Lloyd Lofthouse

A Trump Presidency; this too shall pass

I see myself as a President Teddy Roosevelt progressive. To understand what that means, you might have to read They Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

The 2016 election is over and the unknown future will reveal itself a day at a time, and in the passing of those days there’s nothing we can do but hope this too shall pass into history, because the future waits for no man, even Donald Trump, and the midterm elections will take place in November 2018, after two years of Trump allegedly running rampant with support from today’s Republican Party (GOP).

The fact is that Donald Trump and the GOP can’t run rampant, because of the U.S. Constitution written to protect the republic from becoming a dictatorship. Any serious attempt by Trump or the Republicans to illegally alter the Constitution will result in a bloody Civil War that will tear the United States apart, and most members of both parties know this is a fact even if Donald Trump allegedly doesn’t.

The reason for that is because there is no easy, legal way for the GOP to change the U.S. Constitution. Simply, the GOP does not have enough votes in both Houses of Congress. To propose an amendment to the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Congress and then that proposed amendment must be approved by two-thirds (33) of the 50 state legislatures.

In 2017:

The GOP will only control 26 states
The GOP will hold 52 seats in the US Senate and needs 66 votes to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The GOP holds 238 seats in the House and needs about 284 votes to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. Founding Fathers did all they could to block one party or president from controlling every element of the U.S. government by making it extremely difficult to change the U.S. Constitution, and the rule of law as defined in the U.S. Constitution still stands as a defense against any tyrant.

Yes, the GOP and Trump will do serious damage to the achievements of the progressive movement started by Republican President Teddy Roosevelt in 1901, but the U.S. Constitution will still be there to guide the United States when Trump’s 4 or 8 years in the White House ends. Hopefully, the Trump presidency will end in 4 years if his mouth and actions keeps shooting hollow-point bullets.

That means between January 2017 and January 2019, the GOP will do all it can to achieve their tyrannical, right-wing agenda to support the wealthiest Americans and weaken or dismantle the Social Safety net for all Americans that FDR started when he was president from 1933 – 1945: Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, food stamps, etc.

The GOP had to wait more than 100 years to dismantle what two progressive presidents accomplished for all the people of the United States. And they are eager to get started.

Once the Democrats return to a majority, if the Democrats abandon neo-liberalism that defined the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and win back the angry voters they lost in the 2016 election, the political winds of power will shift once again, and to do that, the Democratic Party must learn from the presidencies of Teddy Roosevelt and FDR.

_______________________

Lloyd Lofthouse is a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam Veteran, with a BA in journalism and an MFA in writing, who taught in the public schools for thirty years (1975 – 2005).

Where to Buy

Lofthouse’s first novel was the award winning historical fiction My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. His second novel was the award winning thriller Running with the Enemy followed by his award winning memoir Crazy is Normal.

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Lloyd Lofthouse

November 11, 2016

federal government, Lloyd Lofthouse, politics

FDR and the New Deal, How does the U.S. Constitution protect America from a tyrant, how long will Donald Trump be president of the United States, How safe is Social Security and Medicare, Teddy Roosevelt and his progressive movement, The importance of the U.S. Constitution, Will Donald Trump be a tyrant

38 responses to “A Trump Presidency; this too shall pass”

Lloyd Lofthouse

November 13, 2016 at 8:38 am

John, in response to your November 12, 2105 at 22:40 comment.

I don’t know what happened but for some reason, I can’t reply to comments on my own blog, because a warning popped up telling me that your comment could be altered if I clicked on reply. I don’t understand what happened and what that means so I’m resorting to leaving a comment to reply to your comment with the time stamp listed above.

I also believe in a woman’s right to control her body and support Roe vs Wade and abortion. I also enjoy the right to own firearms, and I have a small arsenal safety stored away in a weapons safe inside the safe room in my house – at least as safe and difficult to break into as I can make it without building a bunker with a bank vault door.

I don’t support the neo-liberal movement in the Democratic Party called nation building. Nation building means forcing other countries to accept what America tells them their government should be, etc., etc. etc. I won’t go into detail, but let it suffice that I didn’t agree with the ideology of nation building that forces, using our military, other nations and cultures to accept whatever America’s neo-liberal vision/agenda is for the world.

But, this is where we disagree.

John said, “I want America to remain as an independent country which focuses upon closed borders while improving conditions for all its legal citizens. Other nations must solve their own problems because we cannot be everything to everyone around the globe. Humanitarianism needs to be applied within our own borders.”

Isolationism is not the answer and never will be. We cannot build a wall and ignore the world. If the U.S. does that, there will be a global power vacuum that will result in wars to see who takes America’s place on the world stage. This is exactly what Putin wants because he envisions Russia as that new global power, but China, India, Iran, Pakistan, and the EU (etc.) are not going to let Putin roll over them without fighting back.

How many countries have nuclear weapons other than the U.S. and Russia?

Nine Nations Have Nukes

http://www.businessinsider.com/nine-nations-have-nukes–heres-how-many-each-country-has-2014-6

But how many will have nukes if the U.S. isolates itself and leaves a global power vacuum?

If Russia ends up in a war with China and they both use nuclear weapons, who will eventually end up breathing that nuclear laced air after it crosses the pacific? No Great Wall of Trump is going to keep out that radioactive air pollution.

After World War III ends, if our species survives, who will be the standing superpower – the EU, Russia or China, and when will that new superpower come for us?

And history supports the fact that isolationism, turning our back on the world, does not work. In fact, it is very dangerous.

For instance, isolationism will not bring back factor jobs that were lost to automation. Up until a couple of years ago, the U.S. manufacturing sector that Donald Trump lied and said doesn’t make anything anymore was the largest manufacturing sector in the world. Now it is #2. China became #1 about two years ago. That doesn’t mean the U.S. manufacturing sector is shrinking and losing production because since 1979, the U.S. manufacturing sector almost double production while cutting 7 million jobs. A recent study pointed out that 88 percent of those lost jobs were due to automation; and only 13 percent were jobs lost to other countries.
What happened due to American isolationism in the 1930s? I’m not going to copy and paste. Click on the link and educate yourself about the perils of building that isolationist wall and ignoring what goes on around the world we share with the rest of our species outside of that wall.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/american-isolationism

China isolated itself once during the Ming Dynasty. That was when China stopped being the world wealthiest, most technologically advanced, and most powerful nation in the world. Before the Ming Dynasty did that, China was the most technologically advanced country/civilization on the planet for 1,500 years. To learn about that,

I recommend reading “The Man Who Loved China” by Simon Winchester.

https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Loved-China-Fantastic/dp/0060884614

History also teaches us what happens when we ignore the public’s welfare and turn the public sector over to the profit motivated private sector. During the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han (he ruled from 141-81 BC) set up a price controlled public sector so even poor Chinese could afford to buy essential products like iron and sat. No one in the brutal, shark infested world of the profit driven private sector dared challenge him because Wu was a brutal tyrant that might, on a whim, have their heads removed. But when he died and the court became corrupt under the next weak Emperor, those private sector profit mongers were emboldened bribed the ministers to get rid of the price controlled public sector. The succeeded and that ushered in the beginning of the end of the Han Dynasty.

