Moonrise of the Fence Sitters, Dawn of the Sunset of Lies

Ansel Adams took this picture, "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico," on this day in 1941.

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Kerouac, on November:

"Powerful winds that crack the boughs of November! — and the bright calm sun, untouched by the furies of the earth, abandoning the earth to darkness, and wild forlornness, and night, as men shiver in their coats and hurry home. And then the lights of home glowing in those desolate deeps. There are the stars, though! high and sparkling in a spiritual firmament. We will walk in the windsweeps, gloating in the envelopment of ourselves, seeking the sudden grinning intelligence of humanity below these abysmal beauties. Now the roaring midnight fury and the creaking of our hinges and windows, now the winter, now the understanding of the earth and our being on it: this drama of enigmas and double-depths and sorrows and grave joys, these human things in the elemental vastness of the windblown world."

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MY FINAL 2020 ELECTION ARGUMENT: Top 20 Reasons for Fence-Sitters to Consider Voting for Biden

This list isn't for everyone! But it IS for anyone who would even consider still voting for Biden. As we know, Trump had many of his supporters at "Obama's birth certificate." After that, "Mexican rapists" was just the icing on the cake. Those people don't need to read this. If that's not you, read on!

Imagine it all came down to you. Consider these 20 points, and if even one resonates, significantly differentiating the two candidates, maybe that can guide your vote.

1. Somehow a clown became the ringmaster at our circus. When a government is run well, you don't even notice the president, certainly not every day. Not to say that each prior administration wasn't without fault (!), but has this administration in particular been taking up too much of your bandwidth? 

2. "Either I win, or the election is rigged." 100% of us know that's disqualifying (Trump supporters just believe it's only disqualifying if a non-Trump candidate says it.) That's the # 1 most un-American thing ever said by an American president in our history, and shows that he simply has no idea what a free society is. A law and order president??? Yeah right! This election is a repudiation of his type of authoritarianism.

3. Even if you don't like him, vote for his Supreme Court picks. Do we really want to lose gay marriage, legal abortions for rape victims, and protection of pre-existing conditions? (Trump saying he'll protect our pre-existing conditions is the top candidate for lie # 25,001.)

4. It's a good idea to vote against someone, when several hundred former national security experts OF THEIR OWN PARTY come out saying he is a national security risk.

5. Imagine Trump talking a stroll through the woods! Any guess as to which of tge two will be better for the environment overall, and climate change in particular?

6. Trump's OWN SISTER said he is a CRUEL PERSON, in secretly recorded audio. Does it need to be stated outright that a non-cruel president is better than a cruel president? What kind of policies should you expect from a cruel president? For one, an immigration policy that tears kids away from their parents- importantly, as a stated deterrent. I don't buy the "Biden built the cages" argument. If Chamberlain built the showers, and Hitler used them for genocide, I'm not going to blame Chamberlain. (And just maybe Biden's high level task force will be better at reuniting and the 545 kids with their parents than Trump "trying really, really hard." Trump seems placated by the fact that the facility they are stored at is "so, so clean.")

7. Trump has EVERY personality flaw! Arrogant, cowardly, delusional, dishonest, disloyal, egotistical, gullible, hypocritical, ignorant, incurious, lazy, mean-spirited, paranoid, prejudiced, rage-filled, selfish, spiteful, unapologetic when clearly wrong, and vengeful. Don't take it from me though, take it strictly from people who left the administration... his "best people." Did you ever read a list of traits of psychopaths? It'll look very familiar.

8. Who do you trust more with the nuclear codes?

9. We'll do better on Covid-19 if we don't downplay it, i.e. lie about it.

10. Imagine re-electing Hoover to get us out of the Great Depression. Who do you trust more to remake our society? You may not believe this (and you definitely won't if you subscribe to Trump's Big Lie Theory of Truth), but Obama and Biden added more jobs per month in their second term than Trump did in his current term, BEFORE coronavirus hit.

11. Trump demands loyalty over basic competence, and expertise isn't even considered. Are the best people to solve our problems really found within his own family???

