Update no.984

Update from the Sunland

No.984

16.11.20 – 22.11.20

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

 

            To all,

 

            The follow-up news items:

-- Within days of his declaration, Senator Langford of Oklahoma walked back his admonition to the Bully-in-Chief (BIC) [983] for his refusal to provide President-elect Biden with the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), the same PDB the BIC claims he does not need because he is smarter than everyone.  Langford apparently got read the riot act and was not confident or strong enough to stand up to the lesser voices in his tribe.  So as of this writing, the president-elect has still not received a PDB three weeks after he clearly won the election.

-- The BIC’s revenge and vengeance firings continue as the BIC conducts a loyalty purge, following the termination of Defense Secretary Mark Esper [983].  Most notable this week is the tweet firing of Christopher Cox ‘Chris’ Krebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSCISA).  The BIC’s associated tweet:

The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud - including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, “glitches” in the voting machines which changed...

This claim about election fraud is disputed  [Twitter warning]

5:07 PM · Nov 17, 2020

Part Two:

...votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

This claim about election fraud is disputed  [Twitter warning]

5:07 PM · Nov 17, 2020

Beyond the outright lies in the BIC’s tweet, what provoked the BIC’s ire and got Krebs fired was a very public statement issued on the 12^th of November that declared, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”  The statement concluded, “While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too. When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.”  Just to be clear, the statement issued by Krebs’ HSCISA was a unanimous joint statement by:

Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee – Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA):

Assistant Director Bob Kolasky

U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chair Benjamin Hovland

National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) President Maggie Toulouse Oliver

National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) President Lori Augino

Escambia County (Florida) Supervisor of Elections David Stafford

Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council (SCC):

Chair Brian Hancock (Unisyn Voting Solutions)

Vice Chair Sam Derheimer (Hart InterCivic)

Chris Wlaschin (Election Systems & Software)

Ericka Haas (Electronic Registration Information Center)

Maria Bianchi (Democracy Works)

Doing your job or telling the truth is a firing offense in the BIC’s demented world and a grotesquely distorted definition of loyalty.  Spiteful vindictiveness is not a pretty trait.

-- As expected in the BIC era, Republicans are defending the BIC despite the facts, as the snake-oil salesman strives mightily to negate the 2020 elections [982].  Facts do not matter a twit to Republicans—only retaining power matters. The two Republican members of the four-person Wayne County, Michigan, Board of Canvassers, initially voted against the certification of the county’s vote count—not just the presidential race, the whole ballot.  The BIC tweeted:

Wow! Michigan just refused to certify the election results! Having courage is a beautiful thing. The USA stands proud!

7:11 PM · Nov 17, 2020

Once again, the BIC lied to us.  Surprise, surprise!  Michigan did not refuse to certify, only Wayne County.  The attempt to negate the election and allow the Republican legislature to designate the electors they chose for the Electoral College failed.  Later that evening, after the BIC’s proclamation, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers unanimously certified the county election results.

The BIC is working so hard to retain the trappings of the office he holds and yet appears he could not care less to actually do the job of president.  He loves the accouterments of the office but not the responsibility.  All the more reason he must go—peacefully, or forcefully if necessary.

--The BIC’s imparted chaos continues to expand as he ordered his newly appointed, ‘loyal,’ sycophant, acting secretary of defense [983] to publicly state the orders issued to reduce troop levels in both Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 in each nation against the counsel of his military advisors.  After all, the BIC knows all above all others . . . about everything.  No one has ever existed or will ever exist who is as smart and all-knowing as the BIC.  He has proclaimed himself more important than God!

