Trump on defense now that Democrats score court win – “When a federal judge ruled Monday that the President’s longtime accounting firm Mazars must hand over his financial records … Judge Amit Mehta said it was “simply not fathomable” that a Congress that is constitutionally authorized to remove a president did not have the power to investigate him.”
Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful’ Wall Crumbles in Court – “The court’s ruling blocks the sections of wall that the Trump administration announced would be built with military pay and pension funds. It also invites us to ask the court to block additional projects as they are announced in the future. The judge emphasized the government’s commitment to inform the court immediately about future decisions to build.”
Mon 20 May 2019 – Russian fighter jets and bombers intercepted by US warplanes off of Alaska. Not a lot of reporting on this. Probably just a distraction from the cyber threat?
Fri 24 May 2019 – Escalation of tension in Iran. Troops to be sent to the region and $8.1B in weapons being sold to Saudi Arabia and UAE. Effectively move moves in a proxy war.
Fri 24 May 2019 – Huawei ban continues (“trade blacklist”), Google and others granted 3 month license to continue business with them. Huawei cannot buy parts from US companies.
Trump held a rally in Panama City Beach, FL and complained that you can’t use weapons to attack immigrants:
And don’t forget — we don’t let them and we can’t let them use weapons. We can’t,” Trump said. “Other countries do. We can’t. I would never do that. But how do you stop these people? You can’t. There’s—
An audience member then shouted “Shoot them!” Trump then joked about it.
The New York Times acquired Trump’s state tax returns for 1985-1994 which revealed that he lost $1.2B over that time period.
You’ll feel shame but won’t address it or speak about it or sometimes even know that it’s affecting you but it will be there. The most conscious thoughts will be justifications you’ll know are weak. You were part of a history that will be repressed. A country that really won’t deal with what it did to itself and how distorted it became. It’ll take months or years or decades (or sooner) to address it, and when you finally get there you’ll feel queasy from the shame. You know it now. This is not what you wanted, at least, not all of it. You have hatreds and prejudices and but a morality that nags. “Something is not right.” And the shame will creep in. And you’ll justify your initial intentions while still knowing there was wrong that was there and not just wrong but one of those very basic wrongs. The shame may temper what you teach your children and save the next generation. Maybe. If the damage isn’t already done.
A lady completely bat-shit connected to the news outlets and pundits and participants in some of the most extreme racism and anti-semitism of the recent political climate. Katie McHugh acts regretful, makes excuses, blames “the climate.” Relationships with and those associated with: Daily Caller. WorldNetDaily. Breitbart. Her essays and tweets contain extremely extremely vile statements about other POC and Jews and one of her current excuses is that there were much worse racists.
The basic idea is that if someone possesses any moral failing then they have no ground to criticize others’ flaws. It’s considered a high skill of propaganda perfected, of a sort, by the Soviet Union when any government or NGO outside of their walled society would denounce their corruptions or human rights abuses. After all, don’t other countries have bought-off politicians? Governments that have committed just-this-side-of war crimes? Lynchings? The basic flaw with this defense is that if something is wrong it is wrong no matter who is doing it. Being accused of murder by another who has murdered does not make you a non-murderer. If only the flawless were permitted to criticize then we all would devolve, without valid dispute, into the worst that has occurred.
There is a pot and blackness of kettle type of support to whataboutism. There is a mocking of hypocrites. Yet it certainly doesn’t absolve murder or equate degrees of murder. Reporters in the United States have been put in free speech zones. Reporters and opposition leaders in Russia have been assassinated. There is no equivalence.
National Monument in Vitkov
Trump said, during his Helsinki debacle an interview, that “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, you think our country is so innocent?” This is the sweet sweet temptation of whataboutism. Its siren call etc. is compelling. If the US spies and subverts, its acts ameliorate the corruption of Putin (and no not that of the Iranian leader, and no not that of the Syrian president (or maybe so), but yes that of the North Korean leader, and yes that of the assassination-frenzied Philippine president, and yes that of other authoritarians whom the president-small-p, re their power, covets-captital-C) and bars any societal self-reflection and self-correction when we commit moral crimes or even offenses. Can we fail and hate ourselves and still be nobler than ruthless autocracies? As per Trump: no, we can’t.
