DEFEAT FASCSIM

 Journal of a Left-Wing Radical: No confirms yesterday.

That’s a full week in which we added no victims to HC’s imaginary pizza parlor basement. Oh well. We did win the “Battle of the obstinate tractor seat” on B's tractor. The damned thing wouldn't slide up and down and she couldn't push the clutch all the way in.

It was our third day in which to work on it to no avail

In this post-factual age, we could have used the MAGA Technique, named after the president who hates me. That would be simply to say, “It works,” and "voilà." Fox news would have proclaimed that it worked better than any tractor seat had ever worked in history. But we would have had to strap clogs to her feat. She said, “No.”

She didn’t actually say it that way, so we persisted until victory. All it took was a bit of extra profanity, a lot of WD 40, and some muscle power.

I plan to return to the path of treachery today. Gonna create some sawdust making Christmas presents. Look out you decent people. I’m coming for you.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 A sad misconception these days is that there is a "depravity bottom." There isn't. When Donald Trump ridiculed a disabled reporter on national news, and his base expressed no concern, the word went out.

"We can get away with anything."

Later days proved it was true. The filth. The lies. The deaths from Covid 19. The felony convictions. Nothing moved the needle.

Now we see folks still in hopes that, somehow, he will perform a deed of such baseness that the ground will swell and burst beneath him. A "tipping point" will occur.

Ain't gonna happen.

There is no bottom.

"But the Epstein files," you say.

Truth is, if the Epstein files, once opened, contained a verified video of him abusing a 12-year-old while she screamed for her daddy, would he lose one vote from his extreme right-wing evangelical base? Would one Fox entertainment pundit suddenly have a "John Newton Moment?" Would one ultra-rich supporter cease donating? Would one right-wing think tank alter course. Would one hate-pod influencer shut up?

Sadly, possibly not.

He is their "flawed messenger," the one who brings them power and torments the ones they hate. The ends they seek justify the means he uses. Fear, hate, and greed sell better than grace, compassion, or good government.

We are stuck with him. Nations, like people, choose poorly at times.

DEFEAT FASCISM

When you think about it, the extreme right-wing fundamentalist evangelicals may be headed into a box canyon, a positive sign in the long term. It's like this:

The rise of the MAGA cult has benefited in large part from the support of the fundamentalists. How did this happen?

From the book THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY by Tim Alberta, we learn that they blossomed due to first their religion, then from fear, and finally from hatred. It didn’t arrive through study and introspection. The willing derived it by being spoon-fed rations of fear. Evil influencers preyed on minds troubled by primal fears that their lives were not progressing as they had hoped. Their belief cohort might not sustain hegemony. Dread of becoming a minority gnawed at their equilibrium.   A huge crowd of anxious prospects awaited the new alter call.

Giving them the doubt that many feel moved by their religious fervor, how did they move from the Sermon on the Mount to support the attacking of the most cherished citadel in secular America, the United States Capitol building in Washington D.C? How did they come to support a presidential candidate marked chiefly as being totally devoid of decency or morality?

Seems the next step was fear, fear that some dark force was forcing Christians to abandon their most cherished beliefs. Some were not long held. Abortion, for example, did not become a politically charged issue in the United States until the 1970s and 1980s, primarily due to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Someone saw it as wedge issue to be exploited, despite it's not being mentioned in the New Testament and only by enhancement of vague passages in the old, such as Psalm 139:13-16, which describes God's presence in the womb, suggesting to some the sacredness of life from conception.

From there it became a foundational “fear stone” in the movement of fundamentalism from religion to politics.

Gun control formed another support. Although if allowed, some Americans would vote to rescind the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, there has never been a serious suggestion by any politician or person of power. It has become, nonetheless, an issued laced with almost rabid vitriol.

Then came sexual orientation and those who are not avowed heterosexuals.

Next, the “least of those among us,” demeaned as non-producers.

Then came immigrants forced to leave their homes due to warfare among cartels battling for supremacy in meeting the insatiable demand for drugs by Americans.

