Day 813 Saturday March 30, 2019
583 Days to the 2020 election and 661 Days to Inauguration Day
Three Words: Agency, Transparency, Transactional
I know what one of them means. The other two, I’m not so sure. I’ve been hoping to ferret out their meanings when used in a sentence, but no luck.
When someone says the people of so and so need more agency or were given agency – what does that mean? Because I don’t really understand the word I may not be using it properly.
Transparency as in “we need more transparency,” means tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It’s kind of an upgraded term from some older term. That reminds me of George Carlin’s routine on “shell shock” the World War I term that every war gets a bigger and wordier term for the same thing. In this case they’ve gone the other way and shrunk it down to one word from many. Not sure I like it, but I think I understand the word and how it is used.
Then there’s transactional. Trump is transactional. Jared Kushner is even more transactional. In fact, he’s the most transactional person the Saudis have ever met and they are deeply alarmed by this and I take it from the context of what I’ve read that being transactional is bad, being very transactional is very bad. Therefore Trump is bad, but Jared is worse. Now, if I only fully understood what that meant. Ah me.
But first, some clarity. William Barr, the now Attorney General, has issued what is called a two page letter, which is more like one and a half, and if you take out the address headers is more like one, to clarify what his four page, actually three and a half page, earlier letter was supposed to be and not to be (Hey, wouldn’t that make a great line in a play “to be and not to be”? It’s close. Needs a little tweaking. (Not tweeting: or twerking. Ha, I’m a riot.) :::))) )
William Barr’s new letter was issued to clarify his last letter. His last letter has been called a summary by some. Mr. Barr has made clear in his new letter that his old letter was not a summary but was in fact a summary, his new letter is a not a summary either, but is a summary. For some reason, and let me summarize, some people ain’t taking this shit. I think Mr. Barr wants agency and is hoping via this transaction to be transparent but he’s not. This is so far beyond farce, tragedy, and the sublime ludicrous that it’s hard to find puffed up words to express the utter stupidity of this. I would like it a whole lot better if they all put on Kabuki masks, Samurai outfits, and acted out their parts on a stage with giant drums and a dragon.
Okay, going to look up agency then use it in a sentence …
def – (number 2) “action or intervention, especially to produce a particular effect,”
“a thing or person that acts to produce a particular result.”
Hum, producing a particular effect by an action, intervention, person or thing – huh?
“William Barr’s writing summary letters are agency of outrage…” Not quite right.
“The agency of Barr’s writing summary letters has produced outrage..” Better?
Okay, let’s do transactional …
(The last time I saw transactional used a lot was when the book “I’m Okay, You’re Okay” came out and they talked about Transactional Analysis. Which is the interaction between two or three people. Oh wait was that “Games People Play”? Yeah, think so. Both are great books and everybody should read them. (That’s the kiss of death.))
def – transactional: 1) “relating to the conducting of business, especially buying and selling,”
2) “relating to the exchange of social evolution.”
Okay, so definition number 2 is the one I’ve know about. Definition number 1 is the one that relates to Jared and Donald. In other words, they’d sell their grandmother into slavery to make a deal. The implication I’ve gotten from how transactional has been used recently is that the person involved wants to make a deal (ie buying and selling) without regard for long term consequences.
In another fascinating tidbit of news it’s been reported that Trump has spent $4.5 million in facebook ads attacking people he doesn’t like. This is more than double what all the Democratic challengers have spent so far combined. These ads are highly targeted to his base. The ads reportedly are pure playground type bullying ads. They are mean, petty, and lacking any real content or positive suggestion. That is where we are.
583 Days to the 2020 election and 661 Days to Inauguration Day
PS DC Taxi sign – Know Your Rights – “Passengers Have the Right to be Taken to Their Destination” Who knew?
Know Your Rights
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