The McCarthy unAmerican madness ended abruptly on June 9, 1954 during the Army-McCarthy hearings when Boston lawyer Joseph Welch, finally outraged by Sen. Joseph McCarthy's baseless accusations, said, "Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty
or your recklessness. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency? At long last, have you no sense of decency?"
Trump has now committed an outrage worthy of McCarthy. He is blaming former President Obama for virtually all the problems that have plagued his administration and demanding that Obama testify to sabotaging his administration before he assumed office.
Enough is enough. We must all call out to Trump, "Have you no sense of decency? At long last, have you no sense of decency?" To which we should add "Have you no shame?" We must shout it in the millions of our voices from the rooftops, from town squares and from city plazas, and we must be heard.
--- Diogenes, 5/15/20
U.S. Constitution
The voice of the people
15 May 2020
14 May 2020
How long?
This is a rant. Yes, I've said some of this before. Please indulge me.
It is customary to blame the president for everything we don't like. Well, why not? He is the most visible public servant we have, and everyone can remember his name. We should rather remember the name of our Congressional representative, who is from our community and may even live on our block. Well, no matter. We don't.
The fact is, most of what goes on in the country is guided by Congress. They are our elected representatives and it is their Constitutional duty to make laws. Congress is a big, slow ship that doesn't maneuver quickly, so there is always time to contact your representative or senator to suggest mid-course corrections.
Where the office of president becomes useful is in times of emergency or disaster. He can, by executive declaration, make any number of things happen. Any fallout may later have to be sorted out with Congress, but urgent needs can be timely met.
It is in those moments that the mettle of any true leader is tested. High public office is not for the faint of heart. Enormous trust is placed in the executive--trust that he will respect those who put him in office and will see, to the best of his ability, to their welfare and protection--especially at times when the world changes.
America's involvement in WWII began and ended with two world-changing decisions from two strong presidents. Both were made and followed through with certainty and confidence.
Following Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt acted with alacrity, declaring war on Japan, ending America's neutrality, and plunging the nation into a war it was not prepared to fight. He did so in the knowledge of mutual trust between him and the people, a trust that roused an entire nation to action.
Upon FDR's death Harry Truman took up the war, and brought it to an emphatic conclusion by deploying atomic weapons. Neither president's decision was taken recklessly or out of emotion, but after careful consideration, which lent them the strength of sure authority,
Many such moments and decisions have punctuated the history of the presidency.
Until now.
How long shall the wicked triumph?
--Diogenes, 5/14/20
¹ https://blog.factba.se/2018/01/08/stable-genius-lets-go-to-the-data/
² https://www.brookings.edu/research/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/
It is customary to blame the president for everything we don't like. Well, why not? He is the most visible public servant we have, and everyone can remember his name. We should rather remember the name of our Congressional representative, who is from our community and may even live on our block. Well, no matter. We don't.
The fact is, most of what goes on in the country is guided by Congress. They are our elected representatives and it is their Constitutional duty to make laws. Congress is a big, slow ship that doesn't maneuver quickly, so there is always time to contact your representative or senator to suggest mid-course corrections.
Where the office of president becomes useful is in times of emergency or disaster. He can, by executive declaration, make any number of things happen. Any fallout may later have to be sorted out with Congress, but urgent needs can be timely met.
It is in those moments that the mettle of any true leader is tested. High public office is not for the faint of heart. Enormous trust is placed in the executive--trust that he will respect those who put him in office and will see, to the best of his ability, to their welfare and protection--especially at times when the world changes.
America's involvement in WWII began and ended with two world-changing decisions from two strong presidents. Both were made and followed through with certainty and confidence.
Following Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt acted with alacrity, declaring war on Japan, ending America's neutrality, and plunging the nation into a war it was not prepared to fight. He did so in the knowledge of mutual trust between him and the people, a trust that roused an entire nation to action.
