Update no.826

Update from the Heartland

No.826

23.10.17 – 29.10.17

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

            To all,

            I first saw and listened to a CNN public service announcement Monday morning, 23.October.2017, after Update no.825 went on the wire.  The image was a white screen with a nice, single, red apple; the narrator’s spoken words were:

“This is an apple.  Some people might try to tell you that it’s a banana.  They might scream banana, banana, banana, over and over and over again.  They might put BANANA in all CAPS.  You might even start to believe that this is a banana.  But, it is not.  This . . . is an apple.”

The image of the red apple was then replaced with two words: Facts First. (emphasis added by Cap)

This is a simple, succinct, exceptionally effective statement that facts are facts, and a huckster, snake-oil salesman cannot alter the facts no matter how hard he tries to convince us otherwise.  Yet, in today’s political environment, many citizens do not care that he calls an apple a banana, or they have truly consumed the message and believe the apple is a banana; therein lies the essence of our societal conflict that we must endure at present.  When I see him waving his accusatory finger at us and saying: fake news, all of it is fake news, I hear him screaming, “Banana, banana, banana.”  The truth is, HE is fake news, not the Press.  Sadly, as a commentator noted, the people who need to know the apple is not a banana are not watching CNN—preaching to the choir.

            The follow-up news items:

-- The Catalonia regional parliament voted 70 to 10 to declare independence from Spain [822, 824], escalating a standoff with the central government.  In response, the Spanish Senate voted 214 to 47 to invoke the Constitution’s Article 155, authorizing emergency powers for the government to dismiss the provisional government, dissolve the Catalonian regional parliament and take direct control of the separatist region.  The actions move Catalonia and Spain closer to civil war; the kindling is smoldering and it would not take much of a puff to burst the situation into full flame.

-- The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has filed criminal charges against at least one, as yet unnamed, person in the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election [804, 807].  The person(s) could be taken into custody as soon as Monday.  The number and identity of the defendants, and the charges, should be revealed at that time.  I, for one, eagerly await more information about what happened.  We shall see.

            When a man has to tell someone he is the best at anything, he is NOT!  I thought I would just share that little axiom of life.  Oh dear, where do we see that sort of behavior?

            I am going to take a risk here to offer just a little word of caution with respect to this sexual harassment debate currently boiling around us.

            First, I have been a vocal advocate for equality in the workplace and in life regardless of gender . . . and for all of the social factors, all of my professional life.

            Second, I have little doubt the likes of Bill Cosby, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, et al have conducted themselves in both the workplace and social environments in an inappropriate manner with respect to women.  The best we can hope for is such conduct is charged and tried in a court of law, with appropriate punishment, if convicted.

            That said, I think it may be fitting to share my related negative experience, to serve as a caution noted above problem.  In the mid-1990s, I served as Vice President, Engineering, for Raytheon Corporate Jets—a newly acquired business jet design and manufacturing company.  The parent corporation made the decision to move the company from Hatfield and Hawarden, United Kingdom, to Wichita, Kansas, and combine the company with Raytheon Aircraft Company.  Once that decision was made, I picked up several additional responsibilities, one of which was coaxing as many engineers as possible to relocate from England to Kansas.  Long story short, my efforts to fulfill that responsibility were not entirely appreciated by the then Vice President, Human Resources, who hinted to my boss that I should back off my advocacy, since there were rumors that I had allegedly sexually harassed a female manager in the Human Resources Department several years earlier and he did not want any damaging investigation to be raised.  I was shocked and disgusted that he would stoop to such nefarious behavior.  My inclination was to confront and fight such scurrilous innuendo.  I was advised not to do so.  In the end, the maneuver worked.  False accusations have, do and will occur, and once those accusations are made in the public domain, the societal ostracism is irreversible and often devastating, quite like being accused of any other malfeasance like rape, domestic abuse or pedophilic conduct.  As I said above, I offer this disgusting tale as a word of caution in this hyper-charged environment; there are bad people out there on both sides of this issue, especially in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations [824].  The best we can hope for is, the charges are brought to a court of law with rules of evidence and the judgment of a jury; yet, even the judicial process is not foolproof.

