Archives for February 2021

Sunday February 28, 2021

As I have been studying ancient ruins and the people who inhabited them I am reminded that there was a great emphasis on the afterlife despite no evidence of its existence. Yet, we keep hoping.

There are “mysteries” which have been shown time and again to not be mysterious, yet the rumor and mystery story still exists. Atlantis, The Bermuda Triangle, Mormonism have all been explained and or shown to be what they are or are not, yet people still believe. Why? What is it about us as a people that we would rather believe something that has been shown to be not true or a hoax rather than accept the more reliable and certain? 

I can understand how in the retelling of a story the facts get jumbled, the names updated, and what not. When I look at the ancient religions and I compare them to today’s has much changed? Not really. As science pushes back on our ignorance religion has retreated into more etherial realms, but the basic ideas still hold. Most religions still have a priest class that carry out the ceremonies and interpret the beliefs.

It is interesting to me that people can be so anamate and sure in something they can not prove worth a wit. 

That belief may be in the form of a religion or a ouija board.

Several decades ago people were playing Dungeons and Dragons. Some people killed themselves over the game. I was never sure why, but I know it happened. 

Then we got the reality based games with screens, 3D modeling and controllers. It started out shooting UFOs, then little men, zombies, now ii’s military, assassins, and street hustlers.

Now we have Quanon, which has blended their own reality into the real world. No one seems to say, “Hey wait a minute. This isn’t real.” Well, okay. A lot of people do, but we are seeing more and more people WHO BELIEVE! And that’s dangerous. 

I remember a decade or so ago a woman showed up out on Long Island with a long rifle and was going to free the people trapped inside a government building because Glen Beck jabbered on about some wacky conspiracy thing. Then we got the folks showing up at a pizza parlor in DC where it was alleged Hillary was running a child porn sex ring out of the basement. The fact that the pizza parlor was built on a slab of concrete seemed to do nothing to stop the speculation.

Have we lost our minds? Or did we not have any to begin with?

PS The Holy Trinity

Thursday February 25, 2021

Before we get to the real stuff going on let me give a shout out to Moscow Mitch. When asked about the Coronavirus $1.9 T package he did a great shuck and jive. See, over 70% of the population like the package and over 60% of Republicans like it, kind of makes it hard to vote against doesn’t it? Not for Mitch and da gang! Oh no.

Let’s break it down, because this is classic McConnell obstructionism:

“Everybody likes getting a check” (Whoa, dude right on!)

“However, there are signs the economy is doing better” (The corner is about to be turned. Watch out!)

“We want ‘targeted’ relief…” (Love that buzzword ‘targeted’! What does it mean? It means Mitch is going to figure out a way to not give YOU a check.)

“Once the ‘American People’ learn what else is in the package…” (Yeah? Like what? Why aren’t you specific? Oh, because they like everything and you got  nothing?)

“We are looking forward not backward.” (Did you do that with your huge tax cut package? I bet you did. Filled your political coffers nicely didn’t it?)

To sum up. When McConnell was asked about the relief package he didn’t answer whether he was going to support it, because he won’t. He sniped at unspecific details and used stock phrases to try and sound like he was doing his darnedest to be a good overseer of not spending too much, something that never occurs to him when he has the power.

Okay, moving on. J&J are closer to getting their vaccine approved. It doesn’t require the deep refrigeration like some of the others, and it’s one shot. Moderna is working on vaccine tweaking for the variants. Numbers are coming down. Amazing what happens when you have a leader taking responsibility and developing a national response. 

But the big news will be what the intelligence community is supposed to release today on the killing of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khasshoggi. President Biden spoke yesterday with the King of Saudi Arabia, not his son, who is reputed to have ordered the execution. No doubt, what the intelligence community has will point directly to the crown prince, known as MBS. What I’m wondering is will they also show that Jared, who was in constant communication with MBS, gave the crown prince confidence that nothing would happen if he killed and hacked Jamal to death? 

The adjective used the most with Satan is “transactional.” I’m never sure what that word means. The dictionary defines it as relating to doing business, especially buying and selling. It seems to mean with Satan that he was willing to give up anything to get the deal. When MBS met Jared the reports were that he was stunned at “how transactional” Jared was. Does that mean that as long as Jared got whatever he wanted he didn’t care if that meant you can kill a U.S. citizen who is a Washington Post reporter and the U.S. won’t do anything?

