Update no.1141

 Update from the Sunland

No.1141

20.11.23 – 26.11.23

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

 

To all,

 

I trust everyone celebrated a most enjoyable Thanksgiving and whatever festivity of everything they are grateful for in life.

I also wish everyone a happy holiday season as we approach the end of the calendar year.

 

The follow-up news items:

-- We still do not know the official cause for the loss of the Starship spacecraft as part of the SpaceX IFT-2 mission [1140]. Some unofficial information indicates the uncrewed Starship apparently developed a fuel leak that gave the craft insufficient fuel to make it to its objective splashdown point north of Hawaii. As a consequence, they chose to destroy the craft, spreading debris on a line between Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Judging from past development efforts by SpaceX, the next test should be a winner. IFT-3 is tentatively scheduled for December 2023, so we will not have to wait long.

 

With a house full of three generations of family for the Thanksgiving week, I got very little reading, writing, and news attention-ing done. I have nothing more to add this week.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1140:

Comment to the Blog:

“If that SpaceX booster is meant to land in one place and the debris showers somewhere else, there’s a functional problem for the people wherever the debris lands.

“The current budget games are enabled by the deficit cap imposed by conservatives as a way to limit social programs. It costs the military-industrial complex nothing.

“Israel is committing genocide of the Palestinians. That has been their goal since they came into existence. It’s in the open now, regardless of whether a specific quote is accurate. You may argue if you like that killing hundreds or thousands of innocent people is justified in support of killing two or three of your nation’s enemies, but I’ll never agree.

“Your screed on the MAGAts is familiar material to political science majors and history students.

“Don’t let your emotions overwhelm your intelligence. That’s the weakness of the MAGAts.”

My response to the Blog:

At the point of staging, the vehicle was well out over the Gulf of Mexico and presumably over a clear area of the sea. No reports of injury or damage from the debris remnants have been reported. Just an FYI: the Saturn V first stage disintegrated during uncontrolled reentry as well. My point was, the booster accomplished its primary task—getting the spacecraft to sufficient altitude and speed on proper trajectory to reach orbit. What we do not yet know is what happened to the spacecraft itself. We know that it did not reach its sub-orbital splashdown target.

Quite so. And, once more, the debt limit cap is a tool originally well intended that has been subverted by a shrinking minority as a bludgeon for political purposes. There is no question the original law is NOT serving its intended purpose.

Israel is NOT committing genocide. I have no idea by what basis you make such a claim. This aspect of the debate reverts us back to the chicken-and-egg conundrum—an apparent insolvable paradox. Just for the public record and our continuing friendship, I do not like killing of any type. But, you and I do not decide such questions. Bad men decide; they make killing necessary. Our task is to make it as surgical and precise as possible.

Yes it is. It is not a new phenomenon. Once again, bad men make such actions necessary, just so in crime and war. We must deal with what comes.

“Overwhelm my intelligence” . . . oh my.

 . . . Round two:

“Thanksgiving is ‘my’ holiday; I try to make a year-round practice of gratitude.

“I have a chronic objection to conservatives’ use of ‘bad men’ to avoid conferring on society as a whole any responsibility for preventing misconduct in any given form.

“I heard that about emotion versus intelligence from a man I respect in a recovery meeting. He said to not ‘get E over I,’ and it works for me. I serve my basic values better if my ideas and actions aren’t distorted by passing emotions that can be manipulated.”

 . . . my response to round two:

We will have a full house later today—children, grandchildren, but no great-grandchildren (as yet). Happy Thanksgiving, my friend; enjoy every moment. Gratitude is the keyword for Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be grateful for in life. Enjoy your day.

My problem with your argument is, I have met “adversaries,” e.g., Russians. They are not what Putin and the radical right have done to Russia. So, if ‘bad men’ is not the correct moniker, then what would you call those men who have ordered one nation to invade and brutalize another sovereign country? Hamas started this latest flare up; they chose to butcher and kidnap innocent people. What would you call the military wing of Hamas? What would you have the ‘innocents’ do to stop the bad men when the people are predominantly disarmed and leaderless?

Ahso! Understood and agreed. Likewise, I strive to eliminate emotion from all decision-making, but on occasion, it is not so easy. Yes, indeed, emotions can be easily manipulated. All grifters seems to play on emotions with great effect. 

