I am an 85 year old who has been through many conflicts in life....but have never before seen such dis-array, confusion, and outright hatred around our country. Any person that would say that your article "Time to use your brain" is nonsense ...and not well reasoned ...exemplifies the decline of common sense. As the Roman Empire slowly faded away from internal decay....our modern society seems to be on a fast track , heading in the same direction. And I say...God help us!
Bravo! Those who persist in the belief in the natural origins of the Covid virus, the Clinton paid for Russia hoax, the murder of George Floyd and other Democrat delusions, suffer from what my father called “ indomitable ignorance.” I call it willful blindness. It reflects loyalty to an evil ideology and fantasy thinking. We live in a world where a battle is raging between good and evil, God and Satan. To quote my new friend, General Michael Flynn, on his opinion on the book of Revelation, “ things are bad now, they are going to get worse. God wins!”
Paul A: DO YOU EVER WONDER WHY SO MANY OF TRUMP’S lawyers, hired help, appointed people ….so many….ended up insulting and vilifying him for the same gross flaws we Democrats can so see in him? Don’t you notice how many of his former lawyers and so-called friends ended up in jail or lost their licenses?
Doesnt this give you a clue to his flawed self-serving character? It’s not a battle of good and evil. The battle is between honesty and fact-deniers. The truth is in the facts which dishonest people will not accept.
FACT: Trump is not fit to be President of our Democracy. It is as plain as his ugly face, his fat belly and his lies, Lies, Lies.
Our survival as a nation is threatened by its divion. If we fight over the personalities of our political candidates while ignoring their policy we shall fail to the detriment of all. I hear objections to Biden largely based on policy failure. I hear objections to Trump to be largely vague objections to him personally without reference to objectionable policy. Nancy Freeman, who frequently shares her opinions here, is a fine example of of a person harboring intense hatred of Trump the man but has failed to explain how his presidency was bad for America and not worthy of a second term. And half of this country thinks exactly as Nancy. Never thought I would live to see the day.
Jeff….which rock were you living under while trump was in the Oval Office…..some say he got in with the inadvertent help of Comey and the planned help of the Russians…..let’s assume none of that is valid. I will admit, unlike others, I do not have the time or energy or skill to check THAT IDEA out, but regarding his Presidency…he advocated drinking bleach to cure Covid, he alienated most of the men he had appointed, he gave the already rich a break on their taxes, did nothing for the working people of this country, BUT….HE STARTING AN F…ING INSURRECTION. REFUSES AS OF TODAY TO ACCEPT THE WILL OF AMERICAN VOTERS. PEOPLE DIED ON JUNE 6. . HE ADVOCATED HANGING MIKE PENCE……HE LIED ABOUT THE VALUE OF HIS PROPERTY….HE FAILED TO PAY TAXES…that means he cheated you and me…..HE ABUSED WOMEN….PAID MONEY TO KEEP HIDING THE TRUTH ABOUT MONEY HE PAID HIS ONE NIGHT. STAND .HE HID ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR FROM THE VOTERS.
OUR AMERICAN LAWS JUST CONVICTED HIM. DO YOU NOT BELIEVE IN OUR LAWS?
HE DEMONSTRATED OVER AND OVER THROUGH HIS VILE LANGUAGE THAT HE HATES BLACKS, MEXICANS, AND OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS.
YES, I think he is a flawed person, rather stupid, self serving, wants to be a Dictator…..WHY IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE, TRUTH AND BEAUTY DO YOU NOT HATE HIM……HE IS NOT FIT TO RUN OUR COUNTRY. He has demonstrated that in every way POSSIBLE. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU REPUBLICANS THAT YOU CAN. NOT SEE THAT?
Mr. Barton , that simplistic reply is neither funny or smart.
In addition to Ms Freeman’s list of Trumps deep character flaws , none of which you try to repudiate, we should add Trumps 4 year run up of our debt by $4 trillion bucks. Why is that whitewashed when deficit spending has been the GOP axe grinding issue since forever.
I’m afraid that you and Mr. Schulte are strangely too willing to look past Trumps terminal character flaws.
Those flaws and his willingness to abandon our allies to support the likes of Putin are a serious detriment to our standing as a nation.
Nancy Pelosi's House ran up the trillion "covid" debts, since it was Democrats who ran up the "covid hysteria" for their own political gain. How short is your memory.
Plus the biggest debt burden lands squarely on Biden in his past four years of "covid overkill" and the Bigpharm "covid vaccine sell out, along with his inflationary " trillion dollar Inflation Reduction free for alls.
Not to mention his four years of ruinous Open Borders giveaways, his totally failed, money sucking "green agenda" along with his endless war Ukraine support , college debt forgiveness schemes, and not even touching his BigGovernment expansions and underfunding their future obligatory benefits short-falls.
Why are you still claiming Trump ran up this "covid" debt when it was Democrats screaming he was killing granny if he did not close everything down. That dog don't hunt no more. What else have you got?
WHAAATTT? I think trump DOES HAVE THE SUPPORT OF LEMMINGS; I.e., dummies. Uneducated, unsophisticated, unread, poor, addicted, feeling unseen, probably unwell…..a bit like you Brian. What school you went?
The ONLY other group of trumpers are the ones who are greedy for money, like trump himself.
Trump's friends have also been subjected to partisan Democrat lawfare and heavy handed DOJ extortion tactics, all on record. Why are you still getting only one side of these current events, Nancy? This blunts your oft-repeated demands you want to hear from the other side. No one is going to spoon feed you, so you need to explore this on your own. What new media resources have you added to you own collection since you started posting here?
