Liberty Versus Security, a Summer Drink, Assault Weapons, Melania Plagiarizes and a Short Story by Sid.

                                      

The Words of Michelle from Melania's Mouth

By now you must have heard some observers comment that a portion of the noble thoughts included in Melania Trump’s speech on the opening night of the G.O.P convention was lifted from a speech given at the Democratic convention in 2008  by Michelle Obama.  Of course, the Trumps and the G.O.P. deny this.  Resolve the matter in your own mind by looking at both texts.  Common language is shown in red.  Then make your own decision.

  

Flash - Here's an update to this blog posting:

July 20 - Late News:  After after almost two full days of denials, the Republicans have finally admitted that parts of Melania Trump's Monday speech were indeed borrowed from a 2008 speech by Michelle Obama.  While everyone from Campaign Manager Paul Manafort on down supported the denial up to as late as this morning, the speechwriter has come clean and admitted the plagiarism.

What this means is simple.  If you can get away with lying, it is okay to do so until caught, at which time you can confess and hopefully, if your supporters are dumb enough, come out of the episode smelling like a rose.  They will just say that the opposition lies too.

When an story is a "phony" one, it is commonly known as "trumped-up."  Criminals frequently offer "trumped-up" alibis.   The name of the G.O.P.'s Presidential nominee is quite appropriate.

JL

 

Michelle in 2008:  "And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.

Melania in 2016:  “From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect.

Michelle in 2008:  "And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and to pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children — and all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."

Melania in 2016:  They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”

C’mon, Melania.  You got caught.  What bothers me is that initially, you actually claimed in an earlier interview with Matt Lauer that you had written it.  Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!  Stick with modelling.  How stupid do you folks think Americans are?  We aren’t all Republican Convention delegates!  Duh.  What bothers me more is that whoever wrote it for you didn’t have the brains nor ability to write something original.  That’s a big clue about the incompetence with which the Trump organization is riddled, where dishonesty, lies and truth are indistinguishable.  Imagine what a Trump administration would look like!

But in the world of real estate developers, the “Trump World,” this kind of stuff happens every day in sales brochures and advertising copy, and no one really minds.  But the Presidency, and even the job of First Lady, are something different.  Everyone should understand this except, of course, the bigoted, the ignorant and the gullible, who today seem to comprise the bulk of the Republican candidate’s supporters.  (Intelligent Republicans, and I know a few, are either planning on staying home, voting for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson or even voting for Hillary Clinton!)

Melania should be told to report to the Dean’s office, where she would be told that one more act of plagiarism will result in her expulsion from Trump University (with no tuition refund).
JL
                                           
                                         
                                         

A Cool Summer Drink

Make yourself an ice cream soda!  Fill a tall glass 2/3 of the way up with ice cold  tonic water.  Then put in a generous scoop of chocolate ice cream (I use Bear Claw, a deep chocolate which adds caramel and cashews) on top. The ice cream never should be put in before the toniic water; ice crystals will form.  Stir with a tall spoon and enjoy!
JL
                                        
                                          

Trading Liberty for Security - A Bad but Necessary Bargain

There is no question in my mind that in regard to present domestic and international turbulence, like it or not, our country will have to sacrifice some of our liberties and freedoms in exchange for greater security.  This will have to happen regardless of whatever party is in power in our Presidency and in our Congress, and there will be no support for the Supreme Court doing anything about it, either. 

Liberty and security have always been delicately balanced in the world.  Medieval serfs sacrificed their liberty for the security offered to them by the lord whose fields they tended, and which provided them with sustenance, and whose knights provided them with protection against enemies.  But the lord’s word was law and could not be challenged by his vassals  in any manner. That was the bargain.

The centuries-long Pax Romana assured security to most of the then-known Western world, but individual freedoms were non-existent. Rome and its centurions ruled with an iron hand. In the 20^th Century, so long as one was an Aryan and followed the Party’s dictates, there was plenty of internal security in Nazi Germany, but not much freedom.  Also, Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China provided national security at the price of freedom. 

People are willing to accept a loss of freedom if they feel that such a sacrifice is needed in order to provide the increased security warranted by domestic and international threats.  Historically, this usually occurs at times when war is declared.  Lincoln did it during the Civil War and FDR's internment of Americans of Japanese descent in 1942 was another example. 