There were also two great clips coming from yesterday’s review of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s management of the Post Office. He was appointed by Satan. He wasn’t on the original list of those being considered. He had no experience in postal stuff, as was evident when Katie Porter questioned him. He held stock in a company that competed with the post office and once he got in immediately started doing whatever he could to destroy the post office’s ability to deliver mail. Since he has been in office on time delivery of mail has fallen much like the Covid numbers. That is to say like the slope of a double black diamond. Quite a feat. You can’t say he hasn’t managed the Post Office, because he has. It was Trump’s intention and his henchman has been dutifully carrying it out. 

This led to two exchanges yesterday in the House oversight committee’s hearing with DeJoy. I don’t know what DeJoy did or said, because he wasn’t the main attraction. I understand he was his smiling truculent self. But first off was a Massachusetts Congressman who followed a Georgia Congressman. (Dem following Republican.)

The Georgia Congressman said that the mail was being delivered at a very high percentage in terms of the ballots for the last election. The Massachusetts Congressman said he found this very interesting because not that long ago the Georgia representative had voted to overturn the results in two state elections for President based on the idea that the mail in ballots were not legit.

This was only the opening salvo. Then Jim Jordan got his turn. You really don’t have to listen to Jordan because it’s the same act. He sits there hunched over slightly, goofy sarcastic smile on his smug face, no jacket, no mask, and he says inane things. Disgusting things. 

When his time was up it was time for Gerry Connolly to speak. To say he ripped Jordan a new one would be appropriate. He said he would not be lectured by on bipartisanship by someone who voted to overturn the election. He also pointed out that the idea that the election was unfair was a Republican idea promulgated by the past president, not a Democratic idea as proposed by Jordan.

Here’s a snippet of those exchanges:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/02/25/post-office-connolly-jim-jordan-bipartisan-lecture-exchange-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/

Okay, we’ve got two more pieces of information for ya:

1) The Biden administration has been able to reunite slightly over 100 kids separated from their parents by Stephen Miller*. That leaves about 500 kids still to be reunited.

*Stephen did not personally do it, but I bet he would have liked to do so. He had Immigration do it for him.

2) The girl who stole the laptop from Nancy Pelosi’s office has been identified as the woman dancing in a video that is chock full of white supremacist slogans, signs, and Nazi stuff, including ending with a Hitler salute and words underneath praising Hitler. The laptop has not been recovered.

PS Rock of Joy

Wednesday February 24, 2021

I understand we need decorum in our chambers of government, but I also think idiots need to be held to account.

I offer up two examples:

1 – Ron Johnson, Republican Senator from Wisconsin, went on and on yesterday that the events at the Capitol were not an armed insurrection by Trump supporters but rather a few provocateurs dressed up in Trump gear that insighted the crowd of mostly peaceful MAGA folks. This is clearly Bull Shit. He should “be held to account.” But instead they let him say this stupidity and then other Senators can tweet out that it is untrue. But I’d like to see someone say, “Senator other than the one article you are reading from, which is an opinion piece by a controversial right wing questionable group calling itself a think tank and having a history of various phobias especially against Islam, do you have any concrete evidence?”

Then there’s Josh Hawley saying similar stupid stuff.

2 – This phenomena isn’t confined to the U.S. Capitol. The states have far worse people and actors. I give you Amanda Chase, Republican senator from the state of Virginia. She first came to prominence when she wanted to park her car in front of the State Capitol because she was too lazy to park in the parking lot and walk the distance. She claimed she was scared to park there. She also boasts she carries a gun in her purse and I think wanted to take it onto the Senate floor. She’s been videoed pushing vote buttons on other senators desks when they aren’t there (I think it was her.) But that was just her warm up. Well, wait, one more before we get to the real stuff. I went to a “town hall” where she and former Congressman Dave Bratt were in charge. The crowd was not friendly. I guess it had something to do with the BS and steamrolling that she and Bratt tried to pull off. At one point, she was so enraged that she stood at the edge of the stage, stomped her foot, and said, “This is my Town Hall.” 

I’ve noticed that her look that day was quite different than the young blond haired picture she runs on her election posters. 

But now Amanda is on a whole different plane. Well, the same old one only more so. 

Remember the two guys who were busted outside a Phillie vote counting center? They had unlicensed guns, and were attempting to stuff the ballot box with phony ballots. Yeah, well they were photographed with Chase shortly before their little run. Big Chase supporters. 

I think it was at a “Stop the Steal” rally. Apparently, Chase attended or ran a bunch of those rallies. She was very active in them.

She also seems to think Covid is some kind of hoax. No doubt perpetrated by Hugo Chavez and George Soros. She refuses to wear a mask in the State Senate Chamber. So they’ve put a plexiglass box around her. Isolated.

She says she’s running for Governor and the scary thing is she’s the lead candidate among Republican voters.

