trumpnation – Page 6 – Observations Along the Road

A Disturbing Pattern

Posted onFriday, February 10, 2017Friday, February 10, 2017Authorcahwyguy

userpic=trump A few articles in the political news today caught my eye, and appear to demonstrate a disturbing pattern:

A Pattern of “Yes” Men in his Administration. This news item from the NY Times describes how Pres. Trump overruled his newly minted secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson, and rejected the secretary’s choice for his deputy at the department, Elliott Abrams, a conservative who had served under President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush. This leaves Tillerson without a trained assisted to help guide the first-time government official around the State Department headquarters. But what is really interesting is why Trump rejected him. According to the article, the rejection came after Trump learned of Mr. Abrams’s pointed criticisms of the president when he was running for president, the administration official said. Among those criticisms was a column headlined “When You Can’t Stand Your Candidate,” which appeared in May 2016 in The Weekly Standard. You don’t back Trump, you don’t get the job. Never a good sign when the President surrounds himself with “yes” men.
A Pattern of Nepotism for Advantage. In the same article was a discussion about how the leading candidate for Solicitor General, Charles J. Cooper, said he was withdrawing as a possible nominee for solicitor general of the United States “after witnessing the treatment of my friend Jeff Sessions,” who was approved as attorney general Wednesday evening after bruising attacks by Senate Democrats over his civil rights record. What’s interesting here is not the criticism issue from the Senate, but who is left. According to the article, “His withdrawal appears to leave George T. Conway, a New York lawyer who is married to Kellyanne Conway, a top White House aide, as the leading contender for solicitor general.” Let’s see, his Secretary of Transportation is married to Mitch McConnell. His Solicitor General would be marred to Conway. No problem there.
A Pattern with Judges. Also in the NY Times was an interesting op-ed from Sen. Chuck Schumer on Judge Neil Gorsuch. The article noted how the Judge refused to answer questions regarding his positions on various past cases, or even how the Constitution would be interpreted. From this, Schumer had a very interesting observation: “As I sat with Judge Gorsuch, a disconcerting feeling came over me that I had been through this before — and I soon realized I had, with Judge John G. Roberts Jr. He was similarly charming, polished and erudite. Like Neil Gorsuch, he played the part of a model jurist. And just like Neil Gorsuch, he asserted his independence, claiming to be a judge who simply called “balls and strikes,” unbiased by both ideology and politics. When Judge Roberts became Justice Roberts, we learned that we had been duped by an activist judge. The Roberts court systematically and almost immediately shifted to the right, violating longstanding precedent with its rulings in Citizens United and in Shelby v. Holder, which gutted the Voting Rights Act.”
A Pattern of Racism. An article on Vox explored why Pres. Trump keeps referring to Sen. Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas”. It is a reference to her run for Senate and a claim that she had been told she had Native American relatives in her past, but insufficient to claim membership in the appropriate tribe. Although Warren told the story, there is no record she ever tried to use that status to her advantage. The pattern here? According to Vox: “Trump’s use of this particular nickname combines several of his worst habits: his inability to let perceived insults slide, his bullying mockery of opponents — and most of all, his general cluelessness on race issues. Trump has decades of racist statements and behavior under his belt. He has a particularly bad habit of essentializing people based on their heritage or ethnicity. Just look at his repeated comments alleging that federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, who presided over two class action suits against Trump University, is biased against Trump because of his Mexican heritage. (Curiel is American, born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants.) Conflating all Native Americans with “Pocahontas” is another example of Trump’s racist habits.”Trump’s inability to discern the difference between Sen. Warren and Pocahontas is no accident,” Cherokee Nation citizen Mary Kathryn Nagle told MSNBC’s Adam Howard. “Instead, his attack on her native identity reflects a dominant American culture that has made every effort to diminish native women to nothing other than a fantastical, oversexualized, Disney character.”

Some of Trump’s patterns appear to be biting him in his orange tush:

Violations of the Logan Act. Federal law prohibits private citizens from conducting diplomacy with foreign nations. But, according to the NY Times, that is exactly what current National Security Advisor Michael Flynn did. Specifically, he discussed lifting of Russian Sanctions with Russia before his confirmation, while still a private citizen. Even more significantly, he lied about doing so to Congress, and apparently, so did VP Mike Pence. From the article: “Federal officials who have read the transcript of the call were surprised by Mr. Flynn’s comments, since he would have known that American eavesdroppers closely monitor such calls. They were even more surprised that Mr. Trump’s team publicly denied that the topics of conversation included sanctions. The call is the latest example of how Mr. Trump’s advisers have come under scrutiny from American counterintelligence officials. The F.B.I. is also investigating Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort; Carter Page, a businessman and former foreign policy adviser to the campaign; and Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative.” Pence’s inclusion is interesting — it could provide the opportunity to impeach and remove Pence, get an acceptable replacement VP, and then get Trump removed or resigned. Worked for Richard Nixon.
Violation of Federal Ethics Law. Federal law prohibits administration officials from promoting or endorsing a private business. Yet that is exactly what Kellyanne Conway did when she told people to go buy Ivanka Trump’s products. She has supposedly been “counseled” about this. Related to this is the President’s behavior itself. The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, was intended to close a loophole to prevent legislators from using nonpublic information for private profit or engaging in insider trading. But a lesser known section, 18 U.S. Code § 227, also restricts the president and vice president from using their office to influence or make threats about an employment practice of any private company, especially if it’s solely driven by partisan political feelings. The section of the law that applies is sufficiently broad, says Markovic, who has written on the Trump conflicts issues, to extend to other employment decisions such as vendors or independent contractors like Ivanka Trump.

It is interesting how the Obama administration was relatively scandal-free; certainly after months and months of investigations, nothing was proved. Here, there is loads of evidence of scandal — in just three weeks — but nary a single investigation. I guess it isn’t wrong if it is done by a member of your own party.

Yeah. Right.

Trump and Apocalyptic Visions

Posted onThursday, February 9, 2017Wednesday, February 8, 2017Authorcahwyguy

userpic=trump When the state of Israel was formed, many Orthodox Jews were anti-Zionist. The reason was simple, in their logic: “the Torah forbids us to end the exile and establish a state and army until the Holy One, blessed He, in His Glory and Essence will redeem us. This is forbidden even if the state is conducted according to the law of the Torah because arising from the exile itself is forbidden, and we are required to remain under the rule of the nations of the world”. In other words: It was G-d’s responsibility to establish the state, not the actions of men.

I mention this because of an interesting article that came across my RSS feeds today exploring the Islamic view of Donald Trump, and how the Koran foretold his arrival. The d’var koran, if I can use a mixed term, describes how the Muslim scripture foretold someone who seems to fit the description of Trump, and notes:

“The individual described in the Quran did not meet a good end. The result of his cheap, mean-spirited ways was that God destroyed his garden overnight, and when he and his workers came to it in the morning they lamented: “nay we have been deprived of everything.” The only silver lining the Quran offers is that they, after witnessing the result of their evils, realized the error of their ways, reproached one another, turned to God and repented of their past injustices.”

Now, I’m not an Islamic scholar. I do not know if this is a conventional interpretation, or a fundamentalist interpretation. All I note is that it is an interesting interpretation, and one that might be used as an excuse for many things, from an Islamic ban to…

But apocalyptic interpretations of scripture are not limited to Muslims. Many devout Christians appear to support Mr. Trump precisely for the chaos he is bringing. You see, they view him as the anti-Christ:

Trump does fit several of the criteria attached to popular perceptions of the Antichrist. Many earnest sources of apocalyptic speculation, including the best-selling Left Behind series by the late Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, imagine the Antichrist as a truly modern figure. Although the wildly popular 17-book series, which was published between 1995 and 2007 and has sold over 65 million copies, is fictional, the vision embraced by LaHaye and Jenkins portrays the coming apocalypse as an event where non-believers are forced to reckon with the damage wrought by the Antichrist. Here, the Antichrist is a worldly, charismatic man, often of Eastern European and Jewish heritage, who embraces modern technology and institutions for his own sinister ends. This interpretation, which is common among a large subset of American Evangelicals, believes the Antichrist’s reign — a period known as the “tribulation” — will follow the rapture of true followers of Christ.

It’s easy to extrapolate this to Trump. He’s vainglorious, charismatic (at least in the eyes of some Americans), and obsessed with wealth. Kushner Companies, a real estate company jointly owned by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is headquartered at 666 5th Ave. Trump, while not Eastern European himself, has a proclivity for Eastern European women and promises better relations with Russia, a country that figures prominently in 20th and 21st century apocalyptic tales. And while Trump says that his favorite book is the Bible, he did once note that he’s “not sure” as to whether he’s asked God for forgiveness of his sins.

In particular, Steve Bannon, Trump’s closest advisor, has such apocalyptic visions:

In Bannon’s view, we are in the midst of an existential war, and everything is a part of that conflict. Treaties must be torn up, enemies named, culture changed. Global conflagration, should it occur, would only prove the theory correct. For Bannon, the Fourth Turning has arrived. The Grey Champion, a messianic strongman figure, may have already emerged. The apocalypse is now.

[…]

War is coming, Bannon has warned. In fact, it’s already here.