JL. I CANT FIND ANY EVIDENCE OF “ partisan Democratic law fare ….etc”. I guess you can’t either or you would be quoting it here. Making empty statements like Fox does is easy. Are you aware they have paid millions for lying about Dominion. Machines being rigged? And fired Tucker ? And had 2 sexual abusers as top a-holes working there, abusing the female workers? Yet this is the station Republicans quote. THIS IS THE STATION THAT LETS TRUMP LIE TO ALL THE DEPLORABLES WHO TUNE IN FOR HOURS….is it any wonder you are all filled with crappy so-call INformation? It is NOT information; it is NOT real….wake up or we will become another Russia where Putin is entering his 26th year of leadership. THATS WHAT TRUMP WANTS FOR HIMSELF.
Well Nancy, at least you have moved us from being Montecito elite classists, back into being Trump deplorables. I guess that is progress.
Are you an elf on the shelf monitoring my alleged TV time, when we don't even turn the thing on except to watch The Great Courses? And never watch "news" on the visual medium in the first place. That is infotainment; not news.
It is fascinating to figure out why Trump triggers such zeal and vitriol in you. Keep peeling away your layers, we may get to the bottom of it. And it will be helpful for the 2024 campaign. I think you speak for a lot of very rabid TDS Democrats, so it is a worthy pursuit.
NB: Notice this same technique now from several new posters - If I can't find proof, or refuse to look for the proof and you refuse to provide me proof on demand ....what you say is a lie. '"Proof prostitutes" plying their trade.
Do I ever wonder why Trump and his supporters end up being accused and/or convicted of so many crimes?
No more or less than I wonder why every story about WW2 told by Americans tends to portray axis powers as evildoers hellbent on world domination who attacked us unprovoked.
In other words, to the victor go the spoils (as well as control of historical narratives)
Did you read the Biden diary, the one that was indeed authentic. The daughter goes into detail about Joe taking showers with her.
How about the laptop, that is real, admitted by the FBI.
Whose cocaine was in the library? The building with the most security & cameras in the country. In the residence area. FBI admitted there was DNA evidence in the baggie, but oops they lost it.
Do you still think Biden was top of his graduating class? Or that he was a truck driver?
Biden paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault.
Do you agree with Biden and Democrats calling the voters names?
Trump does not call voters names, he calls politicians and individual blatant liars names. Biden attacks the voters, the American people.
Did you know that Biden and Obama swore an oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution. Then why do they openly attack the first & second amendment?
Biden called Gays a national security risk in 2015.
Shall we keep going with the career politician who owns millions of dollars in real estate on a government salary?
I’m sure the $8 million he was paid for spilling classified secrets to his ghost writer helped pay for those. No he was not a president and not entitled to have that information in his home. Listen to Biden’s own testimony from the special councils recorded interview.
Can you tell us one thing he has said that was true?
Actually Biden said he viewed homosexuals working for the federal government as "security risks," in 1973. And Trump calls voters names all the time - just not his voters. And can you elabroate one why that computer - let's just say it's Hunters - is important? And what was found on it?
Lap top for a few reasons, first it shows they lie and deny and that they got 50 intelligence officials to lie when they signed stating the lap top was not Hunters. Corruption?
Secondly voters said if they knew it would have changed their vote.
Just like Biden’s classified documents discovered months prior to the mid term election that they hid from the public. Big distinctions Biden was a Senator and VP and not President. Only the President has the authority to remove classified documents from the skif. Next Biden’s classified documents were on the garage floor, in the Penn. enter, etc, not locked in a closet or behind any security. Easily accessible. Then he admitted to disclosing classified information to his ghost writer for a book which he was paid $8 million for.
There’s a pattern on the Democrat side. The Dem side is not innocent or honest. The issue is that Dem supporters tend to stone Republicans when they themselves are also full of sin. Hypocrites.
And if you don’t know why the info on Hunters lap top was being covered up and denied by 50 intelligence officials who knew it was indeed Hunters lap top I have to ask how do you know that in 1973 Biden stated Gays are a national security threat?
You speak in partial truths. I won't milein the discredit the conservative movement over it though. Biden did not admit he disclosed classified information. Your pal Hur concluded that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Biden willfully intended to disclose classified information, which is why no criminal charges were recommended. The 50 intelligence officials shared their opinion that they felt the computer issue was a russian hoax. Not saying they were right - but 'lie 'is a accusation. . Nit picking your conclusions is tiring.
In response Nancy: “Don’t you notice how many of his former lawyers and so-called friends ended up in jail or lost their licenses?” It’s all according to plan by those in control, the puppeteers.
Montecito93108. Another person hiding your ID? What wimps you are….and just what are you trying to say by your cryptic comment …who are the “puppeteers “ in control of WHAT? Speak up.
Now, now Peggy, let’s be fair. Joe Biden is a lawyer, fair, kind, experienced in the machinations of Congress. Above all, he is ultra kind, cares for other fellow humans ( do you remember Trump saying that a soldier who died in the service of his country was a loser ? Like John McCain whom Trump hated ?) SO, Joe Biden is NO moron. YOU MIGHT RETHINK THAT. He is savvy, experienced, has a heart devoted to fairness. Morons are not given law degrees, nor voted into the office of V.P., then President…..with ONE EXCEPTION. IF you guess who the exception is…name begins with T as in “ THE TERRIBLE A-HOLE “ …..I’ll make you a delicious Italian dinner. Biden was born with a speech defect which makes him a not- great speaker, BUT, being a GREAT SPEAKER doesn’t make one a great President. Witness your average Priest or Cardinal : Lovely words, might bring one to tears, cause one to kneel and ask for forgiveness until you learn of the young boys on THEIR KNEES, VICTIMS……OH MY!
Nancy, why lie about what is in the public record with your intentions string of misquotes? You are handing out too many slow pitches. Is that your intent? Are you here just to keep us squabbling and off point. I now suspect that is the case.
Ever read Eric Berne's Games People Play? . I smell the "Lets you and him fight" game.
J.L. PLEASE QUOTE MY MISQUOTES . AND show me how, where I misquoted. What you may not have gathered yet about me is that I am basically an honest, ernest woman wedded deeply to concepts of right and wrong . I loathe charlatans, dishonesty, greed. I am an oil painter. I have only been an artist all my life, first a potter, working of course with clay. I’m not sure just how that’s relevant, but in my deepest self my painting is connected to being real, true, as is my search in life. Enough for today.
