[Brian Allgar]

Originally Posted by Douglas G. Brown

Maybe he could be impounded. Like they do in the NHL ... two weeks in the penalty box, perhaps?

Or, like an abandoned car, impounded and sent to the scrap-yard.

[William A. Baurle]

Time will tell. I read a Snopes article about his link to the known criminal Jeffrey Epstein that made my skin crawl. Snopes is reputed to be legit and as unbiased as possible. I refuse to make quick judgments (a famous Jewish carpenter advised me of the danger in that), but one can only do so much.

**NOTE: I do not believe the Snopes article I linked to. I just thought I'd do it to see what others think. I'm interested in hearing as objective an opinion as possible. The more I travel the Internet, the more I want to think I'm a brain in a vat!

Only thing I wonder about is, if he's impeached, who are we left with?

Time will tell.

[Roger Slater]

Snopes just reported on the existence of the lawsuit and did not opine on whether the charges were correct or not. What bothered me during the campaign was that the existence of the lawsuit was not reported by the mainstream media. I find it hard to imagine that when Obama was running in 2008, the mainstream media would not have made much more of accusations under oath, supported by witnesses, of child rape and murderous threats. And recall when Bill Clinton ran for his first term, the unproven allegations of the Paula Jones lawsuit were a huge story even though her charges were far less serious than the ones that were being made against Trump.

[William A. Baurle]

I do not believe the accusations either. Nonetheless, history is choked with men in high places being expert at covering up the truth with money and/or death threats.

One truth is plain, Trump was friends with Jeffrey Epstein and defended him. Even Epstein himself admitted that he paid underaged girls to, ahem...massage him, because he was fond of the, ahem...spiritual benefits of being massaged by an underaged girl.

Now, who the hell would defend a man like that? And I still can't get over the fact that a man as obviously intelligent as Trump would stick with that absurd comb-over!

Buckethead, a brilliant guitarist and composer, insists on wearing his KFC hat, and even declined on being Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist because he refused to ditch the bucket.

But Bucket is not our President. Even someone as candid and unconcerned with what people said about him as Frank Zappa was smart enough to wear a suit and tie to a courtroom.

I think for certain jobs your public image is important. But then again, Trump seems to revel in all the negative press. He does wear nice suits, though.

[William A. Baurle]

Roger, I appreciate your post.

I wouldn't have paid any attention to the rape allegations were it not for someone I dearly respect calling him a rapist. As I said to him, I realize that those on the left - at least several I know on Facebook and elsewhere - have said that all bets are off, that they are no longer playing by the rules, and that resistance to Trump will involve whatever they can do to drum up attention to what he's doing.

I strongly feel the opposite. Now is the time for truth, more than ever. We can seek for the truth in a rational manner, and be patient. The Net is crammed full of nonsense, websites that enjoy spreading confusion, and people who think it's all quite funny.

John Lennon: "All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth!"

Ad-homs are useless and counter-effective (at least for those of us who only reach a few people), and that famous Jewish carpenter warned against that as well. Yes, I know Lennon's song is full of ad-homs!

[Jim Moonan]

Nigel Mace posted this earlier (#121) And I can't express enough how powerful a poem song this is reflecting on our current situation here in the U.S. and by extension around the world.

It deserves multiple watches and listenings. It is rich is true wisdom -- and it's directed specifically, directly, emphatically at Mr. Trump and his Scottish heritage from which he has turned away but from which he cannot separate.

Thanks again Nigel for this.

Nigel: "Eloquent, humane and moving."
Karen Polwart: "I Burn But Am Not Consumed"
Find it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04q5cmf

[Nigel Mace]

Jim, Mark, Gregory and Ann - so glad that Karine Polwart's wonderful performance of "I Burn But Am Not Consumed" struck home so well for Karine is a very great singer and a truly lovely person.
Part of her - and, in Scotland, our - horror at the whole clamjamfry of Trump and his circle's behaviour, is based in our identification with how we see ourselves as true internationalists - the polar opposite of the isolationist, 'British exceptionalist', post-imperial nationalism of the currently dominant (in provincial England and Westminster) Brexitanian ideologues, from the over-anxious May right down to the repellent Farage.

