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Can’t we (Democrats) all just get along?

Sunday, February 16, 2020

The rancor coming from all sides in the Democratic field is depressing, to say the least. We have always been good at creating circular firing squads, but this is really getting out of hand. The common stereotype is that the Bernie Bros are the my way or the highway wing of the party, but I’ve seen plenty of evidence that there are folks all over the Democratic ideological map more intent on undermining their disfavored Democratic candidate than defeating the orange monster. I know of two Biden fans here in Connecticut who spend a lot of on line time bashing Bernie, which neither enhances Biden’s chances for the nomination or election, or changes the minds of the die hard Bernie-ites. And of course there are the die hards of all stripes who insist that if their choice doesn’t get it, they simply won’t vote. After all, what could go wrong?

We have a man in the White House auditioning to be America’s Hitler and an entire political party getting fitted for brown shirts, but we spend our time bashing each other, which the press will only gladly amplify. After all, to be fair to both sides the press must point out that the Democrats are in Disarray!, while the Republicans are running an electoral juggernaut, notwithstanding the near record number of Republican Congresscritters who have decided to spend more time with their families.

There’s not a person in the Democratic pack, especially now that Tulsi is an afterthought, that wouldn’t be a better president than the genius. There’s also not a single one of them that can’t win, provided all of us line up behind her or him. I can’t recall an election in my lifetime in which some pundit hasn’t said that it was the most important election in their lifetime. Well, this time it’s true. If we lose this one, we will have a dictatorship.

Every Democratic candidate should, in every speech, emphasize that he or she is with whoever gets the nomination. For myself, when it comes to the primary, a candidate’s failure to do exactly that will weigh heavily in my decision. But once the final choice is made, I’ll be behind the nominee 100%, as should everyone else who would like to see the Republic survive. 

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It’s bullshit. You know it and I know it.

Friday, February 14, 2020

All three of our morning newspapers this morning headlined Barr’s comments about Trump’s tweets. The New London Day, as per usual, was the worse offender, proclaiming: Barr Angry Over Trump Tweets. 

If I might quote the philosopher Randy Newman, in his incarnation as the Devil, talking to God, in his own version of Faust:

If I might intrude
Just for a moment
If only to inject a note of reality
On this festive occasion

In all my life
I don’t believe I’ve ever heard such bullshit
Even from You
A master of bullshit
You know it
I know it
It’s bullshit
Bullshit

There is no question that Barr holds his office for one reason: because he is willing to do whatever Trump wants. He knows it, and we know it, and anyone who says differently is spouting bullshit. The fact that the White House immediately put out a statement to the effect that the genius is not at all disturbed about Barr’s comments tells you all you need to know.

Barr is saying this stuff for one reason only, to lay a foundation for what will probably be a series of lies about his move to reduce Stone’s sentencing recommendation. In the same interview where he pretended to vent his “anger” he took pains to absolve Trump of any connection to his own decision to corruptly interfere in the Stone case. We are supposed to believe that the fact that Trump’s tweet came before Barr’s announcement was mere happenstance. Even if it was, keep in mind that Barr did what he did, something that is highly improper, not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was what he knew Trump wanted him to do. That is true even if by some miracle it is true that Trump’s tweet was emitted after Barr made his decision but before it was announced.

Barr will be testifying to Congress soon (though not soon enough) and he is just laying the groundwork. More bullshit will be forthcoming.

I’m sure I’m not the only non-mainstream person out there who will call bullshit on Trump. In fact, here’s somebody doing it at Hullabaloo. I took pains not to read this post when I saw it in my RSS reader, as I had already decided to vent on this and I wanted to avoid stealing anyone else’s ideas. I’m sure it’s worth reading. 

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Another brick in the wall

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Why am I totally not surprised by this:

’Sloppy’ Mobile Voting App Used in Four States Has ‘Elementary’ Security Flaws

MIT researchers say an attacker could intercept and alter votes, while making voters think their votes have been cast correctly, or trick the votes server into accepting connections from an attacker.

A mobile voting app being used in West Virginia and other states has elementary security flaws that would allow someone to see and intercept votes as they’re transmitted from mobile phones to the voting company’s server, new research reveals.

An attacker would also be able to alter the user’s vote and trick the user into believing their vote was transmitted accurately, researchers from the Massachusetts Technology Institute write in a paper released Thursday.