The folks I talk to on the left are largely incapable of independent critical thinking. They are also much more ‘tribal’ than the independents or folks on the right that I talk to in the sense that the left tends to think as a block. Group think is their thing. They follow the lefts narrative blindly and later, as is often the case, when that narrative is fully debunked, they appear utterly incapable of changing their initial, now proven wrong, position. Critical thinking is a non existent skill in half the country and this is a big problem no matter what the narrative is that they are following.
While reality stares us in the face? We don't need no stik'in reality.
When you have a significant numbers of people who fall for computer based fraud daily what is the likelyhood of reality winning out over "the sky is falling" factions?
Time to use your Brain? Thanks for the reality check.
“We waste way too much time making stuff up while reality is staring us in the face.”
The Emperor has no clothes
(we know this because we are responsible for clothing the emperor, and very very few of us know how or want to make clothes for him…it’s hard work and it’s boring and thankless)
It’s unfortunately human nature. It’s easier to build strawmen and then destroy them; than to actually take on real men (and real problems) who will challenge us, resist, and fight back.
The simple answer to why we waste so much energy making up stuff while reality is constantly presenting us with very real problems to solve is that, as a species, we are lazy and prone to choosing the easy path. Fixing real problems requires hard work, dedication, years and decades of thankless boring tedium.
It takes a rare kind of person willing to stand up and say the emperor has no clothes. and then sit down at a sewing machine for years on end and clothe the emperor. Easier to just write a check for an experience like a vacation or buy a new car and post pictures of the highlights on Facebook. Immediate but short-lived gratification.
Excellent analogy, Eric. Scream the Emperor has no clothes, or sit down at the sewing machine and make some new ones. Are we at worst just a lazy country?
From the net ":....... “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
The quote is from a post-apocalyptic novel called “Those Who Remain” by the author G. Michael Hopf. One could be tempted to say that things must be this way – it is the circle of life.........."
Also known as the Tytler Cycle proposed by 18th century Scottish professor Alexander Tytler:
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
No doubt we’re a lazy country that becomes lazier each year without stamina when it comes to governing, which requires tackling problems to their resolution. It’s a no-brainer why our community and country are sinking. I look at past examples of exemplary, courageous local leaders like super stars SBUSD Bob Noel, SBCC Luria, Dobbs, Livingston — plus current Trustee Galardo and exceptional citizen Shores. They can’t be silenced, despite devious means to nix their efforts, intimidate, humiliate, and attack without any legitimate basis. We experience great change when we elect or appoint unprepared, party owned candidates following only the desired policies of career bureaucrats in safe, no risk, well compensated jobs.
How do we identify and support those with brains, integrity, and commitment to govern? Starting around 1996 with the internet making communication easier, some thought more folks would engage in governance and fiscal matters that affect their lives. Nope. It’s easier to talk, complain, live on hear-say than to do the work which takes time. Eric sums it up accurately in his posts here. Cut a check!
People make decisions based on either emotions or reasoning. Emotions are a reflection of that persons preconceived options, perhaps even prejudices, that never changes; while reasoning is a reflection of considering the facts and changing when the facts do.
22 million Americans make decisions today based upon getting their paychecks, perks and pensions from the taxpayers, as government employees. That is a large, growing, noisy, demanding, self-interested, and highly organized voting constituency. They are critically thinking. We must stop pretending they are not.
Agreed. They are 'following the money." During COVID private companies were closed: but not governmental. Despite that each month's employment statistics show the hiring of more governmental employees and, in most months, a decline in the hiring of employees in the manufacturing sector.
Andrew Breitbart often said: politics follows culture. It is our job to change the culture, and the politics will follow.
Just think what this new forum right here has created in changing our own local culture.
Alternate viewpoints had no other public forum in our "progressive, inclusive diverse and tolerant" town. We thank Nancy Freeman for reminding us what an intellectual wasteland existed, prior to this small but growing forum being created. We are changing the culture.
Short answer is we can’t and will not. Most of human history is a long slog of ignorance, poverty, despair and tyranny; only rarely broken up by a few points of light and paradigm shifts.
Depressing I know, but that is the truth. (The blue pill is very popular for this reason)
Robert, I share your optimism but my mind can not think of a way to get from where we are now to where we need to be without a paradigm shift similar to the rise of Athens or the American Revolution
I pray everyday that I am wrong about this, but God did not build me to be willfully ignorant of objective truth.
It’s sad but on the bright side, 240 years was a better than average run though!
Reality is, SARS-cov-2 was studied in North Carolina at Fort Dietrich Moderna and the US Government hold a patent dated 2015 for mRNA vaccine.
The gain of function research was transferred to Wuhan because the public didn’t like it occurs g in their backyard. Dietrich has had several security bio breaches.
Look them up. The government squashed all this information.
Here’s another lie by the government. Read the FDA EUA for the vax. It was approved to prevent COVID. Do they prevent COVID? Did Vaxxed people still get COVID? Did vac people still spread COVID? So the vax did not what is was authorized to do, but they kept pushing it. In the real world it’s called a manufacturing defect where the product does not do what it was intended to do.
But if you still think the bad will prevent you from getting COVID there’s no point in talking to you.
If you think after trillions in coronavirus research and decades of experimenting that a cotton tshirt will protect you, you need to update your booster.
How many homeless died from COVID? COVID should have wiped out all homeless, they have poor nutrition, poor hygiene, live on top of each other.
The shots were free bec they save lives. So why do they charge for insulin, it saves lives.
Cancer is the no 2 cause of death in the US. Why are they charging for the treatments if it saves lives? Remember, it is well known fact that the vax does not prevent the spread of COVID.
