When Republicans Speak Truth

GOP Senator Thom Tillis: "To call Ken Paxton 'ethically challenged' is to call Jeffrey Dahmer 'Suffering from and eating disorder."

It's amazing how much truth one can hear from Republicans, once they are not running for reelection.  

From Bonespurs to Heroic Leader

Nathan Hale is said to have said that his only regret was that he had only one life to give for his country, therein defining war from the patriotic soldier's perspective.  

From that perspective, personal involvement in war made no sense to the The Donald in his younger days.  So it made sense for him to get his old man's doctor to invent an ailment in his feet that would make him ineligible for war, but still able to compete on his college polo team.  

Promoted now to Admiral-General, our man of the convenient Bonespurs is rather less circumspect than either his younger self, or Mr. Hale.  With many thousands of lives to bet on his spontaneous global ambitions, there seems little reason to pause for reflection.  

The calculus of other people's suffering is very different for leaders who have never faced any danger themselves.  

Monroe Doctrine - What it Says, and How it's Been Abused

Today's Social Studies test has only one True/False question: 

The Monroe Doctrine is the international accord that declares that the United States has the sole authority for law enforcement in the Western Hemisphere.  It may, at its discretion impose its authority on countries there, "up to and including" regime change.  

- True
- False

Thanks for your contribution, Janet.  I must admit that I had not heard of an explicitly stated 'Roosevelt Corollary' until reading your response here ... but it clearly reflects the change in our international behavior between the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.  The only  major instance that comes to mind of the US invoking the Monroe Doctrine before the 1890s was after the end of the Civil War, when Napoleon III chose to abandon Mexico, rather than face a newly 'united' United States - leaving his puppet 'Emperor' Maximillian, and wife Carlota to their fates.  

Teddy, though, was a died-in-the wool imperialist, and played a part in creating a whole new wave of interventions.  Even before he was president, his 'invisible hands' helped guide the US into the Spanish-American War, which netted us Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Philippines, Guam, among other spots, and made us a global power, and a Western Hemisphere hegemon.  The Corollary would just be a statement of the reality he had played a part in creating.   

POOR LINDSEY!

Since the Trump Administration began using the US military to sink boats in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia, I have wondered how long it would be before somebody would cite the 'Monroe Doctrine' as justification.  

Sure enough, last Sunday, Lindsey Graham—in his continuing futile effort win the love and respect from Trump and the others who will never offer him either—went on the Sunday morning talking head programs to defend sinking boats in international waters, killing those on board.  

In addition to justifying murder on the high seas of people who are merely suspected of a crime, little Leslie cited the Monroe Doctrine as our authority to act.  He gets away with this, because those who pay attention to him really have only a faint notion of what the Monroe Doctrine is, and what it is NOT.  

For background, the Monroe Doctrine was a statement made by the James Monroe administration in 1823, stating that the Western Hemisphere was no longer "to be considered for future colonization by any European powers...".  In exchange, the U.S. pledged not to interfere in European conflicts or with existing European colonies.   

That was pretty much it - a statement of policy, and a flexing of muscles by a still young republic.  

This was never a treaty, and has no standing in international law. No other countries signed on to it; nobody else was even consulted - not even the (mainly Latin-) American countries it purported to protect from colonization.  It was just a line of chalk on the globe, demarcating the sides of the playground.   

Nearly from inception, the Monroe Doctrine has been stretched and abused by United States to create a hegemonic rule over Latin America.  Though it never gave even tacit approval for us to intervene outside our borders, successive administrations have used it to justify support for, or opposition to, governments throughout this hemisphere - in support for US companies as diverse as copper extraction to United Fruit Company (think 'banana republic').   These abuses of international law 

Graham spoke of the victims of these attacks as though they were tried, convicted and sentenced to death.  and defended killing them without warning, or any attempt to stop their activities short of extrajudicial execution.  In response to the characterization of these attacks as murder, little Lindsey responded as though the pilots were being accused of murder, rather than those issuing the orders. 

  

Lindsey Graham - Monroe Doctrine

Trump Derangement Syndrome

I think it is dangerous to dismiss 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' (TDR).  If not for TDR, we would only know of the Orange Menace from scandal-rag headlines about his most recent bankruptcy, or scandal-tainted divorce; or perhaps a nighttime game show, where he portrays an ACTUAL successful businessman.  