-- Some of us believed the Boeing B-737MAX would eventually return to service after being grounded [878, 889, 896, 897, 900, 928].  After 20 months and re-engineering the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) incorporated in the B-737MAX, the aircraft design was recertified on Wednesday, 18.November.2020.  Most notable to me and the most obvious from an engineering and safety perspective was the requirement for two Angle-of-Attack (AOA) systems (not one).  All of the grounded aircraft will require modification and a check flight before they are allowed to return to service.  The minimal modification is a flight control software re-do change.  Some aircraft will require physical modification, e.g., installation of a second angle-of-attack sensor system along with the software change.  There were 387 in service and delivery aircraft affected by the grounding: 72 of those aircraft were American owned and operated.  I am certain a recovery plan exists, but we are not privy to those plans.  We do not know how long it will take, I imagine several months.  Several aviation experts have noted the trauma, expense, and insult to Boeing’s reputation have returned engineering and safety to dominance within the company over bean counters.  It was clear the design equation had been forced grotesquely out of balance in recent decades as the accountants gained dominance of the once-fabled aircraft company.  Perhaps now, they are returned to normal.

 

The BIC boldly proclaimed at many of his campaign rallies that COVID19 was a hoax created by the Democrats and would magically disappear after November 3^rd.  It is now two weeks after the election and COVID19 has not disappeared.  Further, the United States passed a quarter of a million (18.11.2020) deaths as a consequence of COVID19.  A quarter of a million people!  They drowned in the COVID19 induced fluids that filled their lungs and choked them to death.  The Pandemic is NOT some damn hoax, no matter how many times the BIC lies to us.  His lies do not change a thing.  The virus is real, and it continues to kill American citizens.  I listened to a nurse in North Dakota recount her experience with a COVID19 patient who continued to protest his diagnosis until two days before he died.  Is anyone surprised that the BIC was wrong, and he lied to us?  The BIC’s magic snake-oil elixir apparently expunges any rational cognitive process as well as makes the consumer blind and deaf, except mysteriously to anything he says or does.

 

What the slogan Make America Great Again (MAGA) really means: no.1 in COVID19 infections, no.1 COVID19 hospitalizations; no.1 COVID19 fatalities.  These accomplishments do not sound so great to me.  His good buddies are presidents-for-life, i.e., dictators—Putin, Xi, Kim, Erdoğan.  He does love and admire the dictators.  But the soon-to-be former BIC is just an American citizen like all the rest of us, and he is subject to the same laws as all the rest of us.  Let justice prevail.

 

The BIC’s malignant narcissism will quite likely prevent him from ever accepting his defeat and conceding the election.  Regardless, he will be relegated to common citizen status at noon Eastern Standard Time on the 20^th of January.  He will leave either peacefully or forcefully—his choice.

 

I watched and listened intently to the two-part interview with President Obama on CBS’s 60 Minutes program last Sunday.  My summary: OMG, what a breath of fresh, clean, odor-free air after being forced to breathe such a foul, odiferous and vile fog for four years.  He is smooth, eloquent, calm and reassuring, especially compared to the deficient version we must endure today.  Thank you very much, President Obama.

 

Tuesday evening, Jeanne and I decided to enjoy a nice Chinese dinner at a local restaurant.  No sooner we had taken our seats at a corner table, all properly distanced from one another, when a man started coughing—a loud, hacking persistent cough.  And of course, neither he nor his male companion were wearing masks, as we were.  Listening to the man was disgusting and frankly nauseating.  I wanted to go up to him to say, I am so sorry you are ill, perhaps your recovery would be better aided by being at home.  I have no idea what the man’s affliction was.  It could have been something chronic like COPD, or something harmless like a cold (rhinovirus), and something more threateningly serious like COVID19.  Anyone with that kind of persistent hacking cough should not be in public; to do so is disrespectful, rude, and thoughtless.  Needless to say, we changed our order to take out.  It was a good and worthy meal, even though we had to bring it home.  These are the times in which we live.  We shall overcome.

 

Freedom is a beautiful thing.  As I think all readers of this humble Blog well know, I have been and will remain a vociferous and adamant advocate of freedom of choice and every citizen’s fundamental right to privacy, especially in exercising their personal freedom of choice.  What far too many people fail to remember or recognize is that freedom of choice should be nearly unqualified in private, but not so in public.  In the public domain, every individual citizen must respect the same freedom of choice in other citizens around him/er.  Freedom of choice does NOT entitle anyone to harm or endanger another citizen for any reason.  Unfortunately, and regrettably, the BIC has managed to politicize virtually every aspect of American society.  Everything is us versus them—my tribe versus their tribe.  Even the essence of freedom has been politicized by the BIC and his administration.

