How to stop friends fighting over the 2020 President picks By Spocko
Watching the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination race start on MSNBC makes me weary. Friends tell me they dread it.
My friend Maureen Barnato said, “Spocko, my brain will explode if we go through another campaign season like 2016!”
As someone who has had his brain removed I am strongly against brains exploding, especially ones on our side. So, how can you stop friends fighting and brains exploding?
Here is what I’m going to do: Every time I see an online debate about Warren, Beto, Biden, Harris, Sanders or any possible Democratic presidential nominee I will stop and ask myself.
“What can I do stop the criminality of Republicans? What can I do to expose the anti-democratic institutions and organization they run? How can I de-fund and defeat the people and groups that made Trump, McConnell and Ryan possible?”
Then I will act, based on how I answer those questions.
“But Spocko,” Mr. Lefty McLefterson says, “Some of the people on my side are WRONG! Isn’t it my duty to educate them? If they aren’t castigated NOW for who they supported in the past, how can they learn from their mistakes? If I don’t explain why their candidate isn’t the best, we will get Trump for another 4 years!”
Good question Mr. McLefterson! Let’s just postpone the discussion of possible candidates on the left and go right into attacking the GOP, their people and institutions the that made Trump, McConnell
Ryan possible.
In the spokesperson training biz this is called “pivoting.” Sure, I could engage Mr. McLefterson, but I’d rather move the conversation to going after the right.
Focus on REPUBLICAN problems instead of ours. When we get sucked into fighting each other we lose focus on the ongoing criminality of the Republicans. It’s the ol’ “Let’s you and him fight” trap. Don’t fall for it!
The Republicans and their organization enablers should be worried about going to jail, not chortling as they watch Democratic presidential candidates attack each other.
When you have the urge to attack someone on our side or respond to a comment on a post, stop and think, “Who can I attack on THEIR side instead?“
Let’s channel our shared disgust for Republicans and their terrible behavior away from each other and to the people who really deserve it.
LARS BOHMAN, 2011 Circular firing squad, pastel stick on wood. 35 x 40 cm
The gift I got from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford By Spocko
I got a lot of fun and thoughtful gifts for Christmas this year. But I realized the best gift I got this year was from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
Reuters / Jim Bourg
Her testimony had a serious impact on my entire mind, not just my conscious thought. I know this because of the horrible nightmare I had last night. I don’t want to go into details, but in the nightmare I ended up having to tell my story to the police, the court and on TV.
In the nightmare I was preparing to go on TV to tell the public my story.
I was thinking about the strength and courage Dr. Christine Blasey Ford showed when she testified in the Kavanaugh hearing.
Pool Photo by Tom Williams
As I walked into a TV studio I remember being depressed and disgusted by the fact that as a man my story would be taken more serious than a similar story from a woman.
As I sat before the cameras I though about how sad it was that for some white men the only way they could get the seriousness of an assault was for it to happen to one of their own.
Pool Photo by Tom Williams
These men had shown an inability to empathize with a woman’s experience. But if the only way to reach them was for me to give a painful public testimony, then it was my duty to go through with it.
Remember, this was just a nightmare/dream. I didn’t actually have to go thought any ordeal, but I was ready; to do anything less was to dishonor the courage of Dr. Ford. My subconscious mind would not allow it.
This year I got to know some smart, funny and brave women in the gun violence prevention world. They actually have had to go through these kinds of ordeals.
They are courageous and persistent. They are also often ignored.
Some are told to sit down and shut up.
When they don’t, and speak up, they are threatened both online and in person by men with guns.
Yet they persist.
Pool/Getty Images Andrew Harnik
These women gave me a gift of showing the power of continual, thoughtful action.
The process of changing an entire mindset is hard. It takes actions both big and public, as well as small and local.
The women might not think they are making progress, but they are. Kavanaugh was placed on the Supreme Court. Does that mean Dr. Ford’s testimony was worthless? No, it does not.
You can never know how your actions, attitudes and words will have an impact on people. Your words and actions may be the ones that reconfigure people’s minds. Long-held attitudes and perceptions may have been changed by something you did that appeared to be a failure.
In the Christmas Carol story Scrooge said this about the ghosts that led him to his change.
“You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”
This was Scrooge’s way of dismissing what his subconsciousness mind was telling him. When I woke up this morning I blamed the peanut sauce, raspberry sorbet or wild blueberry pancakes for my nightmare.
Vegan Wild Blueberry Pancakes. Acacia Patisserie in Frederiksberg, Denmark. Photo by Spocko
But the food didn’t create the fears that fueled my nightmare, it just triggered my mind to reveal them. The sorbet didn’t create my need to be brave like Dr. Ford, it just set up the scene where I saw it was there.
“I had a dream about you last night…”
When a guy tells a woman he had a dream about them there is often an awkward pause where he rushes to assure her it wasn’t one of “those” kind of dreams. In this case none of the women I mentioned were actually IN my nightmare/dream. What WAS in my mind during the nightmare was a memory of those women’s strength.
My gift from Dr. Ford was a model of strength of character. I now have a vision of what it looks like and what it might feel like. I can draw upon this if I am ever in a similar situation.
Pool photo by Michael Reynolds
Since I can’t tell Christine Blasey Ford directly how much her actions impacted me, I decided to tell this to the women I actually know. Thank you for taking nightmare situations and turning them into mind changing actions.
