“I consider knowledge to be the soul of a republic,… Education is the way to do this, and nothing should be left undone to afford all ranks of people that means” – John Jay, U.S. Founder, 1785
There is only one real priority difference between Republicans and Democrats, between social Conservatives and social Liberals, and it is critically significant! Our nation’s Founders were quite educated, near all of them top college graduates of their day, which explains why near all of them valued their liberal political/civil values as the inherent “natural rights of man” and, with this, valued education of the populous as the *key assurance* for the survival of our republican democracy, our People’s democracy. In the 2015 and 2016 PEW survey’s of the general public across the political spectrum, snapshots attached, that shows what Republicans, Democrats, and Independents basically agree on in public policy, what is most striking is the absence of “education” as a priority among citizens who are Republican constituents. In contrast, education is a high policy priority for citizens who are Democrat and Independent constituents. This strongly explains in itself the reason for such an extreme partisan divide in the United States between so-called “Conservatives” and so-called “Liberals” – between the “fake news” vulnerable citizens who are devout to the “party line” and those who are devout about civil liberties but are willing to reconsider their political positions.
Education opens the mind to new ideas and new ways of viewing the world, a liberalization of the mind through increased knowledge about the world. 
A lack of education lends itself to extreme ideologies, not based on facts, but based on self-comforting feelings about one’s place, status, or security within this world – a close-mindedness reaction to the world. Hence, the extreme politically polarized divides on critical issues such as race relations, gun violence, religion, education, and so forth that presently exists within the United States of America. Nearly 50 percent of the populous is not properly educated, but they *do* vote! If we want our democratic Republic to actually be a “great” nation in this world, then we must focus upon helping the Republican constituency of the United States to see the value in a good and diverse education – as the Founders of this nation insisted upon.
http://www.people-press.org/2016/01/22/budget-deficit-slips-as-public-priority/
#GOP #ReligiousRight #Conservative #ChristianRight
#Resist #ResistTrump #Indivisible #UnitedWeStand #WomensMarch #NationalPopularVote #NotAChristianNation
#Alllivesmatter in the United States when America begins to fully embrace its history and its constitution, and when #WhitePrivilege ceases to have meaning in U.S. society.
“I consider knowledge to be the soul of a republic, and as the weak and wicked are generally in alliance, as much care should be taken to diminish the number of the former as of that latter. Education is the way to do this, and nothing should be left undone to afford all ranks of people that means of obtaining a proper degree of it at a cheap and easy rate.” – John Jay to Benjamin Rush, March 21, 1785
4 Comments
Joseph T Farkasdi · March 1, 2017 at 1:14 pm
“That’s why she’s there, as sort of an ‘f-you’ to the people who are criticizing him for this, and this poor woman, this widow who has lost her husband, she is in desperate grief right now. To use that to put another notch on his belt — and what is he thinking about? ‘My ratings. Record applause. I’m going to get an Emmy for this! Most applause for a dead soldier on my watch!’ This is the sickness of this man.” – Michael Moore
Exactly! As a veteran who knows this suffering of family members firsthand, #Trump’s move to turn this grieving woman into a public spectacle for his self-serving political gain was nothing more than utterly disgusting! I get the press not understanding this, and seeing this as an “Emmy” emotional moment for television. I get those who have not served, who do not fully know or understand the impact of service in a nation’s military. But, this Trumpian public spectacle act, disguised as ‘honoring’ a fallen servicemember, does not honor Ryan Owen’s memory by making a public national spectacle of his grieving wife a mere 18 days after her having to bury her dead husband! What would have honored him is to let his family grieve the loss of him properly first!
The only reason that insensitive Trump guy and the adulating/smiling Republicans that applauded his decision to make a spectacle of a grieving woman at this time, a month from the death of her husband in a botched military raid, was to deflect the public and the family’s attention away from having a proper and deserving investigation conducted into the White House decision-making process regarding this raid. He decided the fate of this SEAL team and of the twenty civilians – men, women, and children – callously over dinner and, then, didn’t even bother to take seriously the events unfolding in another country by the United States military while it was happening. Instead, he was watching television and tweeting about shows, while a military disaster was unfolding on his watch.
