Donald Trump

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

10 hours ago, Peter said:

The lame stream news was showing some unflattering shots of President Trump tonight. He looked plumper and more like a beer drinker, going down hill fast.

Peter,

The following should go in humor, but given your comment and in keeping with the "honey badger don't give a shit" theme, is how about the following picture?

Better?

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

An excellent post at Free Republic:

Trump Set the Trap and the Rats (and RINOs) Walked In

I wrote the following elsewhere:

LS (the author) is Larry Schweikart. It's a very good analysis. I understand President Trump through this kind of lens. 

Besides, the doofuses who think they own the intelligence community forgot about a term called "industrial espionage." It looks like it simply didn't occur to them that a man who made $10 billion out of $1 million on the open market would know a thing or two about "industrial espionage," which can get even more dirty and brutal than government spy stuff.

And here's a HUUUUUUUUUGELY interesting section from Schweikart's post (my bold).

Quote

I can always tell when something big is about to happen at Team Trump when my contact messages aren't returned. And I'm always pleasantly surprised that Team Trump is one to a dozen steps ahead of anything I'm thinking.

Case in point: yesterday I drafted a memo urging Trump to go on offense against the Democrats, specifically the Congressional rats. And as usual, I'm thinking of building a bowling alley while Trump is envisioning a gleaming skyscraper.

Today Trump's offensive began. But only after cleverly baiting the hook, luring the enemy Cannae-style into an envelope from which there is no escape.

He didn't fight back against the guys in the ring. He went after their manager, their coach, and their funder-in-chief. Trump went after the head of the snake.

By Tweeting that Trump Tower and his personal residence were bugged---and apparently the evidence of such a wiretap approval exists---Trump again shows why he plays 3D chess and his enemies are playing Parcheesi. The Bible says it this way: "They will come at you one way and go away fleeing seven."

Other than the fact that this is OBAMA he is going after, the juciest part is that Sessions did NOT recuse himself from a wiretap investigation of Obama. Get it?

Trump just leapfrogged the whole Russia thing with an "It ends today." Now Team Trump has leverage to force a full and total standdown of all opposition to Trump inside Congress, all end to the disruptions, and meek and timid confirmation of all appointees. Or Zero goes to jail. That simple.

In a nutshell, when I saw President Trump say on TV a few days ago that Obama's opposition, etc., was nothing but politics and that's just normal, my antenna wiggled. That didn't sound like him.

Now I know it was rope-a-dope.

 

Michael

[william.scherk]

It doesn't sound like we are going to hear much from the White House on this story going forward, if we can believe this release:

Mind you, there are now a lot of questions that the White House is not in the mood to answer. From NPR:

Quote

 

The statement from Spicer leaves more questions than it answers. Here's a sampling of the questions NPR sent to the White House yesterday, that remain unaddressed today:

- What led to the president's tweets [Saturday] morning?

- Can you confirm whether this is coming from Breitbart/Levin or whether the president is sharing information about an ongoing federal investigation?

- What evidence does he have that President Obama ordered his phones tapped? Can you please provide a source and an explanation?

- Did he speak to intelligence officials in the government to reach these conclusions?

- Is he confirming that his campaign was under federal investigation and that a warrant was secured to monitor electronic communications from Trump tower?

 

 

Edited March 5, 2017 by william.scherk

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

6 minutes ago, william.scherk said:

It doesn't sound like we are going to hear much from the White House on this story going forward, if we can believe this release:

William,

But I bet we hear from a crapload of surrogates.

Besides, if all his appointments start going through quickly and all the leaks stop, I betcha he doesn't say another thing for a loooooong time. I betcha...

But that doesn't mean it goes away.

President Trump just built a big-ass Sword of Damocles to hang over the heads of Congress.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

As an added thought to my last post, I predict this will be the best case scenario for the anti-Trump government folks.

In other words, I could be wrong and President Trump will go for broke.

Or maybe be surgical in how he lets the sword fall.

Michael

[william.scherk]

54 minutes ago, william.scherk said:

Mind you, there are now a lot of questions that the White House is not in the mood to answer.

Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare has Ten Questions for President Trump:

Quote

1. Are you making the allegation that President Obama conducted electronic surveillance of Trump Tower in your capacity as President of the United States based on intelligence or law enforcement information available to you in that capacity? 
2. If so—that is, if you have executive branch information validating that either a FISA wiretap or a Title III wiretap took place—have you reviewed the applications for the surveillance and have you or your lawyers concluded that they lack merit?
3. If you know that a FISA wiretap took place, are you or were you at the time of the application, an agent of a foreign power within the meaning of FISA? 
4. Was anyone else working in Trump Tower an agent of a foreign power within the meaning of FISA?
5. If you know that a Title III wiretap took place, are you or were you at the time of the application engaged in criminal activity that would support a Title III wiretap or might you have previously engaged in criminal activity that might legitimately be the subject of a Title III wiretap?
6. Was anyone else working in Trump Tower engaged in criminal activity that would support a Title III wiretap or might another person have previously engaged in criminal activity that might legitimately be the subject of a Title III wiretap?
7. If you were tweeting not based on knowledge received as chief executive of the United States, were you tweeting in your capacity as a reader of Breitbart or a listener of Mark Levin's radio show?
8. If so, on what basis are you confident the stories and allegations in these august outlets are true and accurate vis a vis the activity of the government you, in fact, now head?
9. If you learned of this alleged surveillance from media outlets, did you or anyone on your staff check with any responsible law enforcement or intelligence officials or agencies before making public allegations against your own government?
10. What exactly does any of this have to do with Arnold Schwarzenegger?

 

 

[william.scherk]

On 2/26/2017 at 4:57 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

On a lot nicer, more beautiful note, here's a stereotype-busting interview with mega-star singer, Joy Villa, and Alex Jones.

Is the "mega-star" Joy Villa the same Joy Villa in this Tony Ortega article? "Wealthy Scientology donor Joy Villa plays latest prank on ‘Gays for Trump’ today in DC"

 

 

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Follow the cheese...

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here's different kind of Pizzagate:

Michael

[william.scherk]

Cue the Hoopla!  From the White House:

March 06, 2017

Presidential Executive Order on Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States

March 06, 2017

Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States

March 06, 2017

Memorandum for the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security

March 06, 2017

Memorandum: Spring 2017 Data Call for the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions

[Peter]

Eloi William wrote: Cue the Hoopla!  From the White House: end quote

From the Readers Digest, guess which country has the largest per capita consumption of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese? Canada! That sounds like a crossword puzzle clue. How about this? What story might hold secrets? 5 letters.  The attic! And Canada is the attic of America!
Morlock

[Peter]

Not that I want to hear any of Canada's secrets.

Fox is reporting that of the top 1000 cases of homeland security investigating individuals for potential terrorist actions, 300 of them are concerned with refugees.

The White House will propose drastically cutting back on foreign aid spending, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Mick Mulvaney said on Fox News. "By the 16th of March, we'll be able to roll out the full spending budget," Mulvaney told Fox News’s Eric Bolling. "We are going to propose to reduce foreign aid and we are going to propose to spend that money here," he added, explaining that the reductions will be "fairly dramatic." The OMB director said the cuts will not target one country or region in particular, but will affect “various different nations.” "The overriding message is fairly straightforward, which is, less money spent on folks overseas -- more money spent on folks back home," he added. Earlier this week the White House proposed cutting the budgets of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development by 37 percent in an effort to significantly increase defense expenditures. end quote

[william.scherk]

end quote.

 

 

[Peter]

That's pretty cool William. You are one of the best "gotcha" guys I have ever known. Are there any other products in both countries with different boxes? I like Kraft Mac and Cheese with extra cheddar of which Sargento is one of the best. My wife recently bought a box of Sargento cheese slices at a warehouse store with cheddar, provolone, and Swiss. We just bought some more Rapa scrapple too.

How do you compare Obamacare with Canadian health care? It would have failed eventually because only 22 million signed up, many of them being older modals with rust, age, and preexisting conditions. Fox is showing "GOP lawmakers" discussing replacing Obamacare after a meeting with our "Fearless Leader, President Trump. Do Canadians tease their PM like we do our politicians? I think we have a very healthy political system as long as the commies are out of power.

Peter   

[william.scherk]

59 minutes ago, Peter said:

How do you compare Obamacare with Canadian health care?

Up here, the provinces are in charge of health care delivery,  subject to the minimum standards of the Canada Health Act.  Folks usually pay a premium for health coverage, hospital insurance, etc. Most everyone has a Personal Health Number (at least here in BC**). The biggest stricture of the Act is that health insurance must be portable between provinces and territories.  There is no law that forces employers to offer employees health insurance coverage, but many large companies take advantage of group purchasing power and offer employees extended coverage (including optometry and dentistry, prescription coverage, etc).

