The First Casualties

 

Truth is the first casualty of war.

            The origin quote, "The first casualty when war comes is truth," was uttered by the second most senior member of the US Senate in history, Senator Hiram Johnson of California in 1917.

        Time has proven Senator Johnson correct. One is led to believe it has been ever such.

        We live in a time of hybrid war, a mostly psychological conflict. Culture and media are weaponized. Public policy and politics are combat. All of us live under assault.

        Truth and a common "reality" suffer attack around the globe and, dangerously, in the US. 

The First Offensive

        To the best of my knowledge, neither Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy nor any leading Republican has been asked about the truth of this prophetic news article published by the New York Times on August 8, 2016.

        By David E. Sanger and Maggie Haberman

            Aug. 8, 2016

Fifty of the nation’s most senior Republican national security officials, many of them former top aides or cabinet members for President George W. Bush, have signed a letter declaring that Donald J. Trump “lacks the character, values and experience” to be president and “would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.”

Mr. Trump, the officials warn, “would be the most reckless president in American history.”

The letter says Mr. Trump would weaken the United States’ moral authority and questions his knowledge of and belief in the Constitution. It says he has “demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding” of the nation’s “vital national interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances and the democratic values” on which American policy should be based. And it laments that “Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself.”

        No thinking person will deny that truth. 

      Noted here previously, the names read like an honor roll of veteran policy experts; cabinet members, State Department, Defense, Intelligence, National Security, Justice Department and most of them conservatives.

    The US moral authority has been weakened and we have been put at risk. Isn't it in the public interest to put the issue to the leaders who cower to or abet the twice impeached ex president?  

Hard Truths

    This criticism today is geared not at the propagandizing tools of the right, but a check on how that perversity has spread to unlikely other sources. 

    It is true the false narrative of the Roger Ailes created faux news attack on American values continues to make the Murdoch clan richer by manipulating information for the suckers of Fox News. They have done terrible deeds as enemies of the American Republic. 

    The legacy damage to America's belief in itself has been fanned by Fox and Trump. But like a virus, it has spread. These are merely random examples of a larger bombardment on truth.

    Consider this headline from the New York Times

OPINION

 

DAVID BROOKS

Did the F.B.I. Just Re-elect Donald Trump?

Aug. 11, 2022

 

        Later David Brooks said on reflection and after learning more, he understood how grievously serious was the matter of Trump having the most sensitive of secret documents, and about nuclear weapons, in his possession. He acknowledged the process of getting them back was proper and justified. But even the Times, no editorial and opinion page friend of Trump, took their own shot at the credibility of the nation's law enforcement agency with a reckless headline.

        Marvin Kalb, a respected former CBS News Correspondent, now a senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the founding director of the Shorenstein Center on Media at Harvard University posted something recently that will sound familiar to those of you who have been readers of this blog.

"The American press corps struggles every day to prove to readers and viewers that it is “fair and balanced,” the slogan cleverly adopted by Fox News. If it strongly criticized Donald Trump during his presidency (and since), then it follows that it must also strongly criticize Joe Biden, which is exactly what it’s done.

Fair, isn’t it? Balanced, too, right?

Wrong.

Not only does criticism not come in equal shapes and sizes, appropriate for all presidents and both political parties (a journalistic curse called “bothsideism”), but, when unfairly applied, as it has been in covering Biden, it runs the serious risk of further damaging our still free press and weakening our already shaky democracy.

The press image of Biden, president of the United States of America, has been whittled down to that of a doddering old man, wobbly on his feet and barely able to articulate a single thought without slurring.

Is that a fair and balanced image of Biden? Hardly. But can the press do better?"

        Certainly the press can do better. "Bothsideism" or false equivalency are wounds,  serious casualties, and they are self inflicted. 

       Recently Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of the PBS News Hour asked a legal analyst and former federal prosecutor; "how do you know that they followed procedures?" and, after reprising Republican accusations about the search and the FBI, "how do we know who is telling the truth?" (Positing an arbitrary either or between Republican bombast or Attorney General Garland)

        The analyst, in so many words, said "common sense, look at what happened?" He could have said, look at the document or read how these federal warrants are issued. He might also have said "consider the source of the criticism." I would add the question was contrived to get an accusation and entirely missed the point of the larger story line.