LLAP,
Spocko
If you value what we write here, I hope you’ll consider supporting the blog with a couple of bucks. If you’ve already donated, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you haven’t and would like to, the paypal buttons are on the sidebar and below as is the snail mail address.
Buckle up everybody. It’s going to be a very bumpy New Year!
cheers — digby
Digby’s Hullabaloo
2801 Ocean Park Blvd.
Box 157
Santa Monica, Ca 90405
Nation’s Right-Wing Uncle: “I won the Thanksgiving conversations!”
By Spocko
“My sister begged me not to talk about politics at Thanksgiving,” said Uncle Dick Vespa, speaking from a recliner in his sister’s house in a Lincoln Nebraska suburb.
“She pleaded with me, ‘Talk about happy memories when we were kids.’ So I did. The happiest days of MY childhood were teasing her until she cried!”
While Uncle Dick sat in the living room waiting for his younger sister and niece to clean up, he explained why he had no choice but to attack, correct and educate his relatives during the annual holiday event.
“Look, it’s not my fault. From the second I arrived everyone attacked me! I came into the kitchen and my sister was ranting about how important government regulations were, blah blah blah. I didn’t catch it all because she started going off about the food I bought: a very expensive 17 pound honey-baked ham. I know I said I was going to bring a salad, since they’ve been vegan for years, but the stores removed all the romaine lettuce because of the caravan invasion. I couldn’t make my famous Caesar salad so I got a ham instead–which, by the way, was much more expensive. I figured she would be thankful for a break from all the rabbit food, but she wasn’t.”
“Over dinner I won the conversation with my snowflake niece about the economy. I explained the need to cut government regulations and taxes on corporations. She brought up the recent stock market crash, but I pointed out the facts. The stock market only crashed because in January the Dems will start imposing needless, job-killing regulations on corporations.”
“I owned the libs in my own family! Making my snowflake niece cry was the highlight of the day!” – Nation’s Right-Wing Uncle
While wrapping up the remaining 14 pounds of ham to take back to his bachelor apartment, Uncle Dick explained his one regret of the day–his inability to convince them that Brett Kavanaugh was innocent of the sexual assault accusations.
“The fact is that Christine Blasey Ford was a liar! She lied about the reason for her two front doors! One was for renters! Check the dates on the remodeling plans! She lied about her fear of flying! Her ex-boyfriend said she flew all the time! Also, nobody explained convincingly to me why she didn’t report this alleged assault when it happened. If something like that had happened to my sister or niece I’m sure they would have reported it!”
Asked if he had ever talked to either of them about sexual assault or their experiences with high school boys or college men who had been drinking he changed the subject to Brett Kavanaugh’s grades, his potential for a bright future and questioned why Ford couldn’t remember how she got to the house.
“Also, why would a guy who had everything going for him do something like that? Look at his calendar! This was a democrat hit job. Kavanaugh was falsely accused, just like Clarence Thomas was. Frankly I think Ford and her lawyers should be prosecuted for lying.”
When asked why his relatives were visibly unhappy at the end of the day. Dick speculated, “I think it’s because they lose all the conversations. If they could just provide evidence for their opinions maybe they could win a discussion.”
A vegan Thanksgiving meal
“I can’t figure out why they don’t want to have conversations with me more often. They’re fun. Deep down I suspect they know they can’t beat me in a conversation, so they just stop trying. I guess they are tired of being losers and don’t like hanging out with a winner like me.”
Democrats are expected to be good winners. After a Democratic win, the media will ask the Democrats about their plans to reach across the aisle when they arrive in congress. The media will question Democrats on how they will “unite the country,” as if they were the ones working 24/7 to divide it. They will ask about–and expect–bipartisanship going forward. Many Democrats will fall for this framing from the media. I understand. They want to be uniters, not dividers.
Democrats are expected to forgive and forget how Republicans did nothing while our highest values were trampled on by Trump.
Even if an opponent lied about health care and supported hateful and violent rhetoric from Trump, Democrats are expected to forgive and forget. They will talk about being a representative for all the people in the district, not just the people who voted for them, because that is what you are supposed to say as a good winner.
Red and Blue Being Good Sports. AP photo CBS News
Democrats are expected to be good losers. They aren’t supposed to demand investigations of voter suppression, hacking and campaign election fraud. There will be pressure to conceded rather than fight the results. The mainstream media, Republicans and some centrist Democrats will want Democrats to concede –even when there isn’t an overwhelmingly clear winner or loser!
Howie Klein said the other day that many Democrats have to win by 6-8 points because of the gerrymandering and voter suppression. That’s insane.
But here’s the deal. Democrats don’t have to be good losers. We can be suspicious about all results that weren’t projected blowouts for the Republicans. We SHOULD be suspicious. If the shoe is on the other foot this evening Republicans will be demanding investigations.
Democrats don’t have to be good winners. We can be winners who don’t forget about the bad things that happened. I want winners who will change things so the people who follow them can have fair elections.
If there isn’t punishment for abuses of power and law breaking in our system the problems continue. That is what happens when we only“look forward not backward” after a win. If we don’t investigate and prosecute the people involved, the problems never stop.
Some problems, like breaking norms that weren’t laws (e.g. disclosing taxes) need to be made into laws.
