Oligarchy, Tyranny, Despotism

In modern terminology , oligarchy is used to describe a power structure in which power rests in the hands of relatively few people .
Oligarchy came into English in the 1570s from the Middle French oligarchie which , in turn , came from the Greek oligarkhia meaning “ government by the few.
” The Greek stem oligos means “ few , small , little ” and the suffix arkhein means “ to rule.
” In Ancient Greece , oligarchy as a form of government grew out of aristocratic opposition to democracy .
While the aristocrats benefited from government , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support it .
The aristocrats longed for the “ good old days ” before democracy and felt that the experiment with democracy was a folly .
The few who control the power in an oligarchy may be people who are wealthy , or their power may rest in military might .
One example of an oligarchy : In an oligarchy , citizens have little , if any , say in the decisions of government .
Often oligarchies are viewed as a form of tyranny .
Plutocracy is a form of oligarchy in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minority of its wealthiest citizens .
In a plutocracy there is generally a high level of income inequality .
Russia and the United States are often cited as examples of modern plutocracies .
In modern terminology , tyranny is used to describe a cruel or oppressive government .
Tyranny came into English in the late fourteenth century from the Old French tyranie which in turn came from the Late Latin tyrannia which was from the Greek tyrannía meaning “ rule of a tyrant , absolute power.
” While tyrannies are often associated with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A theocracy is , of course , a government which is based on religion , such as modern Iran .
Tyranny involves the suppression of dissent and the use of law to support the oppressor .
Nazi Germany is often cited as an example of tyranny .
Tyrant came into English about 1300 with the meaning of “ absolute ruler.
” It carried the implication of a ruler without a legal right .
Tyrant comes from the Old French which is from the Latin tyrannus meaning “ lord , master , monarch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ implied an arbitrary ruler , a cruel governor , or an autocrat .
Looking back at Ancient Greece , where the concept of tyranny originated , by the mid-seventh century BCE the gap between rich and poor had grown to an intolerable level .
The aristocracy took their power to rule for granted , often ignoring the needs of the people .
The tyrants first emerged as rogue aristocrats who seized power and overthrew the aristocratic families .
In Ancient Greece , the tyrants were simply unconstitutional rulers , not necessarily dictators .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ BCE , such as Pindar and Bacchylides , praised the achievements of the tyrants .
The Greeks understood the concept of a tyrant as a ruler whose authority was not legitimate .
Thus , a hereditary sovereign would not be considered a tyrant regardless of how cruel he might be .
In his book The Complete Illustrated History of Ancient Greece , Nigel Rodgers writes : In modern terminology , despotism describes the exercise of absolute power , with the implication that this power is used in a cruel and oppressive way .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ meaning “ absolute ruler ” which came into English in the 1560s from the Old French despot which , in turn , came from the Medieval Latin desporta which is from the Greek despotes meaning “ master of a household , lord , absolute ruler.
” The Proto-Indo-European stem is *dems-pota- meaning “ house-master.
” The despot is an absolute ruler who is not restricted by law , constitution , legislative bodies , or opposition .
It is interesting to note that the Declaration of Independence states : This is an open thread—all @ @ @ @

Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour cleverly hidden at the intersection of religion and politics. This is an open thread where we can share our thoughts and comments about the day. This might be a good time to review the etymologies of the words which have been used to describe the Trump administration and its economic views.
Oligarchy
In modern terminology, oligarchy is used to describe a power structure in which power rests in the hands of relatively few people. Oligarchy came into English in the 1570s from the Middle French oligarchie which, in turn, came from the Greek oligarkhia meaning “government by the few.” The Greek stem oligos means “few, small, little” and the suffix arkhein means “to rule.”
In Ancient Greece, oligarchy as a form of government grew out of aristocratic opposition to democracy. While the aristocrats benefited from government, they disliked the idea of paying taxes to support it. The aristocrats longed for the “good old days” before democracy and felt that the experiment with democracy was a folly.
The few who control the power in an oligarchy may be people who are wealthy, or their power may rest in military might. One example of an oligarchy:
“Some examples of the oligarchic system of government can be found in Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union when a group of private businessmen dominate both wealth and political power in the Russian government. In the Russian example, oligarchs are identified as business magnates perceived as close to the current form of government. As of 2014, 110 Russian billionaires account for 35 percent of the country's wealth.”
In an oligarchy, citizens have little, if any, say in the decisions of government. Often oligarchies are viewed as a form of tyranny.
Plutocracy is a form of oligarchy in which the society is controlled by a small minority of its wealthiest citizens. In a plutocracy there is generally a high level of income inequality. Russia and the United States are often cited as examples of modern plutocracies.
Tyranny and Tyrant
In modern terminology, tyranny is used to describe a cruel or oppressive government. Tyranny came into English in the late fourteenth century from the Old French tyranie which in turn came from the Late Latin tyrannia which was from the Greek tyrannía meaning “rule of a tyrant, absolute power.”
While tyrannies are often associated with dictatorships, theocracies may also be tyrannies. A theocracy is, of course, a government which is based on religion, such as modern Iran. Tyranny involves the suppression of dissent and the use of law to support the oppressor. Nazi Germany is often cited as an example of tyranny.
Tyrant came into English about 1300 with the meaning of “absolute ruler.” It carried the implication of a ruler without a legal right. Tyrant comes from the Old French which is from the Latin tyrannus meaning “lord, master, monarch, despot.” In Latin, tyrannus implied an arbitrary ruler, a cruel governor, or an autocrat.
Looking back at Ancient Greece, where the concept of tyranny originated, by the mid-seventh century BCE the gap between rich and poor had grown to an intolerable level. The aristocracy took their power to rule for granted, often ignoring the needs of the people. The tyrants first emerged as rogue aristocrats who seized power and overthrew the aristocratic families. In Ancient Greece, the tyrants were simply unconstitutional rulers, not necessarily dictators. The great poets of the fifth century BCE, such as Pindar and Bacchylides, praised the achievements of the tyrants.
The Greeks understood the concept of a tyrant as a ruler whose authority was not legitimate. Thus, a hereditary sovereign would not be considered a tyrant regardless of how cruel he might be. In his book The Complete Illustrated History of Ancient Greece, Nigel Rodgers writes:
“‘Tyrant’ to Greeks in c.600 BC was no more abusive that ‘chief’ is to us. The men who won and exercised extraordinary power could even sometimes be called ‘beneficial tyrants.’”
Despotism
In modern terminology, despotism describes the exercise of absolute power, with the implication that this power is used in a cruel and oppressive way. Despotism is based on the noun despot meaning “absolute ruler” which came into English in the 1560s from the Old French despot which, in turn, came from the Medieval Latin desporta which is from the Greek despotes meaning “master of a household, lord, absolute ruler.” The Proto-Indo-European stem is *dems-pota- meaning “house-master.”
The despot is an absolute ruler who is not restricted by law, constitution, legislative bodies, or opposition.
It is interesting to note that the Declaration of Independence states:
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Open Thread
This is an open thread—all topics are welcome.


dailykos--2020-12-27--We should consider ourselves blessed by Donald Trump & appreciate how to tread the path back

I should start this diary with an apology for some of my recent entries .
While I at times intend to be provocative , I never intend to justify racism , nationalism or other forms of behavior that are clearly plagues upon humanity .
As with most posters here , my politics are firmly left of center ( realizing the fallibility of testing ; -5 , -5 on www.politicalcompass.org & my results on the implicit bias test : implicit.harvard.edu/… suggested negligible bias { for what it is worth } ) .
Where I probably differ from many Daily Kos readers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the goals promoted here are balanced by my belief that large societies move best in increments not in grand impositions .
Sometimes a Civil War is unavoidable but the results are never tidy & the damage done often lasts for generations .
let ’ s face it , many of today ’ s evils are the result of the aftermath of 160 years ago trying to correct this nation ’ s founding evil .
Some of them exist because we never resolved the underlying problems & others resulted from the aftermath of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ past .
The civil rights legislation of the 1960s finally eliminated the most overt racism in our culture but you can not legislate mind control , nor should we try ( as that would be yet a greater evil ) .
We need to convince people of the superiority of our ideals & our methods for implementing those ideals .
Many revolutions began with admirable ideals only to end up with worse tyranny than they overthrew .
we can not allow that to happen to us !
I readily acknowledge that my personal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worthy standard bearer .
My Jewish heritage has made me more aware of humanity ’ s injustices than some but my life has been privileged & my body has not suffered the slings & arrows suffered by many activists .
However , I am careful student of history & have observed that revolutions mostly fail to achieve their stated goals .
Evolution is much more effective at achieving lasting change .
As Barack Obama has repeatedly stated , the reality of America is extraordinarily flawed but the ideal of America is still a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s foundational ideology is worthy of our support even if the physical foundations were ( & in too many ways still are ) deeply flawed .
To the point of today ’ s diary & it ’ s provocative title .
We should consider ourselves blessed that we have had four years of a president whose failures are so obvious , whose character is so blatantly flawed & whose corruption & turpitudes are so obvious that it should be possible to illuminate to many of the 74 million people who voted for him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
If the Republicans had managed to pull of the election of someone with real political skill & true subtlety , we might now be doomed to have fallen off of a cliff without hope of recovery .
Before going further , let me share the core of my philosophy of leadership , as taken from the Tao Te Ching : When the Master governs , the people are hardly aware that he exists .
Next best is a leader who is loved .
The worst is one who is despised .
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you make them untrustworthy .
The Master does n't talk , he acts .
When his work is done , the people say , `` Amazing : we did it , all by ourselves ! ''
The point of my previous diary entry was to consider how people can come to support a Donald Trump with all of his obvious failings .
The importance of this is to protect ourselves from the next right wing demagogue who may rise to power w/o so many obvious flaws .
What leaders like Donald Trump harness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s heritage & nudge it into nationalism ( under the cover of patriotism ) from which it is much too small a step to overt racism .
The challenge for those of us on the left is to keep our impatience with what we perceive to be stupidity in check .
As so many of you who have experienced real suffering as a result of the evils of our fellow citizens .
In order to avoid the next tyrant , we need to more carefully craft our message .
In 2020 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in spite of his profound turpitude , still able to craft a message of fear that motivated a great many people to vote for himself & other Republicans .
Yeah , some of them voted for his “ economic program ” because they were too ignorant to realize that he took Obama ’ s economy & goosed it with tax cuts ( mostly ) for the rich whose stock buybacks then goosed the stock market .
However , too many of them voted out of fear Trump ginned up from the BLM protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ winning movement was corrupted through violence .
the fact that the worst of the violence was undoubtedly created by right wing agent provocateurs was not relevant to the many Americans who are too preoccupied with their lives to go beyond the headlines of their news feeds .
This actual violence was not helped by the blunt messaging of “ defund the police.
” Daily Kos readers are inherently more engaged than average Americans .
I ’ m sure that most supporters of that slogan are not advocates of anarchy but nonetheless , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do not sell a program by marketing the destruction of institutions that many people still admire .
When those institutions are flawed ( as many police departments clearly are ) you have to market ( in simple enough terms to get through to the uninformed ) with what you will build , not what you will destroy .
Tell people how Community Policing is superior to our current large city police forces .
Tell them that our current police are not given the resources to properly deal with the problems we force upon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health system should be handling the problems of many policing victims & how it is also lacking the resources to adequately cope with society ’ s issues .
Hold up examples of where programs exist that would better handle the issues than our current system .
Yes , these ideas have been promoted before & not managed to percolate past the corporate media to the people who can get the decision makers to implement them .
However , that is no excuse for giving up & advocating for radical approaches which will invariably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their well meaning promoters .
We need to hold Biden ’ s feet to the fire but we must be careful to not push him off a cliff .
I know a lot of Trump supporters & I honestly believe that many can come to realize what a poor choice they made & that the activists on the left are not actually promoting stupidity & evil but we are promoting worthy ideas that can create positive change for America .
Donald Trump ’ s one actual area of genius has been in his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ideas which mostly are completely deplorable .
He marketed his immigration policies as trying to eliminate the breaking of laws .
Even though his policy had nothing to do with crafting & enforcing better legal processes , his supporters who weren ’ t blatantly racist were still able to rationalize that his immigration policies were good for America & for immigrants .
We don ’ t need better ideas , what we need is better marketing of our ideas .
Patience is hard , particularly for those who have already suffered so much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were that it was an imbecile like Trump who was able to rise to the top of the GOP .
Next time we may not be so lucky .