Honestly, use some common sense. I hope those that got the vax at least got a free beer from Joe Biden. Remember that carrot? Along with the free tuition, lottery tickets, etc…. When that didn’t work they fired you from your careers and prevented you from going out to dinner unless you were vaxed.
Remember only essential businesses could stay open, liquor stores, strip clubs, etc.. only the essential businesses. And don’t dare try to paddle board or take a jog on the beach in LA, they’ll arrest you.
Honestly, if you still believe the government, go get your updated booster please. After all the “proven efficacy” only lasts several months meaning every 6 months you need a booster or you are not “fully vaccinated”
Wake up, and those that are awake stop arguing with the deniers. They are sheep, or as put here Lemings.
Joe Biden once said in a 2019 campaign speech that we choose truth over facts. While dismissed as a gaff, this statement holds great truth for many today. We have been taught to defer to authority rather than to think for ourselves and draw conclusions from experience and observation. Posting a link to some propaganda piece dug up in a Google search proves nothing. Our authorities have been wrong so many times that they have lost credibility. The covid vax is 98% effective was the result of Pfizer's trial study. I guess it was 98% effective at generating revenue but not so for preventing disease. The global warming experts have been wrong on past predictions which were initially for global cooling then for warming now for unspecified yet dangerous cange. The polar ice caps were supposed to be gone by now and Gore's inconvenient truth has aged poorly. I can find a link on the internet from some alleged expert to support any truth I might hold dear but more than likely it will be at odds with the facts. The latest authority we are being trained to accept without question is AI. I have found AI to be exceedingly biased and the bias is built in by the sources it uses as credible and those it dismisses as misinformation. It works exactly as the Marxists would have our brains work. Do yourself a favor and rely less on truth from experts discovered using a biased search engine and rely more on personal experience and observation. I don't think it is getting hotter, I don't think the MRNA shots are safe and I do think I shall go get breakfast at Sambos. We should organize a breakfast club.
When certain forces spend so much sound and fury demanding we look over "here"; what in fact are they hiding over "there"? Time to move past the shock over what they are willing to do to Trump, and concentrate on why they are willing to do this.
Eg: Declare Trump evil incarnate and disgorge him from any possible political power by any means necessary, because Trump is a threat .......... to exactly what? What exactly is the existential threat Trump represents to Democrats.
Even if the answer is keeping their hands on power, the power to do exactly "what"? I feel we are currently living in a land of shadows, surrogates and illusions. Trump does take a sledge hammer to many of the operating lies within our sense of government today. Yet Democrats accuse Trump is the liar.
America's gut check is right. Something is just not right. There is a huge tension between those who want "government" to do everything. And those who know instinctively Big Government is bad government. Resolving this existential crisis will be an inside job. Re-defining the parameters of limited government, as we best understand it under the framework of our mutually shared US Constitution
Big government isn't bad. An immoral, secular, and relativistic government is. It just so happens that this convently describes the democratic party and the current political establishment.
Big Government is bad because it creates a self-interested voting constituency. Let's talk about this. Where are the checks and balances when Big Government-infused votes reach a critical mass and become a tipping point in all future elections?
Voting promotes relativism, the will of the people determines what is and isn't okay, ignoring what is objectively true and good. So I have little regard for voting, it is a horrible practice that has only been used to propagate social decay.
Your concerns are unfounded. Though curious, compared to what has been happening of late under Biden's "progressive" government. Was the entire over-reaction to the covid-hysteria under Biden, unchecked authoritarianism or benign paternalism?
Is life easier when we don’t use our brains? How often is it said, ‘Give your brain a rest’? Sourcing facts is a labor intense challenge because of the lack of investigative journalists, selective/ opinion reporting, censorship from social media to academic journals, and time — there are not enough hours in the day to tackle all that daily life requires. Truth seeking requires a team effort with multiple brains sharing what they discover. Deciphering information takes common sense. Years ago at the Victoria Theater SBCC Philosophy Chairman Joe White gave an unforgettable speech on the distinction between ‘stupid and ignorant’; the life consequences when choosing not to use our brains. How much brain capacity goes unused?
I am an 85 year old who has been through many conflicts in life....but have never before seen such dis-array, confusion, and outright hatred around our country. Any person that would say that your article "Time to use your brain" is nonsense ...and not well reasoned ...exemplifies the decline of common sense. As the Roman Empire slowly faded away from internal decay....our modern society seems to be on a fast track , heading in the same direction. And I say...God help us!
Bravo! Those who persist in the belief in the natural origins of the Covid virus, the Clinton paid for Russia hoax, the murder of George Floyd and other Democrat delusions, suffer from what my father called “ indomitable ignorance.” I call it willful blindness. It reflects loyalty to an evil ideology and fantasy thinking. We live in a world where a battle is raging between good and evil, God and Satan. To quote my new friend, General Michael Flynn, on his opinion on the book of Revelation, “ things are bad now, they are going to get worse. God wins!”
Paul A: DO YOU EVER WONDER WHY SO MANY OF TRUMP’S lawyers, hired help, appointed people ….so many….ended up insulting and vilifying him for the same gross flaws we Democrats can so see in him? Don’t you notice how many of his former lawyers and so-called friends ended up in jail or lost their licenses?
Doesnt this give you a clue to his flawed self-serving character? It’s not a battle of good and evil. The battle is between honesty and fact-deniers. The truth is in the facts which dishonest people will not accept.
FACT: Trump is not fit to be President of our Democracy. It is as plain as his ugly face, his fat belly and his lies, Lies, Lies.
Our survival as a nation is threatened by its divion. If we fight over the personalities of our political candidates while ignoring their policy we shall fail to the detriment of all. I hear objections to Biden largely based on policy failure. I hear objections to Trump to be largely vague objections to him personally without reference to objectionable policy. Nancy Freeman, who frequently shares her opinions here, is a fine example of of a person harboring intense hatred of Trump the man but has failed to explain how his presidency was bad for America and not worthy of a second term. And half of this country thinks exactly as Nancy. Never thought I would live to see the day.