The problem is that these fools get elected and then they infect and destroy even more of our democracy. 

Meanwhile, the Republicans and Joe Manchin have adopted a holier than thou attitude, or some say double standard, when it comes to some of Biden’s cabinet picks. They don’t like the pick for Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland. I get it. American Indian. Can track her heritage in this continent back 35 generations. What does she know?

She believes Climate Change is real and will use science to clean up the environment. Republicans are concerned that she will kill jobs. That of course it not the issue. The issue is they want their rich contributors to be able to drill in our National Parks and everywhere else.

Neera Tanden’s nomination “is in peril,” because she has sent out mean tweets in the past and the Republicans’ sensibilities are offended. Aw. She compared Mitch McConnell to Voldermort and called him “Moscow Mitch.” Well, is he? What’s the matter? Should she say, “Can’t take a joke?” or “You let that guy who you confirmed for Ambassador to Germany get away with calling women fat pigs and the like, what’s the big deal? Put on your big boy pants.”

I think at a minimum they should bring in posters of Mitch and Voldermort and compare them and then maybe she should say, “Yeah, you’re right you don’t look like him. You only act like him. You know as in the comments you made about being the Grim Reaper. That’s what I meant. I stick by that.”

But that’s not what’s going to happen. What will happen is she’ll say she regrets her comments and it won’t change a vote and either Manchin will come around or one Republican will vote for her or not. Forget the fact that she is really qualified to do the job. You wouldn’t want a kick ass woman running OMB would you? You may not be able to get away with the stunts you pulled off during other administrations.

Ah me.

PS Me and the bead lady at Isa Khan’s Tomb, Southeast Delhi, Feb 14, 2020. 

Tuesday February 23, 2021

My intention, when I set out to write this book, was simply to tell one of the most exciting adventures of modern times as truthfully as possible. As the work advanced, the excitement did not abate, but the difficulty of establishing the truth became increasingly evident. It would be convenient if the historian, by various ‘scientific’ methods of analyzing the sum of documentary evidence, could reach factual certainty about what really happened. Documentary evidence, however falsified, must not be ignored, of course, but whenever it is in conflict with elementary common sense it should be regarded with extreme diffidence. In the last resort the historian, like any humble member of a trial jury, is compelled to let his instinct and his experience of human affairs supplement that contradictory assertions put before him, or else he is a fool.

So begins the Preface to J. Christopher Herold’s book “Bonaparte in Egypt.”

He goes on to give credit to La Jonquière, whom he refers to as “the most scrupulous historian I have ever read.” La Jonquière was an officer in the French army. He wrote under their authority five volumes and many unpublished documents of the campaign. He was however a patriot with great respect for Bonaparte. Herold goes on to say that all scholars on this subject use La Jonquière even if they don’t give him credit.

At this point I am torn in two directions. To write about the great literary works and their effect, and to loo at the politics of then and compare to now. I will save the literary discussion until later. I wander if Herold was hinting that La Jonquière was the Sean Spicer of his day? Herold has much more respect for La Jonquière than anyone would have for the job that Spicer did. However, the thought remains.

Napoleon was a great general and a terrific PR man. Egypt militarily was a disaster. However, Napoleon took with him to Egypt 150 scientists and scholars. They laid down the foundations of modern Egyptology. Beyond that Napoleon created what became the Louvre and in so doing created the idea of the modern museum. Before him the wealthy had “Cabinets of Curiosities.” Artifacts and what not that one could go inspect, perhaps after dinner? 

I only know of one museum that has anything like a cabinet of curiosities and that is The Walters Gallery in Baltimore. They have a room which is stuffed with curiosities. I can’t tell from their map if it is The Great Room or The Grand Salon, but when I entered I thought I had gone back in time. Perhaps to the time of Teddy Roosevelt, and this was the room that he collected stuff from his travels and adventures. Horns and armor, bugs and birds, engraved this and translucent that. Fabulous. Especially for a kid! (Parents take note!)

Napoleon when he realized he couldn’t fulfill his dream to do as Alexander had done, left his men and returned to Egypt. It was a disaster. What did he do on return to France? Had a medal struck in his honor. Great victory in Egypt! (Sound familiar?) Descriptions of Napoleon paint a picture of a driven man, but not liked. Respected and smart (okay comparisons to recent times break down) armed with the flame of revolution and thoughts of brotherhood and egalitarianism he used it all to his advantage.

I kind of get the sense that he was a blend of Ted Cruz, Satan, and Biden. 

Oh well, where was I?

