Make resistance the safer bet

I finished the book Whistle-Stop Politics; Campaign Trains and the Reporters Who Covered Them by Edward Segal. The book is small scenes of when a politician climbs onto a train to take his message to the small towns across the country. Segal was the press secretary for an Oklahoman Congressman in 1984 and thought to use a campaign train to introduce his candidate to more of the state. He wanted to find a book or other resource about campaign trains and came up empty. So he started collecting stories, then did serious research, and 40 years later produced this book. Overall, it’s a lightweight book. He covers the campaigns from the late 1800s to Biden’s train in 2020, though the first train campaign was in 1836. Th coverage isn’t of the type of saying in 1896 this candidate was on the rails for this number of days, covered so many miles, gave this number of speeches, had these incidents along the way, and the trip had this consequence for the candidate or the future of campaign trains. Instead, the book is organized by topic. These campaigns had this type of incident. These had that type of incident. Each incident is described in a few paragraphs, up to a page or two. Campaigns can appear under several topics, but there isn’t a complete campaign narrative. Some of the topics: A description of the campaign train (the candidate’s car was always the last one and out its back door was the campaign platform). Who was on it (candidate, staff, reporters, regular train staff). Whether the candidate gave the same speech at every stop or how he pulled in local details. What local politicians were introduced. How the logistics of the trip were set up. What the Secret Service did to make the route safe. What happened when a doctor was needed. How the candidate dealt with hecklers or protesters. How the press managed enroute (no showers, no laundry, no direct communication while on the train). As to the last topic, occasionally the train stopped and everyone stayed at a hotel. Sometimes they stopped only during the day, so the hotel would get a request for six rooms and 150 towels. Segal also described some campaign imitators. In 1940 Gracie Allen of the comedy team Burns and Allen did a train tour as the candidate for the Surprise Party. Winnie the Pooh did one in 1972 with advisors Tigger and Eeyore. Mickey Mouse did one in 1978 to celebrate his 50th birthday. The top candidates that logged the most miles on a train were Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, far more than any of the others. There is a description of the rail car built for Roosevelt to keep him comfortable and safe. The reason for campaigning by train was simple: There was a train depots downtown in practically every small city. Everyone knew where it was. The airport, if there was one, was a ways outside of town and few people knew about it. A train allowed the candidate get close to the people. I enjoyed the book, but glad it was just over 200 pages (plus 778 endnotes to list the sources that I could skip) and I could finish it in just a few days. As I said, these were short amusing stories without a comprehensive narrative. Oliver Willis of Daily Kos reported on Monday the nasty guy’s invasion of Chicago has begun. It’s over the objection of Gov. JB Pritzker and the city’s mayor. The justification for sending in the troops is, of course, lies. Also on Monday Lisa Needham of Kos reported on the state of the invasion of Portland. U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut ruled on Saturday that the nasty guy could not federalize the Oregon National Guard to protect federal agents in Portland. On Sunday the judge ruled that the nasty guy could not use California’s national guard protect federal agents in Portland. That ruling was at the request of both California and Oregon because neither wanted one state to invade the other. While she was at it the judge ruled the nasty guy couldn’t use the national guard from any other state either, even if Texas was offering. The case was appealed and I’m still behind in my reading. A week ago Needham reported that the nasty guy has a new effort to get colleges and universities to bend to his will. He came up with a ten point plan titled “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” Schools that agree to it will get preferential access to federal funds. Needham wrote about the points in the plan. Here’s some of them.

So a vibrant marketplace of ideas, but one where schools put their thumb on the scale for conservatives, who basically can’t compete in the marketplace of ideas in higher education. ...And, of course, there are demands that there be no race-or sex-based preferences in hiring and that transgender women be barred from women’s locker rooms and sports.

And they need to hire an independent auditor to ensure compliance.

So all that schools need to do to get “multiple positive benefits,” including “substantial and meaningful federal grants,” is to totally alter their curriculum, departments, admissions, hiring, and sports teams to conform to whatever racist, transphobic, or xenophobic thought that skitters across Trump’s gray matter at any given time. Just some minor tweaks, really.

Nine schools have received the “invitation.” One, the University of Texas at Austin, appears all in. On Monday Dalbert of the Kos community reported that Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has a response. Refuse the nasty guy’s offer a school could lose federal funding. But if a state school accepts the nasty guy’s offer they lose state funding, including grants to California students.

People cave to bullies when there’s no cost to giving in. Newsom’s changing that dynamic. The article urges other blue-state governors to follow suit: cut off state resources to institutions and officials who comply with Trump’s demands. Make resistance the safer bet.

Alix Breeden of Kos wrote that a few top level comedians have gotten themselves into a mess. The royal family of Saudi Arabia funded the Riyadh Comedy Festival. The royal money means they paid big bucks to the comedians, like $375K and upwards. They are working hard to burnish their image. With this royal family we know there is a catch – the entertainers signed contracts specifying they would say nothing bad about the country, the royals, the legal system, or the religion. But giving up free speech for a paycheck, especially a big one, means they are losing credibility in America, especially after Jimmy Kimmel was pulled off the air because of free speech. Fellow comedians are saying their hypocrisy is showing. In the comments of Monday’s pundit roundup for Kos paulpro posted a cartoon by Angel Boligan showing the nasty guy beating furiously at a huge drum set while the two speakers are aimed at earth. John Sipher posted a cartoon by Kal showing a big beefy American army man ready to fight foreign foes while a small Pete Hegseth tugs at his ankle and points to a cat named “Wokeness” and saying “You’re under attack!” In Tuesday’s roundup Chitown Kev quoted Paul Krugman writing for his Substack on why the nasty guy’s second term seems to have gotten so extreme so fast.

One reason things have gotten so extreme, so fast may be that Trump, Miller and company are in a race against time. Foreign autocrats like Orban or Vladimir Putin could afford to chip away gradually at the foundations of democracy because they were, at least initially, quite popular. Trump — although he won’t admit it — has very low approval, and the public opposes him on every major issue. Yet he and his minions control much of the machinery of government, and are trying to use it to intimidate — you might say terrorize — their opponents before public anger catches up with them.

