tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76633834141668131162024-03-05T03:38:57.765-05:00(NUNAL) (EYEBALL)Observations of the OrbDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.comBlogger1031125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-51835922854127740342019-04-26T11:00:00.001-04:002019-04-26T11:00:14.878-04:00Without question, this is the most trenchant and persuasive reading of the Mueller report, from Benjamin Wittes. Completely essential.<br />
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<a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/notes-mueller-report-reading-diary" target="_blank">Notes on the Mueller Report: A Reading Diary</a></h1>
DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-50014297963872127702018-08-09T13:48:00.000-04:002018-08-09T13:48:03.828-04:00<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/08/china-abandoned-bike-share-graveyards/566576/" target="_blank">These pictures of bicycle graveyards in China</a> are crazy and absolutely mind bogglingDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-76212187256197826272018-05-05T22:16:00.002-04:002018-05-05T22:17:58.466-04:00Like you, I read constantly about the destruction of norms in a frail constitutional republic, read with an persistent and gnawing sense of dread. But for some reason I haven't been constantly linking to stories. Nunal never had pretensions to being a news aggregator.But this piece was especially good to pass along because it states the issues we face with complete clarity:<br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<b><a href="https://balkin.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-liar-bigot-criminal-sexual-predator.html" target="_blank">A Liar, A Bigot, A Criminal, A Sexual Predator and a Probable Traitor</a></b></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<a href="https://balkin.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-liar-bigot-criminal-sexual-predator.html" target="_blank">Mark Graber</a></div>
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"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;">The President of the United States is a liar, a bigot, a criminal, a sexual predator and a probable traitor.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;">...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;">Sandy and I reject the “don’t tell the children” approach in 2018 to executive power, that pretends that Donald Trump is no different than Abraham Lincoln or even Chester Arthur, and is entitled to the same deference as presidents who are not liars, bigots, criminals, sexual predators, and probably traitors.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>More important, we want to open a conversation about the constitutional significance of a president who is a liar, a bigot, a criminal, a sexual predator, and a probable traitor, as well as a party that is increasingly supportive of that liar, bigot, criminal, sexual predator and probable traitor (while for the most part not denying they are supporting a liar, bigot, criminal, sexual predator and probable traitor).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Part of that conversation concerns whether when a bigot on the campaign trail speaks of a “Muslim ban,” lawyers for the Justice Department may successfully insist that the resulting plan is not really a Muslim ban and other related questions of executive power in the Trump Age.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The more fundamental constitutional issue is whether a constitutional order in which an increasingly number of people are pledging allegiance to a liar, a bigot, a criminal, a sexual predator and a probable traitor can be repaired and what such repairs might look like."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;">It's worth linking through to<a href="https://www.chapman.edu/law/_files/chapman-law-review/clr-21-7-Levinson-Graber.pdf" target="_blank"> the longer article in the Chapman Law Review </a></span>DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-85021065068962308922018-01-29T22:36:00.000-05:002018-01-29T22:36:38.257-05:00Benjamin Wittes has written <a href="https://lawfareblog.com/big-lies-law-enforcement" target="_blank">an excellent piece dissecting the Trump Big Lie strategy</a>:<br />
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"<span style="color: #222222; font-family: pt-serif, Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 20px;">The purpose of this big lie is twofold: the lie discredits the investigation against Trump in the minds of a large swath of the public and, perhaps more importantly, tends to tear down the institutions responsible for such investigations in general, with an eye toward their reconstitution in the image of the lie itself. In other words, the goal is to use the lie of politicized law enforcement to effectuate the politicization of law enforcement. By falsely describing a set of corrupt institutions, even by complaining of them, it is possible to lower public expectations to the point of accepting their corruption. Indeed, the lie seeks not merely to destroy the current leadership and install leadership more apt to behave in the fashion the president wants; it also erodes public confidence in the premise that a different reality ever existed."</span>DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-17379616636275997682017-11-06T10:41:00.003-05:002017-11-06T10:41:40.112-05:00This cop was given a medal of honor after shooting the man nine times once he was on the ground, and then stomping him on the head with a running start. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-oc-sheriff-shooting-court-20171101-story.html" target="_blank">Watch the video</a>.DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-6194788744452602182017-09-16T22:38:00.000-04:002017-09-16T22:38:25.984-04:00Juggalo lives matterThat title was taken from multiple signs at the Juggalo march in DC<br />
