As Seen from Afar 12/11/2018

 Posted by at 12:54 am  Politics
Dec 112018
 

A SOFT, A HARD OR NO BREXIT? THAT IS THE QUESTION, AGAIN.

 

Today, Tuesday 11/12/2018, should have been the day British Prime Minister Theresa May would have put the Brexit deal, which she has been negotiating for two years with the EU in Brussels, to the vote of the MP’s in parliament. However, at the last moment, the British government decided yesterday to postpone the House of Commons vote indefinitely. Mrs May had come to the same conclusion as everyone else: the current agreement would receive insufficient support in parliament. Dozens of Conservative MPs had been planning to join forces with Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the DUP to vote down Mrs May’s deal. Especially the status of Northern Ireland and border with Ireland is a problem.

Mrs May announced that she still intended to put her deal to MPs, but she would first ask the EU for more “reassurances”. To get these “reassurances” she has started her round of talks with European leaders this morning at the Catshuis in The Hague, where she’s met with Dutch PM Rutte. The relations between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are very good despite the Brexit plans. Within the EU, the two countries often draw together.

After that, Mrs May is to meet with German PM Angela Merkel. It is unclear if Mrs May will meet with other European leaders in the coming days.  Several of them have already said that there is little more to negotiate and EU-president, Donald Tusk has confirmed this on Twitter:

 

Tusk’s statement means that no letter will change to the agreement made between the British government and the EU last month. However, a passage may be added in the accompanying political statement to clarify certain points in the agreement.

At this point in time, the Irish border backstop proposal seems to be the largest bone of contention. It concerns the border between Northern Ireland, which will leave the EU as a part of Great Britain, and the Republic of Ireland, which will of course remain. After Brexit, it will become the only land border between the UK and the European Union. (Although Spain-Gibraltar is also a topic still under discussion)

The backstop proposal is intended to be a safety net, a way of avoiding (the return of) a hard border in Northern Ireland, if appropriate customs arrangements cannot be agreed by the EU and UK in time for the end of the transition period in December 2020. The EU believes the backstop should mean Northern Ireland to stay in the single market for goods and the customs union until the UK comes up with solution to the border issue. Mrs May wants a backstop that would see the whole of the UK staying in the customs union for a limited time after the transition period, something the EU has said is unacceptable.

Adding to the problem, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said it was not possible to renegotiate the Irish border backstop proposal without “opening up all aspects” of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The British Tory rebels and the DUP do not like the Northern Ireland “backstop”, because it is a legally-binding proposal for a customs arrangement with the EU, which would come into force indefinitely if the two sides cannot agree a future relationship which avoids the return of customs checkpoints on the Irish border.

But to be frank, the backstop is only one problem the British can’t agree on; it is impossible to negotiate a deal with Brussels that will please everyone. So, for now there is a array of possible outcomes, ranging from a disorderly Brexit with no deal to another referendum on EU membership. Staying in the EU has now become an option again as the European Court of Justice ruled the UK can cancel Brexit if it wants

The question is of course if Mrs May will be the one to initiate the next step. Leading Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Moggis is trying to get enough Tory MPs to submit letters of no confidence in the PM to trigger a leadership contest. Crispin Blunt became the 26th MP to do so on Monday, but as 48 Conservative lawmakers must submit letters for any challenge to be initiated, it’ll take a while before they make the numbers, to the dismay of Boris Johnson who has been looking to fill Mrs May’s quirky shoes for a long time. Boris Johnson stated in interviews that he could make a much better deal, without a backstop, than Theresa May, but later on that the UK should withhold payments to Brussels and prepare to leave the EU without a deal Which led the former foreign secretary, Sir Alan Duncan to note that Mr Johnson was the “last person on Earth who would make any progress in negotiating with the EU at the moment.” Let’s hope that most Tories see the value of that remark and that Mrs May is safe for now, unless the Labour Party tables a vote of no confidence in the PM.

