American Beliefs at War

 

A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.                                                                             Robert Heinlein                                                                        writer, aeronautical engineer  

    The norm shattering of the last four years, as much of an assault on American values as it has been, is coming now to its dark maturity. 

    Beginning with his inauguration he worked to divide America. Now Donald Trump prepares to take America to war.

    The examination ahead will be frank, and difficult to abide so before we begin with a few scenes from a recent walk on the shore. May they be pleasing and soothe our troubled hearts.

History is the only register of crimes and misfortunes.                                             Voltaire

    Trump's behavior since being rejected by a record number of Americans has been to sabotage the nation. People were shocked to learn he explored options for a war against Iraq after replacing top military command officials.

    He continues to violate the Presidential Records Act by destroying files and papers. Some staff have surreptitiously tried to tape and stash documents.

    His delay in transition will only worsen the pandemic he ignored and lied about. It puts our national security on uneven ground.

    Trying to leverage his bent for an authoritarian control of the government he's signaled his supporters to refuse to accept the legitimacy of the new government. His supporters march and violence follows. It is the type of thing we see in some nations and we have seen it in history. 

    The "Brown Shirts" and the Storm Division paramilitary supporters of populist demagogue and madman Adolf Hitler began with demonstrations and street fights in 1924. 

     They were "militias," supporters of a movement leader who demanded loyalty. The appeal was based on grievances, anger  and division.

    Fix in your mind how Trump took over the Republican party by bullying and grievance. Adolph Hitler went from outsider and built a non conventional base of the disaffected. His Nazi movement, a fringe element, gained enough power in the Conservative coalition,  that it could not rule without him. That was in 1932. By 1933 Hitler was elected Chancellor and he dismissed the Parliment.

        The Nazi Party established control of the courts and controlled the judges. Those who spoke against him were run through a mock judicial process. The free press was attacked, opposition groups were run over by Nazi paramilitary. The Dachau concentration camp was built in 1933, others followed and we know the history. The regime lied, repeatedly. 

    The Nazis were specialists at propaganda and image with the intent of brainwashing. They didn't need a Fox News they had Joesph Goebbels a government minister of propaganda.

     Most Fox News viewers fail to know its founder was also a propagandist. Roger Ailes was Richard Nixon's television producer and advisor. Later he worked for Ronald Reagan, to help with spin and party line. He advised the Bush campaigns. 

    Most news organizations evolved from a role of public service. Fox News began with a mission to spin, and to tilt right. That is to be a propaganda mill.

    A document found in the Richard Nixon library outlines the first draft of Fox News. Ailes authored "A Plan for Putting the GOP on Television." The idea was to put party doctrine over fair and balanced reporting over what Ailes said was the "bias" of journalism. Years later it was a cruel irony then,  when Ailes launched the conservative to right wing news network using "fair and balanced" as their moniker. I suspect his karma is still in deficit. 

    Ailes and Trump were a match. Ailes like Trump was thrice married and like Trump a sexual predator. In fact allegations of sexual harrassment by 23 women forced his resignation in disgrace. But he created a monster in America, a "news by flavor" outlet that in truth functions as a mouth piece, a propagandist for right wing Republican politics. But no more. Most traditional conservatives and Republicans have left the party to fight back with their own words and pictures. Fox News helped to kill the Republican party, helping turn it into a Trumpist party.

    Trump, an egoist, learned early he could use TV by breaking norms. People who have studied him, see similarities in his speaking manner to another "right wing crack pot."

    Trump often strikes poses similar to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. 

    Mussolini was also a narcissist. The pouting face, jutting jaw

   crossed arms and fist making hand gestures are frequent 

     Trump moves. History is always revealing.

The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.

Mark Twain

    

    The scene above, of a Nazi rally should be particularly chilling, especially to those who say it can't happen here.

    That image is Madison Square Garden, 1939.

     "Americanism" and America First were catch phrases of a far right wing to conservative sentiment.