His clique uses terms like TDR and 'weaponization of government', as a way of immunizing their own behavior, when they do exactly what they accuse others of.  Those who are paying attention  have a saying for this tactic ... 'Every accusation is a confession'.  

Two Legal Persons

It seems confusing at first that a person in high office can intercede to settle a lawsuit in which he is a participant - until you look at it through the lens of the legal profession.  

Legally these are two separate persons, each doing their jobs: 

- One of these persons is the titular head of the Justice Department ... you know, the government's side in the case.  Sometimes they fight; sometimes they settle.

- The other person is a second-generation career criminal, who will exploit any method, crooked or straight, for his own selfish benefit.  

Makes sense, once you get it, right?

Tune in again next week, when we discuss emoluments, and how a gift of a jumbo-jet from a foreign power.  

Maria Corina Machado

The Norwegian Nobel Committee made an excellent choice, in awarding this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado.  Señora Machado has spent much of her life fighting to advance democracy in her native Venezuela - much of it recently, while living in hiding.  

Machado - Nobel Peace Prize

As deserving of this honor as she is, she deflects much of the credit to other, less well-known people, whose efforts contribute to the cause.  This humility is characteristic of a worthy recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize - which is intended for those who have dedicated their lives to the cause of peace and justice.  

AG Serves us, NOT POTUS

In case it's not clear, the US Attorney General represents the PEOPLE of the United States, not the President.  

This isn't one of those ambiguous questions, like whether ICE Barbie should bring her husband or her side-squeeze along with her to Portland, when she shows up to review her invading troops.  

Vaccines and Tylenol

I got my annual shots yesterday morning (Covid booster, and an 'elder American bonus' flu shot).  

This morning, my shoulder was a bit sore at the injection site, and I had just a touch of the post-vaccination blues, so I popped a couple of Daddy's-little-helper acetaminophen tablets (Tylenol, if acetaminophen is too hard for you).  

I don't generally consider myself to be a Devil-may-care chance taker, but today I take a bow.  

Now, to go find my water colors, in case these adventures have made me artistic.  

Child: Mummy There’s going to be a fire.

A moment of comic relief from Francois Truffaut's movie adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 came when a mother was walking her son across an overpass, as 'fire trucks' zipped by below, with sirens wailing.  The boy tugged at his mother's sleeve and shouted, 

"Mummy, look there! Firemen!  There’s GOING TO BE a fire!" (IYKYK)

I think we have a similar moment now, except in real-life, as Federal forces pour into otherwise peaceful cities ... "Look Mummy! Federal police forces!  There's going to be civil unrest!"

Science Doesn't Negotiate with Folklore

Science exists in the realm of verifiable reality.

It is not the responsibility of science to negotiate with folklore, or cultural norms, in pursuit of compromise.  

The best science indicates the Earth, and our Solar system as being about 4.5 billion years old, with the most rudimentary life emerging only after a sterile half a billion, give or take a hundred million years.  

Traditional beliefs generally date the beginning of life to a much more recent time - in some cases, less than 100 thousand years - or even less.  

It is ridiculous to look for a middle ground ... say, maybe two billion years.  This would be unsatisfying to both science and folklore.  Let each of them exist in its own lane, untroubled by the difference.  

Turning DEI into a Negative

DIVERSITY

EQUITY

INCLUSION

Say these words aloud ... slowly ... one at a time.  Let each linger in your mind for a moment.  Chew it intentionally; digesting it slowly before moving on to the next.  Don't mush them together; abbreviating and conflating them - denuding them of their meaning.  

Unless denuding them of their meaning is your intent.  In that case, just say the first letter of each word, and chant the resulting contraction rapidly, without any of the underlying reality.  Listen constantly to speech that is peppered with this abbreviation, spoken contemptuously, until you come to adopt that contempt as your own.  

Over time, in your mind, these concepts are no longer societal North Stars, and the source of our nation's strength - but are instead, part of an insidious plot to weaken us; fairness is now perceived as cheating; up is down, black is white, good is bad. 

Surrender yourself to the NewSpeak.  

