WARNING: Politic Slop AND Coronavirus

Senator Cook, Representative Marshall, and Representative Horman:

I'm as sick of the covid-19 pandemic and the stress it's brought into my life and the lives of my family, co-workers, and friends, as the next person.

One thing I am particularly sick of is individuals, groups, businesses, and governments who want to regulate the response to the pandemic through politics, rather than sound science and health policy. I see such efforts being promoted by members of the state legislature, and Janice McGeachin, our lieutenant governor. I want to go on the record with my representatives in Boise as being opposed to current attempts by the state legislature to abruptly end Governor Brad Little's emergency declaration or to circumvent state and local health officials in their science-based efforts to battle the pandemic.

I currently work two jobs. Both employers take the pandemic seriously and have committed time, effort, and money to protect employees. Tragically, we still have to face the death of four co-workers, despite the best efforts put forth to protect us while keeping our jobs going and the economy open.

I applaud the efforts of many local business, which we continue to support, for the efforts they put in to maintain cleanliness and safety and to protect their workers.

I currently do volunteer work with the Boy Scouts of America, and applaud both national and local council leaders for their efforts to move forward with programs while doing their best to protect Scouts and volunteers.

I am a member of a church that has taken the pandemic seriously and moved to help congregants remain in contact with each other and the church while observing the protocols put in place both by church leadership and the state government.

I expect nothing less from my state representatives. I expect my state representatives to base policy on sound reasoning and science, not politics. I want this pandemic to end. But ending emergency declarations precipitously out of politics, rather than ending them based on sound science and health policy, is dangerous for all Idahoans, whether they support the declarations and science or not.

(Also sent to Gov. Brad Little)

Blinded Me With #Scienk. Or Colloidal Silver

So I was watching the DuMont/YouTube last night, as I do, and came upon a video that had a 4:37-minute-long ad at the start.

I figured anyone who wanted to pay for an ad that long had some serious truths to tell, so I didn't skip it.

It featured some guy in a salt-and-pepper beard talking in exhilarating circular fashion about this ONE FOOD we should all be eating in order to live well into our hundreds like these fabulous people he mentioned and not like the Atkins Diet guy and Euell Gibbons who supported healthy lifestyles but died in their 60s and 70s like the pathetic losers they are.

He never did mention the ONE FOOD in specific.

However, in the interest of #scienk, I clicked on the ad to go to his website to see if he mentioned the ONE FOOD since the video ad said his book was so important he was just GIVING it away.

No mention of the ONE FOOD.

But lots of talk about the awesome athletic old guys he wanted us to emulate with his secrets as if genetics had nothing to do with longetivity and MOAR TALK of "supplements" and a "blue dye" he takes on the regular.

So it got me: colloidal silver. That's probably the dye he's talking about.

Now, if the ONE FOOD is donuts, I've probably missed out on a great opportunity. But something tells me the "free" part is basically a transcript of his ad and if I want to know the secrets of the universe I'm going to have to pay.

Why write about this? Because it's the zeitgeist, folks. #scienk rules. And those so-called EXPERTS with their education and stuff can't hold a candle to the real-life knowledge *I* possess and want to share with you for only the low cost of . . .

We laugh at Dr. Terminus in "Pete's Dragon." But they are all around us. And many of us are listening to them.

KNEES, Prepare to JERK.

A week has passed since the Banjo Coup of 2021.

A lot of knees have jerked.

Most of those knees have jerked prematurely and in the direction of making things worse, not better.

What follows are opinions. Maybe some of them rooted in facts, as far as can be determined. More of what follows is rooted in emotion and morality, which I hope will be understood, if not agreed with.

Deplatforming. Knees jerked in Silicon Valley and in the Soggy Valley further north, as President Donald Trump was banned permanently from Twitter and Facebook and the social network Parler was booted from Amazon’s servers, as well as from Google Play and the Apple app store.

Score: Worse.

The Republican base already has evidence that their opinions are being throttled unfairly by the social media and tech giants. Now they have proof of such, in a big way.