As the tide for a second independence referendum rises here - forced on by the Tory government's intransigent unwillingness to listen to our First Minister's compromise solutions for Brexit in relation to Scotland - there will be fresh debate about a Scottish anthem. Many will favour the great, late Hamish Henderson's "Freedom Come All Ye" - a fine poem and a moving song. Though I personally fear that its Scots is too difficult, for too many, to fulfill such a purpose, this rendition by Karine in the extraordinary setting of the chapel built by Italian POWs on Orkney during WWII, is an experience to melt anybody's heart.
Its sentiments we could all do with - on either side the 'English' Channel, of our mutual 'pond', or you, on either side of your aisle.

You can find it at - https://vimeo.com/73406037 and the full text of Hamish's poem at - http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org...om-come-all-ye

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

Originally Posted by William A. Baurle

Roger, I appreciate your post.

I wouldn't have paid any attention to the rape allegations were it not for someone I dearly respect calling him a rapist. As I said to him, I realize that those on the left - at least several I know on Facebook and elsewhere - have said that all bets are off, that they are no longer playing by the rules, and that resistance to Trump will involve whatever they can do to drum up attention to what he's doing.

I strongly feel the opposite. Now is the time for truth, more than ever. We can seek for the truth in a rational manner, and be patient. The Net is crammed full of nonsense, websites that enjoy spreading confusion, and people who think it's all quite funny.

John Lennon: "All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth!"

Ad-homs are useless and counter-effective (at least for those of us who only reach a few people), and that famous Jewish carpenter warned against that as well. Yes, I know Lennon's song is full of ad-homs!

Hey Bill. While I do suspect Trump of some involvement in Epstein's world, and wouldn't be shocked by any of the accusations being true, my original rapist tag on him is from other accounts including his attack on his former wife. He transcript alone from the Billy Bush stupidity was a documentary on the mindset of a date rapist. It is sad that the idea of "actual rapist" has, through desensitization, come to skirt past cornering women and forcefully assaulting them, or violently raping your wife. He is, I suppose, in a legal terms merely a proven sexual assault fan. And president despite a tape of his own confessions to such and sworn testimony of others to multiple events. Which alone should tell you that our desensitization as a species and culture to violence against women is so serious that most of us are likely suspect in our reading of this. It is probably much worse than our jaded male filters can even assess.

[Julie Steiner]

Gorgeous, Nigel. Just gorgeous. I needed this to fully enjoy it, but I found it.

I'm sorry to leave that beautiful thought for the following.

Charlie's been warning us of Epstein for years, in association with Bill Clinton, e.g. in this Fox News link, if you've the stomach for it.

Seems there's enough slime in that bucket to splash Donald Trump, too.

But it won't make any difference to Trump's conservative base.

The Religious Right is thrilled with the way Trump is doing what they perceive to be God's work. After decades of ineffectual grumbling or gridlock, in a wasteland of too-liberal Democrats and too-moderate Republicans, they're now getting what they've longed for: they've got their war on Islam, they've got their first of potentially several Supreme Court picks on the way to eliminating abortion and gay rights, and soon they'll have their so-called pro-Israel policies. A lot of Jewish Israelis are going to be very, very surprised when they find out that certain extremist Christian groups define "Israel" as themselves, the spiritual descendants of Abraham, so "pro-Israel" doesn't really mean what it sounds like. But oh, well. The geographical Israel is important mainly because it plays a key role in conservative Christians' longed-for End Times, which Trump will no doubt hasten. (Since the Second Coming of Christ is what ISIS wants to bring about, too, I'm sure ISIS is thrilled with the assistance.)

I'm sure Trump's boast from last year, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose voters" (video here), is not far from the truth. The Religious Right knows that Trump is evil, but they don't care. They think Beelzebub is doing God's work despite himself.

Trust me, they won't care about this Epstein stuff, if it manages to stick. And they won't care if there's proof of conflicts of interest, or fraudulent business practices, or tax evasion, or misrepresentation of Trump's wealth, or favors owed to Russia, or ANYTHING. The Religious Right had enough practice justifying their boy's other morally reprehensible stuff along the way, in the name of a higher good, that they will have no problem finding a way to justify anything, at this point.

And on that depressing note, I'm going to bed.

No, I'm not--I'm going to listen to Karine Polwart sing that positive song in that beautiful space again. And then I'm going to bed.

[Charlie Southerland]

And you guys wonder why I didn't support Trump for president. The allegations won't touch him. It's too late. The counter argument will always be Clinton. No one cares, and you wanna know why? Because Clinton was elected and re-elected and if it weren't for term limits on him, you'd have voted for him again. Such hypocrisy. Someday, the Devil will run on the democrat ticket and ya'll will vote for him (or her) too. Thanks, Julie.