Amnesty

A couple of months ago, I took a Gallup Strengths finding survey. It’s 170 questions, 20 minutes and they give you your top 5 strengths according to the Clifton Strengths. Four out of five of mine were in the same Category, which makes me a bit lopsided. The outlier and number one strength was:

Connectedness

Now, some of the dude bros are going to see this as confirming their theory of women being too soft and squishy for STEM professions or some such nonsense. But it actually fits right in with being a geek.

Here’s the detail based on my answers to those questions:

Connectedness

SHARED THEME DESCRIPTION

People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.

YOUR PERSONALIZED STRENGTHS INSIGHTS

What makes you stand out?

Because of your strengths, you sense every event is somehow the consequence of a series of actions, reactions, or lack of actions. You can accept that which cannot be fully explained using logic. You say there are no accidents. You are confident that things are linked together for a purpose that may or may not be revealed to you. Chances are good that you choose to join groups whose members discuss ethics — that is, issues of right and wrong — philosophy, or the consequences of current events. Give-and-take conversations stimulate your mind. You undoubtedly link together ideas no one else ever considered pairing. It’s very likely that you consider people more important than things. The value you place on humankind guides your decision-making. It also influences what you say and do as well as what you choose not to say and do. Driven by your talents, you sometimes like to help people overcome obstacles that prevent them from linking up with one another. This partially explains why you engage certain newcomers or outsiders in small talk as well as serious discussions. Instinctively, you sense you are not all alone in the world. You probably feel linked with every person and living thing. This openness explains why you invite a vast array of people to participate in conversations, activities, social events, or groups

I gasped when I read that. They should have just said, “best unpaid profession for you is blogger”. But more than that, when I was looking at a protein ligand complex in my previous life, trying to understand why it worked, I used to say to myself that even if I didn’t immediately see it or understand it, the fact that it worked meant that there was an underlying reason and mechanism and if I looked at it long enough, the answer would reveal itself. And it almost always did.

Uncanny.

The reason I bring this up is even Trumpsters are part of humanity. I know we tend to think of them as a separate species but it’s true. I have had a lot of very uncharitable thoughts about them lately. But with all of the things Trump has done this week, they’ve got to be feeling uncomfortable.

So maybe we should think of different ways of easing them back into the collective American conscience. I’d like for the more supremacist Trumpsters to read Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. It should be compulsory. But for right now, I’d just like them to know that it’s ok to turn away from Trump. I’m offering them amnesty for the rest of the month.

Every one of us has a soft spot that’s easy to manipulate. There are no exceptions. It makes us human. Now is the time to wake up. You will never have had so much power as you will when connect with us.

I do not know right now how we can bring ourselves together again but I know that we have been there in the past and if we look and listen intently, the answer will be revealed to us.

Ummm…

Hse Dems trying to get GOP to allow them to consider amdt to approve money to help block cyber attacks from Russia in election. GOP blocking Dems at each attempt

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 18, 2018

Doubleplusungood

Quote du Jour

An oldie but goody:

“If we have truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have not truth, it ought to be harmed.”

— Reuben Clarke

Take that Rudy Giuliani.

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Peter Daou says:

❤️
I'm using this tweet to send each of you positive thoughts and strength in the day ahead. I'm sure you're dealing with challenges that seem insurmountable, and I hope you find comfort, peace, and a path forward.

— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) July 18, 2018

Candlelight vigils tonight.

Hold hands, look both ways before crossing, watch out for one another.

FWIW

I don’t think Trump has any shame when it comes to a pee tape.

*Maybe* he cares about getting caught for doing something illegal or traitorous but so far, he seems to have been able to buy or bully his way out of accountability.

Too many people think Vlad has something on him but I think the real reason he does what he does is right in front of our faces and it’s so obvious we keep missing it.

What have Trump and the Republicans done ever since they took office? The answer is they have removed the constraints and obligations from the world’s richest people. They’ve gutted environmental protections, given themselves trillions of dollars in tax cuts and gone after every regulation and trade agreement in sight with a vengeance.

If you slept through 11th grade Problems of Democracy, then this is what you missed. The rich and powerful favor Laissez Faire capitalism. That means, let them do whatever the f*ck they want without any government interference.

The oil companies in particular love this concept. Who needs Paris agreements and restrictions over where they can “drill, baby, drill!”

With all of the outrage over what Trump said in his press conference, what seems to have been overlooked was the announcement that the two made about the oil bidness.

Russia is almost landlocked. It doesn’t have too many ways to get its oil and gas out of the country that don’t involve going through the Caspian Sea region (hello Iran) or parts of Europe (here’s looking at you, Baltic states!) or North Korea (hmmm…). But with Iranian treaties off the table and NATO on shakey ground, and the US playing footsie with Kim Jun Un, well Vlad can see an opportunity.