I should start this diary with an apology for some of my recent entries. While I at times intend to be provocative, I never intend to justify racism, nationalism or other forms of behavior that are clearly plagues upon humanity. As with most posters here, my politics are firmly left of center (realizing the fallibility of testing; -5,-5 on www.politicalcompass.org & my results on the implicit bias test: implicit.harvard.edu/… suggested negligible bias {for what it is worth}). Where I probably differ from many Daily Kos readers is that my sympathy for many of the goals promoted here are balanced by my belief that large societies move best in increments not in grand impositions. Sometimes a Civil War is unavoidable but the results are never tidy & the damage done often lasts for generations. let’s face it, many of today’s evils are the result of the aftermath of 160 years ago trying to correct this nation’s founding evil. Some of them exist because we never resolved the underlying problems & others resulted from the aftermath of the actual conflict from 160 years in our past. The civil rights legislation of the 1960s finally eliminated the most overt racism in our culture but you cannot legislate mind control, nor should we try (as that would be yet a greater evil). We need to convince people of the superiority of our ideals & our methods for implementing those ideals. Many revolutions began with admirable ideals only to end up with worse tyranny than they overthrew. we cannot allow that to happen to us!
I readily acknowledge that my personal history doesn’t make me a worthy standard bearer. My Jewish heritage has made me more aware of humanity’s injustices than some but my life has been privileged & my body has not suffered the slings & arrows suffered by many activists. However, I am careful student of history & have observed that revolutions mostly fail to achieve their stated goals. Evolution is much more effective at achieving lasting change. As Barack Obama has repeatedly stated, the reality of America is extraordinarily flawed but the ideal of America is still a goal worthy of pursuit. America’s foundational ideology is worthy of our support even if the physical foundations were (& in too many ways still are) deeply flawed.
To the point of today’s diary & it’s provocative title. We should consider ourselves blessed that we have had four years of a president whose failures are so obvious, whose character is so blatantly flawed & whose corruption & turpitudes are so obvious that it should be possible to illuminate to many of the 74 million people who voted for him just how poor a choice they made.
If the Republicans had managed to pull of the election of someone with real political skill & true subtlety, we might now be doomed to have fallen off of a cliff without hope of recovery.
Before going further, let me share the core of my philosophy of leadership, as taken from the Tao Te Ching:
When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists. Next best is a leader who is loved. Next, one who is feared. The worst is one who is despised. If you don't trust the people, you make them untrustworthy. The Master doesn't talk, he acts. When his work is done, the people say, "Amazing: we did it, all by ourselves!"
The point of my previous diary entry was to consider how people can come to support a Donald Trump with all of his obvious failings. The importance of this is to protect ourselves from the next right wing demagogue who may rise to power w/o so many obvious flaws.
What leaders like Donald Trump harness is to take justifiable pride in one’s heritage & nudge it into nationalism (under the cover of patriotism) from which it is much too small a step to overt racism.
The challenge for those of us on the left is to keep our impatience with what we perceive to be stupidity in check. As so many of you who have experienced real suffering as a result of the evils of our fellow citizens.
In order to avoid the next tyrant, we need to more carefully craft our message. In 2020, a deeply flawed Donald Trump was, in spite of his profound turpitude, still able to craft a message of fear that motivated a great many people to vote for himself & other Republicans. Yeah, some of them voted for his “economic program” because they were too ignorant to realize that he took Obama’s economy & goosed it with tax cuts (mostly) for the rich whose stock buybacks then goosed the stock market. However, too many of them voted out of fear Trump ginned up from the BLM protests. What should have been a clearly winning movement was corrupted through violence. the fact that the worst of the violence was undoubtedly created by right wing agent provocateurs was not relevant to the many Americans who are too preoccupied with their lives to go beyond the headlines of their news feeds. This actual violence was not helped by the blunt messaging of “defund the police.” Daily Kos readers are inherently more engaged than average Americans. I’m sure that most supporters of that slogan are not advocates of anarchy but nonetheless, that is how it got branded. You do not sell a program by marketing the destruction of institutions that many people still admire. When those institutions are flawed (as many police departments clearly are) you have to market (in simple enough terms to get through to the uninformed) with what you will build, not what you will destroy.
Remember the Beatles song “Revolution”?
genius.com/…
Tell people how Community Policing is superior to our current large city police forces.
theihs.org/…
Tell them that our current police are not given the resources to properly deal with the problems we force upon them. Tell them how our mental health system should be handling the problems of many policing victims & how it is also lacking the resources to adequately cope with society’s issues. Hold up examples of where programs exist that would better handle the issues than our current system.
www.cnn.com/…
Yes, these ideas have been promoted before & not managed to percolate past the corporate media to the people who can get the decision makers to implement them. However, that is no excuse for giving up & advocating for radical approaches which will invariably not produce the results advocated for my their well meaning promoters. We need to hold Biden’s feet to the fire but we must be careful to not push him off a cliff. I know a lot of Trump supporters & I honestly believe that many can come to realize what a poor choice they made & that the activists on the left are not actually promoting stupidity & evil but we are promoting worthy ideas that can create positive change for America.
Donald Trump’s one actual area of genius has been in his ability to market his ideas, even ideas which mostly are completely deplorable. He marketed his immigration policies as trying to eliminate the breaking of laws. Even though his policy had nothing to do with crafting & enforcing better legal processes, his supporters who weren’t blatantly racist were still able to rationalize that his immigration policies were good for America & for immigrants. We don’t need better ideas, what we need is better marketing of our ideas.
Patience is hard, particularly for those who have already suffered so much. But please remember how lucky we were that it was an imbecile like Trump who was able to rise to the top of the GOP. Next time we may not be so lucky.


dailykos--2020-12-29--Donald Trump Won't Escape Justice

Donald Trump Won't Escape Justice

No former US President has ever been arrested or jailed .
Richard Nixon surely would have faced this possibility .
His successor , Gerald Ford , issued a “ full , free and absolute ” pardon for any crimes he committed while in office . ''
This kept Nixon out of court , and out of jail .
It also ruined Ford 's time in office and doomed his own presidential bid .
Donald Trump does n't have a `` friendly '' successor to do him the same solid that Ford did for Nixon .
Further , there was no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a state or local level , where Ford 's pardon had no reach .
Trump does n't have that in his favor , either .
In fact , the state prosecutions against him ( along with his family and his company ) may be easier to win .
Joe Biden is n't going to pull a Gerald Ford .
There will be no pardon unless Trump invokes the 25th Amendment and has Pence pardon him before January 20th .
The fact this has n't occurred leads me to think that Pence does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the way of Ford 's .
Even were that to happen , there are a number of state Attorneys General and prosecutors who are counting the days , hours and minutes until the presidential immunity shield evaporates .
It would n't surprise me to see the first subpoenas and/or indictments filed at 12:01 pm on January 20 , 2021 .
There have even been rumors for a few years that at least one sealed indictment has already been filed in New York .
Trump may or may not see the inside of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see the inside of several courtrooms in the coming months and years .
He could also be invited to The Hague .
The crooked dealings of his nefarious crime family likely extend far and wide .
Donald , Sr will not be the only Trump to lament the end of daddy 's reign .

