Archives for December 2021

Sunday December 26, 2021

Happy St Stephen’s Day!

In oral arguments about the Mississippi law designed to skirt Federal law and to allow vigilantes to hunt down women who are pregnant seeking an abortion and anyone helping them Brett Kavanaugh asked, why should we The Supreme Court get involved?

This was, I guess, some sort of fig leaf to say they weren’t involved. I mean this was the whole reason he and that nutty religious woman and several others were put on the Court – to overturn Roe. Now, he’s trying to act like if they do nothing the Court remains neutral.

This is as disingenuous as the questioning during the oral arguments. But the woman defending Roe answer olde Brett. By saying basically the question is – do women have a right to their bodies or not? It’s a pretty simple yes or no question. Get rid of all the rhetoric and postulating and beliefs and that’s the question.

When Roe was decided the opinion of the court was around that question and a woman’s right to privacy.

If the court let’s the Mississippi law stand, and it looks like they will then states are free to draft similar laws which skirt federal authority. Gavin Newsome in California says he will do this around guns. He’ll let people sue someone who has a gun be sued. 

The unfortunate thing is that we used to be a nation that was based on laws. Laws that were based on the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and the idea that judges and politicians, especially U.S. Senators were people acting in good faith. Today’s Republican Party has swept all that aside, as has the Supreme Court.

It’s so bad the Mitch McConnell admits that they, The Republican Party aren’t running on anything in the next election, I.e. they don’t stand for anything. They have no ideas, no policies there isn’t even the gloss that they want to help anyone. They are bought and paid for by special interests. Our democracy hangs in the balance.

We know who the enemy is. We have been looking in the mirror for decades. 

It’s way past time to do something. 

My friend, Catherine, asked me to get some photos of the dance platform in the center of The Cross Group in Palenque, Mexico, which I did. What follows are some thoughts and comments about dance platforms.

First off, I don’t think we know that these square low platforms were in fact dance platforms. Maybe, I’ve missed the documentation and thinking on this topic. I know Mary Miller had done some work in this regard, but I think her work centered around a higher Venus Platform in Tikal, which had painting or drawings on pots of people parading on the steps of that platform. 

Various stelae show kings dancing. This is signaled by them having lifted the heel of one foot. So what do we mean by dancing? In Chichicastenango, Guatemala they have a festival each year celebrated by having people dressed in highly feathered costumes and wearing a porcelain looking mask. These dressed figures dance. The kind of dancing they do, I am told and was shown, resembles what I would call “a Mexican Hat Dance.” That is a dance where a couple hold each others hands at arm’s length and alternately shoot a leg out straight at about thirty degrees. (Ie Each person puts out their right leg – heel first, and then switches to the left.)

Additionally a pole is erected outside the church for a Voladore ceremony. That is where five participants climb the pole to a large square rig. One person sits atop the pole and the other four each take a side of the rig where they attach themselves by an ankle to the rig. Music is played and the four hang upside don from the rig as it unwinds and the “dancers” descend as the ropes unspool.

David Stuart had a theory that such a ceremony Wass a rite of passage for a young man in Palenque who was or would become king. There is a drawing of the king as a young man or boy dressed in feathered plumage and the commentary associated says something about him doing some sort of dance or bird dance.

This is all I know about these platforms but I think we can indulge in some speculation.

First off these platforms appear in open areas. Either they are centered in a plaza, such as The Cross Group, or they are off to one side of the plaza. Such a platform exists in Palenque in front of the temple known as The Temple of the Count, because Jean Waldeck stayed in the building when he was at Palenque, and he claimed to be a count.

That platform is off to one side of the plaza.

Pomona has a similar set up with one platform in the center of the plaza and another off to one side. What would be the purpose of each? I could argue that the one in the center of the plaza could be used for a voladore ceremony while the one to one side would make more sense to be for a person to stand that was directing a ceremony or dancing in a costume. 

There is evidence that the Mayan kings wore elaborate head dresses and even back racks. Such paraphernalia would certainly limit one’s ability to move. About the only dancing one could do would be to stick out one’s foot or lift a heel. 

Friday December 24, 2021

I wasn’t going to write about this kind of sh*t anymore, but…but…

OMG.