The fact that US President Trump is also stirring the pot, pushing for a hard Brexit with no deals, by taking back his promises of “great trade negotiations with Britain” because Mrs May’s deals are too soft to his liking, doesn’t give either Britons or Europeans much confidence in a good outcome either.

 

 

Sources:

Theresa May calls off MPs’ vote on her Brexit deal

Brexit: Theresa May to meet EU leaders in bid to rescue deal

May heeft ‘brexit-ontbijt’ met Rutte

Brexit vote postponed by British Prime Minister Theresa May, plunging deal into turmoil

Boris Johnson: Go forward with Brexit deal but remove the backstop

Posted to Care2 HERE

UPDATE 12/13/2018

I was quite wrong. Theresa May wasn’t safe for long at all; in fact her leadership was challenged the next day. However The PM won the ballot on her leadership by 200 votes to 117 on Wednesday night. (GMT). She’s now heading to Brussels for an EU summit, less than 24 hours after surviving that vote of confidence. Again Mrs May is seeking legally binding pledges from EU leaders on the Irish backstop. It is understood the EU will not renegotiate the deal but may be willing to give greater assurances on the temporary nature of the backstop.






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Squatch’s Open Thread 10 December 2018

 Posted by at 2:39 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 102018
 

It is mid afternoon and as TC would say, OGIM!!!  It has finally “stopped” raining but it is due to start up again tonight and last all week.  For me, this is a busy week with getting the blog out as best as possible, physio, teaching, a visit to the vet’s for my Winnie for more blood tests, a hair cut (she’ll have to use a weed wacker as it looks and feels particularly long and bushy!) and assorted other smaller things.  So, if I miss one day, I hope you’ll forgive me.  With any luck, perhaps TC will back online this week.  It must  be terribly frustrating for him to hear news but not be able to publish and opinionate because he lacks the internet connection.  Well, have a good week all!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:02 (average 5:38).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

TC’s took me 4:31 (average 5:51).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes

AlterNet — So, now that we know that Donald Trump and Mike Pence reached the White House through at least two specific and separate criminal conspiracies, what do we do about it?

Can they be removed from office? Can the election be done over? Can the Trump/Pence administration’s actions over the past two years be reversed, particularly the appointments of Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and all the damage to our federal agencies?  …

But there is a constitutional route that can be taken by Congress, via impeachment.

In January, Nancy Pelosi will become the Speaker of the House.  As such, should the nation lose its president and vice-president to impeachment, we’d have President Pelosi.  It wouldn’t reverse the damage the GOP and Trump/Pence have done, but it would be a start.

The key is to illuminate Mike Pence’s role in Trump’s frauds, so both men succumb to impeachment in the House, and conviction and removal from office by the Senate.

Hmmm . . . President Pelosi!  How does that strike you?  I would love to see it if only to put this Trump/Pence nightmare to rest, or at least partially to rest.  I say partially because as long as there is no prison time nor public accounting for Trump’s crimes, the nation will not rest.  But there is one thing that the author did not account for — agreement by the Republican lead Senate.  Right now, I do not see that happening because they are more worried about remaining in power than in doing right by the country.

New Yorker — Pushing back against criticism of her lack of diplomatic experience, Donald J. Trump’s choice to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Heather Nauert, said on Friday that a memorable visit to the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disney World made her eminently qualified for the U.N. post.

“When people look at me, they think Heather Nauert, former Fox News anchor,” Nauert told reporters at the State Department. “What they don’t realize is I’m also Heather Nauert, who went on ‘It’s a Small World’ three times when she was nine.”

Nauert said that, while career diplomats might spend twenty to thirty years learning about only one country, “I learned about twenty-five countries in fifteen minutes.”

Laying out her objectives for her tenure at the United Nations, the prospective Ambassador said, “Right now I’m just looking forward to seeing all of the other Ambassadors wearing their festive costumes and doing their dances. That’s going to be amazing, I think.”

Sounds like Andy is doing straight news again.  I wish I could say otherwise, but she seems to be on par with the rest of Trump’s hires.