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I will admit that I have only ever tangentially paid attention to the Insane Clown Posse, but over the past few weeks I've been reading <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/21/16163816/insane-clown-posses-juggalomarch--on-washington" target="_blank">some really quite fascinating articles on them</a> and have to admit that the rise of the "<a href="https://twitter.com/StruggaloCircus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.avclub.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-888105333922516992%26autosize%3D1" target="_blank">Struggalo Circus</a>" is pretty amazing. They described themselves this way: "We're the Struggalo Circus: a ragtag and messy coalition between radicals and juggalos. We're libertarians, socialists, communists, anarchists, and more!"<br />
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The communitarian vibe at the annual Gathering of the Juggalos is really striking. Watch one of the dozens of documentary looks at the gatherting available on Youtube (if you can get through them, it ain't easy). The top words in about a dozen of them I just watched are "family" and "love." It doesn't seem like a side aspect, it is central to the scene right alongside the partying and everything else.<br />
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Now, with the march in DC, a pretty good case is being made in a variety of ways that they present a <a href="https://mic.com/articles/184301/are-juggalos-the-new-horror-clown-face-of-anti-trump-anger#.3yiY1gUca" target="_blank">fairly significant aspect of anti-Trump politics.</a><br />
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<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"ICP’s first album, released in 1992, featured a song called “Your Rebel Flag” about violently murdering Confederates and racists. As today’s country’s pearl-clutching moderates wag their fingers at anti-fascist violence, and conservatives cling to Confederate monuments as proud symbols of Southern “heritage,” Juggalos have known where they stood for decades.<br />“Rednecks call it pride/ Pride for what?/ White pride for slavery it sickens my gut/ I see that flag as a challenge that you want to fight,” Violent J <a href="https://genius.com/Insane-clown-posse-confederate-flag-lyrics">raps</a>on the 2015 song “Confederate Flag,” warning listeners they’ll get “punched in their faces, reppin’ the racists.”<br />For liberal elites who want to see rural whites as irredeemable racists, Juggalos complicate the narrative.<br />“There’s Juggalos all over the South that don’t wave it/ Proud of where they’re from but that flag, they hate it/ Cause they understand it’s a symbol of slavery,” Shaggy 2 Dope raps on “Your Rebel Flag.”<br />Which is not to say that Juggalos are what a typical liberal would call “woke.” Beyond the sheer macho gruesomeness of ICP lyrics, the horrorcore rappers have been taken to task for casual misogyny and homophobia. The Juggalos’ yearly drug-fueled jamboree, the notorious Gathering of the Juggalos, is thick with a <a href="http://deadspin.com/5831225/dropping-in-on-the-demented-utopia-of-the-gathering-of-the-juggalos">widely accepted</a> show-me-your-tits ethos that’s unavoidable as a part of the festivities."</blockquote>
DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-86362727380809946252017-09-08T10:41:00.000-04:002017-09-08T10:41:11.549-04:00Vincente for Preisdente<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ukv9v7IGZw" width="560"></iframe>DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-69267071373232190032017-08-29T21:27:00.001-04:002017-08-29T21:28:28.289-04:00two hats marked "shamless" and "classless"I though it was weird to see that photo earlier today in which Trump was carrying TWO hats with him when he went to his <strike>campaign event/ </strike>hurricane response tour in Texas, and it turns out to have been <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-uses-natural-disaster-to-promote-his-hats-9cc7929b9868/" target="_blank">a truly crass and entirely characteristic marketing move</a>.DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-32018178920011425732017-08-29T20:54:00.001-04:002017-08-29T20:54:24.170-04:00Just in case the news from Houston could not be any more insane, there is the fact that <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/fire-ants-flooding-hurricane-harvey/538365/" target="_blank">fire ants travel on water on huge rafts and gain 165% more venom after being submerged</a>.DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-18632198660570036422017-08-23T12:07:00.002-04:002017-08-23T12:07:36.684-04:00Just exactly how delusional are Trump voters? It is hard to gauge, but <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2017/08/trump-holds-steady-after-charlottesville-supporters-think-whites-christians-face-discrimination.html" target="_blank">this poll</a> gives some guidance.<br />