While researching the history and rhetorical qualifications of whataboutism, I found a Stack Exchange discussion on How can I respond to Whataboutism? which had answers nuanced and in great detail. I cannot add anything valuable to it. Read those questions, answers, and the in-betweens.
Enumerated, or at least bullet pointed, points from notes for my previously intended essay:
Arguments made in support of the Trump/Putin summit. Can there be any? Is there any world that can defend Trump’s actions?
False equivalence – US spying, a corrupt murderous Putin and oligarchs, and now Trump may be equally corrupt. Is this satisfactory to us for our leaders? Have we become that because whataboutism says we were already that?
(In war, do we look the other way when someone tries to shoot us even if they missed? (I really feels this has nothing to do with whataboutism. What did I have in mind?))
Keep your enemies close.
George W. Bush and Bill Clinton met Russian representatives in private like Trump did with Putin. What is the difference?
The difference is one of quality. Neither previous presidents praised Putin with fawning earnestness or held his veracity above American intelligence or had any history of compromat. A private meeting should be met with greater concern. Roger Ebert–in interviews I cannot find or am remembering incorrectly–repurposed the law of the excluded middle to be a flawed premise. In logic, the law states that a statement is true or not. However, we tend to try to apply that speciously to intent. Trump has suggested (again, cannot find the quote) that not talking to Putin or Kim Jong-un will result in nuclear war. Talk or not-talk is not-war or war and supposedly there is no in between. I often think of conservatives as having black and white and not gray thought. This is a perfect example.
Rashomon (and uncertain equivalence)
[ed. written after Helsinki and cleaned up now, after the midterms]
No matter what happens with Kavanaugh, despair is not an option. Channel your angry energy into action. Call. Demonstrate. Register. Vote. There will be devastating losses along the way, and from them we recover and learn. We’re taking this fucking country back. Keep going.
No matter what happens with Kavanaugh, despair is not an option. Channel your angry energy into action. Call. Demonstrate. Register. Vote. There will be devastating losses along the way, and from them we recover and learn. We’re taking this fucking country back. Keep going.
6 Oct 2018, 10:59 AM
Older woman crying in photo: “How are we going to find the strength to keep fighting? Are we going to be out here for another 30 years? I don’t have 30 years left.”
Younger woman taking her photo: “I’ll be here. I’ll keep fighting.”
Older woman crying in photo: “How are we going to find the strength to keep fighting? Are we going to be out here for another 30 years? I don’t have 30 years left.”
Younger woman taking her photo: “I’ll be here. I’ll keep fighting.”
6 Oct 2018, 11:03 AM
NEW: Ramirez statement: 'The other students … chose to laugh and look the other way as sexual violence was perpetrated on me by (BK). As I watch many of the Senators speak & vote … I feel like I'm right back at Yale where half the room is laughing and looking the other way.' https://t.co/9ucSRJrtz7
NEW: Ramirez statement: ‘The other students … chose to laugh and look the other way as sexual violence was perpetrated on me by (BK). As I watch many of the Senators speak & vote … I feel like I’m right back at Yale where half the room is laughing and looking the other way.’
6 Oct 2018, 12:56 PM
Protesters have climbed the stairs of the Capitol chanting “November is coming!”. Hundred present here and across the street in front of SCOTUS. pic.twitter.com/0vqW45BMXJ
“What we are witnessing is not a step backwards for America so much as a headlong plunge into a punitive past. Adults must fight this future for the sake of the youngest Americans, who have already lost more than they ever got the chance to know.”
6 Oct 2018, 6:23 PM
What I hope people grasp is that the fight is not only about the win. You fight because it's the right thing to do. You fight because if it alleviates suffering for just one person, it's worth it. You fight because if you don't, if you let them define you, you will lose yourself.
What I hope people grasp is that the fight is not only about the win. You fight because it’s the right thing to do. You fight because if it alleviates suffering for just one person, it’s worth it. You fight because if you don’t, if you let them define you, you will lose yourself.
Updated 5 May 2020
I was reminded recently of another tweet Sarah Kendzior posted at the time of the Kavenaugh hearing. In his Washington Post op-ed Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers, George Will referenced the T S Eliot poem The Hollow Men. Skewering the Republican Congressmen, Kendzior posted verses from that poem along with images of those pretending to engage in the Kavenaugh accusations at hand, but were obviously not. This was the first time I had heard the poem and it was a moving introduction.
"We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw." pic.twitter.com/sLjGlfUm8N
