Sunday, April 29, 2018

On the White House Reporters Dinner

The good journalists, celebrating their job at the White House, have been out maneuvered by the street wise Trump in many ways, but the key way is in how Trump joined them in calling the Russian investigation an investigation of "collusion". Trump is incorrect that there was no collusion, but the media was wrong in that label. What the Russian investigation is about is TREASON. Trump has conspired with the Russian Government to assist that government in interfering with the internal processes of the American Government: the 2016 election. So journalism has minimised the treason by not calling it what it was, and probably still is, treason against the United States of America. He had the Ukrainian Plank of the Republican platform changed from offering heavy weapons to the Ukraine to something much less formidable. And Trump did at the request of Putin, through intermediaries, like Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, or General Flynn or even Jeff Sessions. Whatever. It was treason, doing the bidding of a foreign government to change the internal processes of the American election. Then There was publically asking the Russians to interfere in the election by publishing the "missing 30,00 Clinton emails." It was Trump asking Russia to interfere in our internal affairs, which they soon did, by putting up the DNC hacked information on wikileaks. Simple, straight forward interference in the American election, aided and solicited by Trump and his campaign, on television. There was collusion but it is collusion to commit treason, collusion in support of Treason. Flynn's phone calls with Kislyak show the treason expanded to the promise of removal of sanctions if the Russians did not react to Obama's imposition of sanctions in December of 2016. Trason,pure and simple: giving aide and comfort to an adversary of 90 years, the Russian government. Trump is a TRAITOR. They are all traitors. Trump said he fired Comey to get rid of the "Russia thing": treason.

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Response to Guardian on new book about Conservatism.

Liberalism, which I define as the philosophy based on the equality of man, equal justice for all, and voting rights to choose the laws under which you live, the executives who enforce those laws, and the judges who interpret and apply those laws, has made great strides since John Locke, but has not succeeded. To be successful the Representatives who make our laws must be removed from the process. They cannot and do not Represent the people. They are bought and paid for by the rich and powerful. Our founding Fathers did not believe we are wise enough to govern ourselves,so they concocted the two bicameral houses of Representatives to make our laws. They proudly stated that it is a Representative Republic, not a Democracy, and that Actual Democracy was impossible because all the people could not gather together and vote. This is a falsehood. Nonetheless, the Constitution has intermediaries for all direct votes: Representatives vote on laws, not the people. Members of the Electoral College vote for the Executives, and the Executive appoints the Federal Judges, who aren't answerable to the people, the legislature, or the Executive; Jefferson said it was as if they weren't even part of the country. Liberalism has succeeded to the level it has, all over the world, because it approaches freedom for the individual and justice for the individual. It will completely succeed when it is an actual democracy: one where the people vote directly on the laws - without the corruption of Representatives, directly for the Chief Executives - and  not members of the electoral College; and directly on the Judges. Such a government will not be perfect, but it will be "more perfect" than any Representative, Conservative, government.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Response to a NY Times essay about "baby boomers".

Nihilism, by any other name is surrender to giving up the life we have, giving up pursuing happiness, loafing until death do us part.  Bull crap. There is work to be done. There is immortality, or at least very long life to pursue.  There are 40 institutes of aging and/or longevity on earth and they're doing serious , and good, work toward that end.  And there is freedom, justice, and equality to pursue, in contradiction to those who would steal our labor, money, and freedom for their personal aggrandizement, their retirement,  and their lack of faith or hope in forming a more perfect union, or more perfect societies.  There's man's work to do and not sit around and whine that my time has come or is coming.  Work to overcome the fear of the second law by remembering that you can put more energy into a system and keep it going, make it more perfect, more efficient. There's science to do, life to live, children and grand children to educate.  There are problems that many of us are trained to see, if not to overcome.  Take your nihilism and loaf with you soul. I seek work and adventure and longer days. Man and society  may not be perfectable but they are capable of more and more perfection toward some arbitrary asymptote of perfection. Do not go gently into that good night.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Response to trustng science more than religion...

Roger Duronio It's not "trusting", it's convincing: I see, hear, research information from all around me and from my fellow men, living and dead. I can follow the arguments on motion from Archimedes, to Newton, to Einstein, and literally weigh and measure and predict the speed of falling objects, the path of a baseball. I see that everyone has 5 fingers and toes on each of two hands and feet, and I follow the course of evolution on earth from 4.5 billion years ago to today and understand how the genes and their interactions, in one body,one species, all species has led to the current set of life on this planet. Science gives us the ability to take it's conclusions and "do things": make cars, planes, houses, ball parks, churches, schools, bars, etc. Religion, however, and unfortunately, cannot and does not enable us to take it's dogma and produce physical changes for our species and world. It is sterile. Science is productive. One gives us control over what we understand, the other attempts to control us with what we can not, and do not, and won't ever understand: the Spirit world of magic that gives hope, false hope, in trying to salve the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune while living here and now.

Response to NYTimes article on the elderly and retirement...

I don't like getting personal in these 'response' notes...BUT, I'm a 75 year old, twice incarcerated (13 years total in prison) who has a masters degree in physical chemistry, 30 years as a computer jock ( just put Ubuntu onto my 5 year old hp and have a dual boot with windows, now.) and even as oneof the worst people on earth I still have skills and abilities that the society is cheating itself of by not employing me in fields where i can, and wish, to contribute. We have always been a country of mavericks, look at our politics now... This is just a simple, but personal, point, the nation is cheating iteslf from people like me, and millions just like me, because of fear and ignorance and the "new political correctness" where there is no 'forgiveness, compassion, hope of rehabilitation, one failure is a life's failure today. I'm an atheist but I grew up in a Christian environment and know Christ's intent on salvaging 'lost souls', etc. I don't want or need anything but an opportunity, like many of age and background, to bring my science, my computing skills ( even as just a heads down programmer) to bear on the productivity of this country. Not being able to contribute is worst part of prison. I'm still in that position, and it's cheating my country of what I, and all likeme, can do. Pity. And I fill my time and have an honest mundane courier job. And scorn self-pity.