"Woe to those who enact evil statutes
And to those who constantly record unjust decisions,
So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of their rights,
So that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the orphans.
Now what will you do in the day of punishment,
And in the devastation which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth?"
~Prophet Isaiah
"For the love of money is the root of ALL SORTS of evil."
~St Paul
"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep."
~Jesus
"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.
Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.
Your gold and silver are corroded.
Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.
You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.
You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter."
~St James
Because Character and Justice Matter.
Because Greed Harms, Sickens and Destroys.
16 comments:
I know you can't help yourself, but judging a man of whom you have no personal knowledge is unChristian to the max.
https://ijr.com/2016/06/638223-7-times-donald-trump-was-downright-completely-totally-and-utterly-obscenely-generous/
Then there's the time he offered Jennifer Hudson and her family free room and board at his hotel after family members of her were murdered. They were allowed to stay as long as they needed.
There is no law requiring a politician, even the president, to sell his business or to close it down while he's in office. If said business continues to thrive, that's not "profiting off the presidency". You know what is? Book deals, speaking engagements, Netflix deals...all the result of Obama having been president. And Obama should have donated the Nobel Prize money (assuming he actually did). He did absolutely nothing to earn that prize. Nothing.
So, said another way, the meme is crap.
I guess pointing out that Bill and Hillary went from having virtually nothing (their claim not mine) to 100 million plus and that both they and Biden have virtually zero charitable donations would be inappropriate. Or that Romney was incredibly generous doesn’t count either.
? I'm sorry, was this post about the Clintons? Was it about Romney?
Please comment on topic. The point of the post is that Greed is Bad. Hard to disagree with.
Unless you're Trump, who has famously said...
“My whole life I’ve been greedy, greedy, greed. I’ve grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy."
and...
"the point is, you can't be too greedy."
In his words and his actions, Trump is a devoted follower of Ayn Rand, not Jesus Christ. That seems to be a hard to dispute point. Fair enough?
Anything on the topic of Greed is Bad to add?
I’ve nevet said “greed” isn’t bad. I’ve also never limited my criticism of greed to only those I despise.
Anything that takes the place of God (money, power, sex,outrage,etc) is bad.
But singling our that Trumps business, which predates his election, continues to make money while ignoring those who have actually used their offices to personally enrich themselves seems one sided.
Not to defend Trump and his “greed”, but one problem with him not releasing his taxes, is the no one really knows the extent of his charitable giving. It’s entirely possible that Trump gives lavishly, but not publicly. Which just might change the perception of him for most rational people.
Oh, greed is still bad.
A couple of things.
1. Trump is donating his presidential salary (which roughly equals 1.4 million over 4 years), which kind of equals out.
2. 35 million in “real estate transactions”, in incredibly vague and misleading. It doesn’t differentiate between buying and selling, nor does it include transactions on which he lost money or broke even. It also doesn’t take into account the number of people employed because of those transactions. Nor does it account for the taxes and fees (and those they employ).
I’m not arguing that greed isn’t bad, nor that Trump isn’t greedy. I’m suggesting that a meme constructed to create a false q equivalency is maybe not enough data to base an argument on.
Oh, greed is still bad.
Trump has Greed as a guiding principle, where lying and cheating are perfectly acceptable tools.
This is uniquely overtly evil, compared to prior presidents, Reagan, Bush, Bush included.
The problem is the casual overt embrace of evil, vs flawed humans recognizing the evils of greed, even while falling to the temptation of greed, lying, cheating.
No false equivalence. Trump is uniquely awful compared to all other presidents.
The meme is clearly a false equivalency, your rant based from the meme probably less so.
I’ll repeat, there is so much unknown information regarding the nature of the Trump business, Trump’s personal charity, as well as the number of people who benefit from the Trump businesses are all unknown. All of those things should be considered before making a blanket judgement.
Since it’s off topic, I’ll refrain from pointing out examples of greed and avarice in politicians you’ve supported, because that’s not on topic.
But we both know it’s true.
Of course Ttumps moral failings were why I didn’t vote for him.
Yes, Craig, you're probably right. Trump is probably secretly living a life of goodness and kindness. He probably gives away all his money and he also probably shits ice cream to give to kids who have never had a sweet.
THIS. THIS is the defense of Trump that you so often insist you don't do.
The man has told us precisely what sort of idiot, what sort of liar, what sort of abuser, what sort of cheater, what sort of greedy person he is. Over and over, he has made it clear that his principles are built upon greed and personal power and cheating, lying, making up the most inane and idiot of claims, inflaming racism and racists, abusing and molesting women and teenagers (at least) is ALL open game because he is above the rules and above morality. He is a narcissist of the first order.
You'd have to be naive to the point of being brain dead to give this many any benefit of the doubt.
He's made it clear what he serves and it ain't God, goodness, decency or reason.
I find it incredible that a Trump-hating lefty like you can say absolutely anything about him, without any proof to confirm it as true, and we're somehow defending Trump to expect honesty from you. If you were to say that Hitler routinely smeared himself with dung while singing ahow tunes, I wouldn't be defending him for calling you a liar. I'd simply be pointing out that you're spreading lies or unproven rumors. As I've explained this distinction to you on more than one occasion, it's clear you're not mistaken in repeatedly saying we're defending Trump because we don't join in with your spreading falsehoods about him. This meme does just that. I provided evidence of his generosity, so you can't insist that adjective isn't applied to him appropriately just because you hate him.