 . . . Round three:

“I will celebrate Thanksgiving quietly and appreciate the kids, grands, and great-grands daily. (I understand more and more as time goes on the role of sensory issues in my troubles.)

“My issue isn’t that ‘bad’ men don’t exist; they do. The problem is that society doesn’t evolve to thwart them.

“I’ve learned from Buddhist teaching about attachment and aversion, which can be seen as obsession and irrational fear.”

 . . . my response to round three:

Very good point. As has often been pointed out by numerous disparate sources, people commonly turn to dictators in times of chaos to make quick fixes to stabilize the turmoil, e.g., Germany 1933. Thus, bad men occasionally create chaos to induce such behavior. “Only I can fix this.” Sound familiar? The German people paid a very high price for their blind allegiance. Others paid a far steeper price. To my enormous surprise and disappointment, we are toying with the exact same phenomenon today in this once grand republic. Yes, absolutely, society must evolve, to mature, to deal with bad men before they can ever reach that level of autocracy and gain control of the instruments of state. We have failed in that maturation, and we have yet to see whether we can overcome. As Ben Franklin so eloquent and succinctly said, “A republic if you can keep it.” We have a tenuous hold today.

Good teaching we can all learn from.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1140

 Update from the Sunland

No.1140

13.11.23 – 19.11.23

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

 

To all,

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

SpaceX executed their Integrated Flight Test number 2 (IFT-2) of their Moon/Mars Starship spacecraft. The massive first-stage booster and spacecraft lifted off from the SpaceX Starbase at Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, 18.November.2023, circa 08:10 [S] CST / 07:10 [T] MST / 14:10 UTC. All 33 booster engines lit off and appeared to perform nominally through main engine cut-off and hot staging of the Starship space vehicle. All six engines on the space vehicle appeared to light off and perform nominally.

Something happened during the booster’s return to base maneuver and engine re-light burn that appeared to result in the activation of the termination system, presumably because they lost control of the booster. All 13 control engines on the booster did not light off or remain functional, which may have led to the loss of control. Loss of the booster after staging is an economic loss but not a functional loss. IFT-2 was a significant advancement over what happened on IFT-1 last April [1110].

The SpaceX “fail fast, learn faster” approach toward rocket design and development is a bit disconcerting at times, but the process does lead to some spectacular failures for us to talk about.

Well done, SpaceX. The next test flight may produce an even more spectacular success with a splashdown of the unmanned Starship vehicle in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. Fail fast, learn faster, indeed!

 

The follow-up news items:

-- On Tuesday, 14.November.2023, the House of Representatives passed yet another continuing resolution after the last one on 30.September.2023—Continuing Appropriations Act, 2024 and Other Extensions Act [PL 118-015; H.R.5860; Senate; 137 Stat. 71] [1133]. The latest one extends appropriations for the federal government once more, this time in two parts—some to 19.January.2024, and the rest to 2.February.2024. The House passed H.R.6363 by a vote of 336-95. The Senate passed H.R.6363 without amendment the next day—87-11. The president signed the bill into law on Thursday, 16.November.2023—Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 [PL 118-xxx; H.R.6363; Senate: 87-11-0-2(0); House: 336-95-0-3(1); 137 Stat. xxx]. Congress played kick the can for the umpteenth time in the past several decades.

Oddly, the latest continuing appropriations bill is exactly the same action that got the last speaker ousted by the Freedom Caucus radicals, paralyzing the government for three precious weeks. There was no discussion about canning the current speaker . . . presumably because he is ideologically closer to their thinking. It is a strange world in which we live. Hey, at least, the federal government is running for a couple of more months. I just say, helluva way to run a railroad!

 

A group of Americans of Palestinian heritage led by a human right organization known as the Defense for Children International-Palestine filed a civil suit accusing the U.S. Government of failing to prevent the Israelis from committing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza—Defense for Children International-Palestine et al v. Biden et al [USDC CA ND Case No.: 3:23-cv-5829 (2023)]. The entire case is based upon the premise that Israel is conducting genocide against the Palestinian people, i.e., attempting to eradicate all Palestinians. The suit was filed in the Northern District of California, presumably to get a sympathetic judge and jury assigned to decide the case. The complaint spent 43 pages recounting the timeline of this most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas before they address the root of the complaint—their perception and accusation of President Biden’s culpability in condoning Israeli “offenses.” They accuse Biden, Blinken and Austin of not using their influence to constrain Israel. The argument in the suit loses credibility when they exaggerate, embellish, or mislead. Paragraph 72 is a perfect example and not the only one.

