Monday, July 30, 2018

The Newman Group: 'Think Before You Speak Because You Can't Hit Rewind, Mr. Trump'

Source: Presenting Yourself- What intelligent people believe 
Source: The New Democrat

I don't want to make this too much about Donald Trump. God knows ( if there is one ) that this blog has written about President Trump a lot the last couple of weeks ( not that we regret a single word ) but Donald Trump's brain ( which might be the most interesting human organ in the history of the universe ) is the perfect example of why thinking and intelligence is so critical in life and the most basic and powerful tool that we have and when we don't use them, we pay a heavy price for them.

Source: Linda Miles- Sound advice 
Similar to what can happen when you try to cross a street without looking, perhaps even trying that blindfolded and you get hit and when you finally decide to use your brain again ( assuming it's still there ) you realize how stupid you were and that if you just bothered to look before crossing, you're not lying in a hospital bed right now with a broken leg or whatever the injury or injuries that you have. Well, speaking without thinking with no thought put into it, can have similar and in some cases worst consequences not just for yourself, but for the people you hurt by saying stupid, nasty things to them without any thought put into what you said.

I don't pretend to be a psychologist and I'm not going to start now, but pre-2011 or so Donald Trump was famous for being a star on what's called reality TV, where thinking and preparation is discouraged and stupidity is celebrated where party's are thrown for it on every different show. Donald Trump has this reality TV/Charlie Sheen mentality of saying exactly what comes to his head at the very given moment, because he thinks it's funny and sounds cool. Sheen, was interviewed by ABC News's Diane Sawyer in early 2011, ( you might be able to YouTube it ) where she essentially asked him, "why do you say some of the things that you say?" With Sheen answering by saying, "because it sounds cool and is funny." Regardless of what the consequences come from saying what he's saying.

If you come from reality TV and celebrity culture period, appearance and being cool ( or as the young people say awesome ) is the most important tool that you can have. It's paramount to everything else that you can have going for your life including your relationships and even career. The cooler you are in Hollywood and in celebrity life in general, the more popular you'll be and the more money you'll be able to make. You might be too wild to work in movies or on TV, but you might get your own so-called reality TV show that will allow you keep working and making money when no other studio wants to work with you, because you're too wild and unprofessional, because you're so into being cool and popular at the given moment.

I realize being off the cuff has it's moments and place especially when it comes to humor and comedy and I have an off the cuff humor myself, but people even think when they're being off the cuff. They see someone or something that is silly at the given moment, analyze it with a wisecrack. Not as if they just see something or someone that looks stupid and just crack a joke immediately. We actually think thirst even for that short moment and then crack a joke about what we're seeing or hearing. If you're familiar with the great sitcom M*A*S*H, you know most of that show was based off of off the cuff humor but very smart off the cuff humor.

With Donald Trump, I believe saying a lot of the stupid stuff ( to be kind ) that he says has a lot to do with him trying to protect his image as a New York tough guy ( or some might say strongman ) and a lot of what he says has to do with his lack of popularity with the country as a whole and that he's always in trouble politically because he says or does something that makes him look bad politically and will say something controversial with no thought put into it and probably getting no advice on what he's about to say in order to distract people especially the media and get them to focus on his latest controversy instead and appeal to the 40% of the country that still supports him and would probably vote for him again. Instead of just being human and admitting an obvious mistake.

Not saying that Donald Trump is an idiot, ( necessarily ) but what I'm saying here goes to my broader point that if Donald Trump was a thinking man ( not to be insulting but factual ) he wouldn't say a lot of the stuff, junk to be more accurate ( bullshit to be precise ) that he says because he would've bothered to spend a moment at thinking about the consequences of what he's about to say. "Do I really want to label a whole group of nations as shitholes, especially in Latin America, when I'm trying to get a broader immigration deal done with Congress, is that really the best play here?" And unfortunately that's just one example of our President Donald Trump speaking before thinking.

To be Frank ( and then later I'll be Joe or John, ha, ha ) asshole is one of my favorite words for two reasons. One, because it's the perfect way to describe a nasty person who enjoys putting people down especially if they feel superior. Two, if you're familiar with the expression speaking out of your ass, well then you know what an asshole is. A short way of describing people who speak about things that are not true. Or to paraphrase President Ronald Reagan, "they know so much that is not true." Someone who speaks before they think to put it simply and speaks about things they're not familiar with as if they're experts on that subject.

