Excerpts: "Giving Putin A Pass"

Donald Trump, after meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam:
He just -- every time he sees me, he says, "I didn't do that." And I believe -- I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it. But he says, "I didn't do that." I think he's very insulted by it, if you want to know the truth.
Don't forget, all he said is he never did that, he didn't do that. I think he's very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country. Because again, if we had a relationship with Russia, North Korea -- which is our single biggest problem right now -- North Korea, it would be helped a lot. I think I'm doing very well with respect to China. They've cut off financing; they've cut off bank lines; they've cut off lots of oil and lots of other things, lots of trade. And it's having a big impact. But Russia, on the other hand, may be making up the difference. And if they are, that's not a good thing.
So having a relationship with Russia would be a great thing -- not a good thing -- it would be a great thing, especially as it relates to North Korea.
And I'll say this, Hillary had her stupid reset button that she spelled the word wrong, but she doesn't have what it takes to have that kind of a relationship where you could call or you could do something and they would pull back from North Korea, or they'd pull back from Syria, or maybe pull back from Ukraine. I mean, if we could solve the Ukraine problem --
But this is really an artificial barrier that's put in front of us for solving problems with Russia, and he says that very strongly. He really seems to be insulted by it, and he says he didn't do it. So --
 I think that he is very, very strong in the fact that he didn't do it. And then you look, and you look at what's going on with Podesta, and you look at what's going on with the server from the DNC and why didn't the FBI take it, why did they leave it; why did a third party look at the server and not the FBI -- if you look at all of this stuff, and you say, what's going on here?
And then you hear it's 17 agencies. Well, it's three. And one is Brennan and one is whatever. I mean, give me a break. They're political hacks.
So you look at it -- I mean, you have Brennan, you have Clapper, and you have Comey. Comey is proven now to be a liar and he's proven to be a leaker.
So you look at that, and you have President Putin very strongly, vehemently says he had nothing to do with that. Now, you're not going to get into an argument. You're going to start talking about Syria and the Ukraine.


From Daniel Politi at Slate:

Experts say the discrepancy between the president and the intelligence community is troubling. "I am disturbed that our president believes a KGB agent and continues to refuse to believe the CIA. I can never remember a time in our history when this was so. I hope Trump's national security team will be more forceful in convincing the president of the basic facts of Russia's violation of our sovereignty last year,” said Michael McFaul, a professor of political science at Stanford University who was U.S.  (November 11, 2017)

Former CIA director John Brennan... said Trump is demonstrating to world leaders that he can be “played” with a little ego stroking. “By not confronting the issue directly and not acknowledging to Putin that we know you’re responsible for this, I think he’s giving Putin a pass,” Brennan said. “I think it demonstrates to Mr. Putin that Donald Trump can be played by foreign leaders who are going to appeal to his ego and try to play upon his insecurities, which is very, very worrisome from a national security standpoint.” (November 12, 2017)

Ryan Goodman and John Sipher at The Atlantic

For those most worried about Trump’s casual use of lies for his own tactical benefit, it is the reality of Russia that is most frightening. It did not take long for Putin to weaken the elements of civil society and centralize power, creating an Alice in Wonderland political atmosphere where up can be down, and down can be up depending on his whim. Certainly, America’s institutions are stronger than Russia’s, and it is unlikely that Trump possesses Putin’s savvy. Nonetheless, the defiling of the truth and attacks on this country’s vital institutions are taking a toll and weakening America’s defenses.

Andrew Restuccia and Nancy Cook at Politico

Sen. John McCain, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, was unsparing in his criticism of Trump's remarks, dismissing them as naïve and dangerous.
“There's nothing ‘America First’ about taking the word of a KGB colonel over that of the American intelligence community. There's no ‘principled realism’ in cooperating with Russia to prop up the murderous Assad regime, which remains the greatest obstacle to a political solution that would bring an end to the bloodshed in Syria," the Arizona Republican said in a statement. "Vladimir Putin does not have America's interests at heart. To believe otherwise is not only naive but also places our national security at risk.” (November 11, 2017)

Julie Hirschfeld Davis at The New York Times

Mr. Trump’s earlier comments inspired immediate ridicule from Democratic lawmakers, including Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the election.

“You know who else is insulted by it, Mr. President? The American people,” Mr. Schiff said on Twitter. “You believe a foreign adversary over your own intelligence agencies.”

Representative Ted Lieu, another California Democrat, called Mr. Trump “dumb as a rock.” Mr. Lieu wrote on Twitter that both he and Mr. Trump had seen classified information on Russia’s interference in the election, and that Mr. Trump’s comments were lies.

“Trump knows the Kremlin hacked America last year,” Mr. Lieu said. (November 11, 2017)

Substitution

On October 26th, two men  in Pompano Beach, Florida, who had grown up together, got into an argument at a barbecue, which was being held for a another friend who recently had lost a loved one.  One of the men left and came back with a fertilizer bomb, which he used to kill the other.

The same day, A 20 year old Tampa, Florida man was arrested after he killed a 17 year old with a fertilizer bomb.  They had been arguing about a woman.

Meanwhile, in Lake Wales Florida, a man blew up his neighbor with a fertilizer bomb after an argument about Palmetto berries.

A few states over in Altheimer, Arkansas, twelve and thirteen year old brothers were wrestling over the family's fertilizer bomb.  The twelve year old was killed when the bomb went off.

A married couple were killed in a murder-suicide fertilizer bombing in Columbia, South Carolina, and another married couple suffered the same fate in Holyoke, Massachusetts on the previous day. In Harrison Township, Pennsylvania, a man was found dead in his car.  Police say it was a self-inflicted fertilizer bombing that killed the man.

So... does it still work if you change the vocabulary?

The Tulsa World on Oklahoma's History of Tax Cuts

History of tax cuts catches up to Oklahoma as state struggles to fund schools, troopers and more amid shortfall

Projected $900M gap has hit schools, troopers and more Four years ago, Oklahoma’s oil patch was booming, unemployment was falling and state lawmakers were debating what to do with $200 million in surplus revenue.