Very good point.
Biden has complaints about Policy
Trump has complaints because of his mean tweets against public officials & individuals who later turn out to be liars.
Like the GLOAT
Jeff….which rock were you living under while trump was in the Oval Office…..some say he got in with the inadvertent help of Comey and the planned help of the Russians…..let’s assume none of that is valid. I will admit, unlike others, I do not have the time or energy or skill to check THAT IDEA out, but regarding his Presidency…he advocated drinking bleach to cure Covid, he alienated most of the men he had appointed, he gave the already rich a break on their taxes, did nothing for the working people of this country, BUT….HE STARTING AN F…ING INSURRECTION. REFUSES AS OF TODAY TO ACCEPT THE WILL OF AMERICAN VOTERS. PEOPLE DIED ON JUNE 6. . HE ADVOCATED HANGING MIKE PENCE……HE LIED ABOUT THE VALUE OF HIS PROPERTY….HE FAILED TO PAY TAXES…that means he cheated you and me…..HE ABUSED WOMEN….PAID MONEY TO KEEP HIDING THE TRUTH ABOUT MONEY HE PAID HIS ONE NIGHT. STAND .HE HID ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR FROM THE VOTERS.
OUR AMERICAN LAWS JUST CONVICTED HIM. DO YOU NOT BELIEVE IN OUR LAWS?
HE DEMONSTRATED OVER AND OVER THROUGH HIS VILE LANGUAGE THAT HE HATES BLACKS, MEXICANS, AND OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS.
YES, I think he is a flawed person, rather stupid, self serving, wants to be a Dictator…..WHY IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE, TRUTH AND BEAUTY DO YOU NOT HATE HIM……HE IS NOT FIT TO RUN OUR COUNTRY. He has demonstrated that in every way POSSIBLE. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU REPUBLICANS THAT YOU CAN. NOT SEE THAT?
I dig cheap eggs.
Mr. Barton , that simplistic reply is neither funny or smart.
In addition to Ms Freeman’s list of Trumps deep character flaws , none of which you try to repudiate, we should add Trumps 4 year run up of our debt by $4 trillion bucks. Why is that whitewashed when deficit spending has been the GOP axe grinding issue since forever.
I’m afraid that you and Mr. Schulte are strangely too willing to look past Trumps terminal character flaws.
Those flaws and his willingness to abandon our allies to support the likes of Putin are a serious detriment to our standing as a nation.
Nancy Pelosi's House ran up the trillion "covid" debts, since it was Democrats who ran up the "covid hysteria" for their own political gain. How short is your memory.
Plus the biggest debt burden lands squarely on Biden in his past four years of "covid overkill" and the Bigpharm "covid vaccine sell out, along with his inflationary " trillion dollar Inflation Reduction free for alls.
Not to mention his four years of ruinous Open Borders giveaways, his totally failed, money sucking "green agenda" along with his endless war Ukraine support , college debt forgiveness schemes, and not even touching his BigGovernment expansions and underfunding their future obligatory benefits short-falls.
Why are you still claiming Trump ran up this "covid" debt when it was Democrats screaming he was killing granny if he did not close everything down. That dog don't hunt no more. What else have you got?
Correction - Trump 4 year deficit $ 8 trillion . Ha , after claiming he would erase our debt in 8 years. Just another of his big lies.
Unapologetically
You’re funny.
Russia, really?
You state you “do not have the time or energy or skill to check”. So why are you posting if you don’t do your research?
It didn’t take much to follow the Russia hoax.
Is Hilary still denying the 2016 election? Perhaps she should be jailed.
Did you have the skill to watch her saying 2016 was rigged?
Or do you have blinders on?
Did you see Trump in the Bronx? He has the support of the minorities.
Trump does not have the support of criminals or Lemmings.
WHAAATTT? I think trump DOES HAVE THE SUPPORT OF LEMMINGS; I.e., dummies. Uneducated, unsophisticated, unread, poor, addicted, feeling unseen, probably unwell…..a bit like you Brian. What school you went?
The ONLY other group of trumpers are the ones who are greedy for money, like trump himself.
To be honest with you Nancy, your writing is unimpressive considering your high regard for education.
Trump's friends have also been subjected to partisan Democrat lawfare and heavy handed DOJ extortion tactics, all on record. Why are you still getting only one side of these current events, Nancy? This blunts your oft-repeated demands you want to hear from the other side. No one is going to spoon feed you, so you need to explore this on your own. What new media resources have you added to you own collection since you started posting here?
JL. I CANT FIND ANY EVIDENCE OF “ partisan Democratic law fare ….etc”. I guess you can’t either or you would be quoting it here. Making empty statements like Fox does is easy. Are you aware they have paid millions for lying about Dominion. Machines being rigged? And fired Tucker ? And had 2 sexual abusers as top a-holes working there, abusing the female workers? Yet this is the station Republicans quote. THIS IS THE STATION THAT LETS TRUMP LIE TO ALL THE DEPLORABLES WHO TUNE IN FOR HOURS….is it any wonder you are all filled with crappy so-call INformation? It is NOT information; it is NOT real….wake up or we will become another Russia where Putin is entering his 26th year of leadership. THATS WHAT TRUMP WANTS FOR HIMSELF.
Well Nancy, at least you have moved us from being Montecito elite classists, back into being Trump deplorables. I guess that is progress.
Are you an elf on the shelf monitoring my alleged TV time, when we don't even turn the thing on except to watch The Great Courses? And never watch "news" on the visual medium in the first place. That is infotainment; not news.
It is fascinating to figure out why Trump triggers such zeal and vitriol in you. Keep peeling away your layers, we may get to the bottom of it. And it will be helpful for the 2024 campaign. I think you speak for a lot of very rabid TDS Democrats, so it is a worthy pursuit.
