OPEN THREAD 20191203

Open Thread 1 Minute

Basically, all legal free speech is allowed. We will assist the authorities in dealing with illegal speech. You are each other’s moderators. Have fun. And don’t forget to MAGA at nuclear levels.

Citizen U

Day 27 – COBALT.

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Published by Wolf Moon

Currently @wolfmoon1776 on WordPress.com sites and theqtree.com Reinstated as @WOLFM00N on Twitter, thanks to @elonmusk Also @WOLFM00N on Gab (YAY, GAB!), Truth Social, Gettr, Parler, Keybase, etc. Still @wolf_moon on Disqus.

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70 thoughts on “OPEN THREAD 20191203”

  1. did someone say Cobalt ? 😀

    one of my very favorite colors !

    first discovered for use as a pigment in artists’ paints by Louis Jacques Thenard in the early 1800s, Cobalt Blue quickly became the preferred choice (over Ultramarine Blue) by such greats as Renoir, Monet, Turner, van Gogh…

    …and the wonderful painter, Maxfield Parrish, who used it famously for his brilliant skies…to such an influential extent that it also became known as Parrish Blue …

    Ecstasy

    1929

    Max Parrish

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  2. Ahhhhh……Maxfield Parrish……

    At one point, one in four American households had a copy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daybreak_(painting)#/media/File:Daybreak_by_Parrish_(1922).jpg

    As a side note, a message I got from this painting is that the two figures in the foreground were ridiculously unprepared for a a predatory beast or intruder to make its way from the wild, chaotic background into the cool colonnade — which implies a very powerful invisible protector.

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    1. to cthulhu….try as I might, I can’t seem to locate “the two figures in the foreground” you mention, anywhere in that painting…?

      what I’m seeing is a beautifully rendered painting of a young woman, looking UP, and so exquisitely happy that she could almost fly…

      …and the gritty roughness of the sharp jagged edges of the barren rocks doesn’t seem to faze her, even with bare feet.

      (maybe it was some really good weed.) 😀

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        1. The link I used was fairly good resolution and I didn’t want to munch your bandwidth. You may, of course, munch your bandwidth as much as you like.

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  3. Mulling over SD/OT…

    How can negative be helpful to MAGA? How can an eeyore or multiple eeyores benefit MAGA? Are certain people eeyores in general or just on specific topics? How is that helpful? Why be an eeyore on some things but consistently upbeat on all or almost all else?

    Does negative draw clicks/clickbait/draw people in to a website? I don’t think so.

    Is it genuine discouragement or for a purpose? What purpose? Who benefits? What is the consistent message? Why is it not only allowed but perhaps cultivated?

    Thinking, thinking, thinking….

    When I think back to 2015 what I remember SD being excited about with President Trump’s candidacy were the issues like the economy, trade deals, physically securing our border, reforming legal and illegal immigration, all yes, but more excited about “burning it down” —>> the Uniparty, the GOPe, the Swamp, etc., even if all is revealed and institutions are ruined.

    Where are SD/OT & the comment threads consistently positive? Trade Deals, the Economy, the economic realignment, progress on immigration and securing the wall, foreign policy, etc. – frustrated with Congress and all the Dems and Deep State are doing, Yes, but overall always pointing out the background, the Winning and the hopeful future on these issues.

    Where are SD/OT & the comment threads consistently negative? Draining the Swamp – in the Deep State, in Congress and in the GOP. Used to feature a zippo…thinking, hoping it was all going to up in metaphorical, political flames. 3 yrs later….not only not hopeful but discouraged and the comments threads are allowed to run wild with this discouragement.

    Could it be that this was the key issue, the Most Important purpose that was near and dear to SD’s heart and he is literally discouraged, soured on this issue, disappointed that it isn’t going to happen?

    He stays on top of the details, the deep dives, etc., outlining the swamp…but his he frustrated that the swamp will not drain?

