Category: Personalities

Editorial: Government Closure

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Government Closure:

Who to Blame and the Effects

By Jones William

He Wants More Money

President Donald Trump’s government technically made a partial government closure at 0000 hours on 22 December 2018 for the third time. This was after the Senate failed to  break a deadlock over the president’s call for a ridiculous amount of money to build a wall on our southern border.  Trump promised a wall and Mexico would pay for it. Well that’s not happening, so Trump is now demanding $5 billion from the American taxpayer to fund his border wall or he will bluster and roar and continue the government closure.

Working Without Pay

The government closure is only a partial shutdown. Because Congress and Trump had earlier approved funding bills of $1.3 trillion for three-quarters for the operation of federal agencies. That meant that only some agencies would be shut after December 21, when funding ran out. Even so, the essential employees in those agencies will be required to continue reporting to work, knowing they will be working without pay until the government re-opens. This new partial government closure effects nearly a million government employees, their families, their creditors.

I’ll Take The Heat

President Trump told all of America he would be the one to  blame for the government closure. He publicly declared before reporters in the Oval Office that he would be ‘proud’ to have a government shutdown.  His sentiments were even echoed by Stephen Miller, the chief strategist of the Trump anti-immigrant policy. After the closure for 16 days in 2013, a poll by Washington Post-ABC News indicated that many Americans placed the responsibility for the stalemate in 2013 on Republicans not on Barack Obama.

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EDITORIAL: The Curious Case of Gavin McInnes

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EDITORIAL

The Curious Case of Gavin McInnes

By Trevor K. McNeil

Autocrats Abound

Many people are attracted to powerful leaders. A fact of life validated by the history books. From the leaders of Ancient Rome or China and codified, without a trace of irony, by Niccolo Machiavelli (the origin of the term “Machiavellian”) in the 16th century. There are, of course, more recent and terrible examples but it is best not to evoke the wrath of Godwin.

Distasteful and Corrupt

Distasteful as it might be to contemplate, Donald J. Trump is among the ranks of such leaders. It is really the only way to explain his continued support even in the face of a plethora of scandals that make the Targaryens look like the Rockefellers. Despite this, or maybe because of it, there has been a noticeable raise in the number of what might be called “traditionalist” groups since The Great Orange One’s gobsmacking ascension to the very heights of power.

Ugly Americans

One of the more confusing of the groups to come out of the pro-Trump frenzy was the so-called “Proud Boys”. A self-described “fraternal organization”.  The group was not actually as bad as some. At least when it came to terms of prejudice. While all such groups claim to have members who are LGBTQ or POCs, particularly in terms of deflecting claims of racial or hetero-normative prejudice, the Proud Boys actually do. The primary requirements for membership being that one be a male and “proudly” proclaim that “West is best”.

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Open Hearts and Closed Gates

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OPEN HEARTS AND CLOSED GATES

By Trevor K. McNeil

Every Human Heart

Humans are complex creatures. What we say, and what we want, do not always dovetail with our actions. I think that we, for the most part want to do good and are essentially empathetic. Which is why I was so crushed to see what has gone on in recent days and weeks at our southern border. Quite aside from the President of the United States apparently thinking that dignity can be bought, something he is not even honest enough to admit, which is bad enough in itself, what is going on at the border, just for a moment, made me question my faith in humanity.

Not in Our Back Yard

We are all familiar with the images by now. Makeshift tents row upon row, people just trying to get through the day, children playing in spite of it all. Pretty typical in terms of refugee camps. Long panning camera shots and concerned looking correspondents being fixtures of cable television. Still, whoever would have thought that such camps would be constructed at the border of the United States? It is a mental disconnect I don’t think most of us are able to cope with, refugee camps being something that happens “over there.”