Upon FDR's death Harry Truman took up the war, and brought it to an emphatic conclusion by deploying atomic weapons. Neither president's decision was taken recklessly or out of emotion, but after careful consideration, which lent them the strength of sure authority,
Many such moments and decisions have punctuated the history of the presidency.
Until now.
- We are shackled with a president who has neither respect for nor trust in anyone who does not share his skin color, his ideas, his ethnicity, his party, his beliefs, his wealth, or his favorite color of tie. In short, no one.
- Gone is the eloquence of his predecessors in office; a recent study determined that he speaks at about a fourth-grade level.¹
- He has no use for people who are not puppets or toadies, or anyone who differs from him in the slightest way; his upper-level staff has seen an 85% turnover since his election.² Does anyone know who's watching the store?
- His mental state is clearly and obviously unstable.
- He lacks the ability to make decisions and stand by them.
- He cannot control COVID-19 and the inability to control any entity is so far from his life experience that it is likely unraveling his sanity.
- His body language speaks volumes. He frequently appears with arms crossed--closed off to the world, a defensive posture; and a downward gaze with downturned mouth, signaling contempt.
How long shall the wicked triumph?
--Diogenes, 5/14/20
¹ https://blog.factba.se/2018/01/08/stable-genius-lets-go-to-the-data/
² https://www.brookings.edu/research/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/
13 May 2020
Readings for Radicals, Rebels, Revolutionaries, and Rabble-rousers
[Because we've just witnessed the first widespread civil uprising in quite some time, I'm republishing this list as a reminder of how important it is to stand up against tyranny] --- Diogenes, 6/11/2020
I hope that none of you have ever or ever will experience tyranny in real life,
but there are people highly placed in government who would very much like to have more power and would like the people to have less. I offer here some reading and viewing material by people who did experience tyranny in some of its worst forms that might help you recognize authoritarianism if it ever rears its ugly head.
These are standard works that will probably be in your local library. K=Kindle
Many of these works are challenging. If you start one and hate it, just grab another.
Bradbury, Ray: Fahrenheit 451 K
Dick, Philip K.: The Man In The High Castle¹ K
Frank, Anne: The Diary Of A Young Girl K
Lockhart, Robin Bruce: Reilly: Ace of Spies K
Marquis, John: Papa Doc: Portrait Of A Haitian Tyrant
Orwell, George: Animal Farm K
Orwell, George: 1984 K
Short, Philip: Pol Pot: Anatomy Of A Nightmare K
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr: One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich K
Trunk, Isaiah: Judenrat
Webb, William: The Dictator
Wiesel, Elie: Night K
Hitler, Adolf: Mein Kampf K
Mazin, Craig and Johan Renck: Chernobyl (Five-part HBO miniseries)
Powell, William: The Anarchist Cookbook K
¹Also an Amazon Prime series
If you haven't the time to read, then meditate on these quotes:
"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" Thomas Charlton
"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair." H. L. Mencken
"We have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words: 'We, the people.'" Ruth Bader Ginsburg
"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." Abraham Lincoln
--- Diogenes, 5/13/20
I hope that none of you have ever or ever will experience tyranny in real life,
but there are people highly placed in government who would very much like to have more power and would like the people to have less. I offer here some reading and viewing material by people who did experience tyranny in some of its worst forms that might help you recognize authoritarianism if it ever rears its ugly head.
These are standard works that will probably be in your local library. K=Kindle
Many of these works are challenging. If you start one and hate it, just grab another.
