Author: Spocko

“This is not a warning. The dark days aren’t coming. The dark days are here.”
–Rachel Maddow. Feb 21, 2020

Rachel Maddow believed that the heroic thing was to sound the alarm and warn people of the direction the country is heading. But last week she realized we are past that. She tells journalists to stop describing what is happening with timid phrases like “the appearance of impropriety.”

The media must acknowledge what is happening, “The rules are gone. They will do what they want. The government will be turned against you if you stand against this President.” Trump has set democracy on fire. Now it’s a 4-alarm blaze and we need to act.  Watch the whole video here. (link)

Trump Set Democracy On Fire. McConnell Spread It

Shown here is Mitch McConnell driving our burning Democracy though town to spread it. The media recorded the fire but they didn’t stop it. Citizens need to save Democracy and put out the fire themselves.( In part two of the video a group of citizens put out the fire)

Democracy is burning. Maddow has ideas on what to do but she’s not an activist or politician. She identifies first as  a journalist. Their job is to report on the news, not make it. In the middle of the fire it’s hard for a reporter to say, “Hey, all you people standing there watching? Jump in and help put this out!” She’s not an expert at putting out fires but sees that the people whose job it is aren’t doing it.

Last week she said we need to run in and put out the fire.

When journalists see a fire their first instinct is to pull out their cameras, take photos and write up the story while the firefighters battle the blaze. When it’s over they’ll write the parts of story they could see in real time, like the brave firefighter who ran into the building to save children.

But what if half of the firefighters stood around instead of fighting the fire? A reporter won’t run in to put it out. They ask why it happened.  “Chief Red, why didn’t your firefighters do anything? Why did they block Chief Blue’s firefighters’ access to the water that would have put out the fire?” She might ask Chief Red, “Don’t you care about the community? What about the children who were in the building?” Chief Red will give reasons and will imply that since she’s not a firefighter so she wouldn’t understand. “I had to let it burn, I couldn’t risk the lives of my firefighters.”

It’s hard for people to imaging people robbing others while a fire is happening. But it turns out if you don’t get punished for the theft, it’s a great distraction.

But what if she found out that Chief Red’s firefighters were getting money from the mobsters who owned the building that burned? Everyone in the department knew it was arson, but the investigation was shut down. The mobsters would collect the insurance. The insurance money would be kicked back to Red’s firefighters as pay off for not acting.

The story about a group of fire chiefs who allowed a building to burn and how they benefited would take months to complete. It would come out as a Sunday magazine feature. The journalists would expect the rest of the community to act. The legal system is supposed to arrest people, politicians connected to the crime are supposed to resign or lose their re-election bids. The general public is expected to be outraged and call for Chief Red and all his corrupt firefighters to be fired.

But what Maddow is saying is we did that story but the responses didn’t play out the way they are supposed to in a democracy in America. So this time she’s telling everyone, “Run in and put out the fire! Save our democracy!”

No matter what the sentence is that the judge gives to Roger Stone, Bill Barr has already sent a message to the Department of Justice and the general public:

“Threatening witnesses to help Trump won’t be punished. Loyalty to Trump will be rewarded.”

Threatening witnesses is not a joke. Even if the person who made them looks like a cartoon villain. Even if the person who they were directed at, Randy Credico, said that he didn’t take them seriously and didn’t want Stone sent to jail.  The original prosecutors decided and, the parole officers agreed, that the sentencing guidelines of 7 to 9 years for Stone was appropriate.

People need to know that the death threats to Randy Credico were part of a 2 YEAR CAMPAIGN to intimidate him. That includes kidnapping his dog who is his service support animal. 

I’m writing this before the judge announces her decision. Because of Barr’s involvement ANY sentence she gives will need to be interpreted. Likely the judge herself will write about why she chose the sentence she did.

The media and their legal analysts will describe the back and forth about sentencing guidelines. They will look at what the judge decided and ask if she is standing up for the law or standing up to Trump and Barr.

If you want to hear how a former United States Attorney and state Attorney General think about the case, listen to this podcast. Bharara and Milgram acknowledge how there could be differences of opinions on sentencing. They explain how USAs decide what to do and when. They explain how Barr’s actions are out of line. (16 sec clip

Full episode of Stay Tuned with Preet Bharara from Feb 12, 2020

I’m not part of the legal commentary community but they will do what I’ve seen the media do with Trump. They look at his actions and start with a “good faith explanation” to be through and to prove they aren’t biased. Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O’Donnell will then have them on to explain why this happened.

This good faith reason for the actions give Trump cover and time–until Trump tweets out the real reason he did it.

