He lied!

I was out campaigning for Michigan’s Proposal 2 Thursday evening, Saturday between rainstorms, and this afternoon. I would have been out Friday but there was maybe 90 minutes between when people would get home and it got dark – and in those 90 minutes there was rain.

I haven’t kept precise tallies, though in the several neighborhoods I’ve walked over the last several weekends I’ve knocked on at least 215 doors. And heard lots of barking dogs.

If you live in Michigan: Vote Yes on 2.



The nasty guy has been bellowing about pulling out of a nuclear arms control agreement with Russsia. He claims that Russia is already violating it. He says America needs to update and expand its nuclear arsenal to protect us from Russia.

Sarah Kendzior, who studies authoritarian regimes, points us to an article she wrote back in December 2016 – after the nasty guy was elected and before he took office:

The joint statements set off speculation that the United States and Russia are planning an increase in nuclear capacity that is in stark contrast to standard anti-proliferation policy.

This is an erroneous interpretation. Trump and Putin aren’t heading to war with each other—they’re heading to war together. … Rather than engaging in an arms race against each other, Trump and Putin are possibly teaming up as nuclear partners against shared targets.

Kendzior has written the book “A View from Flyover Country” in which she explains a lot of what the nasty guy has been doing and will likely do. I haven’t bought a copy yet. One line from the book:

Those the public are taught to fear are often the ones in danger.

Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay expands on another point Kendzior makes:

I had a brilliant Hungarian friend, escaped in ‘56 as a teen, who said under Communism the weakness or absurdity of a state lie as to a crime they committed was the whole POINT. So much power, no need to come up with a good lie.

So think about what Saudi Arabia has been saying about the murder of Jamal Kashoggi. We’re lying. You know we’re lying. But we won’t face any consequences for our lies.

LDR, referring to the nasty guy, adds:

We knew they were going to lie all along. What we didn’t know was exactly how little effort they’d put into it. The paucity of their effort reveals the equivalent amount of their concern about our reaction.

And from Pinkish Panther:

Shameless, transparently implausible lies serve to habituate us to shameless, transparently implausible lies. Think how often you've heard "Yeah, they all lie." Just the way it is, get used to it - we are to accept.

Jim Golab wrote:

The obvious lie is also a loyalty test. The more outrageous, the better, because you want to demonstrate to everyone people groveling.

A couple people respond to Kay saying he shouldn’t have used the word Communism. What Hungary had was an authoritarian dictatorship. Twitter user rfsmit added:

This is true. We've never seen a true Communist government. They just called themselves Communists, called what they were doing Socialism, and now every aspect of governmental, state-sponsored social responsibility is questioned. Even the very basics like common currency, roads!

And Annie Larouche replies:

I've been thinking this for a long time. They want us to think, communism = bad, socialism = bad, when in fact they are just theoretical ideas for governance. What is historically bad is power-hungry leaders capable of crimes against humanity. It's actions not labels that matter.