NB: Notice this same technique now from several new posters - If I can't find proof, or refuse to look for the proof and you refuse to provide me proof on demand ....what you say is a lie. '"Proof prostitutes" plying their trade.
Do I ever wonder why Trump and his supporters end up being accused and/or convicted of so many crimes?
No more or less than I wonder why every story about WW2 told by Americans tends to portray axis powers as evildoers hellbent on world domination who attacked us unprovoked.
In other words, to the victor go the spoils (as well as control of historical narratives)
You are correct about one thing.
This is about liars verse deniers.
Did you read the Biden diary, the one that was indeed authentic. The daughter goes into detail about Joe taking showers with her.
How about the laptop, that is real, admitted by the FBI.
Whose cocaine was in the library? The building with the most security & cameras in the country. In the residence area. FBI admitted there was DNA evidence in the baggie, but oops they lost it.
Do you still think Biden was top of his graduating class? Or that he was a truck driver?
Biden paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault.
Do you agree with Biden and Democrats calling the voters names?
Trump does not call voters names, he calls politicians and individual blatant liars names. Biden attacks the voters, the American people.
Did you know that Biden and Obama swore an oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution. Then why do they openly attack the first & second amendment?
Biden called Gays a national security risk in 2015.
Shall we keep going with the career politician who owns millions of dollars in real estate on a government salary?
I’m sure the $8 million he was paid for spilling classified secrets to his ghost writer helped pay for those. No he was not a president and not entitled to have that information in his home. Listen to Biden’s own testimony from the special councils recorded interview.
Can you tell us one thing he has said that was true?
Actually Biden said he viewed homosexuals working for the federal government as "security risks," in 1973. And Trump calls voters names all the time - just not his voters. And can you elabroate one why that computer - let's just say it's Hunters - is important? And what was found on it?
Lap top for a few reasons, first it shows they lie and deny and that they got 50 intelligence officials to lie when they signed stating the lap top was not Hunters. Corruption?
Secondly voters said if they knew it would have changed their vote.
Just like Biden’s classified documents discovered months prior to the mid term election that they hid from the public. Big distinctions Biden was a Senator and VP and not President. Only the President has the authority to remove classified documents from the skif. Next Biden’s classified documents were on the garage floor, in the Penn. enter, etc, not locked in a closet or behind any security. Easily accessible. Then he admitted to disclosing classified information to his ghost writer for a book which he was paid $8 million for.
There’s a pattern on the Democrat side. The Dem side is not innocent or honest. The issue is that Dem supporters tend to stone Republicans when they themselves are also full of sin. Hypocrites.
And if you don’t know why the info on Hunters lap top was being covered up and denied by 50 intelligence officials who knew it was indeed Hunters lap top I have to ask how do you know that in 1973 Biden stated Gays are a national security threat?
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg50898/html/CHRG-118hhrg50898.htm
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/feb/25/elise-stefanik/poll-on-voters-opinion-of-biden-laptop-story-needs/
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/19/hunter-biden-story-russian-disinfo-430276
https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116258/documents/HHRG-118-FD00-20230720-SD011.pdf
https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-doj-2024-election-39a0268a3e2d4a0df1bed285d769b74a
You speak in partial truths. I won't milein the discredit the conservative movement over it though. Biden did not admit he disclosed classified information. Your pal Hur concluded that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Biden willfully intended to disclose classified information, which is why no criminal charges were recommended. The 50 intelligence officials shared their opinion that they felt the computer issue was a russian hoax. Not saying they were right - but 'lie 'is a accusation. . Nit picking your conclusions is tiring.
What's a 'milein' ?
In response Nancy: “Don’t you notice how many of his former lawyers and so-called friends ended up in jail or lost their licenses?” It’s all according to plan by those in control, the puppeteers.
Montecito93108. Another person hiding your ID? What wimps you are….and just what are you trying to say by your cryptic comment …who are the “puppeteers “ in control of WHAT? Speak up.
The moron in the Oval Office doesn’t deserve to be president either
Now, now Peggy, let’s be fair. Joe Biden is a lawyer, fair, kind, experienced in the machinations of Congress. Above all, he is ultra kind, cares for other fellow humans ( do you remember Trump saying that a soldier who died in the service of his country was a loser ? Like John McCain whom Trump hated ?) SO, Joe Biden is NO moron. YOU MIGHT RETHINK THAT. He is savvy, experienced, has a heart devoted to fairness. Morons are not given law degrees, nor voted into the office of V.P., then President…..with ONE EXCEPTION. IF you guess who the exception is…name begins with T as in “ THE TERRIBLE A-HOLE “ …..I’ll make you a delicious Italian dinner. Biden was born with a speech defect which makes him a not- great speaker, BUT, being a GREAT SPEAKER doesn’t make one a great President. Witness your average Priest or Cardinal : Lovely words, might bring one to tears, cause one to kneel and ask for forgiveness until you learn of the young boys on THEIR KNEES, VICTIMS……OH MY!
Nancy, why lie about what is in the public record with your intentions string of misquotes? You are handing out too many slow pitches. Is that your intent? Are you here just to keep us squabbling and off point. I now suspect that is the case.
Ever read Eric Berne's Games People Play? . I smell the "Lets you and him fight" game.
J.L. PLEASE QUOTE MY MISQUOTES . AND show me how, where I misquoted. What you may not have gathered yet about me is that I am basically an honest, ernest woman wedded deeply to concepts of right and wrong . I loathe charlatans, dishonesty, greed. I am an oil painter. I have only been an artist all my life, first a potter, working of course with clay. I’m not sure just how that’s relevant, but in my deepest self my painting is connected to being real, true, as is my search in life. Enough for today.
Nancy, your Fire and Ice Family shows blue and red co-existing in a strange, interlocking harmony. May your life imitate your art .
Watch Joe in action This is a foreign news outlet.
https://www.sbcurrent.com/p/time-to-use-your-brain/comments
Pardon me while I puke.