        The back and forth related to what was evident in the legal documents, evident that Trump and his people had ignored earlier requests and subpoenas, evident by the procedure that was legal and methodical and was not a "raid" as stated by many in the media. 

         Woodruff was caught up in a game of "gotcha" or the hard question or the snark that is the common currency of media posturing. Questions are asked for the sparks or friction and not for the light that might be shed. It was as though she was saying, "Choose between the Republican shrieks or the Attorney General." Like lesser talents than herself, she was trying to be "tough" or maybe trying to placate Trump fans. 

        He and his administration have not earned respect. Their record should in turn earn them extra scrutiny and skepticism. To elevate what they or their apologists say to a level of equivalency is wrong and evidence of poor journalistic process and judgement. 

        

        Woodruff is a respected legend in broadcast journalism. We first noticed her when she was a field correspondent for NBC working out of the Atlanta bureau in the '70's. She has had a storied career and enjoys a distinguished reputation so it is disturbing to see someone of that caliber fall victim to what Kalb and others, who have also worked in the hot spots and under deadline, are talking about. The media today is playing for appearances, image, and pretense. It is bad journalism and it is disingenuous.

        On a program she interviewed Republican Senator Tim Scott who has written a book. Not every member of the House,  Senate or Cabinet gets interviewed by the News Hour when they write a book. Scott is an African American Republican and in this age of bothsidism either Woodruff or a senior producer decided it would be good to have him on. Was there news in the interview? No and she let him blather prattling political spew without much of a challenge to the obvious politicking BS. He is up for re-election. Will his challenger get similar national airtime? If there was a need to interview Scott about his book, a better format would have been to record the interview and edit it before airing it. Truth and balance took a hit in the way it was done.

    I'm focused on PBS because they provide a broader perspective, more in depth focus, thoughtful investigations, intelligent balanced analysis and they devote more content time. They don't have to sell dog food or pharmaceuticals and etc.

    PBS is down the middle and objective, not caught up in political leanings, or show business punditry. Their business is news, done soberly. The correspondents are knowledgeable and experts on their beat. PBS is absent the hype and artificial production elements common to the commercial networks and cable operations.

     American network and cable news need to be profit centers, slavish then to whatever gets and keeps ratings. PBS on the other hand is content driven, intellectual and does not pander to partisans or those who seek "silo" news that affirms their beliefs. 

    It is for all of these reasons that I wish Woodruff and her senior producing team would seriously consider the wisdom of Kalb. 

        I was a managing editor of nightly newscasts, a news anchor, and a television news director. My advice is to follow the flow of the story, try to advance the viewer's understanding and expand the story line, anticipate consequence, stick to the facts as you have them, provide context and explain it all. What does it mean? Avoid the mindless group think that being an adversary means being nasty, or trying to catch up someone or prompt them to say something bombastic. Think about depth and spend less effort on toxic social media. Do not rely on the Washington bred idea of "bothsideism." Those are unhelpful and distracting. 

        As an example, using something that a Jim Jordan, a Ron Johnson, even Mitch McConnell or Kevin McCarthy says as the basis of a "challenging question" is simply falling into their trap and getting "used" by them. You can note what they said, but to raise it to a level that exceeds veracity is doing harm and is poor editorial judgement. Avoid being played.

        We have learned this Republican party is interested in maintaining power without an agenda or a platform of principles. Republicans have been caught in lies, suborned insurrection, and have been cowards to or complicit with Trump. Their strategy is to cast doubt on the electoral process, the Justice Department and in the value of our institutions. It is part of the war on Democracy.

         To my staffs I stressed that perspective and proportionality are important judgement tools in journalism. Perspective and proportionality disappear when formula and style overtake the character and nature of a news event or story. Everything has a context, it has a past and will carry an impact on future occurrences and how journalism is done influences that process. Arbitrary attempts at "confrontation" for its own sake are a disservice to the audience and can damage the nation and its understanding of itself. 

