DONALD TRUMP AND AL MARGULIES

It's true!  I said the same thing when Al Margulies was Cyber Stalking me. It wasn't him as much as it was his followers. Without one's followers co-signing their bad behavior the Bully looses power and eventually crawls back under their rock. 

SCARED TO DEATH

Something Bus Operators experience several time a day, years on end. I call it 'the surprise factor'. Something you can't plan for or prevent. You can only react. I've been told by Managers, "We don't want you to react!" But one can't control a reaction any more then they can plan for a surprise.

GASLIGHTING

Al Margulies isn't the only one who uses it against his victims:

A Dangerous Day For America

Today America’s President seized sweeping powers by declaring a National Emergency. This should ring every alarm bell in the nation and set red danger signs flashing everywhere. It is an authoritarian power grab that takes America into uncharted and dangerous waters.

What makes it so very different is that, unlike other states of emergency declared by previous presidents, there is no emergency. There is no natural catastrophe or threat to national security so grave and urgent that such an extreme measure is justified. American Civil Liberties Union executive director Anthony Romero called the declaration “a clear abuse of presidential power – one that sidesteps the role of Congress in the appropriation of funds”.

Democrat leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosii said that, “The President’s unlawful declaration over a crisis that does not exist does great violence to our Constitution and makes America less safe, stealing from urgently needed defense funds for the security of our military and our nation,“  They added ,"This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed President, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process.The President is not above the law. The Congress cannot let the President shred the Constitution.”

Let’s be clear. There is no ‘national emergency’ at the Mexican border. That is the reality, supported by facts. The nations’s intelligence services, locally elected officials at the border, and the governments own statistics all flatly contradict Trump’s scaremongering about a ‘brown menace’ sweeping over the southern border bringing rapists, drug-dealers, human-traffickers and unchecked crime. 

He is flat-out lying and this has been proven multiple times by multiple reputable fact-checkers. The facts are not seriously in question and are so easily and widely available that even die-hard Trump supporters have no excuse for willful ignorance.

Oh and we should add to the list of people confirming there is no national emergency Donald Trump himself. Today, while he was declaring a national state of emergency to fund his wall he said “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”  Got that ? So no over-riding urgency. No immediate threat to the nation of the kind a real ‘state of emergency’ declaration is designed to deal with. Just Trump’s own wishes and convenience.

Why is he doing it ? It’s all about what’s best for Trump. Having been thoroughly schooled by Nancy Pelosi in the realities of politics during his disastrous and ill-conceived government shutdown and having been exposed as the worst ‘deal-maker’ ever, ending up with a much worse deal than was repeatedly on offer to him before, Trump is now desperate to cling onto the illusion of ‘power’ that his extremist base and Fox News agitators demand. He’s ‘saving face’.

But this time it’s more than just a silly bit of theater and misdirection like most of Trump’s nonsense. Today’s declaration of a national emergency to bypass Congress and grab funds already allocated by lawmakers represents his most serious assault yet on the system of constitutional order he is sworn to preserve, protect and defend. The constitution makes it clear the Congress holds the purse strings. Trump does not and should not.

So what does Trump hope to achieve and why is it so dangerous ? That depends. At the moment it looks like there are two possible outcomes going forward. Either the whole thing will be tied up in the courts for the rest of Trump’s presidency and no wall will be built or at some point it will end up in the Supreme Court which, with it’s Republican bias, might uphold Trump’s power-grab. 

In the first case, if his Wall ends up bogged down in the courts for the next two years, he won’t care much. It will provide him with endless ammunition to bash Democrats in his attempt to get re-elected in 2020. He will be able to tell his base and the Fox News agitators who goad him into extremism that he fought for his campaign promise of a wall and it’s not his fault it failed to materialize. He will also, since he has no policies, be happy to have ready-made and constant Reality-TV show drama to help him dominate the media and entertain his supporters over the next two years.

The second, and altogether more worrying, possibility is that legal challenges to his declaring a national state of emergency when none exists will end up in the Republican-leaning Supreme Court where it’s possible Trump’s actions may be upheld for a variety of reasons (none of them good ones). Lets hope not because that really would set a dangerous precedent for the future.

It would mean the constitution’s separation of powers, with Congress having control over the purse-strings, is set aside. Any President could declare a national state of emergency and use money appropriated for other purposes to fulfill a campaign promise or indeed do anything he chose. It would fundamentally change how American politics is supposed to work.

If you’re a Republican think about a future Democrat President deciding to follow Trump’s precedent and declare a National State of Emergency over things that Republicans oppose. Grabbing huge amounts of money appropriated for entirely different purposes to pay for a radical program to address Climate Change (actually a real emergency unlike Trump’s Wall). Or how about declaring a national emergency to justify sweeping action that tackles mass shootings and gun crime (also a real emergency unlike Trump’s Wall). Happy with that ?