I’m sure the legal community sees this pattern too, but what I want is someone who can cut right to the bad faith actions and say, “This breaks the law, here is how it happened and this is what we must do to punish the people who broke the law.”

If it is just another Trump Norm Breaker™ I say dig deeper because as we have seen some things that are legal become illegal when there is corrupt intent.

I’m glad the judges are having an emergency meeting but unless Trump appointed judges make a strong recommendation the GOP will attack them for being Democrat “activist judges.”

Frankly I don’t know who should be leading the charge to protect the integrity of the DOJ. I’m glad to see Elizabeth Warren coming out on this, but we also need someone who understands the DOJ, the constitution, devious lawyers, mob tactics, power leverage and politics to direct actions.

There is another way that the DOJ is like the media. The DOJ people love to brag about how apolitical they are. But just like how the right wing said telling the truth makes you the liberal media, the right wing will say following the law makes you a democrat who hates Trump.

The Stone case is part of a larger plan from Barr and Trump to reshape the justice system to bend to power.

Because of all these factors we need someone who IS political and an activist to help fight back. 

What power do we have now to prevent this reshaping?

1. Understand the tricks Barr is using
   Help us out law-talking people!
2. Expose the corrupt intent behind the tricks
   We’ve all learned what corrupt intent is, now we need the email, Twitter and audio evidence.
3. Remove or weaken the people who are protecting Trump
   Jim Jordan is on the Judiciary committee. His cover up of the sexual abuse at OSU makes him weak. Who else in this area is weak?

I want to know who are our allies in this fight and what they can do. I want someone who understands that leverage is being used over our enemies and have a plan for us to remove it or use our own leverage of this knowledge against them.

Bottom line: What are the multiple actions different groups should be taking now?

No matter what the judge rules there must be additional actions taken to stop the interference in our justice system by Trump and Barr. Until we do Trump’s lifelong lesson is proved true. Intimidation works!

I’ve written how Trump’s style of threats are successful through the combination of big money, hidden leverage and mob lawyers. Today I want to illustrate how the GOP is using Trump Brand Threats™ to send a message to specific groups in order to get them to stop fighting–especially after a win. 

It’s hard to see now but there will be a time when Trump is no longer President. I’m not sure how it will happen but he and his GOP supporters are preparing for that future. These are the threats and messages they are sending now:

If you win don’t come after us or you’ll be sorry
“We have the guns. We can still legally bring them to protests. What are you going to do? Arrest us? Take our guns?”

We will be intractable in the legal system
“We have the judges. Even if we don’t win out right we will drag out the process for years. Do your prosecutors really have a solid case? We got Cliven Bundy and his kids off!” Cliven Bundy standoff case thrown out – January 30, 2018 The Oregonian

Coming after us means you are just like us!
“The left are hypocrites. They say they are pursuing justice but it’s really retaliation. They are becoming just like us! If you don’t believe us, listen to people on the LEFT who are saying to forgive and move on.”

The Right Wing Media will target prosecutors and witnesses to destroy their lives
“We don’t have to tell the truth. The government can’t stop us, it’s against the 1st Amendment! We have an audience and we are going to use it 24/7 to attack Democrats. We don’t even need to be profitable anymore! Thanks to dark money Breitbart is still in business!”

6 groups that help the GOP avoid justice for their crimes

These messages also reach other groups who wittingly and unwittingly can help the GOP escape justice for their crimes.

1) Moderate Democratic politicians
2) The Main Stream Media
3) The violent right: both real ones and the ones who bluster online
4) Concern trolls: both fake ones on the right and real ones on the left.
5) Political consultants
6) Oligarchs: both foreign and domestic 

This week Schumer asked that every agency inspector general investigate retaliation against whistleblowers who report presidential misconduct. (Politico) It was a good move but there needs to be a better understanding of how Trump and the GOP use threats to manipulate people in the future.

The hidden and delayed benefits of threats won’t be obvious until after the Democrats win. 
When Dems win they are pushed to “look forward not backward.” This often means dropping legitimate investigations & prosecution of lawbreaking Republicans and powerful groups.

We saw this from Obama following the George W. Bush years. Obama’s failure to hold people accountable for their crimes emboldened them. It also blocked significant change.

It is essential to make it clear that investigating, arresting and convicting people for actual crimes is necessary for justice and for change.

Here are the reasons and excuses given by the six groups to drop investigations and prosecutions of GOP crimes.

