Here is a list of Society Blogs. A Blog is a journal you may enter about your life, thoughts, interesting experiences, or lessons you've learned. Post an opinion, impart words of wisdom, or talk about something interesting in your day. Update your blog on a regular basis, or just whenever you have something to say. Creating a blog is a good way to share something of yourself with others. Reading blogs is a good way to learn more about others. Click here to post a blog.
'Impeach - The Case against Donald Trump'
Author Neal Ketyal has a new book out, and he makes some truly excellent points in the following interview
Book Review;
In response to:
Former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal argues that there are three "high crimes" that he says the president is "clearly" guilty of. He explains to Steve Kornacki why, because of those alleged high crimes, he feels the House must impeach Trump and the Senate should remove him from office.
Former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal argues that there are three "high crimes" that he says the president is "clearly" guilty of. He explains to Steve Kornacki why, because of those alleged high crimes, he feels the House must impeach Trump and the Senate should remove him from office.
Book Review;
In response to:
Neal Katyal makes an unimpeachable case, concise but comprehensive, for impeachment. The author of Impeach knows the law and how to practice it. An attorney who has argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court, Neal Katyal was Acting Solicitor General for the United States in the Obama administration. He is also a law professor at George Washington University.
He goes to the heart of the matter by quoting today’s vice president, Michael Pence, when he served in the House of Representatives in 2008: “This business of high crimes and misdemeanors goes to the question of whether or not the person serving as President of the United States put their own interests, their personal interests, ahead of public service.”
This statement Katyal calls the “Pence Standard” and refers to it throughout the book. The author says he is not a partisan but an “extreme centrist”—determined to apply the same legal yardstick to every case regardless of its party connection. Though this book attacks a Republican president, Katyal earlier clerked for today’s Chief Justice, John Roberts, and supported Trump’s appointments of justices Neal Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Katyal addresses some basic questions: Why our founders (and Pence) would have impeached Trump. What high crimes and misdemeanors are and are not. Why we need to impeach Trump and why this is different from Mueller. Why we can’t wait until the next election. To understand what are impeachable offenses, Katyal reviews the impeachment cases of presidents Tyler, Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton.
Digging into the charges against Trump, Katyal examines the evidence that Trump accepted and sought information from a foreign government to help him against a political rival; that he withheld security assistance to Ukraine and then asked for a favor to release it. He reviews the July 25 phone conversation with President Zelensky, and observes that Trump never once discussed U.S. national interests or Ukraine’s war with Russia.
The anonymous whistleblower complaint against Trump, as Katyal reports, was not sent to Congress for weeks after it was submitted to the intelligence community inspector general on August 22. This aspect of the story takes Katyal back to 1777 when two naval officers reported that their commander had tortured British prisoners. When the two whistleblowers were fired, the Continental Congress compensated them and passed a whistleblower protection act.
Katyal himself defended a whistleblower who, after 9/11, complained that the government was reducing the number of TSA marshals on flights. The Supreme Court in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts gave the whistleblower his life back. President Trump, however, has demanded unmasking today’s whistleblower, calling him almost a “spy.”
This book is nothing if not up to date. Published in November 2019, it refers to many events and documents released as recently as September. To be sure, much of the material has already been in the public domain, but Katyal with his legal mind analyzes it in a novel way. For example: If the president really wanted Ukrainians to investigate a case, he would not demand that they announce their decision to do so, because this would tip off the suspects. Nor would the State Department budget to promote anticorruption in Ukraine have been cut from $30 to $13 million......
Neal Katyal makes an unimpeachable case, concise but comprehensive, for impeachment. The author of Impeach knows the law and how to practice it. An attorney who has argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court, Neal Katyal was Acting Solicitor General for the United States in the Obama administration. He is also a law professor at George Washington University.
He goes to the heart of the matter by quoting today’s vice president, Michael Pence, when he served in the House of Representatives in 2008: “This business of high crimes and misdemeanors goes to the question of whether or not the person serving as President of the United States put their own interests, their personal interests, ahead of public service.”
