Quote; “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” (proverb, from 1500’s) In the news: Meet the shadowy accountants who do Trump’s taxes and help him seem richer than he is (Peter Elking-Doris Burke-Meg Cramer, Salon, 5.08.20) (originally published in Pro Publica, co-published with WNYC) In context: The Trump base won’t agree […]
Author: Helen Fogarassy
Categories
The Chucky Trump Horror Show
Quote: “I’ll be back. I always come back” (line by title character Chucky in Child’s Play film series) In the news: As Support for Trump Impeachment Grows, His Base Digs in Its Heels (Jeremy W. Peters, The New York Times, 10.21.19) In context: Horror is a fictional genre with a large fan base. If presented […]
Quote: “I want you for US Army” (Uncle Sam recruiting posters, WWI & WWII) In the news: Russia gloats over Trump’s Syria debacle and Putin’s “victory” Anna Nemtsova, The Daily Beast, 10.17.19) In context: Uncle Sam is a legendary figure who has symbolized America since the Revolutionary War. He stepped up in times of war, […]
Quote: “Truth never damages a cause that is just,” (Mahatma Gandhi) In the news: Federal Whistleblowers would do it again, even after retaliation and “professional suicide.” (Joe Davidson, The Washington Post, 10.04.2019) In context: America is the world’s land of freedom guided by laws developed in line with a founding Constitution. Americans today can call […]
Quote: “An empty vessel makes the loudest noise so those with the least wit babble the most” (Plato, also proverb) In the News: Trump’s Syria policy dismays Europe as Turkey launches campaign (Gavin O’Toole, Aljazeera, 10.10.19) In Context: The Ugly American was a 1958 book by Burdick and Lederer that told about shortcomings of American […]
Quotes: “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I’m gonna eat some worms” (Children’s song, 1863) In the news: Trump hasn’t saved coal in W. Virginia. They don’t care (Kelsey Brugger, E&E News, 8.19.19) In context: You might feel sorry for Donald Trump if he wasn’t destroying the country and damaging a new generation by […]
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No Dangerfield, this Don
Quote: “I get no respect,” (tag line of insult comedian Rodney Dangerfield) In the news: “Man insulted at New Hampshire rally by Trump because of weight says, “I love the guy.” (Reuters, 8.16.19) In context: Almost 100 years ago, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud described humor as an outlet for aggression. About 50 years ago, the insult humor […]
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Stranger Than Fiction Trump
Quote: Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense (Mark Twain and others w/ variations Quote Investigator, Financial Times) In the news: Trump’s Influence is Spreading Like a Virus (Michael D/Antonio, CNN, 8.10.19) In context: The truth about Donald Trump is that he doesn’t make sense. Even science fiction has to have a plausible […]
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Dems and the Status Quo
Quote: All too often, on the long road up, young leaders become servants of what is rather than shapers of what might be (attrib. John Gardner) Definitions: Status quo, existing situation or condition (Cambridge English Dictionary) Divide and conquer, (1) to gain or maintain power by generating tensions; (2) to accomplish something by having several […]
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Kamala’s Busing Scars
Quote: Keeping score of old wounds and scars, getting even and one-upping, always makes you less than you are. (attrib. Malcolm Forbes) “It is personal…hurtful.” (Kamala Harris, 1st Democratic debate, 6.27.19) In the news: After Immigrant Families Are Reunited, Scars of Separation Remain (Arian Campo-Flores and Melanie Graye West, WSJ 7.15.18) In context: Kamala Harris […]
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2020 Belongs to Biden
Definition: Gravitas, seriousness and importance of manner causing feelings of respect and trust in others (Oxford English Dictionary) Quote: I gravitate towards gravitas (attrib. Morgan Freeman) In the News: Biden keeps stepping into it and voters couldn’t care less (Marc Caputo, Politico, 6.26.19) In Context: Terrific Democratic candidates abound for the next election to unseat […]
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Biden’s Gift of Age to 2019 America
Quotes: I have reached an age when, if someone tells me to put on socks, I don’t have to (Albert Einstein, quoted by Alan Shenstone in Sayens, Einstein in America, 1985) The only source of knowledge is experience (ibid. Ideas and Opinions, 1954) In the news: Younger 2020 candidates hint at age divide in […]
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Debunking the Trump Mystique
Quotes: The genius of America is that it is good and if it ever ceases to be good it will cease to be great (paraphrase of Ronald Reagan 1983 “Evil Empire” speech re Russia quoting Tocqueville) People are “cocooned in information) because of social media…hard to be obnoxious and cruel in person as people can […]
Quotes: Judged by every standard,,.the Soviet Government of Russia is one of the worst tyrannies…It accords no political rights. It rules by terror. It punishes political opinions. It suppresses free speech. It tolerates no newspapers but its own…It is engaged at this moment in trampling down the peoples of Georgia and executing their leaders by […]
Print is by no means obsolete in a digital world. Its usefulness comes from the fact that book titles in a library are enough to spark ideas that can then be followed up through Google or other web channels.
A picture speaks a thousand words and the portrait of wrongfully convicted 90-year-old Frank Wetzel proves he has been unjustly detained by North Carolina for over 50 years. Immediately sign the on-line petition to free him in the interest of proving that justice can over injustice however long it takes.