Democrats don’t want to be like Red Hats at a Trump rally, mindlessly screaming ‘Lock him up!’ about their opponents. We actually do believe in the rule of law and the assumption of innocence until proven guilty. But what if their opponents actually committed crimes?
We need a chant that assumes innocent until proven guilty. Something that applies to both real and false allegations of wrong doings. How about:
“A Full Investigation Means Justice For The Nation!” (Nah, too many syllables, but at least it rhymes.)
Full investigations take time. People have short attention spans. Our people won’t be in office until January. The good news, if you can call it that, is that Trump and his people will continue with their violent rhetoric, law breaking and lying every single day, win or lose.
As Sam Sedersaid, the Trump fever won’t break if they lose. They didn’t relax when they won. They are angry winners because they knew they didn’t really deserve it. When they lose they will scream and cry like Trump. Everyone will be to blame but themselves. It will all be so very very unfair.
In The Squire of Gothos a powerful child-like being was punished by his parents who then apologized to the crew for the damage he had done. When his parents took him away he whined, “But why? I didn’t do anything wrong. I was winning, I was winning! You saw!” Sound like anyone you see on TV?
Post election we need to stay vigilant and keep track of people to investigate.
Newly elected Democrats will need to hold various members of the GOP accountable for their role in enabling this dangerous child with power. This includes holding people accountable who knew about various crimes, had the power to stop them, but didn’t.
Finally, we can’t let law-breaking, resigning Republicans fly off onto Lobbying World free as a bird. Yes, I’m alleging Republicans broke the law. I know of six Republicans who broke campaign finance laws in connection with money they got from the NRA that was really from Russia. Which specific laws they broke and how much they knew is still unclear, but that is why we need investigations.
Win or lose the GOP will continue to damage to the country until they are prosecuted for their crimes. Mueller’s findings will push Trump into new levels of craziness between now and January. Get ready to demand full investigations.
.
Halloween Scenario: Trump Launches A Drone Strike On The Caravan
By Spocko
It’s Halloween so I wanted to use my knowledge of military drones, rules of engagement by the military on US soil and Donald Trump’s executive power as Commander In Chief. I’ll call this Scenario: Operation Cucaracha Crush
1) Trump launches surveillance drones to report on “the invaders” in the caravan while they are in Mexico.
Drone footage shows caravan of migrants in southern Mexico.
Thousands of Central American migrants arrived in southern Mexico on Oct. 21, on their journey to the United States –Washington Post footage from October 21
2) Trump says the surveillance drone footage shows there are some really “bad hombres” in the caravan who are using the women and children as cover.
3) Trump tells “the invaders” to disband and stop coming. If they don’t stop he will launch an airstrike. (This will bring up comparisons to Obama ordering airstrikes in foreign countries and allow a flurry of “both sides do it” stories in the media. Trump will take advantage of the executive power granted to Obama by congress to launch drone strikes in foreign countries, so questions about its use in Mexico will only be about breaking “norms” not breaking laws.
3) Mexico will see this as an unwarranted attack on their sovereignty and respond, saying that they will shoot down any drones in their airspace.
4) Trump will claim that he has a responsibility to protect America and—since he doesn’t have a wall yet—he has to act. The caravan doesn’t disband after his warning, so Trump sends a drone.
5) The drone will kill some people who Trump says are “bad hombres” He will claim to use intelligence about the “bad hombres” gathered in the same fashion Obama did. The use of this method is suggested by John Bolton. Any criticism about the process will end with, “Obama did it.” Women and children will be accidentally killed, but so did strikes run by Obama.
Alternative 5a) Drone is shot down by Mexico before the strike.
6) Trump declares war on Mexico for their response in aiding and abetting invaders.
7) Trump tells the Mexico that they either stop the invaders or he will send in his own troops that are already massed at the border. (Trump can’t order military action on US soil, but if they move to Mexican soil they can attack to retaliation for shooting down a US drone and to take out the invading caravan.
8) Because Mexico doesn’t want to have a war with Trump, they are forced to act, which is what Trump wanted. Mexico sends in local troops to break up the caravan.
9) Trump “wins” showing he is tough on illegal immigration. This escalation all happens before midterms while the GOP still controls the House and Senate.
If today’s American media had covered the news on November 10, 1938
By Spocko
The American media format is designed to support “both sides” stories. It’s especially bad in mainstream media, but I just heard Joe Biden use the “both sides” line yesterday. Sigh.
I think I figured out why.
This was the main ingredient in the salad dressing at the White House Press Correspondents dinner!
The many are energized to stop the power of the few and the one
By Spocko
Star Trek often told stories about power.
The 1960’s weren’t that far away from World War II. Some of the lessons learned about fighting Nazi’s and fascists could to be reinforced, since over time people forget.
They also had stories of how new technology could upset the balance of power. I spotted a Writing Prompt on Reddit that inspired me to write a Star-Trek like story about technology, people and power. Here’s the prompt:
Researchers have developed a prototype for teleportation but it hasn’t been announced to the public. Being the 53rd tester, you hop in. But as the scientists pull the switch, you feel your body being ripped apart. Before you fade away, you see yourself come out, reassuring everyone it worked.
My science fiction story takes place in the near future:
Yes I am a Star Trek fan. A HUGE one. I’ve written as “Spocko” for over 20 years. When an announcement of the human teleportation trials came out my brother and I volunteered. Of course I had read why teleportation was created in Star Trek. To save money! Gene Roddenberry knew they couldn’t afford to make shuttlecraft sets and flying down to the planets every week slowed down the plot. Thus, the transporter was born. Here’s how they did the special effect for the cameras.