Then they moved to honest, decent Americans, not excluding Jimmy Carter, Anthony Fauci, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama and family, not to mention Joe Biden.

Then anyone who spoke on behalf of supporting the planet.

Then all Democrats and anyone labelled a "liberal." They don't ascribe the word to a supporter of policies that are socially progressive and promote social welfare. They refer to those who dare provide love and grace to "the least of those among us."

The fear and hate didn’t arise from a study of scripture, it came from pulpits, first for monetary reward and then for political power, usually for both. Far too many ministers found, that for personal reasons, the rewards of fear and hate far outweighed the rewards of love and grace.

Each year demands a new set of monsters bent—according to right-wing evangelist ministers, Fox News, and political operatives—on taking away evangelicals' freedom to practice their religion. Each step moves the group of monster/victims closer to average Americans. This includes our friends and neighbors, particularly mainline Christians who still spread the love of Jesus and don't mix it with politics. All of us are in danger. After all, the hate mongers must have new fuel with which to replenish their demand for fear.

In short, they will run out of sujets de haine, subjects of hatred.

Where can they turn, then, but to themselves? Rember the Nightof the Long Knives?

DEFEAT FASCSIM: READ REBUKE RESIST

People are now saying call your congressman. My congressman went to the Dark Side on January 6, 2021 and voted to overthrow a legitimate election. Although a flood of calls has flooded and blocked the congressional phone lines, there is no indication that our current slate of elected officials pay the least attention to the cares and concerns of their electors, as long as they have Elon Musk and Fox Entertainment on their side.

My advice? Postcards.

They won’t open letters. Calls are easily ignored. Postcards demand, and receive, at least a glance.

No, the elected officials will never see them. But a young person who became seduced by the sweet music of fascism will. Is there a chance for a Thomas Becket Moment or a flash of moral clarity? Maybe, just maybe. A multitude begins with one person.

What should the postcard say? I prefer courtesy as in, “Your mendacious approach to your honored officed has produced one positive outcome. It motivates me to send money to institutions who will resist you and your cause in the lower courts. A few brave attorneys now stand between your fascist army and my America. I choose to support America as I once did years ago.”

EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

 DANGER

Some years ago I read a scientific treatise stating that we have a genetic trigger withing us that alerts us to danger. This made sense. When we roamed the savannah, danger, immediate and unforgiving danger, lurked everywhere. After the old and weak, the overly complacent probably found themselves eaten next. One might even say stress was good. Maybe it still is, within certain boundaries.

The piece, more interestingly, stated that the genomic trigger still activates when all seems safe and calm. Perhaps it is there to tell us that seeming safety is the most prevalent forecaster of danger. In other words, when all seems safe and secure, that's the time to be most alert. Ever know any of these feelings?

• Something just didn't seem right.
• I had this feeling something was wrong.
• It was too quiet.
• Some sixth sense told me to be careful.
• I felt as if someone was watching me.
• What had I done to make everyone suddenly start acting so nice toward me?

Perhaps we shouldn't be so critical of a little stress in our lives. I say, "a little" for when genetic triggers suffer negative mutations, chaos can result. Responses can seize and direct us when there are no modern-day lions and tigers in the vicinity. What is even more alarming is that scheming people and institutions can use these triggers to generate responses, to accomplish their own ends, within those willing to listen without reasoning. Whether danger exists or not, we mentally stand ready to take action.

When that goes to an extreme, we don't simply plan a safer route through life, we climb onto a building and start shooting people.

EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

 BELIEFS

America has entered a paradigm that concerns and confuses me. I understand certain aspects of it. The seeds were planted when Ronald Reagan chose to announce his presidential campaign in Philidelphia, Mississippi, the place where three civil rights workers were seized to be executed for promoting voting rights among southern African Americans. This was a "dog-whistle" that, unfortunately, resounded with some normal minds as well as those of bigots.

