An Election Analysis by Actual People - Not Politicians, Pollsters, Press, or Pundits - Part 2

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One of the pleasures of publishing the Coltons Point Times is the opportunity to share with you the comments of my readers, the everyday persons working to survive and filling their life with everything they love.  A series of post-election analysis will be offered from contributing writers sharing their thoughts on the election.

They are not seasoned journalists but they are dedicated, patriotic Americans.  At times it is refreshing to hear honest observations rather than biased news so do not expect to hear from any professional politicians, pollsters, press, or pundits.

I want to thank the contributing writers and hope we can all learn more about each other if we will just take the time to read.

This Contributing Author post is hosted on the Coltons Point Times.  Contributor authors control their own work and the views do not reflect those of the Coltons Point Times.  If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email in the comment section.

A Personal Analysis of Donald J Trump, 45th President Elect of the United States of America

By Mary Patricia Jones

(Walsh High School Class of ’63)

Many months ago, an unlikely businessperson announced his candidacy for President.  After leaving 15 other candidates in the dust, he became the nominee of his party.  Pitted against a seasoned female politician, after months of campaigning and three debates, Donald J. Trump emerged to become the 45th President-Elect of the United States of America.

He has a vision; something every real leader possesses.  His platform involved the people.  A platform, which focused on the economy, security of the people, jobs for the people, and an improved infrastructure for the country, among other things.  After 7 ½ years of burdensome rules and regulations that took our faith in the government to its lowest point, Trump gave us a sliver of hope that his platform might work.

He brought the people into his campaign; he supported the people because he cares for the future of the people.  He wants the people to have the same chances he had; the chances that gave him the opportunities to become the person he is today – a very successful executive, a businessperson who owns his own company. a man, who, when he failed, picked himself up and continued trying.

His style, while not politically correct and disliked by many, involved telling the people the truth. And he will continue to tell “we the people” the truth. Truth can be blunt; it can be hurtful. But with truth comes solutions. Donald Trump will help the country find the right solutions so the country can continue to succeed. We will pick ourselves up from past mistakes and try again. We can do this. We are Americans and we will continue our “can-do” attitude.

He will work with everyone even those he disagrees with.  He did write “The Art of the Deal”!  He knows how to work with others because he wants the best for the people so we can grow and make our future better, just as he did with his business and employees.  Trump’s win is like opening a door.  You are not sure what is on the other side, but you open it anyway.  You take a chance.  For only by taking a chance will things ever have an opportunity to change.  This was an election of change, and change it will.  From a Democratic President in 2008 with a Democratic congress for his first 2 years, to a Republican President with a Republican Congress, America is in for “one hell of a ride” come January 20, 2017.

About the Author: A self-employed, small businessperson for 27 years, ready for retirement but cannot due to current rules and regulations.  Educated in the 50’s and 60’s when life was not as complicated or politically correct, living when it was safe to walk a mile to school, or be out after dark with no fear of harm.  She wants everything for her children and grandchildren, she had as a child - safety, and prosperity.

An Election Analysis by Actual People - Not Politicians, Pollsters, Press, or Pundits - Part 1

.

One of the pleasures of publishing the Coltons Point Times is the opportunity to share with you the comments of my readers, the everyday persons working to survive and filling their life with everything they love.  A series of post-election analysis will be offered from contributing writers sharing their thoughts on the election.

They are not seasoned journalists but they are dedicated, patriotic Americans.  At times it is refreshing to hear honest observations rather than biased news so do not expect to hear from any professional politicians, pollsters, press, or pundits.

I want to thank the contributing writers and hope we can all learn more about each other if we will just take the time to read.

This Contributing Author post is hosted on the Coltons Point Times.  Contributor authors control their own work and the views do not reflect those of the Coltons Point Times.  If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email in the comment section.

Observations on the 2016 Presidential Election - Anxiety, Fear, and Failure

By Michael Thomas Kelly, 

Illinois

“Mild restrictive fears affect 90% of our society…,” states the continuing education seminar on ‘Anxiety’, I recently attended on the subject.  The sources of anxiety include health, assets values, environment, self-concept, role function, needs fulfillment, goal attainment, personal relationships, sense of security, etc.  The most prevalent groups are 60 plus years of age, not college graduates, low income, unmarried, and unemployed.  They experience nightmares, flashbacks, grief, emotional numbness, depression, and avoidance behaviors.

