Archives for September 2018

Day 593 Tuesday September 4, 2018 985 Days to Go

Let’s talk dickishness.

I’m not sure how the Urban Dictionary or anyone else defines it, but it is certainly a “I know it when I see it” kind of thing. To me it’s a kind of meanness. Oftentimes passive aggressive, with the other person not present, that usually embodies a lie and an action that is uncalled for, is callous, petty, and mean spirited. It is outside the norms of politeness and consideration; in fact it is the antithesis of that.
Donald Trump’s attitude toward John McCain after he was dead; Trump’s raising the flag from half mast, to not saying anything about McCain’s death when asked are examples of dickishness. His firing of Andrew McCabe a day before he was due to get his pension – dickishness.
So now we get to today’s “Profiles in Dickishness.” Number one) Ted Cruz and the Republican Party in Texas. Yeah, I know, anyone following what Ted Cruz does is watching a trail of dickishness. ( I still don’t know why he wasn’t arrested for trespassing when, after closing down the government and reading Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor, he went to the WWII Memorial that was closed and trespassed. )
Turns out the Republicans and Cruz have dredged up old arrest records on his opponent Beto O’Rourke and they have accused him of using the name “Beto” to get in good with Hispanics. These are dickish moves. First off, the stuff Beto did when he was 22 are the kind of stuff lots of us have done when we were young and stupid (as opposed to old and stupid like Cruz). Secondly, Robert has been called Beto since he was a kid. Why would a Republican say he did it to get in good with Hispanics? Because it’s the kind of dick move they would do.

Let’s move on to the biggest dickishness of the moment – the nomination of Bret Kavanaugh to Supreme Court Justice. Let’s go Dragnet style “Just the facts.”
1. Kavanaugh clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy
2. Kavanaugh is nominated to replace Kennedy
3. Kavanaugh worked in the W Bush White House
4. Kavanaugh was in that White House during their rationalizing torture
5. Kavanaugh said his duties did not include anything to do with that
6. Kavanaugh said that to the Senate under oath when he was up for a Federal judgeship in DC
7. It came to light after that testimony that he did in fact have something to do with the torture program. He was in attendance at meetings about “enhanced interrogation.”
8. It is suspected that he wrote memos about “enhanced interrogation” during that time.
9. The Senate was so sure that he had lied to them that they wrote a letter to the Justice Department to investigate.
10. The letter was answered by the Justice Department and said there was not sufficient evidence for criminal investigation. The response letter was signed by the Principal Deputy Assistant AG, Brian Benczkowski.
11. Becnczkowski was hired by AlfaBank to clean up their image after servers were discovered in Trump Tower talking directly to AlfaBank.
12. Those servers were registered to the Trump Organization and were set up in a very unusual way. A way that no expert had ever seen before. They were so set up that they could only talk to AlfaBank. It was the report of those servers that first brought up the connections between Russia and the Trump organization. Those servers were very active before Republican primaries and before the Republican Convention.
13. AlfaBank is headed by a man with close ties to Vladimir Putin and is a money laundering operation for Russians.
14. Benczkowski is now head of the criminal division of the FBI. His confirmation was very troubling to many.
15. Benczkowski would be the one in charge of looking at any wrong doing by Kavanaugh.
16. Kavanaugh worked on the Special Prosecutor’s office of Kenneth Starr that looked into the Whitewater allegations against the Clintons.
17. Whitewater was a land deal that the Clintons invested in that went bust. Their partner years after being involved with the Clintons did some illegal things, which fourteen years after the Clintons had been involved with him, the Republicans decided to pressure the Justice Department to investigate. This dragged on for years until it was discovered that Bill Clinton had a sexual liaison with a twenty one year old staffer. Brett Kavanaugh wrote a 130 page memo listing questions to ask then President Clinton. He was demanding the most salacious details, which had nothing to do with Whitewater.
18. Kavanaugh is on record as saying that the Nixon decision was wrongly decided. The unanimous decision by the Supreme Court to force Nixon to release the tapes, which proved his criminality. The reason given by the Supreme Court was that “no man is above the law.”
19. Kavanaugh is on record as being opposed to Roe v Wade, which made abortion legal in this country.
20. Kavanaugh was one of three judges to hear the case of the 17 year old immigrant who wanted an abortion and was being held in a detention center and not being allowed to go to a doctor to get her legally entitled abortion. Kavanaugh tried to delay her getting the abortion until she hit 20 weeks at which time Texas law says you can’t have an abortion. (Why is Texas allowed to have such a law if abortion is legal?)
21. How did Kavanaugh do this? The girl was 15 weeks pregnant. She had all ready been held against her will by the government for three weeks. The government argued that she should get a sponsor and if when they found a sponsor and she still wanted her to get the abortion then she could go get it. (Getting a sponsor could take months with no guarantee of finding one. In fact, they had all ready been looking for a sponsor with no success.) Kavanaugh ruled that she should go back to try and get a sponsor that she should then go to the lower court that had handed this up to Kavanaugh and that he would at that time decide whether she could get the abortion.
22. The whole court overruled Kavanaough and he was pissed. He wrote a “blistering” dissent.
23. The most recent survey (by Fox) puts the American public 71% opposed to Brett Kavanaugh being on the Supreme Court.
24. Kavanaugh’s disapproval is higher than Robert Bourke’s. Bourke was the guy who finally pulled the trigger for Nixon and fired everyone in what has been called The Saturday Night Massacre.
25. Democrats have been trying to get the White House papers on Kavanaugh to see what he had to do with the torture program; its policy and the making of that policy, and to see if Kavanaugh lied to the Senate in 2006 during his confirmation at that time. Republicans have blocked those requests. These are normal requests for any nominee. (Why they can be blocked is beyond me.)
26. The few papers the Democrats have been able to get show that Kavanaugh did in fact have something to do with the torture policy.
27. One Senator had asked Kavanaugh to recuse himself from any cases involving torture policy. ( It’s a common practice for a judge to not rule on a policy they had something to do with in the crafting of that policy. ) Kavanaugh has never responded to that request, and he’s never recused himself.
28. Any decision on Guantanamo would have gone through the court in which Kavanaugh has sat for the last eleven years.
29. Kavanaugh’s ratings with women is -19%. That means 19% more women oppose his nomination than approve.
30. His confirmation hearing begins today.