Since Gene had gotten so much right about the future from multiple races and genders working together to the creation of communicators, universal translators and tablet computers, we figured teleportation had to be next. Signing up was a no brainer.
The trial was funded by the United States government, out of the Department of Energy but it was run by a venture capitalist billionaire buddy of Elon Musk. That was cool since, like other Redditors, I’m a huge fan of Elon.
And without Uncle Sam’s red tape slowing things down everything moved incredibly fast. Raytheilion, the company created for the project, said they made more progress in 2 years than all the previous government efforts had in the past 20.
The day of the test I was reminded of something John Glenn said when asked how he felt before his first rocket flight.
‘I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of 2 million parts — all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract.’
I was nervous, but excited, no lowest bid government contract here! I was number 53, but all of the volunteers were kept separate and we weren’t told how the other trials had gone. It was all standard double-blind study stuff.
When I went into the lab I saw two pods, lots of cameras and some VIPs that I assumed were investors.
The pods looked a bit like they were from the movie The Fly with a big glass door in the front.
When I got in the pod closest to me I found the inside was muchsmaller than the outside, it was like a reverse Tardis from Dr. Who.
The techs closed and sealed the door. It quickly filled with a decontamination mist. I was supposed to breathe it in, but I held my breath. I couldn’t see anything and it felt like I was spinning. There was a loud vacuum pumping sound, which made my skin feel like it was tearing off me. My ears popped and there was a blinding flash of light like in the ending of movie The Prestige.
When I opened my eyes it was dark. All I saw was a sliver of light outlining the door in front of me. I shouted and pounded on the door, but the pod was sound proof. I pushed my face up against the edge of the door and saw the monitor showing the whole room and the two pods.
The video feed from the camera pointed at my pod showed it was empty. The camera pointing at the other pod showed someone inside. It was my twin brother, whom I hadn’t seen since we started the trials. He came out smiling and saying something to the scientists and investors.
SON OF A BITCH! It was all a goddamn trick!
Instead of being teleported I had been spun around and was now standing behind a front-surfaced mirror reflecting the side of the pod making it look empty. It was a text-book “smoke and mirrors” trick.
After hearing some talking and what sounded like celebrating the lab got quiet. The two techs opened the door. They knew I hadn’t teleported, what they didn’t know was that I was conscious and had peered around the edge of the mirror, saw my twin in the other pod and had figured out the trick.
They opened the door and said “Sorry, Spocko, we aborted the test, we’ll try again later. Go get some rest.” I did my best to look disappointed and headed back to my dorm.
All science fiction fans know the Arthur C. Clarke quote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” but what most people don’t know is the Randi corollary, attributed to the skeptic and magician James Randi, who noted that laymen and scientists were often tricked by fake psychics like Uri Geller, or con men who sold perpetual energy machines which were really clever magic tricks.
“Sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.”
-The Randi Corollary
I should have known this was a scam. The VC wasn’t an engineer, he was a money guy and libertarian. Libertarians hate government oversight. With no oversight they just created some tricks to keep the government money flowing.
As they said on Battlestar Galactica, “All of this had happened before and will happen again.” Like Reagan’s Star Wars program, human teleportation was a scam designed to get money out of the Government.
I’m lying on my bed in my dorm room with my back to the “health monitoring camera” writing this on tiny scraps of paper. Maybe this can be smuggled out to some journalist before the staff figures out what I saw. If they believe me their life will be in danger. But more likely this will be dismissed as an attempt to get back at the funders after what happened to Gawker.
It will be called fake news. After all, I don’t have any evidence of my story. It would be my word against a powerful group of financially successful men.
If I point out all the other people shut up with perfectly legal NDAs who don’t want to talk I will look like a conspiracy theorist. Nobody is looking out for me, people will say, I knew what I was getting into. But I didn’t know they were lying to everyone! I figured someone would have busted them by now. I didn’t count on all the people getting rich on the deal to keep their mouths shut.
I thought a scientist whistleblower would have come forward by now. But I guess after they have seen how whistleblowers are attacked and destroyed it makes sense they would keep their head down.
I was a tech guy who believed in the “power of the market” to fix things. I used to joke about “Good enough for government work.” Right now I WISH there was some kind of government watchdog looking out for me…
—end–
And now here is the “bonk, bonk on the head” moral of the story, Star Trek style, because you can’t be obvious enough sometimes.
The reason that the government is involved in oversight and regulation of businesses and science isn’t to hamper entrepreneurs who want to make progress. It’s to protect us.
Centuries ago, we the people got together and decided to elected some folks to protect us. We accepted the military as protectors, but there are other ways to protect citizens than the military. We need protection from contaminated food, rigged drug tests, dangerous experiments and out of control ego maniacs.
We need regulations, regulators, and inspectors who aren’t beholden to the companies they inspect.
To put it in a classic Star Trek form:
We need our institutions to serve the needs of the many, not the few or the one.
We need a free press to show the world what happens when a system is broken, rigged or corrupt.
We need a justice system that puts the rule of law above the rule of power and money.
In a few Star Trek original series stories there were beings with tremendous power who acted like children and abused their power.
