Update no.1043

 Update from the Sunland

No.1043

3.1.22 – 9.1.22

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

 

            To all,

 

            The follow-up news items:

-- The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has achieved a major milestone since its launch [1041]. All five layers of the sunshield have been separated and successfully tensioned completing another major sequence in the JWST deployment. The secondary mirror has been extended and latched in place. The Aft Deployed Instrument Radiator has been deployed and activated. The Port and Starboard Primary Mirror Wings have been unfolded and locked in place. The deployment phase was completed on Saturday (L + 14)—a day ahead of schedule. Now, what NASA calls the commissioning phase begins in which they will fine tune each of the 18 mirror segments to reach optimal performance of the whole mirror assembly. The JWST still has another two weeks of travel and an orbital insertion burn to reach its final halo orbit around Lagrange Point L2. We expect to see the first operational image from the JWST in June 2022.

-- On 31.March.2021, the Arizona Senate Republican Caucus (not the state senate) unilaterally hired four companies led by a novice, fledgling company known as Cyber Ninjas (CN), which was owned and operated by Douglas ‘Doug’ Logan. {Just a little adjunct FYI here: Logan was a staunch ‘Stop the Steal’ advocate and supporter of [the person who shall no longer be named]—surprise, surprise. And, guess who recommended Logan and his company to the Arizona Senate Republicans?} CN issued their final report on Friday, 24.September.2021. The CN audit found the President Biden won by a slightly wider margin than the final official vote count. They also reported ballot anomalies that to my knowledge have existed in every election and every precinct in the entire nation; none or any combination of the identified anomalies would have been sufficient to affect the outcome. Therefore, there was no steal, no altered outcome, and the BIG LIE as applied to Maricopa County, Arizona, was false . . . and just that—a lie. But, we all knew that . . . well, except for those who swallowed the worthless magic snake-oil elixir peddled by [the person who shall no longer be named]. Even a highly partisan, biased, ‘forensic’ audit by a fly-by-night novice company could not validate the BIG LIE.

On 5.January.2022, the Maricopa County Elections Department and Office of the Recorder issued a report titled: Correcting the Record: Maricopa County’s In-Depth Analysis of the Senate Inquiry in rebuttal to the CN report. Of the claims made by CN and their cohorts, the county election professionals found:

-- 22 were misleading – guiding the reader to assume a conclusion that is not supported by the evidence.

-- 41 were inaccurate – including flawed or misstated analysis.

-- 13 were outright false – demonstrably false and can be proven false using materials provided to the Senate.

Of the two conflicting reports, I think the county professionals’ report is far more likely to represent the facts and reality.

Making me even more suspicious of the CN nonsense, two recent facts cast aspersions on the CN involvement. The Arizona Superior Court ordered CN to turn over communications records and supporting information to the public record. They have steadfastly refused, and Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah has fined the company US$50K per day for their refusal to comply. So far, CN has refused to pay the accumulating fines. Perhaps as a consequence, this week, Doug Logan announced he had laid off his employees and closed his company. He has not yet filed for bankruptcy.

This whole Republican audit, induced by the BIG LIE, and the CN involvement in the questionable audit stinks to high heaven like rotten fish in a closed room. We add this whole fiasco to the growing mountain of evidence that the BIG LIE is exactly what it seems—a bald-faced lie spun up by a deeply flawed man afflicted by malignant narcissism and delusions of grandeur, who is incapable of admitting defeat. Worse, he is dragging a once great political party, millions of supporters, and the fabric of the nation down into the gutter and sewer with him. These are the times in which we live.

