25 October 2021

Update no.1032

 Update from the Sunland

No.1032

18.10.21 – 24.10.21

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

 

            To all,

 

Another must-see television documentary aired this week. This one entailed a surprisingly balanced assessment of conspiracy theorists, especially as they apply to contemporary politics in this once grand republic. CNN broadcast “This is Life” with Lisa Ling, titled: “The Conspiracy Effect” (S8 Ep4). I have known elements of the program, but I learned considerably more, e.g., with mounting constraints on QAnon for their false information, the believers formed an offshoot known as Parler. The new misinformation/conspiracy website is way too close to my family name. The program offers a reasonable perspective regarding the genesis of conspiracy theories we must unscramble in today’s politics. Please watch it.

 

            The follow-up news items:

-- The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol recommended and referred to the full House charges for criminal contempt of Congress against Stephen Kevin Bannon, the smug, conspiracy theorist, supporter and confidant of [the person who shall no longer be named]. On the 5th of January, Bannon publicly claimed foreknowledge of the insurrection [991] in a very confident and braggadocio manner. On the 21st, the House of Representatives passed H.Res.730 - Recommending that the House of Representatives find Stephen K. Bannon in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol [House: 229-202-0-1(3)]. Along with all Democrat members, nine Republican members voted to approve the resolution. Representative Gregory Joseph ‘Greg’ Pence of Indiana (older brother of former vice president Mike Pence) chose not the vote. The charges go to the Department of Justice, where the U.S. Attorney General must decide whether to prosecute Bannon. Attorney General Garland has not indicated how or when he will decide.

I cannot imagine how Garland does not bring formal prosecution, conviction, and prison time for Bannon. If he is convicted, I hope and trust he will get the maximum sentence. Bannon’s full and absolute pardon by [the person who shall no longer be named] in the last hours of his presidency does not cover crimes committed after the pardon. This should be low-hanging fruit that can be made quick work of in court. Unfortunately, nothing is simple in Washington, DC.

-- The Arizona state senate fBICP members independently agreed to spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money and commit Maricopa County to spend more millions they did not control [1011].

“Few AZ voter fraud cases, discrediting Trump’s claims”

by Bob Christie and Christina A. Cassidy

Associated Press

Published: July 16, 2021

https://apnews.com/article/business-government-and-politics-arizona-election-2020-e6158cd1b0c6442716064e6791b4c6fc

After months of a “fraudit” the fBICP controlled, 182 identified potentially fraudulent votes among a total of 3,387,326 votes cast were referred for further investigation and possibly prosecution. There was a 10,457-vote difference in Arizona between the two leading candidates. So, let us assume all 182 questionable votes were in fact fraudulent, and further that all of them were illegally cast for the winner of the election; that is 0.017%—a very long way from even remotely affecting the outcome. All that said, one fraudulent vote is too many. However, this is a serious diminishing return matter. The fBICP approach: spend millions of dollars more on 0.017% and worse, restrict voting access, which just happens to affect primarily those who do not vote for them anyway. What the fBICP is doing in Arizona and many other states is blatantly wrong in the most cynical way. And, they vote against any attempt to prevent such barefaced voter suppression activities.

 

I do not follow anything [the person who shall no longer be named] has to say about anything, at any time, for any reason. He sacrificed his integrity and credibility a long time ago. However, occasionally [the person who shall no longer be named] descends below even his very low bar, verging upon paucity, of humanity. So it was this week.

– October 19, 2021 –

Statement by [the person who shall no longer be named],

45th President of the United States of America

Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!

To which, Maggie Haberman tweeted:

Given the chance to be gracious about someone’s death, or say nothing at all, [the person who shall no longer be named] takes a decidedly different route.

6:36 AM · Oct 19, 2021

 . . . and Larry Sabato added his tweet:

No decent human being will defend [the person who shall no longer be named]’s malevolent, spiteful, narcissistic statement on Gen. Powell. But those Republicans who keep silent today will speak volumes about how [the person who shall no longer be named] has debased them and their once-great party. Candidates with no courage never deserve our votes.

7:58 AM · Oct 19, 2021·

The [expletives (plural) deleted] bone-spur draft dodger has no right whatsoever to disparage a man who has stood watch in harm’s way at the gates keeping us safe and committed his entire life to the service of this once grand republic. Haberman was overly gentle in her criticism. Sabato was closer to spot on.

Seventy-four million American citizens want this asshole to represent this once grand republic and especially to represent them. That fact alone speaks volumes to me. Worse, a good chunk of that lot wants to re-elect him by whatever means possible (legal or illegal), if they are not successful with their continued efforts to complete a coup d’état.  To this very day, they yammer on about returning their hero to the Oval Office. At first it was next month, then it was August, and now it is next year. The Constitution is irrelevant to them. The malignancy that [the person who shall no longer be named] represents in the flesh will not easily be excised or cured.

 

suspect most Americans do not know or are even remotely aware of history, which makes it very difficult to convey the historical significance of contemporary events. The NationalSozialistische Deutsche ArbeiterPartei (NSDAP) [National Socialist German Workers Party AKA Nazis] employed a large, widespread, quasi-militia group known as the StrumAbteilung (SA) [storm troop AKA brown shirts] to intimidate German citizens by a wide variety of means into compliance with the dicta of the SA. The threatened, assaulted, beat, and even killed those who dare defy their coercion efforts. The SA received their directions and orders directly from the NSDAP leadership, i.e., Adolf Hitler.