No former US President has ever been arrested or jailed. Richard Nixon surely would have faced this possibility. His successor, Gerald Ford, issued a “full, free and absolute” pardon for any crimes he committed while in office." This kept Nixon out of court, and out of jail. It also ruined Ford's time in office and doomed his own presidential bid.
Donald Trump doesn't have a "friendly" successor to do him the same solid that Ford did for Nixon. Further, there was no evidence that Nixon had committed any crimes on a state or local level, where Ford's pardon had no reach. Trump doesn't have that in his favor, either. In fact, the state prosecutions against him (along with his family and his company) may be easier to win.
Joe Biden isn't going to pull a Gerald Ford. There will be no pardon unless Trump invokes the 25th Amendment and has Pence pardon him before January 20th. The fact this hasn't occurred leads me to think that Pence doesn't want his political career to go the way of Ford's.
Even were that to happen, there are a number of state Attorneys General and prosecutors who are counting the days, hours and minutes until the presidential immunity shield evaporates. It wouldn't surprise me to see the first subpoenas and/or indictments filed at 12:01 pm on January 20, 2021. There have even been rumors for a few years that at least one sealed indictment has already been filed in New York.


dailykos--2020-12-29--Looking Back While Moving Forward - Good News Roundup, Bluesday, December 29th, 2020

For me , the week between Christmas and New Years has always been a period of reflection .
This year is a bit different .
I can say , without doubt , this has been the shittiest year in my lifetime .
But , compared to 1860-1865 , 1914-1920 , 1929-1933 , and 1936-1945 it ’ s been a cakewalk .
Sure , we ’ ve been saddled with the single worst president in American history ( and his band of crooks & grifters ) , a global pandemic , a partial economic collapse , a looming climate crisis and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ None of the challenges we face are easy .
None of them are insurmountable .
We must work to find ways to heal some of the divisions in our society .
There are certainly people who are unreachable .
There have always been people who are unreachable .
Since I , personally , don ’ t want to wait for actuarial tables to shift our nation back to a full embrace of progressivism , let ’ s make a concentrated effort to deprogram the reachable ones .
With effort , we can educate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that is our duty to try .
Anything else becomes just an endless Festivus Airing of Grievances .
Way down at the other end of the reflective spectrum , we have Donald the Yawning Chasm of Id .
The man has never demonstrated any concept of restraint or moderation .
His idea of self-reflection is to spout endless streams of grandiose debunked self-puffery .
Now that some part of him realizes his world is collapsing , he isn ’ t just decompensating — he ’ s decomposing — and it ’ s an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only twenty-two days left for the Great Orange Blunder to continue making a mockery of Democracy from the heart of the government .
Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty can soon stop cringing with mortification at the stains he ’ s cast upon our national reputation due to his continued depredations .
The proverbial chickens are coming home to roost and they are spreading a lot of self-inflicted chickenshit all over his miserable orange face .
The future is something we create together .
If we want to push for a particular path , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m not talking about waiting anxiously for obituaries to celebrate .
It turns out keeping a democracy vibrant is hard work .
Talking to a wall is not fun , especially when the wall wears a red hat and subsists entirely on nonsense ( Are red hat wearers the new red shirt guys ? )
.
But it ’ s necessary .
Leaving them alone in their comfy delusions is like leaving a cancer to fester .
They got this way through a decades long diet of lies and tribal fearmongering .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ feet , ankles , shins , thighs , pelvises , torsos , spines , necks and heads of their idols .
A philosophy based on mendacity , fear and empty rhetoric is a fragile construction .
Sow one doubt and release a cascade .
All those 74 million tRump voters are not a monolith .
We just need to keep chipping away at them .
If you are struggling with this last year , Vice has an article on coping with the public trauma that calls itself 2020 : How to Process All @ @ @ @ @ @ @ late night folks are all off celebrating .
So here ’ s Sam Bee on Georgia from a couple of weeks ago , featuring Jon Ossoff to get us started .
We have a little more Georgia encouragement to share .
Ok , how about we check out some news ?
The Top Story — Donnie Gets Spanked Hard by the House I broke down and watched a couple of House votes yesterday .
There was a bit of drama in the first one , where the $ 2000 stimulus bill was passed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ republicans unwilling to vote on the measure ) .
Over half of the republicans voted against the president ’ s demand .
In the vote to override the Donnie ’ s veto of the Defense Authorization act , the final count was 322 to 87 ( with 20 republicans still too scared to vote ) .
Once again more than half of the republicans voted against the president .
Because of Covid-19 , members were allowed to vote remotely .
I heard a lot of “ Madame/Mister Speaker .
As the member designated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pursuant to House Resolution 965 , [ Name goes here again ] will vote Yea/Yes on HR 6395 over the objection of the president.
” Surprisingly , it didn ’ t get old .
So , what ’ s the takeaway ?
tRump has lost the firm support of more than half of congressional republicans .
Color me giddy — republicans are in disarray .
The votes are a popular news topic , although the articles I sampled haven ’ t concentrated on what it means that he lost half his party twice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : The House Just Voted to Override Trump ’ s Veto of Defense Spending Bill Donnie may be in denial , but if appears someone in his close orbit is admitting to a sliver of reality .
More Evidence that tRump Is Fading Fast It would have been nice it they had stood up during the impeachment hearings , wouldn ’ t it ?
We need to see more of this from the republican cowards cringing in their bunkers , waiting to emerge on January 21st hoping tRump doesn ’ t have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all that — but still welcome .
What Do You Do When You Find Some Obstruction in Pardon ’ s Clothing ?
Our already impeached and disgraced brazen scofflaw , Donnie the Incompetent , doesn ’ t do very well with anticipating consequences of his actions .
By pardoning his most implicated full on dingleberry buddies , he ’ s cementing the certainty of a multi-count obstruction of justice case against his malfeasance .
There ’ s a clean wind a comin ’ to blow the stench away .
I suppose it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have much of an imagination .
Just think how he ’ d behave if he could really see what ’ s coming for him on January 21st .
Financial Times : Lawrence Tribe : Donald Trump ’ s pardons must not obstruct justice Tis the Season to Make other Rich People Look Bad By now , you ’ ve most likely heard about Jeff Bezos ’ ex rubbing old Jeff ’ s nose in his bad citizenship .
Turns out , it ’ s not easy to give it all away @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my help yet , but I can dream .
Mother Jones : Giving Away Billions of Dollars Is Hard Work—Just Ask MacKenzie Scott Kangaroos Are People Too ( or at Least They Talk to Us ) Kangaroos are way up near the top of the animals I ’ d like to hang out with scale .
I wonder if they get along with cats and dogs ?
CNN : Kangaroos can ask humans for help , new study shows Andy , What Do You Have to Say ?
Andy doesn ’ t mention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extra steamed because the college accepted his arch nemesis , Joe Biden instead of him .
Our resident history professor ’ s always interesting history lesson will appear here as soon as I notice he ’ s posted it in the comment section .
Until then look for it in the comment section .
Take it away , WineRev : > > > » Well the $ 2000 rescue checks cleared the House yesterday , even though 21 GOPers voted to Not Vote .
( Mind you , in a backhanded way it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ move this through quickly , to suspend the general rules required a 2/3 majority… ...
If all 435 members of the House vote that number is 290 .
Since those “ Brave , brave Sir Robins were running away and chickening out….
” their own absence reduced the “ 2/3 of those voting ” to 273 .
And the bill got 274….. ) So it goes over to the Senate… ... to the Majority Leader to call up to the Floor…….and we ’ ve seen this show before EXCEPT > > > > @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bunker Boy ’ s veto of the Defense bill , which every Republican has sworn in blood to vote for every day , every time , even if they are a member of the Library Board in Minot , North Dakota .
So THIS bill/over-ride is ALSO sizzling on the Senate griddle .
And now comes Senator Bernie Sanders to put old Turtle Butt on the flat top stove !
Mitch wants to A ) bring up the over ride FIRST and pass it , B ) Go home .
Bernie says if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as a member of the Senate , will FILIBUSTER the over ride , the old fashioned kind , standing there reading Das Kapital out loud , reciting poetry , declaiming about the items on his grocery list , ( “ A HALF POUND of gouda , a mere 8 ounces , NOT 3/4s of a pound… ... which begs the question here in the Senate , WHY aren ’ t we on the metric system ?
After all….
” ) etc.
, unless and UNTIL there is a vote FIRST on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bernie to quit required Cloture… ... 60 votes , and Mitch only has 52 .
The Days may be flittering down to a precious few here on the December 29th , but even so , Good and Goofy history was made this day , and YOU deserve to read some of it on YOUR December 29th !
1837 Toronto , CA Birth of Anderson Ruffin Abbott , doctor .
Back in 1835 Anderson ’ s parents had escaped Alabama after their store was destroyed by white racists ( who could not abide the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made their way to Canada .
His father began trading in real estate , with profit and success , so that Anderson was able to attend both public and private schools in both Canada and the US ( Oberlin College ) and he graduated from the Toronto School of Medicine at age 23 .
After a year of practical study under a surgeon he received his medical license , the first ever Canadian-born black doctor .
In 1863 he went to Washington DC and applied to become an assistant surgeon in the Union @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he re-applied to become the medical officer of a newly forming black regiment ( USCT ) and was accepted .
His talent soon led him to be posted as a surgeon at several hospitals in the Washington area .
In April , 1865 he was one of the doctors summoned to Ford ’ s Theater to attempt to save Abraham Lincoln ’ s life but all the doctors recognized the wound was mortal .
Several months later Mary Todd Lincoln called on Abbott and presented him with a plaid shawl Lincoln had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for his efforts to save him .
A couple years later Abbot moved back to Canada , married , and rose to prominence in medical circles .
He did return to the US in 1894 to serve as surgeon-in-chief at Provident Hospital in Chicago , the first US black-owned hospital .
He didn ’ t care for it , and after a year returned to Canada for the rest of his days .
1848 Washington DC At the White House , got to bring the Executive Mansion into the high-tech age of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turned a little thumbscrew , and several of the rooms for the first time were lighted by burning gas , not candles .
( How cutting edge can you get ? )
1850 Salamanca , Spain Birth of Tomas Breton y Hernandez , composer .
Not a prodigy , but a very good musical student ; his family sent him to Madrid at age 16 to study , and 4 years later he was admitted to the Madrid Conservatory .
Initially earned a living conducting and producing theatrical events , but eventually began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ circles as the , he also tried his hand at symphonies , concertos , and putting the Spanish musical form ‘ ” zarzuela ” to a staged form , a sort of light opera or what we call a musical .
1852 Boston The city builds its reputation as being an odd combination of radical political ideas ( abolition !
atheism ! )
and a strait-laced primness .
On this day Emma Snodgrass was arrested for offending the public….. for wearing pants .
1860 Plymouth , England The day before yesterday the History @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the as a watershed moment in the evolution of the world ’ s navies .
Today we step back to another watershed .
The British Navy this day launches the HMS Warrior .
She is the first warship designed from the keel up to be to be covered with armor plate that med her proof against rifle or cannon fire , and moved by a steam boiler that turned an underwater screw propeller .
Every other warship on salt water became obsolete .
( The next year , the outbreak of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ idea of a screw propeller and an armor-plated citadel , but grafted this onto the body of a scuttled wooded warship .
( The armor weighed so much the wooded body was completely submerged . )
The which came from New York to Chesapeake Bay to challenge her was closer to the : screw propeller , iron hull and iron armor plate , but improved by adding the revolving turret . )
1885 Cannstadt , Germany Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach both worked for the same firm , but a few years back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own .
In 1884 they demonstrate the with a carburetor , spark-less ignition and one ( count ‘ em ! )
cylinder .
A couple months ago they mounted it in the oak wooden frame of a bicycle with wooden wheels , test drove it and on this day patented the “ Reitwagen ” ( “ riding car ” ) , the world ’ s first working motorcycle .
Gearheads will want to know : 1 , 4-stroke cylinder , 264 cc , ½ horsepower at 600 rpm let it cruise at 11 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
At least for this day ( like Daimler ’ s son Paul , who test drove it in November from Cannstadt to Unterturkheim ; about 7 miles , and ended abruptly when the saddle caught fire from the heat of the engine ) it was the very first day anyone could ….
” Get his motor runnin ’ ….head out on the autobahn…..lookin ’ fur Abenteuer……in whatever came his way ” … .
Inflated tires , shocks , springs , twisting handlebar controls ( already invented ) , kick starting , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all come later .
( Daimler & Maybach abandoned further work on it next year as they were adapting the engine for a 4-wheeler .
They would later form a partnership with Herr Benz…..as in Daimler-Benz……as in Mercedes . )
1949 Bridgeport , CT Another one of those new-fangled television stations went on the air this day .
And this one really was new-fangled .
Until now all TV broadcasts were at Very High Frequencies in the broadcast spectrum .
The FCC limited such broadcasts to channels 2 to 13 and that was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ metro .
But station KC2XAK this day is the nation ’ s first UHF television station ( Ultra High Frequency ) to operate a daily schedule .
( Back in the day , my hometown of Columbus , OH had channels 4 , 6 and 10 , and Ohio State University had REALLY different programming on WOSU , channel 34 .
When we got the new Admiral TV with color it also included a UHF receiver .
My European parents especially enjoyed the concerts and even some of the discussion panels on UHF @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Back in 1947 the in New Jersey had made a major break through when they .
These circuits replaced all those vacuum tubes , ran at much cooler temperatures for far longer , only sipped at electric current , and were a couple orders of magnitude small and lighter .
Everybody started designed new stuff using transistors .
On this day the first hearing aid using transistors went on sale in town ( The whole thing was half the size of pack of cigarettes and used a little battery called “ A ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and effective to help patients .
May all your News be Good , comforting and inspiring .
On the Lighter Side ( with a Touch of the Sardonic ) These things really pile up when you only share them every two weeks .