    20 Thousand Americans filled the Garden that night to celebrate George Washington's birthday.

    At the next "Stop the Steal" or "Four More Years" rally, as people clearly ignore the facts, certified even by Trump apointees in government, you may feel a quick retraction of time.

    Street violence is a tool. Another attack on our belief in our system.

      History may indeed repeat, if we are ignorant of it. Ignorance is a fuel for populists. Ignorance is rampant in America now.

       Trump's refusal to cooperate with a transition is a belligerent personal act of narcissistic defiance, but it is also dangerous and undermining.

    He has been a divider for four years. He has worked since 2016 to erode the credibility of our electoral process and our American traditions and norms, which have been a standard for the world, a beacon of democracy. 

    It appears he plans to stay vocal. That serves him personally as he can continue to fund raise. It serves him to have a pulpit from which to spew, to prance and dance and bathe in the adoration of the ignorant. But it also divides this nation. It drives hatred into the heart of the body politic. It is a cancer to the sinews and muscle of the Republic that has held, except for the civil war. And there again the eyes of history are on us.

And so are other eyes.

    Generations of our children and grand children deserve better than what they see in us now. A democratic republic is hard work. But for most of two and half centuries we have observed norms, traditions, respected honesty, searched for fact and truth. Donald Trump does none of that and each day  he remains the toxic being he is, he moves us closer to the battle lines, in our own nation, and unless he is checked, perhaps in some war making effort abroad. 

    We've had our fill of mistaken foreign wars. We've survived a a civil war. Donald Trump is a fuse.

    There is no longer any decent explanation for supporting him, as a citizen or as a member of the Senate. He lost, fair and square. His law suites are without a cause. There is another reason he deserves no support, he is evil.

    Authoritarianism is growing. Trumpism is likely to survive, for a while at least. Fighting that is in our interest, but it will be a detailed process and it involves fellow citizens, abused humans. We'll look at that fight in future posts. 

    The past should be remembered, and the future should be honored. 

    Stay safe. Stay well. Be vigilant.

    See you down the trail.

SHAKING GROUND

converging forces

     Fault lines and fissures are cracking social and political order with a force that will leave everything changed

     At ground zero are sexual politics, power, international order and reality.

the lunacy of one

    The US was booed, jeered and delegates walked out when trump's representative spoke to the World Climate Change Conference in Bonn.

      This administration was there to tout coal and nuclear energy. Defending fossil fuels earned the scorn of most of the 200 nations attending. The US is the only nation on the planet to exit the Paris Climate Agreement.

      Can anyone with common sense not see as ludicrous the nature of being the only nation not to understand the imperatives of climate change? It is ignominy, but inevitable when a man of such "intellect" occupies the White House.

the webs we weave

an orb spider taking care of business

 a characteristic of the orb spider is to rebuild the web each day...we watched this one over the course of a week

and it always had something on the line

men stuck in webs

the left must square their own sexual abuse excuses

      More men in power are falling in disgrace as the seismic force of #metoo revelations bring a scope of accountability to sexual assault and harassment. 

A TECH TITAN

      Steve Jurvetson is stepping down as partner of a powerful Silicon Valley VC firm. After allegations of harassment, Jurvetson exits Draper, Fisher and Jurvetson which he co founded in 1985. They have been a huge player 

in tech. Jurvetson is also leaving the boards of Tesla and Space X.

      The tech industry is ripe with a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination. The millionaire boys club culture is getting rocked.

THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE

     California Democrat Senate leader Kevin de Leon will hire an outside firm to investigate a growing list of allegations of a "culture of sexual harassment" in the legislative branch in the state capitol. 

     Traditionally the Senate Rules Committee investigates such allegations. This disrupts California Senate tradition and many read that as a signal of how serious will be the probe.

      De Leon's move has irritated some. He is an insurgent candidate seeking to replace veteran US Senator Diane Feinstein.

SLICK WILLIE FROM PHILANDER

      In fact he is from Arkansas but conscientious Democrats and liberals are actually agreeing with their Republican and conservative counterparts it is time to address Bill Clinton's sexual adventures. One cannot challenge the behavior of a Roy Moore and try to weasel away from Clinton's destructive behavior, even if Clinton's affairs were with consenting adults. 

