Very soon now! - by Hénock Gugsa -

Very soon now! 

- by Hénock Gugsa -

Not too far in the future, ...
but very soon now, [I predict] each and every American, child or adult, will be required to carry some sort of "passport" (national identity card) on their person at all times.
 
Such passport will normally be issued at birth, and it will be used for multiple purposes ...
1 - for travel
2 - for cashing checks
3 - for voting
4 - getting Rx prescriptions filled
5 - getting licenses to drive, to marry or to divorce, to build or to demolish, etc., etc.
6 - last but not least, for using the "correct" public bathroom!

Educating Myself about War - by Hénock Gugsa

 

Educating Myself about War  - by Hénock Gugsa - 

Recently, someone on Facebook suggested that I educate myself on the military and the good that it does.

No, thanks, I think I'll pass on that.

I already know that the main purpose and function of the military is for engagement in wars.  They may call it "peace keeping", "defense", and getting rid of "threats". But it all boils down to ===> W A R !!

Well, war is a product of hate ... and there is hate on all sides. The question here, however, is how you conduct war ... the degree of detachment or cold-bloodedness is what is worrisome. On one side, you have snipers, drones, and maybe carpet-bombing. On the other, you have RPG's, IEDs, and self-exploding humans.  And in peace-time, there is all that "unexploded ordinance" (bombs, mines) left behind to do more damage!

War is all ugliness, and how you measure war "heroism" is an even more dubious exercise.  But that is another discussion for another day.

How much more do I need to know or to educate myself about war? Not much ... just that it is fabricated and especially cancerous when you conduct it thousands of miles away from your shores and in a foreign land that was not your equal and did not threaten you at all.

So again, no thanks, I don't need to educate myself ... I know enough about war!

Silver Linings! - by Hénock Gugsa

 Silver Linings!

// by Hénock Gugsa //

Think about it! This is a strange situation we are in. In Donald Trump's never-imagined rise to his current status as leading candidate of the GOP, there really have been many silver linings in the gray clouds.
1-   He has exposed all the dirty laundry of the Republicans.
2-   He has demonstrated the inanity of the media by exploiting them and showing them up as the moronic talking heads that they are.
3-   Donald Trump is not unlike Attila the Hun. He indirectly drove the Roman Empire to the ground by attacking the Goths who in turn invaded the civilized power of the world at the time.  Donald has routed the establishment’s run-of-the-mill candidates and brought the Republican Party to its knees.
4-   The theater of absurdity in which he is the leading actor is waking up a lot of Americans to realize their true natures.  We are truly seeing Americans as they are, all of them … the wise, the foolish, the insanely idiotic, and the dangerous.
5-   In Trump’s world, the rule is that there are no rules!  He has amply demonstrated that he is not here to be given power, instead he is here to outright take it.
6-   He demolished every one of his republican opponents, and he is going to do the same with Hillary Clinton.  The reason is because she is no different from the people he has already vanquished … remember Jeb Bush.
7-   The only formidable obstacle to Trump is someone with impeccable integrity, stamina, and unwavering principles and ideas about where this country should be heading.  Trump, the revolutionary of the right, meet Sanders, revolutionary of the left!
8-   America has been going down the wrong path for most of the last thirty-five years.  And now, Donald Trump is about to push us over the precipice to uncharted territories.  It is time to wake up and save the republic … let us go back to the basics, let us bring back “The Constitution of the United States of America”!
9-   Go Bernie!!
10- God save America!!!

Faux Patriotism ~ by Hénock Gugsa

 

Faux Patriotism  ~~ Hénock Gugsa ~~

When I was in 10th Grade in Ethiopia (I won't tell you what year), I had a Canadian teacher who was literally a goldmine of both useful and trivial knowledge.  I swear he would have made a great "Jeopardy" champion had that TV game been around back then.
 

Anyways, I remember him telling us about a tiny Japanese town (or island) called USA. At the time, Japan was the up-and-coming economic threat to the United States. This teacher told us that Japan was labeling  some of its exported products as "Made in USA" and selling them worldwide. This little piece of information taught me a very wise life lesson: Never put much credence on labels!
 