For me, the week between Christmas and New Years has always been a period of reflection. This year is a bit different. I can say, without doubt, this has been the shittiest year in my lifetime. But, compared to 1860-1865, 1914-1920, 1929-1933, and 1936-1945 it’s been a cakewalk. Sure, we’ve been saddled with the single worst president in American history (and his band of crooks & grifters), a global pandemic, a partial economic collapse, a looming climate crisis and increasingly strident mainstream bigotry and racism.
None of the challenges we face are easy. None of them are insurmountable. We must work to find ways to heal some of the divisions in our society. There are certainly people who are unreachable. There have always been people who are unreachable. Since I, personally, don’t want to wait for actuarial tables to shift our nation back to a full embrace of progressivism, let’s make a concentrated effort to deprogram the reachable ones. With effort, we can educate the misguided and misinformed. I argue that is our duty to try. Anything else becomes just an endless Festivus Airing of Grievances.
Way down at the other end of the reflective spectrum, we have Donald the Yawning Chasm of Id. The man has never demonstrated any concept of restraint or moderation. His idea of self-reflection is to spout endless streams of grandiose debunked self-puffery. Now that some part of him realizes his world is collapsing, he isn’t just decompensating — he’s decomposing — and it’s an ugly spectacle. Fortunately, there are only twenty-two days left for the Great Orange Blunder to continue making a mockery of Democracy from the heart of the government. Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty can soon stop cringing with mortification at the stains he’s cast upon our national reputation due to his continued depredations. The proverbial chickens are coming home to roost and they are spreading a lot of self-inflicted chickenshit all over his miserable orange face.
The future is something we create together. If we want to push for a particular path, we need to remain engaged. I’m not talking about waiting anxiously for obituaries to celebrate. It turns out keeping a democracy vibrant is hard work. Talking to a wall is not fun, especially when the wall wears a red hat and subsists entirely on nonsense (Are red hat wearers the new red shirt guys?). But it’s necessary. Leaving them alone in their comfy delusions is like leaving a cancer to fester. They got this way through a decades long diet of lies and tribal fearmongering. The antidote is to expose the clay feet, ankles, shins, thighs, pelvises, torsos, spines, necks and heads of their idols. A philosophy based on mendacity, fear and empty rhetoric is a fragile construction. Sow one doubt and release a cascade. All those 74 million tRump voters are not a monolith. We just need to keep chipping away at them.
If you are struggling with this last year, Vice has an article on coping with the public trauma that calls itself 2020: How to Process All the Bullshit That Happened in 2020
The late night folks are all off celebrating. So here’s Sam Bee on Georgia from a couple of weeks ago, featuring Jon Ossoff to get us started.
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We have a little more Georgia encouragement to share.
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Ok, how about we check out some news?
The Top Story — Donnie Gets Spanked Hard by the House
I broke down and watched a couple of House votes yesterday. There was a bit of drama in the first
one, where the $2000 stimulus bill was passed 275 to 134 (with another 26 republicans unwilling to vote on the measure). Over half of the republicans voted against the president’s demand.
In the vote to override the Donnie’s veto of the Defense Authorization act, the final count was 322 to 87 (with 20 republicans still too scared to vote). Once again more than half of the republicans voted against the president.
Because of Covid-19, members were allowed to vote remotely. I heard a lot of “Madame/Mister Speaker. As the member designated by [Name goes here], pursuant to House Resolution 965, [Name goes here again] will vote Yea/Yes on HR 6395 over the objection of the president.” Surprisingly, it didn’t get old.
So, what’s the takeaway? tRump has lost the firm support of more than half of congressional republicans. Color me giddy — republicans are in disarray. The votes are a popular news topic, although the articles I sampled haven’t concentrated on what it means that he lost half his party twice on the same day.
Politico: House votes to override Trump veto of defense bill
Huffington Post: House Passes $2,000 Coronavirus Stimulus Check Legislation
Rolling Stone: The House Just Voted to Override Trump’s Veto of Defense Spending Bill
After passing legislation that would increase stimulus checks to $2,000, the House overrode President Trump’s veto of the $740 billion defense funding bill. This move by the House sends the bill to the Republican-controlled Senate where a two-thirds majority is needed to officially override Trump’s veto, which would be a first for his administration. Trump had vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act because he said it did not repeal Section 230, which shields social media companies from liability for the content their users post, and which has little to do with defense spending. But the House voted Monday 322-87 to override Trump. When he issued his veto last week, Trump told Congress in a statement that he believes the law “facilitates the spread of foreign disinformation online, which is a serious threat to our national security and election integrity.” But Trump’s opposition to Section 230 is likely a personal vendetta because social media companies have implemented fact-checking on political content — including of his own tweets.
Hmmm?
Donnie may be in denial, but if appears someone in his close orbit is admitting to a sliver of reality.
Huffington Post: Trump’s D.C. Hotel Appears To Concede Election By Unblocking Hotel Rooms
President Donald Trump has yet to concede the election to Joe Biden, but it looks like his Washington, D.C., hotel is no longer holding its breath ― er, rooms. The Trump International Hotel had blocked rooms from being booked during Jan. 16-20, presumably in anticipation of his inauguration, according to 1100Pennsylvania.com, a newsletter by investigative journalist Zach Everson that details goings-on at the hotel. But according to Everson, those rooms were unblocked this past weekend and are now available for between $886 and $2,225 a night. The room rates are notably cheaper than the ones for Jan. 5–6. Trump has teased an event for Jan. 6, the day the Electoral College votes will be counted in Congress.
More Evidence that tRump Is Fading Fast
It would have been nice it they had stood up during the impeachment hearings, wouldn’t it? We need to see more of this from the republican cowards cringing in their bunkers, waiting to emerge on January 21st hoping tRump doesn’t have a shadow. Too little too late and all that — but still welcome.
Rolling Stone: Republicans Hit the Sunday News Shows to Blast Trump
Two Republicans, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), blasted the outgoing president on Sunday morning, one going so far as to call out his own party, along with the president for possibly driving people to “violence” over bogus claims of voter fraud. Kinzinger, one of the few current Republican lawmakers who are unafraid to speak out against the president, addressed Trump’s refusal to sign the Covid-19 relief bill, even after the White House was part of the negotiations, saying it seems their aim is to merely cause chaos. “To play this old switcheroo game, which is just kind of like, I don’t get the point. I don’t understand what’s being done, why? Unless it’s just to create chaos and show power and be upset because you lost the election. Otherwise, I don’t understand it because this just has to get done. Too many people are relying on this,” Kinzinger told CNN.
What Do You Do When You Find Some Obstruction in Pardon’s Clothing?
Our already impeached and disgraced brazen scofflaw, Donnie the Incompetent, doesn’t do very well with anticipating consequences of his actions. By pardoning his most implicated full on dingleberry buddies, he’s cementing the certainty of a multi-count obstruction of justice case against his malfeasance. There’s a clean wind a comin’ to blow the stench away. I suppose it’s a good thing that Donnie doesn’t have much of an imagination. Just think how he’d behave if he could really see what’s coming for him on January 21st.
Financial Times: Lawrence Tribe: Donald Trump’s pardons must not obstruct justice
If, as Alexander Pope reflected in 1711, “to err is human, to forgive, divine,” then the US Constitution’s pardon power — the prerogative of forgiveness — should be beyond reproach. Instead, a godless US president who appears incapable of forgiveness has seemingly perverted this instrument of mercy into another grave threat to the rule of law. Donald Trump’s recent twisting of the pardon power risks leaving a damaging legacy: a blueprint for manipulating this vestige of royal prerogative to place presidents and their cronies above the law. But a remedy exists: investigation and potential prosecution. We must treat any obstructions of justice we uncover as the crimes they are. … Mr Trump’s grants of clemency to close advisers Paul Manafort and Roger Stone belong to a distinct and far more dangerous category. These pardons appear to be the latest steps taken which may in effect have hindered inquiries into crimes that Mr Trump’s close associates have been convicted of committing. Put plainly, these pardons could potentially amount to criminal obstruction of justice or bribery.
Tis the Season to Make other Rich People Look Bad
By now, you’ve most likely heard about Jeff Bezos’ ex rubbing old Jeff’s nose in his bad citizenship. Turns out, it’s not easy to give it all away. She hasn’t asked for my help yet, but I can dream.
Mother Jones: Giving Away Billions of Dollars Is Hard Work—Just Ask MacKenzie Scott
Never mind the old saying, A person actually can be too thin—and too rich. Consider the opening lines of Just Giving, an eye-opening book published earlier this year by Stanford political scientist Rob Reich: “Your fortune is rolling up, rolling up like an avalanche! You must keep up with it! You must distribute it faster than it grows! If you do not, it will crush you, and your children, and your children’s children!” So wrote Frederick Gates to sixty-seven-year-old John D. Rockefeller in 1906. Rockefeller was the founder of Standard Oil, a corporation that had generated a colossal fortune and made him the richest man in the world. Gates was Rockefeller’s trusted business and philanthropic adviser, who helped the tycoon incorporate one of the nation’s first general purpose charitable foundations, but he could easily have been delivering that warning to Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos—or perhaps the novelist-turned-philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, who made headlines last week when she revealed on Medium that she has spent the past four months giving away almost $4.2 billion to 384 organizations in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Kangaroos Are People Too (or at Least They Talk to Us)
Kangaroos are way up near the top of the animals I’d like to hang out with scale. I wonder if they get along with cats and dogs?
CNN: Kangaroos can ask humans for help, new study shows
“C’mon, dude! This is just cruel.” (CNN)It may sound a bit "Dr. Doolittle," but it turns out kangaroos can communicate with humans. Researchers found that kangaroos "intentionally" communicated with humans -- a behavior that was previously thought to be reserved for domesticated animals, like dogs, horses or goats. Experts from London's University of Roehampton and the University of Sydney set up a task, known as "the unsolvable problem task," where they presented kangaroos with food trapped inside a plastic container. After trying, and failing, to open the boxes, the kangaroos turned their gaze on a nearby human -- and sometimes even nudged or scratched them to ask for help, researchers said.
Andy, What Do You Have to Say?
