Update no.1009

 Update from the Sunland

No.1009

10.5.21 – 16.5.21

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

 

            To all,

 

            The follow-up news items:

-- I watched and listened to the testimony of former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, investigating the insurrection and the events on the 6^th of January [991].  If someone wants to see another example of the consequences of the BIG LIE, they have but to watch and listen to the words by everyone in that hearing on Wednesday the 12^th.  But, the BIG LIE is just not enough.  I will also state for the record that the Democrats on the committee did not comport themselves well.  I understand the frustration they must feel with the BIG LIE, but every time they exaggerate or pick & choose their facts they diminish their position.  The testimony and outrageous statements of the BICP members on the committee took me back to an era 71 years ago.  In that day long ago, another lone voice of reason spoke truth to power.  On 1.June.1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine rose alone on the Senate floor.

“I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear.

“I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear. 

“Surely we Republicans aren’t that desperate for victory.”

For those who may not know and are too lazy to look up the definition of calumny, the word means “the making of false and defamatory statements about someone in order to damage their reputation; slander.”  Senator Smith’s words were pointed directly at a fellow Republican senator who was not yet to the peak of his bigotry and despotism.  I am certain Senator Smith held no imagination that her words would take on prescient dimensions to a time seven decades in the future—the Four Horsemen of Calumny indeed!  Thank you, Senator Smith . . . very wise and insightful words.

-- In the environment established by the perpetuation of the BIG LIE [991], 150 national, state and local Republican notables endorsed a letter and website—“A Call for American Renewal – Building a Common Sense Coalition for America.”  Their website states, “We are concerned citizens—a group of national, state, and local leaders—calling for American renewal.  The country is tired of division and political extremism.  It’s time to restore a ‘common-sense coalition’ in our political system, and we are committed to making that a reality.”  What decent American could possibly disagree with that?  As for me, I absolutely agree . . . as long as we (they) do not speak platitudes to mask just another “my way or the highway” approach.  They went on to declare, “A Call for American Renewal is a rallying cry for pragmatists everywhere. Our nation’s future should not be dictated by a single person but by principles that bind us together. That’s why we believe in pushing for the Republican Party to rededicate itself to founding ideals—or else hasten the creation of an alternative.”  They closed with “Details to follow.”  It is those details upon which this clarion call depends.  Many have interpreted this open letter as a threat to leave the party and form a new political party, and there is no direct condemnation of the [person who shall no longer be named].  While I would like to view this sign in a hopeful context, there is insufficient detail to properly judge this action.  We must diligently maintain our vigilance.

I must illuminate that other notable Republicans have not signed onto this new message—Romney, Cheney, Kinzinger, and such.  I suppose the best we can hope for is this movement, or whatever it is, grows with time.  One thing is absolutely certain, the [person who shall no longer be named] must be expunged from our collective political consciousness forever—the sooner the better.

-- After Governor Ducey vetoed the ill-advised and foolish social conservative sex education bill [1006], the BICP dominated legislature would not be deterred.  The Arizona House initiated HB 2035 to replace the failed SB 1456 [1006].  This is ignorance in the extreme.  Instead of teaching children about sex, an important, if not essential, part of life, these social conservative prefer ignorance, i.e., let the children learn on their own like they had to do.  HB2035 is as bad as SB1456.  I would prefer sounder minds reject HB2035, but the social conservatives will likely pass the bill, and then we must hope the governor vetoes this version as well.  Once again, I feel compelled to state, knowledge is always better than ignorance.

-- On Thursday, the CDC announced that fully vaccinated citizens no longer needed to wear masks, although they would still be required on mass transportation (buses, trains, airplanes), and in hospitals and other special interior spaces.  We will apparently be relying on the honor system in a society where there are far more than a trivial number of citizens who are not honorable.  I am afraid we are in store for a wild ride through the next few months and years.  The large group of anti-vaxxers, liberty chest-thumpers, and consumers of the magic snake oil elixir peddled by the [person who shall no longer be named] will provide a fertile ground for the virus to spread and replicate.  God help us all.

 

Representative Elizabeth Lynne ‘Liz’ Cheney of Wyoming held her head high, spoke well, and accepted her fate.  The BICP simply could not tolerate the truth, so they ousted her from her leadership role as the Republican conference chair.  Kevin McCarthy has demonstrated his spinelessness.  He accurately accused the former president for what he did leading up to the 6^th January insurrection and then within days attended the [person who shall no longer be name] to genuflect at the altar of QAnon.  McCarthy called for a simple voice vote.  No one called for a recorded vote—secret or otherwise.  McCarthy wanted no numbers recorded—only Cheney’s ouster.  Thank God, Cheney is strong enough of character to speak truth to power.