Dan, if you’d like to take over both sides of the conversation, just say so. If not, please don’t misrepresent what I say.
You have absolutely zero knowledge of Trump’s charitable giving and you presume the money st negative possible inference. I have absolutely zero knowledge of Trump and his charitable giving, and I conclude that I don’t have enough information to draw a conclusion. If this is how you follow data to reach conclusions, no wonder you do so poorly.
Never did I once presume the money st negative possible inference.
I'm just noting that it's naive in the extreme to trust a man who lies constantly and who says that he's motivated and guided by greed.
I don't KNOW what Trump has or hasn't given, but one would be a fool to bet that he's doing much in the way of giving to actual charities, and I'm no fool.
IF ONE HAS LIED every day for the last 600 days...
IF ONE routinely makes up claims that are clearly ripped from his ass and not fact-based
IF ONE affirms that he is guided by and motivated by greed and tells you that to your face
THEN one has PLENTY of information to draw reasonable conclusions.
It's not like I'm making this up out of thin air.
The lengths you'll go to in order to make room for excuses for this monster of a man, this disaster of a "leader," is just embarrassing for you and people like you.
Embarrassing.
"The point is, you can't be too greedy..."
Trump, in his book
"My whole life has been money. I want money. I want money. Greedy, I was greedy, greedy. I want more money, more money."
http://itsamoneything.com/money/donald-trump-want-more-greedy/#ixzz5IXQoyNjl
The man is a narcissistic moron, according to the available data. One does not need to be a mind-reader to see that he's a conman and a nut and a moron, as well as greedy and a liar. One just needs to observe the real world.
Again, it IS POSSIBLE, that he's just been pretending to be a lying, sexist, racist, filthy, greedy, moronic scum bag all along... that it's part of a plan to win big ratings (which he tells us in so many ways that this is what he's all about) and trick and manipulate people - or some gullible people, anyway - in some sick plan of his, but that doesn't make him reliable, either.
I'm sorry, but at this point after so much fraud and gross evil committed by this man. do you think that there's seriously a chance that he is in any way a good man, given to the common good above all else?
Or do you recognize the threat he is to our better human ideals?
Please answer this last question, as it will tell me so much.
I’ve said over and over again that Trump is a deeply flawed human with horrible character. His lack of character was the reason why I couldn’t vote for him. But he’s not a threat to my ideals, my ideals aren’t found in politics, so I’ll take the stance I’ve taken every other time “my” candidate lost.
But despite that, I’m not going to allow my biases to drive me to presume things without evidence. You are clearly letting your bias run unchecked, and that’s between you and God or your conscience.
Is there a chance he’s committed to the common good, sure there’s a chance. But that doesn’t matter, because I don’t know. There are many things I know about Trump that disgust me, why would I need to get worked up about something about which I have absolutely zero knowledge?
Yes, that tells me all I need to know.
Please don't bother commenting here any more, at least if your comments are going to sound as delusional and out of touch with reality as that last one was.
Not meaning to be insulting, it's just your comment shows me that you are not in touch with reality, at least as it regards Trump. And in general, you're not really adding anything helpful to the conversation.
You're not banned or anything, I'm just not likely to try to engage with you much more. I just don't see the point.
Of course, because acknowledging the reality that jumping to conclusions based on zero information about the specific subject, is somehow a problem.
Acknowledging that Trump’s failings or lack of character was why I didn’t vote for him, just isn’t enough vitriol for you.
Gotcha, at least you’ve come up with a new excuse, so there’s that.
You are bearing false witness against a man with whom you have no personal knowledge. I have no problem with a general sense that his character is less than what one would like in a president. It is why I didn't support him in the primaries. It is why I chose him over Hillary or Bernie in the general. Who did YOU support and what makes them less the scumbag you take Trump to be? I'd love to hear this question answered!
I looked at your link and unlike you, I don't think this throw away line is an admission in the sense that you do. And like you, I did not read his book, so I'm not about to insist that a tiny out of context line about greed is a case of him confessing his sins...or bragging about it. Again, you are an example of the difference between Trump haters like yourself and those of us who are rational human beings. Salena Zeto said it in reference to the press:
"It’s a familiar split. When he makes claims like this, the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally."
You are clearly in the same class of hater as the press. The rational people understand what he means when he bloviates, because they're not lunatics who soil themselves when they believe a bad choice...like Barack Obama, for example...wins an election.
You say so much about him that absolutely is appropriate to apply to you:
"IF ONE HAS LIED every day for the last 600 days..."
Aside from the implied lie that you've actually listened to him every day for the last 600 days, you've lied in every comment thread in which I've seen you post a comment, and that goes back a lot farther than 600 days.
"IF ONE routinely makes up claims that are clearly ripped from his ass and not fact-based"
That's exactly the location from where you've drawn most of your Scriptural understanding on so many issues we've debated. You continue to stand by them.
"Again, it IS POSSIBLE, that he's just been pretending to be a lying (as I said, you lie all the time), sexist (not an issue, given that few men have not engaged in sexist behavior do one degree or another at some point in their lives), racist, (of course, this is just another lie) filthy (?), greedy (even though he's referred to himself with this word, there are too many examples of generosity and acts of kindness to take it literally), moronic (who's done more to benefit this nation than has Obama, the so-called "smartest guy in the room") scum bag all along (considering your liberal use of foul language...)..."
Oh...you might regard the above as defending Trump. But again, to criticize unfair or illegitimate attacks on a person is not the same as defending him...no matter how badly you need it to be seen as such.
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