Update no.1056

Update from the Sunland

No.1056

4.4.22 – 10.4.22

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

 

            To all,

 

The follow-up news items:

-- Several reliable and accurate aviation safety networks reported that the PRC Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has requested U.S. NTSB assistance in reading out of the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) for the China Eastern Boeing flight MU-5735 accident [1054]. That is a positive sign. We really need to figure out what happened to that aircraft because its final seconds were quite unusual.

-- The U.S. Senate finally confirmed the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (PN1783) [Senate: 53-47-0-0(0)] to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer at the end of the current session. The Judiciary Committee deadlocked at 11-11. The full Senate had to vote to discharge the committee and advance her nomination to the Senator floor. Of note were the three Republicans who voted to confirm:

Senator Susan Collins of Maine

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah

Judge Jackson will remain on the DC Circuit for roughly three months until Justice Breyer formally retires at the end of the current session. It is not clear if there will be any active transition during this lag period before she takes the oath of office.

-- The U.S. House of Representatives voted [House: 220-203-0-6(6)] to add BIC aides and mouthpieces Peter Kent Navarro and Daniel Scavino, Jr., to the growing list of BICsters referred by the House to the Department of Justice for contempt of Congress. The trial of Steve Bannon [1032] is scheduled to begin in July. The Department has yet to charge and arraign Mark Meadows [1040]. I suspect these are not the last of the BICsters to face contempt charges. Justice will be served, however slowly in may come.

 

Judge Jackson’s confirmation hearings illuminated the far greater underlying political debate in our society. Senator Cornyn of Texas (fBICP) spoke on the floor to justify his ‘nay’ vote for Judge Jackson. I listened intently to understand. When we distill Cornyn’s words down to their most elementary factors, the fBICP is interested in one thing and one thing only—power. They want the power to project their beliefs, their opinions, and their moral values on all American citizens. He repeatedly spoke about the judicial principal of substantive due process by which judges articulate inferred rights of citizens not explicitly written in the Constitution. Concomitant with his objections to substantive due process, Cornyn railed against activist judges denying the power of the people to decide. WRONG! He advocates for 535 ‘representatives’ to decide what will govern the conduct of every single American citizen regardless of majority, public opinion, or rights. No single case exemplifies the contrast and conflict between moral projectionist conservatives and substantive due process than Roe v. Wade [410 U.S. 113 (1973)] [319]. The word ‘privacy’ does not appear in any form in the U.S. Constitution. Therefore, the conservatives argue, there is no constitutional right to privacy, only what the Legislature defines in common law, which in turn means our ‘representatives’ decide what privacy means to each of us and all of us. To the conservatives, a woman’s uterus and reproductive system belongs to the State; they will decide what she can and cannot do with those anatomical parts and biological processes—intentionally or unintentionally. A woman has no privacy within her own body. I am a firm believer in representative democracy; it is the only practical means of governance, especially in a large society like the United States of America. Where I fundamentally disagree with Senator Cornyn and his fBICP colleagues is, the Judiciary is the last line of defense for the fundamental rights of every citizen. Using Senator Cornyn’s reasoning, if the ‘duly elected representatives’ of Congress pass a law that imposes upon the fundamental rights of the People, not enumerated in the Constitution, who stands to protect those rights? To Cornyn, those rights do not exist, therefore there is no need for protection. Further, it is not 535 ‘representatives,’ but rather 218 representatives in the House and 60 senators in the Senate who will dictate what are ‘rights’ are for 330 million people.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1055:

“It is beyond my comprehension what Russia is doing in Ukraine, now they deny the unbelievable charges that will amount when this over and the world takes stock of these dreadful activities. How can a modern ‘civilised’ nation undertake the evil actions of the Russian army. There can be no understanding or forgiveness ever forwarded in their direction. The Russian population will need to live with these crimes until their last days on our planet. As for those responsible let us trust that the inevitable investigations that will follow and the punishments that will be presented are followed until conclusion and those responsible including him at the top are adequately dealt with. Will that happen or will the Russian people continue to be lead astray for eternity? Try answering that one Cap.”

“Cap, have a look at dreadful extracts from today’s papers.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/04/massacre-of-innocents-how-the-papers-covered-russias-atrocities-in-bucha

My reply:

The dictator Putin has taken us back at least 100 years to the heyday of the Stalinist era—brute force to make everyone fear you. We’ve seen the playbook. We do not fear that small, weak, foolish man. Despite the adulation of [the person who shall no longer be named], Putin has shown the world in terribly graphic terms exactly the kind of man he is—a brutal heartless murderer. As I have written, the Russians I know personally are kind, generous, emotional, compassionate, and civilized people . . . unlike the man who serves as their president. Putin grossly underestimated so many aspects of his regrettable war—Ukrainian resistance, the weakness and hollowness of the Russian Army, the pervasiveness of modern communications, the resilience and solidarity of the West, et al ad infinitum ad nauseum. We have seen resistance among the Russian people. Putin’s minions and the FSB will strive mightily to suppress any resistance, but the Russian people are stronger than those bad men. The truth shall prevail.