I’m guessing that Putin and Trump are playing Bad Cop/Good Cop. Putin wants access and free trade and the end of sanctions, Trump will make the right countries give it up or not protect them or whatever.

“I don’t know, if I were you, I’d give him what he wants. Vlad is crazy. I can try to not let him beat you up but you know how it is”.

And what does Trump get out of this? Probably a stake in the profits. Why not? It’s just a business deal.

That’s what those two hours of private conversation were about.

Let’s see if the other Republicans start breaking away. It’s going to be very difficult without offending their masters. But they might feel that Trump has outlived his usefulness and they got most of what they wanted without instigating a revolution. Time to cut the line and save themselves in the midterm. We’ll see.

It makes a lot more sense than worrying about having a video of a gaggle of pretty Ukrainian prostitutes peeing on the bed. What does the man who brags about grabbing women by the pussy care about that??

It’s the money and power he wants. Oh and for people to stop thinking he didn’t win fair and square.

*******************************

One Fine Day:

“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for. It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.”

— JRR Tolkien

Here we go. Hang on, it’s going to get bumpy.

Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) just released this statement. On the surface, it looks pretty weak.

.@POTUS' blindness to Putin’s hostile acts against the US and our allies—election meddling included—is very troubling. Please read my statement in reaction to today’s Helsinki press conference: pic.twitter.com/7JGtcfg9ph

— Pat Toomey (US Sen. ret.) (@SenToomey) July 16, 2018

To me, it looks like Toomey is trying to mitigate the damage. Toomey is a staunch hard ass Republican so I’m a little surprised he’s one of the first ones putting out a statement. I’m not sure what he thinks he’s going to accomplish with his “Hey, gang, let’s have a vote! Whaddaya say we pass even MORE unenforceable sanctions? We can meet in the old barn!”

And then Judy says, “Let’s! That’s a swell idea!”

Avalanches start with a few feet of snow slipping and sliding away and momentum and gravity do the rest.

I tweeted Toomey that he should demand that Trump resign. That’s the least destructive thing for the party right now. Just make him go away and not make them impeach him. That’s my prediction: Republicans will ask him to resign.

And now for the number one hit the summer that Nixon resigned:

What nobody asked so far

Let’s just say for the sake of argument that Vlad the Puppeteer really hadn’t hacked the election. It’s all a complete misunderstanding. They were only Russian business men or some such folderol. 🙄

First, we know for absolutely sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that *someone* broke into the DNC’s servers in 2016 and stole emails that conveeeeeeniently got released at the best possible time to help Trump.

We also know that an overwhelming amount of false information was planted by Cambridge Analytica on Twitter and Facebook and any other social media platform you care to use. Plus, there were the notorious trolls.

That much we know.

And we also know that the election registration systems in 39 states were hacked.

But for the sake of argument, let’s assume that Russia had absolutely NOTHING to do with it.

Work with me here.

Even if it’s the case that Russia had nothing to do with it, isn’t it the responsibility of the Trump Administration and the Republican Congress to allocate funds and personnel to prevent future hacking from whatever country did it in the first place?

I mean, it could have been an attack by the Mongolians in Ulan Bator. Does it matter? Don’t we want it to not happen again?

But instead of saying “I Donald Trump, POTUS, will make sure it never happens again regardless of the disgraceful attack on our election system by the horseriding throat singers of the steppes, or any other ne’erdowells”, he absolved Vladimir Putin from any culpability.

Putin. The guy who murders journalists, poisons defectors on foreign soil and regularly takes a cut of ever oligarch’s wealth.

Putin who wins all of his elections by disqualifying his strongest opponents from running.

Putin who had Pussy Riot jailed for blasphemy.

THAT guy, he’s the one Trump let off the hook.

But ok, maybe he didn’t do anything.

Someone clearly did. Why wouldn’t Trump be all over that?

Unless he thinks that he can do it again and make sure Republicans win again bigly in the fall with the help of someone.

And then there is the ultimate question:

Would President Hillary Clinton have screwed our allies like Trump has and then given Putin absolution to a global audience?

Hell, no. She would have been impeached before AF1 touched down on American soil. They would have had her head.

Remarkably, Trump is still very sensitive about his “win” in 2016. As if repeated his alternative narrative somehow makes it so.

It sounds so much like some defense mechanism. What if he really didn’t win fair and square? Could his behavior be weirder?

Yes, I heard it.

I’ll be back later after I get some work done today. There are some important points I haven’t heard the media make yet.

Feel free to get it off your chest in the comments.

What it’s all about.

I’ve been rolling the Strzok hearing around in my mind in the last couple of days, trying to figure out what it’s all about. I talked this out with a friend last night and then had my thoughts validated somewhat in the latest edition of Trumpcast. I swear I didn’t listen to it first.