 

On top of all the news this week, on Monday, a group of 124 former flag officers calling themselves Flag Officers 4 America issued a manifesto screed that was literally jaw-dropping for a variety of reasons.  If you wish to read it and/or check the list of retired military officers who signed onto this statement, here is the URL:

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/fb7c7bd8-097d-4e2f-8f12-3442d151b57d/downloads/2021%20Open%20Letter%20from%20Retired%20Generals%20and%20Adm.pdf?ver=1620643005025

About all I wish to say is, there are more than a few flag officers on that list that I know personally and have served with in my day.  The men I know on the list are intelligent, well-educated, and experienced officers.  But frankly, this sounds like, smells like, and looks like typical BICP drivel--black or white, this or that, one or zero, no in between; we’re right, you’re wrong.  I cannot find anything beyond the platitudes that I can agree with in that letter.  Sad; there are really good men on that list; but, I am left with the impression that they have all swallowed the magic snake oil elixir.  Most unfortunate.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.1008:

Comment to the Blog:

“I have enough awareness of space flight to appreciate the successful terrestrial landing.  That facilitates a great deal more space flight in the future.

“I’m not focusing on that much this morning.  The news is filled with our much higher homicide rate.  I note that mental health, addiction, and their related issues resulting from the response to the virus will take far longer to control than the virus.”

My response to the Blog:

Indeed!  And, I’ll keep watching and learning.

I have had exactly the same thought.  Our increased homicide rates are a direct reflection of our abysmal mental health detection, triage and treatment processes and capacity.  This is one of many things that happen when mental illness of all levels go untreated.  Unfortunately, the people charged with finding solutions will not take on the difficult aspects of the problem and will far more likely focus on the easy stuff—the low hanging fruit.

As a minor footnote, I will illuminate that several medical TV series programs have started to feature mental health and psychiatric intervention as main characters and principal storylines.  Progress by jerks, as the physicists say.

 . . . Round two:

“Yes and no.  The mental health treatment system is far less than we need, but the increases in incidents and cases are the result of the response to the virus.”

 . . . my response to round two:

Nothing to debate in that statement.  I agree completely.  I cannot deny that the realities of the pandemic have exacerbated mental health vulnerabilities in citizens, but I do not have sufficient evidence to affirm the laissez-fairepandemic response of the previous administration being the primary cause—a contributing cause, certainly.

 . . . Round three:

“Fascinating.  You're still hung up on King Baby's failures.  The improvement in virus rates under Biden is primarily a result of timing.  The aggravation of all mental health issues results from the response, not the prior failure to respond.”

 . . . my response to round three:

Yes, the vaccines were developed with the stimulation of and under the administration of the [person who shall no longer be named], so timing certainly plays into the outcomes.  The CDC and USG announced on Thursday that fully vaccinated citizens no longer need to wear masks inside or outside, with the exception of special conditions, e.g., mass transit, hospitals, and close contact gatherings.  Good news for those of us who are fully vaccinated, but I suspect we may experience another spike as unvaccinated citizens become bolder.  I do believe President Biden deserves credit for the unified, leadership message and policies; he chose to lead rather than shuck responsibility as the [person who shall no longer be named] did with this laissez-faire, every state for themselves, approach to the pandemic response.

Aggravation of underlying mental health issues is certainly a reality, but we shall disagree on the contribution to that aggravation by the prior administration.  I think the [person who shall no longer be named] was singularly a major contribution to that aggravation in a variety of ways.

 . . . Round four:

“King Baby united and empowered a group of people who already had mental issues compatible with his, but the issue at hand is the spikes in all mental health issues resulting from the virus response.  The bottom line will be that the USA's emergency preparedness system is underfunded, unsupplied, narrowly focused, and all-around incompetent.”

 . . . my response to round four:

I have no evidence to validate or refute your statement.  It is certainly plausible.

Oh my yes!  And that requirement is the ultimate responsibility of the POTUS, thus my earlier remarks.  I dare say President Biden’s administration is working to fulfill their responsibility.  Another pandemic may not be a century away, but it is unlikely that we will test the current administrations preparedness . . . at least I hope not.

 . . . Round five:

“Preparedness seems to get little attention.  The issues with FEMA go back to at least Hurricane Katrina (1995), but the agency is a constant target of budget cuts and suffers more than most from globalization's ‘just in time’ logistics methodology.  The failures to provide personal protective equipment (PPE), even now, to facilities like prisons fall to FEMA as well as HHS.  Also, communication has suffered because ‘none of the above’ is geared to communicate using 24-hour news and social media about an event that continues longer than a week or so.”

 . . . my response to round five:

“Just in time” logistics are not appropriate for emergency preparedness, never was, never will be.  By definition, emergencies cannot possibly be forecast.  Just in time depends directly upon reliable demand and supply systems.  PPE should be a designated strategic stockpile item in all its forms.  I will also argue that doctors and nurses should be a national emergency reserve, some able to deploy faster than others, e.g., military medical personnel and capacity.

 . . . Round six:

“We agree on what is real preparedness.  If we study FEMA and the USA's preparedness more generally, that's not what this nation is doing, even now.”

 . . . my response to round six:

Your opinion may be accurate, but I have insufficient evidence to validate or agree with it.  We do not see what is occurring beyond our awareness or the Press.  We will not know if our preparedness has changed and improved under the current administration until we face the next emergency.  Ultimately, the responsibility for our emergency preparedness clearly and mostly rests with Congress, which regrettably is a generally dysfunctional legislative body.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)