Andy doesn’t mention it, but, he’s extra steamed because the college accepted his arch nemesis, Joe Biden instead of him.
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a widely expected outcome, a horrible student was rejected by a college on Monday. The college’s decision to reject the student was unsurprising given his poor performance in such important subjects as science, math, history, and spelling. Although the student was reportedly taking his rejection badly, a college spokesperson said that the news should have come as no surprise. It’s Right There on the Tip of My Tongue Hell with the vaccine, I want me some of this stuff. GoodNewsNetwork: Drug Reverses Age-Related Mental Decline Within Days, Suggesting Lost Cognitive Ability is Not Permanent Just a few doses of an experimental drug that reboots protein production in cells can reverse age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice, according to a new study by UC San Francisco scientists. The drug, called ISRIB, has already been shown in laboratory studies to restore memory function months after traumatic brain injury (TBI), reverse cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome, prevent noise-related hearing loss, fight certain types of prostate cancer, and even enhance cognition in healthy animals. In the new study, published Dec. 1 in the open-access journal eLife, researchers showed rapid restoration of youthful cognitive abilities in aged mice, accompanied by a rejuvenation of brain and immune cells that could help explain improvements in brain function—and with no side effects observed. Musical Interlude
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WineRev’s History Lesson
Our resident history professor’s always interesting history lesson will appear here as soon as I notice he’s posted it in the comment section. Until then look for it in the comment section.
Take it away, WineRev:
>>>» Well the $2000 rescue checks cleared the House yesterday, even though 21 GOPers voted to Not Vote. (Mind you, in a backhanded way it helped. Under the rule adopted to move this through quickly, to suspend the general rules required a 2/3 majority…... of those voting. If all 435 members of the House vote that number is 290. Since those “Brave, brave Sir Robins were running away and chickening out….” their own absence reduced the “2/3 of those voting” to 273. And the bill got 274…..) So it goes over to the Senate…...to the Majority Leader to call up to the Floor…….and we’ve seen this show before EXCEPT
>>>>>The House ALSO voted to over-ride Bunker Boy’s veto of the Defense bill, which every Republican has sworn in blood to vote for every day, every time, even if they are a member of the Library Board in Minot, North Dakota. So THIS bill/over-ride is ALSO sizzling on the Senate griddle. And now comes Senator Bernie Sanders to put old Turtle Butt on the flat top stove! Mitch wants to A) bring up the over ride FIRST and pass it, B) Go home. Bernie says if that’s the plan, he, as a member of the Senate, will FILIBUSTER the over ride, the old fashioned kind, standing there reading Das Kapital out loud, reciting poetry, declaiming about the items on his grocery list, (“ A HALF POUND of gouda, a mere 8 ounces, NOT 3/4s of a pound…...which begs the question here in the Senate, WHY aren’t we on the metric system? After all….”) etc., unless and UNTIL there is a vote FIRST on the $2000 relief checks. To get Bernie to quit required Cloture…...60 votes, and Mitch only has 52.
The Days may be flittering down to a precious few here on the December 29th, but even so, Good and Goofy history was made this day, and YOU deserve to read some of it on YOUR December 29th!
1837 Toronto, CA Birth of Anderson Ruffin Abbott, doctor. Back in 1835 Anderson’s parents had escaped Alabama after their store was destroyed by white racists (who could not abide the idea of free blacks) and had made their way to Canada. His father began trading in real estate, with profit and success, so that Anderson was able to attend both public and private schools in both Canada and the US (Oberlin College) and he graduated from the Toronto School of Medicine at age 23. After a year of practical study under a surgeon he received his medical license, the first ever Canadian-born black doctor. In 1863 he went to Washington DC and applied to become an assistant surgeon in the Union Medical Corps but was refused. Undaunted, he re-applied to become the medical officer of a newly forming black regiment (USCT) and was accepted. His talent soon led him to be posted as a surgeon at several hospitals in the Washington area. In April, 1865 he was one of the doctors summoned to Ford’s Theater to attempt to save Abraham Lincoln’s life but all the doctors recognized the wound was mortal. Several months later Mary Todd Lincoln called on Abbott and presented him with a plaid shawl Lincoln had worn at his first Inaugural in gratitude for his efforts to save him. A couple years later Abbot moved back to Canada, married, and rose to prominence in medical circles. He did return to the US in 1894 to serve as surgeon-in-chief at Provident Hospital in Chicago, the first US black-owned hospital . He didn’t care for it, and after a year returned to Canada for the rest of his days.
1848 Washington DC At the White House, President James Polk got to bring the Executive Mansion into the high-tech age of the 1840s. On this night, he turned a little thumbscrew, and several of the rooms for the first time were lighted by burning gas, not candles. (How cutting edge can you get?)
1850 Salamanca, Spain Birth of Tomas Breton y Hernandez, composer. Not a prodigy, but a very good musical student; his family sent him to Madrid at age 16 to study, and 4 years later he was admitted to the Madrid Conservatory. Initially earned a living conducting and producing theatrical events, but eventually began composing them too. Considered in many circles as the “father of Spanish Opera” , he also tried his hand at symphonies, concertos, and putting the Spanish musical form ‘”zarzuela” to a staged form, a sort of light opera or what we call a musical.
1852 Boston The city builds its reputation as being an odd combination of radical political ideas (abolition! atheism!) and a strait-laced primness. On this day Emma Snodgrass was arrested for offending the public….. for wearing pants.
1860 Plymouth, England The day before yesterday the History Corner noted the 1922 launch in Japan of the world’s first aircraft carrier, the Hosho, as a watershed moment in the evolution of the world’s navies. Today we step back to another watershed. The British Navy this day launches the HMS Warrior. She is the first warship designed from the keel up to be made entirely from metal (iron), to be covered with armor plate that med her proof against rifle or cannon fire, and moved by a steam boiler that turned an underwater screw propeller. Every other warship on salt water became obsolete. ( The next year, the outbreak of the US Civil War, the CSS Merrimack/Virginia borrowed the idea of a screw propeller and an armor-plated citadel, but grafted this onto the body of a scuttled wooded warship. (The armor weighed so much the wooded body was completely submerged.) The USS Monitor which came from New York to Chesapeake Bay to challenge her was closer to the Warrior : screw propeller, iron hull and iron armor plate, but improved by adding the revolving turret.)
1885 Cannstadt, Germany Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach both worked for the same firm, but a few years back left it to strike out on their own. In 1884 they demonstrate the first successful gasoline engine, with a carburetor, spark-less ignition and one (count ‘em!) cylinder. A couple months ago they mounted it in the oak wooden frame of a bicycle with wooden wheels, test drove it and on this day patented the “Reitwagen” (“riding car”), the world’s first working motorcycle. Gearheads will want to know: 1, 4-stroke cylinder, 264 cc, ½ horsepower at 600 rpm let it cruise at 11 kph (just under 7 mph). At least for this day (like Daimler’s son Paul, who test drove it in November from Cannstadt to Unterturkheim; about 7 miles, and ended abruptly when the saddle caught fire from the heat of the engine) it was the very first day anyone could ….”Get his motor runnin’….head out on the autobahn…..lookin’ fur Abenteuer……in whatever came his way”…. Inflated tires, shocks, springs, twisting handlebar controls (already invented), kick starting, and leather suits to fend off road rash all come later. (Daimler & Maybach abandoned further work on it next year as they were adapting the engine for a 4-wheeler. They would later form a partnership with Herr Benz…..as in Daimler-Benz……as in Mercedes.)
1937 San Francisco Airplane technology is improving: magnetic compasses, enclosed cabins, paved runways, radio links. Even though the best long-distance passenger aircraft still only sport two engines, on this day Pan Am begins scheduled air service (with several refueling stops) between San Francisco and Auckland, New Zealand.
1949 Bridgeport, CT Another one of those new-fangled television stations went on the air this day. And this one really was new-fangled. Until now all TV broadcasts were at Very High Frequencies in the broadcast spectrum. The FCC limited such broadcasts to channels 2 to 13 and that was plenty, even in a crowded urban metro. But station KC2XAK this day is the nation’s first UHF television station (Ultra High Frequency) to operate a daily schedule. (Back in the day, my hometown of Columbus, OH had channels 4, 6 and 10, and Ohio State University had REALLY different programming on WOSU, channel 34. When we got the new Admiral TV with color it also included a UHF receiver. My European parents especially enjoyed the concerts and even some of the discussion panels on UHF.)
1952 Elmsford, New York Back in 1947 the Bell Telephone Research Labs in New Jersey had made a major break through when they invented and patented the transistor . These circuits replaced all those vacuum tubes, ran at much cooler temperatures for far longer, only sipped at electric current, and were a couple orders of magnitude small and lighter. Everybody started designed new stuff using transistors. On this day the first hearing aid using transistors went on sale in town (The whole thing was half the size of pack of cigarettes and used a little battery called “A”). Audiologists finally had something practical and effective to help patients.
May all your News be Good, comforting and inspiring.
Shalom.
On the Lighter Side (with a Touch of the Sardonic)
These things really pile up when you only share them every two weeks.
x The main difference between Al Capone and Donald Trump is that we've actually seen Al Capone's taxes.
There is substantial evidence to suggest that like Capone, @realDonaldTrump, violated 26 U.S.C. §7201 and committed tax evasion — Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) December 26, 2020
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Quote(s) of the Day
What we need is a rebirth of satire, of dissent, of irreverence, of an uncompromising insistence that phoniness is phony and platitudes are platitudinous. — Arthur M Schlesinger, Jr When I see brokenness, poverty and crime in inner cities, I also see the enormous potential and readiness for transformation and rebirth. We are creating an art form that comes from the heart and reflects the pain and sorrow of people's lives. It also expresses joy, beauty, and love. This process lays the foundation of building a genuine community in which people are reconnected with their families, sustained by meaningful work, nurtured by the care of each other and will together raise and educate their children. Then we witness social change in action. — Lily Yeh I've had so many rebirths, I should come with my own midwife by now. — Cher In order to rise From its own ashes A phoenix First Must Burn. — Octavia Butler Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion. — Dalai Lama I am waiting for the lost music to sound again in a new rebirth of wonder. — Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Required Pet Photo
I’m running toward January, 20th just as fast as I can.
Closing Notes Well, we’ve come to the end of my last roundup for 2020. I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a much happier New Year.