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<br /><br />"PPP's newest national poll finds that Donald Trump's approval rating is pretty steady in the wake of the Charlottesville attack, probably because his supporters think that whites and Christians are the most oppressed groups of people in the country. 40% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing to 53% who disapprove, little change from the 41/55 spread we found for him in July.<br /><br />The reason Trump hasn't lost more ground for his widely panned response to the attack is probably that many of his supporters agree with some of the beliefs that led white supremacists to rally in Charlottesville in the first place. Asked what racial group they think faces the most discrimination in America, 45% of Trump voters say it's white people followed by 17% for Native Americans with 16% picking African Americans, and 5% picking Latinos. Asked what religious group they think faces the most discrimination in America, 54% of Trump voters says it's Christians followed by 22% for Muslims and 12% for Jews. There is a mindset among many Trump voters that it's whites and Christians getting trampled on in America that makes it unlikely they would abandon Trump over his 'both sides' rhetoric."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yup, Trump voters think white Christians face the most discrimination in America. Maybe they think that people burning crosses are somehow attacking Christianity??<div>
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Even though I am persuaded by <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/03/frank-rich-response-new-york-magazine-trump-ryan-chaffetz-obamacare/" target="_blank">this argument</a>, please do remind me again why we should be concerning ourselves with the opinions of Trump voters who are obviously living in lala land? It isn't really an empathy gap. It is the difference between rationalism and base line stupidity.</div>
DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-1129926473396147262017-07-11T13:49:00.000-04:002017-07-11T13:49:27.803-04:00Hard to believe how fast and thick the stories about Trump's criminality come, but there is no end in sight.<br />
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One of the most pathetic excuses the Trumpistas have pushed for a while with each revelation--the claim that we should excuse criminal and even treasonous behavior because Trump et al are new to this governing thing. For exampkle, Rightwing shill Ed Roges uses the claim of this all being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/07/11/the-medias-mass-hysteria-over-collusion-is-out-of-control/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.5f125f3e690e" target="_blank">"rookie, amateur mistake" repeatedly in today's column.</a><br />
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One thing about rookie mistakes is that they don't matter so much if they are legal but stupid. But when they are illegal and stupid...well, see, that does matter. Especially when the stupid rookie mistakes are made by someone signing up to be the putative leader of the free world. No room for rookie, amateur mistakes.<br />
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And the interesting thing is that somehow, all of these serial rookie, amateur mistakes are made when the Russians are involved.DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-57317246196614405652017-07-10T21:16:00.002-04:002017-07-10T21:18:44.618-04:00"of course not..."With the constant barrage of new revelations, it is important to remember that ALL members of the Trump universe have been lying and subverting the country from the start. Some do it in bombastic, outraged, and consistently foolish ways (everyone in the White House from Trump on down), b;laming "media bias." And others do it with the aw-shucks, head shaking bewilderment that Pence has perfected as he has consistently lied in bootlicking servility to Trump. He seems like he might be trustworthy, <a href="https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/884177579950968832" target="_blank">but he is a liar</a>.<br />
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DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-73224602567117495042017-05-30T15:38:00.002-04:002017-05-30T15:38:16.614-04:00The Bohemian SouthI was really happy to receive in the mail today a book titled <i>The Bohemian South: Creating Countercultures, from Poe to Punk</i>. You can read more about it <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469631677/the-bohemian-south/" target="_blank">here</a> and buy a copy <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bohemian-South-Creating-Countercultures-Punk/dp/1469631679/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496172888&sr=8-1&keywords=bohemian+south" target="_blank">here </a><br />
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I have a chapter in this collection about a cool musical sub-sub-culture, called "Reimagined Old-Time Music Cultures in the Trainhopping Punk Rock South"DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-72057968815439841732017-04-25T22:31:00.001-04:002017-04-25T22:31:08.538-04:00Here is comes, government by extortion and theft.<br />
<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.axios.com/ted-cruz-introduces-el-chapo-act-to-pay-for-the-wall-2378374826.html" target="_blank">Ted Cruz introduces "EL CHAPO Act" to pay for the wall</a><div>