Republicans who control state government successfully pushed to reduce the state’s top income tax rate, slash the oil and gas production tax rate from 7 percent to 2 percent and give more tax incentives to industry.

But the boom ended and the money dried up. Now the once-unwavering confidence in the wisdom of lower taxes has given way to a growing panic over how to pay for basic services such as schools, health care and public safety. Revenue has fallen about 20 percent short of budgeted needs for the third year in a row.

The situation has deteriorated to the point where highway patrol troopers have been warned not to fill their fuel tanks, and drunken drivers have been able to keep their licenses because there are not enough administrative workers to revoke their driving privileges. Nearly 100 of the state’s 513 school districts have moved to four-day weeks.

Oklahoma’s woes are intensifying just as President Donald Trump’s administration proposes its own ambitious plan to slash corporate and personal taxes. The White House insists the overhaul will spur economic growth and bring prosperity to the middle class, but the idea alarms lawmakers worried about the risk of ballooning federal deficits.

State legislators have already tried cutting the budget. Overall, last year’s inflation-adjusted budget of $6.9 billion was 11 percent less than 2009, according to a recent analysis.

But the spending cuts so far have not been enough to close a projected $900 million gap. Lawmakers are weighing drastic steps such as reducing Medicaid payments, which officials say could cause hundreds of nursing homes to close.

“We’re not running the state based on a plan and a strategy. We’re trying to operate it on a philosophy,” said State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones, a former Oklahoma Republican Party chairman who’s among a growing number of Republicans and Democrats calling for an about-face. “It seems like we’re afraid to admit we’ve made mistakes and correct them.”

It’s not clear that some in Oklahoma’s GOP are ready to see taxes as a two-way street. The party holds more than three-quarters of the Legislature’s seats.

“I think we need to ... make sure we’ve squeezed every nickel, dime and penny out of every corner that we can before we just start raising taxes,” said Republican Mike Schulz, the Senate leader.

Oklahoma isn’t the only red state in tax-cut distress. Lawmakers in GOP-led Kansas, Indiana, Missouri and Mississippi are debating ways of raising more revenue to ease budget problems. In neighboring Arkansas, where Republicans recently won control of the statehouse, GOP leaders approved a more modest tax cut proposal than many conservatives wanted.

It’s difficult to pinpoint whether a specific tax cut leads to economic growth, but lowering the tax burden can sometimes spur the economy, said Nicole Kaeding, an economist for the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based research group.

She cited North Carolina as a state that cut individual and corporate tax rates while expanding the sales tax base.

However, she said, tax revenue “is just one side of the equation. If you just cut tax revenue but don’t cut spending, the state of course is going to have a budget issue.”

The situation in Oklahoma is particularly dire because the state relies so heavily on the volatile oil and gas industry, which accounts for 13 percent of overall state earnings. Also, term limits regularly send a fresh crop of newly elected GOP officeholders to the Capitol eager to redeem their campaign promises on lower taxes.

Schools, which receive half of state-appropriated funds, are feeling the brunt of the shortfall. The Tulsa district is proposing to close four schools and scrap some sports programs. The state and regional science fairs were listed for elimination until a private donor came forward with a $50,000 check. Teachers have not received a raise since 2008.

Many state agencies have had their budgets cut by 40 percent over the past three years.

When many red states cut taxes in recent years after Republicans made sweeping gains in the 2010 election, their leaders anticipated that any revenue loss would be temporary.

“There’s been this persistent argument that if we cut taxes, the economy will grow enough to make up for the lost revenue, and it just simply doesn’t happen,” said economist Mickey Hepner, the dean of the University of Central Oklahoma’s College of Business.

Republican Gov. Mary Fallin stands by Oklahoma’s 2014 individual income tax cut, which eliminated $135 million in annual revenue. She is now calling for tax hikes on cigarettes, fuel and a wide assortment of services to compensate.

“I’ve given a lot of different solutions for our Legislature to consider,” she said. But no revenue proposals have advanced yet.

So far, Fallin and other Republicans have avoided paying a political price for the problems. Many lawmakers count on support from conservative voters who believe that government can always be smaller.

“I think if we looked at any government agency, there’s fat that can be trimmed, and that includes the schools,” said Zane Grider, manager of a car dealership in Newcastle whose two kids now attend school just four days a week. “If we ran our business the way the government tries to run things, we’d all be broke.”

Democrats say they believe many are growing weary of the annual budget crisis.

Residents “are waiting for leaders in this building to step up and lead,” said House Democratic Leader Rep. Scott Inman, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2018. “The Republican majority, the governor and lieutenant governor, have failed to do so.”
(Emphases all mine.)

A Night At The Garden, 1939

The Try Guys Try Immigration

First Reaction: Remember...

One should also remember that four times that number have been killed by guns this year alone, and that it's only the beginning of October.  More than 1,500 were accidents, and more than 3000 were children.

Culpability in Foxworld

In Foxworld, THEY blame the gun in a shooting.

First Reaction: Where Evil Resides

...which, compared to the number of gun deaths in other countries,

would make the United States of America the most evil place on earth.

Overshadowed Issues

On October 7, 2016, the New York Times, et al, reported that James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, and Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, formally accused the Russian government of attempting to "interfere with the U.S. election process.” That same day, a video was released in which presidential candidate Donald Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women.  Of the two, the video garnered most of the press and my Facebook newsfeed.

This week, hurricane Maria has completely devastated Puerto Rico, and North Korea, a country that has been actively testing nuclear weapons, has declared that they believe that the US has declared war on them, which gives them the right to shoot down our military planes, whether they are in North Korean airspace or not.  However, the President of the Electoral College and my Facebook feed are completely preoccupied by football players who are protesting while black.

I can't express an opinion on this subject any better than Jim Wright did in his blog Stonekettle Station a year ago (and I hope you will click on this link and read it in full,) but I do have some observations just based on the things people have been posting on Facebook.