Huffington Post — Remember that painting of President Donald Trump that viewers spotted hanging in the White House during his bizarre “60 Minutes” interview in October?

Artist Andy Thomas’ piece, titled “The Republican Club,” depicted Trump shooting the breeze with other GOP presidents.  …

New York artist Michael D’Antuono, 62, has reimagined the work in accordance with how he believes the scene would really play out … titled “Party Pooper,” …

I find this painting so relatable, so spot on! . . . and look at those little hands! However, if I have trod on a copyright, I apologise and will remove it.  The painting is in the article.

My Universe

Posted to Care2 HERE

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Squatch’s Open Thread 09 December 2018

 Posted by at 5:37 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 092018
 

It is late Sunday afternoon and I am trying to get this out so I can start on Monday’s OT.  It has been raining very hard all day but the previously predicted sleet/snow did not materialise.  We have not yet heard from TC so I don’t think he has his internet up and working yet.  My pot luck supper at my church went well and everyone, so I was told, was satiated by all the good food.  I took a blueberry pie which was very well received.  Personally, I had fresh fruit for dessert.  I hope your weekend is going well.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:53 (average 6:44). To do it, click here. How did you do?

TC’s took me 4:26 (average 6:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

Politico — The Senate is on the verge of an extraordinary rebuke of Donald Trump’s foreign policy, underscoring a bipartisan willingness to encroach on the president’s powers as commander in chief.

From forcing Trump to impose sanctions on Russia to raising questions about his nuclear trigger finger, lawmakers are repeatedly asserting themselves in an area long dominated by the executive branch.

The congressional reprimands of Trump also have taken other, often symbolic forms.

One example came when the GOP chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker of Tennessee, convened a hearing to examine the president’s authority to use nuclear weapons.

The hearing indicated that lawmakers did not trust Trump’s judgment, especially as he was exchanging heated rhetoric at the time with the nuclear-armed leader of North Korea.  …

Senate Republicans, including Corker and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), pushed legislation earlier this year that would give Congress the authority to sign off on tariffs linked to national security, in a sign of their unease with Trump’s protectionist tendencies.

Click through for the rest of the details.  I for one am very glad to see that the Senate is moving to contain this infantile resident of the WH.  While members of the Senate agree “that we are a country that is safe and secure and prosperous when we put our values first and our interests second”, Trump does not.  The Liar-in-Chief has no redeemable positive values or qualities.  He is driven by money and his personal image.  If you want to get a picture of some of that, read David Cay Johnston’s book “The Making of Donald Trump”.  When I read about 4 chapters at lunch (they are short), Johnston filled in detail about things I already knew about.

Huffington Post — After a decisive vote the last week, the Senate is readying for debate on a bipartisan bill cutting off U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s horrific war in Yemen. Thus begins the fight to eviscerate President Donald Trump’s corrupt bargain with the vicious and volatile Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).

The immediate impetus for the Senate action was the grisly murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi operatives at the direction of MBS ― and Trump’s mendacious and morally repulsive embrace of the crown prince in the killing’s aftermath.

“The world is a very dangerous place!” Trump proclaimed, before proceeding to lie about the CIA’s findings that MBS directed the murder; obfuscate the compelling evidence marshaled to support the findings; spout Saudi slanders against Khashoggi; grossly inflate the worth of a phantom Saudi arms purchase; falsely claim that the Saudis could easily arm their Air Force elsewhere; and concoct a counterfactual dependence on Saudi oil.

Effectively, Trump licensed the murder of journalists and human rights advocates while further subcontracting U.S. policy in a combustible region to an unstable autocrat devoid of psychological or external constraints. The danger of this devil’s pact is enhanced by MBS’s apparent ability to mesmerize Trump, who personalizes foreign policy and gorges on flattery, and the president’s equally incompetent, unqualified and ethically challenged son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Both compound their infinite geopolitical ignorance by conflating governance with venality, making them ripe for a ruthless autocrat whose country is awash in cash.

