Monday, July 11, 2016

SIRENS SONG

obama, obama jokes, political, humor, cartoon, conservative, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, dallas, police officers, election, lies, mercury one, donations
The cartoon above isn't so much targeted at readers of Hope n' Change (a singularly well-informed, logical, and compassionate group of people) so much as an expression of our sense that the American people are being very actively manipulated into division and confrontation by those who actually hate our nation, desire power, or simply want ratings or celebrity - even purchased with the blood of innocents.

Sadly, it's become a sick tradition that as a presidential election nears, myriad forces try to kindle hatred and fear in the voting population - no matter what the damage to our national morale. It's a special kind of treason and a despicable betrayal of the public trust.

Hope n' Change isn't suggesting that anyone should tune out either real problems or sincere discussions about possible solutions. We can't - and must never - turn our backs on tragedies or social injustice.

But there is an appalling and perhaps unprecedented amount of ugly political manipulation assaulting our senses right now, and to be entirely truthful it scares us.

We wish we had great insights and wisdom to share, but we don't. Rather, we present a handful of common sense suggestions:

• Don't believe that things are as bad as we're being told.
• Don't ever forget to factor in the political goals of those who are giving us bad news.
• Don't help spread half-truths or "adding fuel to the fire" speculations via social media.
• Let's continue to believe in the overwhelming goodness and decency of our fellow Americans even as we decry the loss of those virtues in our media and political leadership.

ADDITIONAL: DONATE TO THE FAMILIES

If you want to make a donation to the families of the police officers killed in Dallas, we're recommending Glenn Beck's Mercury One Fund for Fallen Police Officers. They promise to distribute 100% of every donation directly to the families affected.


23 comments:

  1. Stilt,

    You are spot on with your suggestions. May I add one more, Pray. Pray for our country, pray that the divisiveness stops, pray that we elect the best President to lead us out of 8 years of Hell on Earth, and pray for our military men and women as well as their families.

    Peace be with you all.
    Jim G.

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  2. How to prevent future slaughter at scheduled locations where police have a job description that says they have to show up? Use drones and have aerial views? Screen protesters to make sure they don't have guns nor rocks? Limit the number?

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  3. WHAT GOD HATH PROMISED

    God hath not promised skies always blue,
    Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
    God hath not promised sun without rain,
    Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

    God hath not promised we shall not know
    Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
    He hath not told us we shall not bear
    many a burden, many a care.

    God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
    Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
    Never a mountain rocky and steep,
    Never a river turbid and deep

    But God hath promised strength for the day,
    Rest for the labor, light for the way,
    Grace for the trials, help from above,
    Unfailing sympathy, undying love

    Author: Annie Johnson Flint

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  4. As usual, you're right on Stilt. And may God please Bless America again.

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  5. When I saw your comment of "...ugly political..." the IMMEDIATE visual came to mind of lamont, shrillary and Bernme as the "tri-f*ckta" of political ugliness. And, for you to say you DON'T have "great insights and wisdom" is just false modesty. Nobody who reads you will believe that. "We" all thank you for your inexhaustible dispensing of truth and political savvy. Don't ever sell yourself short for your value to this country as a beacon of sagacious brilliance. We all look forward to see your take on events, and then augment your sapience with our own comments. It really is a cathartic affiliation for which we are truly grateful.

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  6. Your "cartoon" is spot on, no matter who it is directed at. I have been making that point in every response to every liberal anti-cop diatribe on Facebook, in particular (you know my real name - you might enjoy some of these exchanges. Look me up!). In every damn one of these "incidents", the video is intentionally cut to not show what caused the police to be be interested in the "victim" - much like the audio play performed on the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin 911 call to make it sound like Zimmerman was a racist stalker, or the publication of Martin's grade school picture rather than his thuggish look at the time - the pistol and gang signs shown on his Facebook profile, etc. Ostensibly, that was the event that started this whole charade (if you discount Øbama calling the police "stupid" over the Henry Louis Gates issue - technically, that's the first hint we had of what was coming; what we're now enjoying).

    They are using the media as a weapon against rationality, and as a lever to increase racial divide with the ultimate goal of... What? Riots? Martial law? Or is it just raw, animal racism being played out by Øbama with no real plan other than "punishing whitey" for the "condition" of the black man? A condition, notably, he has never endured...

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  7. I almost lost my cookies the other day when I heard Obama say "We cannot let the actions of a few define all of us." That certainly wasn't the attitude we got when a white homicidal cretin shot up a black church in Charleston, and suddenly every white, male non-pajama boy in America was declared public enemy #1 who had to be purged of their guns and "white privilege".

