Revolutions need a spark to begin.
Tonight, I take one revolutionary step.
For several decades, I’ve collected volumes of historic coins and stamps. Especially coins.
I was honored to receive the Abraham Lincoln coin. And the F.D.R. coin, too. Those people were giants. We were blessed to have them occupy The White House at a critical time in our nation’s history.
I was delighted with the shipments that brought me gold coins commemorating the terms of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. That Washington refused the opportunity to become our first king — and Jefferson’s poetry inspired humanity to champion our cause — must balance out their antebellum slave-holding sins.
Opening the packages that contained the coins honoring Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter and Obama filled me with pride and patriotism. Promise, intelligence, optimism, compassion and forward thinking were the hallmarks of their terms. I smiled as I slid each of them into their plastic page covers and snapped them into my binder.
Along the way, I endured drunken, racist Andrew Johnson, hapless Herbert Hoover, and Dick Cheney/George W. Bush. I had no problem with my Ronald Reagan coin, even though I believe he was a malevolent influence on our body politic.
Then – today – a package arrived with a Donald J. Trump Presidential coin.
No way. I can’t accept a Trump presidential coin.
I didn’t vote for him – and I don’t want him. He’s a menace to the nation we all profess to love.
So, I sent this note to the coin folks…
It made me feel better. And it may affect someone on the other end.
As I said — a revolution needs a spark to begin.
This Tuesday, Election Day, get out and vote.
If you’re a woman, please — have you been listening to Trump? Vote for Hillary.
If you’re Latino, vote for Hillary in droves. He has made you and your parents his scapegoat.
If you call yourself a Christian, vote for Hillary. How many of The Beatitudes would Donald Trump agree with? Can you image Trump saying, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth?”
If you’re sane…
I’m reading some pretty shocking stuff today. Bombshell stuff. People are saying that Donald Trump just might be a Russian agent – and that he has a secret E-mail server communicating with Russia.
I’m not saying that Trump’s a Russian agent – but people are saying it. And I’ve seen it in writing, too.
So, there you go folks. It looks like Trump is a Russian agent with ties to Russian hackers. He’s probably doing Putin’s bidding because he owes a lot of money to Russian oligarchs. I mean, I’m not saying it – but I’m hearing people say it – and people are writing about it.
But now that Donald Trump sees the writing on the wall (and the polls), his destructive attack on the integrity of the American election process itself leaves his Veep pick with no other way to save his dignity, credibility and reputation than to jettison the flame-throwing narcissistic demagogue at the top of the ticket.
Mike Pence says he’s a follower of Jesus Christ. What is there in the four Gospels that give any indication that the Prince of Peace would approve of Donald J. Trump? Not a thing. Re-read the Sermon on the Mount – especially the Beatitudes. Nowhere does Jesus say, “Blessed are the whining sore losers, for theirs is the right to torch the landscape in their wake.”
In 1960, when Richard Nixon lost by the thinnest of whiskers to John F. Kennedy, even the man who would become infamous for campaign “dirty tricks” and Watergate respected the vote of the American people, despite unproven claims of election fraud in Illinois and West Virginia.
And now comes Donald Trump. He’s not even waiting for his eventual (and much deserved) defeat to cast doubt on the fairness of our American democracy.
Trump indicts the dishonest media for its part in rigging the election against him. Really? Is that what FOX, CNN and MSNBC were doing for a solid year when they covered just about every one of his rallies from start to finish? When they would put Hillary or Bernie Sanders in a little box in the corner of the frame while The Donald held court full screen? The truth is that the cable news networks were major enablers of Trump’s candidacy.
And that’s why Mike Pence – who surely knows better – must take a stand by standing down.
Finally. Finally.
Those of us who have spent too much of the past year screaming at our television as a prostrate press allowed The Donald to spew lies, damned lies and bogus statistics are heartened to see that fact-checking Trump has recently become the latest journalistic fad.
It was when Trump embarrassed the media by suckering them into flocking to his newest hotel on September 16. The Trump campaign promised a press conference to clear the air after The Donald’s disastrous refusal to acknowledge Obama’s citizenship in an interview with The Washington Post.
Instead, they all devoted precious airtime to what turned out to be an extended promotional event for Trump’s newly opened luxury hotel in Washington, plus a string of testimonials from a collection of retired military figures –followed by a few words from Trump on the birther issue.
This is one of the few times I’ve ever posted an article written by someone other than yours truly – but today’s Newsweek takedown of Donald Trump must be trumpeted (sorry for the pun) far and wide.
The Trump Organization is not like the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the charitable enterprise that has been the subject of intense scrutiny about possible conflicts for the Democratic presidential nominee. There are allegations that Hillary Clinton bestowed benefits on contributors to the foundation in some sort of “pay to play” scandal when she was secretary of state, but that makes no sense because there was no “pay.” Money contributed to the foundation was publicly disclosed and went to charitable efforts, such as fighting neglected tropical diseases that infect as many as a billion people. The financials audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the global independent accounting company, and the foundation’s tax filings show that about 90 percent of the money it raised went to its charitable programs. (Trump surrogates have falsely claimed that it was only 10 percent and that the rest was used as a Clinton “slush fund.”) No member of the Clinton family received any cash from the foundation, nor did it finance any political campaigns. In fact, like the Clintons, almost the entire board of directors works for free.
Are you listening, corporate news media? Are you ready now to make Trump and his surrogates answer the tough questions? Not about his silly circus sideshow with Dr. Oz – but the far more important questions raised by Newsweek.
Paul's Voyage of Discovery & Etc. 
Too Little Too Late, Mr. Birther!
And then let’s hear him tell us what the hell this nonsense (or pack of shameless lies) was all about 5 years ago:
(CNN) Possibly-serious Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is giving few details about the investigation he claims to have launched in Hawaii to get to the bottom of where President Obama was born, but the business mogul told CNN Thursday Americans will be “very surprised” by what he has found.
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C’mon mass media! Don’t let Trump skate on this one. What specific “interesting things” did he find out about Obama’s citizenship five years ago?
Trump said all this crap.
The media must get Trump to say that Obama is a citizen with his own lips – and then ask the follow-up questions.
Make Trump back all his old statements up.
Or admit it was all a lie.
I’m talking to you, Wolf Blitzer, Brian Williams, Lester Holt, Anderson Cooper, Andrea Mitchell – and maybe, just maybe, the last honest journalists on FOX News.
Hoist the Great Orange Demagogue by his own petard.
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Filed under History, Politics, Random Commentary, Truth
Tagged as 2016 Presidential Election, birtherism, citizenship, Democrat, Donald Trump, Election 2016, GOP, Hillary, Hillary Clinton, President Obama, Trump