Click through to get a picture of just how compromised Trump is when it comes to the Middle East.  One could say that Saudi Arabia and Russia are playing him like a violin.  When Trump says “I have no financial interest in Saudi Arabia”, he is being deceptive.  He may not have properties there, but the Saudi’s pump money into his other properties/businesses.  His son-in-law, Kushner who is a senior and trusted adviser, is also compromised by the Saudi’s. Their venality has made them very gullible and exposes them to so much corruption, yet Trump thinks he is in control.  This is only part of US foreign policy, but it demonstrates why the Congress, on a bipartisan basis, is willing to “encroach on the president’s powers as commander in chief” as noted in the previous article.

New Yorker — The outgoing chief of staff, John Kelly, departed the White House with the nation’s nuclear codes hidden in his pants, General Kelly has confirmed.

Kelly, whose illustrious military career spanned five decades, called his absconding with the nuclear codes “my greatest act of service to my country.”

Speaking to reporters from his home, Kelly said that he had planned the heist of the nation’s nuclear codes with the pinpoint timing of a clandestine military mission.

“I went into the Oval Office on Friday when I knew Trump would be distracted because ‘Fox & Friends’ was on,” he said. “Then, when he started tweeting something that one of the hosts told him to do, I slipped the codes into my pants, as quick as lightning.”

Now, when Trump realises that they are gone, if he realises, he’s not going to look there.  Wrong gender!

My Universe

 

 

 

Posted to Care2 Here

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The Disunited States: Is the Trump presidency causing irreparable damage to America?

 Posted by at 11:47 am  Politics
Dec 082018
 

I was cruising through YouTube trying to find a particular video when I came across this one.  The title intrigued me so I listened in.  It is a discussion about Trump which took place at Emmanuel Centre, London UK before a live audience who were given the opportunity to ask questions near the end.  The panelists are American with the exception of the moderator.  I enjoyed it . . . hearing their thoughts, all from different perspectives, so I thought you might too.  Forgive me if it does not interest you.  I am a bit of a political junkie, not that I would ever go into politics myself.  It is about 1 hour 20 minutes in length.

YouTube — America has never seen anything like this. Time and again, Donald Trump has attacked the very fabric of US democracy. He has called the press ‘the enemy of the American people’. He says that claims that Russia interfered in the US election are a hoax. And that the FBI – currently investigating his campaign – should be personally loyal to the president. And it’s not just political institutions Trump is damaging, his opponents say: in America he has stoked racial tension, coddled Wall Street and given succour to the gun lobby. On the world stage, he’s alienated key allies, slapped $50 billion in tariffs on China that may spark off a trade war, and appointed the hawkish John Bolton, who has advocated regime change in Iran and North Korea, as national security adviser. If Trump is a new kind of threat, the big question is whether the damage he is doing to America will be permanent. Will the country that survived two world wars, the Cold War and the attacks of 9/11 really be put off its stride by a reality show host who could be gone in less than three years’ time? Or is Trump dismantling the robust system that has kept America united and irreparably damaging its standing as the most powerful nation on earth? But perhaps this is all liberal hand-wringing. Could Trump, in fact, be that rarest of things – a politician who delivers on his promises – and prove to be the reformer the American electorate voted for? To examine the political health and standing of the United States at this crucial moment, Intelligence Squared brought together Ronan Farrow, former US government adviser and journalist, who has just been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for breaking the Harvey Weinstein scandal; Mark Lilla, the American political scientist who hit the headlines last year with an article arguing that it is the left’s preoccupation with identity politics that opened the door to Trump’s victory; Lionel Shriver, award-winning novelist and commentator; and Brian Klaas, an expert on authoritarianism who claims that with every autocratic tweet Trump is edging America away from its democratic norms.