    Is negative a way of keeping people informed that it needs to happen, a tool to keep people tuned in and on the ball, ready to take action on this topic? I don’t think that is it as that would entail giving hope, giving constructive suggestions to help drain the swamp, and those seem to get discouraged. Is it to pressure the admin to do more? I don’t see how the “white hats” or President Trump could want to do any more than they are already doing. They certainly don’t need to be told to drain the swamp!

    Positive Ground Reports – not so welcome.
    Positive actions to change the swamp – not so welcome.
    Positive counterbalance comments – not so welcome.
    Calling out Eeyores – not so welcome.

    I think he may truly be disillusioned and actually discouraged on this issue. I, and millions of other MAGA voters are equally impatient and disappointed at the speed this is going – as is President Trump I would imagine. But, like President Trump, we can not let it stop us from positive, constructive action.

    I don’t know any of this as fact….just mulling over and trying to figure out the banning reasoning. What is the policy and why? Trying to reverse engineer based on who is banned + who is Not banned and how the None Banned act, post & in what tone/attitude.

    I was cursed out by one commenter and that post of his was deleted but he is commenting away there tonight and I am banned. If a post has to be deleted for vulgarness and attacking, hmmmm…. that was last year but the person is still there and I have never cursed anyone or been cursed at by anyone else. By the evidence of who is there and what they post and who has been banned over the last several years, what does intentional shaping of the thread commenters seem to be? And why? Is SD just really disappointed and discouraged?

    Totally just my own imagination perhaps but I wonder if he posts comments under another avatar and we sometimes unknowingly disagree directly with him??

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    1. plse do not mull over it or try to figure it out, as shocking as being banned with no explanation can be…it’s like trying to make sense of toxic passive aggressive behavior typical of narcissists when they decide to discard you because you don’t supply them with enough adoration or ego-boosts…

      …and especially when you have the gall to (how dare you!) disagree with them !

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      1. Good advice. Don’t obsess.

        It’s the same as being dumped by a person, who is the spawn of hell for a while, and in one’s old age, is forgiven, and maybe even thanked, as one realizes it was all for the best – that the great things which followed could have never happened otherwise.

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          1. Thanks!

            Forgiveness of others is a gift to myself – it’s very selfish, in some ways. It’s slacker justice – dropping a burden when nobody is looking.

            Sometimes it goes away and has to be renewed, but that’s not hard.

            What I would tell a young person the first time they get dumped is that they were lucky – dumping somebody else is harder. More than that, this powerful truth. You will never do better if you don’t dump them or they dump you, and you can ALWAYS do better. Being dumped is liberation to take the elevator up multiple levels to what you really want. LIVE and LEARN.

            But then once you find somebody that works, stick with it, because THAT is part of God’s plan, and IT WORKS, TOO.

            Great happiness from the vertical path – great happiness from the horizontal path.

            I love to forgive during moments of great satisfaction. No point in revenge. Better to wish that the person who freed me to be this happy found the same. Maybe that they forgave me, too.

            Hmmmmmm………

            Yeah, I’m being a ridiculous optimist. Somebody whack me with a stuffed Eeyore!!! 😉

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            1. betrayal is difficult to forgive…any kind of betrayal….and the more severe or permanent the damage caused by it… the more unexpected it was… the harder it is to forgive the person(s) who did it….esp if s/he had been a trusted confidante….or a friend….or a family member….a loved one ….very hard to forgive, takes a long time.

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              2. Forgiveness…ultimately…releases us from the ongoing weight of the burden of allowing the deep violation of trust to fester…Forgiveness allows us to heal from it….it’s the Cleanser…
                …and, like you said, it also allows us to experience something worthwhile again…and be a little wiser , in the process.

                hopefully.

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            1. Here is left brained me thinks the literal answer:
              It depends. If you are pouring into it, then it is half full. If you are emptying it, then it is half empty.
              It depends on the direction one is going.

