I am posting this by way of introduction: In a college political science class I turned in a paper carefully analyzing an election in a South American country. I brought the development to its most logical conclusion and turned it in. When it was returned this was all that was written on it by whoever checked it. Obviously it has stuck in my mind and despite how shattered I was at the beginning, now every time I venture into the political realm I feel like I should put this as at least a footnote. Wish the graduate student who corrected my paper could see what mayhem he has wrought.
There is no logic in politics. C–
Aftermath: in days following the 2024 election
November 8, 2024
This
morning in discussing our feelings with an online friend I wrote that I
felt cut loose, like I am not even connected to the earth any more,
Afterward I thought more about that and what I came up with is all our
lives with the ups and downs, successes and failures there has been a
sort of foundation under us, a government that took care of things we
needed but had no control over, as simple as highways or weather
reports, little things and big things. The list is immense. I'm not confident that foundation is going to be there going forward.
Mark Fuerstenau
Same
fears here. The morning after, I woke up but I was still in the
nightmare and in spite of my best efforts, I couldn't wake up. The
guard rails of our checks and balances are all but wiped out. They have
the executive, it looks like they will have
all of Congress and the judicial. Total, unbridled power to do
whatever they want. If that isn't a horrible nightmare I don't know
what is.
As we used to say on boats, it's time to get savage
Rally round people: Maybe this is what's wrong with the Democrat Party. Their leader stumbles a little and instead of circling the wagons around him, some of them stand off to the side loudly sniping, raising and questioning about whether he could or should or they want him to quit the campaign altogether. They're encouraged by the punditry who go on and on looking at polls and imagining authoritatively what will or won't happen if this or that happens. For crying out loud the opponent here is a felon 34 times over and he lied at least 30 times in an hour and a half debate. That's one every three minutes. Don't whimper on the sidelines about quitting, show some backbone and join for the real battle here. Our democracy is at stake.
Early in his first term President Obama chastised a seemingly timid, hesitant Democrat majority in Congress as he called for action. He said something like "hey, Folks, we won." Perhaps it is time for President Biden to say the same thing. The majority is slim but still a majority and should quit looking for bipartisan cooperation from the Grand Old Party. If nothing else happens it will at least point out the obstructive intensions of that faction.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2022
2024 prediction
High heels and all.
Because I constantly complain about news talkers predicting or anticipating news events rather than reporting on them when they actually happen, I am posting this here without fanfare. Today the former #fakepresident filed to run for president in 2024 so it's a good time to do it.I predict he will be rejected by the Republican party and so not receive the nomination. However his ego is too big for that and he will launch an expensive but eventually unsuccessful third party run, which will split the Republican party and give the whole government to the Democrats.
Of course, this all goes away if he is indicted and (one can only hope) convicted, or at least is somehow disqualified from even being allowed to run for president.
So, now let's see what happens.
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| High heels and all. |
I predict he will be rejected by the Republican party and so not receive the nomination. However his ego is too big for that and he will launch an expensive but eventually unsuccessful third party run, which will split the Republican party and give the whole government to the Democrats.
Of course, this all goes away if he is indicted and (one can only hope) convicted, or at least is somehow disqualified from even being allowed to run for president.
So, now let's see what happens.
This is no time to dump the president
The first thing I read yester morning was a long PM from a friend explaining why Joe Biden is a bad president (at least I think so, I couldn't read to the end but that was the general impression). After all it was the first thing I saw after waking up and my small brain was't quite ready for a heavy subject. As a result I have been arguing it in my head all day and this is my attempt to flush it out. Draw your own conclusions about that double entendre. I finally have done what I usually do when things bother me, I write it out in the snow. That's an allusion you can find somewhere in the blog. It got too long for PM so here it is. FYI you are more than welcome to leave this item right now, too, if you like. Also I not naming the writer of the original message as a courtesy because he did me the same, sending his words by Messenger rather than blasting them out in public. This piece was too long for the Messenger app.
During the 2016 election campaign a woman friend said she was very uncomfortable voting for Hillary Clinton. I pointed out she had been a First Lady, a senator and a secretary of state, probably one of the most qualified persons ever to run for president, and a woman. My friend persisted but could not explain the feeling. Then I pointed out Clinton had been the target of unwarranted Republican efforts to discredit her for the better part of 20 years, (remember 11 hours of spurious questioning?) and both my friend and Hillary were victims of GOP propaganda.
I see the same thing happening to Joe Biden, no matter what he accomplishes Republicans find some way to criticize him. They are chipping away from him the same way they went after Hillary Clinton. Example: He got us out of Afghanistan, our longest war, but he was criticized because the escape was a little messy, no worse than Viet Nam though. It is what they do and they're very good at it. I think it’s ridiculous to abandon the man less than halfway through his term.
He was left to clean up the gigantic mess Trump made, repair damaged relationships around the world, and in process advance America in several directions at the same time with a good deal of success that is unfortunately accomplished without much fanfare. You ought to drive the Parks Highway and see all the bridges being repaired (not sure about that, but believe federal funds are involved).
He is not a flashy, charismatic man which turns out to be his only fault. Democrats and progressive thinkers need to get behind him and promote the successes. Less than halfway through his term is too soon to abandon him.Do we stop a football game at halftime because our team is losing? Frankly I am damned tired of news heads pontificating on the 2024 election. It's two years a way for crying out loud. Perhaps the next two years will show a more positive outcome and the accomplishment will be more visible. I am not going to abandon him yet. (And I don’t intend to keep arguing this either. This is my forum, if you disagree find your own. If your comment is critical expect it to be deleted).
Comment
AnonymousJuly 23, 2022 at 2:59 AM
Absolutely agree, and don't forget that the Afghanistan withdrawal was set up by the predecessor and that he just decided to let it occur. Nobody talks about the number of bipartisan legislation passed under his administration in spite of the obstruction of the GOP. Given the hot mess the country has had to wrestle away from the one who refuses to acknowledge that Biden kicked the stuffing out of him, and given the obstruction from old turkey neck in the Senate, I think what he has accomplished is nothing short of amazing. This is Mark, BTW, couldn't figure out what a URL is to post under my name. 😊
An easy trail to early voting in Alaska
Make a plan, the TV ads and pundits say. A plan for voting? In the past we went to a local site on Election Day, cast our ballots and that was that. This year so different. As I thought about a plan I considered a mail-in ballot, a dropbox, voting early in person and waiting for Nov. 3 to go to my regular voting place.
I signed up for and received an absentee ballot which would have been good for the first two options. I even jumped through all the hoops to prepare my ballot including chasing down a friend to witness it on the sane day the courts ruled we didn't have to do that.
So here I sat wondering which of the choices would be best. With all the news and charges about voting obstructions flying around, we are faced with choosing where our ballots are safest and free from manipulation. Granted Alaska doesn't seem to have the problems many states are experiencing, but as always caution is a virtue. What I finally came up with was that the choice should be the one where the fewest number of people have access to the ballot. It might be exposed and vulnerable in a drop box. After all, drop boxes have been stolen in some places and in California Republicans were putting up false drop boxes. In the long run, I finally decided I would mail my ballot, but since it was on the way, I would check out the early voting facility, where the ballot would be exposed to the fewest people before it lands on the counting table, making it the best of the choices according to my personal criteria. My fall back solution would be waiting in line Nov. 3.
So, I drove into town yesterday, the prepared mail-in ballot in the copilot's seat, and headed first to the borough office building where the early voting station had been established. My first surprise was the number of empty parking places in the lot. I hopped out of the car and headed in. Then I spotted a guy coming out wearing his mask. Oops. Damn! Back to the truck to retrieve my forgotten one, then repeating the steps to the door.
The first things I noticed were three different places to sanitize my hands. I followed the trail of 6-foot social-distancing notices laid like stepping stones on the floor from the door into the main room. This was seemed about the size of a high school gymnasium. There must have been a couple of dozen polling enclosures at least. I swear only three of us were there to vote. I followed the directions to the tables where a masked poll worker had me sign in after checking my registration card, then gave me the correct ballot for my district, offered me a pen and off I went. Since I had already done my research and filled out a ballot it only took me a couple of minutes to mark this one. Then I went over to where my ballot was slipped into the collection machine, the pen put into a collection cup to be disinfected, I assumed, and headed out the door. I don't think I was in there even 5 minutes.
As I walked across the parking lot toward my truck I encountered a woman heading in the opposite direction. She looked at me and said "Oh, damn." I laughed and told her I had done the same thing as she turned to return to her vehicle to pick up her mask.
Labels: 2020 election, alaska, voting
And now, from under that desk in the basement office
September 28, 2020
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| Why is this man smirking? |
After a little more than a month into his term as a US senator, I noticed Alaska's Dan Sullivan rarely if ever showed up in public or in the news. I began calling him the missing Alaska senator and then reduced it to claiming he spent his time hiding under his desk in the basement of the Senate Office Building. The more I used the term, the more I noticed how little he showed up in public or in news of any Senate functions or about issues.
I recall one photograph of him with a display of supposed facts showing what's wrong with the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare if you are one of those who, like the missing senator, still clings to that as your only reason for opposition.). He said and pointed out nothing that hadn't been said over the previous two years. Thanks for that. Dan. now back to the basement under your desk.
A couple of times I sent emails to his office with concerns and both times what I got was him mansplaining the issue to me and telling me how I should think about it. A senator works for the people. I really don't want to hear what he has to say, I want him to listen to me and at least act like he listens to a citizen's concern. What I don't want is condescending mansplaining like I am sone ignorant child. I heard the same complaint from others and quit that effort. On top of that, when a group of Alaska women showed up at this office to voice their opposition to the Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court, rather than listen he had them arrested. There went a few votes but at least we know someone found that basement office.
VIDEO Arrests of Alaskan Indigenous activists now taking place outside Dan Sullivan’s office. We came here to ask him to #CancelKavanaugh. This is how he’s responded. #BelieveSurvivors From Women's March on facebook
All along the way when we did hear from him, he expressed his agreement and vote following the #fakepresident in lockstep. He often twisted the facts to make us think whatever that vote was about it helped Alaskans and he had somehow influenced that. He has seldom expressed any original thought on any controversial national issue let alone done anything but follow his
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| Fools and suckers, right? |
leader. He has had little to say about controversies like 200,000 Americans dead from Coronavirus Covid 19, Black lives matter, climate change, broad medical care, even the Russian bounty on American soldiers in Afghanistan despite his position as a major in the US Marine reserves. And, speaking of his military background, let's not forget "fools and suckers." Hard to take a stand from under your desk in the basement when you have no backbone.