In the comments exlrrp posted a meme showing, I think, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Whoever it is the text is fun. It says, “She’s going through the normal 5 stages of grief: pyrotechnics, merch, podcasting, grifting, and acceptance.” In the comments of Wednesday’s roundup is a cartoon posted by LJ Slater and created by Smit. It shows ICE agents standing around and one says, “I gotta leave early today, guys. We deported my kid’s babysitter.” A comment posted by paulpro shows a calm Chicago scene and two ICE agents are talking:

First: You see any Chicago Antifa rioters yet? Second: No, but there was a dress sale at the Water Tower my wife would kill for.

LJ Slater posted a cartoon by David Cohen. It shows a peace prize on the floor and the nasty guy reaching for it. To the side one guy tells another. “It’s an old bar trick. I glued it to the floor. Let’s see how long it takes him to get it.” In the comments of today’s roundup Fiona Webster posted a cartoon by Jesse Duquette showing a policeman cuffing a young black child (I’ve seen mentions that this is a thing). The policeman says, “Stop crying. America’s great now.” Webster also posted a cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz that has a caption, “Meanwhile, at the border... The president ordered that the border wall be painted black because it makes the wall hotter when migrants climb it. Also, it’s lunchtime.” The image shows the bottom of three beams of the wall bent up and being used as a grill attended by a Mexican man. Beside him is a sign, “Hot border tacos.” While checking one set of stats for this blog – the excitement of setting big viewing records in September – I forgot to keep track of other stats. I’ve passed mentioning the nasty guy in 700 posts, this one is 701. There are only two topics with more posts. One is “GOP” which is now at 1114 posts. The other is “Gay Marriage” and “Marriage Equality” (I switched tags) at 711.

Stop giving this arsonist credit for his firefighting skills

Not all news is bad. Morgan Stephens of Daily Kos reported that several Democratic members of Congress took part in protests at several government departments where they were denied access. They took videos of the denial and accompanying protests. They visited the Department of Education, US Agency of International Development, the Treasury Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Democrats are taking it upon themselves to share these incidents directly with voters on social media, which is how the majority of Americans consume media in the digital age. With this fresh strategy, they can cut through the media middleman and send out visceral clips of what’s happening on the ground in real time.

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post:

Donald Trump has made a habit of ginning up crises and then declaring victory when he “solves” them. We in the media must stop giving this arsonist credit for his firefighting skills. The past two weeks have been fraught with international emergencies of the president’s own making — either problems that he pretends already plague us, or those he manifests into existence. This is the best way to understand his trade-war brinkmanship with Canada and Mexico.

Dworkin also quoted a tweet by Ken White, which quotes a tweet by Marisa Kabas. First is Kabas:

New — The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was told this week by DOJ that they'd lose their funding if the org didn't remove any mentions of LGBTQIA+ issues from their public materials, I've learned. Staff were told they need to deadname trans kids in their reports to comply.

And White’s response:

I have not become completely numb; I can still be shocked by some depths of depraved sadism inflicted by this collection of despicable thugs, giggling sociopaths, and dead-eyed apparatchiks. May their days be short and frustrated.

Also from WaPo:

Constituents have flooded the phone lines at the U.S. Capitol this week, many of them asking questions about billionaire Elon Musk “feeding USAID into the wood chipper” and his access to government systems. Senators’ phone systems have been overloaded, lawmakers said, with some voters unable to get through to leave a message. The outpouring of complaints and confusion has put pressure on lawmakers to find out more about Musk’s project, heightening tensions between the billionaire tech mogul and the government. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said the Senate’s phones were receiving 1,600 calls each minute, compared with the usual 40 calls per minute. Many of the calls she’s been receiving are from people concerned about U.S. DOGE Service employees having broad access to government systems and sensitive information. The callers are asking whether their information is compromised and about why there isn’t more transparency about what is happening, she said.

In the comments paulpro posted a cartoon by pizzacakecomic showing the nasty guy saying, “DEI Hires are NOT qualified to do their jobs!” Around him are several comments about him: “Can’t stay awake. Is 78. Born rich. Convicted felon. No political background.” A cartoon by the Naked Pastor shows a church with dozens of members (drawn as sheep) and a sheep on the roof sees an approaching trans colored sheep and shouts, “We’re under attack!!” The caption says:

A task-force has been formed to eradicate anti-Christian bias in the USA. The most privileged group in the world is straight white Christian men. So this effort is motivated by fear that this privilege is being threatened. Once you see it, you see it everywhere.

Another way to say that is they fear their position at the top of the social hierarchy is threatened. They don’t even want some other type of people to be seen as their equal. A while back I said I had found Leah McElrath on BlueSky. I saved several tweets, most of which are still in browser tabs. Then I stopped reading McElrath because there I there was so much I wanted to comment on, yet I didn’t have the time. Also, it got to be depressing. So here are some of those tweets. I left out a few that no longer seem relevant. On January 26 McElrath retweeted a post by Gregory Hargreaves with a quote:

"[A] democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power." - FDR (1938)

Shelly responded:

FDR’s bio is interesting. He started out a classic rich guy motivated by a desire for personal power. But his life showed him things and he was willing to grow. It’s not about whether you’re privileged. It’s about who you are and what you do with your privilege. Trump is the anti-FDR.

Also on the 26th McElrath tweeted:

The morning after the 2016 election—and knowing what that meant for SCOTUS—I went to my now-late mother’s house and sobbed that everything I fought my entire life for was going to be erased. She nodded and said, “And you are not alone.”

McElrath included a link to a January 26 article by Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer with the heading:

Children of the 1960s watch in pain as the story of our lifetime is erased. For boomers, the rapid reversal of 1960s-era gains for civil rights, women, LGBTQ, etc., has unraveled the story of our lifetimes.

On January 27 after the Israel/Hamas peace deal was announced McElrath posted several photos of a river of people:

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have begun walking from where they were displaced in southern Gaza to what remains of their homes in northern Gaza.

On January 28 McElrath retweeted one from Ezra Levin, who quoted Yassam Ansari. This was when the nasty guy signed his sweeping freeze on federal aid, which has since been rescinded. First, Ansari

Trump is blowing up the Constitution and dismantling democracy before our eyes. Freezing all federal grants is a radical transformation of the relationship between the President & Congress. It’s illegal & dictatorial & Americans will die as a result.

And Levin:

Not to be alarmist, but this is the most radical presidential action I've ever seen. He's straight up seizing Congress' budget power. What do laws matter if the mad king's whims dictate what gets enforced and where money goes? It's not a policy memo - it's a revolution. Don't let it be a quiet one.