I have used the comparison between [the person who shall no longer be named] and the Nazis because the similarities far exceed the differences. Yes, there are distinct differences, e.g., [the person who shall no longer be named] has nowhere near the charisma and leadership skills of Adolf Hitler. To my knowledge, the brown shirts of the fBICP do not wear uniforms, although their abundant use of flags is about as close as you can get short of outright uniforms. Like the Antifa boogeymen the rightwingers love to point at for everything they condemn, the fBICP brown shirts are an amorphous group with little discernible structure or leadership. Yet, the fBICP brown shirts have brought low our political discourse, and they are desperately intent upon taking us far lower. This is today’s conservatism, although I think that reality does serious injustice to the noble term. What we bear witness to today has absolutely nothing to do with classic conservatism. They are intimidating state secretaries of state, election officials, school board members in a direct effort to convince them to resign, leave, disappear or not interfere. They want to bludgeon them into compliance with their wishes or replace them with friendly individuals. The fBICP controlled state legislatures are doing their part by changing voting laws for everything from restricting access to absentee ballots, post office and ballot drop boxes, gerrymandering, polling station hours, et cetera ad infinitum ad nauseum. They are also creating ways that fBICP controlled legislatures can invalidate votes or do their own vote counting outside the voting apparatus. They are frantic to compensate for the reality that they are a diminishing minority. We are way too close to 1933 for my liking. I must hope and trust we collectively overcome this obscene political movement before it is too late.

 

When [the person who shall no longer be named] was banished from most social media platforms after the 6thJanuary Insurrection [991], he decided he would not be silenced.

“Trump announces launch of media company, social media site”

by Jill Colvin 

Associated Press

Published: Wed, October 20, 2021, 6:09 PM

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-announces-launch-media-company-010903034.html

The [person who shall no longer be named] Media & Technology Group has been created along with its associated “Truth Social" application. I surmise he chose the name so he can called his false, injurious messages “truthgrams” or some such. Here, we have yet another comparison to Nazi Germany. In 1923, Hitler bought a Munich newspaper and renamed it Völkischer Beobachter (People’s Observer). The Nazis published a daily edition of their propaganda rag and distributed it nationally until the collapse of Nazi Germany in April 1945. Sadly, we cannot get the man to shut up and disappear. We do not need to hear another word from that man.

 

CNN hosted and Anderson Cooper moderated another presidential town hall in Baltimore, Maryland, on Thursday, 21.October.2021. President Biden offered moments of rhetorical genius mixed with instances of halting, broken speech. Criticism of his rhetorical skills aside, President Biden is such a refreshing change from what we had to endure during the last administration. It is reassuring to watch a president who has compassion for others and especially the less fortunate, and he does not malign those who disagree with him on policy. At least he has a policy to speak about real issues during these events. He responds well to people and their concerns. Thank you President Biden for being a monumentally better man than your predecessor.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.1031:

Comment to the Blog:

“I am aware of the MOSAIC expedition, and I look forward to learning what they have learned. PBS typically has their shows as "members only" in the ways I could access them.

“I lived in Deep East Texas off and on in the 1980s. Their rapid regression to barbarism doesn't surprise me.”

My response to the Blog:

I have never been a PBS member or supporter. Most of their programming does not particularly interest me, but NOVA always has. I do believe you can find the program on streaming services without subscribing. Anyway, you have the information; do what you will.

I cannot claim as deep an understanding of the “Deep East Texas” mindset, but I do have an appreciation for the phenomenon. My appreciation aside, the regression represented by the current Texas administration is disappointing and depressing. Why? It is staggering that American citizens could be cajoled into believing and supporting this absurdity.

 . . . with follow-up comment:

“I may look around for the PBS shows. There are several I could watch, but TV is just not a priority.

“Lifelong immersion, cognitive bias, and social and/or geographic isolation go a long way toward explaining some Texans' bizarre mindsets. Neither research nor logic has much to do with it.”

 . . . and my follow-up response:

Good luck. It is a very good program.

I bow to your direct experience and observations. My disappointment persists.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

18 October 2021

Update no.1031

 Update from the Sunland

No.1031

11.10.21 – 17.10.21

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

 

            To all,

 

The latest New Shepard flight (NS-18) had been postponed one day due to winds above the launch thresholds. The spacecraft launched at 09:50 [S] CST {07:50 [T] MST}, Wednesday, 13.October.2021 on the NS-18 mission from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas, near Van Horn, Texas. The passengers on this flight were:

* Dr. Christopher ‘Chris’ Boshuizen, Ph.D. (Physics)

* Glen de Vries – co-founder of Medidata Solutions

* William Shatner – actor, played Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the Star Trek franchise

* Audrey Powers – Vice President of Legal & Compliance for Blue Origin

The capsule climbed to 351,185 feet altitude at apogee and then descended to land safely in the West Texas desert 11 minutes later. Watching the booster land successfully to the target landing pad never ceases to amaze me—the mastery of physics, engineering, and mathematics.

 

I had the pleasure of watching another PBS Nova program, this one titled, “Arctic Drift” (S48 Ep15). The extraordinary science mission was dubbed MOSAiC – Multidisciplinary drifting Observation for the Study of Arctic Climate and was led by Germany’s Polar Institute. The RV Polarstern, a German research icebreaker vessel, provided home for a yearlong expedition. The crew drove the icebreaker nearly to the North Pole in search of a specific size and thickness of summer ice. They intentionally allowed the ship to be frozen in place for the Arctic winter. The science staff included a wide range of experts and specialists from 37 different countries. They deployed a vast array of instruments over a wide area of polar ice, taking measurements and samples continuously over the course of nearly a year, across all four seasons. They will be analyzing the data for years. I learned more than I can possibly recount. This is another highly recommended program.

 

            The follow-up news items:

-- A sad, hard, cold reality . . . 62% of all police fatalities last year were due to acute respiratory failure as a consequence of COVID-19 infection [946]. And still, some resist. And further, the fBICP believers shout—Fake News.

