Concerning Reince and The FBI

"If the White House chief of staff can make public claims about the supposed conclusions of an FBI investigation, then Director Comey can come clean with the American people," Wyden said.

Here. Let me help!

Although we did not find clear evidence that President or his colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of information stolen by a hostile foreign power,, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, hacked information. In our system, the prosecutors make the decisions about whether charges are appropriate based on evidence the FBI has helped collect. Although we don’t normally make public our recommendations to the prosecutors, we frequently make recommendations and engage in productive conversations with prosecutors about what resolution may be appropriate, given the evidence. In this case, given the importance of the matter, I think unusual transparency is in order.

Re the Flynn resignation.

In tweet form: I couldn't help notice that they put a lot of emphasis on Pence being "misled" So he can be left standing when the rest crumbles. Longer: Not only has the press been operating as if it's possible that Flynn was acting without Trump's knowledge (and direction) but they've given particular credence to the notion that Flynn flat out lied to Pence about the nature of his communication with the Russian ambassador and therefore left him hanging when the media pressed him on the subject. All I can say is that when it comes time for impeachment hearings, Pence's so called innocence is going to come in really handy.

I respond to an "All politicians are the same because the corporations run everything" claim.

So your saying that Al Franken is indistinguishable from Paul Ryan? And that they're both indistinguishable from Ron Paul Jr? Nonsense. Who we vote in makes all the difference in the world and believe it or not, constituent phone calls can affect votes. But that requires that people PAY ATTENTION at all times every day to what's happening in Congress. It's not something that we should wait every 4 years to think about. The worst outcomes for America were pretty much all decided in midterm elections. Think about it.

The plot thickens:

The article may be overwrought but there's not a single word in it that I don't know to be true from other sources: Seth Abramson

Regarding fake news sites:

Just my opinion: The people I am describing have immunized themselves from the possibility of being proven wrong. Having written off all 'fact checking' sites as being corrupt, they are then free to believe whatever makes them feel good. It happens on both sides of the Political spectrum. I think the thing that unites all the people who are susceptible to such manipulation is that they start by identifying an enemy first and then filtering everything else they know through how it relates to their particular battle. If your enemy is drug companies or Monsanto, then you are susceptible to Natural news. If your enemy is Hillary, then you are susceptible to US Uncut. If your enemy is Obama, the you are susceptible to the Daily Caller and Briebart. What these sites all have in common other than spreading lies, is the fact that they regularly attack legitimate news sites as biased and incomplete.

Trump voter lost home, blames incoming Treasury secretary

I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more 'buyers remorse' stories as the term wears on: Oops

Sigh......

It's truly disturbing that we whenever Trump makes an appointment, we sigh in relief when "not insane" is among their qualifications.

Riddle me this

Q: When is a Nazi Klansman a 'controversial figure'?
A: When he's being described on CNN.

 Q: How do you know that a scandal is being manufactured out of thin air.
 A: When it 'raises questions'.

Compassion's Not In Fashion Anymore

'Spreading' Freedom

In the past, one of the most difficult quandaries the US faced was that it saw it's role as a Protector of Freedom elsewhere in the world. The problem with this is that it's difficult to impose 'self-determination' when the only tool at your disposal is weaponry. Self determination is pretty much the antithesis of the threat of force. As we enter the Trump era, however we con look forward to this problem disappearing. Seeing as his first act will be to ally ourselves with Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, we can suddenly forget about the idea of self-determination in Syria. The Balkans? Sorry. Having decided that it's now okay to not only prop up dictators, but to not even have to pretend to care about their legitimacy, we can enter into a Brave New World of Peace and Prosperity, where the only meaningful conflicts are WITHIN nations rather than between them.

Left on a thread concerning our current predicament and it's Historical roots.

Clinton's 3rd way was a direct result of Reaganism. Reagan was direct response to the Great society. The Great Society was a direct response to Jim Crow. Jim Crow was a direct response to Emancipation. You CANNOT separate the present form the past in any meaningful way.

Left on a comment thread somewhere: re Trump

Here's the deal. His announced goal is to increase infrastructure and military spending while drastically cutting taxes. He claims he wants to balance the budget but he's relying on magical growth fairies to do that part for him. And with single party control of that House, the Senate and the Supreme court, our whole system of checks and balances is now inoperable. He has plenty of time (at least 2 years) to do lasting damage and that's precisely what we can expect. In other words, the people who are going to be most thoroughly screwed over by his Presidency are the people who voted for him.

Taboos and Trump

The entire project of warfare requires that we keep certain conversations taboo. We insist on honoring the fallen but it's the survivors who actually 'win' the battle. We insist that our soldiers are defending freedom when they are in fact deployed thousands of miles away and are fighting people who themselves are defending their own homes. The inherent immorality of engaging in indiscriminate killing renders honest conversation about warfare utterly taboo. Apparently Donald didn't get the memo. But of course he's enough of a sociopath to regard indiscriminate killing to be a feature, not a bug.

I don't know whather to be upset over the blatant racism that took place in McKinney TX or heartened by the fact that anybody who comes out publicly in support of the officer gets either immediately fired or is outed as felon. Teacher fired Oops

Merry Christmas

Beware the word "Thug"

"Thug." Watch it carefully. It's only use is to dehumanize people. We humans have inalienable rights and even criminals are protected by the due process clause. But if you're a thug? Not so much. "Thug" is just a spam-filter safe spelling of "ni&&er".

Somebody help me out......

What I find fascinating is that while we all worry about the rise of the surveillance state, it's first and most prominent victims are the police. I'm not sure what to make of that.

New Republic goes after Dawkins.

The capacity and propensity for destruction goes with being human. One does not have to be religious to acknowledge this dark fact.

It's astounding how many writers get this exactly backward. As animals, we simply are.. There are no value judgments to be applied beyond the fact that living seems better than dying. It's quite unremarkable that we are capable of evil. What is absolutely ASTOUNDING is that we are capable of thinking about it. Good and Evil is a strictly human preoccupation; it does not exist in nature without our very peculiar and rare brains. It's worth noting too that all creatures on earth are equally evolved. Therefore intelligent, moral creatures are a one in a billion long shot.

I take issue

I take issue The rise of intelligence and consciousness, far from being a natural result of evolution is incredibly rare. On earth it has only been achieved by one species out of millions (all of which are equally 'evolved') You may be right about what's next for us, but you can't accurately portray it as a natural progression. Our's is a quite unique road.

Re; Upcoming ISIS operations.

My #1 concern is that our enemies in Iraq and our friends in Syria happen to be the same people. Current estimates of ISIS fighting strength is only 30,000 or the number in attendance at a typical Hockey game. Do we really think that we can muster a force that will defeat them while that force is in fact fighting the Syrian regime side by side with their alleged enemies. This whole mess is a direct result of the American reflex that insists that no matter what, we have to DO SOMETHING. It doesn't help that 'Caliphate" is one of those magic words that causes neocon's ears to bleed whenever they hear it. Obama has to DO SOMETHING and by God, he's going to do it, at least until 11/4 is safely in the rear-view mirror.