To begin with, there seems to be the yuge misconception that the players are protesting the National Anthem (or the flag, or the military, or whatever.)  This, to me, is an exasperating display of ignorance.  As one meme put it, "Thinking NFL players are "protesting the flag" is like thinking Rosa Parks was protesting public transportation."  Another recurring theme is the replacement of the word "uppity" with the word "ungrateful."

Eric Reid, who was the first to join Colin  Kaepernick in the protest movement, said in an editorial in the New York Times,

"It baffles me that our protest is still being misconstrued as disrespectful to the country, flag and military personnel. We chose it because it’s exactly the opposite. It has always been my understanding that the brave men and women who fought and died for our country did so to ensure that we could live in a fair and free society, which includes the right to speak out in protest. 

It should go without saying that I love my country and I’m proud to be an American. But, to quote James Baldwin, “exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” 

I believe that most of the opposition to the protests comes simply from an ignorance of the data.  We've all heard the names: Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and others, and a lot of people have opinions about what may or may not have happened in each of these cases.  But there is more to what's going on than just the names we hear in the news.
    In 2015, police killed 1,134 people. The rate of deaths for young black men was 5 times that of similarly aged whites, 9 times that of all other Americans, and 15% of the total. Blacks in general were killed at twice the rate of other racial and ethnic groups. 25% of them were unarmed, compared to 17% of whites.   The rate of nonfatal injuries to black people by law enforcement is over three times higher than that of white people.  Black defendants are 38% more likely to receive the death penalty than similarly situated defendants of other races.  Furthermore, although the usage rates of illegal drugs is about the same among all demographics, black people comprise 31 percent of those arrested for drug law violations, and nearly 40 percent of those incarcerated in state or federal prison for drug law violations while only making up 13% of the population. (Latinos have similar statistics.) Prosecutors are twice as likely to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence for black people as for white people charged with the same offense.  (These statistics are available from various source online, but Richard C. Deiter did a thorough study on this in 1998.)

Any discussion of NFL players' protests that does not include a discussion of the above is not worth having.  Any opinion about the protests that does not consider the above is worthless.

Kudos to the coaches and team owners who have stood up for their players Fist Amendment rights.

" We strongly believe that players are leaders in our communities and positive influences. They have achieved their positions through tremendous work and dedication and should be celebrated for their success and positive impact. We believe it is important to support any of our players who choose to peacefully express themselves with the hope of change for good. As Americans, we are fortunate to be able to speak openly and freely."  Mark Murphy, Green Bay Packers President/CEO

In all that's going on, there is still a shot of humor in the situation.  Breitbart and other extreme right outlets have made an unwitting hero of Alejandro Villanueva of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who found himself out on the field alone during the playing of the National Anthem. His own account of the situation, however,  undercuts the narrative being presented, and highlights their failure to fact check.

But as his anthem appearance became the subject of heated debate on Monday, he spoke to reporters in Pittsburgh and said that he had inadvertently gotten separated from his team.

He said he had intended to stand at the end of the tunnel where no one would see him, and watch from there as the anthem was played. But once he realized he was visibly outside, he decided he could not turn around and go back to where his teammates were standing, a few feet inside the tunnel.

“Do you walk out of the national anthem and join your teammates?” Villanueva said. “That would have looked extremely bad.”...

A major regret for Villanueva was the fact that his actions made his teammates and his coach look bad as they scrambled to explain why he was the only player visible.

“Unfortunately, I threw them under the bus unintentionally,” he said. “Every single time I see that picture of me standing by myself, I feel embarrassed.” 

It's unfortunate that the original issue, the reason for the protest, has gotten clouded over by the method, but often this is the case.  The whole point of a protest is to highlight an issue that is important, and to draw attention to it from people who might not otherwise see it.  It's gratifying that so many are standing up for their right to be heard against those who would silence them, but let's hope that the support for the right to speak doesn't drown out what they're trying to say.

Competing Memes

Fact-check Challenge

Sometimes a friend spouts a fact that seems fake, sounds fake, and is fake. The following facts however seem fake, but are actually real.

1. Mammoths were alive when the Great Pyramid was being built.

2. Betty White is older than sliced bread.

3. From the time it was discovered to the time it was stripped of its status as a planet, Pluto hadn't made a full trip around the Sun.

4. The lighter was invented before the match.

5. Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr. were born in the same year.

6. France last used a guillotine to execute someone after Star Wars premiered.

7. Harvard University was founded before Calculus existed.

8. If you have 23 people in a room, there is a 50% chance that 2 of them have the same birthday.

9. It’s never said that Humpty Dumpty was an egg in the nursery rhyme.

10. The water in Lake Superior could cover all of North and South America in a foot of water.

11. North Korea and Finland both border the same country; Russia.

12. When you get a kidney transplant, they usually just leave your original kidneys in your body and put the 3rd kidney in your pelvis.

13. Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.

14. National animal of Scotland is a Unicorn.

15. The Ottoman Empire still existed the last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.

16. The lighter the roast of coffee, the more caffeine it has.

17. A speck of dust is halfway in size between a subatomic particle and the Earth.

18. If the timeline of earth was compressed into one year, humans wouldn't show up until December 31 at 11:58 p.m.

19. If you were able to dig a hole to the center of the earth, and drop something down it, it would take 42 minutes for the object to get there.

20. We went to the moon before we thought to put wheels on suitcases.

21. A human could swim through the arteries of a blue whale.

22. If you could fold a piece of paper in half 42 times, the combined thickness would reach the moon.

23. On both Saturn and Jupiter, it rains diamonds.

24. Saudi Arabia imports camels from Australia.

25. You can line up all 8 planets in our solar system directly next to each other and it would fit in the space between Earth and the Moon.

26. The youngest known mother was 5 years old.

27. The Earth is smoother than a billiard ball, if both were of the same size.

28. Nintendo was founded in 1889.

29. If you take all the molecules in a teaspoon of water and lined them up end to end in a single file line, they would stretch ~30 billion miles.

30. In Australia, there was a war called the emu war. The emus won.

Tickld.com

Iranian Giveaways in Foxworld

In Foxworld, Obama gave 150 Billion to Iran.