If we learn from history, then we learn that we cannot trust the profit-focused private sector to solve all of our problems. It has never happened before and it isn’t about to happen now. There must be a health public sector monistored by the voters and elected represented who are empowered and guided by the U.S. Constitution to step in and adjust when needed, but never abandoned and turned over to the greedy mongers. The neo-conservative movement in the GOP to get rid of all democratic public labor unions, and privatize the public sector so the private sector can profit from public funds will lead to a horrible disaster.

The lure of Isolationism isn’t a new ideology. It dates to colonial times. Click the link and educate yourself.

https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Loved-China-Fantastic/dp/0060884614

The United States is not on another planet orbiting another star. We share one planet with all of humanity. And what happens outside of our borders will affect us if we turn our backs on what’s going on in the world. For instance, air pollution from China crosses the Pacific and Americans breathe that pollution. That same air pollution turns rain to acid and that acid rain destroys all life in the lakes that water flowed into. That same air pollution helps destroy croplands and crops.

Before you condemn China for its carbon emissions, what happens to carbon emissions produced in the U.S. What doesn’t affect our health blows across the Atlantic to Europe. What’s produced in Europe blows toward Asia, etc.

It doesn’t matter if carbon emissions are causing climate change/global warming or not, because we know that he does pollute the air we breathe affecting our health, the water we depend on to drink and grow our crops, and the soil we grow our crops in.

Reply
1. John Mortensen
  
  November 13, 2016 at 1:27 pm
  
  Lloyd, Thank you for taking your time to pen me another thoughtful and informative email. I need to explain my philosophy further because long term isolationism is not intended when I speak of closed borders on focusing on America. Suffice it to say, for now, that I believe America needs to stop 90% of all immigration until we get our own country in order. “Illegal immigration…immigrants…aliens..et al” strike a discordant chord with myself and many legal citizens, primarily because we have watched our immigration laws be thwarted by all prior administrations since 1968+/-. This has resulted in an open, festering problem which has impacted America’s entire social and economic structure, including voting, demonstrations, and angry vitriol that has widened a schism within America. My hope is, and has been since Reagan days, that our borders will become secure and inviolable to all foreigners other than those who migrate here legally, just like any sovereign nation needs to do. To accommodate foreign workers, we need some restricted work program, like the bracero program that existed in the late 50’s and 60’s. As a youth, I worked in the vast Santa Clara County orchard fields alongside Mexican workers who were brought here under the bracero program. These were wonderful people who worked faster than I was able to do, who had their children work without complaining as hard as adults, and who were grateful to share their camps and food with me. There was no obvious animosity, no acts of hostility, but much after-work laughter and commaradiship. I value those memories.
  Today, those jobs and worker programs are mostly gone, except for the H-1b hybrid labor exchange. To address this solvable problem, I want to close our borders completely and severely restrict illegal entry UNTIL America gets complete control of what has become an abused, misused, misconstrued, fractious immigration policy without proper controls and limitations. I advocate we close borders and all illegal entry until we can account for every illegal immigrant, export anyone with a criminal record, establish programs for repatriation of anyone we decide to deport, and help solve our own social and economic problems with a major emphasis on improving our educational system, improving our inner cities, adapting programs for our homeless and citizens living in poverty. (forgive my long, run-on sentence. I am a two-finger typist and don’t have much time to edit).
  The existing system has been exploited and patronized by both parties who use disharmony as an intended problem that will incite hatred in order to take our attention off our leaders ineptitudes and poorly crafted policies. The GOP extorts the criminal aspects of illegals, yet they encourage illegal entry with poor enforcement in order to drive labor costs down while driving profits up. They don’t care about the negative affects this causes our own lower-income citizens or how this negatively impacts our schools, healthcare system, our jails and crime, our neighborhoods which experience housing shortages and drive rents to intolerable levels, etc. The GOP encourages these social and economic problems through greed, which is at the core of capitalism. Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Larry Ellis (Oracle), Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway), Zuckerberg (Facebook), former Steve Jobs and hid replacements (Apple) illustrate the insanity of our wanton, egregious corporate-democracy. Capitalism left unchecked will devour itself as the existential question becomes “When is enough, enough?” In practice, the answer is Never! This is one issue why I supported Bernie Sanders before Hillary, before Trump. In the end, I believe DT will do more to solve our countries economic, racial, social, and class divides and other inequities than more unrestricted socialism.
  This partially explains my restricted immigration system which exacerbates racial, social, and economic divides. We need to start our nation’s healing here. Since no single issue dominates the stage at any time, we need to focus on solving other issues concommitently. Is this too big a task to burden our leaders with? No, this is what we citizens have been demanding of our elected leaders since I first voted for JFK. While there are many reasons this hasn’t happened, the primary reason has been because our legislators have used their offices for their own personal gains, they have become bought and paid for minions of the ultra-wealthy and of corporations who have NO allegiance to any nation or it’s citizens. They operate like seagulls scavenging for easy food and then crapping on the people who fed (elected) them. But even birds and animals have limits to what they gorge themselves on while our leaders, corporations, and the ultra-wealthy have insatiable apetites where enough money and power is never enough since their goal is greed based. Gordon Gecho, in “Wall Street” expressed their axiom “Greed is good”
  On another much more interesting topic to me, I would like to share with you some of my favorite books about Asia, including China, Vietnam, India, et al.
  Anchee Min heads the list of my favorite authors. I liked “Red Azalea” best, followed by “Becoming Madame Mao”, The Cooked Seed (I’m dropping the ” “s), and Wild Ginger.
  Lisa See: Snow Flower and the Fan, China Dolls, Shanghai Girls, and Dreams of Joy.
  Jung Chang: Wild Swan
  Mo Yan: Red Sorghum
  Iris Chang: Rape of Nanking
  Yu Hua: China in Ten Words
  Graham Greene: The Quiet American
  Le Ly Hayslip: When Heavan and Earth Changed Places
  Viet Than Nguyen” The Sympathizer
  Duong Huan” Novel without a name
  Robert Kaplan: Asia’s Cauldron, The South China Seas
  I have read Ian Iggulden’s Genghis Khan series and Goghal’s ??? trilogy beginning with “Poppy” which details India and Great Britain’s audacious poppy trade into China, including their colonization policies. I also read most WSJ articles about China, its economy, and its transition from Mao through today’s Xi Xingping. I am an avid student of China because it is the greatest living example of an isolated, mysterious country with 1.3 people that is transitioning successfully and expediently into becoming one of the world’s most powerful, prosperous, and developed nations. I am fascinated by the evolution of their economic system, their stock market, evolving international trade laws, their easing policies for its citizens, including their ability to travel internationally, the development of their educational system, their growing leadership role in technology, how they handle social issues, and how they balance an autocratic socialism while maintaing what I believe are strong internal controls, including censorship. I believe that Xi has to control the press UNTIL China achieves a viable system of goverance that amalgamates their provinces into a more cohesive nation. Once that is achieved, their system will continue to evolve progressively with a minimum of fractious parties and policies. I feel privileged to learn about economics, nation building, social structures, aculturalism, and powerful, progressive change from a country that was out of phase with the world pre-1977. If China can change so dramatically and quickly, then I pray that America can follow their lead (not their system of governance) as it takes a stand against our own corrupt, bought and paid for system of politics. I like that DT is a successful businessman who largely paid for his own election and isn’t beholden to the big money players and lobbyists who have brought America to the brink of disaster. He isn’t any more flawed in his sexual escapades than JFK, Bill C, and many other world leaders who have proven to be great leaders. I understand that you dislike his business dealings, however, as a business major and a small business entrepreneur, our leaders correctly established bankruptcy to save companies and creditors from further credit losses, and to allow companies and individuals to restructure their debts, sell assets and reemerge from BK as a viable entity. Great companies like Chrysler, GMC, and 1,000s of others have emerged from bk and have served our country well. Trump has sought protection legally under our laws and has been able to build some of America’s finest developments, not to mention in other countries as well. He has negotiated many deals with China in order to stay competitive, and he has innumerable contacts with people and countries internationally. I regard his bussiness acumen and successes as superior achievements to anything Hillary, Reagan, Bush, and all but a few president’s accomplishments. It is much easier to rule a nation than to create success from vision because you don’t have a nation’s deep pockets, unlimited contacts, and established systems to help you. Trump has more to lose than any other citizen by assuming this low-paying position when measured in monetary and legacy metrics. He is driven by his need to succeed plus his concerns and love of America.
  
