Democratic Messaging and not getting caught up in Republican talking points

 I think this analysis by Josh Marshall is probably right on. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/into-the-storm-4 

All the bloviating about the raid, the likely crimes involved, whether Trump will be prosecuted, etc. is going to have minimal effect on the 2022 midterms and 2024 presidential election. Virtually no one who opposed or was just a little sick of Trump before the search warrant will change their mind, and the same goes for Trump's hard core supporters and party cult followers, who will find some way to rationalize "it's all OK." In fact, to the extent there was any significant effect from the week's events, it was to take away attention from the signal achievement of the Democrats legislatively, the "rump Build Back Better" bill, which they're calling the "Inflation Reduction Act." But that will have some legs. Democrats need to really up their messaging game, but now, at least, they have something really substantial to point to that will directly benefit millions of potential Independents and wobbly Democrats to vote Democratic in November and in '24. And, here's the point: the Republicans don't. They voted 100% against this bill and are obstructing absolutely everything that would benefit ordinary people. Democrats can point to a near total record of obstruction and elitism on their side. Our message with regard to Trump should be derision and dismissal... point out that he did nothing for his supporters and now all he cares about is keeping his sorry ass out of jail and collecting hundreds of millions in contributions that seem to always somehow end up in his pockets. Trump the Grifter and the Party of Doing Nothing for Anyone but the Superrich. That should be the message. Don't be fooled! They want you to believe the people who protected America from election fraud are the threat, but they are lying, just the way they are lying about what they will do for ordinary people. Which is nothing. Only Democrats have voted for legislation that actually helps the economy and brings real benefit to ordinary people. If we can stick to this message, we will win. 

Rubisco and Climate Change

Serious question, to which I have no idea of the answer. 

Thanks mostly to the extremely ancient enzyme Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rubisco), plants convert atmospheric CO2 and water to organic molecules and oxygen, but not particularly efficiently. There is already serious research into modifying rubisco to create an artificial enzyme that does this much more efficiently, potentially purely chemically. (I.e., in a manufacturing plant rather than a plant-plant). Could this technology actually work to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere on a huge scale and be a significant part of the solution to global climate change? 

Intel

Possibly not the most thrilling video, but it's important. Intel is a major employer in Oregon and its health as a competitive chip builder is of crucial importance to the US economy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtSSoZW19vs&list=TLPQMTMwODIwMjJB_bALNH5Q9A&index=3

The state of Trump accountability and why it matters

 I think we have to acknowledge that although there is a very important and strong principle that no one is above the law, it is also true that there is automatically a suspicion when a former leader is prosecuted that politics is involved. Because, especially in most countries where the separation of the judicial/law enforcement aspects of government from the political apparatus is not very strong, this actually is usually the case. We have a special set of circumstances here, though. There is strong, not merely credible, but strong evidence that the former president engaged in a multi-pronged conspiracy to stay in power notwithstanding having lost the election by a significant margin. This is sedition, and attempting to rally crowds to violently storm the Capitol is insurrection. By any reasonable definition. The documents illegally removed to Mar a Lago is more of a sideshow. But as some wag said, don't mess with archivists if you know what's good for you. The thing about this set of facts is that it's pretty cut and dried. It's illegal to remove any documents and the Presidential Records Act requires retention of everything. But it's much worse than that. There is credible (even, reportedly, overwhelming) evidence that among the documents retained arrogantly even after Trump was told he shouldn't have them and couldn't keep them were high level classified documents. Documents whose very existence is classified. Whether they are truly important to national security is not easily knowable but, legally, it doesn't matter. This is a clear cut crime, one that others in the past have been harshly punished for (Sandy Berger, as a recent example). It could well turn out that, like Al Capone and tax evasion, everyone knows that Trump was guilty of a serious attempt to undermine the continuity of democratic government, the most serious imaginable crime for a leader of a democratic country short of outright seizure of power and mass executions. But it may be the more technical crime he was too arrogant not to be careful about that he is held accountable for. (That, and his civil troubles, which it's still possible could result in state criminal charges in New York. And don't forget the Georgia case Fani Willis is pursuing... that, too, may be so clearly established by hard evidence that he cannot skate). The verdict of history is clear, but it seems to me, finally, that there may be some actual judicial verdicts in Trump's future. He still has a core of fanatic followers, far from a majority, but if events can be so managed that he has no chance to put his "electoral coup" Version 2.0 into operation in 2024, I think we can probably escape the worst and eventually well and truly arrive at a post Trump era with the basic institutions of our government intact. 

I know some folks will insist, oh, it wasn't really that bad. It was a riot. It was Keystone Kops with no chance to succeed. They would all do it if they could, etc. etc. But it's just not true. 2020 was unique in our history of transfer of power through elections. No president in our past has actually tried to completely subvert an election and stay in power despite having lost (1876 was closer  to 2000 than 2020, and not really analogous). It is the kind of thing that if it were successful once, the continuity of the existence of our constitutional democracy would be at an end. And at that point, who knows? The climate of philosophy and political thought that allowed the American Revolution to take place in the late 18th century is long gone. I am not at all sure that anything even vaguely resembling a real, functioning republic would ever arise again in this land if once it were well and truly ended. 

Hope springs eternal. 

I support Democrat Gluesenkamp Perez in Washington 3

I am laser focused on House races this year, since I regard retaining the House, uphill as it supposedly is, as crucial. Nearby, on the other side of the Columbia River from Portland, is Washington 3, where a somewhat less extreme Republican, Herrera Beutler, who actually voted to impeach Trump the second time, has been defeated in the Repug. primary by an out and out Big Lie Trumpist, Joe Kent. I deem this to be a winnable seat, so I just contributed $50 to the Democratic Candidate, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. 

Please join me in supporting Marie Gluesenkamp Perez via @actblue https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mgp We simply must defeat enough Trump cult followers to retain the House in November!

McLeod Skinner for Congress ---Oregon 5th District

I'm contributing $50 to the campaign of the candidate to replace Blue Dog Kurt Schrader as the Democratic representative of my congressional district in Oregon  (OR-5), Jamie McLeod Skinner. 

Jamie McLeod-Skinner is a true Democrat who will fight for us in Congress and help Democrats retain the House. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jms-fr-2208

 

DOJ and the Fake Electors Schemes

It doth appear from reports that the DOJ is taking a real interest in the Fake Electors Scheme, especially in Pennsylvania. I regard this as second only in seriousness to the actual coordination of a physical attack on the Capitol, which came fairly close to actual violence against elected officials, with the coordination and encouragement of their cult leader. People like to make light of and laugh at these attempts, but they were serious, and they actually might have worked if things had been just a bit closer in some states so that it was a little more plausible. You have to realize that even now most Republicans think just denying the outcome of an election and substituting right wing electors is just fine... power politics, we would do it too if we could (which just is not true; look at Al Gore in 2000 for contrast). I honestly believe everyone directly involved in the Fake Electors scheme is guilty of sedition and should rot in jail. Franklin said a Republic if we can keep it. Well, the only way to keep it is to respond decisively to insurrection and sedition... by which I mean the willful refusal by a political faction to accept the outcome of lawful elections and willingness to commit crimes to install a non-elected leadership in power. This is how fascism usually gets started; the classic paradigm being the election of Hitler as a minority chancellor in 1933, once in power, they never let go of it, simply dispensing with inconvenient little bureaucratic niceties like elections. 

