No evidence for his claims isn’t a bug: it’s the point

My friend and debate partner wasn’t done with his debate. A week ago Saturday I wrote about an essay by Trenz Pruca about the life cycle of capitalism and that it ends oligarchy. My debate partner asked what is Pruca’s relationship to reality? On Wednesday I addressed that question by discussing Pruca’s sources. My debate partner agreed that Pruca is credible. But is he effective? What is he doing to achieve the reform he says is so urgently needed? My debate partner (yes, he’s still a friend) pulled in Daily Kos, my primary source of news, and Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City. What are they doing to achieve effective reform? I’m going to leave Mamdani out of the discussion. He hasn’t started his term of mayor yet and we don’t know how effective he will or won’t be. I am aware that my friend has a much stronger tie to NYC than I do so he might be right that Mamdani might be thwarted at every turn. And my friend might be surprised. Back to Kos and Pruca. Kos is a news service that supports a community and Pruca is one voice in that community. That leads to a basic question: How effective is a news service supposed to be in prompting change? Do we expect that effectiveness from the Detroit Free Press or the Sacramento Bee (just pulled that one out of thin air), or the Washington Post? Yes, some opinion sections of newspapers and online news sources, grab hold of an important idea and make a lot of noise about it, loud enough to get significant public and political attention. But their job is to report the news and to spread ideas through the readers. Daily Kos does that too. The site spreads ideas through its progressive readers, making all of us aware of the things progressives should know. Some of that is “preaching to the choir” and it is also making sure the choir knows all the songs and can accurately sing them when away from the choir loft. Another aspect is that several prominent Democrats are readers (or at least have accounts). Essays like Pruca’s might be read by lawmakers. Also Kos has an activist arm. Every day they send out an email about how the reader can do something for democracy or the progressive cause. That included donating to a cause or suggesting how a lawmaker could be contacted. I got them for a while, but decided they were just filling up my email inbox. Kos is more effective than a visitor to their website might see. Is my own blog supposed to be effective? I didn’t begin it that way. Back in 2004 I started sending blurbs of important LGBTQ news to family, starting with Massachusetts legalizing same sex marriage. In 2007 a relative suggested I switch to blogging. My focus has shifted from LGBTQ issues into the nasty things politicians are doing. Through it all my purpose has been to spread what I see as important ideas out into the world (yes, it is the world, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China are at the top of viewer countries at the moment and the US is a distant 5th). In my friend’s email he mentioned the Trust Busting that happened between 1904 and 1919. He mentioned it because I had said I didn’t know how the US got through the age of Robber Barons, a time similar to now. My friend suggested I search for Trust Busting. I did, and learned a lot about Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Howard Taft applying an anti-trust law to break up big corporations. They did it by bringing cases through the court system to a Supreme Court willing to apply the law against corporations. Yeah, today we have neither a president willing to take on that fight nor a Supreme Court willing to go against their billionaire friends. In my friend’s discussion he mentioned Roosevelt’s efforts were backed by newspapers of the day. I’m sure my friend was saying see, here are newspapers being effective. But the websites I read, and I read several, said nothing about the role of newspapers. I hope I’ve shown Kos is more effective than my friend can see. As for Pruca, does he need to be the one to turn his ideas into policy or law, or is stating the ideas plainly enough for him to do, letting more appropriate people to take up the ideas? Also, I don’t know what Pruca does when he’s not writing for Kos. From his bio, which I quoted before, he does interact with government officials about government policy. Perhaps he has explained these ideas to them, about as effective as he can be. As always, dear friend, I’m open to the debate continuing. One more Trenz Pruca essay. His question is: Why are we so reluctant to tax the rich? Adam Smith, working in the 18th century, warned that insufficiently taxing the rich jeopardized democracy. But it also noted we admire those who strive with unrelenting industry, even if what they strive for is hollow. Pruca thinks in the last decade (and I think all the way back to Reagan and his tax cuts) there has been a shift from wealth affecting tax policies at the margins to a deference to wealth shaping the tax agenda. The wealth are portrayed as persecuted victims – of taxation, of regulation, of journalists, and of democracy.

