We have been drowned with comments from members of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community. We could not publish all of them – most of what is coming in are comments from people about Trump and company and that has been true for several weeks. To say this country is upheaveled by this man, his horrible character, his mistreatment of women, his ethics that are in the toilet and his superiority to everyone having been raised in a family which encouraged the development of his messiah complex is an understatement.
We have published as many as we could. Some we combined when more then one person sent us similar comments. The anger, pain, upset, and looking around for some way to make this right is what we are hearing. Hope the anger, pain, upset and other negative feelings go away and give way to finding and combining to use this to bring this country into a more equal place. As human beings, we are not “better than” we are “equal to”. Some may never realize or accept that. Most acting out and engaged in that “better than” culture have submerged what that means to their character development and the moral laws by which they live. Some – or rather many – are going to have to be dragged into this new world of equality kicking and screaming, but if that is necessary, so be it.
Comments from Bettina Network Lifestyle Community Members:
Member #1
What an incredible way to celebrate the one year anniversary of the publication of the Access Tape which exposed Donald Trump and his contribution to normalizing sexual assault against women. For his efforts as one of the extraordinary oppressors in this society, trained by Joseph McCarthy and McCarthy’s lawyer Roy Cohn and having adopted McCarthyism as a young man – today he is keeping McCarthyism alive with its fascination with Russia (then the Soviet Union) so it could be passed on in more intense form by the next generation. Trump was rewarded, by the “ruling class” in this society by being elected President.
Member #2
Sexual assault is something very common in this society. Women of all classes, colors, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation have been socialized into being ashamed when they have been sexually assaulted and have gone to great means to hide that fact and deny its existence and in the end, have wound up protecting their assaulter because they have been led to believe their reputation would be ruined if anyone found out that, somehow, the sexual assault against them was their fault. They somehow “encouraged” their attacker. They said “NO” when their attacker really knew they meant “YES”.
Member #3
Trump brags about the sexual assault in which he engages; clearly believes it is his right as a privileged white male famous person and even goes so far as to defend against women accusing him of sexual assault by claiming he wouldn’t give any woman as unattractive as the one making the claim the time of day. Braggadocio doesn’t begin to describe Trump.
He articulates and apparently believes the women he talks about have no rights, especially no rights over their bodies. White males of a certain class and financial standing have that right and how foolish are women to think and act otherwise. As Trump has talked about the sexual assault aspect of those rights, it is clear he and others like him have removed a woman’s right to control who touches her body and/or anything else about her body coming from that sexual rights claim of the misogynous male. That certainly gives an understanding as to why so many of these same men are the ones leading the charge against abortion.
Member #4
Trump has appointed to his administration many people who have or who could be accused of sexual assault against women . His U. S. Supreme Court nomination is only one of many such nominations and appointments of men who are sexual assaulters, abusers, harassers to high and low positions in his administration and who are really the people outside of his administration who he turns to for advice and who he calls “friend”. That clearly will be his legacy. Take a look at his administration. We need a chart to keep track of them.
With what has happened during the course of this horror story to get Kavanaugh confirmed shows Kavanaugh is now beholden to Donald Trump as well as his beholdenness to people like the two Bush presidents who worked hard to introduce a “new world order” into this country so their friends would benefit even more than they benefitted in the past on the backs of others. What will happen with that if Kavanaugh actually gets to serve as a U. S. Supreme Court justice? A Republican Political Operative as a justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Member #5
Kavanaugh’s comments during his hearing as he tried to justify himself against Christine Blasey Ford were amazing. That is the first time I’ve heard a potential political appointee and/or nominee list and threaten those he considers his enemies. The last time we had an “enemies list” was during Nixon’s days. At least the last time we had one publicized.
To talk about a “political hit” and all of his other language – that screams mafia language and tactics. What’s up with that? Does that mean he is now connected to the mafia because of his connection to Trump? Or is that a reflection of what he has picked up during the time William Shine, the man who protected Roger Ailes of the Fox channel from the sexual assault Ailes practiced against women for decades. William Shine is now Trump’s Chief of Communication and preparer of people like Brett Kavanaugh to take his place amongst the officially protected sexual assaulters of this administration. As Brett Kavanaugh moves along in his friendships with Trump administration sexual assaulters does that mean his wife will have to take her place amongst the Camille Cosby’s of the world? Is there a trainer for her or will she be cast aside and left in the dust when convenient for “Bart”.