Why I've concluded that SETI is a waste of time

After years of initial enthusiasm followed by gradually declining interest in their endeavors, I have reached the conclusion that classic SETI efforts (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence by means of searching for radio signals) is almost certainly a waste of time. Why? Because, at least limiting the answer to "close enough to here that there is any realistic prospect of even one-way communication," I have to reluctantly agree with the British evolutionary biologist Simon Conway Morris: the reason we don't see any evidence of Extraterrestrials is pretty simple. There aren't any. 

Conway Morris is a theist, but he is a scientist first. And he points out, correctly, that people have been looking for a long time not only for signals, but for telltale signs of the existence of advanced technology that should be detectable. (Not least in the fossil record, which would reveal any long past visitations of our planet, which has, after all, had advanced life on its surface for more than half a billion years). In the case of hypothetical very advanced civilizations (such as were famously discussed by the Russian theorist Kardashev some years ago), such telltales should be detectable even over moderate intergalactic distances. But nothing of the sort has been unequivocally identified, despite many years and considerable devoted effort at observation. 

The simplest (Occam's Razor) explanation is that advanced civilizations are just not common. Maybe so uncommon that in the entire observable universe (which is constrained by observable time as well as space), there simply aren't any to be observed. Even if we, as a sapient living species, are not unique, this thinking goes, we are certainly very, very rare, and we are not likely to encounter evidence of counterparts at any time in the near future, even at considerable remove.

All of which leads to the very reasonable inference that we humans, as a cosmically rare instance of the phenomenon usually referred to as sapience, have an enormous responsibility to steward the life on our planet so as to preserve our own existence, so that in the future we and the life of our planet can flourish and even spread life and civilization through space, no matter what the technological constraints. Already we know that this may be difficult, but it is not, almost certainly, impossible. But it will be impossible if we are extinct.  

Stellantis' Citroën C5 X

• For those of my correspondents who're interested in cars, especially electric cars.  This pic is the Citroën C5 X, just released. Probably Citroën's last gas powered new car, but it is also available as a plug in hybrid. It will be replaced in 2025 with an upgrade (already planned) which will introduce a pure EV version. As a Citroën, they have no plans to release this car in North America. 

PSA (Peugeot) bought out Fiat Chrysler last year, and the company is now called Stellantis. They also own Citroën. So a version of this car may be sold in the US eventually either as a Peugeot (which as a brand will be reintroduced to the US after more than 50 years) ...or as a Chrysler or Dodge. Or both. Fiat Chrysler had been notably behind the times on developing EVs, but this is now changing. Stellantis, like GM, has announced intention to convert their entire fleet of passenger cars to EV only by around 2030. This is a step forward on the climate front. 

What's interesting is that most Citroëns are now built not in France but in Spain. This one, however, to be sold only in Europe and Asia, was designed in Europe but is being 100% built in China. It's a new world, automotively. 

Incomprehensible

It seems illustrative of a serious cognitive divide in our country that one entire party, and a good chunk of the other, realizes that Donald Trump very likely committed several serious crimes, one of which is pretty straightforward. Namely, it is a FELONY to possess, destroy or remove government records, especially classified records. Trump, in his monumental arrogance, and among many other criminal acts but let's just stick to this one, did exactly all three of these things. Credible evidence indicates that among the documents removed from the white house are sensitive and classified documents the very existence of which is classified. Anyone taking these would be charged with a crime. When Sandy Berger took a few pages from the archives to use while writing a book, he was prosecuted and went to jail. So why, when a Federal Magistrate has found probable cause not just to subpena records but actually issue a search warrant for documents Trump pretty clearly illegally removed from the White House, the loyalists in the Republican Party melt down, is pretty hard to explain. The evidence before the public is credible. What Trump did is a crime (again, among many others). Why do these people think that the wheels of justice aren't going to operate just because he's their cult leader? Seriously, it takes some real mental gymnastics to arrive at any halfway reasonable explanation for this. It has nothing to do with schadenfreude or retaliation. Wray is a Republican. Most of the judges and many line employees at Justice are very conservative people. They are not practicing politics. They are doing their job. A crime has been committed and they are looking into what needs to be done, including prosecuting the wrongdoers. 

Climate Change Bill

I don't like calling the now thrice pared-down budget reconciliation omnibus (my term) the "Inflation Reduction Act," even though the politics is pretty obvious for using that term. What it is, beaten down, bickered over, reduced by over half from original conception, and counterproductive components and all, is the most important climate change reparative measure passed by any government ever, and just as time is beginning to run out. Cynicism be damned, this is an important achievement and Democrats, NOT Republicans, deserve all the credit for it. 

Letter from an American: the huge difference between Democratic and Republican politics

 A longish quote from H C Richardson's Letter from an American today (the name of her column is supposed to be reminiscent of de Tocqueville). Usually she takes Sunday off, but this is kind of a historic day, and her comments illustrate beautifully how now matter that there are some bad actors among Democrats and the party is hardly a paragon either of effectiveness or principle, the difference between the Protofascist Republicans and the ordinary political party, the Democrats, is like night and day. Not only are the only real opposition to the erosion of democratic institutions and the impetus to hold those who would have committed a coup accountable both housed entirely in the Democratic party, the Democrats have actually gotten a few ordinary policy things worth doing done. Despite headwinds and a very negative political climate (including some virtually completely uncooperative elements in our own party).  

     Republicans used [the so-called budget reconciliation process] to pass their own signature measure in December 2017: the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. This law cut the corporate tax rate from about 35% to 21% with the now-traditional Republican expectation that such a cut would spur economic growth, although the Congressional Budget Office estimated the measure would add about $2 trillion to the national debt over ten years. The Tax and Jobs Act did not increase employment or wages as the Republicans expected; those actually dipped slightly as corporations used the tax cuts primarily to buy back their stock, making it more valuable. That measure was the signature piece of legislation during the Trump administration. 
     In contrast, in the past 18 months, Democrats have rebuilt the economy after the pandemic shattered it, invested in technology and science, expanded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to stand against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, pulled troops out of Afghanistan, passed the first gun safety law in almost 30 years, put a Black woman on the Supreme Court, reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, addressed the needs of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, and invested in our roads, bridges, and manufacturing. And for much of this program, they have managed to attract Republican votes.
    Now they are turning to lowering the cost of prescription drugs—long a priority—and tackling climate change, all while lowering the deficit. 
     Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne noted accurately today that what these measures do is far more than the sum of their parts. They show Americans that democracy is messy and slow but that it works, and it works for them. Since he took office, this has been President Joe Biden's argument: he would head off the global drive toward authoritarianism by showing that democracy is still the best system of government out there.
     At a time when authoritarians are trying to demonstrate that democracies cannot function nearly as effectively as the rule of an elite few, he is proving them wrong. 
     This is a very big deal indeed.