It’s Sad….But

Exactly where “over there” is I am not sure, but certainly not here. It is a similar case with terrorism. Up until 2001, regularly occurring, high-casualty terrorist attacks while sad, were things that happened to other people who weren’t like us, in other countries very different from ours. Which explains our surprise when a team of foreign actors, operating completely under the radar managed to murder 3,000 Americans on American soil with very non-conventional weapons. Which is probably why there were people at the time who said it was the only time America had been directly attacked. Apparently forgetting about Pearl Harbor. We simply didn’t see it coming. Sort of like how the indigenous Natives of the Americas literally could not visualize the future result of those first landings by European galleons. It was a sight so far outside their experience that their brains simply could not process it.

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America Gripped By Bomb Threats

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America Gripped By Bomb Threats

By Trevor K. McNeil

Not All

Not everyone who voted for Donald Trump is evil or even stupid. Many are, but not all. It is truly sad, yet also understandable, the large number of people who had once voted for Obama that swung to Trump in 2016. What brought about this radical change? Was it just a terrible Democratic candidate? Or was it an honest, if misguided, wish for change? As far as I can tell the root of Trump’s popularity is that he is not an establishment politician. Something which appeals strongly to the latent, borderline anarchist, anti-government streak in this country dating back to Tomas Paine. It is in our national DNA as shown by the founding documents; which were willfully engineered to maximize individual rights and limit direct government control.

Media Coverage

Until recently Trump’s anti-statist position remained camouflaged. It is popular, and fun, to point out how Trump is the worst president in history; who has done things no one ever has, only to be countered by professional smart ass comedian Adam Conover and opinionated op-ed writers, observing that there is historical precedent for everything Trump has done and is doing. There is, however, one area in which Trump is a true and terrifying original. His relationship with the media is the worst of any President in American history. An ironic fact given the key role media coverage, both positive and negative, has played in his success.

The Historical Record

Looking to history, there have been political leaders in America who have had strained, if not a
borderline adversarial relationship with the press, but until Trump there has never been the fierce and unrelenting daily attacks on the media by a president of the United States. The difference between Trump and the leaders of the past is that the leaders of the past had the knowledge and political experience to hide their disgust of the press and play the political game. Richard Nixon an astute politician knew enough to talk football with the notorious journalist Hunter S. Thompson, who would later become one of his greatest opponents and detractors.

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The Free Press vs Donald Trump

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Constitutionally Protected
Adrian Walker writing in The Boston Globe said, “I can barely believe it needs to be said, but the free press is not the “enemy of the people.” The press is constitutionally protected, and it is their function in a free society to protect the society from a corrupt and incompetent government. In the case of Donald Trump the need is especially great.

Adrian Walker Writes For The Boston Globe

Editorial Campaign
350 newspapers have joined The Boston Globe in the #FreePress editorial campaign convincing the  commander-in-chief of paranoid narcissism that the press is out to get him. It has become part of the Trump rally routine to slander journalists. He relishes eliciting jeers when he points to journalists covering his rallies. The attack is relentless.

In His Cross-Hairs
Free speech is the biggest enemy to Trump and that is why journalists are in his cross-hairs. Facts and their messengers are Trump’s real enemies and he will do everything within his power to discredit and silence criticism. The need to silence the opposition has no place in a free society, and is the tactic of totalitarian regimes.

Jack Shafer Writes For Politico.com

An Avalanche Of Editorials
Jack Shafer, writing for Politico.com believes the coordinated editorial response is sure to backfire. He opines that for one thing, Trump supporter’s don’t read newspapers. So, in Jack’s opinion “an avalanche of editorials singing from the same script is unlikely to move the opinion needle or deter Trump from attacking journalists and news organizations.”

Media Disapproval
Sadly, I agree with Jack. The public opinion of the media has been below 30% for over a decade. A “national press cabal” convened to oppose Trump may seem to the public as proof that he is being unfairly attacked. OMG, the last thing we want for Donald Trump is to improve his approval rating by convincing the electorate that Trump is the victim of the “deep state” in a coordinated effort with the liberal left.

Calamity Is All About Shining A Light On The Vile & Evil

My Plan
My plan as a progressive “voice” is to continue to attack Trump and his policies. I will not join in any form of coordinated national editorial campaign against Trump. I detest every cell in Trump’s polluted body, but I refuse to give him “fresh material” to use in his anti-journalist attacks. So, as in the past you can expect www.CalamityPolitics.com to make fresh attacks on Trump for everything from his failed orange flop-over to his vile sexism, corruption, tariff policies, environmental policy, climate change and bigotry.

