The Trump “Hustle” … What would Jesus do?

Tom Spencer (TX/USA) teilt seine Gedanken über Donald J. Trump mit uns (bild: olt)
It is apparent, that there is a significant portion of the population, who do not have any concept of “The Hustle.” Their lives must be so … routine or rigid , that they don’t know any “Hustlers.”

(by Tom Spencer/TX)

Then there are the people who are, by necessity, busy earning a living. They don’t have time enough or inclination enough to pay much attention. They do occasionally run into a personality type that tells them what they want to hear; flatters them; misrepresents the truth; lies directly to them; and finally takes advantage of them either physically or financially. But it’s specific and personal to them and they don’t recognize that those behaviors that they see and experience generalize and build into a Grifter personality type. And the Grifter’s M.O. is what is described by the shorthand term, as “The Hustle.”

And then there are the Hustlers.

Grifter : Noun
(plural grifters)
1. A con man. Someone who pulls confidence games.
1939. „We’re all grifters. So we sell each other out for a nickel“. The Big Sleep. Raymond Chandler
1958. „That was the train the drunks and the sinners rode–the gambling men and the grifters, the big-time spenders, the skirt-chasers, and all the jolly crew“. That Hell-Bound Train. Robert Bloch

We are experiencing “The Hustle” writ large on our national scene.

Donald J. Trump was born and raised in a Hustler/Grifter’s household. His Father figure was dominative, calculating and … less than truthful as the recently documented revelations by the NYT clearly demonstrate. He is also described elsewhere as a racist and as supporting racist organizations.

The Grifter calls that “fake news” and continues “The Hustle” and 28 to 40 percent of the population depending on the issue says “oh yeah, I like what I hear , tell me more.” And so he does, because in our now mediafied society he recognizes that with the number of people the 24/7 media cycle allows him to reach means that if he says it enough times and enough people hear it, it becomes the TRUTH.

And we are here. In our current mediafied, self-absorbed , selfie-obsessed, society, we have become a culture not of, “We are all in the together,” but a culture of, “I got mine to Hell with you.” And Grifter Trump is stoking and milking our condition for all it and he are worth.

I’m choosing not to go that way. Actually I’m thinking, oddly enough, in a more Christian manner.

What would Jesus do?

Opinion: 9/11 was not the beginning and anyone who believes this will end is …naive.

Tom Spencer
Tom Spencer/Texas hat sich Gedanken zur NSA gemacht. (foto: spencer)

After the Snowden leaks came out, I remembered that back in 1972 or ’73 or there abouts, Denton, Texas along with Austin was one of the 2 bastions of Hippiedom in Texas.

In graduate school at the time, I was part of the group of students sampling the alternative lifestyle and letting my „Freak Flag“ fly. Denton had lots of students selling the recreational drugs of choice to each other and basically anyone who was interested, many times the local cops.

At that time a local dealer I knew lived off campus with a real „Brainiac“ whose father was a General in the Air Force. At that time he was assigned to the NSA.

On one surprise visit to see his son, he wore a briefcase chained to his wrist. I note this was about the time satillites started being used to transmit „long distance“ telephone calls. Local calls used landlines and required a physical „tap“ to be recorded.

Knowing that his son was living in a den of hippies, the General told his son, „Don’t be talking about drugs on a long distance telephone call because if it goes through the air, we get it.“

It is obvious to me that the NSA has been listening ever since it could. 9/11 was not the beginning and anyone who believes this will end is …naive.

For further reading see: Gwynne Dyer, The downfall of the NSA

Auf dünnem Eis – Tom hat mir ein Zitat geschickt.

Abendszene
Zivilisationen beruhen auf einem Satz von Versprechungen, doch „if hope and faith go, everything goes“. (foto: zoom)

Manchmal schickt mir mein Freund Tom aus heiterem Himmel ein paar Sätze, kein „Hi“, kein „Hello“, keine Grußformel.

Manchmal sind es Toms eigene Gedanken, manchmal Zitate, die ihm etwas zu bedeuten scheinen.

Heute Morgen lag dieses Zitat von Herbert Sebastian Agar in meinem Briefkasten:

Civilization rests on a set of promises; if the promises are broken too often, the civilization dies, no matter how rich it may be, or how mechanically clever. Hope and faith depend on the promises; if hope and faith go, everything goes.

Ich habe spontan am späten Abend das Bild zum Text aufgenommen – irgendwas mit „Hauptsache Düsternis“.

Aber noch während ich diesen Eintrag tippe, befallen mich Zweifel, ob die Gedanken von Agar wirklich die Melancholie und Endzeitstimmung hergeben, die ich in sie hinein zu interpretieren bereit bin.

Es tummeln sich zu viele Unbekannte in den Zwischenräumen des Textes. Zuallererst: Wer gibt die Versprechen, wer glaubt an sie und wer bricht sie schließlich? Sind Hoffnung und Glaube universell oder sind die soziale Konstrukte?

Weltuntergangsstimmung oder nüchterne Beschreibung einer Funktion?

