Repeating Myself : Choice of Perez a mistake

I am virtually certain that the majority of rank and file Democrats preferred Keith Ellison over Tom Perez. While I agree that it's not useful to relitigate the primaries of 2016 (where the choice ultimately made resulted in defeat, for whatever reasons), I think choosing the more establishment candidate over the popular choice was indicative of EXACTLY THE WRONG KIND OF THINKING going forward. I set my contribution form I got in the mail the other day for the DNC aside, awaiting today's outcome. I started to send it back with "Nope... wrong choice for Chair" scribbled on it, but I tossed it. Hell with it. Don't want to waste their money; they will do their part. But I made out my check to Progressive Change Campaign Committee instead and won't bother with the DNC. I put my money where people who agree with my view of the party and the future are in charge.

Democratic Party makes ANOTHER big mistake

The Democratic Party just made another big mistake in failing to recognize that the Progressive, younger voters who backed Keith Ellison are the FUTURE OF THE PARTY. Perez is not a terrible choice, but he WAS NOT THE RIGHT CHOICE for the future of our movement to stop Trumpism and regain Progressive control of government.

Krugman on Republican Health Care "plan"

Many who style themselves even as "moderate Democrats" have an almost visceral distaste for Paul Krugman (which I don't share at all, but I note its existence). 

But whatever your politics, I think the points he makes today in this piece are well-nigh irrefutable. The Republican "ideas" about health care are intellectually and morally bankrupt, and, in fact, downright fraudulent in that they are based ultimately on intentional deception. Basically, they have no ideas: they just want to wreck a system that, while far inferior to the Enhanced Medicare for All that would actually reduce costs and enhance outcomes for everyone, is better than anything any Republican has ever seriously put forward. Their solution, in essence, is to simply NOT cover 35 million people. Let 'em die. While imposing greatly increased costs, and inferior service, on the tens of millions who can barely afford coverage. And I say, that is NOT ACCEPTABLE. I suspect that when people realize just how bankrupt "repeal and replace" really is, there will be a massive shift in public opinion away from Republicans in Congress. And it could not happen soon enough, as far as I'm concerned. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/opinion/death-and-tax-cuts.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0 

Thinking long term

In these very trying times, it's natural to focus on short term crises, and dismiss as "necessarily deferred" as presently impracticable the longer term, more optimistic-outlook societal projects. But I think we should resist that tendency. The present era should be treated as an aberration, which we will emerge from, and, with effort, relatively soon.

To that end, there's a short piece in Scientific American about the advocacy by Obama's former science adviser James Holdren of not only continued by increased funding for fusion energy research.

There's a rather tired joke, about but not really shared by, advanced nuclear engineering professionals: "Practical fusion energy is thirty years (or ten, or twenty) away. And always will be." It's true that practical sustained fusion in both major branches of this research; laser ignition of small pelletized fuel or tokamak style magnetic ring vessels, has proved elusive. And the eventual solution may be something else entirely. But I would like to suggest that given at least the three important considerations noted below, this is not a reason to abandon or scale back research.

1. Fusion energy is truly inevitable. It is what powers stars. It is THE fundamental method of deriving energy from matter; all other methods are lesser, stopgap technologies. I believe this is all but irrefutable.

2. Our civilization has NOT made this an all out effort, and the progress that has been made is actually quite tangible, if not as miraculously successful as one might hope.

3. While the basic research and development is very difficult, and very expensive, the promised payoff is enormous. Fusion energy promises to be nearly limitless, and will have applications where solar and wind energy (which should also be developed on an accelerated, crash program basis) will not be practical, including space propulsion, eventually.

In the 1880s the main technological challenges were how to make a practical transformer so that AC could be used to distribute electric power cheaply and practically, and how to build practical submarines (among other things; powered flight being an area of more long term technology research). In our time, fusion power is the great "heavy industrial" long term challenge, with greatly improved batteries and hydrogen production and utilization technologies on the list as well (I consider solar power to be mostly a solved issue; the challenge is to work out the practicalities and invest in the infrastructure to make it a reality). I believe we should be looking for every reasonable opportunity to scale back wasteful military spending and should make major, Apollo Program, or even WWII production level investments in rolling out renewable energy using available technology while expending major resources on the long term challenge of fusion energy and manufactured hydrogen fuel (for aircraft and other large vehicles where grid-based or onboard solar electric power isn't practical, such as ships) to usher in our post fossil fuel energy economy.