If the wealthy are victims, then taxing them is cruelty. If they are persecuted, then oversight is tyranny. If they are heroes of capitalism, then regulation is sabotage.

No, the wealthy are not victims. They are not persecuted. They are not heroes. The middle class identifies upward, awaiting their ascent. Taxing the rich feels like taxing their aspirations. Tax law feels like an attack on “success.” The nasty guy has promoted the shift from billionaires influencing tax policy to authoring it. The government becomes a service provider for wealth, to remove “burdens.” The IRS is an inconvenience, regulators become enemies, and public spending becomes a threat. Pruca concluded:

Taxation, regulation, oversight, and enforcement have all been reframed—not as civic obligations, but as moral trespasses. And in that transformation, the democratic project itself has been bent. The task before us is not merely raising taxes on the rich—though that remains necessary. It is dismantling the cultural machinery that convinces us that the wealthy are fragile, persecuted, and unimpeachable. Smith would tell us plainly that our sympathy, however understandable, is misplaced. The wealthy do not need our protection. Democracy does.

Last week I reported that several senators released a video reminding those in the military that rejecting illegal orders is their duty. One of those senators was Mark Kelly of Arizona. On Monday this week Oliver Willis of Kos reported that the Pentagon announced it is now investigating Kelly. That may include recalling him to active duty for a court-martial. In response Kelly said he won’t be silenced by bullies. A reminder who Kelly is:

Kelly served as a captain in the Navy and flew 39 combat missions in the first Iraq War. He then went on to a distinguished career as a NASA astronaut and was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame before successfully running for Senate.

The rest of the post is a review of the case. On Tuesday Emily Singer of Kos reported that polls show the public is siding with Kelly. Yesterday Thom Hartmann of the Kos community and an independent pundit discussed the incident behind Kelly’s notice to the military and the recent revelation from the Washington Post. The incident was back on September 2, the first time the nasty guy used the military to strike a boat in the Caribbean. The nasty guy and his goons claimed the boat was carrying drugs to the US and the people on board were members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang of Venezuela. The nasty guy and his goons provided no evidence either of the drugs or the connection to the gang. Hartmann wrote:

If these men had truly been high–value cartel operatives, Trump would be parading names and photos across every rally stage in America. The silence tells its own story.

Since that first strike there have been “more than 20 other missile strikes on small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing at least 80 people.” Now to the WaPo revelation. The first missile ripped the boat apart and set it burning. Two men clung to the wreckage.

They were unarmed. They were wounded. They were no threat to anyone. They were simply alive; inconveniently alive for a man who had allegedly already given the order that there be no survivors. And so, according to two officials with direct knowledge of the strike, the Special Operations commander overseeing the operation ordered a second missile. It hit the water and blew those two men apart.

Congress was told the second missile was to “remove a navigation hazard.” That’s an attempt to rewrite history. An order to kill wounded and unarmed survivors is defined by the Geneva Conventions as a war crime. Civilized states do not execute helpless people.

This, too, has been part of the authoritarian playbook since ancient times. Pick a foreign or criminal “other,” paint them as subhuman monsters, and then declare that the normal laws of war, morality, and basic decency no longer apply. ... The fact that the administration has produced no evidence for its claims isn’t a bug: it’s the point. When the government fabricates an omnipresent threat, it gives itself permission to kill whoever it wants.

These senators calling to disobey illegal orders makes sense. This was an illegal order. That the nasty guy called for their death also makes sense. The nasty guy (or at least his goons) know the order was illegal.

If Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody,” he must be removed and prosecuted. If U.S. commanders falsified reports to mislead Congress and the public, they must be held accountable. And if Donald Trump approved or encouraged these actions, then impeachment and criminal referral are not optional: they’re required to defend the rule of law. America doesn’t have many chances left to prove to the world, and to ourselves, that we still believe in the value of human life and the restraints of democratic power. This is one of them.

