Thursday, August 6, 2020

Betrayal




Tweeteth Il Duce: “With Universal Mail-in Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” [sic]
Steven Calabresi, a founder of the Federalist Society (the rightwing lawyers’ outfit that’s sent Trump all his unqualified but young and ideologically pure judicial nominees), who voted for Trump and previously argued against his impeachment, referred to the tweet as “fascistic” and called it grounds for impeachment.
There’s exactly zero evidence that mail-in voting leads to inaccuracy and fraud, notwithstanding Attorney General Barr mendaciously echoing Trump’s claims. In the Pacific Northwest, we know this. Trump touts absentee voting, though, since he and several of his Whitehousians have partaken. It might not be six of one, but it’s definitely half-dozen of the other. He’s suing Nevada for choosing mail-in voting, but Florida’s, his new home, is okay. With Trump, the most consistent consistency is inconsistency.
Second only to Trump’s disastrous pandemic failures, the “great embarrassment” to the US is hours-long lines outside polling places, and the fact that their numbers have been drastically reduced in minority neighborhoods, while in white precincts there are often no lines at all. That’s not just embarrassing: it’s Republican. And it shows why Trump and Republican leaders (our Secretary of State is a thoughtful exception) fear mail-in voting: it’s not that it inherently benefits Democrats, which studies show it doesn’t. It’s that it un-scales Republican thumbs. Did you know he's suing Pennsylvania, too, for providing ballot drop-boxes?
Trump hasn’t the power to delay the election, by the way. It’s yet another example of imperial delusions and disregard for our Constitution.
Even worse is his intent to pre-invalidate the election. In doing so, he’s running against the Constitution, not Biden; and all but literally suborning revolution if he loses. That’s more than fascistic; it’s betrayal. As is the revelation that he rejected a nation-wide pandemic response because it seemed at first to be killing only people in Democratic states. What’s the word for that? Felonious? Evil? Impeachable? 
Then there’s his pre-election undermining of the Postal Service’s ability to handle ballots (not to mention needed medications). And refusing to expose foreign sabotage of the election. We’re running out of descriptors.
It’s consistent, though, with his increasingly bizarre lying. Several weeks ago, he told Fox “news” viewers that he’d be signing “a full and complete healthcare plan” in two weeks. Entirely made up. Didn’t exist then, doesn’t now. We know Trump lies to his supporters with impunity, but this? This is psychosis, seeing things that aren’t there. Like a “beautiful” response to the pandemic. Amendment 25, where are you?
On deaf ears, is where this falls among Trumpists, as letters to this paper regularly show. A recent one compliantly regurgitated Trump’s favorite lies about Biden (open borders, defunding police, Medicare for all including illegals, socialism…) and warned of anarchy everywhere. How, one wonders, does the writer reconcile predictions of rampant lawlessness with the fact that as soon as Trump’s storm-troopers left Portland, it returned to the peaceful demonstrations that were happening in the days leading up to their arrival?
Violence is exactly what Trump wants. Aided by right-wingers posing as “Antifa” and his own military-style tactics, beating, gassing, kidnapping citizens, he created it, with the intention of benefitting his campaign. What’s that, if not seditious?
And now, as if they’ve concluded their thievery is running out of time, Trumpic corruption is accelerating. The “Paycheck Protection Plan” sent most of its money to wealthy pals and Republican donors. The latest proposed by Republican Senators is more of the same, plus a $1.5 billion gift to Trump’s D.C. hotel. He keeps firing Inspectors General, but the sleaze will out. Can he hold it off till after the election?
In his interview with Axios’ Jonathan Swan, who pressed him insistently with facts and follow-up, after which he ran to Fox “news” for a hug, it was clear Trump doesn’t understand coronavirus data, and was hallucinating again: nonexistent “manuals and books” that support his claims. A thousand deaths per day: “It is what it is.” “We’re doing everything that can be done.” All he could say about John Lewis is that he hadn’t attended his inauguration; but he again wished an alleged child-sex-trafficker well.
Trump’s deadly delusions and deceptions are getting worse. If Republicans don’t renounce him, they’ll wander the desert for forty years. Assuming we have that long.
[Image source]

30 comments:

  1. "A thousand deaths per day: “It is what it is.” “We’re doing everything that can be done.”"

