The ship has weather’d every rack,
the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear,
the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel,
the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up–for you the flag is flung–for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths–for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
The arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Walt Whitman, “Leaves of Grass”, Philadelphia: David McKay, 1891-92
By Blue Bronc, a Trail Mix Contributor
The sheer arrogance. The absolute lack of empathy. The stupid response. The sadness of America for having voted for a person who would be better in an assisted living home than loose on the streets.
Who? Trump. I just listened to his idiotic and completely moronic response to the mother and father, Ghazala Khan and Khizr Khanf, who spoke at Hillary’s nomination talking about the son they lost in the Bush war. Their son was killed, the father took the idiot (even worse than the Village Idiot) to task and stated the head of the Republicans had “not sacrificed”.
The one with his buddy on his head, a dead orange rat, stated that he “sacrificed”. He f*$&ing “sacrificed” by hiring a thousand workers. Jesus Alou (hay-sus ah-lou). The guy has no idea of the world. Or of what “sacrifice” means. He “hired” (which I decline to believe) a thousand people and for that he “sacrificed”. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
At what point do the blue collar supporters realize that hiring a thousand workers to build a tower (which will be bankrupt as soon as it is built) counts as much as going into a combat zone and being killed. Or at least that is what the idiot (I’m sorry, he could be suffering mental disease and should not be called an idiot) is telling the media. He sacrificed by hiring workers is his sworn statement.
His sacrifice by hiring laborers is the same as a mother’s loss of her son fighting for the United States? At what point will his supporters see he is a carny barker? When will his dismissal of their children’s sacrifices in the military mean something to them? It had better be pretty soon.
“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
It might have the statement “obey the orders of the President. . .” That means legal orders. Not torturing. Illegal orders from any officer, non-com or other military or civilian authority are not obeyed.
Notice it says “. . .defend. . .” Yup that means defend as in to the death. Just like the son did.
That the fool says he “sacrificed” is to make me barf. And, I hope any and all veteran do the same.
More Posts by Blue Bronc
By Ghazala Khan in wapo Donald Trump has asked why I did not speak at the Democratic convention. He said he would like to hear from me. Here is my answer to Donald Trump: Because without saying a thing, all the world, all America, felt my pain. I am a Gold Star mother. Whoever saw me felt me in their heart. Donald Trump said I had nothing to say. I do. My son Humayun Khan, an Army captain, died 12 years ago in Iraq. He loved America, where we moved when he was 2 years old. He had volunteered to help his country, signing up for the ROTC at the University of Virginia. This was before the attack of Sept. 11, 2001. He didn’t have to do this, but he wanted to. When Humayun was sent to Iraq, my husband and I worried about his safety. I had already been… Read more »
yep, trotting out the dead horse to beat again, boss
ny times: Hillary Clinton Hunts an Elusive Prey: White Male Voters
In her first general election road trip after accepting the Democratic nomination for president, when she took stock of her historic feat as “my mother’s daughter and my daughter’s mother,” Mrs. Clinton rumbled by bus through the heart of the white male resistance.
There is no group that views Mrs. Clinton with greater antipathy. A New York Times/CBS News poll two weeks ago found that white men preferred her Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, to Mrs. Clinton almost two to one, 55 percent to 29 percent. (White women were split at 40 percent each.)
flatus, from pbs newshour, some of the problems you were warning us about: What security measures are in place around voter data?
craig, in case you need to update countdown message tomorrow:
97 days to go
no show
no show taxes, donald
Mr. trump:
I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.
Sincerely,
Xrepublican
Forget the ‘elusive white male’. Concentrate on 1. the white female, 2. the states with high %ages of minorities, 3. and the swing states. If the pursuit of 1. & 2. is vigorous and wise, 3. will fall into line w/o trouble.
Idaho and Wyoming can wait until the 2020 election, when the Libertarians will surpass the repubs, and split the ”elusive white male’ into 3 nearly equal sized portions. By 2024 I expect to see the top three parties to be the Libertarian Party, the Christian (republican ?) Party, and the ruling Democratic Party.
exR – I can see this part of the campaign is a tuning of the message. Might as well take it to the middle of nowhere and try it out. It might help down ballot too.
Will there be anything, even a minor party, after the loon screws the Repubs? It could be interesting if the Libertarian candidates receive enough votes to become a major party. That comes with certain responsibilities, which vary by state.
There is a whole meme on Twitter of #TrumpSacrifices
Once allowed Mike Pence to speak for himself…….briefly.
