“READERS FORUM” APRIL 15, 2019

1. Now Outraged, Trump Boasted On 9/11 That His Building Was Tallest After Attack

   Appallingly insensitive and false, strategist Paul Begala recalls after Trump tries to bash Rep. Ilhan Omar using images of the terrorist strike

   Trump is “expressing” outrage now about 9/11 through a controversial attempt to use the tragedy to slam Rep. Ilhan Omar, but his grief wasn’t quite so obvious right after the terrorist attacks. At the time Trump gloated that his building at 40 Wall Street had become the tallest in New York City with the collapse of the World Trade Center towers

   “This guy has no moral standing ever to try to use our greatest day of national pain for his political gain” said Begala, commenting not only was the statement appallingly insensitive, but it was also a lie

   Begala recalled Trump’s reaction to the morning of the attack: It was all about himself

   “Before the bodies had been cleared or identified, before the wounded had been treated, Trump went on television and he said “Well, my building at 40 Wall Street is now the tallest building in America” and bragged about it. But it wasn’t true, and it was appallingly bad taste”

   Trump said via phone in 2001 to WWOR in New Jersey that “My building 40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan. And it was actually before the World Trade Center the tallest. And then when they built the World Trade Center, it actually became known as the second tallest, and now it’s the tallest”

   Begala added that Trump also “spread a lie that Muslims” in New Jersey were “dancing and partying and celebrating” the terrorist attacks and that it is “obscene for Trump to try to take that pain and make political gain from it. Trump needs to apologize for this”

   Trump has a strange history with 9/11, including a false boast that he helped pay people to clear rubble at the site and search for survivors

   http://bit.ly/2uZVwiW

   • Dude, this Trump bashing nonsense is getting way old.

2. There’s a new forum for off topic page killing posts. Doesn’t look like they’re going to comply. No surprise. Move out or delete them.

   • Joe Biden posted under the CCO’s new “Right Jab and Left Jab” column.

3. You Can’t Handle The Truth, Buttercup

   I have supported and watched the City-County Observer grow since it started. There have been a few times that Ron and I may have disagreed, but we always respected each other because we knew we both believed in what is right and we want a better community on the local, state, and national level

   More importantly, I’m going to address the strident right-wing whines of those who want to criticize, suppress, blacklist, and sanitize anyone who disagrees with them. You are willing to allow posts from anyone who agrees with your hatred and racism, but God forbid I say what I think is important

   I have watched over the last several months (with increasing frequency) where people who post on here are indicative of the same hatred and intolerance we see from Trump, his sycophants and toadies, and the rest of the alt-right hate machine

   A week ago I purposefully refrained from posting on here. For a full week, I did not post any articles or reply to any of the right-wing silliness and watched as JoeBiden copied and pasted ignorant right-wing nonsense over and over and over on a daily basis, and not a single person whined about it. But I have apparently “upset that apple cart” by using the same technique, with the difference being that I use established journalism and facts rather than blogs from right-wing hacks. It is only when I started to force the issue by showing that the right-wing is disgusting and corrupt and lying to Americans, and proving that by using facts, statistics, and data that the usual clown car starts griping and bitching

   Go back and look at the last year or more with the right-wing crap on these forums. Not a single person (other than me, regulator, elkaybee and a few others) ever said a damn thing in criticizing the folly of the right-wing. Nope, the sheep on here just applauded and hooted and continued to support the vile white nationalist BS of Trump and the various local sycophants who support him.

   The CONservative malcontents only started with their petulant whimpering and caterwauling after I started to simply reply to JethroBodine rants with opinions of my own. Yep, every time he copy-and-pasted one of his Blogs-O-Stupid links I found an opinion editorial of my own. Then I expanded to posting my research first, and only posted again to reply to JethroBodine. That was when the bitching and howling of the DoubleDigitIQ gang started, and I just laughed

   There are few people who deserve more contempt and derision than free speech fraudsters. Hypocrites pretend to support free speech and rail against attempts to get people silenced whose views they agree with, only to flip sides when it comes to those whose views disagree with their own. The real test for the defense of free expression is not for views with which you agree, but for views you disagree with and may even despise

   Freedom of speech is a universal principle in that if someone condones the right for anyone to speak their mind, they must accept it when someone they disagree with does the same. As the saying commonly misattributed to Voltaire goes “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” we see that this exposes those on here that claim to want free speech (for themselves) while undermining the free speech of others

   As a free speech advocate, I will always argue that truth will ultimately be revealed by intense public discourse. However, there are increasing attacks against me on what I and others believe. These attacks are shown by the constant grousing and grumbling from the right-wing FuaxFans, and that does nothing but undermine the freedom of ideas. Freedom of speech and self-expression are instrumental in the online arena of news organizations like the City-County Observer