The app, called Voatz, also has problems with how it handles authentication between the voter’s mobile phone and the backend server, allowing an attacker to impersonate a user’s phone. Even more surprising, although the makers of Voatz have touted its use of blockchain technology to secure the transmission and storage of votes, the researchers found that the blockchain isn’t actually used in the way Voatz claims it is, thereby supplying no additional security to the system.

Read the whole article. The company involved has made a generic defense, the same defense that other companies that made faulty electronic voting machines have made. It seems pretty clear that they made only a passing effort at making their system secure. Almost like they were working for someone with an interest in hacking our elections. Hmmmm.

Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the internet knows beyond doubt that holding elections via the internet is an invitation to outside forces such as, (would you believe!) the Russians to interfere in our elections. The United States Senate Republicans have proven time and again that they are fine with outside interference.

The fact that states like West Virginia are buying into these systems can be explained in only one of two ways: 1) Election officials are monumentally stupid, or 2) the election officials involved have reason to believe that hackers will be on their side. Given Republican resistance to efforts to protect our elections, the preponderance of the evidence would indicate a clear choice between the two possibilities.

Sometimes the old ways are better. It is a no brainer that paper ballots, initially tabulated by machines that are in no way connected or capable of connection to the internet are the way to go. It may take a little longer to get official results, but it’s better than living another four years under the stable genius.

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Another blast from the past

Monday, February 10, 2020

I’ve mentioned before that I keep a diary on my Ipad, in which I’ve tried, along with my own pathetically dull life, to chronicle the day to day developments related to the Orange menace. Four years ago the New Hampshire primary had just taken place, and I wrote this:

In other news, there’s no other news, except that the consensus seems to be that Rubio is history. As for Kasich, who came in second, he is now in Bush’s crosshairs. Kasich has no money, so it’s not clear there’s an upside for him in the future. It is interesting how they are forming a circular firing squad, with Trump lobbing projectiles from the outside. They’re scared to take him on, and when they try, they fall flat.

It just occurred to me that there were probably German diarists half laughing at Hitler when he was on his way up. It’s a dangerous time.

They’re still scared of him, and would rather have a Hitler than take him on.

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Going Full Fascist

Friday, February 7, 2020

I suppose this was inevitable.

For months, congressional Republicans have complained that the impeachment of Donald Trump was delaying important policy, repeating the mantra “get back to work.” Now that the impeachment process is over, they are instead pushing for new investigations in retaliation.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham essentially admitted this plan on Fox News on Thursday, previewing Trump’s remarks set for the afternoon. “I think he’s gonna also talk about how just horribly he was treated and that maybe people should pay for that,” she said.

Full details on the targets at the link. They include the inevitable Hillary, Hunter Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff and the anonymous Whistleblower. The Treasury Department has already swiftly sent to the Senate committees precisely the sort of financial information on Biden that they withheld on Trump.

Thankfully, the House is in Democratic hands, but that won’t stop the Injustice Department from bringing phony criminal charges against Democrats.

If we win the election in November it is absolutely imperative that the people attempting to impose fascism pay a price. As an easy example, Rand Paul, who has repeatedly attempted to out the whistleblower should be shown the inside of a prison cell, as his conduct is and was criminal. Bill Barr can be his cell mate. Those pushing fascism must be made to pay a price. It is at least marginally possible that none of this would have happened if Nixon had spent some time behind bars, and the precedent of exempting Republicans from the legal consequences of their crimes had not been set.

If we lose the election, then our only hope is for the sane states to reopen the question of secession. The country will be fully fascist if four more years of Trump are imposed upon us. 

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Oh, Please dear god that doesn’t exist, grant my prayer!

Monday, February 3, 2020

Ask my better half, this has been one of my fantasies, and now it may come true:

Two Swedish lawmakers have nominated 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. According to the Associated Press, Jens Holm and Hakan Svenneling—members of Sweden’s Left Party—argue that Thunberg’s pursuit of climate change legislation on a global level, in the face of stubborn and powerful world leadership, is “an act of peace.”

Thunberg has received all kinds of accolades for her work to highlight the issue of climate change and pressure world leaders to prioritize the environment. She has spoken in front of thousands, including directly to world leaders at the U.N. this past September. Like most people in the public eye, Thunberg has had to weather the bullying of our country’s commander in chief, but as Thunberg has shown nothing if not integrity, she has easily disposed of the tiny-handed tyrant every time.