L'Orfeo

First performance of Portland's new OrpheusPDX chamber opera company: L'Orfeo (Favola in Musica) (1607)  by Monteverdi. Stunning and wonderful, if a little quirky. At PSU's Lincoln Hall August 4. 

Alex Jones punitive damages verdict

Wow. The jury just awarded $45 MILLION in punitive damages in just one of the defamation cases against royal scumbag Alex Jones. Schadenfreude triumphans!

 

Mandela Barnes for US Senate (Wisconsin)

Three of the four Democratic primary candidates in Wisconsin have suspended their campaigns, making Mandela Barnes the certain candidate to oppose Ron Johnson in November. This is generally considered one of the better shots at a pick up Senate seat for our party. I just kicked in $50 to the Barnes campaign. 

Mandela Barnes can beat Ron Johnson and flip Wisconsin Blue. Join me in donating! https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mandela-ads-gs-dtd-launch

Even many former Republicans, like Charlie Sykes, are supporting Barnes, because Johnson is just so, so bad. A full on supporter of the big lie and slow-roll fascist insurrection that the Republican Party has become. The House is critical, but so is the Senate. Please help ensure a working Senate majority for the second half of Biden's term!

Thank you for any help you can give in this endeavor. A hell of a lot is at stake, as we all know.

Hannah Arendt and the role of lies in authoritarian rule

When I was about 13 years old, my mother had gone back to school to get a Masters in Political Science. And she read Hannah Arendt's classic tome The Origins of Totalitarianism. I remember my mother trying to explain Arendt's thesis to me, and it affected my thinking to this day. I'm reminded of this, reading Heather Cox Richardson yesterday talking about the Trump insurgency and the way they handled lies and propaganda. This is not incidental. It is CORE to the way authoritarians rule. Here's what she said about what Arendt wrote: «that the lies of an authoritarian were designed not to persuade people, but to organize them into a mass movement. Followers would "believe everything and nothing," Arendt wrote, "think that everything was possible and that nothing was true." "The ideal subject" for such a dictator, Arendt wrote, was not those who were committed to an ideology, but rather "people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction…and the distinction between true and false…no longer exist."»

We progressives, and even centrists who believe in fundamental democracy, we children of the Enlightenment who persist in thinking that reason and persuasion are going to be useful political tools in the resistance to American fascism that will be a part of our lives for a long time (at best)... we need to remember this and keep it forefront in our thinking at all times. 

 

 

Windfall oil profits tax... obvious move

Why do we have to hear a call for a windfall profits tax on oil companies from UN Sec. Gen. António Guterres instead of from Democratic politicians in our own country? (He didn't use the term, but it's what he described in a recent speech). This seems to me an obvious response to the gross profit taking the oil companies have engaged in as a result of the tight oil markets worldwide. I remember when we had oil shocks in the past the idea was floated, and even enacted in a weak form in 1980. But nary a peep about it, even from the likes of Elizabeth Warren... at least not that I've heard of.  

see this

Assassination as a tool of foreign policy

I dunno. Call me impractical or old fashioned or whatever. But I cannot celebrate the assassination of Al Zawahiri. A horrible guy, terrible actor, war criminal, no doubt. But nothing good comes from the US CIA appointing itself judge jury and executioner and committing assassinations. It is supposedly illegal, but the US does it all the time. If we are going to have red lines, laws governing our own actions, then we need to follow them. Otherwise they mean nothing. And a law against assassination as a tool of foreign policy is necessary and right, even if sometimes it make efficient actions that may be on the whole beneficial beyond the scope of what's allowed. So, others may be crediting Biden and the administration for this, but not me. Certainly not because this guy didn't deserve it... I'm sure he did. But because WE are just not supposed to do that; it's a really, really bad idea and creates more blowback than people realize. And it violates the core principle of our laws that we do not administratively decide guilt and kill people without trial. The only exception should be declared wars, although that hasn't been the case for a long, long time, maybe ever. 

Trump candidacy? Blessing or curse?

Don't usually solicit feedback in my little commentaries. But I'm curious, if anyone feels like responding. I tend to agree with Howard Dean, to the effect that if Trump is legally able to and does run and win the Repug. nomination for the third time in a row in 2024, it will actually be good for Democrats, because he has a base of 30% but has in fact become unelectable. So, two questions, farflungs... 

1.  Do you think Trump will run (which includes "will legally be able to run" and "will win the R. nomination")? 

2.  Do you think if he does run he will most likely lose to whoever we Democrats nominate (whether Pres. Biden or someone else)?

Lying liars who're always lying

There are so many of these it's just overwhelming, but Hayes yesterday absolutely nails an instance of Trump underlings just OUTRIGHT lying, even lying about what they said under oath, in this case confirming Trump's blatant lie that he had "10,000 troops on the ready but Pelosi didn't request them because it wouldn't look good." He then played the tape where where Chris Miller, the Acting Sec of Defense, completely contradicted what he said on Fox News when he really was under oath. The point? Not only Trump, but EVERYONE in Trump world, lies ALL THE TIME, and you cannot believe a single thing they say. Democrats need to point this out. It is still true that most people, watching media like Fox, believe most of what these guys say. The truth is that almost every word out of their mouths is a deliberate lie, and we let them get away with this at our peril. People need to stop shying away. They need to say, "Well, sir, as you obviously know, that's a damn lie, and you should be ashamed to stand there and lie to the American people like that."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrpMC4p_rsc 

Record Heat arrives in the PNW

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it turns out the record heat was only delayed, not entirely evited, this year. We are experiencing "near 100°" temps all this week in the Willamette Valley, with even higher temps in the Transcascadia. (As I call it). Unfortunately, this has already become the "new norm" in all of the West. And of course similar phenomena are being experienced globally. I fear that our forests, which before being cut down in a huge wave of exploitation logging that nearly removed the entire Old Growth forest in the 19th and 20th centuries (and only partially recovering from that), were probably to some extent a relict of the Ice Ages, are going to disappear or at least be so transformed as to be unrecognizable... and within the lives of many people now living. Climate Change is not only real, it is here, and we are experiencing changes that will transform our landscapes, and, for the most part, make human existence on this planet more difficult. 

