Aesop’s Fable: A man came into a forest and asked the Trees to provide him a handle for his axe. The Trees consented to his request and gave him a young ash-tree. No sooner had the man fitted a new handle to his axe from it, than he began to use it and quickly felled with his strokes the noblest giants of the forest. An old oak, lamenting when too late the destruction of his companions, said to a neighboring cedar, “The first step has lost us all. If we had not given up the rights of the ash, we might yet have retained our own privileges and have stood for ages.”
A man wished to purchase an Ass, and agreed with its owner that he should try out the animal before he bought him. He took the Ass home and put him in the straw-yard with his other Asses, upon which the new animal left all the others and at once joined the one that was most idle and the greatest eater of them all. Seeing this, the man put a halter on him and led him back to his owner. On being asked how, in so short a time, he could have made a trial of him, he answered, “I do not need a trial; I know that he will be just the same as the one he chose for his companion.”
The News: Watch Fox News host call Trump statement “fake news”
***
Aesop’s Fable: The fox and the monkey
A Fox and a Monkey were on the road together. When the road passed through a cemetery full of monuments, when the Monkey stopped and looked about him and gave a great sigh. “Why do you sigh?” said the Fox. The Monkey pointed to the tombs and replied, “All the monuments that you see here were put up in honor of my forefathers, who in their day were eminent men.” The Fox replied, “I’m sure none of your ancestors will rise up and expose you.”
The News: Senator McConnell’s Legislative Graveyard
Instead of working to find bipartisan solutions to our nation’s problems, Republicans have turned the Senate into Senator Mitch McConnell’s legislative graveyard.
***
Aesop’s Fable: The Ass and the Lap-Dog
A man had an Ass and a Maltese Lap-dog, a very great beauty. The Ass was left in a stable, and had plenty of oats and hay to eat, just as any other Ass would. The Lap-dog was a great favorite with his master, and he frisked and jumped about him in a manner pleasant to see. The Ass had much work to do, in grinding the corn-mill, and in carrying wood from the forest or burdens from the farm. He often lamented his own hard fate, and contrasted it with the luxury and idleness of the Lap-dog, till at last one day he broke his halter, and galloped into his master’s house, kicking up his heels without measure, and frisking and fawning as well as he could. He next tried to jump about his master as he had seen the Lap-dog do, but he broke the table and smashed all the dishes upon it to atoms. He then attempted to lick his master, and jumped upon his back. The servants hearing the strange hubbub, and perceiving the danger of their master, quickly relieved him, and drove out the Ass to his stable, with kicks, and clubs, and cuffs. The Ass, beaten nearly to death, thus lamented: “I have brought it all on myself! Why could I not have been contented to labor with my companions, and not try to live by idleness?”
The News: Donald Trump insults Mueller, Pelosi while in France to help remember D-Day and WWII veterans
(CNN) In an interview with Fox News, in which Trump was asked about the comments reported by Politico, the President lashed out at the California Democrat, calling her a “nasty, vindictive, horrible person.”
Trump has repeatedly used the word “nasty” to characterize women who have angered him or their negative comments about him, including Hillary Clinton,Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.
Trump called Pelosi a “terrible person” and a “disaster” and said he calls her “Nervous Nancy” “because she’s a nervous wreck.” Source
***
Aesop’s Fable: The Thieves and the Cock
Some thieves broke into a house and found nothing but a Cock, whom they stole, and got off as fast as they could. Upon arriving at home they prepared to kill the Cock, who thus pleaded for his life: “Pray spare me; I am very serviceable to men. I wake them up in the night to their work.” “That is the very reason why we must the more kill you,” they replied; “for when you wake your neighbors, you entirely put an end to our business.”
The safeguards of virtue are hateful to those with evil intentions.
The News: Senator: Yes, I’m calling the President a coward.
Iraq War veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) discussed President Trump’s comments on the Vietnam War, calling him a coward for “using his privilege” to defer military service.
A young Fawn was curious about why adult deer feared hounds. He asked his Mother: “You are larger, faster, and have horns; why do hounds frighten you?” She answered: “All you say is true, but it’s built into my nature that at the bark of a single dog I feel faint and run away as fast as I can.”
The News: Donald Trump (aka Cadet Bone Spurs the five deferment draft dodger) Reads from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s D-Day Prayer
***
Aesop’s Fable::The Mischievous Dog
A dog snuck up on everyone he met and nipped at their heels. His master tired of the complaints and tied a bell around the Dog’s neck so he could no longer sneak up on people. Thinking this a mark of distinction, the Dog proudly marched through the market ringing his bell. One day an older hound remarked: “Why do you exhibit yourself so? The bell you ring is a mark of disgrace, not merit; it is a notice to all to avoid you.”
The News: Former Republican Federal Prosecutors Speak Out Against President Trump’s Obstruction of Justice
“The Republican Party has been on a pretty steady trajectory toward fascism for a little over 50 years now. The original division between those who believe in a world of humane progress and justice and those who want total control over our country’s abundant resources and wealth was and continues to be predominantly racial. The push toward more fascistic powers of control by conservatives has historically followed the line that people of color, women, and those without money should not be allowed an equal say in the running of our country. That push has never been more overt than it has been in the past decade, when Republicans crystalized their white supremacist agenda, first against President Barack Obama, and subsequently with the support of Donald Trump.”
A group of former Republican federal prosecutors has combined efforts to push for the further investigation and possible prosecution of Trump for obstruction of justice. Calling itself Republicans for the Rule of Law, the group has released a video highlighting the case against Trump as set out in the Mueller report.
A number of flies were attracted to a jar of honey which had been overturned in a housekeeper’s room, and placing their feet in it, ate greedily. Their feet, however, became so smeared with the honey that they could not use their wings, nor release themselves, and were suffocated. Just as they were expiring, they exclaimed, “O foolish creatures that we are, for the sake of a little pleasure we have destroyed ourselves.”
The News: Barr says he’s seen no evidence of Trump ‘shredding institutions’ despite Trump’s attacks
Barr at Senate Hearing
Washington (CNN)Attorney General William Barr said in a new interview he’s seen no evidence of President Donald Trump “shredding institutions,” despite the President’s past attacks and unprecedented efforts to pressure the Justice Department and US judiciary.
One winter a farmer found a snake stiff and frozen with cold. He had compassion on it, and taking it up, placed it in his bosom. The warmth quickly revived the Snake, and resuming its natural instincts, bit its benefactor, inflicting on him a mortal wound. “Oh,” cried the farmer with his last breath, “I am rightly served for pitying a scoundrel.”
The greatest benefits will not bind the ungrateful.
The News: Republicans again caught in the middle over Trump actions with new tariff threat
Washington (CNN)Republican lawmakers voicing their alarm at President Donald Trump’s threat to impose escalating tariffs on Mexican goods find themselves once again in the uncomfortable position of having to answer for Trump’s trade impulses they fundamentally disagree with.
The Hares waged war with the Eagles, and called upon the Foxes to help them. They replied, “We would willingly have helped you, if we had not known who you were, and with whom you were fighting.”
POLITICS TODAY 