On January 29 McElrath tweeted:

I suspect some of these Executive Orders are purposefully illegal because the Republicans want them to be challenged all the way to SCOTUS, which they must be confident will decide in their favor and will thereby create new legal precedent. They’ve been planning a lot of this for a very long time. This is not just “shock and awe” nor a “distraction.” This is end game for a right-wing strategy that has been in the works for decades. They’ve been clear about their goals, often in writing, and most of their moves have been public—making the supposed Democratic lack of preparedness unbelievable.

On January 31 McElrath retweeted a post by Charles Gaba who said he has downloaded the entire 15 Gb public facing CDC website and has posted it on his own server. He managed to do it before executive orders started removing important information from the site. I’ve heard that others have been going to the Internet Archive to save pre-nasty guy versions of other government sites. On February 1 McElrath tweeted:

I feel naive for thinking “Republicans will never actually end Social Security because the pressure on lawmakers is too great.” It never occurred to me they would just hand over the payment system keys to a non-government individual who can stop payments. I suffered from a failure of imagination. It will be…interesting to see how bond markets process the information that Elon Musk now apparently has control over the governmental payment system. The entire domestic and global economies are leveraged, and US bonds previously served as a safe and foundational value investment to hedge risk. Trump has the “football” with control over nuclear weapons. Musk has the payment system with control over $7.3 trillion in outlays. Both are grandiose and thrive on unconstrained power and destruction. We are in extremely dangerous territory.

Kelly replied:

I’ve been saying for months I don’t believe Americans’ imaginations have caught up to a Trump 2.0 presidency. Although I expected some really bad things, it never occurred to me a private citizen would be permitted to hijack the government’s payment system. The guardrails of government are gone.

McElrath retweeted a tweet from Nicholas Grossman, who had commented on a tweet by Adam Keiper. First Keiper:

"We have fought and died alongside you....During your darkest hours...we were always there. Standing with you, grieving with you, the American people....Canadians are a little perplexed as to why our closest friends and neighbors are choosing to target us."

And Grossman:

Canadians are right to feel betrayed. Close allies with mutually-beneficial cooperation for many years only for the US to try to damage the Canadian economy for no reason, spitting on decades of friendship and mutual trust. I’m sorry.

That makes me think of the 1978-80 Iran hostage crisis that was a big reason why Jimmy Carter was not reelected. When the Iranian “students” (thugs) came in one door of the US Embassy six Americans were able to slip out another and took refuge in the Canadian Embassy. They were stuck there until the Canadians were able to create a ruse to get them out. That was the real story behind the movie Argo released in 2012. While these Americans were stuck in the Canadian Embassy American news was very careful to say the exact number of hostages was unknown so that Iran wasn’t tipped off they hadn’t captured them all. Yes, Canada has been a faithful and steadfast neighbor and doesn’t deserve to be treated this way. McElrath retweeted one from Jacob Levy posted February 2:

There hasn't actually been a serious border security problem between Canada and the US. Wanna know a good way to create one? Create incentives in the tens of billions of dollars for successful smuggling operations.

Also on February 1 McElrath quoted Asha Rangappa:

Here are the options on the table (which are not mutually exclusive): 1. House Dems bring articles of impeachment* 2. Senate Dems play constitutional hardball and obstruct everything 3. State AGs litigate (and prosecute) everything they can 4. Citizens march en mass

* Rangappa knows this won’t going anywhere, and that’s beside the point. McElrath added:

There are other options, some of which are being enacted already. They include things like archival work, noncompliance, and various forms of obstruction and sabotage. Mutual aid is also critical, and it includes not only financial assistance but providing transportation, shelter, and legal support. Everyone can also put pressure on their elected officials (AND stop hectoring those who are). Not everyone can or should attend mass protests because not everyone has the same legal status or is able-bodied—but EVERYONE has something they can do. We can ALL apply our strengths and resources.

Elizabeth added:

I have started the process of ending all nonessential spending, boycotting Meta, X, Amazon, Disney, Google, Apple, and redirecting all my funds toward mutual aid.

Feeding government into the wood chipper

Back in December when I thought about Musk being appointed to head a Department of Government Efficiency to recommend how to cut government spending, I figured he would draw up a list of government services, how much they spend now, how much he thinks they should spend, and he would hand that list to the nasty guy and Congress. I did not think he and his crew would barge into government offices, declare the department closed, tap into or remove computers, fire employees, and leave a lot of chaos. I did not think he would do it with acquiescence or permission of the department heads and cabinet members. I did not expect Republicans in Congress to essentially say, Hmm... Oh well. In the news over the last week... Emily Singer of Daily Kos reported that on Monday Musk announced he (not the nasty guy or Congress) is shutting down the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. The website is offline, employees were told not to report to work. USAID is funded by Congress, so not spending the money as Congress directed is illegal. The agency is critical in many global health efforts around the world – in monitoring diseases and supplying medications. This is as mpox and bird flu are on the rise. Stopping these programs leaves people without lifesaving drugs and medical care. An example is the 6.5 million people who get HIV medications. Another news source said that current HIV meds keep the virus at undetectable levels, but that does not mean gone. Stop the meds, even for a short time, and the virus grows again, this time as a more resistant strain. Even a pause in the regimen can result in a death sentence. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said all of USAID’s program need to be evaluated so they advance the interests of the US. A healthy world is in the interest of the US. Doing this aid work is also in national interest because China and Russia are eager to step in and be nice to countries the US is abandoning. Bill in Portland, Maine, in a Cheers and Jeers column for Kos quoted an ABC News story that said USAID is critical for getting aid into Gaza. That aid is central to the ceasefire bargain. Shutting down USAID raises the risk that the ceasefire deal with collapse. Considering the nasty guy has been talking about a Gaza Riviera, this might be the intended outcome. An Associated Press article posted on Kos gives more details. Including this (“They” being DOGE):

They have ordered a spending stop that has paralyzed U.S.-funded aid and development work around the world, gutted the senior leadership and workforce with furloughs and firings, and closed Washington headquarters to staffers Monday. Lawmakers said the agency’s computer servers were carted away. “Spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk boasted on X. The mass removal of thousands of staffers overseas and in Washington would doom billions of dollars in projects in some 120 countries, including security assistance to partners such as Ukraine as well as development work for clean water, job training and education, including for schoolgirls under Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

Yes, USAID is more than health. USAID overseas workers are now scrambling. How do we get back to the states? What about children in school? Do we have time to do the paperwork for pets? Morgan Stephens of Kos reported DOGE has hit the CIA. The entire workforce has received buyout offers.