“You have an expansionist Islam and you have an expansionist China,” he said during a 2016 radio appearance. “They are motivated. They’re arrogant. They’re on the march. And they think the Judeo-Christian West is on the retreat.”

To confront this threat, Bannon argued, the Judeo-Christian West must fight back, lest it lose as it did when Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453. He called Islam a “religion of submission” in 2016 — a refutation of President George W. Bush’s post-9/11 description of Islam as a religion of peace. In 2007, Bannon wrote a draft movie treatment for a documentary depicting a “fifth column” of Muslim community groups, the media, Jewish organizations and government agencies working to overthrow the government and impose Islamic law.

And you wonder where Trump gets his ideas.

I have seen discussions on Facebook where the hope has been expressed for the rapture to occur, and for the true believer to be swept up to Heaven to live with Jesus. As for the rest of us: non-believers and liberals and such, well, it is the pits of Hell. And if not Hell, then Detroit or Cleveland.

Now, I’m not going to criticize anyone for their beliefs. This is America, and you are free to believe whatever you wish. Further, the government is not supposed to establish or favor any particular religion, so as to permit you to believe whatever you wish. More importantly, to permit me to believe whatever I wish. [Translation: This is not a Christian Nation; even though almost a third of Americans think you need to be Christian to be truly American. Sigh.]

However, your right to your beliefs stops when it impacts someone else. I take offense at people who deliberately elect someone unqualified, and with a dangerous narcissistic streak, just to hasten the Rapture and the Apocalypse. Here I side with the Orthodox: it is not your place to bring it about. If a Rapture and Apocalypse is going to happen, it is up to G-d to bring it about, not you or me. You are not G-d, and you are certainly not my G-d. If there is a G-d.

Note that there is a distinction between belief in G-d and faith. Although I sometimes question the existance of G-d, I certainly do have faith. In particular, I have faith that the American People and our Nation will survive the bumpy ride we’re in for with Trump. Resistance to his unilateral executive orders is growing, his unqualified nominees are not making it through the Senate, and the Democratic Congress has decided to resist Trump the same way the Republican Congress resisted Obama. Further, a number of Patriotic Republicans such as John McCain and Lindsey Graham, are standing up for American Values and saying: Trump’s behavior is not who we are.

Both the Muslim and the Christian interpretations of scripture above assume that all is ordained, with the implication that we don’t have the ability to stop it. But we are given the choice in Deuteronomy 30:19: “This day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses [that I have warned] you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. You shall choose life, so that you and your offspring will live;” We are given the choice — we can choose. We must and should choose the good, the blessing, the life, and not the evil.

Finding the Experts

Posted onThursday, February 9, 2017Thursday, February 9, 2017Authorcahwyguy

Some people play games as a palette cleanser between tasks; I look at the news. In this NPR article about Trump meeting with Airline Executives, the following exchange was quoted:

Trump said his private pilot, “a real expert” and a “smart guy,” has told him that the government has been buying the wrong type of equipment in its years-long effort to upgrade the current control system. He said U.S. airports “used to be the best, now they’re at the bottom of the rung.”

Sigh. Reminds me of an anecdote. Many years ago, there was an on-going interaction between Dr. Dixie Baker (my boss at the time), who had long been working in what then was called computer security (now “cybersecurity”) and Cliff Stoll, who had just published his book “The Cuckoo’s Egg”. Cliff kept insisting he was a security expert, when those of us in the field knew he was a newcomer, a poser, someone who had lucked into a situation to solve. Cliff asked Dixie what it would take to be a security expert — after all, he had published X papers. (I forget the value of X). Dixie’s response: “X+1”.

Trump’s opinion on how to modernize the Air Traffic Control situation is based on his private pilot, a “real expert” and a “smart guy”. Having been through the AAS years and all the issues with FAA modernization: This isn’t going to end well.

Again, from the article:

“You’re going to be so happy with Trump,” the president said.

Oh, where is Stan Freberg when we need him.

Maybe this is the harbinger of the apocalypse. Oh, wait, that’s the next post.

Tied to the Railroad Tracks

Posted onMonday, February 6, 2017Monday, February 6, 2017Authorcahwyguy

I have a friend who sees every action by President Trump or his advisors as an immediate slide of the country into autocracy and dictatorship. We’re being tied to the railroad tracks, the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train, and no one will or can save us. The problem with that fear, however, is that it isn’t true.

