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Putin 1, Trump 0                                                                                    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7/31/2017

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By Diana Nasman

Diana retired from Ohio State University (OSU) after teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to international undergrads and graduate students for 26 years. Before teaching at OSU,  she had taught at the Hamburg Fremdsprachen Schule in Hamburg, Germany. "Like many, " she writes, "I'm saddened, frustrated, and angry at the DT presidency."

​Putin 1, Trump 0
Richard Engel had an interesting segment on MSNBC last Friday.  He interviewed many Russians and Americans who know how Putin operates.  The end result was that Putin 's goal is to make Russia great again by 1) getting DT elected, 2) throwing our government into chaos, and 3) diminishing US power and respect throughout the world.  It looks like he's achieved his goals.
  
According to those interviewed, apparently the Russians purposefully set up meetings with Trump's transition team, aides, family....not to offer them anything, but knowing US intelligence would quickly get on it.  They dropped "crumbs" and DT's team followed.....a lot of smoke to turn the country into chaos,  maybe not much fire...maybe DT himself is providing the fire.
 
It's good Engel is leaving Moscow; I can't imagine that he'd survive there much longer.  His next Friday special, MSNBC 9 p.m. (Rachael's hour), will be from Beijing.
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Demonstrated Sex Abuser (Trump) Speaks to Boy Scouts                                     -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7/25/2017

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By Susan Cuff

Susan describes herself as a "disgruntled retiree" or,  perhaps more elegantly, a "retired government worker. She submitted the piece below the day she received the announcement of the existence of voterbeat.com.
​

Demonstrated Sex Abuser (Trump) Speaks to Boy Scouts
​

You are just in time. I was watching the president speaking to the 12-year-olds at the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia yesterday. I called the Boy Scouts. They have a canned message. They indicated that they don’t necessarily agree with the politics of the speech but he is their honorary president and is alway invited to speak. I couldn’t get through to speak to an individual. Either their phone is off the hook or there are more outraged human beings out there who wish the president would just shut his mouth and never speak to the youth of our country again.

Wow, how nice--a demonstrated sex abuser--the honorary president.  

I am so upset about this speech I wanted to take out a full page add in the Washington Post and scream my concerns. Then I remembered I couldn’t afford that but remembered the email I received yesterday so here I am. Thank you, Marj, for giving me a chance to vent. I too have found demonstrating very helpful to my sanity. I had never participated in such ventures before in my 71 years. 



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Why Your Job Is Not Coming Back                                                              ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7/24/2017

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By James Newton

James is CEO and founder of Open Source Motor Drivers and a core team member at the San Diego Makers Guild. He describes himself as
 "just some clueless guy who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Luckily, very few people ever listen to what I ramble on about. That's the beauty of the internet; it's big enough that almost anyone can be ignored."
Why Your Job Is Not Coming Back
Why is your job not coming back ?
Is it:  
A. "Manufacturing jobs strangled by government regulation.." 
B. “Outsourcing of work to other countries where worker pay is lower...”
C. “Them damn ‘illegals’ a’come all up in a’here, a’steal’n my jerb!”

WRONG: None of the above.
​
They were automated away. Workers were replaced with machines because technology advanced, the corporations invested in it and reaped the rewards. Worker productivity continues to increase, while worker pay is stagnant because automation increases productivity and reduces worker demand. The job gains we have seen are all in the minimum wage jobs (not worth automating) and high end jobs (too difficult to automate). The jobs in the middle are worth automating and can be automated. The obvious solution is to shift people up into jobs that require more education. The blockage is overpriced education and lazy people more interested in assessing blame than in learning. The real solution may be new age hippie Makers: Dropping out, becoming self sufficient, and/or embracing automation and letting the robots they build and own do the work for them. (Read more on James' website.)


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Planet Unprotected                                                                                 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7/23/2017

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By Mary Ellen Brooks

Mary Ellen is an adjunct professor of sociology and anthropology at Palomar College, 
San Marcos, CA.

Planet Unprotected

Naturally, I was disappointed when the President, in yet another remarkably stupid decision, announced his intention to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. As a man obsessed with setting records, he has earned the title #worstpresidentever at record speed. 
 
Still, I think it's worth noting that the President's announced intention to pull out of the Accord is not in itself the most serious offense he's committed vis-a-vis the environment. The fact is, he had already reversed the environmental protections that President Obama put in place in compliance with the Accord, so in actuality, we were already back on the path of becoming the planet's worst polluter. In other words, Trump's announcement was consistent with what he had already done. In effect, he acted like a man who's been cheating on his wife since they married and who now proclaims his intention to get a divorce. Surprise, surprise. 
 
In the end, the only thing the President will "accomplish" by this action will be that he will have succeeded in turning the world's nations against the US. Since the terms of the Paris Accord prevent any signing nation from formally withdrawing from the agreement until 2020 (the year when Trump may come up for re-election, assuming he lasts that long), Trump's only way out of the Accord before 2020 was to break the contract, an act which would be, on a global scale, entirely consistent with how he's operated as a businessman throughout his sordid career. Whatever credibility and respect we may have earned as an ethical nation in the global community under Obama will have been lost. Still, did anyone really think that Trump would ever magically morph into an honest, wise, and honorable man?

Yes, this move is very sad, very painful, very wrong, but no one should be surprised. We knew he was a snake.


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