 

SCOTUS damage

Does anyone really doubt that this Supreme Court will be known in the future primarily for the long recognized rights Americans enjoy they have removed? I would venture to say that since their only real rationale is "we have five (or six) votes and you don't, so suck it," there really is no limit to the damage they may very well do. 

 

Historian's Quick Take

If, like me, you happened to have something to do other than watch TV coverage of the J6 hearing last night, this historian's quick take will tell you almost everything you need to know about it:  https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-21-2022 

  

Calling it what it is: evil

This will be blunt, so turn away if you're sensitive. I'm so, so very tired of right wing ASSHOLES claiming to base their politics on morality or claiming to be "pro-life." Thanks to their non-democratic usurpation of the Supreme Court we now have as the law of the land zealous prosecution of people who can't raise a child properly and don't want to have a child so they end a pregnancy when the fetus is only an embryo. This policy causes children to be forced to bear children, and increases risk of serious complications and even death for millions of women. Yeah, real pro-life. (The rationale of their court decisions is barely disguised "we have five or six votes and you don't so suck it"). And here's another example. They claim they're so "moral" and "community minded," supporting "family values." Is it family values to slow walk or outright deny housing assistance to millions who need it, saying effectively to people who are left behind by society, "we don't want you, we won't help you, why not go out on the street and die?"  And they do. I just read that FIVE HUNDRED homeless people have died from exposure in Phoenix (with red state laws and little assistance), just this year. In the United States of America, it is shameful beyond belief that people die from exposure for lack of housing. And their immoral and outrageous refusal to cooperate to address climate change is only making this deplorable and despicable situation worse every year. Don't give me your moralizing, right wingers. I see you for what you are: EVIL. 

Small opinionated notes on climate and energy effects right now

We had an unusually cool spring and are now having a glorious, warm but not hot (for the most part) summer here in the American coastal northwest. These kinds of summers used to be the norm, but in recent years we've often had more hot, dry weather, enough to cause wildfire storms and raise fears of climate change destroying our natural forest cover. The southwest, including all of California, has been hit harder by these kinds of changes. But this year it is Europe that seems to be suffering the anomalous heat wave like the one we endured last year. Just as we had the highest temperatures ever recorded in June of last year, London, which has kept temperature records for over 350 years, has recorded its highest temperatures ever this week. 

Meanwhile right wingers in our country mostly continue to deny this is human caused, and, in a related lapse of reason, they tend to blame President Biden for high gas prices. (Which are reflected in world energy prices and inflation that have very little to do with actions of the American president, and to the extent they do they resulted mostly from the collusion with the Saudis that was a hallmark of the Trump administration more than Biden's. They also tend to blame Biden for another cause of global energy and other price surges, namely the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine-- in a remarkable feat of cognitive dysfunction). But they give Biden no credit, of course, for the fact that gas prices in most of the US have actually dropped about 75¢ in the last six weeks. 

We muddle along, preoccupied with the short term, and are failing miserably to do what is necessary to bring about net zero carbon emissions. To the extent the human species is acting to bring this about, it seems to be driven mostly by technology and good ol' fashioned market economics. Technologies to produce renewable energy have emerged, not fully but to an extent. Electric vehicles have become practical and are in high demand. Even without massive government programs, solar energy has become affordable and practical, and people seem to realize more and more that conversion away from natural gas and other fossil fuels is the path forward. There are even some signs that much improved nuclear technology, which has a well deserved reputation for environmental problems and completely infeasible economics, can overcome those issues and be a successful part of the solution; and even research on fusion energy and advanced batteries is showing real promise. The solutions to climate change are technological, but the problems are mostly political. We must be willing to invest, and to pull together politically on a global scale. If we can do that, the problems can pretty clearly be overcome. Big "if." 

Hope springs eternal. We humans do lots and lots of dumb things, but we do have a track record of pulling it together somehow and moving forward before things collapse entirely. Let's hope the people alive today can do that, because pretty obviously we only have about that amount of time left to accomplish what needs to be done. 

Dirty Secret Service

What is disturbing here, along with news that the Secret Service apparently deliberately (or at least grossly negligently) destroyed critical text message evidence from 1/6, is that it's strongly appearing now that some elements of the Secret Service are PARTIES TO THE TRUMP SEDITION CONSPIRACY. Congress needs to investigate the Secret Service in a major way, and perhaps completely reform it, bottom to top. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQInQlr0lP0 

Time to indict the "Hub" (past time!)

Sometimes, when a prosecutor feels "pressure" to indict someone, from the public or political figures, the reason is totally proper: that there is such obvious good cause to do so that he needs to realize that he's been a bit derelict in not having already done it. 

That is the case with Merrick Garland and Trump (plus a few of the "spokes" of the Hub & Spoke conspiracy which Andrew Weissman and Glenn Kirschner have recently explained in detail). 

Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMaaHLqLTJU 

Socca

I don't worry too much about gluten, which is a wheat protein that some people can't tolerate or believe to be bad for them or whatever. But I do think it's good to minimize starch and eat high protein carbs like chickpeas rather than stuff like white bread. So here's an interesting zero gluten bread substitute that can be served in place of rice or naan with indian food or in place of bread with any meal. Doesn't really make sandwiches, but it's tasty. Rosemary is traditional but garlic and or any herbs can be used. Socca is street food in Marseille and Nice, and is probably a very ancient recipe. It could hardly be simpler. 

Use a flat oven proof skillet or better a circular cast iron griddle. 

Olive Oil

Water

Besan (chickpea flour) 

crumbled rosemary to taste

Mix the water/olive oil in a roughly 1:1 batter, liquid to flour. Use about 1 tbs. olive oil and the rest water. If too thick, add more water. Should be fluid but not runny. About 2/3 of a cup of besan is probably about right for a 10" skillet; experiment with what you like. Add a little salt and pepper to taste if desired. Let stand half an hour or so if you have time. 

Use broiler or preheat oven to at least 450° F. Heat the pan until very hot. Put a bit of oil directly in pan. Pour in batter and sprinkle with herbs. Return to heat and broil or bake for about 7 min. Monitor. It should blister and get crisp edges. The batter will not rise. It's like a pancake. 

Remove from heat, cut in wedges and serve. It should come right out of the pan without sticking if your pan is seasoned. You can put a tiny bit of baking powder in the batter if you want, but it won't make a lot of difference. Another variant is to put in an egg, but this makes more like a besan pancake (which is actually great; you can use besan in place of flour for pancakes or waffles and it works fine). 

Markus and (Lukas) passions of Bach

I've been listening to the Jordi Savall recording of his own reconstruction of Bach's lost Markus passion, BWV 247. It's thought that most of the music in the lost original came from the Trauerode, BWV 198, and there are a number of other cantata sources. So most of the music in the reconstruction is familiar to Bachists from other sources, but some of the recitative is interpolated and composed. The libretto, by Picander, who wrote a lot of Bach's cantata librettos, survives. Anyway, it's sparkling and delightful. Seems rather cheerful for a passion, by and large (unlike both John and Matthew), but it's a very welcome addition to the Bach discography, even though it is a pastiche. I am a Bach nut from way back, so I've heard most of the cantatas several to many times, and recognize, at least "oh, that's familiar," most of the music. 