  Reply
  1. Lloyd Lofthouse
    
    November 13, 2016 at 4:28 pm
    
    You think Trump loves America. I don’t think he is capable of loving anyone but himself, maybe, and after that maybe he loves some of his children. More than fifty years of his business life show he certainly doesn’t love anyone else. Donald Trump is a con man first, second, third and last.
2. Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, MCC, SCAC
  
  January 21, 2017 at 11:40 am
  
  YOU are my go-to these days, Lloyd. Not only do I agree with the point of view in your articles, but also because both the articles and your comprehensive replies to comments inform my thinking further.
  
  Thank you SO much — especially for the numbers above that encourage me to believe that *perhaps* things won’t be as horrific as I fear. SURELY there are enough cool heads, even in Washington, to think before they swallow, and certainly before they vote for policies that would decimate the freedoms at least *some* of us enjoy in America still.
  
  But then, I’m reminded of the story of the frog on the stove. As long as the water temperature is increased gradually, he will ultimately be boiled to death. Cause and effect thinking doesn’t seem to be a strong suit of the party currently in a majority position (nor of those who voted them into office). Politicians in general seem to be focused more on personal and political gains anymore than what’s truly in the best interest of this country.
  
  Waiting, hoping and praying – and ready to support candidates who offer REAL change.
  xx,
  mgh
  (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
  – ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
  “It takes a village to educate a world!”
  
  Reply
  1. Lloyd Lofthouse
    
    January 21, 2017 at 12:24 pm
    
    Thank you.
Vickster

November 12, 2016 at 3:34 pm

Thank you for helping me/us through this, Mr. Lofthouse. I cannot afford professional therapy. 😉

Reply
1. Lloyd Lofthouse
  
  November 12, 2016 at 3:44 pm
  
  You’re welcome. If you were vet, you could get professional therapy from the VA and/or a vet center that’s part of be separate from the VA. But even that could end of the GOP succeeds in getting rid of the VA and giving every vet an annual voucher, that will never be enough, to help them pay for health care.
  
  Reply
Vickster

November 12, 2016 at 10:42 am

Thank you, Mr. Lofthouse, for calming me down a little. 😦 I, too, am in despair and terrified of what is going to happen to our Nation. People need to start talking to each other, understanding each other. All faiths, all races, all classes of people. As for Mr. Mortensen, I say to him the election is over and Hillary Clinton has conceded. She and Bill have left the building, done. Yet he still wants a pound of flesh — LOCK HER UP, continue the pursuit? What good would that do for our fractured country? Why harbor so much anger. It’s time to heal, I know I am trying. It’s over sir, and you got the result you wanted. Now the only ones you are free to blame will be the new POTUS and his administration.

Reply
1. Lloyd Lofthouse
  
  November 12, 2016 at 3:07 pm
  
  Arresting opposition candidates is what they do in 3rd world dictatorships/banana republics, and has never happened in the United States. The Clintons have been dragged into court before, investigated, etc, for more than 30 years, and have weathered every attempt to find them guilty of anything, but now the hateful, biased, racist, fire breathing Trump campaign wants to retry all of these alleged crimes that were already judged by Republicans and found innocent and lock her up anyway.
  
  I think that California, Oregon, and Washington states should leave the union and join together as a separate, independent republic with our own president, Congress and Supreme Court. Instead of leaving the union to fight to keep slavery, we’d be leaving to stay free.
  
  Reply
  1. Vickster
    
    November 12, 2016 at 3:26 pm
    
    Absolutely, sir, re: being arrested and locked up with due process. As to leaving the Union, that’s something that would also frighten me. We are the 50 United States of America. Somebody has to come up with a method to keep us that way.
  2. Lloyd Lofthouse
    
    November 12, 2016 at 3:42 pm
    
    The United States as we know it will not last forever. No powerful nation ever has.
    
    In fact, the Roman Empire split into the Western and Eastern Roman Empires each ruled by a different emperor, one from Rome and one from Constantinople. When the Western Roman Empire collapsed due to corruption ushering in the dark ages of Europe, the Eastern Roman Empire survived and thrived for several hundred more years before it to vanished into the annals of written history.
    