This statement Katyal calls the “Pence Standard” and refers to it throughout the book. The author says he is not a partisan but an “extreme centrist”—determined to apply the same legal yardstick to every case regardless of its party connection. Though this book attacks a Republican president, Katyal earlier clerked for today’s Chief Justice, John Roberts, and supported Trump’s appointments of justices Neal Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Katyal addresses some basic questions: Why our founders (and Pence) would have impeached Trump. What high crimes and misdemeanors are and are not. Why we need to impeach Trump and why this is different from Mueller. Why we can’t wait until the next election. To understand what are impeachable offenses, Katyal reviews the impeachment cases of presidents Tyler, Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton.
Digging into the charges against Trump, Katyal examines the evidence that Trump accepted and sought information from a foreign government to help him against a political rival; that he withheld security assistance to Ukraine and then asked for a favor to release it. He reviews the July 25 phone conversation with President Zelensky, and observes that Trump never once discussed U.S. national interests or Ukraine’s war with Russia.
The anonymous whistleblower complaint against Trump, as Katyal reports, was not sent to Congress for weeks after it was submitted to the intelligence community inspector general on August 22. This aspect of the story takes Katyal back to 1777 when two naval officers reported that their commander had tortured British prisoners. When the two whistleblowers were fired, the Continental Congress compensated them and passed a whistleblower protection act.
Katyal himself defended a whistleblower who, after 9/11, complained that the government was reducing the number of TSA marshals on flights. The Supreme Court in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts gave the whistleblower his life back. President Trump, however, has demanded unmasking today’s whistleblower, calling him almost a “spy.”
This book is nothing if not up to date. Published in November 2019, it refers to many events and documents released as recently as September. To be sure, much of the material has already been in the public domain, but Katyal with his legal mind analyzes it in a novel way. For example: If the president really wanted Ukrainians to investigate a case, he would not demand that they announce their decision to do so, because this would tip off the suspects. Nor would the State Department budget to promote anticorruption in Ukraine have been cut from $30 to $13 million......
Black Friday...
Black Friday was somewhat uneventful. Pressure cleaned the fascia and walls and as expected lots of loose paint was removed. Plans for Saturday are to fill and prime all the bad spots. I've got to repair some fascia with a penetrating sealer that bonds spongy rotten wood by soaking into into the fibers. The instructions say it's 4 to 6 consecutive coats of sealer, it's faster and cheaper than replacing the fascia that was done about 4 years ago.
Wal-Mart didn't appear to be busier than normal, however I counted about 15 TV's in the parking lot that were headed to cars. Inside, there were stacks of off-brand 4K TVs in the 55 to 65 inch range. Obviously 4K is the hot item this season!
Wal-Mart didn't appear to be busier than normal, however I counted about 15 TV's in the parking lot that were headed to cars. Inside, there were stacks of off-brand 4K TVs in the 55 to 65 inch range. Obviously 4K is the hot item this season!
online today!
Black Friday Blues
The Month Before Xmas
'Twas a month before Xmas, Thanksgiving itself,
when Black Friday started ahead of itself.
Despite a recession and ominous rumors,
the debtors reverted to frenzied consumers,
stampeding each other like hogs in the wallers,
as if in a contest to throw away dollars.
Then back for the next day, and on into Sunday,
with something left over to spend Cyber Monday,
and ad infinitum, while making believe
some Santa will pay for it all Xmas Eve!
Their greed how it sparkles, their gifting how merry.
Such fun to appear a benevolent fairy.
But reckoning comes when the creditors call,
then dash away, cash away, stash away all!
For those who hold out until yard-selling times,
I'll be there to help turn their dollars to dimes.
Kornbluth
Dec 3, 2012
'Twas a month before Xmas, Thanksgiving itself,
when Black Friday started ahead of itself.
Despite a recession and ominous rumors,
the debtors reverted to frenzied consumers,
stampeding each other like hogs in the wallers,
as if in a contest to throw away dollars.
Then back for the next day, and on into Sunday,
with something left over to spend Cyber Monday,
and ad infinitum, while making believe
some Santa will pay for it all Xmas Eve!
Their greed how it sparkles, their gifting how merry.
Such fun to appear a benevolent fairy.
But reckoning comes when the creditors call,
then dash away, cash away, stash away all!
For those who hold out until yard-selling times,
I'll be there to help turn their dollars to dimes.