The commercialization of patriotism is even more widespread now; and sadly, no one questions the legitimacy or veracity of labels anymore. If you remember back 15 years ago, in the aftermath of 9/11, the Chinese unloaded on us cheap "patriotic" items like U.S. flag pins and even U.S. flags. They were the most bizarre and absurdly exploitative commercial products in anybody's memory !!!
 
Rampant and dishonest commercialism/materialism is accepted as a fact-of-life. Even the most learned and leery consumers just smirk and stop questioning what is real and what is phony. When we stop questioning the truths behind labels, we are only a step away from forgetting our values. In the end, there is no difference between a phony (deceptive) product label and the phony (unsubstantiated) claims of patriotism.

Fear is Everywhere - by Hénock Gugsa

Fear is Everywhere 

- by Hénock Gugsa -

//// ~~~~ ////

Fear is everywhere ... out in public, in the privacy of our homes, or online in social media!  We all need to be careful what we say lest it be misconstrued and it gets us into a mess of unintended heartache and misery.

I don't personally buy into the "Freedom of Speech" propaganda anymore because I don't trust anything or anybody willy-nilly.  I am, however, glad about the "freedom not to listen" ... and I am thankful and I appreciate the power to mute, to change the channel, to unfollow, to unfriend, and of-course to turn off and shut out the unpleasant things or people out there. 
 
An aside [tongue-in-cheek] ===> I have never felt so powerful and fearless in my life before!  

We're Americans! - by Hénock Gugsa

We're Americans! 

- by Hénock Gugsa -

In the wake of the New York primary this past Tuesday, a Facebook friend and fellow Bernie-supporter said in disgust,  "We're Americans for Chrissake! ...."  

Spot on, friend !

This put me in mind of a Johnny Depp movie.  In it, he had a line where he says to a waiter, "You're a Mexicain, aren't ya? ... Not a Mexicaint!"  
Same principle can be applied here ... We're Americain ... not Americaint!!

What happened in New York is not really that surprising when you really think about it.  

That place is the lion's den, home of die-hard establishment democrats, of Wall Street, of the giant, recalcitrant financial institutions, and the power base of corporatist-billionaires.  

To be sure, Hillary cashed in all her chips there because she needed to get a fresh new momentum. 

Whether everything was done clean and above board is a discussion for another day.  We can, however, positively be assured that the fight is not over and there will be surprises up ahead. 

This is, after-all, a revolution!  
 