1) Moderate Democrat Politicians 
Right now I see Sen. Klobuchar talking the most about the people in America coming together. She is trying to appealing to the voters who remember decent Republicans. These are the  voters don’t want to believe that their neighbors might be hateful, racist and cruel. “He seems so nice at Church. ”

This appeal works on people who are exhausted by the constant fighting and attacking they see from the right. When they hear “coming together as one nation”, they are thinking about their neighbors or family on the right. They are NOT thinking of the lawbreaking GOP politicians who rode hate and anger to victory.

These “come together and let it go” voters just want the arguing to stop. They would like for Trump and GOP supporters to admit they were wrong and change their views, but they don’t want to start new arguments with their neighbors and family. That would be ungracious.

2) The Main Stream Media 
It’s important to see that the mainstream play a huge role in blocking any investigations and prosecutions of Republican elected officials.. The media will DEMAND that a Democrat winner “reach across the aisle” and work with some mythical moderate Republicans vs the actual lawbreaking, craven ones who exist today and might be re-elected in November.

3) The Violent Right “We’re crazy and have guns!”
The right’s constant threats of violence play a role in blocking future prosecution following an election. “Start going after out defeated leaders and we will go crazy!” This is an idea that is pushed hard in social media and not all of it is coming from inside the US.

4) Concern Trolls
A fourth group blocking justice are concern trolls. The ones from the right appeal to the stated values of the left. If they see Democrats going after politicians they will scream. “Hypocrites! You called us vindictive, but here you are punishing your political opponents!” (This falls under the “Why aren’t you tolerant of the intolerant?” category of blather.)

But the biggest win for Trump Brand Threats™ for evading justice comes from some on the left. “We need to be merciful. We can pass laws so it won’t happen again, but arresting and punishing Republicans will take our energy away from getting our agenda passed.”

5) Political consultants “Don’t upset the swing voter who didn’t vote for you!”
An excuse to not follow up on prosecution of crimes is the concern of upsetting the independent swing voters (who probably didn’t vote for Democrats anyway but they say they do so they are put in a position of power.)

Establishment political consultants do NOT want to satisfy the dedicated people on the left who WANT investigations. They will tell their candidates to move forward. “Don’t get bogged down in the past. It will be a really hard fight. If you expend your political capital and don’t get a conviction you will look vindictive.”

They don’t really want the system to change. “Keep your powder dry” is their motto. For them things going back to normal means GOP still get away with crimes and Democrats have to resign from office for the appearance or rumors of crimes.

6) Oligarchs: Both foreign and domestic
A big part of Trump’s power base are oligarchs. If you are a domestic oligarch you can say, “I’m in a position to pick the candidate who won’t be as hard on oligarchs and super rich. Remember how we convinced Obama not to take us on? We told him it would be bad for the country (i.e. rich people like us) if he punished us. It worked! None of us went to jail!”

The foreign oligarchs who aren’t winning with Trump will look to support the candidate who will have the least desire to prosecute oligarchs and super rich.

“Bookmark my words!” 
I know that it’s really hard to think of a positive future now. As a time traveler I can see the messages the GOP are inserting into the narrative now expecting them to pay off in the future.  If you are believer in the many universes theory making people aware of how the GOP are using Trump Brand Threats™ now will help us to resist them in the future.

The good news is that for all the pressure from all the groups I mentioned there are also people who understand the need for accountability, justice and change.  Between now and November there will be continual outrageous acts of lawbreaking by Trump and cover ups by the GOP. New information will leak and be disclosed. In addition to information about Trump we should be looking into all the reasons GOP politicians support him. 

To remove Trump for his crimes we might also need to expose ALL the pressures on GOP senators like Lindsey Graham. If a senator is being blackmailed we should know who it is from & what is about. We don’t have to wait until Trump is out of office to start and when he’s gone we shouldn’t stop.

Investigating, arresting and convicting people for actual crimes is necessary for justice and for change. 

These last several weeks I’ve felt depressed, numb and angry. Only one thing inspired me during this time. Reading the Catch and Kill book and listening to the Catch and Kill podcast. It’s the story about the team that finally got Harvey Weinstein arrested for his multiple alleged rapes and sexual assaults.

There are a lot of lessons to learn from that book. What I needed to read and hear about were the historic failures and what the latest journalist to take on bullies, Ronan Farrow, learned from what happened in the previous attempts to expose Weinstein. One lesson is especially relevant now.

Bullies will continue to manipulated the system, media, public and victims to block a story and kill charges but the crimes at the core of the charges do not disappear.

There are also lessons to be learned from the take down of Roger Ailes. In both cases powerful men offered riches or fame to get what they wanted. If the victims fought back they used their money and power to silence them. When challenged they used threats to victims and the journalists who were trying to tell the story.

I know a bit about fighting powerful right-wing media, so the scenes with Gretchen Carlson in the movie Bombshell impressed me the most. It showed long-term strategic thinking based on analyzing what happened in previous cases of sexual harassment at Fox.