Eating a taco salad to show I liked Mexicans
Survived an entire weekend at Mar-a-Lago with just one can of hairspray.
Settled for French’s Mustard when the jar of Grey Poupon was empty.
Holy Polonium! trump is a conduit for putie who is running our election season. It explains trump’s ugly, orange color…he is radioactive. And Wikileaks pretends to be correct, but is right for Putie. A not so silent war going on and Wikileaks is not so pure…the Panama Papers war was meant to punish putin and assange was the perfect top lap dog ever since he delivered snowden. putie has no problem with a nuclear war. This is the heart of the matter and I think a federal investigation is in order. Meanwhile, we are stuck in convention fodder when this is the true story following trump’s bizarre press conference. Manafort should be before congress…his russian ties need to be investigated. I think this is bigger than Watergate.
“this is bigger than Watergate”
bw, ‘fraid you’re right about that. so who will play bernstein and who woodward? and is Bezos up to the katharine graham/ben bradlee part?
This Man’s Story About Hillary Clinton Is Going Viral Because It’s Honestly the *Best* Tears. Laura Beck “Before Hillary Clinton was the Democratic Party’s nominee for President, she was a Senator from New York. (Amongst other things; seriously, this woman has done it all, but we’re just here to talk about the Senator part right now.) While Senator, Hillary apparently helped a man going through a very difficult time. The man, author James Grissom, wrote about his experience with Hillary on his Facebook page in a post that has since gone viral. In it, he recounts reaching out to Hillary for some major bills he racked up while being treated for bladder cancer. The story powerfully demonstrates Hillary Clinton’s commitment to “doing the work,” which is pretty much the second motto of her campaign, and it most definitely made it rain on my face. Like, a lot. Read the whole… Read more »
Donald Trump’s fight with the Khans is a reminder of his greatest weakness
Ezra Klein
Clinton’s convention bounce continues Trump is in the dumper
the media refuses to let go of the orange goose
Jamie – I added one just for fun
Had to use teleprompter #TrumpSacrifices
Donald, you won the Spelling Bee when you were seven years old? And was the final word ’empathy’? Will you spell that word for us now?
‘m’ ‘e’ ‘m’ ‘e’ ‘m’ ‘e’ ‘m’ ‘e’
As I was reading Blue Bronc’s exquisite post, it came to mind that what we are trying to do is to find an answer for Trump. Why is he doing this? Why is he saying these things? We, as a culture, strive for answers. We don’t like things left unanswered. We went to the moon! Occam’s Razor, a 14th century scientific theory postulates that the hypothesis that is easiest to test is more likely to be the correct hypotheses. Modern society has ‘massaged’ the razor which now resides in stating that, all things being equal, the simplest answer is usually the right answer. The conflict comes when applying Occam’s theory to Trump. No need to list out his foibles, too long a list. Nonetheless, the bottom line with Trump is that he is a racist. A bigot. Trump looks down on those who are a different color, a different culture,… Read more »
Donald Trump just gave the Clinton campaign a tremendous gift.
He has shown tremendous disrespect for our nations military. He was equating getting up and going to work in a luxury office with the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make when they go out on deployment and are involved in combat. Really?
He has disrespected a gold star family, he has disrespected a genuine war hero, John McCain
And in major ways demonstrated he just doesn’t understand the military
if the Clinton campaign can’t take advantage of this to make major inroads in areas where active and retired military live then they deserve to lose.
Jack
The problem here is the media which continues to treat the American public as if we are idiots.
Hillary Clinton does not have a “white male problem” White men without a college education are less likely to vote for her
especially the ones with nazi tattoos she has no problem with reasonable white men of any age.
Less Mooooooonass has already said Trump is good for the television business too bad moonass choose his pocketbook over the country
Boy Moonves isn’t that a Muslim name? Hope Trump will let you buy your way out of the Muslim camps
Oh you say not a Muslim looks like one to Trump
BB, wonderful post. drumpf is busy making sure that everyone in America understands what a pusillanimous ass he is.
BTW, BUMP.
