Month: September 2019

I was just beginning to write essays for Trump World in February of 2017. In those early days, I was trying to explain Trump to my Progressive friends, still reeling from the 2016 election results.  One of those early essays, called Liar Liar Liar, tried to analyze the Trump organization’s relationship to the truth.

Alternative Facts

Here we are, two and a half years later, and that relationship hasn’t changed.  The President built his political foundation on the phrase “fake news.”  If no one can tell what the truth is, then people will only believe what the leader “they” support tells them. The President has flat out stated: “Just remember: What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”  Combined with the confirmation of a major “news” organization, Fox “News,” and a whole other universe of “alternative facts” gets created. (Thanks Kelly-Ann, for that contribution to the American political phraseology.)

The Shooter was a Democrat

This week is a great example.  It started with the shootings in Odessa, Texas, when seven people were killed and dozens wounded by a random shooter.  Within hours of the deaths, Twitter was alive with “facts.”  

• The shooter had a “Beto for Senate” bumper sticker on his truck. 
• He was a registered Democrat and a Democratic Socialist.
• He was a member of Antifa.

This was all fabricated.  The Trump Administration didn’t create these falsehoods. But, Anthony Shaffer, a former DIA officer and a member of the Trump 2020 Campaign Advisory Board, lent them credence by re-tweeting.

I was caught up in those same lies from one of my Facebook “friends” posts.  When a “Snopes” fact check didn’t reveal an immediate response (it was too soon,) I worried that somehow they were true, and would be used to turn back efforts for gun controls.  I didn’t respond on Facebook, the reality that there are crazed folks with all kinds of political views, including ones similar to mine, was too real to mention.  It shouldn’t be.

So the lies did exactly what they were supposed to do.  They helped smother the debate. Here was a man, acknowledged by his neighbors to be “scary and angry.” He could not legally pass a weapons background check, and sat on his rooftop at night and shot at animals. Yet, he was allowed to have a weapon of war.

China Invades Ohio

The second example isn’t even related to Trump, but it is a great example of how absolute falsehood has become our modern political tool.  Here in Ohio, the Republican legislature and Governor have just passed “energy” legislation, rolling back conservation incentives, and pouring money into the failing company running Ohio’s nuclear power plants.  

Opponents of the legislation, a strange amalgam of environmentalists and the natural gas industry, are trying to gain enough signatures to put the legislation up for vote on a statewide ballot.  The nuclear power folks, who won in the state legislature, are paying for an advertising blitz on statewide television. 

 The commercials claim that those passing the petitions are working for China, they show videos of marching Chinese soldiers, President Xi, and Red Flags; and claim that China will interfere in Ohio’s politics and energy production.  “Don’t sign the petition” they demand, as if the Chinese secret police will be pounding on your door with paper and pen.

What does China really have to do with any of this?  Some of the natural gas industry plants in the state have financing that includes Chinese banks.  So, by the way, is some of the financing for Direct Energy, the nuclear power company. And, of course, so are trillions of dollars of the US debt, sold to China by the  US Treasury.

It’s the “Red Scare” tactic, creating a complete fictional story about “Chinese hands” on Ohio’s power switches.  

Magic Marker Hurricanes

Some may say this is just “politics as usual.”  But even the most outlandish campaigns usually have some casual relationship to the truth, some tenuous connection to reality.  But, in this “grand example” of the President’s “fake news,” the nuclear industry is following the classic propaganda technique:  if you’re going to lie, tell a big one.

Our third example is directly from the President’s hand.  As Hurricane Dorian was grinding away the northern Bahamas, stalled precariously off of the US coast, the President warned folks, including in the state of Alabama, about the dangers.  The problem was, there was no danger to Alabama; projected tracks for the storm did not include them.

It was a mistake, while extremely early tracks from a week before included a possible move across Florida, all of the more recent projections showed Dorian headed up the Atlantic coast.  It was a mistake the President could have explained, corrected, and moved past.

But this is the era of Trump.  In yesterday’s “news opportunity” with the President, he presented an older map, complete with a Magic Marker addition to Dorian’s projected course. It couldn’t have been more obvious, the President added his “projection” so that he could claim to be right. Asked about this, Trump followed his own “rules.”  He doubled down on his mistake, claiming that the Weather Service would put out a more detailed map showing him right.  The Weather Service chose not to answer questions about the mistake.