And yes, social media and big tech have come out wrapped in the flag with one boob out so they can show the Egalite Fraternite Liberte that liberals with a small L like to show when bursting with righteous indignation.

And yes, many on the right have proved themselves assholes on social media, using tools big tech provides.

But so have many on the left. And many of other political stripes, including strongmen in the Philippines, the Middle East, and other locations around the globe. They’re still posting and tweeting. There is clear ire – only a small fraction of it justified – against conservatives on the web. And this deplatforming provides the radical right with more venom and more self-righteousness.

And it paints every conservative with that same broad brush. The knee has jerked too far.

It’s a fair question to ask: Who is next to be platformed? As social media and big tech apply their rules in an imbalanced way, it’s not clear which way the pendulum will swing next.

And people have been right, and righteous, to point out that since this is not the government doing the deplatforming, the First Amendment does not apply. That’s what scares me the most. Because if the First Amendment doesn’t apply here – and it does not – what laws will apply when it’s you, caught up in another broad brush, who is deplatformed?

I look at this Section 230 law that’s been in the news of late. If content hosts want to avoid liability for what people post on their sites and servers, there ought to be a carrot there as well for these companies to be extrajudicious and extremely transparent – and even-handed – with any content moderation they do. If it can be proved they were not, some kind of penalty should apply.

First Amendment protections are good for the government goose. Similar protections ought to be good for the social media and big tech ganders.

Whataboutism? We did THIS because YOU allowed THAT to happen, so we are JUSTIFIED in acting just as CHILDISH and IRRESPONSIBLE as you did. Or, HOW DARE YOU be upset that father did THIS when you were not at all upset when mother did THAT?

Score: Worse.

I really, really don’t want to get into this, because to get into this in any detail requires a long trip down False Equivalency Lane.

From what little I know about marriage counseling, this is the kind of trigger that counselors look at in married couples to try to identify what the hell is wrong with a relationship. I wish I knew the term for it, but basically put it’s framed as a poisonous coping mechanism meant to keep a highly dysfunctional relationship together. It’s tit for tat. I know I am an awful person, so to get back at me you should be equally awful. Or, put on its head, I know you have been an awful person because you did X, so to make the relationship balance, I get to so something equally awful in the form of Y. Because you were not sufficiently outraged at the summer riots, or at this march on the capitol back in 2018, you have no right to be outraged at claims of election fraud or the Banjo Coup of 2021.

There’s scriptural basis for what’s going on here, for those of the Mormon vein who might be reading this. And it’s not the Title of Liberty – it’s from the Book of Ether:

Ether 15:18-22 (emphasis mine)

18 And it came to pass that Coriantumr wrote again an epistle unto Shiz, desiring that he would not come again to battle, but that he would take the kingdom, and spare the lives of the people.

19 But behold, the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle.

20 And it came to pass that they fought all that day, and when the night came they slept upon their swords.

21 And on the morrow they fought even until the night came.

22 And when the night came they were drunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine; and they slept again upon their swords.

As Dr. Marvin Monroe of Simpsons fame would say, THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO GET HEALTHY.

Impeach Again, or Invoke the 25th Amendment. Knees are jerking here as well. With days left in Donald Trump’s presidency, this is a big push.

Score: Mixed.

Donald Trump is a narcissist who is struggling to deal with the fact – the fact – he lost the election. And more than 60 court cases meant to prove alleged fraud – fraud he and others began crowing about before Election Day. The call he made to the Georgia secretary of state, asking him to “find” additional votes, that’s worrisome to me. As was his behavior on January 6, playing the victim.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, folks. I have not seen any extraordinary evidence.

Impeachment and the 25th Amendment swing more to the Orange Man Bad side of things, though I can clearly see the Constitutional concerns here. But there’s a lot of moot here. Success at impeachment or removal or not, the danger folks think they’ll nip in the bud with these actions will not be nipped. They’re going to be here for years to come. President Trump and his supporters and enablers have done some despicable things. Kicking them while they’re down – even if they really, really deserve it – will give them further venom and ammunition – figurative, but maybe real, you never know – to use in the future. And they will use it.