Darlene

 

This, Too, Shall Pass

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The Dark Jester

by T.K. McNeil

“Every empire turns to dust and every ego will be crushed”
– Martyn Jacuqes, The Crack of Doom

No one can see the future. Just ask stock traders, poker players, or the weather man. One method used to predict future events is trends. Unfortunately, trends come and go. Be it good or bad, there is a tendency to be trapped in the current scenario. Which is why when it came to imagining transportation of the future, Futurists of the 19th century described what was basically a horse and buggy with a mechanized horse.

The very concept of the internal combustion engine was so far beyond the context that they knew it was difficult to foresee a time beyond it. In the throws of the Second World War the National Socialist regime referred to their administration as “the thousand-year Reich.” While the Nazis were only in power for 12 years there was no reason not to believe the “thousand-year” rhetoric at the time.

Donald Trump is president but it will not be forever, even though it already feels like it has been.  The Nixon administration was truly abhorrent and seemed like it would never end but it did, because people took action. Remember George W. Bush? Me neither. Not unless I really try.

It is both funny and somewhat tragic to realize that we thought W. was as bad as it could get and Obama arrived just in the nick of time to save us all. It was warm and fuzzy while it lasted.  But, going from Obama to Trump was a shock that the country has not yet recovered from.  The ‘he’ll never win’ complacency that let him do just that hangs over every day of his presidency.

Cultural amnesia can be a terrible thing that can allow us to get used to anything, but we can’t allow it. This is not normal and it is not right. This is exactly why our systems has checks and balances like the two houses and the judiciary as well as two term limits on the presidency. To keep the unfit from ruling too freely for too long.

No matter what happens we need to remember that. The power is ultimately ours, as is our destiny. It might hurt but we need to remember everything Donald Trump has said and done. Hold it our hearts and minds and make sure he does not get away with it. It is a dark time now but this, too, shall pass. Hopefully sooner than later.

I Refused To Watch Dr. Blasey Ford Testimony

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Why I Didn’t Watch the Dr. Blasey Ford Testimony

By Beck Holladay

The entire country skipped breakfast to watch Dr. Christine Blasey Ford quietly take her oath and then assume her seat in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, September 27, 2018, everyone except me. Blasey Ford alleges Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago when both were in high school.

It’s not that I don’t believe Dr. Blasey Ford. In fact, I think there’s not a chance in hell that she’s lying about anything that happened to her at the hands of a drunken Brett Kavanaugh.

Another Sacrifice

She has risked reputation, professional respect, privacy, anonymity, security and status so that she may simply tell the truth. Dr Blasey Ford, the victim of a brutal assault is ruining her own life, so that she may simply point out that she was a victim. The victim of a man poised to ascend to the highest court in the land. She had no choice, the validity of the Supreme Court is at stake.

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Why I Vote

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Why I Vote

D. S. Mitchell

I grew up in Portland, Oregon. I graduated from Lincoln High School in 1964. I am a white female. I grew up in poverty. Both my mother and father were union members. They divorced when I was a teen.

But I was blessed. Everybody said I was smart. So when I graduated from high school I headed to college. I, like many others of my generation, was the first person in my family to graduate from college.

With the help of several great scholarships, I received my BS in Social Science/Political Science in 1972 from Portland State University. Not a particularly useful degree, in itself. My original intent had been to continue to law school, but my full-time job, parenting, and physical exhaustion, halted my education at that time. Ten years later, in 1982, I returned to Clark Community College and obtained an Associate Degree in Nursing. After graduation with my ADA, I worked for the next 33 years as a Registered Nurse in hospitals in Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada. I still keep up my RN license, and do volunteer work.

I have never missed voting in an election since I came of voting age. My mother called herself a “Roosevelt Democrat”. I am a passionate progressive in the vein of Bernie Sanders. I believe in political activism. If you have a political agenda, which we all do, it is necessary to speak up.