Published on Sep 20, 2018  Recorded at Emmanuel Centre, London UK in May 2018
While I don’t know all the panelists, earlier this year, I did read “The War on Peace” by Ronan Farrow which is excellent.  Coming away from this discussion, I am determined to read Brian Klaas’ books later this year or early next year.  While both of these two men mention their books, their purpose is not to flog the books.
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Squatch’s Open Thread 08 December 2018

 Posted by at 11:46 am  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 082018
 

There always seems like so much to do . . . and today is the dreaded task — laundry.  At least I’ll get some exercise going down two flights of stairs to the basement and that will keep me warm!  It has been very frosty the past 3 days — down to -6C (21F) at night.  Generally, that is not cold to me but here on the coast, it is a very damp cold that cuts through to the bone.  Today it is pouring rain!  There is supposed to be sleet tonight, but we’ll have to wait to see how accurate the forecast is.  When it is like this, my three cats love to crawl into bed with me at night.  It sure does get crowded.  I am going to a potluck supper at my church tonight so I’m getting this done early.  My contribution will either be English Trifle or pie.  Have a great weekend and I’ll be back tomorrow.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:31 (average 6:02). To do it, click here. How did you do?

TC’s took me  4:01 (5:40 average).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes

Newsweek — “The floor of Congress is now going to look like an Islamic republic,” E.W. Jackson said on the radio show Urban Family Talk on Wednesday. “We are a Judeo-Christian country. We are nation rooted and grounded in Christianity and that’s that. And anybody that doesn’t like that, go live somewhere else.”

The pastor continued, adding: “It’s very simple. Just go live somewhere else. Don’t try to change our country into some sort of Islamic republic or try to base our country on Sharia law.”

Jackson’s remarks came in response to reports that Democrats were attempting to change legislation that bans the wearing of headscarves and hijabs on the floor of the House of Representatives. The proposal was made to accommodate incoming lawmaker Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, one of the first Muslim women to serve Congress in U.S. history along with Representative-elect Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.  …

The proposed rule change was co-authored by Nancy Pelosi, the current House Minority Leader and likely the next speaker of the chamber when Democrats take back the majority in January. Along with the changes to the ban on headscarves, Democrats are also proposing rule changes to ban LGBTQ discrimination and the creation of an independent office to promote diversity when it comes to hiring House staffers.

A copy of his remarks as presented by Right Wing Watch .

While the rule change proposed by Democrats would exempt religious headwear, including yarmulkes, Jackson is outraged that it will be used to accommodate Ilhan Omar, a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf for religious reasons who was recently elected to Congress.

This man, although he holds a divinity degree, is not an authentic Christian.  In the first amendment of the US Constitution, freedom of religion is guaranteed as is the call for the separation of church and state.  Conservative evangelical pseudo Christians seem to think that if a person does not worship like they do, that person is impinging on their right to freedom of religion.  Malarkey!!!  This is not the first time that Jackson has stirred the pot.  WWJD?  The authentic Jesus would rebuke Jackson.

DC Report — You may recall that former FedEx Ground safety director and Chamber of Commerce favorite Scott Mugno was nominated by Trump in October 2017, has survived a Senate confirmation hearing and has been approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) committee (twice) on party-line votes. But Mugno’s nomination has never come to a final vote on the floor of the Senate.

Politico’s Morning Shift reminded us last week that the nomination of Mugno, as well as the nominations of Cheryl Stanton for the agency’s Wage and Hour Division, William Beach at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Gordon Hartogensis with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation continue to be mired in a fight over the confirmation of two Democratic favorites: Mark Gaston Pearce to be reconfirmed for a seat on the National Labor Relations Board and Chai Feldblum to be reconfirmed for a seat on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. …

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the HELP committee reemphasized last week that Democrats would continue to block the Labor Department nominees until the Senate confirms Pearce and Feldblum.

Click through for a Democrat strategy playing with the rules as they exist.  Good play Democrats.  As if EW Jackson isn’t enough, Senator Mike Lee is outraged with Feldblum’s reconfirmation to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, calling her a “threat to religious liberty and the institution of marriage.”  There’s that religious liberty misnomer again.

