Wednesday walkabout in mid-October

It looks like a good day for a walkabout. The cool fall weather and colorful foliage are beckoning. As I wander, here are a few random thoughts.

I read two of the candidates for Speaker of the House – Reps. Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise were less than direct in response to whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Let me be brutally frank – stop lying to America. Of course, he lost. He has failed miserably to prove otherwise and may go to jail for election meddling and sedition. He also has lost approximately 64 out of 65 court cases to overturn results and every recount, audit and review of results. With the exception of one minor court case in PA, he has lost.

Having to repeat the above verbiage yet again is highly frustrating and indicative of how much of a cult the Republican Party has become. If Trump handed out cyanide laced Kool-Aid as did Jim Jones with his People’s Temple cult, too many would likely drink it. And, what amazes me is not only is Trump rated the 4th worst president in US history by 142 presidential historians, his lying, bullying and name-calling is overt and obvious. Why do people cover for this person, of all people?

I feel so badly for all of the innocent folks that have suffered in Israel. The stories are atrocious. The Israeli reaction will likely be unkind to civilians as well. In any conflict, innocent people are the ones who get hurt most. In Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese civilians were killed during the long war. In Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan et al, the same happened. In WWII, over six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, as well as gays, gypsies and academics who spoke out against the oppression or regular folk who did not rat on people. America, to avoid a believed more brutal campaign to invade Japan to end WWII, killed well over hundred thousand civilians with two atomic bombs.

To this end, leaders must do everything possible to avoid war and conflict. A quote from the movie “Troy” resonates with me – “War is old men talking and young men dying.” A corollary to this is “Young women who fight and civilians of any age will die as well.” I shared with our British friend Roger, that an UK post-mortem study following the Iraq invasion concluded that both US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair misled the British people to support the invasion of Iraq to get weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. People died because of this. And, as former Vietnam veteran, US Navy leader Senator Jim Webb predicted in 2003, if we invade Iraq, be prepared to stay there for 30 years – twenty years in, we are still there.

The truth may not set us free, but our politicians owe us the truth. Stop lying to us. Do everything possible to avoid putting us in harm’s way. Standing up to a malevolent invader like Hitler is different than invading a country under false pretenses or fighting a war you know you cannot win as the Pentagon Papers revealed.

This, that and the other thing – a few Monday musings

It is 12/12 in the calendar, so let’s offer some random musings for this Monday morning. In no particular order, here is a rendering of this, that and the other thing.

Many Republicans have now spoken to how poor some of the candidates who were pushed by the former president, especially the football star in Georgia. I agree. As a citizen of this country, what perturbs me is so-called leaders knew they were bad before the election and yet pushed people to vote for them. This does not respond well to the oath of office of elected officials to push a candidate they know is inferior to garner a vote.

In this vein, I must give a shout out to Republican Senator Thom Tillis who last spring told Republicans DO NOT vote for Congressman Madison Cawthorn as he was bad news for the party and our country. He was right and many folks agreed, so Cawthorn lost in the primary. It would have been nice to see more Republicans follow suit and call on the carpet more candidates, especially incumbents who have shown their lack of mettle over the last two or more years.

Continuing in this same spirit, it is good to see the House looking into possible ethics violations for AOC. I am not saying AOC deserves the scrutiny and may be innocent, but what I am saying is when an issue is raised like this, it is important for the powers that be to follow process to govern the concern. It matters not the party. When an incumbent possibly dishonors the position, the governing body needs to treat it with seriousness of purpose. The Catholic Church, Boy Scouts of America, Southern Baptist Convention and numerous universities failed to heed this lesson and damaged their credibility.

Back in the late 1980s, Senator John McCain got too close to a funder who did some bad things in the Savings and Loan financial crisis. McCain was censured for his role, but learned his lesson and did better by it going forward running for president as a worthy candidate. Holding people accountable is a must, regardless of party, whether your name is Donald Trump, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, LBJ, JFK or George W. Bush. If they are never held to account, then it gives them impunity to repeat their bad behavior.

For folks who think I should not have included some of the names on this list, I would suggest you Google the Iran-Contra Affair, The Pentagon Papers, Watergate scandal, Monica Lewinsky scandal, George W. Bush (and Tony Blair) and the Iraq invasion, and the numerous transgressions and crimes (alleged and convicted) of the latest former president.

We must hold our leaders accountable. It is important that we are represented well by people who strive to be among our better angels, not our worse demons.

