Resolution

I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair
I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair
I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair
And send him on his way

Walk him out
Dry him out
Push him out
Fly him out
And send him on his way!

Written by R. Rodgers, O. Hammerstein II

quote unquote: James Baldwin

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain. -- James Baldwin

Happy Holidays

The Long War

As we live in a state of endless, undeclared war, it behooves us to remember the wise words of one the Founders:

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” – James Madison

Demockracy

Money buys elections. The media covers the horse race, not the issues, and routinely deems threats to the status quo "unelectable." There is no party discipline. Gerrymandering and voter suppression are rampant. The Electoral College devalues some votes and enhances others. A vote in one state for the U.S. Senate is worth 100 times what the same vote is worth in another. Judges sit for life. The operatives of money and power routinely rotate in and out of legislative and executive positions, enriching themselves and their cohort as they go. Huge amounts of public wealth are transferred continuously to private hands and trillions of dollars are spent in secret. Wars are conducted without following constitutional procedures.

Sometimes cynicism just can't catch a break.

How frustrated must be Kirsten Gillibrand. She throws Al Franken under the bus, the one to the high road, and the press still praises Kamala Harris as the "new face" of the party.

If it's not nailed down, privatize it.

The FCC voted in a 3-2 party-line vote to end net neutrality, despite overwhelming bipartisan and public support for it.

Net neutrality is now officially on life support. Here’s what happens next. by Aja Romano (VOX)

Trump has his "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" moment:

"USA Today published a brutal editorial Tuesday after President Donald Trump smeared Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) by saying she 'would do anything' for campaign contributions. 'A president who’d all but call a senator a whore is unfit to clean toilets in Obama’s presidential library or to shine George W. Bush’s shoes,'” USA Today’s Editorial Board wrote, adding Trump was clearly suggesting Gillibrand would trade sexual favors for campaign donations. The board added that Trump is a 'uniquely awful' person with 'sickening behavior.' His tweet was a new low for a president redefining rock bottom, they wrote. -- USA Today Calls Trump Unfit To Clean Obama's Toilets In Scathing Editorial (Yahoo News).

Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom? by The Editorial Board (USA Today)

????

The Democratic leadership constantly promotes the benefit of parsing evils. How come that lesser-evil thing doesn't doesn't favor Al Franken when measured against Donald Trump, Roy Moore and the other actual criminals peppered throughout the governing class?

Fair's fair

According to Axios, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer “said he was the victim of a fake news hit on Tuesday, and has turned over to Capitol Police a document that purports to detail lurid sexual harassment accusations by a former staffer.” The former staffer said she “did not author the document, that none of the charges ring true, and that her signature was forged.”

But he has been accused.

Under current Democratic Party operating procedures that means he must resign immediately.

D.J. Trump: Not Living Up to His Full Potential

If Donald Trump knew anything about history, he'd realize that he could go so much bigger than merely reversing Barack Obama's executive orders. Think how pleased his supporters and enablers would be if he revoked the Emancipation Proclamation, say, or gave Alaska back to the Russians.

This Christmas, sit him at the kids' table 'til he learns to behave

The New York Times says, “[p]eople close to him estimate that Trump spends at least four hours a day, and sometimes as much as twice that, in front of a television, sometimes with the volume muted, marinating in the no-holds-barred wars of cable news and eager to fire back,” just like your crazy uncle.

The Head of Government

“Trump Loves Showing Off The White House Bathrooms” -- Newsweek headline

The Long History of the Conservative Fixation With Bathrooms by Nancy LeTourneau (Washington Monthly)

Giving cynicism a bad name

The Republicans' embrace of Roy Moore is no more cynical than the Democrats' lynching of Al Franken. If Moore wins, the GOP Senators can righteously refuse to seat him, confident the Republican governor will replace him with another member of the tribe. If they let Democrat Doug Jones win, on the other hand, they're stuck with him for at least six years. Does anyone really think Al Franken would have been shoved out the door if the governor of Minnesota was other than a Democrat? (Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand may have made a tactical in trying to jumpstart her presidential campaign by shoving out the popular Franken. Political activists have long memories).

Unfinished business

"American exceptionalism" and "American greatness" are propaganda slogans deployed to discourage thinking. We have our good qualities and our bad. We need to concentrate on making the United States a better country, however great it is or isn't already.

We are a loose cannon in world politics. We waste resources on military adventures. Too many of our people have no place to sleep and not enough to eat. That we don't have universally affordable health care is tragic. Our education system was, should be, and no longer is the best in the world. Our infrastructure 50 years ago was second to none and hasn't been maintained since.

We have a lot of work to do.

Does being a Democrat mean anything?

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) is reportedly under consideration for Energy and Interior secretary, as is Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVa). Whether the Democrats allow their numbers in the Senate to be reduced so carelessly will provide another measure of how serious they are about thwarting GOP ambitions.

Evidence so far: Not serious.

quote unquote: James Madison

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, a well-armed and well-regulated militia being the best security of a free country; but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.” -- James Madison, first draft of the Second Amendment, before it was mangled in committee.

From your mouth to...um, that's all I've got.

In a headline, evidence of just how deluded the left is:

"Al Franken resigns, setting precedent for Donald Trump and Roy Moore."

You're welcome to trot this out the next time the topic of the electoral college comes up

Who we are now

From the Logo File:

There is no adjectival form of the word integrity. One is needed. I propose integrous (as opposed to integritous or integrious, both less euphonious). You may not find need of it often, but on the rare occasions you stumble upon someone behaving integrously, by all means use it. Intregrous behavior should extolled wherever it turns up.