National Law Journal — Some U.S. Supreme Court justices think “original understanding” is the “alpha and omega of every constitutional question,” Justice Elena Kagan said Thursday, but “there are other people on this bench who do not.” She and others indicated they would need more justification for throwing out a court-created doctrine in a case that has potential consequences for special counsel-related prosecutions. …

… counsel to Terance Gamble, an Alabama man who was convicted and sentenced in state and federal prosecutions for the same crime: felon in possession of a firearm. Gamble is asking the justices to overrule a 170-year-old doctrine that is known as the “separate sovereigns” exception to the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy clause. That clause prohibits more than one prosecution or punishment for the same offense.

Gamble’s case has drawn considerable attention because of its possible import for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and prosecutions of Russian interference in the 2016 election and involvement of the Trump campaign. Elimination of the separate sovereigns exception could bar states from pursuing certain prosecutions under their state laws. Mueller’s investigation did not come up during Thursday’s arguments.

If the exception was overruled, and a new precedent set (although as I understand from some of my reading, an exception can be made without setting a precedence under certain conditions, but don’t ask me what those conditions are as I cannot remember), this could mean that, for example, Trump could not be tried under federal laws and state laws, for example NY laws, for the same crime.

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Posted to Care2 HERE

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Everyday Erinyes #147

 Posted by at 10:33 am  Politics
Dec 082018
 

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

Though it is far from pleasant to think about, I have come to the conclusion that we need to start to think about it, and in the most concrete of terms. What is “it”? Put most simply, self defense. But in our time, we need to consider, in advance, exactly what are we morally, physically, and emotionally prepared to do if necessary to protect ourselves against

1. Militant right wingers who take to the streets with weapons to dispute the results of an election
2. Persons already in office who will stand with the far right and against the legitimate winners of an election
3. Police forces and military services if they, or enough of their personnel, decide to stand with the far right – or if the persons mentioned in point 2 declare martial law.

The New York Daily News (I know, I know, but it’s the newest published opinion piece on the subject I could find; it is an opinions piece and any facts in it are easily confirmed; it’s by two teachers at distinguished universities; and it’s not guanopsychotic) has an article up called “What if Trump loses but refuses to leave the White House? We have to start to contemplate the possibility.” I concur. We – all of us, not just progressives, but all citizens – need to contemplate the possibility.  The article lines up all the times, starting with 1804, that a defeated President (or serving Vice President) might have fought the results of the election, and didn’t. Some of them really were robbed, but all chose country over party and over self. That does not appear to have the slightest resemblance to Donald John Trump. What will we do? What CAN we do? We won’t even really know what we are up against unless it happens.

Aeon (if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a “registered charity committed to the spread of knowledge and a cosmopolitan worldview. Our mission is to create a sanctuary online for serious thinking,” although I would just call it an online magazine myself, posted an article by Jason Brennan titled “When the state is unjust, citizens may use justifiable violence.” He has the credentials to discuss this; he’s a professor of strategy, economics, ethics, and public policy at Georgetown University, and has a (new this year) book out called When All Else Fails: The Ethics of Resistance to State Injustice.

In the article he addresses principles we pretty well accept, going back to Thoreau, but also poses questions we might do well to consider ourselves, BEFORE we need the answers. He discusses the difference, for instance, between disobedience of a civic character which aims to change society and disobedience in the moment which aims to stop a specific act [of injustice.] He also discusses the different feelings we may have about an action depending on who is doing the action”

Here’s a philosophical exercise. Imagine a situation in which a civilian commits an injustice, the kind against which you believe it is permissible to use deception, subterfuge or violence to defend yourself or others. For instance, imagine your friend makes an improper stop at a red light, and his dad, in anger, yanks him out of the car, beats the hell out of him, and continues to strike the back of his skull even after your friend lies subdued and prostrate. May you use violence, if it’s necessary to stop the father? Now imagine the same scene, except this time the attacker is a police officer in Ohio, and the victim is Richard Hubbard III, who in 2017 experienced just such an attack as described. Does that change things? Must you let the police officer possibly kill Hubbard rather than intervene?