       If I was a news manager today, anyone who is still an election denier would be covered only in that context. This is a war.

        Those who advocate or believe the lie are a like cancer in the body politic. Journalists should keep them in focus but extend them no credibility. To give them equal time or even to consider them "the other side" is harmful. To do so would aid and abet the enemies of this nation and puts at risk our security and well being. 

    

        The uncivil war has already eroded our confidence in the electoral process. That is now a Republican strategy. News leaders need to own up to their responsibilities in this precarious time.

        In parting, we must toss a zinger at one of the nation's leading iconoclasts and commentators. Comic Bill Maher can be a jerk, but he has an amazing depth of understanding. Some of his "New Rules" analysis are brilliant. We urge Mr Maher to choose words carefully.

       He called the execution of the search warrant a "raid."

Quibble if you wish, but it was not a raid. A raid is something else. Is this a big deal? When we live in a nation where a lot of poor souls believe Donald Trump, calling it a raid is yet one more chip off the credibility of a justice system, FBI and the process of law that is under attack by the team that began dividing America, in 2016. Do not play into their strategy.

        It is not inappropriate to examine DOJ, or the FBI or any other agency of state, local and federal government. The media, the Fourth Estate, has a role to play as a watchdog. But it is a damned hard job to do, and one of the labors is operate as independently and objectively as possible. 

        We in the media need to work assiduously to avoid being spun, used, manipulated, or of adopting a heard mentality. We should seek to find truth, verify facts and refuse to be conformed to purposes of commercial or political objective.

        There is a fine line between cynicism and skepticism. I think that is the region in which good journalism functions. I have tried to hew toward the skepticism side because a good reporter also must work to keep an open mind, be willing and able to learn while maintaining an independence. 

        This is one of those times in our national history when journalism is needed and cannot be compromised by vested interests, even self interests.

        Stay alert. See you down the trail. 

    

      

Truth in America-Battle Lines are Drawn

 

        The more perfect Union, Justice, domestic Tranquility, the common defense, the general Welfare and the blessings of liberty, the very raison d'etre enshrined in the Constitution, are in doubt and the people of these states are not United. 

    All is at risk, in danger and under attack because of lies. In January 2021, the US Capitol is a fortress, on defensive footing after four years of assault.

    As power transitions, the future of the Republic demands a full investigation of the insurrection. A national commission, such as those that investigated  9/11, the Kennedy Assassination, the Roberts Commission on the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, and other national trauma should be instituted. There is much to learn.

    The deadly insurrection appears to have had inside help from republican house members and/or staff. Capitol Hill police officers appear to have been complicit. Federal investigators have already identified police and sheriff department officers from across the US as being active in the assault. The truth of these insinuations needs to be learned.

    Aside from prosecutorial and national security threads to be followed, the commission would document the enabling social, political and cultural influences that undergird and created the foundation for the most heinous attack in US history.

    As the people who inherit the constitution and who are now responsible to maintain the democratic republic we must act forcefully against all bad actors, no matter where the trail leads.

    One of my heroes is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who died for his role in trying to end the rise of the fascism and authoritarianism that spawned the Holocaust. Generations of Germans have confessed and lamented how Hitler's Nazi movement could and should have been stopped by German citizens, rather than enabling a mad narcissist to turn a full nation to evil. They believed the lie. The risk of not seeking the truth is grave. 

    Those Americans who believe the false claims of a desperate and demonstratively insane Donald Trump must understand it is about more than politics. They need to know the depth and expanse of the Trump deception, distortion and anti American behavior. For the well being of the nation and themselves, they must come to accept the truth.

     Trump's supporters on Capitol Hill must acknowledge they were wrong. It would be an affirmation of the sanctity of the separation of powers and the Constitution for those in the House and Senate to be removed and charged as insurrectionists and seditionists. It appears such a movement may be mounted in both chambers.  