              Or, my fun answer:
              Doesn’t matter as I am getting to drink it all! 🙂

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    2. I would concur in part with Smiley2 and dissent in part. I concur with “plse do not mull over it or try to figure it out, as shocking as being banned with no explanation can be” — for, in the end, it can do no good except exacerbate your anguish. I’m not, however, going to psychoanalyse or impugn the management of the OT — they may have their reasons, which they have not seen fit to share with us. For quite a while, I was able to post at both……and then it stopped.

      Mind you, if I wanted to establish a presence there as “drooling imbecile”, I know enough to spoof IPs, tracking cookies, Google tags, ISP limitations, and other things, and I could probably post there so long as my point-of-view wasn’t recognized. But the owner of that board doesn’t want me……and the owner of this board does. So I’ll dance and play over here with this wonderful crowd.

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      1. The BO here concurs!!! 😀

        Another point – banning may not be an indication of the same “negatives” one might imagine, so it’s best not to assume too much. Most banning is done for PURPOSES which are not malicious.

        I’ve had to ban 3 people who I totally get and *personally* can tolerate, who are in many ways if not all ways without blame themselves, but by virtue of circumstances beyond their control, endanger the board in ways which they cannot control, prevent, or in some cases even know.

        The world is not fair. I can only be thankful that there are other boards to which these largely innocent people can go.

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        1. while I appreciate that you are giving the benefit of the doubt regarding some dude …and that’s to be commended…there is still a distinct difference between how you handled the recent “banning” and the obnoxious manner in which he or they do it…

          rather than ostracizing ppl suddenly and with absolutely no explanations given, you came forward and tried in earnest to explain WHY you had to do it…not just once in a perfunctory way…but several times, trying to be CLEAR and up front about it…

          that = decency , imo.

          and honesty…and it helps build trust and mutual respect .

          and…. you also gave some thought as to how to improve the situation …by providing this alternate U Tree where we can be extreme when we want to be without causing mayhem elsewhere..

          (altho I think we’re being very cordial to each other over here, lately.) 😀

          and BTW, altho it might sound like I am psycho-analyzing from my armchair, I was pointing out how that other banning style resembles the type of malignant behavior I mentioned in my post…

          like if the shoe fits …

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          1. Can’t argue with this without either meaning it and invalidating all that truth with which I agree, or not meaning it and being a vainly faux-self-deprecating asshole, so all I can say is AMEN.

            There is one other weird possibility about why SD did what he did, but it’s TOO WEIRD and hypothetical to where it’s just not believable. However, if it starts looking like the actual reason, and that I can and should talk about it, I may. But it’s weird.

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        1. Sundance and I follow each other on Twitter, but we never talk about anything substantial. I “like” a lot of his tweets. Probably doesn’t really count as “backchannel”.

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    4. I greatly appreciate all of the input and the varied view points.

      I think I keep going back to the logic, or apparent lack of logic, as I have a very left brained type of person. My husband can easily set me up as a “new” (unless you are deep state) person and I can go right back to OT. But, no, do not want to do. Not really interested. The moment has passed and I mostly feel lighter, freer … but puzzled.

      No, OT had become a duty for the most part, try to encourage others and to counter constant negative – discouraging negative

      I still learn there and will continue to do so because I don’t harbor animosity and immediately had begun to think of other ways to spend my computer time. To go back to the relationship analogy you began, wolfmoon1776, when its not really working any more or its soooo much work, and the other dumps you unceremoniously and your main emotions are surprise, disbelief, a little stunned and, at the exact same time, an immediate sense of relief, surge of energy and a real excitement about other possibilities…you Know it was way past time to break up.

      Comfortable ruts are a funny thing….

      Part of the analysis of why is to help me think through how to spend my future time. how would one expect me to react and why? what is desired/expected in the comments? why? What it to keep something or to get rid of something from the blog and if so which/what? If so, why is the purpose to keep a person on or a thought process or a underlying theme going on OT or visa versa, to get rid of it? Or was it arbitrary – which adds a layer when reading the articles at OT as understanding the author adds insight and perspective to the articles and analysis.