The best way to move in life is with your brain. Learn about things that you're interested in before you give long statements about it so people who listen to you know that you know what you're talking about. The opposites of asshole I believe are kindhearted and intelligence. People who treat others the way they want to be treated, or at least treat good intelligent people the way they want to be treated and who know what they're talking about because they've took two seconds to think about what they're saying before they say it and have studied and worked in the subjects that they speak about. The opposites of your typical reality TV star.
Source: Avik Roy: Jonathan Gruber- 'Americans Too Stupid To Understand ObamaCare'- On ObamaCare and health cate in general 

Monday, July 23, 2018

The Economist: When Donald Trump Met Vladimir Putin- Cartooned

Source: The Economist- Don & Vlad, meeting in Helsinki 
Source: The New Democrat

I think a better name for the Trump-Putin Summit in Helsinki could be, "When Republicans go Hippie" or, "When Republicans Became Idealistic, Utopian, Hippies", with the subtitle being, "Give Peace a Chance." I can just see what would've happened if let's say, gee I don't know George McGovern, Ted Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich from back in the day, took this approach with any dictator whether the dictator was a rightist like Vladimir Putin's case or a leftist like Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela, the Republican Party would have a nationalist freakout calling any of those Democrats American traitors and appeasers who should be locked up, the American Neville Chamberlain. ( Sorry for the Chamberlain reference, if you're not familiar or knowledgeable about history )

Source: The Economist- Vladimir Putin, trying to hold back a smirk or laughter at Donald Trump 
Not saying all Republicans now sound like they're idealistic, utopian, hippies, who'll be calling for the end of racism, war, hunger, and poverty, not just in America, but around the world tomorrow. Not all Republicans today talk like they live on marijuana farms who only live there for the free pot and not to sell it, just saying too many of them do. Just saying too many Republicans, would like to go back or visit for the first time the late 1960s and live in San Francisco and be around other people who believe everything that is bad about the world can be eliminated if people just want and campaign for it.

Source: Issuu- Donald Trump & Vladimir Putin, more than a bromance at this point 
Some Republicans have stayed home and missed the last spaceship flight to Planet Utopia and are not only still in touch with the real world and don't just have relatives, friends, and colleagues on Planet Earth, but physically and mentally still live here. Like Senator's Flake, Corker, McCain, Graham, Rubio, even Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as plenty of House Republicans like Ed Royce and others including the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Just saying too many Republicans have taken the Trump flight to Utopia when it comes to President Trump, President Putin and Russia.

And because of President Donald Trump's attitude and what seems to look like an admiration if not friendship for just Vladimir Putin, but other dictators like Kim Jung-Un from the Communist Republic of Korea, he becomes a national joke and target for comedians including cartoonists over at The Economist. People who normally live in the real world both physically and mentally, but make fun of people who vacation on other planets that look and sound nothing like Planet Earth. Whatever you think of President Donald Trump, gotta admit that he's great for comedy about himself.

Which just goes to show you that whatever touch and feel that Donald Trump may have had when he was running for President this natural feel for how voters feel about him and feel in general, he doesn't seem to have much of that as President Trump. And makes big decisions like this like appeasing a Russian dictator believing it will play very well for him politically, instead of blowing up in his face like a guy pumping gas while he's having a smoke at the same time. ( What could possible go wrong? ) And in this sense President Trump, is starting to sound and act like President Jimmy Carter without President Carter's intelligence, experience, character, as someone who doesn't have much of a feel about American politics as far as how Americans feel about what's he's doing and about him personally.
The Economist: Donald Trump & Vladimir Putin- Cartooned

Monday, July 16, 2018

The Washington Post: Elizabeth Bruenig: 'This Is Not Your Grandfather's Concept of Socialism'

Source: The Washington Post- U.S. House candidate Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, (Democratic Socialist, New York)
Source:The New Democrat 

"After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's primary win, columnist Elizabeth Bruenig explains why democratic socialism is taking off... 

Source: Washington Free Beacon- U.S. House candidate Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Democratic Socialist, New York
From The Washington Post


Source: Politico- U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic Socialist, Socialist Republic of Vermont 

Elizabeth Bruenig, is right that what's called democratic socialism or social democracy, is not let's just say it, which is communism. The authoritarian-totalitarian wing of socialism. 

Britain and Sweden, are not North Korea or Cuba, so let's just put all that into the record and evidence on the table, but that's not my main point here. Where I disagree with Liz Bruenig, has to do with where she argues that democratic socialism/social democracy works well in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, it would automatically work in America. That if we just replaced our federal form of government, our federal republic and replace it with a unitarian big centralized formed of government with a British or Scandinavian, or Anglo or Nordic welfare state, that would automatically work in America, since to works in Britain and Scandinavia. That is where she's wrong.

It would be like arguing that since America has this liberal capitalist economic system that has produced the largest economy in the world where we're the only country in the world with at least a 100 million people or more with a per-capita income of 50,000 dollars and one of two countries in the world with at least a 100 million people with a per-capita income of 30,000 dollars or more (Japan being the other) that Britain and Scandinavia, should scrap their democratic socialist models and replace it with a decentralized form of government and a liberal capitalist system, where the people there would have a lot of responsibility, but freedom as well to manage their economic and personal affairs.

We're not a wealthy country, or a wealthy big country, a wealthy large country, we're a wealthy huge country. Whatever you want to say about China, America's per-capita income and living standards are still about eight times greater than China's. Even when China's economy passes America's as the largest in the world, China will still be a developing country where the only people who are doing well in China economically are people who live in their biggest cities, with everyone else in the country and that would be hundreds of millions of people in China living under third-world living conditions.

A big part of the discussion that Democratic Socialists like Senator Bernie Sanders and his followers in and outside of government in America like to leave out or just leave out whether they're aware of it or not, is that the countries they like to point to as having high living standards under a democratic socialist system, is with Sweden, Norway, and Finland, have very small populations. 5-10 million, with large pieces of land. 