 

A firestorm exploded this week when a school district administrator in Texas tried to offer guidance and instruction to teachers regarding the implementation of recently enacted state laws. NBC News broadcast an illumination of the controversy. “Southlake school leader tells teachers to balance Holocaust books with 'opposing' views – Teachers in the Carroll school district say they fear being punished for stocking classrooms with books dealing with racism, slavery and now the Holocaust.”

by Mike Hixenbaugh and Antonia Hylton

NBC News

Published: Oct. 14, 2021, 12:00 PM MST / Updated Oct. 15, 2021, 2:46 AM MST

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/southlake-texas-holocaust-books-schools-rcna2965?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR0OKd4i1UbtRbtOcWCL_U7oJfUF5n6mX3f-9HPr-UkjOR0dm8L7KHAIbfQ

The spark that detonated the explosive was a recorded statement to teachers by Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Ms. Gina Peddy of the Carroll Independent School District. She stated, “As you go through, just try to remember the concepts of 3979, and make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives.” To which, a teacher asked, “How do you oppose the Holocaust?”

A salient question flashed into my little pea-brain. How could state law possibly specify or be interpreted in such a manner? As is my nature, I went to the law. I started the law at issue—Texas House Bill 3979. However, in my research, there was a progenitor law—Texas Senate Bill 3.

I acknowledge that what I am about to do is rather laborious, but it is so bloody important to this particular debate. Please bear with me. Texas S.B. No. 3 – AN ACT relating to the social studies curriculum in public schools was signed into state law by Governor Abbott of Texas on 2021-06-08. I had to include verbatim relevant parts of §2, (h-2), that deleted an interesting number of topics:

(C) (3)AAthe history of Native Americans;

 . . . 

(C) a commitment to free speech and civil discourse [, including the writings of:

[(i) George Washington;

[(ii) Ona Judge;

[(iii) Thomas Jefferson;

[(iv) Sally Hemings; and

[(v) any other founding persons of the United States;

[(F) writings from Frederick Douglass s newspaper, the North Star;

[(G) the Book of Negroes;

[(H) the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850;

[(I) the Indian Removal Act;

[(J) Thomas Jefferson s letter to the Danbury Baptists; and

[(K) William Still s Underground Railroad Records;

[(6) historical documents related to the civic accomplishments of marginalized populations, including documents related to:

[(A) the Chicano movement;

[(B) women s suffrage and equal rights;

[(C) the civil rights movement;

[(D) the Snyder Act of 1924; and

[(E) the American labor movement;

[(7) the history of white supremacy, including but not limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong;

[(8) the history and importance of the civil rights movement, including the following documents:

[[(A) Martin Luther King Jr. s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and "I Have a Dream" speech;

[(B) the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. Section 2000a et seq.);

[(C) the United States Supreme Court s decision in Brown v. Board of Education;

[(D) the Emancipation Proclamation;

[(E) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

[(F) the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution;

[(G) the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision in Mendez v. Westminster;

[(H) Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave;

[(I) the life and work of Cesar Chavez; and

[(J) the life and work of Dolores Huerta;

[(9) the history and importance of the women s suffrage movement, including the following documents:

[(A) the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. Section 10101 et seq.);

[(B) the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution;

[(C) Abigail Adams s letter "Remember the Ladies";

[(D) the works of Susan B. Anthony; and

[(E) the Declaration of Sentiments;

[(10) the life and works of Dr.AHector P. Garcia;

[(11) the American GI Forum;

[(12) the League of United Latin American Citizens; and

[(13) Hernandez v. Texas (1954)].

Now, to be fair, perhaps, the Legislature was simply trying to clean up the law. After all, the listing of the above topics is not exclusive, and I suppose the implication could be derived that the listing was exclusive of other topics. Unfortunately, given the conduct and performance of the Texas governor and Legislature, I cannot be so generous or magnanimous. The optics of S.B.3 alone speaks volumes to me, and those thoughts are NOT positive.

Then, we have the instigating law; H.B. 3979 – AN ACT relating to civics instruction public school students and Instruction policies in public schools, signed into Texas state law by Governor Abbott just one week after S.B. 3 (2021-06-15). Included in H.B>3979 are:

(1) no teacher shall be compelled by a policy of any state agency, school district, campus, open-enrollment charter school, or school administration to discuss current events or widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs;

(2) teachers who choose to discuss current events or widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs shall, to the best of their ability, strive to explore such issues from diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective; [emphasis mine]

Prima facie, the words of HB 3979 seem reasonable and logical. I believe we all want our children to be taught in a balanced, fair, knowledge-based manner. However, as with most laws, the question arises, who defines and how do they define ‘controversial issues’?

To my knowledge, Ms. Peddy has not offered her background information regarding the above question. Did she just pluck the Holocaust out of the air as her example, or had she been bombarded by parents, politicians, and conspiracists about the district’s teachings about the Holocaust? I suspect that is in fact the case. There are far too many conspiracies, who seem to be most common among the fBICP [former Bully In Chief Party, AKA Republican Party or Grand Old Party (GOP)]. I stand with the teacher noted above. What is the opposite of the Holocaust? The only thing I can think of is Mein Kampf—Adolf Hitler’s seminal blueprint for the extermination of the Jews; I suppose that is the opposite of the Holocaust. To me, this kerfuffle represents the political dilemma we face today. Repeatedly, over many decades, the fBICP has demonstrated its propensity for and attraction to ignorance over knowledge. That reality has come to us time and time again, going back to Anthony Comstock and his morality crusade of the late 19th and early 20thcenturies. This Texas fiasco is just one more example of that reality.

History is history! The Holocaust, humans landing on the moon, slavery, et al, are decided and settled history. Opposing the history of the Holocaust is quite akin to opposing the fact that the earth is not flat, or the earth orbits the sun, or insisting upon the notion that Christianity is the supreme religion. This group on non-reality believers must be relegated to the dust bin of history.

 

A long-time friend and frequent contributor to this humble forum sent two newspaper articles to further on-going discussions. The first was:

S/he said:

“I suppose this is copyright-protected, but it makes one of my points about the incompetence in addressing COVID.”