Misapplication of a Word - by TPO

Misapplication of a Word 

- by TPO -

~~~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~~~

==================================================================
Peter Hart, a veteran Democratic pollster who has studied public impressions of Trump, said voters’ views of him are “exceptionally rancid.” [Source: The Washington Post]
==================================================================
From dictionary.com  ===>
rancid
/'ræns?d/
adjective
1. (of butter, bacon, etc) having an unpleasant stale taste or smell as the result of decomposition
2. (of a taste or smell) rank or sour; stale
Derived Forms
rancidity (ræn's?d?t?), rancidness, noun
Word Origin
C17: from Latin rancidus rank, from rancere to stink
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contemporary Examples from the The Daily Beast ...
I will be happy if events prove me too pessimistic, but the political atmosphere in Washington is rancid.
   " This Isn’t Obama’s Malaise, It’s GOP Intransigence Robert Shrum May 2, 2013 "
You know the cartoon segment that used to be in colour in rancid old newspapers?
    "The Rancid Ballad of Johnny Rotten: His Memoir Seethes With Anger—And Charm Legs McNeil November 19, 2014"
No, this rancid bill of goods is also being by peddled by Fox News personalities.
    "The Right’s Dangerous Rhetoric: Obama as an ‘Enemy Combatant’ Dean Obeidallah February 9, 2014"
The workers had to use oxygen tanks to combat the rancid smell of death in temperatures that topped 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
    "Italy: Migrants Dying en Masse Barbie Latza Nadeau July 6, 2014"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Word Value for rancid :
Scrabble = 9
Words With Friends = 11
=================================================

 

Sanders on the Media - by TPO

 Sanders on the Media *

- by TPO -

<< For the media, 90 percent of the coverage is process, is soap opera, is polls, is raising money … Yesterday a woman comes up to me with tears in her eyes: “Bernie, I am working 60 hours a week. I’m not making any money and I don’t have time to spend with my daughter. Listen to the kids who leave school 50 or 60,000 dollars in debt. Talk to the people who have no health insurance and what that means to their life.”
---------------------------------------------------------
I’m running for president of the United States because we have a disappearing middle class, we’ve got 47 million people living in poverty. The amount of time that media pays to those issues is minimal. I think that is my critique, Chris. The media has got to look at the pain in America today and then look at how the candidates are responding to that pain. Campaigns and elections are not a game. They’re not a game. They are about trying to change America .... >>

============================== 
* Bernie Sanders' evaluation of the media [as given to  Chris Hayes of MSNBC]  

Immigrants in America - by Hénock Gugsa

Immigrants in America 

- by Hénock Gugsa - 

** In response to: "Immigrants Don't Drain Welfare. They Fund It. - By Laura Reston
September 3, 2015 - New Republic **

I suspect a lot of those immigrants that you speak of don't ever get any of that contribution back .  Many go back, or die without making any claims.   And if they ever become naturalized, they have to individually pay a non-refundable fee of close to $680.00 to the U.S. Government.  So, if 780,000 get naturalized in a year, that's a gross profit of $530.4 Million for the U.S. Treasury.  Administrative costs should  be 5% of that at the most. 

According to newamericanscampaign.org ==> "Who is naturalizing? Mexico is the top country of origin for our newly naturalized citizens. In 2013, India replaced the Philippines as the number two country of origin, but those three countries have been in the top three for the past three years.
 

More women than men became new citizens, and that is no different than the previous two years. In 2013, 55 percent of new Americans were women. Nearly two-thirds of new Americans were married."

 

Make America Love Again! - by Free Hugs Project

Make America Love Again! 

- by Free Hugs Project -

Mahbuba, a Love Story - by TPO

Mahbuba, a Love Story *

- by TPO - 

Mahbuba – An African slave girl who won the heart of a  

                      German Prince

She was born in 1820 in Guma, a southern regional state of Ethiopia.  Her parents named her “Bilillee” which literally means well-shaped or pretty.  But she later came to be known as Mahbuba which means 'My Beloved' in Arabic.

In 1835/36, when she was 15, a civil war broke out around Guma and she lost her father and six brothers.  As her village was burned to the ground,  invading captors grabbed her, her sister and her mother and dragged them away as slaves. 

Mahbuba was first taken north to Gondar, then soon after to Khartoum.  After that, in 1837, slave traders took her to Cairo.  There they hoped to sell her to the highest bidder among the rich sheiks and princes that happened to be in town.

[As fate would have it,] ... it so happened that, in 1837, Prince Hermann Furst Von Puckler-Muskau of Germany was traveling thru North Africa.  While in Cairo, he went to the slave market, a popular venue for tourists.  There he saw and was instantly struck by the beauty of the young Ethiopian ‘slave’ girl for sale.  He immediately bought her, disguised her as his Mameluke boy, and took her with him on his travels.

The prince became completely besotted by Mahbuba as they continued their travels together through Palestine, Syria and Istanbul.  He was [simply mesmerized] by her natural grace, and eagerness to learn Western ways.  For her part, Mahbuba appeared to enjoy the novelty of her new and totally un-imagined life.