I don't anticipate nuclear fusion powered tankers, but if fusion energy, combined with widespread low cost solar electric generation, become a reality, hydrogen can be manufactured from water. The storage issues are not really all that intractable; we used liquid hydrogen for rocket fuel in the 1960s. Aircraft can be built with hydrogen powered turbojet engines, and the whole structure, despite the necessity of keeping the hydrogen under pressure and cold, would weigh less, using advanced origami-fold superstructure, than current aircraft. Such aircraft would inject only water into the stratosphere, and although water vapor is a greenhouse gas to an extent, it is not a long term problem, and a reasonable level of air travel should prove completely sustainable without fossil fuels. Same with surface shipping. Very large ships might even use electric propulsion, with onboard small scale fusion reactors to produce the power. Or hydrogen turbine generators, which may prove more practical. (Hydrogen isn't a primary fuel; it's an energy transformation medium).

But my main point here is that WE NEED TO LOOK AHEAD, and invest, and invest HEAVILY, in our future. Not focus on nonsense like Donald Trump. He is a passing anomaly.

A comment about something other than Trump

In my formative years, while most of my contemporaries and friends cut their teeth, well, ears, rather, on Grace Slick, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, I was parsing the niceties of each and every one of Mozart's piano concertos, as music, not to play. (I wasn't that good at the piano; still not, really). Later I looked further back, to Bach, to the great Heinrich Schütz (still hardly a household name), to Josquin, Ockeghem, Dufay.

So that accounts for the following obscure judgments, one actually rather commonplace among classical music aficionados, the second slightly less so perhaps, and the third rarely mentioned.

1. Had Mozart not had kidney disease and died at barely 36, (and instead lived to a nice, ripe old age) he would have eclipsed Beethoven and be thought of today as the greatest composer ever, with the sole possible exception of Bach. (There are some who think so anyway).

2. Had Schubert not had syphilis and died at barely 31, (ditto) he would have eclipsed Beethoven and be thought of today as the greatest composer of the 19th century.

3. Had Orlando Gibbons not suffered an aneurysm (or something like it) at about the same age that Mozart lived to, in 1625, (ditto) he would have eclipsed John Dowland and be generally thought of as the greatest English composer ever, and the equal of the other titans of the 17th century, Monteverdi and Schütz.

I realize these kinds of contrafactuals are pretty meaningless, and they seem to annoy some rather persnickety folks, but I find them irresistible now and then.

​ ENTIRELY INAUTHENTIC BUT NONETHELESS QUITE TASTY CURRY • and substitute for rice

 A friend actually asked for this, so I typed it up. 

​​------------- 

 ENTIRELY INAUTHENTIC BUT NONETHELESS QUITE TASTY CURRY

*NOT low fat or low calorie

Serves 4. Cut in half approximately to make for 2

 

8 boneless chicken thighs, cut up into bite size pieces.  

   (I use the frozen ones from Trader Joe's most of the time, although fresh is better. If using frozen, thaw them most of the way and drain them with a strainer to get the water out of them, pat them dry. I cut them when they're still a little bit frozen; it makes them easier to cut)

 

1 entire head of garlic, peeled and minced (Use a garlic press)

(I don't recommend jarred minced garlic, but the frozen kind from Trader Joe's is acceptable).

1 heaping tsp. ground cumin

1 heaping tsp. garam masala

1 heaping TBS mild curry powder… (don't stint; you can use a little more, but don't go overboard)

  (I use Sharwood's mild curry powder from World Maket, but any mild curry powder will work)

½ tsp. nutmeg

½ tsp. cloves

½ tsp. cardamom (may omit)

1 tsp. ginger, ground

sambal oelek (Indonesian pepper sauce), harissa, or red pepper flakes, to taste, as little as none as much as you care for

1½ tsp. sea salt or other salt

1 bell pepper, cut up into smallish pieces

1 regular size can diced tomatoes, partly drained, but retain some of the juicy water

1 small stalk of celery, cut into small pieces (optional)

coconut or avocado oil

1/3 stick of butter, or ghee (I just use butter)

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

 

 In a large anodized aluminum pan or other suitable large flat pan with tight fitting lid, put a tbs or so of oil in the pan and heat to nearly smoking point.

 Add in the cumin first, then the garlic. (Cumin must be cooked in fat to yield its unique flavor).  Turn the heat down and cook this mixture in the oil, stirring all the while, until the garlic just starts to change color. Add the other dry spices except red pepper, and mix into a sort of paste. Add a little more oil if necessary so it doesn't stick to the pan. Once heated through plus a minute or so more, scrape with silicone spatula into a small bowl.