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"<span style="background-color: white; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: atiza_textregular, serif; font-size: 16px;">Senator Ted Cruz wants to use assets seized from drug lords such as El Chapo, the Mexican kingpin who was recently extradited to the U.S., to pay for border security and the border wall.</span><ul style="background-color: white; color: #4a4a4a; font-family: atiza_textregular, serif; font-size: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 35px; position: relative;"><strong>The idea:</strong> U.S. prosecutors are seeking $14 billion in drug profits and other assets from El Chapo. They also routinely seize the assets of other drug dealers and traffickers.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 35px; position: relative;"><strong>The Cruz quote:</strong> "Fourteen billion dollars will go a long way toward building a wall that will keep Americans safe and hinder the illegal flow of drugs, weapons, and individuals across our southern border."</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 35px; position: relative;"><strong>The acronym's meaning:</strong> Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 35px; position: relative;"><strong>Why it matters:</strong> President Trump is trying to figure out how to <a data-linked-post="2216737417" href="https://www.axios.com/the-cost-of-trumps-wall-keepss-getting-higher-and-higher-2216737417.html" style="background: linear-gradient(rgb(255, 255, 255), rgb(255, 255, 255)) 0px 95% / 0.05em 1px no-repeat, linear-gradient(rgb(255, 255, 255), rgb(255, 255, 255)) 100% 95% / 0.05em 1px no-repeat, linear-gradient(rgb(48, 142, 202), rgb(48, 142, 202)) 0px 95% / 1px 1px repeat-x; color: #4a4a4a; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">pay for his border wall</a>, which will require American taxpayers to <a data-linked-post="2217210218" href="https://www.axios.com/trumps-found-a-way-to-pay-for-the-border-wall-import-taxes-2217210218.html" style="background: linear-gradient(rgb(255, 255, 255), rgb(255, 255, 255)) 0px 95% / 0.05em 1px no-repeat, linear-gradient(rgb(255, 255, 255), rgb(255, 255, 255)) 100% 95% / 0.05em 1px no-repeat, linear-gradient(rgb(48, 142, 202), rgb(48, 142, 202)) 0px 95% / 1px 1px repeat-x; color: #4a4a4a; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">front the bill</a>, but Republicans <a data-linked-post="2378512294" href="https://www.axios.com/no-funding-for-border-wall-in-new-gop-spending-bill-2378512294.html" style="background: linear-gradient(rgb(255, 255, 255), rgb(255, 255, 255)) 0px 95% / 0.05em 1px no-repeat, linear-gradient(rgb(255, 255, 255), rgb(255, 255, 255)) 100% 95% / 0.05em 1px no-repeat, linear-gradient(rgb(48, 142, 202), rgb(48, 142, 202)) 0px 95% / 1px 1px repeat-x; color: #4a4a4a; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">aren't helping</a> at the moment."</li>
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DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-49866680035337012712017-04-25T22:27:00.001-04:002017-04-25T22:32:48.766-04:00worse every freaking dayok, for the moment even leaving aside Trump's utter incompetence, venality, racism, and general but consistent stupidity, let's just agree <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/04/24/trump-boasts-of-highest-tv-ratings-since-the-world-trade-center-came-down/?utm_term=.aef11b7bebba&hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_factchecker-612a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory" target="_blank">the man is just an appalling fool </a>. He just compared his ratings to those of the terrorist mass murder of 9-11:<br />
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"Now, in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/24/trumps-bragging-boastful-ap-interview-annotated/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_interview-730a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.3a02d9fe71d1">an interview with the Associated Press</a> released Sunday, Trump set a new standard of hubris even for himself — comparing his ratings prowess to one of the darkest days in U.S. history: Sept. 11, 2001.<br />
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<b>“It's the highest for 'Face the Nation' or as I call it, 'Deface the Nation,' " Trump told the AP's Julie Pace, referring to the CBS News Sunday political talk show. “It's the highest for 'Deface the Nation' since the World Trade Center — since the World Trade Center came down.”</b>DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-4583706689611225292017-03-10T12:32:00.004-05:002017-03-10T12:34:10.885-05:00<br />
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I was involved in getting out this marvelous cd, "Old School Polkas Del Ghost Town, and other Conjunto Music from South Texas," by Lorenzo Martinez and Rabbit Sanchez, two of my favorite musicians and good friends.<br />
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It is collection of some astonishingly great conjunto played by a couple of progressive masters of the music who have been performing for 50+ years. It's out on <a href="http://www.springfedrecords.com/">Spring Fed Records,</a> which is part of the Center for Popular Music at MTSU. <br />
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I co-produced it and wrote the notes. Here are some samples from the cd release party in San Antonio:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eB567Y-uZ8E?ecver=1" width="560"></iframe>DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-67913081380387875632017-03-10T12:29:00.002-05:002017-03-10T12:29:45.614-05:00The following questions, in order from my youngest daughter (5), source of the linkages unclear, though clearly capitals are on her mind.<br />
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"I know Richmond is the capital of Virginia, but what is the capital of California?"<br />
"What is the capital of Illinois?"<br />
"What is the capital of the Solomon Islands?"<br />
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This is the same girl who thinks in terms of threes. She once told me her three favorite things, in order:<br />
1. Daddy's truck<br />
2. the thrift store<br />
3. the open roadDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-43917304382237892852017-03-05T22:18:00.002-05:002017-03-05T22:18:47.314-05:00ah, brave new worldI can't imagine why this story did not get bigger play: <a href="https://qz.com/918533/the-new-world-order-china-is-now-germanys-largest-trading-partner/" target="_blank">China supplants the U.S. as Germany's biggest trading partne</a>r.<br />