Knowing the above to be true, I can begin to understand the 2016 election.  Donald J. Trump, (hereafter known as DJT) was a master at appealing to those fears and won the most states and electoral votes.  He started out across the Mississippi River in the state next to where I live, Iowa.  I went to a grade school auditorium for the Iowa Caucus named after a past president, to see people move to one area of seats and root for their candidate.  DJT had earlier, landed in Des Moines, Iowa in his Trump helicopter, with what was to become his signature arrival with much fanfare.                                                                                                          

Then in September of this year, I heard former Sec. Ray La Hood who was prior to being Sec. of Transportation, the Congressman from nearby Peoria, IL.  To quote, somewhat loosely, the former Secretary, “Donald Trump’s influence on the Republican Party will be felt for over 50 years…”  He also said he was not supporting him and gave a list of reasons.  Well, now the ‘influence" of President-elect Trump is written in the history books.

However, the personality of the 90% of people in the USA who suffer from episodes of anxiety tend to be ‘Perfectionistic” with their unrealistically, high standards going largely unmet.  They deny their anxiety, hold their emotions in an attempt to avoid more confusion, and have a strong need for control while attempting to maintain control by insisting on controlling others.

Low self-esteem and poor coping skills such as the use of alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and other substance abusing techniques prevail.

“A sense of helplessness, loss of confidence and self-doubt evolve until an inability to decide what to do results in doing nothing at all.”  Symptoms include pacing, shakiness, restlessness, fidgeting, hyperventilating, dry mouth, increased muscle tension, poor eye contact, impaired concentration, and overwhelming fear and panic, resulting in painful, intense memories for those who have anxiety.

This was the animus of the vox populi that DJT so readily tapped into resulting in his Electoral College win 2016.  I facilitated much of this animus as a deputy registrar during 2 weeks of early voting in a local area of mostly Republican, about 60-40/70-30%, voters in the home town of John Deere International headquarters.  On Election Day, I was at a more Democratic voters’ area but I still saw many white, males who needed two forms of I.D. to renew their voting status.  Many used their ‘Firearms’ state of IL card for identification.  I have not previously seen so many as some have feared showing this I.D. yet this time they were very proud to show it.

It was an instant start of conversation for us while I did the paper work.  There were strength, confidence, and eye contact, I had not seen in some of these people before.  They told me of their new-found faith in the possibility of change coming their way for a change.  It was renewed interest in politics by different segments of our society who felt empowered by someone who was expressing the feelings as they had previously not felt welcome to express because of our very primitive  fear of “…not making enemies aware of their whereabouts…” has led to more than eight years of “selective mutism”, being the silent  majority.

Now, as for former Secretary and former Senator and former First Lady Hillary R. Clinton, she saw some of the instant karma that happens when you weave webs of intrigue.  The Democratic Party made Sen. Bernie Sanders pay for being an Independent all these years.  I saw that baggage coming before the Iowa Caucus.  His age did not deter him from speeches & stumping for HRC in Davenport, IA in the final days of this very long campaign.  I think in hindsight there will be soul searching about the ‘finger on the scale’ by FBI Director James Comely.

I always thought HRC would have the baggage of her past ghosts and the contempt by Americans for nepotism.  Even though we (in the USA) managed earlier in our history to elect two men president from the Adams, Roosevelt, and Bush families, the Clinton family will not make the list.

Lastly, the question we the people, will be asking is, 'are we ready yet for women in the White House?"  So far the result is two resounding “NO's” for vice presidential bids by Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin, and one conflicted, anxiety generating Presidential race resulting again in, “NO!”

Someone had to do it first.  HRC did make history as the first woman to run for President, the first woman nominated by a major party, and first to win the popular vote, but alas, she lost the war.  Not surprising since women have only had the vote in the USA, (yes, I know about the state of Wyoming), for barely a century. More women than men live in the United States and the gap will continue to widen in the future.  One day a woman will become President of these United States.

Thank you, my grade school friend, Jim Putnam for the invite to’ journalize’ “Election 2016”

(About the author - Michael Thomas Kelly is a retired Registered Nurse and a Board Certified Medical-Surgical nurse who spent the last decade of his career in Emergency Nursing. Michael and his wife I live in Rock Island, IL. He has written half a dozen books of poetry but this is his first venture in journalism. Michael earned a B.A. in English-philosophy and Education. Kelly is a practicing Tibetan Buddhist and recently spent a month travelling with his Root Lama in the western part of China's Tibetan speaking area of Sichuan. He is active in his community and sits on the Board of the county owned Hope Creek Care Center, a skilled nursing facility.  Poetry, philosophy, politics, and nursing are his main passions in life.)

