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eniwetok

eniwetok's Journal
eniwetok's Journal
December 28, 2016

Trump is intellectually incapable of reflecting on his own pathological narcissism.

One might think that no matter how emotionally immature and intellectually dishonest someone was... that on becoming president... with all the awesome power associated with that position... they MIGHT have some self-doubt that they're not god's gift to mankind... and they are not infallible.

But not Trump. We see his pathological immaturity unfiltered in his Tweets.

Trump is intellectually incapable of reflecting on his own narcissism and delusions of grandeur and infallibility. On some level he believes he's owed this position because, he alone, has all the answers. He has no need for self-doubt if he believes everyone else is wrong.

Dems and the public must NEVER relent on pushing the mental health issue. We may have new president who's not just stupid, not just a pathological narcissist, but a true sociopath.

December 28, 2016

are the archived threads still available?

Digging back into the past DU once had all its archived threads available. And now with 74 million+ posts, that's quite an archive...

So are all these old posts still available? For instance this index page http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/archives.php?date=2005x2x11 has link to posts of that era... but I only get an error that the forum is off line.

December 28, 2016

What happened to the DU wiki?

It was started early Dec 2004... is it still around? I can't find it.

As I remember it was to be a political wiki, a political encyclopedia of sorts. It wasn't fully connected to the main site when it started. We needed separate logins.

December 27, 2016

CONTEST: The Anti-Trump Bumper sticker contest

Of course this isn't a real contest. But I do have a hope that if some killer idea is conjured up, DU might consider selling bumper stickers as a fund raiser.

In another thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028387633 I was looking for some snappy nickname we could bestow on the new Child King* that captured both Trump's pompous immaturity and the fact he was trounced in the election... something that would make a great bumper sticker, would get under Trump's skin and just bring out more of his uncontrollable tantrums.

I can't think of any nickname or slogan that accomplishes both. Can you?

(*Can anyone see a satirical children's book about Donald The Child King?)

December 27, 2016

Dems Need To FINALLY Go For The Jugular...

I'm sick and tired of Dems pulling their punches. It's been 35 years since the GOP implemented their Starve The Beast strategy... to create massive deficits and debt and then use that debt as a pretense to weaken of dismantle New Deal or Great Society programs the far right has always loathed. Yet despite being beat up as tax and spenders... the Dems never made a concerted effort to call the GOP motives into question... even if Starve The Beast poses an existential threat to Dem legacy programs.

And just WHY did the GOP go from 80% of GOP senators co-sponsoring health care reform bills with individual mandates back in 1993... to do a 180 and since then only propose heath savings accounts, tort reforms, and more interstate "competition"? Why was the GOP so adamant against the ACA even if it essentially was the GOP approach? Why aren't the Dems saying the GOP would rather let people die than give Obama credit? Or that they are so concerned about their "brand" they'd rather let people die than let government work for the American People?

And WHY didn't Hillary try to educate the people on how justices like Scalia were undermining the Constitution for political purposes? The Right loved this clown because he was undermining the key protection of individual rights... the Ninth Amendment. Once Scalia negated the Ninth, the right could turn our system into one where government automatically had the power to limit rights the social conservatives disapproved of... while saying people then had to create those rights legislatively. THAT'S NOT IN THE CONSTITUTION! SO why FT have Dems never said this over and over and over the past 35 years?

Dems need to put some teeth into their arguments, take their gloves off, and go for the jugular.

December 24, 2016

The Insanity Of Capital Gains Tax Breaks...

Those making their money off capital gains live the life of Riley. All this income is exempt from payroll taxes which support the OASI and DI safety net... and if they are in the top income tax bracket, the tax rate is about half that of their "earned" income. As a tax expenditure, the CBO calculates that 90% of the tax breaks (I assume the income tax, not OASI DI) go to the top 10% and a full 70% go to the top 1%... which means other people pay more... or we steal from future taxpayers, to make up the difference.

December 24, 2016

Dems MUST demand Mental health and Tax Records on Trump...

What do we really know about Trump? There are old rumors of his use of amphetamines back in the 80s and 90s which may have led to his financial collapse around 1992. And his behavior on the campaign trail has similarly been erratic. Is Trump mentally fit to be president? No doubt many people feel he's mentally ill. Is there any mandatory mental health security screening for the presidency?

And we know next to nothing about his foreign business entanglements. How many of these arrangement pose a not just a conflict of interest, but a real security threat? What is the Trump/Putin connection?

We know the GOP will not raise any of these question. They need to protect Trump even if he's just a figurehead, to push through their agenda.

But where are the Dems on these issues? Why aren't they demanding these records... and if they have to have their own unofficial House or Senate hearings... so be it. If Dems can't stand up for something as vitally important as insuring we don't have a madman or one fatally compromised as president... who will?

December 23, 2016

Social Security Interest Rates... an insult to workers and the disabled.

Now before any hothead here says I have a secret agenda to privatize SS... they're dead wrong. I'm at retirement age... SS needs to be protected... and I would never want to see the thieves and sociopaths on Wall St get anywhere near SS money.

But those who aren't hotheads need to seriously look at these abysmal interest rates SS has been getting... and how that that affects the health of the trust fund.

Here are the monthly rates NEW money coming into the trust fund are getting

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/newIssueRates.html Some of these rates ARE BELOW INFLATION!

Here is are the average and effective rates

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/annualinterestrates.html

The interest rate is set by Congress... https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/intrateformula.html

There is something radically wrong when we're being taxed for our retirement etc... and there is no minimum floor beneath which these interest rates should fall. I think that should be at least a 4% minimum. And maybe we'd get more bang for the buck if this SS money were actually invested in our infrastructure where the improved efficiency of the economy could be taxed as income for the fund... something along the lines of Gore's lockbox. Just lending money to the government to get shit for interest is an insult to all those who depend on a healthy SS program.

So where TF are the Dems on this issue?




December 23, 2016

Trump: Just SHUT THE F*CK UP!

You've not yet been installed as president and imposed on the nation that REJECTED you.

So please shut the f*ck up and stop trying to steal the limelight and interfering with the work of REAL president already in office.

December 22, 2016

Bernie On NPR "On Point"... link to podcast here

Sorry for the short notice

http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2016/12/22/future-democratic-party-trump

Listen live now... or to the podcast later

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Gender: Do not display
Hometown: Spiritual home: the rocky Maine coast
Member since: Sun Mar 27, 2016, 07:06 PM
Number of posts: 1,629

About eniwetok

Greetings... what can I say? I'm an old time hippie and anti-war activist from the 60's. I was radicalized then and have always remained political. One's politics can have different aspects. Economically I'm an FDR liberal. Socially I believe in the Ninth Amendment that government has no legitimate power to limit some rights such as responsible drug use, the right to choose, or one's sexual behavior. Politically I'm to the left of the Democratic Party. Why? Over the years I realized the focus of activists should not be stamping out brush fires and putting band-aids on problems. The effort must always be to keep in mind the root of most of our problems such as wealth inequality, growing corporate power, voter apathy, climate change, etc... is an electoral system that is incapable of measuring the popular will and a political system that is incapable of implementing it. Sadly, the Democratic Party seems to need a push to find a greater appreciation for... and to work towards, implementing common sense democratic reforms to both those electoral and political systems.
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