted to post their bilious claptrap at ANY WHERE with even the faintest prentensions to respectability

    ReplyDelete

  38. Let's do smethng NICE for a change.

    We need to strart a GoFundMe account for Dervish Sanders, so he can afford to purchase the lifetime sloppy of BOTENE and SMARTMOUTH he so desperately need to TRy at least to neutralize his legendary HALITOSIS.

    P__________H_________E__________W__________!


    I've heard tales from reliable sources that when poor fartbreath walks into a diner, or tries to stand on line at McDonalds or Burger Kingcustomer scatter like dry leaves in hurricane to get out of the place.

    His breath is SO vile waiters, waitresses, hostesses, janitors, and even short-order cooks, have been known to QUIT their JOBS on the spot, beause they couldn't stand to be in the same place with his horrifying stinky breath.

    Store clerk run from behnd their counters when he approaches, and no barber will cut his hair –– so terrible is the STENCH that emanates from his filthy mouth.

    At least two pizzerias have literally been FORCED out of business, because they couldn't stop this putrid Fount of Foul Exhalation from entering their premises.

    So PLEASE help ALL of SOCIETY by contributing to the Dervish Sanders GoFundME Anti-Fartbreath Account.

    ReplyDelete