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Post-Election Primer - Remember the Seven Cardinal Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins - You May Need Them!

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Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump - the Liberal Media versus the Conservatives - which is the lesser of two evils and what happens when one side wins?



What we have is a classic stalemate in chess terms. What happens in a stalemate? No one wins. That leaves it up to the people to sort through the barrage of claims and counter claims, through the greed and corruption, through the lies and half truths in order to make some sense of where we stand and where we are going. It also means the politicians in Washington, the executives on Wall Street, the bosses in the union headquarters, and the media in their ivory towers are all lost in the storm.

What does a captain of a ship do when facing a storm? Preparation and patience, combined with faith, strength, and hope will always help you make it through the storm and tomorrow will always be there to reward your courage, strength, and faith. In times like these when the truth is elusive and our leaders are paralyzed, when ethics and morality seem gone from governing, and when self-preservation dominates the common good, it helps to remember the old ways.



In the ancient teachings of the Catholic Church through the works of theologians St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas and dating all the way back to the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, long before the time of Jesus, good and evil was defined by the Seven Cardinal Virtues and the Seven Deadly Sins.



It would do us well in this time of a crisis of confidence and moral corruption to remember the Seven Cardinal Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins whether you are Catholic or not as they were an inspiration to the Christian founders of our great nation. It also would not hurt to see if you are living the virtues and rejecting the sins and apply the same standards to our candidates for public office.

The Cardinal Virtues



Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called "cardinal"; all the others are grouped around them. They are: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. "If anyone loves righteousness, [Wisdom's] labors are virtues; for she teaches temperance and prudence, justice, and courage." These virtues are praised under other names in many passages of Scripture.

Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going. Keep sane and sober for your prayers." Prudence is "right reason in action," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the "virtue of religion." Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. The just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor. "You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven."

Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. "The Lord is my strength and my song. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will's mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. The temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good and maintains a healthy discretion: "Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart." Temperance is often praised in the Old Testament: "Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites." In the New Testament it is called "moderation" or "sobriety." We ought "to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world."



The Theological Virtues

The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man's faculties for participation in the divine nature: for the theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object.

The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being. There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity.

Faith

Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God." For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God's will. "The righteous shall live by faith." Living faith "work[s] through charity."
The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it. But "faith apart from works is dead": when it is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.

The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: "All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks." Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: "So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."

Hope

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. The Holy Spirit, he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life."

The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

Christian hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin and model in the hope of Abraham, who was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice. "Hoping against hope, he believed, and thus became the father of many nations."

Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus' preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. The beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the "hope that does not disappoint." Hope is the "sure and steadfast anchor of the soul . . . that enters . . . where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf." Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of salvation: "Let us . . . put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." It affords us joy even under trial: "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation." Hope is expressed and nourished in prayer, especially in the Our Father, the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire.

We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end" and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for "all men to be saved." She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven:

Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.

Charity

Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

Jesus makes charity the new commandment. By loving his own "to the end," he makes manifest the Father's love which he receives. By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive. Whence Jesus says: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love." And again: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Fruit of the Spirit and fullness of the Law, charity keeps the commandments of God and his Christ: "Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love."

Christ died out of love for us, while we were still "enemies." The Lord asks us to love as he does, even our enemies, to make ourselves the neighbor of those farthest away, and to love children and the poor as Christ himself.

The Apostle Paul has given an incomparable depiction of charity: "charity is patient and kind, charity is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Charity does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Charity bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."102

"If I . . . have not charity," says the Apostle, "I am nothing." Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, "if I . . . have not charity, I gain nothing." Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: "So faith, hope, charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity."

The practice of all the virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which "binds everything together in perfect harmony"; it is the form of the virtues; it articulates and orders them among themselves; it is the source and the goal of their Christian practice. Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love.

The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who "first loved us":

If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children.

The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.

The Gifts and Fruits of The Holy Spirit

The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David. They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations.

Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God . . . If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity."



The Sins

Beginning in the early 14th-century, the popularity of depicting the Seven Deadly Sins by artists of the time ingrained them in western popular consciousness. The Italian poet ante Alighieri (1265-1321 C.E.), wrote three epic poems (known collectively as the Divine Comedy) titled Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. In his book Inferno, Dante recounts the visions he has in a dream in which he enters and descends into Hell. According to Dante, he is told by his guide that a soul's location in Hell is based upon the sins that they commit when they are alive. In each 'ring' of hell, a specific punishment is doled out. As they descend lower and lower, the punishments (and consequently sins) become worse and worse until he reaches the bottom and discovers Satan. In Inferno, Dante encounters these sins in the following order (canto number): Lust (5), Gluttony (6), Avarice (7), Wrath (7-8), Heresy (10), Violence (12-17), Blasphemy (14), Fraud (18-30), and Treachery (32-34).