I’m not going to tell anyone what their ethics should be. But I find Brennan’s reasoning sound and convincing, and I have bookmarked the article for future reference, including future contemplation.I hope everyone will at least read it. He ends it by pointing out, with citations, that, at least in the United States, nonviolence as a civil rights weapon succeeded as well as it did at least partly because there had been earlier times when people of color did arm themselves, and did shoot [back] in self defense.

Frankly that scares the hell out of me. The Associated Press notes that in a period of eleven days in November, this happened twice: “[A] black man who drew a gun in response to a crime in the U.S. was shot to death by a white police officer after apparently being mistaken for the bad guy. One was an on-duty security office in uniform. The other was an active duty military man home on leave.

If I am conflicted between arming myself against violence and worrying that the fact I am armed will be used against me … how much more conflicted would I be if my skin were darker than a brown paper bag?

I don’t know the answer to that. I wish I did. And yet I am not sure I want to go through the process of finding out. As I said – it scares me.

Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, the best I can think of to ask you is to follow all these people around – all these “Second Amendment people” – and do your best to prevent them from using their weapons. Especially from using them on people better than themselves. And I know that’s not enough. Better gun safety laws would be nice. But all the good legislation in the world is not going to protect us if those in authority scoff at the law.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.

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Squatch’s Open Thread 07 December 2018

 Posted by at 12:03 pm  Open Thread, Politics
Dec 072018
 

Well it is Friday and the weekend is nigh!  For we retirees, every day is a weekend so I am oft reminded by my working friends.  Sometimes I am busier now than I was when I was working.  TomCat moved yesterday and is busy getting his new digs organised, and organised he’ll have to be since the new place is smaller.  He’ll likely be a few days yet before he is back online.  TGIF!!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:09 (average 5:07). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Yesterday’s took me 3:57 (average 4:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes

AlterNet — While Fox News hosts often beat the drum for Donald Trump’s administration, during a segment on “Outnumbered” Monday, the hosts Lisa Kennedy Montgomery and Harris Faulkner (who were joined by Melissa Francis and Marie Harf) appeared to briefly acknowledge that special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation isn’t without merit.  …

“There might be something there,” Montgomery asserted. “There absolutely might be something there. We don’t know what Mueller has; he might have something. Things are starting to seem a little weird.”

Stop the presses!  Stop the presses!  A Faux Noise commentator does not want to be Trump’s carnival barker and actually thinks it is prudent to wait to see what Mueller has.  I think I’ve got the vapours . . . I’m in shock.  David Cay Johnston’s 2016 book “The Making of Donald Trump” is excellent in its description of Trump’s  association with unsavoury characters throughout his career.  He recently updated the afterword to include the first year of Trump’s régime.  Below is a video of Johnston in discussion with Joy Reid talking about Trump.  Please note that this episode of AM Joy is from January 2018.

May more of the Faux Noise commentators come to their senses as Mueller’s investigation continues to unfold.

Daily Beast — Mueller? Mueller? Act 1 Full Frontal 05 December 2018

Later, she added, “One Trump associate after the other is turning out to be in deep, deep trouble. So this holiday season, as the Trumps gather around the blood tree, Trump will probably be at least a little afraid that it will be his last Christmas in the White House.”

Barf Bag Alert!!!

Don Trump Jr’s Christmas tree topper as they all sit around the blood tree.

Picture from AlterNet

I cannot bring you the rest of the show as I can’t find it on-line.  However, Sam is on the mark isn’t she!

Daily Beast — Sources close to the president say he has repeatedly shrugged it off, implying that he doesn’t have to worry about the money owed to America’s creditors—currently about $21 trillion—because he won’t be around to shoulder the blame when it becomes even more untenable.

The friction came to a head in early 2017 when senior officials offered Trump charts and graphics laying out the numbers and showing a “hockey stick” spike in the national debt in the not-too-distant future. In response, Trump noted that the data suggested the debt would reach a critical mass only after his possible second term in office.