   I appreciate that the City-County Observer and the management and editorial staff are supportive of discourse and public discussion. I applaud Ron and his team of professionals for understanding how vital the First Amendment is for EVERYONE so that important topics “will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way” and will continue to ignore the small-minded right-wingers who cannot tolerate that there are those of us who refuse to follow the dark paths by the likes of Trump and his hate machine

   The philosophy behind allowing unfettered freedom of speech and expression comes from the idea of a “marketplace of ideas” where comments and ideas online are essentially an extension of marketplace economics into the sphere of public discourse. This is where bad ideas are beat out by better ones based on their own merit. Regardless of whether or not the marketplace of ideas reflects reality, defenders of the idea have to acknowledge it as a component of their political position

   Yet a defining characteristic of the right wing has become a muttering of grievance, and the whiners on here with their crocodile tears just prove what we already know: the right-wing can dish it out, but they cannot take it. Maybe someday the right-wing will tire of bashing others and join the real world and face reality

   What is happening with the bellyaching and whimpering from JethroBodine and his muddy band of malcontents is that they are showing their dog whistling for racism, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and antisocialism overtones. I’m not distracted by them, I’m laughing at them while pitying them. They are all convinced by the sound of their own stridency by pretending they care about making things better. The evidence is that they don’t. They repeatedly show the same ridiculous pattern when complaining about the free speech and exchange of ideas. They prove they are insecure and thin-skinned with silly ideas, playing the victim when others give opinions they may not agree with. They are not deep thinkers being oppressed for some nebulous heretical great ideas

   The right-wing is nothing more than a self-actualizing hate machine and uses a delivery system of righteous indignation, a righteousness that makes them feel like authorities on what warrants indignation, the indignation that enables them to forget their fallibility. The playbook for the right-wing is so simple any idiot can do it: Never apologize, suppress those who use logic and prove the BS of the right-wing, and out-scold anyone who questions you

   The rethuglican clowns on here pretend they care about making America great again when in reality they are just addicted to righteous indignation. It’s obvious from the way they abandon supposed “beliefs” as soon as they are unable to milk them for the gloataholic buzz. None of you promise a promised land. We hear no vision for future American greatness

   I will not make the mistake you are trying to accomplish by remaining silent. Your “concerns” about posting on here are just more right-wing pablum, and if we give your concerns even the benefit of the doubt it is as dangerous as taking a psychopath at his word. I focus instead on your dog whistles’ fundamental note by exposing your intolerance and inability to understand facts. Your only response is more whining, proving my point

   There’s no point in engaging most conservatives: they’re paranoid, selfish, sociopathic, stupid, evil, fascist, and get their feelings hurt easily when you note these things about them. The Earth is literally burning around them, and they’re busy kidnapping children at the border and hoping that they and their conservative death cult will be gone before they have to pay for their crimes. Not even other conservative parties around the world will put up with their psychosis on the subject of global warming: they want to live

   The white supremacists whining about the equal allowance for all speech used to insist that what the Constitution rightly protects in freedom of speech, a healthy civil society rightly modulates. Trump’s vulgar, violence-invoking tauntings, which include his villainizing of the “political correctness” of those who dare to “question” him, reminds us that our civil society has been weakened by the normalization of hatred that Trump has brought out into the open

   The FauxNoise addled GOP on here has embraced ignorance as a virtue, being belligerently ignorant and offended that anyone dares suggest that their ignorance is less desirable than knowledge, and it has become the go-to position for them. Being downright proud of their ignorance has become a badge of honor for rethuglicans, a way to demonstrate loyalty to the right-wing cause while also sticking it to those liberal pinheads who think there’s some kind of value in knowing what they’re talking about before offering an opinion

   The problem is that right-wingers are not only so catastrophically wrong, but downright proud of being an ignoramus, so I already know you are incapable to actually bother to listen to an explanation. When you have nothing but contempt for the facts, my attempts to educate you will only make your pride in your own ignorance grow stronger. The more we try to educate the proudly ignorant members of the GOP, the dumber they get

   What this boils down to is trying to limit what opinions and issues are available to the public, and it is no different than banning books. As a patron of the City-County Observer, I have a choice of what I write and what I read. However, it is not my right to decide what opinions and issue other City-County Observer patrons are allowed to read and what opinions and issues others are allowed to address

   Even if you think it’s cool to create chilling effects for someone who doesn’t think your right-wing crap is important to you, you simply are not promoting free speech by silencing critics. That’s not how it works. Any attempt to completely silence people, even if they’re not fans of your alt-right philosophy, is still an attempt to stamp out free speech and is antithetical to free speech and the values of America