And did he incite violence? I'm pretty sure those who stormed the Capitol were going to storm it no matter what they said. They arrived bent on showmanship and mayhem and they got it in spades. But I have read his speech. The claims for incitement, I see them. But they're weak sauce.

His reaction? Also weak sauce. Any plea to stop was going to be weak.

And likely go unheard, because, you know, his patryots don't necessarily watch the mainstream media, nor were they in a watching mood when they strolled on down. Did he inflame them? That's what politicians do, right? If this had been a righteous cause, well, he'd be cheered. And he is being cheered, by his side.

Unity. Staaaaaaaahp. Just stop asking for or preaching unity when it is CLEARLY. NOT. WHAT. YOU. WANT.

Score: Worse.

Anyone – ANYONE – who wants unity but derides calls for it from others is plaingly saying they only want unity on their own terms. That. Is. Not. Unity.

That is unilaterality, also known as my way or the highway.

If you want your own way disguised as unity, do not lie and say you want unity. Don’t. Lie.

I’m damn sick of the lies. Say what you want, which is to get your own way and for the others to shut up.

Impeachment for Realz the House Did It. Sure. Why the hell not. Let people believe it’ll kill Orange Man Bad’s chances of running again in 2024. Or take his pension away. Or make his weenie shrink. Or give him and his MOAR AMMUNITION to say the world is again them and should pity them and OH MY GOSH why did they do this to captain our captain?

Score: Worse.

The man leaves office on Jan. 20. That’s one week from today. But he is TWICE IMPEACHED, which is TWICE AS GOOD. Clearly.

Whom do you think is being damaged? The outgoing candidate, or the party calling for unity? Will impeachment suddenly make his true believers not so true, or will impeachment make you feel like you actually DID SOMETHING because SOMEONE HAD TO DO SOMETHING?

Knee, jerk. Ad infinitum.

I might agree with you one hundred percent. But it will not do to him and his what you think it will do.

Poo-tee-weet. And so it goes.

URANIUM!

If any of you need to lay your hands on some uranium - no questions asked, probably - I apparently have an in.

The More Things Change . . .

 The more you think politics and society have changed, the more you realize they're actually the same.

Maybe this is a warning, from way back in 1975. Yes, I know it's fiction. But it's fiction that drew a lot from contemporary society to maybe get people talking about things since they saw them on a comedy show.

The question remains, as you or I rail against the failings of politics, politicians, "the media," social networks, or whatever El Guapo you feel like fighting or whatever particular windmills you're tilting at: What are we, as individuals, willing to do about it?

And, when we figure out what we're willing to do, step back for a moment: Is the thing we're willing to do sensible? Will it add to the solution or add to the problem?

Those are heavy questions to answer.

But they ought to be asked, and answered sincerely, before any one of us straps on a belt of metaphorical dynamite.

It Would Be A Merrier World . . .

[T]hey did not long maintain an entire peace in the land, for there began to be a contention among the people concerning the chief judge Pahoran; for behold, there were a part of the people who desired that a few particular points of the law should be altered.

But behold, Pahoran would not alter nor suffer the law to be altered; therefore, he did not hearken to those who had sent in their petitions concerning the altering of the law.

Therefore, those who were desirous that the law should be altered were angry with him, and desires that he should no longer be chief judge over the land; therefor there arose a warm dispute concerning the matter, but not unto bloodshed.

And it came to pass that those who were desirous that Pahoran should be dethroned from the judgement-seat were called king-men, for they were desirous that the law should be altered in a manner to overthrow the free government and to establish a king over the land.

And it came to pass that this matter of their contention was settled by the voice of the people. And it came to pass that the voice of the people came in favor of the freemen, and Pahoran retained the judgment-seat, which caused much rejoicing among the bretheren of Pahoran and also many of the people of liberty, who also put the king-men to silence, that they durst not oppose but were obliged to maintain the cause of freedom.

This, from Alma Chapter 51 in The Book of Mormon.

Significant that when the voice of the people settled the matter, the king-men were "put to silence" and obliged "to maintain the cause of liberty." Unless you know whether they were forced into silence or realized at the time that their cause was not popular enough to succeed, be silent on whether force was used. Because you don't know. I don't know either.