In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin called Hegseth the “Secretary of War Crimes.” Dworkin starts with an excerpt of that WaPo article, which I’ll let you read. In the comments Lady Haha posted a cartoon by Jeff Danzinger showing two generals talking:

First: OK... Here’s what the secretary wants you to do: Go through Mark Kelly’s records and find anything we can use to court-martial him. Understand? Second: Yes, General, but that sounds like an illegal order.

In the main body of the post Cliff Schechter of Blue Amp talked about the nasty guy’s theory of politics. I think Dworkin’s summary at the start of the quote is good enough, I’ll stick with that.

Trump's never been guided by ideology — only ego. His one rule's simple: flatter him, you’re in; don’t, you’re done. From Pence to Putin, it's the real theory that explains every move he's ever made.

After all that this next detail is a bit of a toss-off. Willis, working from a segment on NPR, reported that Hegseth has prepared a draft memo that would pull the Pentagon’s support form Scouting America, formerly known at the Boy Scouts. His reason is the group is “detrimental to national security.” That phrase is important because the law compels the Pentagon to support scouts unless there is a security risk. The reason behind this is that scouting has become too woke. They are now genderless (girls and gays can join) and they support diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“The organization once endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt no longer supports the future of American boys,” Hegseth’s memo alleges. He also argues that the scouts contribute to “gender confusion” and no longer “cultivate masculine values.”

If that memo becomes policy the military would no longer provide support for the National Jamboree and US military installations would be banned from hosting scout meeting. Many bases host the scouts because that’s a place of familiarity to boys whose parents move from base to base.

Chutzpah doesn’t begin to cover it

Some thoughts from Melissa McEwan of Shakesville on today’s Senate vote to begin debate on a healthcare bill (any healthcare bill):

This is a humongous fraud being perpetrated on the American public, and virtually the entire Republican Party is going along with it, all for the vile objective of taking away people's health insurance.

The malice of it is breathtaking.

I watched, with tears streaming down my face, the Republicans cast their votes, eager to make their constituents' lives worse and willing to consign to the dustbin of history even the *illusion* that we will restore anytime soon something proximate to functional democracy.

I watched one of the two major parties in this country — the majority party; the governing party — toss aside democratic processes and *the most basic responsibility of lawmakers* to know what constitutes a law before voting to advance it.

In the meantime, the nasty guy visited the Boy Scout’s National Jamboree. Yeah, presidents have been invited to the Jamboree over the last 80 years and, yeah, the prez. is the honorary head of the BSA. But all the previous presidents have given strictly non-partisan speeches. This time it seemed like the nasty guy was giving a speech to Trump Youth. McEwan says he did it by “attempting to co-opt a boys' youth organization and conflate their values with his own.”

One way to keep ranking alive is to teach the very young it is supposed to be that way.

Time to be paid

The practice in a civil lawsuit is the loser must pay the attorney fees of the winner. Now that the Supremes have ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, resolving the suit brought by Michigan residents April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, their lawyers are now asking to be paid. The bill: almost $2 million. Since the losing side was the state's governor and attorney general acting in official capacity that money will come out of the state budget. Meaning the taxpayers are paying. Gee, thanks guys, for putting up such a vigorous defense on my behalf!



The National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America have lifted the ban on gay adult leaders. The vote was 79% in favor. Regional governing councils and such things as scout camps cannot discriminate. Each troop can decide whether to permit or continue to ban gay adult leaders, meaning church-based troops can still discriminate.

A major Galileo issue

Huffington Post has determined that Donald Trump isn't a legitimate presidential candidate (even though he currently leads in the polls). "Trump's campaign is a sideshow." Therefore further coverage of Trump will be in the entertainment section, not politics, next to stories about the Kardashians.

Melissa McEwen of Shakesville says the GOP may bluster but is secretly delighted with that move. Yes, what Trump says is outrageous. But Trump's message is actually GOP policy but served straight up without the dog whistles. Says McEwen:

The truth is, when Trump asserts he's only saying out loud what other people believe, he's talking about the other candidates. Those are the things that they believe. It's frankly the most honest thing he says.
...
Instead of dismissing Trump as a joke, we should point out over and over that he's just plainly articulating mainstream GOP policies. Every chance we get.