She knew exactly how her target would react–lawsuits, vengeful personal attacks and pressure on others to turn against her to show their loyalty to Ailes.

Carlson and her legal team prepared for what Ailes would do based on his pattern and used his predicted actions against him.

Right now Trump is bragging he won. He is going to be more vindictive than before. In the Catch and Kill podcast we learn that every time the victims of Weinstein’s rapes started talking to new reporters someone called them to remind them of their NDAs. How did Weinstein know this? Because both the victims and the journalists were under surveillance by private investigators.

Roger Ailes also had private investigators and media assassins ready to unleash “blind items” to damage the person’s reputation. Weinstein had a whisper campaign that let directors know that certain actresses were “difficult to work with” and they should be avoided. Trump has his rallies, Twitter, a troll army, Fox News and talk radio.

How do we help the people under attack from Trump?
One of the things I learned from the book and movie is how people outside the Weinstein/Ailes world helped those targeted by the vindictive bullies. Some helped them get jobs in different areas. Others got them money from settlements–although they still had legal clauses silencing them. They also got help from insiders in the Weinstein company and private investigators. A big part of the effort involved the help of insiders. Some that you wouldn’t expect.

In the Catch and Kill podcast we hear from Igor Ostrovskiy, the private investigator who followed Ronan Farrow around Manhattan. We also learn of a source who provided documents detailing the depth and scope of the actions of Black Cube, Weinstein’s surveillance firm. This inside information is useful because big money bullies use the same methods and often the same people to do their dirty work.

When she was 22 and barely spoke English, model @AmbraBattilana faced off against one of the most powerful men in Hollywood while wearing a police wire. What happened next upended her life. Subscribe to the #CatchAndKill Podcast to hear her story: https://t.co/649mmaiRam pic.twitter.com/es1sKXAaIE

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) December 12, 2019

One of the sick little fun facts that I learned from Catch and Kill and Bombshell is that both Weinstein and Ailes employed Rudy Giuliani.  He worked on the NY DA to stop the case of Weinstein’s assault of Ambra Gutierrez going forward. His law firm was in charge of Ambra being paid off and silenced.

“At the time of the Gutierrez incident, Weinstein’s legal team was stacked with political influence. Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani was closely involved. “Rudy was always in the office after the Ambra thing,” one Weinstein Company employee recalled. “He still had his mind then.” Giuliani worked so many hours on the Gutierrez matter that a spat arose afterward over billing. These fights over invoices were a leitmotif in Weinstein’s business dealings. – Catch and Kill p. 64

In this clip we see Ailes saying the Obama White House had discussions about having him killed. We see the Giuliani character nodding in agreement. Now this is a fictionalized account of that meeting. But think about what we know about Rudy and Trump plus the evidence from the Lev Parnas tapes. What other kind of evidence exists? Who else can be subpoenaed within Rudy’s circle?

Anticipate and use Trump’s ego and incompetent staff against him

It was interesting to listen to Fabio Bertoni, the lawyer for The New Yorker, talk about the conference call with Weinstein. (Starting at 31.00) When Weinstein’s lawyers couldn’t get him to shut up they cut the call. Trump’s lawyers wish they could do the same.

In Bombshell we find out that all the terrible quotes that Ailes denied as lies were in fact based on audio tapes that Gretchen Carlson had been recording for a year.  In Catch and Kill we learn the story of Ambra Gutierrez, the woman who wore a wire when meeting with Weinstein, and the efforts to suppress the audio. It took a combination of a clever move by Ambra, an understanding of the law by Farrow and the support of a journalistic entity, The New Yorker, to make it public legally.

Who has leverage over whom and how do you remove it?
People often wonder who is holding what over the heads of GOP senators. At this level there are multiple sources of leverage that can be used against people. Financial, sexual, criminal and/or political leverage can be used to pressure people to act in a certain way.

In Catch and Kill Farrow explains how David Pecker, the head of AMI which owns the National Enquirer, bought stories to bury them. Recently when Jeff Bezos was blackmailed by AMI he came out and said what happened, removing that leverage.

Would exposing the leverage against Republican senators remove the pressure? Maybe not, but if the pressure is from crime shouldn’t the people who vote for them want to know about it?

Money helps
Big money bullies aren’t totally damaged by losing money. The people fighting them usually aren’t rich, so anything those people can do to survive financially is helpful to keep them going.

Gretchen Carlson knew that her actions were going to destroy her career so she made sure to get enough money to cover her time in wilderness.