How And Why Trump Will Try to Ditch the Debates by Josh Marshall Donald Trump gave his first hint last night that he might try to get out of the Fall presidential debates. I have thought for months that he’d likely try to get out of them. I think he will be at a steep strategic and tactical disadvantage in any debate with Hillary Clinton – a point I’ll expand on later. But from thinking he’d try to get out of the debates, I wasn’t clear how he’d do it without facing crushingly bad publicity and exposure as a coward. The latter is something that cuts apart everything his campaign is based on. A few weeks ago, I figured out what that strategy will be. As usual, Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games. Same as last time w/ Bernie. Unacceptable!… Read more »
BlueB… excellent post!… as usual…
The campaign season has just started going and already Trump is stumbling and bumbling. Of course he is disgusting, a racist, an idiot, a narcissist… etc., etc. I’m trying to figure out what’s really happening with him. Does he purposely want to take down the Republican party? Does he want to lose? Is he secretly trying to get Hillary elected? Or is he truly psychotic and having some kind of breakdown? Only time will answer any of these questions. In the meantime, I’m horrified at his behavior and lack of empathy for others. I’d like to say his supporters are just as bad…. but I know some of them aren’t so much voting for Trump as their hatred of Hillary is what is motivating them. Some of these people I call friends and I’m truly mystified.
dv, even simpler answer than “he’s a racist” is he is an egotistical megalomaniac completely and excessively absorbed in himself. no room for others of any sort. his motto not just l’état, c’est moi, but
l’univers , c’est moi!
let him ditch the debate
she can be with Gary Johnson and Trump’s empty chair
Jack,
Im 100% in agreement with you about trump handing hillary the best gift off all. Not only should she used it to get into office with as large a % age as possible…..but she and all dems should start right now on the best strategy to use this in order to get back the house and senate…….if they don’t…..they def…..do not deserve it.
I just cant believe that this is happening to the Republican party…….it about time no?
gee Patd I think he’s racist is simpler
kind of like Romney saying his sons working on his campaign was the same as serving in the military
tony, maybe they can do their debate by live-tweets. that seems to be the twit’s fav way of communicating.
Only thing that I can think of that could be better is to have ALL of the Bush Crime Regime, naked, tortured, with wild dogs biting them while being dragged to being water bordered……give up a cpl of years of my life to witness that…….5 yrs if i can see it in person…….later
houston, we have a problem
cnn :
Hillary Clinton endorsed by Houston Chronicle, Trump ‘danger to the Republic’
from above link:
The board wrote that while it usually endorsed candidates closer to Election Day, it made an exception for the 2016 presidential race because the choice between Clinton and Trump was not merely political and to stand behind the Republican nominee would “repudiate the most basic notions of competence and capability.”
“Any one of Trump’s less-than-sterling qualities — his erratic temperament, his dodgy business practices, his racism, his Putin-like strongman inclinations and faux-populist demagoguery, his contempt for the rule of law, his ignorance — is enough to be disqualifying,” the board wrote. “His convention-speech comment, ‘I alone can fix it,’ should make every American shudder. He is, we believe, a danger to the Republic.”
[…]
“These are unsettling times, even if they’re not the dark, dystopian end times that Trump lays out,” the board wrote. “They require a steady hand. That’s not Donald Trump.”
Whoever is scheduling the debates should make sure they are not up against other major tv competition. It is not in Hillary’s interest to attempt to manipulate the debate schedule. Her response – through Robby Mook – should be any time, any place. And God damn, would the media stop quoting the asshooigan’s forking tweets and making them seem like they are or should be the subject of news coverage? Jesus. They are tweets.
BTW, after a trump run of being ahead in 5 of 6 polls, the tables have turned and Hillary is ahead in 5 of the 6 latest polls. his average in those was +3, hers is +4.4. Might explain why fivethirtyeight’s polls plus prediction is HRC 61.8% and drumpf’s is 38.1% of winning in November. The Polls only is at 53.3% to 46.7 and the “now” forecast is 63.3% to 36.4, all with HRC ahead.
Wow, Pat that lays it out. very few editorials seem willing to go that far. Most are weak condemnations that can be ignored.
Jack
Pogo
CBS news made it clear for them all Trump coverage is about the money.
Trump tweets draw eyeballs end of story.
Jack
Besides being an early endorsement of Clinton -the Houston Chronicle never I mean never endorses Democrats
Pogo – the group which picks the dates for the debates had a full write up to present fat head. From now through the election day there are football games, college and pro, other sports, the Olympics, and numerous whateverelses. The dates were the least onerous.
That bull butt is complaining was expected. Nothing is done unless he does it. So if someone presents something to him he will reject it immediately and make his own date. He can go off and suck raw Rocky Mountain Oysters for all I care about him and his fragile id.
The Bernie Sanders Left Has Problems With Tim Kaine? Oh, Grow Up, People!