I do know as soon as Amalickiah came along at the head of the Lamanite army to battle the Nephites, these same king-men saw their chance and refused to fight. I don't know if thy thought life would be better with a Lamanite king in charge, and neither do you. So let's not speculate, We are told they did not fight and left their land in a perilous state.

I don't know what parallels to draw between this and what happened in Washington today. But there must be some.

I'm trying not to despair.

I'm trying to be like Samwise Gamgee, the real hero of the story:

FRODO: I can't do this, Sam.

SAM: I know. By all rights we shouldn't be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. Sometimes you didn't want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing. The shadow -- even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. Those are the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

FRODO: What are we holding on to, Sam?

SAM: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for.

And what Gandalf told Frodo; counsel I relied on on Sept. 11, 2001. So long ago.

And there is so much good in the world. I feel Thorin coming on.

Donald "Ham-Handed" Trump, Biff at Large

Regular readers of this blog may know, and people who know me personally should know that I am a Richard Nixon freak.

I’ve lost count how many Nixon books I’ve read, how many Nixon documentaries I’ve watched. I’ve read the Woodward and Bernstein. And I’ve read the japes by those who saw Nixon as no conservative and Watergate as only a minor blip to the man’s many sins. I even got a real big kick out of Elvis and Nixon which, if you have not seen, you should. It’s hilarious.

And fictional, like what I’m about to talk about.

Yes, Nixon had his dark side and yes-men who enabled that dark side to come out. And as the Watergate crisis continue to evolve, he listened more and more to that dark side and to those yes-men, to the point he destroyed his presidency.

In one hour, President Donald Trump, rambling accusations at the Georgia Secretary of State, presented a new low in American presidential politics, because in the eyes of this amateur Nixon scholar, not even Nixon and all the president’s men were as ham-handed as what I heard and read in that call.

But as in Nixon’s time, he has his supporters, both in government and out. I hold no illusions that no matter how Congress handled the ill-conceived approach to decertify the election, nor even after Joe Biden is sworn in as president later this month, the ham-handedness of Trump and his enablers and supporters will continue to believe the election was stolen. God and Jebus themselves could descend from above and say the election was above board, and they would not be believed.

There’s a thread in Mormonism that believes the Constitution will dangle by a thread, meaning it will be brought to the point that those in power or those who want to stay in power will spit on it and wipe their poxy bottoms on it. Mostly they tend to believe it’ll be done on liberal watch. I’m not so sure. Because the only ones I see approaching the Constitution with a boogery nose now are coming from the right.

Here’s what I find most telling in the hour-long call to Georgia: Trump does, by far, the majority of the talking. He had some of his legal team on the call. They said little. If there were any legal merit to the accusations flung in this call, the lawyers would be the ones talking. Instead, they sit there very much like Mr. Slant, the head of the Guild of Lawyers in Terry Pratchett’s Ankh-Morpork, satisfied to let his client make a fool of himself because they were not in front of judge and jury and they were secure in the fact they were getting paid $400 an hour. There was no legal merit to the 60 plus court cases brought before the call, some to the Supreme Court, where Trump pretty much thought he’d emerge victor, as three of the nine there were appointed by him and conservatives enjoy a majority. But even there, among friends, there was no legal merit. No standing.

More straws, ladies and gentlemen. And the strong-men in the Middle East, Russia, China, they’re laughing at our political mess. As they should be. Because a wannabe dictator is throwing a fit that the election he was sure he’d win didn’t go his way. But more dastardly, they’re laughing at us. At the fact that some of us can see the facts of the election, know who won, but insist on throwing stupid fits because our guy isn’t the one who won it.

(And yes, there are those who crow that they don’t care if it’s Trump or Biden; all they want is a free and fair election. Nevermind that they fall into the same logical fallacies and blindness the Trumpers fall into.)

Just leave, Mr. Trump. Your time is over. And if you get the Republican nomination in 2024, God help the Republican Party. The price of loyalty is coming in high.