If a journalist and a lawyer can figure out how to legally get out a story and protect the source, excellent!  If an insider can tip off the right people to get an essential documents that was buried, I’m thrilled. If a person who was harassed can get an huge settlement, wonderful! If someone has a tell all book that will expose the President’s crimes and make them money, great!

Win or lose big money bullies don’t stop after one hit
 Contrary to popular wisdom these type of bullies don’t crumble when someone stands up to them. When fighting vindictive bullies like Weinstein, Ailes and Trump you need multiple attempts on multiple fronts.

Bullies want you to think you are alone in your fight. But what I learned from the stories in Catch and Kill and Bombshell is that there are allies on the outside and inside who will help. They might be in places we never suspect. But people who have been bullied need help to keep fighting. Those who want to help should think about how best they can use their skills and positions to help.

In Bombshell they made a point of Gretchen Carlson looking at her son and daughter while fighting. She was clearly hoping that her actions would mean that things would be different for them in the future.

In the voice over after Ailes was ousted the Megan Kelly character she says, “Gretchen Carlson got the Murdochs to put the rights of women above profits, if only temporarily.”

When The New Yorker story about Weinstein was published things changed. Listen to the joy in voice of The Hollywood Reporter’s Kim Masters talk about the world after 10:47 am on October 10th 2017. (Link 35:40)

Following the defeat of Donald Trump and his enablers I look forward to investigations and convictions followed by changes in our systems. But mostly I’m looking forward to hearing the joy in peoples’ voices.

Cross posted at Spocko’s Brain

The story of Mike Pompeo’s interview with Mary Louise Kelly from NPR and his subsequent response calling her a liar came out while I was reading Catch and Kill and watching Bombshell.

Those stories showed the multiple ways the powerful hide their lies and crimes. The good news is that both those stories give us a model to use to stop them.

I’ve watched several Pompeo interviews and they show a man who isn’t skilled in talking to the media so he resorts to insults and intimidation.  I’ve seen this attitude many times before, almost always from men. They think “media training” means figuring out how to train the media to do what they want.  They know it’s not a crime to lie to the public or the press. As former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said,  ‘I have no obligation to be honest to the media.’

Pompeo and his staff start off using bribes of access to control who is doing the interview and what the topics will be. When that doesn’t work they use name calling and threats. Remember his interview in October with the Tennessee reporter? Pompeo made his dissatisfaction clear.  I can guarantee that following that interview all the producers and reporters trying to set up interviews knew exactly what happened.  Pompeo’s staff were tasked with preventing that from happening again in the future.

Because of what happened with the Nancy Amons interview in Tennessee in October 2019  I knew that NPR would have email evidence that Pompeo was lying about the conditions of the interview. Sure enough they did. (Emails support NPR host after Pompeo calls her a liar in setting up contentious interview Washington Post )

After NPR backed up Kelly Trump tweeted and threatened NPRs funding.

A very good question! https://t.co/8z6uQLKz8M

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2020

Because of Fox News, Pompeo’s insult of reporter leads to Trump threatening NPR (Media Matters)

So what happens next? If we look to Catch and Kill and Bombshell we can see that journalists alone can’t stop the rich and powerful. In order to stop these men it takes a team. It takes insiders to get the evidence of lies and crimes. It takes a legal strategy that can work in our rigged system.  It takes financial leverage that powerful people can’t ignore. It takes a plan to get the evidence of crimes into a lawsuit. There needs to be a way to get witnesses to testify under oath and a way for the testimonies to be public so they can’t be hidden with non-disclosure agreements, “national security” claims and/or “executive privilege” excuses.

Sick Fun Fact: In Catch and Kill, Bombshell and Pompeo’s interviews I noted one person involved with covering up for Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes and Donald Trump. Rudy Giuliani.

Here’s a clip of Nancy Amons of WSMV in Tennessee on October 11, 2019 asking Pompeo about a meeting in Poland with Giuliani. Note how he smirks when he is asked but you can see he is upset before he repeats his cover lines twice.  During the interview he questioned Amons’ knowledge and suggested she is working for the DNC. When she asks hard questions she is “doing a real disservice to the employees and the team at the United States Department of State.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbHv5KyGzw&w=560&h=315]

As you can see, Pompeo has used these intimidation methods before. Instead of learning from his Nancy Amons interview he attacks Kelly and makes the accusations louder and more formal.  A statement from the State Department is EXACTLY what he wants other reporters to “hear about” and to expect from his office if they dare question him off his approved topic list.

NPR and Kelly aren’t going to file a defamation lawsuit against Pompeo. They will do what they did which was to release what they had and wait for Pompeo to weasel word out of it.  However, this most recent example of how easy and often the Trump administration lies to the media should be used as a reason to demand Pompeo be subpoenaed to testify under oath about what happened in the Ukrainian case. 