Lately in the middle of a contested campaign for re-election he finally got pushed into having to take a stand on something controversial. Confirming my theory, one of the chief officers involved in developing the Pebble mine in the headwaters of Alaska's richest salmon habitat was caught on a video explaining how the company had decided to handle Dan Sullivan — saying something along the lines of he's quiet, leave him alone to stand alone in the corner and stay quiet. (Explanation: "corner" = "under his desk in the basement") That brought him out into the open to claim loudly and firmly he opposes the Pebble mine. We shall see; that project has a long way to go and the #fakepresident favors it.
So far he has shown little proof he will stand by anything he says. Take this that he said more than eight months before the 2016 election. "The President has the constitutional authority to nominate and the U.S. Senate has the authority to advise and consent. The decision to withhold advancement of Mr. Garland’s nomination isn’t about the individual, it’s about the principle. Alaskans, like all Americans, are in the midst of an important national election. The next Supreme Court justice could fundamentally change the direction of the Court for years to come. Alaskans deserve to have a voice in that direction through their vote, and we will ensure that they have one.
Then a little more than a month before the 2020 election, Sullivan confirmed he supports a vote on the #fakepresident's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. Thanks Dan, you were doing better under the desk. And. to repeat you have quite a bit of time to change your public statements about Pebble. One can hope you won't be in the Senate by then and we won't have to worry about it.
To summarize, this is a man who looks down on his constituents with condescension, ducks every controversy he can, cares little about Alaska and Alaska constituents except during election campaigns, fails to follow through on his previous actions, won't even support his comrades in arms, follows a criminal president completely, lies about his opponents in elections, but he doesn't rock the boat. Oh yeah, he did release a pablum bowl of concern objecting to the cuts in the postal system. Native vote, Dan? What about the 62 thousand-some people in Alaska dependent on Social Security and/or Medicare. Haven't heard a peep from you on the #fakepresident's threat to kill it off altogether. Quiet as an Afghanistan bounty. One thing we can probably be sure of is that he receives his check every payday despite he and his party do little for the people of this country. Want to know how much he makes? His base pay is $!74.000, $14,500 per month plus expense accounts, housing allowances and some others. Want to know how much a worker who lost his job during the virus pandemic is paid? Zero.
Déjà vu
Remember this?
August 13, 2020
It started this way. After watching a couple of news shows early this morning, by late afternoon I posted this on facebook: He's doing it again. Like he did in 2016, Trump throws insult after insult at his new opponents and the press follows along and reports it all like puppies snatching up spilled dog food. The main news sources report his opening up the ridiculous birther charge against Kamala Harris and then everybody has to comment on it, his machinations over the Post Office and everybody has to tell how illegal and immoral it but so far nobody has doees anything about it, and promoting outrageous lesser officials like a newly ordained candidate for Congress in Georgia who says all Democrats are satan worshipers. Meanwhile responsible newsmakers end up responding to all the presidential bulldust or face being ignored altogether. I guess it goes to who hollers loudest, but this is dangerous as it was last time the political discourse becomes narrowly focused on all the dishonest actions and rantings of the #fakepresident. He's making it all about himself and the opposition is shouted down in one way or another or ignored while the pundits discuss the next bunch of ignorant blather from Trump. We've been here before.
From there it evolved into this comment from a friend: Not looking forward to the debates. Since he has no inclination to anything resembling the truth, he can make dozens of false and outlandish statements and get the press chasing those as well. Unless they put the candidates in separate rooms with a switch on his mike that they shut off as soon as his time is up, and fact checkers on-site to fact check everything he says, it will be the Drumpf show.
To which I responded with this and that's why the picture and the déjà vu. Do I get points for not repeating the overused Yogi Berra quote?): I would l just like it if they would make him stand behind his own podium. I admit to getting livid and shouting at the TV every time he walked behind Hillary, not sure if he was trying to make her nervous or just remain in the video line of sight, maybe both.
Fuck Trump
More politics
For you youngsters in the audience, Yogi Berra was the catcher for the New York Yankees during their heydays in the 1950s famous for his non sequiturs. His exact quote was "It's déjà vu all over again" and it has seemed like over the years no one can use the phrase without saying the Yogi version.
Posted by Alaska with attitude
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| Remember this? |
From there it evolved into this comment from a friend: Not looking forward to the debates. Since he has no inclination to anything resembling the truth, he can make dozens of false and outlandish statements and get the press chasing those as well. Unless they put the candidates in separate rooms with a switch on his mike that they shut off as soon as his time is up, and fact checkers on-site to fact check everything he says, it will be the Drumpf show.
To which I responded with this and that's why the picture and the déjà vu. Do I get points for not repeating the overused Yogi Berra quote?): I would l just like it if they would make him stand behind his own podium. I admit to getting livid and shouting at the TV every time he walked behind Hillary, not sure if he was trying to make her nervous or just remain in the video line of sight, maybe both.
Fuck Trump
More politics
For you youngsters in the audience, Yogi Berra was the catcher for the New York Yankees during their heydays in the 1950s famous for his non sequiturs. His exact quote was "It's déjà vu all over again" and it has seemed like over the years no one can use the phrase without saying the Yogi version.
Fuck Trump
More politics
For you youngsters in the audience, Yogi Berra was the catcher for the New York Yankees during their heydays in the 1950s famous for his non sequiturs. His exact quote was "It's déjà vu all over again" and it has seemed like over the years no one can use the phrase without saying the Yogi version.
Posted by Alaska with attitude
Fuck you Trump, just fuck you
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| Mr. Mike Cartoons.com |
Within the orbit of six degrees of separation (probably only one or two) everyone in this country, if not receiving benefits themselves, is connected to someone who is dependent on Social Security for some measure of support. Parents, grandparents, children, somewhere in the current, milieu is a person you are related to or at least know who is collecting benefits. And, everyone who has ever held a job and had that "payroll tax" deducted has an investment in their retirement future, not to mention a stake in it that could cover a myriad of personal disasters that for some reason or other threaten the individual's basic existence.
Medicare in his second term. For a moment my body literally went cold with the realization that at the age of 78 I would be without secure income to support me. A quick mental tour through my finances assured me I might be able to last as long as three years and that's if nothing unexpected happens. Considering that I am facing two serious medical procedures in the near future, that time is shortened considerably. It has gone beyond a bunch of talking heads on TV into the very gut of existence. It's a helpless feeling. The one bit of optimism I hold is that this is another of the #fakepresident's bait and switch maneuvers. He starts a new outrage and the press focuses on the new one so we forget about his failure with coronavirus and his failure to act on Russia paying a bounty on American soldiers in Afghanistan, his failure to act on Black Lives Matter, maybe his failures altogether. It certainly shows he doesn't give a good damn about the regular folks in this country. Unfortunately none of those failures matter to those people putting up signs in the neighborhood.
In my own case, while my income has always been limited by personal choices, I now survive mostly on monthly payments from Social Security. I have enough put a way to meet a major problem, but for day-to-day expenses that check every month supports me. And, if not for Medicare to cover increasing expenses since I have emerged from the bulletproof years of my youth, grow older and develop increasingly serious infirmities, I would have used up that emergency fund several years ago.
Now, as mentioned above, almost every wage earner in the country has paid into the system. I have paid into it since 1959 when I received my first check from a job as a teen-aged chef's helper in a New Hampshire seaside restaurant. That's almost 60 years of paying that "tax." That is not an entitlement in the current use of the word by some elected officials but as a true entitlement in that as I have paid into the program I am entitled to the benefits of those contributions. And, something a younger person might not realize, a premium for Medicare coverage is deducted from every Social Security payment I receive. That's right, Medicare is not free to any of us.
So, now comes a spoiled brat of a #fakepresident, attempting by exeuctive order to stop that "payroll tax," that payment wage-earners make to support current benefits on the promise that when their time comes, the money will come back to them. It's questionable whether that order is legal or not or can be enforced. Probably a judicial ruling somewhere along the line will decide that before the first time it's applied. Worse is the underlying reason most who undestand these things believe is the motive for removing the "tax." More important from this #fakepresident who was elected by people who are most likely to need Social Security, is his threat to end Social Security and Medicare if we elect him to a second term.
I would say this is about the dumbest thing a candidate could advocate going into a hotly contested election alienating 63 million Social Security recipients who pretty much all vote, but as I drive around my neighborhood and see the Trump signs and flags in some yards, it seems no matter what this guy says, he is still supported by a large stupid percentage of the American voting public. This is not a wealthy neighborhood, there are young people with kids they are sending to school on the insistence of the same man despite the Coronavirus slowly creeping north from its largest Alaska concentration in Anchorage into the next largest Alaska population area, filled with people proud to claim their rights as Americans to not wear protective masks. And those people support the man who would take away the only safety net many of them have.
What generated this diatribe? I mean so many people discuss this crap on news shows that there's little I can add except my own outrage so I haven't written much about it. But this morning shortly after I woke up and began my usual Internet tour starting with facebook, I came across a post showing a grinning president over the headline that he plans to eliminate Social Security and
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| Just so there's no mistake; SARCASM! |
This is the way I understand it. The governor of Maryland used his South Korean wife's
connections back home to purchase Corona virus treatment gear, chartered a Korean airline's airplane and had it flown to the U.S. He demanded the airplane land at Baltimore's airport rather than Washington, D.C., despite the fact that none of the Korean pilots had ever landed at Baltimore's.
The governor's reasoning was reported to be he feared the federal government might intercept and confiscate the cargo. In addition to the landing plan, a contingent of Maryland's state police and National Guard met the airplane, remained to guard the unloading and transportation to an undisclosed storage facility, and then patrolled the facility, again to protect the materials, principally from the federal government.
This is what we have come to; the leader of one of the United States' 50 states distrusts the federal government so much that he felt it necessary to use almost-military precautions to protect vital health care equipment needed in his state from his own federal government. And, again, as I understand it, there have been cases reported where the feds did intercept shipments intended for states in the past few weeks. I have not seen a credible report of that activity, however, so don't take it for gospel. Three reliable sources reported the Maryland governor's actions today.
We know, of course, who's ultimately responsible. How long do we have to tolerate this? I have been tired of it for a long time, I hope others are coming to the realization.