Member #6
As a Mormon I am totally taken back and quite depressed about Senator Jeff Flake. He helped restore my faith the way he acted, trying to right what is clearly a wrong and a sin. It seemed genuine when it was happening, but he only did what he did demanding an FBI Investigation to give Bishop Orrin Hatch and the other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee cover so they could confirm Brett Kavanaugh. Did Senator Flake take advantage of his friendship with Senator Coons to get this done? It certainly looks that way. Don’t they see what they are doing? I’ve had trouble as a woman and a Mormon because of the way I have been treated. I hoped as I saw from Senator Flake that maybe some good would come out of this for the country and for Mormonism. It certainly has not through Bishop Hatch. Senator Flake seemed so genuine. He is not genuine. He was posturing, helping his “peers” to be able to vote a man accused of sexual assault onto the U. S. Supreme Court making it look better than the crude, awful way it was happening. We now have two men very loudly accused of sexual assault and sexual abuse on the U. S. Supreme Court and a President whose example to this country and to the world is that of someone who shows it is alright to sexually assault women. And there are more in the Trump Administration because he seems most comfortable around such people. Why? Who benefits? It can’t be Russia because they are already white and misogynist and substantially so. The United States does not benefit unless you want to look at a benefit being the subjugation of one group under another and that is the tradition out of which the Republicans are acting. Where will this lead?
Member #7
Donald Trump is and has made a grand mess of these United States. However, he is doing it by taking advantage of what has already been done. In 1954, the U. S. Supreme Court knocked down Plessy vs Ferguson. A decision made at the turn of the century out of a Court like the one now being put together by Trump and his predecessors.
After the Plessy v Ferguson decision happened, when it was clear integration was real and would be pushed by the Courts the society reacted by destroying the school system. Rather a destroyed school system than an integrated one. The attempt was made to establish private schools and have tax payers money underwrite those schools and then keep those private schools white. That didn’t work.
The Evangelical Christian movement was developing and all white academies – with tax payers money supplied by the Nixon Administration – came as a result of the splitting off of a “white conservative evangelical christian” side of that movement. That original Evangelical Christian movement” continues today and one of its leaders seems to be the Rev. William Barber. The split-off group of white conservative evangelical christians also continues today doing the same racist/sexist things which caused the split. May God reach their hearts and move them away from the heart of Pharaoh from the Old Testament and move them into true communion with the Christ they claim to worship but clearly don’t know and would reject if he appeared to them as Jesus look on earth with his dark skin and kinky hair.
Many whites would not cooperate with Court ordered integration and looked for alternatives schools to send their children. They increasingly rejected the evangelical christian academies because the theology being taught was nothing even closely related to Christianity, which those schools claimed to be their foundational belief. That attempt has left the white evangelical christian churches the bulwark of racism and sexism because the people who support them and whose children are educated in almost “pure” white schools are among this country’s most racist and sexist citizens. These schools tried mightily to get federal money to underwrite their children’s education, but – with Hillary Clinton’s help – it was proven that they were “white only” schools so federal money for their support moved away from their grasp. Wonder why the Clinton’s are so despised by people like Brett Kavanaugh, and all the other racist supporters of these schools? Here is one reason that is not surfaced by anyone – except a Bettina Blog that recently appeared.
Trump came along and has put the death knell to the public school system by appointing Betsy DeVos to head that area and she is doing exactly what she was appointed to do. End the school system because integration is not going to be a fact of life in these United States. And in the meantime have a system in such bad shape that those who go through public education won’t be able to get into college and will spend their lives serving the privileged for very little money and then we will be able to bring all the jobs back into the United States which until now have been moved offshore. We will soon have a populace which will encompass enough people in dire poverty that they will have to work for the wealthy for practically nothing because they have no alternative. And if you want to fight that through the Court system – take a look at what will happen with the current makeup of the courts if Kavanaugh is confirmed.