The CIA collects, analyzes, and disseminates information on economic, military, and political developments abroad to protect national security.

So much for national security. Completely shutting down the CIA doesn’t seem to be the goal here, just shake it up and slim it down. Get rid of a lot of experience. Make it a lot less effective.

Trump’s moves aren’t just reckless, they’re potentially catastrophic for America’s national security at a time when its global security is becoming increasingly more fragile. As the CIA thins out its ranks, U.S. enemies are undoubtedly watching and celebrating.

Singer reported:

After illegally axing USAID and drafting plans to do the same with the Department of Education, President Donald Trump and his unelected co-president, Elon Musk, have now set their sights on decimating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal scientific agency that helps forecast the weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditions, and manages the protection of marine life. "Hearing reports that Musk’s cronies are targeting NOAA—infiltrating key systems & locking out career employees," Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland wrote on X. "NOAA is vital for weather forecasting, scientific research & more. Their critical work saves lives. My team and I are looking into this & we will not stand for it."

There are a couple reasons why the nasty guy and Musk would want to decimate NOAA. The big one is it is instrumental in doing and keeping track of research into global warming. The bonus is with NOAA gone weather forecasting can be taken over by a for-profit company and the forecast you use to plan your day would then depend on how much you are willing to pay for it. NOAA provides it for free. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported that many Republicans are just fine with all this government destruction. They’re glad American tax dollars will be spent only on the interests of the American people (not that they have a clue – unless their definition of “American people” is the billionaires). They’re pleased that Musk is finding so much waste to eliminate (a billionaire’s “waste” is a poor person’s living allowance). They hesitate to deny Lutheran Family Services is a money-laundering operation. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted a tweet by Loren DeJong Schulman:

You say: they shutdown USAID. You mean: they illegally broke in to a secure facility over a weekend, hijacked sensitive data on vulnerable people and US businesses, destroyed property Americans paid for, cut off resources for hungry families, and fired Americans.

In the comments SanAntonioKrust included a tweet from Acyn of a clip of Rachel Maddow, who says:

I think it's pretty obvious now that they are using DEI as just a pretext. They're giving everything that, you know, unfashionable boogeyman label to try to avoid people in general, realizing that what they're really doing is just wrecking the US government.

Way down in the comments is a cartoon showing a MAGA couple at the grocery store:

Wife: They cut our Social Security and Medicare! Trump’s tariff have cause massive inflation! Remember when we were upset about the price of eggs? Husband: It’s getting more and more expensive to own the libs!

In another roundup Chitown Kev quoted Ross Andersen of The Atlantic. I will summarize it by saying we’re in deep trouble if DOGE decides it can take its chainsaws to the National Nuclear Security Administration. Down in the comments is a cartoon by Mike Luckovich based on the announcement by Waffle House that it is adding 50 cents for each egg in an order to offset high egg prices. The cartoon shows a Waffle House. On one side is a patron with a newspaper headline, “Trump attacks Democracy not high food prices.” On the other side a patron is giving his order, “Do you serve Eggs Benedict... Arnold?” In the comments of a third pundit roundup is a meme by Aaron Rupar:

Draw your own conclusions, but Donald Trump is not behaving like a leader who expects democratic accountability for himself or his party next year or in 2028.

In the comments of a fourth roundup exlrrp is a photo of a person painting over a wall that displayed the words, such as Fairness, Initiative, Respect, Constitution, and more. The caption says:

Trump’s had them paint over a mural about fairness and compassion at the F.B.I. Academy at Quantico. All of these values must now be hidden from society under the new Nazi regime.

Added by exlrrp: “OK: Looks like: (checks notes) fairness, leadership, compassion, diversity, integrity, and stability are just too woke for the FBI.” A ways further down exlrrp posted a meme:

Frustration is knowing that the agenda is not hidden anymore and yet the sheep are still obeying.

As part of a series on explaining the right, Oliver Willis of Kos discussed why the right wants small government. Commenters seemed to agree that Willis got to the how, but not the why. They added their own answers. The answers (some posed by more than one person): Racism. Limit taxes and regulations on corporations. Only a federal government can stand up to the crimes of a big corporation, so they want a government incapable of that. They want to eliminate anything that doesn’t support them at the top of the social hierarchy. Others disputed that Republicans want a small government. The big plans the MAGA crowd want (doing deportations, imposing tariffs, and much more) require a big government. It just won’t be doing things for the common people. Another rejected the idea business people want the government to run like a business – no business operates this way. Two Americas included a couple quotes on the role of government. The first is from Franklin Roosevelt’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention of 1936. The whole quote is long. Here’s the first paragraph:

An old English judge once said: “Necessitous men are not free men.” Liberty requires opportunity to make a living – a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.

The other is by Abraham Lincoln from about 1854. Here are the first and last paragraphs:

The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves—in their separate, and individual capacities. ... From this it appears that if all men were just, there still would be some, though not so much, need of government.

Voters don’t want to cooperate, they want to dominate

The winners of the annual Bulwer-Lytton contest have been announced. This is a contest to come up with the worst opening sentence for a novel. It is in honor of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who opened his novel Paul Clifford with “It was a dark and stormy night.” Yeah, that’s the phrase that Peanuts character Snoopy used to open his stories. My favorites for this year are both from the same guy, who had a lot of entries chosen.