 Add another tbs or so of oil to the pan and cook the chicken until just turning beige (from pink), turning to cook all sides. Add salt and whatever red pepper you are using. Add back in the spicy garlic paste. Stir in the bell pepper and celery and cook for a bit. Add the butter, and incorporate. Add the tomatoes.

 Cover and simmer for at least an hour, preferably an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. Add liquid if necessary, but it shouldn't be. I sometimes even boil off excess liquid before adding cream.

 Incorporate cream, heat through, and serve.

 Serve with rice. I use a brown rice/quinoa/oat groats mixture. (see separate instruct. if you want to use that).

​**************************​

 

Complexer Carb Rice substitute

 

Mix in equal or not so equal parts (to taste) to make a quart or so:

Large red quinoa

Oat groats

Buckwheat groats

Black or brown whole grain rice

 

To make this "rice," it's necessary to thoroughly rinse in a fine strainer, then soak for a minimum of one hour before cooking.

I just soak in the same water it will cook in, in the same cooker or pan.

Then cook just like rice, except the water:grain ratio needs to be about 2½:1 rather than 2:1. Add about a tsp. of oil and a tsp. of salt for each cup of grain. 1½ cups of grain is enough for 3-4 people.

Cook 1 full hour in a rice cooker

or pan with tight lid; bring just to boil then simmer on very low heat, so it doesn't boil

​.

*************

Hope you like it. ​

 

 ​

Fwd: Are you ready to take Indivisible Action?

   Farflung correspondents, 

If you are like me, you are deeply concerned about the crisis to our constitutional form of government and want to take whatever action you can to make sure it survives the current regime and that a semblance of actual representative democracy emerges from whatever havoc this regime is able to wreak. 

Personally, I have concluded that the individual elected to the presidency is in violation of the Emoluments Clause, at the very least, and that, based on ongoing investigations by Matt Taibbi, David Van Pelten, David Cay Johnson, and Scott Horton, there appears to be substantial evidence of financial entanglement with Russian oligarchs and Russian financial ties that, if even half of what is rumored is true, could amount to treason. I favor a robust and immediate investigation, while at the same time, I want my Congressman to start urging his colleagues to organize for what I believe will be inevitable: the impeachment of the 45th president. 

In any case, this tool... Indivisible.com is literally invaluable for anyone who believes it is their civic duty to get more involved in demanding responsiveness from our national government in this time of crisis. 