The Seven Deadly sins are listed today as follows:

Lust (Latin, luxuria)

Lust (fornication, perversion) —
Obsessive, unlawful depraved thought, or unnatural desire for sexual excitement, such as desiring sex with a person outside marriage or engaging in unnatural sexual appetites. Rape and sodomy are considered to be extreme lust and are said to be mortal sins. Dante's criterion was "excessive love of others," thereby detracting from the love due to God. Lust prevents clarity of thought and rational behavior.

Gluttony (Latin, gula)

Gluttony (waste, overindulgence) —
Thoughtless waste of everything, overindulgence, misplaced sensuality, uncleanliness, and maliciously depriving others. Marked by refusal to share and unreasonable consumption of more than is necessary, especially food or water. Destruction, especially for sport. Substance abuse or binge drinking. Dante explains it as "excessive love of pleasure".

Avarice (Latin, avaritia)

Greed (treachery, avarice) —
A strong desire to gain, especially in money or power. Disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, or treason, especially for personal gain or when compensated. Scavenging and hoarding of materials or objects. Theft and robbery by violence. Simony is the evolution of avarice because it fills you with the urge to make money by selling things within the confines of the church. This sin is abhorred by the Catholic Church and is seen as a sin of malice. Dante included this sin in his first novel. Simony can be viewed as betrayal. Thomas Aquinas on greed: "it is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things."

Sloth (Latin, acedia)

Sloth (apathy, indifference) —
Apathy, idleness, and wastefulness of time. Laziness is particularly condemned because others must work harder to make up for it. Cowardice or irresponsibility. Abandonment, especially of God. Dante wrote that sloth is the "failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind and all one's soul".

Wrath (Latin, ira)

Wrath (anger, hatred) —
Inappropriate (unrighteous) feelings of hatred and anger. Denial of the truth to others or self. Impatience or revenge outside of justice. Wishing to do evil or harm to others. Self-righteousness. Wrath is the root of murder and assault. Dante described wrath as "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite".

Envy (Latin, invidia)

Envy (jealousy, malice) —
Grieving spite and resentment of material objects, accomplishments, or character traits of others, or wishing others to fail or come to harm. Envy is the root of theft and self-loathing. Dante defined this as "love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs".

Pride (Latin, superbia)

Pride (vanity, narcissism) —
A desire to be more important or attractive to others, failing to give credit due to others, or excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God). Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor". In Jacob Bidermann's medieval miracle play, Cenodoxus, superbia is the deadliest of all the sins and leads directly to the damnation of the famed Doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus. Pride was what sparked the fall of Lucifer from Heaven. Vanity and narcissism are good examples of these sins and they often lead to the destruction of the sinner, for instance by the wanton squandering of money and time on themselves without caring about others. Pride can be seen as the misplacement of morals.

Interpretation

In the original classification, Pride was considered to be the 'deadliest' of all sins, and was the father of all sins. This relates directly to Christian philosophy and the story of Lucifer as told in the Bible. Lucifer, the highest angel in heaven, surrendered to the sin of pride and demanded that the other angels worship him. This being a violation of God's will, Lucifer and his followers were cast from heaven.

Summary

Our forefathers talked of the need for all Christians to continually work to master the Cardinal Virtues and to eliminate the Deadly Sins. It was a lifelong dedication. The results of such perseverance were the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Would we not do well to do the same? These are the standards that created America, they are the foundation to preserve America. Live them and demand the same from our elected officials.

Thanks to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and New World Encyclopedia for guidance in this article.

Does God Intend to do that which Humans failed to do - Silence the Political Blowhards in our Nation's Capitol? God is Angry! Hurricane Matthew - Bullseye - Washington, D.C.

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I think we all grew up hearing stories about times when the gods were upset, and most had a cast of humans involved who seemed to draw the ire of those Gods.  Thus Divine Providence took action against the human race, His creation I might add, to put an end to the self-destructive nature of humans.

Well this time I think we have really done it.  Move over all those ancient purges of humanity, there is a new messenger from the Almighty, and the message surely is not good.  You really do not want to make God angry.  It happened before with consequences as noted in the Old Testament.