First, the image of the damsel tied to the railroad tracks may be how we feel, but it wasn’t an actual silent film trope. It was a myth. As that article notes, “As a method of murder, this seems so melodramatic and old-timey that it must have originated back in the days of the silent film. But that scene rarely ever occurred, and probably not in the way you think it did.” To me, however, what stands out is a subsequent note:

“It’s really a tricky subject because people have this incredibly specific trope in mind (villain in top hat and mustache, screaming female victim, said villain tying or chaining said victim to tracks),” says Fritzi Kramer, creator of the silent film blog, Movies Silently. “But then when they are told that it was not actually common in silent film, they quickly grab for something, anything to prove that it happened.”

This is what is happening with many of us since the inauguration. We see or hear something outrageous the administration has done, it reinforces our belief that Trump is a Facist or wannabee dictator, and we “quickly grab for something, anything to prove that it happened.” Just as the far right did with Obama, we see rampaging Facism in everything: The President, through his executive orders, wants to be the Supreme Dictator. We must recognize that reaction is fear talking; fear of someone of a strongly different political ideology and approach taking power, and fear that our system of government will crumble in the face of the Powerful President.

The reality? Those voices are on the fringe, and not representative of the truth.

The reality? Resistance is working.

Through our marching and boycotts, through our putting real pens to real paper and writing letters, through our calls, and through our passion, we are slowing this administration. They have had to rethink many plans. As the aforelinked Vox article notes:

Trump is getting things done, but all presidents do that. Look at what he’s not getting done. A Republican-controlled Congress bowed to public outrage over an attempt to water down an ethics office. Trump dramatically downscaled his own executive order barring entry to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries. He’s having unprecedented difficulty getting his Cabinet nominees confirmed, even though the Senate’s rules have changed to make confirmations easier than ever. Conservatives in Congress have put their big plans to privatize Medicare and public lands on hold. And the drive to repeal the Affordable Care Act is running into very big trouble.

None of this is based on the discipline and self-restraint on the part of the White House. It’s thanks to bold acts of resistance. The result is lives have been saved, many more lives have been demonstrably improved, and the proven template for future success has been created.

The courts are listening, and standing up for the Constitution. Businesses are listening, and indicating the impact of the actions the White House has taken or will be trying to take. Congress is listening and there is increased resistance.

It is having an effect. The New York Times is reporting that this is causing the administration to change how they are doing things: [Note: You’ll be seeing more NY Times articles, as I subscribed to support journalistic opposition to the administration, and publishing the truth.]

But one thing has become apparent to both his allies and his opponents: When it comes to governing, speed does not always guarantee success.

The bungled rollout of his executive order barring immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a flurry of other miscues and embarrassments, and an approval rating lower than that of any comparable first-term president in the history of polling have Mr. Trump and his top staff rethinking an improvisational approach to governing that mirrors his chaotic presidential campaign, administration officials and Trump insiders said.

[…]

Chris Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax Media and an old friend of the president’s, said: “I think, in his mind, the success of this is going to be the poll numbers. If they continue to be weak or go lower, then somebody’s going to have to bear some responsibility for that.”

“I personally think that they’re missing the big picture here,” Mr. Ruddy said of Mr. Trump’s staff. “Now he’s so caught up, the administration is so caught up in turmoil, perceived chaos, that the Democrats smell blood, the protesters, the media smell blood.”

One former staff member likened the aggressive approach of the first two weeks to D-Day, but said the president’s team had stormed the beaches without any plan for a longer war.

Those who know Trump well are spreading the word of how the impact if affecting Trump. Howard Stern, who is a close friend of Trump, is saying that Trump will hate being president and the role will be detrimental to his mental health:

“He just wanted a couple more bucks out of NBC, and that is why Donald is calling for voter fraud investigations. He’s pissed he won. He still wants Hillary Clinton to win. He’s so f—ing pissed, he’s hoping that he can find some voter fraud and hand it over to Hillary.”

Of course, that won’t happen. Hillary will not be in the White House. But as Donald becomes unhinged, as he attempts more and more unconstitutional actions, as he continues to go around Congress (which is pissing off Republican leadership), the talk of possible Impeachment will increase. People will investigate the in-capacitation provisions of the 25th Amendment. Congress will strengthen their resolve.

Our job: Keep it up. We need to keep making the point to the Republican electorate that Trump has sold them a bill of goods: he’s not giving them what they promised, and is weakening America. More importantly, we need to make clear to the Republicans in Congress that their jobs are in jeopardy if they support him. Right now, Congress is not resisting because they don’t fear the general election; they fear the primary challenges. We must make clear they will be challenged — by other Republicans — if they don’t stand up for Republican principles and just roll-over to Trump.

We also need to keep pushing for consistency in Congressional action: if you would have resisted Obama on it, you must resist Trump. Insist on ethical appointments, ethical behavior, and no conflicts of interest. Fully investigate all nominees. Investigate bungled military operations and appearances of malfeasance. To do that when Obama was President and then not to do it for Trump says one of two things: (1) either you investigated Obama solely because he was a Democrat, which is putting party above the country, or (2) you investigated Obama solely because he was Black, which is racist. I have yet to have a Republican give me a good reason that Trump should be treated any differently.

