Update from the Heartland
No.786
2.1.17 – 8.1.17
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
The follow-up news items:
-- President-elect Trump finally received the briefing of
the Intelligence Community (IC) regarding Russia’s activities to influence the
election outcome. He finally
acknowledged what the Russians had done, but only after denigrating the IC and
President Obama for not being more aggressive when the intelligence evidence
solidified under the very rare 7.October.2016 letter [783]. I laud the
President’s reluctance to use the instruments of State in what would have been
considered an overt effort to influence the election. It was Catch-22 for the President. To condemn President Obama for his restraint is flat
wrong. Conversely, I also laud
Trump’s expressed desire to mend relations with Russia and work with Russia for
the common good. Unfortunately, I
do not hold much confidence in Putin and his autocratic cronies. To me, Trump cozying up to Putin and
the Russians raises my concern for a novice playing with a trained killer. In this, I truly want to be wrong. If Trump is successful in mending
relations, in curbing the numerous hegemonic and saber-rattling initiatives of
Putin and his cronies, and in finding acceptable common ground for positive
joint action, then I will be the first to sing his praises. It is just at this stage, my fears are
dominant.
The
House Republican caucus voted in private against their leadership to gut the
independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). The very first thing the Republicans did was seek to install
blinds and obscurants to preserve the swamp in the name of due process
protection for those members who choose to walk closely to and often cross over
the lines of acceptable ethics.
After considerable public backlash and objection by President-elect
Trump, the Republicans backed off their extraordinary action. Given the apparent attitude of the
Republican majority in the House, we are likely to see a more surreptitious
effort to achieve their objective.
The Republican action portends an ugly future. Time shall tell the tale.
I note in passing yet one more apparent mentally ill person
who slipped through the massive cracks in our mental health system (if we are
generous, as I am not sure we actually have a system) and killed five innocent
citizens, wounded six others, and caused the collateral injury of 40+ during
the emergency evacuation of the airport.
The singular criminal event caused serious disruption to thousands of
travelers passing through the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
Airport. News reports indicate the
suspect, who peacefully surrendered to law enforcement, had sought medical intervention
for what appears to have been paranoid, and perhaps schizophrenic, episodes in
Alaska. Mental health authorities
in Alaska released him. He even
sought assistance from local police, to no avail. The suspect actually followed the law in acquiring a 9mm
automatic pistol, carrying it properly declared in his checked baggage, and
then retrieving and loading his pistol at the airport. These tragedies will never end until we
get serious about mental health triage, intervention and treatment.
In
the category of the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” I have heard one too
many supposedly scholarly theologians and clerics railing against John Lennon’s
immortal song “Imagine,” and
specifically the lyrics:
“Imagine there's no
heaven
. . .
“No hell below us
“Above us only sky
“Imagine there's no
countries
. . .
“Nothing to kill or
die for
“And no religion, too”
I understand the objections of those so inclined. Even the slightest questioning or
rejection of the principles of religious faith to which they subscribe is to be
condemned and labeled as contemptible and disgusting. These so-called theologians and clerics invariably go on to declare
that any nation-state with citizens who enjoy Lennon’s utopian song is destined
to oblivion in the impended Armageddon.
What I do not understand or accept is the extension of those religious
beliefs to everyone else. I like
the song for its craftsmanship, imagination and idealistic notion. Just imagine! Where these clerics fail is the suggestion or implication
that enjoyment of the music means you by definition have rejected heaven, hell,
religion and even national boundaries.
Respectfully, that is NOT what the song is about. It is about stimulating our thinking to
why there is killing of innocents and calls for good citizens to go die for
often parochial, superficial and often erroneous reasons. Let us stop condemning a great song and
focus on the improvement of our lot in life.
News from the economic
front:
-- The Labor Department reported nonfarm payrolls rose by a
seasonally adjusted 156,000 in December from the prior month. The unemployment
rate ticked up a notch to 4.7% from 4.6% in November, reflecting more Americans
entering the labor force. The
final full month of President Obama's term marked the 75th straight
month of job growth, the longest run on record since 1939. Also, the average hourly earnings for
private-sector workers advanced 0.39% from November – the strongest since 2009,
pointing to a tightening labor market more than seven years after the expansion
began. And, will the Obama haters
give the man credit? Nope . . . not
on your life!
Comments and contributions from Update no.785:
“I totally agree with your stand on Israel and Palestine.
Punishing an entire group for the sins of a few is not morally defensible. Hang
tough.”
Comment to the Blog:
“Concerning the response to your discussion on the Israeli
settlements: (a) I found your position pretty moderate, and (b) in all the time
I have followed this blog, you never found it necessary to mention people's
responses except to reply to them. Some of the responses you published have
been extreme or incoherent. Whatever that response was, it must have been
pretty outrageous.
“I see the keystone issue in the entire Eastern Mediterranean as
thousands of years of hatred. If the Romans couldn't resolve that, nobody can.
(The British tried, the Allies made an attempt, and the UN continues its
efforts.) We need to withdraw from trying to force peace on the many factions
who only seek violence and take a position only in true self-defense. Limited
humanitarian aid is appropriate if we can do it safely, but would probably
result in the deaths of some of those trying to help.