Trump’s lawyers are trying to stop his stuff going to the Jan 6th committee, claiming executive privilege.

Apparently, the filing is going to the Supreme Court and is so badly done that none of the news shows would even attempt to read parts of it on air. The Jan 6th Committee’s comment that went to the Court was read in part, I guess because they used whole sentences that formed a cogent narrative. DJT’s lawyers filed on the last day they could. This to lawyers means the case isn’t serious and is just an attempt to delay, which they will get until Jan 14th. Then it will likely get tossed with a two word Latin phrase saying, “We ain’t gonna listen to it.” The Supreme Court gets between 6-8,000 requests per session and they take 65. 

So odds aren’t good, especially when it’s BS.

On to the virus, well the data is clear, if you are unvaccinated you are in trouble. Next.

Remember the big shortage problem that was being touted in the fall? What happened? Well, it never really came. Why? Turns out the Labor Secretary and the Transportation Secretary and others worked on it. They reduced paperwork time for truckers from two months to two days. They opened the ports 24/7 instead of 8/5. Goods started to flow, and the finger pointing stopped. Turns out that there is a lot turnover in some parts of the trucking biz. Turns out that there isn’t a lot of turn over with union truckers. Seems that if you pay people a decent amount they don’t quit. Who could have guessed that?

And now it turns out that out VP is actually doing a really good job. This despite various press outlets saying she’s not. One thing she has done is to rally businesses to up their commitment to Central America, and to restart programs in that area that the previous administration stopped. Turns out that people want to stay put if they can, but corruption, gangs, and no jobs forces folks to leave their homes. This seems to be a better plan than putting a racist in charge of immigration, and making photo-ops at the southern border. Who knew? Yeah, apparently the problem isn’t at the southern border but in the countries where people are fleeing for their lives. Who knew? I’ll tell you who – Henry Kissinger back when he worked for Tricky Dick. Imagine if we had followed his suggestions back then instead of doing the Republican “let’s ignore the situation” strategy? 

Now we got voting rights to work on.

As to Build Back Better, AOC nailed it. Joe Manchin can’t be trusted and the second the Progressive Caucus gave in and decoupled the two two bills one passed and the other didn’t. Just like the Progressive Caucus said would happen. Let’s keep in mind that this isn’t a progressive agenda thing, but the middle of the road President’s thing. I have to also wonder why Republicans are in office? The only thing they do when they have power is load the judgeships up with religious nuts and cut taxes on the wealthy. As to helping common people? Nah. Hey, they could help by getting on board with the President. Or they could suggest something else. Oh that’s right Susan Collins suggested that Biden do less. Why? She liked it better. Any reason? No. Same with Manchin, he likes a smaller number, why? Doesn’t matter. He likes it better. 

As to the folks hurting in Kentucky, if I were the President I’d have hauled McConnell and Paul into the Oval Office and asked them why he, the President, should give Kentucky any money to rebuild. I’d quote some to the lame BS Rand Paul had said when he voted against other states, when they needed money. I’d say to them. “You know what, I’ll do it, but you have to vote for Build Back Better at $3.54T” When they balk I’d say,”Gee, too bad. But hey Mitch you claimed Kentucky ‘punched above its weight’ when it came to Federal monies. Start punching.”

I’d then tour Kentucky and say to the people, “yeah, we want to help but your Senators don’t.”

But that’s just me.

Oh but the real thing I wanted to talk about and forgot is that Trump has aligned himself with a Chinese group that pumps out shell companies and tries to get folks to invest. I like the company that made cupcakes one year and the next year was making touch-screens. All with no employees.

Okay so it’s “Chiner” and it’s fraud – somehow they found Donald. Because it’s him they’ve raked in over $300M and may go as high as $1.2B. They’ve been in trouble with the SEC several times before and are again. Who knew? They are so bad the FINRA is involved and you got to be right on the cusp of being overtly illegal to get those folks stirred up, but this group in China has done it multiple times! Go team.

Thursday December 23, 2021

Okay, first off I’m not sure about the count. Look, I’m a busy man. I got no time for that counting stuff.