   It is ludicrous how you “free speech warriors” have been “weaponizing” the issue while hypocritically calling for censorship at the same time. Conservatives who posture as free speech advocates are eager to shut down expression they do not agree with. It is like the Soviet Constitution which supposedly guaranteed freedom of speech, but only “in accordance with the interests of the people”

   The First Amendment safeguards the right of every American to speak and think freely. Its guarantee of freedom of expression and inquiry is important to everyone, not just those you and your ilk has chosen to listen to. In our system, you have the right to decide what you will believe, read, and support. But you don’t have the right to decide what other people will believe, read, and support. Apparently “live and let live” is really hard for the right-wing

   If you don’t like what I post, then suck it up buttercup, because I do not care. At least I take the time and effort to not only research the items I post, but I also take the time to author and write complete comments. I do not just rely on copy-and-pasting the usual litany of BS blog articles (yup, JethroBodine, we are talking about you) with a link that has no intellectual content. The only interest from the right-wing rethuglicans on here is about protecting speech they like! When progressives make provocative statements, conservatives react with wounded outrage. As expected from the right-wing and their “defense” of free speech, we see the expected blatant hypocrisy when faced with ideas that personally offend them. The right has its own version of speech suppression and political correctness, which can be described as “patriotic correctness” because of how everyone knows the GOP will cast their principles aside when they are the ones offended

   These forums are a bastion of what the First Amendment is all about, and your suggestions to stop me or force me to be segregated to someplace you do not have to see your white supremacy shown just to prove that (like the movie says) “You Can’t Handle The Truth” because there is a choice. Either everyone commenting on the City-County Observer are allowed to have free political expression without punishment or penalty, or you right-wingers with an agenda get to whine and draw the lines on what “permissible” discourse is. But all that will do is lay the groundwork for endless warfare on deciding who gets to say what and who should be censored for expressing an opinion they don’t like

   • RR, this sounds like a hater.

     “There’s no point in engaging most conservatives: they’re paranoid, selfish, sociopathic, stupid, evil, fascist..”

4. Ronald Reagan’s cut and paste rants and to a lesser extent Joe Biden’s links do diminish the attraction of reading and posting on the CCO. Perhaps imposing a word limit to something reasonable like 100 words would mitigate these oppressive posters.

   • Ronald Reagan’s long winded posts remind me of the joke where you ask a guy what time is it and he tells you how to build a watch.

5. Looks as if the local casino is downsizing again. Starting May 1st, the buffet at the casino will be closed 4 days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and they will no longer offer breakfast service. If you’re staying at the Tropicana hotel you’ll have to make do with the deli as your only breakfast option. I’m guessing the new owners/operators of the local casino aren’t worried about business customers anymore.
   The local casino owners don’t need to worry about a new casino in Terre Haute because they’re already driving all of their players to French Lick, the Horseshoe across from Louisville, and even back to Metropolis.
   With all of the layoffs and downsizing of personnel at the casino I wonder if the casino is still meeting their agreement to employ large numbers of low income and inner-city residents?

   • There is only so much of a community’s wealth that can be lost to a casino. Most people don’t gamble. It sounds like Evansville is to the point that any rich people with a gambling habit have been cleaned out or stopped playing. That only leaves the dumb dreamers who play from their weekly paychecks to feed the monster.

6. Nothing beats a poster going on a rant that’s longer than a mentally ill madman claiming his First Amendment rights are being violated when one paragraph could have summed up his problem. This is a private board your First Amendment rights do not apply here. Ron has been very generous to allow these board killing posts to go on but like with everything else you give an inch they’ll take a mile. I appreciate Ron getting these obstructionists under control. We need to get these forums refocused on fighting local corruption. If anyone is the person to do it it’s Ron.

7. Since I did not see the other section, it was an accident posting under the “Readers Forum” today and will follow what Ron has requested.

   Never intended to upset the delicate sensibilities of the right-wingers accusing me of doing something that is routine behavior among their right-wing co-religionists. In psychology, this behavior is labeled “projection”

   I have only been asking the rethuglicans fact check, proofread, use punctuation, learn spelling and grammar, and in general stop proving the unfortunate stereotype to be true of their being vulgar, poorly educated, and abusive. I guess this just proves that the far-right is not capable of conducting a reasonable argument. The far-right, instead, use personal attacks and ad hominem to argue. You cannot have an intelligent debate when one side refuses to engage in anything but willful ignorance

   I’m gonna find me my new jar of jellybeans….

   • As my saintly mother used to say, good riddance. What he calls “delicate sensibilities”, normal people call common human sensibilities.

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