Voltaire, the French Enlightenment writer and philosopher,  is credited with coining the expression, ‘Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities’.  As we learn about loyal employees losing their careers, accused of nothing more pernicious than being a 'DEI hire', or see American citizens rounded up, roughed up, and detained for no cause other than that they met the profile of a class of human beings our government intended for that treatment, how can we not ask ourselves what have we become?

Trump Justification for firing Fed Governor

 Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is based on his claim of " ...  "sufficient cause" to remove Cook immediately, pointing to accusations that Cook made false statements on mortgage agreements."

Understanding the President's lifelong dedication to truth, lawfulness and the American way, it is understandable that he would react with such institutional repugnance to allowing her to continue serving in her role as a Fed governor.  

Considering his response to the mere appearance  of financial dishonesty, one can only imagine, if instead of APPEARANCE, she had actually been charged, tried and convicted.  

Just imagine his outrage!  

Trump Real Estate Fraud

Jewish Voices Against Genocide

I am blessed with many Jewish friends, and have been cautious about raising my voice in criticism of Israel, because I know that many of them identify with that nation.  

But, considering that the disproportionate power that Israel has in that region, the reality that this power comes directly from the United States ---and the reckless, often inhumane way in which they employ it, it has been hard to not scream in rage.  

It is gratifying to hear that many of the most outspoken voices calling attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza are Jewish, including American Jews, it is time now (if not long ago) that we add our voices to that chorus.  

This Israeli woman is courageous, and correct, in her characterization of what is going on there.  

It is indispensable that Jewish voices take a lead in expressions of outrage, in order to draw a clear, bold line between themselves and the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity.

Churchill is often credited with the phrase, "History is written by the victors".  That might be better phrased as "History is written by the survivors".  The world is unfamiliar with the history of the Punic Wars, from the perspective of the Carthaginians.  And we have had few sources to learn the perspective of the indigenous people of North America of their conquest by European settlers.  

It is an all-too familiar story; a group of Europeans leave to find a new home; whether to escape religious intolerance, establish their own religious intolerance, to escape oppression, or to write their own new chapter in history.  When they 'discover' their new home, the people who already live there are seen as obstacles, to either be removed, slaughtered, or placed on reservations - which tend to not be on the best land, and shrink over time, or if resources are found on the rez.  If the indigenous people find the conditions intolerable, and rebel, they are labeled ''renegades', or 'terrorists', and whatever actions they take when they 'go off the reservation', are treated as though that's where the trouble began.  Often these actions are used as a justification to steal even more of their land, leaving them in even more dire circumstances - and to characterize them as more savage, and less deserving of even the substandard conditions that drove them to that desperation. 

The choices for indigenous people are the slow-motion genocide of privation and starvation, or the more rapid genocide that follows acting in rebellion.  

Scopes Trial Centenary

With all the monkey business constantly flooding all lanes of media, it would be easy to overlook significant milestones from the past.  

The trial of Tennessee science teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution was wrapping up a century ago this weekend.  Tomorrow will be one hundred years since defense attorney Clarence Darrow called, as his only witness, prosecutor William Jennings Bryan, and choreographed a self-destruction of possibly the most prominent religious fundamentalist of that age.  

Scopes Monkey Trial

Though the trial is viewed by history as a victory of science over the teaching of folklore as literal reality, the defendant was actually found guilty, and the law was not overturned until decades later.  Stranger yet, there are still many in this country that would, given the chance, reinstate such laws.  

'Illegals'

ILLEGALS

Here's one of my late Father's favorite riddles;
"What's the difference between 'unlawful' and 'illegal?' "

Unlawful means 'against the law', and illegal is a sick bird."  

They're actually both adjectives, and as such, they are meaningless when not referencing a noun.  Without a noun, the adjective just hangs there like a wet paintbrush with nothing at the business end to describe or modify.  

This is more than bad grammar or poor English -- though it very much is these.  It can also be intentional, with the intent of diminishing or hurting another.  

Using a bare adjective to describe a human being is intended to dehumanize them.  When a person is identified only by an adjective--particularly one with a demeaning connotation--it makes it easy to ignore our sin when we treat them as less than human.  It is not the husband, father, hard worker, or desperate refugee who is being kidnapped, and sent to a concentration camp; it is an 'illegal', and by ridding our streets of them, we become more, for want of a better term ...  'legal'.  Viewing them in this way helps us feel like we are righteous, and we feel no shame when we then sit in a pew the next Sunday, praying to a God who very explicitly condemns treating humans this way.   