Why Didn’t @FaceTheNation producer @hagerhoo tell viewers Gen. Petraeus works for @KKR_Co, which has major defense investments? (NYSE: KKR)

By Spocko

Below is how Face the Nation identified Petraeus on January 5th. They didn’t identify the company he works for, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, nor his title: David H. Petraeus, Member, Chairman of the KKR Global Institute

Last week I predicted that the cable news shows would book “retired” generals to talk about how to respond to Trump’s assassination of Iran’s General Soleimani but would fail to inform viewers if they worked for firms that would profit from war. Here was my piece:

To all MSM producers: Tell us who pays the war experts you are booking now

It wasn’t a hard prediction to make. I linked to a Lee Fang article from the Nation in 2014 Who’s Paying the Pro-War Pundits? Today Lee Fang, (now at the Intercept), identified some of the same retired generals who went on TV and the failure of the media to disclose their ties to defense contractors.

TV Pundits Praising Suleimani Assassination Neglect To Disclose Ties To Arms Industry

It’s not a surprise when Fox News does this, but we should expect more from CBS’s Face The Nation, NBC’s “Meet the Press, NPR’s Morning Editon with Steve Inskeep, and Public Radio International’s The World .

In my piece I suggested that we should contact the producers of the cable shows to remind them to disclose the ties of these people. What I neglected to do was provide a way to do that. You could use the”Contact Us” link for an email.  but who knows who that goes to. So I looked up producers who work on Face The Nation from their “About Us” and added their twitter handles.

Moderator: Margaret Brennan (@margbrennan)
Executive Producer: Mary Hager (@hagerhoo)
Director: Alison Hawley
Senior Producers: Ed Forgotson (@CBSEdF) Catherine Reynolds (@reynoldscat)
Broadcast Producer: Jillian Hughes (@JillianBHughes)
Producer: Jake Miller (@WJakeMiller)

Digital Producer: Emily Tillett (@EmilyETillett)

Associate Producer: Elizabeth Campbell (@ECampbell360)
Broadcast Associates: Shani Benezra (@shaniben_ezra)
Kelsey Micklas (@klmicklas) Richard Escobedo (@RichardEscobedo)

If the producers want to be through and verify KKR has invested in defense firms here are links to two stories.  KKR Completes $1.2B Buy of Airbus Defense Electronics Business 

KKR Acquires Military Contractor Novaria Group

The producers of these shows have been busted in the past for failing to disclose that the “retired generals” aren’t living off their military pensions. When one of these “retired generals” talks about the need for a strategic missile strike vs boots on the ground, we should know that they work for the company that makes the missiles.

Please Book War Deescalation Guests 

I know at least one of the people on the list will read this piece (probably a broadcast associate since they do the real work of background research for guests), please look into people who talk about options besides war and historical deescalation of wars. It would be a nice switch from the usual suspects. 
.

Photos from the fire down below. Links to how to help.

By Spocko

“My last day of the decade felt like the apocalypse.” Matt Abbott

Photo by Matthew Abbott, @mattabbottphoto

“My last day of the decade felt like the apocalypse. Been covering the Australian bushfires for the last 6 weeks, but haven’t seen anything like yesterdays fire that decimated the town of Conjola, NSW. #bushfirecrisis #AustralianBushfires #NSWisburning work for @nytimes”
Photo by Matthew Abbott, Instagram link

That’s an amazing photo that instantly puts you in a place.  When I was learning to be a photographer the teacher at the Nikon School of Photography said, “No guts, no glory.  If your photos are weak, you are probably too far away.”  For me that meant stepping into the middle of a 4th of July parade to take a photo of Shriners walking toward me.  I wonder how long he had to wait in that fire zone to get that kangaroo in the shot? These photographers have some real guts.

Now that you have an idea of where the fire is, here’s a graphic for how big it is. I found this on Reddit where they like to compare the size of things by saying “Banana for scale.” In this case

Fighting the fire from the sky

Photo (c) Nick Moir. Chief Photographer for The Sydney Morning Herald since 1993 http://Oculi.com.au specialising in stormchasing , severe weather, bushfires. @nampix

Photo (c) Nick Moir.  Orangeville in far SW Sydney Green Wattle Creek fire #bushfires @nswrfs https://www.instagram.com/p/B5sHTEFAW7N/

Burnt livestock 

Burnt livestock on the Tumut to Batlow road just outside the Snowy Mountains town of Batlow, after severe fire went through the town on Saturday. Picture: Rohan Kelly Source:News Corp Australia