Quick Quiz – If you are an elected official in Texas and disaster strikes :

1. What do you do?

A. Try to marshall resources and help

B. Blame the Green New Deal

C. Blame the weather

D. Blame the operators of the power grid

E. Excuse the event as a “once in a life time event”

F. Go on Fox News and claim any of B-E

2. Where do you go?

A. Cancun,

B. Utah,

C. Hiding

3. When citizens are sent sky high electric bills and have the money automatically taken out of their accounts, you:

A. Hold a press conference and say you’ll get to the bottom of it

B. Claim they should have read the fine print – too bad, so sad

C. Go on Fox News and claim that Texas has some of the lowest energy prices anywhere

D. Say nothing

Answer Key: It depends:

If you are Greg Abbott the governor – 1. B-E, 2. C, 3. D

If you are the AG for the state – 2B (skipping 1 and 3)

If you are Ted Cruz – 1. F, 2. A, 3. D

Answers may not be complete or correct, and could possibly change over time.

You didn’t cheat by looking up the answers did you?

If you are a person who lost an election to one of the elected officials or if you are a Congresswoman attacked by said elected officials of Texas what do you do?

A. You raise money for Texas, like $5 million and you go to Texas and help out.

B. You tour the state bringing awareness to underserved communities and you marshall resources to help those in need.

C. You are in charge of a House Committee that investigates such disasters and you bring change so it doesn’t happen (Not gonna say “again”) but for a fourth time. It’s happened in 1989, 2011, and 2021. Curiously, these disaster all happened when Republicans were governors. 

In other news the $1.9T Covid Relief package is sailing through the committees of the House and should be ready for a floor vote by Friday. Lawrence O’Donnell, no newbie to legislative matters, says he’s never seen anything like it. The Democrats are staying united, they are not letting the Republicans gum up the works. In fact, they are asking for the Republican input, but hey guess what? The Republicans, as per usual, got nothing.

All of a sudden the Republicans and Joe Manchen are offended by what they consider mean tweets. Neera Tanden made tweets that as far as I have seen were critical, sometimes sharply critical of people, but mean? I don’t think she was body shaming or calling people derogatory names or worse, like some of the nominees that Republicans voted for during the reign of Satan.

The Supreme Court refuses to hear the case of Trump’s tax returns opening the door for the information to be given to the city prosecutor of New York. What’s the big deal? Fake news. Witch hunt. And oh yes: tax fraud, insurance fraud, bank fraud, illegal campaign contributions, and like that there. Could be state level only, or Federal as well. Questions arise like – how could sweet little Ivanka be an employee and consultant at the same time? Were the hush payments to Stormy Daniels and others correctly reported? (Hey, come on, there’s no line for ‘hush payments’! Oh wait, there is one for bribes? Maybe it should have gone there? Who knows? Oh, they do know? Never mind.)

It’s probably all a lot of noise about nothing, don’t you think? What? The New York prosecutor has hired a top mob lawyer? And an accounting firm that specializes in forensic accounting? Hum. Maybe, Donnie in trouble plenty?

But that’s not all the New York prosecutor will get. They’ll get the back up data to the tax returns too. You know, like “On your tax returns you said the property was only worth ten grand but on the loan application you said ten million. Slip of the pen? Odd, it seems that you have a very slippery pen because it happens so often.”

Donald released a statement about this. For those who have read it, they report it seems like a long rambling bunch of twitter tweets. Cy Vance, the prosecutor put out a three word statement, “The work continues.” 

Where do, we the people, buy a cow sized rotator spit and hot coal bed?

Mike Lindell, the myPillow guy, is being sued for $1.3 billion by the voting machine people. They claim he knew better and was using it to sell his crappy pillows.

A black man was arrested in Texas for walking on an icy street. Charges have been dropped.

In Aurora it has been determined that police didn’t have legal cause to stop a man. Too bad, they choked him to death.

Italy’s ambassador to the Congo was assassinated there.

Aaron Rodgers in engaged to “not Olivia Munn.” Who knew?

PS Before and after the 2^nd ice storm.

Monday February 22, 2021

I dream that Joe Biden will walk into the Senate chamber and have a bullet pointed sign listing all the items on his $1.9 trillion package.

And I hope he’ll ask for a show of hands on each item from the Senators, both Democrat and Republican, if they want to cut that item, and if so by how much.

Maybe, a Senator would like an increase? Speak up.

Maybe, a cut? Okay. “What’s your name?” “Let the record show that Senator such-and-such wants to cut X number of dollars from this and so.”

I think that the cuts should be unfairly proportioned. Any Senator who wants to have a cut should have his state’s allocation cut by double the allotted amount. 

I’m betting that not a single Senator from the Republican side will raise a hand. Not one. 

PS – Perseverance Landing.