The seeds germinated through the efforts of Newt Gingrich and others who preached that hatred of political opponents was not only permissible, but a necessity for domination.

The weeds sprouted full grown with the election of a man of color as president of the United States of Americana nourished by 24-hour-a-day fertilization by the Fox organization. Whereas the Germans had real problems to be utilized by the Nazis, false news pundits created false problems in the minds of Americans. It was easier than having to deal with real ones.

So here we are. I understand how many fell into this scheme. I grew up, after all, in the American South. What I don't understand, and what I will carry to the grave with me not fully understood, is the participation of those I thought would never inure such shenanigans.

These are people I once considered friends and fellow believers in the potential for righteousness among Americans. Now I find them posting support of a cult that calls me a sucker and loser for serving my country while calling the January 6 insurrectionists heroes, hostages, and victims. The leader of this cult is one who portrays not one shred of what we call human decency. He seems to strike some emotional chord not explainable by our present moral standards. There must be a source buried deep within our primordial consciousness.

It seems that the answer may reside in our evolutionary disposition for violence in service of our tribe. I shall study this more and return.

War

One can certainly get a lot of opinions on world affairs this morning. I’m talking about the condition between the Middle East and America. The most pithy and alarming ones are from the ones who know the least. The most adamant are from folks who have never, nor have their children, nor have their grandchildren, ever served a second in a military uniform of the United States of America.

Now, I’m not like man in the audience I heard recently imply that an author who wrote a very detailed and well-researched account of the debacle at Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War wasn’t qualified to write about war since he had never served in the military. That’s carrying things a bit far in my book.

I find Storm of Steel (Stahlgewittern), the memoir of German officer Ernst Jünger's experiences on the Western Front during the First World War the most terrifying and chilling accounts of war I’ve read. Unfortunately, and this is my opinion only, I found Audie Murphy’s biography of his war experiences disappointing. I did find, however, his acting performance exemplary in the film version of Red Badge of Courage. That’s from the Stephan Crane novel, which many think contains accurate and realistic counts of war. Crane had in fact never been in military combat, constructing scenes from research and what he referred to as skirmishes on the football field.

Now, where was I? Oh, so who to believe concerning the mess we seem to be in? Whom shall we trust o provide us unemotional rational analysis? I’ll tell you whom I don’t trust.

- Fox “news”

- Most opinion writers

- Meme creators, especially those in Russia

- People who think foreign affairs is a simple task

I’ll stick with people who study, people who publish researched pieces, and people who have at least been in a war zone.

To a large extent, I trust the military. Some of the finest people I’ve known either serve, or have served in the military. This includes one present warrior who is one of the finest men I’ve had the privilege to know personally.

We must remain careful, though. Never forget that the United States Army Reserves allowed Tom Cotton in, even made him an officer. The United States Navy Reserve allowed Sean Spicer in. Even made him an officer. The United States Marines allowed Oliver North in, even made him an officer. The Texas Air National Guard allowed (they think maybe) George W. Bush in. Even made him an officer. Oh, and there’s that Air Force general a few years back who made them built an apartment in one of the giant transports and then fly him and his (female) aide around the world, just stopping often enough to refuel. I think they would fuel the plane then as well.

Want any of them deciding which assault-wave your sons, daughters or grandkids will be in when we invade Iran?

We might ask her what she thinks.

Give Good a Chance

Normally, I don’t comment on social media posts. But … this week one of the cruelest, most insidiously insensitive posts I have seen in ages caused such a foul stench that I would be dishonoring generations of Americans if I didn’t respond. If I offend, so be it. If I offend gratuitously, I apologize in advance. I’ll never apologize to the makers of the meme used in the post, as I feel quite sure that it originated in Russia. That decent, but unwitting, Americans saw fit to post it is a symptom of our current national tragedy.

The meme featured a photo of Colin Kaepernick photoshopped to appear that he was on a landing craft at the invasion of Normandy. The caption read “I’m not going,” or something like that. The retching in my stomach didn’t allow time for careful perusal.