Obamacare is from a Canadian point of view a grotesque monster, hideously complex.  To compare is not actually fair. Maybe the least bad way to compare is that Medicare in the USA is like "Medicare" in Canada, with a single payer for services (the taxpayers) -- but everyone (with very few exceptions) is eligible for coverage. 

Our provincially-delivered healthcare is like congressional healthcare.  In Canada, everyone is a Congressman.  No Congressman goes broke because he or she falls ill.

ACA is an abomination.  AHCA is another abomination in waiting.  

59 minutes ago, Peter said:

Do Canadians tease their PM like we do our politicians?

Oh no. Never. What kind of people do you think we are?

_______________________

** The PHN is part of our provincial 'services' card, embedded in driver's licences/ID:

Edited March 7, 2017 by william.scherk
Obamination ...

[Jules Troy]

Sample is cute too!

[turkeyfoot]

Of the 552 positions needing Senate approval 18 have been confirmed, 22 are waiting confirmation and 512 are waiting a nomination.

Then there are some 3500 some odd. But.....

Trump has manned the ramparts in Romneian manner establishing beach heads in every government agency with 400 insiders who who keep watch.

His spies are listed.  Have to keep an eye on those O holdovers.

https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/beachhead

https://www.propublica.org/article/meet-hundreds-of-officials-trump-has-quietly-installed-across-government

[Peter]

William wrote, “Most everyone has a Personal Health Number (at least here in BC**).”

And Jules Troy responded, “Sample is cute too!”

I agree. That Sample Test Card Babe is just my speed. Or was, before I became a Poppop. She is SO fine.

I have one of those numbers and one for my supplemental insurance too. My wife is in the process of dropping the unaffordable health care act and going to Medicare. I combine Medicare with the VA and pay 3 bucks or nothing for prescriptions. When I go to immediate care facilities (rarely in the last few years) or to the dentist I have to hand them a credit card but I don’t mind the bills they charge which are very reasonable or nothing.  

So William, you live in BC? Do you wear a cowboy hat and go to the rodeo? I heard that British Columbia is the one place in another country, “most like rural America.” Except you are Canadian. And you have a Queen. Elizabeth. Not Victoria. Do you guys think of yourself as members of the British Empire? Join America, William, we can handle 52 states, and bring your oil. If I say that about joining America does it make you mad? I think I asked you that once.

We just bought the box set of PBS’s “Victoria.” I hope they have a second season. I looked up the guy who plays Albert. And just as I expected, he is English. I liked Lord Melbourne better. Next we will probably get the box set of “Downton Abbey.” I suppose I think of myself as atavistically British and America. My top choices for a second home would be in this order: Canada, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, a desert island owned by Branson if I have the money, then New Zealand.

Turkeyfoot wrote: Of the 552 positions needing Senate approval 18 have been confirmed, 22 are waiting confirmation and 512 are waiting a nomination. end quote

Rush Limbaugh is calling the combined Democratic, Republican, and career politicians, the deep government or something like that. Spies, bureaucrats, and traitors to America, I call them. Fire or retire them and hire some young folks who are making a mere 20 grand per year.         

Peter

[william.scherk]

9 hours ago, Peter said:

So William, you live in BC?

I do.

Quote

I heard that British Columbia is the one place in another country, “most like rural America.” Except you are Canadian.

One can hear a lot of things. Rural America covers a lot of ground. I'd say BC is most like Washington State and Alaska. Check out the border a couple of miles from me.  On the left, Us. On the right, You.  The border is marked by the small ditch.  That is what Ahmed and Sinjar cross on their way to claiming asylum.

 

Quote

And you have a Queen.

Yes, but she only bothers us by appearing on money and stamps. Otherwise, she doesn't impose much, except for a visit now and again.

Quote

Do you guys think of yourself as members of the British Empire?

One in every million thinks Canada is member of an Empire, but since the British Empire is no more, five of those thinkers think the empire is American.  

Quote

Join America, William, we can handle 52 states, and bring your oil. If I say that about joining America does it make you mad? I think I asked you that once.

You have made the suggestion earlier. It is, as they say, a "non-starter."  There is no benefit to the provinces, which are stronger under our federalism than your states are under your federalism.  You can have as much of our oil as you want, you just have to pay for it, and build a few pipelines.