The civilized world tried valiantly to reduce the indiscriminate brutality since 1864—the First Geneva Convention [28.8.1864]. Putin has rejected civilization; the Russian people have not.

As with Sudan’s al-Bashir, the Russian people must present Putin for trial for war crimes (if he survives). I also think his supporters in the Duma as well as the generals who ordered these atrocities will see justice eventually just as the Nazis did at Nürnberg after WW2.

Putin will not give up easily or peacefully. I do not know if he will take the path of Hitler & Himmler, or Göring & Keitel. To the Russians of 1945, the Nazis were a far greater threat than Stalin. I think that is exactly why Putin chose to profess he was “liberating” Ukraine from the neo-Nazis he proclaimed were running the Ukrainian government.

Our newspaper headlines are quite similar although not as colorful as yours. They all seems quite accurate and appropriate.

 . . . Round two:

“What a dreadful period of life we’re going through. I awoke to the morning news yes, but before then even before I surfaced I had repetitive visions of the excerpts of last night’s news. The dreadful scenes are utterly unacceptable to modern society how could that man and his cronies believe in what they’re doing? Nazis, what nonsense, they are grabbing what they can of Ukraine, all of it if possible and then build that ‘wall’ between the communists and the freedom of liberation, yes NATO.

“I know, I was a ‘cold war warrior’ Cap, we went through God knows what to keep them where they belong. Things I must not divulge even now.”

 . . . my reply to round two:

Yes, indeed! Who would have thought we would witness such uncivilized behavior and conduct in the 21^stCentury, especially from an advanced country like Russia? The Russian people are FAR better than their current government. Yet, who are we to criticize the Russians, when we endured the obscenity of 2017-2021 in the United States of America. What we see in Ukraine at the hands of the Russians is exactly what happens when far-right extremists gain control of the instruments of State. We came dreadfully close in the United States. We must relegate the far-right to the distant minority status they deserve. I remain hopeful that the Russian people will make the appropriate corrections as we have done here.

I was a cold-war Marine as well. The Soviet Union was our near singular focus for decades.

 . . . Round three:

“I’ve just been prowling through my ‘Docs’ record and found a piece of my last book where my young American lady has arrived on The Queen Mary to join Eisenhower’s planning team and eventually go across the channel on D-day.

“On her way to their HQ she is caught in an air raid and lies in a bomb shelter for hours.

“On release, after being warned of un-exploding ordnance, she views the scenes of London in the blitz that we’re all seeing every day in our news items, destroyed buildings, burnt out vehicles and deceased animals and Londoners.

“Then this was only in my mind but today it isn’t.

“Can’t say I’m delighted with that because I’m not. The whole world isn’t and the perpetrators need casting off from the humanity we have come to love and cherish.”

 . . . my reply to round three:

We’ve seen this brutality in Chechnya, Syria, and even Palestine, but none of those were on the scale we bear witness to in Ukraine. The dictator Putin will claim he never authorized such broad, total destruction or indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, but that is a moot argument. He started this war without provocation; he unleashed the beast. He must be held accountable. It is good that people are documenting the atrocities the Russians are committing in Ukraine. I also do not believe these atrocities are rogue soldiers; I believe they were ordered by their generals and colonels to execute this vengeance policy. If the Ukrainians will not give Putin what he wants, then he intends to destroy everything and kill anyone they can find to deny the use of the land to anyone. The Nazis’ classic scorched earth policy during their long withdrawal from Russia.

I am disappointed there is not a motion to amend the UN charter to remove Russia as a permanent member of the Security Council; make the PRC vote no on the record. If that happens, then we should go to the General Assembly as a whole. Russia no longer deserves to be a permanent member. Putin has forfeited that right they have held for nearly 70 years. Putin deserves total isolation.

 

Comment to the Blog:

“The U.S. Presidential election process needs to be simplified and made transparent. The Founders’ attempt to protect ordinary Americans from our perceived gullibility has backfired spectacularly.

“The Don’t Say Gay bill and its kind seek a return to imagined Victorian times. The reality, then and now, has little to do with the dream, of course.

“Ohio has scheduled a limited primary for races not affected by gerrymandering on the usual date, May 3. The gerrymandering saga continues. Our Republican Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, told an outright falsehood on the local news the other night. He said the State Supreme Court had ordered maps that favor Democrats. What the Supreme Court actually ordered were maps that match the electorate, which is Republican by 54-46.”

My response:

I must confess, my friend, you may well be correct. However, I cannot subscribe to the notion until we can erase dark money, eliminate the corporation as citizen, and the substantiation of every citizen’s fundamental personal rights above even the Constitution (most important of which is privacy). Until then, our presidential electoral process may not be good, but it is the best for our pluralist, free society. I am always reminded by a soliloquy by the character Sam Seaborn in the series The West Wing [24.11.1999]: “It’s not about abortion.  It’s about the next 20 years.  In the 20’s and 30’s, it was the role of government; 50’s and 60’s, it was civil rights; the next two decades are going to be about privacy.  I'm talkin’ about the Internet, talkin’ about cell phones, talkin’ about medical records, and who's gay and who's not.  Moreover, in a country born on the will to be free, what could be more fundamental than this?”