    The most frustrating aspect of Progressives is their logical and rhetorical inconsistencies.

    An interesting observation: Barely hours after the killing of two citizens by police, I noticed memes propagated by supposedly non-judgmental Progressives decrying the fact that the NRA had not publicly commented on the shootings, with the non-so subtle implication that it must obviously be because the NRA is a "racist" organization. Never let a crisis go by without trying to score political points, I guess. I can only imagine the embarrassment when hours later, a BLM-inspired psychopath proceeded to execute police officers. Interestingly, the usual cries for "gun control" seem to be somewhat muted in the wake of a shooting by a black criminal. Racism or another example of the soft bigotry of low expectations? At this point, what difference does it make?

    Either way, there's little doubt about one thing: The status quo wants, needs America to be divided. (My example last week from the New York Times made this painfully obvious) Seriously, where is this racist constituency that actually approves of police pulling citizens from their cars and executing them? Never mind, we'll just pretend they exist so we have another reason to rally against Trump.

    @Stilton, you are right. America is (still) better than this. Things are not that bad. There is always work to be done. Americans are overwhelmingly good, decent, and generous. And we need to remember this no matter how hard the establishment tries to convince us otherwise. We need to be that shining city on a hill.

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  8. I so look forward to Mon. Wed and Friday. Your outlook on what is going on is so right on.

    Today as I sat in a restaurant, near the door, a black man was talking on his phone as he was leaving and I couldn't help but hear a snippet of his conversation. "Look man that is your problem. I believe ALL lives matter". I was so proud of him. He evidently forgot something because I saw him coming back in a few minutes later. I said, "Excuse me sir, I couldn't help hearing you say, "all lives matter". I gave him a thumbs up and a smile. I am praying that his attitude will spread.

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  9. Ah, but I do believe that the actions of the few represent the intent of entire groups of people. As evidence I offer both Muslims and Democrats.

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  10. Ah, but I do believe that the actions of the few represent the intent of entire groups of people. As evidence I offer both Muslims and Democrats.

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  11. IMO the current divisive state of politics today, left vs. right, had its Genesis in the 2000 election when the progs felt the election was stolen from them. Of course, we all know you can't have something stolen from you if you don't own it. After 9/11, I had a glimmer of hope that the corrosive tyrannical culture of political correctness would be put aside and we could start working together against such a horrible enemy. That lasted about two weeks before the blame Bush rhetoric started. Remember he didn't connect the dots? And it has only gotten much much worse since electing someone who coddles terrorists rather than fight them. The leftists view everything from a political lens, human beings be damned. And the squishy spineless Republican leaders have rolled over for it. We elected a president purely for the color of his skin and that skin has insulated him from any and all criticism of his deplorable presidency. The hope for racial reconciliation because of electing him has gone down the toilet since he has done everything he possibly can to polarize the races. And the lapdog media have fueled the flames. I'm ashamed he is coming to our town tomorrow to act like the beacon of healing when a significant amount of blood is on his hands. Words cannot express how much I loathe this poser and I loathe Hillary even more. Want more of the same except worse? Elect her. She's already staked out the anti-police position in order to pander to that black vote.

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  12. I just read this and like everything else Trump has done, this is way out there. I believe Flynn is an educated man and I like his ideas. He is however, a Democrat, so I don't know how that would work out.
    http://nypost.com/2016/07/09/the-military-fired-me-for-calling-our-enemies-radical-jihadis/

    I would like to hear other opinions on this. Would he be a good VP pick?

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  13. Agree 100%, Stilton. Not all cops are killers, not all blacks are thugs, and not all whites are racists - despite what sleazy politicians and biased media whores would have us believe.

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  14. Despite our fair, even handed, unbiased, radical left wing media's fear of what would happen if us yokels knew the truth, thanks to the alternative press many of us do know a lot of it and once again we have failed to live down to their expectations.
    But still we are never to be trusted with the whole truth.
    Why we are just beer feed rednecked animals just waiting to rampage at the drop of a hat and start lynching everyone we see.
    Their contempt for us is more than apparent and the surprising thing is that they have no clue what real America is like at all.

    @Jim G thank you. I am praying and hoping with you brother

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  15. Some voices are louder then others. Some voices ring down through the ages;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbghWFMLyiA

    What is a conservative? Lots of distinctions, but only one difference.
    Conservatives all share a belief in government of the people by the people for the people.
    Non-conservatives believe in government of the government by the government for the government.