When they arrived in Europe, they stayed in Budapest for a while; and there, Mahbuba received Holy Baptism.  The Prince sent her for a time to the best convent school in Vienna, where he asked the nuns to teach her European ways.  But to their surprise, she soon delighted them all with her natural grace and intelligence.  It was said that Mahbuba could light up any room she entered with her smile.  It also quickly became clear that she had an aptitude for languages as it took her no time at all to be fluent in Italian and German.  She was delightful company, and she was naturally polite and kind as well.  High Society was enthusiastic to entertain the Prince and his ‘princess’, and to be regaled by Mahbuba’s exotic beauty. She was the toast of Vienna, written about in the newspapers, and always the subject of enthusiastic conversation. When she was presented to the Emperor and his royal court, she was applauded.  Everyone loved her.

Sadly, it was soon discovered that Mahbuba could not get acclimatized to the damp and cold European climate.  At some point, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and her health started to decline.  As the Prince had to urgently go on a brief business mission to Berlin, he instructed their doctor to give Mahbuba the best of care. 

Two days after the Prince’s departure, on October 27, 1840, a servant drew back the curtains in Mahbuba’s room and found her mistress dead.  She had died alone, a slim tiny figure in a large bed. 

Mahbuba was buried in the local cemetery, marked by a large stone-shaped sarcophagus, with a single word: ‘Mahbuba’.  The grave-site is visited by thousands of people every year.

“I felt more love for her than I thought myself capable of,” the Prince wrote to a friend,“ [Her death] was my most intense pain ….”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 * Revised and edited from the original source which is ... www.ayyaantuu.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary by TPO regarding the editorial deviation from the original source ===>

TO: All Oromos (or cries for Oromiya)

I prefer to think that Mahbuba was a girl of legendary beauty and charm from Guma in the southern part of Ethiopia.  I don't know why you bother mentioning Oromiya ... there never was any such country in the recorded history and geography of the world.  There are no statues (monuments), historical relics, or manuscripts of "Oromo" history.  The people who are asserting themselves as members of an Oromo nation don't have any alphabet of their own to enable them to write, to read, or to promote their culture, such as it were.

Maybe after you have truly and adequately established your identity, you can justifiably demand respect.  You already have equality and freedom of self-determination.  As for total sovereignty, make sure you understand what you are asking and then be prepared for the price you may have to pay for it.
======================================================

Scapegoating and Misdirection - by Hénock Gugsa

Scapegoating and Misdirection 

- by Hénock Gugsa -

~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~

Mel W. on Facebook today (3/25/16) :-
" Why are Independents and Democrats registering as Republicans? I'm independent and I'm fed up with massive debt, Illegal getting benefits before veterans, 22 veterans commit suicide a day, lengthy wait for Hospital Appointments, over 3 year wait for benefits, illegals get them immediately. If you have a low paying job or do not have a job the cause is illegal immigration. This country is on the verge of bankruptcy. They'll be a time when this country cannot borrow any more money and the Federal Reserve can't print anymore. Top 20% of earners pay 84% of income tax. Top 1% Pay 24% income tax. What would you do when they leave the country or businesses leave? Or should I say along with the business that has left due to government regulations. That will be the end of the free stuff. "

My Response to Mel W. on Facebook
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I see a lot of scapegoating and misdirection in the arguments given above.  You do not provide any actual statistics of how many "illegals" take advantage of benefits here in the United States.
==> What benefits are easily (freely) gotten or given in this country?  If "stuff" were free, why then do we see so many homeless people and unattended veterans?!  
==> Why do "illegals pour into this country" ?!  It's certainly not because they are given dirt-paying jobs by exploiters who are not paying employer taxes or employee benefits to these "illegals". 
===> On the other side of the equation, there are bureaucratic inefficiencies, and there is  the big, big problem of "waste, fraud, and abuse" of government whether it is run by Democrats or Republicans.
===> What about the unjustified, never-ending military adventures in foreign lands that have so far cost us 3 or 4 trillion dollars?!
===> And about the tax-paying sectors in this country ... are the top 1% really paying income tax? .... And are they really investing in corporations that create jobs right here in the U.S.A??  Have you seen any proof of wealth trickling down to the lower rungs of society? 
===> Wasn't the relaxing of regulations the main cause behind the recent Wall Street crisis? 
===> You talk about "the end of free stuff".  For the majority of Americans, free stuff has been a thing of the past for a long, long time.  At the same time, I am sorry to say that nothing has ever really ended for the very well-to-do in this country!!

 

Trump ... not an idiot ! - by Hénock Gugsa

Trump ... not an idiot ! 

- by Hénock Gugsa -

=== "This man [Donald] is an idiot."  ===

I disagree, Donald Trump is not an idiot.  But, anybody who follows him is.