 

I must confess that it is truly scary to hear interviews with citizens of this once grand republic who publicly state their absolute, unwavering, unqualified belief in the BIG LIE despite the growing mountain of evidence; they believe because the chieftain of their tribe said so—nothing else. No evidence, no facts, no challenge, nothing, nada, niente, nothing . . . just because the chieftain said so. What makes the situation far worse, too many members of the fBICP (former GOP) have validated the chieftain’s dicta . . . because he said so. Such staunch repetition of the BIG LIE is extraordinarily dangerous to the future of not just this once grand republic, and frankly to democracy as a form of governance. Just a handful of years ago, I would have professed and proclaimed that the evaporation of the Constitution of the United States of America before our very eyes was a ridiculous, ill-informed, delusional notion. I cannot claim that perspective today. The forces of dissolution, division, and tyranny are far too real and undeniable. 

 

For what it is worth, I am beginning to see a common thread among many right-wing groups of citizens—a deep distrust of government. This apparent distrust is so deep that there is nothing they trust—no direction, no guidance, no elections, no rules, no laws, nothing they respect. Such distrust leads individuals to turn to a leader outside of any known governmental experience. In 2015, such a leader declared his candidacy for the presidency, and these distrustful citizens flocked to him like moths to a flame, like iron to a magnet. Unfortunately, that particular person has been afflicted all of his life with malignant narcissism fostered and encouraged by his father. 

From a fundamental independent perspective, there were no differences between the 1992 election and the 2020 election, and all of those in between. The 2016 election processes that brought [the person who shall no longer be named] to presidential power are exactly the same as the 2020 elections processes that soundly defeated that same man. Unfortunately for this once grand republic, when the result is not what the distrustful faction wants, the duly and properly certified election is declared fraudulent. Of course, [the person who shall no longer be named] is a shameless, egocentric man driven unwaveringly by his malignant narcissism to declare the BIG LIE even before the election was conducted, and then he persists in the BIG LIE to this very day. Regrettably, his misguided believers have swallowed his foundation-less, evidence-less, fact-less BIG LIE, hook, line and sinker. His fact-less claims have been tested in state and federal courts in three score plus cases, all of which were rejected (most outright) for being devoid of evidence beyond his accusations to reach just the probable cause threshold, set aside the beyond a reasonable doubt gate. The more we see, the more the hard factual evidence against him mounts. The consequences of the BIG LIE espoused by [the person who shall no longer be named] led to the greatest insurrection against the duly elected federal government since 1861.

The congressional investigation conducted in the wake of the 2016 election was not to contest the legality or constitutionality of the election, but rather it was to determine what influence Russian cyber-warfare activities had on “influencing” American voters. No one ever claimed the 2016 election was fraudulent, well other than [the person who shall no longer be named]—he persistently claimed the vote was rigged against him. He clearly did not win the popular vote, but he did properly win the constitutionally requisite Electoral College vote. He was legally elected to be president.

Then, four years later, [the person who shall no longer be named] continued in his it’s-all-rigged-against-me nonsense, and when his resounding defeat became all too apparent, the BIG LIE was born to explain his contention that he could not possibly be defeated in any election; therefore, such an election had to be fraudulent. The BIG LIE led directly to the insurrection of January 6^th . . . because he said so. Republican political leaders in both the Senate and House of Representatives denounced [the person who shall no longer be named] in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection. They had the opportunity to regain their integrity, but that brief surge failed. In that failure, the former GOP degenerated into the fBICP (former Bully In Chief Party). They were more afraid of the Tea Party radicals, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, neo-nationalist, and other malcontents than they were about their reputation. [The person who shall no longer be named] adroitly sensed and tapped into the broad-based distrust of government, and now the former Republicans are captive to the more banal elements of American society. With the fBICP Herculean efforts to return us more deeply into Jim Crow voting obstruction laws, we are regressing to a time long past, but now resurrected by the fBICP. His supporters, sycophants and believers now want us to believe the people who stormed the Capitol that afternoon a year ago where actually FBI agents and antifa activists disguised as believers. They are desperate to find something that will stick.

