Just when Trump needs another excuse to fire sessions.

Think about it. Even Dana Bash (R- CNN) had the same observation.

boycott Indonesia too? Say they were killing whales as Japan does? Since that country has the highest population of Muslims (209.1 million), could that not be construed as religious discrimination?

Some countries have some horrible policies. Without boycotts how can we oppose those policies as private citizens and businesses?

Citizens should be able to boycott policies not based on racism or religious discrimination. And this should be applicable to Israeli *policies*. Left leaning J Street has opinions on this as they oppose many of Israel's rightwing policies.

Googling and found this:
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/11/1619079/-Comparing-Presidential-Administrations-by-Arrests-and-Convictions-A-Warning-for-Trump-Appointees

And
Corruption By The Numbers: Republicans Versus Democrats
http://www.peacock-panache.com/2017/07/corruption-republicans-democrats-31686.html

And
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_federal_politicians_convicted_of_crimes

There is no doubt that rethugs are more corrupt, not that there were before.


K & R for the OP!

and you'll be convinced that he has some serious and "very" progressive form of dementia. His mental acuity and vocabulary used to be significantly better, not to say that he was ever intelligent enough to be President.

Wish I could remember the news program that played several clips but my dementia is acting up a bit.

If they could think for themselves, independently of peers, it would work. But most of them live and breathe cult-thinking.

Many years ago I tried to convert my racist, fundamentalist mother into being a more compassionate, less judgemental person using buybull verses. She wouldn't listen to her atheist daughter. She has to hear this from the pulpit and from her churchie peers, i.e. her cult. And there's not a snowball's chance of that happening.

Back during Shrub's reign, I embarked on a letter writing campaign to church preachers in the South hoping I could get thru to them, using buybull verses and all the tact I could muster. Heard back from only one church: "Don't bother us any more." They are just closed assholes.

I am not saying folks shouldn't try - we must! There are likely to be folks who can be reached.
So... for a great post, Calimary!

"Conservative moral values arise from what I call the Strict Father Family.

In this family model, father knows best. He decides right and wrong. He has the ultimate authority to make sure his children and his spouse do what he says, because what he says is right. Many conservative spouses accept this worldview, uphold the father’s authority, and are strict in those realms of family life that they control.
....

What if they don’t prosper? That means they are not disciplined, and therefore cannot be moral, and so deserve their poverty. In this conservative view, the poor are seen as lazy and undeserving while the rich deserve their wealth. Responsibility is thus taken to be personal responsibility, not social responsibility. What you become is only up to you, not society. You are responsible for yourself, not for others.

The Conservative Moral Hierarchy

The strict father logic extends further. The basic idea is that authority is justified by morality (the strict father version), and that, in a world ordered by nature, there should be (and traditionally has been) a moral hierarchy in which those who have traditionally dominated should dominate.

Why do conservatives love Trump (who harms them) and hate healthcare (which helps them)? It makes more sense when you consider the conservative moral hierarcy.

The Conservative Moral Hierarchy:
• God above Man
• Man above Nature
• The Disciplined (Strong) above the Undisciplined (Weak)
• The Rich above the Poor
• Employers above Employees
• Adults above Children
• Western culture above other cultures
• America above other countries
• Men above Women
• Whites above Nonwhites
• Christians above non-Christians
• Straights above Gays

Sound familiar?

On the whole, conservative policies flow from the Strict Father worldview and this hierarchy. Trump is an extreme case (he wants to be the ultimate strict father), though very much in line with conservative policies of the Republican party.


Much more...

https://georgelakoff.com/2017/07/01/two-questions-about-trump-and-republicans-that-stump-progressives/

Doesn't this sound EXACTLY like what is preached in conservative churches?

I do not care if they're related or not. Why should relatives get a pass on this? There are usually other signs these folks lack the ability to make objective decisions.

After my 92yo mother dies, I'll never see my brother and his dumbass wife again. They have stretched my tolerance in so many ways.

Gullible, gullible, gullible is right.

Republicans have the formula: throw out religious words and platitudes, along with the cut taxes meme and a big dash of racism, and you've got their votes.

My first yellow Lab (my heart) raised 2 (unrelated) baby kittens like this. There was such a bond between them. All 3 were the most wonderful, joyful people I've even known. One of the kittens loved car rides and one would retrieve paper balls all day long. Endless fun at our house during those precious times.
Now, they're all gone.
After 35 yrs, I still grieve.





One of the kittens lived to be 20yo!!! And she never met a dog she didn't like.

Late night, speeding down the interstate and a deer pops out in front of me. I couldn't avoid him so BAMN, I hit the poor deer. He was big enough to make my small car do a 360 in the road and crash sideways down an embankment and into some trees. During the 5 (?) second process, I was yelling "fuck...shit." Car was totalled. I blamed myself for speeding (80-85). Hubs and I were poor then and didn't have comprehensive insurance. I only sustained major bruising - I was damn lucky.

It changed my nighttime driving habits - I realized I could've been killed.

Then there's the anaphylactic shock. I was swollen so badly everywhere - even my ear lobes were swollen. I've MAJOR allergies. I must've looked like a circus freak being rolled into the ER. Everyone was staring. I had to stay overnight and have an oxygen feed and an IV drip. I felt vulnerable for years until, with the help of an allergist, I figured out the substance I'm deathly allergic to: plain old Neosporin. Weird, uh?!

We all seem to walk around for years and then, suddenly, we realize just how vulnerable we humans beings actually are.

I usually just mumble "fuck...shit" or "fucking hell" when feeling that threatened.

Btw, people often say to us atheists, "just wait until you're facing death." Well, that's garbage. Twirling around in that car and then, years later lying on a hospital gurney trying to get my breath, I knew I could possibly die. I never once thought of begging god.