1. The Flood (Genesis 6-8)
2. The cities of the plain, including Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19)
3. The Egyptian firstborn sons during the Passover (Exodus 11-12)
4. The Canaanites under Moses and Joshua (Numbers 21:2-3; Deuteronomy 20:17; Joshua 6:17, 21)
5. The Amalekites annihilated by Saul (1 Samuel 15)

The Presidential election in America seems to have angered God and it seems the way God has chosen to respond is to send a massive hurricane and make certain there is not enough warning to prepare for it.

Thus we have Hurricane Matthew bearing down on America and as of today, Tuesday, the news media has failed to tell people of the threat and danger.  Oh, they have filed endless reports on the Hurricane and Haiti among other islands in the Caribbean but have you heard a word about Norfolk, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, the New Jersey coast, or New York City and Long Island?

Of course not.

Perhaps there have been so many false reports from the weather stations in the past few years they are gun shy of making predictions, even though all predictions are computer models and not from humans.

I do not know about you but I no longer trust anything digital from the news to weather to gossip.  Behind every digital signal is a giant member of the One Tenth of One Percent Club, the good old OTOPC that is pulling all the strings on Earth now.  The Trillionaire's Club, owners of the Illuminati, New World Order, Templars, news media, and all the other secret societies on Earth will be in control.

Obviously, they do not want us to know about the Hurricane bearing down on about 50 million people in the Northeast or they would have started dire broadcasts about the monster storm about to engulf the East Coast.

One can only assume there are no advertisers left with any money to buy ads for the storm warnings, so no ads, no warnings.

By now, all the shelves in stores would be emptied, even after the prices were doubled for hurricane preparations.

Well Gallup says 94% of the public do not trust the news media, and since weather is part of news, I guess it is a good thing they are not warning us because the warnings would be wrong.  They would generate a panic in Boston as the storm destroys Washington, D.C.

No, finding the truth requires a more concerted effort.  Thus, I dusted off the Ouija Board and asked if I could trust the weather forecasters.  The answer, "Eejits", the Irish-English equivalent of idiot but softer of tone.

When I asked where the big storm would hit I got a curious four-word coded response from the Board, "steamy blabbermouths, and blowhards!"

Clearly, it meant our nation's capitol where there is always a cloud of steam when the politicians gather.  The only problem I ever had was determining if those characters were working up a head of steam or were lost in the fog.

Then I asked what we did to make God so angry and deserve such a storm, and the Ouija Board, quite indignantly, said, "Listen to the Eejits Eejit."

What kind of Almighty God would want to silence humanity in such a way I thought, when the Board shot a parting answer, "Not just The One, but also the six Alien races already there."

My first question was what in the world did Trump say this time.  Then it occurred to me, the Board was not talking about "illegal aliens" but about the kind from somewhere far out into the galaxy.  In case you are wondering, the six Alien races are defined in the next story.

 

Not one to take such abuse from paranormal, spiritual, or ethereal answers, I promptly packed up the Board and decided to take my chances with common sense.  Trust no one and watch I Dream of Jeannie reruns until November 9 and all will be well.

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The Presidential Election - Clinton or Trump - The World Watches in Fascination

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As we countdown to the day of reckoning when half of the voters in America will be squealing for joy while the other half prepare to move to Canada, or perhaps Newfoundland, where will you be?

Down to forty-five days and counting and by anyone's measure once you toss out the radical right and radical left predictions, the election is still too close to call.  No matter how hard the desperate liberal media try to stack the polls and purloin the Trump, it matters not.

You may have noticed how NBC and other leading liberal networks are using the 2012 election results for the demographic distribution of the 2016 polls.  The conservatives have their own distorted results to offset the liberals, proof intellectual constipation is rampant.

For the record, there is no possible way the 2016 carnage will resemble the 2012 results.  Just the obvious would tell you so since no matter how hard they try to make us believe it, Hillary Clinton is not and never will be Barack Obama and she really is white.  For that matter, there is no way an entire generation of millennial who backed Bernie Sanders will transfer their vote to the Queen of the Establishment.

Barack Obama was off the charts with his support from Blacks and youth in 2008 and 2012, as much as 25-30% higher than Hillary's support.  Hello political pundits, that means, overall, there may well be a twenty-five percent lower turnout of Blacks and youth for Hillary.

Trump, on the other hand, has a huge advantage in enthusiasm.  Where Clinton is a practicing member of the establishment since she married Bill in 1975 and his election as state attorney general of Arkansas in 1976, Trump has never been involved in holding political office.