(The same cannot be said for the Lukas passion, BWV 246. It exists mostly in Bach's own hand, and he did perform it in 1730. But it was obvious to Mendelssohn in the 1830s, and is still obvious to anyone familiar with the music of Bach, that this is not Bach. Not even the 4 part chorales are up to to his standards; none of them. But it's pleasant enough middle of the road 1730 era Lutheran church music-by-an-unknown-contemporary-of-Bach. I have several recordings of Telemann, Buxtehude, etc. cantatas. This finds a place in that milieu, albeit not as good as the best of their music even. (I'd compare it to Zelenka, but as a Catholic heavily influenced by Italian opera, his music is very different). 

 

There is no more doubt

If anyone still doubts that it was Trump's desire and intention to subvert the election by any means available and seize power notwithstanding what he knew was electoral defeat, consider this, as related by Heather Cox Richardson in her Letter from an American yesterday. (Note that Trump has never repudiated Bannon, and was talking to him on Jan. 5, 2021). 

More and more, witnesses seem to be siding with transparency and the committee rather than with Trump. Today, Dan Friedman of Mother Jones published a tape of Bannon on October 31, 2020, laughing as he explains to a private audience that Trump will "win" in 2020 simply by declaring he won, even if he didn't.

Trump knew that Democratic mail in ballots would show up in the vote totals later than Republican votes cast on election day, "[a]nd Trump's going to take advantage of it," Bannon said. "That's our strategy. He's gonna declare himself a winner…. So when you wake up Wednesday morning, it's going to be a firestorm," he said. "You're going to have antifa, crazy. The media, crazy. The courts are crazy. And Trump's gonna be sitting there mocking, tweeting sh*t out: 'You lose. I'm the winner. I'm the king.'"

And, Bannon continued: "Here's the thing. After then, Trump never has to go to a voter again…. He's gonna say 'F*ck you. How about that?' Because…he's done his last election. Oh, he's going to be off the chain—he's gonna be crazy."

We cannot tolerate this treason

I remember shortly after the January 6 Insurrection Attempt a friend, no Trumper, said something like, "the media is blowing this all out of proportion. It was a riot. Like the riots in Portland." 

We now know that this was no riot, but part of a coordinated attempt by the president of the United States to subvert democracy, intentionally and knowingly nullify an election, and make himself a virtual dictator. Had he succeeded, and he clearly came closer than we realized at the time, it would definitively have meant the end of the constitutional republic founded in 1789 and the beginning of an American dictatorship. The forces that tried to pull this off are still active, and by and large control the Republican party. They are still trying to subvert democracy... and next time they will have learned from 2020 and will not make the same mistakes. With or without Trump himself, the threat is very real, and if you don't see that, I think you are being willfully blind. 

And speaking of willful blindness, I am convinced that the evidence is now overwhelming and the time has come to charge Trump himself and his principal co-conspirators with sedition, seditious conspiracy, and various other crimes related to attempting to subvert the 2020 election. If we do not hold these people accountable, we will lose our democracy, period. I am a patriot... these assholes are not... and I think our loyalty to our country demands that we not accept that these traitors be allowed to get away with this. We must demand that justice be done. 

First Webb Deep Field image

This first JWST deep field image shows very clearly the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. When I took Astronomy in college years ago this was a theoretical but barely demonstrable phenomenon... the way relativistic effects cause massive objects in the foreground to bend the light from more distant objects, stretching them out and typically splitting the images. The concentric curves of double images of distant galaxies in this image are now typical in the these wonderful images of galaxies, some so far away the light has been traveling towards our location in space for most of the age of the universe. 

Love this one

 

Safety Warning... alcohol can explode in a microwave

 Maybe only I would do something as silly as this, but anyway. I was trying to boil off the 30% alcohol from some vanilla extract (don't tolerate even small amounts of alcohol and what I was using it for wasn't to be cooked). Put about a tbs. in a pyrex shot glass in the microwave for abt 10 sec. Bubbled a little, but still smelled strongly of alcohol. So I put it back for a few more sec. and POW!  Loud explosion. The alcohol literally exploded and most of the liquid simply disappeared, the rest forming a fine mist on the inside of the microwave. The glass didn't even break, and there was no damage, but it was kind of shocking. Won't do that again. 

Truly revolutionary approach to Climate Change... please watch

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI&list=TLPQMDgwNzIwMjK2aq_XVj0XTA&index=2  

What then must we do to end minoritarian rule?

 Thinking about the huge minoritarian, oligarchic challenges that face those Americans... the majority... who favor democracy over oligarchy...I come up against the following as the only feasible way to achieve this goal. 

1.  Gain and keep control of a majority of the House and a Senate with at least 50 senators willing to suspend or end the filibuster to accomplish our goals. Elect a Democrat to the White House. This is a desperate fight to the death. We cannot lose. We must win. 

2.  Pass voting rights, reproductive rights, etc. legislation on a house-on-fire emergency basis. I don't enumerate the agenda because it is well known. The fact that the Supreme Court will try to eviscerate this agenda is not a reason not to proceed... see below. 

3.  "Pack the court." Yes. The hell with it. They've shown every intention and willingness to bend and break norms and rules. There is precedent to change the number of justices. So change it. Give the Democratic president four new seats to fill, immediately. This is clearly the only way to restore legitimacy, meaning some reflection of the actual views and norms of the country as a whole, to the Court. 

4.  The remaining challenges... the electoral college and the minoritarian Senate chief among them... cannot be fixed without Constitutional Amendments, which are impossible in the current climate. The only solution I can come up with is more states.  Again, they have been willing to break every norm and rule to achieve their 50-year plan. We must do so as well. Add DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands. Split New York, California, Oregon, Washington.... wherever it's possible to do it, into multiple states with at least one additional Democratic dominant state extra in each case to increase the overall representation of the majority of the population in the Senate. In some states this will not be possible, but in enough of them it is possible. Abandon any pretense that there is any purpose to this other than to increase Democratic representation in the Senate and gain the ability to amend the Constitution... for the simple reason that there are, in fact, more Democrats in the country, and there should be more Democrats in the Senate and it should be possible to amend the Constitution if a majority of Americans want it. I'm envisioning net 15+ new states, some of which would be comprised of what are now only counties, such as Los Angeles County, which has far more people than several currently existing states, or even cities, such as Seattle Metro, Portland Metro, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, East Bay, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, Buffalo... we have to get creative with traditional geography secondary to achieving a balance of political power with population as the only criterion that really matters. Once this is accomplished, Constitutional amendments to end gerrymandering, ensure rights of privacy, enshrine Constitutional principles of equity and regulatory capacity to protect the environment, end the electoral college, etc. should be enacted immediately. 