And if you’re a Democrat or Independent or even a real Republican rather than a Trump toady, think of this. What if Trump takes a win over his invented national state of emergency as permission to do it again ? To go even further next time ? 

How far would he go ? After the last two years it would take a brave person to guarantee sane limits. He has made clear his disdain for the concepts of limited presidential power and democratic rule. He has praised murderous dictators. He has even hinted that he might not accept an electoral loss. He has demonstrated clearly that he is an autocrat by nature who has no time for democratic checks and balances. He does not want to serve, he only wants to rule.

it could never happen here ? I wish I had that confidence. I really do. Two years ago I thought that Trump would be just a diverting clown who could be contained by the grown-ups in politics. We know now that’s not true. He is much worse than anyone ever imagined and instead of the Republican Party controlling him, he now totally controls them. The Republican Party as it existed before has ceased to exist. There is now only the Party Of Trump.

We live in dangerous times. Around the world democracies are threatened by the rise of autocracy and nationalism. There is creeping fascism. A passionate and vocal section of the American public seem to crave authoritarian rule and will believe whatever Trump tells them, no matter how demonstrably untrue it is. Only a fool would dismiss Trump’s threat to liberal democracy.

So today was a dangerous day for America. How dangerous only time will tell.

Internet Writer

Do to the changes at Google - I'll be moving this Blog shortly.

Received this in the mail yesterday.  

They do have a mostly talented and caring staff but those are folks who need the work - not the grief.  They don't manage - they just do.

Pretty cool!!

11 SIGNS OF GASLIGHTING

Trimet’s HR Department excels at this. They protect the Bully against their victims and refuse to enforce their own in-house Policies.

What Is Gaslighting?

Gaslighting is a power tactic where one person uses manipulation as a way to control another person by making them question their grip on reality and truths. On paper, it’s easy for people to say that they’d never be susceptible to the seemingly obvious methodologies of gaslighting, but in reality, gaslighting is often done so subtlety, slowly, and methodically that the damage is often already done before the target figures out they’ve been victimized.

From politicians, world leaders, religious leaders, and corporate leaders, gaslighting is a tactic common among those in power positions, especially when the person is also a narcissist or sociopath. It’s also a common tactic employed by bullies to lower the independence and self-esteem of the victim. It’s a common theme in abusive relationships.

How To Know If You’re The Victim Of Gaslighting

Gaslighters frequently use these 11 manipulation techniques to achieve making you think you’re the one that’s crazy so that they can continue onward abusing you:

1. They Have Lies Of All Shapes And Colors

For most people, little white lies are an everyday occurrence. Your partner asks you if their makeup or tie looks good and you nod your head despite thinking it’s not so attractive. You do this to spare the person’s feelings, not harm them. In gaslighting, these small lies are malicious in intent and done to make the perpetrator, not others, feel better.

Gaslighters intentionally lie, and they do so boldly and brashly. They can lie with a straight face as they tell you something they know good and well you don’t believe. These lies are designed to set a precedent. Once they have told the lies, they know you’re not sure if anything they say is true. This is designed to throw you off kilter, make you wonder why, and slowly chip away at your guard and judgment.

2. Everyone Else Is A Liar

Anyone that disagrees with a gaslighter’s philosophy is an automatic liar. From that point on, those people’s thoughts have no validity or truth. What can’t be rationalized is explained away by the people simply being jealous or wanting to tear the two of you apart. This is to isolate you from the competing ideas of others and those in a position to help you. When you’ve abandoned competing relationships, the gaslighter is now free to disrespect and abuse you uninterrupted.

3. They Deny, Deny, Deny

You’ll find that gaslighters are equally audacious in their denials as they are their lies. They’ll say or do something and then turn around and flat out deny it ever occurred. They’ll make promises and then vehemently deny they ever even had the discussion with you. Even in the presence of proof, they’ll find a fallacy to fall back on our way to discredit the evidence.

Victims will find this irritating and frustrating at first. As it continues, though, victims will naturally begin to question their own perspective, judgment, and reality. Human nature is to recognize anything that becomes a pattern, and as the lies and denials continue, you’ll start to wonder if it’s you that’s wrong, misheard, or are just losing your mind. Ironically, the person’s word you once knew was so wrong becomes a replacement for your own reality. You begin to believe what they say as the truth.