Watch Joe Biden in action from a foreign country’s perspective.
https://youtu.be/4z2begqhdCU?si=8w0bLoVc0dIr6L7M
Glad to see ya back Nance. While I disagree with _everything_ you say, I admire you for standing your ground.
The folks I talk to on the left are largely incapable of independent critical thinking. They are also much more ‘tribal’ than the independents or folks on the right that I talk to in the sense that the left tends to think as a block. Group think is their thing. They follow the lefts narrative blindly and later, as is often the case, when that narrative is fully debunked, they appear utterly incapable of changing their initial, now proven wrong, position. Critical thinking is a non existent skill in half the country and this is a big problem no matter what the narrative is that they are following.
George - not much 'group think' on the current , right?
Don't know have not read the thread, but any comments based on independent critical thinking are not group think, no matter where you find them.
You couldn’t be more right. Thank you for this piece.
While reality stares us in the face? We don't need no stik'in reality.
When you have a significant numbers of people who fall for computer based fraud daily what is the likelyhood of reality winning out over "the sky is falling" factions?
Time to use your Brain? Thanks for the reality check.
“We waste way too much time making stuff up while reality is staring us in the face.”
The Emperor has no clothes
(we know this because we are responsible for clothing the emperor, and very very few of us know how or want to make clothes for him…it’s hard work and it’s boring and thankless)
It’s unfortunately human nature. It’s easier to build strawmen and then destroy them; than to actually take on real men (and real problems) who will challenge us, resist, and fight back.
The simple answer to why we waste so much energy making up stuff while reality is constantly presenting us with very real problems to solve is that, as a species, we are lazy and prone to choosing the easy path. Fixing real problems requires hard work, dedication, years and decades of thankless boring tedium.
It takes a rare kind of person willing to stand up and say the emperor has no clothes. and then sit down at a sewing machine for years on end and clothe the emperor. Easier to just write a check for an experience like a vacation or buy a new car and post pictures of the highlights on Facebook. Immediate but short-lived gratification.
Excellent analogy, Eric. Scream the Emperor has no clothes, or sit down at the sewing machine and make some new ones. Are we at worst just a lazy country?
At present we are extremely narcissistic lazy and arrogant. Based on historical precedent, soon to be followed by incredible hardship and rebuilding.
From the net ":....... “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
The quote is from a post-apocalyptic novel called “Those Who Remain” by the author G. Michael Hopf. One could be tempted to say that things must be this way – it is the circle of life.........."
Also known as the Tytler Cycle proposed by 18th century Scottish professor Alexander Tytler:
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
No doubt we’re a lazy country that becomes lazier each year without stamina when it comes to governing, which requires tackling problems to their resolution. It’s a no-brainer why our community and country are sinking. I look at past examples of exemplary, courageous local leaders like super stars SBUSD Bob Noel, SBCC Luria, Dobbs, Livingston — plus current Trustee Galardo and exceptional citizen Shores. They can’t be silenced, despite devious means to nix their efforts, intimidate, humiliate, and attack without any legitimate basis. We experience great change when we elect or appoint unprepared, party owned candidates following only the desired policies of career bureaucrats in safe, no risk, well compensated jobs.
How do we identify and support those with brains, integrity, and commitment to govern? Starting around 1996 with the internet making communication easier, some thought more folks would engage in governance and fiscal matters that affect their lives. Nope. It’s easier to talk, complain, live on hear-say than to do the work which takes time. Eric sums it up accurately in his posts here. Cut a check!
People make decisions based on either emotions or reasoning. Emotions are a reflection of that persons preconceived options, perhaps even prejudices, that never changes; while reasoning is a reflection of considering the facts and changing when the facts do.
22 million Americans make decisions today based upon getting their paychecks, perks and pensions from the taxpayers, as government employees. That is a large, growing, noisy, demanding, self-interested, and highly organized voting constituency. They are critically thinking. We must stop pretending they are not.
Agreed. They are 'following the money." During COVID private companies were closed: but not governmental. Despite that each month's employment statistics show the hiring of more governmental employees and, in most months, a decline in the hiring of employees in the manufacturing sector.
Well said...now how do we get more folks to focus on the real problems and set their prejudices aside for the betterment of all?
Andrew Breitbart often said: politics follows culture. It is our job to change the culture, and the politics will follow.
Just think what this new forum right here has created in changing our own local culture.
Alternate viewpoints had no other public forum in our "progressive, inclusive diverse and tolerant" town. We thank Nancy Freeman for reminding us what an intellectual wasteland existed, prior to this small but growing forum being created. We are changing the culture.
Short answer is we can’t and will not. Most of human history is a long slog of ignorance, poverty, despair and tyranny; only rarely broken up by a few points of light and paradigm shifts.
Depressing I know, but that is the truth. (The blue pill is very popular for this reason)
I keep trying to influence people to understand what truth is and live by it...hoping and praying that more and more will make a U-turn.
Robert, I share your optimism but my mind can not think of a way to get from where we are now to where we need to be without a paradigm shift similar to the rise of Athens or the American Revolution
I pray everyday that I am wrong about this, but God did not build me to be willfully ignorant of objective truth.
It’s sad but on the bright side, 240 years was a better than average run though!
http://www.news.cn/english/2021-08/25/c_1310148117.htm
https://www.nature.com/articles/nm.3985
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1230914.shtml
Reality is, SARS-cov-2 was studied in North Carolina at Fort Dietrich Moderna and the US Government hold a patent dated 2015 for mRNA vaccine.
The gain of function research was transferred to Wuhan because the public didn’t like it occurs g in their backyard. Dietrich has had several security bio breaches.
Look them up. The government squashed all this information.
Here’s another lie by the government. Read the FDA EUA for the vax. It was approved to prevent COVID. Do they prevent COVID? Did Vaxxed people still get COVID? Did vac people still spread COVID? So the vax did not what is was authorized to do, but they kept pushing it. In the real world it’s called a manufacturing defect where the product does not do what it was intended to do.