Timing is everything here. I don’t know precisely when these awards are handed out, but if there were a god, and she actually cared to dispense divine justice, she would time that award to be announced just as the networks are calling November’s election for the Democrat. Or maybe the next day. Whatever would irritate the orange one the most.

Of course if there were a loving god looking after us, the orange one would be in jail. Still, we can always hope.

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Looking on the bright side

Friday, January 31, 2020

Today the Senate took a prelimary vote that all but declares that, as Richard Nixon said, “when the president does it, that means it is not illegal”. Of course, there’s an asterisk attached, in that the president in question must be a Republican. But this was wholly expected and we must now hope that the Democrats can get there act together and keep this outrage front and center during the coming campaign.

For my own part, I take some small solace in the following. On Monday I wrote a post in which I asserted with confidence what I thought at the time was conventional wisdom: that of course the Republicans would not allow witnesses, for the following reasons:

A. No matter what, the Republicans are going to vote to acquit Trump. This is an absolute given.

B. Allowing testimony would simply make them look worse than they already look and would cost them even more votes in the November election.

The very next day, the New London Day, the New York Times, and the Boston Globe, each of which is delivered to my door each day, all bore headlines to the effect that it was really looking like enough Republicans would vote for witnesses to make it a reality. For a while there I was worried. I’m not always right, but I certainly compare favorably to David Brooks, Bill Kristol, and a host of other highly paid pundits. (But then, who doesn’t).

Anyway, I started composing a follow up post in my mind, acknowledging that I had been wrong. But by the next morning, all was well. I don’t recall if all three papers had similar headlines this time, but it was now clear that Moscow Mitch would prevail, just as was always clear to anyone actually watching. It remained to be seen whether they’d play catch and release with Susan Collins, who will vote for acquittal in any event. So, I breathed easier, knowing I would not have to confess error. So that’s the bright side to today’s vote, from my point of view. 

While composing this post in my mind, I ran across this post at my guilty little pleasure site, the Palmer Report. As I’ve said before, they usually have their facts right, but you can’t place bets on the conclusions they draw from those facts. But their conclusions are not always wrong, and this pretty much tracks the logic of what I said in my own post, so I reproduce it here.

The Republican Senate was never, ever going to convict and remove Donald Trump unless he became so toxically unpopular, the Republican Senators selfishly concluded that their own personal odds of reelection would be improved by ousting Trump. Instead, the Republicans made the calculation that their own careers are better off by acquitting Trump. If anyone in the Resistance thought this was ever going to come down to Republicans “growing a spine” or “not growing a spine,” that’s just not how any of this works. For the Republicans, it was always about math.

It is now up to the Democrats that run against these Trump enablers to constantly remind their constituents that their opponents refused to listen to witnesses and cast a vote for acquittal in the full knowledge that Trump was guilty. Look for Joe Manchin, Krysten Sinema, and/or Doug Jones to make that harder by voting to acquit and rendering it a bi-partisan vote. For Jones, in particular, the vote will make no sense, as he can’t run a campaign without out of state money, and that will dry up if he votes to acquit. But Democrats live in the fantasy world in which they vote against the wishes of their base because doing so will win them more votes from Fox deadheads than they will lose by turning off their own voters. It’s a proven strategy in this fantasy world, but it’s one that never works in the world the rest of us inhabit.

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Just a reminder

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

This is one of several articles I’ve seen later pushing the meme that Republicans are hoping for a Bernie Sanders candidacy. It may very well be true.

It is worthwhile remembering that four years ago Democrats thought that beating Donald Trump would be a no-brainer. Remember Hillary spending her time campaigning in Georgia, trying to pad her inevitable electoral college victory? Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I don’t think the Republicans are any smarter than the Democrats.

I’m not a Bernie bro. I’m still on the almost any Democrat but Biden wagon (though I prefer him to Tulsi), because he can’t seem to avoid laying traps for himself like this one:

Dozens of scientists have endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) sweeping plan to combat global climate change after fellow Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declared that “not a single solitary scientist thinks it can work.”

The former vice president derided Sanders’ proposed $16.3 trillion Green New Deal during a campaign stop last week in New Hampshire, adding that “you can not get to zero emissions by 2030. It’s impossible.”