    It is not inconceivable that the United States might eventually divide into three countries. There would be the Eastern United States, the Western United States, and the Bible-Rust-Belt United States. In fact, Texas might make a fourth country all by itself and be happy to do it.
  3. john mortensen
    
    November 12, 2016 at 6:29 pm
    
    Vickster, I will vote for a prevaricator any day over an SOS who treats classified emails with wanton recklessness. I have accepted the results of this election and am looking forward rather than fighting over a lost cause. As a consolation prize, you can be proud that Hillary garnered about 400,000 more popular votes than DT, which indicates to me that very few voters voted incorrectly. In sports, I would call the race a tie, but our founders’ electoral college calls this a victory for Trump. My concerns are about how DT administers and leads our nation going forward. I agree with Lloyd, the first 100 days+ of President Trump’s presidency are critical and will be watched carefully by all Americans. In two years the public will judge his results at the mid-term elections which will be the real first test of his presidency. What you and Susan can do is to publish your blogs in a manner that will help quell the law-breaking criminal-rioters who are destroying property, attacking innocents, and acting in an unlawful, seditious manner. Regarding the legal pursuit of Hillary and the Clinton Foundation, DT has a mandate by his supporters, including myself, to prosecute them to the full extent of the law for alleged criminal acts which are separate issues from the election. For many of us, the trust of our FBI, the DOJ, and the presidency must be reestablished for our nation to heal. The media will be judged by viewership and add revenues. Now, stop spreading the lie that the sky is falling and our nation is doomed. We were saved from that scenario on November 8.
liberalteacher

November 11, 2016 at 9:37 pm

I pray you are right. I am in such despair now.

Sent from my iPhone

>

Reply
1. Vickster
  
  November 12, 2016 at 10:45 am
  
  Keep the faith, you are among 50% of the people.
  
  Reply
John Mortensen

November 11, 2016 at 6:12 pm

Lloyd, I fully understand the constitution. I’m not trying to attack you personally, I am just expressing my opinion as an educated, white, male, citizen who happens to believe in defending our constitution, and in American patriotism. I also understand that you censored my honest opinions about the necessity of maintaining closed borders to “illegal aliens or immigrants as you prefer to call them”. You construed my opinions as racist, something I am not. Trump was, and is more adamant in his stand against illegals entering and “homesteading” America without following our nation’s immigration laws. This election proved that closed borders is what Americans want AND will fight to get. I am happy to know that illegals will someday, somehow be repatriated back to their own countries from whence they fled. You see, Lloyd, America is viewed as a land of opportunity, os stability, of great beauty, a safe land where people can walk the streets safely. America isn’t a Communist “anything” or a fascist nation where a 3rd world dictator can destroy people’s lives on a whim. We aren’t Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, a hostage African nation, or a sectarian fanatical Mid-East nation where women are worth less than a donkey. Neither are we a divergent and unworkable union of disparate little countries which defines the EU. Let me just say that Europe is a great example of a continent which is already in the process of losing its freedoms, its cultures, and its borders, because they went so progressively left that they are in the throes of an early takeover by Muslim terrorists who are clearing the way for their insane caliphate. The English middle class voted for Brexit as a statement of freedom from a communist-socialist group of leaders like Angela Merkel, Belgian bankers, French pacifists, and a basket full of debt-laden, bankrupt nations. Populism voted against the EU largely because Muslims were not assimilating into their culture. Muslims are proving to be poor neighbors who present a “Clear and present danger” to all “Free and prosperous Christian nations.
When you call Trump a serial liar (how about Hillary’s lies under oath to congress), you prejudge him to be a really bad person, like Bill and Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, John Podesta, Donna Brazil, James Comey, Obama, George Soros, and the entire cabal of criminal hacks who have crapped on America since 1990 (I throw GWB into that swamp of politicians who have been destroying America from within.
Lloyd, like you I married an Asian and have raised an incredible family. We have much in common, including our great passions for liberty, freedom, honesty, integrity, and everything the constitution stands for. We just happen to be on opposite sides of the political spectrum, something that I hope and pray that President Trump and his able associates will help cobble closer together during the course of his administration. I am willing to have a “wait and see” supportive attitude and am giving him the benefit of my trust and belief. I also started the election campaign leaning favorably towards Hillary, but my mind was changed more by her intolerable criminal acts against America via her unacceptable email and equipment destructions, and about 20 other major acts of incompetence and outright criminal actions for which the RICO act should be applied by AG Guliani. Her day of reckoning is coming soon; when that happens, it will prove that Americans were correct in electing Donald Trump as our president. How about you and I giving him a chance and instead of making disparaging remarks and doomsday predictions, let him lead us back to civility and greatness again.

Reply
1. Lloyd Lofthouse
  
  November 11, 2016 at 6:19 pm
  
  You are alleging that I censored your comment. LIAR! I didn’t do anything but bold one sentence. And I already said I’m willing to give him a chance. What will you do and think if he fails to deliver on most if not all of what you think he promised?
  
  Reply
  1. John Mortensen
    
    November 11, 2016 at 6:41 pm
    
    An easy answer; I will simply vote for someone else. Until then, I will support him in any way I can, which is very small at best. You are in a much better position of influence as the writer of a popular blog which I do enjoy reading, most of the time. I don’t regard myself as a LIAR, as you have called me, but your inflammatory responses to me in the past caused me to pause for several+ months before responding to any more of your blogs. Let’s civilly agree to disagree, when our passions and beliefs are strained. Until then, I will continue to learn about China and many other POIs from you.
  2. Lloyd Lofthouse
    
    November 11, 2016 at 7:20 pm
    
    I could be wrong. You think I censored you because of my comment and what I thought you said, but that is not censorship. What I wrote in my response to your comment is my opinion based on what I thought you meant. That was me exercising my freedom to express what I think you meant. If I was wrong, then it is your turn to correct my thinking about what you really meant.
    
    I did not change any of your words in your comment.
    
    This is censorship: http://gilc.org/speech/osistudy/censorship/
    
    And here is what the ACLU says about censorship.
    
    https://www.aclu.org/other/what-censorship
    
    The Oxford English Dictionary says this about censorship
    
    The suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security:‘the regulation imposes censorship on all media’
    
    If this is correct, that you don’t know what censorship really means, then your alleged knowledge of the U.S. Constitution is questionable. Reading the U.S. Constitution is one thing. Knowing what the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote it is different then what any individual more than two centuries later thinks they meant. That’s why many scholars also study what the Founding Fathers wrote in essays, letters, etc. to find support for what they probably intended the U.S. Constitution to mean.
  3. John Mortensen
    
    November 11, 2016 at 8:35 pm
    
    I surmise from your responses that you think you are an erudite lexicographer who focuses on a word and not the message. First, you denigrate me by inferring that I don’t understand the constitution, then censorship, then you go to the extremes of “educating” me by quoting the ultra-liberal/communist inspired ACLU followed by the Oxford dictionary to support your definitions and position. I merely present a logical dialogue based on common sense and educated reasoning to explain my position and you go ballistic. You even state that a company can fire it’s employees for being outspoken as though I fit into that category. Are you threatening me for thinking differently than you when you by make such inflammatory statements? Not that I would worry about such a possibility, it’s just that you inferred it.
    I wonder what kind of teacher you were when students presented their opposing ideas to you- did you attack and belittle them for their views? Did you quote the ACLU to them and make them read the Oxford dictionary? My Asian wife taught elementary school for 37 years with outstanding results in a low-income school district which was 90% minority based, so I know quite a lot about education and teaching. I am also an avid reader, a college graduate with advanced degrees, outstanding communication skills, and a retired real estate appraiser who specialized in analyzing difficult transactions. I was also an expert witness for court cases, a privilege generally reserved for accomplished professionals who exhibit excellent communication skills and provide well-researched, reliable arguments. My humble demeanor normally prevents me from brandishing my credentials, however, I felt it was necessary to defend myself against some of your perfidious comments towards me. I consider you and I to be quite similar in our intelligence and abilities.
    Hopefully, we can communicate with mutual respect in future blogs, which I look forward to reading.
  4. Lloyd Lofthouse
    
    November 12, 2016 at 8:26 am
    
    John said, “First, you denigrate me by inferring that I don’t understand the constitution, then censorship, then you go to the extremes of “educating” me by quoting the ultra-liberal/communist inspired ACLU followed by the Oxford dictionary to support your definitions and position.”
    