And then there's this: Alaska Public Radio posted a story last night heralding the arrival of a FedEx cargo plane landing in Anchorage packed to the overheads with materials needed to fight this plague. I hope that is not in danger of some federal interference but that's less likely because our governor is a suck-up, just like our congressional delegation, to the #fakepresident. Still an armed guard might have been judicious just in case.
Have you missed me? Ha.
connections back home to purchase Corona virus treatment gear, chartered a Korean airline's airplane and had it flown to the U.S. He demanded the airplane land at Baltimore's airport rather than Washington, D.C., despite the fact that none of the Korean pilots had ever landed at Baltimore's.
The governor's reasoning was reported to be he feared the federal government might intercept and confiscate the cargo. In addition to the landing plan, a contingent of Maryland's state police and National Guard met the airplane, remained to guard the unloading and transportation to an undisclosed storage facility, and then patrolled the facility, again to protect the materials, principally from the federal government.
This is what we have come to; the leader of one of the United States' 50 states distrusts the federal government so much that he felt it necessary to use almost-military precautions to protect vital health care equipment needed in his state from his own federal government. And, again, as I understand it, there have been cases reported where the feds did intercept shipments intended for states in the past few weeks. I have not seen a credible report of that activity, however, so don't take it for gospel. Three reliable sources reported the Maryland governor's actions today.
We know, of course, who's ultimately responsible. How long do we have to tolerate this? I have been tired of it for a long time, I hope others are coming to the realization.
And then there's this: Alaska Public Radio posted a story last night heralding the arrival of a FedEx cargo plane landing in Anchorage packed to the overheads with materials needed to fight this plague. I hope that is not in danger of some federal interference but that's less likely because our governor is a suck-up, just like our congressional delegation, to the #fakepresident. Still an armed guard might have been judicious just in case.
Have you missed me? Ha.
Labels: #fakepresident, Corona virus, health care, politics
I have a plan
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| A billboard in Louisville tells it all |
June 3, 2019
With all the confusion and nonsense going on in American politics, it's difficult to figure out what is going on and who might be winning and wondering how rational people are going to sort it all out. Then in a moment of lucidity, I thought of the old adage to plan for the worst and hope for the best, and I think I have a plan for working through the present stalemate. First, consider the effects of an impeachment.
As much as I would like to see the #fakepresident run out of office, if we rush into an impeachment now, we can expect it to win in the House but that's only the charge, like an indictment. The actual trial takes place in the Senate where Mitch McConnell could probably stop it cold. If that happens, Trump gets to ride into the election on a wave of victory and claim a national mandate to continue to destroy the country and be free of any further charges until he leaves office and he faces some criminal charges that evidently can't be brought against a sitting president.
So, while these debates rage, subpoenas fly and tweets clutter the net, let's let the slate of Democrat candidates sort themselves out while we concentrate on the congressional races so that if he is re-elected in that scenario, his second term begins with Democrat majorities in both houses which could stalemate him.
For now, we should continue with the investigations under way and keep his simple mind occupied while holding off with impeachment until, say, next May to July. Given the speed at which Congress acts that could carry the impeachment process right through Election Day and keep Trump preoccupied during the campaign, shouting "witch hunt" until his head explodes, and, we can hope, sabotage his own race.
Even if he should somehow win, if we can gain control of the Senate along with the House, let the impeachment process continue, then, with a chance of sending him packing. The fallback from that is even if impeachment should fail, he still has to deal with a total Congressional majority lined up against him.
The end game of both, is Trump neutralized and even if the country has to slow down for four more years perhaps the #fakepresident can be prevented from doing any more harm and the repairs can begin before the 2024 election.
In the meantime start enforcing those subpoenas from the ongoing investigations in the House. Put a couple of those sanctimonious jerks behind bars and watch the rest of them crumble when they realize if they continue fronting for Trump they will face serious prison time. Nixon finally gave up when Republicans began deserting him, many fearing implication. Given the moral fortitude displayed by so many GOP legislators it shouldn't take long for the rats to begin deserting the sinking ship.
Below are the Senate races next year. We only need three turnovers (more if we want an impeachment conviction or a veto-proof majority), but McConnell is the key, turn him out and we stop a lot of the obstruction going on now and again bring on enough senators to find the #fakepresident guilty in an impeachment trial. I would also like to offer Alaska's do-nothing Trump-worshiping Senator Dan Sullivan as a sacrificial lamb. Besides being an in-line Trumpster, he is in cahoots with Alaska's new governor who has shown all the marks of being a Trump Jr. He has spent most of his term under the desk in his basement office anyway. The only times he shows up around here are when he can attach his name to a noncontroversial issue linked to Alaska. (Example. He is a strong supporter of the Alaska fishing industry except in the case of a proposed mine that would threaten the largest red salmon fishery in the world.)
If none of these works I know of three Alaskans willing to surround the White House and maintain the siege until the #fakepresident leaves.
Republicans
Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee)
Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia)
Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana)
Susan Collins (R-Maine)
John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas)
Steve Daines (R-Montana)
Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming)
Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
Cory Gardner (R-Colorado)
Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina)
Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi)
Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) May not run
Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky)
David Perdue (R-GA)
Jim Risch (R-Idaho)
Pat Roberts (R-Kansas)
Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota)
Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska)
Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina)
Democrats
Cory Booker (D-New Jersey)
Chris Coons (D-Delaware)
Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
Doug Jones (D-Alabama)
Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts)
Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon)
Gary Peters (D-Michigan)
Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Tina Smith (D-Minnesota
Tom Udall (D-New Mexico)
Mark Warner (D-Virginia)
Labels: #fakepresident, Congress, Donald Trump, impeachment, Mitch McConnell, politics
Is Giuliani laying groundwork for Trump family escape
November 1, 2018
Here's a conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories. Today news websites reported two
seemingly unrelated stories. Both involve unknowns. The first is one I have wondered about over the last couple of weeks, Rudy Giuliani has all but dropped out of sight. At one time the visible mouthpiece for the #fakepresident on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis and spoke for the administration, then all of a sudden it appeared he dropped out of sight.
The second I hadn't realized but once exposed I could think back and say oh, yeah, Since around the first of September the #fakepresident has dropped his constant whining about the "witch hunt" as he terms the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the one that gave us the #fakepresident.
The first has been exposed. Giuliani has been making almost clandestine trips to Russian, and several other Russian satellites. No reason has been forthcoming from within the administration, only guesses by the pundits, for those trips.
The general consensus for the second is mere speculation but it appears related to the special counsel's investigation. News reports without naming sources have posed the theory that Mueller is getting close to the #fakepresident to the point where he might have subpoenaed him to appear before a grand jury. This may have been enough to warn the guy that his attacks on the investigation and the investigators are working against him in the legal arena and has him afraid of the potential outcome.
Of course it could be because he doesn't want to draw attention to the investigation as he campaigns for himself while supposedly supporting candidates in the coming election.
Now how about this for a conspiracy theory? Maybe the investigation and other legal actions are getting too close, he sees the writing on the wall and is preparing a quick departure. Suppose Giuliani is exploring sanctuary countries that would not extradite a criminal, and would offer a safe landing spot for the @fakepresident and his family if everything goes south and they have to flee the country, Perhaps he has even been looking at real estate to house the refugees. What justice would that be to see that family as refugees in Ukraine or some other Russian affiliate? And how nice would a castle on the Black Sea be as a retirement home?
Of course that's only another wild conspiracy theory.
It's so easy anybody can do itseemingly unrelated stories. Both involve unknowns. The first is one I have wondered about over the last couple of weeks, Rudy Giuliani has all but dropped out of sight. At one time the visible mouthpiece for the #fakepresident on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis and spoke for the administration, then all of a sudden it appeared he dropped out of sight.
The second I hadn't realized but once exposed I could think back and say oh, yeah, Since around the first of September the #fakepresident has dropped his constant whining about the "witch hunt" as he terms the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the one that gave us the #fakepresident.
The first has been exposed. Giuliani has been making almost clandestine trips to Russian, and several other Russian satellites. No reason has been forthcoming from within the administration, only guesses by the pundits, for those trips.
The general consensus for the second is mere speculation but it appears related to the special counsel's investigation. News reports without naming sources have posed the theory that Mueller is getting close to the #fakepresident to the point where he might have subpoenaed him to appear before a grand jury. This may have been enough to warn the guy that his attacks on the investigation and the investigators are working against him in the legal arena and has him afraid of the potential outcome.
Of course it could be because he doesn't want to draw attention to the investigation as he campaigns for himself while supposedly supporting candidates in the coming election.
Now how about this for a conspiracy theory? Maybe the investigation and other legal actions are getting too close, he sees the writing on the wall and is preparing a quick departure. Suppose Giuliani is exploring sanctuary countries that would not extradite a criminal, and would offer a safe landing spot for the @fakepresident and his family if everything goes south and they have to flee the country, Perhaps he has even been looking at real estate to house the refugees. What justice would that be to see that family as refugees in Ukraine or some other Russian affiliate? And how nice would a castle on the Black Sea be as a retirement home?
Of course that's only another wild conspiracy theory.
When good people do nothing
June 11, 2018
In college my minor was political science. Despite what some folks may think of liberal college education I came out of that with the idealized concept of Congress and especially the Senate as arbiters and leaders and, yes, statesmen at the national and international level. Imagine the shock of realization that they saw their jobs as selfishly channeling as much federal money as possible into their own districts.
Alaska's gang proved particularly adept at that. While they connived to extract every possible dollar out of the federal government into something for Alaska, they mostly voted along the lines of whatever party they thought they represented, statesmanship be damned, morality too.
But the evolution didn't stop there. In the years that followed that first lucid non-idealistic awareness, the representation changed to what exists now, where they represent not the people, barely their own districts anymore and now represent the monied interests of the country, legislating for huge corporations and ultra rich barons who in turn fund the campaigns that keep the people who represent them in power while they rake in huge profits and impoverish their own employees.
And the nation has blithely followed along. A noisy ignorant plurality of Americans vote against their own interests because of the manufactured fears along religious, racial and patriotic lines. Their rulers twist every negative issue to keep those fears alive. A football player kneels during the national anthem to bring attention to the racism in this country and is vilified for disrespect to the anthem and the flag and the autocrats silence the original message in a cacophony of patriotic shouting.