That makes her a card-carrying establishment leader for forty-one years, longer than the oldest millennial alive.  It makes Trump about the second oldest revolutionary in our history next to the ageless Benjamin Franklin.

As for her agenda, Hillary offers the most aggressive progressive liberal platform since George McGovern in 1972 and he lost 49 out of 50 states.  In world politics, the pendulum is swinging conservative so she must also buck the trends.

This year The Federalist, a wholly independent division of FDRLST Media, reported the following.

"But any intelligent discussion of 2016 must begin with the fact that history is very strongly against the Democrats in 2016.  In the modern two-party era (beginning with the first Republican Party presidential campaign in 1856), there have been 16 elections following the re-election of an incumbent president; in 11 of those races, there was no incumbent on the ballot.  An analysis of those elections shows a startlingly uniform pattern over time: the incumbent party (i.e., the party that won the last election) consistently lost ground relative to the challenger party (the party out of power), especially when running without an incumbent on the ballot.  And in nearly every such election, that loss of popular support was evident in closely divided battleground states, rather than confined to uncompetitive states.  The trend has persisted in winning and losing elections, in elections with and without third-party challengers, in times of war and peace, booms and depressions.  It has become more, rather than less, pronounced in the years since World War II, and at all times has been more pronounced when the incumbent party is the Democrats."

Thus, Hillary is also battling history.

Trump, the political neophyte, has no history, no record of accomplishment, and no one really cares what he had to say back when he was a talk show host and not a political candidate.  To his supporters and right now he has the same level of support as Hillary, Trump is their champion.

He is the Chosen One to lead America out of the dark and out of the control of the dastardly establishment.  If it is determined if he is a billionaire, he will be the first to be president if elected.  If not he will rank among the richest ever.  Yet he is the voice of the silent majority, the Independent, the forgotten, the disappearing Middle Class, and the one trusted to bring about radical change to our system.

Hillary and her minions believe he is a Demon determined to undermine our way of life but a whole lot of voters believe he is the crusader to bring back the life our politicians sold out to the rich and powerful.

Has there ever been a more divisive election in our history, of course if you know history, which has seemed to escape the minds of most political reporters in America.  Reporters of today think the 1990's the most important decade the last century but our political history transcends not just decades, but centuries.

In 1788, George Washington became our first president in history.  That was 228 years ago not two decades ago.  This year marks the 58th quadrennial presidential election in America and we will be electing the 45th person to serve as president.  Of course, neither Blacks nor women could vote in George's election, very different from today.

Many times over the past two centuries the polarization was worse, the language was more vulgar, the animosity more intense, the attacks more personal, the deplorable nature more severe, the lies more extreme, yet somehow, our nation survived.

Therein lays the miracle of our nation and the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.  Our Constitution and Bill of Rights has endured the test of time, the treachery of politicians, the greed of capitalists, the distortion of the news media, and the suffocation of special interests.

This year the news media, politicians, political pundits, and even the historians seem to be suffering from collective brain-dead syndrome.  The partisanship, the intolerance of the opinion of others, and the downright bias of the media has fed an enormous appetite of polarizing mania.

At first, I thought it was the result of nearly eight years of the Obama Administration failure to deliver on many of the key promises of 2008 and 2012.  When Trump struck a responsive chord with far more of the public than the so-called experts expected, it was clear there was much more to his campaign.

The media, politicians, and political pundits first ridiculed, then gave extraordinary attention to the neophyte they knew never had a chance to be elected.  In time this free media coverage became obsessive and helped Trump drown out all the highly regarded competition.

When he stunned the experts and emerged as winner of the GOP primary campaign, they made light of the stupidity of the Republicans in nominating Trump.  However, as the Democrats finished their convention and as the Clinton campaign outspent Trump five to ten to one depending on television and the Internet, a strange result started to emerge.

Hillary could not put Trump away as expected.

Now here we are, just 45 days from the end, and nothing seems settled like expected.  The bombastic billionaire will not go away.  No matter what he says or does, no matter how juvenile or odd his perspective on the world, he is headed for a photo finish with Clinton.

No matter what happens on Election Day, over 50% of the voters will disagree with the choice.  That is because both candidates have the worst favorable rating in history, with each hovering around 60% unfavorable.

Forgotten in the race to capture the hearts of America were the Independents and once again due to the lack of due diligence by the news media, there could be a tsunami building across the land.  People have had it with both political parties.  Both parties are beholden to big money.  No matter who wins, the rich keep getting richer at the expense of the people.