The subject article:

“Good morning. When an F.D.A. panel meets today about J. & J. booster shots, an elephant will be in the room.”

by David Leonhardt

The New York Times

Published: October 15, 2021

To which I responded:

From my knowledge, this article is spot on. I agree. We have every expectation that the USG should be perfect--no mistakes or missteps. But, they are not. They are human beings and flawed like all the rest of us. A near perfect negative example was the mask fiasco at the outset of the pandemic. The USG & medical establishment were ill-prepared for a pandemic. They had insufficient stockpiled PPE for the frontline medical professionals and feared a panic consumption of the thin just-in-time supply. They had no choice but to advise the public that masks were not necessary, to preserve the thin supply for the medical professionals. There is no debate or doubt that that simple reality induced gargantuan confusion, conflict and doubt. I still do not know if we have learned the lessons of failure in this pandemic. I suppose we will not know the answer until the next pandemic.

 . . . Round two:

“I have no expectation that the government will be ‘perfect,’ which is not a quality of humans. I would like them to be competent, and I'm not seeing that with respect to the virus. The mask nonsense is one of many failures, although it's the one that affects me individually the most. Their mistakes in dealing with human factors at every move, as discussed in the article and beyond that, are inexcusable.”

 . . . my response to round two:

I cannot disagree. However, I suppose our debate might rest upon our respective definition of “competent.” I suspect my threshold is lower than yours.

I think “the system” (comprised of flawed human beings) is doing the best it can, given the reality of the situation in which they found themselves. In the contemporary instance, the professionals had to carry the monumental unwarranted additional burden of an unhinged, immature, narcissistic, ill-informed, and contradictory president, e.g., hydroxychloroquine, injecting disinfectant, et al. If we are going to point an accusatory finger, it must start with the [person who shall no longer be named].

 . . . Round three:

“My standard of competence is higher than yours, but at this level of life, the level of competence affects numerous lives lost or heavily impacted. The past President is by no means the only politician who will dodge responsibility for all of this. Most of the governors and many others failed as well. I'll note that the ‘professionals’ in question are government appointees. My experience of government work (and work in general) tells me that appointment to higher positions depends less on professional skills and more on personal connections, interview skills, and office or public politics. It's a shame so many of these are patronage jobs rather than Civil Service.”

 . . . my response to round three:

Well, there ya go!

Political appointment requires confirmation by the Senate, which was a constitutional provision intended to diminish patronage. While some of those involved are political appointees, e.g., administrator of the FDA, and director of the CDC, others are in fact Civil Service employees, e.g., director of the NIAID. Further, some of the political appointees in question are degreed medical doctors, which gives them some degree of intellectual independence. Regardless of their means of employment, they are human beings and inherently flawed and susceptible to political pressure, as we witnessed in the last administration.

 . . . Round four:

“I don't know how to tell you how much my respect for degrees and credentials diminished by the time I got my own degree. There's very little of that left. Anyone who serves at the pleasure of another has no independence. As far as I know, Senate approval was merely a chronic logjam until Mitch McConnell made it a tool to assert power.”

 . . . my response to round four:

It is unfortunate that your university education was not positive. I do not share that experience with you.

Perhaps so! I was one of those “at the pleasure of” people all of my working life from a delivery boy for a florist, to an officer of Marines, to various jobs in the corporate world. My employment always depended upon performance.

Yes, Senate confirmation has been and remains a periodic logjam as each new administration takes command. I cannot imagine an alternative.

 . . . Round five:

“The central difference between my jobs or yours versus political appointive jobs is that political appointees depend on the favor of the appointing official, not on performance. If they really depended on performance, DC would be a very different place.”

 . . . my response to round five:

No argument. You shall have the last word.

The second message opened:

“Here's another New York Times column. This one's about another of my issues, the two-party system. Perhaps the Democrats, the chronically weaker party, ought to think about finding allies.”

The subject article of the second message:

“Loser’s Consent and the Future of Democracy”

by Max Fisher with Amanda Taub 

The New York Times

Published: October 15, 2021

My response to the second message:

To my knowledge, the observations and perspectives expressed in the article are accurate and appropriate. We face exactly the same dynamic as illuminated in Fisher’s words. I also believe Fisher’s concluding assessment that bringing European-style proportional representation is a very long shot. Our current two-party politics are corroding the very fabric of this once grand republic. Whether the situation is recoverable is yet to be determined. I can only add that I had similar feelings 50 years ago when we were at the peak of the civil rights movement coupled with the anti-war dynamics and burgeoning compromise of our collective fundamental rights in the name of the war on drugs. We snapped out of the period. Whether we can do it again remains an open question.

 . . . Round two:

“Agreed. The Founders created an entirely new way of governance, but others have since outgrown us. Whether our ‘leaders’ can let go of the vehicle by which they rose to power remains to be seen.”

 . . . my response to round two:

There is nothing in the Constitution that precludes or even discourages multi-party governance. In fact, the Constitution provides for election reconciliation given a multi-party election. ‘Letting go of the vehicle’ would require a constitutional amendment, which makes such a drastic change unlikely.

 . . . Round three:

“‘The vehicles that got them there’ are unlimited private financing and tight control of ballot access, neither of which was addressed in the Constitution, and that's my point about others outgrowing us. Also, the Electoral College and the structure of the Senate make it possible for a minority of the voters to control the government.”

 . . . my response to round three:

No disagreement, my friend. I am all for ending dark money in elections and in politics at large, but now, it will take a constitutional amendment to override the Supreme Court. I am also adamantly against what the fBICP is currently doing to restrict ballot access and our freedom to vote.

That said, I do not agree with your assessment of the Electoral College or the Senate. Yet, what Moscow Mitch has done to bastardize the Senate is wrong in every possible perspective and spits in the face of history. Given his contamination of the Senate, perhaps it is time we abandon any hoped for collegiality intended for the Senate. It sure does appear that the Senate has been irredeemably contaminated and compromised by the Kentucky senior senator; history should so record.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.1030:

Comment to the Blog:

“At this moment, I'm finding the panic over the virus more amusing than interesting. Good luck to all sides.

“More interesting today is the Five Thirty-Eight analysis of Arizona Senator Sinema.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/kyrsten-sinema-is-confounding-her-own-party-but-why/

They do their usual sound statistical analysis of the horse-race factors, but the more useful information is below the line breaking up the story. Both the nature of her donors and her experience of success take her away from all of that “what the voters want analysis.”

