WHY DO THE RUSSIANS SO WANT TRUMP TO WIN?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

The WikiLeaks releases seem to answer the question.

Apparently, the former Secretary of State is stronger than they’d like. Just how did Hillary Clinton so thoroughly best Vladimir Putin in the past? Or was it just her husband, Bill? Either way, it’s obvious the Kremlin couldn’t stand up to her.

Don’t be distracted, folks. Vote against Russian aggression, which is what these leaks are. The ones past, present, and threatened in the future.

Unlike Donald J. Trump, with his bromance with Vladimir. Even with Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort kicked out of the circle, there’s much more of this connection to make headlines.

KEY WORDS OF FAITH TO CONSIDER

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

A new Pendle Hill pamphlet, Robert Griswold’s Marking the Quaker Path: Seven Key Words Plus One, has sparked some fresh thinking on my end.

I’ve previously posted on the ongoing series from the press at the Quaker retreat and study center in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, and often advise newcomers to Meeting to peruse its display rack in our library for titles that might best touch their interests, whether theological, historical, peace and social justice action, or simple daily living.

What I like about Griswold’s volume is the way he identifies some basic terms that are also found in other religious traditions while noting ways we Friends have come to apply our own unique understandings.

I’m sensing that each of his eight words (OK, one is a phrase) would be a fertile topic for group discussion, and not just among Friends.

His list:

  • Condition
  • Experience
  • Covenant
  • Discipline
  • Discernment
  • Authority
  • The Beloved Community
  • Submission

~*~

I won’t try to define them here, but each one can be stimulating, even controversial, as we look at the fullness of their implications in contemporary life. It’s also instructive to think of words he hasn’t focused on, starting with Belief, Worship, Prayer, and the like.

To learn more about his pamphlet and more, visit the Pendle Hill website.

ANOTHER SCENARIO TO CONSIDER, THIS ONE OUT OF LEFT FIELD

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

To date, all of the Republican challenges to Hillary Clinton’s activities have amounted to nothing other than the squandering of millions of taxpayers’ money.  Over the years, in fact, it’s often appeared the worst they can come up with is to accuse her of minor-league shenanigans of a routinely Republican sort.

Even after their witch hunts and kangaroo courts, though, that hasn’t stopped them from counting to howl for renewed investigations.

Still, there’s always a lingering nervously that something might still blow up along the way, and that leads to a fresh bit of speculation.

What if she withdrew from the race?

Left Tim Kaine as the party’s presidential nominee and, try this one on, Bernie Sanders running in the veep spot.

Kaine has none of the negatives Hillary carries, so the entire dynamic of the campaign would shift. Bernie would inject fresh enthusiasm into the race and deflate Jill Stein’s Green Party, as well.

Believe me, Donald Trump’s camp would be left spinning trying to adjust to the changes.

~*~

Think, too, down the pike and whether a Kaine presidency could erode the anticipated disrespect and outright contempt a Hillary Clinton White House would face as the far right-wing continues its hostility to the Obama legacy. The racist and sexist cards couldn’t be played, for certain. It would be curious to see just what the haters would be left with.

CLEANING HOUSE

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

You may have guessed my reaction to those bumper stickers calling Obama the worst president in American history.

Folks who have no memory of what the poor guy inherited.

OK, his biggest mistake was thinking he could reason with two-year-olds. The ones who go “No! No! No!” with no solution in sight. Imagine the rage if they were drivers on the Interstate, the ones with their brakes locked.

The mistake of thinking them men of good will rather than ill will.

The ones who have comprised the majority of the worst House of Representatives in memory, if not American history. And then their cohorts took over the Senate.

Put the blame where it belongs, especially when they won’t clean up their own mess. How about a clean sweep?

CAN TRUMP SALVAGE HIS BRAND?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

In his inflated claims to self-worth, Donald J. Trump likes to include a category of “goodwill,” meaning, well, nothing tangible. While he puts his value at $10 billion, more realistic voices put it at no more than $4 billion, and that’s assuming he’s not leveraged in debt to the hilt. After watching one after another of his enterprises go kaput – from airlines to casinos to steaks and vodka (oh, another Russian connection? gee whiz!) – he’s turned increasingly to name value alone. Many of those buildings with his name attached, it turns out, aren’t owned by him at all. The real owners just rent his name in exchange for, oh, well, something. How much longer can this game continue? Well, until the name and its sterling impression are deflated.