In The Squire of Gothos in the third act “The Adults” came in and stopped Trelane, the powerful being. That scene was the Hollywood ending that we crave. They punished him and apologized to the crew for the damage he had done. (I love how Trelane whines when his parents take him away. “But why? I didn’t do anything wrong. I was winning, I was winning! You saw!” Sound like anyone you see on TV?)
Yes it’s Deus ex Machina, but the good news is that we can get some of that ending. We need to remember that the Democrats are The Adults, not the Republicans. The Republicans have shown time and time again they fail in their duty to protect the many and instead act to serve the needs of the few and the one–themselves.
In the show when powerful child-like beings were being stopped, they whined and cried. The powerful child-like beings didn’t apologize for any damage they have done because they don’t think they did anything wrong.
After the election there will be people on the left and newly elected Democrats who won’t want to punish the GOP for their role in enabling this dangerous child with power. They will let them resign and sail off onto Lobbying World.
They will want to act like Obama and look to the future and move on. But as we have learned, there must be punishment for power abuses and law breaking. And, if something wasn’t a law, but a norm that was ignored, we need to turn that into a law.
We need to include people who knew about the crimes, had the power to stop them, but didn’t.
Failure to act to protect the people, and allowing criminal acts to continue might be difficult to prove, but one of the things that we have learned during this time of widespread corruption is there are many law-breaking avenues to follow.
The right’s projection onto Hillary Clinton and Benghazi tells us a lot about what they are guilty of. Their attacks on George Soros, who and what he funds tells us what to look for on their side.
If we don’t investigate and prosecute the problem will never stop. In the episode, Charlie X Kirk wanted to train Charlie to use his power, but the Thasians knew that Charlie couldn’t be trained to use his power wisely, “He will use it and he will destroy you and your kind or you will be forced to destroy him.” So they took Charlie away.
I believe in American’s ability to defeat powerful child-like men. If they can’t use the power given them wisely, they need to go away.
These people won’t give up power easily, they will throw tantrums, lie, bully, point fingers and cry. “I was winning!” and “You’ll reap the whirlwind if you take me out of power!” But we are The Adults in this story. Time’s up for these children.
When Trump mocked Dr. Ford at a rally I watched the video of the people behind him smiling, laughing and clapping. My first thought was, “Name ’em and shame ’em!” But as many pointed out to me, “These people HAVE no shame!” So is naming the unashamed at Trump rallies a useless activity? No, and I’ll Vulcansplain why.
Who is 1) Gold Tie Guy? 2) Tan Hat Guy? 3) Grinning Glasses Guy?
These people chose to attend the rally. They volunteered to stand behind Trump. They are the opposite of ashamed, they are proud to be on national TV showing their support for Trump as he mocked Dr. Ford. It was an honor.
Who is 4) Mutton Chop Guy? 5) Beaded Laughing Guy 6) Red Hat Logo Guy 7) Happy Mocking Woman
People suggest name and shame, because they know it would work on them if they said something considered shameful by themselves, their friends and family.
If you showed a video of me laughing, clapping and cheering for Trump as he mocked Dr. Ford, my family, friends and clients would be shocked. Someone would ask me, “What the what!? Is that Spocko’s brain tumor talking?”
My activist friends would ask, “A new deep cover action?” My close personal friend George Soros would call and ask “What’s wrong with you Spocko?” Then he would thank me for volunteering my services.
That is what my friends, family and business associates would do based on who they are and what they believe is shameful. In this case we have shared beliefs. They also know from my writing and activism that this behavior would be out of character.
But the people at the Trump rally liked what Trump was saying. You can tell by the looks on their faces right after he talked followed by their applause. (I’ve circled them in the video when they started smiling, laughing and applauding while he mocked Dr. Ford. )
If we found those people now and asked, ‘Is this you in the photo?” they wouldn’t run away from it like we would, they would embrace it. We need to remember that supporters laughing as Trump mocked Dr. Ford is viewed as a good thing and importantly, a NORMAL THING. This is an example of normalizing something that is repugnant.
Trump’s rallies show the country that it is okay to bring out your inner misogynist. This behavior is approved by the GOP. It now the acceptable social norm in the Republican conservative community.
Trump’s goal is to link winning with his misogynist views. Because greed is his driving force, he also wants people who agree with his views on women, business, and truth to believe it will MAKE them money. (This is why he hid his father’s constant influx of cash to shore up his massive business failures.)
Trump wants to show everyone there are no social, political or financial penalties for holding his misogynist views. “Look at me! I said this and I’m a winner!”
He wants GOP members to believe that holding these views will lead to more votes in the upcoming election. If they do, it strengthens them. If they don’t, it should weaken them.
These events are supposed to support local politicians. Maybe Gold Tie Guy holds an elected position. At the Council Bluffs Iowa Trump rally two state senators were spotted.
It appears Nebraska state Sens. Steve Erdman (left) and Steve Halloran (right) had good seats at Tuesday’s Trump rally in Council Bluffs. Their hats say “Make Our Farmers Great Again.” pic.twitter.com/mKTbTmATvg
That photo identification of those two politicians was useful. I then found video of Nebraska state senator, Steve Halloran, chanting, “Lock her up.” referring to Senator Dianne Feinstein. So much for innocent until proven guilty, eh Senator Halloran?
But Why Name Them Now?