The reality is, we can induce trust no more than we can push a rope. Those citizens who so deeply distrust government including the USG, the Press, and other sources of accurate information refuse to acknowledge or even recognize the facts that categorically debunk the BIG LIE. But, they persist. And, as long as [the person who shall no longer be named] stokes and feeds that distrustful faction, this era of turmoil will persist.

 

On Thursday morning, 6.January.2022, the one-year remembrance of the attempted insurrection at the Capitol Building—another day of infamy irrevocable written in our history—Vice President Harris and President Biden gave remembrance speeches in the restored Capitol Rotunda. The president said, “The former President of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interest as more important than his country’s interest than America’s interest. And because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution.” As noted above, the president was spot on the money. He went on to say, “The former president and his supporters have never been able to explain how they accept as accurate the other election results that took place on November 3^rd.” President Biden closed with the essence of it all. “You can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t obey the law only when it’s convenient. You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.” It was a hard hitting, direct, and blunt speech. The writing was superb. However, the president’s delivery was a little more emotional for such a speech to my liking, but to me, it was a perfect speech to the moment.

 

One last thought on the topic . . . for now. No one can shout “FIRE!” in a crowded theater and then claim he had no idea there would be a stampede, or he was just kidding. No. That is a felonious crime no matter what excuses he offers; people died. That man did exactly that prior to and during the January 6^th insurrection. He deserves severe punishment to the fullest extent of the law as a historic example that his conduct will not be tolerated in our democracy, and especially from some deeply flawed man who puffs himself up like a blowfish every time he gets disturbed.

 

From a thread of a debate in another forum, I share one of my contributions in this forum.

We could have a long productive debate about the genesis of what we face today. It is easy to say much of our troubles can be attributed to a broad, cancerous, distrust of government. Certainly, the myriad mistakes by well-intentioned government employees, trying to do the best they can in difficult circumstances, can offer some mitigation. Nonetheless, they broke our trust--Venona, Bay of Pigs, Pentagon Papers, Watergate, Iran-Contra, Iraq, NSA-surveillance, et al ad infinitum ad nauseum. That distrust has led us to seek game-changers, disrupters, change-agents to break the paradigm. Unfortunately, many of us turned to people who were not worthy of the power they were given to effect that change. Now, we are headed to burning the whole house down because of our irritation with a plumbing problem. The reality is, we need a strong, vibrant government—not a dictator; our task should be to elect builders rather than destructors.

Respectfully, I truly believe your wrath at the Press is misguided, misplaced, and ill-advised. Instead of condemning and disregarding a large spectrum of an important, if not vital, segment of our system of governance, I strongly suggest we all develop a more productive method to evaluate information to find facts and filter opinions.

"That's just my opinion, but I could be wrong."

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.1042:

Comment to the Blog:

“I’m amazed at the number of people here still not recognizing political reality. I can only attribute that to the success of the insurrectionists in attacking any media but theirs. My response to them is to request evidence, but that doesn’t seem to move the needle. We may see a conclusion sooner than you expect. The tension our nation is experiencing can only continue for so long."

My response to the Blog:

If you include the instigator in your insurrectionist definition, then I am in 100% agreement. He has been very effective at stoking, feeding, amplifying, and encouraging the distrust of everyone and everything except him; fairly close to the definition of a dictator in those words. As such, his believers do not care a hoot about factual evidence; they only care about what he said. The genius (evil genius I should say) of [the person who shall no longer be named] is his ability to sense the dissatisfaction of that distrust of government and to tap into that dissatisfaction. Even when he is sent to prison for what he has done to this once grand republic, he will only become a martyr to the cause for his believers. From a historical perspective, this is no different from the staunch commitment to the cause of Confederacy believers or the SS believers; there is nothing that can or will deflect their unwavering commitment to the cause other than death. Unfortunately, those believers have had or will have children, and they will pass along their beliefs to their children. Someday, perhaps centuries from now, the insurrectionist mentality will die out. It has been 150+ years since the Confederate insurrection, and we still see far too many Confederate flags among the latest group of insurrectionists just one year ago.