      I guess I am not trying to figure Why me? from a drama or emotional point of view (although there is a certain personal curiosity, naturally) but from point of view of … this is someone who wants to MAGA and yet this is the action that is being taken, the point of view that is therefore being promoted…why? Not as clear cut as severing ties with Q but is there a connection? I was recognized as a poster here? I changed a few facts here but SD is clever… Others post here and there continuing on in both … Patterns and relating them to MAGA and do I agree with the purpose behind them…

      Wolfmoon1776, Great way to think about life’s opportunities and honestly, I started thinking about that right away – and that this came so easily, so quickly, so fast and were such happy and exciting thoughts … that was a very telling! It was past time to go! Why hadn’t I just moved on voluntarily? But that is another day’s thinking….

      President Trump always shows that forgiving spirit which is part of a PMA, mental agility and flexibility, reassessing as pieces of the puzzle move and making a new, even better plan to go forward. Good example to follow.

      Well, that is why I am thinking about it and analyzing, not from an emotional point of view but trying to understand so I can personally MAGA onward that much more effectively.

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  4. ICYMI…from yesterday…

    Report of Evidence in The Democrats’ Impeachment Inquiry in The House of Representatives

    full text here…

    Click to access 2019-12-02-Report-of-Evidence-in-the-Democrats-Impeachment-Inquiry-in-the-House-of-Representatives.pdf

    Dec 2, 2019

    Republican Staff Report prepared for;

    Devin Nunes
    Jim Jordan
    Michael T. McCaul

    Summary & Findings (full text)

    IOW : NO evidence .

    not one shred..

    totally: insufficient .

    (and the whole damn “Inquiry” thing is worse than just a sham…it’s a crime .)

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  5. Those of us of a certain age remember the original Dungeons and Dragons. The basic format would have you spend an hour to generate a character that was vulnerable to everything in the game, to the point that you might accidentally be killed by a housecat.

    To advance in levels and “toughen up”, your character would have to earn “experience points” by repeatedly killing something more vulnerable than itself that needed killing. Being that dungeons are not normally occupied by goldfish, nor are goldfish associated with treasure hoards, some other creature was necessary.

    So, D&D brought in the kobold — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons) , and most people said, “what?” As it turns out, however, these were sprites in German folklore that would run around causing bread not to rise (note to Daughn), wine to sour, cheese to grow mold, and pollute ores with arsenic.

    From Wikipedia, “The name of the element cobalt comes from the creature’s name, because medieval miners blamed the sprite for the poisonous and troublesome nature of the typical arsenical ores of this metal (cobaltite and smaltite) which polluted other mined elements.” [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold ]

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  9. In 2016, 116,000 tonnes of cobalt were used in industry. It is used in specialty alloys, batteries, catalysts, dyes and colorants, and as a gamma ray source (note — first you have to make it radioactive — there is only one natural isotope (59) which is stable, but cobalt (60) has a half-life of about five years).

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    1. About 100 years ago, I was a radiation therapy tech and our workhorse was cobalt…probably gave as many as 50+ treatments a day. Monster machine that had to be recalibrated every day. The doctor drew permanent marking ink on the areas to avoid exposing the non-cancer areas or vital organs, and we placed heavy weights on a plexiglass over the patient’s body to match the drawings. Of course, that mean it was up to the patient not to move during the treatment. It was quite primitive, to say the least…mid-60’s.
      The treatment clinic was physically attached to a hospital and some times the first inkling a patient had they had cancer was being taken by gurney through the doors of the treatment clinic. Medicine was cruel in those days, in many ways.

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  11. While humans cannot synthesize vitamin B12, there are a few processes where cobalt is used in human metabolism — it is, however, a micronutrient because these are few and far between. As such, it is possible to have a cobalt deficiency disease…..and, of course, you can suffer from chronic or acute cobalt poisoning. Some bright boys in Canada decided to use a cobalt compound to stabilize beer foam, which lead to widespread “beer drinkers’ cardiomyopathy” — which should have been known as “industrial accident cardiomyopathy via chronic cobalt poisoning.” But, y’know, the wrong people might be sued.