We even shrug off the massacre of our children by gun-toting maniacs, while those supposedly representing the masses, actually only represent a well funded- organization that represents gun manufacturers and uses their money to influence those public representatives.
We cruelly separate children from their parents in the fear of too many brown people coming into the country. Meanwhile crops die in the fields because no red-blooded American wants to pick them — that's menial labor always done by those same people we are now sending back to their own countries to be murdered while their children languish in fear behind the wires of what can only be called concentration camps.
And what does a large segment of that coalition of the rich whose whole existence is based on the moral of "love thy neighbor" do? Nothing. Nada. Oh yeah one of them pleaded with his followers to provide him with enough money to buy an $80 million private jet airplane. Maybe that would bring him closer to god, because nothing he does on terra firma is going to if the teachings are correct. The rest could care less as they worship in billion-dollar cathedrals, the kind Jesus and Sampson tried to tear down.
An for crying out loud we have to teach our children how to stay alive when someone starts shooting up their schools. Is there anything imaginably worse than that?
An for crying out loud we have to teach our children how to stay alive when someone starts shooting up their schools. Is there anything imaginably worse than that?
There are so many instances where the oligarchy has mistreated the people who support it with their labor and their acquiescence, they can't all be listed in a single polemic that anyone would read.
It has caused a national malaise, a sort of background depression that comes to the fore every so often when the #fakepresident that ignorant plurality elected does something so outrageous we almost can't believe it. Consider this as a prime example. That #fakepresident is about to attend a historic meeting with the dictator of North Korea. This has not been done since Korea was left divided by a hot war and then a cold war since the 1950s, with a history dating into the mid 1800s. What does this #fakepresident say and do with that for background? He says he doesn't need to and won't do any preparations for the meeting. He will "read" his counterpart and that is all he needs. What could go wrong with that? Yet we shrug our shoulders and pass it off as "well that's Trump." Then we wait anxiously to see how what outrage he commits this time.
The question is what is the next step in that progression of the evolution by government representation in this country? All of the options except one are almost unthinkable. Photographs of children behind chain link in America today raise too-vivid parallels to those photos we have seen in history books of children in their striped outfits staring out from behind barbed wire in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Are we going to keep shrugging our shoulders and letting it happen? That's what Germans did in the years leading to that great war
That one option is out there, but when 67 percent of those eligible fail to vote even in a presidential election, what hope is there? It can be changed but it is going to take an effort, even if it is only to take an hour out of our precious lives to vote in November, while we are still allowed to vote. The alternative is unthinkable. If we are going to act in fear let's make sure we fear the right thing. The longer we let it go on, the longer it's going to take to repair the damage.
Here's a start. This summer students who started the March for our Lives movement after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida, are taking a bus tour to register young people to vote. They plan to visit 20 states with more than 50 stops and also every congressional district in Florida. The first stop is June 15 in Chicago. They are targeting the four million people who will turn 18 this year. Now there's a voting bloc.
And take heart, things like this worked once before:
Here's a start. This summer students who started the March for our Lives movement after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida, are taking a bus tour to register young people to vote. They plan to visit 20 states with more than 50 stops and also every congressional district in Florida. The first stop is June 15 in Chicago. They are targeting the four million people who will turn 18 this year. Now there's a voting bloc.
And take heart, things like this worked once before:
Lafayette, we are sorry
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| American troops arrive in Europe during World War I. |
June 29, 2017
Bastille Day in France marks the day of French liberation from the monarchy, the day citizens in Paris and rose to storm the infamous Bastille Prison to liberate political prisoners there. It is as important a holiday to the French as the Fourth of July is in the United States. The celebration this year also marks the centennial anniversary of Americans entering World War I and officials in the country have woven that into the fabric of the traditional events of the day.
A mantra of troops arriving in France for the "war to end all wars" was "Lafayette we are here." The origins of the statement date all the way back to the American Revolution when the French General the Marquis de Lafayette joined the Revolution as a military officer and later convinced the French government to send troops to aid the American effort. He was instrumental in securing the deciding victory in the war at Yorktown.
Upon returning home Lafayette became a leader in the French Revolution beginning with the storming of the Bastille July 14, 1789. With assistance from Thomas Jefferson he helped write the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen."
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| Lafayette Escadrille Pin. This Lafayette Escadrille pin belonged to Charles Heave "Carl" Dolan Jr., who in 1915 was the 31st volunteer of the Lafayette Escadrille (Escadrille N. 124), which was a group of 38 Americans who volunteered to join the French Flying Corps before the United States entered World War I. (Wikkipedia) |
But even before America officially joined the war, a year earlier, American pilots flew in what was called the Lafayette Escadrille, a unit of the French Air Service, the Aéronautique Militaire, largely composed of American volunteer pilots flying fighters.
With that tradition of mutual aid and the acknowledgement of the French support of the American Revolution in place this year, Donald Trump has accepted an invitation to visit France July 14, Bastille Day. Only this time the American invasion could become more of an embarrassment than a triumph. Trump has already cancelled a visit to England citing expected demonstrations against him as the reason. He is even less popular in France, especially after removing the United States from the Paris climate accord. Now as the representative of the United States he looks like he wants to impose his presence on a country's most cherished holiday. To be fair he was invited by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has openly criticized Trump on several occasions over his stand on climate change. The invitation most likely was to acknowledge America's entrance into WWI.
The objections to Trump in Europe, where he is even less popular than in his own country, go well beyond climate concerns and many consider him a danger who could start a war.
Given Trump's record so far in visiting foreign countries, this trip should raise some concerns given the history and current situation in our relations with France. One can only hope Trump will approach it with proper respect and acknowledgement with a sense of the history and when the protests come instead of lashing out, handle them with some modicum of decorum and diplomacy.
Perhaps we will receive an indication in the way he handles our own Independence Day, the first during his term in office.
But given his history it seems necessary to offer our apology to the French ahead of time: "Lafayette we are sorry."
Lafayette Escadrille, the movie
A footnote: People may question the apparent Swastika, the Nazi symbol, on the headdress in the pin. That symbol was used by Native Americans long before the Nazis adopted it. Here is a brief history of its use. Native American Symbol – Swirling Log
Posted by Tim Jones No comments: 
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Election result opens a vision into a dystopian future
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| Either way, could this be our future? |
June 22, 2013
Last night I experienced a mental flash, a quick peek into the future that scared the living hell out of me. It began with the news that a woman had won an off-year election in Georgia. The woman, a Republican, had been quoted during the campaign that she didn't think people deserved to earn a living wage, she didn't care.
"This is an example of the fundamental difference between a liberal and a conservative; I do not support a livable wage," Karen Handel said on Atlanta's WSB-TV in response to a viewer question about raising the minimum wage.
That was one of several outrageous statements she made during the campaign, but it was the one that stood out for me and I wondered in that flash how anybody in a right mind could vote for someone who said something like that. But the quote and the election victory were only the beginning of the flash; they only triggered it.
From that moment my mind went to a potentially hopeless situation. I have been able to endure the Trump administration lately because I can almost see a way out of it. As investigations move closer to revealing the corruption there is room for some optimism this horrible era in American democracy can be brought to an end at least by the Congressional election next year. Part of that hope also is that the outrageous situation in Washington will lead thinking people in the country to vote with their minds and turn out the people who are doing so much damage. But with everything that's going on a majority in one congressional district still saw the way to elect someone who does not support a living wage. People elected the very candidate who would do them the most harm.
Then the thought broadened across the country. Will every election in the near future turn out this way? Will, despite things like a health care act that could endanger as many as 100 million people not discourage administration supporters in the 2018 congressional election. Will people still return those supposed representatives to office to continue the destruction?
The next part of the flash went to current news about hate crimes and their increase, immigrant roundups with no legal defense, random killings of Muslims, Sikhs, black people, anybody who is "not like us."
Also news reports have documented the growth of quasi militia groups on the country. People on the edges who train and outfit themselves to fight for their rights. Just recently one such group called for recruits in the coming civil war. A civil war? Who are they going to fight? Aren't civil wars usually fought between governments and upset citizens? Most of these people seem to be on the side of the Trump government. Then it hit me. The civil war is not threatened against the government, it is aimed at people like me. The threat is if the criticism and investigations lead to an end to the Trump administration, the militias will hunt down the people they blame, those commie liberals. Here is an exact quote from one such group.
If the drumbeat of verbal attacks, leaks and otherwise destructive assaults on President Donald J. Trump, his family, those around him and their supporters do not soon abate, expect right-wing militias and other reactive vigilantes to spring into action, resulting in a full-fledged civil war, with blood flowing in our neighborhoods and streets," wrote Larry Klayman a lawyer and former Justice Department prosecutor who founded Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch.
And this one came from everybody's favorite conspiracy twit and apparent confidante of Donald Trump, Alex Jones: "You guys better have some helicopter jump jets and be ready to get out of here real quick if the actual civil war kicks off … You’re going to get wrecked bad. There are a lot of people like Santa Claus been making a list, been checking it twice about who’s been naughty and nice. And you kick off Civil War 2, baby, you’ll think Lexington and Concord was a cake walk."
The monologue has become more serious and more violent. Granted those making the threats are on the fringe of the political spectrum and don't represent a large number of people, but when you have an enabling president who slyly encourages such violence and turns his back when it happens, what they are saying is not entirely outside the realm of possibility.
So, there you have it. Democrats think the closeness of the Georgia election shows they are on the right track for 2018. But suppose the close victory actually encourages Republicans and gives them the arrogant confidence to continue their destruction of the government and further depressing the general population because they think their money can win tight elections, and then they go ahead and do it. To them it's still a mandate albeit a closer one, and they have the people behind them to continue the disassembly of the Republic.
If not and if by some miracle progressive heads regain control of our future, are those of us who still can think, going to have to join in arms against marauding goons in camo sporting AR-15s with god and the president on their side?
Suddenly in a flash last night and then again today walking past the "Resist" bumper sticker on my vehicle and then noticing a mysterious red "X" on the front license plate it all seemed plausible – plausible to the point where I, personally, might have been targeted already. No matter what, I am removing that "X."