            I must tip my hat to President Trump for pushing the USG to release the remaining documents associated with the assassination of President Kennedy.  For the CIA & FBI to cry foul at the last minute, 25 years after the passage of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 [PL 102-526; 106 Stat. 3443; 26.10.1992] is simply unacceptable, inappropriate and otherwise a really bad idea.  President Trump’s public statement on the baulking was quite apropos.  He reluctantly gave the CIA & FBI 180 more days to comply with the law or present proper justification and rationale for further redaction or withholding classified material for an event that happened 54 years ago.  Heck, even the British breaking the German Enigma codes was finally declassified and made public 30 years after the war ended.  I hope and trust President Trump will insist upon full declassification and disclosure.  I cannot imagine what the CIA & FBI might be concerned about other than embarrassment, which is a woefully unacceptable reason for continued classified protection.

            I would also take this moment to encourage President Trump to declassify and publicly disclose all the USG’s information regarding the TWA 800 incident—21 year ago.  I surely do not want to wait 50 years for that process to be completed.

            Comments and contributions from Update no.825:

“Found your update waiting for me- a good read my friend.  Trump certainly gives you all plenty of material to work with so no complaints there.  Certainly he is an extraordinary choice for your homeland.”

My reply:

            Yes, the current occupant of the Oval Office offers a bountiful cornucopia of offensive statements in one form or another.  He remains consistent—crass and disgusting.  “Extraordinary” would not be my choice of adjectives, although it is certainly correct and appropriate.  Unfortunate is the word I would use.  There is comfort in the fact that . . . this too shall pass.

Comment to the Blog:

“The abuse of women is ultimately abuse of power and position.  That will never stop without leadership and strength from the abused.  Abusers don't see an issue with their behavior without people in their faces and consequences for their actions.  Society as a whole needs men, especially survivors of similar abuse, to join in support of women.

“I'm already hearing rumbles about the ‘War on Terrorism’ moving on to Africa.  I assume that will begin in Niger.  I had not been aware we had troops there until the recent incident, but neighboring Nigeria has oil and accompanying scandals involving Western oil companies.  As in Raqqa, the oilfields will be secured regardless of other issues.

“The Muslim ban issue is getting old, but then so is everything T-rump.

“I doubt T-rump has any instinctual understanding of consoling anyone.  He probably took whatever words he'd heard and used them without understanding what they would mean to that soldier's widow.  The whole thing blew up into another distraction, drawing attention away from the disaster in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  We don't even know the death toll there, but it's much higher than T-rump thought in his speech when he visited.  You and I have discussed ‘neocolonial’ behavior before.  Despite being U.S. territories, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are examples of that.  Perhaps the term for that situation should be ‘corporate colonial’ rather than ‘neocolonial.’

“Senator McCain has a strong point about ‘half-baked spurious nationalism,’ but he does not realize that the U.S. has lost both the status and the capacity to lead the world.  We need to heal our wounds and rebuild our infrastructure at home before we concern ourselves with policing the rest of the world.  I agree that our economic treaties need revision, but this is not the administration to do that.

“Here in Ohio, that segment on the opioid crisis hits close to home.  I have already seen too much on local news to watch more about it.  The relevant factor about the 60 Minutes segment is the simple fact that pharmaceutical (and all) corporations exist to make money.  Our national failure to regulate the ways they do that is a direct result of their investing in politicians.  Capitalism 101.  We will not make progress in containing corporate damage of any kind unless we change political campaign funding and make elections more open and secure.”

My response to the Blog:

            Re: abuse of power.  Precisely! . . . all the way around.

            Re: war of terrorism.  I cannot argue with your observations.

            Re: Muslim ban issue.  I believe the fellow in the Oval Office is betting on just that reaction . . . tired and don’t care in a sufficient portion of the citizenry.

            Re: “consoling anyone.”  The egomaniacal, huckster, snake-oil salesmen are noted to have a paucity of compassion for other human beings.  Mix in rampant narcissism with that odiferous admixture, we have a very dangerous personality affliction.

            Re: neocolonialism.  In the case of PR & USVI, we have a unique situation.  To my understanding, the U.S. territories want to become full-up states of the union with all the associated rights.  Unfortunately, statehood for the territories is caught up in partisan politics and the associated narcotic of perceived vote counts.

            Re: “US has lost both the status and the capacity.”  Perhaps.  I am not to that point, as yet.  Certainly, the fellow in the Oval Office succumbed to the Siren’s song of Steve Bannon and his “half-baked, spurious nationalism,” and has performed his intended function as a single-man wrecking crew.  Here, I see too much of the dictator’s axiom—out of chaos comes control and via control domination . . . if I wanted to give him that much credit for being a student of history.