Plus, I don't think America could handle the French Fact.  Does that make you mad?

Back to the subject of this thread, the man of the hour ...

Is Conspiracy Queen Louise Mensch Right About Donald Trump?
President Trump's Allies Keep Talking About the 'Deep State.' What's That?
It Looks Like Breitbart News Might Be Turning on Donald Trump
Trump’s get-tough policies credited for sharp plunge in illegal immigration
Trump-Russia conspirator Michael Flynn registers as foreign agent, admits he took half million dollars

 

 

[Peter]

William wrote: Check out the border a couple of miles from me.  On the left, Us. On the right, You.  The border is marked by the small ditch. end quote

Wow. Your picture moves! The ditch may designate the blurred line but it is certainly not a barrier. A toad could hop it without twisting an appendage. I guess one could say, “toads live on the border.” And as Willy Nelson sang, “Toads, stay off the road again . . .”

You guys are probably the best pals in white hats that we could ever have though you allude to how we are “the empire” as if we ever initiate force! I think we are more like Vlasic Sweet and Sour Pickle chips. The sweet combines well with the sour.     

Peter

I just noticed William’s middle name is Scott. Did your parents name you for Scott Owen, upright bass player for Australian punkabilly trio “The Living End?”

From Wikipedia: Scott is a surname of Scottish origin.^[1] It is first attributed to Uchtredus filius Scoti who is mentioned in the charter recording in the foundation of Holyrood Abbey and Selkirk in 1120 and the border Riding clans who settled Peebleshire in the 10th century and the Duke of Buccleuch.^[2]

Scott Adams, cartoonist Scott Angelle, interim lieutenant governor of Louisiana Scott Baio, American actor and television director Scott Bakula, actor, star of television series Quantum Leap and Star Trek Enterprise and "NCIS: New Orleans" Scott Brison, Canadian politician Scott Brown (disambiguation), multiple people Scott Burcham, American baseball player Scott Burns (disambiguation), multiple people Scott Caan, American actor Scott Cassell, American explorer and underwater filmmaker Scott Cassidy, relief pitcher in Major League Baseball Scott Cawthon, American video game designer and animator Scott Colton (born 1980), American professional wrestler Scott Deibert (born 1970), Canadian football player Scott Flemming, (born 1958), American basketball coach Scott Galloway (born 1995), Australian footballer Scott Garland (wrestler) (born 1973), American professional wrestler best known as Scotty 2 Hotty Scott Goldblatt, American swimming Olympic champion Scott Hall (born 1958), American professional wrestler Scott Harding, Australian AFL player Scott Hilton, American football player Scott Innes American voice actor, country music singer Scott Jaffe, American freestyle swimmer Scott James Australian snowboarder Scott Johnson (cartoonist), American cartoonist and podcaster Scott Joplin, American ragtime composer Scott Kazmir, MLB player for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Scott Kellar, American football player Scott Kelly (disambiguation) Scott Koskie, Canadian volleyball player Scott Kriens, Chairman and former CEO of Juniper Networks Scott Kurtz, cartoonist Scott Levy (born 1964), American professional wrestler better known as Raven Scott Lipsky, American tennis player Scott Lockwood, American football player Scott MacIntyre, American singer Scott Martin (disambiguation), multiple people Scott Maslen, British actor Scott McKenzie, American singer Scott Menville, American voice actor Scott Mescudi, American rapper Scott Moir, Canadian figure skater Scott Mosher, Canadian field hockey player Scott Mosier, American film producer, editor and cameo actor Scott Muirhead, Scottish association football player Scott Mills, New Zealand rugby player Scott Nelson, New Zealand race walker Scott Niedermayer, NHL ice hockey player Scott Owen, upright bass player for Australian punkabilly trio The Living End Scott Pendlebury, Australian AFL player Scott Peterson, convicted murderer Scottie Pippen, Basketball hall of famer Scott Podsednik, MLB player for the Chicago White Sox Scott Ramsoomair, creator of VG Cats Scott Radinsky, American MLB player Scott Raynor, ex-drummer for the band Blink-182 Scott Redl, Canadian football player Scott Rolen, American MLB player Scott Schoeneweis, American MLB player Scott Schwedes, American football player Scott Semptimphelter, American football player Scott Slutzker, American NFL football tight end Scott Spann, American swimmer Scott Speed, NASCAR driver Scott Speedman, actor Scott Stapp, singer, songwriter, and founding member of the band Creed Scott Steiner, professional wrestler Scott Stevens, NHL ice hockey player Scott Symons, Canadian writer Scott Terry, baseball pitcher Scott Thompson (disambiguation), multiple people Scott Travis, drummer for the band Judas Priest Scott Tucker (disambiguation), multiple people Scott Tupper, Canadian field hockey player Scott Unrein, American composer Scott Walker (politician), governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker (singer), singer Scott L. Waugh, American historian and academic administrator. Scott Weiland, lead singer of Velvet Revolver, formerly of Stone Temple Pilots Scott Williams (field hockey player), US field hockey defender Scott Wood, American basketball player Scott Wood (American football), American football player Scott Woods, American poet Orson Scott Card, American science fiction author Malcolm Scott Carpenter, NASA Astronaut, member of the original Mercury Seven Albert Scott Crossfield, civilian test pilot F. Scott Fitzgerald, author, cousin of Francis Scott Key and named for him Winfield Scott Hancock, general and candidate for the presidency of the United States Joseph Scott James (born 1959), American professional wrestler and referee better known as Scott Armstrong Francis Scott Key, poet and lawyer, author of the poem that became the US national anthem Kimberley Anne Scott Mathers, Eminem's ex-wife Donald Scott Drysdale, Hall of Fame Pitcher Israel Scott Neri, Mexican painter and poet Kristin Scott Thomas, English actress John Scott Redd, First Senate-confirmed director the National Counterterrorism Center Coretta Scott King Nick Scott Downing, American professional association football (soccer) player