I had no respect for this illegitimately-elected president before this incident. I surely did not vote for him, for I was one of the majority who rejected him as a presidential choice. After his making a spectacle of Carryn Owens in the Joint Address to Congress, using her pain and suffering for ratings? As of this point, I simply cannot find him redeemable as an individual and public figure. Donald J Trump is just immoral in so many ways, and he is an embarrassment to our nation’s highest office!
#GOP #Republicans #CarrynOwens #RyanOwens #Veterans
#Resist #ResistTrump #Indivisible #UnitedWeStand #WomensMarch #NationalPopularVote
Michael Moore: Trump used Navy SEAL’s widow as ‘f-you’ to critics
http://thehill.com/media/321755-michael-moore-trump-used-navy-seals-widow-as-f-you-to-critics
The mission was planned during the Obama administration, and Trump approved the raid days after taking office.
In addition to Owens, 20 civilians were killed in the attack, including a number of children, along with 14 al Qaeda militants. Earlier Tuesday, the president faced criticism when he appeared to blame the generals who planned the raid for the Owens’s death when responding to a question about criticism from the SEAL’s father, saying “they lost” Owens.
Owens’s father, Bill Owens, has called for an investigation into his son’s death, saying the raid was a “stupid mission” and questioning why Trump approved it.
Joseph T Farkasdi · March 2, 2017 at 8:43 pm
“We assess that most foreign-born, US-based violent extremists likely radicalized several years after their entry to the United States, limiting the ability of screening and vetting officials to prevent their entry because of national security concerns.” – DHS in coordination with CBP, Department of State, ICE, NCTC, and USCIS, March 1, 2017
As so many of us have said so many times over the years, the terrorist acts in the United States are being conducted by U.S. citizens, regardless whether these acts are based on fundamentalist Muslim or Christian theology or good ‘ol American racist White Nationalist ideology! You cannot bomb an ideology away, you cannot build a wall to keep it out, you cannot make a travel ban to stop it. But, you can educate citizens, encourage community inclusion, and ensure the welfare to lessen the likelihood of U.S. citizens becoming radicalized in the United States! Again, it is American citizens committing the acts of terror within the United States, and it is being abetted by xenophobic and racist attitudes and legislation encouraged by politicians and supported by the typical everyday U.S. American who sees an “Us” versus a “Them”.
#TravelBan #MuslimBan #Immigration
#Resist #ResistTrump #Indivisible #UnitedWeStand #WomensMarch We need the #NationalPopularVote in place before the 2020 election!
#Alllivesmatter in the United States when America begins to fully embrace its history and its constitution, and when #WhitePrivilege ceases to have meaning in U.S. society.
TRMS Exclusive: DHS document undermines Trump case for travel ban
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trms-exclusive-dhs-document-undermines-trump-case-travel-ban
The Rachel Maddow Show has obtained exclusive access to a Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment document. The document, from the Office of Intelligence Analysis, makes the case that most foreign-born, U.S.-based violent extremists are likely not radicalized when they come to the U.S., but rather become radicalized after living the U.S. for a number of years.
The document is the latest piece of research from the DHS that undermines Donald Trump’s argument that a travel ban is necessary to keep violent extremists out of the U.S.
“We assess that most foreign-born, US-based violent extremists likely radicalized several years after their entry to the United States, limiting the ability of screening and vetting officials to prevent their entry because of national security concerns. We base this assessment on our findings that nearly half of the foreign-born, US-based violent extremists examined in our dataset were less than 16 years old when they entered the country and that the majority of foreign-born individuals resided in the United States for more than 10 years before their indictment or death. A separate DHS study that found recent foreign-born US violent extremists began radicalizing, on average, 13 years after their entry to the United States further supports our assessment.” – DHS in coordination with CBP, Department of State, ICE, NCTC, and USCIS, March 1, 2017
Joseph T Farkasdi · March 3, 2017 at 2:56 pm
Trump visits Catholic private school to promote “plan to steer $20 billion in federal funding to school choice policies.”