    Once you labeled the ACLU as ultra-liberal/communist inspired, you revealed a lot about who you are and how you think, and now I am convinced you don’t understand the purposed of U.S. Constitution or what censorship is. I’m convinced that you wear blurred lenses when you read anything and twist the meaning of legal documents like the U.S. Constitution to fit whatever you want it to be to justify your obvious far right conservatives beliefs allegedly learned from the conservative hate media machine.
    
    The term “liberal” was turned into a negative label decades ago by that same far right, racist, biased, hate generating media machine. The “liberal” label has been twisted so bad out of context, that even many liberal minded people avoid using it.
    
    The Atlantic ran a piece about The Conservative War on the Liberal Media. But of course, it is a safe bet that you will dismiss it by tossing out that negative label again as a total dismal of anyone or any organization that doesn’t act and think like you want them to. That is the perfect example of a fascist and the very reason the ACLU exists;’ to protect the people against individuals that allegedly think as you do.
    
    http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/the-conservative-war-on-liberal-media-has-a-long-history/283149/
    
    Without the ACLU and similar non-profit organizations that are not supported with tax dollars, there would be no one to fight the tyranny of fascist thinking.
    
    The ACLU TODAY
    For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation’s guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.
    
    Whether it’s achieving full equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people; establishing new privacy protections for our digital age of widespread government surveillance; ending mass incarceration; or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion; the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach.
    
    With more than a million members, activists, and supporters, the ACLU is a nationwide organization that fights tirelessly in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. to safeguard everyone’s rights.
    
    IN THE BEGINNING “So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we’ll be called a democracy.” — ACLU founder Roger Baldwin
    
    https://www.aclu.org/about-aclu
    
    Freedom is not exclusive for those who blindly stumble along in the far right fascist, biased, hate filled, racist movement that has a clear agenda to strip everyone outside of that movement of their freedoms to be individuals. Freedom of expression and life is for everyone not just for far right conservatives.
    
    And you proved my point when you wrote, “Are you threatening me for thinking differently than you when you by make such inflammatory statements? Not that I would worry about such a possibility, it’s just that you inferred it.”
    
    I didn’t infer that. I never intended to infer that. But you interpreted something I wrote as an inferred threat. However, I will make this clear, as a former U.S. Marine who fought in one of “our” country’s wars, I am more than ready and willing to load my firearms and fight to defend my right to be an individual, to defend the right of the ACLU to exist, to defend the right of everyone that is one step left of the far right hate machine that generates that identifies anyone just like the Nazi’s labeled the Jews and then funneled them into death camps.
    
    You might also want to educate yourself about “How Liberal or Conservative major News Sources Really are: “America’s partisan divide is well illustrated by which news outlets people stick to.”
    
    http://www.businessinsider.com/what-your-preferred-news-outlet-says-about-your-political-ideology-2014-10
    
    I suspect you have lived long enough, as I have, to have experienced the political pendulum swinging from left to right or the other direction.
    
    With this election the political pendulum swung way to the right. Historically, when that happens the pendulum starts it journey in the opposite direction with the next election, because most Americans are moderate in their thinking and not extremists, and it bothers them when any extreme, left or right, has too much power. A balance works best, but a balance only works when the extremes are willing to meet somewhere in the middle and are willing to compromise on important issues.
    
    That’s how a republic with a participatory democracy is supposed to work. When one extreme controls that pendulum and won’t let it move, then the U.S. will no longer be the country the Founding Fathers created when they wrote the U.S. Constitution. Freedom in the U.S. is supposed to be for everyone not just one particular extreme mob that label the people they hate “liberal”. Hate is what drove the Nazi’s in Germany, and they labeled the Jews before marching them off to the death camps.
    
    I’m more than willing to load my weapons and fight to the death to defend my right to be me, my freedom, from any hate group that holds power in this country, and that isn’t a threat. It’s a fact. When they come for me, I’ll die at home and not in a death camp, and I will take as many of the hate mongers with me as possible until my last breathe and heartbeat. If that day comes, I don’t think I’ll be standing alone.
  5. John Mortensen
    
    November 12, 2016 at 9:41 am
    
    I appreciate the time you took to respond to my comments. You have explained your position very well, and I respect your thoughtful points of view. We are alike in our support of America and the intent of the constitution. I also would fight to the death to protect America from tyranny from within and from without. I have no doubts about your patriotism, nor about your ability to teach our youth to think about issues thoroughly before forming their opinion.
    Many people are worried about the course of America after this contentious and vitriolic campaign, and I understand and even share many of their concerns. But the choice has been made and I am optimistically hopeful that our new leadership will help bridge the multitude of divides that were exacerbated during the election. Trump’s love of America fuels my belief that he wants what’s best for all Americans regardless of their race, culture, or economic status. I want him to succeed, and as such, I will support his efforts while remaining watchful of his decisions. I have also seen him change his views on many issues over the course of the campaign and I interpret this as an indication that he will listen objectively to different POVs. To all your readers I say, give our elected officials a chance to make America great again because this new administration needs to succeed for the good of America and for the preservation of our freedoms and liberty.
  6. Lloyd Lofthouse
    
    November 12, 2016 at 9:52 am
    
    I agree that we should give Trump a chance and not jump to conclusions before he acts. We don’t know what he’ll do until he does it. This is an interesting piece from Trump’s five biographers (who would know him better than those that studied his entire life in depth) on what a Trump presidency might be like, and it is obvious, at least to me, after reading it, that they are not 100 percent sure what will happen after they share their opinions. Trump is an unpredictable wild card. I’m not sure he loves America, but we know he loves himself and then his children come 2nd.
    