¶72. On October 9, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant referred to the Palestinian population in Gaza as “human animals” and expanded on previous calls for collective punishment through conditions that would cause serious physical harm, if not death, to Palestinians in Gaza.

Gallant did not say or even imply that. He said, “We are fighting against human animals,” which is true and accurate. The Israelis are not fighting Palestinians. They are fighting Hamas, or more specifically the military wing of Hamas. Hamas in any form is NOT the Palestinians; they are a terrorist group deeply imbedded in a segment of the Palestinian population. Hyperbolic exaggeration and blatant expansion of one side or the other is not helpful. It is one thing for politicians to say such things. We expect politicians to obfuscate. But, the complaint was created by lawyers, and that fact is once again disappointing. Hamas has chosen to imbed itself within the Palestinian population. They carried out a ground incursion into Israel to slaughter innocent citizens and kidnap and hold hostage several hundred men, women, and children. Hamas has used Russian-built, Iranian-supplied, area ballistic rockets. They are area weapons. They are NOT precision weapons. They are, by definition, indiscriminate. The Israelis have utilized precision munitions (artillery and aerial bombs) to be precise in the application of force in Gaza (and elsewhere). They even took the unusual action to notify the populations to leave specific areas that would the predominant location of the tunnel networks from which the military wing operated.

This issue and this case are a classic chicken-and-egg conundrum that has existed in the Middle East for decades—my entire lifetime, so far, to be honest. I have seen no signs that Israel has assaulted Palestinians. Hamas is not the Palestinian people, and the fact that Hamas consistently utilize the innocent Palestinian people to hide their terrorist operations. In the suit, they sought to separate political and military wings of Hamas. Also, as this suit alleges, the Palestinians blame Israel for their plight rather than blaming Hamas—the rightful source. The argument is, they should not strike schools, hospitals, mosques, and other community buildings. In essence, those who make such an argument are saying the Israelis should not strike Hamas.

Reading the complaint, the real culprit for their injuries is Hamas, not the Israeli government. From my perspective, the complaint is misdirected and offers no evidence of genocide other than by Hamas. The Israeli government has striven to avoid civilian casualties by issuing warning upon warning pending attacks on Hamas infrastructure. They offered zero evidence of purposeful, intentional killing of Palestinians. Collateral injury is not genocide. The complaint dramatically overstates their case, which is not to say the Palestinians do not have a legitimate beef with the conduct of the Israeli government in Gaza and the West Bank. I understand, appreciate, and accept that the Palestinians have grievances against Israel, but following Hamas into the abyss is NOT the way forward in dealing with those grievances. As long as they allow themselves to be used by Hamas as human shields, they are de facto acting in support of Hamas. I have never understood the justification or rationale for the Israelis to expropriate land on the West Bank and Gaza other than they wanted to de facto reduce the land holdings of the Palestinians before they gained full statehood.

This is going to boil down to what the judge will allow and what the jury decides. I doubt this case will ever make it to trial. It should be dismissed in pre-trial motions or hearing. If the case does make it to trial, I think the jury will see the facts for what they are unless they choose to see the case on an emotional basis, i.e., someone must be blamed and held to account.

 

Epiphany! For some time now, I have cogitated within the words of this humble Update forum about the genesis of or basis for all the millions of American citizens who so blindly ignore the blatant, anti-American character flaws of [the person who shall no longer be named]. It was one thing in 2016 when the man was largely unknown, hidden from public scrutiny, and unproven in public service. It is entirely a different matter in 2023, when we have countless public words and conduct of the man. We learn more every day that affirms the conduct in every year since he declared himself a candidate in 2015. I see now! I can only conclude that his lemming supporters WANT a dictatorship as long as they are within the ruling class in the favor of ihr Anführer, which they presume will be the case. Apparently, they were all in favor of our constitutional representative democracy as along as they held some semblance of an operating majority to control the laws, the legislation, the direction of the country. Once their numbers or their share of the voting population began to shrink, they [here, my use of the third person plural pronoun refers to the fBICP, MAGA bunch and their myriad supporters] have sought every means possible to subvert our democracy, including the violent interference of the constitutional, quadrennial, election affirmation process. To be frank, this is eerily similar to 1933 Germany, when one third of voting German citizens (33.1%) supported and voted for Adolf Hitler and his NSDAP (the Nazi Party), and that was sufficient for what grew from the historic and ominous vote on 6.November.1932. Our contemporary version of the man is much less cagey about his intentions. The rest of us must believe him and stop him before he can subvert the Constitution any further. Those who refuse to learn history are destined to repeat it. We are still headed down that dark road as long as [the person who shall no longer be named] remains a candidate or able to spew his lies, falsities, fallacies, and disinformation in the public domain; he belongs in prison, removed from the public domain altogether.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1139:

Comment to the Blog:

“Ivanka predictably played her testimony smarter than the rest of the gang. She evaded questions but didn’t incriminate herself.