Trump is a very clever, dangerously clever sociopath who knows what he is doing every step of the way.  He comes from a marketing background, where public sentiments are gauged and also guided to certain desired goals of the marketer.  Everything is calculated, everything  is business, and morality or conscience have no place in the general scheme of things. 

What is the main product Donald Trump is peddling? -  R a c i s m !!!
 

And what is racism? ....  It is a virulent social sickness not unlike alcoholism.  It can be passed from generation to generation thru familial and societal nurturing. There are merchants of racism just as much as there are liqueur salesmen or bartenders.  There is absolutely no question that Donald Trump is an unabashed practitioner and salesman of racism. 

To date, no one has yet challenged Donald Trump with serious and concentrated effort.  He is being dismissed or underestimated by the media and those with political power or influence.

The war on racism needs to be waged anew.   Battles must be fought on all fronts daily and without letup.  We should never give in to fatigue or despair.  In particular, the battle with Trump must be fought with focus because he is not an idiot!

 

Speaking my Mind - by Hénock Gugsa

Speaking my Mind
- by -
Hénock Gugsa
//// ~~~~ ////

Recently, I spoke my mind honestly when I posted something on Facebook about a politician running for the presidency, and I questioned his intelligence.   I said, in essence, he is a "pendejo".*

An old high-school classmate, now an old wealthy socialite, was up in arms calling me a "hater" and everything. Then she sent me a pm that I should refrain from posting my "liberal" views because she does not like seeing them in "her" Facebook. 

She said if I continue this way, she might have to "unfriend [me] at least until after the elections." 

I decided I will save her the bother ... I "unfriended" her on the spot.

Then I told one or two of my friends and explained about the old Ethiopian (Abyssinian) saying: Less beans, less farts!!  ...
  " ባቄላ ቢቀር ፈስ ቀለለ !! "
-------------------------------------------------------
* "pendejo" - (Spanish) asshole

 

The Self-immolation of the Republican Party - by Hénock Gugsa

The Self-immolation of the Republican Party 

- by Hénock Gugsa -

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ///// ~~~~~~~~~~~~
[extracted from "The G.O.P Created Donald Trump" - by Nicholas Kristoff, NY Times]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.... 
So how did we get to this stage where the leading Republican candidate is loathed by the Republican establishment?

In part, I think, Republican leaders brought this on themselves. Over the decades they pried open a Pandora’s box, a toxic politics of fear and resentment, sometimes brewed with a tinge of racial animus, and they could never satisfy the unrealistic expectations [of smaller government] that they nurtured among supporters.
....
[An] echo chamber deluded its believers to the point that it sometimes apparently killed them. During the 2009-10 flu pandemic, right-wing broadcasters like Limbaugh and Glenn Beck denounced the call for flu shots, apparently seeing it as a nefarious Obama plot.

The upshot was that Democrats were 50 percent more likely than Republicans to say that they would get flu shots, according to a peer-reviewed article in The Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. So when the pandemic killed up to 18,000 Americans, they presumably were disproportionately conservatives.
....
============================================
 

Missing Obama Already - by David Brooks

 

[What We Will "Miss" Most About Obama]
**== extracted from a recent David Brooks editorial ==**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 ..., a resilient sense of optimism. To hear Sanders or Trump, Cruz and Ben Carson campaign is to wallow in the pornography of pessimism, to conclude that this country is on the verge of complete collapse. That’s simply not true. We have problems, but they are less serious than those faced by just about any other nation on earth.

People are motivated to make wise choices more by hope and opportunity than by fear, cynicism, hatred and despair. Unlike many current candidates, Obama has not appealed to those passions.

No, Obama has not been temperamentally perfect. Too often he’s been disdainful, aloof, resentful and insular. But there is a tone of ugliness creeping across the world, as democracies retreat, as tribalism mounts, as suspiciousness and authoritarianism take center stage.

Obama radiates an ethos of integrity, humanity, good manners and elegance that I’m beginning to miss, and that I suspect we will all miss a bit, regardless of who replaces him.
========================
Source: David Brooks, "I Miss Barack Obama", 
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/opinion/i-miss-barack-obama.html?_r=0

The "MarcoRoboto" Moments - by TPO

 

The "MarcoRoboto" Moments by   TPO *  ===== #### =====
    RUBIO:  And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world....

    RUBIO:  But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world....

    CHRISTIE:  That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person.

    RUBIO:  Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing.

    CHRISTIE:  There it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody....It gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points....

    RUBIO [an hour later]:  I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president who is trying to change this country.
---------------------------------------------
* Source: Kevin Drum - Mother Jones.com

A Greatly Cheered Exit ! ... - by TPO

A Greatly Cheered Exit ! 

by TPO
~~~~ /// ~~~~