Season's Greetings in Foxworld

In Foxworld, inhabitants are not allowed to say Merry Christmas.

Jerry Lewis

In early July of 2012, 86 year old Jerry Lewis did a concert at FireLake Grand Casino in Shawnee, and that weekend he was also staying at my hotel in downtown Oklahoma City.  His limo delivered him to our front drive around midnight or so - not too late, as the bar was still open and there were a lot of people in the lobby.  He had mobility issues, so I was asked to go get our wheelchair.  I drove him through the lobby into the #3 elevator, and I was soon very glad that we had gotten the larger of our three elevators, because we were joined by his entourage: six tall barrel-chested men with jovial demeanors reminiscent of the rat pack.  I realized that the elevator was going to get very crowded very quickly, so I grabbed the wheels and picked up the chair, and scooted over into the corner.
On the way up, the seven of them were joking with me about whether I was a bell boy or a bell man.  I told them, "You guys are sweet, but I'm going to be fifty next Wednesday."
    "Oh, you're just a baby!" they roared.  I forgot until later that night that he had played a bellman two years before I was born.
    We got to the 12th floor, and I wheeled Jerry to the Presidential Suite.  I got them settled in the room, I told them how to get ahold of me if they needed anything, and bid them goodnight.

And the whole time I was with them, I was thinking, Wow.  That's the first celebrity guest I ever lifted.

The photo was taken just three weeks later.

Being Offensive in Foxworld

In Foxworld, saying Merry Christmas and God Bless America, owning guns, eating bacon, saluting the flag and thanking the troops are politically incorrect, and possibly offensive (not that those who live in Foxworld care if it is.)

Off the Cuff

A few months ago I ran into an old friend, Sandra, at an art show, and we started talking about our mutual Facebook friends and their political views.  I told her that I was planning to write a post on my blog entitled "Unvarnished, " giving my opinion on the election and the motivations of those that voted for Trump.  I have that post in the works, but, as I pointed out to my friend Mark a while back, now that I'm on Facebook my blog hasn't been the place I go to make my daily observations.  Instead, my posts are more like research projects, and it takes a lot of time to put one together.  So far, "Unvarnished" is just a list of links to articles that help explain what I want to say, but not a word of my own has actually been written.
  Today, I want to do something different. This post has no links, and no background research.  It's just what I think.  With the events in Charlottesville this past weekend, I just need to say some things.  So, this is, essentially, my visceral reaction to today's news as it is presented on my Facebook page.

One thing that keeps coming up in various forms is the ridiculous Rewriting History argument, the idea that by tearing down statues of Robert E Lee, etc., is trying to hide the past and pretend it didn't happen.  That's patently false.  In Germany (and, yes, Germany is the ONLY reasonable comparison.  As a former Atlanta mayor said, the Confederate flag is the American swastika,) they did not erect statues to Adolf Hitler and company sixty years after the fall of the Third Reich.  They do not fly the flag of the Third Reich along with the current flag of Germany to "honor the past."  In fact, tourists in Germany have been arrested this past week for performing the Nazi salute in public places.  That's how strongly they feel about the past.  What IS done is that there are several monuments to the victims of the Nazis, including the preservation of some of the places where they were tortured and killed.  There are no monuments to honor the perpetrators of horrible crimes against humanity.

A friend of a friend made a joke, saying "WWRELD (What Would Robert E Lee do?)"  If there is any truth to the article I read this week, what he did was say that it wasn't a good idea to keep remembrances of civil strife, but to do like other nations have done and put them in the past.  According to the article, he was not buried in his Confederate uniform, as his family felt that that would be treason.

One friend seems to believe that there's some kind of double standard when it comes to linking politicians to their violent supporters, and to whether said politician/party/ideology is responsible for the violence, and whether they are pressured to denounce said violence.
  I don't know how to relate this to real life.
  To begin with, left wing violence, as far as I can tell, is an aberration.  On the other hand, right wing extremism is a major concern for law enforcement across the country.  While Islamophobes worry about whether some random refugee is going to be the next unibomber, this week a right wing extremist tried to blow up a building in downtown OKC, half a block from where I work --WHILE I WAS AT WORK! 
  Furthermore, Bernie Sanders did not encourage violence the way Trump has, which means that his allies did not have to defend, re-interpret, or ignore anything he might have said.  Nor did he have to be pressured to condemn the violence committed by his supporter; he did so immediately, and without reservations.  Trump, on the other hand, first gave a statement in which he chose his words carefully, so as not to offend the white supremacists or the neo-Nazis who believed that they were in Charlottesville to accomplish his agenda, and when he did finally bow to pressure to condemn the violence and the ideologies behind it, he did so like a hostage being forced to read a statement.
 
   I'll probably get some reaction to the last two paragraphs from people who've been convinced that Black Lives Matter is a leftist terrorist organization for whom violence is the go to tactic.  I was privy to a conversation between a hotel guest from Australia and one of our weekend policemen.  The guest asked something (I wish I could remember what, exactly) about policing the black community, and the policeman's response was, "They're the ones committing all the crimes."  I wish that I had been bold enough to interject that "they" were just the ones getting caught (and killed in inexcusable numbers,) and that there is a long and complicated history concerning institutionalized racism, white privilege, segregation, poverty, deprivation, and crime.  I did make a mental note that this guy, this one policeman guy, is why Black Lives Matters exists.  And I work with him periodically.

And finally...

Robert Reich on Tyranny

As tyrants take control of democracies, they typically do it in 10 ways.

1. Exaggerate their mandate to govern – claiming, for example, that they won an election by a landslide even after losing the popular vote, and that they lost the popular vote because of massive voter fraud.

2. Call anyone who opposes them “enemies,” including journalists and media outlets that criticize them, and accuse such journalists and outlets of spreading fake news.

3. Blame economic stresses on immigrants or racial or religious minorities, and quietly foment violence against them.

4. Quietly encourage domestic terrorists to use violence on defenders of democracy. Refuse to openly condemn such acts. Get manufacturers of guns and munitions to encourage such acts as well.

