Category Archives: American Domestic Affairs

Also in Media: “Aren’t You Tired of Writing Your Stupid Articles?” Georgetown Prof Jonathan Brown Expels Critic From Lecture | Andrew Harrod | February 9, 2017

09 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Also in Media, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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“Aren’t you tired of writing your stupid articles?”

I recall Georgetown University’s Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization, Jonathan A. C. Brown, saying that to me on February 7 at Herndon, Virginia’s International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). Brown’s brief angry remarks quickly led to my expulsion from his imminent lecture, “Islam and the Problem of Slavery”: an indication of how he and his fellow Islamism apologists handle opposing views.

Read the whole thing —  “Aren’t You Tired of Writing Your Stupid Articles?” Georgetown Prof Jonathan Brown Expels Critic From Lecture – 2/9/2017.

 

FTAC – Yemen – A Note to Sunni Militia

06 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Political Psychology

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Clarifying the battlefields of the Islamic Small Wars (my term) has been an issue since I began reading the news and blogging.

With perhaps the ascent of the Far Right, the “crusader west” analogy may have a little more substance, but it really isn’t true.

What AQ-types do, especially in the way of cruelty, sadism, and subjugation, goes against the grain of a normal and healthy humanity, and, frankly, Muslims seem themselves ever first in the path of the “jisadists”.

A western organization would first secure their children away from the fighting and work not to confuse noncombatants with warriors. That’s not going to make life fair to warriors who draw western attention, but if the same focus instead on fending off Iranian aggression and the alignments with Hezbollah and such, that may change the perception of who is fighting and why.

As regards Syria, Moscow today continues to represent feudal political absolutism — dictatorship, police state, mafia state, all of that — but this time (and this 25 years after the dissolving of the Soviet Union) as an ultra-nationalist imperial project counting on barbarism and its nuclear threat to get its way in the world. As such, it has managed to abet the destruction of Syria, produce some arms sales out of the horror put on display, and otherwise run its economy and cash reserves down to where it can do little more than loom large and hold its positions.

Syria is an immense tragedy, and the historic credit for it will most certainly go to Assad as flanked by Putin and Khamenei.

Charges against the west are often more assumptive and rhetorical than observed and reasoned. In the political psychology involved, there’s often a measure of the “paranoid delusional narcissistic reflection of motivation” — the target may be accused of harboring the motivations actually intended by the one pointing the finger.

In politics, narcissism often serves to cover an injury to the psyche (terms of art: “narcissistic mortification”; “splitting”) and over time, the cover abetted by anger and resentment can become quite malign and in such a way as to come to serve none but the afflicted himself. Go down the lists of the world’s dictators, and one may see the process repeating itself beneath different banners across time (with regard to dictators: “Different Talks — Same Walk!”).

And the walk turns out for most reliably miserable.

Revisit Mugabe’s history.

The post was written in response to a plea for western attention to drone strikes in Yemen that allegedly were killing any number of noncombatants, including children.  Such “news” gets mixed up with post-operation battlefield assessments — but for a few hours to days, the propaganda is the thing.

Here’s what had happened.

Washington (CNN)Nawar Anwar Al-Awlaki, the 8-year-old daughter of former al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Anwar al-Awlaki, was killed in a joint American-UAE raid against the terror group Sunday, according to the girl’s family.

Anwar Al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric who directed attacks against the US, was killed in a targeted drone strike in 2011.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/31/politics/yemen-raid-daughter-al-qaeda-leader/ – 2/1/2017.

Search term for following graphic: “American, UAE, raid, Yemen”.

gsearch-yemen-raid-170206-1009

The Seal Team met resistance, fought back, called in reinforcements, and got out with the computers that had been the objective of the raid.

“The raid resulted in the seizure of materials and information that is yielding valuable intelligence to help partner nations deter and prevent future terror attacks in Yemen and across the world,” the statement continued.

The Pentagon said 14 al Qaeda fighters were killed in the battle. Central Command said an internal review team “concluded regrettably that civilian non-combatants were likely killed in the midst of a firefight” during the raid, adding that “casualties may include children.”

The statement said than an assessment was ongoing to determine the exact number of civilian casualties.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/politics/us-raid-yemen/ – 1/1/2017.