In a show of real dickishness, Mitch McConnell is going ahead with the confirmation process, despite not giving the Democrats the papers they asked for, despite the fact that there is an election coming up (remember that stuff about not letting Obama’s guy get a hearing because it was an election year?), and despite the majority of the country and an overwhelming majority of women not wanting him on the Supreme Court.

985 Days to Go

PS Storm Clouds gathering, Avon, NC

Day 592 Monday September 3, 2018     986 Days to Go

Happy Labor Day

I got a diagnosis that I’m a potential heart attack victim. Not good news. I got a CT Scan of the heart and they have a way of measuring the amount of calcium in your arteries. Calcium is left by bad cholesterol. What I found stunning about this is that I’ve never had a bad report before. Well, I’ve never had a really bad report. I’ve had some borderline reports but nothing to be really really concerned about. Right? Wrong.

The CT test was not covered by Medicare. It was only $100, so why not have it, just in case. The blood work from my physical had suggested I was at risk, but come on, I’d never had a bad, really bad report. 

Wow, the scoring on this kind of test is 0, 300, 400, 600. Zero is no build up and as the numbers get higher the risk is worse. I was over 600. How could that be? As I read through the literature I found that my score was bad but not so bad for a man my age. What? I’m at like 75-90% risk. What’s not so bad?

I contacted a friend who had a similar problem a few years ago and turned the situation around. He told me to get the book titled “How Not to Die.”

The intro talks about the history of heart disease which is caused by the build up of plaque in your arteries. The reason for this build up is based on what you eat. There are studies of some populations that show no heart disease, no plaque build up, not even in old age. WTF?

The other fascinating thing is this is not new information. 

I had asked my doctor what to do and could this be reversed. Answer: it can be controlled and therefore won’t get worse. There wasn’t an answer to the reversal question. Most of the googled information was similar. Mediterranean diet, eat these foods, avoid these, but nothing that said you could reverse the plaque build up problem.

That is until I read the “How Not to Die” book’s Intro and Chapter One. He laid it out and he reported various things that don’t show any benefit. One of the surprising things was fish oil has been shown to have no benefit. It’s all myth.

What might help is four Brazil nuts once a month. But that research is on a very small sample size and they are awaiting more research.

What does work is a plant based diet and avoiding red meat and a few other things. The book claims not only will you lower your bad cholesterol but your body will begin to heal and you’ll get rid of the plaque and it begins right away. Too good to be true? Maybe. But it shows a way forward. 

In reading the history of the effort to get this information out to the public a familiar theme appeared and that’s really what I wanted to talk about today.

In Chapter One entitled “How Not to Die from Heart Disease” there’s a subchapter entitled “Follow the Money.” (What? This isn’t a new theme? OMG! Shocking.) 