Smoke from Australian fires

Photo by hankb555

The Gospers Mountain Monster Fire

Photo (c) Nick Moir. The Gospers Mountain Monster in full rage. 5pm Bilpin #bushfires The red dot is the Gospers Mountain. Link The Gospers Mountain Fire  Photography Dean Sewell/Oculi for the Sydney Morning Herald The Gospers Mountain Fire Photography Dean Sewell/Oculi for the Sydney Morning Herald Aluminum melts at 1,221 degrees Fahrenheit Photo by Matt Abbott, a photographer based in Sydney. Represented by @panospictures  Conjola, New South Wales, Australia Millions of embers fill the air in the Green Wattle Fire  Photo (c) Nick Moir. “I did a re-edit and found a slightly better version of the previous published image as millions of embers fill the air as the Green Wattle Fire erupted out of the bush in Orangeville. Respect to the #nswfb #bushfires” How to help Bushfire relief: How you can help those in need The Lucknow Memorial hall outside of Bairnsdale is full of donated clothes, food and toys from the community for victims of the Gippsland bushfires. Picture: David CroslingSource:News Corp Australia From News.com.au  The scale of the crisis is hard to comprehend. The wildfires have so far burned more than 12 million acres, they have killed at least 24 people, and nearly 2000 homes have been destroyed. In New South Wales alone, the fires have killed nearly 500 million birds, reptiles and mammals. They have a great list who you can help ranging from firefighters to wildlife. (Links to how to help.

To all MSM producers: Tell us who pays the war experts you are booking now

by Spocko

MSM’s “America marches to war” shows will start Friday January 3, 2020.  Iran’s General Soleimani’s death has been described as a seismic event.

Cable news producers think, “This is probably going to mean a war in the middle east. Who can I book who is an expert in this region and war?” To the people in the news business that seems the obvious thing to do. They are just “covering the news” But they don’t see that who they have on to talk about war helps define the event and how people react.

Selling war involves authority figures explaining what they think could happen or should happen. Keep an eye out for those retired generals. Who pays them? Do they work for people selling missiles, drones or boots on the ground suppliers?

People need to hear from experts on NOT GOING TO WAR.Who are the DEESCALATION experts? What do they suggest we do?

We need to contact the shows and suggest, no DEMAND they list affiliations for every expert who talks about why and how America might have to go to war over this event.

Check their affiliations this time! That includes think tank people. Who funds them? Any foreign governments funding them? What are the names of the defense contractors who give millions a year to keep a “retired general” ready to go talk about the level of esclation we will have to start?

Lee Fang did a great piece on this in 2014 Who’s Paying the Pro-War Pundits? 

Dear producers: For every retired general can we PLEASE get an equal number of experts to talk about what we can do BESIDES go to war? Think of it like your favorite “Both sides” argument you use all the time.

The Christmas Cauliflower Miracle

By Spocko

Mrs. Spocko lost her wallet today. We retraced her steps. On the way to the farmers market where she thought she lost it there was a rainbow. I said, “The end of the rainbow is right where it will be!” And it was!

A woman at the organic produce stall she was shopping at found it and turned it into the market’s information booth. All the contents were untouched. A Christmas miracle!

We went back to thank the woman at the stall who turned it in. She was happy too. We bought an extra large cauliflower from her.

On the way back we stopped at the bar by the farmers market where we had asked if someone had turned it in. We told the bartender we found the wallet and she said, “It restores your faith in humanity.”

I thought, “What does that comment actually mean?” If someone says that a certain action “restores their faith in humanity” it means they are holding onto an idea that humans are terrible and bad acts are normal.  The returning of the wallet restored the idea that humans are good and good acts are the norm. I understand the benefits to thinking people are no damn good. It’s fun to be the cynic.

I actually have a lot of faith in humanity–especially when it comes to people returning lost items. Maybe it’s because it’s happened to so many people. They think, “That could have been me and my wallet!” So they do what they hope someone would do for them in the same situation.

For me the “Christmas miracle” was the reminder of the power of human empathy. Someone put themselves in another’s shoes and helped. It not only made the person being helped feel good, the person who helped another also felt good.

Michael Schur, the creator of the groundbreaking sit-com about ethics, The Good Place, talked about the thinking behind the show and people’s actions. He was at Starbucks and realized he was waiting until the barista saw him tip.

“I wanted the credit.’ You want that person to see that you’re such an amazing benevolent person that you tip 30 cents into a tip jar, and it just sorts of struck me as funny that there were things that you just want credit for. You want to feel like you’re getting the points for your action. You feel like if no one sees it, it feels like it didn’t happen.