Thomas said the footage was part of the large amount of data taken in the raid. He said the team collected more intelligence and data “than we’ve gotten at any one time on AQAP up to now.” It included videos, computer and communications equipment and data.

http://nypost.com/2017/02/03/pentagon-botches-release-of-video-seized-in-yemen-raid/ – 1/3/2017.

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United States of America – Basic Training

02 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Philology, Philosophy, Political Psychology, Syndicate Red Brown Green, United States of America

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President’s Oath of Office

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office_of_the_president_of_the_United_States

Oath for Civil Servants

I, AB, do solemnly swear(or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Oath of Office (for other than the President of the United States of America)

“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

“I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.” (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)

http://www.history.army.mil/html/faq/oaths.html

In Congress, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article. I.

Section. 1.
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section. 2.
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section. 3.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

. . . .

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript

The U.S. Bill of Rights

The Preamble to The Bill of Rights
Congress of the United States
begun and held at the City of New-York, on
Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.

Note: The following text is a transcription of the first ten amendments to the Constitution in their original form. These amendments were ratified December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the “Bill of Rights.”

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript

Old history.

The eyes cloud over with impatience!

So what about now?

“Now” is about the abandonment of America ideals, principles, and values based largely on mutual partisan demonizing, “Brown” or “Red-Green”.

Americans should focus on extremism itself, their own foremost where the same appears in evidence.

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Also in Media: “Steve Bannon Is Making Sure There’s No White House Paper Trail, Says Intel Source” | Foreign Policy | January 30, 2017

31 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Also in Media, American Domestic Affairs

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“He is running a cabal, almost like a shadow NSC,” the official said. He described a work environment where there is little appetite for dissenting opinions, shockingly no paper trail of what’s being discussed and agreed upon at meetings, and no guidance or encouragement so far from above about how the National Security Council staff should be organized.The intelligence official, who said he was willing to give the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt when it took office, is now deeply troubled by how things are being run.

For the whole ugly truth — Steve Bannon Is Making Sure There’s No White House Paper Trail, Says Intel Source | Foreign Policy – 1/30/2017.

Also in Media: “Eliot A. Cohen Responds to Donald Trump’s First Week” – The Atlantic – January 29, 2017

30 Monday Jan 2017

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We were right. And friends who urged us to tone it down, to make our peace with him, to stop saying as loudly as we could “this is abnormal,” to accommodate him, to show loyalty to the Republican Party, to think that he and his advisers could be tamed, were wrong. In an epic week beginning with a dark and divisive inaugural speech, extraordinary attacks on a free press, a visit to the CIA that dishonored a monument to anonymous heroes who paid the ultimate price, and now an attempt to ban selected groups of Muslims (including interpreters who served with our forces in Iraq and those with green cards, though not those from countries with Trump hotels, or from really indispensable states like Saudi Arabia), he has lived down to expectations.

Read the whole thing: Eliot A. Cohen Responds to Donald Trump’s First Week – The Atlantic – 1/29/2017.

FTAC – Trump and America’s Broadest Divisions

25 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Political Psychology, Politics

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I’m not going to jump all over Trump’s case. We in the United States have become a deeply polarized people given to extremes.

The general layout:

“Brown” – New Nationalism – Conservative – Far Right

“Red-Green” – Old Comrades and Neo-Islamists – Far Left

Neither “Brown” nor “Red-Green” should be defining classically liberal American politics, but those color codes have made deep inroads into both of our political parties, and that’s leaving the middle and moderate ranks anemic, or at least looking so.

I’m remaining stuck in the middle!

🙂

As always, and also, I want to follow what actually happens over a little bit of time — the famous “First 100 Days” may do — before becoming strident about predictions — and I hope never to confuse “political conservatism” with “conservatism in research”, i.e., careful data collection and thoughtful analysis over time.

BackChannels does not want to practice writing the same article over and over; however, with repetition of some ideas comes increased compression for the same.

If nothing else, this post — and this blog — advocate for empiricism and high integrity in journalism matched by some breadth in knowledge and insight.

Critical reading and reasoning abilities also count in the politics we American have either dealt ourselves or allowed to overtake us.  If en masse we’re subconsciously intent on becoming, keeping, or aligning ourselves in brutal, vicious, and vulgar mobs, then power may become the permanent province of an immensely wealthy business and political elite, i.e., our democracy will simply melt away into just another authoritarian, capricious, feudal, and spirit crushing nightmare.