For us Democrats: resist however you can. March. Write. Call. Boycott. Lower those ratings. Challenge those orders. Mr. Trump must come to realize that there is a power that is superior to that of the President — the Constitution, and the People will stand for the Constitution.

Nightmares and Reality

Posted onThursday, February 2, 2017Thursday, February 2, 2017Authorcahwyguy

Yesterday, I was awoken by a nightmare. I had dreamed that President Trump had pissed of some country or another, and they had retaliated by wiping Fairbanks AK off the map. I was listening to the news reports on the radio, and the horror woke me up screaming. I had to go and check on the net to make sure it was, indeed, a dream.

We’ve reached the point where the news is giving me nightmares.

What is even more scary is that reality is more frightening than the nightmares, and that we have created it. Reading the headlines this morning, this is what I see:

CNN: Trump at National Prayer Breakfast: ‘Pray for Arnold’. Not pray for our nation. But pray for better ratings for a TV show that he executive produces.
Politico: Trump on combative calls with foreign leaders: ‘Don’t worry about it’. Trump made combative calls to Mexico and Australia, pissing off their leaders, and then said “fuggedaboutit”. That’s not how diplomacy works.
The Hill: Iran dismisses ‘useless’ threats from ‘inexperienced person’. Iran shoots off a ballistic missile, and Trump “puts them on warning” instead of working with the UN.
Washington Post: Trump vows to repeal political limits on churches. Warning that religious freedom is “under threat,” President Donald Trump vowed Thursday to repeal the Johnson Amendment, an IRS rule barring pastors from endorsing candidates from the pulpit. Sigh. Now, I can easily see a desire to have churches advocate for candidates. In fact, they are free to do so now. What is at issue is a tax rule: should we be able to deduct funds given to political organizations? There, the answer should be no. That’s what the amendment is: deductability is a reward for spirituality and to encourage giving to help a community, not political purposes.
TheBlaze.com: Report: White House drafts executive order to expand religious freedom protections. Translation: You can follow your religion to discriminate against me in some ways. Your religion thinks homosexuality is bad? You can deny service to homosexuals. It thinks Jews are going to hell? You don’t have to defend Jews. Thinks blacks are scum? Deny service to blacks. Where does this stop? Is this America.
NPR: Senate Republicans Bypass Another Boycott By Democrats To Advance EPA Nominee. This country is built on diversity of political opinion, of Congress being able to resist the President. Hell, that’s what the Republican congress did throughout Obama’s administration. But the current actions of the Senate and Congress are suppressing the voice of the minority, and that goes against the founders intent.
USA Today: Navy: Special forces flew Trump flag in convoy. Where is the allegiance of some in our military? To the Constitution and the Country, or to the President. It should be to the former.
Time: President Trump Threatens to Yank UC Berkeley’s Federal Funding Over Protests Against Milo Yiannopoulos. The Constitution permits freedom of speech and the freedom to protest. Yet here we have a threat to yank funding because of the exercise of a right.
USA Today: US eases restrictions on cyber-security sales to Russian spy agency. Yes, just what we need. Permit more cybersecurity tools to be sold to a nation that the FBI and CIA indicates is hacking our computer systems.
Reuters: US House axes rules to prevent corruption, pollution. Just what we need: more abuse of the environment and the financial systems by corporate entities. Draining the swamp? Helping the workers, not the corporations? Doesn’t seem like he’s doing that.

This is not a Liberal vs. Conservative issue. This is a President who does not understand the Constitution he has sworn to uphold, who is attempting to govern by fiat, who is letting his narcissism and hatreds come out, who is working for personal gain. This is a Congress that has abrogated their duty to provide checks and balances. This is the result of the slippery slope that started with the intense partisanship that arose with the election of Bill Clinton, and continued through the subsequent presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. We are being torn apart.

Yes, I know this sounds like the Republicans sounded during Obama’s turn. That has me even more scared. I had hoped that, despite my fears for Trump, his narcissism would lead him to want to be the best President ever. Instead, it has led him to the lowest approval rating of any President, and we are only two weeks in.

And yet, I know I am lucky. I’m white, Judeo-Christian, and of normative sexual orientation. I work in a field that is a priority for the government. I live in California, which will stand up to Trump. There’s a good chance that I personally would be OK. But this isn’t just about me: it is a concern for the country and all of those would would not be OK.