We're Indivisible, and we're ready View in your browser This week, the news was full of headlines about Members of Congress waking up and taking notice of just how many Americans are demanding that they stand up to the Trump agenda. Senator Lisa Murkowski announced her decision to vote against Betsy DeVos' nomination for Secretary of Education, citing the "thousands, truly, thousands of Alaskans who have shared their concerns." Representative Dave Brat complained that "the women are in my grill no matter where I go" opposing Republicans' efforts to kill Obamacare. It's official: when constituents speak up loud enough, Congress can't ignore it. And with MoCs returning to their home districts in just a couple weeks for "congressional recess," you're about to have a big opportunity to tell them to their faces what they need to be doing to represent you. So it's time to get planning. And to help out, this week we're introducing a new tool... Stand indivisible near you: Indivisible Action Across the country, we've heard from local group leaders that they want to get more people to their group meetings and actions, and we've heard from people who aren't in a group yet that they want more ways to get involved. And that's smart: we all know we're stronger when we stand indivisible. That's why we're excited to launch a new feature on our site: Indivisible Action, an event tool that will make it to make it easier for local groups to share information about their upcoming events and for everyone to take part. Group leaders, you can use this tool to register your group's next meeting, your next visit to a MoC's district office, or their town halls and ribbon cuttings. And if you're interested in taking action but don't know where to start, this will be an easy way to get connected to upcoming events that your local Indivisible groups are hosting. This movement is all about people using their voices together: check out Indivisible Action today to get started. Get Ready for Congressional Recess The week of February 20–24 is the first district work period of the new Congress—meaning your MoCs will be back home holding public events and meeting with constituents. Or, at least they're supposed to be. If your representatives don't have a town hall or other public event scheduled yet, call and tell them that you expect them to. This is a great opportunity for your group to remind your MoCs that they need to stand up for you—and that means standing up against the Trump agenda. Some MoCs will try to avoid having public meetings. But the purpose of these breaks is for MoCs to hear directly from the people they represent. If they aren't willing to meet constituents, they're not doing their jobs. If your MoC is refusing to hold a public event, stay tuned: we'll be rolling out additional tips on how to shame these missing members into interacting with their constituents. Weekly Action Items Don't Let the Senate Rubber Stamp Trump's Unfit Cabinet Picks: The Senate will try to confirm several of Trump's Cabinet picks THIS WEEK. A confirmation vote is scheduled for Betsy DeVos (Education), with additional votes possible for Jeff Sessions (Justice), Tom Price (Health and Human Services), and Steve Mnuchin (Treasury). For reasons ranging from incompetence to well-documented racism, each is unfit to lead any of these agencies. It's not too late to stop them. Keep visiting your two Senators' offices to tell them to oppose these nominees! Monday, Feb. 6, 2017: Procedural votes on nominees are expected on Monday. Continue to ask your Senators to withhold consent on everything until the Muslim ban is lifted. Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017:   The confirmation vote for Betsy DeVos will likely happen Tuesday. Two Republicans have announced their opposition—which means we only need to sway one more Republican Senator to stop DeVos from becoming the least qualified Secretary of Education in history. You can stop this confirmation from happening. YOUR Senator could be the one to sink DeVos. Call your Senators and tell them to vote NO on Betsy Devos for Secretary of Education. Remainder of the Week: Possible Action on Several Nominees After the Senate considers Betsy DeVos, it will quickly try to confirm the remaining nominees. It is unclear when these votes will happen, but more confirmation votes could begin as early as Wednesday.     Jeff Sessions: Sen. Jeff Sessions has a decades-long history of opposing civil rights legislation. He was rejected for a judgeship by the Senate in 1986 for being too racist, and between his attacks on civil rights and his strong anti-immigration stance, he's just as unfit to be Attorney General today. Call your Senators and tell them to vote NO on Jeff Sessions for Attorney General. Tom Price: Rep. Tom Price is a zealous opponent of Obamacare, and his financial conflicts of interest continue to raise doubts about his ethics and judgment. Call your Senators and tell them to vote NO on Tom Price for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Scott Pruitt: Putting Scott Pruitt—who places private profits ahead of the public good—in charge of the EPA is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. Unfortunately, in this case the hens are America's health and the environment. Call your Senators and tell them to vote NO on Scott Pruitt for EPA Director. Steve Mnuchin: Predatory lender Steve Mnuchin is also under fire for failing to disclose millions of dollars in assets and his role as director of an investment fund incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Call your Senators and tell them to vote NO on Steve Mnuchin for Secretary of the Treasury. Keep standing against the Muslim and refugee ban. Last week, a federal judge—appointed by Republican President G.W. Bush—issued a temporary nationwide injunction on Trump's illegal and unconstitutional Muslim ban. While this is great news, it is only a temporary halt to the Muslim ban, which Trump continues to fight in court. This isn't the time for Congress to sit on the sidelines; Congress needs to use its power to defund and rescind the ban.   Ask your Senators to continue to withhold consent on all Senate business, and filibuster any legislation until this discriminatory, unconstitutional ban is revoked and justice is restored. Ask your Representative to cosponsor H.R.724, the Statue of Liberty Values (SOLVE) Act, legislation that would rescind and defund Trump's Muslim ban. We've got scripts for these conversations (along with a recording of last week's emergency planning call) available here. Tell your Senator "Stop Gorsuch, Don't Nuke the Senate": Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. But this isn't Donald Trump's vacancy to fill. Early last year, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland, a distinguished jurist, to fill this vacancy. Senate Republicans refused to hold hearings, let alone a vote, on Garland's nomination. Now, they want Gorsuch to receive the consideration Merrick Garland didn't. What's more, if Gorsuch can't get 60 votes, Donald Trump wants Republican leaders to deploy the "nuclear option" and do away with the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations. Going nuclear would destroy a critical check and balance in our democracy—we can't let that happen. Call your Senators, tell them you oppose Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, and demand they oppose the "nuclear option." Tell Congress to put national security over party politics: No Bannon on the National Security Council. President Trump's decision to remove the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff (actual national security experts) from the National Security Council and instead give a permanent seat to Steve Bannon was an unprecedented politicization of what is supposed to be a nonpartisan body. Call your Senators and ask them to cosponsor S.291 to modify the requirements for membership in the NSC. Call your Representative and ask them to cosponsor H.R.804 to prevent political appointees from serving on the NSC. In solidarity, The Indivisible Guide Team P.S. Please keep sharing your stories, pictures, and videos with us at stories@indivisibleguide.com, using #indivisible and tagging @IndivisibleTeam on Twitter, and posting to Facebook.com/IndivisibleGuide—where, as of this week, we have over 100,000 people following the Indivisible Guide page. We're thrilled to be part of this growing movement! P.P.S. Here's the part where we ask you for money. We hope our new Indivisible Action tool and the weekly intel on Congress are useful, accessible, and actionable. Our top priority is helping you have as much impact as possible on your home turf. That said, if you'd like to help the 100+ volunteers who are working early mornings, nights, and weekends (and during the Super Bowl!) to develop all this for the Indivisible movement, we wouldn't turn down a few bucks to help us do even more. Thank you thank you thank you! www.indivisibleguide.com | Donate Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address or to stop receiving emails from Indivisible, please click here.