Bradbury, Ray: Fahrenheit 451 K
Dick, Philip K.: The Man In The High Castle¹ K
Frank, Anne: The Diary Of A Young Girl K
Lockhart, Robin Bruce: Reilly: Ace of Spies K
Marquis, John: Papa Doc: Portrait Of A Haitian Tyrant
Orwell, George: Animal Farm K
Orwell, George: 1984 K
Short, Philip: Pol Pot: Anatomy Of A Nightmare K
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr: One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich K
Trunk, Isaiah: Judenrat
Webb, William: The Dictator
Wiesel, Elie: Night K
Hitler, Adolf: Mein Kampf K
Mazin, Craig and Johan Renck: Chernobyl (Five-part HBO miniseries)
Powell, William: The Anarchist Cookbook K
¹Also an Amazon Prime series
If you haven't the time to read, then meditate on these quotes:
"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" Thomas Charlton
"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair." H. L. Mencken
"We have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words: 'We, the people.'" Ruth Bader Ginsburg
"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." Abraham Lincoln
--- Diogenes, 5/13/20
11 May 2020
Blogus Interruptus
I'm breaking into the daily flow of Vox Populi to ask you to watch the video below. I don't do this lightly; the clip is from the CNN program "Unfiltered," and it discloses some unusually troubling aspects of Donald Trump's behavior. Even if you've seen it elsewhere, please watch it again.
This isn't just another Trump-bashing tape. It includes a succinct and cogent discussion of how Trump controls his followers and the moral and ethical trap that many of them find themselves in as a result.
Earlier this month Trump was sent into a rampage by seeing an ad critical of his policies run by the Lincoln Project, a conservative Republican PAC that opposes his re-election.
In response he tweeted a broadside of insults and ad hominem attacks at Lincoln Project leaders. The words he uses are neither shocking nor unexpected, just his predictable limited monosyllabic vocabulary in full flow. What is troubling is the tone: sixth-grade bullyspeak. It is incoherent, rambling, and disconnected.
This is the man who is charged with preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution. One must ask if this rambling jibberjabber is all he can do to defend himself, how can he possibly stand up for the Constitution? If he can't muster words will he turn to weapons?
If the Twitter texts are not legible on your monitor, I have provided links to transcripts at the end of this post. The clip is about 11 minutes long. Sorry for the ad at the beginning.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/05/06/lincoln-project-trump-coronavirus-ad-se-cupp-intvu-vpx.cnn
If after viewing the video you have concerns about the stability of the president and/or his ability to conduct the affairs of his office, I urge you to contact your congressional representatives and share those concerns. Here are links to their contact information:
https://www.house.gov/
https://www.senate.gov/
--- Richard Brown, 5/11/20
https://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1257532112233803782
https://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1257532114666508291
https://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1257532110971318274
https://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1257532101966036993
This isn't just another Trump-bashing tape. It includes a succinct and cogent discussion of how Trump controls his followers and the moral and ethical trap that many of them find themselves in as a result.
Earlier this month Trump was sent into a rampage by seeing an ad critical of his policies run by the Lincoln Project, a conservative Republican PAC that opposes his re-election.
In response he tweeted a broadside of insults and ad hominem attacks at Lincoln Project leaders. The words he uses are neither shocking nor unexpected, just his predictable limited monosyllabic vocabulary in full flow. What is troubling is the tone: sixth-grade bullyspeak. It is incoherent, rambling, and disconnected.
This is the man who is charged with preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution. One must ask if this rambling jibberjabber is all he can do to defend himself, how can he possibly stand up for the Constitution? If he can't muster words will he turn to weapons?
If the Twitter texts are not legible on your monitor, I have provided links to transcripts at the end of this post. The clip is about 11 minutes long. Sorry for the ad at the beginning.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/05/06/lincoln-project-trump-coronavirus-ad-se-cupp-intvu-vpx.cnn
If after viewing the video you have concerns about the stability of the president and/or his ability to conduct the affairs of his office, I urge you to contact your congressional representatives and share those concerns. Here are links to their contact information:
https://www.house.gov/
https://www.senate.gov/
--- Richard Brown, 5/11/20
https://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1257532112233803782
https://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1257532114666508291
https://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1257532110971318274
https://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1257532101966036993
10 May 2020
Vacuum Sucks
If you've ever wondered what the phrase "vacuum of leadership" means, look around. You're in one.