5. Communicate with supporters directly through mass rallies and unfiltered statements (now called tweets).

6. Tell the public big lies, causing them to doubt the truth and to believe fictions that support the tyrants’ goals.

7. Appoint family members and generals into high positions of authority.

8. Make personal alliances with foreign dictators, but express indifference if not defiance toward democratic leaders.

9. Draw no distinction between personal property and public property, profiteering from public office.

10. Count on average peoples’ confusion, fear, or apathy to allow all this to happen.

The Core of Hate

A post from a Facebook friend, commenting on the White Supremacist Rally in Charlottesville this weekend.

An apology is a way to convey a message. The Daily Stormer is a leading White Supremacy site. They got the message.

I haven't posted on this because I haven't had enough control over myself to do so, but in the quiet of the morning, here are my thoughts.
We are a single species. One. Proven. If you are a Christian, you also know that we are all in image. All.
...

Hate is learned, and it is born of the unholy matrimony of low self esteem and greed. The core of hate is a fear of being lower than others in the pecking order... the idea that others get something you didn't. If it stopped there, that'd be one thing, but it's the glee in hating that that defines it.
At the center of each of us is the deep desire to be seen and appreciated for our uniqueness, and the intricateness of our heart. Flawed, and optimistic, we hope to be loved. At some point, for a few, the kinship they find comes from defining difference. Then defining value based on differences. This is creating a false construct to justify ones position in this hierarchy. And, it's all complete bullshit.
From the dawn of humanity, the effort to create these control constructs has been one of the human race's crowning achievements (the other is the arts and sciences). Our efforts in self-aggrandizement is a shining testament to anger and inferiority complexes. The arts and science show what we are truly capable of achieving.
When our president shows us where he is, the least we can do is believe him. In my America, Nazi terrorists don't get to kill people, beat people or get a pass to rachet up their terror just to feed their self esteem issues. They get vilified, arrested and punished the same as any other terrorist, acting on flawed thinking, would receive.
Hate is the enemy of all that we, the amazing human race (all of us, in every shade, in every gender) could achieve.
  - Jet Netwal

Martin Landau

I started working at the Skirvin in July of 2007, and in those ten years I have met a number of famous people, some of whom I have a story about, and some that were just momentary encounters.  The first celebrity I met was Martin Landau, who was in town to film a movie up in Guthrie.  His limo driver would bring him back to the hotel at about 11:00, just as my shift was beginning, and after a brief visit to his room on the 5th floor, he would come back down to the front sidewalk for a pre-bedtime cigarette.
    Oklahoma had had a particularly wet spring that year, and by August we were inundated by mosquitoes.  This was the topic of discussion the night I met Mr. Landau on the sidewalk in front of the hotel.  I don't remember what was said exactly, but I do recall a feeling of astonishment about how normal it seemed to be standing in downtown Oklahoma City discussing bugs with an Oscar winning movie star, and how silly it seemed that I was surprised to find out that his voice sounded just like it did in the movies. 
    The next night, he was out again as I was coming back from the garage, and I stopped to talk for a moment.  I told him, "I wanted to tell you last night that I loved you in in The Majestic, you were phenomenal in  Ed Wood, and North By Northwest is one of my favorites of all time."
    "Oh, thank you, thank you," he said in that Martin Landau voice of his.
    I said goodnight, and went back inside to the bellstand to work on my paperwork.  A couple of minutes later, he walked up to the bellstand,  and continued our conversation.  I asked him, "So, was there anybody you just hated working with.?"
    "Oh, I don't do that," he said, waving his hand at me like he was shooing the question away.  His response embarrassed me a bit.  I didn't mean anything by it: I was just making conversation.  But his reaction influenced the way I've talked to celebrities since.  What I should have asked was, "You were only 24 when you made North By Northwest, so your parents got to see you become famous didn't they?"  I think that that would have sparked a much more interesting conversation.
    He asked me if I'd seen Crimes and Misdemeanors. I had not.  He said I would enjoy it, and the way he said that made me feel that this was a movie that he was pretty proud of.  I found out much later that this was a movie for which he got an Oscar nomination.  It's now in my collection, and yes, I did enjoy it.  I wish that I had gotten a chance to meet him again to tell him so.

I Don’t Know How To Explain To You That You Should Care About Other People

I Don’t Know How To Explain To You That You Should Care About Other People
Kayla Chadwick

Like many Americans, I’m having politics fatigue. Or, to be more specific, arguing-about-politics fatigue.

I haven’t run out of salient points or evidence for my political perspective, but there is a particular stumbling block I keep running into when trying to reach across the proverbial aisle and have those “difficult conversations” so smugly suggested by think piece after think piece:

I don’t know how to explain to someone why they should care about other people.

Personally, I’m happy to pay an extra 4.3 percent for my fast food burger if it means the person making it for me can afford to feed their own family. If you aren’t willing to fork over an extra 17 cents for a Big Mac, you’re a fundamentally different person than I am.

I’m perfectly content to pay taxes that go toward public schools, even though I’m childless and intend to stay that way, because all children deserve a quality, free education. If this seems unfair or unreasonable to you, we are never going to see eye to eye.

If I have to pay a little more with each paycheck to ensure my fellow Americans can access health care? SIGN ME UP. Poverty should not be a death sentence in the richest country in the world. If you’re okay with thousands of people dying of treatable diseases just so the wealthiest among us can hoard still more wealth, there is a divide between our worldviews that can never be bridged.

I don’t know how to convince someone how to experience the basic human emotion of empathy. I cannot have one more conversation with someone who is content to see millions of people suffer needlessly in exchange for a tax cut that statistically they’ll never see (do you make anywhere close to the median American salary? Less? Congrats, this tax break is not for you).

I cannot have political debates with these people. Our disagreement is not merely political, but a fundamental divide on what it means to live in a society, how to be a good person, and why any of that matters.