Why not invest seriously in public education?! Why not insure that ALL public schools have enough money and resources to provide the BEST education possible for our school children? Why not pay teachers more, and encourage in them the freedom to explore the best ways of educating kids in this technologically infused day and age? WE DON’T NEED SCHOOL CHOICE, which is nothing more than taking public funds to pay for PRIVATE SCHOOLING. What we need is to take public schooling seriously in the United States, REGARDLESS THE ETHNICITY/RACE OR INCOME LEVEL of our American children’s communities! America, wake up to the reality around us, and get an education!
“The Trump administration has yet to outline how it will pursue the president’s plan to steer $20 billion in federal funding to school choice policies – a pledge he made on the campaign trail.” Today, Trump and DeVos visit a Catholic private school touting School Choice on federal funding, which is unconstitutional and rejects the intent of our nation’s Founders to have “all” citizens well educated, not just religious families children and those who can attend a private school.
#Trump #BetsyDeVos #Christian-right #Republicans #SOE #AFC #SchoolChoice #DominionTheology
Trump to Visit Florida Catholic School to Tout Choice
The visit comes the same day as a new report that shows vouchers may not be viable for 85 percent of school districts in the U.S.
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-03-03/trump-to-visit-florida-catholic-school-to-tout-choice
The Trump administration has yet to outline how it will pursue the president’s plan to steer $20 billion in federal funding to school choice policies – a pledge he made on the campaign trail. His forthcoming budget is likely to restore and expand the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship, but it’s unclear whether a larger school choice package will come in the form of voucher or a tax credit.
Joseph T Farkasdi · March 27, 2017 at 11:40 pm
Been noticing this, and it’s troubling! This article is a “must read”…
“Trump may have thought he would mesmerize us with his glory and his “winning.” Instead what has happened is that America has become addicted to the 24-hour-a-day reality television show that is his not-so-slow-motion downfall… This is Transcendental Solipsism. It’s all about us being all about him being all about himself… But we need to tear our eyes away from the spectacle of this clusterfuck of a presidency and its daily dramas and periodically look up and out to our horizons, recognizing that the narcissism aside, there remains real greatness in America that needs tending, planning, and nurturing in the context of the real world.”
#Trump #Solipsim #Narcissism #maga #Resist #Indivisible #UnitedWeStand #Iraq #Syria
The Soul-Sucking, Attention-Eating Black Hole of the Trump Presidency
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/24/trump-narcissim-trancendental-solopsim-opportunity-cost-media-cycle-greatness-china/
Consider this: Since taking office, the Trump administration has ramped up military operations in Yemen and Iraq; committed to deploying over 1,000 additional troops in Syria; stood by as civilian casualties have soared and watched as a strategically important province in Afghanistan fell to the Taliban — all without making so much as a ripple in the public consciousness of the United States. Trump was very nearly mute on North Korea (save for some ill-considered tweeting, of course).
He can’t seem to find the time to condemn the Russians for violence against voices of dissent or ramping up of activities in Ukraine. And we can’t seem to care. Europe faces major political tests by populist groups in France and Germany. The costs of climate change are getting higher. And China … well, China is quietly showing up for work every morning building an economy and a role in the world that is largely indifferent to Trump except when he blusters about trade wars (wars they know that the U.S. business community is unlikely to let him engage in for long).
In short, Trump is very likely a short-timer whose moment on our national stage — even if it lasts four years — will not have warranted the degree to which it has shifted our attention from the important long-term issues that do not go away simply because we stop paying attention to them or, as in the case of climate change or Russian wrongdoing, our president continues to pretend they don’t exist.
America is a naturally narcissistic nation. From “exceptionalism” to being the “last best hope of Earth,” we are raised to believe that life on this planet revolves around those of us who live somewhere here in “God’s country.” But even with a history of believing that we are the sun around which all other countries orbit, it has fallen to our nation’s narcissist-in-chief to take us to a level of self-obsession that makes Kanye West look like Thomas Merton.