First shots in new civil war already fired
Trump appointee threatens another civil war
Trump encourages civil war
First shots in new civil war already fired
Trump appointee threatens another civil war
Trump encourages civil war
Big Brother really is watching
A friend of mine posted the following on facebook today: (language warning)
So I have decided to quit posting on FB. It seems like prospective employers, government agents, anyone who you may enter into a financial arrangement with and the police can look at your page and find out all kinds of shit about you. I knew that, but after recently receiving a notice that the Secret Service was looking at me because of some of my anti-trump postings, I decided, fuck it. I tried but now, me, a humble little fisherman from 61 degrees north latitude, seems to be the focus of a right wing inquisition. I'm only paranoid because everyone is trying to kill me. So from now on all you're gonna get from me me is tales of my kids exploits and pictures of cats. And I hate cats. And once and for all, Fuck trump!!! He's an idiot and will be the death of our nation. Hit me with your best shot asshole.
Now this one of the toughest guys I know. He has hiked and climbed and paddled his way across much of Alaska and much of the world for all I know. I remember once telling him I wanted to see the Southern Cross under sail. He said he had sat in a place where he saw the Cross and the North Star at the same time. The peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. What I am saying is this guy is not easily intimidated
He has been outspoken about the current administration as have many of us, but apparently he has been singled out by the Secret Service with a warning that Big Brother is watching him. Now as far as I remember this fellow never made any kind of threat toward the president or anyone else. His criticism was strong and sometimes profane but never stepped over that line into the dark area of advocating some kind of harm to anyone.
I mean this is a guy who told me his greatest experience in kayaking was finding a case of beer on a beach and spending an extra day there. The storms and bears and other hardships barely registered compared to that fortunate discovery of beer.
As rugged looking a person as you could ever find, his demeanor is mellow and almost quiet, but quick to laugh at a joke or a funny story told around a campfire
Knowing him I have to ask why the Secret Service doesn't have better things to do than watch this guy instead of maybe the militias and militants around the country advocating civil war and blood in the streets, not to mention the people who have carried out those threats. I am asking for instance how many members of that Bundy gang are in prison after two gunpoint standoffs with federal officers?
Is this the beginning of totalitarian secret police, attempting to quiet discourse. It is no crime to criticize the government or the president even to the point of profanity. Is this the very thing my friend was attempting to warn us about, that we have a president who is determined to dismantle our government in favor of an oligarchy.
Given the amount of hatred and vitriol spewed at the Obanas during his administration, including assassination threats, you have to wonder how many of those people received warnings from the Secret Service. Even if there was some surveillance it sure didn't have much effect because that hatred is still being voiced against the former president and his family.
The fear of course is whether this is normal for the Secret Service or has Trump issued some kind of order to ferret out his critics and silence them? Given the threat my friend feels, you can't really blame him for pulling back a little. But if Trump's people can discourage such a rough and tumble individualist as this guy, what are the rest of us going to do? Is this yet another indication of the danger posed in the posting right above this one? Election result opens a vision into a dystopian future
Of course the warning may not have come from the Secret Service at all. Could be just a Trump troll attempting to intimidate the opposition.
So I have decided to quit posting on FB. It seems like prospective employers, government agents, anyone who you may enter into a financial arrangement with and the police can look at your page and find out all kinds of shit about you. I knew that, but after recently receiving a notice that the Secret Service was looking at me because of some of my anti-trump postings, I decided, fuck it. I tried but now, me, a humble little fisherman from 61 degrees north latitude, seems to be the focus of a right wing inquisition. I'm only paranoid because everyone is trying to kill me. So from now on all you're gonna get from me me is tales of my kids exploits and pictures of cats. And I hate cats. And once and for all, Fuck trump!!! He's an idiot and will be the death of our nation. Hit me with your best shot asshole.
Now this one of the toughest guys I know. He has hiked and climbed and paddled his way across much of Alaska and much of the world for all I know. I remember once telling him I wanted to see the Southern Cross under sail. He said he had sat in a place where he saw the Cross and the North Star at the same time. The peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. What I am saying is this guy is not easily intimidated
He has been outspoken about the current administration as have many of us, but apparently he has been singled out by the Secret Service with a warning that Big Brother is watching him. Now as far as I remember this fellow never made any kind of threat toward the president or anyone else. His criticism was strong and sometimes profane but never stepped over that line into the dark area of advocating some kind of harm to anyone.
I mean this is a guy who told me his greatest experience in kayaking was finding a case of beer on a beach and spending an extra day there. The storms and bears and other hardships barely registered compared to that fortunate discovery of beer.
As rugged looking a person as you could ever find, his demeanor is mellow and almost quiet, but quick to laugh at a joke or a funny story told around a campfire
Knowing him I have to ask why the Secret Service doesn't have better things to do than watch this guy instead of maybe the militias and militants around the country advocating civil war and blood in the streets, not to mention the people who have carried out those threats. I am asking for instance how many members of that Bundy gang are in prison after two gunpoint standoffs with federal officers?
Is this the beginning of totalitarian secret police, attempting to quiet discourse. It is no crime to criticize the government or the president even to the point of profanity. Is this the very thing my friend was attempting to warn us about, that we have a president who is determined to dismantle our government in favor of an oligarchy.
Given the amount of hatred and vitriol spewed at the Obanas during his administration, including assassination threats, you have to wonder how many of those people received warnings from the Secret Service. Even if there was some surveillance it sure didn't have much effect because that hatred is still being voiced against the former president and his family.
The fear of course is whether this is normal for the Secret Service or has Trump issued some kind of order to ferret out his critics and silence them? Given the threat my friend feels, you can't really blame him for pulling back a little. But if Trump's people can discourage such a rough and tumble individualist as this guy, what are the rest of us going to do? Is this yet another indication of the danger posed in the posting right above this one? Election result opens a vision into a dystopian future
Of course the warning may not have come from the Secret Service at all. Could be just a Trump troll attempting to intimidate the opposition.
The day the New World turned Brave
June 6, 2017
Years ago perhaps inspired by George Orwell and Aldous Huxley I wrote a short story about the day, the one particular day and hour, the world changed into that brave new one. It wasn't a very good short story but there have been times over the years when I have been reminded of its message and wary of what my government is doing. In it, a man of the 50s came home from his job to his house in the suburbs. His wife had prepared a pleasant dinner, his polite children sat at the table eating quietly while the adults spoke to each other. After dinner the perfect wife began clearing the table and washing the dishes while the husband returned to his favorite chair and turned on the television news. You get the picture, the bland, stable 1950s.
During the broadcast there was a static interruption of the signal and a new face and voice came out of it first pointing out how great life for people was and then saying that recent improvements to the general benefit of the society as a whole were now to be laws and that the lives people lived, the jobs they held (ending labor unions?), the homes they owned (subprime loans?), the schools their children attended (private charter schools?) had transformed into a rigid structure for the benefit of all. To maintain order (these days terrorism would be blamed) a new National Security Force had been formed which would replace the former military and police departments (providing police departments with military hardware?); this would be couched in terms of efficiency and cost-cutting. Life would go on as usual, the inanimate face's voice said and everyone would be better off for it.
Static buzz again and then the former newsman came back on and began reading the news again. The man in the chair had barely absorbed what had been said, but something in it bothered him enough to stand up and walk out onto his front lawn. He looked left and right up and down the street and saw several others looking aimlessly around or into the sky. Finally when he couldn't put his mind on exactly what had happened and deciding there couldn't have been much to it, he went back into his house and settled back into his chair.
Like I said, not a very good story. But my point was things can progress in tiny increments until one day you look around and it's too late, the damage is done, the billboards are up and we hardly notice that instant when all the parts merge and finally evolve into that Brave New World.
These days I see the attacks on the press, leading the less informed and ignorant among us to distrust what they read or watch, that consists of lies or fake news if you will. The rest of us may wonder but seldom do much. We build up the military at the same time we dumb down the population by slowly curtailing education and opportunity and grow the percentage of the population that is enveloped in ignorance. With that body of ignorance overwhelming the electorate, we elect leaders who through bombast and bullying challenge every aspect of a constitutional democracy that has claimed to be based on the elusive and difficult to define atmosphere of freedom.
By whittling away at all aspects of that freedom and in order to do that turning the ignorant majority against those who protest at each step of the way and putting the blame for problems onto them, the governors reach the point where with one simple turn of a switch sending a televised message into every home in the country, they only make formal the state where all those freedoms have disappeared and the oligarchs now own the utopian nightmare. That was the day I was attempting to describe, never thinking that threat would actually materialize and I would be watching the country growing dangerously close to the day when we are living in Airstrip One or 2540 London happily sucking down soma and believing we are happy.
Fortunately in the current situation, the opposition fighting every step of the way appears to be slowly gaining the upper hand but we can't be complacent, the fight has to be kept up. It might be odd to say but maybe it's a good thing that Trump is president at this time. A more intelligent, educated, less flamboyant man would be much more dangerous. Look at the vice president and the speaker of the House.
Fortunately in the current situation, the opposition fighting every step of the way appears to be slowly gaining the upper hand but we can't be complacent, the fight has to be kept up. It might be odd to say but maybe it's a good thing that Trump is president at this time. A more intelligent, educated, less flamboyant man would be much more dangerous. Look at the vice president and the speaker of the House.
Labels: Donald Trump, facebook, politics, Secret Service, surveilance
The noose is slowly tightening
May 16, 2017
A whole lot of us have almost been something of an old-time lynch mob, yelling for impeachment, criticizing the president's every move, not that it's not deserved, doing anything we can to raise the flag to get rid of the criminal. Perhaps at this point it is time to take a step back and let the drama play out.
Last night (May 15) Rachel Maddow posted a graphic showing nine separate investigations under way looking into the serious charges that have come up regarding the administration. A couple of them are maybes at this point but that leaves at least seven active investigations going on at this moment.
Legal investigations take time. Rushing to judgment at this point before they are complete could have a detrimental effect on the outcome most of us want. The process needs to be methodical, unemotional, nailing down every eventuality because the danger exists if any opening is left, Trump could walk through it and remain in office.
To remove a president is going to take, if you will forgive a cliche (or two or three), every i dotted, every t crossed, no stone left unturned. Before any legal charges are leveled the case for removal must be absolutely solid and that is going to take some time.
Of course that interim is going to leave the door open for that serious mistake we think this man is capable of, where one of his tantrums ends with a big red button. We can only hope if it gets there, calmer heads will prevail.
The point is let's not do things in a rush that could leave an opening. Let's take it through due process with methodical certitude. Leave no way out. Chances are as with Nixon the noose will tighten enough during the investigations with their inevitable revelations that the man will see no way out and quit before he ends up in court, impeached before the Senate, and/or sent to prison.