            Re: capitalism.  Again, I have some difficulty in arguing against your observations.  I will only note there is a very fine balance between motive and balance.  Business needs and thrives on the profit motive.  The common good demands balance to avoid or minimize injury to others.  We have more than a few notable failures in our history.  There will be more.

 . . . Round two:

“One minor quibble.  Puerto Rican opinion is split between wanting statehood and wanting independence.  What they don't want is to continue being treated as if it doesn't matter whether they have electricity, water, or other necessities.”

 . . . my response to round two:

            Yes, there is an independence vein in Puerto Rican culture, e.g., Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate President Truman [1.11.1950]; they also shot up the House of Representatives [1.3.1954].  It is my understanding the statehood portion is the majority and remains so.  Nonetheless, yes, absolutely, they do not want to be treated as second-class citizens.  However, I am conflicted at this point; part of me sees this as a self-inflicted wound.  Puerto Rico has been and remains prone to hurricanes, just as California remains prone to earthquakes.  California has evolved its building codes to protect against the potential damage by earthquakes.  Above ground power & communications lines are highly susceptible to wind damage.  If we are going to invest in Puerto Rico, let’s prepare the island for future hurricanes.  Also, quite a few of the buildings were clearly not built to endure a strong thunderstorm, set aside a Cat 4 hurricane.  The USG has not done its best job in Puerto Rico.  My impression: partisan politics may be playing into this situation more than we think.

 . . . Round three:

“Partisan politics is right in the middle of the Puerto Rico tragedy. Compare the aid efforts there to those in Texas and Florida for similar hurricanes, or to California's wildfires. Puerto Rico's infrastructure was surely more vulnerable, but how much of that results from it's lesser standing?”

 . . . my response to round three:

            Indeed!  The relationship between Puerto Rico’s vulnerable infrastructure and the purported “lesser standing” seems like a chicken & egg question based on a debatable premise.  Regardless, they must harden their infrastructure to withstand a Cat 5 hurricane.

 . . . round four:

“I'm not sure what you find debatable in that comment.  Perhaps you don't realize that saying Puerto Rico ‘must’ strengthen their infrastructure does not make that financially possible.”

 . . . my response to round four:

            Well, here’s a few thoughts.  If people are allowed to live in plywood houses, it should be no surprise they get blown down in a storm.  Puerto Rico is US$70+B in debt; where did all that money go?  It surely did not go to raising the standard of living for the residents of the island.  My response may well get us back into any federal obligation to a particular citizen’s standard of living, i.e., where does the individual’s responsibility end?  Needless to say, there is a lot tied up in Puerto Rico’s condition.

 . . . Round five:

“I think a full discussion of neocolonialism (or corporate colonialism) is beyond the scope of a blog reply. The assumption that Puerto Rico ‘must’ strengthen its infrastructure ignores the entire context of Puerto Rico's situation.  Even much of the mainland infrastructure has fallen into disrepair.  How can you expect Puerto Rico to do better while the Federal government ignores their needs?  We don't even have most of the electricity back on this long after the hurricane.  Disowning any responsibility for millions of Americans being destroyed by big banks and nature's conditions totally abdicates the commitment in the Preamble of the Constitution to ‘establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility . . . promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. . .’”

 . . . my response to round five:

            Perhaps the full discussion of neocolonialism is beyond the scope of this humble forum; however, it remains a most worthy topic for continuing intercourse and debate.

            You are of course quite correct regarding the repair of the PR infrastructure.  Nonetheless, the debate with respect to the demarcation between federal and state responsibility and obligation remains a dicey matter.  While big banks bear some culpability for the enormous debt load carried by PR, as with Greece, Spain and other financially troubled nation-states, no one forced or coerced them to sign their names to the fiscal documents; the PR government is ultimately responsible and should be held accountable.

            Nice touch, relating this topic back to the Preamble . . . and quite appropriate I must add.

 . . . Round six:

“I understand that you want to hold anyone who ever signed a loan document utterly responsible for it.  You completely discount coercive marketing, outright lying, and abuse of technical expertise in every example you mentioned, and that doesn't address the possibilities of buying politicians.”