    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/donald-trump-2016-biographers-214350
  7. John Mortensen
    
    November 12, 2016 at 12:53 pm
    
    To support your willingness to be open to a Trump presidency, may I suggest that you read today’s Wall Street Journal, front page article “Trump signals Shift on Obamacare”, 11-12 edition. He expresses a conciliatory attitude to a plethora of issues, beginning with keeping key provisions of Obamacare, i.e. to insure children through age 26, and keeping the provision against insurers to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. He will also study revising the Dodd-Frank banking law which has reduced credit availability to creditworthy borrowers and made borrowing difficult, which in turn limits growth and job opportunities. He will accompany all business decisions with a prudent easing of overly restrictive regulations and costly administrative requirements that have discouraged economic growth.
    Good governance involves negotiated compromise and collaborative thinking, something a successful real estate developer, like Trump, is a master of. He has created some of America’s finest and largest developments in NYC, one of the WORLD’S most difficult real estate markets to succeed in. Most people aren’t aware that such deals are a result of a person with incredible vision, creativity, passion, diligent and astute negotiations, and the ability to ease concerns of opposition coming from all directions, including the public and government officials with many different layers and departments, and responsibilities. To succeed, one must surround him/herself with the most capable people in many areas, and he must trust them to align their purpose to the successful completion of each project. He is literally a genius when judged by his overall successes, a master of the delegation of duties, an incredible judge of character evidenced by his staff, and a leader who can inspire people to hope and believe in him and his quest to “Make America great again”. He has raised some of the brightest children I have ever seen in any family with love, devotion, high expectations, and sound moral values, and he should be judged objectively by the public for this, which I consider his greatest personal achievement. I read the WSJ, the NYT, and many magazines of different views in order to gain a better understanding of relevant issues and to help filter out writer’s biases and propagandized diatribe. Now that the tortuous “dog and pony” show is over, the real Trump will emerge. I don’t expect him to be yesterday’s typical hack republican or democratic politician, rather I hope and pray that he will be the great statesman that we all want and need.
    Thank you again, Lloyd, for your respected and learned commentary over the years. May God bless America!
  8. Lloyd Lofthouse
    
    November 12, 2016 at 3:17 pm
    
    I read that story hours ago, but that isn’t enough. I think the first 100 days will tell us what kind of president Trump will be. I reserve my judgement until then.
    
    Trump is clearly an independent outside of the established GOP and Democratic Parties. Even in the private sector he has been a maverick all of his life with his own style of doing business. Unfortunately that includes using bankruptcies to increase his fortune while avoiding paying debts to workers and investors in addition to thousands of court cases to also avoid paying debts and living up to the contracts he signed. I don’t care for the way he does business. He even said once he’d get rid of the national debt through a national bankruptcy. Imagine what that would do to the dollar. The next thing we’d know is China’s Yuan would be the global currency instead of the U.S. dollar.
    
    Countries like China are not the only ones that debt is owed to. Two thirds of the debt is owed to the American people while only 7 percent is owed to China; about a third of the debt is owed to other countries. The rest is owed to Americans and different government agencies.
  9. Susan Lee Schwartz
    
    November 12, 2016 at 4:04 pm
    
    john, I have never blogged here before, but I caught your comment, and I think you write very well, and you make some good points. The laws are on the books, and we, as a people have to use them. We have to gain control, locally, peacefully of our local government, but wall street is never going to do a thing for the people.
    
    You have to pay attention to what Trump does, and if you do, you will discover, that putting the fossil fuel lobbyist at the top of the EPA, and wall street people in charge of the banks and treasure department, is giving the wealthy a ‘path to dynastic wealth..!
    
    Google that phrase, I saw it for the first time today, and a bell rang.
    Of course, a man of his wealth wants only to ensure that ALL of it is passed on to Baron and company.
    
    The guilded age is back, and no matter how much we look to The Constitution, these guys are in control of the legislature, the executive branch and soon, the supreme court. And the new Secty of the Treasury will be a Bankster.
    
    Those of us who stood by Bernie’s side, as I did, will move to the only steps we can take, to win the local elections, and take back our states. This is the Bernie revolution that is still ongoing…I know… I get the email as founding member.
    
    The problem, for me, when I read how much faith you want us to have in trump, is that those of us who have followed him from day one, and know who he is,Trump is not the man you describe as a master. He is charlatan, and I do not have the time to send you to the links I have on this subject, all the facts as to his devious dealings and how he has left a trail of defrauded people.
    !500 lawsuits angst him is a record FOR A PRESIDENT… and presently there are 75 pending, including one for the rape of a 13 yr old girl. I have th links, and you can google these facts yourself.
    
    What you may be missing, will be apparent soon enough.
    You see, the ignorance of this man is monumental — an ignorance of science. of history and of just about everything, except his own feelings. He is n touch with them, 24/7, and last night, 2 days after winning the “game’, he was tweeting divisive remarks, in the night, as if it were still a campaign –directed at protesters.
    
    Maybe one of his transition team – his daughter or son, or son-in-law saw it and said in a panic: “Dad, you have to bring the people together now! So, he tweeted again, this time something that one would attribute to Hillary, about needing to be together. I can’t make such things up for characters that I create!
    
    To those of us who do not examine his policies or promises, but who LISTEN to what he says, and HOW he say it, THOSE OF US WHO WATCH BEHAVIOR , saw how he stalked Mrs. Clinton at the 2nd dabate– we see who he is… a bully, a charlatan, a con-man, a narcissist who only is driven by his own needs, and a man who has all the tendencies and temperament of a sociopath… one in 5 people FYI, are lacking the empathy gene. That is why he can walk in naked girls, and gram women’s genitalia,– because he cn!
    
    I taught writing for 4 decades, and did it successfully, but, as a writer, I am a playwright. Playwrights are storytellers, and they see the plot clearly, but they also watch behavior, nor it is behavior that offers the only clues to a character.
    
    Because there is no narrative in a play, the only way one can inform the audience that a character is a charlatan or a low-esteem child who needs to diminish people to feel bigger– is to put words in the character’s mouth that define his personality and temperament.
    
    “A man, running for high office, who actually tells people, and expects them to accept it that “I have the greatest temperament…believe me” is either a comedian or a fool.
    
    Why not google “Trump’s Temperament,’ and read what the experts say, people who know psychology and history, and know what happens when you give someone with his temperament,, the data that the NSA, the FBI and the CIA have on everybody.
    
    How does any dictator begin to amass power of over people.
    They use the state apparatus to control them.
    
    Trump cannot be limited in his access to material that he can use to blackmail legislators and anyone who gets in his way. He has shown us all, who he is. One cannot listen to his promises , because he lies so often that he loses track of it.
    
    Watch him Joe, he will spin all the stuff he does, and promise that wealth will trickle down, but Bush promised that ,too.
    
    Sigh. You are so earnest, it makes me sad that you are being deluded. Watch and listen. i will, too, Promise, and I Mr Trump turns out to be something different then what he has shown me for therapist six months, then I will support him.
  10. Lloyd Lofthouse
    
    November 12, 2016 at 4:36 pm
    
    I have a friend who is a died in the wool far Alt-Right conservative who only voted for Trump to get rid of the public sector (even the VA and he’s a vet), lower taxes again, and get rid of Roe vs Wade. That old friend littteraly worships wealth even though he doesn’t have it and probably never will. He has read everything there is about trump for the last thirty years and says Trump is a train wreck, a con man and crook but that didn’t stop him for voting for Trump because of the reasons I state earlier.
    