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FTAC – Sarsour, Middle East Conflict, and Moscow

24 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Gaza, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Palestinia, Russia

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KGB –> Arafat + PLO –> MEC as a kleptocratic device for those in with Moscow : UNRWA, political repression of the Palestinian community, financial exploitation of the same + “noble” sacrifice of the same against Israel –> PLO/PA millionaires and billionaires, especially Khaled Mashaal. The conflict to come in 1948 was a racket from the start. When the focus shifts from Arabs and Arab Regimes — although they certainly do deserve attention! — to Moscow, things may start to shift. Moscow has goofed in its loose alliance with Tehran and the use of Hezbollah to fight for Assad’s despotism. Somehow that rift — or coming rift — will produce greater divisions, for all have been united mainly by dictatorship and the hatred of the west. Today: Moscow’s limping into the New Year, disinterested in peace in Syria, and unable to advance — or just holding off — in Ukraine.

In any case, there’s the whole story behind Sarsour and the bogus Palestinian Solidarity movement and all of its bought-off, disinformed, and manipulated cousins.

That above: another schematic.

And that below: portals to a new world.

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/10/03/palestinian-kgb/

https://conflict-backchannels.com/2016/11/23/moscows-rules-a-module/

https://www.algemeiner.com/2014/07/28/gazas-millionaires-and-billionaires-how-hamass-leaders-got-rich-quick/

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/180400/hamas-killed-160-palestinian-children-to-build-terror-tunnels

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FTAC: America – The Robust Democracy

19 Thursday Jan 2017

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Political Psychology, Politics, Syndicate Red Brown Green

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Old saw: “Democracies elect the governments they deserve.”

I’m with those invested in the “checks and balances” of our Democracy and hope that neither legislature nor judiciary cave to Administrative fiat in actions or policies inimical to an authentic political freedom.

Of course, I’m going to dig Moscow for the other kind of “freedom”.

🙂

The not-so-secret secret about politics anywhere / any context / any time: if or when it is discovered that it stinks, people will walk away from it.

The powerful of the Fourth Estate have proven time and again their tenacity for getting at the truth given sufficient import for motivation, so more will continue to emerge as regards the character of Trump’s Administration and the way he works it. The opposed public may have to accept his earnest goodness; his supporters may be forced to reconsider how they made their choice.

As noted elsewhere in this thread, WE have all got to tackle how we ourselves accept, evaluate, and redistribute / repackage information. Despite the hip claims, the world is not “post-fact”: the world may be bamboozled, confused, and driven toward extremes by its own continuous bombardment by or consumption of information, but we have also the opportunity to slow down, reflect, and research what ails us as we get down the road together.

One more cliche that I’ve come to call “Pogo Effect”: “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”

If Americans hew to traditional true ideals and values and then read and write responsibly themselves, then, indeed, the system will survive whatever gets up in the cab and tries to jam its gears.

We’re all a little nervous about who’s getting up in the cab of the big freight liner “America”.

🙂

It’s not only President Elect Trump’s detractors that have cause for worry — and they certainly know their own worries — but Trump’s fans now have an investment in Trump’s defending their own best traditional American ideals, principles, and values, and if they find their own assumptions and freedoms, much less other interests, chipped away by the new president, those in the President’s middle ranks will also start to back away from any proto-fascist display of character that comes to pass.

However, as I type, nothing has come to pass in relation to a Trump Presidency.

The President Elect is not quite there yet (be patient) and all bets are off.

Senior Justice Writer for The New York Daily News Shaun King has had the following posted to his Facebook page since January 11, 2017:

I want you to view this video from 4 years ago in 2013 in light of recent events.

In it, Trump calmly, cooly, and confidently states that he has a relationship with Vladimir Putin. Then, it gets very weird. Trump then confidently states that Putin is following his every move, was likely even interested in the conversation they were having, and would likely be watching it later.

How did Trump know all of that?

See, this was off of the campaign trail, long before Trump announced his intentions to run. This was before he felt the pressure to say 6 different times “I don’t know Putin” and “I don’t know anything about Putin.”

This seems to be a clearer version of the truth. What’s going on here?

Posted by Shaun King on Wednesday, January 11, 2017


BackChannels regulars may wish to check out yesterday’s “Trust Putin?” post, where the same has been posted as an addendum.

Addendum: Additional Reference

Fandos, Nicholas.  “White House Pushes ‘Alternative Facts.’ Here are the Real Ones.”  The New York Times, January 22, 2017.

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