Dan Rather explains how Trump can get his Wall.

It speaks for itself and its worth sharing with your pals on the faith-shackled side.

For more from Dan:

https://www.newsandguts.com

Trump's Attorney General: A Flaw in American Democracy - David Frum

Whatever happened to good old American melting pot and the principles of Pluralism, respect for others, including our opponents.  But look at that Trump, he's a wanna be autocrat, and a third of country is okay with his, disconnected from physical reality, politics of victimhood and hatred. 

 

The Atlantic

Published on Nov 16, 2018
https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/576067/trump-attorney-general/

“The Trump years have cast a hard light on many of the ancient flaws in American democracy,” says The Atlantic writer David Frum in a new Atlantic Argument. One of these flaws, Frum argues, is the fact that the 93 U.S.-government attorneys, including the attorney general, are politically appointed. Legal experts have long worried about the potential for abuse in these arrangements.

Just after the midterms, Donald Trump appointed “a scandal-tainted, under-qualified loyalist,” Matthew Whitaker, as acting attorney general. Now, it seems, Trump is poised to take advantage of the dangerous marriage of politics and law enforcement.

Fruits of our Failures to Engage, McConnell thanks ‘victim clowns’

During a dialogue over at ATTP the following article was introduced with: “Can better communication move people from a state of apathy to action on man-made climate change, or will it take a catastrophic Black Swan climate event* to do so?  For more about the apathy problem, read…https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/05/climate-change-apathy-not-denial-threat-planet.

It struck me as ironic coming on the heels of yet another profoundly damaging Democratic Party failure.  That is their inability to stop the GOP Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination atrocity against democracy.  It serves as yet another example of avoiding the real issue and talking past each other.  So I selected the following quotes before trying to enunciate what’s missing. 

"Climate change apathy, not denial, is the biggest threat to our planet”

By Leo Barasi, Oct 5, 2018, The Guardian

The easy way to cut emissions – closing coal power stations – is exhausted. Now the public has to be convinced to make sacrifices

“Partisanship is a problem, too. Arguments about climate change are often polarised between left and right, and the public widely see it as a left issue. This is a problem because people are more likely to believe what they hear from those they identify with, and to reject what they hear from others. …”

“And there are more psychological barriers. Cutting emissions requires people to trust authorities to be competent, honest and fair – a tall order at a time when only a third of people say they trust government. …”

“Yet, daunting though these barriers are, they can be beaten with political leadership and honesty. …” (nice, a wave in the general direction of the need for truthfulness, but it still misses the boat)

* Begs the question how many ‘Black Swan’ events do we want.  Have you checked in on the running tally over at the Understanding Climate Change channel lately?, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo-r5Q-5TWB43oLI8eZ6euA

Regarding Senator McConnell gloating: “Mitch McConnell thanks ‘these clowns’ (aka rape victims) for protesting Kavanaugh”  by Kaiser,  October 08, 2018  
https://www.celebitchy.com/595027/mitch_mcconnell_thanks_these_clowns_aka_rape_victims_for_protesting_brett_kavanaugh/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My response:

I read Barasi’s, can’t disagree with a thing. Although lets be honest that article was simply a repackaging of what’s been written many times, for decades now. It’s as ‘right on’ now as it was in the 90s, the problem is with its omissions.

I could not find a thing addressing the influence of lavishly funded and very methodical, strategic attacks based on deliberately dishonest media campaigns, intent on sowing confusion rather than constructive debate and learning.

You know, all those deliberate campaigns to lie about the facts, all intended to confuse an under-informed and rather apathetic public.  Instead, I’m told to look on the bright side.

I’m told that it would be impolite and only a jerk would dare actually talk right into contrarian faces and directly at their lies. 

Only a jerk would make a point of explaining God is in our minds and hearts and is profoundly personal; that no human has a one on one relationship with god, not now, not ever! That what we have is ego and personal drive to do better and have more. That what we need is each other to keep ourselves honest and moral.

Nope instead I’m told keep it polite, don’t ruffle any feathers. I’m wondering should my example be those old white men/women sitting on the Judiciary Committee who keep within everyone’s comfort zone. 

Even if it meant being incapable of exposing Kavanaugh’s rabid partisanship, which was on full display, threatening promises and all. Then standing up to demand that we recognize that in America, such behavior disqualified a person from judgeship, before anything else is even considered!! But no, our Democrat leaders fold yet again.

Considering Kavanaugh and the failure to communicate

I had an interesting exchange today.  Related to my constant agitating climate science communicators about the need to directly engage contrarians, and just as repeatedly, being rebuffed by the big boys.  See, I've been repeatedly reassured: Climate science contrarians, or for that matter these days die-hard Trump supporters, “are a “lost cause” and a distinct minority of the US population.  There’s not much point in interacting with them on social media or elsewhere.    

Seems to me simply looking at the degeneration of our public discourse, and the current attack our governmental agencies makes the folly of that smugness self evident, but evidently not.  Be clear this is about the dialogue on the street, and in media outlets, outside of the scientific community.  

We NEED to DIRECTLY ENGAGE contrarian characters and their arguments and misinformation for many reasons.

How else can we understand our own positions and arguments, if we can’t enunciate them in challenging circumstances?

How can we understand what’s going on within their heads and hearts, if we never actually listen to them?

How can we convince onlookers if we’re afraid to confront and expose the deliberate dishonestly of science's critics?

and so on.