    Those who support Trump would rather have a Pyrrhic victory that might destroy the nation if they can’t get what they want. They are counting on Trump to destroy everything that has been accomplished by the progressive movement in the last century and when I say everything, he means it.
  11. Susan Lee Schwartz
    
    November 12, 2016 at 5:33 pm
    
    I am so honored to have you as a correspondent, someone with whom I can exchange viewpoints, and examine the circus which parades by our eyes, as we live in our seventh decade.
    
    I am an English teacher and a playwright, turned journalist, so words are part of my life. Language fascinates me, and I shoed that fascination to my students, sharing stories that I loved, movies and plays which told the truth about who we are a humans.
    
    I read hundreds of thousands of pages as that teacher of writing, in order to observe how each and every child in my care, handled language. I shared what I knew and loved about lyrical writing, and story- telling We read Twain and Steinbeck, and Shakespeare and as a class, we read The Yearling.
    
    Of all the books I love, including To Kill a Mocking Bird, The yearling sits at the top, for the beautiful prose.
    
    You, Lloyd are a wonderful writer. I love your sentences, I love the way you organize thoughts to make point. Love the metaphors and literary style.
    
    I am glad that I am now following your posts, and as you know, I cross posted your post about the First Amendment.
    Wonderful, truthful, moving!
    http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/A-Trump-Presidency-this-t-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Congress_Constitution-The_Lloyd-Lofthouse_Trump-Non-stop-161112-848.html
    Perhaps you might want to go there, click comments, and add something. I already made the FIRST comment in the hopes of sparking conversation, but it might help if YOU added a few words about this subject of what we are free to say,and what we should not say…ever!
    Gotta go.
  12. john mortensen
    
    November 12, 2016 at 10:40 pm
    
    I am an independent thinker and have never voted along party lines. I believe in a woman’s right to control her body, which means I support Roe vs Wade and abortion. I would like to see more women from all walks of life enter politics and replace the hard-core, incompetent, chauvinist males who put tax cuts ahead of education and health care, who lead business using a greed-compass since they lack a moral compass, and for their hawkish, war mentality where America always needs a bad guy to stoke the coals of fear. I am proud to have voted for JFK, my favorite president, Bill Clinton, and even Obama over Romney. Even when I became disenchanted with their policy decisions, I still think they were better choices than their opponents would have been. I remain convinced, that Trump was a much better choice than Hillary who would have followed Obama’s globalist policies, an unworkable pipe dream by an idealist and Middle-East idealogue. I want America to remain as an independent country which focuses upon closed borders while improving conditions for all its legal citizens. Other nations must solve their own problems because we cannot be everything to everyone around the globe. Humanitarianism needs to be applied within our own borders.
    
    WordPress.com |
    
    Lloyd Lofthouse commented: “I have a friend who is a died in the wool far Alt-Right conservative who only voted for Trump to get rid of the public sector (even the VA and he’s a vet), lower taxes again, and get rid of Roe vs Wade. That old friend littteraly worships wealth even thou” | | Respond to this comment by replying above this line |
    
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    | | | Lloyd Lofthouse commented on A Trump Presidency; this too shall pass. in response to Susan Lee Schwartz: john, I have never blogged here before, but I caught your comment, and I think you write very well, and you make some good points. The laws are on the books, and we, as a people have to use them. We have to gain control, locally, peacefully of our local government, but wall street is […] I have a friend who is a died in the wool far Alt-Right conservative who only voted for Trump to get rid of the public sector (even the VA and he’s a vet), lower taxes again, and get rid of Roe vs Wade. That old friend littteraly worships wealth even though he doesn’t have it and probably never will. He has read everything there is about trump for the last thirty years and says Trump is a train wreck, a con man and crook but that didn’t stop him for voting for Trump because of the reasons I state earlier.Those who support Trump would rather have a Pyrrhic victory that might destroy the nation if they can’t get what they want. They are counting on Trump to destroy everything that has been accomplished by the progressive movement in the last century and when I say everything, he means it. | Reply | Comments |
    
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  13. John Mortensen
    
    November 12, 2016 at 6:51 pm
    
    Susan, I respect your concerns. The only way to solve this dilemma is to judge Trump without listening to the soothsayers who are biased for many reasons. Have an open mind and judge him by his actions as our president rather through the propagandized rhetoric of others. In my first chance to vote, I selected JFK, a man with many flaws, but with an overwhelming love and dedication to America and its people. While in office, he was a known philanderer, our countries first Catholic, and an Irishman to boot. His family was connected to questionable oil deals, and his experience in politics was minimal. During his short tenure, he made many mistakes, including the Bay of Pigs invasion. Through all of this, I believed he would do the right thing for America, and I wasn’t disappointed. He showed his great courage and leadership skills when he stood tall against Russia in the Atlantic Ocean, just east of our coast, and made Russia back down. But he couldn’t have done this without the extraordinary help of his brother, RFK who negotiated a face-saving exit for both nations. JFK was also transitioning his stand to fight for a civil rights bill, and he was in the process of ending our involvement in the Vietnam war when he was assassinated. I also was disheartened when RFK was assassinated by an Iranian miscreant-fanatic. But our nation healed and remains today as the strongest nation in the world. I have faith that America will survive and prosper under Trump who has considerable experience in private enterprise which is even better than electing another political hack.
  14. Susan Lee Schwartz
    
    November 13, 2016 at 7:59 pm
    
    Well said. I am traveling. and cannot write much.
    We will have to watch and see.
  15. Susan Lee Schwartz
    
    November 12, 2016 at 10:17 am
    
    I HAVE NOT READ what he said to provoke this response, but I grasp completely what you say a the end:”I’m more than willing to load my weapons and fight to the death to defend my right to be me, my freedom, from any hate group that holds power in this country, and that isn’t a threat. It’s a fact. When they come for me, I’ll die at home and not in a death camp, and I will take as many of the hate mongers with me as possible until my last breathe and heartbeat. If that day comes, I don’t think I’ll be standing alone.”
    
    You are right. i will be there at your side,
    
    Let me make an observation. I write at two sides. The Ravitch blog, and Oped news. At the Ravitch blog, which is more a social blog, albeit one that is about education, and is like a teachers room where parents and teachers and anyone can come and discuss what is afoot as the DEEP STATE -THE CABAL, THE NWO, the oligarchs take over public education.
    
    At both places, people come with the expectation that they can say anything without challenge!
    
    They believe that ‘freedom of speech” means everyone has a right to say anything and not be challenged. You explained the first Amendment, but because of the internet were lies have become truth though repetition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8bihhjH3nI
    BUT, because the TRUMP CAMPAIGN allowed a presidential candidate to lie with impunity, and his people to spit out hatred as if it was protected speech, people come to all blogs and spit out their dearly held beliefs AND EXPECT NO CHALLENGE.
    