Here’s the opening sentence, “Research showing that  coronary heart disease can be reversed with a plant based diet – with or without other healthy lifestyle changes – has been published for decades in some of the most  prestigious medical journals in the world.”

WTF? I mean – WTF? !!

Paragraph two answers that question (remember the sub-title? “Follow the Money”?). I quote,

“In 1977, the U.S. Senate Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs … Known as the McGovern Committee …” ( STOP, The McGovern Committee? That poor SOB – it’s doomed. [btw if you don’t know who George McGovern is – look it up, back to the screed.] )

“released … a report advising Americans to cut down on animal based foods and increase their consumption of plant-based foods.”

One member of the committee recalled that the meat, milk, and egg producers were very upset and they got the “decrease meat consumption” statement eliminated and they got the entire committee disbanded. Several Senators lost their re-election bids.

The section goes on to describe links between the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and big business. Names like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Crisco are specified.

Then It talks about the medical profession. Guess how many courses most doctors are required to take on nutrition? (Hint: It’s a number between -1 and 1, not including the endpoints*)

* Did you come up with zero? (You’d be correct!)

What about the ADA, The American Dietetic Association? They get paid $20K per fact sheet from food industry sources, like the American Egg Board and Wrigley Gum’s Scientific Board. The ADA lets these industry folks offer seminars to dietitians to tell them what they should say to their clients. Do you think the Egg Board is going to tell you eggs are not good for you?

Let’s review. There is plenty of scientific studies that point out in no uncertain terms that a plant based diet is better for you. That cutting out meat, eggs, and dairy greatly improves your body’s health and extends your life, yet the word has only gotten out in limited ways and the people you thought would help: doctors, dietitians, government agencies and representatives have been co-opted by monied interests.

Wow. This isn’t new information, and it applies to today – on an industrialized scale – in so many other areas of our lives and our government. The term “weaponized” has been used a lot lately. In fact, I’d guess the term only came into the language recently. What it means, as far as I’m concerned, is the use of technology to make something more effective in a negative context. In media it is used to deliver mis-information to people that are more than ready to hear a particular message. Remember the anthrax scare? They had weaponized the pathogene by making it more able to infect people. The point being with technology that has emerged in the last few years we are able to pinpoint target for desired outcomes. Gerrymandering has become so good that it is possible for a smaller segment of the population to dominate and know that they will. For misinformation campaigns to play directly into the hearts and minds of those most receptive. For germs to kill. etc. etc. etc.

How long have we heard “dirt on Hillary” in those emails? Yet, the truth is there really isn’t any dirt. It’s just the kind of stuff you’d expect to read from a campaign internal dialog. They don’t particularly like someone in the campaign or outside of it. They debate what something means, or how to best represent their viewpoint. Hillary wrote in negotiating its best to have a private and a public face. Is that dirt? Does anyone disagree with the statement? I mean really, is that all? As far as I’ve been able to learn that’s about it. Oh she didn’t know “c” meant classified on some email. Wow. 

But the thought that there were these emails out there, and there were some personal one we didn’t see. So, of course, that’s where the real dirt is now.  Come on, get a life. Wouldn’t you like to see Trump’s emails? How come there is no mention of them? Hell, I can’t wait for the Dems to take the House and have Maxine Waters demand his taxes. 

As the Trump administration continues to spiral aimlessly I keep thinking that there is no one appointed in this administration that gives a damn about the people. They all seem to be in it for some specific purpose, some private agenda. I haven’t heard one person’s name mentioned that is serving for the honor of serving the people. Pushing a particular agenda? Yeah sure. Be it their own enrichment or some narrowly focused group, but for the good of the people? The general population? Naw. Haven’t heard of one.

As I think about both Trump and Hillary there is a distrust of each. One spawned by the ignorant stupid racist mysogynistic lying  statements and documented illegal, unethical, and immoral actions; the other because she’s been attacked for years. She’s been slimed with her husband’s actions, by rumor and innuendo, by false stories, but you know what? Did anyone ever think that yeah maybe she did some stuff to help herself and her husband and maybe she didn’t; but did anyone doubt that she wasn’t trying to help people?  

Never the less there is a perception with both that they aren’t to be trusted. One comes well deserved; the other not. 

Hillary’s biggest problem is no doubt that she is really smart and was brought up, at least since college onward, to not tolerate idiots. She’s tried to tamp that instinct down, but people resent it. But then they are the idiots. 

It’s too bad. We lost a chance to have a really competent person run this country. Now what have we got?