[BaalChatzaf]

On 3/9/2017 at 11:09 AM, william.scherk said:

I do.

One can hear a lot of things. Rural America covers a lot of ground. I'd say BC is most like Washington State and Alaska. Check out the border a couple of miles from me.  On the left, Us. On the right, You.  The border is marked by the small ditch.  That is what Ahmed and Sinjar cross on their way to claiming asylum.

 

 

 

Canada is the Kinder, Gentler America.  It is America w.o. the civil war and the near genocide of the aboriginal people. 

[Brant Gaede]

"The near genocide of the aboriginal people" was mostly by disease, especially influenza and smallpox. This was mostly not willful. This is not to excuse myriad atrocities with the westward expansion including outright murder. Many native peoples also did atrocities--to whites and other American Indian tribes.

Now, Canada wishes what respecting prior American (government) conduct? No involvement in WWI or II?

--Brant

[BaalChatzaf]

12 hours ago, Brant Gaede said:

"The near genocide of the aboriginal people" was mostly by disease, especially influenza and smallpox. This was mostly not willful. This is not to excuse myriad atrocities with the westward expansion including outright murder. Many native peoples also did atrocities--to whites and other American Indian tribes.

Now, Canada wishes what respecting prior American (government) conduct? No involvement in WWI or II?

--Brant

It is good that Canada exists as a separate and independent nation.  In a way Canada  is a proof of concept.  It shows that the America we wish to be is possible. 

[william.scherk]

I will strive mightily to get back to the subject of Trump, but first a few notes on Canada's treatment of 'aboriginals' ... Canada has no lessons to teach the USA here.

Without giving too much boring detail, the basic human rights of Indians (as the Indian Act refers to aboriginals) were set aside until the late 1960s.  In my province that meant no voting rights at all, while Indians were barred from the professions, and disallowed in universities. 

The worst 20th century abuses come under the heading Residential Schools.  Without being boring, this meant that school-age Indians were all sent to boarding schools often-most run by religious institutions -- right up until the mid-1980s (with remnants until the late 1990s).  All the neglect and abuse  one can imagine took place there, sexual abuse, physical abuse -- all under a regime designed to squeeze out any Indian/tribal/language/customs identity. ("Rape, murder, medical experiments, forced sterilization, and electrocution, among other things")

What this led to was a truth and reconciliation commission (established under the Conservative Harper government**) and almost two billion dollars in reparation funds. 

*******

Trump, Trump?  Snatched from the jaws of Google: 'They don't look like Indians to me': Donald Trump on Native American casinos in 1993

___________________

** from the Guardian's emotionally-laden reporting:

As many as 6,000 children died in residential institutions, which ran from 1876 to 1996.