    So, when one EXPLAINs -clearly- to these people, why something they say is either false, misleading or just plain mean, they get bent out of shape.
    
    I was attacked at both sites, by a troll who did not like that I countered his trumpisms with truth — and called them out as the false equivalencies that they were.
    I never attacked him, just disagreed with his words.
    
    Well, he came at me with vituperative and abusive comments. For a while, I explained, as you did here, why what he did was ad hominem.
    
    Finally, this troll went after me at the news-site , where Ihave been a trusted writer an journals for 6 years. I had linked to an article there, and instead of a comment on it, he launched into a hate speech about me!
    
    The publish of this NEWS-SITE, flagged his comment and asked me if I wanted him to forbid tis guy from commenting. I said, go ahead flag him, but moniter his posts.
    
    And at Diane’s wonderful site, eventually she put this man on ‘monitered’ posts, after he attacked you, me, and Ellen.
    
    I am sick and tired of the bullying, BUT I AM ALSO EXHAUSTED BY NICE PEOPLE, who have bought the CON, that what they believe is inviolate. They will argue to the end that it is YOU, whims see their point of view, AND IF YOU REFUSE–in the face of observable reality, facts and evidence, to do tis…the get really upset,and the accusations that YOU ar unfair begin.
    
    Lloyd, this nation wil never be the came again. You fought in a real war to protect our nation. Now you fight with words.
    
    Love your blog. I trust your voice!
    and for anyone who wants to read my series, my quick links to the best articles, or my own articles and commentaries which are filled with LINKS to facts and evidence for everything I say, go to my author’s page at : http://www.opednews.com/author/author40790.html
  16. john mortensen
    
    November 12, 2016 at 6:02 pm
    
    Susan, You are the cavalry who shows up after the battle is over, and you landed at the wrong site. I shall not comment further on your confusing, rambling oped which mixes BULLYING into our lively discussion. Good luck on your Xanax sites. I will read them when I have insomnia and need a sleeping aide.
  17. Susan Lee Schwartz
    
    November 11, 2016 at 10:19 pm
    
    Interesting response by this person who actually believes it.
    he is sincere. Your correct,. So wierd today.
    I listened to The BIllMaher show address what these Trump supporters are feeling– that they ar misunderstood, and being picked, and everything they say is inviolate.
Susan Lee Schwartz

November 11, 2016 at 5:14 pm

I love the things you explain. You ar every special in my book!

Reply
1. Lloyd Lofthouse
  
  November 11, 2016 at 5:15 pm
  
  Thank you.
  
  Reply
John Mortensen

November 11, 2016 at 3:39 pm

The fact is, our constitution and national sovereignty were both saved by President-elect Donald Trump’s historic election. Beginning Jan 21st, President Trump, and his constitutionalist appointees will begin a crackdown on angry liberals who were close to destroying America from within. Obama, Soros, and the Clinton-cabal were bending to the globalist movement, led by the ultra-liberal George Soros and his “move-on” movement (including “Black Lives Matter”). They attempted to force America onto a dangerous, destructive path that the EU is pursuing as they follow Angela Merkel’s policies over the cliff. Brexit was a prescient warning to America to “Wake up and overthrow reverse-progressivism before it is too late”. Brexit was a revolt by the subdued middle-class of working people, just as Trump’s decisive victory is our revolt by the disenfranchised against a failed system which supported an incompetent, pay-to-play candidate, Corrupt-Hillary. After Jan 21st, the new AG, Rudy Guliani (hopefully) will “Lock her up” as the enthusiastic GOP supporters DEMAND of her for her “Crimes against America”. “Drain the swamp” won’t stop until Bill C and the Clinton Foundation-piggybank are found guilty of RICO crimes along with the entire cabal in the DOJ, the media, et al. The leaders must be sent to jail for our nation to heal, and for us to bring honor, trust, respect, patriotism, and integrity back to the presidency, DOJ, AG department, SCOTUS, and our military. Riots by angry, misguided liberals must be stopped with force and rioters must be imprisoned for acts of treason against America. A nation which yields to anarchy will soon be destroyed, something our new president will prevent from happening. Believe me when I say “Thank you, God, for saving America from its death-spiral by backing Donald Trump for president”.
Let’s see if you, Mr. Lofthouse, are open and objective enough to support Article 1 of our constitution by printing my response. I hope you are patriotic enough to acknowledge, “There is a new sheriff in town and his name is Trump”. May God bless America!

Reply
Lloyd Lofthouse

November 11, 2016 at 11:24 am

Reblogged this on iLook China.

Reply
1. Lloyd Lofthouse
  
  November 11, 2016 at 4:47 pm
  
  Do you really know what the 1st Amendment says? I don’t think so, and that shows exactly how ignorant and mislead Donald Trump’s followers are.
  
  The 1st Amendment only protects us against the goverment censoring us – not anyone in the private sector like my Blog.
  
  From the American Bar Association (lawyers and judges, not bars where booze is swilled): “First Amendment in the Workplace”
  
  In reality, however, American employees’ free speech rights may be more accurately summarized by this paraphrase of a 1891 statement by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: “A employee may have a constitutional right to talk politics, but he has no constitutional right to be employed.” In other words: to keep your job, you often can’t say what you like, and Donald Trump probably doesn’t even know that.
  
  http://www.americanbar.org/publications/insights_on_law_andsociety/15/winter-2015/chill-around-the-water-cooler.html
  
  I think “the new sheriff in town” is a con man, a serial liar, a fraud, a psycho, and a narcissist of the worst kind, but I’m willing to give him the beneift of the doubt and hope he delivers those jobs he promised to millions of desperate Americans even though presidents have little to do with the job market.
  
  Here the first amendment. Read it very carefully.
  
  Amendment I. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
  
  “The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right of freedom of speech. The right to freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government.”
  
  https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/first_amendment
  
  The Congress can’t do it, but corporations and private sector business, charities, and foundation can legally censor their employees and even fire them if the management doesn’t like what they say or write. It happens all the time.
  
  In conclusion, Donald Trump isn’t a sheriff. New Sheriff in town is used when a new auditory figure takes charge. Trump is currently the President Elect of the United States and nothing he does up until the inauguration day on January 20, 2017 counts. Obama is still the president of the United States until then.
  
  In fact, what power does the president of the United States actually have? “The Constitution explicitly assigns to the president the power to sign or veto legislation (from Congress), command the armed forces, ask for the written opinion of his or her Cabinet, convene or adjourn Congress, grant reprieves and pardons, and receive ambassadors.”
  
  I suggest you check Article II of the U.S. Constitution to learn know limited “this new sheriff” is.
  
  http://reverbpress.com/politics/much-power-president-actually/
  
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