<br />
and meanwhile,<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-the-era-of-trump-germans-debate-a-military-buildup/2017/03/05/d7fc2ef6-fd16-11e6-a51a-e16b4bcc6644_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_german-military-820pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.a3b5b07d1327" target="_blank"> Germany has begun rearming in earnest,</a> as Trump's America looks increasingly unreliable<br />
<br />
There they go, hand in hand. farewell longstanding peace and prosperity...DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-40580633058144044352017-02-28T16:46:00.003-05:002017-02-28T16:46:40.915-05:00Muerte de Gustavito10 people murdered a day, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/02/28/hippo-whodunit-beloved-zoo-animal-dies-after-beating-in-el-salvador-zoo/?hpid=hp_hp-morning-mix_mm-hippo%3Ahomepage%2Fstory" target="_blank">now a hippo</a>DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-11282646435382468272017-02-09T00:57:00.000-05:002017-02-09T00:58:25.095-05:00<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Trump’s
erratic dismantling of American order and morals is raging into its third week.
We know the Trump presidency is going to end in disaster for the country, for
the world, and for all of us as individuals.
Waiting around for this inevitable end seems like failing to act when a
Category 5 hurricane is heading right for us.
Catastrophe in the form of insulting and unconstitutional religious
bans, calls for the re-embrace of torture and CIA “black sites,” the nauseating
embrace of Putin, energized neo-Nazism, damaging insults to America’s allies, and
</span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michigan-gop-official-kent-state_us_58952eafe4b09bd304bb86f0?kpdto4ndkuykwewmi&"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">even calls for shooting of
protestors</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> has become
commonplace on the Trumpian right. Disaster is certain and we need to act now to
stop this. And we need to act together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Virtually
every commentator in the past few months has been saying this situation is not
going to end well. This isn’t just the perspective of those on the progressive
left or the ungovernable anarchist black bloc. It is the mainstream’s utterly
commonsensical realization of looming disaster.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Column
after column ends with the same warning: “This will not end well.” “It is hard
to imagine that it is going to get any better.” “Disaster is certain.” “There
will be dire consequences.” “It is only going to get worse.” Paul Krugman terms
Trump’s reign a </span><a href="https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/reagan-trump-and-manufacturing/?_r=0"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“<span style="background: white;">political
apocalypse” </span></span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">and regularly warns that it will not end well. <span class="hit">Mary Sanchez’s widely
syndicated column from the <i>Kansas City
Star</i> warned “Trump's Mexican border lunacy will not end well.” In Salon,
Simon Maloy wrote “It’s hard to see how investing someone like that with the
powers of the presidency will end well for anyone.” In the <i>Washington
Post</i>, </span></span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-danger-of-steve-bannon-on-the-national-security-council/2017/01/29/ba3982a2-e663-11e6-bf6f-301b6b443624_story.html?utm_term=.be3e1a007b5a"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">David Rothkopf</span></a><span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, warning of the dangers of Stephen
Bannon’s baleful influence, wrote</span></span> “<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">history suggests all this will not end well, with rivalries emerging with
State, Defense, the Trade Representative and other agencies.” Taegan Goddad
asks “</span></span><a href="https://politicalwire.com/2016/12/12/how-does-this-end-well/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">How does this end well?</span></a><span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">” There
is an amusing Yoda meme making the rounds: “End will this will not.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">You get the idea: <i>this is not going to end well</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Anarchists have been among the most
clear-eyed about the profound crisis Trump represents and they have highlighted
a solution. Long declaring themselves personally ungovernable, they have been calling
to make Trump’s America ungovernable as a whole through open confrontation in
the streets. Anarchists have taken the
ungovernability cry into energetic action, using direct action (including
violence) to challenge the system and shut it down. This was the spirit of
anarchist anti-inaugural actions and Disrupt J20. </span></span><a href="http://www.disruptj20.org/updates/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Fuck Yea We Disrupted It”</span></a><span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> is how they saw their actions, and there is no
doubt that anarchist actions grabbed a lot of the attention and forced new
discussions. The recent violence in Berkeley is likewise easily justified as a
protection </span></span><a href="https://crimethinc.com/2017/02/03/its-not-your-speech-milo-understanding-the-uc-berkeley-protests"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">not just of free speech, but of freedom itself</span></a><span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">From this philosophical basis the
