Noting California is the sixth most powerful economy in the world he said this state "is not turning back now, not ever." He called for courage and persistence as California continues to work on climate change, health care and assistance to emigres.
"We have heard the blatant attacks on science. Familiar signposts of our democracy-truth, civility, working together-have been obscured or swept aside," the Governor said.He quoted the Woody Guthrie anthem, This Land is Your Land including an oft deleted verse,
"Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking the freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me."
alternative legitimacy
A fact Kellyanne Conway or her boss can not deny is the minority status of the regime. Yes he was elected by the electoral college as is legal, but it is also true he was clobbered in the popular vote and it is true he was rejected by establishment Republicans. But the real factor as to his legitimacy or lack of it, is his disconnect between facts and the lies he spews. As he has done historically he denies reality. Many, if not all, of his followers believe him. They live in a fantasy land, constructed by deceit and ignorance.
Most of his followers think unemployment rose under the Obama White House. It did not. There has been record job growth. He paints the bleak picture of America gripped by crime and carnage. Crime rates have dropped dramatically, despite the tragic mass shootings empowered by the NRA and its belligerent disregard of America. The economy is not in ruin, it has been on a record setting period of growth, following the near depression. There are more disconnects. In fact the lies are well reported but his supporters are disconnected from truth, they believe their liar in chief.
Will those who supported him come back to reality? The man now refuses to release his tax returns though he promised to. He is moderating his hardline on deporting illegals. He railed at Goldman Sachs and used Hillary Clinton's connection to the firm as proof of her corruption. He has now designated 5 Goldman Sachs alumni as key members of his team.
His team includes predatory lenders, crooks who made the life of his "ignored" supporters a hell. There is the ever charming Conway who claims there are "alternative facts." Here's one, she was reportedly in a fist fight at one of the inaugural balls. How's that for class? It appears his press spokesman Sean Spicer has saved his job, for the time being. After the weekend tantrum his first regular briefing was more civil and traditional though he too had trouble with facts. He refused too acknowledge that unemployment, as reported by his federal regime, is at a low of 4.7. Spicer said Trump doesn't look at statistics.
Perhaps the most festering problem is his bosses continued conflict of interest. What is at the core? There are credible sources who suggest that Trump is mentally ill, in the grips of a narcissism so powerful that he really doesn't know the truth or in his predatory mind doesn't think it applies to him. As he has said a few times he is next to God in ability. The ego maniac in chief may well be so far out of touch he is in fact a danger and at least illegitimate. How many times can you lie at the rate he does and not be too sick to hold office?
The lies and disconnects are warning signs. Yet we live in the "post-truth" world where your opinion matters as much as the truth or facts. I used to think the dire pronouncements about what catastrophe he could bring were over started. Not now, now that so many devotees of the vulgarian refuse to believe the truth. He's perfect for the so called freedom caucus who want to destroy the government. He and they are a disease in the American body.
fresh and healthy
Growing up in Indiana I was used to hard rains, something I had not seen here on the California central coast until this year.
In five days we had 6 inches of rain in our Phillippi gauge on the ridge. Our total for the year is almost 27 inches. In some places there is evidence of the saturation.
As we move forward in these uncertain times I can't help but wish a man with the judgement, balance, vision, experience, governing skill, bi-partisan support and character of Jerry Brown was leading this nation. For those of you majority of Americans who worry about the miscreant freak who sits in the oval office, know this western Republic will have your back.
See you down the trail.
I can only hope that America's institutions are strong enough to protect us from Trump. Although it often ends a conversation by comparing anyone to Hitler, the similarities between Trump and Hitler are remarkable to anyone even remotely knowledgeable of history. Too many people forget that Hitler was also elected, by people not willing to stand up for the truth.
ReplyDeleteThey too bought into a fantasy and suspended critical reasoning because they wanted to believe so earnestly. It is an apt comparison.
DeleteMind picking up a CA visa form and scan it, send it via email. I'll send my passport number....
ReplyDeleteOpen borders here. You would be welcomed and certainly feel at home, again.
DeleteWe're 33 years beyond 1984, but read what George Orwell said that is so appropriate for the mess we're in.
ReplyDelete"I know it is the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our own age is the abandonment of the idea that history could be truthfully written. In the past, people deliberately lied, or they unconsciously colored what they wrote, or they struggled after the truth, well knowing that they must make many mistakes; but in each case they believed that “the facts” existed and were more or less discoverable. And in practice there was always a considerable body of fact which would have been agreed to by almost anyone. If you look up the history of the last war in, for instance, the Encyclopedia Britannica, you will find that a respectable amount of the material is drawn from German sources. A British and a German historian would disagree deeply on many things, even on fundamentals, but there would still be a body of, as it were, neutral fact on which neither would seriously challenge the other. It is just this common basis of agreement with its implication that human beings are all one species of animal, that totalitarianism destroys. Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as “the truth” exists. There is, for instance, no such thing as “Science”. There is only “German Science,” “Jewish Science,” etc. The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, “It never happened” — well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five — well two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs — and after our experiences of the last few years that is not such a frivolous statement."
I'm just waiting for the implosion, hoping it comes sooner rather than later.
Rick-
DeleteThanks for sharing this. It is prescient, that is of course frightening. Brilliant contribution. I too hope the implosion comes quickly.
The day after the election, a Chinese American woman I work with was waiting for a table at a restaurant, an older white male Trump supporter looked her in the eye and said, "You people had better watch your step from now on." It was the first time in her life she had heard anything like that, she was stunned and frightened. The man's wife simply scowled at her.
ReplyDeleteOur sales staff of 12 has 4 Latinos, 2 blacks, 2 Asians and 4 white guys. Almost half my clients are Hispanic,
This dystopian hell scape called California somehow enabled a 26 year old, Mexican-American to spend 46 thousand dollars on a new car and no he doesn't sell drugs, rape women...he's just a hardworking young Californian-American who told me his Grandfather remembers Immigration Agents chasing Mexicans across the fields in the Central Valley. Young Mr. Flores is what this country is or should be all about, just like Jasmine, the young Latina pastry chef I sold a new car to last week. There are too many to name.
I was reluctant to buy into the concept at first, but given the volume of incidents, such as that you sight, I now believe a large percentage of Trump's supporters are racists.
DeleteBravo Tom. Your truth telling using "real facts" is an inspiration to us all. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteAs to the downpours you have been experiencing, I have to paraphrase the great line from Jaws: You're going to need a bigger gauge!