Secondly, and the point of this screed is to ask the question, “What if people do the wrong thing? Intentionally?”

This is a riff on the Spike Lee movie title “Do the Right Thing.” His title suggests that people know what to do and all they need to do is do it. That is have the courage to do it. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington has a similar idea. The thought that people will rise up and cause the right thing to be done. But…but, what if they don’t? What if people intentionally do the wrong thing? What if their followers are so misguided that the wrong thing they are doing they believe is, in fact, the right thing? 

There’s this idea that at some point an adult, or person of authority, will enter the room and call it off, i.e. they will, “do the right thing.” What if, like Godot, that person never shows up? Or worse, what if the person you expect to be that authority is actually a saboteur? What happens? 

We are about to find out. Our democracy has been attacked, repeatedly, for decades by saboteurs big and small. With little acts at first, hidden and acting in the shadows. Now, it’s out in the open and we seem unable to stop it. 

Take Georgia, they’ve passed a sweeping new election law. It allows them to take over an election board and kick off people they don’t want and fill the board with cronies. They’ve done that in Fulton County. A poor county with no public transportation just north of Atlanta. What has the new board done? Announced they are closing all the polling places but one. Some people will have to travel 23 miles to vote. They don’t have cars. There is no public transportation. What will happen?

In Texas, they got two more congressional seats based on increased population. That population increase is due to more Latino voters. What happened? The state redistricted. The Latino community didn’t get two extra seats; they lost one, due to gerrymandering. 

In Wisconsin, the Republican legislature is forcing the state to go through a sham audit of the previous election, costing the state millions. They know the result, but they don’t care. 

Trump has pulled off a coup. He has done this all his life. When he had a casino and half the slot machines weren’t working on opening day, he didn’t say there was a problem, which there was. Instead, he said they were so heavily used that they broke. Total fabrication. He has lied his whole life. He doesn’t know the truth and doesn’t care to know. This has rubbed off on others, but it was there long before Trump. It was ingrained in the DNA of the so-called conservatives. Let’s be clear, these people aren’t conservative. They are pawns being manipulated by very rich people and corporations whose only objective is to stay rich.

We have seen this play out time and again. The Koch brothers and their cronies have played this game for generations. Remember the Spanish Civil War? Yeah, Texaco used it’s influence to prop up Franco and his dictatorship. it survived for decades. Franco let Hitler try out some of his blitzkrieg tactics on the citizens of Guernica. For three days Hitler’s bombers and machine guns strafed and bombed the city, shooting women and children in the back with 50 caliber machine gun bullets as they tried to escape the carnage. Why? Guernica was the center of the Catalan people who wanted to be independent of Spanish rule. Franco denied the event for years. The truth finally came out. Thank the Koch brothers’ dad for helping Franco obtain and keep power.  

A friend of mine said his grandparents were living in Germany in the 1930s. They told him that they all knew Hitler was crazy, but it was too late when they started to act. Of course, the situation  the German people was dire after WWI and Hitler gave them hope, false hope and racism. Has much changed? What if the politicians after WWI had done a Marshall Plan instead of exacting tribute from Germany? (What if our students who were saddled with huge debts were allowed to renegotiate their debts instead of being forced like the “conservatives” want to pay off their debts multiple times over for most of their working lives?)

It’s kind of like my old pastor who once asked the question, “Can you think of a new sin?”

No. It’s the same old stuff. New faces, new tactics, new lies, but it’s the same old stuff.

Will an adult enter the room and call it off?

As Pogo said, “We have seen the enemy and they is us.”

Orson Welles in his radio broadcast “War of The Worlds” on April Fools Day 1938 terrorized the nation (well, at least New Jersey) with his adaptation of H. G. Wells’ novel of the same name. In the later adaptation with Morgan Freeman as narrator, had the Martian invaders defeated by microbes. It seems Wells got it right, except like Pogo, the enemy is us. There is no “them.” But we got microbes! Well, viruses.

The chilling thing is how much politicians are willing to go along with a lie, for the sake of their careers, their own self-interest. We now have a whole party devoted to lies. “They know better” is often said. Well, yes, some do, but now we have true believers. They believe these lies. It’s no longer a fringe group. It has become central and this I am afraid is where democracy dies.