idea of strident resistance has been making the political rounds and the calls
for action all over the place. “Make it Ungovernable” is an appealingly
romantic idea, even if it’s a bit awkward for a rallying cry. It’s had an effect even outside the confines
of the anarchist movement. Even </span></span><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/18/harry-belafonte-donald-trump/96712420/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Harry Belafonte has called for Democratic resistance modeled on the ways
the Tea Party </span></a><span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> made Obama’s presidency ungovernable.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But what is open to question for
non-anarchists seeking effective and progressive action is whether this kind of
violent, confrontational strategy in the streets is useful for the truly immediate
necessity of <i>stopping Trump now</i>, rather
than just protesting and challenging the new emerging regime in self-gratifying
ways.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Violent action in the street and
property destruction is not fully the right formula for resistance to Trump at
this moment. In part this is because anarchists
aren’t the only ones around seeking to overturn the system. And they frankly
are not the strongest or most energized. The Trumpian right is equally
interested in disruption and revolution, and unfortunately it is in power at
the moment. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Make no mistake: tearing apart American
order and tearing down the global system of the free flow of peoples and ideas is
Stephen Bannon’s plan. He has a revolutionary new order he wants to put into
place via his useful fool Donald Trump, and it is in the process of
implementation. </span></span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/us/politics/trump-white-house-aides-strategy.html?_r=0"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Trump is signing executive orders Bannon has crafted to empower himself without
even reading them</span></a><span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">. Republicans, with a death grip on the federal
state, are interested only in using their power to ram through their actually
unpopular and reactionary program. They could not have won the presidency
absent the perfect storm of a truly flawed Democratic nominee in the form of
Hillary Clinton, the Black Swan event of celebrity Donald Trump, and a
combination of years of Republican efforts to minimize minority voting and the booster
shots of FBI meddling and Russian hacking. The storm swept in a plutocratic agenda
that the Republicans have been pushing for decades. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">All of the plans the radical right
is putting in place hinge on Trump. He has wide influence and a base of real
popularity across the country, like it or not (and it’s </span></span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/donald-trump-popularity-polling-234630"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">maybe bigger than we imagine</span></a><span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">). The system needs to be made ungovernable until he yields. Trump acts must be met with unrelenting
public pressure coupled with legal and constitutional constraints. It is a thin
reed, to be sure, but it is the truly democratic and systemic solution to this
viral assault on the actual underpinnings of our civil society, economic
stability, and peace.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Violent action, well intentioned
and idealistic though it might be, merely serves the fraudulent “law and order”
narrative Trump used so effectively during the campaign, and helps grease the
skids for Bannon’s revolution. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Street violence is an easily
exploitable optic. No doubt you think Trump’s lies about disorder in the
campaign and in his inaugural address sounded ridiculous and removed from
reality, since they were. But millions quite readily lapped it up. This is a practical
problem to be dealt with at a future time, but in the immediate frame it is
best not to feed that narrative for no immediately identifiable political end. Strident protest needs be practical, focused,
and ruthless without being violent. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Ungovernability needs to be the tactical
as well as philosophical objective. Transformation, not destruction, should be
the goal of <i>making things ungovernable
for Trump now</i>. Saving the system so it can be reimaged and recreated should
be the immediate goal. The immediately life threatening problem, needs to be
addressed first. That is Trump himself. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Making
the country<i> ungovernable for Trump</i> is
the way to save the overall system. Ungovernability is the tactic we must adopt
to restore the kind of stability and social comity, even the morality,
necessary for a free society. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It can
be accomplished with relentless effort on a wide variety of fronts. The
foundation is personal liberation as <i>each
of us must become personally ungovernabl</i>e in spirit and in practice. This requires
a fundamental reorientation to total rejection of legitimacy for Trump’s rule
so that we cannot be ignored and cannot be run in circles or into exhaustion. In
all of our daily lives we need to maintain political action, of course, but we also
must commit ourselves to refusing the slow creep of normality as the pressures
of regular daily life continue relentlessly. By redefining ourselves as personally