“As soon as I learned of Rashida Tlaib being censured, I contributed to her campaign.

“The election went well for the Democrats. However, Biden’s still a problem and the platform’s not populist enough.

“Your Roman source was an opponent of the rights of the plebeians, per Wikipedia. If the story about him resigning is true, he probably just realized he couldn’t function among civilians for long.”

My response to the Blog:

I agree; she is smarter than the bunch of ‘em, including papa. I suppose I naively hoped she would stand up to the mark. She did not. Ivanka is just a smoother version of the rest of them; very disappointing. Yes, indeed, that is exactly what she did—evaded truthful answers. “I do not recall” . . . give me a break.

Good for you. I cannot go that far. Nonetheless, I support her freedom of speech, although I must say she is dreadfully close to the line of tolerance.

Yes, it did, and yes, he is. Yes, I still believe he is better in his old age than anyone else in the field from any party.

Cincinnatus was a reluctant citizen-soldier who stood to the mark to defend his people and then returned to his farm. Judging him with today’s metrics is wrong. I think your supposition is wrong based on history, as I know it.

 

Another contribution:

“My God-we have a political row going on over here too. Politicians, I sometimes wonder just what the word means. They are meant to lead us, make decisions on our behalf and as we’re expected to do obey the rules. When they decide they cannot follow the rulebooks that they and their forefathers emplaced then it is time to go and we the people need to be certain that they do.

“So Cap, be rid of him soon.”

My reply:

I am beginning to see politicians more and more as the years go by as grifters bilking good people for money to enrich their lives. Fewer and fewer seem to serve the common good. It is quite sad. Grifters do not respect anyone; they are only after money . . . money, money, money! Worse from my perspective, far too many citizens refuse to see reality, and they vote to give those grifters more money. It is tragic.

I agree; I wish we could be rid of the chief grifter among us, but I am afraid it will not be quick. The current trial is a civil case. His and his progeny’s punishment for their fraud is likely to be significant and hurt a lot, but it will not be enough to put him in prison for the rest of days, where he should be. The other federal and state cases may achieve that objective. There is always hope, until there isn’t.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1139

 Update from the Sunland

No.1139

6.11.23 – 12.11.23

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

 

To all,

 

The follow-up news items:

-- [The person who shall no longer be named] testified under oath on Monday in the business fraud case against him and his organization—New York v. Trump, et al [NYSCEF Index No. 452564/2022] [1080]. Of course, as is his character, he cannot keep his mouth shut despite Judge Engoron’s sanctions on him. Outside the court room, he stated, “This is a scam.” No, Donald, you are the scam. You have scammed your business partners, the taxman, banks, insurance companies, and now the American people. You are a grifter of the first order. You defrauded a lot of people over many years. You now stand before the bench, and you will pay the price for your crimes. He went on to claim, “I am the victim here. This is happening to me. This can happen to you.” Correct! If anyone violated the law as you have done, we would be prosecuted, convicted and sent to prison. You put yourself in this position; no one else did so. You are NOT special. You are a common citizen like all the rest of us and subject to exactly the same laws.

Daughter Ivanka testified the next day and gave outstanding testimony of predominantly “I don’t recall” responses. While she was removed from the defendants list before trial reportedly because her involvement with the organization was beyond the statute of limitations, and from what was recounted in the Press, she was not the state’s witness we had hoped she would be. How the judge took her testimony will eventually come to light.

The rest of this phase of the trial is expected to take another month or so. The defense will soon present their case for their clients.