Here it goes:

I think Republicans knew earlier this week that Rosenstein was going to announce the new indictments and that it was going to look pretty bad for the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia. Can we all agree that Roger Stone is in deep sh*t for conspiracy with Russia through Wikileaks? I think we can. The pieces are starting to fall into place. There is a clear narrative coming together. Mueller knows everything. It’s going to be bad for Trump and anyone who has been working with him, which would include all of the Republicans in Congress. Their salad days are almost over.

The question is, can the Republican Party survive what’s coming next?

Ok, there are several questions. Another is, why does Trump keep screaming about witches when he *should* be doing everything in his power to prevent Russia from doing it again? If you were the president, wouldn’t that be your highest priority? Make sure that Russians can’t tamper with elections again? Because the Russians don’t necessarily want either Republicans or Democrats to be in charge acting like grown ups. No. They do much better if we are sidelined and weakened by chaos. So why not mess with elections so that more unpredictable things happen? But Trump does nothing. He’s not even remotely interested in pretending like he gives AF about the upcoming elections. Russian induced election chaos is ok with him. He’s more interested in attacking the investigators than preventing more instability.

The other question is, what the hell is going to happen when Trump meets privately with Putin on Monday? Here’s where it gets hairy for the Republicans. Because they are in charge of Congress, both houses. And they have not been checking Trump at all. They should be able to go to him and say, “Look, we don’t know what you’re up to but if you think you can talk to Putin privately with all our state secrets after you thumbed your nose at NATO and the whole world is watching, you’ve got another thing coming, dude. Especially after the indictments. No, don’t even. That meeting has to be accessible to us or we will seriously have to consider impeaching your ass. We’ve been carrying your water and defending your honor as well as we could but this is a bridge too far. We can’t hold out any longer. Cancel the private meeting.”

That’s where they are. They know that they have a rogue president in Trump and his relationship with Putin is alienating the allies and destabilizing the world. Their hair is on fire. Because as bad as these Republicans are, I think most of them draw the line when it comes to committing acts that might be construed as treason. They really do have to do something.

But they don’t want to because impeachment is a political act and it’s an election year. They don’t want to take any chances. So, they will try to get the public on their side to make it look like the FBI planned to take Trump down and has it out for him. That’s what the Strzok testimony was all about. It was a heavy handed propaganda trick designed to make some voters indecisive and therefore less likely to demand action as the Mueller investigation starts rolling out the heavy shit. If the Republicans can keep enough Americans in a state of lassitude and indecision, they won’t have to pull the trigger on impeachment.

The problem is that Strzok was pretty credible. He could have blown the whistle on the Trump campaign with what he knew (I think he knows a LOT). But in spite of his political leanings, he kept his mouth shut. He was professional even though he knew it could cost Clinton the election. Those are the facts. It’s kind of hard to deny them. Clinton’s stupid email server issue was well known and there were some less than honorable FBI agents in NY who collaborated with Giuliani but Strzok kept a tight lip with regard to the investigation of Trump’s ties to Russia which were much more serious. And no one above him or below him said a word to anyone. The hearing was a bust for Republicans. I might be wrong but I think the pendulum might be swinging ever so slightly against Trump now.

This leaves Republicans in a quandary: if they can’t score a knock out punch against the “deep state”, they will have to check the president. They SHOULD have done it before he went to Europe and did Putin’s business with NATO. Now they have until Monday to make sure that meeting with Putin doesn’t happen or doesn’t happen alone. They have to stop him. If they can’t stop him before Monday, it’s going to get heavy when Trump returns. You can only keep public sentiment on your side for so long. When there are indictments that focus attention on the Trump-Putin relationship to begin with and Trump insists upon meeting with Putin with no witnesses, that’s going to look very bad.

I think we are at the end of the beginning and are now about to start the beginning of the end.

Now, about the electoral college vote and the 3 million vote discrepancy with the popular vote? I’m sorry. No matter how you slice it, that’s just hinky. If the popular vote difference was closer, they might have gotten away with it. But 3 million?? I don’t believe it. Nope. Of course, we’d have to see the evidence. But if there is evidence, let’s just hope that they all just quietly resign and take their Supreme Court justices with them. I don’t think the world wants to know how badly the world’s most dangerous superpower can be played.

Strzok Me, Strzok Me. STRZOK! STRZOK!

Peter Strzok is a better man than I am. WTF was that yesterday anyway?? The Republicans seem really desperate to pin all of Trump’s crimes, and there must be many, on one guy at the FBI who had the audacity to text what half of Trump’s own administration has been saying for more than a year.

Trump is a f****** idiot.

The Republicans were rude, dismissive, they interrupted, framed questions and statements to create the worst possible image of Strzok and then refused to allow him to correct the record.

But Strzok drew blood anyway. He cheerfully admitted to every text he wrote about Trump’s f****** idiocy. That didn’t work out like they planned. Well, no one ever said that Republicans were rocket surgeons.