The BIC’s malignant narcissism and his damnable snake-oil elixir have led far too many good citizens to see the pandemic as a hoax created by those against him (more than just Democrats) and cloaked his narcissism in the me-me-me attitude they like to call freedom.

Masks, or rather defiance of masks, is not some machismo ‘I’m free’ demonstration.  The mask is only partially for you, it is for breaking the chain of infection with this virus.  So when any citizen in public and in close proximity of other people does not wear a mask he is disrespecting everyone else.  We have no right to urinate or defecate in public; going without a mask is no different.  No one has a right to spread the virus in the name of freedom!  Let’s abandon this machismo crap and respect other people.  I have no idea whatsoever what is so bloody hard to understand . . . just because the BIC said so.  The only explanation I can imagine is the BIC’s magic snake-oil elixir has altered an individual’s rational thought; whether the affliction is permanent is yet to be seen.

 

Since the BIC remains our duly elected POTUS despite his dereliction of duty and his obscene affinity for right-wing conspiracy theories, I thought it important to place the BIC’s persistence with these wild claims into context.  First, 

** the Holocaust did not happen, all fake

** the CIA killed JFK

** Americans never landed on the moon

** the USN shot down TWA-800

** the USG brought down the Twin Towers

** JFK Jr. is still alive

** the Deep State controls all of our lives

** the Russian government never interfered in the 2016 election

** the latest in a long list . . . 

** the COVID19 Pandemic is a hoax, a fictitious contrived event intended to embarrass the BIC (no one cares to explain 255,000 American dead)

** the 2020 election was rigged against the BIC (but surprisingly against very few other Republicans, e.g., McConnell)

People will believe whatever they wish to believe regardless of the facts.  It has everything to do with finding something to explain what is not to their liking.  These conspiracy imaginings will continue to accumulate.  I suppose we simply must acclimatize ourselves to this nonsense.  These are the times in which we live.

 

You know, I am embarrassed to say I find the dismal Pandemic news so much easier to listen to than the election chaos and nonsense the BIC habitually creates and surrounds himself.  I am glad he has gone Absent Without Leave (AWOL).  I encourage him to not speak, not tweet, and go play golf all day, every day.  We are far better off without him.  Life is more peaceful even with a raging pandemic.  What a terrible thing to say about our duly elected POTUS, thus my embarrassment, but it is true nonetheless.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.983:

Comment to the Blog:

“‘So it is, so it shall be’ is an interesting touch.  It reads kind of like ‘god’s word.’

“I doubt the Chump has ever completed all the stages of grief over anyone or any event.  What would make him begin now?  I’ll speculate that he may feel a need to avoid criminal prosecution that drives some of this nonsense.

“The down-ballot Democrats didn’t all lose, and it’s instructive to study that.  Those who stood for universal healthcare and other progressive causes mostly won.  The DNC’s preferred candidates didn’t.  Voters found it necessary to get rid of the Chump, but he wasn’t a legitimate issue in down-ballot races, and the mainstream Democrats didn’t stand for anything else.”

My response to the Blog:

LOL  ‘God’s word’ . . . good one.  Not intended to be even remotely akin to divine revelation.  Nonetheless, I liked your observation.

Yes, you are quite correct.  Likewise, I doubt he has ever completed the five stages of grief for anyone or anything.  And the answer to your rhetorical query is of course, No!  Absolutely nothing!  Yes, agreed, he fears that day when he loses the qualified immunity of the office he holds, and the essential absolute immunity provided by the Republican Party.  He must feel prosecution, both criminal and civil, getting progressively closer.