Kornbluth
Dec 3, 2012
online today!
Just what is it about life on the coasts?...
...here in the Great Satan, they don't call it flyover country for nothing. The differences between mean incomes/wealth betwen folks on the coasts, and the vast middle of the country, are vast, along with political tendencies/sentiments. So now we learn that apartheid Israel has the same deal. The wealthy liberals live on the polluted Med,, mostly wanting corrupt, former tewowist Netanahu's hide, while the much poorer folks, "push the Palestinians into the sea", curly side burns, "never saw Palestinian land we don't want to occupy", types, support him. But perhaps this doesn't apply to all countries on the oceans. And what about large lakes? Finally, just what's wrong with someone writing such Blogs, Eh? Another Syndrome?
online today!
Reparations, of many sorts...
...the term is often heard from Negro racists in the USA. The thinking goes as follows. Only whites can possibly be racists, and such people, mostly Democrats of the old south, several centuries ago, were soley responsible for the American curse of slavery. SO, the logic goes, Negroes currently living in the USA deserve monetary reparations. Of course, no one alive today, White or Black, was around during those terrible years, when Blacks contributed so much to the Old South's agrarian cotton/tobacco economies,---actually only a tiny part of the overall USA economy. Nor can anyone possibly account for the current USA negro population distributions, which include various blendings from many non slavery areas at the time, and since. And what amounts of money, and should the many very wealthy Negro Americans in sports, business, media, and other affirmative action sinecures, be somehow means tested for reparations cash? POTUS Obama as well? And how about the vital cooperation of ruthless Black West African Tribal Chiefs in helping the evil White man to capture, place into bondage, and cram the proto slaves into the holds of Slave ships? Too, the American Civil war, costing some 600 large war deaths, and led/funded by a Republican POTUS and Republican US Congress, which many alt leftie Democrats today, including racist Blacks, insist was fought only for states' rights. AS IF, Lincoln's Gettysburg address focused on anything but the scourge of slavery. But, I digress. Reparations might then consider other maltreated ethnic populations. Canadian (ooouuut, Eh?) First People's, Kiwi Maoris, Aboriginals in OZ, Turkish Armenians, South American Cholitos, the Irish in pax Britania, and many more. Yep, peebles, reparations, clear and simple fixes for the injustice du jour, even if the du jours were centuries ago. Achtung,Achtung--- TD-HD syndrome attacks imminent. Incoming, incoming!
Prison letter 1
This is a copy of a letter which I recently sent to a prisoner.
Hello. I like your answer. At least you replied. Thank you. I hope that between the two of us there will be many more messages and that we will become great friends. I am just very concerned about people who are in jail. Please allow me to make my own interpretation about the phenomenon which is the wall murals of ancient Egypt showing everyone and every thing in profile. You are in jail. The most significant thing about that is that while you are there you will not be killed in a car accident or fall off of a cliff. If I go to see my doctor tomorrow I will be contributing to medical science which has the potential to benefit others. Is this true or false? There is no progress without patients. As I get older I may be seeing a doctor more often. I may undergo procedures and treatments and be prescribed medications. All of that has the potential to benefit other people because I will be contributing to medical science. If I die at a younger age I will have contributed less to medical science. By controlling people they are more likely to contribute more to medical science. You are being controlled. Maybe you should be in jail. Maybe you do need to be corrected. Many things are possible. It is also possible that there is no good reason to be keeping you confined in a prison. Maybe you are not a bad person. Maybe other people are the bad ones. I have not really looked at your arrest record or any of that. I don’t know why you are in jail. I don’t need to know. However let's imagine that you are in jail for selling drugs for example. Many people are. In that case would that mean that you are a bad person? If someone is enjoying drugs they might be so busy enjoying their life that they forget to go for an annual check-up at the doctors office. Therefore they would be contributing less to medical science. The argument to counter this is that people are not enjoying themselves. That is true however it is also true that there is nothing good to enjoy because of the laws and law enforcement which makes it very difficult to buy something to enjoy which is desirable. Therefore the idea that people are miserable because they are consuming drugs is a an argument which is ridiculous. Just because the only thing available to people is terrible does not mean that there is nothing to enjoy. Most likely your life and definitely the life of many, many other people is miserable because of the people in charge who want you to be a slave. I am asking you for my sake and for the sake of millions of other people to be very careful when you consider your own motivation in regard to the things that you support. Even a person in jail can have slaves. Oh yes the wall murals of ancient Egypt. I think that it would be better to discuss that later. My ambition is to get everyone out of jail, to change the laws and to start over.