Obfuscation, misinformation and doublespeak have characterized the Trump administration's response to COVID-19 almost since the beginning. The unpresident himself first denied, then downplayed, then ignored the virus. Until it came knocking at his door.
The first reported staff member to test positive was a presidential valet, who also happens to serve meals to the Denier-in-Command. Then came a spokesperson for the vice president, and now the top West Wing medical advisors have quarantined themselves. Yet the alleged leader of the country traipses around maskless, paying no attention to people from the CDC, who really do know what they're talking about.
Why is this important?
It's important because many of the Booboisie (Vox Populi, 5/6) are convinced they should follow his example, and they are a viral WMD waiting to infect God knows how many of their fellow Americans. Even a tiny bit, a smidgin, a soupçon of leadership from Washington urging followers to "do as the CDC says, not as I do," could potentially save many lives.
In the Louvre Museum in Paris is a painting by Antoine-Jean Gros¹ depicting Napoleon among plague victims in Jaffa (now in Israel). The general fearlessly reaches out with his bare hand to touch a victim's sore, a sure means of infection.
This is propaganda of the highest order. With this painting Gros effectively compared Napoleon with Jesus. The people of France would follow him anywhere.
Poor Trump has no Gros, no champion in the media who could give him the propaganda boost he so desperately craves. Even at the best of times he is not an inspirational person, not a leader to inspire sacrifice, not a charismatic figure to follow into battle. And no one can make him that.
What he can bring out, as I said a couple of days ago (5/8), is the "anger, racism, xenophobia and sense of disenfranchisement" that dwells in many of his supporters, and frequently erupts in violence.
Perhaps this is why his followers are drawn to him. Perhaps they sense that he shares those feelings. His actions and policies certainly reflect some commonality. Perhaps they don't want charisma. Perhaps they want someone like them: average, working class, conservative with traditional values, colorless and mediocre.
In Donald Trump they have certainly found that.
---Diogenes, 5/10/20
¹Central detail of Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon Among the Plague-Stricken at Jaffa, 1804.
Obfuscation, misinformation and doublespeak have characterized the Trump administration's response to COVID-19 almost since the beginning. The unpresident himself first denied, then downplayed, then ignored the virus. Until it came knocking at his door.
The first reported staff member to test positive was a presidential valet, who also happens to serve meals to the Denier-in-Command. Then came a spokesperson for the vice president, and now the top West Wing medical advisors have quarantined themselves. Yet the alleged leader of the country traipses around maskless, paying no attention to people from the CDC, who really do know what they're talking about.
Why is this important?
It's important because many of the Booboisie (Vox Populi, 5/6) are convinced they should follow his example, and they are a viral WMD waiting to infect God knows how many of their fellow Americans. Even a tiny bit, a smidgin, a soupçon of leadership from Washington urging followers to "do as the CDC says, not as I do," could potentially save many lives.
In the Louvre Museum in Paris is a painting by Antoine-Jean Gros¹ depicting Napoleon among plague victims in Jaffa (now in Israel). The general fearlessly reaches out with his bare hand to touch a victim's sore, a sure means of infection.
This is propaganda of the highest order. With this painting Gros effectively compared Napoleon with Jesus. The people of France would follow him anywhere.
Poor Trump has no Gros, no champion in the media who could give him the propaganda boost he so desperately craves. Even at the best of times he is not an inspirational person, not a leader to inspire sacrifice, not a charismatic figure to follow into battle. And no one can make him that.
What he can bring out, as I said a couple of days ago (5/8), is the "anger, racism, xenophobia and sense of disenfranchisement" that dwells in many of his supporters, and frequently erupts in violence.
Perhaps this is why his followers are drawn to him. Perhaps they sense that he shares those feelings. His actions and policies certainly reflect some commonality. Perhaps they don't want charisma. Perhaps they want someone like them: average, working class, conservative with traditional values, colorless and mediocre.
In Donald Trump they have certainly found that.
---Diogenes, 5/10/20
¹Central detail of Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon Among the Plague-Stricken at Jaffa, 1804.
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