Scott Walker says he is running for president because God revealed "My plan for you." Someone with the Twitter handle TheTweetOfGod replied:

Yes. Scott. Running for president is the first part of "My plan for you." The second part: your humiliating defeat.

In America anybody can grow up to believe I want them to be President.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Their ruling is based on the idea that discrimination based on sexual orientation must mean there is discrimination based on sex. This ruling likely will end up before the Supremes.



Ragen Chastain of Dances with Fat takes a look at weight loss being touted as a miracle cure for whatever ails you, that the life of our dreams is merely a diet away. Let's ignore for a moment the claim that thin people are happier – there are lots of miserable thin people. Instead, let's look at a couple key points of the argument: (1) We do not know how to help people lose weight and keep it off long term. (2) We haven't shown that weight loss leads to better health. These two points are "a major Galileo issue of our time – widely believed, fervently defended, and unsupported by the evidence."



The Executive Committee of Boy Scouts of America has approved a resolution that allows each individual troop (and its sponsoring church or organization) to decide if it will allow gay adults to serve as scoutmasters and other leaders. Scouts for Equality say this is a big step in the right direction, but it isn't perfect. Religious chartering partners will be allowed to continue to discriminate. The National Executive Board will vote on the resolution at the end of July.

No way he's going to rule against us

A correction to what I wrote yesterday. I said it was a change in attitudes over time as the reason Judge Shelby didn't issue a stay when he ruled in favor of gay marriage while in the Calif. case in 2009 a stay came with the ruling. The difference was actually in the attitude or confidence of the defendants, which is the state.

Back in 2009 the Calif. defendants didn't know how the case would be decided in the district court. They did know it would go to the 9th Circuit and on to the Supremes, no matter what the district judge decided. So the defendants requested a stay before the ruling was issued in case it wasn't in their favor. The judge could rule on the stay as part of ruling on the case.

This year in Utah the defendants (the state) did not request a stay ahead of time. So Judge Shelby could not rule on the stay as part of ruling on the case. Was the state lazy or incompetent? Or did they believe that in Mormon Utah with a conservative judge there was no way he would not rule in their favor?

Ruling on the stay along with the case meant Judge Shelby would have preserved the status quo until the appeal. He might have been open to that. But with his ruling without the stay the status quo changed. Shelby might believe that yanking same-sex marriage after they've begun is more harmful that not allowing them at all. And they have begun. There is an estimate of 800 same-sex marriages since Friday.



This is really cool: With long lines at the county clerk's office both the waiting couples and the working clerks may not have time to eat. So boy scouts brought pizzas and offered slices to the workers and the waiting couples. Those rainbow neckerchiefs look pretty sweet. Do they offer a merit badge in equality yet? One of the commenters went digging. It appears these boys (and a balding leader) are part of Troop 351 hosted by a Jewish group and led by Peter Brownstein. He was reprimanded for marching in a gay pride parade.

Losing prime leadership material

I'm home from Austin, arriving yesterday evening. Though there were quiet moments where nothing much seemed to happen, there were lots of moments that made the trip worthwhile. The wedding reception (for my nephew) was fun though not many such events start at 4:00 and are all wrapped up by 9:00. But when there are a slew of young kids partying must end before bedtime. The Memorial Day cookout was also fun, with 35 people (at least by my count) attending. There were also great visits with individual families, though not enough of them. And, yes, we (the bachelor party) saw the new Star Trek movie. Nice to see the characters again, some great and funny lines, and a movie that was incredibly violent.



Now to catch up on the news of the last week:

The big news came the day after I went to Austin. The voting members of the Boy Scouts of America approved, by 61%, the lifting of the ban on gay scouts. That is half the battle -- gay leaders are still banned. That means once a gay kid, even if he earns his Eagle, is tossed out once he turns 18. Prime leadership material lost. And an emotional blow to the kid.



The states with the highest percentage of gay couples who are raising children are in states that ban gay marriage. The highest is Mississippi with 26% of gay couples raising kinds. Wouldn't we expect the opposite -- gay friendly states having more gay couples with children?