    There are calls for remembering the January 6th attack on the capitol and attempted coup as we remember 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. The more we learn of the violent orgy of the Trump mob, the more egregious it becomes.

    The republican party is presently infested with cowards. As William Saletan wrote, "Republicans who were in a multi year frenzy over Benghazi are now downplaying insurrection at the Capitol." You saw that evidenced in the Impeachment debate.

    There's a mitigating circumstance, and while it is not a pass for their continued support of Trump, it speaks to the vile influence and toll he has spawned. People, politicians and state officials targeted by Trump now need security. Some republican House members say they feared for their lives if they voted for impeachment. Family members of the incoming administration are under protection from Trump supporters. State capitols and state officials have been threatened by republicans. 

    Since the day of his announcement Donald Trump filled America with lies, hate and fueled division. The republican party sold its soul to the only president to be impeached twice,  a man who has done the bidding, willingly or otherwise of the wily Vladimir Putin. Trump has presided over brining America to an all time low.

    The tide has changed, but millions are brainwashed. They will be resistant. When members of congress were hidden away, sequestered in tight quarters as the blood thirsty mob rampaged the Capitol, republicans in the group refused to wear masks, turning the terrifying experience of hiding for safety into a super spreader event. Members of the republican caucus have been seen shoving and blowing through the newly installed metal detectors. That is ignorant and abusive.

    The republicans are at war. Will Trump fascism and mindless loyalty dominate, or will those of reason, principle and belief in America wrestle control of the party their way.

    Democrats will continue to walk the tension line between their progressive wing and the centrist position of Joe Biden and the predominant caucus.

    Other things are changing. Corporate donors have blacklisted republicans who supported Trump. Trump's brand is on the way to being worthless. Josh Hawley, who thought he was an heir to Trump nation lost a book contract, and is being sued by Hallmark for funds they contributed.

    Mike Pence, who I knew when he was an unsuccessful congressional candidate and small market radio host missed an opportunity to be heroic and to be forever remembered that way.

    His refusal to activate the 25th Amendment, because his ambitions lead him to reason he can absorb the MAGA millions for his own presidential aspirations is delusional. The Pence tragedy speaks to ill placed faith of Trump nation and the broken republican party.

 

    These not no so United States must work its way back to a place where governance, and public good supersede political advantage, ideology, vanity and the souless opportunism of people like Trump, Cruz and Hawley. 

    There may soon be legislative punishment for Trump minions like McCarthy, Gosart, Gaetz, Jordan and 140 others.      To some their actions were sedition.  

    Most of us live far from the levers of power but US citizens are participants never-the-less. This history making era will be  infamous. It has been a time of division and pain. There is time for family members, friends or associates who have been on the low road, believing the big lie, to wake up, to see the truth.                      

    Society, generations hence, will study this time of infamy. Descendants will see photos or video clips of those who were part of a movement that worshipped a lie and were ignorantly part of an effort to destroy the United States. These Trump lovers and Republicans were played for suckers by a fraudster lunatic. History will have the last word. 

    There is a saying in several idioms and of various "origin," Jeremiah, Jesus, John Heywood in 1546,  and Jonathan Swift in 1713. It speaks to us in 2021.

    "There are none so blind as those who will not see."

     See you down the trail.

 

Revanche of America's Soul?

 

     The once resolute American nation needs a tune up and a new MO.

      In these last weeks we've been living a Shakespearean derangement, a hell scape, tossed between a twilight of madness and a dawn, where we have bet our hopes.

       Two Presidents of divergent character, different visions and from separate worlds.

        Peter Wehner, who worked for Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, say's Donald Trump's enduring legacy is "a nihilistic political culture, one that is tribalistic, distrustful and sometimes delusional, swimming in conspiracy theories."

         We are wounded, cut to our aspirational soul.

    In the previous post we explored the founding principle of this American republic, and how far we have strayed. 

    Now we examine how it is time for telling the truth. 

the truth liberates

    President elect Joe Biden is assembling a team of experienced, competent professionals. The levers and controls of government will be handled by people of substance and knowledge.