In any event, in an ongoing dialogue at ATTP I responded to a pal's sidestepping non sequitur with the following:

I wrote: "Guess I’ll never get you to discuss my actual content –  blithe dismissal is as far as your interest goes. But, than it seems we’ve turned into a society that rather talk past each other. {Have you checked political polls lately, looks to me like the fruits of our general apathy and that god-awful laziness when it come to actually confronting what the other is trying to express.}"

This prompted his angry complaint: “… your propensity to falsely define me, for example. cc wrote:

"Have you checked political polls lately, looks to me like the fruits of our general apathy and that god-awful laziness when it come to actually confronting what the other is trying to express."

Implicit in your statement is the belief that I am not paying attention to what is going on in US politics. …

===================================================================

I'm sharing my response mainly because it drifts into the current Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination which serves as a perfect example of the fruits of intellectual's benign neglect of the lower classes, and which has been weighing heavy on my heart these past days.  

Oh please STOP already!  It’s not all about you! Excuse the sloppy rhetorical device. 

I’m trying to discuss the need for more direction citizen dialogue, engagement, motivation, networking - you know a healthy Democracy demands an informed and engaged citizenry and all that.

Please, I was asking about the fact and not poking at you.   

Consider what we have witnessed in America this past week.  You know the Kavanaugh hearing and the voter opinion polls that look like they’ve gone though a wild 15/20 point swing.  Republicans have suddenly been justified and energized and Democratic momentum seems to have evaporated.  What happened?  How can that be understood, what does that portent for the coming election?

Then my point:

Kavanaugh was a very passionate partisan, even belligerent and threatening.  A man who felt free dropping conspiracy theories without offering a shred of evidence, in order to distract from the actual issue at hand. 

Kavanaugh delivered an emotionalized, personalized, angry, even threatening diatribe.  He showed himself to be the great white American male playing the victim card like a consummate performer.  He used anger and indignation to evade all questions and America ate it up because of, …  Why?

¶ Why the fear? From the front line.

Watching USA’s political landscape unfolding, or more accurately unraveling, these past years I’ve been infected with a growing pessimism. Now after a couple weeks of studying up on Americans for Prosperity, henceforth, Americans for (Kochs) Prosperity, that pessimism has given way to a palpable sense of terror. 

Why do I worry? Our presidency was taken by a strategy of hate-mongering and lies. Our Republican Party shows complete disregard for the popular will of the people and Congressional rules of fair play, in favor of obsequious servitude to the oligarchs who paid for their elections.

Add to that our Democratic Party of Complacency who still haven’t figured out how to convey to liberty loving Americans what a clear and present existential threat our democracy is facing. 

Then the coup de grâce, learning details of the Koch, et al. octopus of front groups such as the AFP with their self-defensive absolutism, their misrepresentation of facts, and their melodramatic demonizing of all things progressive or liberal.

Please consider our history, this past century is full of epic hard fought democratic battles to reform our Government and how it dealt with social, health and environmental problems. Reforms that forced our democratic government to pay attention to the needs of a growing population and to recognize the importance of a healthy society and environment, you know, our life support system.

¶ Five Myths About the Koch Brothers - Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Theda Skocpol - 2016

and Why It Matters To Set Them Straight

I've had a few more days to continue my crash course into Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers and "Libertarian" ideology in general.  The convoluted logic and the ruthless efforts I'm learning about get overwhelming.  Thankfully I have my Maddy dog who makes sure I get out for good long walks regularly, which helps clear my head and allows me to breath some fresh air and regroup.  

Why do I think this is so important to discuss and share?  Because liberalism, or more accurately, enlightened-self-interest, our democratic process of learning from and considering each other, and compromise - understanding critical thinking skills and the scientific process for assessing the world around us - all this is under existential threat.  

We have this group of faithful people who genuinely believe they have a personal reciprocal relationship with God (a Being billions of years old and encompassing the universe) and who now want to totally crush the Children of the Intellectual Enlightenment and our pluralistic society.

When all the layers are scraped away that's what I'm coming down to, this huge group of people who have convinced themselves that their own goals are God's own goals.  Think about this.

To believe that your personal goals are those of the God of Light and Time, Life and Love!  That is what's going on here!  Yet, the Bible warns us, God is beyond human understanding.  Yet, we have leaders marching around proclaiming they are doing God's Will and all who oppose them are damnable enemies deserving no quarter.

Self-certitude and absolutism, that leads right into totalitarianism and I understand too much history to delude myself into presuming it could never happen here.  It's happened in plenty of equally unlikely places before.  Particularly when few care to, or dare to, think about it, let alone talk about it.  A healthy Democracy demands an informed and engaged electorate.    

Well, that intro went way longer than expected, but than, this exercise is about wrestling with this information and ideas and seeing where they take me.

Okay, for the main feature, this addition to my Americans for Koch's Prosperity Collection is the product of two scholars who's investigations enabled them to share some important background information most have overlooked, important details worth thinking about if you're trying to understand what's happening today.  It does have a long history.

_______________________________________________________

Five Myths About the Koch Brothers — And Why It Matters To Set Them Straight

Democratic reformers need to know exactly what they are up against — now and likely for years to come.

BY ALEXANDER HERTEL-FERNANDEZ AND THEDA SKOCPOL | MARCH 10, 2016

http://billmoyers.com/story/five-myths-about-the-koch-network-and-why-it-matters-to-set-them-straight/

{Here again these quotes are simply a teaser to encourage you to read the entire article}