Sanders swung back over the weekend, telling a crowd in Iowa that he would soon unveil “a long list of scientists” who back his plan. The Sanders campaign delivered on Tuesday, releasing a letter of support signed by 57 science professors and researchers from around the country.

“The Green New Deal you are proposing is not only possible, but it must be done if we want to save the planet for ourselves, our children, grandchildren, and future generations,” the letter signed by the scientists said. “Not only does your Green New Deal follow the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s] timeline for action, but the solutions you are proposing to solve our climate crisis are realistic, necessary, and backed by science. We must protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the planet we call home.”

This is a Biden specialty: subverting himself. He practically invited this sort of retaliation, which does him more harm than he did to Sanders with his original remark. We can expect more of this during a general campaign, and we can expect the media to pounce on, and amplify, every such blunder, while giving Trump the comparatively free ride they gave him in 2016. (What percent of voters ever even heard of Trump University, to name only one of Trump’s frauds, prior to November of 2016)

I should add that while we cannot know that Sanders would or would not be the Democrat most easily beaten by Trump, we can know that unlike the Trump who supposedly could not win in 2016, the networks will not give him (or any other Democrat, including Biden) billions of dollars in free publicity, will not cover his rallies from start to finish, will not give him endless appearances on Morning Joe, and will present a united front against his policies, which, I will say again, are nothing more than warmed over 1960s liberalism. But the fact is, they did the same to Hillary, and she won by three million votes despite offering nothing of substance to the American people.

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A shock: Republicans continue to be Republicans

Monday, January 27, 2020

I have been totally bewildered by the raft of blog posts and news articles proclaiming that John Bolton’s book excerpt changes everything! Even if it did, the Republicans would find a way to ignore it. For once, though, they’re telling the truth when they say it adds nothing to the case. There is already ample evidence in the record establishing that Trump held American aid hostage to his own interests. Bolton’s testimony would merely confirm that. It was also laughable to speculate that somehow this would increase the pressure on Republicans to allow testimony at the impeachment trial. Consider the following:

A. No matter what, the Republicans are going to vote to acquit Trump. This is an absolute given.

B. Allowing testimony would simply make them look worse than they already look and would cost them even more votes in the November election.

Therefore, it follows as the night the day that they will vote against hearing from witnesses. This was always a given, and it remains so. They don’t want to hear more evidence, because they know that any additional evidence will simply make Trump’s guilt, already proven beyond a reasonable doubt, so much more obvious that even some Fox viewers might see through the bullshit.It is truly amazing that some somewhat leftish bloggers have joined the media, which is forever expecting that principled Republican to appear out of nowhere, in speculating that this development will make the slightest bit of difference.

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Today’s downer

Sunday, January 26, 2020

You see a lot of blog post, op ed pieces, etc., like this one, in which the question is asked, more or less: how will history treat Trump and his enablers. The unspoken assumption in most of them is that history will be written from a perspective more or less in line with today’s. But that’s not how it works.

This history of the Civil War and it’s aftermath was written by Southern apologists for about a hundred years. It was gospel, for instance, that the Johnson Impeachers and the “Radical” Republicans were the bad guys, while it became a given that the president who handed the South back to the confederates was unfairly impeached and deserved to be acquitted. I just finished The Impeachers, by Brenda Wineapple, and wasn’t I surprised (sadly, no) to find that Edmund Ross, one of John F. Kennedy’s ghostwriter’s Profiles in Courage for casting the deciding vote against impeachment, not only kept a horror show in office, but probably took a bribe for doing so. 

Wasn’t I also a bit surprised, when I read Dante’s Divine Comedy, to find that it was Brutus, the guy who tried to save the Roman Republic, such as it was, in the innermost circle of hell rather than Caesar. He made a comeback when Shakespeare got his hands on him, but, again, that’s how it works.

History is written by the winners.

If Putin succeeds in using his tool to destroy the American republic, we can look forward to a history in which Trump overshadows Lincoln and Washington, and his enablers, both within his administration and in the obsequious Senate, are considered heroes, while Adam Schiff will become another Thaddeus Stevens, who for a hundred years was considered a villain.

This year’s election will likely make all the difference. All the more reason for us to back whoever the eventual nominee might be, even if (shudder) his initials are JB.

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