Not even the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the first Black president in our history, could break the stranglehold of big money control of our government.  Members of the two parties might not have noticed, but the Independents did as well as seniors and the millennial youth.

When you consider a significant number of party members are fed up with the lack of progress, along with a lack of interest in the election by both Black and Hispanic voters, you have a groundswell of dissention.

Add to that the astonishing fact that for the first time in our nation's history there are more registered Independents than members of either political party and you have the ingredients of that elusive tsunami.

Eight years ago, in the last great recession brought about by the greed of big money, financial, banking, political, and government officials assured us all was well.  Financial rating services said things were fine and major financial institutions were too busy preparing for a financial meltdown to warn us of impending doom.

Nearly every expert from finance, banks, political polls, and rating agencies were wrong and the result was the near destruction of the American economy.  The lives, jobs, and retirement assets of the public were left shattered.

No matter what anyone says, we have not recovered from that unnecessary tragedy and not a single major executive of any of the financial institutions that raped and pillaged our economy is in jail.  The result is the slowest recovery in history with the vast economic benefits going to less than one percent of the rich.  That is the memory of the public.

Add to this condition a sinking feeling in the public regarding their safety from racial strife, an understandable fear of terrorist attacks, awareness that American foreign policy is a disaster, and a huge increase in the distrust of the establishment, and logic would dictate the results fail to conform to any past elections in the modern era.

My sense is the polls are 5-7% wrong, they under-represent the potential for new voters for Trump, and misrepresent the number and distribution of Independent votes.  If the polls remain within the margin of error like today through Election Day, Trump could most likely triumph.

The next election article will be life under a Clinton versus a Trump presidency.  Stay tuned.

     

Riots with most property damage in America                

1. LA Riots, 1992: $1.268 billion

2. The Los Angeles Watts Riots, 1965: $321 million

3. 12th Street Riot, Detroit 1967: $289 million

4. Miami Riots, 1980: $181 million

5. 1968 Holy Week Uprising—Washington, D.C.: $158 million

6. New York City Blackout of 1977: $106 million

7. Newark Riots, 1967: $103 million

8. 1968 Holy Week Uprising, Baltimore: $92 million

9. 1968 Holy Week Uprising, Chicago: $86 million

10. 1968 Holy Week Uprising, New York City: $26 million

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-day-of-reckoning-is-nearly-at-hand.html

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Racism, Discrimination, Inequality, Judgment, or Bias - the Causes, Conditions, or Results of Something Worse?

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When it comes to judging racism in America, when did MSNBC and CNN become the custodians and enforcers of racial equality in America?  For a couple of news services who operate under FCC licenses from the government you would think they have assumed the role of the Justice Department and the Courts along with prosecutor and jury.

The cable news media in America has become the Kangaroo Court of First resort for select groups of citizens though it has no Constitutional basis for such actions, it is not part of the FCC license, and there is no liability for the volumes of lies they may broadcast in order to control or manufacture news.

The phrase "rush to judgment" means ignoring the judicial process and the Constitutional safeguards inherent in our system of justice.  Our Constitution requires such a process to protect people from the abuses of unregulated justice.  It also directs that a person is innocent until proven guilty by the judicial system.

We all know our judicial system is filled with legalese doubletalk and gobble de gook in order to intimidate the public, provide jobs to our law school grads, and overload the circuits of our news media.  In this way the innocent can be convicted, the guilty can be protected, and the lawyers can join the country club.

When you add to this already rather dismal system the mouthpieces and talking heads for every non-profit (most certainly including preachers and churches) dedicated to protecting the social interests of our citizens from the predator practices of our legal institutions (law enforcement),  manipulation by our financial institutions, and discrimination by everyone else, you have a recipe for sure failure.

So, we now have our politicians, preachers, prosecutors, and press, the latter the procrastinators and perpetrators of the news media whose very jobs, ratings, and profits depend on perpetuating pipe dreams on the public.  How many special interests does it take to protect the public interest?

Excuse me, does anyone besides me see a problem here?  Polls show people do not trust these groups.  Polls show people trust anyone but these groups to accomplish anything.  So, why are the people dependent on these same groups to protect them, advise them, or speak on their behalf?

Too many of these people operate under the old theory that if you don't like or can't stand the truth, then change it.  That ancient philosophy is what has kept civilization from getting beyond the Neanderthal age all these millennia.  Sometimes it seems we have more in common with such barbarian behavior than with what one might expect from the evolution of civilization.