Believe me, more and more Trump is an elusive “brand,” based as much on his television-show posturing as anything. Successful businessman? Not as the stories of his failures, shady practices, and legal cases mount up. More and more, the question is what or who’s behind the cutout cardboard figure.

In the old days, we would have said this was nothing more than “image,” presumed status, or even a mirage in the distance. As the details pile up, a different portrait emerges. Call it showman or huckster, if you wish. It’s anything but a successful businessman whose word was good as gold. Quite the contrary.

As his bid for the White House encounters one disaster after another, and all of his brashness is returned in full measure, there’s reason to ask just where he’s heading. Where is his escape?

Or, more accurately, can he somehow salvage his brand?

I’m rather dubious. If his base turns out to be aging white males on the losing end of the spectrum, I doubt it. I just don’t see advertisers lining up for that. He’s the wrong demographic for most products. Hell, from what I’ve read, even Rush Limbaugh’s in trouble there.

One thing I’ll assume. Trump won’t believe his low ratings there any more than he trusts the polling surveys now or ballot tallies in November.

What would you do in his place?

A FONDNESS FOR CONSPIRACY THEORIES

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

American political history from the early-’60s on is filled with crucial catastrophes that leave too many lingering questions.

I could make a list but will leave that to others.

The fact is, even the crackpots who closely examine the topic of their choice often leave us with fascinating perspectives. Even without the smoking gun, you can follow the hoof prints off toward the horizon .

Makes for some intriguing reading, fact or fiction. Or some dangerous blending in between.

JUST IMAGINE IF TRUMP ACTUALLY WITHDREW

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 3 Comments

As the calls for Donald Trump to withdraw intensify, we can speculate on the dimensions of a Mike Pence run for the White House.

The reality is that the former governor of Indiana is more qualified for public office than Trump – not only was he chief executive of a $31 billion budget, about six times Trump’s estimated worth, he’s run political campaigns and won, which is more than can be said for the Trumpster, a pitiful novice.

Bland as he is, and with all of the baggage he carries from his terms as a Hoosier politician, the question would be whether Pence could reclaim enough votes from the Republican exodus to beat Hillary Clinton. Would he be too tarnished by his association with Trump – and the reality that he was Trump’s third choice, after Chris Christie and John Kasich? Think of all the high-ranking Republicans who have already endorsed Clinton. That would make for a lot of backtracking.

Or would he appeal only to the aging white males who are the last stand of the GOP? For that matter, would they even remain or abandon the cause altogether, now that their buffoon ranting head has abandoned them?

Equally intriguing would be the thinking within the Clinton campaign. How would her team retool its ads and strategy in reaction? Can Pence move deftly enough to escape the inevitable bee stings or poisoned arrows? Does he have any foreign policy expertise to counter hers? As senator from New York, she can easily match his command of domestic policy. I’d say he’s vulnerable on both fronts. At the moment, the presidential race has come down to a rejection of Trump more than an affirmation of Clinton, who lacks the enthusiastic following Bernie Sanders engendered, definitely. In the end, I keep looking at Clinton as the qualified boss I’d like at the head of the operation, no matter how I feel about her personally. Dating, were it an option, would be out of the question. That seems to reflect much of the energy I’m seeing around me. Besides, Scorpio and Aquarius are in opposition. As she finds in her husband’s Leo.

Put another way, Pence is a lot less sexy than Clinton, even when we’re not talking about marriage or fidelity.

Well, that brings up the question of Trump’s withdrawing. As in withering, otherwise known as going flat. Since he’s the one who slipped his schlong into public discussion back when, this only seems fair, even before the anarchist statues.

Now, should we mention the Yiddish term schmuck?

Well, as I was saying? Where is Bernie, anyway?