“Yeah, but I won’t be here,” the president bluntly said, according to a source who was in the room when Trump made this comment during discussions on the debt. …

“That was why, when he was confronted with these nightmare scenarios on the debt, I think he rejected them, because if you grow the economy… you don’t have a debt problem,” Moore continued. “I know a few times when people would bring up the enormous debt, he would say, ‘We’re gonna grow our way out of it.’”

Moore has since championed this approach to tackling the debt as a key part of “Trumponomics,” …

Trumponomics???  In Trump’s business life, he has had 6 bankruptcies as outlined in PolitiFact but while various different scenarios were at play, the one common thread was Trump.  He seems to me to have a rather cavalier attitude towards debt.  Now that attitude is showing up in his role as POTUS and his lack of concern about the national debt.  “Yeah, but I won’t be here,” being his reply.  The minority shareholders, the American people, are the ones left to shoulder the debt.  From MarketWatch:

As you can see, Americans own the majority of the debt.  This complicated topic is not easy to discuss and understand, but clearly Trump does not have a clue, and what’s worse, he appears not to care.  Republicans, who were so quick to attack Obama on the national debt levels, need to put Trump on an economic leash and walk back the corporate tax breaks which corporations are squandering rather than re-investing, just for starters.  I am sure more extreme proposals are in the offing from Republicans.  So buckle-up!!!

Cartoon — Let’s ensure this does not happen again!  Enough war!  Enough death and destruction!

My Universe  (…or is this TC’s Universe?)

TomCat moving!

 

Posted to Care2 HERE

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Friday Fun: This, That & the Other

 Posted by at 9:00 am  Politics
Dec 072018
 

I suppose we can be thankful that the Bush family was gracious enough to extend an invitation to Twitler to attend 41’s funeral – and wise enough to NOT have him speak!

But that didn’t mean he still couldn’t embarrass an entire nation with his thoughtlessness.  Like not joining the congregation in the reading of the Apostles’ Creed.  How any religious person can support this man is unfathomable to me.

And he provided further evidence that even the simplest gestures of respect elude him.

But someone perfectly captured the essence of Twitler at the funeral.  (Hard to tell, but I think it’s Photoshopped.)

Personally, I was hoping for a reprise of the moment during the Barbara Bush funeral (that Melania attended just by herself) when Pres. Obama commented to her about her smile

Apparently Twitler is being riled up by the Mueller investigation and getting the feeling that the walls are finally closing in.  We all enjoyed reading between the lines of Mueller’s heavily redacted Michael Flynn court filings this week.

In fact the speculation of what was redacted was so rampant that it forced Mr. Mueller to issue a clarification:

MUELLER:

Any similarity between our redacted report on Michael Flynn …

 

And prison stripes …

 

Is purely coincidental.

And Twitler’s bad news was compounded when Michael Cohen agreed to plead guilty to lying to Congress.  And in those filings we learned who “Individual 1” is – which created the need for some major changes to Twitler’s campaign logo for re-election …

And the official presidential seal …

And the renaming of his New York Home

And it only got worse when Twitler’s top cybersecurity advisor, Rudy Giuliani, accidentally created a website (G-20.In) in his Tweet, and a prankster immediately took claim to it and is using it to bash Trump.  (You have to click the above G-20.In link, or the one in the Tweet to view it)

Giuliani is his top cybersecurity advisor?!?  Proving yet again that Twitler hires “only the best people”.  Righttttttt.

And I’d appreciate someone explaining to me why CNN felt the need to insert this correction at the bottom of this article:

Seems perfectly accurate to me!

Closing out with a few more seasonal observations, I got a kick out of some ducks who experienced snow for the very first time …

And ending with a PSA: Please be careful when putting up your Christmas decorations.  Think things all the way through first to avoid embarrassing faux pas like these:

And be especially careful when decorating palm trees:

 

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