     
Although there are no nations with which we are likely to be in a state of war,  that is the juncture at which the United States now finds itself.  We are at war with the "concept" of jihad, as practiced by some followers of Islam, an otherwise respectable religion and the third of the major monotheistic Abrahamic faiths along with Judaism and Christianity.

(1) The vastly increased surveillance necessary to combat terrorism at home and overseas, (2) The need to invade personal privacy, particularly in regard to electronic communications,  (3)  the need to limit access to inflammatory ideas and any (4) regulations to limit the proliferation of arms, particularly military type weapons, all of these will clearly violate Constitutional rights.

 

But such sacrifices of liberties will be necessary to prevent acts of violence such as occurred in San Bernardino, Orlando, in Europe and in the Middle East, from being repeated here.  The Islamic State may eventually be defeated militarily on the ground in the Middle East, but defeating the ideology behind it will be more difficult.  If it can find a way, the government may try to spy into what is going on in people’s minds.  Such futuristic surveillance, up to now limited to the realm of science fiction, might have prevented the police assassinations in Dallas and Baton Rouge and the shootings in Orlando.  How else can a solitary, self-armed terrorist be thwarted? 

  And the same goes for all acts of violence stemming from other extreme convictions ranging from anarchistic, racial or religious motivation. Preventing them will require human and technical resources which are beyond what present laws allow.  

The second President of the United States, John Adams, pushed through such legislation known as the Alien and Sedition Laws.  Unfortunately, there was some political motivation behind them as well, but sacrificing liberties for security was also involved then.  The next President, Thomas Jefferson, had Congress repeal most of them. (One remains today:  The legality of deporting enemy aliens during wartime and thereafter.)

The trading off of liberty for security doesn't happen overnight.  It is a matter of creeping enforcement of never-before-enforced laws and the occasional disregard of long accepted freedoms at various levels of government.  Quietly, people grow to accept this trade-off which leaves them feeling comfortably safer. But it will never be announced that provisions of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are being temporarily suspended.  They might be subject to an "improved" or "revised"  interpretation.  It will just quietly happen. Many will not notice it.

Whatever losses in individual freedoms this country is willing to accept in order to make certain that our national security is guaranteed must clearly be on a temporary basis with a clear pathway laid out for the return of lost freedoms once the danger has passed and is no more.  Finally, any Governmental action which reduces freedoms in order to guarantee our nation’s security cannot be political.  It must be done on a bi-partisan basis, with which all parties concur.   It cannot be Republican nor Democratic.  It must be American.  And while it will not be a good thing,  it will be a necessary thing.

Jack Lippman

                                        

                                              

Why Ban Assault Weapons

When shooters possess weapons that can repeatedly pump out bullets and kill a lot of people quickly, they are using technologies designed for the battlefield, and not for hunting, target shooting or home protection.  Call them assault rifles or whatever you wish, but weapons with large capacity detachable magazines, pistol grips, barrel shrouds and folding, thumbhole and/or telescoping stocks (all characteristics of what we call military assault weapons) have no place among our civilian population.

Our nation would be far better off if the government banned the sale of such weapons and gave those who already possessed them a short period during which they might be turned in and appropriately compensated for them.  The patriotism and loyalty of any American who would oppose such action would be highly questionable.  For what conceivable purpose would they want such a weapon?   Some might answer this question by raising the spectre of an armed insurrection against a government they felt was trampling their rights. (Re-read the second article in this posting to see where they might get that idea.)

The only conceivable argument against this would be the National Rifle Association’s position that such actions would be first steps on the slippery slope leading to the weakening of the Second Amendment, which that group chooses to misinterpret, with the acquiescence of a  politicized Supreme Court, whose D.C. vs. Heller decision is certain to be reversed once the Democrats have the opportunity to nominate an "unpolliticized" Justice to the Court.  Of course, for those who are unfamiliar with this blog,  I consider the NRA to be a repugnant organization, acting to the detriment of most Americans and deserving of investigation by a Congressional committee..

JL 

                                              

Sid Bolotin was a prolific contributor to this blog, which frequently featured his poetry and short stories.  Here's a story we've unearthed from January, 2003, six years before this blog started, so you've probably never seen it.  Sid, who passed away in March, 2014,  left a large number of stories and poems which his wife is developing into a collection to be published in the very near future.