    Uhuh...And when Hillary said "What difference does it make..." The alt right took it out of context and did the usual visual/audio edits to make it happen. They framed it as if Hillary didn't care etc.

    Here's the whole conversation. She clearly cares.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/21161346

    On the other side of the coin is Drumpf and his sycophant followers of a monkey cult called "Trumpism". 1000 deaths a day are a small price to pay. "It is what it is"...

    Here's Drumpf at his lowest form...Standing over his people in a sold out arena!



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiKuxfcSrEU

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  2. You have another hard-hitting, well-written column, Sid.

    I can't help reading your closing with some slight mental editing: "If Republicans don’t renounce him, they’ll wander deeper yet into the desert for another* forty years."

    *40 years ago Reagan beat Jimmy Carter. I voted twice for the former, and didn't recognize until much later that that was when desert wandering began — ever so slowly. I'm defining the first 40 years primarily as growing social and financial inequity, but still a progression leading to the GOP's almost complete moral bankruptcy that we see today.

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  3. Okay, Frankie. I deleted your comment, but on second thought I'll let readers see what an educated Trump supporter sounds like (Frank's an actual doctor, folks.) Having deleted it, my only option is to include it here:

    Actually, the date of the Erection ("1st Monday after the Second Wednesday in December" Talk about your "Cognitive Tests"!)is Federal Law, when the Electrical College meets(probably "Virtually" this year, No way the Roose-kies hack that)
    Quite the "Flight of Ideas" in your post Sid, have you been "Cognitively Tested" lately?(what is the difference between a Hippo and an Elephant anyway?) Tested for Cocaine? Hey Man, are you a "Junkie"!?!?! (Love how Sleepy Joe sounds like McGarrett from "Hawaii 5-0")
    Go ahead, wield your Censor Key,

    Frank "Trump won every State?!?!?!? How did that happen???"


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  4. I imagine that there's a page in the DSM that comes close.

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  5. seeker of wisdom and truthAugust 7, 2020 at 9:56 AM

    My love for our great country does not include pride in our power or wealth. It is based on our good fortune of being a greatly blessed nation because we have shared our good fortune generously with prior enemies like Germany and Japan and even Viet Nam.

    The current regime is based on greed and revenge. They insist that other less fortunate countries are taking advantage of our generosity and refuse to pay homage to our superiority. Mexico is expected to pay for a ridiculous impenetrable wall, Our NATO allies are demanded to pay their share or we will abandon the treaty, we will not lead the world in environmental damage reduction unless China and India do so first. And, they say those other African "sh*t hole" countries can look elsewhere for handouts.

    The current regime even resents helping their own citizens who are now bearing the covid-19 pandemic results of lost income and medical expenses.

    Much is expected from those whom receive the most. Closing our eyes and building nationalistic barriers is a sure indication of decay and eventual destruction by a once greatly respected nation. Vote to return to sanity and regaining our greatness.

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  6. Probably the best comment you've ever posted Jack.
    Well stated.

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  7. OK Sid, know you won't publish, but my material needs footnotes, like Shakespeare...goes over most peoples heads like a Steve Dalkowski*(see!)fastball...
    DSM code? yeah Sleepy Joe's a 290.42 fo sho'*, I'd tell you what that is, but I've got a touch of the 290.42 myself...

    Frank "so funny I laugh at the mirror"

    *Stephen Louis Dalkowski Jr. (June 3, 1939 – April 19, 2020), nicknamed Dalko was an American left-handed pitcher. He was sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history and had a fastball that probably exceeded 100 mph (160 km/h)

    *Vascular Dementia with Delusions"

    * Corn-Pop-ese for "For Sure"

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  8. "Probably the best comment you've ever posted Jack.
    Well stated.
    "

    My thoughts exactly when I read his remarks, ks. Thank you for confirming Jack's identity for me, something that I had only suspected.

    Well done, Jack!

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  9. Frankie makes a compelling case for titling DSM's next edition DSM-F rather than DSM-6.

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  10. Wow, and here I thought I was a mess.