Democracy depends on people knowing the truth. Unfortunately, there is a sophisticated and multi-pronged gaslighting operation that has been going on for years, decades. The proponents now drink their own urine along with the lies they swallow. They Believe! And that my friends is when it gets really scary.

PS The kid in Mexico. Note everyone is wearing a mask. They don’t have the stupid – unmasked. Everyone wears a mask.

December 22, 2021

A wrap-up of the year.

Many of you have probably noticed I haven’t written much lately. I’ve been busy. I’m trying to put my photos of my travels together in interesting videos. Let me say this, photos strung together in video are as interesting or less so than crappy video. I’m learning and it’s taking up most of my time. Besides, I’m tired of bitching about the same stuff. 

I just got back from a trip to Mexico. They are all masked in public. Hotels and restaurants have a thermometer on a stand upon entry and someone squirting out hand sanitizer. My hotel also had a shoe bottom bath and someone to squirt down your bags every time you entered. You can’t leave the country without getting negative Covid test within 24 hours of leaving.

In Cancun, there are pushcarts offering Covid tests.

The only people I saw unmasked were Americans.

One woman told me she wasn’t vaccinated because “Covid wasn’t real” and “She had done her own research.” Yes, American – idiot. I picked up my stuff and moved away. She wanted to argue. I told her there was no point because she knew it all. (I wish I had asked her what her research said about the ACE2 receptor, but alas, I think of these clever things too late.)

Meanwhile our president is doing what he can to get people vaccinated. There is such a media bashing of his efforts that I am stunned. We need “Rosie the Riveter” type posters with “We Can Get This Done” type slogans. I’m tired of seeing the lies and idiocies.

I had written a piece awhile back that I never posted. DJT was in trouble for claiming his golf course in New York was worth $1.7m for tax purposes while claiming to the banks when trying to get loans that it was worth $575m, or something like that. This is the basis for a claim of fraud that the Attorney General of New York is working on. I offered in my unpublished work to buy Trump’s golf course or the $1.7m (or was it $1.4? I forget) thus proving it was only worth that much and then offering to get a loan for $575m thus proving it was worth that much, thus getting the Donald off the hook, but alas, I didn’t publish and the opportunity is slipping away. However, what is interesting is that this case, according to prosecutors, is what is known as “simple fraud.” You don’t have to be a genius to see that, and you don’t need to call any witnesses because it is there in black and white. I just wish they’d get on with the arrests.

Meanwhile, the folks who stormed the Capital are trying to claim they are just the little people and were told to do it. Too bad. Jail time. Now Jim Jordan is claiming that yes he passed on tweets, but he didn’t necessarily believe them. I say, “too bad, jail time.” 

This won’t stop until people start serving serious time.

Similarly, Republicans are trying to overturn election results and to install people who will do so in the next election unless they are stopped. Once again, I suggest “Jail Time.”

How long will Matt Gaetz be allowed to parade around until he is cuffed?

And Mo Brooks, and the other people in Congress who aided and abetted in the attempt to overthrow our government?

What will happen if a state legislature overturns the popular election and send electors for the losing candidate?

I hope Donald is in jail by 2024. Hopefully, this will eliminate his running. That, and I’d like to see the argument made that he is ineligible by his own words. He claimed he won in 2020, thus he’s been elected twice and can no longer be president.

And then there’s the malfeasance issue. It is becoming clear to many that he and his administration actively worked to block scientists and doctors and administrators from stopping the Coronavirus. Isn’t there at some point where one can say, “You not only did a crappy job but it was criminal.”? 

How long must we wait?

Then there’s Manchin and the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better bill. I’m tired of people calling him a moderate or a conservative. He seems to be bought and paid for. What about the 50 Republican Senators? Do any of them care about our country? Remember their plan? Give the super rich trillions and give the working class enough to buy a Costco membership? 

I hope the Democratic Party is erecting billboards in every Republican state pointing out what those people are losing by not having this bill passed. How about one in West Virginia that points out that the money for black lung disease could be twice what it is currently – if BBB passed.

Okay, I’m done bitching for the year. Maybe.

May the fat man give you what you want.