dailykos--2020-12-31--THERE MUST BE CONSEQUENCES

THERE MUST BE CONSEQUENCES

THERE MUST BE CONSEQUENCES It 's plain to all sane and decent people there there has been a concerted , willful , and entirely duplicitous attempt to overturn the legitimate government of the United States , and replace it with the worst of tyrannies .
As Donald Trump recedes into the contempt and insignificance he so richly deserves , and which his overriding egotism makes him entirely incapable of adjusting to , there is a glad-hearted celebration that the worst of the threats has been dealt with .
Perhaps Trump will spend the rest of his life in prison .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ deserves to , both for the willful and deliberate malice with which he ignored millions of seriously ill citizens supposedly in his charge , a malice which leaves him primarily responsible for the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of those same citizens , and a malice aforethought which , in any other human , would surely immediately result in the death penalty ; and for the equal malice and willfulness with which he has traduced the constitutional legitimacy of our republic .
In any case , it hardly matters .
He thrives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sick pleasure of seeing people bent to his will , the breaking of laws without penalty , the undermining not merely of laws but of morality , and the hysterical adulation of angry and mindless hordes .
Deprived of those sources , the sources from which his very existence draws its vile energies , he will rapidly shrink , dwindle , decay , and cease .
No matter what happens next , Donald Trump will not live very much longer .
He simply does n't have the courage .
The problem he has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about those mindless hordes .
I am not the only one thinking about the question , not by a long shot .
Trump , or rump as I prefer to call him , is the one who has made those hordes mindless .
He is the one who has incited them to such a despicable fervor .
We stand horrified at the spectacle of an entire party abandoning any pretense of patriotism , let alone common sense , let alone reason and respect for evidence and the findings of science , and , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to those hordes .
In fact , for all practical purposes , there is no difference between those politicians and the hordes to whom they kow-tow .
I label them “ rumpistas ” one and all , regardless of whether they are republican senators and representatives or hoi polloi from Illinois , Quite a few of us wonder just how we are to fight back against such an overwhelming display of unleashed and unreasoning fury .
I very seriously feel that it is time to take away the right to vote , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right to participate in politics in any fashion from those who have encouraged or threatened violence and murder , the violent overthrow of the government , or uttered any other seditious statements .
If that seems a drastic move , perhaps it is , but I feel very very strongly that it is a necessary one—and what is more , one that is completely validated by the constitution as it stands .
( During and after the Civil War , senators and representatives from the confederacy were not allowed to take their seats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States . )
The current situation is no longer a moral quandary , but has become a serious question of the continued existence of democratic government in this nation .
I feel—again , very strongly—that if we do not stop the rumpistas now , we shall , sooner than we think , be forced to stop them on the battlefield .
There are many who feel that we must do nothing , that we must simply turn the other cheek , and allow the rumpistas to continue their depredations .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be “ taking the higher road.
” Some seek to expiate their offenses on the grounds that our “ society ” has failed them .
Perhaps it has .
I am quite capable of empathy for individual rumpistas , without , however , feeling that the best way to remedy their situation is to surrender the reins of power to them .
You do not cure the mad by allowing them equal control .
( Perhaps it is not possible to cure the mad .
The point still stands . )
Besides , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our “ society ” has failed many many people , most especially women and people of color , and failed them in far worse ways—and yet these people do not rage and threaten violence and murder , they do not go about uttering sedition .
This is what worries me about Joe Biden .
He may very well be a really good man , as the hagiographers would have us believe .
But good as he is , I think of him as a machine politician , an old-school politician , of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rapprochement with the republicans , and that worries me .
It worries me a lot .
I think most of them are too far gone .
They stepped over the line a long time ago .
There is no way to make common ground with them .
They are treacherous , liars and deceivers , and if we pretend any different , we will pay the price .
This is no longer a game of make-nice and pretend-we-all-believe-in-democracy .
Some actions , some behaviors are unforgivable , and it seems to me almost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crossed over that line .
I would not trust them with a nickel .
I would require them to renew their oaths of office beforeI would allow them to be seated again—the constitution allocates precisely this power to the House of Representatives , but I seriously doubt anyone will have the courage to use it .
Although I believe in forgiveness and redemption as possibilities , and I think turning the cheek in normal social behavior is all well and good , I do NOT believe that injunction is meant as a simple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rule you can follow without thinking about the issues , as a way to feel virtuous without actually having to put in any hard thinking or analysis .
It is meant as a check to our own thirst for vengeance , as an encouragement to empathy rather than anger , as a reminder that our snap judgments can be very very wrong and very very dangerous .
But my judgment of the rumpistas—and I hope yours—is not a snap judgment .
It is a judgment born of close observation and painful experience .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ behavior ever since the self-declared good Christian people of Mississippi stood up for evil in the Civil Rights era .
Hate speech and sedition are NOT free speech , and are not , in any meaningful sense of the word , opinion .
They are entrenched and vicious attitudes , not opinions .
Opinions may legitimately vary on complex matters for which nobody has all the answers .
But to say so assumes that the people expressing the opinions have actually studied the matter , and have worked hard to understand it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , science , and evidence , and attempt to substitute their own vengeance-forged and hate-sharpened notions , their own noxious defiance of all that is good or decent or sane or even tolerable .
There is no compromise for them .
It is their way or no way .
It is their way or all-out war .
I 'm not talking tyranny .
It is not tyranny to say that if a person has repeatedly stabbed you in the back , and declared the intention to do so again at the first opportunity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ circumstances , ever trust that person behind you again .
I do not mean to say we ought to punish them , or even put them in jail .
I would propose allowing them to live otherwise normal lives , to work , make money , own homes and vehicles , pay taxes , send their children to public schools , et cetera .
But they must not be allowed to vote , hold office , or participate in politics in any fashion .
Nor should they be allowed to spread their attitudes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in fiction , movies , or television shows .
I would even provide for a path back to full citizenship—but it must be a rigorous path , and carefully enforced .
We have developed sufficient psychological skill to reasonably assess the truthfulness of any of their declarations .
They should have to pass examination by a highly competent board of governors , at the least .
There are ample means of determining guilt .
The rumpistas , even the supposedly more sophisticated among them , are not very good at holding their tongues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must threaten and declare the horrors they will visit on you if you dare to disagree .
It makes them feel less trivial , less helpless .
So we have , on record , quite a few entirely seditious statements , quite a few threats of murder and violence .
I am sure that many republican congress-creatures have been careful to weasel-word their seditious statements so that it would be difficult to prove , technically , their guilt , although we all know what they meant .
Still , think what it would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , upon their conviction , even three or four sitting senators—and surely there are that many who are either too stupid or too bound on committing treason that they have not been sufficiently careful in what they actually said .
Think what it would mean if the House could legally refuse , upon their conviction for treason , even just a few of the 126 contemptible creatures who signed on to the Texas brief .
And no doubt a close examination of such republicans would uncover all sorts of other illegal activities , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ information , which would be just actionable as sedition or hate speech .
( Note that , in all of this , I am not declaring the Democrats uniformly perfect and law-abiding .
I am sure there are many criminals among Democratic politicians too .
But by far the outright lies have been coming from the republicans .
The treason .
The deception .
The gerry-mandering and vote-suppression .
It is no exaggeration to say that 95 % or more of the mass murders in the last two decades have been committed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ none by Democrats or those much-maligned liberals , no matter to what ridiculous extremes you stretch the definitions of “ Democrat ” and “ liberal.
” ) Anda s for the multitudes , the howling “ militias ” that rump has explicitly encouraged to engage in illegal violence and seditious behavior , probably as many as half could be convicted on their recorded statements alone , and not a few on actual deeds they have committed .
For the rest , while we can not imagine that they would renounce their beliefs—the people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unsustainable beliefs tend to be people who most strongly refuse to renounce those beliefs , since neither reason , evidence , nor empathy can persuade them .
There is a song I think about when I think about such people .
It runs , in part , like this : “ I wo n't back down .
Stand me up against the gates of hell , and I wo n't back down.
” No , they probably wo n't back down .
Not even when they are wrong .
But they WILL be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their tongues and behave themselves , or lose the right to vote , hold office , or participate in any way in our politics .