It doesn't end with him, either. There is Pence who is almost as dangerous, Republican leadership in Congress and all the work to undo the damage already done. Also we have to keep pressure on the investigators; make sure they are doing their jobs and the efforts progress at a reasonable pace.
The press has awakened and is doing its job now and as former President Carter pointed out the other day: In every instance where the press and government have come into conflict, the press has been right. Let's hope that continues, too.
Trump is too much of a threat to our country and our very way of life to be allowed to escape and somehow remain in office.
Of course there's always another point of view. This from my daughter on Twitter:
Last night (May 15) Rachel Maddow posted a graphic showing nine separate investigations under way looking into the serious charges that have come up regarding the administration. A couple of them are maybes at this point but that leaves at least seven active investigations going on at this moment.
Legal investigations take time. Rushing to judgment at this point before they are complete could have a detrimental effect on the outcome most of us want. The process needs to be methodical, unemotional, nailing down every eventuality because the danger exists if any opening is left, Trump could walk through it and remain in office.
Of course that interim is going to leave the door open for that serious mistake we think this man is capable of, where one of his tantrums ends with a big red button. We can only hope if it gets there, calmer heads will prevail.
The point is let's not do things in a rush that could leave an opening. Let's take it through due process with methodical certitude. Leave no way out. Chances are as with Nixon the noose will tighten enough during the investigations with their inevitable revelations that the man will see no way out and quit before he ends up in court, impeached before the Senate, and/or sent to prison.
It doesn't end with him, either. There is Pence who is almost as dangerous, Republican leadership in Congress and all the work to undo the damage already done. Also we have to keep pressure on the investigators; make sure they are doing their jobs and the efforts progress at a reasonable pace.
The press has awakened and is doing its job now and as former President Carter pointed out the other day: In every instance where the press and government have come into conflict, the press has been right. Let's hope that continues, too.
Trump is too much of a threat to our country and our very way of life to be allowed to escape and somehow remain in office.
Of course there's always another point of view. This from my daughter on Twitter:
Can we just fast forward a few years, and I can watch the Oliver Stone mockudrama about this trash fire? #ImpeachTrump#OhAndTheRestToo
A joke
So, Kid Rock, Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent walk into the White House …
… what are you waiting for? Isn't that enough of a joke?
… what are you waiting for? Isn't that enough of a joke?
Milo Minderbinder would be so proud
Hello?
Hello, Bashar this is Don.
Don? Don who?
Trump, Donald Trump, president for all, you know.
Oh that Don, hello, what's on your mind?
Well Bashar, don't worry this isn't an official call.
Does that matter or change anything?
Well, yes, we think it does anyway.
What is it then?
It's business, Bashar. We'd like to opportunity to bid on repairs at the Hom airport.
The Hom airport? There's nothing wrong with our Hom airport.
That's what we need to talk about it, Bashar.
We have two ships offshore there looking for somewhere to test their Tomahawk missiles.
Is that a threat, Don?
No threat, a business deal and you know I make good deals, the best deals in fact I wrote a book about it, a best seller.
So what's the deal?
It's the best deal, believe me. We drop a few missiles on the Hom airfield. Then you give Trump Properties the contract to rebuild the place. There's be a nice piece of change, a big piece of change, that comes right back to you, believe me. You could buy more of that gas you like to spread.
We could do that? How much for me? What about Vladimir?
We've talked with Vladimir about it and he already has his plant preparing to increase gas production waiting for your order, You see? Winners all around.
I suppose it would give a boost to your poll numbers too, hey?
That's one benefit.
Well, good luck with that. Give me some time to move my planes off the field.
I suppose it would give a boost to your poll numbers too, hey?
That's one benefit.
Well, good luck with that. Give me some time to move my planes off the field.
Done.
USS Porter, stand by for the president.
………
Then,
Hello?
Mr. Kim, this is Don …
You sending warships here!
It's all part of a business deal, a good business deal, the best business deal, winners all around. Interested?
AN EXPLANATION: I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this but, sigh, here goes. Milo Minderbinder was a character in Joseph Heller's classic novel "Catch 22." In order to satisfy the conditions of a complicated business deal involving among other things Swiss chocolate and Egyptian cotton he engineered an air strike on the U.S. airfield where he and the rest of the characters in the book were stationed during World War II.
AN EXPLANATION: I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this but, sigh, here goes. Milo Minderbinder was a character in Joseph Heller's classic novel "Catch 22." In order to satisfy the conditions of a complicated business deal involving among other things Swiss chocolate and Egyptian cotton he engineered an air strike on the U.S. airfield where he and the rest of the characters in the book were stationed during World War II.
Corporate innocence meets democracy
February 18, 2017
Let me get this straight, Donald Trump who has access to perhaps the largest intelligence-gathering organization in the world, blames Fox news for his gaffe about a terrorist attack in Sweden?
Meanwhile down the street the new Secretary of State wants his briefing statements limited to two pages. And over at Education the secretary there is whining about all the criticism.
What's so sad is they think they can get away with that, like something unusual is going on.
There are calls for psychiatric evaluations of the president and questions raised about his sanity. It's unlikely that they are necessary or highlight a serious problem. The problem is more obvious than that and easier to battle.
Keep in mind these people have been heads of huge money-making corporations, organizations where what they say goes as long as they keep the bottom line growing and the stockholders happy. They have ultimate control and are used to having people carry out their orders without question and without outside interference.
They are not used to being questioned, they are not used to being challenged, they are not used to being held up to public scrutiny, and most of all they are not used to being told "no." And most likely they think they don't have to deal with those things and resent the fact that they do. They thought they were going to walk into the office and tell everyone what to do and that would get it done. That bureaucracy we love to hate may thwart them and their agendas better than anything else we've come up with so far.
They are not used to being questioned, they are not used to being challenged, they are not used to being held up to public scrutiny, and most of all they are not used to being told "no." And most likely they think they don't have to deal with those things and resent the fact that they do. They thought they were going to walk into the office and tell everyone what to do and that would get it done. That bureaucracy we love to hate may thwart them and their agendas better than anything else we've come up with so far.
If Tillerson says Exxon is going to drill in Central Park there's no question, his minions go about figuring out how they can drill in Central Park. There's an old joke about Exxon that says if they go to work and haven't been sued by quitting time, it's been a good business day. Tillerson is the guy who pushed fracking in areas threatening drinking water all over the country but when someone wanted to do it near his house he sued.
Trump says build a hotel and his minions go about getting that done, not flooding him with disagreement or challenging him to make a reasonable case for such a project and the outside world knows nothing about it until ground has been broken and by then it's too late.
Who knows what DeVos does but apparently it doesn't take an education to run her company either, just hand down edicts from on high;
It's obvious these people have never had their statements or decisions challenged, at least not in public and now they are placed in a position where every move is exposed, analyzed and depending on what it is, lauded, criticized or outright ridiculed and they can't handle it. Remember one of Trump's appointments quit even before he had to face a world like that.
For all the promises made about how a good businessman could set the government in order, it turns out the business model just doesn't work. Think how it would work if they didn't have a majority in Congress like President Obama faced at least in his last few years.
The head of a large corporation is about half a high-rise office floor short of a dictator. But that model doesn't work in what is supposed to be a democracy. These people are not used to being questioned, let alone being criticized or even worse ridiculed, or gasp held accountable for their actions in public.
Now they are in public leadership positions and reality is smacking them right between the eyes and they can't handle it. Trump refuses to attend intelligence briefings, Tillerson wants the Twitter version of State Department analyses, DeVos says all teachers need is someone to tell them what to do.
Well, Madame Secretary, maybe you and your colleagues need a good lesson on what you are supposed to do and what qualifications are needed to do it. If you don't have the qualifications find a group of advisors who do have the expertise. And, be prepared for opposition. Government is built on compromise not edicts and everything is subject to public exposure.
It's obvious already the dictatorial corporate business model doesn't work in government and the people who come from it don't have a clear view of what they are supposed do, let alone to carry out what they intended to do and that is their failure, not the psychiatry of the situation even if correcting that sounds easier and flashier.
Frack this NIMBY – Rex Tillerson and Exxon on fracturing
A coterie of cartoon autocrats – Miami Herald
It's obvious already the dictatorial corporate business model doesn't work in government and the people who come from it don't have a clear view of what they are supposed do, let alone to carry out what they intended to do and that is their failure, not the psychiatry of the situation even if correcting that sounds easier and flashier.
Frack this NIMBY – Rex Tillerson and Exxon on fracturing
A coterie of cartoon autocrats – Miami Herald
Before Columbine, and Newton, there was Bethel, Alaska
This is something I have never done before, a straight up linked post to a newspaper article. But this one, I think people should read and it doesn't need any comment from me. It is a very well written account of a school shooting in Alaska and the aftermath covering 20 years since it happened published today by the Alaska Dispatch News.
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| Alaska Dispatch News photos. Evan Ramsey's tattered life filled him with rage. Then he brought a shotgun to school. |
Surviving the first 100 days
February 14, 2017
Anyone who checks on this blog occasionally might notice there hasn't been the usual number of posts in recent months. Frankly it's a question I have been asking myself lately. I've never had much of a problem finding subjects to write about, largely because I have a wide range of interests that at times even interrelate, but in the recent past nothing has seemed to pop out as noteworthy enough. Why would that be? Well, it has been slow evolving but I think I have found the answer, one that is simple yet complicated, easy to summarize more difficult to separate into parts and analyze.
The simple answer? Donald Trump. The complications? It's like a crack in a windshield that starts as a chip and spreads like a spider web until it blocks all vision forward.
Not that there isn't lots to write about, but so many people are doing it, very little original gets said anymore. Anything I might write about has already been analyzed to death. I don't need to add to the confusion and redundancy. Plus from this distance even given the accessibility the internet provides I don't feel like I am close enough to the subject to say anything meaningful. Of course, that never stopped me before.
Yet the issue and its immensity along with the emotions it engenders fills the mind to the elimination of any other distraction. It has taken hold of my mind and even ideas that come up seem inconsequential in the face of the immensity of the crime that is being perpetrated against our country. What do the birds at my feeders matter when day by day safeguards in regulations that have improved our lives are whittled away allowing the robber barons to pollute, violate and destroy at the expense of the majority of American citizens.