Hello. I like your answer. At least you replied. Thank you. I hope that between the two of us there will be many more messages and that we will become great friends. I am just very concerned about people who are in jail. Please allow me to make my own interpretation about the phenomenon which is the wall murals of ancient Egypt showing everyone and every thing in profile. You are in jail. The most significant thing about that is that while you are there you will not be killed in a car accident or fall off of a cliff. If I go to see my doctor tomorrow I will be contributing to medical science which has the potential to benefit others. Is this true or false? There is no progress without patients. As I get older I may be seeing a doctor more often. I may undergo procedures and treatments and be prescribed medications. All of that has the potential to benefit other people because I will be contributing to medical science. If I die at a younger age I will have contributed less to medical science. By controlling people they are more likely to contribute more to medical science. You are being controlled. Maybe you should be in jail. Maybe you do need to be corrected. Many things are possible. It is also possible that there is no good reason to be keeping you confined in a prison. Maybe you are not a bad person. Maybe other people are the bad ones. I have not really looked at your arrest record or any of that. I don’t know why you are in jail. I don’t need to know. However let's imagine that you are in jail for selling drugs for example. Many people are. In that case would that mean that you are a bad person? If someone is enjoying drugs they might be so busy enjoying their life that they forget to go for an annual check-up at the doctors office. Therefore they would be contributing less to medical science. The argument to counter this is that people are not enjoying themselves. That is true however it is also true that there is nothing good to enjoy because of the laws and law enforcement which makes it very difficult to buy something to enjoy which is desirable. Therefore the idea that people are miserable because they are consuming drugs is a an argument which is ridiculous. Just because the only thing available to people is terrible does not mean that there is nothing to enjoy. Most likely your life and definitely the life of many, many other people is miserable because of the people in charge who want you to be a slave. I am asking you for my sake and for the sake of millions of other people to be very careful when you consider your own motivation in regard to the things that you support. Even a person in jail can have slaves. Oh yes the wall murals of ancient Egypt. I think that it would be better to discuss that later. My ambition is to get everyone out of jail, to change the laws and to start over.
I was a habitual thief.
That is the first time I've admitted it 'out loud' on here.
At first I did not want to steal.
I really didn't.
But, my friends felt I would be good at it
and encouraged me to do it.
Now, although I was young, when I started, I do not blame others.
It was ultimately my choice to do it or not.
No one forced me to do it.
The first few times I was quite nervous about it
and I definitely feared being caught.
But, my friends were right.
I was very good at it, and even got much better at it the more I did it.
No one could catch me.
Thus, I led my baseball league in stolen bases many years.
What ?
I also stole signs.
I did this once I was on base, or when I coached a base.
It was easy. I would root the batter on continually, whether I got the sign or not.
Once the sign for which type of pitch was given (usually 1 finger for a fastball, 2 fingers for a curve, etc..) from the catcher, I would root;
"Come on (batter's name, i.e. Paul) stroke that ball" (if the pitch was going to be a fastball)
and "(batter's name) come on lets get some bingo going" if it was going to be an off speed pitch(i.e. a curveball).
If I didn't get the sign, I will still say something like "You're da man (batter's name) pick out a sweet one."
I let my team know what key words to listen for (i.e. stroke = fastball, bingo = offspeed, man = didn't get it) and I would change it to different words the next time we played the same team.
Since I played in a league that had some ex-pro players and college players in it, a couple of catcher's
eventually figured out, that I was stealing signs (it's part of the game).
They would walk out to the pitcher's mound to tell the pitcher,
that I was doing so and then would change the signs.
But it only took me a couple of pitches to figure out the new signs.
Sometimes the pitchers would retaliate by throwing a fastball at me,
when I was at bat. I didn't mind. I was quick enough to get out of the way
and got a lot of walks that way, after which I would steal a base or two.