Fwd: SMS from Brad Fenton [(818) 579-3340]

Fwd: A very cool tool (that works):
If your senators and reps aren't saved in your phone yet, text your zip code to 520-200-2223. You'll get a text back with everyone's contact info!

--

​ 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW EVEN CORPORATE AMERICA IS ALARMED BY TRUMPISM

Farflung correspondents, 

I'm a retiree, and of course (unsurprisingly) as such I have some issues with the way my former corporate employer (Chubb Limited) deals with its retired employees. This is America, after all, which has its downsides as well as its great good fortunes. But what I want to point out is the following global letter to employees and former employees from the company's CEO, Evan Greenberg. (The company, as a result of a merger, is now based in Zurich, after having been headquartered in New Jersey for decades and New York for even longer before that). All I can say is "KUDOS!"

Chubb Limited
Message from the CEO: 
U.S. Travel/Immigration Restrictions

Evan-Annual-Report-200

Dear colleagues,

We have heard from many colleagues worldwide who have expressed concern about the U.S. Executive Order restricting travel from seven countries in the Middle East and Africa. As a truly global company, we are proud of our diversity at Chubb and proud of the diversity of our many business relationships. We have long valued our colleagues and clients in Muslim nations, and we have worked hard to build an inclusive culture that welcomes and values the contributions of people from all parts of the world.

Chubb will continue to embrace our values and culture, notwithstanding the challenges created by this order. If anything, we believe it is more important than ever that we promote our values, including our commitment to inclusion. We all want security for our citizens and to combat terrorism, but we believe it needs to be done with respect for due process, individual rights and the principle of inclusion. Speaking as an American, and as I noted on today's earnings call, the U.S. is a country of immigrants - my country's openness to immigration is fundamental to its identity and history as a nation and vital to its future prosperity. Shutting our doors to immigrations is a mistake.

In addition to the broader implications of this order, we have been working to assess the impact it may have on travel for Chubb employees globally. At this time, we believe there are relatively few individuals whose travel will be directly impacted, but of course the full implications are still being assessed. We also are closely monitoring the repercussions for our U.S. citizens traveling abroad. If you have any questions or concerns about how this order might impact you, please contact your local human resources manager, who can arrange for you to speak with an immigration attorney at an outside law firm with whom we have contracted.

Chubb has and always will engage with and welcome people in all parts of the world. That is at the core of who we are and always will be.

Sincerely,

Evan

​​

Sen. Merkley: Make the Republicans go Nuclear

Please read this excellent op ed by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley. He does us proud here in Oregon. And he is dead right on this vital issue. Democrats MUST RESIST the disintegration of our constitutional system being committed by the minority rule Republican party. NO MORE ACCOMMODATION.

Make the Republicans Go Nuclear https://nyti.ms/2k8c5V5

Calling your senators and representatives (call to political action)

Portlanders!

RESIST.

Call both your senators and your House representative's local AND Washington offices DAILY, if you can, to urge them to support resistance and oppose Trumpism by any and all lawful means necessary.

Your senators and congressional representatives do not read e-mails or even letters, but their staffs DO keep track of who calls and what positions they identify. This does have an effect, and is worth your time.

Thank you.

SENATORS:

Jeff Merkley

Local 503 326-3386

Washgington 202 224-3753

Ron Wyden

Local 503 326-7525

Washington 202 224-5244

You can Google Oregon's five districts, if you live in Portland Metro area, and figure out which of these is your representative. It only works to call your own representative. And give them your ZIP code even if they don't ask for it.

Suzanne Bonamici (East Portland)

Local 503 469-6010

Washington 202 225-0855

Kurt Schrader (Oregon City/Clackamas/Salem and over to Central Coast)

Local 503 557-1324

Washington 202 225-5711

Earl Blumenauer (Beaverton, parts of Western Portland)

Local 503 231-2300

Washington 202 225-4811

IF YOU LIVE ELSEWHERE, this information is easily found on the internet! Call! Thank you!

​