My response:

Yes, it would be humorous if it was not so tragic and sad. I just want this damn thing over with or at least to a manageable level that returns our health care system to something resembling normal. I am not worried about my family, but I remain very much worried about the doctors, nurses, and treatment capacity of our health care system. There are an estimated 50M citizens who are desperately trying to keep us from returning to normal, and they portray their resistance in the disguise of freedom, as if they alone are defending freedom of choice. What they are really saying is, screw your choice or their choices, all that matters is my choice. There is no collective, only individuals who have no obligation to the collective, because there is no collective.

Why? Because Sinema ran in Arizona as a moderate, in a generally conservative state, listening to all sides. Sinema, like Manchin, is trying to walk a very fine line between vociferous opposed factions and seeking to please everyone equally, or in the negative sense, anger everyone equally.

Nonetheless, yes, an interesting analysis. We shall remain vigilant.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“I noticed that you assume feelings and motivations for those you dislike. That kind of assumption is never valid en masse.

“Read further down in that article. It's not about Arizona voters as the primary motivation. Arizona is not West Virginia.”

 . . . my follow-up response:

Quite right. We are all individuals, driven by our own beliefs, opinions, and motives. I do try, perhaps not as successfully as I should, to respect others including those with whom I disagree.

Quite so. Arizona is NOT West Virginia. There are many unique dynamics in Arizona politics, as John McCain illuminated and navigated. Sinema is a bit of an odd duck. Kelly is a moderate as well. But for reasons unknown, Sinema chooses to take a more confrontational stance.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

11 October 2021

Update no.1030

Update from the Sunland

No.1030

4.10.21 – 10.10.21

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

 

            To all,

 

In the on-going struggle with facts in this country, an anti-vaxxer from a different network submitted the following article as for (her/his) claim and accusation that the U.S. Government was forcefully administering the COVID-19 vaccine to citizens against their will.

“Scots care home resident ‘held down and vaccinated against her will’ as two workers suspended – The Care Inspectorate warned that unless there is marked improvement at Millport Care Centre it will cancel the home’s registration.”

by Vivienne Aitken, Health & Education Editor

The Daily Record

Published: 04:30, 19 APR 2021; UPDATED: 12:57, 19 APR 2021

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-care-home-resident-held-23937350?fbclid=IwAR3O3oeMzSehX8SGuvs6lbY-fbaoagoA1dmAD7N-h3Xm9GdgJL8tloB_j9k

Beyond the fact that the cited incident was one instance and it occurred in Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland, United Kingdom, the proponent sought to use the episode as justification for resisting the U.S. Government (USG) efforts to break the chain of infection by getting all citizens vaccinated. My response to the above article was, those health care workers violated the law and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To me, what occurred in Millport, Scotland, was a crime. Those care workers had no authority to administer the vaccine against the person’s will and choice. I will resist the quantum leap of extending this incident to the UK or the U.S. as even remotely indicative. This is exactly why I have been so sticky regarding our language related to the pandemic response. Both sides use exaggerated words, often without facts, or they select a fact to rationalize their pre-conceived position. This is the legacy of the [person who shall no longer be named]—everything is fake news; only he speaks the truth; listen to only him—Big Brother in the flesh. It will take several generations to repair the damage he has inflicted upon this once grand republic.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.1029:

Comment to the Blog:

“Senators Manchin and Sinema as well as conservative Democrats in the House are supported by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) so that the DNC can continue to ‘lose’ on policy initiatives that their base and the majority of voters support. That's how the owners of the major parties want it. 

“Cap, the vaccine is mandatory for many, with the full support of the government. Job loss is coercive regardless of what you say. I'm vaccinated myself, but the implementation is every bit as clumsy under Biden as it would've been under the Chump. 

“I use Wikipedia often, although it's not a formal academic source. I donate to Wikipedia and I recommend any user to do the same. 

“The fact that history is indeed replete with pork-barrel spending doesn't justify it, nor does ‘everybody does it.’ Perhaps the ‘good folks’ (if any) in Congress could grab some of the Defense pork barrel spending for other purposes that would benefit their districts more. There's plenty of need. In fact, some of that need is in the DNC budget proposals.”

My response to the Blog:

That is a rather cynical perspective. I cannot refute your hypothesis, since I am not in the DNC and certainly not in the policy presidium of the DNC. Thus, the best I can say is, you are entitled to your opinion for whatever reasons you wish.

We shall respectfully disagree. Mandatory means being restrained and forcefully vaccinated against your will. The USG & Press are wrong to use that word in the context they are using it. From another network, a contributor quoted a British source that reported a woman in Scotland being forcefully restrained and vaccinated against her will. The two health workers were suspended and may be prosecuted. If true, that was mandatory administration. To my knowledge, all Americans of any status always have a choice: 1.) take the vaccine, or 2.) find other employment. That is not mandatory application; that is choice.

Likewise, I use Wikipedia as my starting point when available. Their articles are usually accurately sourced, which I validate and corroborate. I do not cite Wikipedia itself as a definitive source.

You are absolutely correct. I was only offering an observation, not justification or rationale. I am all for that. But, it is like an addiction that must be broken. Yes, absolutely, there is myriad good causes to fund other projects rather than defense pork projects. The Build Back Better (BBB) bill is a good example. We’ve had enough right-wing spending for a while. Let us try some left-wing spending. The fBICP spending resistance is a fallacious and spurious effort. The fBICP has no problem spending money they never had on their stuff. I am good with Congress and President Biden having their turn. I urge Congress to get the Infrastructure and BBB bills passed ASAP. To me, the BBB bill is far better than that damnable wall or tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.

 . . . Round two:

“From Merriam-Webster:

“Definition of mandatory

“(Entry 1 of 2)

“1 : required by a law or rule: obligatory the mandatory retirement age 

“Let's not play word games. This particular rule is enforced by loss of employment, which is a very serious situation, especially because no comparable job will be available.”