      Clinton's personal shame and "bimbo eruptions" distracted his administration and many blame it for weakening the party. Al Gore may have had better luck if he didn't have the Clinton shame around his neck. Some will tell you Hillary Clinton may have been a more winning personality if her husband had not been such a sex dog.

     No Bill Clinton is not accused of molesting teens, but his accusers say he was a serial philanderer. Excusing Clinton's behavior may have enabled a culture of harassment where sex, power and manipulation mingled. 

THE MYSTERY OF DONNIE THE LOUT

    I wonder how this time of revelation and falls may affect the serial adulterer and self avowed sexual predator who snuck into the White House. trump had threatened to sue the women who accused him of sexual assault. I wonder if those accusations will come back to center stage. Should they?

the idiot and the bomb

    It is appropriate the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tackles the issue of a President's capacity to singularly initiate a nuclear strike. The question and the protocol is fraught with complexity and nuance, but the probe is certainly appropriate given who this president is. I would never have imagined I'd call the President an ignorant buffoon, but I never imagined this president. 

     These are strange times. 

     See you down the trail.

      

     

      

HONESTY ABOUT SEX

#metoo

another kind of mansplaining

    Sexual politics is shifting and changing the human landscape as undeniably as the Mud Creek landslide has changed the Big Sur coast line.

    It has been healing and cathartic that victims have been able to surface old assaults and unburden themselves. It has also been a time of discussion and soul searching for men.

    A longtime friend and former colleague said it well in a post  that is stacked to the right of this piece. In Bob's You've got a Lot to Learn he offers a candid voice to what should be a growing male chorus. Some of our sex, not all of us, are jerks.
     From what I've read Ratner, Weinstein, Oreskes, Halperin and others are more than jerks, they are losers. Their behavior of assault or unwanted contact, public masturbation and such makes them scum among men. They are the true deplorables.  
     Real men, gentlemen as was once a description, do not force or coerce intimacy nor are they abusers of authority. 
     Full disclosure here; I am a romantic. I have enjoyed the sexual encounters in my life because they have been sensitive, sharing, mutually pleasurable, sensual in the best form of the word, kind, loving, focused and consuming. Sensual intimacy between two people can be as honest and clarifying as any thing we do. 
     My route to such an understanding may not be normal. My father, who was a DI and responsible for turning boys into soldiers also had to teach his charges about the venereal diseases and the sex business that awaited WWII inductees off base or in foreign climes. I got the benefit of that education, including films, as an elementary school lad. It was straightforward. My father also taught me to treat women with respect "especially when things get personal, and they will at your age."
     My hormones switched on like they do when you are a teen, but I knew I probably would not be a good lover (that was an appropriate word in that era) because while I had desire, I had no experience. At the time I was coming of age I worked as a copy boy and stringer for a metropolitan newspaper. The editor made a list of the "play for pay" houses in the city-the red light houses. You may see where this is going.
     My virginity was offered up to a professional who clearly understood my naiveté and innocence. Instead of being an awkward situation she made it a time of understanding, learning and initiation into adulthood. In time I also learned about the path of her life and that of others who found themselves earning a living as they did. That offered another course of learning, helpful to kid who wanted to be a journalist. It was a good course in life 101.
    As my dating years unfolded relationships could develop that hinged on more than sexual ardor. It helped eliminate the objectification of women as dates for sexual conquests. Back in our day, there was a lot of that. Probably still is. When relationships moved to physical intimacy there was mutual respect and sensitivity. 
   We do not all share values and this is indeed a diverse world, but in personal relationships as well as in intimacy, respect is a foundation. 
    I think civilization has done a great disservice to men and women by creating images and expectations, rituals and beliefs, hang ups and games, attitudes and values about sexual relationships. People have been damaged, clearly. And so has that most personal of interactions. People in tender intimacy, physical or emotional, is a beautiful thing. It's a shame it can be messed up. And it seems the biggest jerks are of my sex. Like my friend Bob, I too apologize.

good old times

     If you were around Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach or the LA South Bay area in the mid 70's you may recall Barabas and their lively sound.

