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A good friend reviewed my blog which he says is entertaining and interesting but not a presentation of my work. And of course he is right, my professional (if we can call it that) work is all mixed in with the rest and is maybe 10 percent of the whole.
So the thing to do is to create a professional blog, possibly one not based on blogspot. Maintaining two blogs is not something to look forward to but they both would serve a useful and different purpose.
The professional blog may also solve the question of where to "publish" my work. None of this is new or unique. Lots of people have these issues.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Saturday, July 18, 2020
Many Lessons Have Been Learned
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There are many interesting lessons learned from the ongoing political crisis in America. Some were not at all a surprise but some were. Donald Trump has impressed by being a highly effective psychotic with solid insights into how to destroy his country to maintain power. This was not a complete surprise, what was a surprise was the impotence of the rest of the government which chooses to either violate their oaths of office or to pretend that the system "as normal" will self-correct these abominations. But they wont, and they cant.
I did not realize that Congress was completely powerless to stop an insane and traitorous president. There is very little point in contacting your congressperson, they dont care and there is nothing they can do anyway. I did not realize how easy it was to avoid congressional oversight. I did not realize that the Supreme Court conservative faction was completely corrupt. I did not realize that all Republicans at both the national and at the state level were always disingenuous.
The Constitution as written did not allow for the possibility of a major party that does not believe in democracy and is happy to seize power by any means available. Either the Constitution has to be rewritten which is impossible, or the Republicans must be removed from all positions of importance in our state and federal government which is impossible.
Even so, we should muddle forward and do what we can. Biden is better than people think he is and I am looking forward to see what he can do. All I can do about the current situation is to complain a lot and occasionally send a huge donation of $25 or so to a promising candidate.
Its a mess, and our elites made this mess, but I dont think they can fix it.
There are many interesting lessons learned from the ongoing political crisis in America. Some were not at all a surprise but some were. Donald Trump has impressed by being a highly effective psychotic with solid insights into how to destroy his country to maintain power. This was not a complete surprise, what was a surprise was the impotence of the rest of the government which chooses to either violate their oaths of office or to pretend that the system "as normal" will self-correct these abominations. But they wont, and they cant.
I did not realize that Congress was completely powerless to stop an insane and traitorous president. There is very little point in contacting your congressperson, they dont care and there is nothing they can do anyway. I did not realize how easy it was to avoid congressional oversight. I did not realize that the Supreme Court conservative faction was completely corrupt. I did not realize that all Republicans at both the national and at the state level were always disingenuous.
The Constitution as written did not allow for the possibility of a major party that does not believe in democracy and is happy to seize power by any means available. Either the Constitution has to be rewritten which is impossible, or the Republicans must be removed from all positions of importance in our state and federal government which is impossible.
Even so, we should muddle forward and do what we can. Biden is better than people think he is and I am looking forward to see what he can do. All I can do about the current situation is to complain a lot and occasionally send a huge donation of $25 or so to a promising candidate.
Its a mess, and our elites made this mess, but I dont think they can fix it.
Thursday, July 16, 2020
Its Always Sad to Lose a Friend (or Two)
draft
Secrets from months ago are revealed and the end result is that I have lost not one but two old friends. I guess the point is that if people act like that (and yes I am being vague) then maybe they were not friends. Its still painful though. I dont think that either of these two people read my blog (at least not regularly) but if they did I would take this opportunity to remind them "to judge not lest they be judged".
Secrets from months ago are revealed and the end result is that I have lost not one but two old friends. I guess the point is that if people act like that (and yes I am being vague) then maybe they were not friends. Its still painful though. I dont think that either of these two people read my blog (at least not regularly) but if they did I would take this opportunity to remind them "to judge not lest they be judged".
Constitutional Amendments? Ha!
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The government of the USA is obviously illegitimate and should just be replaced in its entirety. Some would say, lets do a constitutional amendment! What a joke that is. Here is a partial and incomplete list of the amendments which would be required and I would be surprised if you could get even one of them through.
1. Remove the electoral college.
2. Prohibit the Supreme Court from changing the results of an election for political purposes (see November 2000).
3. Remove Citizens United.
4. Enforce the voting rights act.
5. Require the POTUS to have some political experience (for example having served one term at least in the House or Senate).
6. Make it illegal for the Senate to not consider a legitimate president's nomination for the supreme court.
7. Remove the right wing nutty boys from the supreme court and the federal courts.
8. End gerrymandering. (I know this is hard, do it anyway).
9. Change the DOJ so that we can get some real justice done even when you have an obvious right wing criminal like Trump.
The government of the USA is obviously illegitimate and should just be replaced in its entirety. Some would say, lets do a constitutional amendment! What a joke that is. Here is a partial and incomplete list of the amendments which would be required and I would be surprised if you could get even one of them through.
1. Remove the electoral college.
2. Prohibit the Supreme Court from changing the results of an election for political purposes (see November 2000).
3. Remove Citizens United.
4. Enforce the voting rights act.
5. Require the POTUS to have some political experience (for example having served one term at least in the House or Senate).
6. Make it illegal for the Senate to not consider a legitimate president's nomination for the supreme court.
7. Remove the right wing nutty boys from the supreme court and the federal courts.
8. End gerrymandering. (I know this is hard, do it anyway).
9. Change the DOJ so that we can get some real justice done even when you have an obvious right wing criminal like Trump.
Sunday, July 5, 2020
There is No Going Back
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There is no going back. You cant just "fix it". The dead people are dead and the alliances are damaged and we look like fools to the world because we are. And never again do we get to brag about democracy or the american constitution. It failed utterly, publically and completely. The Electoral College, the failure of the Republicans to do their constitutional duty, the institutional racism, the trillion dollar tax cut money giveaway to the rich, the Russian active measures against democracy with Republican support, the packing of our judiciary with right wing nuts. Its a disgrace, its a train wreck, we may be something different, maybe even better, but this is a transformative clusterf*ck and there is no going back although lots of people will stick their head in the sand and say "hey its all fixed now! See! Joe Biden!"
There is no going back. You cant just "fix it". The dead people are dead and the alliances are damaged and we look like fools to the world because we are. And never again do we get to brag about democracy or the american constitution. It failed utterly, publically and completely. The Electoral College, the failure of the Republicans to do their constitutional duty, the institutional racism, the trillion dollar tax cut money giveaway to the rich, the Russian active measures against democracy with Republican support, the packing of our judiciary with right wing nuts. Its a disgrace, its a train wreck, we may be something different, maybe even better, but this is a transformative clusterf*ck and there is no going back although lots of people will stick their head in the sand and say "hey its all fixed now! See! Joe Biden!"
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