    Choose. Surrender seems easy. Tyranny is eternal. You fight it for your entire life. Surrender is a once only thing. Choose. Pray, then choose. With God'a help, we will win, as our forefathers did.
    Choose.

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  16. @ Shelly: You are so right. Divisiveness is killing this country. Right vs Left, black vs white, rich vs poor (or middle class), coastal libs vs fly over conservatives, pro life vs "choice" (never mind a baby's right to life), etc., etc., etc.
    A house divided against itself cannot stand. Sorry about the invasion of your state today.

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  17. Seems like a lot of this fuss, discord, & violence is orchestrated and cropping up because the Marxist agenda is falling apart. Sort of a national level and fatal for some good people "hissy fit" I hope this all comes to light later and the leaders face justice for it

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  18. Total aside here, but this just warped my senses this morning:

    An imprisoned Chelsea Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence for espionage tweeted that she's okay, and glad to be alive after a suicide attempt.

    What is an imprisoned criminal (for espionage, no less) doing with a Twitter account?

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  19. I wish pvt manning success in a future repeat attempt.

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  20. And this just in, Bernie Sanders has officially endorsed Hillary Clinton.

    I suppose it was inevitable, but still, it's sad to see as Clinton literally embodies everything Bernie and his followers claim to hate, like Wall Street & corporate greed. He's a nut, but unlike Clinton he honestly believes his shtick. But what else was he going to do?

    So the question now is: How many true-believing Bernie followers will swallow Clinton? It's already been polled that many of them will actually be voting for Trump. Many, disgusted, will just stay home. Just like the GOP, the Democrats massively miscalculated voter disgust with "the establishment", and Hillary IS the corporatist establishment.

    Meanwhile, Hillary is hard at work trying to buy the votes of Bernie's millennials. As she continues to struggle, expect the bidding war to continue right up to November, proving one of my points about our so-called socialists: Who's greedier? The citizen who feels entitled to keep the majority of what they earn or the "socialist" who's demanding free stuff paid for by others?

    But as I've said before, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Hillary's proposing expanding Medicare to those as young as 50. Since health care is my biggest single expense, that's great! College is going to be free, except for room & board. (Since I own my house, that's not a problem) Since taxes are going to have to explode to pay for this, there's little point for me to work anymore. I'll go back to school for mere entertainment. It will be a lot more fun this time around, since I won't have to be working to pay for it like I did last time, and I won't have to stress about studying anything that will actually translate to future employment. And the best part is that the bill for my early retirement will fall almost entirely upon the clueless millennials who will enthusiastically vote for this. At least they might have been able to pay off their student loans in 10 or 20 years, but they'll be paying taxes on "free" college literally forever. Thanks kids!

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  21. @Readers- Excellent comments above, as always. My head is reeling today with everything in the news- Obama coming here to Dallas to do additional damage, then hosting a summit tomorrow on the relations between cops and blacks. Loretta Lynch giving testimony about why she would never bring charges against Hillary Clinton. And as John the Econ notes above, Bernie Sanders utterly selling out by giving his raspy endorsement to Hillary.

    Frustratingly, I need to let all of the above stories "ripen" a bit before I can start work on tomorrow's Hope n' Change - and that's assuming no NEW disasters arise in the next few hours.

    Regarding Chelsea Manning, I wonder if she/he attempted suicide because Hillary is getting away with mishandling classified documents? And what the hell IS she/he doing with a Twitter account in prison? Wouldn't you think access to computers would be restricted for someone guilty of her/his particular crimes? Sheesh...

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  22. Ugh. Imagining what the above stories will be smelling like should they "ripen" any more than they have is turning my stomach. So much for lunch today.

    I can only imagine the living hell it must be to be Ms. Manning. In any previous and more sane age, Ms. Manning's future would have been decided and executed with relative efficiency. Instead, s/he must endure the painful reality that some pigs are more equal than others, and transgendered privates rank near the bottom even in this day of ultra-PC-ness. But perhaps s/he can hope for a compassionate pardon from the President in 200 days or so.

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  23. Stilt: My, my we are being so PC today with our story telling. :-))) As a child, I was read the story of Little Black Obama eh, Sambo and his Mamma Black Mumbo and his Daddy Black Jumbo.
    They were Democraps at the time and created the first offer of free pancakes and tiger butter
    (not to mention free cheese, phones, rent, medicine, housing and the plethora/cornucopia of items now available.
    There was a total disregard of the rules of decency and decorum then and now for reasonable civil behavior.
    Please, call a spade a spade and try not to be so PC the next time! (Friday) :-0)

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