13. It was Bannon's stated goal, that Trump put into practice, to further divide people. And he keeps practicing it, because practice makes perfect I guess. We need somebody to ratchet the tension DOWN.

14. He tore out Michelle Obama's organic garden! Many on the right mocked her for providing healthier meals to kids. That seems somehow worthy of respect in my book.

15. Joe Biden can indeed pass a dementia test. The difference is that he won't brag about it for weeks.

16. During the next National Emergency, Joe Biden will not withhold aid from governors who "aren't nice enough" to him.

17. AOC- "A vote for Biden is not about whether you agree with him. It's a vote to let our democracy live another day."

18. Joe Biden does not believe the press is "the enemy of the people," and when faced with a critical story he will have a counter-argument more substantial than, "FAKE NEWS HOAX WITCH HUNT!!!"

19. We should all be in agreement that we are citizens of a post-Enlightenment world because of our commitment to the truth, as seen most evidently through our advances in science. (Or are you the type of person who would prefer surgery without anesthesia?) The president's worship of his own delusions has had many real-world effects that you might fear will grow exponentially the longer he's president. 

20. THE ISSUES! Remember them??? All those previous points are non-ideological. Oh what a pleasure it would be to once again debate issues versus basic competence! Sure, nobody will agree with every one of these, but is the thrust in the right direction? (Copied from elsewhere, feel free to skim.)

1) $15.00 federal minimum wage

2) Reinstating DACA – allowing new applicants to apply

3) 12 Weeks federal paid family leave

4) Universal Pre-Kindergarten/Childcare for ages 3 and 4

5) Tuition free college for those with household income less than $125,000.00

6) Allowing student loans to be relieved in bankruptcy

7) LGBTQ+ Equality Act in the first 100 days in office

8) Rejoining the Paris Climate Accords

9) Decriminalizing cannabis use and expunge convictions

10) Elimination of the cash bail system

11) Elimination of mandatory minimum sentences

12) Outlawing all online firearm and munition sales

13) Restoring the voting rights act

14) Creating a new $20 billion competitive grant program to spur states to shift from incarceration to prevention.

15) Tripling funding for Title I Programs

16) Appointing the first Black Woman to the Supreme Court of the United States

17) Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

18) Ensuring the US achieves a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050

19) Protecting Biodiversity, slowing extinction rates and helping leverage natural climate solutions

20) Developing a plan to ensure that America has the cleanest, safest and fastest rail system in the world, for both passengers and freight

21) Expanding the safety net for survivors

22) Confronting online harassment, abuse and stalking

23) Ending the rape kit backlog

24) Addressing the deadly combination of guns and domestic violence

25) Changing the culture that enables domestic violence

26) Supporting the diverse needs of survivors of violence against women

27) Protecting and empowering immigrant women

28) Leading the global effort to end gender-based violence

29) Ending capital punishment

30) Ending federal private prisons

31) Ending all incarceration for drug use alone and diverting individuals to drug courts and treatment

32) Investing in public defenders’ offices to ensure defendants’ access to quality counsel

33) Expanding and using the power of the US Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices

34) Reforming qualified immunity for officers

35) Banning choke-holds/neck restraints by police

36) Launching a national police oversight commission

37) Stopping the transfer of weapons of war to police forces

38) Promoting free access to testing for all with national testing board

39) Doubling drive-through testing sites

40) Establishing a contact tracing workforce of at least 100,000

41) Guaranteeing first responders priority access to PPE

42) Establishing emergency paid leave for anyone who gets COVID or needs to take care of a loved one with COVID

43) Providing free housing for health care workers to quarantine in

44) Ramping up large scale manufacturing of as many vaccine candidates as necessary

45) Establish a nationwide vaccination campaign to guarantee fair distribution

46) Asking every American to wear a mask

47) Ending the mismanagement of the asylum system, which fuels violence and chaos at the border

48) Surging humanitarian resources to the border and fostering public-private initiatives

49) Ending prolonged detention and reinvestment in a case management program

50) Rescinding the un-American travel and refugee bans, also referred to as “Muslim bans”