Though this kind of reductionist language is intended to diminish the target of our grammatical omission, it is we who are reduced.  

So, to borrow from my Father's old riddle, what's the difference between a sick bird, and a cruel, not-too-intelligent redneck? 

Future Amnesia

Denying food to the hungry, shelter to the unhoused, health care to the poor, and civil rights to all; while transferring the savings from this parsimony (and more) to those with the most, who need it least.  

Thousands of people who have been drawn to our land by our long-standing promises of sanctuary, fairness, and the promise of a better life--even some who have lived here and contributed for decades--are kidnapped and deported to hell-holes even more dangerous than the ones they fled to reach our shores.  Denying these captives of an opportunity to defend themselves - even a writ of habeas corpus, the most basic of civil rights under two-thousand-year-old Common Law.   

Doing all this while weekly finding assurance within the walls of a church; feigning worship of a God who clearly condemns their every workweek action; yet finding validation from a preacher who wouldn't dare to call out their blasphemy, for fear that the jingling in the offering basket might be silenced.  

We have been here before.  

One day, our nation will awaken to the cruelties being committed in our name, and end them ... 

And the next day Republican school boards across our land will create curricula that will prevent the history being created today from being taught tomorrow.

Bill Moyers' Passing

I think it may be a bit self-indulgent to feel like it was like a punch in the gut when I learned a few minutes ago the Bill Moyers has died.  He was ninety-one years old, and has shared from the depths of his soul for his entire life.  It is time to let him rest, rather than be envious of whatever thoughts he might have left unshared at the end of his time.  

One of the last television shows I would try to schedule around was Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.  He would interview guests I had never heard of, but would seek out once I learned of them.  His extended conversations with Joseph Campbell are such a treasure-trove of insight on mythology, showing commonalities of the elements of the heroic narrative that spans cultures, and unites humanity.  The way they shared their conversation invited the listener to be part of it.  It really conveyed a feeling of oneness with humanity.  

As brilliant as Bill Moyers was, it was never his intent to display his intellect, but to facilitate our visit into the intellect and imagination of the guest he was interviewing.  It's been a while, but I've enjoyed many hours hiking in the woods, with the volume my earbuds set so I could hear my footsteps, and the squirrels, but also take in the insights of  conversations like this one, with Campbell.  

Moyers & Campbell

One-Liner Quips

GOLF - A game played by fat middle-aged men who pretend to be athletes, and by athletes to just want to relax and pretend that they are not.   

Bridge of Giggles

La poésie n'est pas incompréhensible, 
 elle ests inexplicable.  
 - Octavio Paz

Little Donny Not Loved

My father never had any use for 'bleeding hearts', or 'sob sisters', so I know I risk his wrath from the afterlife, as I express my sympathy here.  

But I can't help but wonder what chance the Current Occupant of the White House ever had ... 
and just how different things might have turned out, both for him and for the world, if he had ever, for a moment been shown love as a child.  

Mass Deportations

The internet is alive with stories about people being deported due to mistaken identity, or for exercising their rights to free speech, guaranteed by our Constitution.  In some cases, they are not just being deported, but are condemned, without due process, admittedly by mistake, to a hell-hole prison, where our government intends to abandon them to their fate.  

Seems to me an excellent subject for discussion in the days leading up to Good Friday - the annual remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  In that context, it is worthwhile for each of us to consider in our own hearts, which side we are on.  

-------------

Well, Jerry, you have wound yourself into a pretty tight logical Gordian knot here. The validity of your point rests on a web of entirely:

((- You are absolutely certain that nobody you know meets the criteria you have set

AND

- All of those we have sent to this hell-hole meet the criteria you have set)

OR

(- You are willing to relax some of your criteria for the people you know... perhaps they may beat their wives, so long as the are not gang-affiliated,

OR

- the gangs with which they are affiliated are not 'illegal'.))

OR

The other possibility is that this has nothing whatsoever to do with logic, fairness, or rule of law. You just don't like having Latinos here--legal or not--and are happy to randomly round them up, and send them to this death camp, irrespective of what they may or may not have done - and will come up with any excuse to justify your behavior.