Yeah, I was a thief.
The Houston Astros went much too far with it though.
While stealing signs is permitted, you're not allowed
to use any technology to steal signs.
They Astros used zoom cameras from the outfield fences at home games
focused on the catcher and would then beat loudly on a garbage can,
if it was going to be a fastball.
This was recently admitted by a pitcher who used to pitch for the Astros.
The Astros are now in trouble with the league for this.
At first I did not want to steal.
I really didn't.
But, my friends felt I would be good at it
and encouraged me to do it.
Now, although I was young, when I started, I do not blame others.
It was ultimately my choice to do it or not.
No one forced me to do it.
The first few times I was quite nervous about it
and I definitely feared being caught.
But, my friends were right.
I was very good at it, and even got much better at it the more I did it.
No one could catch me.
Thus, I led my baseball league in stolen bases many years.
What ?
I also stole signs.
I did this once I was on base, or when I coached a base.
It was easy. I would root the batter on continually, whether I got the sign or not.
Once the sign for which type of pitch was given (usually 1 finger for a fastball, 2 fingers for a curve, etc..) from the catcher, I would root;
"Come on (batter's name, i.e. Paul) stroke that ball" (if the pitch was going to be a fastball)
and "(batter's name) come on lets get some bingo going" if it was going to be an off speed pitch(i.e. a curveball).
If I didn't get the sign, I will still say something like "You're da man (batter's name) pick out a sweet one."
I let my team know what key words to listen for (i.e. stroke = fastball, bingo = offspeed, man = didn't get it) and I would change it to different words the next time we played the same team.
Since I played in a league that had some ex-pro players and college players in it, a couple of catcher's
eventually figured out, that I was stealing signs (it's part of the game).
They would walk out to the pitcher's mound to tell the pitcher,
that I was doing so and then would change the signs.
But it only took me a couple of pitches to figure out the new signs.
Sometimes the pitchers would retaliate by throwing a fastball at me,
when I was at bat. I didn't mind. I was quick enough to get out of the way
and got a lot of walks that way, after which I would steal a base or two.
Yeah, I was a thief.
The Houston Astros went much too far with it though.
While stealing signs is permitted, you're not allowed
to use any technology to steal signs.
They Astros used zoom cameras from the outfield fences at home games
focused on the catcher and would then beat loudly on a garbage can,
if it was going to be a fastball.
This was recently admitted by a pitcher who used to pitch for the Astros.
The Astros are now in trouble with the league for this.
Commander Bone Spurs...
Yesterday was Veterans Day and like every year, there was a parade in New York City.
This year was different as the protesters of the president came out in force carrying signs 'Impeach Trump' and shouting "Lock him Up!"
I see one of the larger signs read: Commander Bone Spurs and at the bottom RISE and RESIST. It must have been an anti-support group as they were all wearing shirts with the same name.
This year was different as the protesters of the president came out in force carrying signs 'Impeach Trump' and shouting "Lock him Up!"
I see one of the larger signs read: Commander Bone Spurs and at the bottom RISE and RESIST. It must have been an anti-support group as they were all wearing shirts with the same name.
online today!
Imagine, just try, the place you live disappearing....
...sure, we piss and moan about out towns, but stay, because at some level, we love much about them, no? For believers in climate change, man made or likely otherwise (?both), low lying coastal villages are already in trouble. But there are other phenomena of depopulating towns and centuries old villages. In the mid eastern war zones, for sure. But how about all those places in the former Iron curtain lands? With near zero replacement birth rates, and youth migrations to more attractive cities, some have only old folks, mostly. Yep, another result, longer term, of Communism.
online today!
Essential FREEDOMS.....
...Just sizing up the usual world news, and hearing about the death of that young student in Hong Kong. I'd like my fellowess/fellow CS folks to think a bit about all the stufff we place on line here,--- much of it harshly/truthfully political. My rants topping any list. Without naming any country, who doubts the list is long, of places where much of what we write here, could lead to jail terms,....or worse. Sure, even in the places we live in, ya shouldn't falsely shout "FIRE" in a crowded theater. But c'mon peebles, for most of us, and by many historical comparisons, we enjoy a huge dose of political/personal freedoms.
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