Each new Trump rally is an opportunity to identify more people who are proud supporters of what Trump says. After Plaid Shirt Guy was spotted making faces during a rally, the Trump advance team only puts real supporters behind him so now is the time to name them.
The people who let out their inner misogyny, bigotry, racism and sexism when supporting Trump’s comments need to be named now when Trump appears to be winning. Because soon Trump and the views he expresses will experience a huge setback. The excuse “we won, so it doesn’t matter” will no longer provide an excuse.
When Trump stops getting away with his misogynistic comments and faces consequence for them, people will go into denial mode and claim they never agreed with Trump. That is why the video of all these people supporting morally repugnant views needs to be saved and repeated. Some politicians are more clever about being caught on camera saying equally hideous things (I wonder if Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith was laughing while Trump mocked Dr. Ford. She voted to confirm Kavanaugh)
This specific video has been seen by 10’s of millions of people, yet I didn’t find any identification of the people in the videos.
Each rally will bring people cheering, laughing and approving new horrible things said by Trump. As Chris Hayes said tonight, “Trump is best at bringing out the worst in people.”
On Thursday night in Montana he praised a politician for his felony assault of a journalist. And he said that the assault helped him win. (This is part of normalizing violence against journalists. He said this following the murder of journalist Khashoggi.)
I’m just like Jesus. He said let the children suffer too!
Mesa, Arizona
Friday, October 19, 2018
Elko, Nevada
Saturday October 20, 2018
Houston, Texas
Monday , October 22, 2018
Prepare For The Trump Crash
I’ve worked with brand managers for major corporations who sponsored athletes and movie stars. When a celebrity athlete or performer says or does something that is considered horrible by the company, they often drop sponsorship. Even if that celebrity made them 100’s of millions of dollars. Words can sometimes be clarified or “walked back” but no amount of previous Jello pudding pops sales will buy continued support for a convicted rapist.
This is especially the case when the words or actions of a person they sponsor are not in line with what the company stated they stand for. That said, I’ve learned that not everyone has the same values! Surprise!
There are employers, clients and sponsors who said, “Yes! Way to go Gold Tie Guy! Laughing and applauding Trump while he mocks Dr. Ford is in line with our values.” There will also be employers and clients who were disgusted by the laughter, cheering and applauding of Trump mocking Dr. Ford.
I want to make clear that Gold Tie Guy and the rest definitely should be free to express their political views. Two points:
The First Amendment protects Americans’ free-speech rights from being restricted by the government, not their employer.
Freedom of speech is the right to freely express an opinion. It is most assuredly not the right to express an opinion with freedom from the consequences.
When @YesYoureRacist tweeted the photo of some men who were at Charlottesville Virginia the internet identified them. One was Cole White. His employer, Top Dog of Berkeley, had a conversation with him and he resigned. There was much discussion about employee’s rights and if a company could fire someone for being a white supremacist.
There is a possibility that when Gold Tie Guy and others are identified there might be negative consequences. If so, they will lash out and attack the people who named them. Employers would be wise to review how Top Dog dealt with the Cole White situation.
“We pride ourselves on embracing and respecting all our differences and every individual’s choice to do as that person wishes within the boundaries of the law. We do not endorse hatred or any illegal conduct. It simply is not part of our culture.
We do respect our employees’ right to their opinions. They are free to make their own choices but must accept the responsibilities of those choices,” the statement said.”
— Top Dog LLC
Even though the behavior of the people at the rallies is clear, I believe it is important for employers and organizations to gather all the information and consider the context when confronted with a situation like this, because video can be manipulated and info taken out of context. Then, if warranted, appropriate action should be taken.
Soon more illegal, immoral and traitorous actions leading to Trump’s and the GOP’s wins will be revealed. That is when we should bring out the video of the unashamed at the rally applauding Trump as he mocked Dr. Ford.
Trump kissing Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, at Mississippi rally
right before he mocked Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony about her sexual assault.
Five days later Hyde-Smith voted to confirm Bart Kavanaugh.
Losers Double Down
I believe in people’s ability to change and grow in both wisdom and compassion. I also know some people chose not to change. The unashamed will double down on their views following a loss at the polls. They knowingly chose to celebrate the mocking, lying, cheating, bullying and law breaking of Trump and the GOP. They believed that nothing mattered on the way to a “win.”
They trumpeted their support of cruelty on national TV. They knew what they were doing when they hitched their wagon to this dark star.
It is important to name these proud misogynists at that rally in Southhaven Mississippi. I’m hoping that people from Mississippi can identify the people in this video. When the rationale for their horrible views — winning — is gone, we can show they are misogynists AND losers.
Josh Marshall beaks down the politics behind Susan Collins’ line describing Dr. Ford’s experience of sexual assault.
Collins told Dana Bash: “I do not believe that Brett Kavanaugh was her assailant. I do believe that she was assaulted. I don’t know by whom. I’m not certain when.”
Blasey Ford was sympathetic and highly credible in her testimony. She had taken and passed a lie detector test. She described an event populated by Kavanaugh’s 1982 friend set, something all but impossible to achieve if she did not at least know him fairly well at the time. Republicans knew that for Kavanaugh to be telling the truth, Blasey Ford had to be lying. Remember. She didn’t pick him out of a line up. It really can’t be a good faith misunderstanding. She knew him. She was sure it was him.