 

Representative Rashida Harbi Tlaib, née Harbi, of Michigan, a natural born American citizen and three-term U.S. representative, was censured by the House of Representatives—H.Res.845 - Censuring Representative Rashida Tlaib “for promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.” The vote was 234-188-4-6[3], with 4 Republicans and 22 Democrats crossing the aisle. I am enormously troubled by this action for a host of reasons, not least of which is the absurd relentless hypocrisy of it all. I do not agree with or support what Tlaib claimed in her statements, but frankly, they paled comparison to the outrageous verging on insane statements of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boepbert, Matt Gaetz, George Santos, et al. Freedom of speech is too important. We do not censure people for speaking their mind. This House action was wrong . . . flat wrong, I say. Shame on those who voted in favor of this nonsense.

 

Tuesday’s off-year election offered a number of notable results that do not bode well for the fBICP and MAGA bunch. Here in Fountain Hills, Arizona, our ballot only presented a US$50M school bond issue and approval for school real property sale or swap authority. The electorate rejected the bond issue but approved the real property sale/swap authority.

The big one was Ohio Issue 1 (2023) that passed by substantial margin. At the last report I have with 85% of the voted counted, approval had 56% of the vote. Issue 1 was general referendum and constitutional amendment protecting a women’s right to decide what is best for her physical and mental health. The language of the amendment specifies fetal viability outside a woman’s uterus as the threshold for allowing abortion as a medical procedure. It does not use to fixed number. {Historical note: fetal viability was exactly the criterion threshold the U.S. Supreme Court established in Roe v. Wade [410 U.S. 113 (1973)] [319] and struck down in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization [597 U. S. ____ (2022)] [1067, 1068]}. It is refreshing to see more progressive minds voting to approve this important issue.

In Kentucky, they re-elected Governor Andrew Graham ‘Andy’ Beshear, a Democrat, in a very red, fBICP state with a 52.5% of the vote. Not bad!

In Virginia, the results were even more foreboding for the fBICP. Governor Glenn Allen Youngkin campaigned, even though he was not standing for re-election, on a slogan, chant, mantra of “Hold the House, Flip the Senate.” Well, the fBICP did neither. They lost control of the Legislature—both chambers.

 

Wednesday, 8.November.2023, the third Republican presidential primary debate was held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Florida. Only five candidates (actually six, because the other guy was off huffing and puffing) qualified for the third debate. Of course, the other guy was intentionally missing as if to say such debates were beneath him. His believers apparently do not care. I thought Nikki Haley came out on top with Chris Christie not far behind. I certainly laud Christie for taking on the missing [person who shall no longer be named] head-on, and of course, I do believe he is spot on correct on that particular topic. Senator Tim Scott is coming across as a Bible-thumper, and we simply cannot have that. His religion is his private choice and not a matter for the public domain, and thus, for elections and public office. Ramaswamy is a crackpot of the first order and not worthy to be standing for any public office from dogcatcher on up. The sooner he is removed from the mix the better from my perspective. Last, but certainly not least, Governor DeSantis whom I have never been impressed with and cannot find much if anything of his position with which to agree, expanded his performance to disappoint. At the bottom line, as long as these folks persist in their moral projection politics, they will never again gain my vote, and I shall speak out against them as strongly as I am able.

On Sunday evening, Senator Scott announced he was suspending his candidacy for the presidential nomination. To Senator Scott, I like your style but not your political position. Good luck. Another one bites the dust.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1138:

“Politicians! What should we replace them with?”

My reply:

My simple answer to your query: Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus.

 

Comment to the Blog:

“Junior and Eric testify predictably. Tiny will shoot off his mouth. Ivanka is sharper than all of them put together, but I can’t guess what she’ll say, if anything.

“The Rs control the House by an unusually narrow margin, so they can’t afford to let go of anyone, even embarrassments like George Santos or Lauren Boebert.

“The Israeli government and the militants among the Palestinians each have a sole goal of exterminating the other nation. It was ever thus. I don’t see noncombatants as ‘collateral damage’ but as real people killed and injured. The Israelis have been ‘avenged seven-fold’ and much more.

“We have no reliable source for information on many things, including Putin’s health. Never did, never will.

“I have been aware of people’s mistreatment of other people since childhood. We didn’t call it ‘woke’ then; it was just social studies. Current trends in some States oppose teaching social studies.”

My response to the Blog:

You are in fact correct. [The person who shall no longer be named] did indeed shoot his mouth off during his day of testimony in his business fraud case. He verbally assaulted Judge Engoron, the very person who will singularly decide the penalty for his fraudulent conduct. The judge allowed him to mouth off, presumably to permit him to seal his fate. I cannot imagine anyone else doing what Tiny did. Tomorrow, the vaunted Ivanka is scheduled to testify. I do not think the judge’s decision will take long.