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  11. @DocS: my pleasure on the identity. Writing styles can be like fingerprints.
    Would love to read some of his stories from past times; there's likely no Apple Cup this year but all can still order their Cougar Cheese: https://creamery.wsu.edu/cougar-cheese/
    Be sure to watch the Vimeo video on how to make cheese found on the WSU store page. I wasn't a dairyman, but I sold to them, and certain pieces of the clean-in-place equipment you see in the video was my former trade for a few decades.

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  12. seeker of wisdom and truthAugust 8, 2020 at 12:05 PM

    Last night I re-watched the three hour movie "Gandhi". Ben Kingsley's performance was magnificent. In my opinion, no person has more closely emulated the best of human-kind than Gandhi.

    He said "It is unwise for a person to be to sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that strongest might weaken and the wisest might err."

    He proved the power of "peaceful resistance" to courageously confront unjust social, religious, and political strife is worthy of dedicating your life to accomplish.

    After Gandhi was assassinated in 1948, peaceful resisters like Jimmy Carter, M.L. King Jr., Nelson Mandela, John Lewis, Pope Francis, and several heroic women have inspired me and many others to recognize the futility and error of unjust wars.

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  13. I watched the 'rotted and clotted' video, ks. As a former Cheesehead, I found it very interesting.

    You sold parts that found their way into process equipment?? Really? When (or how?) did you escape that to find your mathematical skills in demand? Maybe I'm confused...

    @Jack: Some day I will watch that movie. It's on my list. There are some people in leadership positions that ought to be forced to watch it repeatedly until there's some evidence that at least a couple of the lessons have begun to penetrate.

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  14. @Dr.S,
    I am "puzzled" also concerning ks' cheese equipment connection. My guess is that it involves the automated controls used to time and record the cleaning-in-place process.

    It would be interesting for the three of us long time opinionators to meet post-pandemic isolation. I would be happy to coordinate the potential event.

    Your recommendation that leaders be required to watch "Gandhi" to discover how to justly serve their constituency is a great idea.

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  15. Ahhhh, Wisconsin! Green Bay even? At a Kraft plant they called the cheese "oil". But there the soy farmers call beans "berries". The funnest one I ever dealt with was the chicken farmers who called the feed "protein". I'd hate to tell you why.
    Yes. The mathematics involved in the Process Industries is a thing of beauty, even elegant. I worked with over a hundred industries in all sorts of things. But then, there are a thousand+ industries out there, unless there are 10,000. I used to study the SIC categories, looking for those we could help. It's been awhile since I did.
    I'd love to think my mathematical skills were in demand. How did you come up with that as a question? It's an interesting one. The "how" is simple, the big boys bought our company, and I wasn't going to move. The "when" was, well, a while ago, back when I was still alive to the working world. Now, I'm dead to the world.

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  16. No mystery, if you want to sell to the food producers of the world, you must abide to "clean-in-place" (weld quality, resistance to solvents, etc). But if you want to sell to fertilizer (explosives) manufacturers, you must abide to Factory Mutual requirements for combustible environments (like the grain silos right next to the ammonium nitrate storage formerly in Beirut). I worked with much about those as well, and, at grain storage facilities in the Mid-West they coexisted with all sorts of I&C type considerations. I worked with automated controls for all processes, and measurement devices, and material flow (you can tell what type of a plant it is by looking at the pipe elbows and sweeps).
    It's difficult to put together a puzzle without the picture on the cover of the box. Much like the fable of the blind men describing, with assertion, what the elephant must look like. I kept a cartoon of that at my work desk as reminder to ask better questions of who I talked with when I was at our factory, and not on the road.
    If you want to look at amazing mathematics, some of the most obscure in the world though applicable to every city in the world, research Jenike & Johanson: https://jenike.com/category/technical-papers/ (ahhhh, the memories!)
    But then, I worked liquids, too! For instance, the hated by some Koch Brothers developed liquid flow solutions in use throughout the world, not just "oil" (said with a fake Texas accent). A beautifully elegant and mathematical solution is the use of vanes in the transfer tubing to spin the material through a sweep and/or an elbow, but for this you would want to refresh your understanding of rotational force, from University Physics. The Pacific Science Center had a great experiment for this, where you would stand on a turntable, hold at the axle a bicycle wheel, spin it, and then twist it to see how the turntable moved you. All, easily calculable using what you learn in Physics 121. In liquids, it keeps the temperature of the liquid down, in plastics it prevents "angel hair" (which wreaks havoc on the equipment).
    I can assure you the young men in this video are some of the smartest in America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaPHNgmDVcU (but I didn't work for any of Koch companies). The fools of the world "flyover" them, but, I'm sure they're glad for some of those who do. What happens throughout our great country searches the unimaginable in scope and size and content and height, breadth, width and depth. :-)

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  17. @ks: Milwaukee area, not Green Bay, but ... Go Packers!!