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      1. Paracelsus: “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison, the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.” This is often condensed to: “The dose makes the poison” or in Latin, “Sola dosis facit venenum”.

        Water is necessary for life. Drowning men hate to be reminded of this.

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  12. OK, final cobalt factoid…..biological processes can interact with cobalt……meaning plants can…..

    And tobacco does. Tobacco concentrates cobalt in its leaves, so you get a microdose of cobalt with every cigar or cigarette.

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  13. O-B-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N

    SCHIFF Withholding Transcript That Exposes His Prior Contact With Whistleblower

    article…

    https://www.wnd.com/2019/12/schiff-withholding-transcript-exposes-prior-contact-whistleblower/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=PostTopSharingButtons&utm_campaign=websitesharingbuttons

    Dec 2, 2019

    1 (one) out of 16 transcripts of closed-door testimony in the “impeachment investigation” remains under lock & key by House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Schiff…

    it is the transcrpit of more than 8 hours of testimony of Intel Community IG Michael Atkinson on Oct 4…

    most likely being called “secret” by Schiff to prevent it (hide it) from being seen by anyone and everyone because it contains answers to questions posed by Rep member of the committee, Rep. Jogn Ratcliffe (Illinois) who asked IG Atkinson specifically about his “investigation” into the contacts between Schiff’s staff and the so-called “whistleblower”.

    much more on this at the article linked.

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  18. Confession: I am not 100% a “trust the plan” kind of person.

    Why? Is it because I don’t think there is a plan? No. Is it because I don’t trust the plan? No.

    Then why?

    1) Because being a 100% Trust the Plan kind of person often leads to inaction, saps the fire out of the belly, makes one a spectator v. a participant, on the sidelines instead of helping make it happen…and our participation is Part of the The Plan! Even necessary, at times, to The Plan.

    2) Because The Plan is made up of humans and executed by humans against a political enemy that has their own plans. I trust The Plans and President Trump but no plan is infallible, 100% – there are set backs, unexpected depths of evil within the enemy, variables, disappointments…

    But I am FAR from a Doom and Gloom, all is lost Eeyore! Yes, there have been delays, setbacks and disappointments – esp. to those who were ready in June of 2015 for all to happen right Now! But it isn’t over by far. And too much good has already been accomplished that can not be undone &/or would take Years to undo that I can’t help but be encouraged!

    No the swamp isn’t drained —>> But I have always said that President Trump can not (and should not have to) do it all by himself. Part of the reason he can not do it himself is because there has been swamp since the beginning of time…and since the beginning of our country. Yes, it needs to be drained and reforms need to happen and examples need to be set to dissuade others. Most importantly, guard rails need to change to High Walls to guard our democracy.

    But the swamp is as deep as sin is in the human race. We will always have those trying to take advantage of the system or being in politics for the wrong reason and they can then aid those who are wealthy in swampish ways.

    How do we truly drain the swamp? The rooting out of current corruption, the replacement of metaphorical guardrails with high, secure concrete filled steel walls with high tech security and boots on the ground to guard against future swampish behavior – i.e. huge changes and reforms … all good. But we have feeder swamps across the country.

    President Trump, et al, can address the DC swamp but it is OUR job to drain the feeder swamps!! The current battle is in DC. The battle for the future, assuming the DC swamp is drained it to realize it is only temporarily draining and made harder to refill, but only our involvement in draining and guarding the feeder swamps will win the future of DC against the swamp or it will be refilled fast that the history books will write of its draining – no matter how greatly The Plan succeeds.

    Doom and Gloom lead to inaction, giving up.

    Too naively, completely trusting the plan as lead to inaction in some because mentally the victory is already accepted fact, forgetting that our political actions are Part of The Plan.