ungovernable we will remain liberated in mind and in action for the struggle we
are in at this moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">From
this core strength of individual ungovernability, we must adopt avid but
nonviolent protests in the streets and in public institutions like
transportation hubs and commercial districts to highlight the ideas of
resistance, to arrest commerce, and to disrupt any semblance of normal order in
service of forcing ungovernablity into public view. Violent direct action and
calls for intensifying violence are simply not going to produce the change we
need to see right at this critical moment. It is creating a diversion from the immediate
necessary focus on stopping Trump now. In contrast, look at the direct
successes in South Korea last month and Romania this week to see the power of
truly mass protest to force positive government transformation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Finally,
a key aspect of making ungovernability for Trump effective is coordinated legal
action against Trumps policies not just from individuals and non-profits but from
the states. For example, states attorneys general acting in concert at abuses
of federal authority such as in the green card cases. There are numerous
lawsuits filed across the country which attack Trump’s illegal actions and
illegal and inadvisable policies form numerous angles, and more need to be
filed and pursued. This systematic legal
systemic combined with concerted individual ungovernability and mass action in
the street is self-supporting and unstoppable. It is a triple pronged approach
of immense strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In critical ways, we actually need
our system to be <i>more</i> governable now
than it ever has been in the form of a flourishing and powerful legal system
capable of stopping Trump. With a government entirely in the hands of the
Republican party, it is only the judiciary, the states, and the people in the
streets that will have the power that matters. The law is an abstraction and
the decisions of a court only have the power of the public’s belief in them.
Trump has shown himself adept at undercutting confidence in institutions and
individuals with a single cascade of tweets. But we have tools at our disposal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As </span></span><a href="https://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/a-brief-history-of-sanctuary-cities/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">H. Robert Baker recently wrote</span></a><span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, “Politics and law are substitutes for violence, and we sometimes forget
that this is their primary, everyday purpose. This is what makes American
federalism such a frustrating, brilliant endeavor.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Power is what matters, and it’s the
people within our federal system that have it in the end. A perfect example is
the ways the ferocity and speed of the protests to Trump’s immoral, illegal,
and incompetently implemented Muslim ban yielded a nationwide stay from a
federal judge in Seattle. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
actions of Washington state at the forefront of the anti-Trump movement
demonstrate the effectiveness of a coordinated stance based upon
ungovernability. The ongoing protests in Seattle in the streets and the airport
linked with the public resistance of Mayor Ed Murray to foster an atmosphere
where the actions of U.S. District Judge James L. Robart (a Republican
appointee) were amplified and empowered<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The rage directed toward Republican
Representatives hellbent on disrupting the health care system with no
alternative to offer in place has produced highly effective political theatre which
is beginning to yield political results. The impact is certain to be more
effective than small scale violent direct action.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The essence of Trump’s political
approach is to erode and undermine public confidence in our institutions en
route to destroying the institutions themselves. But we can refuse to allow this destruction through
purposeful and unrelenting action. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">We
need to force ungovernability or this truly is not going to end well.<span class="hit"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<br /></div>
DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-52468328159453506322017-02-09T00:48:00.003-05:002017-02-09T00:54:25.913-05:00This is an excellent, and terrifying, analysis of the most likely Trumpian use of a "Reichstag Fire" moment to act repressively after a terrorist attack.<br />
<br />
Jane Chong,<br />
<h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: pt-serif, Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.12; margin: 0px 0px 0.67em; padding: 0px 1rem;">
<a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/how-deal-reichstag-fire-fears-age-trump" target="_blank">How To Deal with Reichstag Fire Fears in the Age of Trump</a></h1>
As she notes with unalterable logic:<br />
<br />
"<span style="color: #222222; font-family: , "georgia" , "times" , serif; font-size: 17px;">At this point invocation of the Reichstag fire is useful in only one narrow sense—to help prepare us mentally to mitigate and respond posthaste to the worst-case scenario: an actual attack on U.S. soil, paired with an unacceptably illiberal response from the White House."</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: , "georgia" , "times" , serif; font-size: 17px;"><br /></span>