If this sounds crazy to you... "oh, we could never do that," then you are with the feckless core of the current Democratic party, and the sad truth is that we have lost these battles time and again and are about to be frozen out of power FOREVER if we don't rise to the challenge. The Republicans did both the court and the state thing once before... in the 1880s they added a whole bunch of low population states in the great plains for precisely the same sort of reasons. Now, it's our turn to remake America so that its governance actually reflects its people. 

Government legitimacy deriving from the consent of the governed

 I have come to see the core message and program that Democrats need to focus on as the simple words of the Declaration of Independence. Our country has lost its way. Our government is SUPPOSED to ensure core rights and that "to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...."   But it is no longer working to do this. Of course, it never has, perfectly, but with the present Supreme Court and minoritarian governance structure, it is utterly failing at this. Our core goal as Democrats, articulated and messaged with finesse and virtuosity, must be the restoration as a goal of this principle, and its accomplishment, incrementally but deliberately, over the shortest possible time. We can no longer accept being governed by a minority whose policies and ideology is disfavored by a significant majority of Americans. This is the very kind of tyranny against which the American Revolution was fought. 

Polling trending Democratic?

Obviously, not any reason to be complacent. We have a huge job to do to try to hold on to the House and gain seats in the Senate. But here at least is a small indication that the polls are beginning to move in our direction. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osr7wj0DUGQ  

What will it take for Dems to wake up and FIGHT?

So now we hear that the Supreme Star Chamber is accepting a case on election law, to consider whether to turn elections over to the states so that minorities can rule our country forever. What, I wanna know, will it take for Feckless Pearl Clutching Democrats to wake up and realize that this is all out war and that if we don't fight like hell to win the next election, then use the power of the Congress to strip the court of the power to destroy American democracy one way or another, we will, in fact, LOSE OUR DEMOCRACY forever? This is not a game. It is the WHOLE GAME. 

witness tampering

 Apparently the Committee knows who made the veiled threats against Cassidy Hutchinson. I'm sure the Menace himself has insulated himself, but it seems somebody is likely to go to jail for witness tampering. Think about how awful that looks... yet his delusional followers won't even blink. 

Whatever It Takes

Here's what I want to see from any Democrat that asks for my vote. 

1.  State plainly and without equivocation that they will support eliminating the filibuster and passing progressive legislation, and will work to make that happen, no matter what it takes, no matter how hard it is; no excuses, no compromise. 

2.  Similarly state that the unchecked power of the minoritarian Supreme Court as currently constituted is a threat to our democracy, and we will take whatever action is necessary, up to and including modifying the powers of the court and changing its membership through legislation, to rein in that abuse of power. 

3.  State that they understand that the threat to voting rights and the will of the majority is under extreme threat, and that they support doing WHATEVER IS NECESSARY to ensure that the people get to decide who will be president, who will serve in the Senate, and who will serve in the House, through legislative and constitutional change, no matter how hard it is, and no matter how long it takes. 

4.  State that they will do whatever it takes to protect constitutional rights, including reproductive rights and basic privacy rights, against the threat of radical right wing legal assault. 

5.  State that they will do whatever it takes to protect our environment and enact laws to ensure that we do whatever is necessary to avoid the catastrophic effects of Climate Change, in the face of radical right wing power politics.  

The keywords in all of these are WHATEVER IT TAKES. 

Roe overturned.

We all knew this was coming. But let me just say it anyway: this is war. No quarter. We must defeat the Christofascists no matter what it takes. We must fight on, despite setbacks, and win. However long it takes. Whatever effort it takes. I can no longer pretend to be friends with the enemy, so if that's you, I'm sorry, but you are not my friend. It is not solely this issue, far from it, but it's the turning point for me. There is no "civility" left; they destroyed it. It is a fight to the end, and if they win, our country, and everything I believe it stands for, is lost. 

 

GOP

Yet another horrific mass shooting

There is almost nothing one can say in the wake of a horror like what happened in Texas yesterday that makes any difference. 

But let me say a couple things anyway. 

First, the Columbine spree as a species of terror event named after the school shooting that killed 14 people including the 2 shooters 23 years ago, has morphed. Both the Buffalo and Texas shooters planned their attacks and wore body armor, and so were able to actually penetrate armed resistance to their attacks. This level of pointless violence has become a real crisis, and our political system has been completely unable to do a single damn thing about it. The situation with regard to huge amounts of uncontrolled guns with no regulation of who owns them, whether they are trained or vetted, etc. has only gotten worse and worse. 

It is now the case that many potential travelers to the US from the civilized world (which now, I would argue, lies entirely outside our borders) refuse to come here because it appears to them to be just too damn dangerous. 

This state of affairs is intolerable. We have many, many ills to fix in our country, but without question this is well up on the list. 

Stop with the defeatism already!

Just gotta say. Again. 

I am tired of hearing about Democrats' "razor thin majorities," a political climate "increasingly favoring Republicans," and how the incumbent party "historically loses in midterms."  Yada f-ing yada. We cannot allow defeatism to overtake us. Sure, of course, it's tough. We are facing what may really be the greatest threat to our Democracy in history. So now is NOT the time to waste a single breath on defeatism. We're gonna have to gear up and fight this fight like hell, to save our country. Please stop repeating this stuff and start projecting the message we need to get to voters to vote for Democrats. Our path to victory, to keeping and expanding our majorities and preparing to win again in 24 lies in successfully conveying what our party has to offer, to ordinary Americans struggling in these uncertain and difficult times. In contrast to the treachery and threat to democracy that the other party has become, right when our country needs unity and strength of purpose. It is clear to us that it's Democrats who can offer that, but we have to make it clear to people who only see high gas prices and a lot of right wing propaganda telling them it's all Biden's fault. 

Thank you. 

Oreg. 5th District: more progressive Democrat beats Blue Dog incumbent, now near certainty

Anyone interested in the Oregon 5th District (my district) race, in which local Democratic organizations defied the DCCC, Biden and Pelosi in endorsing a real Democrat, McLeod-Skinner, against incumbent Bluest Dog Kurt Schrader:

Despite scandalous delays in reporting, Clackamas Co. is now 45% reported out, and Schrader has failed to secure the massive and lopsided victory in the county he would've needed to overcome McLeod-Skinner's 60/40 victory elsewhere in the district. Right now, with almost half of Clackamas reporting, it remains about 59/41 and it is now virtually impossible for Schrader to pull out a win. Even if he were to get 70% of the remaining votes he would lose, and the reported votes in Clackamas are running more like 55/45 in his favor. Not enough, by a comfortable margin. (Schrader lives in Clackamas Co.). Somewhat surprisingly, the new areas of the district, created by reshuffling all the district boundaries to make way for Oregon's new 6th district, are McLeod-Skinner's stronghold. These are in Central Oregon; Deschutes County. This is the one area of Oregon east of the Cascades, centered on the city of Bend, that votes consistently Democratic. The entire eastern 2/3 of the state (geographcially, not population) is solid red Republican otherwise. 