Believe Your Lying Eyes

It’s a lie, an obvious one, and a foolish one.  But, to a substantial portion of the American electorate, it is believed.  They are conditioned:  listen to the President, ignore the “fake news” that calls him to task.  It’s tough to argue with his success.  

Abraham Lincoln said: “…you can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people, all of the time.”

Let’s hope Lincoln’s right.

September 11

It was September 11, 2001.  The United States was assaulted, a sneak attack, using our own commercial aircraft.  The death toll was worse than Pearl Harbor, but the biggest casualty was America’s way of life.  It has never been the same. We check exits, we line up for security to enter Broadway plays, and we glance twice at airplanes streaking through the sky.

A terrorist group, Al Qaeda, was behind it.  They were led by a scion of one of Saudi Arabia’s richest families, Osama bin Laden, who believed in an aberrant version of Islam. Unable to organize in his native land, he moved first to Sudan, then onto Afghanistan.  There he found shelter with kindred spirits in charge of the government, the Taliban.

The Taliban believe in a similar ancient form of Islam. They viewed Sharia Law, the 1300 year-old rules of the desert, as the foundation of Islamic life.  The Taliban emerged to govern from chaos as the Soviet Union was driven from Afghanistan in 1994.  They ruled with an iron hand, destroyed historic relics of Buddhism, denied women education or the ability to participate in public life, executed men for not growing beards.  

Soon after September 11, the United States determined that Al Qaeda was responsible.  The US government issued an ultimatum to the Taliban in charge of Afghanistan:  deny the terrorists sanctuary, or face invasion. The Taliban refused. And on October 7, less than a month after the assault and while dust still rose from the rubble at Ground Zero, the United States attacked.

The Second Generation

That was nearly eighteen years ago.  The original goal, to destroy Al Qaeda, was largely achieved in the first few months, though it took several years for US Special Forces to find and kill bin Laden himself.  The US drove the Taliban from power, pushing them back into the mountainous territory that borders Pakistan.  They set up a new government, one that had modern values.

And the war took on a new goal, to reshape Afghanistan itself into an Islamic democracy.  The US picked sides in the constantly shifting amalgam of tribes that tried to rule the country, and found their allies could only survive with US backing.  The Taliban waited, knowing that it is one thing to “conquer” Afghanistan, but another to “govern” it.  No one, from Alexander the Great to the Red Army of the Soviet Union, could maintain control for long.

Today, American soldiers are walking the same mountain trails their father’s did, and are fighting for the same territories and villages. There is no “winning” in Afghanistan, only a turgid stalemate that is dragging a second generation of Americans, and Afghans, into the horrors of war. 

The US must make a decision:  maintain the stalemate, or change the equation.  They have tried a “surge” that was supposedly successful in Iraq, sent in the best in counter-insurgency, bombed with B-52 bombers and used  “Special Operators.”  It remains a stalemate; much like the Communists in Vietnam, the Taliban are willing to accept more pain and deaths than the Americans are willing to receive or give.

Today the US is negotiating with the Taliban, trying to reach some agreement to allow Americans to withdraw.  Taliban leaders who spent years in the US prison at Guantanamo are sitting across from the American soldiers that put them there.  American Generals, who began as young Lieutenants in the beginning of the war, are now negotiating with the enemy.  

Negotiation or Stalemate

There are a lot of similarities with Vietnam.  While America clearly has overwhelming military strength, somehow they are negotiating from weakness.  Just like in Vietnam, the US has been unable to bring that might to bear on an enemy able to slip into the mountains, and willing to suffer unacceptable casualties to achieve their goal.  

This week, on the very day the US envoy announced a tentative agreement, the Taliban emphasized their strength and resolve, and sent a suicide bomber to attack the “Green Village,” the “safe” enclave for foreigners in Kabul, the capital.  Sixteen were killed and 119 wounded, almost all local Afghans.

A spokesman for the Taliban stated: 

“…we understand that peace talks are going on … but they (the US) must also understand that we are not weak and if we enter into talks … we enter from a strong position.”