    As to the "how" of my thinking with respect to you and the process industries, you used the word "sold". Although I have a very good understanding of technical sales and the array of participants that can be involved, that verb had me imagining your onsite cold calls and quotas.

    I had a professional connection to the process industries, too.

    @Frank: A get-together sounds good. Perhaps with a few more, too.

    My Dr Strangelove e-mail address is visible should anyone want to talk or harass.

    @Sid: Thanks for allowing these somewhat off-topic exchanges. Where's your tip jar? :-)

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  18. Pretty far afield, all right, but not insulting, so...

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  19. The Police...AGAIN

    Notice the good cop no longer has a career.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7gwYbd8lHo

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  20. Since the title of your column is "Betrayal", perhaps some would like to comment on how Ms. Carmen Best feels about "our" Seattle City Council.
    This, as we've just learned she is to retire from her position as Chief of Police.

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  21. Perhaps. OTOH, the column is about Trump.

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  22. Did Carmen Best say she was betrayed? Or is that fake news too?

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  23. "OTOH" - Yup, Ms. Best becomes yet another casualty of the current occupier's many blunders, one of so many he couldn't care less about.
    If he hadn't sent in Feds to protect a building that didn't need protecting, the "protesters" wouldn't have threatened Ms. Best's home, family, and neighbors, and Seattle would still have a competent Chief of Police. But now, a new leader will need to appear out of nowhere, and guide a reduced police force in incredible problems with 100 less to do it with. One can only imagine the profile of her replacement. I can't even speculate on who that might be.
    But, if Ms. Best suddenly appears as a VP choice for Biden, well, then I might be delighted; though I still want Ms. Rice.

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  24. Or...

    Best had her chance and didn't act. She authorised the tear gassing. She authorised the police violence.

    If she wanted change, she could have got it. The council was in full support of her.

    Fact is when push came to shove, she's no better than the rest. Cry about a 1% salary cut??? So much for "dedication" and "service". The Seattle times posted salaries of these cops. 200K+ a year for like 70-80 of them and couple cops were creeping up on 500K a year salary. We can buy 5+ teachers for that easily. Median salary was like 140K-150K

    Fact is that those who want to quit should do so ASAP. Find a crayon and scratch out "I quit". Ring the bell mayonnaise! That's how the Marine corps does it. The men and women are simply the finest. Low pay. Real danger. No attaboys from city council. Away from America and family for years. Righteous loyalty and performance. That's service defined. Drumpf would know nothing of that. Cops are mostly lost on the fact as well. They seem self serving and self indulgent.

    I'll keep reminding everyone, whether they believe it or not. The corruption being uncovered and the outrage over it is only beginning. Compton Police are not the only police gang. Not even close. There's a lot of self dealing and that will be a hot topic soon. Jackson thinks I am paranoid. That I see and hear things that are not there. That I lie and exaggerate. I edit facts to my liking supposedly.

    I got bad news for y'all. I don't talk about stuff I know nothing about. I am not the paranoid type. I don't panic. I'm not schizophrenic. Which loosely translated means I know exactly what I am talking about, having experienced it my entire life. If you see me wrestling a bear, quickly get that bear some help. I'm pretty educated and prepared for almost anything.

    What happens if Drumpf weaponized law enforcement against civilians? Then what would you say? Oh, wait, that's happening too....Hmmmm....I'm still trying to figure out where I am wrong on all this. I literally see ZERO evidence that I am wrong on any point I make.

    The cops racist history is a mirror image of the south and the Confederacy/slavery. Neither has fixed their racist issues. They both deny them. So, while it doesn't seem to solve any problems, I have yet to see how any of this has created more problems.