We watched too interesting shows the other night. One “Hard Knocks” about a training camp in the NFL.This year they did the Cleveland Browns. A team Shelby likes because Virginia Tech’s old quarterback Tyrell Taylor is their starting QB. It shows the work, the ups and downs of training in the NFL. 

The other show was “Welcome to the Circus” a repeat, but very interesting at this point in time. It has three veteran reporters on the campaign trail trying to figure out what is going on and how it’s going to turn out. This during the campaigns. It’s stunning to see how prescient Hillary was, and how lying Trump was (and still is.)

The three reporters are trying to get a handle on the Russian interference and who knows what. This is before the election. This was the real story. It got little airplay. It got some. But nowhere near enough.

Still, I wonder, will it be shown that votes were changed, or that the election was somehow illegal? I mean what if Al Capone had been elected president and he had gotten caught and thrown in jail; would his second in command be put in charge? What if it is shown that the whole thing was corrupted by multiple players with different agendas working together or apart but united by some common hatred or unspoken agenda? 

How much is too much? The Republicans threw thousands and thousands off voting rolls in key states. The Russians spewed tons and tons of fake stories. They backed a third party candidate. They helped the man in the White House get elected. They hacked into private accounts on computers. How much is too much? 

Awhile back I pointed out something Bill Maher had pointed out, in a few years the overwhelming majority of the population will live in 16 states That’s 32 Senators. That means 68 Senators will be from states with very few people. The question becomes, “How long will people put up with it?”

Answer: Until they don’t.

 986 Days to Go

PS Korean shrimp, seafood, and noodles #5

Day 591 Sunday September 2, 2018      987 Days to Go

I was listening to the radio as I went out to do some early morning shopping. There was a lady on who was an English professor at Liberty University. That’s the university founded by Jerry Falwell. It’s what they called an evangelical faith-based university. 

The woman said that they (the evangelicals) would get Bret Kavenaugh confirmed because they believed he’d be for the sanctity of life, all life, and that he’d vote to overturn Roe v Wade. 

When asked about Trump’s behavior, his paying off women he had affairs with, she said they had to overlook the little things and concentrate on the bigger things like the kids being separated from their parents at the border.

I am sick and tired of this kind of talk. Let’s stop letting these folks get away with this nonsense. 

I suggest we call faith based what it really is fairy tale based. 

The sanctity of life and the unborn is in fact a proposition that will kill women. So let’s call it something clever like, “We’re for letting women die.”

As to overlooking Trump’s behavior (Oh and she said she didn’t like Hillary’s misogyny. Was she confusing Bill’s behavior and overlaying it on Hillary? I don’t know.) Why? Why when you are being so hard on Hillary? Give me a break.

Then there was the speech writer for the White House that had to resign. Why? Oh he attended a racist meeting where White Nationalist speak and hang out. Seems he’s a racist and White Nationalist. There’s an explanation for that. It was not one that I arrived at but that a commentator made on this subject. Once I heard her explanation it became clear to me why this happened. The current White House is a racist White Nationalist organization. So of course you’ll find racists and White Nationalists if you scratch the surface. Okay, that’s explained.

Nikki Haley, our U.N. ambassador, has said that we, the United States of America, will no longer give aid to Palestinian refugees. We’ve been doing it since 1948 when their lands were taken from them, and now we aren’t going to help anymore. Why? Some of their leaders have said bad things about the U.S. So the best thing to do apparently is to let these people starve. 

Trump gave some sort of Labor Day speech. And this is surprising, it sounded to many that he’s no friend of labor!

A bishop grabbed Ariana Grande’s ass at Aretha Franklin’s funeral and others are pissed that Bill Clinton was seated near Lewis Farrakhan at the event.

John McCain was laid to rest. 

Trump, NAFTA, Canada – it seems what the Donald will do will cause prices to go up for Americans. Good work Donald. There’s no point in going into the details because the details keep changing, but no matter what I’ve heard the outcome is the same. We’ll piss off Canada, and stuff will cost more.

Oh that’s right Donald doesn’t understand tariffs. He thinks the country being tariffed pays more. In reality, ( damn, nasty word – reality ) you the consumer pay more. Oh well.

And to finish up, that woman at Liberty University said that the Evangelicals had to fight off the progressives and the liberals. What?

And in other faith based news – measles are on the rise. A disease that was all but wiped out in this country is on the rise because some people “don’t believe” in vaccinations. It’s not a question of belief. It’s a question of fact, of science, of reality (oh there’s that word again.)

 987 Days to Go

PS Blueberry Insta-Pot Muffins.