THERE MUST BE CONSEQUENCES
It's plain to all sane and decent people there there has been a concerted, willful, and entirely duplicitous attempt to overturn the legitimate government of the United States, and replace it with the worst of tyrannies.
As Donald Trump recedes into the contempt and insignificance he so richly deserves, and which his overriding egotism makes him entirely incapable of adjusting to, there is a glad-hearted celebration that the worst of the threats has been dealt with. Perhaps Trump will spend the rest of his life in prison. I certainly hope so. He certainly deserves to, both for the willful and deliberate malice with which he ignored millions of seriously ill citizens supposedly in his charge, a malice which leaves him primarily responsible for the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of those same citizens, and a malice aforethought which, in any other human, would surely immediately result in the death penalty; and for the equal malice and willfulness with which he has traduced the constitutional legitimacy of our republic. In any case, it hardly matters. He thrives on the telling of lies, the sick pleasure of seeing people bent to his will, the breaking of laws without penalty, the undermining not merely of laws but of morality, and the hysterical adulation of angry and mindless hordes. Deprived of those sources,the sources from which his very existence draws its vile energies, he will rapidly shrink, dwindle, decay, and cease. No matter what happens next, Donald Trump will not live very much longer. He simply doesn't have the courage.
The problem he has left us with is what to do about those mindless hordes. I am not the only one thinking about the question, not by a long shot. Trump, or rump as I prefer to call him, is the one who has made those hordes mindless. He is the one who has incited them to such a despicable fervor. We stand horrified at the spectacle of an entire party abandoning any pretense of patriotism, let alone common sense, let alone reason and respect for evidence and the findings of science, and, for fear of losing votes, truckling to those hordes. In fact, for all practical purposes, there is no difference between those politicians and the hordes to whom they kow-tow. I label them “rumpistas” one and all, regardless of whether they are republican senators and representatives or hoi polloi from Illinois,
Quite a few of us wonder just how we are to fight back against such an overwhelming display of unleashed and unreasoning fury.
I very seriously feel that it is time to take away the right to vote,the right to hold office, and the right to participate in politics in any fashion from those who have encouraged or threatened violence and murder, the violent overthrow of the government, or uttered any other seditious statements.
If that seems a drastic move, perhaps it is, but I feel very very strongly that it is a necessary one—and what is more, one that is completely validated by the constitution as it stands. (During and after the Civil War, senators and representatives from the confederacy were not allowed to take their seats until they swore anew their allegiance to the United States. ) The current situation is no longer a moral quandary, but has become a serious question of the continued existence of democratic government in this nation. I feel—again, very strongly—that if we do not stop the rumpistas now, we shall, sooner than we think, be forced to stop them on the battlefield.
There are many who feel that we must do nothing, that we must simply turn the other cheek, and allow the rumpistas to continue their depredations. There are many who consider this approach to be“taking the higher road.”
I disagree.
Some seek to expiate their offenses on the grounds that our “society”has failed them. Perhaps it has. I am quite capable of empathy for individual rumpistas, without, however, feeling that the best way to remedy their situation is to surrender the reins of power to them. You do not cure the mad by allowing them equal control. (Perhaps it is not possible to cure the mad. The point still stands.)
Besides,as I have often pointed out, our “society” has failed many many people, most especially women and people of color, and failed them in far worse ways—and yet these people do not rage and threaten violence and murder, they do not go about uttering sedition.
This is what worries me about Joe Biden. He may very well be a really good man, as the hagiographers would have us believe. But good as he is, I think of him as a machine politician, an old-school politician, of the wait-your-turn-and-you-too-will-be-president-someday brand. He is speaking of rapprochement with the republicans, and that worries me. It worries me a lot. I think most of them are too far gone. They stepped over the line a long time ago. There is no way to make common ground with them. They are treacherous, liars and deceivers, and if we pretend any different, we will pay the price. This is no longer a game of make-nice and pretend-we-all-believe-in-democracy. Some actions, some behaviors are unforgivable, and it seems to me almost every single one of the republicans have crossed over that line. I would not trust them with a nickel. I would require them to renew their oaths of office beforeI would allow them to be seated again—the constitution allocates precisely this power to the House of Representatives, but I seriously doubt anyone will have the courage to use it.
Although I believe in forgiveness and redemption as possibilities, and I think turning the cheek in normal social behavior is all well and good, I do NOT believe that injunction is meant as a simple catch-all for moral behavior, as a rule you can follow without thinking about the issues, as a way to feel virtuous without actually having to put in any hard thinking or analysis. It is meant as a check to our own thirst for vengeance, as an encouragement to empathy rather than anger, as a reminder that our snap judgments can be very very wrong and very very dangerous. But my judgment of the rumpistas—and I hope yours—is not a snap judgment. It is a judgment born of close observation and painful experience. I have been watching this sort of behavior ever since the self-declared good Christian people of Mississippi stood up for evil in the Civil Rights era.
Hate speech and sedition are NOT free speech, and are not, in any meaningful sense of the word, opinion. They are entrenched and vicious attitudes, not opinions. Opinions may legitimately vary on complex matters for which nobody has all the answers. But to say so assumes that the people expressing the opinions have actually studied the matter, and have worked hard to understand it. The rumpistas summarily dismiss reason, logic, science, and evidence, and attempt to substitute their own vengeance-forged and hate-sharpened notions,their own noxious defiance of all that is good or decent or sane or even tolerable. There is no compromise for them. It is their way or no way. It is their way or all-out war.
I'm not talking tyranny. It is not tyranny to say that if a person has repeatedly stabbed you in the back, and declared the intention to do so again at the first opportunity, you do NOT, under any circumstances, ever trust that person behind you again. I do not mean to say we ought to punish them, or even put them in jail. I would propose allowing them to live otherwise normal lives, to work,make money, own homes and vehicles, pay taxes, send their children to public schools, et cetera. But they must not be allowed to vote, hold office, or participate in politics in any fashion. Nor should they be allowed to spread their attitudes either in printed materials or online or in fiction, movies, or television shows. I would even provide for a path back to full citizenship—but it must be a rigorous path, and carefully enforced. We have developed sufficient psychological skill to reasonably assess the truthfulness of any of their declarations. They should have to pass examination by a highly competent board of governors, at the least.
There are ample means of determining guilt. The rumpistas, even the supposedly more sophisticated among them, are not very good at holding their tongues and abiding patiently. No, they must threaten and declare the horrors they will visit on you if you dare to disagree. It makes them feel less trivial, less helpless. So we have, on record, quite a few entirely seditious statements, quite a few threats of murder and violence. I am sure that many republican congress-creatures have been careful to weasel-word their seditious statements so that it would be difficult to prove, technically, their guilt, although we all know what they meant.
Still, think what it would mean if we could challenge and remove, upon their conviction, even three or four sitting senators—and surely there are that many who are either too stupid or too bound on committing treason that they have not been sufficiently careful in what they actually said. Think what it would mean if the House could legally refuse, upon their conviction for treason, even just a few of the 126 contemptible creatures who signed on to the Texas brief.
And no doubt a close examination of such republicans would uncover all sorts of other illegal activities, from accepting bribes to profiting from inside information, which would be just actionable as sedition or hate speech. (Note that, in all of this, I am not declaring the Democrats uniformly perfect and law-abiding. I am sure there are many criminals among Democratic politicians too. But by far the outright lies have been coming from the republicans. The treason. The deception. The gerry-mandering and vote-suppression. It is no exaggeration to say that 95% or more of the mass murders in the last two decades have been committed by members of the far-right, and almost none by Democrats or those much-maligned liberals, no matter to what ridiculous extremes you stretch the definitions of “Democrat”and “liberal.”)
Anda s for the multitudes, the howling “militias” that rump has explicitly encouraged to engage in illegal violence and seditious behavior, probably as many as half could be convicted on their recorded statements alone, and not a few on actual deeds they have committed. For the rest, while we cannot imagine that they would renounce their beliefs—the people who hold the most horrific and most unsustainable beliefs tend to be people who most strongly refuse to renounce those beliefs, since neither reason, evidence, nor empathy can persuade them. There is a song I think about when I think about such people. It runs, in part, like this: “I won't back down. Stand me up against the gates of hell, and I won't back down.”
No, they probably won't back down. Not even when they are wrong. But they WILL be put on notice that they either hold their tongues and behave themselves, or lose the right to vote, hold office, or participate in any way in our politics.


dailykos--2020-01-31--Acquittal of Trump = Death of Democracy?