And the truth is whether you get credit for it or not shouldn’t be the point of a good action; you should just do it because it’s good.”

I’ve always hated the phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Why do people say it? I think it’s because they are looking for a reason to NOT do a good deed, especially one where there is no reward. “What’s the point of doing a good deed if it comes back to bite you?”

Schur argued that oftentimes individuals think and act selfishly, but that people caring about the well-being of one another isn’t just helpful in making the world a better place — it’s necessary in making sure society runs effectively.

Sometimes we do the right thing knowing that it will make us feel good and we will be rewarded for it. Other times we do the right thing knowing we won’t get rewarded for it. Whether you are rewarded or not shouldn’t be the point of a good action; you should just do it because it’s good.

Schur said so many fundamental problems in America are from people thinking, ‘How can I win? How can I do be better? How can I defeat other people or rise above other people?’” He added, “And they have a fundamental belief that what life on Earth is about is competition and if someone else is winning, that means they lose.”  People who look at life that way wonder why anyone would do anything if they didn’t benefit.

I see good people

This season I want to acknowledge the good things people do and the good things people try to do. That’s another point of the show, trying to be a better person, regardless of how you try, is better than not attempting to improve at all.

Besides one individual human helping another, some people want to do good things for lots of people. This is wonderful, but this makes certain people nervous, “What’s their angle? What’s in it for them?”

I understand why people want to help others, especially if they have ever put themselves in the shoes of other humans who are in pain. They think, “That could be me. How can I help?”  When I get cynical about the possibility of good things happening for a lot of people I realize it’s because I’m trying to protect myself from feeling hopeful about a good outcome.  But having this attitude means I’m always expecting bad things to happen and for people to behave badly. That’s not the humanity I see.

Today, at the end of a rainbow, I saw a simple act of humans helping each other. When we care about the well-being of one another things can get better for all of us. This coming year I’m going to give myself permission to be excited and hopeful about all the good things people can do for others.  

Merry Cauliflower Christmas to you all.

LLAP
Spocko

Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain

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Again, thank you so much for reading and supporting my work all these years. It means the world to me. — d

Happy Hollandaise everyone!

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Cheer up! More incriminating evidence about Trump’s crimes is on the way!

by Spocko

I hear a lot of people saying, “Of course the Senate won’t vote to convict Trump.” Maybe, but as a time traveler my job is to remind people that people are still investigating all of Trump’s crimes every single day. I can’t tell you the specifics of the latest crime to be revealed, but the windows to watch are in one hour, 17 hours and Friday the 20th.

More incriminating evidence of Trump’s crimes keeps coming in every day.

People like Trump swim in a sea of crime with other criminals. They are kept afloat by laundered money, mob lawyers and compromised politicians.

People say, “If what Trump did that came out during the Mueller report didn’t get him removed nothing will!” Not true!

Who the crime hurts makes a difference. Why did Bernie Madoff go to jail vs others? He ripped off the rich.

Trump cronies are in jail and are going to jail. People who turned states’ evidence, like Gates, are going to jail. He provided info that would put anyone else but Trump in jail.

If you want to bring down someone whose crimes are supported by the powerful, you show how they screwed the powerful OR you show them committing a crime that disgusts everyone* no matter how rich they make the powerful.

(*And it can’t be killing people or sexual assault. Look for videos of them kicking dogs. )

Anything that clears someone or something of guilt or blame is exculpatory. Exculpatory comes from the Latin word exculpat, meaning “freed from blame.” The verb exculpate means to free from guilt or blame.

Remember when Nancy Pelosi turned to the camera and defined exculpatory for Trump?

If Trump had exculpatory evidence he would bring it. If he had witnesses to clear him of guilt he would let them testify. He hasn’t. Instead he has had his legal team block potential sources of additional incriminating evidence and witnesses instead of looking for exculpatory evidence and witnesses.

This should cheer up people who worry that this Senate vote is the end of the process to remove Trump.  Eventually a crime that screws the powerful who support Trump will be revealed.
Or a crime that disgusts everyone,* no matter how rich they make the powerful, will be revealed.

Working for justice is hard. I want thank all the people who keep perusing justice in their own areas. You can’t know which case will be the one that makes the difference. But you MUST keep going!

As Ezra Klein said on the Lawrence O’Donnell show last week, when people like Trump get away with something, they don’t say, “Whew, I just barely escaped that. I’m not going to do that again.  He says, ‘Great. That means it is a usable strategy and I will use it again.”

It’s holiday fundraiser time. If you’d like to help keep this blog afloat for another year, you can hit the buttons below. Thank you so much. I’m more grateful for your support than you know.— digby

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