    President Donald Trump undermines the credibility of our very system, erodes confidence in America, and proliferates his destructive lies and conspiracy. He is a despot, out of time, trapped in a bunker, and determined to destroy everything around him.

deadly delays

    Biden has been denied access to critical defense and covid information. That is dangerous and un-American.

    The transition of power is being forced upon the swindler and his behavior these last weeks will mark his legacy. 

     America's future is the first priority of Joe Biden. Donald Trump's priority is, and always was, Donald Trump.

"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those 

who issue oppressive decrees, who deprive 

the poor of their rights and who withhold justice

from the oppressed."*

  truth and cowardice 

    What does it say about a political party and their members in the House and Senate when they are afraid of Trump? It is true they are cowards. They will not speak up for American ways. They placate a man who undermines the legitimacy of our government and seeks to overturn and invalidate the majority of US citizens. They are co-conspirators engaged in an attempt to violate us.

    We are in a war with authoritarianism. It is a rising tide.

    It will take time to fight authoritarianism. Our public knowledge base has been poisoned by unchecked deception. True believers have been brainwashed. 

    The healing required for this "experiment of a democratic republic" to survive, needs to begin immediately.

agitate against the algorithms 

     A good place to begin is on social media. It is a land of festering animosity, full of distortion, verbal war and invective.

    Individually we can avoid the trolling and comments. Division reigns there. Minds are not changed and it is fertile ground for those who seek to divide and destroy.

     As users we can demand more stringent protection against falsehoods and distortions. Imagine the impact if Facebook or Twitter users were to stage a strike, that is to stay off social media for a day, or a designated time. The algorithms would sleep and the tech billionaire overlords would see how ephemeral is their power to command data and sell it for fortunes. If no one is using the platform, it is worthless. 

    Want to end the hate and lies? Use your power as a user.  

arming with knowledge

    The path to a more tranquil America will require lots of public education.

    Knowledge of history, understanding how our system works, and simply demanding the truth will be a light that cleanses. 

            Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is 

bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the 

community. 

Andrew Carnegie

        Imagine how Koch, Bezos, Steyer, Bloomberg, and Soros money could fuel a dynamic social media, educational and entertainment blitz to awaken a distracted nation! 

    Old fashioned media taught us the danger of smoking, the wisdom of seatbelts, the folly of littering, the crime of child abuse.

     Over the last months I've been engaged in interviews with intelligence, national security, defense and diplomatic officials. While the US has been obsessed with the artful deception of flash and trash and shiny object distractions of an emotionally stunted and morally compromised would be dictator, fault lines have shifted and the world is more dangerous but we have not been paying attention.

    A major takeaway is the degradation of the US, in the eyes of the world, in leadership capacity, in the ability to be trusted and in the stability and credibility of our own belief in ourselves. 

    At this very minute, acting like a mob boss, Trump is bludgeoning a coalition of cultists from the House and a now perverted Republican claque in last stand efforts to defraud 240 years of principle and tradition.

    The nihilistic, tribal and delusional culture of the Trump reign of carnage is bound for the history books as a low point in US presidential behavior. But the people who bought into the lies, were brought to their seething anger, and hatred by his five year attempt to divide. Despite the facts, the truth, which they were told to deny, they believe Trump won. Still, they are no better off. Now they have become a shadow nation that believes in fantasy and fraud.

the "dangerous class"

     University of Texas professor Clyde Barrow is out with a new book that is getting deserved attention. The DANGEROUS CLASS is a take on what is called the Lumpenproletariat. 

    Barrow and other analysts say Trump was good at reaching them, promising them the sky. He has failed to deliver and those angry, hurting, discontented folks continue in their spiral. Since they do not read widely, do not view much more than Fox News propaganda or right wing media, they are stuck in a vortex of fantasy and anger. 

    These people need our help and understanding, as contemptible as they may appear when they begin their frequently camo and weapon bedecked rage, insane Q assertions or support of fraudulent Trump claims. 