What does a reverie at the wood pile or a playlist of old rock and roll on facebook matter when we learn Russian intelligence played a part in electing the most unqualified president this nation has ever had. It calls to mind something painted on a fence surrounding the construction site of a controversial classroom at Syracuse University in 1960. "What does it mean in the infinite scheme?"
Who cares about a clever turn of phrase in a headline or a grammatical gaff by a sports announcer when arch conservatives, racists, ignoramuses and other totally unqualified people take over every department in the administration of our government.
Moreover what does it matter if I add my two cents to the maelstrom? The maelstrom is huge and it's full. I realized that during my last two ventures to the East Pole. I only get one radio station there, a function of geology, and it is a public radio station broadcasting from the nearest town. I keep it on for the noise, but I often catch interesting programs. However since this election it at least seems like every program is some pundit or other analyzing something that is going on with this president and his cohorts. Most of them don't say anything of any value, just struggle for different ways to put out the same old statements that I could have made myself without their input. Then one day, I had too much of it. I actually screamed across the cabin "shut the fuck up." You can do that sort of thing in the woods; it's that old saw about if no one's around is there a sound.
After that as soon as another program like that came on I hustled across the room and turned the radio off, and lived in the peaceful silence for a while.
But even in silence, the feeling persisted that nothing seemed worth writing about given the situation in our country. I couldn't and still can't escape the thoughts churning in my mind.
They range from the ridiculous to the sublime. For instance I have nothing against Milania, I see her as an innocent in this drama, dragged into it through no fault of her own. But I do not want her living in our White House, the household led in grace by the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy, Michelle Obama, Eleanor Roosevelt, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, She just doesn't belong. Of course paying obscene amounts of taxpayer money so she can live away from the White House in New York is unacceptable as well.
Then there's the man whose company will profit greatly by one of the biggest oil deals ever, and with Russia no less, and is now the secretary of State. Both of Alaska's senators voted for him too, despite what his company's ship the Exxon Valdez did to Alaska. An avowed racist is the Attorney General. A woman who never set foot in a public school or had any other experience with education outside being a student in an expensive private school is now the secretary of Education. That doesn't even begin to address the outrage now that a dangerous foe of the Environmental Protection Agency is now the head of it.
And those are the things that have happened. What's coming is even worse. As a senior citizen almost entirely dependent on Medicare and Social Security (which I have paid into for more than 50 years) I am deathly afraid of losing those as are several million of my contemporaries. Twenty million others who now have health insurance due to the Affordable Care Act face losing it as well. National Parks are threatened. The oceans, climate change and its deniers, the general attack on intelligence and knowledge, on science, even attempting to wipe out records gained through extensive research. Employees expecting to be terminated actually attempted to save precious scientific research as if an invading army were approaching. And then there's the outrage of denying people entry because of their religion at the same time rounding up residents and tearing families apart through deportations. When will they start coming for each one of us?
It has been overwhelming at least to my small mind. I have been so consumed with the politics of our country and yet feeling insufficient in any way I might be able to do something about it or at least write about it. It's frustrating. In one moment of lucidity I donated $100 to the ACLU to at least help someone who is actually performing. I had another one today. My facebook feed is filled with news sites and political sites and I realized they are blocking out some of the other sites I like and that have often stimulated ideas. I might do some clearing out tomorrow.
Over the years of fighting over one social issue or another I learned that you cannot fight them all; you pick the one most important to you and hope somebody else is going after the other ones. But this one is different. Like the crack in the windshield it has so many tendrils branching in so many directions you have to wonder if anybody can visualize the whole scenario. At that point when you feel alone in your fight, well, I always think of something Sam Huff said once. He was a linebacker for the New York Giants during the age of the greatest running back of all time Jim Brown. Brown was known as a punishing runner, the kind where when you tackle him you get hurt, not him. Asked how he tackles Jim Brown, Sam Huff, who was known as a brutalizing tackler, said, "I aim at his belt buckle and hope three other guys are doing the same thing."
So, the upshot is I think I have figured out what has me slowing down in the writing department. A psychiatrist might say now that we know the problem we can build from there. By the looks of it I have a better chance of surviving this administration's first 100 days than at least a few people who are part of it. One down already. Watch this space.
How can anyone keep track?
So, the upshot is I think I have figured out what has me slowing down in the writing department. A psychiatrist might say now that we know the problem we can build from there. By the looks of it I have a better chance of surviving this administration's first 100 days than at least a few people who are part of it. One down already. Watch this space.
How can anyone keep track?
You couldn't live with yourself if you didn't at least try
A friend sent that to me in a facebook message today. It's a conclusion I had come to since the election.
I had reached a point in life where I felt I have been fighting something or other forever and where I am tired. It was like in Fellini's movie, "The Clowns." His camera crews traveled around Europe contacting and interviewing all the famous clowns from European circuses. As an aside if you watched carefully you would see the crews pull off some of the great clown tricks. There is a scene where they pull up to an address in a small car and before you realize it, 20 people have come out of the car carrying all manner of movie-making equipment. But the point of telling this is the last scene
in the movie where Fellini staged a grand circus parade under the big top. But as the elephants and the acrobats march around the tent, we notice three of the clowns sitting on the ring itself. Asked why they are not in the parade one of them says, "not any more, I am just too tired."
I could take that as a reason not to fight or like Chief Joseph of the Nez Perse said after defeating the U.S. Cavalry and then trying to lead his people into Canada, "I will fight no more forever."
In the Fifties, believe it or not, we objected to complacency, not a big fight, but still. In the Sixties came the Vietnam War and civil rights, and for a bit more spice, women's liberation. After that came the whole environmental movement. By the Eighties I was driving a boat in Alaska waters and seemed to be far from the battles. About then SeaWorld came to Alaska to capture our whales and then Exxon spilled oil all over our ocean and shores. Those took care of the Eighties, Nineties and 00s.
After that I put in a stint at a newspaper and that's a place you are constantly exposed to the world's battles, all of them, on a daily basis. Choose your medicine. It never goes away.
Some time after that I thought I could enjoy retirement as I felt I had reached a point where I could say I did what I could and now when I was tired and would fight no more forever.
Then came the 2016 election. I was one of those naive persons who could not envision Trump winning. I might as well have been punched in the stomach when he did. And even since, every time I think of it I react physically. On top of that there are those people who now have a majority in both houses of Congress who want to cut Social Security and Medicare. I depend on both of these and would be pretty much reduced to poverty if they succeed. I am outraged. I have been paying into Social Security for more than 50 years and now they want to take it away from me because they hate Franklin Roosevelt.
I stewed over it for some time until I realized that's not going to help. Also I can't just write about it. If I am not going to sit by passively and let it happen to me I have to do something. But what? A blog post doesn't do much, after all most of the people who read my blog agree with me. So, I made a start. I sent a serious email to all three of Alaska's representatives (all in-line Republicans) in which I pointed out that 83,000 Alaskans receive Social Security benefits, most of them retired people. That was a start.
The missing senator wrote back first. What I got was a condescending (it might as well have started out "Dear Stupid) note explaining what the GOP says is wrong with Social Security. Our other senator said she was examining the issue. I never heard back from our only U.S. Representative, but then he says he only represents those who voted for him.
So, that was a start. Obviously more needs doing and fast. At the moment I am in the deep woods, a good place to devise a plan. Unfortunately I am stranded by a broken-down, brand-new snowmachine so I have a lot to contemplate, but I am thinking through what I can do in the fight to keep the benefits we've earned. I guess I will fight at least once more forever. So thanks, Shelley, for the kick in the pants. I just hope it doesn't kill me.
A COUPLE OF COMMENTS FROM FACEBOOK
10-4. my sentiments exactly. retired. moved back to the woods to live on a very small income but lots of time to do art, meditate, walk in the woods and smell the roses. also thought no way in hell america would elect an utterly incompetent, psychotically narcissistic baboon. but we were wrong and now we have to fight again and again until we die in the trenches. this time the battlefront is so multifaceted it's overwhelming: social security, economic freedom for lower and middle classes, racial
and LGBQT rights, women's rights, environmental survival. .... anon.... there is no moral or just cause this satan-spawn isn't attacking. my experience w Dan Sullivans office to phone calls is the same----yawn. who cares about what you peasants think? and Young, of course , is like Trump---- he feels
he was divinely anointed and overtly hostile to constituent opinion. i will continue to call them, donate $ where i can, and just be the squeaky wheel. anything else that occurs to me is illegal. mostly i plan to just live long enough see these jack-offs in their graves after they have destroyed everything – GRETCHEN SMALL
Gretchen Small that matters except what is inside my soul. like Gandhi. "i will not obey. you can kill me but then all you have is another dead body. you still will not have my obedience."
Former congressional staffers tell how best to influence members of Congress.
It's so easy anybody can do it
KGB ENLISTED YOUNG TRUMP IN SOVIET COLD WAR OPERATION – SOURCES
Author: Carlos Nodonaldo
Dec. 13, 2016 Inconsequential News Service
Federal agents this week revealed partial results of an investigation into Donald Trump that has unearthed what they say is proof he was and likely still is an agent of Russia, either as a willing participant or as an unwitting mind-controlled automaton who was awaiting instructions from deep inside the Kremlin
The investigation centered on almost three years in which Trump's whereabouts were unknown.
Investigators say they have confirmed where they believe Trump was during the years he mysteriously dropped out of sight. No record until now had been found about his location or activities during that span, but now documents discovered recently track his path through the two Germanys and into the heart of the Soviet Union in Moscow.
According to insiders, in a report issued Friday, Trump left the Wharton School in Pennsylvania in the summer of 1968 and in early 1971 reappeared to take over management of his family's businesses. Where he was during that time has long been a subject of speculation.
Authorities now say they have proof Trump left the country and traveled first to Berlin where for a short time he lived in a youth hostel. From there he disappeared, but recently documents discovered in former East German archives, show Trump crossed into East Berlin and was sighted about a month later in Moscow, capital of the former Soviet Union.
From there the trail went cold until he showed up in passport records as entering the U.S. on a flight from Beirut, Lebanon, in January 1971 at least until earlier this year.
It was those two and a half years out of sight that caught the attention of CIA investigators. In May documents supposedly expunged from KGB records but discovered in an abandoned building being demolished indicated a young American had been turned and was undergoing extensive training and mind-control exercises.
The report and several others found with it were signed by an agent named V. Putinchikov, believed to be a young Vladimir Putin who is now president of Russia. Judging by the information in the reports which is still being kept confidential, insiders say there's no doubt the young American was Trump. According to one source the reports document intense mind-control indoctrination. Documents detail actions beginning in late summer 1968 and ending in the fall of 1970.