There are all kinds of practical, self-serving reasons to raise the minimum wage (fairly compensated workers typically do better work), fund public schools (everyone’s safer when the general public can read and use critical thinking), and make sure every American can access health care (outbreaks of preventable diseases being generally undesirable).

But if making sure your fellow citizens can afford to eat, get an education, and go to the doctor isn’t enough of a reason to fund those things, I have nothing left to say to you.

I can’t debate someone into caring about what happens to their fellow human beings. The fact that such detached cruelty is so normalized in a certain party’s political discourse is at once infuriating and terrifying.

The “I’ve got mine, so screw you,” attitude has been oozing from the American right wing for decades, but this gleeful exuberance in pushing legislation that will immediately hurt the most vulnerable among us is chilling.

Perhaps it was always like this. I’m (relatively) young, so maybe I’m just waking up to this unimaginable callousness. Maybe the emergence of social media has just made this heinous tendency more visible; seeing hundreds of accounts spring to the defense of policies that will almost certainly make their lives more difficult is incredible to behold.

I don’t know if what’s changed ― or indeed, if anything has ― and I don’t have any easy answers. But I do know I’m done trying to convince these hordes of selfish, cruel people to look beyond themselves.

Futility can’t be good for my blood pressure, and the way things are going, I won’t have health insurance for long.

Brief Observation

According to some of my Facebook friends:

    ....liberal media...
    ....anonymous sources....
    ....Obama did it, too....
and of course,
    ....leaks....
Because

Bakers, Freedom, and the Law

Grammar Lesson

20 misused words that make smart people look dumb

By Travis Bradberry

We’re all tempted to use words that we’re not too familiar with.

If this were the only problem, I wouldn’t have much to write about. That’s because we’re cautious with words we’re unsure of, and, thus, they don’t create much of an issue for us.
It’s the words that we think we’re using correctly that wreak the most havoc.
We throw them around in meetings, e-mails and important documents (such as resumes and client reports), and they land, like fingernails across a chalkboard, on everyone who has to hear or read them.
We’re all guilty of this from time to time, myself included.
When I write, I hire an editor who is an expert in grammar to review my articles before I post them online. It’s bad enough to have a roomful of people witness your blunder and something else entirely to stumble in front of 100,000!
Point is, we can all benefit from opportunities to sharpen the saw and minimize our mistakes.
Often, it’s the words we perceive as being more “correct” or sophisticated that don’t really mean what we think they do. There are 20 such words that have a tendency to make even really smart people stumble.
Have a look to see which of these commonly confused words throw you off.

Accept vs. Except

These two words sound similar but have very different meanings. Accept means to receive something willingly: “His mom accepted his explanation” or “She accepted the gift graciously.”
Except signifies exclusion: “I can attend every meeting except the one next week.”
To help you remember, note that both except and exclusion begin with ex.

Affect vs. Effect

To make these words even more confusing than they already are, both can be used as either a noun or a verb.
Let’s start with the verbs. Affect means to influence something or someone; effect means to accomplish something. “Your job was affected by the organizational restructuring” but “These changes will be effected on Monday.”
As a noun, an effect is the result of something: “The sunny weather had a huge effect on sales.” It’s almost always the right choice because the noun affect refers to an emotional state and is rarely used outside of psychological circles: “The patient’s affect was flat.”

Lie vs. Lay

We’re all pretty clear on the lie that means an untruth. It’s the other usage that trips us up. Lie also means to recline: “Why don’t you lie down and rest?” Lay requires an object: “Lay the book on the table.” Lie is something you can do by yourself, but you need an object to lay.
It’s more confusing in the past tense. The past tense of lie is—you guessed it—lay: “I lay down for an hour last night.” And the past tense of lay is laid: “I laid the book on the table.”

Bring vs. Take

Bring and take both describe transporting something or someone from one place to another, but the correct usage depends on the speaker’s point of view. Somebody brings something to you, but you take it to somewhere else: “Bring me the mail, then take your shoes to your room.”
Just remember, if the movement is toward you, use bring; if the movement is away from you, use take.

Ironic vs. Coincidental

A lot of people get this wrong. If you break your leg the day before a ski trip, that’s not ironic—it’s coincidental (and bad luck).
Ironic has several meanings, all of which include some type of reversal of what was expected. Verbal irony is when a person says one thing but clearly means another. Situational irony is when a result is the opposite of what was expected.
O. Henry was a master of situational irony. In “The Gift of the Magi,” Jim sells his watch to buy combs for his wife’s hair, and she sells her hair to buy a chain for Jim’s watch. Each character sold something precious to buy a gift for the other, but those gifts were intended for what the other person sold. That is true irony.
If you break your leg the day before a ski trip, that’s coincidental. If you drive up to the mountains to ski, and there was more snow back at your house, that’s ironic.

Imply vs. Infer

To imply means to suggest something without saying it outright. To infer means to draw a conclusion from what someone else implies. As a general rule, the speaker/writer implies, and the listener/reader infers.

Nauseous vs. Nauseated

Nauseous has been misused so often that the incorrect usage is accepted in some circles. Still, it’s important to note the difference. Nauseous means causing nausea; nauseated means experiencing nausea.
So, if your circle includes ultra-particular grammar sticklers, never say “I’m nauseous” unless you want them to be snickering behind your back.

Comprise vs. Compose

These are two of the most commonly misused words in the English language. Comprise means to include; compose means to make up.
It all comes down to parts versus the whole. When you use comprise, you put the whole first: “A soccer game comprises (includes) two halves.” When you use compose, you put the pieces first: “Fifty states compose (make up) the United States of America.”

Farther vs. Further

Farther refers to physical distance, while further describes the degree or extent of an action or situation. “I can’t run any farther,” but “I have nothing further to say.”
If you can substitute “more” or “additional,” use further.

Fewer vs. Less

Use fewer when you’re referring to separate items that can be counted; use less when referring to a whole: “You have fewer dollars, but less money.”