 . . . my response to round two:

I am not playing word games. I am trying to be precise with my word choice. Employment is not a right. I worked my entire life “serving at the pleasure of . . .” I had to perform my assigned tasks to the level demanded (required) by my employer. That was true in both military and commercial jobs. I do not buy the loss of employment argument. Nurses are nurses throughout the country and the world for that matter; nurses are always in high demand. Employers have every right under law to require certain specified conditions of employment. Vaccination is NOT mandatory. People have a choice. There are always consequences to the choices we make. One of those is, “go find employment elsewhere.” I have little empathy for those who choose to reject the vaccine and remain a fertile potential host for a highly infectious virus. Those so inclined are endangering all of us since they are enabling the virus to mutate.

 . . . Round three:

“More word games. ‘Privilege’ or not, the threat of unemployment is coercive.”

 . . . my response to round three:

Of course, it is. That is the whole point. Organizations, corporations, agencies and any grouping of human beings are struggling to protect their employees, their associations, their businesses, from illness, incapacitation, and potentially death. The COVID-19 virus remains a serious threat to the health and well-being of all citizens and the public domain. We have tried other gentler inducements with limited success. The flat, hard, cold reality is the un-vaccinated remain a serious threat to all of us. I suspect “loss of employment” is not going to be the most severe inducement we shall see before we are done.

 . . . Round four:

“This has reached the point where I cannot even find your last reply. Enough”

 . . . my response to round four:

I am not sure what that implies, but enough is sufficient.

 

Another contribution:

“Found this in the lap top this morning.

“What the hell is going on here Cap we’ve been seeing articles on this subject for weeks now.

“It looks more like a war between the law courts than those affected by this. Can’t it be finally sorted?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58853859

[The article is:]

“Texas abortion: U.S. appeals court reinstates near total ban”

BBC News

Published: circa [03:30 [T] MST; Saturday, 9.Sep.2021]

My reply:

Democracy is like sausage-making—the result tastes great but you do not want to watch the production process.

I am not sure how deep you wish to drill down with this topic, so I shall leave that decision to your curiosity. The emotional public subject of abortion is simply the salient for this judicial conflict. The question illuminates the division between two major factions of constitutional jurisprudence—conservative versus liberal. The conservatives are generally strict constructionists, i.e., abortion or anything like it are not mentioned in the Constitution, therefore, abortion is not a constitutional or federal matter. The liberal faction views the Constitution as a living document greater than just words on paper. Taken to the next level, this translates into whether there are unalienable rights beyond the Constitution, e.g., the fundamental right to privacy and freedom of choice (neither of which are addressed in the Constitution). At the next level below that rests the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade [410 U.S. 113 (1973); 22.1.1973] [319]. The popular notion exists that Roe established the constitutional right to abortion. The conservatives have long proclaimed Roe was improperly decided and must be overturned. So to conclude this little treatise, the question of Roe is far greater than abortion. I fear (truly) that the conservatives on the Court are finally going to do what they set out to do 50 years ago. There ya go; that is the short version.

 . . . Round two:

“Here’s some more reading for you young man….Biden v Trump-it goes on.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/08/biden-overrules-trump-white-house-files-6-january-panel

[The article is:]

“Biden overrules Trump effort to keep White House files from 6 January panel – The National Archives told to give documents to House committee despite ex-president’s attempt assert executive privilege”

by David Smith in Washington

The Guardian

Published: Fri 8 Oct 2021; 18.07 EDT

 . . . my reply to round two:

Yep, accurate. The [person who shall no longer be named] has once again been given bad legal advice or more likely chose to ignore proper legal advice. “Executive Privilege” is a bona fide principle to protect the Office of the President and separation of powers. The principle does not extend to the human being elected to perform the duties of the Office of the President. This effort by the [person who shall no longer be named] is at best a blatant attempt to delay the work of the January 6th Commission. President Biden took the correct action.

 . . . Round three:

“Cap, yes judicial conflict sums it up conclusively. That’s precisely why I asked the question why have two views in law-the law is the law and there should be only one view on the one law…but it isn’t like that is it Cap.”

 . . . my reply to round three:

Yes, you would think that is true—the law is the law. However, as a former president told us, “It depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is.” With that kind of obfuscation, it should be no surprise that lawyers will try anything with words.

 . . . Round four:

“Simple question-‘Why make laws that are for the nation’s good by the governing body’ if these laws can be ignored at will. Sounds a simple question Cap! Shall I send Boris over to sort this out for you? He’s taking a week off so he will be available for a small fee and we need lots of those this side of the pond.”

 . . . my reply to round four:

Valid question. Freedom is not always attractive. We have a long history of resisting laws we do not agree with, i.e., Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 (AKA Stamp Act of 1765) [5 Geo. III, c. 12]. Another good example is S.J.Res. 17 [40 Stat. 1050; 18.12.1917] that became the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—alcohol prohibition.

The [person who shall no longer be named] figured out that he could amplify the Tea Party dissent into a national force, and he was successful. His perpetuation of the BIG LIE continues to this very moment, and it will most likely persist into the 2022 mid-term elections and possibly the 2024 presidential election. It will take several generations to expunge the forces he has unleashed. Millions of good American citizens have swallowed his magic snake-oil elixir, and they believe. That cannot be easily undone.

We may well bear witness to the degeneration of this once grand republic. Sad to say, but may well be true. Only time shall tell the tale.

Boris for president? Anything is worth a try. We are failing miserably.

 . . . Round five:

“Indeed you raise some historical events that underline the past occasions that could bring us to the conclusion that his modus operandi is the way to behave but it isn’t. We must all move on into a better future. No, I don’t believe it is an announcement of freedom, we cannot ignore that we, us humans, must lead a governed life, but we in general, fail to do exactly that. As a consequence we eventually reach a boiling point with in your case violent rally in Washington and our citizens attaching themselves with adhesives to block major roads.