“I see the ‘Global Engagement Center’ as a continuation of
programs that have existed in reference to the rest of the world since at least
World War II. These are not transparent in the least, and I have no idea why
this was openly included in that bill. While I do not approve of such things,
activists of all stripes have bigger fish to fry than what is stated in the
language of the bill. My real concern is that the regulation of speech and the
lying will extend to U.S. citizens and our organizations. Opposition to any
given Administration and revelations about corruption and brutality are not
wrong and are protected by the Constitution. The beginning of the Trump
Administration is the absolute worst time in U.S. history to prevent
resistance.”
My response to the
Blog:
It
was not outrageous, just very personal . . . a long time friend, or at least I
thought he was a friend. He was
intolerant of any criticism of Israel; thus, my follow-up opinion last week [785]. C’est la vie!
Re:
“Eastern
Mediterranean.” Interesting
observations. There certainly
needs to be a better, more stable and productive, balance point . . .
somewhere.
Re:
“Global
Engagement Center.” As I
read the text of the new law, I do not feel the same way. Then again, we do not agree on the
transparency matter with respect to intelligence. When you expose means & methods, and sometimes even the
raw intelligence, you inherently enable an enemy (or those meaning us harm) to
defeat those measures, thus increasing the risks to the very people the
intelligence is supposed to help protect.
The law is explicitly focused on foreign propaganda, not internal
dissent. Like all laws, there is
always the potential for abuse. We
must remain vigilant.
Another contribution:
“Will there be much to groan about-to fear-to despise? I believe
there will be, possibly even more than recently.
“However, my friend, we must live in hope and maintain charitable
views to all. Even, dare I say it,
to ‘unwanted Presidents’. Now would that create a storm?”
My reply:
Re:
“Will
there be much to groan about-to fear-to despise?” I fear you may well be correct. The signs are not overwhelming, but
they are not positive, either.
Re:
“Now
would that create a storm?”
Almost anything these days will create a storm. I say, let it storm . . . washes the
crap away.
My
very best wishes to all. Take care
of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
2 comments:
I share your opinion of Trump, the Russians, and the spy services, with two caveats. (A) I know the explanation for not providing evidence, but the spies have not provided evidence for their claim about the Russians. I don’t really care why. Their statements are unsupported, and the nature of spying is such that they cannot be taken at their word. (B) From a Green Party perspective, I will note that the content of the emails has not been challenged. The Democratic National Committee actually did those things to Senator Sanders and actually broke their own written rules in important ways.
Trump is the biggest loose cannon that ever destroyed a deck.
The Republican distaste for ethics has been put in the open. “Deplorable” is an appropriate term for more than ugly Trump supporters.
We can no longer claim to address dangerous mental illness in any prevention sense. The shooter at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport asked for help in clear words to an appropriate resource. He was not helped and nothing was done to prevent the harm he went on to do. Also, the revelation that people may carry firearms as checked baggage seems to me an invitation to exactly this kind of violence. People rage on about the government taking away their firearms while they’re allowed the opportunity to kill people at will. Nonsense.
The rise in hourly earnings is a figure I watch. Obama has done as much good on the economic front as circumstances and opposition would allow.
Calvin,
The problem we face . . . for the intelligence to have any value, we must trust our leadership who see and hear the intelligence. With the compromise of that relationship that occurred in 2003, developing such trust is a rather tall order. By definition, they rarely can publicly support their analysis, as it will often expose means and methods in addition to degree; a note exception was the release of highly classified aerial photography during the Cuban missile crisis.
Re: the eMails. Quite so. They fell victim to their own weapons.
Re: Trump. That is my opinion. His personality flaws are quite likely to validate your assessment. I truly hope I am wrong. I want him to succeed, but he has not given me any reason for confidence.
Re: deplorables. Unfortunately, such labels condemn good people as well. While Hillary’s public statement was certainly appropriate and apropos for a segment of those citizens who supported Trump, it was a gross generalization that cost her dearly, not unlike condemning all Muslims for the obscenity of a comparatively few jihadis.
Re: mental health (system). I have been an outspoken proponent for a real, genuine, energetic, and proper mental health care system from triage to treatment that should have handled the FL airport shooter. As you noted, he asked and practically begged for help with his mental illness, in similar fashion as the mother of the Sandy Hook shooter sought mental health assistance for her son . . . to no avail. We suffered the consequences. I dare say, we are destined to suffer many more similar mass killing events until we can mature as a society to properly intervene with mentally ill citizens.
Re: Obama economic efforts. Agreed. And, despite the economic improvement from those scary and dismal days of 2008/09, they will refuse to give him his justly deserved credit simply because of who he is and what political party he is affiliated with . . . very disappointing.
As a related side note, I was impressed by President Obama’s generous magnanimity in his public statement that he would energetically support any replacement of PPACA that improves the health care for uninsured and underinsured citizens. That was a very bold and encouraging statement in this world of hyper-charged political parochialism.
“That’s just my opinion, but I could be wrong.”
Cheers,
Cap
Post a Comment