There are so many issues that could be used to denounce this cheap effort to promote hatred. One is that—dear posing person—a person of African-American descent wouldn’t have disembarked with white units at Normandy. They were assigned to “special” units of black soldiers, mostly commanded by white officers, and treated as second-class troops. Despite the discrimination, a million African Americans joined the military during World War II as volunteers or draftees. Another 1.5 million registered for the draft.

When they returned to America, after serving honorably, guess what? They weren’t allowed to buy homes in decent locations as did their white counterparts. They saw little training for decent jobs. Education opportunities were sparse. In short, they failed to receive their fair share of the benefits under the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 —the G.I. Bill.

Further:

They weren’t allowed to bring their families to many restaurants.

They weren’t allowed to vote in Southern states, a practice now being revived.

Their children faced inferior education in segregated schools, a practice now being revived.

They were even still relegated to balcony seats in many movie theaters throughout America.

These men, many of whom, wore the Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge, faced being hauled off buses and beaten on their return, simply for “acting uppity.” Outrage could result in lynching, which Southern states refused to make illegal. While their white comrades kissed women in Times Square following the Allied victories, African-American veterans were denied every form of basic decency imaginable.

The “dis-honorment” did not end with WWII, nor with the Korean War. President Harry Truman saw the injustice, and he did integrate the military. For this, he became one of the most hated men in the country and was hounded from office, albeit while walking out of office on the right side of History.

It hadn’t ended, the injustice, by my time “in the barrel.” I’ve mentioned this before, but I can’t rid myself of the image. After our airliner cleared the massive Da Nang airport, and we saw the blue water of the South China Sea below us, we passengers broke out into applause. It was then that I remember thinking how 15 percent of those in the cabin were not going back to the same America I was, and didn’t share the reason for applauding.

                                                                                                                            

I don’t know if I would have done what Colin Kaepernick did or not. I’m white, and not very brave. There is no way that I could ever know. My friends who posted that noxious meme, and those of you who “liked” it, can never know either. Your distrust of Americans of different color has been carefully honed by false news channels and slogans rolled out by entities that want Americans to hate one another. The only way we can survive this assault on our decency and our country, is to end the poisoning. It’s not hard. We just avoid it. As Shakespeare had Hamlet say to his mother

“Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,

Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,

That to the use of actions fair and good

He likewise gives a frock or livery

That aptly is put on. Refrain tonight,

And that shall lend a kind of easiness

To the next abstinence; the next more easy;

For use almost can change the stamp of nature.”

Can we at least try?

A simple act of grace ...

You know, it seems sometimes like we’re running out of things for which to hate people. No, it’s true. A headline grabbed me this morning. This “pundit” named Laura Ingrahm was all over some candidate for the way she pronounced her name. Geez, I would think that if there ever was a personal freedom, it resided in the way we pronounce our own name.

Maybe Laura Ingrahm doesn’t think so. Or maybe she just picked up on another way to spread the kind of distrust, divineness, and, well … hatred that her particular career, and employer, demands.

With a name like mine, I’m a little sensitive about the topic. Southerners, in my experience, like to make a scene about how to say it. Jerks in the United States Navy had a field day with it. Sainted Mother bristled about it, but had a nice retort, for a while anyway, for tradespeople who made a scene about how to pronounce it. “It’s funny,” she would say, “but I have a three-year-son who can pronounce it without any trouble at all.” She used it until my little brother was about 15.

For reasons known only to himself, my father simplified (in his estimation) the spelling on our birth certificates. I think it had to with the fact that he was never particularly proud of his heritage, having gone through World War One as a teenager and having been subject to a number of sobriquets, the most benign of which was “dirty Hun.” Then, a man named Hitler finished off any lingering affinity with “the Fatherland.” Daddy even posted a sticker on the front window of our little grocery store, “Americanism, our only ‘ism.’”

