Strange Love

    "Politicians ... have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought." -- Gen. Jack D. Ripper, played by Sterling Hayden in the movie "Dr. Strangelove."

   "Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" -- Groucho Marx.

   The January 6 gathering in Washington was peaceful and filled with loving demonstrations of the federal government, according to an announcement by Donald Trump.
   Say what?
   If that's what peaceful love looks like, one wonders about the appearance of anger, hatred, threats and violence. That comment would also mean the hours of video taken by the demonstrators themselves and spread by them on the internet, as well as shown live on TV networks -- including the Trump-sympathetic Fox network -- were all manufactured in advance by hateful foes of the man who insists he is a two-term president.
   But you can't believe what you see on TV, they maintain, unless it's one of their own operations. All others are fake, including NPR, the BBC, France24 and DW (the German international network), both of which broadcast in English; as well as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, CNBC and all the local channels nationwide, plus print media such as the Associated Press, the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Miami Herald. Also, there are the many independent magazines as well as all the news operations distributing information via the internet.
   According to this position, they all lie. The only ones worth reading or listening to are affiliated with the Trump organization, or Trump himself. Who, by the ways was banned from the major internet comment carriers for consistently mouthing stuff that is not only untrue, but also sparks violence.
   Trump sued the tech firms Twitter, Facebook and Google, accusing them of "illegal, unconstitutional censorship" because they blocked him from using their sites to spread lies and encourage violence.
   Observers note that forcing a media operator to publish anything would violate the First Amendment guarantee of a free and independent press. Unless that's what the ex-president wants -- full control of all information channels.
   It has worked in other countries. Why not here?

Afghanistanism

   Afghanistanism is the practice of commenting at great length about the problems in faraway places while ignoring issues in the home country.

   The term was first used in the London press in the 19th Century when the British military could not control Afghanistan as a way of keeping Russia out of India. In the 2oth Century, the Soviet military could not control the country. Now, in the 21st Century, the American military is pulling out of Afghanistan after being unable to bring peace to the country.

   Three of the most powerful nations in the world were unable to control what Afghans do.

   It's time the U.S government focused on resolved problems in America.

Hypocrisy

    Hypocrisy is rampant in American politics. No surprise, but the current degree of hypocrisy is memorable. There has always been a lot of political nonsense in America, and the major news media have been covering new developments in the continuing probe of the Jan. 6 episode at the nation's capital, including the invasion of the Capitol building.
   Many citizens, however, have heard enough, and have lost interest. Others don't believe the news reports, even as new video comes out showing the insurrection. That's a big problem for the nation and for journalists reporting on the issue.
   However, it's important to remember the issue is indeed more visible because of television coverage and internet commentary. Gone are the days when the only news coverage available to the general public was the print media -- newspapers and magazines. Now, anyone with access to a computer can publish ideas and comments worldwide and get instant response.
   The problem is there are no editors to monitor the truth of what any individual posts. As someone once said, a lie can go around the world before truth can cross the street.
   The alternative, however, of having internet providers edit and approve comments before posting is not feasible, and is itself subject to abuse, just as uncontrolled postings can be abusive.
   Free speech is important, but there are legitimate limits, such as libel and lying.
   Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.
   Meanwhile, the importance of instantaneous coverage of violent misbehavior, including cruelty by police officers, remains paramount.

Presidential Predictions

   If you say something often enough, loud enough, long enough and to enough people ready to believe whatever you say without question, eventually you will build a political power base that will be difficult for truth tellers to topple.
   That's what has happened in America over the past few years, as Donald Trump began his campaign to take over the government. There is no question that he succeeded, briefly at least, winning one term as president by manipulating the Electoral College vote despite losing the popular vote in 2012.
   Four years later, he lost on both counts but refused to accept the results, and continues to spout the Big Lie that the election was stolen through massive and widespread fraud.
   His complaints were rejected by some 60 county, state and federal court rulings, including two unanimous decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, with three members appointed by Trump himself.
   Now we are engaged in a great civil discourse, testing whether this nation can survive under its 230-year-old Constitutional set of rules for government behavior.
   This writer raised the question in December, just a few weeks after Election Day, that Trump would not accept the results of the election and the court decisions, and might encourage his followers to take some form of action to prevent the inauguration of his duly elected successor.
   I was right.
   On January 6, he encouraged his followers to march on the Capitol to stop the formal acceptance of the vote count by Congress, which would then certify Joe Biden as the new president.
   He failed.
   But failure was not an acceptable outcome, so he maintained his denial and did not attend the inauguration of his successor. Instead, he attended a rally of his supporters and continues to encourage his supporters to expand their belief that the election was stolen from him.
   In many states, popular support remains so strong that other elected officials don't oppose him in fear they will lose their positions.
   This is a prime symptom of demagoguery.
   The danger of a demagogue taking power is clear. America has escaped that danger several times in the past, and now the symptoms have returned with a greater likelihood that the disease will sicken the nation's political health to a critical level.
   This writer once posed the comment that if we survived Richard Nixon, we can survive anything. Now I'm not so sure.