Oh so true, so they hold onto a soon-to-be-convicted criminal. Such is the nature of desperation. His conviction and incarceration will terminate his membership in Congress whether the fBICP likes or not.

Hamas still exists and is still threatening Israel and the Israeli people. What would you have Israelis do?

The Intelligence Community knows more than we do about Putin’s health. Eventually, we will know the truth.

I have not seen into our public education system since our children attended. They are now in their 40s, so it has been a while. There are signs that you are correct. If so, that must change. Future generations need history, government, and other social studies courses. Knowledge over ignorance.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“Ivanka’s the most interesting member of the entire criminal organization to me. I wonder if she’ll use charm, claim she was minding her own company, or do something else. I’m still concerned that Tiny will die and avoid punishment.

“I have no answer to the strife in the Eastern Mediterranean. Clearly, the 1948 UN plan has failed dramatically and repeatedly. Israel has gone far beyond self-defense.

“The spy community has resources we don’t have but nonetheless has been deceived over and over.

“One of the obvious issues with schools is the censoring of teaching in Florida, Texas, and other red states, primarily in social studies subjects. Another is the rise of for-profit ‘voucher’ schools, often exempt from teaching standards.”

 . . . my follow-up response:

I highly doubt that she will be confrontational as Papa was, or as lame Sergeant-Schultz-ish as her brothers. We shall soon see. There is that risk for folks his age. We may never see him enter prison as a common convicted criminal, but I fully expect that he will gain the label convicted felon before his end of days.

One of my biggest criticisms of the Israeli government and especially Netanyahu is their de facto colonization of portions of the West Bank. The Israelis agreed to a two-state solution decades ago [1993]. Unfortunately, Israel did not respect the sovereignty of Palestine. Israel’s abuses of Palestine do not justify the use of terrorism by Hamas. Frankly, I believe the World community (UN) should enforce the sovereignty of Palestine, i.e., revert the West Bank enclaves to Palestinian control. Give the inhabitants 30 days to abandon their enclaves, move back to Israel, or become Palestinian citizens. The Israelis are in Gaza now, so the burden is on them; they broke it, they fix it.

Yes, the Intelligence Community is not perfect; never has been, never will be. They still give us more than we would have otherwise.

Exactly correct. Spot on. What is going on in public school education in Florida, Texas, and other fBICP states is literally Ignorance over knowledge. We can only hope they eventually recover knowledge. The laissez-faire approach to charter schools that seems to be in place in many states is wrong in every way, but that does not make charter schools wrong.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1138

 Update from the Sunland

No.1138

30.10.23 – 5.11.23

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

 

To all,

 

The follow-up news items:

-- Junior testified on Wednesday in the family fraud penalty bench trial {New York v. Trump, et al [NYSCEF Index No. 452564/2022] [1080]} and claimed ignorance. It was all the accountants’ fault. Interesting argument. Junior signed the documents as the responsible company officer. Junior’s younger brother Eric also chose the ignorance defense. They did not know what they were signing; they trusted the accountants. Someone ordered the accountants to do what they did. I suspect Judge Engoron was not impressed with the brothers’ lame excuse. Junior and Eric’s ignorance may have increased the likelihood of criminal negligence charges against them based on their testimony. Tiny is expected to testify on Monday, and vaunted Ivanka is scheduled to testify after her father.

This Alfred E. Newman “What me worry” or Sergeant Hans Schultz “I know nutt-ting” routine the brothers are using may be good for entertainment laughs, but such nonsense is unlikely to be a successful defense for criminal conduct. We will see next week whether Tiny and his precious daughter take the same path as the brothers. Regardless, I suspect the fate of the organization is sealed. We will quite likely be treated to bountiful squealing from Tiny and his family once the judge renders his ruling. Hang on!

-- The House of Representatives finally got around to doing something about the atrocious conduct of Representative George Santos (if that is his real name) of New York [1094]. On Thursday evening, after considerable gnashing of teeth, the House voted on H.Res.773 - Providing for the expulsion of Representative George Santos from the House of Representatives.