One of those down ballot Democrats that was not successful was Doctor Hiral Vyas Tipirneni, MD.  She was quite like Barack Obama—calm, soft-spoken, articulate, and careful with her words.  She is a political moderate and chose to take the high road during the campaign.  Tipirneni had an excellent message to the people of this district, but the other tribe dominates the political landscape, and they could not care less about a good message.  It is all about tribe.  The man she ran against had multiple ethics violations some verging upon criminal conduct, who refused to engage, acted like he was entitled to the seat, and otherwise just assumed he would be re-elected (so why campaign).  I am in the minority in the Arizona 6^th congressional district.  I hope she runs again in two years, but I suspect she did not find the electoral process rewarding.  If she runs again, she will have my support.

 . . . Round two:

“One quibble: it's not all about tribe at the voter level. Taking the ‘high road’ is good, but then the candidate has to have something to offer voters.  What by now counts as a political moderate offers nothing new for ordinary Americans, and that's disastrous for most people.  Study public support for the various leftist policies and you'll find out why those offering nothing new failed.”

 . . . my response to round two:

Please allow me an observation.  I read your words several times, and the impression I have been left with is that political moderates have nothing of value to offer.  The implicit extension of that reasoning is only the two politically polar extremes have anything of value to society, i.e., we must choose either fascism/autocracy or communist autocracy; there is no in-between.  And we must choose which pole we wish to support.  This may not be what you intended, but this is how I read your words.  Is that what you intended?

 . . . Round three:

“The people now called moderates would have been conservatives in Reagan's day.  That has been pointed out by no less than Obama, who said he'd have been among them.  There is no point in Republican Lite, which is what they are.  We're not going to retrieve our nation from the oligarchy by trying to use incrementalism to achieve nothing at all.”

 . . . my response to round three:

When labels are necessary, I refer to myself as a moderate.  I am not and never have been a Republican or even a Republican-lite.  I do not believe I am alone.  Further, I am also disturbed by your observation in that it implies precisely us versus them, my tribe versus their tribe, and there is no ground for compromise or negotiation; no common solutions are possible.  That is exactly the same tribal obstinacy that brought us the Civil War and the deaths of half a million American citizens as a consequence.  With the intransigence of both politically polar extremes, perhaps the future of this once grand republic rests in the hands of moderates like me.

 . . . Round four:

“We can talk about ‘tribal obstinacy’ and such concepts or we can look at actual results.  The country has been moving to the right (backwards) since Reagan, and that's what affects me.”

 . . . my response to round four:

Certainly, the BIC has striven mightily to take us backward 70 years or so, but that does not generalize to “since Reagan.”  We have seen, as the physicists say, progress by jerks – a nice double entendre.  We are certainly better off than we were in the 1980s, e.g., non-heterosexual rights, greater racial awareness, the PPACA, the greening, et cetera.  Are there steps backward?  Yes, absolutely, far too many in this administration, but I fully expect President-elect Biden to rescind most if not all of the BIC’s executive orders that took us backward.  We will make progress again.  Have faith.

 . . . Round five:

“I take a broader perspective.  After Watergate, the Republicans and their owners decided to take over.  In the process, the owners bought out the Democrats.

“Reagan in his genial presentation still took an ‘us versus them’ perspective (‘evil empire,’ the nonexistent ‘welfare queen,’ etc.).  The Chump lacks the decorative parts.  If one party insists on being and having everyone else as an enemy, that's what happens.  Further historical note: national unity is an ideal that never happened here and wasn't the intention of the Founders.  They built a system meant to include conflicting interests and ideals.”

 . . . my response to round five:

Seems rather cynical to me.  I cannot agree, but your opinions do not depend upon my agreement.  Such a pervasive cabal would certainly color one’s perception of events around us.  Sure does sound like a conspiracy theory to me.

I continue to argue that democracy (in any form) depends upon debate, argument, disagreement, negotiation, compromise, and such.  Yet, there is a unity of purpose in a viable democracy.  The tribalism (or factionalism as you prefer) is corrosive to any unity of purpose.