Member #8
Brett Kavanaugh is a wealthy prep school kid from the Maryland/D.C. area who is infected with the immorality of the Catholic priesthood which is destroying its own youth. That sounds harsh, however, take a good look at this situation and don’t think Kavanaugh no longer drinks, etc. His acting out like a teenaged juvenile delinquent who couldn’t get his way and went to a hearing to blast everyone shows he is still a wealthy prep school kid who even though he graduated from Prep School, he still has an overwhelming sense of entitlement from which the rest of us will suffer.
Member #9
I hope you all heard Senator Grassley when he said – about the women protesting the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh – we are not going to have mob rule. When he went further in answer to a question as to why there were no Republican women on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Grassley said that women were either too incompetent or too lazy to serve. He used other words, but that is what his words mean.
Grassley was talking about people who are legitimately protesting his and his fellow senators violation of this republic. Grassley and his kind see this country as their own private back yard in which they play with their own kind and the rest of us are just so much extraneous garbage, useful when needed and if we toe their mark, insulted at other times and constrained when we do not see this country as a private preserve for the privileged few.
Member #10
I hope it goes down in history how Attorney Mitchell, a woman, was used to carry forth the agenda against women. She was brought in from Arizona, Sheriff Arpaio’s country, to question a woman – Dr. Christine Blasey Ford – so the male Senators would not have to soil their reputations by so doing. She was apparently told she was being brought in to question the woman for all of the Senators in five minute increments per Senator.
She was taken down when she started questioning the male senators, by Lindsey Graham, but she did not object. She sat quietly for the rest of the session.
She did apologize to Dr. Ford for having to do that and expressed her opinion that it was not the way to do this, but still she did what the men who hired her wanted her to do. Even after she saw how those same men treated her, showed her by their oppression of her so publicly, without apology and with disrespect, she continued on with the rest of the plan and wrote her opinion to add her voice to the negatives dumping onto Dr. Ford. Her opinion was probably written before she arrived to do her dirty work to help Kavanaugh get confirmed. She doesn’t seem to realize that giving legitimacy to a sexual assault against one woman is giving freedom to sexually assault all women – including Attorney Mitchel and the female children and elders in her family as well as in the families of the rest of us.
Member #11
When Senator Susan Collins was running for election the first time, was welcomed and won as the result of what happened with Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill – sexual abuse – she answered the question of whether she was for or against term limits. She said she was for term limits and would not stay in the Senate longer than 12 years. Well now we see why we should stay strictly to term limits because we can see what has happened with a woman who ran for the Senate on another woman’s back (Anita Hill) and totally overstayed her ability to positively contribute. Wonder what Lindsey Graham and those folks she had lunch with promised her if she would take the ball over the goal post.
When Murkowski said she was voting NO to the Kavanaugh nomination she was in her senate seat with no one around her – no women, no men just Murkowski giving her reasons. When Susan Collins said how she would vote she was surrounded on two sides by women in two seats in back of her – not their seats because they were not members of the Republican Judiciary Committee – there are no women on that Committee, but they were put there to make it look as though women were supporting Kavanaugh. When are we going to stop allowing ourselves to be so used, abused. insulted and assaulted?
That whole thing was a form of sexual assault in which Senator Susan Collins participated and was its star. She was used, abused and assaulted in return for what? Nothing should entice you to give up equality for you and those like you. This happens so much I assume she thought this was not only normal, but she was being given a great promotion. No one will ever again look to look to Senator Collins as anyone interested in the equality of women or in the equality of any other minority. It takes a certain kind of person to do what Senator Collins did. In the 1930’s and 40’s during the great days of the KKK and others like them, there was always at least one black person hanging around. Brought into the group when they needed him and pushed out when his blackness began to irritate. That is the role Senator Collins played in this Supreme Court nomination farce.
Senator Collins, your true colors and who you really are showed out clearly today.
Member #12
Support Senator Susan Collins of Maine -oops, no, no. don’t do that. Support soon to be Senator Susan Rice, as she starts her campaign for election as the Senator from Maine replacing Susan Collins.
_____________________________________________________
Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!
[give_form id=”3763″]
______________________________________________________________
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net
This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com
TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com