Gary Gates, the researcher at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, thinks he has an explanation. In conservative states, gays tried (felt pressured into) a straight marriage, had kids, then came out as gay. They're raising kids from the failed straight marriage.



There was lots of stories written about Jason Collins as the first openly gay man in the big professional sports. One little detail -- he's between teams and hasn't actually played since his announcement (and his sport doesn't resume until the fall).

That left the door wide open for Robbie Rogers. After declaring he is gay he participated with the LA Galaxy against the Seattle Sounders in Major League Soccer. Thus he is the first to play after announcing he is gay.



Rob Tisinai of Box Turtle Bulletin looks at the latest nonsense coming from Maggie Gallagher, formerly a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage. And yes, Tisinai is very good at pointing out the nonsense. Her arguments purposefully confuse these two statements:

1. Responsible procreation is an important reason for marriage.
2. Responsible procreation is the only important reason for marriage.

Gallagher says #1 and then proceeds as if she has proven #2. Then she goes on to give reassuring noise to those who agree with her but don't look closely.

Timothy Kincaid responds by simplifying the Fundie argument: Marriage is permission to have sex. Fundies are so up in arms over marriage equality because that would give gay couples permission to have sex.



And news of today. Four Democratic state senators in Michigan have introduced a series of bills to repeal the gay marriage ban that was added to the state constitution in 2004 and to legalize marriage equality. The part about repealing the amendment would have to go before voters. Alas, since the senate has a clear GOP majority, these bills aren't expected to go far (perhaps you can annoy your senator?).

I'm not at all surprised that Gov. Rick Snyder refused to express an opinion about the bills. He's too focused on "jobs and kids." And not doing all that well with either.

A political investment

On to other bits of news that have accumulated during the week. Exams have been given and graded and grades computed for whole courses, though not posted yet. I've already got my to-do list for the summer (which includes fun stuff like planning some travel).



The Tribune Co. is putting its newspapers up for sale. That includes the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. It appears the Koch brothers are potential buyers. Yeah, these are the guys who have donated big time to GOP causes and to campaigns against Obama. They are at the top of the corporate takeover of America. So are the brothers interested in these newspapers as a financial investment -- or a political one? This could be a scary development.



The Boy Scouts are now pushing a compromise position -- allow gay youth but continue to ban gay adult leaders. Ari Ezra Waldman explains why this bad idea has gotten this far. The line all along has been that gay adult leaders will only prey on impressionable young boys. But the reason for allowing gay youth is that scouting is to help boys develop, including a sense of right and wrong -- which means the Scouts will continue to push the idea that being gay is wrong with the intent of convincing impressionable boys to no longer be gay (or develop a deep sense of shame). Or, as the Mormon church (biggest sponsor of scout troops) puts it, we don't care if you're gay -- as long as you are celibate until you marry a woman.



Just ask John Paulk how successful the Scouts are likely to be in convincing boys not to be gay. He became an ex-gay activist in the 1990s, married an ex-lesbian, and became a shining star in Focus on the Family and the chairman of Exodus International. He ended up on the front page of Newsweek trumpeting the success of ex-gay programs. But in 2000 he was photographed leaving a gay bar and everything fell apart.

Now he confirms he is gay and has apologized (and a genuine one at that) for all the harm he has inflicted on gay youth while the head of Exodus and a leader in FotF.

We're just a complication

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has started a Beethoven Festival. They'll do all 9 symphonies over the rest of the month. I'll attend Symphonies 3 and 8 tomorrow. The festival got underway today with a marathon of all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. They started at 8:00 this morning and are scheduled to end at 10:00 tonight. Students from area universities with substantial music programs are the performers, with each student tackling one sonata. I was at my own school this afternoon (quiz time in Theory), but headed to the concert venue afterward and got there just before 5:00. By the time I left at 6:45 (dinner break) I heard sonatas 22-27. The guy who played the "Appassionata" sonata did a good job, though a couple wrong notes. A piano student sitting near my said, "I guess I'll never be playing that one." Most of the rest came off rather bland and one even choked for a moment. So two hours of mediocre Beethoven was enough.