4. Their Actions And Words Are Incongruent

When your partner is a gaslighter, their words and actions will never be congruent. This leaves you to constantly question their behaviors and motives. It’s a maze that you’ll never reach the end of, however. The more you try, the deeper you’re pulled in and the more lost you get. And, they’ll keep you trying with professions of love that are absolutely perplexing considering the actions they take that hurt you so much. Passive aggressive behavior is also common; it’s the beautiful apple filled with poison.

5. They Orchestrate Attacks On What Defines You As You

Gaslighters attack your family, parenting role, talents, goals, personality, and any of the other core elements that gives your existence meaning and purpose. Piece by piece, they’ll break you down by discounting anything that gives credit to your worth. This can be done by devaluing your core, such as by conning you into feeling that you’re worthless when it comes to the lives of your children.

It can also be devaluing how you view your core, such as that you’re overly obsessed, selfish, or negligent in it.

This cold and calculated method of breaking apart who you are as a person eventually creates a you without dignity, confidence, or self-preservation. Slowly, you’re becoming more and more unsure and unstable as a human being.

6. They’re Energy Leeches

Through potent, subtle, and routine application, gaslighting sucks all your energy away. It’s the lie here, the degrading remark there, the chip to your confidence today, and the crack in your perception tomorrow that all add up to you becoming too tired to fight the leech literally sucking the life out of you.

Before you know it, you’re left standing there questioning where and who you are, and the only person with answers is the very person that took them from you. You’re now primed to be refilled with the gaslighter’s version of the answers - brainwashed. Those already suffering from energy-draining depression and low self-esteem are easy and quick targets for gaslighting relationships.

7. They’re The Anti-villain

Gaslighters aren’t going to be the evil villain 24/7. Part of the plan to keep you second guessing everything is to also throw you a bone of kindness every so often. They’ll sprinkle random acts of love, kindness, and devotion in so that partners lose their balance from the times of meanness, humiliation, and cruelty. You may get praised for a wonderful meal only to minutes later be degraded because the laundry wasn’t folded to a precise specification.

Humans have a natural craving for stability. The end game is for their unpredictability to cause you to begin to question your ability to ever be fully right. You doubt your abilities and judgment, and then slowly you lose all faith in yourself. The gaslighter is then free to step in as the ultimate and final word of truth for you.

8. They Thrive In Your Confusion

For a gaslighter, confusion is a shotgun bullet. They’ll shoot it at you to leave your sense of placement and purpose riddled with holes. You’re vulnerable, weak. exposed, and emotionally bleeding. Then, the very person that shot you is the only one there to plug your holes. Bam, then you’re shot again and he/she is there again for you. It’s an endless cycle.

They’ve attacked your worth and value. They’ve caused mass confusion to your mental and physical placement. Now, you turn to bonding to mend your broken and overcompensating pieces. It’s the ideal time for the abusive partner to sweep in and turn their reality into yours. It ensures they are the ones you continually turn to for comfort and guidance so that the manipulation can continue onward in its cycle.

9. They’re Experts At Projection

It’s your fault, not their fault. You’re the one doing the evil deeds, not them. When your anger, discontent, or questions arise, they always have some outlandish excuse like you’re the one cheating, you’re the one doing drugs, or you’re the one that’s being crazy.

You’re so busy defending yourself that you don’t have time or energy to investigate what they’re doing. This not only gives them a projection for their own misdeeds, it’s also setting you up to be disbelieved by outsiders and hesitant to involve others. Plus, when something like “you’re crazy,” even when referenced with outlandish accusations like drug abuse, is stated on repeat, it leaves you to question if you are indeed really acting insane.

10. You Keep Quiet And Think It’s Your Own Idea

Just as the gaslighter has painted himself as the anti-villain, he/she is working to paint you as the true villain. It’s all about illusions and misdirection. They surround themselves with mock juries of ‘friends’ accepting of what they do and use those opinions to prop up their stories, condemn you as the bad guy, and cement your deteriorating sense of self.

Gaslighters are pros at using such social connections as tools to shame and quiet you. They may threaten to tell someone about your “craziness” and all the embarrassing accusations they’ve made on why it’s happening.

The end goal is isolation. You’re too anxious and fearful about the disgracing accusations to want help. You’re too confused as to how the entire situation became about you being crazy verses the crazy things they’re doing to you to even know you need help. The only source of comfort you’re left with is the very abuser causing the discomfort in the first place.

11. They Publicly Destroy Your Character

As you’re keeping quiet in your confusion and turmoil, your gaslighter is working to destroy your credibility publicly. Your image will be tarnished. You’ll be presented as someone incapable of making sound decisions. Your partner will come out smelling fresh as a daisy should you ever expose their gaslighting. No one will believe you, and you’ll be faced with yet again only one source of comfort in your isolation - your gaslighter.

***I have several boxes of documentation to back up these claims.