    Barrow says the Lumpenproletariat are victims of an economy that passed them by. They are among the populace for which there are no jobs. Too many people, not enough work. At best they try to make it in a gig economy, hard work, low pay and no benefits. They see the rich get richer. They are the poor than gets poorer. They live day to day. They build resentment. That resentment was harnessed by Trump and directed toward others, those with education, people of different origin or race. They find themselves in league with racists, and the poorly educated in a movement of grievances. Anger is the outlet. Trump chums them, stirs their discontent and seems to offer them a way to fight back. Increasingly they are detached from the rest of the culture and they are a danger, to themselves and to everyone else. 

    The nation must find a way to feed them the truth. Strategies are needed to counter the lunacy of conspiracy theories Trump has fostered. 

    Joe Biden must find a way to reach them, to communicate his understanding of their plight, and to explain how they were used and abused.

   we are in this together

    

    As we look for a way back to a functioning nation it would be good to remember not all republicans have become lock stop members of the Trump party. Secretaries of state, and state officials around the nation have stood toe to toe with the Trump Gestapo. America matters more than loyalty to Trump.

    Some of the most bitter attacks on Trump have come from now former Republicans, who look to someday reclaim their party from insanity and cowardice.

    As citizens, all of us, even the Trump nation, worry about the grade drops and devaluation of education the pandemic has produced. We all have a better understanding of how important are teachers and professional educators.

    We are amazed by the vast advance in medical science and the historic research and break throughs that will impact all of our lives and well being. 

    We've begun to gain a new appreciation of friends, family and our church, or temple, or mosque. 

    We miss social contact, dinner parties, family gatherings, travel, theatre, movies, being able to hug or shake hands. 

    All Americans have been victims, even those poor sad souls who still deny the virus is real. They've been victimized twice.

    We've always had "flat-earthers," gullible,  ill informed and easily manipulated folks. Racists and haters have always been with us. It has been over a century since they had a leader. 

    We have to wonder that as this whiny, despicable, fraudster and liar no longer has power if some of those who supported him will not begin to see the truth and the light? Some, not all.

    As we watch an administration of professionals, veterans and competent people wrestle with the staggering issues before us, might we not settle into a level of confidence that will be undeniable to even the most strident?

    Seeing a President, act Presidential, with dignity and honor certainly must be a welcome change.  

    It will good for this nation to see the Republican party return to their traditional form, if they can. That will be a fight.

    What influence might Trump try to parlay? Or will he be enjoined by legal battles that will bury him?

    

   Despite what may come, the majority of this nation must commit to fight against the vestige of authoritarianism. 

    The Trump departure and the Biden arrival is important, but it is only the first step of reviving America's soul.

*   I would bet Joe Biden and a vast majority of his 81 million voters not only know the source of this passage, but believe it.

    I would bet Donald Trump does not. I can't think many of his supporters know or understand it.

    Stay well. Take care of each other.

    See you down the trail.

MADNESS LURKS-IN THREE ACTS-CHIM, CHIM, CHER-EE!

Some times you see things that stop you in mid step.

Not sure I can explain why about this, but such is our world today-inexplicable.

a relationship

in three phases

     While staring at the Pacific recently, players walked on to my stage and provided a short drama. What do you think is going on?  Suggest dialogue if you wish.

    

dedicated to-

(the party of your choice)

   Frequent readers have seen my reference to the wild turkeys that inhabit our ridge. The other day they seemed to strike a political pose. Again, supply your own captions.

tumbling for the russians

    The new acting DNI (Director of National Intelligence) has never collected, gathered, or analyzed intelligence. He is a Trump ass kisser. As this fascist regime continues to plunder 244 years of history, tradition, protocol and law, loyalty to the illegitimate president is all that matters. Tell the truth, especially when it veers from Trumps delusional thoughts, and you are out. 

     This White House is increasingly under the control of Putin. It is undeniable they did what they could to rig the 2016 and are busy working on this year, but the mad president and his sycophant Moscow Mitch are doing what they can to bury the truth. 