A favored and perhaps even common technique of all dictators is convincing the dominated populace of an enemy; someone or something to focus their attention to the dictator’s will.  However, some enemies are very real, not paranoia, or a dictator’s propaganda for retention of power.  Only free flow of challenged information in a free Press can discern the difference.  We also tend to generalize for convenience, e.g., communist are bad, when in fact, it is not communism per se but the “ruling” class execution of communism is the real threat.  Russians are human beings with the same wants and needs as all the rest of us, but the Russian dictator and government are a serious problem.  The same is true in China, DPRK, or any other potential adversary.

 . . . Round six:

“I don't ‘do’ conspiracy theories as presented by fiction and insane people.  It's easier for me to believe that relatively large groups of people share common aims and therefore support politicians whose efforts further those aims.  The group in question here would be a relative few (say a few thousand) of those at the very top incomes who share the common aim of drawing more wealth to themselves by changing the taxation and regulation trends of the 50s, 60s, and 70s.  They don't have to conspire, and I deeply doubt any coordination.  They want the same results, and that's enough.  They're not all of the very wealthy, but there are enough, and they control enough wealth to use money and privilege independently in ways that harmonize.  It seems obvious that they bought politicians who changed campaign laws to increase their own legal ability to sell out.  They have attracted supporters who fear for their smaller pieces of the economy against threats that supposedly come from anyone other than the wealthy.  That fear serves those in politics who can easily find words to draw votes and money to spread the words, especially since the wealthy own the mass media.  One of the parties has drawn more support by giving minor boons to the moral control crowd, mostly in the form of anti-abortion laws.  They're also smarter about manipulating the Constitutional process.  The other party draws enough votes to stay in the game by supporting other social causes.  It's not a conspiracy in the QAnon or spy sense, but it gets results.  Everybody gets an American enemy, and most of us lose our battles.

“Your discourse on international enemies doesn't address the enemies I was talking about.  They are Americans, opposed internally for the benefit of our internal factions.  They are our fellow Americans who don't match our ethnicity or don't behave according to our own moral standards.  That goes all the way back in American history, but I suspect it's at a peak.

“I'll note also that our current military efforts address vague concepts such as ‘terrorism,’ not actual people or nations that we might defeat.”

 . . . my response to round six:

There is most emphatically plenty of evidence that suggests such action by the wealthy—the money royalty in this country—is not far from the truth.  The result is the evidence; the tax code is the evidence.  As you contend, the tax code has favored the wealthy for a very long time.  Many citizens have tried to illuminate that reality.  One of these days, people will realize that money is not speech; money is not citizenship.

 

Another contribution:

“‘morning sunshine land---we had a very interesting interview on BBC1 last night.  A capable BBC interviewer talking with your Barack Obama mostly about the subjects of his book.  They did naturally drift off the subject a little-Trump wasn’t mentioned, what a relieve.  Damned good interview.  Don’t know if you can locate it, if so have a look mate.

“What the hell is going on over there now?  I do find difficulty in understanding the exasperating attitude of your current President, will he ever grow up? “

My reply:

Yes, indeed, appropriate observation.  I will be so bold to say, pick a speech by the BIC (any speech, choice does not matter) and then pick a speech by President Obama (any speech, doesn’t matter which one) and compare them side-by-side.  The contrast is stark, dramatic, and staggering.  I find cannot something attractive, admirable, worthy, or even useful in the words (any words) from the BIC.  President Obama is diametrically the opposite of the BIC.  President Obama, even out of office, is truly a breath of fresh air with a clear, concise, cogent, calm speaking style.  The BIC has difficulty even constructing a proper sentence.  Sir Winston would be disgusted and disappointed with the BIC’s disrespectful rhetoric.

What we are all witnessing and some of us are living is the current POTUS physically exhibiting the mindless tantrum convulsions of a toddler who did not get his way.  It is the usual consequence of what someone who suffers malignant narcissism experiences in graphic public defeat.  He is yelling, stomping his feet, and protesting anything and everything he perceives denied him what he believes was his and his alone.  We are currently without a POTUS.  There is no one at the helm or flight controls depending on the analogy one chooses.

I do not believe anyone who has not consumed the BIC’s magic snake-oil elixir has the capacity to understand the BIC’s actions.  His conduct is truly irrational.