In short, people are fed a steady stream of lies, distortion, or misinformation to keep us apart, distrustful of different races, hateful of other religions, suspicious of motives and to convince us anyone of any other color is out to take what you got.

So, here are a few truths that may help you penetrate the fog.  First about grand juries, everyone has an opinion about them but few speak the truth.  Here is part of what New York state law says about the grand jury process.

New York State

GRAND JUROR’S HANDBOOK

THE ROLE OF THE GRAND JURY IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

The grand jury is an arm of the court. It is not an agent of the prosecutor or the police. A grand jury does not decide whether or not a person has been proven guilty. That is the trial jury's job. The grand jury decides whether or not a person should be formally charged with a crime or other offense. The grand jury makes that decision based on evidence presented to it by the prosecutor, who also instructs the grand jury on the law. The grand jury's decision must be based on the evidence and on the law.

In general, the grand jury makes one of three decisions:

A. The grand jury may vote to formally accuse someone of a crime. This accusation is called an “indictment,” also known as a “bill” which is short for “bill of indictment.”

B. The grand jury may vote to dismiss the charges, also known as a “no-bill.”

C. The grand jury may direct the prosecutor to file an information accusing the person of an offense less serious than a felony.

There are also rare circumstances where a grand jury recommends that a case should be sent to Family Court or where the grand jury makes a report to the court.

WHY WE HAVE GRAND JURIES

The use of trial juries (also called petit juries) and grand juries goes back approximately 800 years. Beginning around 1215 A.D., both types of juries were used in England. The grand jury made the formal accusation, known as a “bill of indictment” or “presentment.” The trial jury decided whether the accusation was proven.

The grand jury is included in the United States Constitution and the New York State Constitution. In New York State, a person cannot be brought to trial for a felony unless that person has been indicted by a grand jury.

The grand jury has an awesome responsibility. It uses its power both as a sword and as a shield: a sword to accuse or indict those whom there is reason to believe have committed crimes; a shield to protect the innocent against unfounded accusations.

                      

Hum, a grand jury does not decide if a person is guilty or innocent.  A grand jury can be a sword or a shield to accuse or indict or to protect the innocent.  Don't hear many media or "experts" saying this, they just want a conviction which no grand jury can provide.

Personally, I think these tragic events taking place are not rampant racism smoldering below the surface of society but are more symptomatic of the unequal economic opportunity plaguing our nation.

First, why are cops involved in these incidents?  Are they are trying to stop criminal activity or are they enforcing stupid laws of the government.  In New York, the city and state wanted more tax revenue, so 60% of the cost of cigarettes is now taxes.  Imagine what would happen if you paid 60% of your income to corrupt governments.

Well the cigarette tax is like the gas tax, it don't care what your skin color may be or how much money you may have, it is the epitome of equality, the poor and the super rich pay exactly the same tax, even if the poor have no money, no jobs and no hope.

Therefore, unscrupulous people buy cigarettes out of state where governmental greed is not prevalent and bring them to the poor parts of town to sell them on the streets without the onerous taxes but for a fee.  Of course, the rich just send their jets to a country where there are no taxes on cigarettes to feed their addiction.

When the city needs more money to fund corruption they go after the citizens cheating on taxes and for the cost of lost cigarette tax a dead body lies on the ground.  Why did the government order the police to enforce tax collection?  Isn't that the job of tax collectors?

As for Ferguson, the entire city is trapped in economic despair, like so many parts of so many cities around the nation.  Abraham Lincoln once said all people were not equal, but all people must have equal opportunity.  They still don't.

However, unequal opportunity is not just a racial issue.  There are poor whites just like there are poor every other race.  Where poverty breeds there is attendant crime.  Those trapped in poverty are also trapped in an endless circle of crime which leads to hopelessness, which leads to envy, and then to revenge against those who have what the poor person does not have.

The effort to break the cycle of poverty has been one of very slow progress, dependent on many uncontrollable forces like the world economy, honesty in government officials, etc., etc.  The victims and the perpetrators of crimes are generally from the same race no matter what the professional mouthpieces tell you.

Contrary to what some of the mouthpieces have been saying to the media, the jails are not just filled with kids busted for petty possession of marijuana.  Many violent criminals are incarcerated, for victimizing their own people.

When our leaders get past pointing fingers and making judgment on people, and police are people too, then maybe we can get to the serious problem of creating economic opportunity, meaningful economic opportunity, and get on with solving our real problem of poverty for all races and genders.  Poverty, the underlying cause of economic inequality that results from lack of economic opportunity.  

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