 . . . my response to round six:

            I do not share your discounting assessment.  Further, I do not understand why you think your accusations regarding banking malfeasance absolve the consumer (individual or nation-state) from responsibility?

 . . . Round seven:

“Because at some point marketing and lying are no different.  The bankers hold a position of trust in our society, but at this level most of them betray that trust.”

Another contribution:

“See below!!  Comments!  I don't have colored print so I will space and use caps .. most all liberal fed lies... sorry you are part of them Cap. :(

“******  YOUR AND MY PRESIDENT .. THANK GOD LITERALLY!!

“****** HE DIDN'T ... ALL LIES STARTED BY LIBERAL CONGRESSWOMAN WILSON WHO TRIED TO SAY THE MOTHER OF THE SOLDIER WAS AN OLD FRIEND WHEN SHE ONLY JUST MET HER AND PROCEEDED TO PULL THE TYPICAL LOONEY LEFT LYING SHENANIGANS .. ALL CONTINUOUS DISTRACTIONS, SAUL ALINSKY STYLE, TO IN THEIR HOPES KEEP OUR PRESIDENT FROM DOING HIS JOB .. FORTUNATELY HE IS SEEING THIS AND LEARNING TO IGNORE THE LIES AND MOVE ON FULL SPEED .. AND HIS MULTI MILLION SUPPORTERS ARE IGNORING TOO !!

“****** BROUGHT DOWN?????  Cap, cap ....

“****** HEAR, HEAR TO THE ABOVE!!  Of course the press does not adequately explore or ascertain truth because most of the press is owned and controlled by the left!!!!

“****** BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS??  OBAMA??  SHALL I SEND YOU THE LIST AGAIN OF ALL HIS ATROCITIES?

“****** I'D RATHER HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO CARES FOR THE PEOPLE OF OUR COUNTRY BUT MAYBE DOESN'T SPEAK ELOQUENTLY THAN ONE WHO HAS TRAINED IN SPEAKING AND HATES THE COUNTRY HE PRESIDES OVER ..

“****** THIS IS CHANGING, MR MCCAIN!!!

“****** YOU CAN'T HAVE EVERYONE EXACTLY THE WAY YOU THINK THEY SHOULD BE CAP!!!  I FIND HIM REFRESHINGLY UNIQUE .. AS DO MULTI MILLION OTHERS!!”

My reply:

            Yes, he was duly and properly elected.  He is my president, as well.  Unfortunately, I do not share your jubilation.

            Regarding the most recent gold star wife, I find it somewhat baffling that you believe him over her.  I find such unilateral and blind belief and trust in him by you (and many others) to be a persistent source of amazement.  I respect your absolute right to see and evaluate information as you so choose; however, you (or anyone else) cannot eliminate facts . . . ignore them, yes . . . but facts remain facts, to be assessed by the rest of us.

             Yes, brought down; he has always been a man of integrity; now, he is falling victim to the common disinformation processes his boss utilizes.  I am far more disappointed by his fall.

            The Press reports as they see fit.  It is our sole responsibility to collect, absorb, evaluate, assess and decide on how we choose to respond to all of the information we can understand.  We need sources from as many aspects as possible.  The Press is comprised of individuala who naturally and understandably have political, social and intellectual affinities; they are human beings, not mindless automatons.

            I did not respond to your “list” of alleged “atrocities” earlier and I shall not respond, now.  It is simply my opinion that you’re choosing to see what you wish to see and believing what you wish to believe . . . regardless of the facts; and, that is your choice entirely.

            “Cares for the people” . . . OK, that is rich; to me, a sure sign you have swallowed his snake-oil and truly believe it has cured and perpetually immunized you to all the ills in your life.  To me, he cares ONLY about himself and feeding his ego—just the nature of who he is.

            We shall respectfully disagree about the current, transient occupant of the Oval Office as well as Senator John McCain.

            Ginger, I do not want anyone to be as I think they should be.  Quite the contrary, I cherish and advocate for diversity, disagreement, debate, and active political intercourse, which are all necessary for a viable democracy.  You surely know by now that I rail against moral projectionists who feel compelled to dictate to everyone how we should live our lives.  I’m glad you find him refreshing; simply put, I do not!  Unique . . . yes, upon that we agree absolutely.  I have not seen another human being quite like him.  Also, yes, many citizens agree with you and disagree with me; I am genuinely grateful for that disagreement.

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)