Whatever Trump has done, it’s all Strzok’s fault.

But I think the thing that will stick with the Republican base is that the Russians were doing really nasty s*** to our election because they are bad guys. What does that have to do with Trump??

And the only reason this might work is because Robert Mueller’s investigation is notoriously leak proof. It’s also above reproach. It’s fortified with a impenetrable armor plating. No one knows what Mueller and his team knows and they ain’t saying.

But I’ll bet the Republicans do. I’ll bet they know exactly what Trump did with the Russians. And probably a good number of Congressional Republicans and their party apparatus as well. It will all come out when Mueller is finished and I suspect that his final report is going to be overwhelming and catastrophic for the GOP.

All they can do is flail and shriek like the flaming swamp monsters they are and beat up on the one guy who had the nerve to text what he thought about fearless leader and was delighted to hear those texts read into the Congressional record.

Cue the plum smuggler:

RD goes there

This is a thought experiment that many Trump voting women did not engage in before they pushed that button. But after I’m through, they’re going to feel pretty fucking stupid. I mean, more stupid than before.

A friend of mine asked me what I thought about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh and what it means for abortion.

There are a couple of things that concern me about this pick. Abortion is actually not only thing regular people should worry about but maybe I’ll do part deux tomorrow.

Regarding abortion: I’ve never had one. I believe that abortions should be safe, legal and rare, just like Hillary Clinton. I actually don’t think having a 22 week cut off is a bad idea. Somewhere in the past, I’ve posted about my “baby on the side of the road test”. You can look it up if you’re interested. There should always be exceptions for fetal abnormalities and maternal health. But as far as I’m concerned, up until that 22nd week, no one should interfere with choice. Not my business. Not your business.

So what does it really mean to overturn Roe? What does it mean for this president, congress and Supreme Court to kill Roe?

Let’s go to the basic question: is it constitutional to force one group of Americans to do what the other group is not forced to do? Is it fair to force parenthood on one group and not on the other? This is essentially the goal of the anti-choice movement. The goal is to force women to become mothers. On the face of it, this is silly. Pregnancy is a temporary state; motherhood is forever. You don’t become a mother until you decide to take the baby home with you.

But removing Roe is the equivalent of forcing motherhood on someone because societal pressure will be very strong on women to keep their babies. Giving them up for adoption is noble and selfless and difficult. But the person who actually does that knows that it will be seen as cold and heartless because we have romanticized the mother-fetus relationship. The anti-choice movement has made a big fucking deal about how some women regret their decision to have abortions, presumably because there is a god given biological imperative to fulfill our destinies as happy mommies or some such nonsense. But you know, if parenthood were such a wonderful experience all the time, we’d be a lot more helpful to parents raising kids and this country is anything but helpful in that regard. Our maternity leave and childcare policies are harsh or non-existent compared to the rest of the world.

So, if you get unintentionally pregnant in America, you may not get prenatal healthcare or paid labor and delivery. If you are working, you may have to stop before you give birth. If you can’t work, you might not get government assistance. You will have to rely on your family. And if your family is average, having another mouth to feed puts a burden on them. If you can’t find affordable childcare, you have to quit working. If you can’t earn money, you’re even more of a burden on your family.

That’s when the shaming comes back. Because if you had just kept your legs together, you wouldn’t have burdened your family with an illegitimate kid.

Who would do that to women? For what purpose?

You can’t do this to a man. Only women will have this forced upon them.

And if you can force this shaming and burden of something they don’t want upon them, it’s very easy to keep them in line. It’s easier to justify employment decisions, change their educational opportunities, halt their career advancements, because they might become pregnant and they will have their hands full. If you burden women with kids before they are economically ready, what happens to their credit? Can they even get credit? Harassment can’t be far behind because opportunities for advancement depend on the esteem your employers feel for you. But if you can force women to do what you don’t force men to do, how much esteem will a woman get? The word freedom will have a completely different meaning to women than men.

You can not respect or esteem that which is not your equal.

That’s what it was like before women had access to birth control and abortion. Their lives were truncated.

But back to who would do this to women, force pregnancy and birth on them.

The Japanese at Nanking, the Serbians in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Sudanese. It’s what conquerors do to the vanquished. It’s an act of domination and violence.

“Oh, dear, RD has gone all Rape Culture on us”, you might say.

I never really thought of it that way until recently. But the Trump men are acting like marauders, behaving like they won some kind of mandate to go all Clockwork Orange on the rest of us. They’ve got it in for African Americans, immigrants, poor people, sick people but they have been saving the really devastating, life changing subjection for women.

That’s what the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society stand for – violence against women.

Let’s cut the deference, ceremony and admiration for their neatly manicured fingernails and tailored suits and expose them for the barbarians they are.

And fight like HELL.