Stepping outside just after dawn, Chef Billingsworth was pleased to discover that for once the morning fog was not as thick as pea soup—or even lobster bisque for that matter—but was more a chicken velouté, or perhaps a beef remouillage. Mark Meiches, Dallas, TX To help maintain the spirit of the entire Apollo 15 crew during their lengthy and monotonous space journey, NASA scientists sent along fun snacks for everyone, including Space Food Sticks for the Lunar Astronauts and Space Food Milk-Bones for the Lunar Rover. Mark Meiches, Dallas, TX

My Sunday movie was Will & Harper a sweet documentary. I believe this is the first Will Farrell film I’ve seen, though, of course, I’ve heard about him. And this is a pretty good movie. When Farrell joined Saturday Night Live he met Andrew Steele, one of the writers. They said some of the stranger things Farrell did on the show and in later movies were Steele’s ideas. The two became good friends. During the pandemic, 27 years after their friendship started and at a time Farrell hadn’t seen his friend for a while, he got an email saying Steele has transitioned to female with the name Harper. She hoped they were still friends. Farrell responded yes, they were. Farrell proposed the idea of a cross-country road trip. During the long drive they could talk about her experience being trans. They could also visit various places so that Steele could get used to being in public as female with Farrell as support. As a man she had been across the country many times. But as female, would the country love her back? Yes, Will Farrell the comedian appears a few times, but mostly it is him being a very good and supportive friend as Steele tells her story. She’ll tell her friend anything he asks. She talks about recognizing she is trans in her late 50s. How happy she is to wake up after top surgery – puberty in four hours! She talks about wanting a place to hide so she could be a woman without condemnation from others. She explained her chosen name. She realizes that many places she visited as a man may not be safe for a woman, especially a trans woman. Along the way ... They visit the NBC studios and meet former SNL colleagues. They go to a Pacers game in Indianapolis and are introduced to Indiana’s governor. Only later do they find out how he has championed anti-trans laws. They visited Iowa City, where Harper grew up, and stayed with her sister. She visits a bar in Oklahoma and things go well. They visit a steakhouse in Texas and get a lot of mean tweets. In Albuquerque they have a hot air balloon ride. They end up at the ocean in Los Angeles. I am impressed at how much Farrell is the kind and supportive friend. This is a movie that explains the trans experience well. I’m glad they made it and hope America can learn from it. This one gets a solid recommendation. I wrote a couple days ago that creating a to-go bag is a good idea in case one must flee (or simply not want to live in an oppressive society) and include your passport in it. I realized that if you don’t have a passport or it is close to expiring, now would be a good time to get one. The upcoming administration will likely change the eligibility rules – a regime designed around oppressing those lower in the hierarchy won’t be able to do so if the peons flee (see: Berlin Wall). A passport is good for ten years. Many countries are reluctant to accept it if it is within six months of expiring. The media is still full of articles on why people voted the way they did, electing the nasty guy. I’m still ignoring most of them, though here are a few that make sense to me and say something similar to what I’ve been thinking. Paul Waldman, in The Cross Section on Substack calls on mainstream media to stop the votewashing, to stop making nasty guy voters look more virtuous than they are. From Waldman’s view these are the messages that 51% sent with their votes. We hate foreigners, especially non-white ones. We don’t like women either. We don’t mind being lied to. We love punching down on societies most vulnerable. We want leaders who hate the same people we hate. We don’t care if our leaders have no morality. The nasty guy promised to solve every problem people have and during his first term solved none of them, and that’s just fine with voters. We are wildly misinformed about the conditions in the country. Overthrowing the government is just fine. Fascism sounds awesome, so let’s try it.

If someone is upset about high grocery prices and their solution is “Let’s try fascism,” it doesn’t mean they don’t care about grocery prices, but it also means they’ve chosen fascism. And that’s a choice that shouldn’t be excused. I want to understand Trump voters; understanding why people make the choices they do is a central part of analyzing politics. But I refuse to apologize for them or paint their choices in the best possible light, especially when they are voting for the most corrupt, dishonest, and morally repugnant president in American history. And that’s exactly what much of the media is doing right now.

citixen of the Daily Kos community quoted an excerpt by David Frum of The Atlantic as another example of most of the media missing the point. Here’s part of that quote:

Don’t forget, this time around he’s a lawless potus. ... If MAGA controls the entire government, Democrats, and even plenty of Trump-voting Republicans, are only slowly going to realize: lawless executives are not going to allow democracy-as-we’ve-known-it to dislodge their majorities without real pain. We only have to look to the (sometimes bloody) civil rights era of the 50s and 60s to see what that looks like.

Kos of Kos wrote a two part opinion piece about how he understands what happened. In part 1 he wrote that there are things Democrats will have to think about. “Inflation is the new global third rail of politics.” Biden did a lot for unions but they didn’t love him back at full strength, so how to be the champion of the working class needs to be rethought. Infrastructure needs to be rethought. Support for Israel and Gaza need to be rethought, but didn’t make much difference in the result. There is a vast conservative noise machine and liberals have nothing comparable. Kos begged for investment in liberal media and told we already have the New York Times, which is accused of sanewashing the nasty guy, and NPR, which prides itself in being centrist. The lack of liberal media means there is little pushback when conservatives and conservative media twists liberal ideas and uses them as weapons. Another problem is the way liberals seem to be trying to right historical wrongs. The marriage equality effort changed public opinion strategically and gently. Current efforts seem to want to shame the public into agreement. An example is pushing “Latinx” even though most Latinos don’t like the term. There is also pushing proper pronouns for transgender people that sometimes is felt as a bludgeon.

There is a mass center of the American people struggling to get by, wondering why the Democratic Party is focused on things that feel irrelevant to them.

We should be able to condense everything down to a simple message, as Franklin D. Roosevelt did in his Second Bill of Rights:

Every American has the right to: 1. A job 2. An adequate wage and decent living 3. A decent home 4. Medical Care 5. Economic protection during sickness, accident, old age or unemployment 6. A good education

In part 2 Kos said Republicans had a simple message: Security. To explain why that worked Kos talked about his native El Salvador. The people overwhelmingly voted for Nayib Bukele, though he is Muslim in a Catholic country.

He took one of the most violent, dangerous peacetime countries in the world, and made it the safest in the Western Hemisphere. And he did that by calling a state of emergency and essentially eliminating all civil liberties, imprisoning virtually all young men. Yes, that cleaned up the streets of the violent cartels, but it also swept up innocent men with zero judicial review and threw them in a mega prison with a capacity of 40,000. The result?

Kos included a tweet from Bukele, that included a tweet by RadarHits, that said:

Just in: The murder rate in El Salvador falls from the world’s highest to the lowest in the Western Hemisphere – at 2.3 per 100k in 2023.