“When will the human race learn to live a civilised life? Maybe never, subsequently it will be our doom.

“Sorry to be so gloomy, I’ll try better next time…but we do live in melancholy times.”

 . . . my reply to round five:

Yes, exactly. Most mature democracies recognize and acknowledge that we “must lead a governed life.” Unfortunately, there are minority factions that have been drawn out of the shadows in this country who believe freedom is no government—survival of the fittest. We have the [person who shall no longer be named] to thank for giving those minority factions a voice. Regulation is essential to the common good and peace in the public domain. He has done many bad things; that is but one. We can only hope that someday he is held to account.

In that context, your country is far more civilized than mine. Those anarchist factions within this once grand republic garner far too much attention because they are such a threat. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, as they say. The problem we have is, those vocal factions are small minorities. The vast majority of American citizens are peaceful, law-abiding, productive citizens, but they do not get the press attention.

Be what you are, my friend—gloomy or not. Life is like that.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

04 October 2021

Update no.1029

Update from the Sunland

No.1029

27.9.21 – 3.10.21

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

 

            To all,

 

            The follow-up news items:

-- The so-called “week from hell” for Congress has come and gone. The earth continues to spin on its axis, and the sun continues to appear every morning on the eastern horizon. The one bill that needed to get passed was put in the can. Congress finally passed H.R.5305 - Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act [Senate: 65-35-0-0(0)]. Fifteen Republicans joined the Democrats and voted in favor of the bill after Division D, Title III [1028] was removed. President Biden signed the bill into law on Friday, the same day as the Senate’s approval. So, the U.S. Government will remain open and continue to operate for another fiscal year.

We watched some of the legislative convulsion regarding the various infrastructure bills. The bipartisan bill passed by the Senate remains in hostage status with the House progressives and the Senate Democratic moderates contesting the size of the separate human infrastructure bill. Senators Sinema and Manchin are trying valiantly to instill fiscal discipline to congressional legislation. I am for fiscal discipline. However, I do not understand why the Democrats must exercise fiscal discipline when the fBICP never did exercise restraint. This “my spending is OK, yours is not” nonsense is not acceptable. I think President Biden and the Progressives are correct; human infrastructure deserves as much attention as hard infrastructure. So, I say, pass both bills, and let’s get on with it.

-- History will record that the United States passed another grim milestone on Friday of 700,000 COVID-19 [946] fatalities—the most COVID-19 fatalities of any nation on the planet. That fact alone is embarrassing for one of the most advance nations.  Add in that only 55.8% of our citizens are fully vaccinated, the situation appears worse. The U.S. population is 330,000,000, which means 184,000,000 are fully vaccinated. A question that continues to pop-up: is the price of freedom our own demise? Apparently, freedom is more important than survival.

 

watched an intriguing and thought-provoking documentary, PBS Nova “The Cannabis Question” broadcast on Wednesday, the 29th. The program offered a forthright and balanced assessment. From my perspective, the Nova program is an excellent supplement to my newest novel—Indulgence. Intellectually, the program offers a poignant statement. We have suffered 50 years of ignorance over knowledge legally imposed by a willful minority of social conservatives. It is long past due that we opt for knowledge rather than ignorance. Informed consent is an essential element of our precious freedom of choice.

 

The fBICP remains very busy with their misinformation campaign in their desperate attempt to remain relevant and hold on what remains of their power and influence. The following article came from a different network I belong to for information.

“The Definitive List Of How We're Living In '1984'”

by Tyler Durden

Published: FRIDAY, OCT 01, 2021 - 04:20 PM

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/definitive-list-how-were-living-1984

To which, I added my opinion. This is typical double-speak by the [person who shall no longer be named] and his fBICP, e.g., the USG has not, and I'm not aware of anyone including United Airlines, making vaccination mandatory. The Press likes to use the word, but it is incorrect. Mandatory means you are restrained and given the vaccine against your will. Vaccination as a condition of employment is NOT a mandatory application. Every citizen has a choice: get vaccinated and enjoy the public space, or don't get vaccinated, and be denied the public space because you are a threat to public safety.

 

Friday and Saturday, to my disappointed surprise, Wikipedia was down. I do not use the website as a definitive source, but it is usually replete with good and worthy clues that help me zero in on historical, factual details across a very wide variety of topics. The Wikipedia articles are most often well cited for definitive sources. In my frustration, I did a Google Search with the query—Is Wikipedia down? There were numerous hits from a variety of sources that indicated Wikipedia had been the object of a cyberattack. The website was back up and on-line Sunday night. We never know how important something is until it is denied to us. I truly hope Wikipedia resolved their vulnerability, and the investigators can find and prosecute the perpetrators of the attack.

 

In the category of “what goes around comes around,” or “Karma is karma,”

Alexander Emerick ‘Alex’ Jones, an American far-right radio show host and highly prominent conspiracy theorist, lost his second defamation defense case— Pozner v. Jones [Cause No. D-1-GN-18-001842 (2021)]. Jones repeatedly and publicly claimed that the Sandy Hook massacre of 26 people including 20 young school children [574, 14.12.2012] was a giant hoax perpetrated by the gun control faction to seize private firearms. He deserves to be seriously punished for his blatantly false statements; bankruptcy seems quite appropriate.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.1028:

Comment to the Blog:

“The ‘duty’ argument for vaccination doesn't do much for me, but the New York Times Morning newsletter mentioned someone who claimed it worked on some of the ‘anti’ partisans. The same newsletter mentioned the bizarre conspiracy theory that Democrats want Republicans to blindly resist vaccination so that enough of them die to change election results. That wouldn't work. A friend of mine looked up the net death rate from that virus worldwide, and it's 1.6%. That won't do it. 

“The Arizona recount is admittedly expensive but is hilarious. Even with hand-picked people and all possible resources, the crazies can't support their own claim. 

“The entire budget process is an ongoing farce, largely because of the misguided law on debt ceilings.”

My response to the Blog:

Like most topics, we can respectfully disagree. I was only offering my opinion, my perspective, just as you have done.

