Friday, November 22, 2019

How Trump 'Hijacked' American Politics With Delusions (and plain nastiness).

They meme’d Trump into the White House.  How was that possible?  How did We The People of the United States allow such a recognized lowlife self-serving deadbeat and showman to be handed the Presidency of this nation?
  
Well, it started with allowing the US House of Representative to be packed with a bunch of angry scared Tea-partiers with their open contempt for our American government.  They have had one thing in mind, that is to weaken our government to the point that it's easy pickings for the oligarch wannabes such as the Kochs and Murdochs and Ailes (who masterminded the past decades of descent into an alternate reality that dismisses physical reality with a self-certain arrogant contempt that beats all.)

A healthy democracy depends on an informed and engaged citizenry.  Here I share a series of stories that look at one of the reasons we got here.  This threat needs to be recognized and understood  - if we are to try and seriously confront it.  Confront it with what?  With a renewed demand that honesty, truth, ethics do matter to a civil society and our future.  I include excerpts from:

          Greg Epstein, TechCrunch.com         
          Interview with Terry Gross, Fresh Air
          Kara Swisher Book Review, New York Times
          Brian Feldman, New York Magazine
          Kathrine Schwab,  FastCompany
          Strand Book Store  |  YouTube Video
          J Oliver Conroy, The guardian.com
The Book:
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          Annie Karni, Kevin Roose and Katie Rogers, New York Times
          Drew Harwell, Tony Romm, Washington Post
          Allyson Chiu, Washington Post
          Yuliya Talmazan and Monica Alba, NBC News


          Charlie Warzel, New York Times
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Friday, November 15, 2019

Trump Impeachment Hearings (Day2) - Marie Yovanovitch

During today's Impeachment Hearing, Day Two, it was nuts listening to Jordan and Stefanik's dialogue, what's with all that melodramatic dripping contempt for our democratic government and it's rules?  

So now the GOP tells us it's a "performance" to expect the rule of law to be respected and obeyed?  It's "performance" that we're appalled at witnessing our President playing political extortion with an ally's self-defense needs.  What is going on here?  Actually, I do know, the GOP questioners are playing to their bubble and steadfastly ignoring the reality of the facts. 

What about simple FAIR PLAY.  What about Honest Constructive Debate?  Where both sides are bound by an expectation to be truthful?


Doesn't a sane government require a standard of honesty that applies to all sides?  But all I hear from the GOP is malicious slanderous innuendo, fabricated conspiracy theories, misdirection, and wasting time with ridiculous side stories, oh an the bullying - all justified because of their most grotesque partisan blindspots.


I wish someone would ask the GOP what they think of the other half of this country who believe in science and constructive debates, debates where honesty is expected from all sides?  Where learning and improving is the goal.  What about us?  Where do we go from here?



Watch: Day 2 of public Trump impeachment hearings
Washington Post  |  November 15, 2019

The Roger Stone Collection - November 15, 2019


I’ve been watching that amoral Roger Stone damage American politics all my life.  With his love of dirty tricks and hurting people, his prideful contempt for humanity and civility, ethics, dignity, honor, respect, empathy and then the self-worship and his own gluttony - he epitomizes the "Ugly American" as much as Trump does.  Winning is all that mattered.
Future of humanity?
Stone's response, Who the fuk cares!?  I got mine and fuk you and yours!  Too much is never going to be enough for me and it doesn't matter how much carnage I leave in my wake. 
He had a hell of run.  Roger Stone was tough enough, bullying enough, that Democrats wilted  time after time,  time after time,  and today in many ways our political mess is Roger Stone's legacy as much as anyone’s.

The Republican’s selective acceptance and their normalization of such criminality makes me more fearful for our short term future than ever before.  I think Democrats in general simply have no conception of the 'war footing' going on in their god-fearing minds.  But, I digress, here I wanted to share a selection of articles to introduce the uninitiated to why Roger Stone is a big deal.
Roger Stone found guilty on all 7 counts | ABC News

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Roger Stone’s New York intrigues

By Zach Williams November 15, 2019

The ‘malevolent Forrest Gump’ has never strayed far from his home state.

1960 – Fake news in school
1972 – Nixon’s reelection campaign
1980 – John Anderson campaign … 
1999 – Trump’s aborted Reform Party campaign
2000 – The Florida Recount
2002 – Billionaire Tom Golisano gubernatorial run
2004 – Al Sharpton campaign
2007 – The New York state Senate
2010 – The Kristin Davis for governor campaign
2015 – Trump campaign

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Trump Impeachment Hearings (day 1) Bill Taylor, George Kent


Full video of Trump Impeachment Hearings (Day 1) | NBC News


The House Intelligence Committee holds its first public hearing in President Trump's impeachment inquiry. Witnesses include Bill Taylor, Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, and George Kent, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.

I graduated high school in 1973.  By then I’d already had enough science classes to understand the fundamental facts of Anthropogenic Global Warming.  Not that it’s tough to do, since though the details get impossibly complex, the fundamentals are quite straightforward and accessible to any intelligent person engaged in a good-faith learning effort.  
In the decades since observed changes on Earth have proven the scientists correct in their concerns and their science.  (I’m happy to debate that point, if anyone wants to question it.)
In these decades I have watched Republican leaders get ever more unhinged from physical realities, facts and well understood scientific truths - as they strayed further and further into self-certain self-delusion.  Today we see where that has lead our GOP leaders.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Diary, 11/5/19 - Small Victories, USA's newest Library District

I'll keep this short.  We had two local rural libraries facing closure because of shrinking County financial support, so local citizens took the matter in hand.  Long story short, we gained 400 signatures to qualify for a special tax district ballot measure #6D.  The County Clerk has now declared it a victory.  Truth be told the victory margin of 4% is rather disappointing, but not near as disappointing as losing, so I'll take it.

Long live Fort Lewis Mesa Library and Sunnyside Library and the Southwest LaPlata Library District, the nation's youngest, that will operate them.  Now we simply need to do better job of engaging and winning over our entire rural community.