The highest was over 100 per 100k in 2015. Bukele added, “Strong men create good times…” As part of that effort he dissolved the country’s judiciary and created a rubber-stamping legislature. When Kos visited recently he talked to people about Bukele. Even if their friends and family got caught up in the dragnet they still supported him by massive numbers. Security beat freedom. What is the nasty guy selling is physical security (based on lies), economic security (his examples here are true), and cultural security (drag queens!). Most people don’t understand that the nasty guy’s solutions won’t fix their economic insecurity. Kos looked again at FDR’s Second Bill of Rights. Every item has to do with security. Security beat freedom. We can work with that. Long ago I saw the only thing the nasty guy is offering is a higher spot in the social hierarchy with permission to oppress those lower down. That’s it. That’s also a geeky way to say it. One can feel better about oneself by oppressing others. All of his policies are based on that. And most of those are designed to place himself in a higher position compared to those around him. He’ll lie on policy to get votes that will put him in positions of power. But he was incapable of lying about his true purpose – which is good for us who could read and understand his words. Bring the Lions of the Kos community has the same understanding, though it says it with a directness I like: The nasty guy offers domination. We ordinary people, at least the kind that try to stay reality-based, have to play by the rules. We can’t pretend the rules don’t exist.

Ah, but rich white guys can. Oligarchs like Musk can. Ride with Trump and his oligarch pals and you too can join them in breaking the rules. This is why Trump did not lose support as he was impeached, then charged, then found guilty. What was a clear liability in reality is an asset when you’re playing a game that you win when you show the rules don’t apply to you. MAGA, via Trump, is offering their supporters the chance to vicariously experience not just victory through Trump but what they want most of all: domination. The double standard is the point. The domination is the drug that keeps MAGA enthralled.

Harris offered joy and cooperation. Millions of voters wanted the opposite. They don’t want to cooperate, they want to dominate. Even against those we hate we want them and everyone to have good health care and housing. They want to be a part a movement to hurt others.

If you’re with him, you win- because he always wins. He gets away with it. He breaks the rules. He makes his enemies bend the knee and if they don’t he punishes him. ... If you are struggling economically, in a dead end job, living in one of many of the dire areas of this country, with no prospects of joining the “elite”- be it educational, cultural, or economic- MAGA is offering you a chance to feel it by being a part of a “movement” that will win and then dominate the people and groups on the other side.

People, not just white men without college degrees, beaten down by conservative economic policies that favor the rich want someone to get revenge for them against those living better than they are.

They wanted the satisfaction of “winning” and dominating. Trump always wins, and he bullies the losers. And millions of Americans, living on the edge, said give me that.

I hope you see the contradiction here. The nasty guy is offering domination – but not against the people who created the economic hardship these people are experiencing. His nature, his loyalties, his plans will make their lives worse.

Fascists are good at starting wars, incompetent to win them

After not posting for a week I then didn’t post for five days. I now have 212 active browser tabs and some of them now look like old news. So many will get a brief mention or simply closed. The last time I wrote was already after the one year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The big news about 10 days ago was Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv as a show of support. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos wrote about the visit. He included tweets from various people that included photos. The photos include Biden walking outside with Zelenskyy as they ignore air raid sirens going off. There’s also the bit about Biden telling Russia that he’s going to Kyiv and if Russia launches anything in his general area the US will interpret that as an act of war. Russia stood down. Hunter of Kos called Biden’s trip a diplomatic masterstroke. That left Republicans fuming, a few complaining that Biden cares more for Ukraine than he does for the US (not that Republicans care for the US). Sumner reported how much Biden’s visit resonated across Ukraine, appreciated by citizens and soldiers. The photo at the top of the post shows a soldier holding up his phone that has a photo of Biden and Zelenskyy shaking hands. Olga Tokariuk tweeted that Biden’s visit is huge – a massive show of US support for Ukraine. She included a photo of Biden in front of Kyiv’s Wall of Remembrance. That day marked the 9th anniversary of the mass shooting of pro-democracy protesters in Kyiv. The shooting was ordered by pro-Russian president Yanukovych. Most Ukrainians consider that to be the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Posing in front of the paintings on that memorial wall is a powerful statement of solidarity. Alexander Kamyshin of Ukrainian Railways tweeted a short thread about the honor of creating Rail Force One to get Biden from the Polish border to Kyiv and back again. That’s ten hours each way for a four hour visit. The Ukrainian Railways have been vital in keeping the country together during the war. Alas, while Biden was in transit they had to let their On Time Performance drop to 90%. David Neiwert of Kos talked about the Wagner Group, the mercenaries that are still trying to take Bakhmut with mounting Russian casualties. Neiwert began his post with:

Historians and other observers have often noted that, while fascists are very good at starting wars, they are inevitably incompetent when it comes to executing them. “Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy,” wrote Umberto Eco in his seminal essay on “Ur-Fascism.” This is essentially a cognitive flaw, caused by their fundamental insistence on trying to force reality to conform to their view of the world. Which is why a neofascist armed force like Russia’s Wagner Group is being ground into hamburger—forming a sea of crosses in one rural cemetery, comprised mostly of the cannon fodder it has recruited out of Russian prisons—as its mercenaries wage war in Ukraine on behalf of Vladimir Putin.

Neiwert included a small example. Wagner had been recruiting Russian prisoners, telling them their chances of living were small, but if they lived they would be released from prison. One of those prisoners said, “We couldn’t retreat without orders because if we don’t comply with the order, we will be killed.” He then described a man who refused an order and was killed. Charles Jay of the Kos community wrote about the reaction of Russian pundits to Biden’s visit. Some sputtered that they should have killed Biden while they had the chance. Others said that leaving Kamala Harris as president would be worse for Russia. Perhaps they should have killed Boris Johnson when he visited Kyiv last April while he was British Prime Minister. Of course, they added a great deal of bluster. The day before the war’s anniversary Sumner wrote the Russian military didn’t have any victories for Putin to crow about. In amongst other topics of the status of the war Sumner included a video of a protest outside the Russian embassy in London. Protesters poured 340 liters of yellow and blue washable paint into the street for traffic to drive through and spread around. Jay also reported that five US House Republicans also visited Zelenskyy in Ukraine and did it the day after Biden. Their message was simple: There are House Republicans who have been very noisy in their support of Russia. But that’s less than a dozen. They don’t control the House, even the House GOP, where support for Ukraine holds firm. Frank Langfitt of NPR talked to Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank, about some of the things Russia did wrong in their invasion a year ago. There was one big mistake – they didn’t tell their soldiers until just before the invasion. It kept the element of surprise, but left the soldiers unprepared, including psychologically. And that led to mistrust between soldiers and officers, which led to friction between them. Langfitt also noted America’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan, which showed divisions between America and NATO. Putin thought he could exploit that. Instead, his actions united NATO. Daily Kos posted a series of articles to mark the anniversary of the start of the war. Kos of Kos wrote about all the pundits who days before the invasion that predicted an easy victory for Russia. Others claimed that the Ukraine army would (or had) disintegrated on contact. Daniel Donner of Kos Elections showed a map of the population of Ukrainian ancestry in each Congressional district across the country. His point was any vote against support for Ukraine would cause a voter backlash. Sumner showed what Mariupol was like before the war destroyed it. Then he discussed the highlights of each month of the war. Kos reviewed how much logistics are important to a military and how bad Russia has been and continues to be at that vital skill. Sumner explained how a progressive news source could provide some of the best coverage of the Ukraine war. Sumner wrote:

There’s a good portion of the populace that seems to correlate progressive with pacifist, and who assume that anti-war means being pro-surrender. Those people are wrong. ... We follow Ukraine day by day, and we do everything we can to support the Ukrainian cause, because we believe now as we did 20 years ago, when this site was founded in the run-up to another invasion, that peace is not a state of idleness, or something achieved through ignoring wrongdoing. Peace is something active, something that must be sought and must be protected—even when the price seems very dear.

That thing 20 years ago was US invasion of Iraq. That leads to an important question:

How could the United States expect others around the world to support its policies when it had also invaded countries?

Sumner added:

How do you heal that rift? By holding America and Western allies to the standards they profess to believe, and by never pretending that something is right just because we did it. What we hope to do in our war coverage at Daily Kos is as simple as half a sentence. Where right-wing media and MAGA politicians often want to stop Carl Schurz’s 1872 statement at “My country, right or wrong,” Daily Kos tries to provide the rest. “If right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” ... For the U.S., the invasion of Iraq still generates a high cost when it comes to trying to justify actions in Ukraine or elsewhere. It’s become a handle by which enemies can drag America down from any attempt to find a moral high ground: You did it. Why can’t we? We were wrong then. Russia is wrong now.

Joan McCarter of Kos reviewed Biden’s speech in Kyiv and heard echoes of similar presidential speeches. There was the speech Franklin Roosevelt gave after returning from Yalta Conference with Chrchill and Stalin towards the end of WWII. I had forgotten that Yalta is in Crimea. There was also John Kennedy’s speech in Berlin still divided after WWII. (Do young people still recognize these guys as FDR and JFK? – asks a guy who remembers the Kennedy assassination.) Jay reported that the first tanks promised by Western countries have now arrived in Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki delivered one to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. Reznikov climbed in. A moment later he stuck his head out and said, “Excuse me, where is the road to Moscow?” Kos wrote that no one wants to hang out with Russia. State propagandists lamented the lack of allies and said that as soon as Russia has real successes allies will appear. Sure. Kos then wrote about another vote in United Nations condemning Russia’s invasion and discussing a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine. It passed 141-7 with 32 abstentions. Kos also wrote that the idea Russia had the second-best army has been erased. Because of the war Poland has been beefing up its military and Russia is no longer able to intimidate Kazakhstan. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTSO), Russia’s counterpart to NATO, has fallen apart. Kos included a story from the Associated Press listing some of the ways countries around the world marked the anniversary of the war and showed their support for Ukraine. Landmarks, such as the Sydney Opera House, were lit up in yellow and blue. Rallies were held in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, as well as Europe. Alisa Bushuieva, age 13, was forced to flee Ukraine with her mother at the start of the war. She gave a solo performance at a Liverpool shopping mall.

In Serbia, whose government has maintained friendly relations with Russia and has refused to join Western sanctions designed to punish Moscow for its invasion, police moved in to stop a group of anti-war activists from reaching the Russian Embassy in the capital, Belgrade. The activists wanted to hand over a demand for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be put on trial for genocide in Ukraine. They left a cake, covered with red icing representing blood and with a skull on top of it, on the pavement near the embassy.

Along the way Kos linked to KyivGuy, now posting as part of the Kos community. He is a Kyiv civilian and has been reading Kos to get a daily summary of the war. He posted to give an insider’s view of what’s going on in Ukraine and offered to answer questions. In his first post he wrote of many things, including: The impact of the war on Ukraine’s economy. Ukraine’s mobilization (they have more volunteers than they can train and integrate into their military). What Ukrainian women are doing during the war. In a second post KyivGuy talked about life in Kyiv. It is mostly back to normal and there haven’t been power outages since January. He included stories of people helping each other during outages. The warriors of light, the utility repair workers, are the new heroes, commemorated with postage stamps. Other cities had it much tougher. As for the people they are resilient and determined – 94% believe Ukraine will win. They are learning how to take care of each other and take breaks from the strain. And in Kyiv many feel guilty about not doing enough for frontline towns. I’m now down to 192 browser tabs.

They like the lie better

My church held its All Saints observance today. It is a time to remember those in the congregation and family of members since the last observance. This year it meant those who had died during the last two years. I was surprised there were only 18 names. I think because of the church being closed so long in 2020 a lot of people have stopped coming. I and a couple fellow ringers tolled a bell after each name. Those we remembered included my sister Laney, her wife Anners, and my step-grandmother. Seeing their faces on the screen and a candle being lit for them was a confirmation that they’re gone now. Aysha Qamar of Daily Kos reported on the Nobel ceremony in which investigative journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov jointly received the prize for Peace. They were given the prize for safeguarding freedom of expression and telling the truth. Both gave a speech. Qamar wrote:

Ressa and Muratov also noted the sacrifices journalists have made, especially those who work in authoritarian states. Both journalists are known for their extensive work in the field and have angered their respected countries, facing threats as a result. Multiple colleagues of Muratov have been murdered or persecuted due to their work. “I want journalists to die old,” Muratov said. “There are so many more journalists persecuted in the shadows with neither exposure nor support, and governments are doubling down with impunity,” Ressa said. ... “Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with our world’s existential problems: climate, coronavirus, the battle for truth,” Ressa said. ... Muratov also had something to say regarding social media. “Manipulation leads to war,” he said. “We are in the middle of a post-truth period. Now, everyone is concerned about their own ideas and not the facts. “Social scientists have shown that, when even knowing what is the truth and what is a lie, 75 percent of people will consider the lie as truth as they like the lie better. This is happening already. We are at the very bottom of the manipulation of the human mind.”