and pointing to a reason to be prepared:<span style="color: #222222; font-family: , "georgia" , "times" , serif; font-size: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: , "georgia" , "times" , serif; font-size: 17px;">"</span><span id="docs-internal-guid-e59f2c06-1b45-1c4e-fcda-a14148c7e609" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: pt-serif, Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 17px;">there is little point worrying about whether the Trump administration has (in the limited sense) Reichstag-fire designs at all unless the object is to inculcate in the public sufficient awareness of what is happening so as to stave off the administration’s ability to capitalize on terror. Now is the time to start drawing lines—that is, before disaster puts a vice grip on our emotions: how </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: pt-serif, Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 17px;">do we think the administration will respond to a small-scale or large-scale attack, and what are the White House reactions and policies we deem unacceptable?"</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: pt-serif, Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: pt-serif, Georgia, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px;">Though her solution is far too institutional and trusting in Republican Congress to act to be persuasive.</span></span>DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-4656232403317893352017-02-08T19:14:00.000-05:002017-02-08T19:14:06.658-05:00The Republican Congress is going to help destroy the country along with its useful idiot Donald Trump.<br />
<br />
I thought <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/" target="_blank">David Frum's Atlantic article on the real and present dangers of the Trump reign </a>was very insightful and worth reading Even better is this article from Ezra Klein<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/7/14454370/trump-autocracy-congress-frum" target="_blank">How to stop an autocracy</a><br />
"The way to stop an autocracy is to have Congress do its damn job."DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-60456957311524810822017-02-06T00:18:00.005-05:002017-02-06T00:18:49.419-05:00Possibly <a href="https://magazin.spiegel.de/SP/2017/6/?utm_source=spon&utm_campaign=centerpage" target="_blank">the best single image capturing the essence of Trump</a>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="640" src="https://magazin.spiegel.de/SP/2017/6/toc/images/co-sp-2017-006-0001-ipad.98e0de7.jpg" width="480" /></div>
DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-84667688471819247892017-02-01T15:07:00.002-05:002017-02-01T15:10:03.109-05:00<div class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://balkin.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-gorsuch-nomination-diversions-from.html" target="_blank">Richard Primus</a> has an excellent and clear eyed analysis of what needs to be done: focus on the dfangers of the Trump presidency and do not squander needless energy on Gorsuch.</div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"But I wouldn’t be surprised if the right prescription here were something like this: Don’t pretend that Gorsuch isn’t qualified. Do use the process to keep foregrounding Trump’s unconstitutional actions and attitudes, and the Republicans’ egregious behavior in Garland’s case, and the fact that most American voters voted against letting Trump be the one to fill the seat. And use the process also as a vehicle for bringing more energized people into the fight to defend the Republic against a uniquely dangerous President."</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"... That doesn’t mean that the Democrats should just roll over, behave meekly, and vote in favor. But it likely does mean that the Democrats need to see the confirmation process as an opportunity for shaping public discussion about Trump rather than as an occasion for attacking Gorsuch. Time spent attacking Gorsuch in particular (whether about qualifications or about substantive views or pretty much anything else) might not be time well spent: he is going to be confirmed. But what Democrats can do, I’d think, is keep saying that we are only here because the Republicans stonewalled a nominee at least as qualified as Gorsuch for no justifiable reason, and that most American voters voted against letting Donald Trump fill the seat. They can ask Gorsuch himself to stand by his earlier written statements that Garland was a highly qualified nominee (for the DC Circuit) and to ask him whether the stonewall was appropriate. And they can ask him what he thinks about all sorts of Trump’s actions and statements. Is it appropriate for a public official to attack a federal judge as biased on the grounds of the judge’s ethnicity? What is the point of the Emoluments Clause? Do you think that this or that statement (quoted from Trump) is consistent with our constitutional values? And so on. Gorsuch might or might not answer, but the Democrats should find good ways to keep asking and to make those questions a big part of what people hear and talk about when they hear and talk about this process."</blockquote>
DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663383414166813116.post-12900457902560680172017-01-10T22:05:00.000-05:002017-01-10T22:05:25.632-05:00This was the tough questioning that coulda woulda been, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/01/10/questions-for-jeff-sessions/?utm_term=.c9e92c9e77f9" target="_blank">as Radley Balko suggests</a>, instead of the softballs like "tell us what you enjoyed about being a U.S. attorney," (that was a real question) followed by "well, I made up my mind!" (that was a real response)DMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14148575828210447738noreply@blogger.com0