I don’t know what we can do, other than hope for impeachment and removal, and that the replacement (Pence) understands the Constitution better. But that takes time, and so much damage can be done. This is something the founder’s didn’t anticipate; we need a constitutional amendment permitting a recall and a redo of the election (but even that takes time).

I really wish I could wake up and discover this was all a dream.

Inauguration Day

Posted onFriday, January 20, 2017Friday, January 20, 2017Authorcahwyguy

userpic=trump Today, the administration changes. Today, we move from President Obama to President Trump. Although Mr. Trump is #notmypresident, he is our President. Although Mr. Trump is not the candidate I would have chosen, he is the candidate that won the Electoral College, and per the Constitition, he is our President as of noon today.

For the last two days, I have been in a Cyberawareness class, advising the instructors on how best to teach Cybersecurity. They kept emphasizing the risks and the threats, and what the Obama administration had done with respect to the area. They also emphasized the fact that Cybersecurity is our incoming President’s second priority. That’s significant, and if I was thinking purely about my future employment, I’d be happy.

I read the posts of most of my friends on Facebook — folks with a similar political bent as I. They are filled with hatred towards Donald Trump and all he stands for. They abhor his cabinet picks. They opine that his election has set back the country 300 years. They talk about wearing black to mourn the death of the country. They are filled with dread that Trump’s installation will result in drastic changes to the life they know. They are scared for the country. Their fear manifests itself in calling the incoming President childish names, circulating Fear + Uncertainty + Distrust memes, and sensationalized news that amplify their position. They state it is the end of Democracy as we know it.

In other words, they behave exactly the same as the folks who opposed President Obama when he was inaugurated. I hate to tell them that it won’t make a difference, and only will make them look stupid and will continue the increase in partisanship. But they are set in their minds — their fear has made it so they can’t listen.

What of the folks on the other side? They are gloating that President Obama is gone. They are intimating that it is about damn time. They are intimating that it is time that this [unspoken and unvoiced – Negro] imposter and poser is out of the White House. They are intimating that he left this country destroyed, and in the hands of our enemies. They are ecstatic about kicking the Liberals out. There is joy that (white) men and (white) women and a few token acceptable Conservative minority representatives are in power. There is joy and a belief that Christian values will reign again in our country.

In other words, they are acting equally childish, as they have been the last eight years. They are being just like Mr. Trump has been to date: inflammatory and divisive and pushing and reinforcing the partisan divide.

Children. All Children. And that’s not in the “Children, One and All” sense of Rod McKuen.

Me? Well, it has been a shitty week, topped off by the inauguration. As I stated, he is not who I would have chosen, and in many ways he is not my President, but he is our President. I desperately want him to succeed in doing good things for our country (and if not good, at least I hope he’s careful, and if not careful, that he names it after me — old joke), and our country to succeed and be strong. Right now, I don’t have a lot of confidence in the man, but I still have hope (it is just a very different hope than when President Obama was elected). I don’t believe democracy is dead, but its life and strength depends not on President Trump, but on our other government institutions: our legislative leadership (Congress) and our judicial leadership (the courts). It also depends on our military leadership, who have sworn allegiance not to the Commander-in-Chief, but to the Constitution and the rule of law. I work with the military, and I believe they take that oath very seriously.

I do not believe I can get those who opposed Mr. Trump to support him, nor would I want to. I can’t change the language both sides have been using. I can, however, ask my friends to look closely at their actions and consider how they look to those in the middle, and those on the other side. If they are coming off as partisan foamers, perhaps they should consider a different way of getting across their opinion. This week we celebrated the birthday of Dr. King. I strongly suggest they look to him as a model, and ask themselves whether Dr. King would be on Facebook, posting and saying what they are?

Let us all pray (and if you don’t pray, then hope):

…that the mantle and import of the office he is entering brings a change to Mr. Trump.
…that Mr. Trump realizes that extemporaneous tweeting of his opinion can be dangerous and deadly, for he no longer speaks just for himself, but the entire Nation.
…that Congress grows a pair of appropriate-intestinal-fortitude-glands, and remembers that their job is not to rubber-stamp the actions and nominees of their party, but to provide a check and balance — they are the ones ensuring that those serving the country are free from foreign influence, are free from temptations to advance their personal fortune or personal goals, and most importantly, follow the constitution even when they personally may disagree.
…that Congress holds the President accountable for his actions, and ensuring that he remains true to his oath of office, protecting the Constitution by following it faithfully (including the clause about being free of influences of foreign powers).
…that our Judiciary remain ever the voice for, and ever protective of, those in society who will never hold positions of power, and who do not have the means to weld a financial voice with clout. Our justices are the ones who must ensure equal protection for all under the Law, that the freedom to speak freely is always possible, and that the freedom to practice whatever religion we want (even if it is no religion) is possible without interference.