The accurate figure could be much higher however, since the government stopped recording aboriginal students’ deaths in 1920 in light of the alarming statistics. Caribou believes that dozens of pupils perished at the institution where she was detained. “Remains were found all over the fields. But numbers do not reflect the reality. Many of my friends committed suicide after their release”, said Caribou, who said she was frustrated that an inquiry did not take place twenty years ago, after the last of the residential schools closed

Justice Sinclair, who was the second aboriginal judge to be appointed in Canada in 1988, made clear the connection between residential schools and the social ills plaguing the First Nations today, namely unemployment, domestic violence, the over-representation of aboriginal children in foster care and the high homicide rate of indigenous women.

I kind of like the US version of reparations better ... 

Edited March 12, 2017 by william.scherk

[Peter]

I like the comeuppance aspect to Indian Casinos. And those sites that advertise to check your DNA seem to show a lot of people have Indian blood. BS. It is just the latest fashion among the left wing advertisers like interracial couples every time you see a commercial.   

Strategy to combat the rising left wing, Nazi movement? There was a Trump rally here a few days ago and it looked like maybe 20 people with signs showed up, and there were no “counter demonstrators” reported as showing up. I do not think holding up signs on the highway, on a cold day in March, is sensible. Any other suggestions? I am so sick of phone calls from the RNC and its affiliates that I just wrote to them I will not be sending them any more dough unless they stop begging.

Peter   

'The True Believer' Is Relevant Again by Paul Greenberg Posted: Mar 14, 2017 12:01 AM,

(edit. I somehow included a similar headline from a Thomas Sowell article,  The Real Lessons of Middlebury College/)

Remember Eric Hoffer? His time has come -- again. The late and still great Eric Hoffer's classic study of mass man, mass movements, and the mass mind ("The True Believer") appeared in 1951, and it remains just as perceptive in this first year of the Age of Trump; it could have been published yesterday. If you seek evidence for that assertion, just pick up a copy, or take a look at the protesters who threaten to shut down some of this country's oldest and most prestigious colleges and universities -- from Ivy League schools in the east to their counterparts on the other side of the continent. All too often this motley crew may be appeased by craven administrators. But not this time, and not at Stanford, where a former provost named John Etchemendy recently addressed the school's board of trustees in terms as vigorous as they remain relevant.

"Over the years," as the valiant Mr. Etchemendy told Stanford's board, "I have watched a growing intolerance at universities in this country -- not intolerance along racial or ethnic or gender lines -- there, we have made laudable progress. Rather, a kind of intellectual intolerance, a political one-sidedness that is the antithesis of what universities should stand for....

"The university is not a megaphone to amplify this or that political view, and when it does it violates a core mission. Universities must remain open forums for contentious debate, and they cannot do so while officially espousing one side of that debate.

"But we must do more," he continued. "We need to encourage real diversity of thought in the professoriate, and that will be even harder to achieve. It is hard for anyone to acknowledge high-quality work when that work is at odds, perhaps opposed, to one's own deeply held beliefs. But we all need worthy opponents to challenge us in our search for truth."

Amen. For whoever learned that much from his admirers? It is our critics that oblige us to think our ideas through, and so strengthen us.

Eric Hoffer could have seen all this to-do coming and did. As he put it in "The True Believer": "The fact that both the French and Russian revolutions turned into nationalist movements seems to indicate that in modern times nationalism is the most copious and durable source of mass enthusiasm, and that nationalist fervor must be tapped if the drastic changes projected and initiated by revolutionary enthusiasm are to be consummated."

Sound familiar? It should. For the views expressed in Eric Hoffer's slim little book could stand as a compendium of all the cheap tricks used to distract We the People from responsibility for our own condition. Here are some other choice selections from Eric Hoffer's guide to politics and its discontents:

"The tendency to look for all causes outside ourselves persists even when it is clear that our state of being is the product of personal qualities such as ability, character, appearance, health and so on. 'If anything ail a man,' says Thoreau, 'so that he does not perform his functions, if he has a pain in his bowels even ... he forthwith sets about reforming -- the world.' "

"A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business."

"A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed."

"Those who clamor loudest for freedom are often the least likely to be happy in a free society. The frustrated, oppressed by their shortcomings, blame their failure on existing restraints. Actually their innermost desire is for an end to the 'free for all.' They want to eliminate free competition and the ruthless testing to which the individual is continually subjected in a free society."

Agree or disagree with Eric Hoffer's percipient observations, they are still worthwhile. And worth analyzing. For "The True Believer" is not to be devoured in a single setting. One by one they have ripened over the years till they are again in season.