     Yes that is David Shelton, Michael David Lassiter and David Root, minus the rhythm section. They were in Cambria for a reunion of old friends that span the decades and the country. Those 3 alone make a wonderful sound. Time has been kind to their talent.

a sign of our times

     Spotted in Morro Bay at the Estero Bay United Methodist Church.
     It is certainly clear the values at work here and that is a transition to King Deplorable.
     For the longest time I have thought donald trump is simply a loud mouth, loutish, ego freak and idiot. I suspect the Russians have him on a hook because he is in debt to them, getting in deeply when American banks cut him off after his many failures-facts that supporters never believed. I've thought it was just about money, which in his world is his idol. However now I'm beginning to wonder if he might not in fact have been in collusion with the Russians.
     trump's comment about American justice being "a joke, a laughing stock" does exactly what the national security and intelligence community have said the Russians want to do and that is undermine American's belief in their systems. Nothing does that more than when the president-illegitimate though he may be, bad mouths our bed rock virtues. It is one thing for citizen Dick or Jane to offer up such invective. It is damned near a crime for the president to say that. stooge, colluder or merely sexual predator who pulled the wool over a lot of eyes, trump is a menace. he belongs on the trash heap of history. If Weinstein, then why not trump?

    See you down the trail. 

           

EQUALITY

     Those who think equality is essential might take a lesson from spiders. They spare no corner of opportunity. Despite adversity they persist.

caged by identity

       He was always alone, off to the side. I figured he was shy. I was not so much shy as reserved, content to watch and study, learning who was who and what was what. It was an integrated elementary school and we studied and played together, but he seemed somehow adrift. Let's call him Mark.

      The term in those days was "mulatto." He was light skinned though a bit darker than white kids and had an unusual kind of freckling. I liked him. He was athletic, neat, had good manners and was the kind of kid my parents said I should associate with. But on the playground he stood back and, as I began to observe, he was shunned by some of the black kids who knew him and by a couple of the more boisterous white boys. 

      Mark lived on the other side of the park and though it was nothing we thought much about, it was the boundary between black families and white families. Mark lived black. I lived white, but we were a lot alike and a natural friendship developed. Mark came to my house, though I was never invited to his. He didn't like to talk about his mixed race parents or the struggles he faced. We just did the kind things a couple of athletic and active young guys did. We were friends. 

       In a couple of years we were in separate classes and a year after that my family moved to another city.

      His older brother became a noted educator and administrator courted by universities for executive positions. He was an advocate for equality, across the board. He had  been an outstanding student and athlete and not shy nor deterred by his birthright. That is as it should be. 

      I don't know what became of Mark, but I thought about him as I read about an incident in a nearby California town.

      The police department is being sued over claims of racial bias. A black man who's family had been to the beach was on the way home when he stopped in front of the police department to stretch his legs and smoke a cigarette. He figured the police department would be a safe spot. He says as he got out of the car he was "accosted" by a policewoman who said he looked "suspicious." The officer asked his white wife "why she was there and if she was OK?" The couples two children observed this. You get the idea. 

       There have been victories in the struggle for human dignity and equality but the war is nowhere near being won. While unenlightened attitudes persist so do efforts to carry the light and build webs of understanding, regulation, law and  political culture to deliver on the promise of our democratic republic. Here, every birthright is guaranteed equality, regardless. No cage of identity. Or we are collectively a fraud and a failure. There is work to do.

a champion napper

 Hemingway is a cat after Garfield's heart! 

scout's honor
On my honor I will do my best
to do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times:
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

Physically strong, mentally awake, morally straight?

sexual predator, serial adulterer, habitual liar 
business cheat, slob?

Sad!
"Fake leader"
Failed man

     The Scouts apology for the travesty of the jamboree helped clear the air, but only slightly. 

      See you down the trail.