One year ago the would-be king was firing members of his own court .
Donald Trump 's favorite saying of all time : The large number of dismissals and resignations kept him very busy for a while .
No one could tell who he might turn on next .
Trump finally got rid of John Bolton but that guy just wo n't seem to go away .
He ’ s like the zombie in a horror flick that just won ’ t die !
Now he treats an impeachment as if nothing at all has happened - just another day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we all remember that Trump performs a well-rehearsed act designed to enrage , marginalize and bully his opponents .
It 's the script of a reality TV star , not a president .
He is not even a politician , just a demagogue .
Do n't expect him to understand or acknowledge mutual respect or common decency in governance .
He does n't come from that school .
He 's also not a diplomat or statesman .
That would require far too much grace and subtly , two things he 's not good @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all an act ultimately meant to entertain his followers and benefit his own personal ambitions .
Bottom Line : The US Senate will vote on whether to include witnesses in the impeachment trial .
Republicans are in the majority .
If they vote against allowing witnesses to testify , there may be a quick acquittal .
Democrats will claim that it was not a trial but a cover up .
The precedent set by the Senate will redefine what impeachable offenses can be , precluding almost any act short of a serious criminal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be given carte blanche to do just about whatever they please with a sense of entitlement and immunity .
The power of the US Congress will be diminished .
What would the founders say ?
Democracy advocate Thomas Jefferson actually claimed executive privilege when he received a summons to appear in court .
He worried that every president would be dragged into civil courts by their political opponents .
But let 's face it - Donald Trump has violated just about every democratic principle in one way or another , especially but not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the press .
He bullies whistle blowers calling them “ spies ” and “ traitors ” .
The guy models himself after strong man dictators .
He doesn ’ t want to be fair — that ’ s for losers !
His ethics are very suspect to say the least ...
So , of course Democrats in Congress felt obligated to fight his unethical authoritarian rule as a way of trying to regain a balance of power and recover some sense of decency in Washington , D.C .
When speaking to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a “ vindictive ” and “ nasty ” man .
The House Democrats chose to impeach the president , knowing that he would most likely be acquitted for political reasons by the majority Republican Senators .
But they felt they had to take a stand for accountability and democracy .
How this will all play out in terms of electoral politics remains to be seen , but Trump may have actually solidified his base by playing the underdog card and claiming that there is a dastardly plot to unseat him by Washington “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outcome of the impeachment trial and the upcoming national election , the US Presidency has gradually gained more independent power than the founders intended .
Trump is setting himself up as nothing less than an elected king .
Where this will lead us is uncertain , but the trend is not looking good for democracy in the USA .

One year ago the would-be king was firing members of his own court.
Donald Trump's favorite saying of all time:
"You're Fired!"
The large number of dismissals and resignations kept him very busy for a while. No one could tell who he might turn on next.
Trump finally got rid of John Bolton but that guy just won't seem to go away. He’s like the zombie in a horror flick that just won’t die!
Now he treats an impeachment as if nothing at all has happened - just another day in the White House!
I suggest we all remember that Trump performs a well-rehearsed act designed to enrage, marginalize and bully his opponents. It's the script of a reality TV star, not a president. He is not even a politician, just a demagogue.
Don't expect him to understand or acknowledge mutual respect or common decency in governance. He doesn't come from that school.
He's also not a diplomat or statesman. That would require far too much grace and subtly, two things he's not good at. Just remember that it's all an act ultimately meant to entertain his followers and benefit his own personal ambitions.
Bottom Line: The US Senate will vote on whether to include witnesses in the impeachment trial.
Republicans are in the majority. If they vote against allowing witnesses to testify, there may be a quick acquittal. Democrats will claim that it was not a trial but a cover up.
The precedent set by the Senate will redefine what impeachable offenses can be, precluding almost any act short of a serious criminal offense. Trump and future presidents will be given carte blanche to do just about whatever they please with a sense of entitlement and immunity.
The power of the US Congress will be diminished.
Democracy hangs in the balance...
What would the founders say?
Democracy advocate Thomas Jefferson actually claimed executive privilege when he received a summons to appear in court. He worried that every president would be dragged into civil courts by their political opponents.
But let's face it - Donald Trump has violated just about every democratic principle in one way or another, especially but not limited to the constitutional guarantee to freedom of the press. He bullies whistle blowers calling them “spies” and “traitors”. The guy models himself after strong man dictators. He doesn’t want to be fair — that’s for losers!
His ethics are very suspect to say the least...
So, of course Democrats in Congress felt obligated to fight his unethical authoritarian rule as a way of trying to regain a balance of power and recover some sense of decency in Washington, D.C.
When speaking to the press, Senator Schumer described Trump as a “vindictive” and “nasty” man.
The House Democrats chose to impeach the president, knowing that he would most likely be acquitted for political reasons by the majority Republican Senators. But they felt they had to take a stand for accountability and democracy.
How this will all play out in terms of electoral politics remains to be seen, but Trump may have actually solidified his base by playing the underdog card and claiming that there is a dastardly plot to unseat him by Washington “deep state” insiders.
Whatever the outcome of the impeachment trial and the upcoming national election, the US Presidency has gradually gained more independent power than the founders intended.
Trump is setting himself up as nothing less than an elected king.
Where this will lead us is uncertain, but the trend is not looking good for democracy in the USA.
As Executive Director for Democracy Watch News, I’m very concerned about this issue.
Democracy Watch News: https://democracywatchnews.org
“Democracycast” podcast: https://democracycast.libsyn.com


dailykos--2020-01-31--The blockbuster bad faith reveal: Trump can’t be impeached, but Joe Biden should be impeached

After a 16 hour question and answer period , it took until the second to last question for the issue to be fully realized and the Republicans ’ bad faith to be nakedly displayed in its full contempt .
What we heard was that President Trump could not be impeached and removed for attempting to interfere with foreign help in the next election … But Joe Biden could be impeached for carrying out US policy in calling for the removal of a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor .
Unbelievable .
The whole game is up .
Joe Biden should be impeached under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dershowitz , President Trump ’ s legal team argued at the end of the questioning phase of the Senate impeachment trial on Thursday ... .
There is no evidence to support the allegations , which suggest that Biden used his position as vice president to have a Ukrainian prosecutor fired for investigating Burisma , on whose board his son sat .
In fact , there is no evidence to support the notion that the prosecutor in question was investigating Burisma , or anything at all .
Biden pushed for his firing , along @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with neurons firing , because of the prosecutor ’ s failure to fight corruption .
But that was no obstacle to Patrick Philbin , an attorney for the President .
“ One could put together fairly easily from those known facts the suggestion that there was a family financial benefit coming from the end of that investigation , ” Philbin said , “ because it protected the position of the younger Biden on the board.
” The question of Joe Biden ‘ s impeachment was raised by a Republican senator , and so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Republicans wanted to get this - this insane notion – on the record .
I watched , in amazement , as Trump ’ s lawyer took the podium , thinking that surely he would not argue that Biden ’ s conduct was impeachable while Trump ’ s misconduct – as a matter of law and constitutional principles — was beyond question .
And then Trump ’ s lawyer gave up the game , openly and defiantly : Yes , Biden – unlike Trump – could be impeached .

After a 16 hour question and answer period, it took until the second to last question for the issue to be fully realized and the Republicans’ bad faith to be nakedly displayed in its full contempt. What we heard was that President Trump could not be impeached and removed for attempting to interfere with foreign help in the next election … But Joe Biden could be impeached for carrying out US policy in calling for the removal of a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor. Unbelievable. The whole game is up.
Joe Biden should be impeached under a legal theory laid out by Alan Dershowitz, President Trump’s legal team argued at the end of the questioning phase of the Senate impeachment trial on Thursday.... There is no evidence to support the allegations, which suggest that Biden used his position as vice president to have a Ukrainian prosecutor fired for investigating Burisma, on whose board his son sat. In fact, there is no evidence to support the notion that the prosecutor in question was investigating Burisma, or anything at all. Biden pushed for his firing, along with everyone observing Ukraine at the time with neurons firing, because of the prosecutor’s failure to fight corruption. But that was no obstacle to Patrick Philbin, an attorney for the President. “One could put together fairly easily from those known facts the suggestion that there was a family financial benefit coming from the end of that investigation,” Philbin said, “because it protected the position of the younger Biden on the board.”
The question of Joe Biden‘s impeachment was raised by a Republican senator, and so there was nothing subversive about it. The Republicans wanted to get this - this insane notion – on the record.
I watched, in amazement, as Trump’s lawyer took the podium, thinking that surely he would not argue that Biden’s conduct was impeachable while Trump’s misconduct – as a matter of law and constitutional principles — was beyond question.
And then Trump’s lawyer gave up the game, openly and defiantly: Yes, Biden – unlike Trump – could be impeached.
Breathtaking. Nakedly corrupt.