Most conspiracy theories are worthless nonsense instigated and believed by those folks not willing to do the necessary homework or thinking. I do not want anyone to die unnecessarily, not even Republicans, anti-vaxxers, fBICP members, or even the [person who shall no longer be named]. I see our standing as the nation with the most COVID-19 fatalities in the world as a terrible consequence and an obscene reflection of the senseless political division in this once grand republic. I suppose COVID-19 fatalities do not matter unless we or our loved ones are among that morbid statistic.

Yeah, the Arizona Senate Republican audit of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County (only) would be laughable if it was not so sad. The grotesque expenditure of taxpayer funds without a shred of hard evidence (only wild, irresponsible, conspiracy theory accusations) is tragic on many levels. The Cyber Ninjas broke the chain of custody on all of the Maricopa County voting machines, which means Maricopa County—not State Senate Republicans—must buy, certify, and secure all new voting machines. And, we have a state-wide election coming up next month. I suspect we will be relegated to paper ballots again—a step back several decades. The tragedy of the BIG LIE is approaching incalculable extremes. And worse, the fBICP is not done yet. They want similar audits in other states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, et al. I suspect the [person who shall no longer be named] and his fBICP will strive mightily to perpetuate the BIG LIE through the 2022 election and into the 2024 presidential election. We must resist this threat to democracy and to this once grand republic.

The debt limit law may be misguided, but the fact remains; we cannot continue to just keep printing money. The national debt is an embarrassment. I doubt we will ever pay it off, set aside pay it down. I can support the US$3.5T human infrastructure bill if it is net zero over its 10-year span. If not, then it is more foolish largesse we cannot afford.

 . . . Round two:

“It's not as simple as the politicians fighting. Consider the roles of appointees who have technical responsibilities. They would be far better chosen by the Civil Service than by the politicians. Perhaps the Civil Service could come up with testing for high-level communication/marketing skills as well as for actual results in the technical fields.

“I favor paper ballots unless someone can come up with un-hackable, permanently recording voting machines. We're not there today.

“As far as the deficit, we have at least two choices other than enforcing and increasing taxation on corporations and the wealthy. We could take the bulk of the money from the defense contractor budget without the least risk to national well-being, or we could look at the deficits of other nations with more successful economies and look to them for what is reasonable. The debt ceiling law was enacted to slow social progress.”

 . . . my response to round two:

I cannot imagine the politicians relinquishing control of Civil Service hiring no matter how wise. The fBICP believes totally that the “Deep State” are those Civil Service employees who are not under their direct confirmation control.

If citizens would mark paper ballots properly, I might agree, but they do not. Most states (I believe) have sought to make their voting systems less error prone. I voted by mail in the last election. I was very careful to mark, check and re-check all of my marks before I submitted my completed ballot. In the past, I have used voting machines that recorded my votes electronically and simultaneously produced a paper copy, which was used for post-election audits. Nothing is unhackable, just as there is no security system that is perfect. Security provisions are intended to make manipulation (external or internal) far more difficult to accomplish, to buy time for security personnel to intervene with attempted intrusions. With human applications, there is no such thing as perfect. The fBICP are using these realities to press their voter suppression efforts, and so far, they have enjoyed some success.

That is an interesting position. You may well be correct, i.e., “The debt ceiling law was enacted to slow social progress.” Regardless, we must find balance. As for reduction of the defense budget, I will only say we do not need a warship or a division until we do. We have only to look at what happened during the euphoria of massive disarmament in the 1920s. Again, there must be balance. Case in point, Bush’s (43) disastrous incursion into Iraq in 2003. He tried to execute a far bigger military operation with 1/3 the combat forces than his pappy did a decade earlier. We paid a very heavy price for that mistake. If a marginal military is the desired status, then general mobilization is mandatory before any major military action. Bush (43) failed in that task. FDR was the last president to properly mobilized the nation for war.

 . . . Round three:

“Cap, I think you grossly underestimate the ability of Americans to mark a name on a ballot, regardless of Florida's Y2K debacle.

“Seriously, how many weapons do we need on hand (or provided at a profit to others) before enough is enough? I suspect that's far less than we have already.”

 . . . my response to round three:

In every election I have seen an audit since I started voting has illuminated ambiguous votes. I am not aware of any of those ambiguous votes even remotely affecting election outcomes. Perhaps the most infamous of those ambiguous votes was the Florida 2000 election and the “hanging chad” controversy. It is not a wide spread problem. It is just another opportunity for the naysayers like the fBICP to complain about outcomes. What the fBICP is doing in legislature they control is flat atrocious. I am all for improving election processes and equipment. I absolutely oppose making elections more difficult in the name of security as the fBICP is doing in Arizona and other states. It is going to take a long time to correct what the fBICP has done and is doing in some states.

I am not particularly concerned about the quantity or types of weapons our military has. I am only concerned with their preparedness. The best way to avoid war is to be prepared to win a war. Of all the things FDR justly deserves credit for accomplishing, the ultimate was defying the strong isolationist faction in the United States to sustain Great Britain when they alone stood against the Germans and especially mobilizing the United States. He gave us a year headstart, although we needed at least two years. Lastly, as is my nature, I prefer being over-prepared rather than risk being under-prepared.

 . . . Round four:

“You might do well to study that military budget. See what amounts go to preparedness and manpower versus other parts of the military-industrial complex that make more money for the contractors.”

 . . . my response to round four:

There is no question, no debate, that there is considerable pork in the Defense Department budget. To me, the bottom line is national defense preparedness. Just to be clear, the Defense Department does not set or fund the Department’s budget. That responsibility rest solely and completely with Congress alone. History is replete with defense expenditures that Congress has imposed on DoD. Porking up the defense budget is not limited to either political party; they all do it. They order more tanks, trucks, and supplies of all kinds that the military does not need for one reason only, to feed the businesses in their districts. Sadly, even the good folks are dragged into the process . . . to get their share for their districts. It is an irresistible temptation.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)