That wasn’t like him, but it appeared during a period in which one of the greatest hate-mongers (a title now being severely challenged) America has produced was dominating the news cycle. Yes, that would have been Joseph McCarthy. People feared him, and his pit bull Roy Cohn, to the extent that they would often express a “sympathetic hatred” that they didn’t even feel. One can see it today if one looks hard enough.

But back to my name. Luckily, I once had a close attorney friend, a Harvard grad in fact, who started his own firm. Suffering from boredom during the startup period, he tempted me with several offers of free legal work. Failing at divorce, bankruptcy, a suit over a neighbor’s barking dog, or a class-action suit over the mental damages caused by the reading of Ayn Rand, he finally settled on getting my name spelled right, by court order, and for free.

From a simple act of kindness, I’m now able to, without fear of unkind criticism, express, with each signing, the full fact of Teutonic royalty in a name that once drew the sort of vitriol that fuels people like Laura Ingrahm.

So, there you go. Using the pronunciation (or spelling) of a person’s name as an act of love, rather than one of hate, seems a good move to me. In fact, wouldn’t this world be a better place for a day if we all decided that we won’t express any act of hatred? After all, it only points out to the world that we have an abscess on our soul.

Yes ... the "von" indicates royalty,
So take that, you fear-mongering
sack of ... . No, wait, I'm
supposed to be good today.
Belay my last. Insert instead,
"My precious friend."

Morning Thoughts: April 6, 2018

When we don't know anything about a subject, we tend not to worry about its destruction. Our thought is "If I ain't involved, I vote to dissolve."

I fear that this attitude is why so many Americans think it is "cute" for a sitting president to act like a damn fool on camera as he goes about destroying the basic structure of an America that helped defeat Nazism, then was instrumental in the rebuilding of much of Europe, ended polio, sent someone to the moon, and did so many other wonderful things.

If I ain't involved, I vote to dissolve.

An example: I once asked a very bright group of my students, (senior level Intro to Public Administration) to take a moment and consider whether local sales taxes should apply to internet sales.

They thought, discussed, and gave a unanimous, "NO."

If I ain't involved, I vote to dissolve.

Okay then. How would you describe the concept of "reasonable expectations."

They did a pretty fair job, so I followed.

Do you think a person driving a delivery truck to bring an internet purchase to you has a reasonable expectation that a passable street allows the delivery to your house?

- That a police force is there to see that thugs don't empty the van before it reaches you?

- That firefighters are available to come in case the van with your purchase catches fire?

- That an ambulance is available should a drunken person slam into the delivery van?

- That medical aid is available in case someone sprays poison on your package?

Well yes, they decided, those expectations are reasonable.

Would it cost anything to provide services to meet those expect ions?

Yes. If it involves me, it can't be free.

Would it be fair for the city or county where you live to charge the delivery companies a delivery charge for each package delivered to your house? The brick and mortar companies pay a tax to allow you to come and pick things up yourself.

There was a dead silence, broken only by a collective whisper of "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind that tree."

But, they reconsidered, did some cipherin', took another vote, and chose the sales tax.

We look for reasons why Americans did such a foolishly destructive thing as electing a man like Donald Trump as president.

"Oh," you say, "it's because so many of us think it is funny to see government run as a professional wrestling show."

Maybe. Maybe the trouble began when we quit teaching civics in our high schools.

Ever hear the story about the father
who was able to indulge his son's
interest in computers because that
father received an education through
the GI Bill, a tax-supported benefit?

Morning Thoughts: January 28, 2018

I have no authority whatsoever to do it, but I’m claiming this as National Curmudgeon Week, in honor of myself. Today is Brown Shoe Day.

For the young, who have missed out on many funny things in life and are now experiencing an era of ordained non-levity, this refers to the old admission that “I feel like a pair of brown shoes in a world full of tuxedos.”

See, that used to be funny. Time was, one didn’t wear brown shoes with tuxedos. That’s when the saying meant something. Now we live in a world in which it would either be acceptable, considered “awesome,” met with indifference, or unnoticed if it weren’t on a cell phone screen.