 . . . Round two:

“You give a good, if impassioned, summary of insurrectionists throughout history. I don’t suppose the tendency will ever go away unless the ignorance and insecurity of the followers can somehow be erased. Unscrupulous leaders will surely always exist.”

 . . . my response to round two:

Yes, indeedie! There are bad men in all walks of life, and now we have endured one in the Oval Office. The evidence continues to mount against him. History will not be kind to him nor the degeneration of the GOP into the fBICP—a disgusting remnant of a once great political party—the party of Lincoln; but, the damage has been done. Our task now is, try to rebuild the governmental institutions our forefathers work so hard and sacrifice for all of us.

 . . . Round three:

“The problem with the ‘bad men,’ in an individualistic society, is that we tend to give them sole responsibility for the outcomes. If they didn’t have masses of followers, they’d be ordinary crooks or kooks. The same applies to ‘bad’ cops whose colleagues ignore or cover up their conduct. Rogue individuals don’t do the damage that movements or in-groups of ordinary people do.”

 . . . my response to round three:

Indeed and spot on! Some bad men have skills to influence others, to convince good folks to buy and consume their worthless, magic, snake-oil elixir. They turn the good-will of good people to nefarious purposes often to aggrandize themselves in one form or another, e.g., Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Jim Jones, Randy Weaver, David Koresh, et al, and now we add [the person who shall no longer be named] to that rogue’s gallery. One of the saddest aspects of that reality rests upon the power we have given them. His enablers in Congress (Boebert, Cruz, Gaetz, Gosar, Greene, Hawley, Jordan, Meadows, McCarthy, Nunes, et al) are deeply culpable; they had multiple opportunities under the Constitution to right the wrong, but they failed. Far more deeply culpable are the citizens who elected all of the perpetrators to high office. And to me even worse, this coming fall, they will elect them again to office; what does that say about the citizens who vote for these yayhoos despite the evidence?

 

Another contribution:

“Cap I seem to recall that you were quite convinced we had not heard the last from this person who cannot be named. My God you were so right, I personally find this quite alarming and could well develop into something very serious indeed. Let us trust that sanity will prevail. I expect you will be mentioning this subject!”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/january-6-trump-biden-live-capitol-riot-b1988429.html

My reply:

While the Independent report is accurate, it is a mere fraction of the reality we live today. Yes, I forecast [705] the destruction to be wrought by [the person who shall no longer be named], because it is the nature of malignant narcissism manifest in anyone. That man adds his skills to tap into discontent and sell worthy goop to good people who desperately wanted to trust and believe in him. He proved himself resoundingly unworthy of any trust. Unfortunately, the damage he has done will likely take generations to remedy, and I may not live to see the day. My generation has failed and proved unworthy. My parents were members of the Greatest Generation. My generation may well be recorded in history as the worst generation. I have gone on too long as a broken record.

 . . . a follow-up comment:

“Come on my friend your country will, yes in time, recover to the greatness of the past. Look what both our countries we have been through and we’ve survived together or alone. I agree of course this is something that you alone will need to sort out and you will-you must. You are great nation and you will do it.”

 . . . my follow-up reply:

I am generally an optimistic person. I have had dark thoughts in our historical past, e.g., the assassinations of 1963 & 1968, the anti-war and racism protests, Watergate, the Executive mismanagement of Operation EAGLE CLAW, et al. We recovered. The turmoil of these years is far more serious. The last insurrection we faced was in 1861; more than 400K citizens died as a consequence. The forces that instigated January 6^th are still at play. Some of the misguided minions have gone and will go to prison, but the chief instigator and perpetrator remains free at his luxury compound in Florida and still wreaking havoc on our society. Statistics say he will likely die before he goes to prison, but he certainly deserves hard prison time to contemplate the error of his ways. I appreciate your optimism and outlook, but in all honesty, I am not so sure anymore.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)