Bringing it all together

English grammar can be tricky, and, a lot of times, the words that sound right are actually wrong.
With words such as those listed above, you just have to memorize the rules so that when you are about to use them, you’ll catch yourself in the act and know for certain that you’ve written or said the right one.
This post originally appeared on LinkedIn.
Dr. Travis Bradberry is the coauthor of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and the cofounder of TalentSmart

Wishful Thinking

Richard Socarides

I'm From Driftwood posted this on Facebook today. While watching When We Rise last night, I told Gaby that I'd seen this video. I was going to look it up and play it for him.

Last night you may have seen the story of Richard Socarides coming out to his father--one of the founders of ex-gay conversion therapy--on ABC’s When We Rise. Now you can see the real-life Richard Socarides share his first-person account of the experience. “[My father] had a tendency for the dramatic.”

Inalienable Rights

The Washington state supreme court ruled unanimously last week that a florist could not refuse to sell flowers for a same-sex wedding on religious grounds. While this is a state court decision and not binding on other states, the case has nonetheless been closely watched by civil rights and LGBT rights advocates because of possible national implications.

The florist's attorney has said they will now appeal to the United States Supreme Court. There is no guarantee, however, that the high court justices will take the case.

The state supreme court asserted some powerful arguments in its ruling. Per the court, this case "is no more about access to flowers than civil rights cases in the 1960s were about access to sandwiches,"

The court also said "public accommodations laws do not simply guarantee access to goods or services. Instead, they serve a broader societal purpose: eradicating barriers to the equal treatment of all citizens."

While discrimination cases are not new, this decision is important because it equates same-sex couples' rights with other persecuted individuals like interracial couples in the era of segregation.

The state's attorney general later said this month's case was a landmark because it established "sexual orientation is a protected class — just like race, just like religion."

If you'd like to read the Washington supreme court decision, it's available online free here in its entirety on the state's webpage.

This court ruling comes at an important time because of two related issues in the news.

First is the deceptively titled "First Amendment Defense Act" (FADA), a pending bill in Congress that Donald Trump has promised to sign. As I've written here before, FADA would allow anyone to discriminate against LGBT persons and others by simply claiming a religious basis.

Don't want gays in your restaurant or your medical office? With FADA passed, all you have to say is that it offends your religious beliefs.

Second is the potential seating of Neil Gorsuch, who was nominated by Trump recently to fill the current Supreme Court vacancy. Gorsuch has ruled in favor of discriminatory "religious exemption" cases in the past and could do so again if this florist case, or a similar one, came before the high court.

Here is where the rubber meets the road with Trump. It doesn't matter that he says he's pro-LGBT and once waved a rainbow flag upside down for two seconds. What matters is, as President, he has acted and will act to ensure that LGBT Americans are an inferior class who can be discriminated against at will on "religious" grounds for decades to come.

It's not what he says that makes him dangerous. It's what he's done and plans to do. Any LGBT person who continues to support him is only fooling him or herself about the dangers we all face.

echoing back to the days more than a half century earlier when businesses refused to serve African-Americans and other minorities.

-Manhandler

I Can't Believe I'm Saying This...

Posted on Facebook:

I can't believe I'm saying this, but it looks like Trump is actually making America great again. Just look at the progress made since the election:
1. Unprecedented levels of ongoing civic engagement.
2. Millions of Americans now know who their state and federal representatives are without having to google.
3. Millions of Americans are exercising more. They're holding signs and marching every week.
4. Alec Baldwin is great again. Everyone's forgotten he's kind of a jerk....
5. The Postal Service is enjoying the influx cash due to stamps purchased by millions of people for letter and postcard campaigns.
6. Likewise, the pharmaceutical industry is enjoying record growth in sales of anti-depressants.
7. Millions of Americans now know how to call their elected officials and know exactly what to say to be effective.
8. Footage of town hall meetings is now entertaining.

9. Tens of millions of people are now correctly spelling words like emoluments, narcissist, fascist, misogynist, holocaust and cognitive dissonance.
10. Everyone knows more about the rise of Hitler than they did last year.
11. Everyone knows more about legislation, branches of power and how checks and balances work.
12. Marginalized groups are experiencing a surge in white allies.
13. White people in record numbers have just learned that racism is not dead. (See #6)
14. People in record numbers also finally understand that Obamacare IS the Affordable Care Act (so is KentuckyCare).
15. Stephen Colbert's "Late Night" finally gained the elusive #1 spot in late night talk shows, with Seth Meyers finding his footing as today's Jon Stewart.
16. "Mike Pence" has donated millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood since Nov. 9th.
17. Melissa FREAKING McCarthy.
18. Travel ban protesters put $24 million into ACLU coffers in just 48 hours, enabling them to hire 200 more attorneys. Lawyers are now heroes.
19. As people seek veracity in their news sources, respected news outlets are happily reporting a substantial increase in subscriptions, a boon to a struggling industry vital to our democracy.
20. Live streaming court cases and congressional sessions are now more popular than Kardashians.
21. Massive cleanup of Facebook friend lists.
22. People are reading classic literature again. Sales of George Orwell's "1984" increased by 10,000% after the inauguration. (Yes, that is true. 10,000%. 9th grade Lit teachers all over the country are now rock stars.)
23. More than ever before, Americans are aware that education is important. Like, super important.
24. Now, more than any time in history, everyone believes that anyone can be President. Seriously, anyone.

- Susan Keller

Protesters in Foxworld

In Foxworld, Soros and Obama are organizing violent protests and sabotage.

Also, Obama was a Muslim while in office.