At any rate, here are some things, new and old, about which I feel out of step with the rest of humanity. Please feel free to add your own under “comments” or on Facebook. They won’t hurt my feelings. I’m a brown shoe, remember? In the meantime, here is my Top Ten List of unfathomable “Things I Don’t Understand.”

10. Katherine Hepburn. She had a voice like a prostitute’s fingernails being hooked up to a large Marshall amplifier and dragged down a slate chalkboard. She had a figure that would make a popsicle stick look sexy. She had a file of acting moves that wouldn’t have taken more than a kilobyte, and an air of haughty arrogance that would have made her the primary subject of any girl’s locker room of my generation. I’d rather be forced to stare at Steve Bannon’s face or Kim Kardashian’s ass than watch Hepburn in a movie.

9. Food Trucks. I know. I know. Unload your weapons. It’s my take and my take only. You’re welcome to eat at the nasty things for three meals a day with my blessings. As for me, I worked my way through two college degrees so I wouldn’t have to, and to think, they helped cause Dixie Café to close.

8. Men and boys wearing hats or caps indoors. It’s stupid, unseemly, unsocial, and indicative of a lack of breeding that would make Donald Trump look sophisticated. I know I can’t change history, but could we at least remove them at funerals?

7. Calling anything other than a drink composed of Gin and Vermouth a “Martini.” At long last, have we no sense of decency?

6. Watching movies on cell phones. Has anyone’s life become that meaningless? Hell, we’ll be watching football games on them next.

5. A commercial TV series. Watching five minutes of storyline and fifteen minutes of fast food commercials is no way to change the Universe.

4. Cirque du Soleil. Entertainment, I’ve always thought, was supposed to be, well, entertaining, not weird and scary except in Stephen King movies. It’s only a short, tragic, step from this to watching hordes of mentally impaired Irish-folk tap dancing in unison.

3. Fox “news.” If my only desire in life is to destroy brain cells, having mass quantities of Jack Daniels sipping whiskey and playing the banjo with friends is a lot more fun and educational.

2. Giving the slightest damn about the British royal family. Didn’t we fight a war or two over this?

And…

1. Cars equipped with GIS. Please, please, please … if you can’t read a map, street names, or road signs, don’t drive. Get drunk and go walking along busy streets instead.

Extra Blog Bonus: If by now, you are not pissed off, let me know. You are eligible for a drawing coming up soon.

Sailing To Oblivium: August 14, 2017

Because I’m from Arkansas, friends from other states have asked me about Hillary Clinton. I don’t know the woman personally. I shared a running track with her a few times when the old downtown YMCA in Little Rock still had a health club. I was with a friend at the airport one day when she came over and thanked that friend for the expert testimony he had provided for her in a trial a few years back. She introduced herself to me.

Those are the total times I have been in her presence, although the Governor’s Mansion was only a few blocks from where we lived back in the day.

Of mutual acquaintances who did know her well, I have never heard one say a bad, demeaning, unkind, or critical word about her.

The only disparaging remarks I have heard from Little Rock residents came from attorneys at the aforementioned health club talking about how she had destroyed one of their brethren in court and how they hoped they would never have to go against her.

The editorial staff of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette despises her. For an Arkansan, that is one of the highest endorsements of good character that one can achieve.

The consensus among some professionals was that she was smarter than her husband. Others disagreed, saying she was the better administrator and he was the better politician. All say they were good parents. None of my professional acquaintances ever accused Hillary Clinton of being warm and charming in public. That is an assessment that fits a majority of trial lawyers in our state. They, in their defense, are paid to win cases, not friends.

After Ken Starr and his band of zealots spent $70M dollars trying to find dirt on her and her husband, uncovering only an extra-marital affair between her husband and another woman, and nothing at all on her, Having damaged or destroyed countless innocent lives in the process, Starr and his merry evangelicals moved on. I thought the personal crusade against her was over.