May it so be.

ETA: P.S. A final lunchtime thought, after seeing an ad for The New York Times: As opposed to sharing silly memes and stuff, perhaps the best way to fight back is to subscribe to legitimate media outlets that do fact-based journalism (such as the Times), thus supporting their abilities to do so.

I’m Fed Up With The Lot of You

Posted onMonday, January 16, 2017Tuesday, January 17, 2017Authorcahwyguy5 Comments

userpic=trump This is my political post of the day. It is brought to you by the fellow who responded to a post on Rep. John Lewis by saying “Those who refuse to accept reality are welcome to leave.” The bad mood is brought to you by having to do a whole house repipe on top of a reroofing on top of having to replace a double wall stove on top of having to replace the struts on my wife’s car and all other such similar expenses.

To the Conservatives:

I am sick and tired of being called a libtard.
I am sick and tired of watching you count down until Trump’s inauguration.
I am sick and tired of you calling our legitimately elected President names.
I am sick and tired of you wanting to take health care away from people that really really need it just because you hate anything Obama has done.
I am sick and tired of you wanting to shove your religion down my throat and enforce it on everyone else because you believe you are the arbiter of whether we go to heaven. Related to that, I’m tired of you believing in Christ so much you feel you need to hasten Armageddon.
I am sick and tired of telling people to shut up simply because you don’t like what they are saying.
I am sick and tired of you spreading false news just because it appeals to your biases. You can check your sources. Further, Snopes is a legitimate fact checker who cites their basis, so check their facts if you don’t believe them.
I am sick and tired of you discounting our journalists. They may not be perfect, but they are the best we have.
I am sick and tired of you wishing all liberals would die, or that all people from a particular minority group would be locked away.

To the Liberals:

His name is Trump. Not Drumpf. Not “He who will not be named”. Not any of these silly names you make up. Didn’t Harry Potter teach you anything? You use the name of your opponent; not naming him gives him more power.
He is President. If you claim to believe and support our constitution, you have to accept that. However misguided, the Electoral College voted for him. So don’t call him illegitimate or any other such nonsense. We have to accept that he is President.
He is doing enough stupid things that you don’t need to go around spreading fake news. All of these stories of “oh that’s gotta hurt” and other fake news. Don’t spread them. Don’t be like the Conservatives were during the Obama administration. Here’s a simple test: Would you have wanted a story like that spread about Obama? If not: Don’t share.
Act like an adult. Pure and simple. If you are behaving as childish as the other side did during Obama’s presidency, you’re only perpetuating the partisanship. You’re better than that.
Protest like an adult. Do you want to go out and peacefully protest? Go for it. Do you want to write letters and petition Congress? I’m all for that. Call your congresscritters. Write letters. Protest and exercise your right to free (adult) speech while you have it.
Insist that Congress behave towards President Trump as they did for President Obama. Just because the President is from the same party doesn’t mean he gets a “Get Out of Jail” card for himself or his nominees. Investigate, investigate, investigate (but only for legitimate crimes). Insist on ethics disclosures and no conflicts of interest. Insist on the absence of influence from foreign powers.
Remember that President Trump has a very thin skin. When pressed by legitimate free speech and criticism, he will do something impulsive and stupid — impulsive and stupid enough to get Congress to investigate, and potentially impeach and remove him from office. President Obama was able to deal with the pressure from the haters. If Alec Baldwin can rile Trump, just imagine how he will deal with 4 years of pressure. This is why you must behave like adults. Childish taunts can be ignored, and responded to childishly. Adult legitimate criticism creates investigations.

Political Observations of the Day

Posted onFriday, January 13, 2017Saturday, January 14, 2017Authorcahwyguy2 Comments

userpic=divided-nation As I noted yesterday, I’m trying to limit myself to one political post a day. So here goes:

There’s been a meme going around Facebook about the importance of criticizing our leaders when appropriate. I agree with that wholeheartedly, but I want to emphasize some things related to that. First, there’s a distinction between what you say, and how you say it. If you are going to criticize our leaders, or be critical, be an adult about it. Don’t call them names (Drumpf is just as insulting as Obumbo was), and don’t use insulting names for the movements or followers (yes, libtard and conservatard as are stupid as they sound). Watch out for using a broad brush, such as treating all members supporting a politician or a political movement a particular way. If you are writing “All Conservatives…” or “All Trump followers” or even “That’s how they think…” — think twice and don’t do it. Watch out for sensationalized news stories, and don’t spread fake news (especially if it plays to your biases). Check your sources; Snopes and other fact checking organizations are your friends (and for those that think Snopes is biased — they always give their sources, so check their sources). In short, we (and I’m referring to the liberal side here) got to see some of the worst behavior from many folks on the Conservative side during the Obama administration. We should not act the same way.
Be aware that what you see on Facebook is biased. There’s a great site provided by the Wall Street Journal called “Red Feed, Blue Feed”, that presents an active display of feeds from both sides. Note how the stories are biased. You’re seeing sensationalized information that is playing to your biases, on order to keep you on pages longer, click on pages to improve rankings, and otherwise manipulate you and your political thought. Think for yourself, and don’t surround yourself with only people you agree with. Much as it may be painful — much as it might make you cringe to see what they write — maintain some friends from the other side of the spectrum and occasionally like what they write. You don’t have to agree with everything, but you need to understand.
Understanding will be the key to getting through this. There is much talk about a Liberal agenda, and those of us on the Liberal side don’t see it because we believe in it. We believe it is just and right to do the things that we did, for it is helping those whom we see as poor and disenfranchised. The problem is: (a) we’re not hitting all the poor and disenfranchised, and (b) we don’t stop to think how it looks. Many in the country — many in the blue class non-urban heartland — were left out of the economic recovery. They saw the life they knew going away, they saw hard work not being rewarded, they saw people they believed were cheating the system promoted before them and receiving benefits they couldn’t. What we might have seen as “white privilege” wasn’t life as they saw it, for although there is white privilege, it is often trumped (Trumped?) by blue-collar stereotypes and class warfare. These folks believed that Trump could change that, and overlooked his flaws.
That last sentence is important. I’ve been listening to the Gimlet podcast on Dov Charney and the fall of American Apparel and the rise of his new company Los Angeles Apparel. As Dov Charney said, “In America, if you’re making money, everything is forgiven. Trust me.” Sound familiar? Charney was someone who lost his company through mismanagement and sexual harrassment lawsuits. He had a temper problem and an extremely thin skin. Yet his new company is succeeding because of the power of his personality, his ability to make money, and his ability to sell himself and not look back at the past. Sound familiar. It’s a multi-part series, and worth listening to for the parallels to our incoming President.
The nature of Social Justice as we see it is disputed by the Conservative side. I believe the goals are the same — helping the poor, helping those in need, ensuring equality. But the way we get there and the speed we get there differs drastically. The Democratic attitude since the rise of the “neo-Liberal” (i.e., since the transition from the Democratic Party of Hubert Humphrey to the one of Bill Clinton) has been one of redistribution of wealth and fast change. The speed of change upset many, and the government enforced redistribution of wealth upset more. If you look closely at many Republicans (at least those active in the churches and stuff), they often give more and more of themselves to help others, at a personal level, than anyone. The deep south is one of the largest supporters of “Make a Wish”. The problem is that attitude doesn’t exist in many of the millionaires and billionaires that exploit the attitude for their personal gain. In this, Bernie Sanders had it right — the real issue is not a party distinction but a class distinction and a wealth disparity, and we forget that at our peril. The answer comes in not giving everyone a handout through redistribution of wealth — the answer comes in giving them a hand in however they need it. Think of what the “Computers” did in Hidden Figures when they were facing automation. They didn’t give up; they learned how to program. The answer is not to prop up dying industries or to help via welfare — the answer is to support families while we retrain people to capture the new jobs created by new industries.
This brings us to the upcoming inauguration. In particular, the question of whether Jewish leaders should participate and whether it is proper to bless Trump. The Coffee Shop Rabbi Blog captured why such blessings are actually very important:

We are living in a time in which strong feelings run high. There are those who are happy about the change in leadership in the U.S., and those who are very concerned at what it might bring.

We pray for the government not only to ask for Divine help, but also to remind ourselves that the government in place is the only one we’ve got. Even in the worst case suggested in Fiddler, Jews prayed for safety under the government that existed.

In a democracy we have a participatory role that Tevya couldn’t have imagined. We fulfill our sacred duties within our democracy when we vote, and when we express our opinions to our elected officials. Without our active participation, it ceases to be a democracy.

We pray that God not necessarily bless our leaders for what they have done, but that God leads them to making wise decisions, selecting advisors with wisdom, and to making our country strong and a safe place for all of the inhabitants (all creeds, all colors, all orientations, all sexes, all genders — everyone). We pray that God helps them work within the bounds of what is legal, and that God wants them to know that there are no “favored religions”: and thus National law takes precedent over religious teachings, and that everyone should have the ability to practice their faith or non-faith in the privacy of their own home, but not to the point where they are using their faith to impact others. We pray that God leads them on an ethical path, putting the needs of the country before their personal gain.

That’s the sort of prayer we can stand behind.