Legacy

Posted today on Facebook by David's Snarky Politics Place:

When a Facebook friend told Scott Mednick, "We suffered for 8 years. Now it’s your turn.” Scott wrote a brilliant response asking how exactly his friend, a Trump supporter, had suffered under Obama.
Scott's reply:
"I am surprised you would wish suffering upon me. That of course is your right, I suppose. I do not wish harm on anyone. Your statement seems to continue an ‘US v THEM’ mentality. The election is over. It is important to get past campaigning and campaign rhetoric and get down to what is uniting not dividing and what is best for ALL Americans.
There will never be a President who does everything to everyone’s liking. There are things President Obama (and President Clinton) did that I do not like and conversely there are things I can point to that the Presidents Bush did that I agree with. So I am not 100% in lock step with the outgoing President but have supported him and the overall job he did.
And, if you recall, during the Presidential Campaign back in 2008 the campaign was halted because of the "historic crisis in our financial system." Wall Street bailout negotiations intervened in the election process. The very sobering reality was that there likely could be a Depression and the world financial markets could collapse. The United States was losing 800,000 jobs a month and was poised to lose at least 10 million jobs the first year once the new President took office. We were in an economic freefall. So let us recall that ALL of America was suffering terribly at the beginning of Obama’s Presidency.
But I wanted to look back over the last 8 years and ask you a few questions. Since much of the rhetoric before Obama was elected was that he would impose Sharia Law, Take Away Your Guns, Create Death Panels, Destroy the Economy, Impose Socialism and, since you will agree that NONE of this came to pass,
I was wondering:
Why have you suffered so?
So let me ask:
Gays and Lesbians can now marry and enjoy the benefits they had been deprived of. Has this caused your suffering?
When Obama took office, the Dow was 6,626. Now it is 19,875. Has this caused your suffering?
We had 82 straight months of private sector job growth - the longest streak in the history of the United States. Has this caused your suffering?
Especially considering where he the economy was when he took over, an amazing 11.3 million new jobs were created under President Obama (far more than President Bush). Has this caused your suffering?
Obama has taken Unemployment from 10% down to 4.7%. Has this caused your suffering?
Homelessness among US Veterans has dropped by half. Has this caused your suffering?
Obama shut down the US secret overseas prisons. Has this caused your suffering?
President Obama has created a policy for the families of fallen soldiers to have their travel paid for to be there when remains are flown home. Has this caused your suffering?
We landed a rover on Mars. Has this caused your suffering?
He passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Has this caused your suffering?
Uninsured adults has decreased to below 10%: 90% of adults are insured - an increase of 20 Million Adults. Has this caused your suffering?
People are now covered for pre-existing conditions. Has this caused your suffering?
Insurance Premiums increased an average of $4,677 from 2002-2008, an increase of 58% under Bush. The growth of these
insurance premiums has gone up $4,145 – a slower rate of increase. Has this caused your suffering?
Obama added Billions of dollars to mental health care for our Veterans. Has this caused your suffering?
Consumer confidence has gone from 37.7 to 98.1 during Obama’s tenure. Has this caused your suffering?
He passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Has this caused your suffering?
His bi-annual Nuclear Summit convinced 16 countries to give up and destroy all their loose nuclear material so it could not be stolen. Has this caused your suffering?
He saved the US Auto industry. American cars sold at the beginning of his term were 10.4M and upon his exit 17.5M. Has this caused your suffering?
The deficit as a percentage of the GDP has gone from 9.8% to 3.2%. Has this caused your suffering?
The deficit itself was cut by $800 Billion Dollars. Has this caused your suffering?
Obama preserved the middle class tax cuts. Has this caused your suffering?
Obama banned solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons. Has this caused your suffering?
He signed Credit Card reform so that rates could not be raised without you being notified. Has this caused your suffering?
He outlawed Government contractors from discriminating against LGBT persons. Has this caused your suffering?
He doubled Pell Grants. Has this caused your suffering?
Abortion is down. Has this caused your suffering?
Violent crime is down. Has this caused your suffering?
He overturned the scientific ban on stem cell research. Has this caused your suffering?
He protected Net Neutrality. Has this caused your suffering?
Obamacare has extended the life of the Medicare insurance trust fund (will be solvent until 2030). Has this caused your suffering?
President Obama repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell. Has this caused your suffering?
He banned torture. Has this caused your suffering?
He negotiated with Syria to give up its chemical weapons and they were destroyed. Has this caused your suffering?
Solar and Wind Power are at an all time high. Has this caused your suffering?
High School Graduation rates hit 83% - an all time high. Has this caused your suffering?
Corporate profits are up by 144%. Has this caused your suffering?
He normalized relations with Cuba. Has this caused your suffering?
Reliance on foreign oil is at a 40 year low. Has this caused your suffering?
US Exports are up 28%. Has this caused your suffering?
He appointed the most diverse cabinet ever. Has this caused your suffering?
He reduced the number of troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Has this caused your suffering?
Yes, he killed Osama Bin Laden and retrieved all the documents in his possession for analysis. Perhaps THIS caused your suffering?
From an objective standpoint it would appear that the last 8 years have seen some great progress and we were saved from a financial collapse. Things are not perfect. Things can always be better. We are on much better footing now than we were in 2008.
I look forward to understanding what caused you to suffer so much under Obama these last 8 years...
Share away

Snatched Quotes

Trump isn’t a real populist, he just plays one on reality TV... Why, then, does anyone consider him a “populist”? It’s basically all about affect, about coming across as someone who’ll stand up to snooty liberal elitists (and of course validate salt-of-the-earth, working-class racism.) - Paul Krugman

Part of the post-truth movement is the post-definitions phenomenon, which holds that words mean whatever the lying sack of shit who originally uttered them says they mean in retrospect.  - Betty Cracker

Providing health care to those previously denied it is, necessarily, a matter of redistributing from the lucky to the unlucky. And, of course, reversing a policy that expanded health care is redistribution in reverse. You can’t make this reality go away. - Paul Krugman

It’s not just that the winners fail to compensate the losers. It’s that they use their winnings to buy the politics and policies that further hurt the losers. When Trump and Bernie and even Hillary said “the economy’s rigged,” this is what they meant: the benefits of growth (including those from globalization) are going largely to the rich, who then use those resources to advance more inequality-inducing government policies (real time examples include ACA repeal and the big, nasty, regressive tax cut that’s coming). The fact that Trump pulled this message off may seem remarkable, but history is littered with carnival barking faux populists tapping this play. - Jared Bernstein

Fashion Sense in Foxworld

In Foxworld, the symbol of treason, slavery, and white supremacy

is the equivalent of a bad fashion choice.