NOV 01, 2023, 07:46 PM | 118^TH CONGRESS, 1^ST SESSION

Yea: 179                     [Rep: 24; Dem: 155; Ind: 0]   {291 required for passage}

Nay: 213                     [Rep: 182; Dem: 31; Ind: 0]

Present: 19                  [Rep: 4; Dem: 15: Ind: 0]

Not Voting: 22            [Rep: 11; Dem: 11: Ind: 0]

As noted, they failed to expel the common grifter from their midst. Of course, the grifter gloated about being vindicated, which is about the farthest from the truth as one can possibly get. Those who voted against him offered a wide variety of reasons for their actions, many referring to the on-going criminal prosecution of Santos. Once the crook is convicted in federal court, I suspect the House will re-visit the matter of expulsion. They will get there, and he will realize what he deserves in due course.

 

After the horrific terrorist attack on the morning of 7.October.2023, Israel finally initiated their ground offensive into Northern Gaza. Hamas sought to provoke Israel. They accomplished their objective. They wanted a lot of civilian casualties to enhance recruitment for their terrorist activities. I also suspect the leaders of Hamas were aware that Israel and Saudi Arabia were on the verge of an historic normalization agreement and wanted to torpedo the deal. Again, they accomplished their objective, and the Palestinian people living in Gaza paid and are paying a terrible price for the hubris of Hamas. In the midst of all this activity, the prime minister of Israel offered his opinion on the situation.

“The Battle of Civilization – This isn’t only Israel’s war. If Hamas and Iran win, you will be their next target. But we will prevail.”

by Benjamin Netanyahu

Wall Street Journal

Published: Oct. 30, 2023 at 6:22 pm ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-battle-of-civilization-in-gaza-israel-hamas-3236b023

I think Netanyahu has overstated the issue, but not by much. Hamas is an IRI-surrogate Sunni Islamic terrorist group. They have similar objectives and motives to many Islamo-fascist terrorist groups, e.g., Hezbollah, al-Qa'ida, ISIL, Islamic Jihad, et al ad infinitum ad nauseum. It is an ugly, nasty situation foisted upon Israel. Dealing with it will not be pretty. So far, that prophecy has been graphically true. Hamas has so deeply imbedded their command and operative infrastructure in the Gaza Strip that collateral damage is inevitable, which is why I say that Hamas seeks civilian casualties and hardship.

 

I have tried to sort things out regarding the health status of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. I have received multiple, in the range of three or four dozen, notices that Putin is dead, or suffering from a debilitating heart attack, or has been incapacitated by a serious stroke. The number of these notices finally stimulated me to search reliable public sources in multiple countries that had yielded more confusion than clarity. I have no idea what is going on, but until I start seeing corroborated evidence from multiple dissimilar news sources, I must assume it is a persistent, broad spectrum, disinformation campaign by someone or group of someones for reasons unknown. Wishing it to be true does not make it truth. Let us be careful what we believe.

 

If woke means respecting others, even those you do not agree with, then I am woke. If woke means, learning history so we will hopefully not repeat the mistakes of our ancestors, then I want to be woke, and I want my children and grandchildren to be woke. Ignorance is not and never will be the answer. Ignorance leads directly to Oceania and worse.  We need our children to learn about the mistakes as well as the accomplishments recorded in history. All American citizens must know and understand the Constitution of the United States of America. All American citizens must appreciate history—good, bad, or ugly. We are not perfect—never were, never will be. The American sense of exceptionalism is just one of many contributing factors to the Ugly American Syndrome. If knowledge hurts, let us learn from that hurt. We must have knowledge, not ignorance. Further, those who espouse ignorance in any form must be relegated to the distant, shadowy margins of society and as far away from the instruments of state as we can possibly push them. We must respect their right to ignorance, but we cannot support such nonsense. This issue, among so many, is one primary reason I can never support or vote for any politician who advocates for ignorance in our society, or at least suppresses knowledge, which implicitly encourages ignorance.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1137:

Comment to the Blog:

“The original GOP is desperate indeed to have voted in Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House.

“Mark Meadows knows more dirt on Tiny than anyone else.

“The Christian nationalists want an authoritarian government. They wouldn’t choose democracy.

“The Maine shooter acquired his weapon legally. That’s shameful.”

My response to the Blog:

It certainly appears so. The moderates gave up to end the crisis on what appears to be a something-is-better-than-nothing basis. I suspect they opened the hen house and let the fox inside to have his way.