[ Worst Terrorist Ever Blows Self Sideways out of Plane Without Killing Anyone Else ]
(February 5, 2016)
by
Ben Mathis-Lilley *
Passengers on a Daallo Airlines flight leaving from Mogadishu were subjected to just about the most terrifying experience imaginable on Tuesday as a bomb exploded in the plane's passenger cabin somewhere above 12,000 feet. The bomb only created a relatively small hole in the plane's fuselage, however, and the aircraft was able to return to Mogadishu and land safely.

Somali authorities now believe that they know who carried the bomb onto the plane and detonated it: A man who was then sucked out of the hole in the fuselage and became the attack's only fatality. (Only two minor injuries were reported among other passengers and crew.)

From CNN: The man sucked out of a Somali airliner after an inflight explosion has been identified as Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh, an elderly Somali national, Somalia officials said Friday.

Investigators suspect he carried a laptop computer with a bomb concealed onto the plane, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

One can only hope that Borleh, who is believed to have been acting in affiliation with the al-Shabaab jihadist terror group, was conscious for long enough to understand just how ironically his attempt to murder more than 70 people had gone wrong.

// Abdullahi ,  we hope you find the accommodations in hell appropriately satisfactory !! //

=============================================
* Source: Ben Mathis-Lilley writes for slate.com
 

"Rubio - pendejo by design!" - by Hénock Gugsa

 "Rubio - pendejo by design !"

by 
Hénock Gugsa *

Didn't he [Rubio] also say some time back that he wouldn't mind sitting and having a beer with Malala Yousufzai, the young Pakistani Nobel Prize winner?
At least three things wrong with that picture ....
One, she is a moslem (alcohol is forbidden) ...
two, she is an underage female and he is almost middle-aged ...
and three, he presumes that he is doing her the greatest honor by sitting with her!
===  How embarrassingly stupid can you get ?!  ===
------- ##### ------- ##### ------- ##### ------- ##### -------
* recently posted on Facebook and caused the following reaction from a "friend" who wrote the following ...
<<
Henock:  why are you such a name calling hater?? Your political posts are offensive! Do you think this hate tactic will change any minds?! Or do you post them to impress your fellow extreme liberal 'friends'??? Why don't you post POSITIVE ideas by your liberal candidates instead of hateful name calling personal attacks against Republicans???Name calling is the lowest level is [sic] debate. >>
---------------------------------
This was followed by a private message threatening to "unfriend" me if I continue in this manner in the future.  I started getting visions of being banned from posh and exclusive country clubs. So, I promptly and unceremoniously beat her to the punch ... I unfriended her. As we say in Ethiopia: Less beans, Less fart!   " ባቄላ ቢቀር ፈስ ቀለለ !! "