It amazes me to hear people say they, “hate government intervention in their lives.”

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The Trump-Russian Collusion Timeline

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The Trump-Russian Collusion Timeline

D. S. Mitchell

centers on 12 dates. The Sept-Oct 2018 issue of Mother Jones magazine draws a painful conclusion; the Russian Investigation Is NO hoax.  So, if you have clung to the belief that a president of the United States would never betray his country to win an election,  you better check out the timeline Mother Jones has drawn of the Trump campaign activities & Trump speeches and collusion, is the only conclusion.

June 15/2016: As reports surfaced of the Democratic National Committee hacks, Trump & Team issued the following: “We believe it was the DNC that did the “hacking” as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate.”

June/16/2018: Donald Trump, Jr and three Trump campaign officials, including Paul Manafort, meet with a Russian attorney with known ties to the Kremlin to discuss, offered “dirt” on Hillary.

7/27/2016: Trump makes his now famous plea to Putin, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” A recent disclosure in a Mueller indictment, reveals that Russian Intelligence first targeted a key Hillary Clinton email provider, “on  or about” the same date.

9/7 & 8/2016: Obama officials alleged publicly that the Russians were likely behind the DNC hack. The Trump response came on Kremlin backed RT no less, during an interview, “I think maybe the Democrats are putting that out. Who knows, but I think it’s pretty unlikely.”

9/26/2016: During the first presidential debate, candidate Trump said, “I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia…it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay?”

10/9/2016: During the second debate when Clinton accuses Trump of benefiting from Russian interference his response was to deflect, “She doesn’t know if it’s the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking.”

12/9/2016: Trump’s transition team attacks CIA’s published conclusion that Russia had interfered in the 2016 elections to help Trump.  According to Trump, “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.”

12/31/2016: Trump announces, “I also know things that other people don’t know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation.”

1/13/2017: Trump posts  to Twitter, “Russia says nothing exists.”

9/22/2017:  Facebook’s announcement that Russian operatives had purchased ads on their platform, drew the following response, a “hoax”.

11/12/2017:  After a private meeting with Putin, Trump says, “He said he absolutely did not meddle in our elections. He did not do what they are saying. I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.”

7/16/2018: In Helsinki, Putin & Trump take the stage together and Trump sides with Putin over US Intel agencies. “They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

“As emails stolen from the DNC and HRC were disseminated by WikiLeaks and Russian intelligence,” something soon became clear, “These actors weren’t just snooping; they were weaponizing what they found, using a noxious brew of fake news, astroturfed social-media posts, and bots.”

For the entire article, written by Pema Levy and AJ Vicens pick up a copy of Mother Jones at the news stand or subscribe for home delivery. I get mine delivered.

Please, support THE BLUE WAVE PROJECT, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley’s action group raising money for progressive candidates nationwide.

 

GOP’s Sneaky Tax Plan

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GOP’s Sneaky Tax Plan

D. S. Mitchell

The American tax system is not broken and it certainly does not need the type of disastrous overhaul being rammed down the throats of the 99.8% of the American tax payers all for the benefit of about five thousand people, and a boat load of international corporations. Trickle down economics was debunked 30 years ago and why we have allowed the Republicans to bring it back into the tax conversation is beyond me.

On December 2, 2017 at 2 a.m., in the dark of night, without a single public hearing, Senators passed a 479 page tax bill, which included several illegible hand written notes in the margins. GOP Senators passed what could become one of the most important legislative bills in recent history. If the Republicans actually maneuver this monstrosity through the congress it will revamp the national tax code, disrupt our national health care system, while adding trillions of dollars to the national debt, thereby impacting every person in the United States.

From personal experience, I know that 2 a.m. decisions are usually stupid decisions. Decisions, that when viewed from the light of the following morning are often regrettable. So, we ask, why are the Republicans so desperate to pass such important legislation in the middle of the night? Without public hearings, written seemingly by corporation lobbyists, and supported by almost no one, we keep asking, why?

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