     Is it time for a coup by Generals and Intelligence chiefs?

the democrats in pursuit of....

just what exactly?

   I grew up a political junkie. My parents had worked in government and been involved in political campaigns, so it's probably in the DNA.  But I also enjoy it all. Once I thought politics was our undeclared national sport. Though it has gotten weird, of late.

    I covered several Presidential campaigns and many national political conventions. By the time I came off the campaign trail, the conventions had become pre ordained coronations and then devolved even further into simply staged political shows. Well, that could change.

    As a kid I watched in rapt attention as delegates gathered with uncertainties about who would be seated, what planks of a platform would be adopted and what candidate would emerge and who he, in those days it was only a he,  would choose as a running mate. It was great unscripted-true reality television.

    I covered the change in the process, beginning when Gary Hart and George McGovern engineered a revolution in the Democrat party nominating process, taking the power away from party pros, bosses and the smoke filled room and giving it to delegates via a process of primaries and caucuses. The Republicans adopted their own form of delegate voting.

     Well, kids, it is possible the Democrat Party will have an  unresolved gang fight when they gather in Milwaukee. It's the Super Delegates-the big foots of the party-who could bring the hammer down on or lift up one of those who are presently dicing up each other in the series of faux debates.

     A couple of quick thoughts about the debates. Most of them are horrid, not truly debates, engineered to be television spectacles, and frequently presided over by "moderators" who would be more at home on the world wrestling stage.  

     And shame on the Democrat candidates for taking the low road and emulating the rat bastard winner of the sordid show from the Republican 2016 campaign. 
    The D's are so eager to gain advantage, a point or a fundraising opportunity, they think nothing of making mince meat out of those with whom they share the stage, one of whom is likely to survive to be the standard bearer with the mission of stopping the rise of Trump fascism and halting the ascent of a dictator. 

     advice to candidates

    Boys and girls, point your verbal weapons at the liar in chief and tell us precisely how you will make things better, and leave the bludgeon work to the vile narcissist who will likely attack you for being the original snake in the garden, presuming he knows that story. 
     Trust us, we can decide for ourselves about each of you. You need not destructure your party kindred. It is unseemly. You look petty. You loose your cool. It is not visionary. And you are feeding the evil orange king with material to play back. Focus on the mad would be dictator and his hellish fog full of felons. 

help wanted-a real national chair

      I can't help but wonder how things would be different if the Democratic National Chair was good at his or her job. I  reflect on Chairs who seemed to have control and influence, like Frank McKinney or Paul Butler from Indiana, or Scoop Jackson from Washington, or Larry O'Brien from Mass., who did two terms and was such an operator Dick Nixon's team was undone when they tried to steal information from his office. Remember Watergate? Probably the strongest that I had a chance to watch was Bob Strauss from Texas. If Strauss were the chair he would have all of the Democrat would be presidents on the carpet and maybe even cleaning the toilets, for behaving as they are.

      As Judy Woodruff of PBS said, the possibility of an undecided race going into the convention is the sort of thing journalists dream of. True, that. And then a political operator chimed in, it's the sort of thing a campaign operator dreads. True, that too! Stay tuned.

       I'm only sorry that someone, not unlike one of the "old pros" from the old days, is not the chair. 

      These are strange times, like pages from a dystopian graphic novel. It's as though Oliver Stone has assumed divine powers. It's hard to believe.
       
      I repeat, is it time for a coup by Generals and Intelligence chiefs?

another reason to 
look up

   Often during our trip to Scotland and Ireland someone would watch as I was shooting and ask, what I was looking at. When I told them I was fascinated by the chimneys no one really knew how to respond. Sometimes it was a nod of the head, or a repeat of what I had just said "Chimneys," and frequently a version of "oh,..."

     In my California, we don't see such a scale of chimney.

    And documenting these Scottish and Irish versions I couldn't help but think of the sweeps of London singing

      "Up where the smoke is
        All billered and curled
        'Tween pavement and stars
        is the  chimney sweep world."

     Chim, chim, chimney, chim cher-ee!

    See you down the trail.