Exactly my opinion as well . . . the definition of conservatism . . . maintain the status quo, or more appropriately return us all to the status quo ante—Caucasian, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, Puritan dominance. Conservatives reject the progressive advancements of our modern culture; their moral projection on all citizens is the only acceptable state to them. Even today, they strive mightily to regress us to a bygone era. Therein lies my staunch resistance to conservatism. I look to the future, not the past.

I did not realize Republicans held such a majority in Ohio, or is that a bias of the gerrymandering process? The struggle continues. The 2022 elections loom ahead.

 . . . Round two:

“I completely agree that we must eliminate money as a central factor in politics. However, the clumsiness of our Presidential process makes manipulation easier for experts even aside from that. I understand that the process was built that way due to mistrust of ordinary people’s insight, but the people the Founders trusted are the real problem.

“Legitimate conservatism in the style of Goldwater or McCain sought to preserve what they saw as good. This ‘return’ to an imaginary past is the tool of nationalists and other tyrants.

“The metric the State of Ohio has chosen for the party balance depends on past votes, and what database to use is another potential conflict. The Supreme Court’s point is that Republicans in the legislature far exceed that 54% to 46% ratio and seek to continue their dominance with the new maps. The proposed U.S. Congressional district map, for example, would give Republicans 80% of the seats based on their winning of 54% of the votes in recent times.”

 . . . my response to round two:

We have discussed the constitutional presidential electoral system at length. I am fairly certain neither of us seeks a rehash. ‘Clumsy’ depends upon one’s perspective. To me, there are very tangible reasons why the Framers created the Electoral College for the presidential election only. It does not exist for any other position in our entire governmental system. I will only say here that the tragedy of the immediately previous administration is exhibit no.1 in support of why we have the Electoral College. While the system clearly failed in 2016, I will argue that it succeeded in 2020. Reading the Eastman memoranda is chilling to say the least in that no matter how sophisticated or simple our electoral systems are or may be, they are still operated by human beings prone to tribal influence and obstruction. I cannot imagine what the fBICP would have done if we had a simple popular vote process.

I must confess my memory and knowledge of Goldwater conservatism may be deficient or flawed. Both Goldwater and McCain would be outraged, vociferous in their opposition, and adamant in their resistance to what the fBICP and [the person who shall no longer be named] have done to the former Republican Party. But, that man could not have done what he did without the likes of Meadows, Jordan, Biggs, Gosar, et al. And, those far-right members of Congress were elected by citizens in their districts. [The person who shall no longer be named] is simply a manifestation of a far deeper problem. Politicians who do not embrace the far-right ideology are afraid of that element of our electorate. The root issue for those of us who are more liberal, progressive, moderate, or concerned is the far-right vote and they understand the electoral process. If the rest of us do not vote, we will get what we’ve always got. Joe Biden is not the top tier of American presidents but he is infinitely better than what we just endured. We must vote, and we must manage the electoral process. Hillary Clinton would have been president if the Democrats had paid more attention to the Electoral College. The far-right are a serious minority with monstrously disproportionate influence on our electoral process. We must render them to the distant inconsequential minority status they deserve. Yes, absolutely, the far-right ‘conservatism’ of the fBICP is a very thin, almost transparent façade for white supremacists and pseudo-nationalists. They must be stopped; only voting them into oblivion will do that.

I think you meant to say that the Republicans in the Ohio legislature seek disproportionately greater influence than their physical numbers warrant. What you are experiencing in Ohio is similar to other states like Arizona. The Judiciary is our last line of defense in the protection of our rights. It is also why I listened so intently to the questioning of Judge Jackson in her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

 . . . Round three:

“I still think the Electoral College system has failed each time we’ve elected a Republican in this century.

“McCain and Goldwater were conservative. These people today are using the label but are authoritarian nationalists.

“Joe Biden is still not worthy of my vote. If politicians want people beyond the base to vote (which is in doubt), they have to offer something worth the effort.

“I thought I stated that the Republicans here want more seats than the voters would give them. Did you read something else?”

 . . . my response to round three:

You are entitled to your opinion, my friend, but I do not believe the data supports your hypothesis.

Regarding the motives of the fBICP, we are in complete agreement. We will soon see if moderates, liberals, and progressives vote. I cannot imagine and do not want to find out what an fBICP dominated Congress might do.

I am sorry you feel that way about Joe Biden, but again, you are entitled to your opinion and right to vote for whomever you wish. Yet, Joe Biden will not be on the ballot in the upcoming election.

I read your words as I indicated. Thank you for the clarification. From my perspective, I think the fBICP wants to control 100% of the seats, or perhaps tolerate a very small minority so they can claim there is a minority. The fBICP is a minority of a minority party, and they wield unreasonable and unwarranted influence through the primary process. There are very few true Republican voices remaining in the contemporary body politik. The 2022 election will tell us quite a bit. I just hope we are up to the task.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)