Those of us who prefer to be represented by real Democrats and to not have the national party endorsing candidates who fail to vote with the Democratic majority and say things like it was a mistake to impeach Trump, are, needless to say, happy at these results.

Irresoluble conflict of interest requires resignation or impeachment

Just gotta say. Does anyone honestly believe that, had it been revealed in 2017 that the spouse of one of the so-called liberal Supreme Court justices had actively lobbied state legislatures to ignore popular vote victories in the 2016 election and send Clinton electors instead of Trump electors, that the Republicans would've just said, "oh well, that's not nice but recusal? resignation? impeachment? Let's don't get hysterical!"

Well shoe on other foot, this is exactly what happened with Ginni Thomas. Not sort of, not analogous. Exactly. 

Where is the outrage? Where are Democrats demanding that Thomas step aside? In my view, recusal from specific cases is not enough; this involves Thomas in conflicts in all matters arising in the court, since the very legitimacy of the US Constitution is at issue. There is no other recourse than that he resign, or failing that, be impeached. He has already cast votes that are clearly in direct conflict of interest. 

Oregon 5th District Dem. primary STILL undecided.

I live in Oregon's 5th District, which has the still-undecided race between one of the worst Blue Dogs in the Democratic congressional caucus, Kurt Schrader, vs. a credible progressive democrat, Jamie McLeod-Skinner. Skinner has won decisively in the currently counted votes, but most of the votes of the most populous county (in which I live), Clackamas County, have yet to be counted because there was an error in printing our ballots that makes the bar codes unreadable. So they have to count by hand. We all thought it would be done by now, but apparently it may take into next week. I can't believe what a fiasco the Clackamas County registrar's office is. There are ... just... enough votes in Clackamas to change the result if it goes strongly Schrader. 

Biden and Pelosi both endorsed Schrader, even though all the main Democratic organizations locally endorsed McLeod Skinner. Needless to say, we're very unhappy about the bigfooting of the party establishment to support Schrader, who spoke well of Trump on many occasions and voted with the Republicans on numerous key votes. In particular, he sided with Big Pharma to block the Medicare price negotiability elements of the Biden legislative agenda... which contributed to its failure as a whole, as well as being pure Republican policy thinking. This kind of thing, along with complete failure of messaging, is why Democrats nationally are being blamed for problems that they cannot control, and are failing to get credit for the numerous significant accomplishments they HAVE made. As a party we need to stand for a coherent policy agenda, and when politicians in our party fail to live up to the policy goals of the party, they should EXPECT to be replaced by the voters, and the national leaders of the party, at minimum, should stay out of it. I remain hopeful that Kurt Schrader will lose this race and will have to face the fact that you can't walk, talk and vote like a Republican and still be returned to office by a Democratic constituency. 

SCOTUS majority as a threat to democracy in America

Anyone who buys the Republican BS that the impending Dobbs v. Jackson Womens' Health is only about abortion is in Lala Land. See this, about Alito's totally inappropriate and prejudicial comments (he should now recuse himself from all decisions in this area). (If the link doesn't work it's talkinpointsmemo.com, I believe their paywall allows you to read several articles free, this is the one about Alito's comments on LGBTQ rights decisions). 

They are coming for gay and gender rights, contraception (starting with Plan B and IUDs, which their lunatic beliefs consider a form of abortion), personal consensual conduct, voting rights, any restrictions on gun ownership, environmental regulation of all stripes, and logically and eventually, interracial marriage and probably all civil rights via judicial interpretation. These horrible, horrible people MUST BE STOPPED. And sorry, but if you don't agree with that I'm not sure I want to be friends with you. Someone I know well mentioned "they're going for full Gilead," referring to the theocratic state in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Well, I don't want to live in Gilead, and it's time for everyone to choose sides in this. There's no middle ground. 

My tweet to Twitter CEO

I've canceled my Facebook account, because I believe on balance Facebook does more harm than good. I don't use Twitter much, really hardly at all, but I did take a moment to message its CEO, as follows: Tell Elon Musk that if he lets that traitor, Donald Trump, who tried mightily to overturn democratic governance of MY COUNTRY, back onto Twitter, I will cancel my account and never visit any Twitter site ever again. I am not someone you would normally be concerned about except in one respect. I am a stand in for many, many millions of people who feel just as I do. 

Mincing no words about the Supreme Court

 I suppose my previous comments on the Supreme Court's impending obliteration of the now generations old right of a woman to terminate a pregnancy have made clear my complete lack of respect for the authoritarian assholes who now form a majority of the Court. Regrettably, this is more or less a return to mean — through most of our history the Supreme Court has been reactionary and an impediment to progress and the will of the majority of the people in our supposed democratic republic. But let me be even more explicit: I detest Samuel Alito and his right wing colleagues, and believe they, and especially he, have done more than anyone in history to erode the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, and to endanger the stability and longevity of our fragile democracy as a whole. And for this, I say, go to hell, Samuel Alito... you are intellectually dishonest, you are no patriot, and you are not worthy to hold the office you hold. 

It's unfortunate that it has come to this, but these men (and one woman) are liars, disreputable hypocrites, and fanatics whose ideological and religious beliefs completely outweigh any commitment to democratic principles. Of which, from what I can see, they have none at all. (Just possibly not including Roberts; but it appears he may not be part of the majority here anyway). If our republic, as I fear, fails to survive this century, they will be to blame to a significant degree. 

The 9th amendment and un-enumerated rights

Apparently this crap draft opinion by Alito just plain blasts the decision in Roe v. Wade mostly on the basis that "the right to abortion," along with such things as fundamental privacy rights, the right to travel, the right to private sexual conduct between consenting adults, the right to marry whom you wish, etc., are not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. I note that one thing that is mentioned in the Constitution is the 9th Amendment, which completely obliterates this asinine argument: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

I have seen it argued many times by conservatives that there are no fundamental rights, that the state may compel or prohibit anything ab initio, and only those specific privileges (because if they aren't inherent that's all they are) which are explicitly carved out can be said to exist. Because this point of view is so inherently authoritarian and unattractive, they usually couch it in various euphemisms, but the brutality of it remains. But this argument is a nonstarter: the 9th amendment, by any reasonable reading, explicitly denies this legal view's legitimacy. The drafters of the first ten amendments had certain concerns and explicitly laid out certain limitations on the right of government to infringe on citizens' rights. But they also had the wisdom to say, in the language of the time: Just because a right isn't explicitly set forth in the Constitution doesn't mean it isn't a right. And no amount of bullshit from the likes of Alito can change that. 