Claiming Victory

The Taliban want the United States military out in weeks.  The United States is looking for leverage to force the Taliban to become a part of the current Afghan government, instead of taking the entire country back to the dark ages of Sharia Law.  They will leave, but over eighteen months.  Much like the negotiations that ended the Vietnam War, the Taliban are likely to agree to whatever deal removes US troops, and then will do what they want.  They believe that the US won’t come back.

And they are right.

In early 1973, President Richard Nixon announced the “end” of the Vietnam War.  He claimed “victory” and brought US troops home; his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize.  Two years later it was President, Gerald Ford, who sent in the helicopters to evacuate the last US officials as Saigon fell to the Communists. 

I expect President Trump will claim “victory” in our negotiations with the Taliban.  The troops will come home, with cameras broadcasting their arrival and bands playing. It will fall to the next President to send in the helicopters and evacuate our last embassy personnel, as Kabul falls to the Taliban.  

There’s not much else to do.

(Hamilton the Musical)

Hurricane Dorian:  the entire population of the Southeast Coast of the United States is holding its breath.  Savannah and Charleston are being evacuated.  Florida towns have abandoned the protective barrier islands. 

The President was shocked (again) that there was a Category 5 in the Saffir-Simpson Scale.  Dorian is the second strongest storm recorded in the Atlantic.  

Coverage 24/7

The Weather Channel and cable news networks, all went to wall-to-wall with coverage, with lots of shots of waves striking beaches, empty restaurants, and boarded up windows with catchy slogans.  

But Dorian hasn’t gotten to the United States yet.  It is sitting on the Bahamas, grinding them down, hour after hour, and now day after day. Dorian is spending its energy, dropping from Category 5 to 4 and this morning 3, on the small island nation. The highest point on the northern islands of the Bahamas is about thirty feet above sea level.  Dorian’s storm surge is twenty-four feet.

We don’t know about the Bahamas yet, it’s still happening.  The Abaco Islands in the country, a beautiful, tranquil Caribbean paradise; are still in the hurricane, though the eye has moved west to the island of Grand Bahama and the town of Freeport.  We already know that five are dead, but we don’t know more.

Days in the Grinder

It’s likely to be awful. But one small note to be proud of. The US Coast Guard is already there. In a time when “America First” is the standard phrase, American helicopters are making rescues in hurricane winds, American ships are braving hurricane seas, and American Coast Guardsmen are risking their lives for others.  

“America First” today means more than just a xenophobic “America Only,” it means American’s first in to help with disaster.

I’m sure there wasn’t a lot of discussion about this in the upper echelons of government.  The Coast Guard probably just went, knowing their job, and the need.  People needed help, it didn’t matter the color of their skin, or their nationality as Bahamians.  They spent days in one of the worst hurricanes in history, days in the equivalent of an F-3 tornado (for those of us in Ohio where we know the Fujita scale with much more intimacy.)

This is what America really is: the orange helicopters hovering above, pulling folks to safety. There are already private citizens in Florida, arranging for more helicopters to take supplies into the devastation. They know airplanes won’t work; the airport is literally six feet under water.     

The News Cycle

Our news cycle moves so quickly.  Dorian better move soon, or we will all forget about it.  The folks moving one-way out of Charleston will start sneaking home on the back roads, and the surfers at Sebastian Inlet will jump back into the waves.  For the sake of the Bahamians, Dorian needs to go, anywhere, away.

But as we wait for that moment, for the time when we can see the damage and devastation, we can only hope that the US reaction will be one of horror, sorrow and an outpouring of support. Hopefully it will be greater than what we did for our own countrymen in Puerto Rico, after another Category 5 hurricane, Maria, spent several hours on that island.

Helping others after disaster is America at its best.    It is as American as “John Wayne coming over the hill” or comic book heroes rescuing the world.  Americans already are saving lives, when Dorian finally moves, there will be many more to save, and a nation to help salvage.  Let’s not let the news cycle blow them away.

The National Rifle Association stand is crystal clear:  the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.  Their answer to the growing mass shooting attacks in America is to arm all Americans.  It’s the “wild, wild west” with semi automatic weapons of war; a dystopian “Mad Max” vision of America.