I do not know about the ‘anyone else’ portion of your statement, but Meadows certainly knows more than he has been publicly disclosed so far or placed before the HSCJ6. It is going to be interesting how he walks the line between the federal election interference and the Georgia RICO cases.

Yes, absolutely, more specifically, they want an authoritarian government of their making, probably verging on a Christian theocracy. Frankly, if everyone looked at self-interests alone, no one would choose democracy—too laborious, too messy, too unmanageable. Yet, from my perspective, democracy is the only means to achieve the common good.

I have not heard that piece of news directly, yet. I am hearing a lot, from multiple sources, about the mental illness signs that were missed, ignored, not correlated, or not utilized to protect public safety (the common good). From what I have seen so far, the perp should have never been allowed to acquire a firearm of any type. One report showed the document that he tried to buy a silencer (legal in Maine) for his rifle, and he was stopped only by his self-disclosure that he had been committed to a mental health facility. That is far too close. Shameful indeed!

 . . . follow-up comment:

“Meadows knows more than anyone because he was Tiny’s Chief of Staff. That’s a synonym for Executive Secretary, and trust me on this: the secretaries/admins or the security guards know everything. I’ve been a secretary.

“I understand that everyone’s self-interest is served by the common good. Many don’t share that, but theocracies are particularly ugly if Israel or Afghanistan is any kind of role model.

“I continue to see headlines about the Maine shooter. I’ve no clue when the USA will learn our way out of our attitudes about firearms.”

 . . . my follow-up response:

I surely hope so, given the immunity deal with Special Counsel Smith in the election interference case. Because he knows more and did what he did, he should be prosecuted, not walk away without consequences. It will be interesting how this balances with the Georgia RICO case, where he remains a defendant.

That is my opinion as well; theocracies are ugly, since they are all about dicta, control, and restriction of freedom of choice to what the clerics define as acceptable or tolerable. Just another form of dictatorship as I see them.

Me either. The evidence is too obvious and damning. Card is an even more blatant failure than the Lanza case (2012). When will we ever learn?

 

Another contribution:

“Ah, my astute friend and wise comrade in arms, you continue to accurately report on the unfortunate sequel to our country's mistaken (in retrospect) hope that a strong conservative businessman would achieve wise rejection of the previous mistaken hope for proud world leadership and national racial reconciliation, etc. meanwhile living through an extension of that unsuccessful leftist rejection of our constitution.

“As you frequently remind us, there is still hope for continuation of the grandest of all world experiments in representative democracy , but we had better hurry. We are quickly running out of educated voters and borrowed money, while China, Russia, and minor imitator's gain strength in planning our demise.”

My reply:

A couple of points are keen for public debate. If [the person who shall no longer be named] had ever been a “strong conservative businessman,” we would have a fundamentally different situation today. He was never any one of those traits, and his personality flaws were amply visible in public long before he ever announced his candidacy (2015). Unfortunately, far too many people chose to ignore those fatal character flaws to reach for what they thought was that “strong conservative businessman.” To me, he is none of those things—not strong, not conservative, and not a good businessman. He is a grifter who has figured out how to sell his worthless snake-oil elixir to millions of people who continue to buy the stuff and consume it. They are convinced that stuff cures all their ills. Until that blind allegiance to an accomplished conman is broken, we shall suffer the collateral maladies of his malignant narcissism.

I am a little puzzled by your “unsuccessful leftist rejection of our constitution.” To what are you referring?

Yes, indeed, we had better hurry. We have been teetering on the brink of the abyss for too many years after we had a clear public demonstration of how close we are to losing our representative democracy. Yes, agreed on the need for a better educated electorate, which is precisely why we need a strong vibrant Press and a secondary education system that is not emasculated by parochial politicians. We are fighting for the soul of our once grand republic, and we must not tire or waiver. What happened on 6.January.2021 was as much an insurrection against our constitutional government as the Civil War was—just a different form and less violent (so far).

 . . . follow-up comment:

“I agree ,Cap!

“Mistaken hope : Obama

“Extension: Biden”

 . . . my follow-up reply:

With respect, you did not answer my query. The question was to what were you referring in your statement “unsuccessful leftist rejection of our constitution”?

I understand and appreciate you do not like Democrats. That is your right. But, again, with respect, both Obama and Biden are far better presidents than Tiny (a very low bar); at least they act like presidents should. “Mistaken hope” . . . how so? What is mistaken?

I just want to understand.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)