JL

What Do Women Want?
   
Sid Bolotin 

      The tribe’s four primary hunters were gathered around the fire after their successful expedition to the forest that spread below their community’s cave dwellings in the rocky outcroppings that thrust skyward in the middle of the trees. Each man was dressed in the skins of animals that they had slain. Their feet were wrapped in skins as well, with the pelts spiraling around their legs up to their knees. Each man’s outfit displayed individual touches of style, material, and decoration according to his status and his personal designs.

“What do our women want?” bemoaned Kirk as he poked his spear into the flames to reharden its tip. “I can’t keep up with my mate’s wanting more and more. Ever since our tribe’s elders honored us four by moving us out from the communal cave to set up our own private caves, she’s been bugging me to do things around our cave to make it special, unique, and pretty. First, I had to paint the walls a special color using the juice of rare berries that I had to trek miles and miles to find. Then she made me chisel out nooks in the walls to display her ever-growing collection of rocks, gourds, and skulls. And now she’s got me whacking a hole through the cave’s roof to let more light shine on the collection so that it looks pretty when you enter the cave. She calls it: making a statement.”

“I know, I know,” agreed Dirk, “mine is the same. She visits the other females, checks out their caves, and comes back with new, better, bigger ideas for our cave. She’s driving me crazy.”

“Me too,” York chimed in. “I’ve had to add pictures of deer to the buffalo that I had already painted on the walls because she saw the ones on your walls, Kirk.”

“And how about the damn jewelry?” grumbled Kirk. “I made mine a nice bracelet out of beaver teeth, and now she whining for a necklace out of bear’s claws because she saw one on a woman we captured from another tribe. Do you know how many bears I’ll have to kill to get enough claws – how many days I’ll have to spend hunting? I get exhausted just thinking about it.”

“Well, we’re all in for more of it, guys.” Zork interrupted. “My mate is sporting a small pouch that she took from one of our captured females. It’s made from animal skin – rabbit, I think. It has a deer’s leg tendon as a drawstring to close it and a rawhide strap that lets her hang it on her shoulder or loop it around her neck. She uses it to carry around trinkets, lip color, face paint and other stuff that she insists she needs to have with her wherever she goes. You can bet that as soon as the other females in our tribe see it, they’ll want one too. And then they’ll want them bigger, smaller, of different material and colors so that each can make her own statement. I’ll bet that they’ll each want a collection of all the different varieties just so that they can say that they have one of each.”

“You’re probably right”, grumbled Kirk. “And it could get worse. I heard the female that we captured telling our females about her tribe’s custom of gathering regularly with other tribes in her section of the land to show each other the things made by each tribe’s females so that they can swap and trade pouches, foot wraps, leggings, and belts. And also to show off the different style of body wrappings – some long, some short, some over the shoulder, and others without shoulder straps that are held up just by their boobs. My gut wrenched as I watched our females get all twittery and gleeful as they chattered about setting up similar gatherings for our tribes in this area.”

“Hey!” erupted York. “What about their foot covers? Tell ‘em about the foot covers, Zork.”

“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. My mate started up with me that she had to have another pair with a different color. It seems that another of those captive females told her about dyes made from various clays that will stain the pelts with a variety of colorings. Now she wants more pairs in every shade of the rainbow. When I argued that that the cave would be too small to store all this stuff, she lunged at me with a stick.”

“Damn!” Dirk exclaimed, “What do they want? Don’t they realize that we’ll have to work twice as hard – maybe even more - to hunt down enough critters to meet their demands? Even the females left in the communal cave are nagging their mates to decorate their living areas in special ways to distinguish them from the other areas -  to make them pretty. They all call it: making a statement. Do they expect us to spend all of our spare time foraging for supplies to satisfy their need to make ‘statements’?”

 “Where will it end?” groaned Zork as he clutched his head between his hands. “Could this become a new way of life where we males are no longer hunting just to stay alive, but foraging longer and longer hours just to make things pretty for our mates. To keep up with the demand we’ll have to breed more males to train as hunters and then more females to mate with the increased number of males. That will mean more living space will be needed, which means we could run out of caves. Then, where will we live? All this just because the females believe that they have to make statements. Where will it all end? Are the pleasures they provide us really worth it? Why can’t they be more like us?”

                                        

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