51) Ordering an immediate review of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for vulnerable populations who cannot find safety in their countries, often ripped apart by violence or disaster

52) Ensuring that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel abide by professional standards and are held accountable for inhumane treatment

53) Revitalizing the Task Force on New Americans and boosting our economy by prioritizing integration, promoting immigrant entrepreneurship, increasing access to language instruction, and promoting civil engagement

54) Convening a regional meeting of leaders, including from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Canada, to address the factors driving migration and to propose a regional resettlement solution

55) Raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent

56) Requiring a true minimum tax on ALL foreign earnings of United States companies located overseas, so that we do our part to put an end to the global race to the bottom that rewards global tax havens. This will be 21% — TWICE the rate of the Trump offshoring tax rate, and will apply to all income.

57) Imposing a tax penalty on corporations that ship jobs overseas in order to sell products back to America

58) Imposing a 15% minimum tax on book income so that no corporation gets away with paying no taxes

59) Raising the top individual income rate back to 39.6 percent

60) Asking those making more than $1 million to pay the same rate on investment income that they do on their wages

61) Tackling the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

62) Ensuring tribal nations will have a strong voice and role in the federal government

63) Restoring Tribal lands and safeguarding natural and cultural resources

64) Increasing funding for both public schools and Bureau of Indian Education schools

65) Investing $70 billion in Tribal Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions

66) Ensuring full inclusion of people with disabilities in policy development, and aggressively enforcing the civil rights of people with disabilities

67) Guaranteeing access to high-quality, affordable health care, including mental health care, and expanding access to home and community-based services and long-term services and supports, in the most integrated setting appropriate to each person’s needs and based on self-determination

68) Expanding competitive, integrated employment opportunities for people with disabilities

69) Protecting and strengthening economic security for people with disabilities

70) Ensuring that students with disabilities have access to the educational programs and support they need to succeed, from early interventions to post-secondary education

71) Expanding access to accessible, integrated, and affordable housing, transportation, and assistive technologies and protect people with disabilities in emergencies

72) Advancing global disability rights

73) Doubling the number of psychologists, guidance counselors, nurses, social workers, and other health professionals in our schools, so our kids get the mental health care they need

74) Investing in our schools to eliminate the funding gap between white and non-white districts, and rich and poor districts

75) Improving teacher diversity

76) Supporting our educators by giving them the pay and dignity they deserve

77) Investing in resources for our schools so students grow into physically and emotionally healthy adults, and educators can focus on teaching

78) Ensuring that no child’s future is determined by their zip code, parents’ income, race, or disability

79) Providing every middle and high school student a path to a successful career

80) Starting to invest in our children at birth

81) Doubling funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative

82) Expanding the New Markets Tax Credit, making the program permanent, and doubling Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) funding

83) Improving and expanding the Small Business Administration programs that most effectively support African American-owned businesses

84) Increasing funding for the Minority Business Development Agency budget

85) Making sure economic relief because of COVID-19 reaches the African American businesses that need it most

86) Reserving half of all the new PPP funds for small businesses with 50 employees or less

87) Helping families buy their first homes and build wealth by creating a new refundable, advanceable tax credit of up to $15,000

88) Protecting homeowners and renters from abusive lenders and landlords through a new Homeowner and Renter Bill of Rights

89) Establishing a $100 billion Affordable Housing Fund to construct and upgrade affordable housing

90) Fully implementing Congressman Clyburn’s plan to help all individuals living in persistently impoverished communities

91) Expanding access to $100 billion in low-interest business loans by funding state, local, tribal, and non-profit lending programs in Latino communities and other communities of color and strengthening Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)

92) Expanding broadband access to every American

93) Protecting and building on the Affordable Care Act to improve access to quality health care in rural communities

94) Expanding access to high-quality education in rural schools

95) Transforming our crumbling transportation infrastructure – including roads and bridges, rail, aviation, ports, and inland waterways

96) Expanding bio-based manufacturing to bring cutting-edge manufacturing jobs back to rural America

97) Strengthening antitrust enforcement

98) Introducing a constitutional amendment to entirely eliminate private dollars from our federal elections

99) Ending dark money groups

100) Banning corporate PAC contributions to candidates, and prohibiting lobbyist contributions to those they lobby.