David Folkenflik, NPR media correspondent, tweeted a video from Patriot Takes of a session at Turning Points USA. Folkenflik described it:

Group that claims to be outraged about cancel culture literally offers training to college students on how to egg on (edge on?) profs to get them to say things to surreptitiously record to get them fired

Jennifer Cohn, election security advocate, added:

Yes, this is what the GOP does, & it’s not just TPUSA.

Cohn then described something similar, what Mike Caputo, protege of Roger Stone, did to Laura Krolcyzk Michael Harriot wrote an article for The Guardian about those who participated in the Capitol attack don’t understand that nationalism is not the same as patriotism. Louis Bridgeman tweeted a summary quote of the article:

They have pledged their allegiance to the flag, but not the republic for which it stands. Patriotism as performance is their only protection because a country that provides liberty and justice for all is too unbearable a thought. They’d rather kill it first.

My summary: These “patriots” don’t want liberty and justice for some people. These “patriots” want to maintain their permission to oppress some people. Therefore they don’t want democracy. Leah McElrath complains about Biden because she wants him and his administration to do better, not to undermine his legitimacy. Her current area of complaint is the pandemic. She tweeted:

The reason we submit to any state authority is so we don’t have to worry about every threat to our survival. Any major domestic security lapse—such as the ongoing negligence of federal pandemic response—is a state failure. If any state continues to fail, it loses legitimacy. ... Nonetheless, the reality is the state is still failing in its response. Every tool is not being used. Every resource is not being allocated. These are state failures. In perpetuating these failures, the Biden administration is delegitimizing itself. It’s deeply troubling. Simply put: It is storming outside. There is no future rainy day. This is it. And yet, all that could be done is not being done, either to minimize the cost in lives or to the economy. It’s endangering us all and endangering the future of the federal government as a whole

In a second thread McElrath responded to some pushback. People say “What more EXACTLY do you expect him to do?” Her answer: More. But Biden hasn’t fulfilled his campaign promises to respond to the pandemic. As for exact expectations, she’s been tweeting suggestions of her own and others for months. James Bandler wrote an article for ProPublica about how three families in the early 1900s avoided taxes so their wealth would last through the generations. He tweeted a link to the article with this quote from it:

“Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,” FDR wrote, invoking former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. He then added his own knife twist: “Too many individuals, however, want the civilization at a discount.”

Lauren Floyd of Kos started an article with:

Police brutality doesn’t just happen. Despite popular Republican rhetoric, the spotlight cases of such brutality aren’t just exceptions to a rule of otherwise fair and humane policing—they are examples of a system that has long spun out of control, a system enabled by experts called to defend excessive force and the companies that profit from it.

The New York Times found 100 examples in a 15 year period where particular experts wrote opinions to defend police. These expert opinions would say such things as: A taser can’t cause adverse effect. A particular neck hold can’t cause brain injury. A face down restraint position can’t cause asphyxiation. And in the George Floyd case the knee to the neck couldn’t be a use of force because Floyd wasn’t in pain. A big problem is this testimony means many cases of brutality don’t go to trial. Floyd concluded:

So in short, experts defend police. Police pay companies for training and equipment. Companies pay to promote expert research, and experts defend police, and on and on. It doesn’t exactly instill confidence in the claim that police work mostly to protect and serve.

Bésame of the Kos community ponders whether we face a robotpocalypse. Robots can do so much now, from cooking fries to act with first responders. Are robots a threat? “Can we really trust robots and the industries that make use of them?” That last phrase is of interest. An example is Spot, a robot that looks vaguely like a dog that has appeared to dance in various videos. I’ve mentioned Spot before as a way of getting us used to something that might later be weaponized. On the other hand, robots are taking jobs that are dangerous or impossible for humans. Perhaps they might even take the job of stunt doubles in movies. They can help ease the current labor shortage. Robots do have a benefit. Back to the drawbacks. Some of those robots we let into our homes are listening, with the possible expense of our privacy. And many of the algorithms that make robots and computers useful carry the biases, the systemic racism and sexism, of their creators. These algorithms can deny loans and not be held accountable. Bésame included a video of those biases in action. A white hand placed under an electric soap dispenser gets a squirt of soap. A black hand under that same dispenser gets nothing. As we invite more robots into our spaces are we willing to put up with that? Floyd also remembered architect Paul Revere Williams. He isn’t well known because he was black. He designed churches, buildings, and homes in the Los Angeles area, including the “flying saucer” at LAX. Many of those homes were for those that became rich in the movie business, such as Lucille Ball and Frank Sinatra. Because Williams was black he wasn’t allowed to sit next to a client, he had to sit opposite them. So he learned to draw upside down. He designed homes for neighborhoods where he wasn’t allowed to live, hotels – such as the Beverly Hills Hotel – where he was not allowed to stay. Now there is a great deal of attention when a Williams designed home is up for sale. Floyd’s post includes an eight minute video about Williams. It shows several of the buildings he designed.

Freedom from Fear

December 7, a "day that will live in infamy," is a good time to reflect on one of the famous statements of Franklin Roosevelt, "We have nothing to fear except fear itself." This was said in the dark days of WWII in which totalitarian regimes were using fear to make their people silent and stupid. Fear was being used to threaten nearby countries. Roosevelt understood that the difference between a free country and a dictatorship was that in a free country the government did not use fear to silence its citizens. That extended to saying we did not torture, we did not terrorize.

After WWII America made sure to work in an absence of fear. We transformed defeated Germany, Italy, and Japan from enemies to allies by assuring them they had nothing to fear. What would have happened if, while the world rebuilt after WWII, America instilled fear of its might in the countries it vanquished? Today would be much darker.

Perhaps every year on December 7 we should say, "Have a happy Freedom from Fear Day!"

In a previous post I may have mentioned that is seems the Mainstream Media is aiding and abetting the GOP through the stories it chooses to not cover. It seems the reason is not because the Media approves of the GOP party line, but because whenever an ant-GOP story was run the patriotism of the journalists was challenged.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/12/hbc-90001869

Here is an article that discusses the hubris of Kaiser Wilhelm II during and after WWI and draws inexact but still scary parallels to the current American leaders. I'll let you read the list yourself. I'm most interested in a quote at the end by Fritz Stern:

"The consequences of their leadership—bolstered as it had been by claims of divine guidance, shrouded in chauvinism, and fortified by the cunning manipulation of pervasive fear—became truly manifest only later, as the people of an aggrieved nation turned against each other, almost reveling in their deep political and moral divisions and hatreds."

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/12/hbc-90001860