Update

 Free Speech and Anger
26 June 2021

   The Supreme Court supported a teenage girl's right to post her opinions on Facebook, even if she resorts to profanity in doing it.
   A local school board suspended her from cheerleading activities because of her posting, which was done at her home on a weekend, and no school facilities were involved.
   SCOTUS ruled 8-1 that the school board was wrong in suspending her for doing something in her own home on her own time. The girl acknowledged that she was angry about losing her effort to get on the cheerleading team, and she vented her anger with profanity, using the F-word four times in a single posting.
   The court noted that while the school can regulate activities and comments made on school time and in school facilities, it cannot expand the regulation to cover what a student does off campus, on her own time and in her own home.
   One wonders whether the school board would have taken similar action if a boy had posted angry profanities over losing a spot on the football team.
   Three cheers for free speech.

He's Back
30 June 2021

   Ex-president Donald Trump is still speaking at rallies of supporters, talking about a possible return to office. Followers remain adamant that the election was "stolen," despite some 50 court rulings -- including two at the Supreme Court (which has three of his nominees) -- that there is no evidence to support the allegations.
   Danger: The Jan. 6 insurrection may be repeated.

Indicted
1 July 2021

   As expected, the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer were indicted today on multiple charges, including tax fraud. The ex-president himself was not named in the indictment. There is speculation that authorities are using the indictment of other officials of the company partly as leverage to get the CFO -- Allen Weisselberg -- to testify against Donald Trump in return for a lesser sentence.
   Trump himself called the move by prosecutors "a witch hunt."

Frivolity
8 July 2021

   The ex-president sued Facebook, Twitter and Google in a demand that they restore his accounts, which were dropped because of falsehoods and comments that escalated the potential for violence. In the lawsuit, Donald Trump claimed the bans were unconstitutional censorship of his right to free speech.
   Observers noted that the claims were likely a publicity stunt to raise money for the ex-president. And before Trump was done speaking at his golf course about his plans, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent text messages asking for contributions, according to a New York Times report. Soon after, Trump's political action committee also sent its solicitation, the Times said.
   News media have long been protected from government censorship by the First Amendment to the Constitution, and are free to publish -- or not publish -- information about anything or anyone, as long as it is not libelous. The Trump lawsuit claims the tech firms are, in a way, government firms because of a federal law protecting them and therefore the First Amendment does not apply.
   Earlier, Trump failed in his attempt to set up his own web site, so he is now demanding that he get back on the commercial services. Meanwhile, there is the danger that if this demand is successful, similar demands would be made to print and broadcast media, insisting that they publish unedited commentary by government officials. This would mean government control of the press, a clear violation of the First Amendment.
   Unless the Constitution be suspended.

The Big Lie

 If you tell a lie big enough, loud enough and often enough, some people will start to believe it. -- Attributed in various forms to Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.

   There was a time in American journalism not long ago that the L word was almost never used in print or broadcast media. Moreover, in personal conversation, calling someone a liar would quickly get the user punched out. Beginning several years ago, however, untruths spread by Donald Trump became so blatant, so often and so easily disproven that journalists and commentators began using the L word consistently. In short, he lies and here's the truth.
   In the 1930s, propaganda disseminated by Nazi politicians in Germany used the technique consistently, defending it by accusing the British government of telling lies and insisting that their version was the truth.
   The term "big lie" reportedly was coined by Adolph Hitler in his 1925 book, "Mein Kampf."
   Recently in America, Donald Trump began using this strategy even before he was elected in 2016, claiming that the only way he could lose would be if there was massive fraud throughout the nation.
   In fact, he did lose the popular vote, but took the office of the presidency by winning the electoral vote. Even so, he continued to insist that he really did win the popular vote also, even as he became president.
   Four years later, he lost both the popular vote and the electoral vote, but claimed that was only because of massive fraud throughout the nation. His supporters filed some sixty appeals to state and federal courts to  overturn the electoral college tally. All were rejected, as well as two that reached the Supreme Court, which included three justices nominated by Trump himself. Moreover, both Supreme Court appeals were rejected unanimously.
   This did not stop him from continuing his efforts to remain in office, however. He actively endorsed a rally by supporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on January 6, the day Congress was to formally count the electoral college vote and endorse Joe Biden as the next president.
   The result of his endorsement was an attack by demonstrators on the Capitol, forcing Congress to shelter as the National Guard and police were called in to repel the assault and uphold the result. Biden was inaugurated as scheduled on January 20, but Trump did not attend.
   Since then, Trump has repeated his claim that he really did win, but it was only through fraud that Biden became president. Meanwhile, the use of the term "the big lie" has become common in news reports, both by commentators and among traditional news journalists who report fact and whether claims are true.
   This, however, has not stopped many in the Trump corner to continue to insist there was widespread fraud in the vote count.
   In addition, they have begun claiming that the events of January 6, documented by video of the insurrection, did not happen. News reports show Trump supporters saying this, but they also show video of the insurrection next to the the claims of denial.

Third Term?

    Donald Trump told an audience of conservatives that he was considering running for "a third term" as president in 2024, basing his plan on his conviction that he really won last year, but the election was stolen from him.
   One wonders whether he has actually read the Constitution, which specifically forbids anyone from more than two elected terms.
   Unless he finally admits he actually did lose his bid for re-election last year. This would make him eligible to run again.
   But to admit he lost?
   Fat chance.