But calling her a liar was politically toxic. So they needed a theory that fit each political need. First, Kavanaugh had to be telling the truth and must in fact be innocent. Second, Blasey Ford must think she is telling the truth. (The straightforward answer is that she’s lying. But that’s bad politics.) Ideally, the theory must posit that she was in fact assaulted, just not by Kavanaugh. Otherwise, there’s no basis for the politically required notional empathy. A less plausible scenario is that she has a false memory and she was never attacked at all. But that’s also bad politics. It sounds like saying she’s crazy and not a victim at all.
Collins and her Republican colleagues settled on the one scenario which checks all the political boxes but at the cost of being ridiculously implausible. She was attacked. But even though she is certain that she was attacked by a person she knew already, Brett Kavanaugh, in fact she was mistaken about who attacked her and might well have been attacked at a totally different point in her life. The assault becomes a purely notional placeholder to hold together a bad faith argument. There is zero chance they all come to this argument independently. This is some unknown strategist’s over-clever ruse.
The real point here is that no one can really believe this. Only the most casual cynicism gets you to this argument. It is a poll-tested, built-in-a-lab argument that is driven purely by political needs and can’t possibly be the product of actual belief or reasoning based on the evidence at hand. It’s pure cynicism that too many people are taking seriously.
I understand Josh’s analysis. When I read this kind of analysis my activist mind engages. “What can we do with this?”
One strategy is to bust the GOP’s answers in real time using the media. But our current system of celebrity access journalism means reporters rarely ask follow-up questions. When they DO get a follow-up the politicians usually have one answer prepared and the reporter moves on.
When trapped, politicians are trained to stick to the script. To bust this requires smart questions from non-journalists working together in a format the politicians can’t control.
This is an opportunity for citizens to have “hold the elevator doors open” town halls.
We saw the impact Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila had on Jeff Flake. These kinds of conversations are very powerful, which means the right will start doing them to the politicians on the left.
Expect elevator situations where men who were falsely accused ask their Democratic senators, “Where was justice for me!?” They will demand apologies for how Kavanaugh was treated during the hearing. They will demand new investigations of Bill Clinton.
Women will tell stories about their sons, husbands or fathers who were falsely accused and how their lives were destroyed by a lying woman who was believed without question.
This strategy of continuing the attack, even after it appears that they have won, is a based on their fear of losing their gains when there is a reckoning. Who’s the unknown strategist?
Bill Shine, Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, talks with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and counselor Kellyanne Conway, in the East Room of the White House, on July 9, 2018. REUTERS/JIM BOURG
Josh brought up the issue of an “unknown strategist” who provided the basis for Collins’ theory. I’m not sure who it was on the GOP senator side, but on the President’s side it might be Bill Shine, formerly of Fox News. now the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications
Described as, “a right-wing media enforcer with a decades-long track record of fierce loyalty to his boss” Shine knows the Trump audience and what kind of fig leaf would work for Collins and the GOP senators so he set about making one available.
Let Brett Channel Donald!
You may have noticed that in the earlier Fox News interview Kavanaugh repeated phrases and maintained an even tone. That’s something that a standard media trainer or legal team would advise him to do. But when Trump and Shine saw the first Fox interview they knew it wouldn’t play to their audience.
I suspect Shine coached Kavanaugh on the TONE of his testimony with assistance from Kellyanne Conway on how to lie about definitions in the high school yearbook.
The prep team gave Kavanaugh permission to mirror Trump’s combative style. They assured him the Fox News base would love it. Advisors like Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro helped support the flipped script of the “aggrieved victim” that the right loves. They also pushed the “Soros is paying for it all” conspiracy theory to discredit Dr. Ford’s supporters.
I watched Jeanine Pirro interview Trump about attacking Dr. Ford. First she praised him for his earlier restraint and then asked why he “went off script.” She then set Trump up with a perfect question.
“What was it that got you to pivot from your restraint about her and to fight for Kavanaugh?” – Jeanine Pirro
Then she praises his mocking of Dr. Ford as the turning point saying, “it was instinctive, it was guttural and you did it and you won!” (I think it’s funny she said guttural when she meant from the gut. Her Freudian slip shows she knows he’s in the gutter AND his utterance was “strange, unpleasant,and disagreeable” )
Hope Hicks, the Donald Whisperer, is the new EVP and Chief Communications Officer at Fox
Expect More Conspiracy Theories and “Evidence”
Ed Whelan’s doppelganger theory was discredited, but not before it created a splash and got the idea of mistaken identity out there.
I expect that evidence supporting Dr. Ford and other assault survivors will come out. Conspiracies about the evidence will also come out. Expect the usual questions:
“Who brought it forth?
Who paid for it? SOROS! SOROS! SOROS!
What is wrong with the people who brought it forward?”
When new evidence supporting Ford shows up, they will attack old evidence.
When that happens, I am on the record as saying I WANT all evidence to be questioned and vetted no matter if it looks bad or good for Kavanaugh.
Between now and subpoena time evidence might show up that looks like it will hurt Kavanaugh and the left will jump on it before it is vetted. Then it will be shown that part of it was faked. (This is a method used to taint real evidence. Remember the kerning of the Texas Air National Guard memos?)
I want to believe that the people behind the strategy to support Kavanaugh and discredit his accusers are not as sophisticated as the people from the Dubya White House. But then again they have help from the Russians, their own media networks, new social media tools and techniques plus an audience that is primed to believe even the most ludicrous theories.