We've been hearing for a week that the Boy Scouts were about to end the national ban on gay youth and leaders, allowing individual troops (and their sponsors) decide for themselves. Alas, they punted. The Executive Committee decided to leave it all up to the National Council (all 1400 of them) when it meets in May. Lots of theories about the political calculus of that move were offered, but I won't speculate.



Prez. Obama, backed up by a host of gay organizations are calling for the inclusion of bi-national gay couples when the immigration reform package is put together. Senator Marco Rubio's GOP response is the least offensive: the issue is already complicated and adding gay issues will just make it harder.

Walking in another's shoes

Timothy Kurek grew up in Nashville believing that homosexuality is as sin and gay people should be converted. Then a dear friend sought comfort from him because she's lesbian and her parents threw her out of the house. As she cried on his shoulder he realized he didn't want to comfort her, he wanted to convert her.

Soon after that he embarked on challenging year-long adventure. He pretended to be gay. That included "coming out" to his parents (who thought cancer would be easier to face), his friends (95% of them dumped him), and going to gay bars. He told the truth to only three people -- his closest friend, a "more liberal" aunt who could listen in to what the family was saying, and a gay friend who posed as his boyfriend when visiting bars.

Result: Kurek's personal homophobia is gone and his mother is an ally. And he wrote a book about that year, The Cross in the Closet. It was released yesterday on National Coming Out Day.

This link is to an article on ABCNews. At the top of the article is an image. If you don't immediately click on "Autostart Off" the image will turn into a video and that will start with a commercial you can't turn off. You've been warned. The video itself is of Kurek telling how he came to write the book and is rather nice. It's 4 minutes.



Also as a part of National Coming Out Day 26 members of the US House added their portraits to the NoH8 campaign. That's in addition to the 11 members who lent their support earlier in the year. They're not just from Calif. and states with gay marriage. Alas, none from Michigan. And none from the GOP.



A Cub Scout pack in Beverly, Mass. has declared they will welcome any boy or adult regardless of sexual orientation. The pack's committee unanimously rejected the national Boy Scouts of America policy that excludes gay leaders.



The ILGA, International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association has put out a map of the state of gay rights around the world. The colors range from death penalty to marriage recognition.

Support for us is the default position

The Democratic Party platform committee has endorsed gay marriage, called for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which bans firing for being gay. Yay! The platform still must be approved by the convention in Charlotte before being "official."

All this means support for us is the default position for all Democrats running for office. That is a tremendous gain. Individual candidates don't have to follow the platform, but they need to explain why they don't. And we are now at a point in this society that such an explanation could be awkward at least.



The leadership of the Boy Scouts of America recently reaffirmed their stance that gay youth and adults are not welcome. That has prompted many Eagle Scouts, presumably all straight, to protest that position by sending their Eagle badges to headquarters with a letter of protest. Many of them say that it was the ethics and morals taught to them by the Scouts that prompt them to renounce their association with scouting. As of yesterday, 105 Eagle scouts have shared their pictures and letters.



David Barton has made a career of writing revisionist history books to "prove" the Founding Fathers intended the USA to be a Christian nation without a separation between Church and State. His latest book is The Jefferson Lies. Regular historians raised such a stink that the publisher investigated the issue and declared they would no longer print or distribute the book. Reason: it is full of lies.



Rob Tisinai has noted that many straight people aren't convinced gay couples want to get married for love. They think we're in it for the benefits or to destroy marriage for everyone. But the real reason we want marriage is simple: From the time we were little you -- the families we grew up in and the society around us -- taught us the most important thing in life is to find someone you love and marry them.



Rob Tisinai also comments on Free Speech. He notes that a lot of what gays say in their writings and in their protests would be seen by Fundies as speech that should be banned (if banning speech were permitted). Tisinai's blog entry includes several such protest signs. My favorite is, "Jesus said: Feed the Poor. They said: Sorry, Jesus. We Spent $40 million on hate & fear."