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  25. Kamala Harris is the next VP of the USA

    She will shred Drumpf and Pence. Joe is not a prosecutor. He's not a salesman. He's just a guy who was VP and stands around and gladhands well. Very necessary but you need more to win. I think Kamala is exactly what the Dr. ordered.

    Not my favorite pick but...God save us if we are not transforming law enforcement.

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  26. I was wrong!

    Its' 374 Seattle Police Department employees made at least $200,000 last year.

    Sorry,but they ain't worth 1/2 that


    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/374-seattle-police-department-employees-made-at-least-200000-last-year-heres-how/

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  27. YES! Lincoln Project strikes again...


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x1-CVsoEBU

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  28. hmmmmm.....
    It would seem the best way to de-fund the police would be to not riot...or not "protest"...or not "march peacefully"...or not require bodycams (+2% raise right there! Oh, the things we can find out when we look at union contracts)
    Ref: https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/OPA/Legislation/SPOG_CBA_expires_12-31-20_111418.pdf
    And we could reduce their budget 35% by living peacefully with each other (OK, I made that number up, but, reducing them to base salary would do something like that, no?).
    I did notice from the list the 35 year old news reporter wrote that the big earners are mostly due to overtime. In all my comments over a decade I never named a single teacher that I looked up, and avoided context that would allow their identification. Surprising that The Seattle Times considers that acceptable, but then we live in hateful Seattle "Times" these days.
    ...and...in looking at where each and every one named in the article lives, the police live about as far away from Seattle as can be reasonably expected to get into work. I wasn't surprised at that outcome, but I do find it interesting.
    Anyway, good link to the article, but, OTOH, how does it relate to Sid's article?

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  29. "President Donald Trump will not support a coronavirus relief deal that includes "voting rights" provisions backed by Democrats, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Thursday. "So much of the Democratic asks are really liberal, left wish lists -- voting rights and aid to aliens and so forth," he told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" when asked about the administration's stalled aid talks with Democratic leaders."

    “There’s nothing wrong with getting out and voting. . . . They voted during World War I and World War II,” Trump told Bartiromo."

    Here's the plan...If adults won't march to their deaths by going back to work, then send kids to school to use as symptomless spreaders throughout society. You can't control all the adults, but you can control the children. Children work for cheap and because all the adults died, we need to loosen up child labor laws.

    Will Drumpf send the 'cops' after parents who keep their kids home from school? We gonna 'no knock' Hispanic communities and use truancy as the excuse?

    At what point do we start getting the picture folks? Drumpf and the alt right do not care whether you live or die. Well, they do care actually. If you are black, you should simply die now, like self deport, only white supremacy style. If you are Mexican, self deport to a cage, leaving your wealth and children behind. Remember, kids work cheap and the new Drumpf economy will need those tiny hands to make his hands look bigger.

    China (pronounced 'Jina') can still anchor babies for a price, but the rest of ya gotta go, and you know what to do, self deport.

    Let's see, who we got left? Wait!

    Drumpf doesn't have the time to list everyone, so a new law simplifying it to everyone not white and then only English speaking white people (or white English speaking animals and plant life I suppose, Drumpf don't wanna piss on the animal luvin' white nationalists PITA members).

    Drumpf is trying to defund the post office!!! HELLO!?

    Defund cops or the postal service? I say the postal service is more important.

    Nobody is trying to defund the cops to take over the nation. But Drumpf is defunding the post office to help him stay in power forever.

    Drumpf said "Voting rights are the on liberals wish list." Well yeah...no duh! Voting rights should be on EVERYONE'S wish list, not just Americans.

    There's a new war on mail in voting. It's a war on our very way of life. Who's side you on? I'm on the safest, most reasonable side. Mail in Voting, which by the way is the most accurate way to vote as well. We all know that's the real reason the Alt right wants to outlaw mail in voting and destroy the infrastructure to make it possible. It's because in a fair election, the alt right has no chance. None. And when they are out of power, their wealthy donors will be out of power as well.

    I'm gonna open up an abortion center next to every chick fil a and Hobby Lobby I can find!



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  30. That Kudlow comment is mentioned in my almost-posted next column.

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