Yes, the Virginia senator is moderate on some things. But why does taking on the banks gain one more progressive cred than fighting racial discrimination? Hmmm…
Barrate Holmes Pitner
Hope nobody minds if I repost this comment from whskyjack. It was at the end of yesterday’s comments so in case you missed it this NY Times article is incredible! The person who put this together must have spent many days compiling and linking everything. Yes, all the tweets are linked, Amazing! How can anyone read this page and not see DT for the deranged, mentally ill person that he is! He’s not just racist, he’s insane!
Thank you Jack for finding this:
Mccain issues scathing rebuke of Trump’s actions over the past days regarding the Kahn family. One of the strongest yet from a Republican. I think this means that Republicans in the Senate are in real trouble. Here’s the text: “The Republican Party I know and love is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan. “I wear a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen hero, Matthew Stanley, which his mother, Lynn, gave me in 2007, at a town hall meeting in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. His memory and the memory of our great leaders deserve better from me. “In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States — to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do… Read more »
trump is now claiming that when he loses, it will because of voter fraud.
more likely because he insulted all the republicans in charge of gotv
Notice he lists the Republican party first and while he condemns Trumps attack he doesnt repudiate him
McCain is putting party over country.
Jack
KGC
In basketball It is called working the ref’s no wonder Bobby Knight loves Trump
Jack
I think KGC is right about the media, CBS is claiming their poll shows Clinton with a 4pt bump, in reality Clinton went up 4 pts. and Trump lost 3 pts. making it a 7pt. bump for that poll.
Jack
BB
Your post is wonderful. Everybody should have the opportunity to go to war; of wondering what is around the next corner, what is behind a villager’s smile. Or of calling the field hospital to see if so-and-so made it. Or of rushing your WW-2 vet 1st Sgt to the field hospital after he is found semi-conscious in an outdoor privy; only to be told that the teetotaler NCO was intoxicated. The litany can continue endlessly.
The individual who is seeking to buy the presidency cannot buy ownership of being Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces. That is a role bestowed by all those serving and their families on that singular individual who has earned the trust, through demonstrated leadership, competence, and patriotism, to protect the interests of our Country while not wasting our precious humanity on stupid endeavors.
First on CNN: Top Jeb Bush adviser leaves GOP, will vote for Clinton if Florida close
Boom!
http://www.wptz.com/politics/first-on-cnn-top-jeb-bush-adviser-leaves-gop-will-vote-for-clinton-if-florida-close/40997992
I feel bad for McCain because he is trying to say this is not the view of Republican candidates –well it is the view of the top of the ticket
And now would be a good time for Democrats to say nothing. The VFW has weighed in and I would say at this point nether the Veterans or the Gays think that so much of The Donald
jack, cut the guy some slack. he did say “and more importantly, the United States of America.”
I’m really sorry my parents aren’t alive to watch the implosion of the Republicans —
When Nixon left office my mother happened to be visiting me in SF. We walked over to Ghirardelli Square and it was filled with people celebrating,
I think election day is going to be like that. yeah yeah a lot of work to do — but there is a good chance Trump will come in third
And by the way Mrs. Greenspan Rep Keith Ellison is not a Muslim American He is an American of the Muslim faith next time you have on a catholic activist please refer to them as Catholic Americans Make sure everyone has a modifier I know what I would use for you.
The one thing that I take issue with as far as McCains letter – is that he said that’s not what the Republican party is about. Bullspit! A nominated Presidential candidate is head of his/her political party until either defeated or out of office.
Trump is the head of the Republican party. They voted for him, they nominated him. One can only assume he represents the party. They own his stink. Period.
McCain knows one thing above all–throughout his long captivity he realized that the United States would never abandon him to his captors; he was correct. This confidence was not contingent on whether Republicans or Democrats were in power; it was the faith built-up over each of our wars.
It’s important to understand that we do our best to follow the Geneva Conventions on treatment of POWs. We expect opposing forces to do the same whether they are signatories or not. I don’t want the Repugnant Pretender screwing with how we manage the Laws of Armed Conflict.
Yeah, but Pat, he wasn’t worried about country, “more importantly” was just an aside, an after thought. He just wants Trump to shut up and to protect his party. If he had repudiated Trump and called him unfit to be president then my comment would have been out of line. As it is, he is just playing the politician and trying to protect his ass.
He didn’t recognise that this time it is different and it is time to step up take a risk and be a patriot.
Jack