I've been thinking about that today, about voting for Hillary, after listening
to Chris Hedges. If I'd lived in a swing state, I would have voted for her
because she would not have demolished the safety net as quickly and because she
would not have made speeches that invited the most racist and prejudiced
sectors of our society to openly attack Muslims, African Americans, and
immigrants of Latin American descent. We would have maintained a more civilized
discourse, even if that civil discourse is just a veneer. The tone set by our
political leaders, matters. I'd rather have an elitist female President than a
sexist, Fascist, meglomaniac.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 2:31 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: American Wonderland: Trump World Is Much
Stranger Than It Seems
Yes! Yes!
In my personal opinion, we are being led by the noses by the Corporate Pied
Pipers. While our attention is focused on the side rings and the side show,
the Main Event in the Center Ring is named, "The Rape of a Nation". As we are
being "entertained" by the Reality Master, Donald Trump, the Corporate Elite
are feasting at the public trough. I honestly believe that Donald Trump,
acting as the Hit Man, will dismantle most of the public protections fought for
and put in place over decades of hard work. Down sizing Government, without
down sizing Corporations, is tantamount to opening the doors to the Hen house
and inviting the foxes in.
Still, in knowing all of this, I would not have voted for Hillary Clinton. We
would have gone down the same road, just at a slower pace. We are living in a
dysfunctional nation, in so far as the needs of the Working Class is concerned.
And if the Working Class is not cared for and nurtured, the entire house of
cards will fall in.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/11/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Do you get the impression that there's this big show going on, lots of
articles commenting on it, lots of hearings, money being spent, and
somewhere in the background a whole other reality is taking place?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 12:48 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: American Wonderland: Trump World Is
Much Stranger Than It Seems
Strange, but still, I don't see mention of the Queen of Hearts or
Fiddle Dee and Fiddle Dum.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/11/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally. (photo: Chip
Somodevilla/Getty
Images)
American Wonderland: Trump World Is Much Stranger Than It Seems
By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
10 June 17
The spring blizzard of the bizarre shows no sign of letting up
When was the last time we had a sitting president and a former FBI
director calling each other liars? And something like 100 per cent of
the population seems to believe that at least one of the accused
liars is a real liar.
That's the new American normal.
The Comey circus produced a holiday atmosphere in DC, with bars open
for business before the live hearings came on. And the TV audience
for the Comey show was an apparently impressive 19 million-plus viewers.
But that's pallid next to the presidential inauguration's 30
million-plus, or the Super Bowl's typical 110 million-plus in the US.
Here you may insert the appropriate comment about how these numbers
reflect American priorities, with football being five times more
engaging than a game where the republic is an underdog.
In this kind of carnival atmosphere, it is little wonder little
attention is paid when the director of National Intelligence
stonewalls the Senate Intelligence Committee rather than answer
questions about presidential law-breaking. Little attention was paid
when the director of the Central Intelligence Agency stonewalled
rather than answer questions about presidential law-breaking. Even
the Senate Intelligence Committee's Republican majority paid little
attention to the stonewalling by top national intelligence community
officials, both Trump appointees. Some Democrats paid a little
attention, albeit decorously.
Republicans will not entertain pointed questions from uppity black
women
The hearing didn't begin to get close to testy until Deputy Attorney
General Rod Rosenstein, who was instrumental in getting Comey fired,
refused again and again to answer a simple question. The question
from Democratic senator Kamala Harris of California (where she was
state attorney general) was whether Rosenstein would assure the
independence of the independent counsel, former FBI director Robert
Mueller, who is investigating the relationship between the Trump
campaign and Russian power brokers. Rosenstein would not give a
direct answer, choosing to stonewall by filibuster. Senator Harris
interrupted:
Sir, if I may, the greater assurance is not that you and I believe in
Mueller's integrity . it is that you would put in writing an
indication based on your authority as the acting attorney general
that he has full independence.
Again Rosenstein rambled unresponsively and again Harris intervened.
At that point, two Republican senators, chairman Richard Burr of
North Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, intervened and curtly
lectured the senator from California on the need for "courtesy." It
looked for all the world like Republicans playing to their base by
trying to put the uppity black woman in her place. As a result,
Rosenstein was granted the courtesy of being allowed to stonewall
like the others, not even giving lip service to future independence,
integrity, or justice.
Senator Burr, by insisting on "the courtesy for questions to get
answered,"
made sure the questions would not get answered. Or rather,
Rosenstein's refusal to say he would do what he could to guarantee
the independence of the independent counsel was tantamount to warning
Robert Mueller that he was on a short leash. Insofar as that warning
is the real message, that is also tantamount to obstruction of
justice.
Isn't it high time to get the FBI working for Trump interests?
And if that weren't enough to reassure the president that the noose
wasn't tightening around his neck any faster than senators who swore
an oath to protect and defend the Constitution could obstruct, the
president nominated a new FBI director. That's a little like the
Gambino Family picking its own prosecutor.
The White House's tweeted choice for James Comey's successor is
Christopher Wray, who has been greeted by largely respectful, if
muted acceptance, in the words of The New York Times:
In choosing Mr. Wray, the president is calling on a veteran
Washington lawyer who is more low key and deliberative than either
Mr. Mueller or Mr.
Comey but will remain independent, friends and former colleagues say..
[He] would bring a more subtle management style to the FBI.. [He] is
a safe, mainstream pick..
To emphasize that point, the Times ran a picture showing Mueller and
Comey, with Wray slightly behind them. The picture was taken in 2004,
when Wray was in the Justice Department helping to craft torture
policy for President Bush. Wray is overtly political, having given
consistently and only to Republican candidates. In 2004, Wray's
testimony about the homicide of a CIA detainee was characterized as
"less than truthful" by Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick
Leahy of Vermont. Wray's most recent high-profile success was helping
to keep New Jersey governor Chris Christie from being indicted for
the criminal closing of the George Washington Bridge as political payback.
A court allowed Wray to withhold potential evidence against his
client.
If being a dishonest Republican torture-promoter isn't enough to
disqualify, maybe his legal work as a partner in the 900-lawyer King
& Spalding international law firm would serve. His clients have
reportedly included Trump family members. Another partner is the
ethics advisor to the Donald J.
Trump Revocable Trust. And then there are Wray's apparent Russian
connections reported by USA Today (but not the Times). Wray's firm
has a Moscow office. It "represents Rosneft and Gazprom, two of
Russia's largest, state-controlled oil companies." Rosneft also has
ties to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who, as Exxon CEO made a
$500 billion oil drilling deal with Rosneft, a deal suspended by
sanctions imposed by the Obama administration.
Conflicts of interest, dishonesty, torture, corporatocracy, Russian
connections - why shouldn't those be the standards of American law
enforcement? It's the new American normal.
William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio,
TV, print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the
Vermont judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of
America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine,
and an Emmy Award nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work.
Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
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