Sweden and Finland, are about the size of Turkey physically with a about 1-10th the population. Turkey is a large country with about 75 million people, similar to Iran. And Nordic countries are all large energy producers, oil and gas. Scandinavia, has a democratic socialist economic system, because they can afford it. Lots of money with very people to take care of. Very similar to how the Saudi Kingdom operates in Arabia.

So, if Democratic Socialists really want to scrap the American form of government with our federal system and replace it with a democratic socialist unitarian form of government with a socialist welfare state, maybe they should be pushing to get America off of foreign energy all together and making us completely energy independent. Getting us off foreign oil and gas altogether and producing American alternative energy like solar, but also more American traditional energy like nuclear, oil and gas. Bringing in the financial resources that it would take to fund this big socialist welfare state without having to tax Americans and American businesses to the point that it would make it very difficult to work or run a business in America, because of all the taxes that we would have to pay for Welfare.

Monday, July 9, 2018

Thames TV: Looks Familiar With Denis Norden- Diana Dors, Larry Grayson & Farley Granger: From 1982

Source:Thames TV- Farley Granger, Larry Grayson & Diana Dors, in 1982.
Source:The New Democrat

"Clips taken from Thames TV's 'Looks familiar'  featuring actors Farley Granger, Diana Dors and comedian Larry Grayson. In these segments the stars talk about their favorite films and what they thought of Hollywood.
First shown: 26/04/1982."

Source:IOffer- English Muffin Diana Dors, this is your life.
From Thames TV

Speaking of Hollywood parties which is what they're talking about here: there was a famous Hollywood party involving Diana Dors and her then husband Dennis Hamilton, who sort of acted as Diana's agent back in the 1950s. Diana Dors and actor Rod Steiger, worked in the Hollywood movie The Unholy Wife from 1956 and her husband Dennis and Teasy-Weasy Raymond ( no joke, that's the real name ) put together a launch party for The Unholy Wife at Raymond's Hollywood home in 1956. A lot of great Hollywood people were there including Doris Day, Lana Turner, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ginger Rogers, and many others, as well as Diana Dors who was just getting her start in Hollywood.
Source:IOffer- English Muffin Diana Dors, this is your life.

From Wikipedia

It was very crowded around the pool and Diana and her husband and others, got pushed in the pool. Hamilton not being the ready for prime-time player that he was, the man wasn't even a Hollywood agent and was sort of Hollywood's version of an assistant tennis pro who survived only on his ability to get wealthy women like Diana to help him and take care of him. The man was a career amateur who thought more of himself than he ever was, gets up out of the pool and decks a photographer that was covering this scene. Hamilton and his adorable, gorgeous wife Diana, naturally are kicked out of the party and by all intents and purposes are kicked out of Hollywood.

But Diana goes back to England and is pretty much never heard from again in Hollywood, which was fine with her but a huge loss for the American movie and entertainment audience that would've loved to have her working her for the next 30 plus years. Because she really was a great entertainer and not just great to look at. A helluva actress, who was very funny and was a very good singer as well, but other than Richard Dawson had a bad habit of marrying men who couldn't take care of themselves and were very needy and lacking in ability and needed her to take care of them.

Who knows, had Diana left her husband with a babysitter and went to the party by herself that night, that scene with her and others getting dumped in the pool accidentally might have still happened, the difference being that Diana was a pro and grownup ( unlike her husband Dennis Hamilton ) and would've handled it professionally and got out of the water and there would've been people there to help her dry off and sent to a bedroom to change and everything else and life would've moved on and perhaps Diana Dors has a great career in Hollywood, instead of a very short but memorable career. But this is one of those things that we'll just never know.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Leathered Life: 'Sarah and The Girls- in Miss Sixty Black Leather Jeans'

Source:Leathered Life- Leathered Life Sexy blonde, in Miss Sixty leather jeans.
Source:The Action Blog

"Sarah and the girls in Miss Sixty leather pants." Originally from Leathered Life.

Sarah is one of the baby models (as I call her) over at Leathered Life. She's absolutely adorable like a little girl, but she looks great in black leather jeans, with tight round bootie, and nice legs. 

Source:Leathered Life- Leathered Life Model Sarah.  
The first 10-20 seconds of this video with the sexy, baby-faced blonde, is the only part of this video that I'm interested. Gorgeous, sexy, baby-face blonde, in these tight Miss Sixty leather jeans, with her big round butt almost looking she's sticking her big bootie into the camera and asking the cameraman ( or woman ) to touch her big butt or something. And then they show a bunch on women in leather leggings, which I'm just not into.

Similar to denim when it comes to leather pants on women, I'm only interested in jeans. Not leggings or trousers. Leather leggings or denim leggings, look like something women would wear to the gym. But if you really want to know what a woman's legs look like and what kind of body she has, check her out in skin-tight jeans whether they're denim or in this sexy blonde's case's Miss Sixty black leather jeans, with a tank top and boots, who is very proud of her body and perhaps even wants people to check her out. 

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