Alternate Mothers' Day Musing

Farflung correspondents, 

Having read Heather Cox Richardson's little essay on the real history of Mothers' (not Mother's) Day, I am inclined to a somewhat politically incorrect musing. (If you don't know HCR, go here: H )

It has become a grief to me in my old age to realize that our species probably really is so deeply flawed that our once imagined bright future is but a pipe dream and the Great Death and Long Dark Night are much more probably what lies in our future. Maybe if we'd turned it all over to women, as Stowe believed we should in the aftermath of the bloody and pointless Franco Prussian War, things would've turned out better. The 20th century, especially the first half of it, pretty much confirmed her worst nightmares. And the 21st seems to have reverted to mean in this regard. Stereotypes and generalizations about whole categories of people beget all kinds of evil, but there really are certain prevalent differences between the two principal versions of our species. Whatever positive qualities of the masculine paradigm women may, as a rule, lack, there does seem to be a tendency to have a healthy aversion to totally insane and unnecessary mass death, an aversion too often lacking in men, no doubt for some biological reason emerging from our evolutionary history. Sometimes aversion, rathter than desire, even if it may appear to be a negative quality in the sense of being a behavioral tendency to avoid behavior that would lead to bad outcomes rather than a tendency to do something, is actually the key to survival. I think this has been true throughout the history of life, and is not in any way unique to human beings. I fear, in any case, that for this strain of the multiverse at least, it's too late to rethink that choice. I don't know it as a certainty, but is sure seems that the course of history has committed to a very dark cycle of delusion and heedless conflict just at the critical moment when collective wisdom, unity and cooperation on a world scale were our only feasible hope.  

I would like to be proven wrong, of course, so if anyone cares to, please convince me I am. 

Postwar ?

 

Is it too soon to begin thinking about a postwar Marshall Plan for Ukraine, and, depending on the outcome, extending an offer to a post Putin regime to fast track the refolding of Russia back into the Community of Advanced Nations?  

We need to think positively, or negative outcomes are almost certain.

A dark time

I admit I have not actually read the draft Dobbs v. Jackson Womens' Health opinion. But from what I have read about it, it seems that it is an insane and inane screed whose reasoning would fail to recognize even the "silent" rights of travel, private consensual sexual conduct, contraception, even interracial marriage, as none of these are "deeply rooted" in our written Constitution. The intellectual vacuity of that as a standard for what is and is not a right is simply stunning to me. It's been noted that he even cites with approval a 17th century jurist for the notion that abortion has always been seen as a crime, when the same could be said of blasphemy and witchcraft, for which that same jurist gladly endorsed the death penalty. (Perhaps Trump should be executed for claiming to have "done more for Christianity" than anyone ever... presumably including the founder of the religion himself?)

This is a dark time. Minoritarian government and the inherent strains of its illegitimacy are tearing our country apart. I can't find any basis for optimism at the moment... we have to just struggle and hope the climate can change enough at some point in the future that a gradual rebuilding and reform may be possible. But in the meantime, we could lose our liberal republic entirely, and history isn't particularly encouraging on the prospects of recreating it once lost. 

The state of journalism

It's a strange world in which there are really only three or four newspapers... The NYT, the LAT, the Washington Post, and the Guardian, say, and maybe a dozen worthwhile news and affairs sites that are more or less objective and another dozen or so with frank Progressive house viewpoints that are worth reading (to me). Another dozen generalist magazines, such as the Atlantic and the New Yorker. That's about is. Local papers just report on sports teams and local politics, and even that is frequently just not even there (Portland actually has two). Much of the rest of the "information" sources online are totally biased to the point of having no reliable factual foundation. Sometimes the bias is clear, but other times, it's pretty smoothly woven into the fabric of what pretends to be objective news and analysis. Even the more mainstream channels of video media are extremely selective in what they report, and we get a highly filtered narrative. Perhaps that was always the case, but it seems that it has gotten worse.

So journalism has become a global effete group of influencers who rely on what amounts to charity. The Guardian comes right out and asks for contributions, since they've resisted the comprehensive paywalls the other "papers" have put in place. 

I don't know how common this is. I subscribe to several outlets. But I know quite a few younger people who manage to stay pretty well informed who don't pay a cent for journalism online or anywhere. Which means in the future "journalism" will be entirely beholden to special interest money. Hard to escape this conclusion. 

Just musing here. I offer no solutions. 

Cranky rant on Pharma and presbyopia eye drops

I took an interest in pilocarpine (Vuity TM) eyedrops because, like, well, everyone my age, I have a bit of presbyopia (age related failure to focus on near detail). But the hell with it. They got a patent on a formulation and use of a drug that's been around since the 19th century and thanks to our excessive patent laws can prevent anyone else from selling this drug for this purpose. So they have a license to charge $80 to $100 for a tiny quantity that I'd be willing to bet costs significantly less than $5, including packaging and distribution, to produce. And since it's not considered "medically necessary," (it's only seeing after all, not really essential to survival), it's not covered by most insurance in this country. 

And people wonder why Pharma is one of the most resented, even hated, commercial sectors of the economy. "Systemic gouging" like this is the reason. 

I've already decided to do without. My $10 reading glasses work just fine. 

 

Cri de Couer

Farflung correspondents, 

I have up to now been as guilty as anyone of... not apathy but laziness, when it comes to working (and giving) to try to ensure the Right Wing doesn't sweep these upcoming elections. But the now certain overruling of Roe v. Wade, the first time in history the Supreme Court has directly and unambiguously voted to simply take away a Constitutional right that the people of this country have enjoyed for decades, has energized me. We simply must resist this. Of course many of us have this and that issue with this and that Democrat. I just voted against my Congressman in the primary in favor of a much better, smarter and as it happens female opponent, Jamie McLeod Skinner. But we have no better prospects of reversing the rightward, corrupt, and authoritarian trends in our country than to tip the scales in enough races to reelect and add to Democratic majorities. We have been hamstrung by just two uncooperative Democrats in the Senate. But for them, we could pass a statute that encodes the right that Roe v. Wade defined, and which the unprincipled rightists on the court would legislate from the bench away (ironically, as this is their fraudulent rallying cry against past actions of the court recognizing the evolution of constitutional rights!). And with a few more Senate seats and retention of the House, now very tall orders indeed, we still could, along with passing much of the Democratic progressive agenda that has languished forlorn in this political landscape. 

Please join me. Participate. Vote Save America. Act Blue. Indivisible. Swing Left. And contribute what you can, preferably by targeting Democrats who will vote a progressive agenda and who are in tight races. I thank you, and if we succeed, future generations will thank us. Onward, and let us never give up! 

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minor errors corrected