Our source cited one document in particular that according to her stated that the indoctrination had been successful and the subject was ready to be deployed.
It is believed that during the 1950s and '60s hundreds of soviets lived in the Untied States as ordinary citizens awaiting orders from Moscow officials to perform duties not specified when they were deployed. The famous Manchurian Candidate was one such effort where an American. serviceman captured in Korea was brainwashed and sent back only to be activated by a psychological trigger to assassinate the president.
The sources believe Trump was among those who were sent to the U.S. as sleeper agents.
In January 1971 state department records show Trump flew into the U.S. from Beirut, landing in New York, and joining his family's firm shortly after that. From then until his election as President and his actions against China, there were no indications of whatever mission the Soviets may have prepared him for, but intelligence experts now speculate Trump could have been triggered recently to stimulate friction between the United States and China in order to further Russian economic interests.
Nothing in this story is true. It is pure satire meant only to entertain.
Yet another underprivileged minority begins to emerge
November 15, 2016
Privilege came up in a conversation with a friend a couple of years ago. The friend did not accept
that I did not recognize being privileged. At the time I had not picked up on the modern concept of privilege. Not too long after that I realized what caused our difference of opinion.She was speaking to the comparison between white people and minorities in which generally white people enjoy advantages that most minorities do not. My concept at the time, and I realize it now, was narrower and involved privilege among white people and I certainly do not enjoy the same advantages as the wealthy do. In fact it is that lack of privilege that has forced a new minority of which I am probably a charter member or about to become one. But because of our conversation, I now understand the broader view of privilege, the concept that simply because I am white I enjoy a certain level of privilege within a diverse community of minorities.
It goes like this: The recent election was devastating in so many ways but the next morning the sun rose, so there's that. And there's still snow in the forecast. Big fat moon coming up in the sky if we can see it. Cleared up some nagging chores throughout the day and it appeared the Earth was still spinning. So what's to worry about? This isn't the first president I didn't vote for.
Why is it that now we are supposed to unite and support our elected president in an atmosphere of cooperation and patriotism after eight years of our current president facing the worst obstruction of any in history.
The Republicans want us to come together to support the new president. After eight years of Republicans doing just the opposite to one of the finest presidents the country has ever had, that is not going to happen. A racist, misogynistic egotistical uninformed bully has been elected president largely from votes by people who will suffer more under this new administration. And the dangers he presents to the country far outweigh any desire to "just get along."
The idiocy of people voting against their own interests is described no better than in the attached meme. Wave the confederate flag and then tell people they lost the election and to get over it. Right.
On the same day that meme appeared this president-elect told a 60 Minutes interviewer he was going to get rid of Roe v. Wade but not same-sex marriage because that issue has been settled by the Supreme Court. That is the level of ignorance we are going to face for the next four years.
And those same voters who bought the presidential candidate's mantra of cleaning out Washington and taking back the country managed to increase majorities in both houses of Congress, the very people who caused what needs to be changed.
You have to laugh at those people who wanted to kick out the beltway insiders to get a fresh start and then voted for most of the incumbents in Congress, the very people who have caused the problems bothering people. With the presidency and majorities in both the House and Senate and the philosophies they espouse, the very core of our democracy is threatened and the people most likely to suffer most are those who voted for them.
For example, a large voting block of elderly people supposedly voted to maintain those majorities. Talk about voting against your own interests, this new power structure has vowed to cut or eliminate Social Security and Medicare, two programs that benefit the elderly and which many of us might not survive without.
The president-elect says he objects to Social Security on moral grounds. Moral grounds? I have been paying into Social Security since 1958. This was my retirement and I paid for it. As a matter of fact I am still paying for it as even my Social Security payment is subject to taxes and the FICA withholding, plus I pay a premium for Medicare as well. What is moral about taking it away from all the people who have contributed over the years? And in an era of skyrocketing drug prices and other health commodities, what is moral about removing the Medicare safety net?
Cutting or removing those programs will create a whole new minority, a whole new group of people without privilege – old white guys who depend on Social Security and Medicare.
So, to my mind with this threat over our heads along with so many others, I see no reason to shake hands, no honeymoon period, no "get behind the new president to make things work." It is time to obstruct the obstructionists at every opportunity. A true patriot is obligated to fight to save the country, not shake hands and move on with the folks who would destroy the fabric or our very foundations. I have no intention to be part of "one-united-people." A man who consistently spouts divisive policies is not a uniting factor and in fact is creating new minorities to crush all the time.
The election is about more than the personalities
November 2, 2016
Despite best efforts twice in the past week I've been drawn into political arguments online. In one someone I respected came out on Twitter stating he was proud to be voting for Donald Trump. This guy is intelligent enough to have written a fairly credible book and when I saw that at first thought I had somehow misinterpreted what he was saying. Nope. So I questioned it and offered a couple of reasons to change that vote.Then I discovered the problem. He's out of his element.
His book was about a serious environmental issue so I suggested he look up Trump on environmental issues. In his next tweet he asked any of his followers if they could direct him to any articles on Trump's environmental views. In other words he didn't have a clue and hadn't really looked into his candidate. And then this happened.
His book was about a serious environmental issue so I suggested he look up Trump on environmental issues. In his next tweet he asked any of his followers if they could direct him to any articles on Trump's environmental views. In other words he didn't have a clue and hadn't really looked into his candidate. And then this happened.
When I questioned him about that he blocked me. Ha, a first. blocked like I was trying to send him naked pictures or something. You know what? No loss. It is a common result to write a book and immediately feel like you are among the infallible literary elite. You aren't. Everything you do is questionable. Ask any writer who was full of himself after the publication of his first book. Guilty.
The second one was more complicated but at least there was no blockage. A friend whom I have known for almost 40 years wrote a comment about how he views this year's election campaign in general. Mostly we agree, the main point being how dangerous a Trump presidency would be to the republic. I added a comment agreeing with him but questioning his evaluation of Hillary Clinton – the old distrust factor. My thought on that has always been that any negatives about her are the result of the constant propaganda assault on her and her husband from Republicans. Although no wrongdoing has ever been proven, the barrage has had its effect in at least raising questions in peoples' minds about her qualifications. My friend disagreed and as far as I was concerned that was the end of it. Then a whole bunch of people agreed with me. To be fair quite a few agreed with him too. Call it a tossup, whether you absolutely agree or disagree, the one thing we did agree on is she is a better choice than Trump by far.
I do not have the qualms he does. I was for her from the beginning though I did go with Bernie Sanders for a while. When she won the nomination, I was all in. I think she is possibly the most qualified person in terms of experience who has ever run for president of the United States.
For people who might be wavering or unhappy about voting for the "lesser of two evils," I have attached a meme that came out nearly a year ago. Besides the personalities, it shows what is really at stake in this election and it makes a compelling statement to vote for one of the candidates.
Four hundred eighty
October 14, 2016
Eugene Burdick, co-author of "The Ugly American" wrote another book called "The 480." In it a political campaign identified 480 distinguishable points of view among the electorate. In organizing campaign materials they managed to to speak to each of the 480 without alienating any of them. Their candidate won unanimously. Donald Trump has now done that in reverse. Is there anybody left in America who shouldn't be offended by at least one thing he has said or done?
What's sad is this is a man who is running for the office of president of the United States, arguably the most important job in the world, and he doesn't even understand what's wrong with statements he's made. Take the recent charges of sexual assault. His defense in one case is the woman wasn't attractive enough to tempt him into doing such a thing. He thinks that's a defense. If that's an indication of his process for approaching problems, he has even bigger issues.
Seems if he alienated 240 of the people in the book (half women?) with the assaults, he probably got all but a few of the remaining 240 by misunderstanding the gravity of his actions in terms of the relative beauty of the victim. And that's just one of the groups and individuals he has insulted, threatened or shamed over the course of the campaign.
Unfortunately Burdick could not have predicted the kind of zealots who will vote against their own interests out of imaginary fears brought up by the same people who prey on those mostly poor and under-educated people. Otherwise, Trump might have proved Burdick's hypothesis in reverse. Would that be called an antihypothesis? Antithesis?
Imagine a slap down by a foreign government and his reaction to that.
An example from actor Marleee Matlin (There goes the deaf vote)
2010
Some days you just have to love Alaskans
December 20, 2010
Two events took place in Anchorage Saturday. They were unrelated except that each provided people with something to do that day. In one, the Governor Interrupted autographed her new book at a warehouse store. Some people stood in line for an hour or so with the temperature around zero. In the other, some people jumped into a near frozen lake in something called the Polar Plunge to raise money for the Special Olympics. Care to venture a guess which event drew more participants? An estimated 200 to 300 showed up to get a book or two signed. But over at the lake more than 700 took that plunge. And, they raised more than $275.000. That is not a typo. Two hundred seventy five thousand dollars. Probably more than twice as many chose to jump into a lake as chose to get a book signed. Like the title says, some days you just have to love Alaskans.
Here's a photo gallery from the Anchorage Daily News of the Polar Plunge
Here's a photo gallery from the Anchorage Daily News of the Governor Interrupted signing books
Follow the money and the candy
December 26,, 2010
A night seldom passes when the news doesn't bring a chuckle. I'm not talking about stories that are naturally funny, those are given. More it's when something so ridiculous affects something so serious that it seems totally ludicrous. Such a story came over last night, a very serious story about a very serious situation. It seems the president of the Ivory Coast lost a recent election but refuses to step aside. Many fear a civil war such as took place there in the 90s. The situation is serious enough that a union of Western African nations is threatening to invade the country to remove him. It is unlikely he will step down as long as he controls the military, which he does at the moment. However, the report said he only has enough reserve funds to pay the military perhaps another three months. For this reason, pressure has been put on the UN, the US and European nations to establish economic sanctions, including embargoes to put pressure on this assumed despot to leave. So far all those entities have refused. Care to guess why? It seems the Ivory Coast produces 40 percent of the world's cocoa. People, this is all about chocolate. We often criticize military action over oil. Lord knows we are fighting two wars over it now. But, chocolate? Of course, what right-minded functionary wants to face an angry mob of people who didn't get their chocolate fixes that day. And with Valentine's Day just a mere six weeks away. Betting here the Chocolate President (and that statement has nothing to do with race) stays in office for a while yet.