No. Trey Gowdy spent another hundred million or so trying to convict her of something and failed. Failed completely. Had he found an unpaid parking ticket, he would have had her arrested. But no. He found nothing. I though the inquisition finished.

No. After a convoluted and confusing battle over the fact that she had erred in the use of her e-mail accounts, uncovering little more than sloppy methodology, I thought the harassment was over.

During all this, nobody ever found grounds for charging her for anything. Anything at all, despite the fact that her enemies controlled both houses of Congress, and enjoyed the full faith and credit of the Koch Brothers and other billionaires with which to finance digging for dirt. With the “null hypothesis” thus extant, surely the search was over.

No, Fox “news” took charge of the campaign. This time, facts were not a necessity. They fed the unsuspecting brains of their viewers with tons of rot and garbage that would have made The Galilean himself look like a child molester.

One example: an individual assured me, without fail and with perfect certainty, of seeing a video of Hillary Clinton laughing because she had gotten a child molester off, as his attorney. Some facts:  (1) There was no video. (2) The lie developed from an unaired, but recorded, interview with a prominent Arkansas journalist when Hillary Clinton was a young attorney. (3) She was assigned the job as attorney for the accused, neither seeking nor wanting the assignment. (4) She was relating to the interviewer how the accused, no doubt guilty of something, had easily passed a polygraph exam. She laughed when she related how that had made her forever distrust polygraph exams, a youthful case of unartful conversation at worst. (5) Hillary Clinton didn't "get the man off." The victim’s parents dropped the case before it went to trial. There's a little more to this if one cares to dig a bit.

I offer this only as an example of how countless hours of work by Brietbart and others can distort reality. Oh, and she never ran a child pornography cell beneath a fast-food restaurant. Thank social media for that one.

After the assault by Fox, I thought the worst may have been over. Then, James Comey had to decide whether to alienate the political party in power or the political party out of power.

He chose poorly, and now we are in the mess that resulted.

I’m not posting this to defend Hillary Clinton or to change anyone’s mind. So please, I offer no ad hominem attacks on any of you, and would graciously ask the return favor. You are welcome to your opinions. I spent four years of my life defending you from being punished for having them. I’m just printing this as my honest assessment, and the reason as to why I voted for this capable woman for president and will die treasuring that as one of my proudest votes.

Just thinking.

Reconciliation: Day Ten

Sales trainers tell us that sometimes, when objections involve falsehoods, one must be firm. Reconciliation only goes so far. “That’s just wrong,” we must say, if it is indeed, and we have facts to back it up.

I feel that way a lot lately. There is so much false information being promulgated on both sides of the political spectrum. Unfortunately, much of it flows through the so-called “hate-media” and onto social media. I’ve never listened to or watched false news programs or hate-filled broadcasts. Lately I’ve decided to dismiss any unsupported posting on the internet. That’s pretty much all of them.

Call me old-fashioned, but I respect traditional journalism. I know that it has a doctrine involving both fact-checking and verification through multiple sources. Do they sometimes miss the mark? Certainly, we are all human. To guard against this, I rely on multiple news sources, including

- The New York Times

- The Washington Post

- The Los Angeles Times

- The Guardian (from England)

- The Christian Science Monitor (recently recommended by a highly-respected journalist).

Call me unfair, but I tend to disregard televised news sources. With the death of the giants like Walter Cronkite, TV news too closely resembles the nightmare presented in Paddy Chayefsky’s 1976 film “Network.” Now we have, added into the mix, unschooled readers of the news pontificating on highly complex matters of governance, military matters. or foreign policy, reminding us of another great film “Broadcast News."

Life imitating art. Who in the world would have “thunk it?”

I won’t go into magazines or websites. They are out there. I would just point out that anything posted by the Brookings Institution or Michael Neiberg is sound and unbiased.

In the meantime, if we disagree, remain polite, and I feel you are misstating the facts, I’ll try to soften my response in the spirit of reconciliation. How about my borrowing a line from the film “Fargo?” I’ll just say “I don’t agree with your detective work.”

Just thinking.