Ich jedenfalls lasse das Zitat erst einmal sacken.

Der Betreff in Toms Mail lautetet: „We are on thin ice …“

Hat jemand eine Idee?

Egypt: What’s next?

Tom Spencer/Texas hat uns ein paar Gedanken zur Revolution in Ägypten geschickt. (foto: spencer)
Tom Spencer/Texas hat uns ein paar Gedanken zur Revolution in Ägypten geschickt. (foto: spencer)

We had some friends over for dinner last night and we talked some about the peoples’ movement to challenge the established authority in Egypt.

Americans support democratic movements and are pleased and probably amazed that Egyptians pursued it so peacefully and with such determination. We, at dinner, are hopeful that it remains peaceful and that the military will turn over control to whatever civilian leadership is chosen in some sort of democratic process.

There is concern, mostly from the Right, that a more anti-American government will evolve when the people speak. But generally I think there is a feeling that the protests were not really anti-American but rather initiated by the youth, a nationalist movement of the Egyptian people seeking economic opportunity and the freedom to live their lives in a manner they choose.

Good Luck and Peace to them. Let us hope that this demonstration of peaceful change will show young Arabs what is possible and that the radical Islamist, al Qaeda, is not a vehicle for any positive change and only leads to more oppression and dictatorship of another kind.

Now it is time for a peaceful revolution in Israel. Will Zionism allow peace?

One can hope.

Best Regards,
Tom

A Letter from Texas concerning Tucson Arizona

Tom Spencer/Texas hat uns ein paar Gedanken zum Attentat in Arizona geschrieben. (foto: spencer)
Tom Spencer/Texas: Gedanken zum Attentat in Arizona (foto: spencer)

Denton. (tom) I have been up here listening to the news. All of the networks have their political shows on Sunday mornings and they have been full of comments on and discussion of the terrible event in Tucson.

All comments from reasonable people are calling for a dialing down of the heated rhetoric. There was some talk show radio host (who’s name I forget) on CNN’s „Reliable Sources“ who was accusing the President and his wife of using speech which was inciting people and he was close to yelling and our own Dick Armey was on „This Week“ on ABC saying that people have „legitimate concerns about the policies, they should be expressing, but hopefully they will be more civilly done.“

So my answer to your question of „has anything changed in the US?“ … is, unfortunately no. I have to say the verbal behavior of radio talk shows and the internet have not been beneficial to the process of „civil“ government. Talk by candidates about 2nd Amendment remedies against the „Government“ are inflammatory and as a former psychologist I know that verbal behavior is just as much a physical behavior as getting up and moving about your living room. We are all just critters. We are susceptible to verbal and other physical stimuli … just as is our household pet.

In spite of my dour frame of mind, I wish ya’ll a more positive and peaceful 2011.

Best Regards,

Tom

Wahlen in den USA: „Money takes care of Money. Always has, always will“. Ein Kommentar.

Tom Spencer/Texas kommentiert die US-Wahlen (foto: spencer)
Tom Spencer/Texas kommentiert für uns die US-Wahlen (foto: spencer)

Tom Spencer, ein alter Freund aus Denton/TX, ist nicht das, was man einen Südstaatler oder Konservativen nennt. Er betreibt im US – amerikanischen Bundesstaat Texas sein kleines „business“, engagiert sich in der Lokalpolitik und ist ein unabhängiger Kopf, dessen Meinung über die US-Politik wir immer gerne zu Rate ziehen. Wenige Stunden vor dem Ausgang der Wahlen in den USA baten wir Tom um eine Einschätzung.

Hier seine Stellungnahme noch vor Schließung der Wahllokale:

I will … In a few hours, but I’ll tell you now the Democrats will lose control of the house and maybe the Senate, but that is less likely.

The corporate and political action money flowing into the campaigns is ludicrous. $3 Billion. The conservative right has done nothing but say no and Obama let the most liberal Democrats be the face of his administration. Nancy Pelosi has been demonized in the right wing media and on the internet.

The American Public has what I call a videofied mentality. They get all their news from TV so they get sold propaganda ….about everything.

I also think that here in the South and to some degree nationwide, that many Americans have a problem with a black man attaining a status or position they can never see themselves attaining. Call it a latent racism or “white folk” insecurity.

It may be a good thing that Republicans and the Tea Party activists do get control, so everyone will see they haven’t got any thing either. The fickle public has forgotten that the pro business deregulation policies of the business class and Republicans running our government have put us all at jeopardy. Under the guise of individual freedom and responsibility, fiscal conservatism has come to mean „I got mine, to Hell with you.“

Many of the small government types want to shut down big government. Dogma has no room for nuance, so they take a meat cleaver approach to policy. Let’s see how long my spoiled fellow Americans will be pro Tea Party or conservative dogma if they don’t get their garbage picked up or their social security check stop coming? Not long I’d wager. It really isn’t about Democrats versus Republicans. Money takes care of Money. Always has, always will.

More later

Tom