I hear you talking, but I am not buying it

When a philandering husband tries to explain why he reeks of someone else’s perfume as he saunters in after working late, most wives are not buying it. They hear him talking, but they certainly are not buying it. The failure to communicate begins with a man who thinks the perfume smell will just go away when he leaves his working late partner.

President Bill Clinton actually has numbers to prove he was an effective president, but he still was a skirt chaser, always has been. When he famously said very slowly as he pounded the dais, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” we heard the words, but very few of us was buying his story. Sure, Bill.

President Richard Nixon liked to often say after the Watergate story became bigger than he could handle, “I am not a crook.” Running a burglary ring from the White House and trying to cover it up does not sound very lawful. Nixon was forced to resign by his own party leadership before he was impeached and convicted. Yes, he was a crook.

President Ronald Reagan said on national television that he was not involved in any effort to illegally sell arms to Iran to fund the Contra rebels in Central America. Known as the “Iran-Contra Affair,” Reagan had to go on TV later and say he lied. Per his own son, what his father did was an impeachable offense, but Oliver North fell on the sword and took the rap.

President George HW Bush got in trouble for a campaign promise when he emphatically said “Read my lips, no new taxes.” When the deficit got larger, he ended up raising taxes and was not reelected. I think the emphasis on “read my lips” made it a bigger fall.

President Barack Obama did something similar promising with the Affordable Care Act, “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” He did not know enough about healthcare management to make such as claim. That would come back to haunt him and taint the roll out of the program.

President George Bush, the son, over saw the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses, that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction. The WMDs story was a narrative that Hussein wanted his enemies to believe, but we used faulty intelligence to create a need to invade. An independent UK Commission several years later condemned both Bush and PM Tony Blair for misleading the British people. People died because of this.

President Donald Trump could fill a book with his assertions that turned out not to be true. All politicians are untruthful, but his numbers as president are tens of thousands of untruthful statements. The “election was stolen from me” will likely rank as one of the more devastating lies in our country’s history (the “Big Lie” as it is known). “COVID is a Democrat hoax,” said often and early during the start of the pandemic still echoes today even though it is terribly untrue. “China will pay for the tariffs” said quite often even though economists would add each time he said it that consumers pay for the tariffs as the cost is passed down to them.

What bothers me greatly is when sycophants perpetuate these lies even when they know they could be harmful to people. Pandemic studies of COVID-19 note that an additional couple of hundreds of thousands of people died due to our poor response in the US. There are people who have been sentenced and others standing trial for participating in an insurrection caused by the Big Lie. The truth matters. People get hurt.

The Pentagon Papers are likely the most famous example, which is why Nixon went to great lengths to keep them out of the newspapers. Yet, he wasn’t just covering for himself – he was covering for a fairy tale that hid the fact the US could not win the war in Vietnam, a fairy tale perpetuated by Eisenhower, JFK and LBJ as well. Too many more American soldiers died and huge numbers of Vietnamese citizens were killed as well.

Yet, Nixon’s biggest lie did not come out until years later, when recordings were found from a week before the 1968 presidential election. Nixon the candidate was heard in a recording before the 1968 election asking the South Vietnamese leader to stall the current peace negotiations and he would garner a better deal. The ultimate peace deal took four more years and more American and Vietnamese people died. What Nixon did was a seditious act, but LBJ chose not to publicize it, although he did speak with the Senate Majority Leader about his concerns.

We need politicians to tell us the truth. They owe it to us. I know they all embellish taking credit for good things they have little to do with and blaming others for things they have little to do with, such as the economy. But, today lying seems to be done with impunity. We need to make folks more accountable. We need to demand their sycophants stop covering for the lies or rationalizing them away. Followers will believe their BS not realizing they are being lied to. And, some will get hurt, even killed. We especially owe it to our troops to tell the truth as too many pay for the machinations with their lives.

Thoughts for Thursday – Conspiracies abound

Water, water everywhere. While the wildfires burn out west and in Greece, I live on the east coast of the United States and we are inundated daily with heavy rain. It feels like a wet version of “Groundhog’s Day,” where Bill Murray’s character relives the same day.

Here are a few random soggy thoughts for Thursday.