But if you still think the bad will prevent you from getting COVID there’s no point in talking to you.
If you think after trillions in coronavirus research and decades of experimenting that a cotton tshirt will protect you, you need to update your booster.
How many homeless died from COVID? COVID should have wiped out all homeless, they have poor nutrition, poor hygiene, live on top of each other.
The shots were free bec they save lives. So why do they charge for insulin, it saves lives.
Cancer is the no 2 cause of death in the US. Why are they charging for the treatments if it saves lives? Remember, it is well known fact that the vax does not prevent the spread of COVID.
Honestly, use some common sense. I hope those that got the vax at least got a free beer from Joe Biden. Remember that carrot? Along with the free tuition, lottery tickets, etc…. When that didn’t work they fired you from your careers and prevented you from going out to dinner unless you were vaxed.
Remember only essential businesses could stay open, liquor stores, strip clubs, etc.. only the essential businesses. And don’t dare try to paddle board or take a jog on the beach in LA, they’ll arrest you.
Honestly, if you still believe the government, go get your updated booster please. After all the “proven efficacy” only lasts several months meaning every 6 months you need a booster or you are not “fully vaccinated”
Wake up, and those that are awake stop arguing with the deniers. They are sheep, or as put here Lemings.
A mural of Saint Floyd still covers the Haley Street wall of the EOS Lounge. I very much doubt a permit was applied for and granted by the Sign Commission for this installation, yet it has been screaming "Please, I can't breathe" for years. Will the fear of offending the woke decree this as a permanent statement? Does anyone doubt the fate a patriotic mural supporting Trump would meet? https://www.google.com/maps/@34.4180934,-119.6941984,3a,75y,238.97h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1snYEnjnOzMR5vJSFQFb0cZg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DnYEnjnOzMR5vJSFQFb0cZg%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D238.97299%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&coh=205409&entry=ttu
A little off topic Pat, but here's a site that will allow you to reduce long web addresses like yours above to this: https://tinyurl.com/ybpxbwrv - Both go to the same site. - https://tinyurl.com/app
Thanks for that. I just wanted to share the street view showing that the mural is still there and didn't want to risk contracting it.
Excellent summary. Thank you!!!
Excellent synopsis of the insane madness that has been perpetrated on the sane people of this world by the looney toon Leftist/DEMOcRATS.
Joe Biden once said in a 2019 campaign speech that we choose truth over facts. While dismissed as a gaff, this statement holds great truth for many today. We have been taught to defer to authority rather than to think for ourselves and draw conclusions from experience and observation. Posting a link to some propaganda piece dug up in a Google search proves nothing. Our authorities have been wrong so many times that they have lost credibility. The covid vax is 98% effective was the result of Pfizer's trial study. I guess it was 98% effective at generating revenue but not so for preventing disease. The global warming experts have been wrong on past predictions which were initially for global cooling then for warming now for unspecified yet dangerous cange. The polar ice caps were supposed to be gone by now and Gore's inconvenient truth has aged poorly. I can find a link on the internet from some alleged expert to support any truth I might hold dear but more than likely it will be at odds with the facts. The latest authority we are being trained to accept without question is AI. I have found AI to be exceedingly biased and the bias is built in by the sources it uses as credible and those it dismisses as misinformation. It works exactly as the Marxists would have our brains work. Do yourself a favor and rely less on truth from experts discovered using a biased search engine and rely more on personal experience and observation. I don't think it is getting hotter, I don't think the MRNA shots are safe and I do think I shall go get breakfast at Sambos. We should organize a breakfast club.
Great comments, Henry! Keep them coming!
When certain forces spend so much sound and fury demanding we look over "here"; what in fact are they hiding over "there"? Time to move past the shock over what they are willing to do to Trump, and concentrate on why they are willing to do this.
Eg: Declare Trump evil incarnate and disgorge him from any possible political power by any means necessary, because Trump is a threat .......... to exactly what? What exactly is the existential threat Trump represents to Democrats.
Even if the answer is keeping their hands on power, the power to do exactly "what"? I feel we are currently living in a land of shadows, surrogates and illusions. Trump does take a sledge hammer to many of the operating lies within our sense of government today. Yet Democrats accuse Trump is the liar.
America's gut check is right. Something is just not right. There is a huge tension between those who want "government" to do everything. And those who know instinctively Big Government is bad government. Resolving this existential crisis will be an inside job. Re-defining the parameters of limited government, as we best understand it under the framework of our mutually shared US Constitution
Big government isn't bad. An immoral, secular, and relativistic government is. It just so happens that this convently describes the democratic party and the current political establishment.
Big Government is bad because it creates a self-interested voting constituency. Let's talk about this. Where are the checks and balances when Big Government-infused votes reach a critical mass and become a tipping point in all future elections?
Voting promotes relativism, the will of the people determines what is and isn't okay, ignoring what is objectively true and good. So I have little regard for voting, it is a horrible practice that has only been used to propagate social decay.
Your concerns are unfounded. Though curious, compared to what has been happening of late under Biden's "progressive" government. Was the entire over-reaction to the covid-hysteria under Biden, unchecked authoritarianism or benign paternalism?
Is life easier when we don’t use our brains? How often is it said, ‘Give your brain a rest’? Sourcing facts is a labor intense challenge because of the lack of investigative journalists, selective/ opinion reporting, censorship from social media to academic journals, and time — there are not enough hours in the day to tackle all that daily life requires. Truth seeking requires a team effort with multiple brains sharing what they discover. Deciphering information takes common sense. Years ago at the Victoria Theater SBCC Philosophy Chairman Joe White gave an unforgettable speech on the distinction between ‘stupid and ignorant’; the life consequences when choosing not to use our brains. How much brain capacity goes unused?
“Is life easier when we don’t use our brains?”
I would consider that an axiom.
Ever read “Galapagos” by Kurt Vonnegut? Highly recommend 👍