When you see Trump’s people bragging about winning understand that they are bragging because they are insecure. They know the win was based on manipulations and lies.
They are like a Wile E. Coyote running as fast as he can on air before the gravity eventually kicks in and he falls. They can change the court but not the laws of gravity. There will be a lot of gravity this fall.
Do You Have Photos From Kavanaugh’s High School or College Years?
by Spocko
If you have photos from the area and time in question, check your files. Your photos could change the course of US history.
In his opening statement Brett Kavanaugh said,
“Dr. Ford’s allegation stems from a party that she alleges occurred during the summer of 1982. Thirty-six years ago. I was 17 years old. Between my junior and senior years of high school at Georgetown Prep, a rigorous all-boys Catholic Jesuit high school in Rockville, Md. When my friends and I spent time together at parties on weekends, it was usually with friends from nearby Catholic all-girl high schools: Stone Ridge, Holy Child, Visitation, Immaculata, Holy Cross.
Dr. Ford did not attend one of those schools. She attended an independent private school named Holton-Arms and she was a year behind me. She and I did not travel in the same social circles. It’s possible we met at some point at some events, although I do not recall that. ” (Transcript)
The White House has limited the scope of the FBI’s investigation, but regular people can still look and submit hard evidence to the FBI. Kavanaugh mentions the schools he said he hung out with, but that doesn’t mean boys or girls from other schools didn’t attend their parties. If you lived in that area during that time and took photos check your files.
The “Renate Alumni” from a scan of the Georgetown Prep Yearbook by Washington Monthly
Photo collage by Spocko based on my photo envelopes from the 1980’s
I was the head photographer of my high school yearbook. In those days not everyone had a camera. Film and prints cost money. But people still took thousands of photos of other high school events. Events that didn’t show up in the year book. I know they exist because I worked in a photo lab at that time.
I remember the smell of stop bath and fixer as rolls of color negatives came out of the machine. I saw women working for hours a day in dark rooms to print out batches of 12, 24 or 36 photos. They printed photos of birthday parties. Dances. Keggers. Graduations and drunken parties at the beach.
I only put some of my photos in a scrapbook. Until a few years ago mine were in my parent’s linen closet on the shelf behind the Christmas decorations. They were in gold and black envelopes reminding people IMPORTANT! PLEASE SAVE THESE NEGATIVES FOR FUTURE USE and “We Use Kodak Paper!” The dates of development were printed on the back of photos.
I don’t have a calendar to identify all the people in my photos, but I can ask others if they can fill in my memory blanks.
Photos of a 17-year old at a party holding a beer can isn’t proof the person holding it was drunk.
Unless there is video, it’s not even hard evidence the person actually drank the beer. But…
For the yearbook staff identification of who was in the photos was very important. Screwing up something in the yearbook was a BFD because the high school yearbook became the main “permanent record” that other people saw.
(By The Way, BFD is short for Big Fucking Deal. As far as I know it is not a drinking game nor is it short for “Brett Farts Daily” although I suppose someone could lie about that definition if they are a lying liar. )
In high school I was the only photographer with a wide-angle lens, so I took almost all of the team and group photos. I took photos of every group from the nine members of the chess club to the 39 members of the JV football team.
I would turn in my photos with the list of names I got of the people in the club or team to the person in charge of the clubs or sports section who would confirm them.
Do photos of Brett Kavanaugh where he’s got his arms around a woman he now says he doesn’t know mean he is a liar? Not necessarily. I can look at old photos and not remember the name of people from 36 years ago. But other people in and around the the photo might remember, because perhaps for them that party was a BFD.
Photos aren’t perfect evidence. They can only show what was captured on film and context is still important. But even if the photographer was later blackout drunk, the photo still exists.
Will the “men of conscience” from Georgetown Prep in 1982 come forward?
I went to the web pages of the schools Kavanaugh mentioned. Holton-Arms had a brilliant letter by Susanna A. Jones, the Head of School, about what they are doing now to help their girls. It is through, insightful and extensive “How can we help our young people avoid becoming victims or perpetrators of sexual assault, or if they do, feel empowered to seek support?”
The image that has been presented on social media and in various news outlets depicts recklessness, illegal conduct, and lack of respect for persons. Worse, many blame these faults on institutional indifference.
But the temptations, and the failings, presented in these stories are not unique to Georgetown Prep. The problems and abuses of alcohol and drugs, sexual assault and misconduct, emotional and physical violence toward others are real; educators at every institution of primary, secondary, or higher learning in our nation face these problems every day.
What I want to know is how this institution will deal with the current situation. Will they help the FBI and provide their own records? Will they open up the old yearbook archives? Or will they stonewall? They state they are dedicated to the mission of “forming men of conscience, competence, courage, and compassion; men of faith and men for others.” how will they act now?
And my big question: Will these “men of conscience” from Georgetown Prep circa 1982 come forward? Does being a “man for others” include telling the truth about what happened to girls from local girl’s schools during summer parties?
This isn’t just about Kavanaugh and what he says anymore, it’s also about his friends and associates from that time period. Will they provide evidence of what they know happened and when it happened? Or will they cover their own mouths?
The Georgetown Prep statement ends with Latin: Ad majorem Dei gloriam. “To the greater glory of God.” If the boys from that time have evidence of crimes that were committed, will they come forward? If not, which god are they serving?