Conspiracy theories abound on the web. Yet, every once in awhile justice may be served. Alex Jones of Infowars is trying to stop a trial where he is rightfully accused of spreading a false story that the Sandy Hook shooting story is a hoax. As a result, these poor families who lost a child or adult relative, have to be taunted and harassed by Jones’ followers. This is far worse than the Westboro church that picketed military funerals because of the nation’s stance on allowing LGBT people join the military. Jones is touting free speech, but this man has caused mental anguish because of his blatant misuse of his voice and disregard of any common decency.

The US President continues to claim the Mueller investigation is a “witchhunt,” the same term that President Richard Nixon used to decry the Watergate investigation. So the day after President Trump says collusion is not a crime after repeatedly saying he did not collude, he wants to end the Mueller probe. Help me understand how a thin-skinned man was not aware of a meeting in a building with his name on it where he works and lives, attended by his son, son-in-law and campaign manager to get dirt to throw at his opponent, a favorite tactic of his? After his Putin fawning performance in Helsinki, I am 100% convinced POTUS is guilty of more than just obstruction of justice. This is certainly no witch hunt, says this former Republican and Independent voter.

Speaking of conspiracies, a bona fide real one was captured in the “Pentagon Papers.” While Nixon did his level best to prevent The Washington Post and The Nee York Times from publishing these stories, this conspiracy involved Nixon and his two predecessors (LBJ and Kennedy) fighting a battle started by Eisenhower. These Presidents knew the Vietnam War was unwinnable, but kept fighting it to avoid the disgrace of losing. Tens of thousands of Americans (and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people) died after we knew the cause was lost. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were fighting for their country, while we fought for a corrupt leader sympathetic to the US. It was not in the Pentagon Papers, but years later it was discovered Presidential candidate Nixon secretely waylaid a peace deal underway, saying he could get better terms. Four years later and after more deaths, peace was brokered. Nixon denied this, but his voice was caught on tape as the South Vietnamese leader was being surveilled.

It should be noted that LBJ knew of Nixon’s “treason” as he called it, but chose not to bring it out, so as not to sway the election. It should be noted that Obama did the same thing when he knew the Russians were trying to influence the election in Trump’s favor. Both LBJ and Obama were wrong. However, while Trump tries to blame Obama for inaction, he was already touting the election was rigged. He was right – it was rigged to favor Trump.

That is all for this Thursday. Conspiracy theories abound. Most are only that. Yet, when they are true, they are whoppers. Usually the greater the effort to squelch them indicates their veracity.

Thursday Thumbnails

Happy Thursday. With some rambling thoughts, I decided to throw down a few thumbnail comments below for your digestion.

While I am elated that a bipartisan compromise was reached in the US Senate to possibly end these budget kick-the-can exercises, I must confess concerns that it would increase the debt. Yet, it frustrates me just as much to see members of the Freedom Caucus appear high and mighty against the effort after many of them voted for a tax bill to increase the debt by $1.5 trillion. That is what we call hypocrisy. Nonetheless we are avoiding the looming problem as the debt and interest cost build.

I must confess being tickled at the US President for fussing at the stock market saying it is not reacting well to good news. It reminds of a toddler fussing at the tide for washing his sandcastle away. The stock market is reacting to concerns over inflation and rising interest rates, as well as pulling back on some of the euphoria that had been baked in. My guess is the tide will erode a little more of the sandcastle before settling at a lower level. Less funny was the President inviting a government shutdown if Congress does not fund his wall.

I am delighted Chancellor Angela Merkel has reached an agreement to form a government in Germany. A coalition between her Christian Democrstic Union and the Social Democrats would result. The negative is it would leave the Alternative for Germany as the opposition party giving more voice to their zealous nationalism. Her leadership is needed there, but even moreso around the globe with the United States retrenching from its role with its tempestuous leader at the helm. She and Emmanuel Macron will be the leaders of a more global construct.

If you have not seen “The Post,” with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, please do so. The story is about the consternation as to whether The Washington Post should publish articles about The Pentagon Papers after The New York Times was forbidden to do so after its first set of articles. But, the story goes deeper as it is about a female publisher, Kay Graham, who stood up to everyone (all men) telling her she would be a fool for publishing the articles as she took her company public. She supported her editor, Ben Bradlee and they won their Supreme Court case advocating the freedom of the press. The similarities between the demonizing words used by Nixon and Trump against the press are striking. An interesting sidebar is while this debate was going on, a little break-in at The Watergate Hotel occurred.

That is all for this Thursday. I hope our Congress reaches a deal and keeps the government open. Next up DACA.