Saner minds suggest (perhaps naively hopeful) that the BIC will allow the transition of power to occur once the election results are certified by the states (8.December.2020) or the official results of the Electoral College (6.January.2021).  We, the People, must endure the penalties.  I am truly afraid we are not done with the chaos imposed by the BIC in his toddlerhood dementia.  These are the times in which we live.

 . . . Round two:

“Cap, I trust you both are well and keeping clear of the virus.  Of course with Christmas on the horizon should we dare to think that we may spend some time with our families.  Well, if that happens here there is a very real prospect of a major ‘lockdown’ afterwards and our situation is somewhat better than yours I believe.  We are currently of the view that we will ‘suffer’ alone for the sake of the family’s good health.  Even when serving we always had good socialism with comrades in arms, a Christmas on duty was indeed a rare event but even then one was always with companions and buddies suffering equally.”

 . . . my reply to round two:

So far, so good.  We remain vigilant.  Y’all have a real leader who is doing his best to help your nation deal with the pandemic.  We have an AWOL idiot who cannot even spell leadership.  We must endure two more months of this buffoon.  Fortunately, most folks in our little local community are following the guidelines to break the chain of infection.  Our city council voted 3-2, to go ahead a large arts festival (a normal annual event; last weekend) that violated all of the guidelines—money, money, money; it will be the death of us.  Jeanne and I had a very bad experience at a local restaurant.  We went out for a rare evening meal.  We had just sat down and ordered when two old men (like me) sat down at a table perhaps 30 feet away.  The old coot with no mask started a hard, deep, hacking, persistent cough.  Very disrespectful of everyone in that restaurant and especially the employees.  His cough could have been from myriad respiratory afflictions, e.g., allergies, COPD, emphysema, or whatnot.  In these troubled times, however, we had no choice but to assume he was a COVID19 victim and contagious.  Why on God’s little green earth did he feel he had a right to do that?  We immediately changed our order to take-out and left; we never took off our masks, and I put my wrap-around sunglasses on to protect my eyes.  It was our first experience since the pandemic began to face such a disrespectful human being.  Would anyone wish to guess who that man voted for in the last election?

 . . . Round three:

“Indeed Cap, our man Boris is trying very hard, in a most difficult situation, of course he can, in the eyes of opposition do very little right.  You and I have been in difficult and demanding situations which require strong decisions and support from those that serve with you.  That is to be expected in our work and if it isn’t the case then someone needs to go elsewhere.  We shall see when all this is in the box and the endless writings appear.  Not the best grounds for a new book but the history buffs will be scribbling away trying to make money from the sadness and desperation of it all.  Looking forward to the blog.“

 . . . my reply to round three:

Boris is not perfect, but at least he is trying to save lives.  The BIC could not care less about saving lives; he only cares about himself.

Yes, as brothers-in-arms, we have been in difficult spots.  We generally survive and prevail by our collective strength—a lesson the BIC has never learned.

Yes, it is the natural course of things in free societies.  The players want to tell their story.

 

A different contribution:

“Most dishonest, fraudulent election in American history .. they haven’t even BEGUN to show all the evidence.. they’re putting ducks in a row right now.. sorry your favorite media outlets are not keeping you informed.. mine are.  The dominion system will be exposed and people connected to it charged.  Know it’s a threat to the deep state as one of Trumps attorneys Lin Wood has been receiving death threats.  Bet you haven’t heard that either?  We’re fighting corruption.. you are condoning it.”

My response:

You know, there are some two dozen plus lawsuits in multiple states filed by the BIC’s lawyers, making wild accusations and seeking extraordinarily radical remedies to feed the BIC’s ego.  Most of them have been thrown out by judges with prejudice.  In most of those rulings, judges have specifically noted the paucity of evidence beyond the wild accusations.  If you have evidence, present it in court where it can be critically examined.  At the end of the day, you have every right to believe what you wish to believe for whatever reason you believe—facts are irrelevant.

OK, and what evidence do you have that I am condoning corruption?

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)