Texas Gun Laws

The NRA is incredibly persuasive.  They have convinced the Republican Party to pursue a policy of denying gun controls, and even removing existing regulations.  And NRA persuasion isn’t just based on the votes of their members; their most significant influence is the money they can spend.  The NRA not only donates directly to candidates, it also buys advertising for and against candidates on their own.  It is one of the most formidable forces in American politics.

Texas is at the height of NRA influence.  The state legislature, in response to the shootings at Sutherland Springs Church with 26 killed and 20 more injured, and at a Santa Fe High School with 10 killed and 13 wounded, RELAXED existing gun laws.  Starting today (September 1, 2019) Texas law allows:

• Weapons in places of worship unless the specifically banned by posted signs, 
• Weapons in rental properties, 
• Prevents home owner associations from banning weapons,
• Allows for more armed personnel in schools,
• Eases restrictions on carrying weapons in vehicles, 
• Allows foster homes to store guns, 
• Allows handguns to be carried without license during a declared disaster.

Since the laws were passed there have been two more mass shootings in Texas, the El Paso shooting with 22 dead and 24 wounded, and yesterday, the random killings along I-20 between Odessa and Midland, with 5 dead and 21 injured.  

A Good Guy 

Where are the “good guys” with guns?

The NRA points to the Sutherland Springs shooting as evidence of the failure of gun restrictions and the success of “good guys” with guns.  The shooter who walked into a Church, wearing body armor and a facemask and armed with a semi-automatic weapon of war, shouldn’t have been able to buy the gun (a Ruger AR-556 Semi-Automatic.)  He was court martialed from the Air Force for domestic violence, a disqualifying offense in gun sales.  The system failed to register his conviction, allowing him to purchase the weapon.

After leaving the carnage in the church, the shooter was attacked and wounded by a bystander with a similar weapon from across the street.  The shooter drove away in his vehicle, and the bystander followed in a high-speed chase.  Ultimately the shooter crashed vehicle due to blood loss, and committed suicide.

Twenty-six killed, twenty more injured:  the “good guy” with a gun may have prevented further deaths, but he didn’t stop what happened in the church sanctuary.  

But Chicago

Gun advocates point to the city of Chicago as the “example” of how gun restrictions fail.  And a decade ago, Chicago did have some of the strictest gun regulations in the country.  However, more recent Court decisions have stripped many of those away.  Prior to 2010, Chicago:

• Banned private owned handguns from residences,
• Required permits and registration of firearms, and
• Banned concealed carry of firearms.

All of those restrictions are removed, and the homicide rate has grown (Tribune.)

But the greater issue for Chicago, and for any attempts to control weapons, is the limitation of state action.  Even when Chicago had those restrictions, Indiana was less than an hour away, and had few restrictions on buying or carrying guns.  And while Chicago’s homicide rate has been higher than Los Angeles and New York for a while, it has increased even more since 2010.

A National Choice

Gun violence, and particularly mass shootings, is a national crisis.  No one state has a “corner” on the issue, attacks have occurred from schools in Connecticut, Florida and Colorado, to the nightclub district of Dayton, to Wal-Mart’s in Texas, to conference centers in California.  The one thing these most horrific attacks have in common is a semi-automatic weapon of war, with large quantities of ammunition.

A national crisis requires a national solution.  The answer is obvious; to stop a bad guy with a gun, take his gun away.  

There is no Second Amendment right to a weapon of war.  There is no legitimate hunting purpose for weapons of war.  Weapons of war have a single purpose, to kill and maim human beings, as quickly and efficiently as possible.  And to those Americans who “need” those weapons to “protect from the government” I need to point out that the “government” could overwhelm your puny “AR’s” in a New York minute.  

Our current national impotence is not an answer.  Letting these killings continue must stop.  It’s time for the vast majority of Americans to stop “humoring” the “black helicopter” folks.  We don’t need to ban all guns, and we don’t need to repeal the Second Amendment.  We do need to decide that weapons of war are not acceptable.  It’s time to follow the rest of the modern world, and protect ourselves from the broken among us.