    Optimistically assessing reality, being informed on the Many Wins as well as the problems/setbacks, following our leader’s directions and “calls/plays” (I really shouldn’t do the sports analogies as I know very little of sports! ha) and moving forward to win….that is where I try to be.

    The negative motivates me. The positive encourages, energizes and equips me.

    So where do I fit in the growing forest of treehouses? thinking, thinking, thinking

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      1. Agreed. Planning helps get thoughts organized and focused. Good planning helps think through other options so one is prepared to be flexible in an informed way.

        When son was young I planned out his entire 12 yr curriculum, scope and sequence, down to specific curriculum choices. Prepared me to go forward with a vision. I have stuck with that plan…tweaking it constantly so it does not actually look like the original plan at all but it is, at least the original foundation, if that makes sense. And it is the original plan that made the others version possible.

        Even for Christmas or a trip, I plan out the details and just showing them to husband and son immediately begins to change little details and even significant portions. + new info, + new developments or just new ideas or insights…constant change.

        Gathering information, setting the goals, determining the mission, understanding the tools, options and people in play that can then be tweaked/changed as one goes along…all part of planning and part of The Plan.

        Can’t plan for every contingency or detail at the start but having a framework, a plan is necessary and The Plan – the overall vision, mission and big picture of how to accomplish never change.

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  19. Climatism ….

    DANISH ACADEMIC : U.N. Might Use Military To Enforce Climate Agenda

    article….

    https://www.breitbart.com/environment/2019/12/03/danish-academic-u-n-might-use-military-to-enforce-climate-agenda/

    3 Dec 2019

    according to Ole Waever, a “prominent international relations professor” at the U of Copenhagen, in an interview with ABC News in Australia…

    …he “cautions that what he sees as climate inaction might draw the U.N. into considering other means to ensure its goals are met , even if that leads to global armed conflict .”

    and…”…more resistance to change could potentially threaten democracy …”

    ah ha !

    sooo…classify “climate change” as a “threat to international, GLOBAL PEACE and security !

    propagandize the hoax even further as a security issue …

    and don’t forget the big picture of UN authoritarianism…

    formerly known as Agenda 21…but they just need a little more time…

    …for democracy ! and the Greta-Global-Good…

    (full interview video at the link)

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          1. no…I bake a lot and freezer them–all of them freeze perfectly…then I hand out tins of cookies to friends and family…I plan to load up both sites with plenty during the next few weeks…better find your stretchy pants!!!!

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  22. SD at OT tonight….“This crew doesn’t care one bit how much they have to destroy this country, so long as they can advance a left-wing political agenda based on an unquenchable thirst for power. I never thought we would see the possibility of a hot civil war in my lifetime. I was wrong.”

    Cultivating comment threads filled with or identifying with the commenters who are angry, feeling the Trump admin is defeated in the attempt to drain the swamp, punish wrong doers and right the ship. Excluding, banning, shunning, angry at sunny side up optimists who believe that the Trump admin is and will succeed. Or believe that long term The People will succeed within the system.

    I think Much will be accomplished and is being accomplish, that the plan includes us doing our work and playing our role and that the swamp is never truly defeated because greed and corruption are ever present.
    So, yes, major reforms and a huge cleaning out are our expected victory for now…but the operation ongoing success will depend on ongoing work, effort and vigilance in Each Feeder swamp which exists in each state, in taking back our culture and our co7ntry’s children via the educational sytem and the family.

    That is my belief…so, yes, I am realistic on the problems but I am optimistic on our future based on our commitment to outwork the Other side.

    At OT, SD is fully discouraged and optimists are no longer tolerated but those who reflect his mindset are tolerated. My various musings of the last 24 hrs seem proven out in his post tonight. He is not who he was in 2016/17 and the choices of commenter preferences is a reflection of his mindset.

    I am who I am and ought to play elsewhere…I am a determined optimist and that won’t change.

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