Who says a vote AGAINST Trump isn't a vote FOR something? That's a list of what a Biden and Biden voters are FOR... a pretty clear vision of the intended future. In fairness though, what is Trump's vision of the future?

TRUMP LITERALLY HAS NO VISION FOR THE FUTURE ON HIS CAMPAIGN WEBSITE! (Does he know something we don't know???) Instead of a vision, he brags about his accomplishments- among which is that he ended Covid-19. So the future is non-existent, and the present is a fantasy!

Do consider voting for the clearly BETTER candidate, vs focusing on them both being IMPERFECT. After all, there are indeed levels of imperfection that we are capable of discerning. We can't point out one counterexample for Biden on each issue above, and ignore the fact that books could be written on Trump's failures on the same issue.

In justifying his votes for Kerry over Bush, and Clinton over Trump, Noam Chomsky said that for the most powerful position in the world, even small differences factor largely. These are not small differences between these two candidates.

We could have a clearly better country right away, WEDNESDAY, vs Trump perpetually telling us to wait two more weeks for his magic to begin, while every two weeks under him is a little bit worse than the two previous.

We have a clear choice- are we going to revert back to our past where life was nasty, brutish and short, or are we going to reach toward the future which is ours to define? As they say, you can't stay neutral on a moving train, and I only see one way forward.

Thanks for reading, and please consider my argument!

November 1, 2020

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Saturday Night Live made perhaps the best decision in their history by scheduling Dave Chappelle for next week's show. Whatever happens, I'd really like to know what he thinks about it.

November 1, 2020

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I told my kids last night to make sure they had an accurate count of their Snickers before they went to bed, and Emma snapped at me!

November 1, 2020

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I just heard someone say, "This is the slowest elevator in the Judeo-Christian world." I'll bet that's the first time anybody ever strung together those words in that order.

November 1, 2017

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Politifact says 71% of Trump's statements are verifiably false, versus 27-28% for Clinton and Sanders, but that stat is kind of misleading since maybe of his lies are preferable to his truths, such as:

"Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart —you know, if you're a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it's true!—but when you're a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that's why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we're a little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it's not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it's four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven't figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it's gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us."

Give me a nice lie over that madness!

November 1, 2016

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It's that time of year again when I run a couple miles every other night until I push myself too hard and get hurt. I think I've finally discovered that it comes natural to run as fast as I can, and that the real challenge is to run slower than I want. Worst lesson I've ever learned.

November 1, 2011

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Thomas Edison filmed Buffalo Bill, 15 of his Indians, and Annie Oakley in his Black Maria Studio in West Orange, New Jersey on this day in 1894.

https://youtu.be/3w__1GyfQPQ

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On this day in 1951, in Operation Buster–Jangle, six thousand five hundred United States Army soldiers were involuntarily exposed to 'Desert Rock' atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada.

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We successfully detonated the first thermonuclear device, nicknamed Ivy Mike, at the Eniwetok atoll on this day in 1952, an explosion the equivalent of ten megatons of dynamite. You would think the equivalent of nine megatons would have been enough.

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Cool Hand Luke was released on this date in 1967.

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There's a story of two Finnish soldiers:

"We're outnumbered," one soldier says. "There must be over forty of them, and only two of us."

The other exclaims, "Dear God, it'll take us all day to bury them!"

Sisu is an untranslatable Finnish word that means a proud refusal to lie down and be beaten. 

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Werner Herzog's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser was released on this day in 1974.

It opens with the subtitles, "Don't you hear that horrible screaming all around you? That screaming men call silence."

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The Frankish king, Louis the Stammerer, was born on this day in 846. His father was Charles the Bald. I have a feeling I'm related to those two!

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Stephen Crane was born on this day in 1871:

A man said to the universe:

“Sir, I exist!”

“However,” replied the universe,

“The fact has not created in me

A sense of obligation."

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Edward Said was born on this day in 1935.

"Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate."

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On this day in 1907 the French writer Alfred Jarry left us. His last words were, "I am dying... Please bring me a toothpick."

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Dale Carnegie left us on this day in 1955.

"Don't be afraid of enemies who attack you. Be afraid of the friends who flatter you."

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King Vidor left us on this day in 1982. He would direct one film for the studios and was then allowed to direct on for himself, thus The Big Parade and The Crowd. Scorsese mirrors Vidor's model.

"There is the story in every man's heart of human progress. I believe every one of us knows that his major job on Earth is to make some contributions, no matter how small, to this inexorable movement of human progress."

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Walter Payton left us on this day in 1999.

"When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something, they'll tell you."

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The burlesque dancer Zorita left us on this day in 2001. Here she is walking her pet snake in 1939.

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Meredith Kercher was murdered by Rudy Guede on this day in 2007. Amanda Knox spent 4 years in jail and 4 years in the courts before definitively being declared innocent by the Italian Supreme Court. Fascinating case.

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Myspace Blog from this day in 2007:

ashes to ashes, dust to dust

Paul Tibbets died today. He flew a plane that dropped a bomb on Japan turning 100,000 people into dust. He justified it two ways in an NPR interview,

1. He was a bomber pilot just following orders.

2. Many more people would have died without it.

I wonder what he thought of the 911 hijackers- 19 people following orders, perhaps trying to get us to reevaluate our acceptance of Israel killing 3 Palestinian civilians for every Israeli civilian that gets killed. Hey, didn't Osama bin Laden cite our bombing of Hiroshima as a supreme example of our cruelty?

I wonder what Tibbets mom, Enola Gay Tibbets, would have thought of that. In the following video you can hear what the Robert Oppenheimer thought. He invented the atomic bomb.

https://youtu.be/lb13ynu3Iac

The word is Tibbets is getting cremated. So what goes around comes around, I guess. And we all end up as stardust anyway right? 

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Bertrand Russell's Liberal Decalogue

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.

4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/05/02/a-liberal-decalogue-bertrand-russell/

November 1, 2014

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For Arguments' Sake- TED Talk by Daniel H. Cohen

"As an educator, this is the one that really bothers me: If argument is war, then there's an implicit equation of learning with losing."

https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_h_cohen_for_argument_s_sake

November 1, 2015

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Child rape and racketeering vs. emails from a private server as advised by Colin Powell. A lesson in false equivalence.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/reminder-donald-trump-due-court-after-election-day-child-rape-and-racketeering-charges

November 1, 2016

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The Hill- Trump: When I can, I try to tell the truth

“Well, I try. I do try. And I always want to tell the truth. When I can, I tell the truth. And sometimes it turns out to be where something happens that’s different or there’s a change, but I always like to be truthful.”

Translation- "I lie." In case you were uncertain.

http://hill.cm/vOYJfXt

November 1, 2018

Postscript- It's almost otherworldly how truthful that is.

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Camus- "You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself."

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Campbell- "The agony of breaking through personal limitations is the agony of spiritual growth. Art, literature, myth and cult, philosophy, and ascetic disciplines are instruments to help the individual past his limiting horizons into spheres of ever-expanding realization. As he crosses threshold after threshold, conquering dragon after dragon, the stature of the divinity that he summons to his highest wish increases, until it subsumes the cosmos. Finally, the mind breaks the bounding sphere of the cosmos to a realization transcending all experiences of form - all symbolizations, all divinities: a realization of the ineluctable void."

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Voltaire- "Prejudice is what fools use for reason."

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Ayer- "The fact that people have religious experiences is interesting from the psychological point of view, but it does not in any way imply that there is such a thing as religious knowledge...Unless he can formulate this 'knowledge' in propositions that are empirically verifiable, we may be sure that he is deceiving himself."

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Oscar Wilde- "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."

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Locke- "The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom."

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Norm Macdonald- "They say that if you're afraid of homosexuals, it means that deep down inside you're actually a homosexual yourself. That worries me because I'm afraid of dogs."

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